Cook in his Jurisdiction of Courts looks no higher than 28. of Edw. 3. This Lord Keeper cites a Precedent out of his own Search of Records of a Baron Fin'd and Imprison'd by it in the 16th of Edw. 2. as it is quoted Cabal P. 58. Of what standing it was before for the Evidence doth not run as if then it were newly born to me is uncertain For the Dignity that famous Judge I mentioned lifts up his Style that it is the most honourable Court our Parliament excepted that is in the Christian World Jurisdic P. 65. The Citations of it are to cause to appear Coram Rege Concilio for the King in Judgment of Law is always in the Court when it fits and King James did twice in Person give Sentence in it The Lords and others of the Privy Council with the two Chief Justices or two other Justices or Barons of the Exchequer in their Absence are standing Judges of that Court. For in Matters of Right and Law some of the Judges are always presum'd to be of the King's Counsel The other Lords of Parliament who are properly De magno Concilio Regis are only in Proximâ poteentiâ of this Council and are actually Assessors when they are specially called These Grandees of the Realm who cannot fit to hear a Cause under the Number of Eight at the least ennoble this Court with their Presence and Wisdom to the Admiration of Foreign Nations and to the great Satisfaction of our selves for none can think himself too great to be Try'd for his Misdemeanors before a Convention of such Illustrious Senators And as Livy says Nihil tam aequandae libertati prodest quà m potentissimum quemque posse causam dicere As touching the Benefit that the Star-Chamber did bring thus that Atlas of the Law the Lord Cook Et cujus pars magna fuit says in the same Place That the right Institution and ancient Orders thereof being observed it keepeth all England in Quiet Which he maintains by two Reasons First Seeing the Proceeding according to the Laws and Customs of this Realm cannot by one Rule of Law suffice to punish in every Case the Enormity of some great and horrible Crimes this Court dealeth with them to the end the Medicine may be according to the Disease and the Punishment according to the Offence Secondly To curb Oppression and Exorbitancies of great Men whom inferior Judges and Jurors though they should not would in respect of their Greatness be afraid to offend Indeed in every Society of Men there will be some Bashawes who presume that there are many Rules of Law from which they should be exempted Aristotle writes it as it were by Feeling not by Guess Polit. 4. c. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They that were at the Top among the Greeks nor would be rul'd nor would be taught to be rul'd Therefore this Court profest the right Art of Justice to teach the Greatest as well as the Meanest the due Construction of Good Behaviour I may justly say that it was a Sea most proper for Whale-Fishing little Busses might cast out Nets for Smelts and Herring So says the great Lawyer Ordinary Offences which may sufficiently be punished by the Proceeding of the Common Laws this Court leaveth to the ordinary Courts of Justice Ne dignitas hujus Curiae vilesceret 96. Accordingly the Lord Keeper Williams having Ascended by his Office to be the first Star in the Constellation to illuminate that Court he was very Nice I might say prudent to measure the Size of Complaints that were preferred to it whether they were knots fit for such Axes A number of contentious Squabbles he made the Attorney's Pocket up again which might better be compounded at home by Country Justices It was not meet that the Flower of the Nobility should be call'd together to determine upon Trifles Such long Wing'd Hawks were not to be cast off to fly after Field-Fares The Causes which he designed to hear were Grave and Weighty wherein it concern'd some to be made Examples for Grievous Defamations Perjuries Riots Extortions and the like Upon which Occasions his Speeches were much heeded and taken by divers in Ciphers which are extent to this day in their Paper Cabinets To which I Appeal that they were neither long nor Virulent For though he had Scope on those Ocasions to give his Auditors more then a Tast of his Eloquence which was clear sententious fraught with Sacred and Moral Allusions yet he detested nothing more then to insult upon the Offendor with girds of Wit He foresaw that Insolencies and Oppressions are publick provocations to bury a Court in it's own Shame And what could exasperate more then when an unfortunate man hath run into a Fault to shew him no humane Respect Nay to make him pass through the two malignant Signs of the Zodiaque Sagitary and Scorpio That is to wound him first with Arrows of sharp-pointed Words and then to Sting him with a Scorpiack censure Indeed if there be an extreme in shewing too much mercy I cannot Absolve the Lord Keeper For many I confess censur'd him for want of deeper censures said he was a Friend to Publicans and Sinners to all delinquents and rather their Patron then their Judge 〈◊〉 was so oftentimes when he scented Malice in the Prosecution It was so sometimes when he laid his Finger upon the Pulse of humane Frailty Brethren if a Man be overtaken in a Fault we which are Spiritual Restore such a one in the Spirit of meekness considering thy self least thou also be Tempted Galat. 6.1 Pliny the younger had been faulted that he had excus'd some more then they deserv'd Whereupon he Writes to Septitius lib. 7. Ep. Quid mihi invident felicissimum Errorem Ut enim non sint tales quales à me praedicantur ego tamen Beatus quod mihi videntur Which is to this meaning Why do you grudg me this Error they are not so good as I accounted them but I am happy in my Candor that I account them better then they are But first he never condemn'd an Offender to be Branded to be Scourg'd to have his Ears cut Though that Court hath proceeded to such censure in time old enough to make Prescription yet my Lörd Cook adviseth it should be done sparingly upon this Reason Quod Arbitrio judicis relinquitur non facile trahit ad effusionem Sanguinis They that judge by the light of Arbitrary Wisdom should seldom give their sentence to spill Blood He would never do it and declin'd it with this plausible avoidance as the Arch-Bishop Whitgift and Bancroft and the Bishop of Winton the Learned Andrews had done before him that the Canons of Councils had forbidden Bishops to Act any thing to the drawing of blood in a judicial Form Once I call to mind he dispens'd with himself and the manner was pretty One Floud a Railing Libelling Varlet bred in the Seminaries beyond Seas had vented Contumelies bitterer then Gall against many
came in place of it was most Happy in a thrice Noble Progeny All beside was Flat and Unfortunate Not an Inch of the Palatinate the better for us and we the worse for our Wars in all Countries I say no more but as Q. Curtius doth Optime Miserias forunt qui abscondunt They that hide their Miseries bear them best The Observator upon H. L. I will abet him writes no more then many have Whisper'd That the Ruin of P. Charles by the Spanish Match might have been prevented the Spaniard being for the most part a more steady Friend then the wavering French I am not skilful in them to make Comparisons thus far I will adventure positively The French are as brave a people as be under the Sun Yet for my part I think we might better want them then the Spaniard The Spanish Ladies Married to the Royal Seed among us have been Vertuous Mild Thrifty beloved of all Not such a one as Harry the Sixth had from the other Nation of whom Mr. Fuller says well in his Eccles History That the King's parts seemed the lower being overtop'd by such a High Spirited Queen The Spaniards are for the most generously bountiful where Service hath deserv'd it the best Neighbours in the World for Trades Increase A Friend to his Friend with his Treasure and with his Sword But withal Refractory in his own Religion and a Hater of ours and very False where he can take occasion to enlarge his Dominions wherein we had no Cause to fear him But if the Daughter of Spain had landed upon our Shore I believe we should have had more Cause to love him 172. Which was not to be look'd for after the Prince put off from the Coast of Biscay From whence he made such haste home as the Wind would suffer and he had it in Poop till he came to the Islands of Silly the remotest Ground of the British Dominion in the West whether some Delinquents were deported of old by the Roman Emperors Here the Navy was compelled to rest because the Winds were contrary From thence the Courtiers brought home a Discourse about an old Miller who was with long Experience Weather-Wise to Admiration For he told them exactly how long they should continue there and named the Hour when after one day and a half the North-West would blow and serve their turn The Seamen who had resorted thither before knew him so well and how his Prognosticks came to pass that they prepared to Launch against that opportunity which fail'd not and attain'd Portsmouth on the Fifth of October 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Odduss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though our Noble Traveller left the Lady behind that should have been his Penelope yet he came well home to his own Ithaca and to the Wise Laertes his Father His Highness left Portsmouth and came to York-House at Charing-Cross an Hour after Midnight early in the Morning Octob. 6. Praises were given to God for him in divers Churches at Morning Prayer The Lord Keeper composed an excellent Prayer for that Occasion which was used in the Chappel of Henry the VII and in the Collegiate Church at the accustomed Hours in that Place Bells and Bonfires began early and continued till Night Alms and all kind of Comfort were dispensed bountifully to the Poor and many poor Prisoners their Debts being discharg'd were Released But too often as St. Austin complain'd Publicum gaudium celebratur per publicum dedecus So Bacchanals of Drunken Riot were kept too much in London and Westminster which offended many that the Thanks due only to God should be paid to the Devil The Prince after a little rest took Coach with the Duke for Royston to attend the King his Father where the Joy at the enterview was such as surpasseth the Relation His Majesty in a short while retir'd and shut all out but his Son and the Duke with whom he held Conference till it was four Hours in the Night They that attended at the Door sometime heard a still Voice and then a loud sometime they Laught and sometime they Chased and noted such variety as they could not guess what the close might prove But it broke out at Supper that the King appear'd to take all well that no more was effected in the Voyage because the Profters for the Restitution of his son-in-Son-in-Law were no better stated by the Spanish And then that Sentence fell from him which is in Memory to this Hour That He lik'd not to Marry His Son with a Portion of His Daughters Tears His Majesty saw there was no Remedy in this Case but to go Hand in Hand with the Prince and his now prepotent Favorite Ducunt volentem fata nolentem trabuns Sen. Trag. It is easier to be led then drawn Presently it was obtain'd that is Octob. 8. That his Majesty should send an Express to the Earl of Bristol with his High Command to defer the Procuration entrusted with him and to make no use of it till Christmas whereas indeed the Power of it expired at Christmas for so it was limited in the Instrument which his Highness Signed at St. Lorenzo And by the next Post the Duke acquaints Sir W. Aston That the King himself had dictated the Letter then wrote unto him Cab. p. 36. which contain'd That His Majesty desir'd to be assur'd of the Restitution of the Palatinate before the Deposorium was made seeing he would be sorry to welcome home one Daughter with a Smiling Cheer and have his own only Daughter at the same time Weeping and Disconsolate My Lord of Buckingham had his Advisers about him yet he need not now be set on to prevent with all his Wit that the Prince might never have a Wife out of Spain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As soon should a Wolf Wed a Lamb. Aristoph Com. de pace But the King had such Esteem of the Spanish Wisdom that he did verily look that his Letters I mean these last sent to his Ambassador Resident there would quicken them to a short and real Satisfaction for the Prince Palatine's Distress and that the Treaty would sprout again which was wither'd with that obstacle 173. Our Dispatches at Court went all together that way so he that is diligent may Trace them to the end of January Some of the Letters of Mr. Secretary Conway at least somewhat out of them are useful to be produced which will also confirm the good course that the Lord Keeper took with the Spanish Ambassadors that he reserv d the Pardon and Dispensation from them to the end against all Contests of Importunity Nor suffered the Letters to the Lord Bishops and Judges to go abroad for the Suspension of some Penal Statutes whereupon the Fat of the Project of the Papists dript insensibly away at a slow Fire After the Prince had rested at Roiston but one Night his Majesty caused Directions to be sent to the Lord Keeper for the Enlargement of the Roman Priests
