Sheriff or other Officer by whom the said VVrit of Capias or any of them shall be Returned as is aforesaid do make an untrue Return upon any the said VVrits that the party named in the said VVrit hath not yielded his Body upon the said Proclamations or any of them where indeed the party did yield himself according to the effect of the same that then every such Sheriff or other Officer for every such false and untrue Return shall forfeit to the party grieved and damnified by the said Return the Sam of 40 l. 2. For the which Sum of 40 l. the said party grieved shall have his Recovery and due Remedy by Action of Debt Bill Plaint or Information in any of the Queens Courts of Record in which Action Bill Plaint or Information no Essoign Protection or Wager of Law shall be admitted or allowed for the party Defendant 10. Saving and Reserving to all Arch Bishops and Bishops and all others having Authority to certisie any person Excommunicated and like Authority to accept and receive the submission and satisfaction of the said person so Excommunicated in manner and form heretofore used 2. And him to Absolve and Release and the same to signifie as heretofore it hath been accustomed to the Queen's Majesty Her Heirs and Successors into the High Court of Chancery 3. And thereupon to have such VVrits for the deliverance of the said person so absolved and released from the Sheriff's Custody or Prison as heretofore they or any of them had or of right ought or might have had any thing in this present Statute specified or contained to the contrary hereof in any wise notwithstanding 11. Provided alwayes That in Wales the Counties Palatines of Lancaster Chester Durham and Ely and in the Cinque Ports being Jurisdictions and places Exempt where the Queen's Majesty 's VVrit does not run and process of Capias from thence not Returnable into the said Court of the King's-Bench after any Significavit being of Record in the said Court of Chancery The Tenour of such Significavit by Mittimus shall be sent to such of the Head Officers of the said Country of Wales Counties Palatines and places Exempt within whose Offices Charge or Jurisdiction the Offenders shall be Resiant that is to say to the Chancellour or Chamberlain for the said County Palatine of Lancaster and Chester and for the Cinque-Ports to the Lord Warden of the same and for Wales and Ely and the County Palatine of Durham to the Chief Justice or Justices there 2. And thereupon every of the said Justices and Officers to whom such Tenour of Significavit with Mittimus shall be directed and delivered shall by virtue of this Estatute have Power and Authority to make like Process to the Inferiour Officer and Officers to whom the Execution of Process there doth appertain Returnable before the Justices there at their next Sessions or Courts two Moneths at the least after the Teste of every such Process 3. So alwayes as in every degree they shall proceed in their Sessions and Courts against the Offenders as the Justices of the said Court of King's-Bench are Limited by the Tenour of this Act in Term-times to do and Execute 12. Provided also and be it Enacted That any person at the time of any Process of Capias aforementioned Awarded being in Prison or out of this Realm in the parts beyond the Sea or within Age or of non sanae memoriae or woman Covert shall not incur any of the pains or forfeitures aforementioned which shall grow by any Return or Default happening during such time of Nonage Imprisonment being beyond the Sea or non sanae memoriae 2. And that by virtue of this Estatute the party grieved may plead every such cause or matter in bar of and upon the distress or other Process that shall be made for Levying of any of the said pains or forfeitures 13. And if that the Offender against whom any such Writ of Excommunicato Capiendo shall be Awarded shall not in the same Writ of Excommunicato Capiendo have a sufficient and lawful addition according to the form of the Statute of Primo of Henry the Fifth in cases of certain Suits whereupon Process of Exigent are to be Awarded 2. Or if in the Significavit it be not contained that the Excommunication doth proceed upon some cause or contempt of some Original matter of Heresie or refusing to have his or their child Baptized or to recieve the Holy Communion as it is now commonly used to be Received in the Church of England or to come to Divine Service now commonly used in the said Church of England or Errour in matters of Religion or Doctrine now received and allowed in the said Church of England Incontinency Vsury Simony Perjury in the Ecclesiastical Court or Idolatry 3. That then all and every pains and forfeitures limited against such persons Excommunicate by this statute by reason of such Writ of Excommunicato capiendo wanting sufficient Addition or of such Significavit wanting all the Causes afore mentioned shall be utterly void in Law 4. and by way of Plea to be allowed to the party grieved 14. And if the Addition shall be with a Nuper of the place Then in every such case at the Awarding of the first Capias with Proclamation according to the form mentioned one VVrit of Proclamation without any pain expressed shall be Awarded into the County where the Offender shall be most commonly Resiant at the time of the Awarding of the said first Capias with pain in the same VVrit of Proclamation to be returnable the day of the return of the said first Capias with pain and Proclamation thereupon at some one such time and Court as is Prescribed for the Proclamation upon the said first Capias with pain 2. And if such Proclamation be not made in the County where the Offender shall be most commonly Resiant in such cases of Addition of Nuper That then such Offenders shall sustain no pain or forfeitures by vertue of this Statute for not yielding his or her body according to the Tenour afore-mentioned any thing before specified and to the Contrary hereof in any wise Notwithstanding The Comment With a Discourse of the Nature of Excommunication and how to prevent or take off the VVrit De Excommunicato Capiendo THough Excommunications pretend a Title Jure Divino as an Institution of Christ and therefore his Sacred Name is therein made use of and several other Spiritual Phrases purporting that the same and all proceedings thereunto are by his Authority yet they being so commonly thundered out by persons who have immediately no Authority from our Lord or his Word to manage them and for such trivial Crimes as no Law of God hath ordered them against and in such a Light and precipitant manner as no part of Holy Scripture warranteth The wiser sort of men do therefore look upon them rather as Excommunings or a sort of Civil punishment like that in use among
