Selected quad for the lemma: act_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
act_n	law_n	parliament_n	repeal_v	2,928	5	12.0628	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60122	The master of the Temple as bad a lawyer as the Dean of Pauls is a divine in a letter from a gentleman of the Temple, to his (quondam) tutor in Oxford, about the law part of Dr. Sherlock's modest examiniation of the Oxford decree.	Shower, Bartholomew, Sir, 1658-1701.	1696 (1696)	Wing S3656; ESTC R24536	8,391	30

THE Master of the Temple A bad a LAWYER AS THE Dean of Pauls Is a DIVINE IN A Letter from a Gentleman of the Temple to his quondam Tutor in Oxford About the Law-Part of Dr. Sherlock's modest Examination of the Oxford Decree LONDON Printed and Sold by E. Whitlock near Stationers-Hall 1696. A Letter from a Lawyer in the Temple to his quondam Tutor in Oxford SIR THough it be some time since I left the Vniversity yet my Obligations to it continue fresh upon me I have still and ever shall have the same Concern for its Honour and Interest that I had when I was actually a Member there In Truth the Socinians the Tritheists and Latitudinarians both in Opinion and Practice increase so fast in this Town that they frequently provoke a Wish for my Return thither For notwithstanding the Calumny and Reproach which Hereticks and Dissenters have cast upon that Seminary of Learning and Vertue in Contempt of the Publick Opinion of the greatest part of the Christian World yet I must declare that I observ'd Probity Good manners and Religion more Visible and Exemplary in that Place than they can be pretended to be amongst Us here SIR I cannot but with great Concern Acknowledge that Your Pulpits are more earnest in Recommending Practical Piety than Ours notwithstanding the Youth of those who generally fill ' em Our Master entertains us of late with such Arguments and Concessions about Christianity that Infidels seem rather encourag'd than convinc'd by his Reasonings One while he confesses the Souls of Brutes to be Immaterial and anon he supposes some hidden unreveal'd Decree of the Deity for their Annihilation at Death and yet again argues from the Immateriality of an Human Soul that the same is necessarily Immortal and must endure to Eternity These and such like Discourses from the Pulpit fill the Coffee-houses about Us upon Sunday Evenings with many Wild Disputes concerning a future state And in truth the Deans Sermons together with three of his Old Friend's viz. One concerning the Temporary Duration of Hell-Torments and to prove that God is not oblig'd to fulfill his Threatnings but that on the contrary it may be for his Honour to be better than his Word A Second concerning the Concealment of a Man's Christianity under a Mahometan or Pagan Government rather than disturb it And a Third concerning the Perfection of True Wisdom if a Man can hit it in the Practice of an appearing freedom and openness with a Resolute Reservedness as little appearing as is possible These I say have given such Subjects of Discourse to the Youth of this Place that 't is scarce Imaginable how much the Number of the Pretended Wits and Atheists is of late encreased But Sir the informing you in these Particulars was not the Design of this Letter tho I could not forbear Complaining of the Decay of Religion to You whose Prayers may assist to stop it and to beg of God the Forgiveness and Reformation of those who occasion or promote it What I intend by this Paper is to shew my Duty and Filial Regards to my Mother University by making a short Observation or two upon the 7th Page of our Dean's Satyr on the Proceedings about Mr. Bingham's Sermon I shall not presume to venture upon any Argument about the Opinion Censur'd My Reverence for your Knowledge in these Matters and the Application of my Studies another way do expresly forbid it That which I here offer to your Consideration must be agreed proper to the Profession I am now engag'd in viz. An Essay to prove that the Vice-Chancelour Bp. of Oxford and Heads of Houses there have not incurr'd any Premunire or other danger to themselves or the University in their late procedure about the Sermon above-mention'd And to tell you my Opinion freely in this matter if the Dean's Divinity be no better than his Law I think him deeply engag'd to the Legislative Power which took away the Writ de Haeretico Comburendo He is pleas'd to insinuate That you ought to have advis'd with men of Skill how far your Irregular and Unstatutable Proceeding might affect you I take the thing to be so very plain that you needed no Consultation with Lawyers before-hand nor afterward neither But since the menaces pronounc'd have proceeded from a Person whose Station and Converse suppose him advis'd by men of Skill Some on your behalf have consider'd the matter and I find the Templars to smile at the Deans Presumption in pretending to impose on the World especially on his Neighbours the men of the Law a Proviso in an Act of Parliament which stands repeal'd by a subsequent Act and upon which Repeal the greatest miscarriages of the Last Reign are Founded For in truth the Suspension of the B. of London and the Business of Magdalen-Colledge were no miscarriages but upon that supposal viz. That the Act in the First of Elizabeth erecting an High-Commission-Court was a New Law and that therefore being repeal'd any the like Commission was Illegal Thus I am sure the Opinions and Complaints ran before and at the Arrival of his Present Majesty It is not easie to imagine from whence he could have receiv'd this Notion unless it were from Bp. Cartwright's Book who for his own Justification maintain'd that Law to be but Affirmative of the Old Common Law of England And yet