Bishop is censured for over-doing his part in Popularity yet only by such as will calumniate all that act not according to their mind Some things were offer'd at him which might have transported him to that excess for the Van-curriers of my L. Duke's Militia had prepar'd Petitions to disorder him in a light Skirmish but were never preferr'd Since no Fault could be charg'd upon him when he delivered up the Seal to the King Malignants had small encouragement to slander his Footsteps before a Parliament To borrow Pliny's Similitude lib. 28. c. 2. A scorpione aliquando percussi nunquam postea à crabronibus vespis apibusque feriuntur He that happens to be stung of a Scorpion and escapes it the smaller Insecta of Hornets Wasps and Bees will never trouble him Beside in Equity they could not have blamed him to be sure to himself since that Lord that preferr'd him and that Bishop whom himself had preferr'd did push with all their Violence against him Yet his Good bearing between the King's Power and the Subjects Rights the great Transaction of the high Court at this time needed no such Answers Though he was earnest yet he was advised in all his Actions and constant as any man living to his general Maxims Tua omnia gest a inter se congruunt omnia sunt uná forma percussa says Casaubon to K. Henry the Fourth before his Edition of Polybius So the Bishop never varied whether in favour or out of favour in his Counsels to the King to hang the Quarrel even upon the Beam of Justice between him and the Common-wealth As it was his Saying to K. James so he went on with the like to K. Charles Rule by your Laws and you are a Compleat Monarch your People are both sensibly and willingly beneath you If you start aside from your Laws they will be as sawcy with your Actions as if they were above you The Fence of the great Charter was lately thrown down by taking a Loan by Commissioners without a Statute to authorize it And says the Remonstrance of Decemb. 15 1641. Divers Gentlemen were imprisoned for refusing to pay it whereby many of them contracted such Sicknesses as cost them their Lives p. 10. When the Body of the Lords and Commons were at work to redintegrate the empailment of the Laws if the Bishop had not appeared that the King would return to walk upon the known and trodden Cawsey of the Laws he had forsaken himself and left the nearest way to do him Service His care was that no Dishonour should be cast upon His Majesty's Government nor Censure upon the Commissioners of the Loan his Ministers and yet to remove the publick Evils of the State To mend them would bring a Reformation to be blush'd at not to mend them a continued Confusion to be griev'd at The Bishop had the Praise from the Wisest that his Dexterity was eminent above any of the Peers to please all parties that would be pleas'd with Reason He distinguish'd the Marches of the two great Claims the Prerogatives of the Crown and the Liberties of the People and pleaded for the King to make him gracious to all as it is in his Sermon on the Fast p. 55. That he was a man as like Vertue it self as could be pattern'd in Flesh and Blood and justified him for good Intentions in all his Proceedings The Errors that were to come to pass he named them to be Errors for what Government was ever so streight that had no crookedness With this Cunning Demetrius appeared for his Father Philip of Macedon before the Roman Senate Justin lib. 32. The Senate accused his Father for violation of the last Articles of Peace to which Demetrius said nothing but blush'd Et veniam patri Philippo non jure defensionis sed patrocinio pudoris obtinuit And how unreasonable was it that the emulous Bishop who did upon all occasions derogate from this man blamed this person to the King for doing no more good to his Cause whereas himself did him no good at all Like to Critias in Xenophon and his Dealings against Theramenes lib. 2. Hist says Theramenes I labour to reconcile divided Factions and he calls me a Slipper to fit the right Foot and the left because I set my self to please all sides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What shall I call him that pleaseth no side that can do a pleasure to no side They that were present at all Debates did discern that no Service could be done to the Crown without a mixture of Moderation A dram of such Wisdom was worth a pound of Flattery For as one says wittily A besmeared Dog doth but dirty him upon whom he fawns 74. When the Commons fell roundly to sist the exacting of the Loan the Ill-will gotten by it touch'd none so near as the Clergy So ill was it taken that their Pulpits had advanc'd it and that some had preach'd a great deal of Crown Divinity as they call'd it And they were not long to seek for one that should be made an Example for it But to make that which was like to be by consequent less offensive they unanimously voted a Gist of five Subsidies before the King's Servants had spoke a word unto it A Taste of Loyalty and Generosity that willing Supplies should rather come from a sense of the King's Wants than be begged Straitway they called Dr. Maynwaring the King's Chaplain before them for preaching but rather for printing two Sermons deliver'd before the King the one at Oatland's the other at Alderton in the Progress in July neither of them at St. Giles in the Fields as Mr. W. S. might have found in the Title Page of them both These being in print no Witnesses needed to be deposed the Doctrine was above the Deck sufficiently discover'd The Sermons both preach'd upon one Text Eccles 8.2 are confessedly learned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein Art and Wit have gone about to make true Principles beget false Conclusions It was not well done to hazard the dangerous Doctrine in them for the Learning sake to the view of the World for not the Seeds of a good Melon but the good Seeds of a Melon should be preserved to be planted No notice was taken of the King 's Special Command to publish these Tractates but severing the Author by himself he is design'd to be censur'd as Keepers beat Whelps before their Lions to make them gentler And the Charge is brought up to the Lords That the Sermons were scandalous feditious and against the good Government of this Kingdom The Reverend Bishops one and all left him undefended Yet that was not enough to correct the Envy which the Clergy did undergo upon it so the Bishop of Lincoln stood up and gave reprehension to some Points of both his Sermons in this manner In the former of these Sermons pag. 2. Dr. Maynwaring begins his Work upon the Loom with these Threads That of all Relations the first and original is between the
Creator and the Creature the next between Husband and Wife the third between Parents and Children the fourth between Lord and Servants From all which forenamed respects there did arise that most high sacred and transcendent Relation between King and Subjects A strange Expression which calls the last a transcendent Relation arising out of all the former when the first of the four was between the Creator and the Creature God is a great God a King above all Gods A good King indeed is a petty God as a Tyrant is a great Devil but far be it from us to call the King's relation to his People transcendental the Maker of all things and his Workmanship being brought in before Yet let that go not for a wilful Fault but for an unwary Expression In the 19th Page he breaks out thus into a transcendent Error If any King shall command that which stands not in opposition to the Original Laws of God Nature Nations and the Gospel though it be not correspondent in every Circumstance to Laws National and Municipal no Subject may without hazard of his own Damnation in rebelling against God question or disobey the Will and Pleasure of his Soveraign for as a Father of the Country he commands what his Pleasure is and out of Counsel and Judgment So on to the end of that Leaf The first words If any King have a great failance as if all Kings all alike had the same Command over their Subjects without distinction of Government meer and absolute from mixt and restrained The body of the Doctrin is worst of all that it concerns us upon our Loyalty nay upon our Salvation for else Damnation is threatned to yield not only Passive Obedience which is due but Active also if the King's Will and Pleasure be notified in any thing not opposite to the Law of God and Nature Wherein if he had insisted upon those same things that do not appear to be yet determin'd and have no evil Sequel it might be allow'd him But that we are bound to act whatsoever a King requires where the Law and his Will are diametrically opposite and be damn'd if we draw back or question it is as corrupt as it 〈◊〉 ble Under the same Monarchy in Spain an Arragonian will not believe that he is obliged to those Edicts of his King which are directed to a Castilian the Laws have differenc'd them in the mode of their Duties What Privilege is it to be born Free and not a Bond-man but that the Free-man knows how far he is to serve and a Bond-man doth not If Subjection is due as much to the King's Pleasure as to his Laws there is no bottom in Obedience Says Stamford the learned Lawyer Misera servitus est ubi jus est vagum incognitum And is it but a Complement that a King swears at his Coronation to govern by his Laws Nay sure if Contracts and Promises bind GOD to Man much more they bind the King to his People The Anchor at which Obedience rides is the Law it is good Divinity Where there is no Law there is no Transgression And it is good Morality Vir bonus est quis Qui consulta patrum qui leges juraque servat This Dr. tells us again pag. 26. That this Sacred and Honourable Assembly is not ordain'd to contribute any Right to Kings to receive Tribute which is due to them by natural and original Law and Justice That our meeting is only for the more equal imposing and exacting of