Assent and Consent to the use of all things contained and prescribed in the Book of common-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
said Courts are to make out process for Levying the Twelve pences which shall be Levied by the Church-Wardens for the use of the poor However there being 52 Sundaies and 29 Holy-daies appointed by our Liturgy to be observed in the year the Constant charge by this statute for not coming to Church would be but 4l 1s p. An. And yet by the way Note That We have more Holy-daies or Feasts to be observed since his Majesties Restauration than ever the Church of England owned before For there were antiently but 27. But upon the Review of the Book of Common prayer my Lords the Bishops were pleased to add 2 New ones viz. The Conversion of St. Paul and St. Barnabas and whereas in our old common-prayer-Common-prayer-Books 't is said The Feast of St. Michael the Arch-Angel in our present Books 't is St. Michael and all Angels Which seems an Affront to S. Michael at once to leave out his Title of Arch-Angel and at the same time bring in all other Angels as well of the lower as Higher Hierarchies to share with him in a Festival the Honour of which he had enjoyed so long solely and Intire to himself but this by the by So that upon the whole matter If any body should be busy to Execute this Act upon the Protestant dissenters from the Established Church of England yet considering the trouble of such a Conviction and the difficulty of proving a Negative viz. that a man was not at Church for note the words are shall repair to his own Parish Church or to some usual place where Common Prayer shall be used So that if he were at Mr. Read's Meeting-House I Conceive he were safe from this Act. All this I say Considered the Labour would be more than the trouble therefore let 's proceed 2. The second Act of this kind is 23 Eliz. Cap. 1. Intituled An Act to Retain the Queens Majesties Subjects in their due Obedience And by this to Reconcile any or for any to be Reconciled to the See of Rome To with-draw or be with-drawn from the Establisht Religion to the Romish Religion Is made High-Treason And that every one saying Mass shall forfeit 200 Marks and every one that hears it 100 Marks And every one above 16. years old not repairing to some Church or Chappel but forbearing the same contrary to the said Stat. 1. Eliz. C. 2. shall being lawfully Convicted forfeit 20 l. for every month And the Justices at the Quarter Sessions are Impowered to Inquire into the Offences against this Act Except Treason And if any Indicted hereupon Except for Treason will submit in open Court and conform before Judgment given he shall be discharged Now that this Statute was expressly and wholly made against the Papists is evident by the whole Scope thereof as punishing saying of Mass drawing the Queens Subjects to Popery c. More especially by its preamble which alwaies opens and declares the Scope of a Law whereas since the Statutes made in the 13. year of the Reign of the Queen our Soveraign Lady Intituled An Act against the bringing in and putting in Execution of Bulls Writings Instruments and other Superstitious things from the See of Rome divers ill affected Persons have practised by other means than by Bulls or Instruments Written or Printed to with-draw Her Majesties Subjects to obey the said usurped Authority of Rome and IN RESPECT OF THE SAME pray mark to perswade great numbers to with-draw their due Obedience from Her Majesties Laws establisht for the due service of Almighty God For Reformation WHEREOF be it Enacted viz. That to with-draw to the Church of Rome shall be Treason and not coming to Church shall forfeit 20 l. p. month Nothing can be more plain than that this Levelled wholly against the Papists and cannot at all affect dissenting Protestants 3. The Statute of 29. Eliz. Cap. 6. Is only a Reinforcement of the last Act and therefore must be only intended of the same Persons viz. Popish Recusants For as yet there were no other whose Penalties this Statute Encreases for not coming to Church For where is by the former Statute of 23d it was to be only 20 l. p. month and bound to the good Behaviour after Conviction This gives to the Queen Her Heirs a Right to 20 l. p. month for every month after such Conviction till they came to Church And if default be made of payment of the 20 l. a month then to seize all their Goods and 2 parts of their Real Estate 〈…〉 But this is still concerning Popish Recusants for it respects the same that were Offenders against the Statute of the 23. And they were only Papists Therefore 't is absurd and unjust to turn the Edge on 't upon Protestants 4. We come now to the Statute of 1. Jac. Ca. 4. which confirms all the former Statutes made against Popish Recusants in the Queens time But provides for their being discharged tho Convicted upon their coming to Church And that it means and intends none but Jesuits and Popish Priests and other Popish Recusants appears manifestly not only in the Title but in the first Section of the Act it self and so throughout The Title is An Act for the due Execution of the Statutes against Jesuites Seminary Priests Recusants the 2 former words including the Romish Clergy the latter the Laiety c. and begins thus For the better and more due Execution of the Statutes heretofore made Against whom as well against Jesuites Seminary Priests and other SUCH-LIKE