Subjects Roman Catholicks and every of them as well by Information Presentment Indictment Conviction Process Seisure Distress or Imprisonment as also by any other ways or means whatsoever whereby they may be molested for the Causes aforesaid And further also That from time to time you take notice of and speedily redress all Causes of Complaints for or by reason of any thing done contrary to this our will And this shall be unto you and to all to whom you shall give such Warrant Order and Direction a sufficient Warrant and Discharge in that behalf There was no scrupling of this Order but it must be dispatch'd For though as a great Counsellor the Keeper was to be watchful over the Voices and Affections of the People and that he knew this was not the Course to keep the Subject in terms of Contentment yet he had no power to stop the Tide as in former days My Lord of Buckin would not stay to hear the Arguments of his Wisdom Altissimo orbe praecipuâ potentiâ stella Saturni fortur Tacit. 1 list lib. 5. The Planet of Saturn was in the highest Orb and ruled all the Influence of the Court Where was now the Cavil against the Spanish Match that in the Treaty for it it encroach'd too far upon Religion Indeed my Lord of Kensington writes from Paris Cab. p. 275. The French will not strain us to any unreasonableness in Conditions for the Catholicks And as much again p. 284. Their Pulse in matter of Religion beats temperately So he told us in another Pacquet p. 292. That the French will never abandon us in the Action for the recovering the Palatinate Which of these Engagements were broken last a more solid Question than to ask Which of their Promises were kept first They kept none Some chop out Promises as Nurses tell Tales to Children to lull them asleep As it is in the neat Phrase of Arnobius Somno occupari ut possint leves audiendoe sunt naenioe The Histories of Spain and the Netherlands as well as of England do not spare to touch that Noble Nation that none have taken greater liberty to play fast and loose with Articles and Covenants And as the French were inconstant to us so new Symptoms and new Apprehensions made us variable and inconstant to our selves Now a Letter must be sent to all Magistrates Spiritual and Temporal to cause them to suspend the Execution of all Laws against the Papists At the Term at Reading in November following Divulgation is made in all Courts under the Broad-Seal that all Officers and Judges should proceed against them according to Law After the Second Parliament of King Charles was broken up that is in the Summer that followed the Term at Reading by the Mediation of the French Embassador Marshal Bassampere new Letters come from the King to redintegrate Favours to the Recusants and that all Pursevants must be restrained and their Warrants to search the Houses of Papists taken from them And this continued but till Winter It was safe and just to return quickly again into the High-way of the Law for the shortest Errors are the best Especially in God's Cause Which Vincen. Lirin well adviseth Nos religionem non quo volumus ducere sed quò illa nos ducit sequi debemus We must take up the Train of Religion and come after it and not lead it after us in a String of Policy 5. Private Men may better keep this Rule than such as are publickly employed in the State But though the Keeper had no remedy but the preceding Warrant must be obeyed Yet he tryed his Majesty how his Service would be taken in stopping a Warrant upon another occasion bearing date May 23. Because the sumptuous Entertainment of the Queen and her magnificient Convoy being ready to land would be very chargeable he thrust in his Judgment to advise the King against disorderly Liberality And though he knew the Secretary Conway for no other than a Friend yet he lik'd not his Encroachment upon the Royal Bounty but signifies it in this manner Most dread Sovereign and my most gracious Master I Received this Morning a Warrant from your most Excellent Majesty to pass a Grant under the Great-Seal of England of the Sum of Two thousand Pounds out of the Court of Wards to my Lord Conway for Twenty One Years to come The which I durst not for fear of infringing my Duty to your Majesty and drawing some danger upon my self pass under the Great-Seal before I had made unto your most Excellent Majesty this most humble Representation First The issuing of so great a Lease of such a vast Sum of Money is under your Majesty's Favour and Correction disadvantageous to your Majesty's Service in regard of the time being in the face of that Parliament from which your Majesty is to expect a main Supply Secondly It is I believe without Prsident or Example that Pensions have been granted in Contemplation of Services for Years But for the Party's Life only My Lord of Middlesex his Lease of the Sugars is the only President in that kind which hath hapned during the time of my Service in this Place Thirdly The Assigning of this Pension upon the Court of Wards or any other Place than the Receipt of the Exchequer is directly against the Rules and Orders taken upon mature deliberation by your Father of Blessed Memory Fourthly This great Lord for so be is indeed is in the Eye and the Envy of many Men as your Majesty I fear it will hear e're long As having received more great Favours within these two Years than any Three Subjects within this Kingdom Although I do believe looking up to the hands that conferred them he may well deserve them all Most gracious Sovereign I am not ignorant of the danger I incur in making this Representation But I have put on an irremoveable Resolution that as long as you are pleased to continue me in your Service I will never from this time forth out of Contemplation of mine own Safety or any other carnal Respect neglect voluntarily any part of my Duty to my God or my King Which I suppose I had greatly forgotten without presenting your most Excellent Majesty with this Remonstrance And having perform'd this part of my Duty I shall most punctually obey your Majesty's Direction in this particular For this good Service it was well he had no check yet he had no gra-mercy to seem wiser than those that had prepared the business And though the Patent for that Pension was a flat Violation of good Order yet the Plea was it would be unkind to revoke it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plutarch in the Life of Agis observes it in some Mens Humours Though a thing be ill undertaken it is held a shame to go back This Lord Secretary was the Keeper's cold Friend upon it but he lived not long and quitted his Office before he ceased to live Only some deckings of empty Titles were given him
shall observe many Things as I can overtake them in fitness of Time this comes to me now under 〈…〉 that Fulgâ—â—io cannot deny that Father Paul was Libel'd for a stupid 〈◊〉 Man 〈◊〉 careless of Religion because when two perhaps were divided which was the Truth he made a good Construction of them both To put this into the Trial of an Instance it is as recent to me as if it had been 〈◊〉 done what befel this prudent Man I write of for looking upon 〈…〉 of two vehement Factions and yet laying a Bet on neither 〈◊〉 He had a mighty Insight into the seventh Volume of St. Austin's Works wherein that holy Bishop hath so divinely contended for the Efficacy of Grace against 〈◊〉 and Semipclagians For his own part St. Austin had possess'd him and he was over entirely his Adherent in those Controversies Many others of exquisite Learning were not convinced with St. Austin's Judgment The Schools had many that ventilated those impenetrable Conceptions pro con at first with sharpness of Learning at last with more sharpness of Enmity The Netherlanders unluckily invented several Names for these Scholastical Skirmishes Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants Ate and the Furies of Contention came among us out of Belgia with these Names Reproaches and all sorts of unkind Discriminations succeeded But he whose Praise is under my Pen held his Augustinian Conclusions but never disparaged 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 never condemned the Judgment of them that opponed but commended both Tribes with this Pâ—acidness that himself and those of his Mind went upon this Ground to be circumspect to ascribe all Good unto God and that the adverse part were very cautious to state their Cause so as to ascribe no Evil to God If the most Learned in the World could not decide how to joyn both these together without some jarring Consequences let us meet together in Peace till God had decided it Was not this sweet and candid Yet it was call'd in him and in others of that Moderation Sluggishness Craftiness Neutrality and the like as if in points unfundamental and unresolv'd every man must be a Guelph or a Gibelline Whereas by deep inspection it will appear that many such Opinions are of as even choice as two Shillings thogh not of the same Stamp yet of the same weight it is all one which you Receive in Pay 23. Such a Scheme as I have drawn forth at large of his profounder Studies was expedient to be put whole together to avoid the trouble of broken Interruptions With the weight of those Plummets his Wheels began to turn about at the 25 year of his Age And with the same Plummets the Clock went even Hour from Hour from Month to Month to the expiration of his Life He never chang'd his fashion Now let me invite such as may peruse these Papers to go back with me and to look upon him again in the Spring of his Mastership of Arts. For who hath despised the day of small things as the Prophet says Zachar. 