Subsidies If the supreme Magistrate upon Necessity extream and urgent require Levies of Moneys beside the Circumstances which the Municipal Laws require he that doth not satisfie such Demands resists the Ordinance of God and receives Damnation to himself The Foundation is well laid but his Superstructure is crazy for where it were Sin to say that Reliess and Aids were not due to some persons it is no Sin to say they should not be their own Carvers Testatus a great Bishop a great Counsellor a great Scholar writes upon the noted place De jure regio 1 Sam. c. 8. That Tribute is due to a Prince by his original Right but with moderation for the quantity and with the Consent of the Subjects for the manner time and other circumstances Says St. Paul Who goes a warfare at his own charges 1 Cor. 9.7 yet as well the General as the Rout of the Army must not prescribe their Pay but be contented with their Wages as John Baptist told them Luk. 3.14 A Son doth not honour his Father if he do not succour him in his Poverty but the Son is not bound to let him take what he will in purveyance for himself The Author whom this Dr. quotes Saravia hath instanc'd in Samoisius in the Poets Iliads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was slain a young man and liv'd not long because he did not cherish his Parents A Passage to make us think that Homer had read the first Command of the second Table Those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fostering Allowances were due to Parents because they were Parents yet by free apportionating them according to the Duty and Wisdom of the Children as they might provide for their own Posterity 75. More of this is ingeminated in the second Sermon from pag. 24 to 26. as in these words Religion doth often associate God and the King First from the communion of Names Secondly from the near bordering of Offences that reflect upon God and the King Thirdly from the parity of Beneficence which men enjoy from God and sacred Kings Upon this last he doth expatiate in three points 1. That as Men cannot in way of Justice recompence God nor Children their Parents so nor Subjects their Kings for legal Providence 2. Justice so properly call'd intercedes not between GOD and Man nor between the Prince being a Father and the People as Children It cannot be a Rule or Medium to give God and the King his Right 3. Justice is only between Equals To begin at the last this Position Justice is only between Equals is a mistaking of Arist lib. 5. Eth. c. 6. Who there makes them Equals which are not under one man for that he denieth totidem verbis but under one Law to the which he doth subject the Magistrate as all the School-men do the King that is to the direction of it not to the penal coaction And if Justice be not but between Equals how can there be any Justice at the Kings-bench Exchequer Star-chamber Court of Wards c To go back now to his other two Positions mingling them together observe two things First All that he speaks of God and his being unrecompensable by ordinary way of Justice he borrows it out of Suarez as his Margin confesseth lib. 3. de Relig. c. 4. and of his own Head applieth to the King without Suarez or any other Writer Nor can Suarez Reason be applied to the King which is this Man for his weak Condition in comparison
Lay-Lords and consequently continued present in Judicature in the eye and construction of the Law Therefore I apply my Answers to Courtney's Protestation principally which are divers and fit to be weighed and ponder'd First I do observe that Bishops did never protest or withdraw in Causes of Blood but only under the unsteddy Reign of Richard the Second Never before nor after the time of that unfortunate King to this present Parliament for ought appears in Record or History And that one Swallow should make us such a Spring and one Omission should create a Law or Custom against so many Actions of the English Prelates under so many Kings before so many Kings and Queens after that young Prince seems to me a strange Doctrine especially when I consider that by the Rules of the Civil and Common Law a Protestation dies with the death of him that makes it or is regularly vacated and disannulled Per contrarium actum subsequentem protestationem by any one subsequent act varying from the tenour of the said Protestation Regul Juris Bap. Nicol. part 2. Now that you may know how the Prelates carried themselves in this point and actually voted in Causes of Treason and sometimes to Blood before Richard the Second I refer me to what I cited before out of Mr. Selden and he out of Stephanides concerning Becket condemned by his Peers Ecclesiastical and Temporal 15 H. 2. Archbishop Stratford acquitted of High Treason in Parliament by four Prelates four Earls and four Barons under Edward the Third Antiq. Britan. p. 223. There was 4 Ed. 3. Roger de Mortimer Berisford Travers and others adjudged Traitors by Bishops as well as other Peers 16 Ed. 3. Thomas de Berkely was acquitted of Treason in pleno Parliamento And especially I refer my self to Roll 21 Rich. 2. Num. 10. which averrs That Judgments and Ordinances in the time of that King's Progenitors had been avoided by the absence of the Clergy which makes the Commons there to pray that the Prelates would make a Procurator by whom they might in all Judgments of Blood be at the least legally if they durst not be bodily present in such Judicatures And for the practice since the Reign of Rich. II. be it observed that in the fifth of Hen IV. the Commons thank the Lords Spiritual and Temporal for their good and rightful Judgment in freeing the Earl of Northumberland from Treason 3 Hen. 5. The Commons pray a Confirmation of the Judgment given upon the E. of Cambridge by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal 5 H. 5. Sir J. Oldcastle is attainted of Treason and Heresie by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal 28 H. 6. The Duke of Suffolk is charged with Treason before the Lords Spiritual and Temporal 31 H. 6. The Earl of Devon in like sort and so down to the Earl of Bristol's Case 22 Maii 1626. ten Bishops are joyned with ten Earls and ten Barons in the disquisition and agitation of that supposed Treason I leave it therefore to any indifferent Judgment Whether these Protestations made all under one Kings Reign dying with the Parties that made them can void a Right and Custom grounded on a continual Practice to the contrary in all other Tryals that have been since the Conquest to this present Parliament 151. Secondly It is fitting we know the nature of a Protestation which some may mistake Protestatio est animi nostri declaratio juris acquirendi vel conservandi vel damnum depellendi causâ facta saith Spiegle Calvin and all the Civilians No Protestation is made by any man in his Wits to destroy his own Right and much less another mans but to acquire or preserve some Right or to avoid and put off some Wrong that was like to happen to the Party or Parties that make the Protestation As here in Courtney's Protestation the Prelates in the first place conceive a Right and Power they had voluntarily to absent themselves while some matters were treated of at that time in the House of Lords which by the Canon-Law the Breach whereof the Popes of Rome did vindicate in those times with far more Severity than they did the Transgressions of the Law of God they were not suffer'd to be present at not for want of Right to be there in all Causes but for fear of Papal Censures In the next place they did preserve their former Right as Peers which they still had though voluntarily absenting themselves More solito interessendi considerandi tyactandi ordinandi definiendi all things without exception acted and executed in that Parliament And in the last place they protest against any loss of right of being or voting in Parliament that could befall them for this voluntary absenting of themselves at this time And where in all this Protestation is there one word to prejudice their Successors or to authorize any Peer to command his fellow-Peer called thither by the same Writ of Summons that himself is and by more ancient Prescription to withdraw and go out from this Common-Council of the Kingdom Thirdly We do not certainly know what these matters were whereat Archbishop Courtney conceived the Prelates neither could nor ought to be present These matters are left in loose and general words in that Protestation Some conceive indeed it was at the Condemnation of Tressilian Brambre L. Beauchamp and others Ant. Brit. p. 286. But the Notes of Privileges belonging to the Lords collected by Mr. Selden do with more reason a great deal assign this going forth of the Prelates to be occasion'd by certain Appeals of Treason preferred in that Parliament by the Duke of Gloucester against Alexander Archbishop of York whom the Popish Canons of those Times as you know exempted as a sacred person from the cognizance of King or Parliament and therefore the rest of the Bishops as the Squares went then neither could nor ought to be present and Parties to break the Exemptions Immunities and Privileges of that great Prelate But the Earl of Strafford is not the Archbishop but the President of York and to challenge any such Exemptions and Immunities at this time from the cognizance of King and Parliament amounts to little less than Treason Therefore this Protestation is very unseasonably urged to thrust out any Protestant Prelate from voting in Parliament Lastly In the Civil and Canon-Law for the Law of this Land knoweth it not a Protestation is but a Testation or witnessing before-hand of a man 's own Mind or Opinion whereby they that protest provide to save and presorve their own Right for the time to come It concludes no more bende themselves no Stranger to the Act no Successor but if it be admitted sticks as inherent in the singular and individual person until either the Party dyes or the Protestation be drawn and revoked Therefore what is a Protestation made by Will. Courtney to Will. Laud Or by Tho. Arundel to bind Tho. Morton And what one Rule in the Common-Law of the Land in the Journaâ—-Books or