even that Supposition were it true would not answer the Deans Purpose as will appear by and by I believe You Sir who are a good man will be apt to think that it Savors strongly of Prevarication to Print part of a Clause and omit the most material words in it which are plac'd in the midst of the Paragraph and could not well be overlook'd but by one that was resolv'd to overlook 'em because it was for his purpose to do so Yet this little Piece of Art the Dean has stoop'd to as you shall see presently which is the more remarkable because he has Printed the Words of the Act in a different Character which amongst ingenuous Persons I think supposes a Literal Recital This way of Dealing I confess as odd as it is is not wholly without a Precedent whether it will warrant or justify our Master I shall leave you to determine but he has the Honour of following the example of a Reverend Prelate who upon a certain occasion thought fit to launch out of his Profession and argue a Law-Point to prove his Argument he quoted a Charter but was pleas'd to repeat only half the words of the sentence and then stop't short omitting these Salva Persona nostra Regina nostra Liberis nostris donec emendatum fuerit quandocunque Emendatum esset intendent nobis sicut prius Matthew Paris can give you the whole in King John's Reign but the mischief is the latter words if inserted wou'd have spoil'd the force of that inference for which the Quotation was us'd and we are not to expect from either of 'em that they shou'd

from the 1st of Eliz. Cap. 1. Upon which the Dean says We find the power to order determine or adjudge any matter or Cause to be Heresy restrain'd onely to such as heretofore have been determin'd order'd or adjudg'd to be Heresy by the Authority of the Canonical Scriptures or by the first Four General Councils or by any other General Councel wherein the same was declar'd Heresy by the Express and plain Words of the said Canonical Scriptures or such as hereafter shall be order'd judg'd or determin'd to be Heresy by the High Court of Parliament of this Realm with the assent of the Clergy in their Convocation This is his Quotation Then he goes on thus And if the King could not grant a greater Authority than this to his High Commissioner for Ecclesiastical Affairs it is not likely that any other Body of Men have it And my Lord Coke says That this is a direction to others especially to Bishops in their adjudging Heresy 3 Instit pag. 40. And how they have obsery'd this Law in their Decree they had best consider To which I answer That were this Law in force and did it concern them yet for the Reasons above mention'd 't is no more than an Erroneous Judgment as we have seen many on the 25 E. 3. and revers'd with abhorrence and yet the Judges not deem'd offenders because they were not so Wise as their Superiors who were of another Opinion But his Emphafis lies on the last words They had best consider how they have observ'd that Law You Sir know best whether the Position be declar'd Heresy by any of those Councils But I 'm sure I know that there is no such Law in force and if there were yet it concerns not this matter First It no ways concerns this Procedure but only a Legal Process upon a Person for Heresy in order to his being condmn'd and deliver'd over to the Secular Power to be burn't In the next place it concerns only the High-Commissioners and none else it was not intended to oblige even the Bishop of a Diocese in his Ordinary Proceeding 'T is true Coke says That it may serve for a good Direction to Others more especially to a Diocesan being sole Judge in so weighty a Cause but he doth not say it obliges him nor can He or any body else pretend it does much less doth Coke say that it extends to a Vice-Chancellor's Government of the University with the Assistance of the Heads of Houses or Doctors of Divinity Neither Diocesans nor Universities are mention'd or intended as appears by the whole Contexture of the Act. But suppose the Act were Directory nay Compulsive upon a Diocesan which 't is not doth it follow that the Direction extends to Universities also The meaning of a Law is to be extended no further than the Words of it and not strain'd to take in Parallel-Cases and Remote Consequences Then consider the Reason of the thing May not the University be allow'd to censure a Member for Heretical Words tho they should not be such as contain'd Heresy condemnable by the Ordinary May they not caution against a Doctrine as Heretical for which the Ordinary cannot Sentence in order to Death The Punishment of Heresy at the Time when this Statute was in force was Fire Suppose the Bishop oblig'd by this Law now yet he could not punish such Heresy as was within it but upon a contumacious Adherence of the Offending Party to his Opinion Do's it follow from thence that the Vniversity may not Censure other Words which do not strictly come within the Statute as Impious and Heretical Nor reprimand one of her own Members for using ' em But this is a Debate upon Suppositions only and those utterly false For Coke himself tells us in the First words of the very Sentence quoted by the Dean that the Act extended only to the High-Commissioners which were appointed by the King in pursuance of it So that if the Dean had Printed the whole sentence as it lies in my Lord Coke he would not have been capable of raising so much as the shadow of an Argument from it How this agrees with the Common Rules of sincerity the Dean who understands how to reconcile every thing to every thing may please to tell us for I dare say no body else can However take it again as he would have it and let us see what follows Because this is a Direction to Bishops in their Dioceses whereas Coke only says