4.10 And because he made his first and most advantagious Sallies into the World about this time being employ'd for his College in Civil or Litigious Causes call them as you will I will bring him upon that Stage before I go further Dr. Clayton the Head of St. Johns College at that time was a careful and prudent Governour at home Thrifty for the publick Stock Meek and quiet as any of that Dignity Yet it is not possible that so numerous a Society should be so fortunate to dispatch all their business among themselves what by Suits of Law which burst in upon them by bad Tenants what by frivolous complaints often Raised by their own Members but by these and other sudden Claps against which there is no prevention the Governour being very Aged and wisely contented to dispatch others to struggle in such contestations he sent forth divers that were Trusty and Judicious to be employ'd in such designs But if it were a knot to be cleaved by a strong Wedg he did always entreat Mr. Williams either alone or with collegues to manage such an Enterprize As the Greeks Adagy goes Nil sine Theseo Theseus made one in every Master-piece of Chivalry Such was our Theseus to the Athens where he lived And he was considerately lookt upon for such service for he well understood any thing he went about he had a fineness to be Gracious with them to whom he was sent and no man could deliver a Tale more smoothly or wrinkle it less with digressions or Parentheses To say much in brief he had the Policy and Gravity of a Statesman before he had a Hair upon his Chin. The Messages of greatest Trust committed to him from the College were to these Eminent persons that follow To the Earl of Salisbury Chancellour of the University By the way I can Witness that he much lamented that he knew that most Wise Lord Cecil no longer or upon no greater occasions whom he extolled above all Wits spying him through the Tryal of such petty matters as were brought before his Lordship in his Presence For as if the Chancellour had a Spirit of Divination he would instantly discover whether the Suit made to him were fit for his serious care or whether it were but Faction and Envy the Diseases of Scholars within their own Walls that made a Clamour for Justice Upon such like Errands for his Society he was admitted sometimes to Speak and Argue before the true Pillar of the Church Arch-Bishop Bancroft And upon this Reverend Father he gained so far by his neat Wit and decent behaviour that the Arch-Bishop sent for him two years before he was Batchelour of Divinity and ex mero motu gave him the Advouzon of an Arch-Deaconry in Wales Cordigan if I forget not which came to the Metropolitan by his customary Prerogative I am not certain when it fell void and came to Mr. Williams's possession This I am sure of that he sate in Convocation in the Title of this Arch-Deaconry the year 1613. expiring when Dr. Lake Holy and Learned Dr. Lake was Prolocutor Sometimes also he Petitioned Lord Chancellour Egerton for the same Foundation And in a Lucky hour For the Lord Chancellour in those Addresses quickly found him out that he was a Jewel fit for his own wearing which broke forth in due time as shall be comprized in the sequel And to rise up one step more upon the degrees of God's Providence the Master and Fellows aforesaid deputed him for their Agent to the Court to Petition the King for a Mort-main thereby to bring some increment to their maintenance It is no New thing to say he sped in the Suitâ— for when did he miscarry You have him right in that Elogy which Aurelius gives to Septimius Severus acer erat ingenio ad omnia quae intenderat in finem perseverans His Wit was sharp and drew success after it as the Needle doth the Thred and his Industry was restless
for him that kept the Seal of England as for him that kept the Seal of France In what Kingdom soever he had been born in what Age soever he had lived he would have shared with them that had a considerable part of Honour and Dignity Certainly he was embued with that Wit and Spirit that he need not lag after the Train of Preferment unless he would And I dare not say he would For they that are sanguine and of a stirring temper which was his Complexion love to take the right hand I must be thus far bold because I write not of an Angel or a Soul among the Beati but of a Man consisting of Humane Desires and Passions And he that describes an ingenious active Man without some addition to Honour and Greatness makes him not Laudable but Prodigious And I will as soon believe it as I will the Alcoran that the Angel Gabriel took out all the black Core of Original Frailty from the Heart of Mahomet Experience teacheth us more then strict Rules that Virtue which is forward to thrust it self into practise nay into danger for the public Good will never discharge it chearfully without a Ticket from hope of some Amplification Salust in the Oration De republicâ ordinandâ spake pleasingly and truly to Caesar Ubi gloriam dempseris ipsa per se virtus amara atque aspera est 46. Now he whom I insist upon being a Subject thus fit for Impression his good Master King James was as ready to put the Stamp upon him He never met with any before no not the Lord Egerton much less with any after that loved him like King James at the full rate of his worth That King's Table was a trial of Wits The reading of some Books before him was very frequent while he was at his Repast Otherwise he collected Knowledge by variety of Questions which he carved out to the capacity of his understanding Writers Methought his hunting Humour was not off so long as his Courtiers I mean the Learned stood about him at his Board He was ever in chase after some disputable Doubts which he would wind and turn about with the most stabbing Objections that ever I heard And was as pleasant and fellow-like in all those Discourses as with his Huntsmen in the Field They that in many such genial and convival Conferences were ripe and weighty in their Answers were indubiously designed to some Place of Credit and Profit Wherein he followed the Emperor Adrian as Spartianus remembers it Omnes professores honoravit divites fecit licet eos quaestionibus semper agitaverit But among them all with whom King James communed was found none like Daniel c. 1. v. 19. His Majesty gave his Ear more Graciously to this Chaplain and directed his Speech to him when he was at hand oftner then to any that crowded near to harken to the Wisdom of that Salomon He had all those Endowments mightily at command which are behoved in a Scholar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle 3º Top. terms them unto Extemporary Colloquies Ingenium in numerato habuit as Quintil. l. 6. said of a ready Man he had all his Learning in ready Money and could spend it at an hour as well as at a day's warning There was not a greater Master of Perspicuity and elucidate Distinctions which look'd the better in his English that ran sweet upon his Tongue especially being set out with a graceful Facetiousness that hit the joint of the Matter For his Wit and his Judgment never parted If the King lead him quite out of the rode of Verbal Learning and talk'd to him of real and gobernative Wisdom he pleas'd his Majesty most of all because his Answers discover'd that he loved to see through the present to the future Chiefly since he would be bold not only to argue but to quarrel against Innovations For though he was never addicted to his own Opinions no not among his Inferiors with that pertinacious Obligation for better for worse yet neither his best Friends nor the higher Powers could ever get him pleas'd with new Crotchets either in Church or State His constant Rule was That old Imperfections were safer then new Experiments To which purpose a Saying of his was famous in Court The manner how it came in was thus A great Servant to the King press'd for a change of that which was well enough already and commended his Design by this Note That it would be an easier way for the People Sir says Dr. Williams a Bed is an easie Repose but it is not wholsom to lie upon a new Tick and new-driven Feathers All these Passages the King consider'd from time to time Multa viri virtus animo c. And was glad he had a Servant to be raised up of whom He thought as Cicero did of Demetrius Valerius lib. 3. de Leg. Et doctrinae studus regendà civitate Princeps That he was a full Scholar fit for the Sacred and for the Civil Gown In a word one of the stronger Cattle Gen. 30.41 and designed for a Bell-weather in Jacob's Flock 47. The King was the Fountain of Honour indeed but there was a pre-eminent Pipe through which all Graces flowing from him were derived I pray the Reader to consider the sweetness of this King's Nature for I ascribe it to that cause that from the time he was 14 Years old and no more that is when the Lord Aubigny came into Scotland out of France to visit him even then he began and with that Noble Personage to clasp some one Gratioso in the Embraces of his great Love above all others who was unto him as a Parelius that is when the Sun finds a Cloud so fit to be illustrated by his Beams that it looks almost like another Sun At this time upon which my Pen drops the Marquess of Buckingham was the Parelius He could open the Sluce of Honour to whom and shut it against whom he pleased This Lord was our English Alcibtades for Beauty Civility Bounty and for Fortitude wanted nothing of Man enough says Art Wils p. 223. who favours all Republicans and never speaks well of Regians it is his own distinctions if he can possibly avoid it The Marquess by Sweetness as much as by Greatness by Courtesie as well as by Power pluck'd a world of Suitors to him especially by his generous and franc Usage For he did as many Favours to the King's Servants and Subjects freely and nobly that is without the sordid Fee of Gifts and Presents as ever any did that ruled the King's Affections Some of the most honoured Ladies of his Blood have told me That there was a Chopping-taker in his Family that was least suspected but his Lordship's Hands were clean and his Eyes could not look into every dark corner Dr. William was aware that this was the Man by whom the King delighted to impart his Bounties Aemilio dabitur quicquid petit Juv. Sat. 7. The Doctor had crept