that saving unto themselves all their Rights and Interests of Sitting and Voting in the House at other times they dare not Sit or Vote in the House of Peers until your Majesty shall further secure them from all Affronts Indignities and Dangers in the Premisses Lastly Whereas their Fears are not built upon Phantasies and Conceipts but upon such Grounds and Objects as may well terrifie men of good Resolutions and much Constancy They do in all duty and humility protest before your Majesty and the Peers of the most Honourable House of Parliament against all Laws Orders Votes Resolutions and Determinations as in themselves null and of none effect which in their absence since the 27th of this Instant-month of Decemb. 1641 have already passed As likewise against all such as shall hereafter pass in that most Honourable House during the time of their forced and violent absence from the said most Honourable House Not denying but if their absenting of themselves were wilful and voluntary that most Honourable House might proceed in all the Premisses their Absence or this Protestation notwithstanding And humbly beseeching your most Excellent Majesty to command the Clerk of that House of Peers to enter this Petition and Protestation amongst his Records They will ever pray to God to bless and preserve c. Subscribed by Joh. Eborac Tho. Dunelm Ro. Cov. and Lich. Jos Norwicen Joh. Asaphensis Gul. Bath Wellen. Geo. Hereford Rob. Oxen. Matth. Elien Godfr Glocestr Job Petroburg Maur. Landoven 169. Hear and admire ye Ages to come what became of this Protestation drawn up by as many Bishops as have often made a whole Provincial Council They were all call'd by the Temporal Lords to the Bar and from the Bar sent away to the Tower Nonne fuit satius tristes formidinis iras Atque superba pati fastidia A rude World when it was safer to do a Wrong than to complain of it The People commit the Trespass and the Sufferers are punish'd for their Fault 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athen. lib. 9. A Proverb agreeing to the drunken Feasts of the Greeks If the Cook dress the Meat ill the Minstrils are beaten That day it broke forth that the largest part of the Lords were fermentated with an Anti-episcopal Sourness If they had loved that Order they would never have doomed them to a Prison and late at night in bitter Frost and Snow upon no other Charge but that they presented their Mind in a most humble Paper to go abroad in safety Ubi amor condimentum inerit quidvis placiturum spero Plaut in Casin Love hath a most gentle hand when it comes to touch where it loves Here was no sign of any silial respect to their Spiritual Fathers Nothing was offer'd to the Peers but the Substance was Reason the Style lowly the Practice ancient yet upon their pleasure without debate of the Cause the Bishops are pack'd away the same night to keep their Christmas in Durance and Sorrow And when this was blown abroad O how the Trunch-men of the Uproar did fleer and make merry with it But the Disciples of the Church of England took it very heavily not for any thing the good Bishops had done but for that they suffer'd for a Prisoner is not a Name of Infamy but Calamity Poena damnati non peccati Cic. pro Dom. Estque pati poenam quà m meruisse minùs Ovid. lib. 1. de Pont. Nothing can be more equal than to lay the Objections the Lords made and York's Answers for the Protestation together as they go from Hand to Hand to this day in Town and City And let the Children judge what their Fathers did if they read this hereafter Obj. 1. That the Petition is false the Lords did not sit in Fear as my Lord of Worcester Winchester London Nor was it the Petition of all the Bishops about London and Westminster not of Winchester London Rochester Worcester 〈◊〉 If this were true yet were it not Treason against any Canon or Statute-Law but the Fact is otherwise First the Fear complained against is not for the time of their Sitting in the House but for the time of their coming unto and going from the said House and it is easie to prove they were then in Fear Secondly They know best whether they were in Fear or no who subscribed or agreed to the Petition And my Lord of Winchester agreed in it as much as the rest and instanced in the cause of his Fear his chasing to Lambeth Thirdly For the other part of the Objection the Bishop of London was then at Fulham Rochester in Kent Worcester at Oxford nor doth the Title of the Petition comprehend them as not being about London and Westminster Winchester did agree thereunto and came thither to subscribe and it was resolved his Name should have been called for ere ever it was to be solemnly preferred to the King which was never intended to be but when the King sate in the Upper House of the Lords which the Bishops intended to pray His Majesty to do And this appears by the Superscription of the Petition Obj. 2. The nulling of all Laws to be made at this time that the Kingdom of Ireland was in jeopardy was a conspiring with the Rebels to destroy that Kingdom and so amounted to Treason or a high Misdemeanour 〈◊〉 1. A Protestation annulleth no Law but so far as the Law shall extend to the Parties protesting Nor so far but in case that the Parties protesting shall afterward judicially prove their right to annull that Law So that it was impossible any Protestation of the Bishops should actually intend to hinder the Relief of Ireland 2 The Relief of Ireland by 10000 Scots and 10000 English was voted and concluded long before this Protestation and all the Particulars of that great business referr'd to a Committee of both Houses and the Bishops unanimously assented thereto So that the Relief of Ireland comes not within the Date and Circumscription of this Protestation And the Bishops call God to witness they never conceived one Thought that way 3. The Bishops protested against no Laws or Orders at all to be annulled absolutely and for all the time of this Session of Parliament simply but for that space of time only wherein they should be forcibly and violently kept from the said Parliament by those rude and unruly People So that as soon as the King and the Lords did quiet their passage unto Parliament which the Lords did do before this Petition was read in Parliament and that any of the Bishops were present there the Protestation was directly null and of none effect so as indeed the Protestation was void and dead in Law before the L. Keeper brought the Petition in question into the House because the Bishop of Winchester and some others had even then quiet access unto that Honourable House And the Bishops conceived the Protestation void in such a case and do most humbly wave and revoke the same and humbly desire both
sweetness of his Patience that he would have tarried with them and hop'd for better But moderate men did see no likelyhood And why should a gracious Prince imbrier himself any longer in Thorns and do no good but leave his Wooll behind him There are a sort of People in Gusman's Hospital that when a Friend stays long whom they had waited for look often out of the Window to spy him as if he would come the sooner for that impertinency Plautus hath drawn it up elegantly in his Stychus Si quem hominem expectant eum solent provisere Qui herclè illâ causâ nihilo citiùs veniet Would you have a wife King one of this ridiculous Hospitals And it was not wisdom only but heroick Magnanimity that he would not seem to deserve any thing by those Favours in passing their ill-fram'd Bills which he verily thought would be pluck't up by the Roots when the Day of the Lord should come to redeem us Matter so corrupt and the manner so compulsory must needs fall to the ground upon review in sober Times Quae in pace latae sunt leges bellum abrogat quae in Bello pax It is Livies Else cast it into this Answer His Majesty discern'd that he himself had marred both Houses and he would do them no more harm to concur with them in their Excess of Disobedience and Profaneness For what made them stretch themselves beyond their Power but the King's Act which gave them liberty to sit beyond lawful measure A Session sitting long grows sour and stale and is like to Theophrastus's Date-tree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When it is young the Fruit it bears is without a stone in it but if it grow long a Date-stone is so hard that it will break good Teeth to crack it So this Convention being durable against Dissolution wax't very corrupt surly and tyrannical There were worthy Men among them some very learned in the Laws other Gentlemen well experienced in the Nature of the People of whom some were tired out and gone and much that remained was Lumber and Luggage tumbled together in a waste Room which brought up at last their final farewel and expulsion so generally applauded as Ballads and Pasquils did testifie Behold Sidonius his Judgment Lib. 1. Ep. 7. upon Arvandus a great Officer in his days Non eum aliquando cecidisse sed tamdiu stetisse plus miror qui primam praefecturam gubernavit cum maximâ popularitate sequentem cum maximâ populatione So our imperious Masters were flatter'd at first for Popularity and hated in the end for Depopulation And to put a signal Remark of Disgrace upon them it is not forgotten before they were carried out of their House like empty Casks with a Brewers sling 180. Some Pieces of Apology are patch't into this old Garment which in my Judgment make the Rent worse When things were gone so far out of Order it was a hard thing for a man to speak truth to himself Hear them howsoever for sometimes there is likelyhood in that which is a lye and sometimes Truth in that which is unlikely It is not amiss to alledge that the Authority of Parliaments hath been venerable from times of old but it is most certain that the Majesty Royal was evermore venerable For the King is God's Representative and the most part of their Patriots but the Representatives of the People But they would teach us That the Judgment of the whole Land speaks in the mouth of their Parliament I cannot be their Disciple in that I am sure their sense was not the sense of thousand thousands abroad and the Parliament indeed supplies our Political Capacity but they do not carry with them our Personal Wisdoms Says another Were we not frank of our Loyalty when we promis'd we would make his Majesty a great King This Spot at first made a shew of a good Card but to their shame I rejoyn there was a great disparity between the Promises and the Sequels Antisthenes so Laertius came to see Plato being sick just after his Physick had wrought Says Antisthenes I see your Choler in the Bason but not your Pride so every plain man might read the slattery of the Promise but not find the fraud They make him a great King It was God that made him a King and in that Title made him great Inde potestas illi unde spiritus Tertul. Apol. And by what sign did it appear they would make him great or what did they not do to make him a great Underling To give him Law to subject him to their Votes is the greatness of a Tympany which swells and kills The Sophistry in which they gloried most was extracted out of the Jesuits Learning That they were faithful to the Regal Office which remained in the two Houses albeit his departure but contrary to this man in his personal Errors and if they obey in his Kingly Capacity and Legal Commands against his Person they obey himself All this beside words is a subtle nothing For what is himself but his Person Shall we against all Logick make Authority the Subject and the Person enforcing it a have Accident It sounds very like the Parodox of Transubstantiation where◠〈◊〉 qualit â— of Bread and Wine are feigned to subsist without the Inherence of a substance With these Metaphysicks and Abstractions they were not Legal but Personal Traitors If an Undersheriff had arrested Harry Martin for Debt and pleaded that he did not imprison his Membership but his Martin ship would the Committee for Priviledges be sob'd off with that distinction Learnedly â—aravia de ob Christ p. 51. Eundem hominem partiri Jurisconsulti nesciunt ut idem homo sibi imperet parâ—at Whatsoever a man's relations be they are so conjoyned to the Suppositum that you cannot treat with him partly in honour partly in dishonour as in terms of opposition And sometime there is not so much as a notional Difference between Imperial and Personal Respect St. Paul instructs the Christians at Rome That every Soul should be subject to the higher Powers The higher Power under which they lived was the meer Power and Will of Caesar bridled in by no Law Pliny in his Panâ—g speaks it openly to Trajan Ipse te legibus subjecisri Caesar quas nemo Principi scripsit This was too much For Kings should not Rule without limitation of Laws as Claudian to Honortus Primus jussa capi tune observantior aequi Fit populus But if they fail who shall judge them but God To obey the King is God's Law to obey our Laws is the Ordinance of Man therefore the Bodies and Estates of the Subjects are obnoxious to the Common Laws and the King to nothing but his Conscience It is God only that avengeth the violation of Conscience it is above the Judgment of Men. But I return to St. Paul There was no distinction then in the Roman Empire between a Legal and Personal Capacity yet Let every Soul be