Assent and Consent to the use of all things contained and prescribed in the Book of Common-Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites Ceremonies of the Church according to the use of the Church of England or have not subscribed the Declaration or Acknowledgment contained in a certain Act of Parliament made in the 14 Year of His Majesties Reign and Intituled An Act for the Vniformity of publick Prayers and Administration of Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies and for the establishing the Form of making ordaining and consecrating of Bishops Priests and Deacons in the Church of England according to the said Act or any other subsequent Act And whereas they or some of them and diverse other person and persons not ordained according to the Form of the Church of England and as have since the Act of Oblivion taked upon them to preach in unlawful Assemblies Conventicles or Meetings under colour or pretence of Exercise of Religion contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom have setled themselves in divers Corporations in England sometimes three or more of them in a place thereby taking an opportunity to distil the poisonous Principles of Schism and Rebellion into the hearts of His Majesties Subjects to the great danger of the Church and Kingdom II. Be it therefore enacted by the Kings most excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same That the said Parsons Vicars Curates Lecturers and other persons in Holy Orders or pretended Holy Orders or pretending to Holy Orders and all Stipendiaries or other persons who have been possessed of any Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Promotion and every of them who have not declared their unfeigned Assent and Consent as aforesaid and subscribed the Declaration aforesaid and shall not take and subcribe the Oath following I A. B. do swear That it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King and that I do abhor that Traiterous position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person or against those that are commissioned by him in pursuance of such Commissions and that I will not at any time endeavour any Alteration of Government either in Church or State III. And all such person and persons as shall take upon them to preach in any unlawful Assembly Conventicle or Meeting under colour or pretence of any exercise of Religion contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom 2. shall not at any time from and after the 24th day of March which shall be in this present year of our Lord God One thousand six hundred sixty and five unless only in passing upon the Road come or be within five Miles of any City or Town Corporate or Burrough that sends Burgesses to the Parliament within His Majesties Kingdom of England Principality of Wales or of the Town of Berwick upon Tweed 3 or within five Miles of any parish Town or place wherein he or they have since the Act of Oblivion been Parson Vicar Curate Stipendiary or Lecturer or taken upon them to preach in any unlawful Assembly Conventicle or Meeting under colour or pretence of any exercise of Religion contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom 4 Before he or they have taken and subscribed the Oath aforesaid before the Justices of the Peace at their Quarter-Sessions to be holden for County Riding or Division next unto the said Corporation City or Burrough Parish place or Town in open Court which said Oath the said Justices are hereby impowered there to administer 5 Upon forfeiture for every such Offence the sum of Forty pounds of lawful English Money the one third part thereof to His Majesty and His Successors the other third part to the use of the poor of the Parish where the Offence shall be committed and the other third part thereof to such person or persons as shall or will sue for the same by Action of Debt Plaint Bill or Information in any Court of Record at Westminster or before any Justices of Assize Oyer and Terminer or Gaol-delivery or before any Justices of the Counties Palatine of Chester Lancaster or Durham or the Justices of the great Sessions in Wales or before any Justices of Peace in their Quarter Sessions wherein no Essoin Protection or wager of Law shall be allowed IV. Provided always and be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That it shall not be lawful for any person or persons restrained from coming to any City Town Corporate Burrough Parish Town or place as aforesaid or for any other Person or Persons as shall not first take and subscribe the aforesaid Oath and as shall not frequent Divine Service established by the Laws of this Kingdom and carry him or her self reverently decently and orderly there to teach any publick or private School or take any Boarders or Tablers that are taught or instructed by him or her self or any other upon pain for every such Offence to forfeit the sum of Forty pounds to be recovered and distributed as aforesaid V. Provided also and be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid that it shall be lawful for any two Justices of the Peace of the respective County upon Oath to them of any Offence against this Act which Oath they are hereby impowered to administer to commit the Offender for six Months without Bail or Mainprise unless upon or before such Commitment he shall before the said Justices of the Peace swear and subscribe the aforesaid Oath and Declaration VI. Provided always that if any person intended to be restrained by vertue of this Act shall without fraud or Covin be served with any Writ Sub-poena Warranr or other Process whereby his personal appearance is required his Obedience to such Writ Sub-poena or Process shall not be construed an Offence against this Act. Note That as to the Penalty of Forty Pound the party must be tried at the Assises or Sessions before it is forfeited But any two Justices of Peace may commit for six Months unless before them he 'l swear and subscribe the Oath in this Declaration specified the Assent and Consent and the Declaration therein referr'd unto which if he do he puts himself out of their power Now the Assent and Consent he has spoke of is appointed by the Stat. 13 and 14. of Car. 2di chap. 4. as follows I A. B. do here declare my unfeigned Assent Consent to all every thing contained prescribed in by the Book intituled the Book of common Prayer Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church according to the use of the Church of England together with the Psalter or Psalms of David pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches and the form and manner of making ordaining and consecrating of Bishops Priests and Deacons The Declaration is by the Act last mentioned as
Faces with confidence without a Protection either in or out of Parliament Who are no less apprehensive of a Bayliff than of the growing greatness of the French and dread not Popery half so much as an Out-Lawry Will you secure them within the Walls of the house of Commons who were better secured within the Walls of a Common Goal Who can never pay their debts Contracted by their Prodigality but out of your Purses and must run you in to get themselves out of their Mortgages These mens fear of being dissolved makes them submit to any thing rather than be left to the unmerciful Rage of their hungrey Creditors who have so long fasted for their money For all such persons though some of them may be lookt upon as honest fair-Conditioned Gentlemen and good House-keepers are in danger of being Tempted to repair the decays of their own private Fortunes by the Ruine of the Publick Moreover the Choosing of such broken Fortunes decays Trade and ruins whole Families insomuch that I have known it drive many men contrary to their own Inclinations to wish never to see Parliaments more in England In a word if Beggers ever come to be your Representatives how can they Judge what is expedient for the Nation to spare whose only Care is to get a piece of money to spend 4. As you are not unadvisedly to Choose such as retain to the Court at home so much less are you to Elect any such as have their dependance upon Forreign Princes or States these are under strong obligations to see you ruined for your own Reason will tell you that no Forreign Power will prodigally throw away his Pistoles where he expects not an Harvest answerable to his Seed 'T is possible this Caution may not be unnecessary for 't is more than suspected that there are some such degenerated Englishmen who having forsaken he Interest of their Native Countrey have sold themselves to an Outlandish Interest that they may the better gratify their own Ambition and those Potent Lusts which their own meaner Fortunes could not otherwise seed and satiate 5. Be not over-fond to receive Bribes and Gratifications from persons that would fain make a prey of you and by their purses lavish treats and entertainments would allure you to prostitute your voices for their Elections you may be assured they would never bid so high for your Suffrages but that they know where to make their Markets Chuse the worthy unwilling person before the complemental unworthy man whose extraordinary forwardness prognosticates he seeks not your good but his own seperate from the publick Let us not play the fools or knaves to neglect or betray the Common Interest of our Country by a base Election let neither Fear Flattery nor Gain Biass us Consider with your selves what losers you will be if to laugh and be merry one day the person you choose should give you and your children occasion to mourn for ever after Say not he 's but a single person one man cannot do such hurt Silly men what if all other places should be as bad as your selves then all the house would be of a peice and besides don't you know that sometimes a single man has carried a Vote which perhaps was no less mischeivous than Irretrievable think how Justly the gallant antient Heathens may upbraid this baseness of us Christians when as they sacrificed many of their children nay and oftentimes their own Lives for the good of their Country so on the contrary do we sacrifice or at least Happ-Hazard both our Religion Lives Children and Countrey for the Swinish pleasure of a day or two's debauchery 6. Make not your publick choice the Recompence of private Favours 't is not pleasing a Neighbour because rich and powerfull but saving of England that you are to regard Neither pay nor return private obligations at the cost of the Nation Sir John is a pretty Gentleman and treats people Civilly and my Landlord is a good man and has been kind and Esquire such an one is our next Justice of peace but yet I will not give my voice contrary to my conscience or have an hand in a choice that may ruine my Country to gratify any or all of them Let not such engagements put you upon dangerous Elections as you Love the Liberties and the Freedom of your Posterity But tell them