and Decrees of my Predecessors I would be loth to succeed any man as Metellus did Caius Verres Cuius omnia erant ejusmodi ut totam Verris Praeturam retexere videretur Whose Carriage saith Tully was a meer Penclopes Web and untwisting of all the Acts of Verres ' s Pretorship Upon New matter I cannot avoid the re-viewing of a Cause but I will ever expect the forbearing of Persons so as the Ashes of the Dead may be hereafter spared and the Dust of the Living no further Raked Fourthly I will be as cautelous as I can in referring of Causes which I hold of the same Nature of a By-way Motion For one Reference that Spurs on a Cause there are ten that bridle it in and hold it from hearing This is that which Bias calls the backward forwarding of a Cause for as the Historian speaks Quod procedere non potest recedit Fifthly I profess before hand this Court shall be no Sanctuary for Undiscreet and Desperate Sureties It is a Ground of the Common Law That a man shall make no Advantage of his own Follies and Laches When the Mony is to be borrowed the Surety is the first in the Intention and therefore if it be not paid let him a God's Name be the first in Execution Lastly I will follow the Rules of this Court in all Circumstances as near as I can And considering that as Pliny speaks Stultissimum est adimitandum non optima quaeque proponere It were a great Folly to make Choice of any other then the very best for Imitation I will propound my Old Master for my Pattern and Precedent in all things Beseeching Almighty God so to direct me That while I hold this place I may follow him by a True and Constant imitation And if I prove Unfit and Unable for the same That I may not play the Mountebank so in this Place as to Abuse the King and the State but follow the same most Worthy Lord in his Chearful and Voluntary Resignation Sic mihi contingat vivere sicque mori 88. This he deliver'd thus much and I took Councel with my self not to Abbreviate it For it is so Compact and Pithy That he that likes a little must like it all Plutarch gives a Rule for Sanity to him that Eats a Tortoise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eat it up all or not a whit for a Modicum will Gripe the Belly He that fills himself with a great deal shall procure a Cleansing Evacuation So the Speech of a Great Orator is Instructive when it is entire Pinch it in with an Epitome you mangle the meaning and avile the Eloquence From Words he fell to Practise Industry I think was his Recreation for certain he had not a drop of Lazy Blood in his Veins He fill'd up every hour of the Day and a good part of the Night with the dispatch of some public and necessary business And though as a Counsellor of State and both as a Peer and Speaker in Parliament he had many diversions yet none of the work in Chancery was diminish'd which Attendance grew so light and familiar to him that in a little while it seem'd to be no more a burthen to him then the Water is to the Fishes under which they Swim He would not excuse himself a day for any the most lawful pretence he would not impart himself to the Star-Chamber or Parliament when it sate before he had spent two hours or more among the Pleaders Two or three Afternoons he Allotted every Week to hear Peremptories By which unequall'd diligence commonly he dispatch'd five or six Causes in a morning according to the quality or measure of the Points that came to be debated He did not only labour Six Days but as it follows in the Commandment He did all that he had to do For of all the Causes that were usually set down for hearing he never left any of them unheard at the End of the Term which was both an especial Ease and Comfort to the Subject and a full Testimony of his labour and ability to expedite so many Knotty and Spacious Causes that came before him in as little time as the Clients could expect The Survey of an whole year will give better satisfaction then every Term a part by it self Whereupon he Writes thus to the Lord Marquess July 10. 1622. In this Place I have now serv'd His Majesty one whole Year diligently and honestly But to my Hearts Grief by Reason of my Rawness and Inexperience very unprofitably Yet if his Majesty will Examine the Regâ—ers there will be found more Causes finally Ended this one Year then in all the Seven Years preceding How well ended I confess ingeniously I know not His Majesty and your Lordship who no doubt have Received some Complaints though in your Love 〈…〉 from me are in that the most competent Judges A Testimony of Great Labour and not more Copious then Clear For the Registry could not I ye Thus Joseph in his faithful Service under King Pharaoh gather'd in as much in one Year as was wont to be Reap'd in Seven And truly it becomes him that he was not confident but mistrustful of himself least some Waspish and Vexatious men had attempted to lay open some Errors to his Superiors which should escape him in fixing so many Planetary Causes But there was I had almost said none Yet then I had forgotten Sir John Bourcher who complain'd to both Houses of Parliament that his matters in debate were for ever shut up in a Decree before his Counsel was ready having some Allegations which expected more time to be Ripen'd still more time The business of this Knight was Arbitrated with consent by the Chief Baron Jac. 7. That Arbitration he would not stand to It was Decreed in full hearing by the Lord Elsmore Jac. 10. This did not please him Yet it was Order'd to the same Effect by the Lord Bacon Jac. 17. And after this the same Decree was confirm'd by the Lord William's Jac. 19. Having the consent of Justice Hutton Justice Chamberlain and the Master of the Rolls with an hundred Pounds advantage more then was given him before And was not this Suit come to Adultage for Tryal after Seventeen Years Vexation in it first and last If a Suitor shall have Power to define when his Cause is sufficiently heard a Fidler would not undertake the Office of a Judge Sir John durst not have presum'd to this Boldness but that he was encourag'd by his Father-in-Law the Lord Sheffeild who was a Scholar a Judicious Lord and of great Experience that knew well enough the Futility of this Appeal for it was discharg'd with a general Rebuke But the Spirits usually beat with an un even Pulse when they stirr too much in pity to our own Relations 89. Some others there were I yet remember it of the coarsest Retainers to Court who liv'd by picking up Crumbs that fell from Stale Bread these Whisper'd their Discontents that Causes
were cut off too soon that delay would bring them to a more considerate Ripeness Sic vero dificiente crimine laidem ipsam in vituperium vertit invidia says Tully but he is sufficiently prais'd who is disprais'd for nothing but his Vertues Dispatch was a Vertue in him And all his Sails were fill'd with a good Wind to make riddance in his Voyage He was no Lingerer by Nature and kindly warmth is quick in digestion Our time is but a Span long but he that doth much in a short Life products his Mortality To this he had such a Velocity of mind that out of a few Words discreetly spoken he could apprehend the Strength and Sirrup of that which would follow This is that Ingeny which is so much commended 4. Tuseul Multarum rerum brevi tempore percussio such a Wit is ever upon an Hill and fees the Champain round about him And it was most contrary to his incorruptness to prolong an hearing as Felix did Act. 24.26 Till Mony purchas'd a convenient Season He never was Accus'd of it Quod nemo novit poene non fit as Apuleius says 10. Metam 'T was never known therefore 't was never done is a Moral and a Charitable inference Guess his great Spirit from this Essay and how he Coveted no Man's Silver or Gold that when he was in his lowest Want and Misery in the Tower Sequestred of all he had yet he Refus'd the offers of his Friends with this Reason that he knew not how to take from any but a King There is another Rub in the way sometimes Court Messages and Potentates Letters for alass in many Causes there are great Betters that are no Gamesters But he had a Spell against that Inchantment an invincible Courage against Enmity and Envy I will truly Translate Mamertinus his Qualities upon him of which he boasted in the Panegyric for his Consulship Animi magm adversus pecuniam liberi adversus offensas constantis adversus invidiam Those Magnificoes that were Undertakers for perdue Causes gave him over quickly for a stubborn Man that would go his own Pace and make no Halt for their sakes that sate in the Gallery of great ones above him As Cicarella says of Sixtus Quintus in his Addition to Platina In ore omnium erat nunc tempus Sixti est it is not as it was these are Pope Sixtus's days No Man now can work a Reprieve for a Malefactor So this Magistrate was passive to many Solicitations but strenuously Resolv'd to be Active for none for whatsoever Cause was brought before him he could instantly discern the true Face from the Vizard and whether the Counsel did not endeavour rather to shut it up then to open it It askt him a little time to Learn as it were the use of the Compass how to Sail into the Vast Ocean ef Pleadings and not to creep always by the Shore To follow the Pleaders in their own method and to speak to them in their own Dialect nay to reduce them from starting out and to Rectifie every Sprain and Dislocation See what a Globe of Light there is in natural Reason which is the same in every Man but when it takes well and riseth to perfection it is call'd Wisdom in a few 90. The Terms of the Common Law as in all other Professions and Sciences seem Barbarous to the Vulgar Ear and had need to be familiariz'd with pre-acquaintance which being the Primar of that Rational Learning he had inur'd himself to it long before and was nothing to seek in it Yet one of the Bar thought to put a Trick upon his Fresh-man-ship and trouled out a Motion crammed like a Granada with obsolete Words Coins of far fetch'd Antiquity which had been long disus'd worse then Sir Thomas Mores Averia de Wethernham among the Masters of Paris In these misty and recondit Phrases he thought to leave the New Judge feeling after him in the