His Majesty for a Pension to support them in their sequestred Sadness where they might spend their Days in Fasting and Prayer It was vehemently considered that our Hierarchy was much quarrel'd with and opposed by our own Fugitives to the Church of Rome who would fasten upon this Scandal and upon it pretend against our constant Succession hitherto undemolish'd with all the Malice that Wit could excogitate And indeed they began already For the Fact was much discoursed of in Foreign Universities who were nothing concerned especially our Neighbours the Sorbonists at Paris ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 4.15 over-busie to have an Oar in our Boat Disputing it three several times in their Schools and concluded the Accident to amount to a full Irregularity which is an Incapacity to exercise any Ecclesiastical Act of Order or Jurisdiction His Majesty upon the eruption of these Scruples was called up to think seriously that his Sweetness and Compassion did not leave a Slur upon this Church which himself under Christ had made so Glorious It belonged to the four Bishops Elect to be most Circumspect in this matter expecting their Consecration shortly and to be informed whether they should acknowledge that the Power of an Arch-Bishop was Integral and Unblemish'd in a casual Homicide and submit to have his Hands laid upon their Heads Dr. Davenant shewed Reason That it behoved him not to be seen in the Opposition because the Arch-Bishop had Presented him to the rich Parsonage of Cotnam not far from Cambridge It was well taken for among honest Pagans a Benesiciary would not contend against his Patron Howsoever such as knew not the wherefore were the more benevolous to the Arch-Bishop's misfortune because so great a Clerk stood off and meddled not The Rhodian's Answer in Plutarch was not forgotten who was baited by his Accusers all the while that the Judge said nothing I am not the worse for their Clamours says the Defendant but my Cause is the better that the Judge holds his peace Non refert quid illi loquantur sed quid ille taceat The other three without Davenant stirred in it the most they could to decline this Metropolitan's Consecreation not out of Enmity or Superstition but to be wary that they might not be attainted with the Contagion of his Scandal and Uncanonical Condition The Lord-Keeper appearing for the rest writes thus to the Lord Marquess as it is extant Cabal p. 55. MY Lord's Grace upon this Accident is by the common-Common-Law of England to forfeit all his Estate to His Majesty and by the Canon-Law which is in force with us irregular Ipso facto and so suspended from all Ecclesiastical Function until he be again restored by his Superior which I take it is the King's Majesty in this Rank and Order of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction I wish with all my heart His Majesty would be as Merciful as ever He was in all his Life But yet I hold it my Duty to let His Majesty know by your Lordship that His Majesty is fallen upon a Matter of great Advice and Deliberation To add Affliction to the Afflicted as no doubt he is in Mind is against the King's Nature To leave a Man of Blood Primate and Patriarch of all his Churches is a thing that sounds very harsh in the old Councils and Canons of the Church The Papists will not spare to descent upon the one and the other Heave the Knot to His Majesties deep Wisdom to Advise and Resolve upon A gentler Hand could not touch a Sore yet I think of his Judgment in this Point as Sealiger did of the sine Poet Fracostorius Ab suâ ipse magnitudine descendisse credi potest aliquando He flew lower at this Game then the pitch of his wonted Wisdom For the Question did hang yet upon this Pin Whether there were a Sore to be cured His Lordship had look'd attentively into the Canonists whom he could cite by rote with his happy Memory Their Decretals and Extravagants Un-bishop a Man that kill'd a Man and meant a Beast nay further if the Bishop's Horse did cast the Groom that water'd him into a Pond and drown'd him But if we Appeal from them to higher and better Learning their Rigour will prove Ridiculous The Fact is here confess'd But is Sin in the Fact or in the Mind of the Facient Omne peccatum in tantum est peccatum in quantum est voluntarium This is the Maxim of the Schools upon actual Sins and a true one A guilty Mind makes a guilty Action An unfortunate Hand concurs often with an innocent Heart Quis nomen unquam sccleris errori indidit Put the Case that these Writers are very inclinable to have Absolution granted incontinently to such Contingencies but to keep a bustle whether Absolution is to be given or not when there is no fault is to abuse the Power of the Keys Irregularities in that Superstitious Latin Church are above Number what have we to do with them That we did cut them off we did not name it indeed in our Reformation under Edward the Sixth c. for they were thrown out with Scorn as not to be mention'd among ejected Rubbish For we perceived they were never meant to bind but to open I mean the Purse He that is Suspended may entangle himself from the Censure with a Bribe The Canonists are good Bone-letters for a Bone that was never broken their Rubrics are filled with Punctilio's not for Consciences but for Consciuncles Haberdashers of small Faults and palpable Brokers for Fees and Mercinary Dispensations Therefore those plain-dealing and blunt People among the Helvetians otherwise Clients of the Roman Party serv'd them very well as Simler hath Page 64. of his History Cum Papa Rom acceptà pecuniâ Matrimonium contra canones concesserat populus recognitâ statuit Si divitious pecunià numeratâ hoc licitum sit etiam pauperibus absque pecunid fas essc And a little before Pag. 135. when those poor Cantoners could not enjoy their own in quiet for the Rent-gatherers of the Court of Rome they bid them keep off at their own peril with this popular Edict Si pergant nundinatores bullarum jus urgere in vincula conjiciontur ni huic renuntient aquis submorgantur scilicet ut ita bullae bullis eluantur Such resolute Men as these were too rude to be cozen'd So Irregularities should be used which are invented for the Prosit of Dispensative Graces having nothing in them to Unsanctisie the Order of a Bishop by Divine Law or the Law of Nature because they can be wiped away with a Feather if it be a Silver Wing and the Feathers of Gold But because these double Doctors of Canon and Civil Laws will pretend to some Reason in their greatest Folly it is not amiss to repeat the best Objection with which they stiffen their Opinion Thus they divide the Hoof That if one by chance-medly kills a Man being then employed in nothing that is evil
easier then to observe two which are in Print already But Twelve days after he was sworn Lord Keeper Mr. Secretary Calvert wrote to him and used the King's Name and to make all the stronger the Spanish Ambassadors Mediation was not wanting to deliver one Rockweed a Papist out of the Fleet. Not a jot the sooner for all this but he excuseth his Rigor to the Lord Marquess Cabal p. 62. That he would not insame himself in the beginning to break his Rules so foully which he was Resolv'd to keep straight against ah Men whatsoever Another of the same Stamp pag. 65. One Beeston had been committed from the Power of the High Court of Chancery loathing this Captivity he besought this New Officer to be Releas'd and was denied he Cries out for Mercy to the King Roars out that the Parliament might hear him follows the Lord Bucking with his Clamors who advised the Keeper to consider upon it It is a Maxim indeed in Old Colwnella lib. 6. c. 2. pervicax contumacia plerumque saevientem fatigat c. Boisterous Importunity thinks to fare better then modest Innocency but he gave the Lord Marquess this Answer My Noble Lord. Decrees once made must be put in Execution Else I will confess this Court to be the greatest Imposture and Grievance in the Kingdom The Damned in Hell do never cease repining at the Justice of God Nor the Prisoners in the Fleet at the Decrees in Chancery In the which Hell of Prisoners this one for Amiquity and Obstinacy may pass for a Lucifer I neither know him nor his Cause but as long as he stands in Contempt he is not like to have any more Liberty A Lion may be judg'd by these two Claws of his Pounce 83. And now I have past over these exordial Marks of his Demeanour and sufficiency before the Term began Upon the first day of it when he was to take his Place in Court he declined the Attendance of his great Friends who offered as the manner was to bring him to his first settling with the Pomp of an nauguration But he set out Early in the Morning with the Company of the Judges and some few more and passing through the Cloysters into the Abby he carried them with him into the Chappel of Henry the Seventh where he Prayed on his Knees silently but very Devoutly as might be seen by his Gesture almost a quarter of an hour then Rising up chearfully he was Conducted with no other Train to a Mighty Confluence that expected him in the Hall whom from the Bench of the Court of Chancery he Greeted with this Speech MY Lords and Gentlemen all I would to God my former Course of life had so qualified me for this Great Place wherein by the Will of God and the special Favour of the King I am for a time to bestow my self that I might have fallen to my Business without any farther Preface or Salutation Especially considering that as the Orator observes Id ipsum dicere nunquam sit non ineptum nisi cum est necessarium This kind of Orationing hath ever a Tincture of levity if it be not occasion'd by some urgent Necessity For my own part I am as far from Affecting this Speech as I was from the Ambition of this Place But having found by private Experience that sudden and unexpected Eruptions put all the World into a Gaze and Wonderment I thought it most convenient to break the Ice with this short Deliberation which I will limit to these two Heads my Calling and my Carriage in this Place of Judicature 84. For my Calling unto this Office it was as most here present cannot but know not the Cause but the Effect of a Resolution in the State to Change or Reduce the Governour of this Court from a Professor of our municipal Laws to some one of the Nobility Gentry or Clergy of this Kingdom Of such a Conclusion of State quae aliquando incognita semper justa as I dare not take upon me to discover the Cause so I hope I shall not endure the Envy Peradventure the managing of this Court of Equity doth Recipere magis minus and is as soon diverted with too much as too little Law Surely those Worthy Lords which to their Eternal Fame for the most part of an hundred years Govern'd and Honour'd this Noble Court as they Equall'd many of their own Profession in the knowledge of the Laws so did they excel the most of all other Professions in Learning Wisdom Gravity and mature Experience In such a Case it were but Poor Philosophy to restrain those Effects to the former which were produced and brought forth by those latter Endowments Examine them all and you shall find them in their several Ages to have the Commendation of the Compleatest Men but not of the deepest Lawyers I except only that mirror of our Age and Glory of his Profession my Reverend Master who was as Eminent in the Universal as any other one of them all in his choicest particular Sparguntur in