in this affair they must hold you excused for that the weight of the matter will well bear it this is your Inheritance all may depend upon it 't is a more Modest request if they would desire you to give them that Freehold and Estate that qualifies you for an Elector than to press you to be for a man that in your conscience you think unfit or not so fit as his Competitor for so weighty a Trust Men don't use ro Lend their Wives or give their Children to satisfie personal Kindnesses nor ought you to make a Swop of your Birthright and that of your Posterities too for a mess of pottage a Feast or a lusty Drinking bout there can be no proportion here and therefore none must take it ill that you use your freedom about that which in its constitution is the great Bulwark of all your antient Liberties 7. Have a care of Ambitious men and non-Residents such as Live most about the Town and not with their Estates in the Country These seek Honours and Preferments above and little or never embetter the Country with their expences or Hospitality for they are too much for themselves to Act vigorously for the advantage of their Country or if in the house they do for a while Swagger a little and Speak it briskly 't is only that the Court may take notice of them and take them off by some preferment and then these false Patriots shall be the only sticklers for unbounded Prerogative 8. Be resolved against all Temptations to choose no Minors What will you be content with sucking Statesinen and Beard-less Politicians and Rehoboams Counsellors then expect for well you deserve to be lasht with Scorpions Can you Judge them fit to dispose of your Liberties Lives Estates and Religion who cannot legally dispose of their own Estates or themselves What security can they give you that they will not give away yours and you whose Bond in the eye of the Law will not betaken for 40 s but sure your own experience of what such young Green Persons have been and done in former Parliaments hath I hope learned you sufficient wisdom not to chuse the like again 9. Elect no prodigal or Voluptious persons for besides that such are not regular enough to be Law-makers they are commonly Idle and though possibly they may wish well to your Interest yet they will rather lose it than their Pleasures they will scarce leave one of their Nightly Revellings to give you their attendance and Service next day and therefore they are not to be relyed upon And upon this occasion I shall borrow the words of
order to which we must consider for what ends they serve and they are principally Two The first is the preservation of our Religion from Popery the other is to preserve inviolable our Liberty and Property according to the known Laws of the Land without any giving way unto or Introduction of that Absolute and Arbitrary Rule practiced in Forreign Countreys which we are neither to imitate or regard Therefore 1. Take Care to Choose such as are well known to be men of good Consciences fearing God throughly Principled in the Protestant Religion and of high Resolution to maintain it with their Lives and Fortunes And amongst these rather cast your Favour upon themof large Principles I mean in matter of meer opinion such as will not sacrifice their Neighbours Property and Civil Rights to the frowardness of their own Party in Religion Narrow Souls that will own none but those that bear their own Image and superscription will sooner raise Persecution at home than secure us from Popery and Invasion from abroad The great Interest of England at this day is to Tolerate the Tollerable to bear with the weak to encourage the Conscientious and to restrain none but such as would restrain all besides themselves 2. As we ought as near as we can possibly judge to Elect good Protestants towards God and just towards men yet since in this Corrupt Age wherein we Live men are not so spiritual as they ought to be it is not amiss to seek for those whose spiritual Interest is seconded by a Temporal one For though men talk high and keep a great Noise with Conscience and love to their Country yet when you understand Mankind aright not as it should be but as it is and I fear ever will be then you will find that private Interest is the string in the Bears Nose it is that Governs the Beast And therefore the surest Champions for our Religion Caeteris Paribus against the Papacy are our Abby Landed-men for notwithstanding the Registred Dispensation to King Henry the Eighth from the Pope for the seizing of those Monasteries and Lands yet of late they pretend that the Pope had not Power to Alien them from the Church so that the present Possessors can never trust or rely upon that or any new promises or Actual Grants thereof especially from him whose everlasting and declared Maxime it is Never to keep Faith with Hereticks Undoubtedly to make easy his ascent into the Saddle he will proffer many Assurances and Grants but if these Abby-Landed men be not the most silly of all others they will never believe him For when he is once firmly setled then will he with his Canon-Law Distinctions like Fire under Quicksilver Evaporate away all his Promises and violently Resume the Lands glorying of his own Bounty if he require not the mean profits ever since they have been sacriligiously with-held from Holy Church 3. Endeavour to Chuse men of Wisdom and Courage who will not be Hectored out of their Duties by the Frowns and Scowles of men Never had you more need to pitch upon the old English Spirit that durst be faithfull and just against all Temptations What a degenerate Race have we known that could never yet Resist Smile or Frown but tamely sunk below their own Convictions and knew the Evil they did yet durst not but Commit it 4. Make it your business to Chuse such as are resolved to stand by and maintain the power and priviledges of Parliament for they are the Heart-strings of the