Dark and to make him blush that he could not Answer to such mystical Terms as he had Conjur'd up But he dealt with a Wit that was never entangl'd in a Bramble Bush for with a serious Face he Answer'd him in a cluster of most crabbed Notions pick'd up out of Metaphysics and Logic as Categorematical and Syncategorematical and a deal of such drumming stuff that the Motioner being Foil'd at his own Weapon and well Laugh'd at in the Court went home with this New Lesson That he that Tempts a Wise man in Jest shall make himself a Fool in Earnest Among many Gown-men at the Bar this was but one and that one proved a solid Pleader and sound at the hands of a more reconcileable man more than common Favour who procur'd him Knighthood and did send him his help in another Capacity Ten Years after to advance his Fortunes To proceed his Judgment could not be dazzled with Dark and Exotic Words they were proper to the matters in Hand The difficulty that he did most contend with was against Intrigues and immethodical Pleadings so that he had much to do to force the Councel to gather up their Discourses more closely and to hold them to the Point in Hand checking Excursions and impertinent Ramblings with the Rebuke of Authority though it seem'd a little Brackish to some Palates With a little Experience he gather'd up such Ripeness of Judgment and so sharp-sighted a knowledg that upon the opening of a Bill he could readily direct the Pleaders to that which was the Issue between the Plaintiff and Defendant and constrein them to speak to nothing but the very Weight of the Cause from the Resolution whereof the whole business did attend it's dispatch So true it is which Nepos delivers in the Life of Atticus Facile existimari potest Prudentiam esse quandam Divinati nem Prudence is a kind of Divination let it Tast a little and it can guess at all It needs not to have all the Windows opened when it can see Light enough through a Chink On the Judges part it is not Patience but Weakness not to abridge Prolixity of Words that he may come the sooner to the Truth And on the Advocates part 't is Affectation to seem more careful of his cause then he is when he speaks more then he needs Thus the Lord Keeper behav'd himself constantly and indifferently towards every Bill and Answer using the same method the same diligence the same Application of his great Gifts to all Causes following the Council which Q. Cicero gave to his Brother de Petiti Consul It a paratus ad dicendum venito quasi in singulis caulis Judicium de omni ingenio futurum sit so he carried himself as if he his whole sufficiency were to be Tried upon every Decree he made I shall say much I think enough to his Approbation that in the Tryal of two Terms the Councei at the Bar were greatly contented with him The Primipili or Vantguard of them were such as fil'd up their place with great Glory in
Excellent persons Among other passages of his Reviling Throat it was proved against him that he had said that our Bishops were no Bishops but were Lay-men and Usurpers of that Title Floud says the Lord Keeper Since I am no Bishop in your Opinion I will be no Bishop to you I concur with my Lords the like I never did before in your Corporal punishment Secondly in inflicting pecuniary Mulcts upon him that was found Guilty he was almost never heard but to concur with the smallest Sum. I would this had been imitated chiefly by them of the Hierarchy who managed the judgments of that Court after he retir'd I would that favour which was wont never to be denied to any had not been forgotten to take away such a part of an Offenders Estate by Fine that still he might have Honestum Continementum an Honest Provision to live upon according to his Place and Dignity It was never intended to prune away the Loppings and to cut down the Trunk too Nothing could be more harsh to tender Ears and Hearts then such a Torrent of censure as came from Q. Furius against Dolabella 11. Philip. of Tully he had loaded him with all the severity he could think of Dixit tamen si quis eorum qui post se rogati essent graviorem sententiam dixisset in eam se iturum But he may get a fall himself that in the undoing of a Man Gallops to Ride as fast as the Fore-Horse Thirdly the Lord Keeper's Indulgence was not satisfied to set the lowest Fine but labour'd for as much mitigation as could be granted at the end of the Term. The Officers that are yet alive will say as much and make me a true Man that the Fines of the Court were never shorn down so near before And after the Period of his Presidency it is too well known how far the Enhancements were stretch'd But the wringing of the Nose hringeth forth Blood Prov. 30.33 The Lord Treasurer Cranfeild a good Husband for the Entrates of the Exchequer complain'd against him to the King how Delinquents by his Abatements were so slightly punish'd in their Purse that the Fees that came to His Majesties Enrichment would not give the Lords a Dinner once a Week as the Custom had been nay hardly once a Term. Behold now a Man that was Lenissimus sine dispendio Disciplinae as Ausonius says of Gratian as full of Lenity as could be saving the Correction of evil Manners But it will be said he was liberal to spare men out of the King's Stock And no whit less as I will shew it out of his own Sir Francis Inglefeild a prisoner in the Fleet upon a contempt of a Decree in Chancery was much overseen not once nor twice in bitter Words against the Lord Keeper which he vented so rashly that they were certified home Well says the Lord Keeper Let him Bark on but he shall never bite his Chain asunder till he submit to mine Order But there came a Complaint by the Information of Sir J. Bennet that Sir Francis had not spared to say before sufficient Witness That he could prove this Holy Bishop Judge had been Bribed by some that far'd well in their Causes As the Old Adagy goes he might as easily have proved that Hercules was a Coward But this contumely could not be pass'd over There was a necessity to purge it or to fall under it in a public hearing After time given to Sir Francis to make good his Words in Star-Chamber the Lord Keeper withdrawing himself for that day he could prove nothing of Corruption against him no not to the Value of a Doit. So a Large Fine of many thousand pounds was inflicted on Sir Francis to be paid to the King and to his Minister whom he had Slander'd The Lord Keeper in a few days following sent for the woful Gentleman and told him he would refute his soul Aspersions and prove upon him that he scorn'd the Pelf of the World or to exact or make lucre of any man For for his own part he forgave him every peny of his Fine and would crave the same Mercy towards him from the King Sir Francis bless'd himself to find such Mercy from one whom he had so grievously provok'd acknowledg'd the Crime of his Defamation and was received afterward into some Degree of Acquaintance and Friendship Many have been undone by those whom they took to be their Friends But it is a rare chance to be seen as in this instance for a man to be preserv'd by him whom he had made his Enemy Let this suffice to declare that the Star-Chamber by this Lord's Prudence was the Court of Astraea 97. Being to take his Picture from Head to Foot it is pertinent to consider him in the Office of a Privy-Councellor It was his first Honour wherein the King call'd him to serve the Crown being Sworn to sit at that Board Three Weeks before he was entrusted with the Great Seal Many things and the best of his Abilities in that place I believe are un-publishable for the most of that Work is secret and done behind the Curtain He that sits in that Employment had need to have the whole Common-Wealth in his Head So says an exact Senator 2 De Orato Ad Consilum de Repub. dandum caput est nosse Rempublicam Many may spit Sentences upon such great matters and speak little as worthy Doctor Gauden says like sealed Pigeons The less they see the higher they Fly But blessed be his Name that gives all good Gifts he was furnish'd with strong intellectuals to discern into the means that concern the Honour Safety Defence and Profit of the Realm Yet it is not enough to have a piercing Eye unless there be an Heart to affect the public good Tully began well but Pontanus makes up the rest in Extolling the Venetian Government Senatoribus mira in consentiendo integritas atque erga patriam amor incredibilis And his Lordship was as true an Englishman as ever gave Counsel in the Royal Palace Therefore he was more employ'd by his Majesty then all the rest to negotiate with Embassadors being most Circumspect and tender to yield to nothing that was not advantagious to our own common Welfare Neither did the Courts of France and Spain and the States of Holland with whom we Acted most upon Tryal how he sisted their Leagues expect any other from him He had the most sudden Representation of Reason to confirm that which he defended of any Man alive None could abound above him in that Faculty which made his great Master value him at that weight that the thrice Noble Lodwick Duke of Richmond told him in my hearing That the King listned to his Judgment rather than to any Minister of State Which took the oftner because if his Majesty were moody and not inclin'd to his Propositions he would fetch him out of that Sullen with a pleasant Jeâ—t and turn him about with a Trick of Facetiousness I