omnes Uno hoc mista fluunt quae divisa beatos efficiunt conjuncta tenet Again it may be the continual Practise of the strict Law without a special mixture of other knowledge makes a Man unapt and undisposed for a Court of Equity Juris Consultus ipse per se nihil nisi leguleius quidam cautus acutus as M. Crassus was wont to define him They are and that cannot be otherwise of the same Profession with the Rhetories at Rome as much used to defend the Wrong as to Protect and Maintain the most upright Cause And if any of them should prove corrupt he carries about him armatam nequitiam that skill and Cunning to palliate the same that that mis-sentence which pronounced by a plain and understanding Man would appear most Gross and Palpable by their Colours Quotations and Wrenches of the Law would be made to pass for Current and Specious Some will add hereunto the Boldness and Confidence which their former Clients will take upon them when as St. Austin speaks in another Case They find That Man to be their Judg who but the other day was their hired Advocate Marie that depraedandi Memoria as St. Jerom calls it That promness to take Mony as accustom'd to Fees is but a Base and Scandalous Aspersion and as incident to the Divine if he want the Fear of God as to the common Lawyer or most Sordid Artizan But that that former Breeding and Education in the strictness of Law might without good Care and Integrity somewhat indispose a Practiser thereof for the Rule and Government of a Court of Equity I Learned long ago from Plinius Secundus a most Excellent Lawyer in his time and a Man of singular Rank in the Roman Estate for in his 2 3 and 6 Epist Making Comparison between the Scholastici as he calls them which were Gentlemen of the better sort bred up privately in feigned pleadings and Schools of Eloquence for the
Spur and Incentive to all the Students of the Law that they might more easily concoct those otherwise insupportable Difficulties and Harshness of their Studies in hope one Day to attein unto those Honours wherewith all of you by his Majesties Favour and your own Merits are now to be Invested Those outward Decorums of Magnificence which set forth your Exaltation this Day are very specious and sparkle so much in the Eyes of the young Fry that swim up after you that they cannot but make very sensible Impression in their Minds to follow your Industry that they may attein to your Dignity That Gold which you give away secundum Consuetudinem regni in hoc casu implies that by your faithful Labour and Gods Providence you have attein'd to the Wealth of a fair Estate And Wisdom is good with an Inheritance Eccles 7.11 Nay I wish heartily that all wise Men had plentiful Inheritances and that the Silly and Sottish were not so fortunate in gathering Treasure For a Rich ignorant Man is but a Sheep with a Golden Fleece Then your great and sumptuous Feast is like that at a Kings Coronation At which you entertain the Ambassadors of Foreign Kings now Resident about the City and the prime Officers and Nobility of this Realm But to ascend higher King Henry the Seventh in his own Person did Grace the Sergeants Feast held then at Ely-Palace in Holborn So estimable was your Order in those Days to that Mighty Monarch I should be too long if I should speak of the Ornament of your Head your pure Linen Coif which evidences that you are Candidates of higher Honour So likewise your Librata Magna your abundance of Cloth and Liveries your Purple Habits belonging antiently to great Senators yea to Emperors all these and more are but as so many Flags and Ensigns to call up those young Students that fight in the Valleys to those Hills and Mountains of Honour which you by your Merits have now atchieved Neque enim virtutem amplectimur ipsam Praemia si tollas 124. Gentlemen I have told you from the Explanation of your Title what you are by Denomination You must be dutiful and respect my Lords the Judges because you are but Servientes Servants And you must be Reverenced by all of your Robe but the Judges because you are Servientes ad Legem Journey-Men of the Law whereas the rest though call'd to the Bar are no more than Discipuli in Justinian's Phrase or as your own Books term Apprenticii mere Apprentices You serve in that Law which is of excellent Composure for the Relief of them that seek Redress in this Nation through all Cases And of rare Privilege it is above the Tryals of all other Kingdoms and States for the Tryal of those that are under Criminal Attainder by a Jury of their own Peers Which I find as one to have used in antient Polities but Cato major in his own Family Supplicium de Servo non sumsit nisi postquam damnatus est conservorum judicio He punish'd none of his Bondmen unless they were cast by the Verdict of their fellow Bondmen To be elected the prime Servants of our most wise and most equal Laws supposeth in you great Reading great Reason great Experience which deservedly casts Honour upon your Persons Emulous I may say Envious Censurers speak scornfully of your Learning and Knowledge that it is gainful to your at Home in your own Country but of no use or value abroad For what is a Sergeant or Counsellor of these Laws if he get Dover Cliffs at his back So I remember Tully in his Oration pro Murenâ being more angry than he had cause with Sâ—lpitius who was Vir juris consultissimus disdains his Skill with this Taunt Sapiens existimari nemo potest in eâ prudentiâ quae extra Romam nequicquam valet That was a wise Art indeed which was wise no further than the Praetors Courts in Râ—e Let Sulpitius answer for himself But in your behalf I have this to answer That beside your Judicious Insight into the Responsa Prudintum and the laudable Customs of this Kingdom which are proper with our Statute-Laws to our own People I say beside these the Marrow of the whole Wisdom of the Caesarcan Transmarine Law is digested into our Common and Statute-Laws as wiâ— easily appear to him that examines the Book of Entries or Original Writs Which makes you sufficient to know the Substance and Pith of the Civil Law in all Courts through Europe So that you would be to seek in their Text not in their Reason and in their Traverses and Formalities of Pleadings which are no prejudice to the Worthiness of your Function Now I have told you as a judge that you are Servants but Honourable Servants of the Law before I conâ— let me admonish you as a Bishop that you are in your highest Title the Servants of God Therefore keep a good Conscience in all things Serve that holy Law which bids you Not to pervert the Right and Cause of the Innocâ— I know it is very hard to discern the Right from the Wrong in many Suits till they come to be throughly sisted and examin'd So truly did Quimilian say Lib. 2. Cap. 8. Potest accidere ut ex utráque parte vir bonus dicat An honest Man in many Pleaâ— may be entertain'd on either side Therefore it is no discredit to your Profession that as the Aetolians in Greece of old and the Suitzers in the Cantâ—ns at this Day are often Auxiliaries of both sides in a pitcht Battail so you should be Feed to try your Skill either for Plaintiff or Defendant But when you discern a Clients Cause is rotten then to imploy your Cunning to give it Victory against Justice is intolerable The more vulgar that Iniquity is the more it is odious As Pliny said Lib. 8. Episto ad Russiuum Decipere pro meribus temporum prudentia est It was the great Blindness and Corruption of the Times when Cheating past for Wisdom He that labours by Witty Distortions to overthrow the Truth he serves Lucre and not God he serves Mammon and not the Law You know you cannot serve those two Masters for they are utterly opposite But to conclude three Masters you may nay you ought to serve which are subordinate Serve God Serve the King Serve the Law Ite alacres tantaeque precor confidite Causae I have ended The Fear of God go with you and his Blessing be upon you 125. All things upon this Festival Day of the new Sergeants were answerable to this Eloquent Speech Yet every Day look'd clowdy and the People were generally indisposed to Gawdy Solemnities because the Prince was in a far Country Others may undertake to write a just History of that Journey into Spain and a just History gives Eternity to Knowledge I fall upon no more than came under the dispatch of one Person upon whom I insist Yet some Passages upon the whole Matter will require their
Curses That Generation of male-contents to whose Love an Evil Counsellor woed him was ever false and untrusty not suspected but known ever since the Faction was first rock'd in the Cradle to be tied by no Benefits Importunate Suitors and ever craving And having sped think their Cause and their Deservings have paid Thanks sufficient to their Patron And look what Colours the King our Master hath laid upon them and they are in Oyl which will not be got out in his Instructions to his Prince Henry where upon bitter Experience he tells him That he was more faithfully served by the Highlanders Then what a Merchant have you got of this spiteful Minister who would have you to commit your Stock to their Managing who would bring you Hatred for Love and Infamy for Honour But if your Grace conceive that I am hitherto rather upon the Invective than the Proof I will step into another Point and clear it against all Contradiction That if your Grace appear in distracting the Church-Lands from their holy and rightful use your Endeavours shall be cried down in Parliament not to terrifie you that your Adversaries will increase and batter you with this great Shot that you attempted to dissolve the Settlement of Church and Laws You lose your self says the Duke in Generalities Make it out to me in particular if you can with all your Cunning what should lead you to say That the Motion you pick at should find repulse and baffle in the House of Commons I know not how you Bishops may struggle but I am much deluded if a great part of the Knights and Burgesses would not be glad to see this Alteration The Lord Keeper had a List of their Names in readiness a Scrowle which he always carried about with him which he pluck'd out and pray'd his Grace he might give him a Cypher of the Inclinations either of the most or of the Bell-weathers And having entred a little into that tedious Work the Duke snatch'd the Scrowle out of his Hand and running it over with his Eye said no more but I find abundance of Lawyers among them Yes Sir says the Keeper most of them Men of Learning and Renown in their Profession I think by my continual Negotiating with them I know their Addictions in Religion whether they stand right or which way they bend I will not prejudge the Speaker and one or two more God knows their Hearts But for the rest I know they will be strong for the supportance of the Cathedral Chapters Is it so said his Grace And what do you think of Sir Edward Coke Marry says the Keeper no Friend to an old Friend In the 39 of Queen Elizabeth when he was Atturney-General he Damm'd a Patent surreptitiously gotten before his time by those Lime-Hounds employ'd for Concealments by which they went far to swallow up the greatest part of the Demeasns of the Bishop of Norwich revived the Right of those Religious Possessions by his own Industry and Prosecution and for the most part at his own Charge and rested not till for more Security after the Patent was overthrown he had confirm'd those Lands to the Bishop by an Act of Parliament Therefore I would we had no worse Strings to our Bow than Sir Edward Coke But whom doth your Grace name next Nay says the Duke you are come to me my Lord in a lucky Hour I