Priests That is other Popish Priests tho not bred up in the Serminaries as also against all manner of Recusants That is Papists tho not in Orders Be it Enacted c. That all every the Statutes heretofore made against Jesuites seminary Priests and other Priests Deacons and Religions and Ecclesiastical Persons whatsoever made ordained or professed or to be made by any Authority or Jurisdiction derived Challenged or pretended from the See of Rome together with all those made against any manner of Recusants That is Papists still but Lay men not in Orders nor professed of any Order of Monks or Friars as those before mentioned were shall be put in due and Exact Execution Nothing can be more absurd than to rack force this Law so far besides its Scope as to make use of it against Protestants agreeing with the Church of England in all the Doctrines and only differing in a few Indifferent Ceremonies When it most manifestly appears intended only against Jesuits Romish Priests and other Papists 5. And now was discovered the Hellish Powder-Plot of the Papists which occasioned the making of the Statute 3 Jac. Ca. 4. Intituled An Act for discovering and Repressing Popish Recusants So that both the occasion and the very Title shews evidently against whom this Act is designed which also appears further in the preamble the whole purport of this Act all along being only to Reinforce the rest of the Acts against Popish Recusants and for that as
five Year of our Reign Sententia lata super Chartas The Sentence of the Clergy against the Breakers of the Articles above written IN the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Amen Whereas our Sovereign Lord the King to the Honour of God and of Holy Church and for the common profit of the Realm hath granted for him and his Heirs for ever these Articles above written Robert Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of all England admonished all his Province once twice and thrice Because that shortness will not suffer so much Delay as to give knowledge to all the People of England of these presents in Writing We therefore enjoyn all Persons of what Estate soever they be that they and every of them as much as in them is shall uphold and maintain these Articles granted by our Sov L. the K. in all points And all those that in any point do Resist or break or in any manner hereafter procure Counsel or any ways assent to resist or break those Ordinances or go about it by word or deed openly or privily by any manner of Pretence or Colour We the foresaid Arch-bishop by our Authority in this Writing expressed do Excommunicate and accurse and from the Body of our Lord Jesu Christ and from all the Company of Heaven and from all the Sacraments of Holy Church do Sequester and exclude NOTES It may be observed that this Curse is left out of our late Printed statute-Statute-Book though inserted at large in that Printed in three Volumns in Queen Elizabeth's days Anno. 1557. There is likewise another like dreadful but more full and express Curse Solemnly pronounced before in the time of King Henry 3d. which being also omitted in our Modern Statute-Book I shall add here for the Readers satisfaction The Sentence or Curse given by the Bishops against the Breakers of the Great Charter IN the Year of our Lord One thousand two hundred and fifty three the Third day of May in the great Hall of the King at Westminster in the Presence and by the assent of the Lord Henry by the Grace of God King of England and the Lord Richard Earl of Cornwal his Brother Roger Bigot Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk Marshal of England Humphry Earl of Hereford Henry Earl of Oxford John Earl Warren and other Estates of the Realm of England William Boniface by the Mercy of God Arch-bishop of Canterbury Primate of all England F. of London H. of Ely S. of Worcester E. of Lincoln W. of Norwich G. of Hereford W. of Salisbury W. of Durham R. of Exeter M. of Carlile W. of Bath E. of Rochester T. of Saint Davids Bishops apparelled in Pontificials with Tapers burning against the Breakers of the Churches Liberties and of the Liberties or other Customs of the Realm of England and namely of those which are contained in the Charter of the Common Liberties of England and Charter of the Forrest have denounced the Sentence of Excommunication in this Form By the Authority of Almighty God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost and of the Glorious Mother of God and perpetual Virgin Mary of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and of all Apostles and of all Martyrs of Blessed Edward King of England and of all the Saints of Heaven We Excommunicate Accurse and from the Benefits of our Holy Mother the Church we Sequester All those that hereafter willingly and maliciously deprive or spoil the Church of her Right And all those that by any Craft or Wiliness do Violate Break Diminish or Change the Churches Liberties and free Customs contained in the Charters of the Common Liberties and of the Forr est granted by our Lord the King to Archbishops Bishops and other Prelates of England and likewise to the Earls Barons Knights and other Freeholders of the Realm And all that secretly or openly by Deed Word or Council do make Statutes or observe them being made and that bring in Customs or keep them when they be brought in against the said Liberties or any of them the Writers the Law-makers