Clergy of England as being neither Parsons Vicars nor Curates be Licenced henceforward in the Court of Faculties only with a Fiat from the Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and a Confirmation under the Great Seal of England And that such as transgress any one of these Directions be suspended by the Lord Bishop of the Diocess or in his Default by the Lord Arch-Bishop of the Province Ab officio beneficio for a Year and a Day untill his Majesty by the Advice of the next Convocation shall prescribe some further Punishment 102. These Orders were well brought fourth but Success was the Step-Mother Destinata salubriter omni ratione potentior fortuna discussit Curtius lib. 5o. Crossness and Sturdiness took best with the Vulgar and he was counted but a Cockney that stood in awe of his Rulers No marvel if some were brought to no State of Health or toward any Temper of Convalesence with these Mandates Nothing is so hardly bridled as the Tongue saith St. James especially of a mis-guided Conscience when their Bladder if full of Wind the least Prick of a Thorn will give it eruption A Fool traveleth with a Word as a Woman in Labour of a Child Ecclus. 19.11 Restraint is not a Medicine to cure epidemical Diseases for Sin becomes more sinful by the Occasion of the Law Diliguntur immodice sola quae non licent says one of the Exteriors Quintil. decl 1a. The less we should the more we would Curb Cholerical Humours and you press out Bitterness as it is incident to those that are strait-lac'd to have sower Breaths The Scottish Brethren were acquainted by common Intercourse with these Directions that had netled the aggrieved Pulpitarians And they says Reverend Spotswood P. 543. accuse them to be a Discharge of Preaching at least a Confining of Preachers to certain Points of Doctrine which they call Limiting of the Spirit of God But the Wiser Sort judged them both necessary and profitable considering the Indiscretion of divers of that sort who to make Ostentation of their Learning or to gain the Applause of the Popular would be medling with Controversies they scarce understood and with Matters exceeding the Capacity of the People But what a Pudder does some make for not stinting the Spirit or Liberty of Prophecying as others call it They know not what they ask Such an indefinite Licence is like the Philosopher's Materia Prima a monstrous Passive Subject without Form A Quid libet which is next to nothing Indeed it is a large Charter to pluck down and never to build up Every Man may sling a Stone where he will and let it light as Luck carries it But how can the House of God be built unless the Builders be appointed to set up the Frame with Order and Agreement among themselves according to the Pattern which was shewn in the Mount Try it first in Humane Affairs and see how it will sadge with them before we proceed to Heavenly Dissolve the publick Mint let every Man Coin what Money he will and observe if ever we can make a Marchandable Payment Their Confusion is as like to this as a Cherry to a Cherry Give their Spirit as much Scope as they ask Let them Coin what Doctrine they will with the Minting-Irons of their own Brain They may pay themselves with their own Money but will it pass with others for Starling Will it go for current Divinity To meet them home Suppose this Priviledge were allow'd yet every good Spirit will limit it self to lawful Subjection Yet these would not Then what Remedy in earnest none was try'd It is the height of Infelicity to be incurable As Pliny in his Natural History said of Laws made against Luxury in Rome which would not be kept down therefore the Senators left to make Laws against it Frustra interdicta quae vetucrant cernentes nullas potiùs quam irritas esse Leges maluerunt 103. Neither were uncharitable Suspicions like to mend For the Unsatisfied that sung so far out of Tune had another Ditty for their Prick-Song The King's Letters were directed to the Lord Keeper to be Copy'd out and sent forth to the Judges and Justices to afford some Relaxation of our Penal Laws to some but not all Popish Recusants Which made sundry Ministers interpose very harshly and in the Prophet Malachy's Stile Chap. 2. Ver. 13. To cover the Altar of God with Tears and Weeping and Crying but the Lord regarded not the Offering neither received it with Good-will at their Hands What could this mean as they conjectured but the highest Umbrage to the Reformed Religion and â—at Toerâ—ion of Popery Leave it at that cross way that they knew not whither this Project will turn Nay Should they not hope for the best Event of the Meaning A King is like to have an ill Audit when every one that walks in the Streets will reckon upon his Councels with their own casting Counters It is fit in sundry Occurrences for a Prince to disguise his Actions and not to discover the way in which he treads But many times the Wisdom of our Rulers betrays them to more Hatred than their Follies because Idiots presume that their own Follies are Wisdom Plaurus displays these impertinent Inquisitors very well in Trinummo Quod quisque habet in animo aut habiturus est sciunt Quod in aurem Rex Reginae dixerit sciunt Quae neque futura neque facta sunt illi sciunt Yet these Fault-sinders were not jear'd out of their Melancholly though they deserv'd no better but were gravely admonished by his Majesty Vivâ voce in these Words I understand that I am blamed for not executing the Laws made against the Papists But ye should know that a King and his Laws are not unfuly compared to a Rider and his Horse The Spur is sometime to be used but not always The Bridle is sometime to be held in at other times to be let loose as the Rider finds Cause Just so a King is not at all times to put in Execution the Rigor of his Laws but he must for a time and upon just Grounds dispense with the same As I protest to have done in the present Case and to have conniv'd only for a time upon just Cause howbeit not known to 〈◊〉 If a Man for the Favour shew'd to a Priest or Papist will judge me to be inclining that way he wrongs me exceedingly My Words and Writings and Actions have sufficiently 〈◊〉 what my Resolution is in all Matters of Religion That Cause not known to 〈…〉 in part unfolded by that grave Father Spotswood where I quoted him 〈◊〉 Says he The Better and Wiser Sort of his Country-men who considered 〈…〉 Estate of things gave a far other Judgment thereof than the Discontented 〈…〉 then our King was treating with the French King for Peace to the Protestants of France and with the King of Spain for withdrawing his Forces from the Palatinate At which time it was no way fitting that
gained divers Beneficed Men to conform who had stumbled at that Straw that the Lord Keeper could do no less then compound the Troubles of so Learned and Industrious a Divine And I aver it upon the Faith of a good Witness that after this Bishop Harsnet acknowledged that he was as useful a man to assist him in his Government as was in all his Diocese Another Rank for whose sake the Lord Keeper suffer'd were scarce an handful not above three or four in all the wide Bishoprick of Lincoln who did not oppose but by ill Education seldom used the appointed Ceremonies Of whom when he was certified by his Commissaries and Officials he sent for them and confer'd with them with much Meekness sometime remitted them to argue with his Chaplain If all this stirred them not he commended them to his Old Collegiate Dr. Sibbs or Dr. Gouch Who knew the scruples of these mens Hearts and how to bring them about the best of any about the City of London If all these labour'd in vain he protracted the hearing of their Causes de die in diem that time might mollisie their refractory Apprehensions But had it not been better said some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to stop the mouth of the unruly Tit. 1.11 I Answer Their mouth was slept in St. Paul's meaning Estius hath begun the distinction and it is easily made up Alind est silontium indicere quod est imperamis Alind ad metas saciturnitatis reduccre quod est docte redarguentis They were not imperiously commanded to be silent but enough was spoken wifely to their Face to put their Folly to silence Men that are found in their Morals and in Minutes imperfect in their Intellectuals are best reclaimed when they are mignarized and strok'd gently Seldom any thing but severity will make them Anti-practise For then they grow desperate Facundus Dominus quosdam aâ—fugam cogit quosdam ad mortem says Seneca And they are like to convert more with their sufferings then with their Doctrine He that is openly punish'd whatsoever he hath done he shall find Condolement But I will spend no more Words to wipe away this stur of Puritanism it needs not a laborious Apology 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Proverb is in Athenaeus Let Lubbars Talk of it over a Winter Fire when they Droll out Tales 107. Yet I want not matter how to wash out this spot of Jealousie by great Actions In this year 1622 he began to expend a great Sum upon St. John's College the Nurse of his hopeful breeding A right stampt Puritan is not a Founder but a Demolisher of good Works He laid the platform of his Beneficence on this Wife Four Scholars he Added to the 40 Alumni in the College of Westminster For their Advancement he provided and endowed four Scholarships in St. John's College upon their Maturity and Vacancy of those places to be Translated to them Two Fellowships he Newly Erected in that House into which only out of those four the best were to be chosen Withal he purchas'd the Patronage of four Rich Benefices to receive those Scholars and Fellows of his Foundation upon the Death or other Cessation of the Incumbents But the Chief Minerval which he bestowed upon that Society was the Structure of a most goodly Library the best in that kind in all Cambridge And as he had pick'd up the best Authors in all Learning and in all plenty for his own use so he bequeathed them all to this fair Repository This was Episcopal indeed to issue out his Wealth as the Lord brought it in in such ways This is the Purse that Mr. H. L. says he Ran away withal after he had departed with the Great Seal wherein we see how far the Portion of over-flowing wast which 〈◊〉 from Great Ones and is spilt if it were sav'd and well bestow'd would 〈◊〉 the Land with all sort of Monumental Bravery What a good Steward he was for his Master Christ Jesus's Houshold and how provident to put none into part of the Care but such as were Obedient to Civil and Sacred Rulers appears most in his happy choice of those upon whom he confer'd the livings that fell into his Patronage