was never further than in an Equipoise about this Project Now I have done with it 'T is still-born and let it be interr'd without Christian Burial My Good Lord says the Lord Keeper I thank God for it And I would all the Kingdom knew as well as I do how soon your good Nature is brought to a right Understanding 212. Both did well The one prest his Doctrine home the other caught it up quickly like a good Disciple The best refuge to come out of an Errour is undelaying Repentance And as Curtius speaks for Alexander Lib. 10. Bona ejus Naturae sunt vitia temporum So I am sure the times put the Duke upon these Shifts and not his own Inclination If he had not been cleansed from those pernicious Infusions what a Sin had he drawn upon himself What Folly Worse then Ahab's that would cut down a poor Neighbors Vineyard to set Pot-Herbs But this were to root up God's Vineyard to succour a War that is to set Thorns and Thistles in the Room They that care not to be good will think how to be wife Yet did they ever think of that that make away the Inheritance of God's Holy Tribe in an Out-sale 'T is an unthrifty Sin And in Twenty Years or in half the time the Sacrilegious themselves will find that the common Purse of the State is the poorer by the Bargain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says an Heathen and to the purpose Athenae Lib. 6. Cap. 20. Prudent Men will continue the Oblations of their Forefathers Piety They were ever readier to supply the publick need in the Custody of the Church than in the Maws of Cormorants But where was he that taught the Duke so well VVhere was he you will say in the hour of darkness when the Thief came in and the Troop of Robbers spoiled without Hos Chap. 7. Vers 8. VVhen all that had been given to God in a Thousand Years by them that had the Godliest and the largest Hearts melted like Wax before the Fire of Hell To the Friends of Sion and to them that lament her waste places I return thus to them and to their Question Every one that wore a Mitre and a Linnen Ephod before the Lord was driven out of that place where Wickedness was Enacted as a Law He that was Couragious among the the Mighty did flee away naked in that Day Amos 2.16 But what if he had been in the Throng He might as well have commended a Beauty to a Blind Man or the smell of Nard to him that hath no Nostril as to have contested with them not to divide the Prey whose Ears God had not opened Multum refert in quae cujusque tempora Virtus inciderit Plin. N.H. Lib. 7. Cap. 28. Virtue is beholding to Good Times to act its part in as well as Good Times are beholding to Virtue Our most Laureat Poet Spenser Lib. 1. Cant. 3. tells of a sturdy Thief Kirkrapine Who all he got he did bestow To the Daughter of Corcea blind and slow And fed her fat with Feasts of Off'rings And Plenty which in all the Land did grow To meet with him and give him his hire Una had a fierce Servant for her Guard that attended her a Lyon who tore the Church-robber to pieces And what is meant by Una's Lyon That 's not hard to guess at But rather what 's become of Una's Lyon The Poet says afterward that Sans-Loy a Paynim-Knight had slain him Belike none is left now to defie Kirkrapine 213. Also some Care is to be taken against them that are unworthily promoted in the Church
Meditation as also to Repulse those who crept much about the Chamber Door he was sure for no good Nay and into the Chamber They were of the most addicted to the Church of Rome whom he controuled for their Sawciness and commanded them as a Privy Counsellor further off Impostors that are accustom'd to bestow Rubrick Lies upon the best Saints of God and whom they cannot pervert living to challenge for theirs when they are Dead So being rid of these Locusts he was continually in Prayer while the King linger'd on and at last shut his Eyes with his own Hand when his Soul departed Whatsoever belong'd to Church Offices about the Royal Exequies fell to his part afterward He perform'd the Order of Burial when the Body was reposed in the Vault of King Henry the Sevenths Chappel appointed only for that famous King's Posterity and their Conforts He Preach'd the Sermon at the Magnificent Funeral out of the 2 Chron. c. 9. v. 29.30 and part of the 31. Now the rest of the Acts of Solomon First and Last are they not written in the Rock of Nathan the Prophet and in the Prophesie of Ahijah the Shilonite and in the Visions of Iddo the Seer against Jeroboam the Son of Nebat And Solomon Reigned in Jerusalem over Israel Fourty Years And Solomon slept with his Fathers and was Buried in the City of David his Father and no further Out of which Text he fetch'd two Solomons and Match'd them well together And I conceive he never Studied any thing with more care to deliver his mind apud honores exactly to the Truth and Honour of the King He enquired after the Sermon which Bishop Fisher made at the Funeral of King Henry the Seventh and procur'd it likewise for the Oration which Cardinal Peron made for King Henry the Fourth of France and had it by the means of Dr. Peter Moulin the Father These he laid before him to work by and no common Patterns 'T is useless to Blazon this Sermon in the Quarters take it altogether and I know not who could mend it It is in the Libraries of Scholars that are able to judg of it And such as Read it shall wrong King Charles his Son if they conceive any Passage Reflects upon him because Eloquence in the Body of the Sermon and in the Margent is commended in King James and Extoll'd to be very useful in Government Doth this derogate from the Honour of the Succeslor Chrisippus non dicet idem nec mite Thaletis ingenium Juvenal Sat. For King Charles might be allowed for an Elegant Speaker and choice in his matter if he had not stood so near to his Fathers Example 230. To whose Memory I stand so near having been carried on to Record his Happy Departure that I am prest in Conscience to do some right to his Worthiness He was a King in his Cradle Aequaevâ eum Majestate Creatus Nullaque privatae passus contagia sortis As Claudian of Honorius Paneg. l. 7. As he was born almost with a Scepter in his Hand so he had studied long to use it which made him much contest to keep Regal Majesty intemerated which was as good for us as for him Summum dominium est Spiritus vitalis quem tot millia Civium trahunt says Grotius out of Seneca de Ju. B. P. l. 2. c. 9. con 3. Which will Expound that Phrase in the Book of Lamentations That Josiah is call'd the Breath of the Jews Nostrils Some thought that the good King studied to Enthral the people far from his mind God wot But his speculation was that Northern Nations love not a Yoke upon their Necks and are prone to Anarchy that they will ruin themselves if they be not held down to a good temper of Obedience and that by too much Liberty Liberty it self will Perish It is is an Excellent Speech which Artabanus makes to Themistocles in Plutarch We hear of you Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that you love Liberty and Parity but among many good Laws this is the Chief in Persia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. To Honour our King and to Worship him as the Image of God And I trow the Persian Monarchs have lasted longer then the Burgo-Masters of Greece The Grast will have no Cause to Repent that it is bound close to the Stock it will grow the better But as King James did rather talk much of free Monarchy then execute it So no people did ever live more prosperously then we did under him and he made no ostentation of it If all were not turn'd upside downward of late I might declame out of the Paneg. to Constantine Quis non dico reminiscitur sed quis non adhuc quodam modò videt quantis ille rebus auxerit ornaritque rempub To what an immense Riches in his time did the Merchandize of England rise to above former Ages What Buildings What Sumptuousness What Feastings What gorgeous Attire What Massy Plate and Jewels What Prodigal Marriage Portions were grown in fashion among the Nobility and Gentry as if the Skies had Rained Plenty The Courts of Laws Civil and Common never had such practise nor the Offices belonging to them such Receipts upon their Books The Schools in the Universities and the Pulpits with Wits of all Arts and Faculties never flourish'd so before over all the Land Let Zion and the Clergy be joyful in the Remembrance of their King God bestowed with him upon the Land the Gift which Homer says Jupiter promised to Ulysses his Reign in Iâ—haca 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Odyss a. Enough of Wealth and Peace And they that suck at those two Breasts and are forward they know not what is good for them and are insensible of a Benefit Let them keep silence with shame enough that Ball aloud we were corrupted by them whose Fault was that Therefore God hath taken them away from us and will give them to a people that will use them better Neque jugi pace aut longo otio absoluta ingenia corrumpis says Capitol of M. Antonius A Soul of good Metal will never Rust in the Scabbard of Peace O with what mony would we be content to buy so many years of Peace again now Wars have trodden us under foot like Dirt If there be a Milky Circle upon Earth a Condensation of many comfortable and propitious stars it is Peace which this Peace-maker preserv'd at home and pursued it for his contemporary Potentates abroad till his Son-in-Law made an Attempt upon Bohemia unfortunate to himself and to all Christiandom But what says Ar. Wil. to this p. 160. His maintaining of Peace howsoever the World did believe it was out of a Religious Ground yet it was no other but a Cowardly disposition that durst not adventure Like as when L. Opimius had supprest C. Gracchus with the rascal Rabble that follow'd him and Opimius having pacified the uproar Dedicated a Temple to Concord The Seditious flouted it with this Verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