It may serve for a good Direction to 'em in so weighty a Cause and so That 's not very fairly quoted neither because this is a Direction to the Ordinary therefore What! Therefore you had best consider how You have observ'd that Law which does not concern You O the Power of No-Logic and no-No-Law met together As he clips Coke's Opinion so he maims the very Paragraph of the Act of Parliament upon which he founds his imply'd Menace For as it lies in the Act it is a Restraint of the Power which the High-Commissioners were to have by Vertue of the King's Letters Patents and of that Act. The words are by Vertue of this Act and these he omits Now this Proviso implies that if the Proviso had not been added the General Purview had given them a greater Latitude and Power for otherwise the Proviso had been useless The General Purview giving a Power to exercise Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction it must be suppos'd that Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction might declare and punish other Heresys than what are mention'd in the Proviso and the Proviso's being restrain'd only to those Commissioners shews that the Law-Makers thought other Heresys might be declar'd and punish'd than what are there mention'd Tho they would not permit These Commissioners to declare any other But further If there be a Repeal of the Clause which enacts the High-Commission-Court as there is by the 17 Car. 1. Cap. 11. the Proviso in restraint of these Commissioners is and must be Repeal'd too This Natural Reason and Common sense might have taught the Dean without his resorting to the Temple Library or consulting his Men of Skill about the matter For either that power of Erecting an High-Commission-Court was in affirmance of the common-Common-Law or introductive of a New Law If the former as was Argu'd in the last Reign yet even then this proviso being restrain'd to such Exercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by Letters Patents by Vertue of that Act the same can never extend to other Ordinary Acts or Exercise of Jurisdiction without a special Commission because the words have so restrain'd it And if the Power of that Court were New and Created by that Act as all the Dean's Lawyers do and must contend then the Court being gone the Proviso in restraint of it is vanish't too So that at last here is no 1 Eliz. cap. 1. left for the Vniversity to consider and the Dean has dealt with Them as the World often has with Him has thrown away his Advice upon 'em to no purpose It is News to Me Sir and will be so to the World I believe what you tell me with regard to the Reprimand suppos'd to have been given lately to the Vniversity It has been talk'd very confidently of here in Town as a thing past Dispute and the Dean I assure you has taken Heart upon 't and according to his way defi'd all the World more than once from the Pulpit in the strength of it And 〈…〉 send me word That it does not at all 〈…〉 the Meeting of the Heads of Houses or of the Vniversity that any such Reprimand so much talk't of here has been sent And this you say I may depend upon as certain You surprize me Sir and I believe what I am going to say will as much surprise You. You tell me that it is taken for granted at Oxford that the Judges of England have given their Opinions in Prejudice of the Vniversicy and their Proceedings You may be aftured that this Report as loud and as largely spread as it is is scandalous and groundless You may be assur'd of it I say both from the known Law of the Realm and from the known Honour and Probity also of the Persons filling those Places For by our Law the Judges are not to give any Opinion out of Court upon any Matter that may possibly come before 'em in Judgment and if they do 't is an Irregularity in their Behaviour an Indecency seldom committed but never own'd For such Opinions being Extrajudicial are not upon their Oaths and are neither obligatory to themselves nor valu'd by others 'T is a Reproach upon the King to suppose their Opinion ask'd in this case Many of 'em I am sure when requested by Ministers upon greater occasions than this have refus'd to give it as in Justice and Honour it became 'em and would therefore if they should have been ask't upon this have certainly deny'd it Shipmony and Non-obstante's and Quo-warranto's had some such Preliminary Interrogatories about Opinions but Experience tells us that the Nation would not bear it Besides These Gentlemen now on the Bench are not quite so Dependent on the Crown as the Beneplacito Men were 'T is true they are bound to advise the King when requir'd But that cannot be concerning an Act already done by the Subject whether Lawful or Criminal For in these Cases the King hath his Serjeant his Attorny Sollicitor and other Counsel Learned in the Law to advise w●●● You may depend upon 't therefore that nothing of that Nature can have been done or attempted as peremptory as the Dean's Creatures have been upon 〈◊〉 ●ccasion So that upon the whole think you need not sneak to any Socinian Tritheist or Latitudinarian whatever upon the account of the evil Consequences that may attend your Conduct in this matter Fools and Cowards may blame you for having gone so far but with Wife and Honest Men your only Fault will be if you go no farther Sir I might enlarge upon the Powers and Priviledges of the Vniversity in respect of declaring Doctrines to be Erroneous and I could find Materials enough from good Histories Reports and Journals and those approv'd by Lawyers for that purpose But at present I think it enough to have answer'd the Dean till he shall be pleas'd to give further occasion by Writing about Law Points again I am Sir Your most humble Servant Feb. 3. 1695.