They were ever pick'd out of the best Learned the best Qualified the most Cordially affected to our most Godly Liturgy and to the Government of the Prelates Within these Apostatizing times wherein so many have departed from them without Cause I cannot remember any of his preferring but kept their Traces and to their best Power never run out of the Ring I have a short Story to tell and then I leave this Subject Among the poor distressed Protestants in Bohemia many of them were Braziers by their Occupation These sent sent some messengers from them with a Petition to his Majesty that they might Transplant a Colony into England London especially Men Wives Children and their full Families Signifying that they would bring with them to the Value of two hundred Thousand Pounds in Coin and Materials of their Trade That their Substance and Labour should be subject to all Customs and Taxes for the King's profit They desired to live in a Body of their own Nation and to serve Christ Jesus in that Church Discipline which they brought with them from Bohemia Though they had inclin'd his Majesty to admit them being a great Swarm of People and bringing Wax and Honey along yet the Lord Keeper diverted it from the Example of the Dutch and French that were setled among us These brought commodious Manufacture into the Realm but they brought a Discipline with it according to the Allowance of their Patent which was a Suffocation to the Temperate Crisis of our own Church Government Which Peril of Distemper would be increased by the Access of the Bohemick Congregation A great Forecast to keep our Hierarchy found from the Contagion of Foreigners and he was more Religious to keep the Church of England in its Sabbath and Holy Rest than to help out the Neighbours Ox that was fallen into the Pit Yet I have somewhat to alledge in the Behalf of the Bohemians I have in my little Library a Book printed 1633 eleven years after the Lord Keeper appear'd against their Petition called Ratio Disciplinae ordinisque Ecclesiastici in unitate sratrum Bohemorum Their Platform in that Piece comes so near to the old Protestant Church of England above all the Reformed that for my part I wish we had had their Company This is sufficient I am sure against those Opposite and Self-overthrowing Aspersions Let them do their worst there is one Metal that will never be the worse for them of whose Property this Lord partak'd It is Gold of which Pliny writes Lib. 33. N. H. c. 3. that nothing makes it more precious Quam contra salis aceti succos domitores rerum constantia The Spirits of Salt and Vinegar the most biting and sowrest Reproaches cannot hurt it with their Tartness That which corrodes all
other Bodies cannot dissolve the Constancy of Gold 108. How faithfully and with what Courage like himself he adventur'd to maintain Orthodox Religion against old Corruptions and new Fanglements will be a Labour to unfold hereafter One thing remains that is purely of Episcopal Discharge which I will salute and so go by it before I look again upon his Forensive or Political Transactions When he was Dean of Westminster he had a Voice in the High Commission Court and so forth when he was in higher Degrees For as Nazianzen commends Athanasius pag. 24. Encom he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 skiiful in all the various Arts of Government He appear'd but once at Lambeth when that Court sat while he was Dean A sign that he had no Maw to it For he would say that the Institution of the Court was good without all Exception That is to Impower the Kings of England and their Successors by Statute to issue out that Authority under the Great Seal which was annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm to assign some as often and to so long time as the King should think fit to be Judges for the Reformation of great Abuses and Enormities But that this Power should be committed from the Kings and Queens of this Realm to any Person or Persons being Natural born Subjects to their Majesties to overlook all Ecclesiastical Causes correct punish deprive whether one or more whether Lay or Clergy whether of the vilest as well as the noblest nay whether Papist as well as Protestant as no harm was to be feared from good Princes albeit they have this Liberty by the Tenure of the Act 1 Eliz. Cap. 1. So if God should give us a King in his Anger who would oppress us till our cry went up like the Smoke out of a Furnace this Statute would enable them to enact Wickedness by a Law This was a Flaw to his seeming in the Corps of the Statute which gave Vigour to the High Commission But in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and her two blessed Successors God be praised we were never the worse for it Better Commissioners than were appointed in their Days need not be wish'd What ail'd this wise Church-man then to be so reserv'd and to give so little Attendance in that Court He was not satisfied in two things Neither in the Multiplicity of Causes that were pluck'd into it nor in the Severity of Censures It is incident to Supream Courts chiefly when Appeals fly unto them to be sick of this Timpany to swell with Causes They defraud the lower Audiences of their Work and Profit which comes home to them with Hatred What a Clamor doth Spalat make Lib. 5. Eccl. Reip. c. 2. ar 28. That the Judicatories at Rome lurch'd all the Bishops under that Supremacy of all Complaints that were promoted to their Consistories Eò lites omnes cò dispensationes trahuntur Fluviorum omnium tractus ad suam derivat molam nobis quod sugamus nihil relinquitur The Affairs of all Ecclesiastical Tribunes were little enough to drive that Mill So the Consistories of all the Suffragans in the Province of Canterbury became in a manner Despicable because the Matters belonging to every Diocess were followed before the High Commission That it might be said to the neglected Praelates at Home Are ye unworthy to Judge the smallest Matters 1 Cor. c. 2. It seems ill Manners increas'd apace For I heard it from one that liv'd by the Practice of that High Court An. 1635 That whereas in the last Year of Arch-Bishop Whitgift eight Causes were left to be discuss'd in Easter-Term there were no less than a Thousand depending at that time This was one of his Exceptions That the High Court drew too much into its Cognizance The other Reason which made him stand a loof from it was That it punish'd too much Arch-Bishop Abbot was rigorously Just which made him shew less Pity to Delinquents Sentences of great Correction or rather of Destruction have their Epocha from his Predominancy in that Court. And after him it mended like sowre Ale in Summer It was not so in his Predecessor Bancroft's Days who would Chide stoutly but Censure mildly He considered that he sate there rather as a Father than a Judge Et pro peccato magno paululum supplicii satis est patris He knew that a Pastoral Staff was made to reduce a wandering Sheep not to knock it down He look'd upon St. Peter in whom the Power of the Keys was given to the Unity of all the Officers of the Church who incurr'd a great Offence in the Hall of the High Priest let the Place be somewhat consider'd but his Action most Ut mitior esset delinquentibus grandis delinquens Saith St. Austin It being the most indubitate Course of that Commission to deprive a Minister of his Spiritual Endowments that is of all he had if Drunkenness or Incontinency were prov'd against him I have heard the Lord Keeper who was no Advocate for Sin but for Grace and Compassion to Offenders dis-relish that way for this Reason That a Rector or Vicar had not only an Office in the Church but a Free-hold for Life by the Common Law in his Benefice If a Gentleman or Citizen had been Convicted upon an Article of Scandal in his Life was it ever heard that he did Confiscate a Mannor or a Tenement Nay What Officer in the Rolls in the Pipe in the Custom-house was ever displac'd for the like Under St Cyprian's Discipline and the Rigor of the Eliberitan Canons the Lay were obnoxious to Censures as much as the Clergy But above all said he there is nothing of Brotherhood nor of Humanity in this when we have cast a Presbyter cut of Doors and left him no Shelter to cover his Head that we make no Provision for him out of his own for Term of Life to keep him from the Extremities of Starving or Begging those Deformed Miseries 109. These Reasons prevailing with him to be no ordinary Frequenter of that Court yet an Occasion was offered which required his Presence Mart. 30. 1622 which will draw on a Story large and memorable M. Amonius de Deminis Arch Bishop of Spalato made an Escape out of Dalmatia an English Gentleman being his Conductor he posted through Germany and came safe into England in the end of the Year 1616. The King gave him Princely Welcome Many of the Religious Peers and Chief Bishops furnished him with Gold that he lack'd for nothing He seem'd then for all this Plenty brought in to be covetous of none of these things but was heard to say That the Provision of an ordinary Minister of our Church would suffice him For in the end of June as he was brought on his Way to the Commencement at Cambridge a Worthy and a Bountiful Divine Dr. John Mountfort receiv'd him for a Night in his Parsonage-House of Ansty Where Spalat noting that Dr. Mountfort had all things about him orderly and handsome like