First That it was utterly against the Practice of the Court from the Foundation of it to fall upon a new Charge started out of a former before the first had been heard 2. That advantage was taken to undo any man living to gather new Impeachments out of the Books after the publication of the precedent Cause 3. That for all that was offer'd to the Court complaint had been openly made by Counsel and not disproved That it rose from the Prosecutors mis-leading and menacing of Witnesses whom Terrour and Imprisonment would not suffer to be constant to themselves Like as Eusebius reports lib. 6. Praepar Ervang c. 1. that when one importun'd the Oracle for an Answer and threatned if he staid any longer the Oracle told him Retine vim istam falsa enim dicam si coges Use no violence for I must tell a lye if you do Lastly The Bishop pleaded with Animosity quid enim loqueretur Achilles Ovid. Met. 13. that their Lordships ought to take such a Charge into Cognisance for Tampering had never been noted for Criminal Action before any Judgment in the Land which is not a Colour but a Maxime of Law which appears by that which is since publish 't by the Lord Cook in Jurisdiction of Courts c. 5. How that Court dealeth not with any offence which is not Malum in se against the Common Law or Malum prohibitum against some Statute And that Novelties without warrant of Praesidents are not to be allowed Assume now out of the Premises that no Example could be found that the censorious magnificence of the Star-Chamber had ever tamper'd with such a peccatulum as tampering Alteration in the forms of a Court beget the Corruption of the Substance Who ever read that a Bench of Honourable Judges came into hatred so long as it kept close to the ways of their wise and venerable Predecessors But says Symmachus in Ep. p. 14. Si adjiciantur insolita forsan consueta cessabunt When the People are over-lay'd with new Discipline perhaps the old Seats of Justice may crack in pieces The Lord Keeper knew Justice and loved it and did not obscurely signifie that he thought the Demur was reasonable which had almost removed him And he found by one occurrence that the Bishop's Case was to be severed from other mens For whereas a Proclamation came forth in October 1636. that because a Plague was begun in London and Westminster therefore all Pleas and Suits in Law should be suspended till Hillary Term was opened and the Bishop claimed the Priviledge that all things might be respited about his Cause branched out into ten Heads till that season The Proclamation indeed is full and clear on your side says the Lord Keeper but I have special directions that you shall have no benefit thereof And I tell you as a Friend if you rely upon the Proclamation your imprisonment is aimed at As if there were one Rule of Justice for all the Subjects in the Land and another for this Bishop who took his qu. from this Caveat to attend his Business and he did it with the more confidence that in seven years his Adversaries had got no ground of him as Grotius writes of the Spaniards siege at Haâ—rlem being seven months about it Annal. Belg. p. 42. Visi sunt vinci posse qui tam lentè vicerant 118. Of which none that look't into the Cause despair'd till the Scale was overturn'd by the weight of a most rigorous Censure The Charge in debate without any favour to the Defendant is thus comprised Anno 1634. when Kilvert wanted Water to turn his Mill Sir John Mounson and Dr. Farmery Chancellour of Lincoln offer'd themselves to debauch the Credit of Pregion the Bishop's Witness who both expected to have gained and did gain almost as much as Kilvert by the Avenues of the Cause To bring their Contrivance about a Bastard is laid to Pregion to be begotten of the Body of Elizabeth Hodgson and that he bribed her to lay it upon another Father The Bishop was to defend the Credit of his Witness and had to do with Matters and Persons in this Point wherein himself was altogether a Stranger He suspected ill dealing from Sir J. Mounson the great Stickler because he knew he hated Pregion for casting a Scandal upon his Lady as vertuous a Gentlewoman as the Country had in which Cause the Bishop had caused Pregion to give Satisfaction long before Then he had more assurance of Pregions Innocency because he was clear'd of this Bastard in a Sessions held at Lincoln in May Car. 9. and whereas it came again into debate at the Sessions 3 Octob. following and it was given out that an Order was past to find Pregion guilty the Bishop was certified that the Order was not drawn up in open Court and that it was inserted in many places with Farmeries hand And Thomas Lund being present at the Sessions asserted That it was not consented to by the Justices but drawn out of Sir J. Mounson's pocket He had Letters from Knights of far greater Estates than Sir John who likewise testified the same and from Mr. Richardson the Clerk of the Peace who refused to enter that Order and that it was excepted against in open Sessions by Mr. Sanderson a Counsellor of the Laws and by the greater part of the Bench as utterly illegal So that afterward being tried at the King's Bench for the illegality of it it was damned by all the four Judges Yet more to detect the Corruption of that Order at the next Sessions held in May the Justices discharged Pregion and laid the base Child upon one Booth a Recusant a Kinsman of Sir J. Mounson's which Judgment was so inerrable that it was proved by three Witnesses That upon the very day that the Bishop was sentenced Booth himself confest in the hearing of those Witnesses that Pregion had nothing to do with that baggage Woman but that he the said Booth at such a time and place did get her with Child and that Kilvert whom he cursed bitterly had promised him half the Fine to charge the Child upon Pregion and had not performed it and did vainly brag that Kilvert had brought him to kiss the King's hand This was detected when the sad day was over Et instaurant dolorem sera solatia Sym. p. 86. But the Objection lay not only upon the getting of the Child but how that Pregion or rather the Bishop had carried themselves to entangle the Witnesses that had sworn against Pregion which was the main Charge of the Information and the colour for the heavy Sentence The Bishop being authorized from the Star-Chamber to uphold the Credit of his Witness he found the Depositions of Lund Wetheral Alice Smith and Anne Tubb to press upon Pregion Grande doloris Ingenium est miserisque venit solertia rebus Metam lib. 6. So he did light upon a course which was inoffensive to extricate Pregion for his own safety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
and Representation of the Clergy a third estate if we may speak either with Sir Edw. Coke or the ancient Acts of Parliament have been in possession hereof these Thousand years and upward The Princes of the Norman Race indeed for their own ends and to strengthen themselves with Men and Money erected the Bishopricks soon after the Conquest into Baronies and left them to sit in the House with their double Capacities about them the latter invented for the profit of the Prince not excluding the former remaining always from the beginning for the profit and concernment of the poor Clergy and the State Ecclesiastical which appears not only by the Saxon Laws set forth by Mr. Lambert and Sir H. Spelman but also by the Bishops Writs and Summons to Parliament in use to this very day We have many President upon the Rolls that in vacancy of Episcopal Sees the Guardian of the Spirituals though but a simple Priest hath been called to fit in this Honourable House by reason of the former Representation and such an Officer I was my self over that See whereof I am Bishop some 25 years ago and might then have been summoned by Writ to this Honourable House at that very time by reason of keeping the Spirituality of that Diocess which then as a simple Priest I did by vertue of the aforesaid Office represent And therefore most noble Lords look upon the Ark of God's Representative that at this time floats in great danger in this Deluge of Waters If there be any Cham or unclean Creature therein out with him and let every man bear his own Burden but save the Ark for God and Christ Jesus sake who hath built it in this Kingdom for saving of People And your Lordships are too wise to conceive that the Word and Sacraments the means of our Salvation will be ever effectually received from those Ministers whose Persons shall be so vilified and dejected as to be made no Parcels or Fragments of this Common-wealth No faith Gregory the last Trick the Devil had in this World was this that when he could not bring the Word and Sacraments into disgrace by Errors and Heretical Opintens he invented this Project and much applauded his Wit therein to cast Slight and Contempt upon the Preachers and Ministers And my noble Lords you are too wise to believe what the common people talk that we have a Vote in the election of Knights and Burgesses and consequently some Figure and Representation in the noble House of Commons They of the Ministry have no Vote in these Elections they have no Representation in that Honourable House and the contrary Assertions are so slight and groundless as I will not offer to give them any answer And therefore R. Hon. Lords have a special care of the Church of England your Mother in this point And as God hath made you the most noble of all the Peers of the Christian World so do not you give way that our Nobility shall be taught henceforth as the Romans were in the time of the first and second Punick Wars by their Slaves and Bond-men only and that the Church of God in this Island may come to be served by the most ignoble Ministers that have ever been seen in the Christian Church since the Passion of our Saviour And so much for the first thing which this Bill intends of sever from Persons in Holy Orders viz. Votes and Representations in Parliament The next thing to be severed from them by this Bill is of a meaner Mettal and Alloy sittings in Star-Chamber sittings at Council-Table sitting in the Commissions of Peace and other Commissions of Secular Affairs which are such Favours and Graces of Christian Princes as the Church may have a being and subsistence without them The Fartunes of our Greece do not depend upon these Spangles and the Soveraign Prince hath imparted and withdrawn these kind of Favours without the envy or regret of any wise Ecclesiaâ—ical Persons But my noble Lords this is the Case our King hath by the Statute restored unto him the Headship of the Church of England and by the Word of God he is Custos utriusque tabulae And will your Lordships allow this Ecclesiastical Head no Ecclesiastical Senses at all No Ecclesiastical Person to be consulted withal not in any circumstance of Time and Place If Cranmer had been thus dealt withal in the minority of our young King Josias King Edward the Sixth of pious memory what had become of the great Work of our Reformation in this flourishing Church of England But I know before whom I speak I do not mean to Dine your Lordships with Coleworts the harsh Consequents of this Point your Lordships do understand as well as I. The last Robe that some Persons in Holy Orders are to be stript of hath a kind of Mixture of Freehold and Favour of the proper Right and Graces of the King which are certain old Charters that some few Bishops and many Ancient and Cathedral Churches have purchased and procured from the ancient Kings before and since the Conquest to inable them to live quiet in their own Precincts and close as they call it under a Justice or two of their own Body without being abandoned upon every slight occasion to the Injuries and Vexations of Mechanical Tradesmen of which your Lordships best know those Country Incorporations do most consist Now whether these sew Charters have their Foundation by Favour or by Right I should conceive under your Lordships savour it is neither Favour nor Right to take them away without some just Crime objected and proved For if they be abused in any particular Mr. Attorney-General can find an ordinary Remedy to repair the same by a Writ of Ad quod damnum without troubling the two Houses of Parliament And this is all I shall speak to this Point 165. And now I am come to the fourth part of this Bill which is the manner of Inhibition heavy every way heavy in the Penalty heavier a great deal in the Incapacity For the weighing of the Penalty will you consider I beseech you the small Wyres that is poor Causes that are to induce the same and then the heavy Lead that hangs upon those Wyres It is thus If a natural Subject of England interessed in the Magna Charta and Petition of Right as well as any other yet being a Person in Holy Orders shall happen unfortunately to Vote in Parliament to obey his Prince by way of Counsel or by way of a Commissioner be required thereunto then he is presently to lose and forfeit for his first offence all his means and livelyhood for one year and for the second to forfeit his Freehold in that kind for ever and ever And I do not believe that your Lordships ever saw such an heavy weight of Censure hang upon such thin Wyres of Reason in an Act of Parliament made heretofore This peradventure may move others most but it does not me It is not the Penalty