Common-Wealth together with the power and just Rights of the King according to the Laws of the Kingdom so as the one may not Entrench upon the other And such as with a becoming true English Courage will Prosecute all Traitors whether already Impeached or to be Impeached And to secure us from Popery hereafter and to get removed all Corrupt and Arbitrary Ministers of State and wicked Judges and stiflers of the discovery of the Popish Plot and Suborners and vile Pamphleteers that endeavour so industriously to Clear the Papists and expose the Protestant Religion and poison the People Lastly Take particular notice of those who are men of Industry and Improvement for such as are Ingenious and laborious to propagate the growth and advantage of their Country will be very tender of yeilding to any thing that may weaken or Impoverish it If you Conduct yourselves thus prudently honestly and gallantly in your Choice without putting the Gentlemen whom you chuse to serve you to charges the consequence will be that as you will be sure to have a good Parliament when ever His Majesty shall please to call one and such as will be zealous for the safety of the Protestant Religion and prosperity of the Nation if they shall continue to sit and Act so on the other side If they should be Dissolv'd and never so many new Parliaments be called yet you run no hazard for the same Candidates will still be ready to serve you And so we shall conclude our discourse of Parliaments when I shall first have observ'd that antiently all Freemen of England though not Free-holders had a right to chuse their Representatives till the same was altered and limited by the following Statute for the reasons therein mention'd The Statute Anno 8. Hen. 6. Cap. 7. What sort of men shall be Chusers and who shall be Chosen Knights of the Parliament ITem whereas the Elections of Knights of Shires to come to the Parliaments of our Lord the King in many Counties of the Realm of England have now of late been made by very great Outragious and Excessive numbers of People dwelling within the same Counties of the Realm of England of the which most part was of people of small Substance and of no value whereof every one of them pretended a voice Equivalent as to such Elections to be made with the most worthy Knights and Esquires dwelling within the same Counties whereby Man Slaughter Riots Batteries and Divisions among the Gentlemen and other People of the same Counties shall very likely rise and be unless convenient and due Remedy be provided in this behalf 2 our Lord the King considering the premises hath provided ordained and stablished by Authority of this present Parliament that the Knights of the Shires to be chosen within the said Realm of England to come to the Parliament of our Lord the King hereafter to be holden shall be chosen in every County of the Realm of England by People dwelling and resident in the same Counties whereof every one of them shall have Landor Tenement to the value of forty Shillings by the year at the least above all Charges 3 and that they which shall be so chosen shall be dwelling and resident within the same Counties 4 and such as have the greatest number of them that may expend forty shillings by the year and above as afore is said shall be returned by the Sheriffs of every County Knights for Parliament by Indentures sealed
thereby appears some of them did come to Church and heard divine Service to save the Penalties in the former Acts and yet continued Papists still in their hearts Therefore by this Act they were all to take the Sacrament once a year And if they refused they should forfeit 20 l. the 1st year for the 2d year 40 l. for every year afterwards 60l untill he or she have received the said Sacrament And by the 4th Section the Church Wardens and Constables are to present the monthly absence of all POPISH Recusants but they are not bound by this Act to present any but Papists For from this Act we may observe that none can be Prosecuted upon this Act or any of the other which it refers to which are all those here before rehearsed unless they be POPISH Recusants for so are the express words of the Act. And without doubt should any busy Officer whatsoever Present ot prosecute any person thereupon other than a Popish Recusant the person so presented may Joyn Issue that he is no such person as these Acts intend being not a Papist So that upon the whole matter we may conclude It is an abuse and utterly Illegall to Prosecute Protestants on such Laws as were made solely and wholly against Papists as will further appear in our next Observation and we have heard some Judges have declared so much However I shall here add the Judgment of the House of Commons in the Case for tho I know and own a vote of either or both Houses cannot Repeal a Law nor alter its sense yet certainly the House consisting of so many wise discreet persons a great number of them Excellently Learned in the Laws they are as like to Interpret a doubtful Law and hit upon the true Interpretation how far and to what it does extend as two or three little swaggering Justices or any single Judge At least were I an Officer I should rather incline to credit their opinion not run an hazard by employing the Toils made for restraining the Wolves and the Foxes to intangle destroy the Innocent sheep meerly because they do not all exactly tread in the very same steps and bite punctually all of one Sort of Grass Sabbati Sexto die Nov. 1680. Resolved Nemine contradicente That it is the opinion of this House That the Acts of Parliament made in the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James against Popish Recusants ought not to be extended against Protestant dissenters And now having discharged these unlawful weapons let 's see what Legal Arms there are or have been really formed against the Sectaries And the first was the very sword