beyond his Skill to draw up the Pieces Another of his Reconciliatory Devices is in Art 119. That the most of Reformation consists in the right Direction of our mental Intention which God only sees Et Ecclesia non judicat de occultis As a Protestant may be present at Mass and do his Duty at it kneel down with the rest and pray to God but not adore the visible Host Chiefly as Lib. 12. c. 6. He relies much upon this Distinction Alia est ecclesia manca alia monstrosa That the Church of Rome is not mutilated for want of any integral Part of Faith but monstrous and luxuriant in too much which is superadded Which Deformity they that are strong may bear with since they are enlivened with all the saving Faith that we profess and we need not partake with their Redundancies Therefore he perswades Art 21 that without any Offence to Conscience you may abide in either Church keeping a good Purpose of Mind and Heart But he speaks with the wide Mouth of a compleat Libertine Lib. 7. c. 17. Art 120. Rideo illos ego qui ingenti incommodo periculo ab unâ ad aliam partem solus conscientiae causâ trasfugiunt What then Make it his own Case Was it not Conscience that remov'd him hither Not a jot for it follows in the same Sentence Illi soli prudenter id faciunt qui de abusibus alterutrius partis liberi disserere scribere ibi volunt ubi nullum impedimentum inveniant We thank him for his Company It seems he took Refuge in England not out of Conscience to leave the Roman Church but out of Prudence to write safely against their Errors and to draw up the great Schism to an Overture of Concord among merciful Men that would not persecute him for his Good Will I will represent him in a Line or two that he was as indifferent or rather dissolute in Practice as in Opinion For in the same Cap. Ar. 35. this is his Nicolaitan Doctrine A pluralitate uxorum natura humana non abhorret imò fortasse neque ab earum communitate Thus leaving all Differences of Religion indeterminat in vago he thought it would be his great Honour to be the Conciliator of Christendom All 's made ready to shake Hands For you need not lick any Point into the Shape of a distinct Conclusion but involve all in the Lump of an indigested Concord Therefore though he was posted up for a Shittle-cock in all Universities and even Balladed by Boys for his Inconstancy they were mistaken For both Churches to him were one and when he was in one he was in both In his Passage hither and thither he made no Salt from one Religion to another but he was still walking in his long Gallery sometimes with his Face to the East sometimes to the West 112. There is such a fag end which remains to piece this out after I have brought the unhappy Man to his Friends at Rome that sent for him that the Judicious will find upon it that he juggled with himself rather than with us He would have bless'd God if he had been us'd with that Lenity there which he found in England For our High Commissioners made this end with him Mart. 30. 1622. That since he had ungratefully reproach'd his Majesties Liberality prosessing that he was hired to depart for a better Stipend Since he held Correspondence with some of the Popes great Council by Name with Cardinal Mellino who are presumed Ill-willers if not Enemies to the King and this State Since he profess'd open Adherence to the Romish Church and did not renounce the Missatical Corruption of their Priesthood against whom our Laws have Decreed the utmost Punishment therefore Sentence was given to Deprive him of all the Spiritual Preferments which he held in this Realm with a strict Command to depart out of the said Realm within Twenty Days and never to return again into any his Majesties Dominions upon pain of undergoing the Penalty of the Statute against Priests and Jesuites 'T was too late for him to Reply So on the 18th Day of April Count Suartzenburg Ambassador Extraordinary from the Emperor Ferdinand after he had been very splendidly entertain'd for the space of 16 Days return'd homewards and took Shipping at Gravesend in whose Company but in another Vessel Spalat cross'd the Seas and coming to Brussels after a little stay the Eagle flew away with the Buzzard and dropt him at Rome After he was setled there the first News we heard from him was his Book call'd Consilium reditus How wonderfully doth he appear in that Book to be a chang'd Man He defies the Church of England backbites picks new Quarrels nothing in it that favour'd of Cassander the Moderator of Contentious Disputes but of Eudaemon or some such Jesuite His other Works being prohibited so strictly and minatorily that Bishops might not read them this last abortive piece born out of due time was thought to be his Doctrine by the Ultra-montans and nothing else I do not say it was not his Pen to my Sense the Style bewrays him but to be his Mind and Judgment I oppose it to this hour He wrote it in a noisom Prison despairing of Liberty for ever unless he could release himself by impudent Forgeries and Contradictions Ultimum malorum est ex vivorum numero antequam morierâ—s exire says Senec. de Tran. c. 3. 'T is an unexpressible torment to be shut up close in a stinking Hole and to be buried quick He was kept in continual fear to be burnt as if he were torn with an Harrow of Iron and made to pass through the Brick-kiln 2 Sam. 12.31 What would he not do to escape that Death who was better prepar'd to spend an Ounce of Ink in the Devils Cause than a Spoonful of Blood for Christ Therefore I reckon that Book to be the Issue not of this Man but of his carnal fear A Subscription to Articles in time of Duress and strict Custody what is it worth in Law I am sure one of the best Sconces in Europe Sir Nic. Throgmorton ascertein'd Mary Queen of Scotland Cessionem in carcere extortam qui justus est metus planè irritam esse Camd. Elizab. An. 1567. Take it likewise from the Judgment of the great Athanasius Ep. ad solit vit agen p. 839. The Pope Liberius stood to Athanasius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he was free to do what he would But being thrown out into Banishment and hunted to be destroy'd as a Partridge in the Mountain he subscrib'd against his own Hand which yet did not prejudice Athanasius his Innocency 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those things which Liberius acted against his first Judgment were not his doing that was awed with fear but the results of those that compell'd them with Tyranny And that our M. Antony was cudgel'd into a Recantation with the impendent fear of an horrid Death will be made clear because after
of the Gravest and Greatest Pleaders who were ripe for Dignity And a Call of Serjeants was splendidly solemnized for Number Thirteen for Quality of the best Reputation May 6 1623 Who on that Day made their Appearance before Lord Keeper sitting in the High Court of Chancery who congratulated their Adoption unto that Title of Serjeancy with this Oration AS upon many other Occasions so likewise upon this present in hand I could wish there sate in this Place a man of more Gravity and Experience than can be expected from me to deliver unto you those Counsels and Directions which all your Predecessors have successively received at this Bar. Yet among many Wants I find one singular Comfort that as I am of the least Ability to give so you are of the least Need to receive Instructions of all the Calls of Serjeants that any Man now alive can bring to his Remembrance You are either all or the far greater Number of you most Learned most Honest and well accomplish'd Gentlemen Lest therefore my Modesty or your Integrity might suffer therein I will not be tedious in this kind of Exhortation but like those Mercuries or High-way-Statues in Greece I will only point out those fair Ways which my self I confess have never trodden In the beginning for my Preface be assured that your Thankfulness shall be recommended to his Majesty who hath honoured you with this high Degree making your Learning only and your Integrity His Praevenient and all other Respects whatsoever but subsequent and following Causes of his Gracious Pleasure towards you Turning my Speech next to your selves I will observe mine own common Exordium which hitherto I have used to all those whom I have saluted with a few words when they were Installed in their Dignities and I have it from the manner of the old Romans Meminisse oportet Ossicii Tâ—lum Remember the Title of your Degree and it will afford you sufficient Matter of Admonition You are call'd Servientes ad Legem Sergeants at the Law Verba bractrata Words very malleable and extensive and such as contein more Lessons than they do Syllables 122. The word Sergeant no doubt is Originally a Stranger born though now for many Years denizon'd among us It came over at the first from France and is handled as a French word by Stephen Pasquier in his Eighth Book of Recherches and the Nineteenth Chapter They that are too luxuriant in Etymologies are sometimes barren in Judgment as I will shew upon the Conjectures of this Name For they are not call'd Sergeants quasi Caesariens some of Caesars Officers as the great Guiacius thinks Nor Sergents qu isi Serregens because they laid hold on Men as inferiour Ministers But Sergiens in the old French is as much as Serviens saith Pasquier a Servant or an Attendant As Sergens de Dicu the Servants of God in the old History of St. Dennis Sergens Disciples de la Sanchitè Servants or Disciples of his Holiness the Pope in the Life of St. Begue And Sergens d'Amour Servants of Love in the Romance of the Rose a Book well known in our Country because of the Translator thereof Geoffry Chaucer And therefore as Pasquier thinks that those inferiour Officers are called Sergeans that is Servants because at the first Bailiffs or Stewards employ'd their own Servants in such Summons So this more honourable Appellation of Sergeant at Law hath received it Denomination because at the first when the Laws were no more than a few plain Customs When as the Year-Books had not yet swelled When the Cases were not so diversified When so many Distinctions were not Coined and Minted When the Volumes of the Laws through our Misdeeds and Wiliness were not so multiplied Men employ'd their own Servants to tender their Complaints unto the Judges and to bring them home again a plain and present Remedy But afterward Multitude of Shifts begetting Multitudes of Laws and Multitudes of Laws Difficulties of Interpretations especially where the Sword had engraven them in strange Languages as those induced by the Saxons Danes and Normans into this Island the State was enforced to design and select some learned Men to prepare the Causes