Councellors and the Executioners of them and all those that shall presume to judge against them All and every which Persons before mentioned that wittingly shall commit any of the Premises let them well know that they incurr the foresaid Sentence ipso facto i. e. upon the Deed done And those that Commit ought ignorantly and be admonished except they reform themselves within 15 dayes after the time of the admonition and make full satisfaction for that they have done at the will of the Ordinary shall be from that time forth wrapped in the said Sentence and with the same Sentence we burden all those that presume to disturb the Peace of our Soveraign Lord the King and of the Realm To the perpetual Memory of which thing we the foresaid Prelates have put our Seals to these presents So Zealous were our Ancestors to preserve their Liberties from encroachments that they employed all the strength of humane Policy and Religious Obligations to secure them intire and inviolate And since this Act is still in as much force as the Act against Conventicles I cannot fadome the Reason why our Prelates should not as well hold themselves obliged twice a Year to accurse the Infringers thereof as to Prosecute Protestant Dissenters However we may note that by this Statute Chap. 2. it is expresly provided that if any Judgments be given from that time forwards against any of the points of Magna Charta they shall be annull'd and holden for nought therefore Quaere whether the conviction of Protestant Dissenters by a Justice and spoiling them of their goods without any Trial and Conviction by a Jury which is expresly against the 29 Chapter of Magna Charta ought not to be taken notice of and redress'd and the original Promoters thereof to be Curs'd by my Lords the Bishops as aforesaid A Statute made Anno 34 Edw. 1. commonly called de Tallageo non Concedendo CHAP. I. The King or his Heirs shall have no Tallage or Aid without consent of Parliament NO Tallage or Aid shall be taken or Levied by Us or our Heirs in our Realm without the good Will and Assent of Arch-Bishops Bishops Earls Barons Knights Burgesses and other Freemen of the Land CHAP. II. Nothing shall be purveyed to the Kings Vse without the Owners consent NO Officer of ours or of our Heirs shall take Corn Leather Cattel or any other Goods of any manner of Person without the good Will and Assent of the Party to whom the Goods belonged CHAP. III. Nothing shall be taken of Sacks of Wooll by Colour of Maletot NOthing from henceforth shall be taken of Sacks of Wooll by colour or occasion of Maletot CHAP. IV. All Laws Liberties and Customs confirmed WE Will and Grant for Us and our Heirs That all Clerks and Lay-men of our Land shall have their Laws Liberties and free Customs as largely and wholly as they have used to have the same at any time
had Judgment to confess his fault there and in the Countrey in the Pulpit of his Parish Church on Sunday before Sermon 2. Anno 21 Jacobi Ingrey under Sheriff of Cambridge-shire for refusing the Poll upon the promise of Sir Thomas Steward to defend him therein kneeling at the Bar received his Judgment to stand Committed to the Serjeant at Arms and to make Submission at the Bar and Acknowledge his offence there and to make a father Submission openly at the Quarter Sessions and there also to acknowledge his fault 3. Anno 20 Jacobi the Mayor of Arundel for misbehaving himself in an Election by putting the Town to a great deal of Charge not giving a due and General warning but Packing a number of Electors was sent for by Warrant and after ordered to pay all the Charge and the House appointed certain persons to adjust the Charges 4. And 3 Car. 1. Sir William Wray and others Deputy Lieutenants of Cornwal for assuming to themselves a power to make whom they pleas'd Knights and defaming those Gentlemen that then stood to be Chosen sending up and down the Countrey Letters for the Trained Bands to appear at the Day of Election and Menacing the Countrey under the Title of His Majesties pleasure had Judgment given upon them to be committed to the Tower 2. To make Recognition of their Offence at the Bar of the House upon their Knees which was done 3. To make a Recognition and submission at the Assizes in Cornwal in a Form drawn by a Committee 5. But most remarkable are the Proceedings in the same Parliament Anno 1628. against Doctor Manwaring who being there charged with Preaching and Publishing Offensive Sermons and the same referred to a Committee they brought in their Report which was delivered to the House with this Speech as I find it in Doctor Fullers Church-History L. 11. Fo. 129. Mr. Speaker I am to deliver from the Sub-Committee a Charge against Mr. Manwaring a Preacher and Doctor of Divinity but a Man so Criminous that he hath turned his Titles into Accusations for the better they are the worse is he that hath dishonoured them Here is a great Charge that lies upon him it is great in it self and great because it hath many great Charges in it Serpens qui Serpentem Devorat fit Draco his Charge having digested many Charges into it is become a Monster of Charges The main and great one is this a Plot and Policy to alter and subvert the Frame and Fabrick of this State and Commonwealth This is the great one and it hath others in it that gains it more Greatness For to this end he labours to infuse into the Conscience of his Majesty the perswasion of a Power not