of Goliah there was none like it 1. I mean the Act of 35 Eliz. Ca. 1. which some would make us believe has had as many Lives as a Cat intituled An Act to Retain the Queen's Majesties Subjects in their due Obedience This was the first Law that was made since the Reformation against those we commonly called Sectaries Conventiclers or Protestant Dissenters and this Act indeed beyond all dispute was made against them and them only for the Popish Recusants are expresly Excepted out of it as appears by the Act And that the Reader may better judge of the true difference between this Act and those others before recited made against Popish Recusants by the style and expressions I shall here insert the first Paragraph and give you the substance of the rest of it For the preventing and avoiding of such great Inconveniencies and Perils as might happen and grow by the wicked and dangerous practices of seditious Sectaries and disloyal Persons Be it Enacted by the Queen 's most Excellent Majesty and by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same That if any person or persons above the Age of sixteen years which shall obstinately Refuse to Repair to some Church Chappel or usual place of Common-Prayer to hear Divine Service Established by Her Majesties Laws and Statutes in that behalf made and shall forbear to do the same by the space of one month next after without any lawful cause shall at any time after forty daies next after the End of this Session of Parliament by Printing Writing or Express Words or Speeches advisedly or purposely practise or go about to make or persuade any of Her Majesties Subjects or any other within her Highness's Realms or Dominions to deny withstand and impugn Her Majesties Power and Authority in cases Ecclesiastical United and Annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm or to that end or purpose shall advisedly or maliciously move or persuade any other person whatsoever to forbear or abstain from coming to Church to hear Divine Service or to Receive the Communion according to Her Majesties Laws and Statutes aforesaid or to come to or be present at any unlawful Assemblies Conventicles or Meetings under colour or pretence of any Exercise of Religion contrary to Her Majesties Laws and Statutes or if any person or persons which shall obstinately Refuse to Repair to some Church by the space of one month to hear Divine Service as is aforesaid shall after the said forty daies either of him or themselves or by the Motion Persuasion Inticement or Allurement of any other willingly Joyn in or be present at any such Assemblies Conventicles or Meeting under colour or pretence of any such Exercise of Religion contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm as is aforesaid That then every such person so offending as aforesaid and being thereof lawfully convicted shall be Committed to Prison and there to Remain without Bail or Mainprise until they shall Conform and yield themselves to come to some Church Chapel or usual place of Common-Prayer and hear Divine Service c. Then the Act goes on and provides That if the person do not Conform within three months after Conviction he should Abjure that is be Banisht and swear never to come back without leave And if he will not swear so then the same to be Felony without Benefit of Clergy From which Act these 3 things are observable 1. That the same was wholly intended against the Puritanes or Sectaries for the Papists are expresly exempted by a particular clause Sect. 12. in these words ' Provided that No Popish Recusant or Feme Covert shall be compelled or bound to abjure by vertue of this Act. 2. That Q. Eliz. and her wise Parliament did not intend or take such Protestant Recusants to be within the meaning of or punishable by the other before mentioned Statutes against popish Recusants For if they had so understood they might have punished them sufficiently on those old Laws without giving themselves the trouble of making this new Law against them Frustra fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora God and the Law do nothing in vain 3. If it be objected That all those Laws as well as this ought to be construed to one
follows I A. B. do declare that it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King and that I do abhor that Traiterous position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person or against those that are commissioned by him and that I will conform to the Liturgy of the Church of England as it is now by Law established And I do declare That I do hold there lies no Obligation upon me nor any other person from the Oath commonly called the solemn League and Covenant to endeavour any change or alteration of Government either in Church or State and that the same was in it self an unlawful Oath and imposed upon the Subjects of this Realm against the known Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom But note that this last branch of this Declaration by a subsequent clause of the same Act was to continue but till the 25th day of March 1682. so that now the same is not to be required And thus much for this Five-Mile Act. We now proceed to the other Statute against Protestant Dissenters viz. Anno Vicessimo Secundo Caroli Secundi Regis Cap. 1. An Act to prevent and suppress Seditions Conventicles For providing further and more speedy Remedies against the growing and dangerous practices of Seditious Sectaries and other disloyal persons who under pretence of Tender Consciences have or may at their Meetings contrive Insurrections as late Experience hath shewn 2. Be it enacted by the King 's most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by Authority of the same That if any person of the Age of sixteen years or upwards being a Subject of this Realm at any time after the tenth day of May next shall be present at any Assembly Conventicle or Meeting