bounding it self with Laws which King James of famous memory calls in his Speech in Parliament 1619. Tyranny yea Tyranny accompanied with Perjury 2. He endeavours to perswade the Consciences of the Subjects That they are Bound to Obey Illegal Commands yea he Damns them for not Obeying them 3. He Robs the Subjects of the Property of their Goods 4. He Brands them that will not lose this Property with most Scandalous and Odious Titles to make them Hateful both to Prince and People so to set a Division between the Head and Members and between the Members themselves 5. To the same end not much unlike to Faux and his Fellows he seeks to Blow up Parliaments and Parliamentary-Power These five being duly viewed will appear to be so many Charges and withal they make up the main and great Charge a mischievous Plot to alter and subvert the Frame and Government of this State and Common-wealth And now that you may be sure that Mr. Manwaring though he leave us no propriety in our Goods yet he hath an absolute propriety in his Charge Audite ipsam Belluam hear Mr. Manwaring by his own words making up his own Charge Here he produced the Books particularly Insisting on p. 19 29 and 30. in the first Sermon p. 35 46 and 48. in the second Sermon all which passages he heightened with much Eloquence and Acrimony thus concluding his Speech I have shewed you an Evil tree that bringeth forth Evil fruit and now it rests with you to determine whether the following Sentence shall follow Cut it down and cast it into the Fire Four days after the Parliament proceeded to his Censure consisting of eight particulars it being ordered by the House of Lords against him as followeth 1. To be Imprisoned during the pleasure of the House 2. To be Fined a thousand Pounds 3. To make his Submission at the Bar in this House and in the House of Commons at the Bar there in Verbis Conceptis a set form of words framed by a Committee of this house 4. To be Suspended from his Ministerial Function three Years and in the mean time a sufficient Preaching-man to be provided out of the profits of his Living and this to be left to be performed by the Ecclesiastical Court 5. To be Disabled for ever hereafter from Preaching at Court 6. To be for ever Disabled of having any Ecclesiastical Dignity in the Church of England 7. To be Uncapable of any Secular Office or Preferment 8. That his Books are worthy to be Burned and his Majesty to be moved that it may be so in London and both the Vniversities And accordingly he made his humble Submission at both the Bars in Parliament on the Three and twentieth of June following and on his Knees before both Houses submitted himself with outward Expressions of Sorrow as followeth I do here in all sorrow of Heart and true Repentance acknowledge those many Errors and Indiscretions which I have committed in Preaching and Publishing the two Sermons of mine which I called Religion and Allegiance and my great fault in falling upon this Theam again and handling the same rashly scandalously and undavisedly in my own Parish Church in St. Giles in the Fields the Fourth of May last past I humbly acknowledge these three Sermons to have been full of Dangerous passages and Inferences and scandalous Aspersions in most part of them And I do Humbly acknowledge the Just proceedings of this Honourable House against me and the Just Sentence and Judgement pass'd upon me for my great Offence And I do from the bottom of my Heart crave Pardon of God the King and this Honourable House and the Common-Weal in general and those worthy Persons Adjuged to be reflected upon by me in particular for these great Ossences and Errors The truth is 't is this High Court of Parliament that only can hinder the Subject from being given up as a Prey to the Arbitrary Pleasure not only of the Prince if he should attempt it but which is Ten times worse to the unreasonable passions and lusts of Favourites cheif Ministers and Women when otherwise instead of a Monarch who as sometimes it may happen shall Govern but in name we might be ruled like the Antient French by an insolent
requiring him to do it himself if the Bishop still refuse And if the Sheriff do not do so you may have a Writ to the same purpose directed to the Coroner to do it as you may see in that Authentick Law-Book The Register of Original Writs fol. 66 and 67. So careful were our Forefathers for the Liberty of the Subjects Persons And hereby it appears that the Bishop is bound by Law to take such Caution that is Fidejussory Caution I mean by Bond and Sureties and thereupon to absolve the person Excommunicated though he will not take an Oath stare mandatis Ecclesiae To obey the commands of holy Church As for what shall be accounted such sufficient Caution the practice is for the Party and two Friends for there must be Two Sureties to be bound in a Bond of 10 l. seldom more or at most 20 l. to the Bishop conditioned that the Party shall obey the Commands of the Church but such Bond when entred into is but a Formality for they are never put in Suit and indeed signifie nothing Thus have we given our honest Countrey-men some few Directions how to act in this difficult and troublesom Affair being a Mystery unknown to many common practisers of the Law Note also That by the Statute of Car. 1. Ca. 11. For taking away the high Commission Court there is the following Clause And be it also Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that no Archbishop Bishop nor Viccar general nor any Chancellor Official nor Commissary of any Archbishop Bishop or Viccar general nor any Ordinary whatsoever nor any other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Judge Officer or Minister of Justice c. shall Ex officio or at the Instance or promotion of any other person whatsoever urge enforce tender give or minister unto any Church Warden Sideman or other person whatsoever any Corporal Oath whereby he or she shall or may be charged or obliged to make any presentment of any Crime or offence or to confess or to accuse himself or herself of any Crime offence delinquency or misdemeanor or any Neglect matter or thing whereby or by reason whereof he or she shall or may be liable or exposed to any censure pain penalty or punishment whatsoever upon pain and penalty that every person who shall offend contrary to this Statute shall forfeit and pay Treble damages to every person thereby greived and the sum of 100 l. to him or them who shall first demand and sue for the same And tho by the Statute 13 Car. 2. Ca. 12. part of this Statute is abrogated yet this Clause is Excepted and confirmed by an express Proviso of the said last Act. And there are many precedents since His Majesties Restauration where Church Wardens being prosecuted in the Spir. Court for not Swearing to the Bishops Book of Articles of Inquiry have moved the Kings-Bench or common Pleas and obtained a prohibition to stop such proceedings as particularly in the Case of one Waters of Chichester in the Common Pleas. AND now coming to speak of the Laws upon which Protestant Dissenters are commonly prosecuted or threatned to be prosecuted I must for the Reader 's better understanding distinguish them for the truth is They are of two different Natures and kinds 1. Some Statutes which were wholly designed against Papists and ought only to be Exerted against them which yet some now would wrest and distort and make them Serve as Rods wherewith to lash dissenting Protestants for not coming to Church Receiving the Sacrament c. 2. The Laws that were indeed made against Puritan Sectaries as they call them or dissenting Protestants I shall first breifly sum up all the first Sort how many and what they are and show you the Reasons why they ought not to be turned upon such dissenters The Statutes I mean are in number Five viz. The 1. Elizabeth Ca. 2. The 23. Elizabeth Ca. 1. The 29. Elizabeth Ca. 6. The 1. Jac. Ca. 4. and 3 Jac. Ca. 4. which we shall handle in order 1. The Act of the 1. Eliz. Cap. 2. Was made Immediately after that Queens coming to the Crown when she found nothing but Papists and Protestants in General For the word Puritan in those days was not known much less our modern Terms of Reproach Whig Sectary or Fanatick and she being a good Protestant having been Educated therein and resolved to support that Religion casting about with her wise Council how to do it That the Indifferent and moderate sort of Papists might not be too much disgusted or alienated from the Protestant Religion but be rather invited to close therewith It was therefore on mature deliberation Concluded to go on gently as to the Reformation and not to throw off all the Ceremonies at once And therefore having a pattern of Protestant discipline made in King Edward the 6. time she follows the same steps as near as could be in the beginning and builds on the same Foundation which her pious Brother and his wise and honest Council had laid Therefore the first Act she passed was to take off the Jurisdiction of the See of Rome which had been Re-introduc'd by her Sister Mary of unhappy Memory and to take off all Coercive power whatsoever from Ecclesiastical Persons and all was annext to the Imperial Crown of England This Act was Intituled An Act to Restore to the Crown the antient Jurisdiction c. 1. Eliz. Ca. 1. And hereby all the Laws made in the time of Queen Mary for settling the Popes Authority in England were Repealed And also Section the 18th power is given to the Queen to grant Commissions under the Broad Seal of England to such Bishops or Laymen no matter which as she should appoint to hold Ecclesiastical Courts and none might do it without upon pain of a Praemunire and also the Oath of Supremacy is formed and hereby Injoined The very next Act is That which we have now under Consideration Intituled An Act of Vniformity and Common Prayer and Service in the Church and Administration of the Sacrament Which amongst other things Inflicts the penalty of 12d for not coming to Church every Sunday and Holy-day Now that this Act was intended against Papists may be concluded as well because the whole Act runs for the beating down of the Fopperies and superstitions of the Church of Rome and how could it aim at any sort of Protestants since at that time of day there were none but Papists and Churchmen in England This Twelvepence is not forfeited till Conviction which must be by a Jury to which purpose the Justices of Oyer and Terminer and of Assize and Mayors and Head-Officers of Corporations are Authorized To inquire hear and determine the same But the party must be Indicted the nextSessions or Assizes after the Offence or not at all So that they can upon this Act Prosecute at once for no more defaults than there are Sundaies Holy-days between one Sessions or Assizes and another And when the party is so Convicted the