under colour or pretence of any Exercise of Religion in other manner than according to the Liturgy and practice of the Church of England in any place within the Kingdom of England Dominion of Wales or Town of Berwick upon Tweed at which Conventicle Meeting or Assembly there shall be five persons or more Assembled together over and besides those of the same houshold if it be in a house where there is a Family inhabiting or if it be in a house field or place where there is no Family inhabiting then where any five persons or more are so Assembled as aforesaid it shall and may be lawful to and for any one or more Justices of the Peace of the County Limit Division Corporation or Liberty wherein the Offence aforesaid shall be Committed or for the chief Magistrate of the place where the Offence aforesaid shall be committed and he and they are hereby Required and Enjoyned upon Proof to him or them Respectively made of such Offence either by Confession of the Party or Oath of two Witnesses 3. Which Oath the said Justice and Justices of the Peace and Chief Magistrate respectively are hereby Required and Impowered to Administer or by Notorious Evidence and Circumstance of the fact to make a Record of every such Offence under his or their Hands and Seals respectively which Record so made as aforesaid shall to all intents and purposes be in Law taken and adjudged to be a full and perfect Conviction of every such Offender for such offence and thereupon the said Justice Justices and Chief Magistrate respectively shall Impose on every such Offender so convict as aforesaid a Fine of five shillings for such first Offence which Record and Conviction shall be certified by the said Justice Justices or Chief Magistrate at the next Quarter-Sessions of the Peace for the County or place where the Offence was committed 2. And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That if such Offender so convicted as aforesaid shall at any time again commit the like Offence or Offences contrary to this Act and be thereof in manner aforesaid convicted then such Offender so convict of such like Offence or Offences shall for every such Offence incur the penalty of ten shillings 2. Which Fine and Fines for the first and every other Offence shall be Levied by Distress and Sale of the Offenders Goods and Chattels or in case of the poverty of such Offender upon the Goods and Chattels of any other person or persons who shall be then convicted in manner aforesaid of the like Offence at the same Conventicle at the discretion of the said Justice Justices or Chief Magistrate respectively so as the Sum to be Levied on any one person in case of the poverty of other Offenders amount not in the whole to above the Sum of ten pounds upon occasion of any one Meeting as aforesaid 3. And every Constable Headborough Tythingman Church-Wardens and Over-seers of the Poor respectively are hereby Authorized and Required to Levy the same accordingly having first received a Warrant under the Hands and Seals of the said Justice Justices or Chief Magistrate respectively so to do 4 The said Monies so to be Levied to be forthwith delivered to the same Justice Justices or Chief Magistrate and by him or them to be distributed the one third part thereof to the use of the King's Majesty His Heirs and Successors to be paid to the High Sheriff of the County for the time being in manner following that is to say the Justice or Justices of Peace shall pay the same into the Court of the respective Quarter-Sessions which said Court shall deliver the same to the Sheriff and make a Memorial on Record of the payment and delivery thereof which said Memorial shall be a sufficient and final discharge to the said Justice and Justices and a charge to the Sheriff which said discharge and charge shall be certified into the Exchequer together and not one without the other And no Justice shall or may be questioned or accountable for the same in the Exchequer or elsewhere than in Quarter-Sessions another third part thereof to and for the use of the Poor of the Parish where such Offence shall be committed and the other third part thereof to the Informer and Informers and to such Person and persons as the said Justice Justices or chief Magistrate respectively shall appoint having regard to their diligence and Industry in the discovery dispersing and punishing of the said Conventicles 3. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That every person who shall take upon him to preach or teach in any such Meeting Assembly or Conventicle and shall thereof be convicted as aforesaid shall forfeit for every such first Offence the sum of Twenty pound to be Levied in manner aforesaid upon his Goods and Chattles 2. And if the said Preacher or Teacher so convicted be a stranger and his Name and Habitation not known and is fled and cannot be found or in the Judgment of the Justice Justices or chief Magistrate before whom he shall be convicted shall be thought unable to pay the same the said
hundred Pounds the one Moiety to the use of the Informer to be Recovered by Action Suit Bill or Plaint in any of his Majesties Courts at Westminster wherein no Essoign Protection or Wager of Law shall lie 12. And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that if any Person be at any time Sued for putting in Execution any of the Powers contained in this Act otherwise than upon Appeal allowed by this Act such Person shall and may Plead the General Issue and give the special matter in Evidence 2. And if the Plaintiff be Nonsuit or a Verdict pass for the Defendant every such Defendant shall have his full Treble Costs 13. And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that this Act and all clauses therein contained shall be Construed most largely and beneficially for the suppressing of Conventicles and for the Justification and Encouragement of all Persons to be Employed in the Execution thereof 2. And that no Record Warrant or Mittimus to be made by Vertue of this Act or any Proceedings thereupon shall be Reversed Avoided or any way Impeached by reason of any Default in form 3. And in Case any Person offending against this Act shall be an Inhabitant in any other County or Corporation or fly into any other County or Corporation after the Offence Committed the Justice of Peace or Chief Magistrate before whom he shall be Convicted as aforesaid shall certifie the same under his hand and Seal to any Justice of Peace or chief Magistrate of such other County or Corporation wherein the said person or persons are Inhabitants or are Fled into 4. Which said Justice or chief Magistrate respectively is hereby Authorized and required to Levy the Penalty or Penalties in this Act mentioned upon the Goods and Chattels of such person or Persons as fully as the said other Justice of Peace might have done in case he or they had been Inhabitants in the place where the Offence was Committed 14. Provided also that no Person shall be Punished for any Offence against this Act unless such Offender be Prosecuted for the same within three Months after the Offence Committed 2. And that no Person who shall be Punished for any Offence by Vertue of this Act shall be Punished for the same Offence by Vertue of any other Act or Law whatsoever 15. Provided and be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that every Alderman of London for the time being within the City of London and the Liberties thereof shall have and they and every of them are hereby Impowered and required to Execute the same power and Authority within London and the Liberties thereof for the Examining Convicting and Punishing of all Offences within this Act committed within London and the Liberties thereof which any Justice of Peace hath by this Act in any County of England and shall be subject to the same Penalties and Punishments for not doing that which by this Act is directed to be done by any Justice of Peace in any County of England 16. Provided and be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that if the Person Offending and Convicted as aforesaid be a Feme-covert cohabiting with her Husband the Penalties of five Shillings and ten Shillings so as aforesaid Incurred shall be Levyed by Warrant as aforesaid upon the Goods and Chattels of the Husband of each Feme-covert 17. Provided also that no Peer of this Realm shall be Attached or Imprisoned by Vertue or Force of this Act any thing matter or clause therein to the contrary notwithstanding 18. Provided also that neither this Act nor any thing therein contained shall extend to Invalidate or avoid his Majesties Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Affairs 2. But that his Majesty and his Heirs and Successors from time to time and at all times hereafter Exercise and Enjoy all Powers and Authority in Ecclesiastical Affairs as fully and as amply as himself or any of his Predecessors have or might have done the same any thing in this Act notwithstanding Notes upon the foregoing Act. 1. By the Title Preamble and Scope of the Act it appears that the same is intended for suppressing Seditious Conventicles under Pretence of Religious Worship that is where the Conventiclers meet together under a pretence of Worship not according to the Liturgy and Practice of the Church of England but indeed to carry on ill designs against the State 2. If any such Conventicle be the Justices knowing it by the Oaths of two Witnesses may make a Record thereof and then the Persons so offending shall forfeit so as in the Act you have heard 3. It must appear upon Oath before the Justices or Confession of the Parties 1. That it was a Seditious Conventicle met together to disturb the Peace under pretence of Religion 2. That the Worship there practised was not according to the Liturgy and Practice of the Church of England so that the Informers must be present the whole time of the Meeting for if they only hear a man Praying or Preaching that is not contrary to the Practice of the Church of England and how does it appear that they did not read the Liturgy 3. It must be proved that there were Assembled five Persons or more besides the Inhabitants in the House 4. If a party be Fined above ten Shillings if he pay down the Money or it be levied within one Week after such Payment or Levy he may Appeal from the Justice Convicting to the next Quarter-Sessions where he shall have a Tryal by Jury thereupon and undoubtedly if it do not appear to the said Jury that it was a Seditious Meeting they ought to find for the Appealer 5. A General Warrant from any Justice or Justices to Constables to inquire after Seize c. all Conventicles in their Precincts is not good it ought to particularize the House and Place Houses and Places where the Conventicle is or Conventicles are held and then the Constable ought forthwith to goe and if he finds it so to suppress it but otherwise the Constable might be put to endless Vexation in hunting after Meetings to no purpose whereas the Act enjoyns him no such trouble and if you go once and find no Conventicle you are not obliged to go a second time on the same Warrant but ought to have a new one nor is the Constable obliged to turn Informer 6. As to Breaking open Doors you see the Act directs that it may be done first only in an House where 't is Inform'd there is actually a Conventicle as aforesaid that is upon the Oaths of two Persons 2. the Constables c. cannot do this without first there be a Demand and Denial to enter 3. Nor then neither without a Warrant from the Justice to that purpose If a Constable upon a light vain tale without two persons Swearing it that there is at such a House a Meeting and without Warrant shall venture to break open the Doors and there be found no Conventicle he makes himself liable to