of the Client for the Sentence of the Judge and the Sentence of the Judge for the Causes of the Client who though never so Enobled by their Birth and Education yet because they succeeded in those places of Servants were also call'd Servientes Sergeants or Servants Great Titles have grown up from small Originals as Dux Comes Baro and others and so hath this which is Enobled by the affix unto it a Sergeant at Law 123. Though you are not the Rulers of Causes and Masters upon the Bench yet it is your Pre-eminence that you are the chief Servants at the Bar In the Houshold of our Dread Sovereign the Chief in every Office who Commands the lower Ministers is advanced to be called the Sergeant of his Place as Sergeants of the Counting-House Carriages Wine-Cellar Larder with many others In like manner your Name is a Name of Reverence though you are styled Servants For you are the Principal of all that practise in the Courts of Law Servants that is Officers preferr'd above all Ranks of Pleaders For every thing must be Ruled by a Gradual Subordination You are next in the Train to my Lords the Judges And some of your File not seldom employ'd to be Judges Itinerant But you are all constantly promoted to be Contubernales Commensales You have your Lodgings in the same Houses and keep your Table and Diet with those Pillars of the Law who therefore call you and love you as their Brethren Fortescue in his sixth Book De laudibus Legum Angliae Cap. 50. compares your Dignities with the chief Degrees of the Academies And there is no Argument that proves the Nobleness of the one but it is as strong and militant for the other I will touch upon the Reasons as they are set down in Junius his Book De Academiâ and apply them in order to this purpose First This Degree is as a Caveat to the whole State and Commonwealth that by it they may know whom to employ and whom not to employ in their weighty Causes and Consultations And so doth Fortescue appropriate Omnia Realia Placiata all the Real Actions and Pleadings of his time to the Sergeants only Secondly As St. Paul saith to the Corinthians Epistola nostra vos estis You are our Letter or Epistle So may we the Judges in our several Places say unto the Sergeants Epistela nostra vos estis You are by reason of your Degrees our Letters of Recommendation unto the Kings Majesty for his Choice and Election for the Judges of the Kingdom Because as Fortescue also truly observes no Man though never so Learned can be chosen into that eminent Place Nisi statu gradu Servientis ad Legem fuerit insignitus Thirdly and lastly This Degree of Honour is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kind of
Quarrel between his Ministers in Spain which did so much disturb the Match Sir John Hipsley and such as he the Duke could pass them over for rash Writers but he would never forgive it to the Lord Keeper who invited him to see his Errors But like old Galesus in Virgil Aen. 7. who was knocked down while he went betwen the Latins and Trojans to reconcile them Dum paci medium se offert justissimus unus Qui fuit So it hapned to him that pleaded in this Mediation to be offered upon the Sacrifice and Service of making Love 159. Nevertheless to draw out the Thread of Favour to more length which the Duke had with the King and that the Destinies might not cut it off the Lord Keeper wrote to his Majesty upon Sir John Hipsley's Arrival in the midst of August That he had heard more of the Duke's most laudable Diligence in Spain from Sir John than ever he could learn before that Malice it self could not but commend his Zeal and that Humanity could not but pity the Toil he had to reduce that intricate and untoward Business of the Palatinate to some good Success He might well call them intricate and untoward for the Spanish Motions were circular Nothings much about and nothing to the Point Most true it is that the Articles anent the Marriage were drawn up and restricted to some Heads and Numbers though not perfected three years before the Emperor had entred into the Palz with any Hostility Therefore the Spaniards disputed thus Bring not the motion of it into this Treaty as a thing born out of due time What were it else but as the Proverb says Extra chorum saltare to Dance well but quite out of the measure of the Mascarata We answered if things had been as they are now at the beginning this had then been a principal Capitulation Nor had we honerated the Articles with a new Proposition unless themselves that is the House of Austria had cast us into the Gulph of a new Extremity Reduce the King and his Posterity to the same Peace they were in when we began to treat and we ask no more But as Seneca says Lib. 4. de ben c. 35. Omnia esse debent eadem quae fuerant cum promitterem ut promittentis fidem teneas But upon so great a Change there is neither Inconstancy nor Encroachment to fall into new Consultations For all this though nothing but Pertinacy durst stand the Breath of so much Truth the others came no nearer to us but kept further off affirming as it is in the Report made at St. James's that they conceived our King expected no Restitution at all for his Son and Daughter and that they supposed his Majesty had already digested that bitter Potion We told them they must not dissemble before us as if they knew not the Contrary For his Majesty never intermitted to rouse up their Embassadors to give him a fair Answer about it and had stopt the Treaty of the Match if they had not opened the Way by Protestation made in the Faith of their King that the Palatinate should be rendred up with Peaceable Possession What Shape could Olivarez put on now none but his own a stately Impudency For he told us in the broad Day-light that all former Promises spoken before the Prince's Coming whether by Embassadors to our King or by Count Gondamar to my Lord of Bristol and others were but Palabras de cumplimiento Gratifications of fine Words but no more to be taken hold of than the Fables and Fictions of Greece before the Wars of Theseus The Prince came over him at this with a blunt Anger that if there were no more Assurance in their Word it was past the Wit of Man to know what they meant but he would tell them really his Father's and his own Meaning That without his Sister 's and her Husband's Inheritance restored they neither intended Marriage nor Friendship When King Philip had heard with what Courage and Determination his Highness had spoken like Caesar in Velleius Se virtute suâ non magnitudine hostium metiens it put that King and his Counsel to a middle-way as they called it To treat upon the old Articles and no other as falling perpendicularly on the Marriage but to take into a concurrent Deliberation the Restitution of the Prince Elector's Country Let Metaphysical States-men scratch their Heads and find a real Distinction if they can between these Formalities Yet Sir Walter Aston followed them in that Way and paid them in the same Coin with this Distinction Cab. P. 38. That the King his Master prest for the Restitution of the Palatinate and Electoral Dignity to the Prince his Son-in-Law not as a Condition of the Marriage but to be setled together with the Marriage And again Not as a Condition but as a Fruit and Blessing of the Alliance And to make the Coming of the Excellent Princess the Infanta of more Esteem to his Subjects bringing with her beside the Glory of her own Virtue and Worth the Security of a perpetual Peace and Amity These were Punctilio's in Honour but just Nothings in Wisdom the Cause of the Palatinate must not be tempered at the same Forge but apart not a Rush was gotten by it and time wasted for our Ministers were resolved to conclude neither unless they perfected both 160. The Sennor Duca Olivarez made such Work upon this Theme and turn'd it into so many Forms that it makes him ridiculous in the History Vertumnis quotquot sunt natus iniquis Horat. And so disastrous a Counsellor through his Variableness that it was his Fault that caused a Distrust in the main as wise Spotswood says Pag. 544. The Prince conceived there was nothing really intended on the King of Spain's Part but that the Treaty was entertained only till he and the House of Austria had reduced Germany into their Power which might be suspected without Injury by looking upon this Vertumnus in all his Changings Seven Months before the Prince took his Journey and came to cast the Die upon the whole Stake to win or loose all Mr. End Porter was sent to Spain and spake with the great Conde who snapt him up and gave him this unkind Welcome in a Chase That they neither meant the Match nor the Restitution of the Palatinate Presently the Earl of Bristol gave him a Visit and a Discourse about it In a trice he winds himself out of his former Fury and vows he would do his best to further both The next Discovery breaks out by Mr. Sanderson's Diligence Pag. 540. in a Letter of the Conde's to King Philip Novemb. 8. 1622. That the King of Great Brittain affected the Marriage of his Son with the Infanta and was more engaged for the Palatinate And as a Maxim I hold these two Engagements in him to be inseparable For us though we make the Marriage we must fail in the other Then you will be forced to a War with England with
Humanity Grotius who best could do it hath sweetly translated such a Contemplation out of Euripides Lib. 2. de Bel. Pa. Cap. 24. Co. 4. Quod si in Comitiis funera ante oculos forent Furiata bello non pâ—risset Graecia Some will adventure to say more that every Sheba that sounded the first Trumpet to Battail hath been unlucky in his own Person So Sir W. Aston to the Duke Cab. P. 37. The most prosperous War hath misfortune enough in it to make the Author of it unhappy Else Isocrates was mistaken who lived to be an old and a Prophetical Orator among the Athenians Orat. de Pace says he Your Humour Athenians is well known 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you like them best that incite you to War Yet I wonder if old Men do not remember and young Men have not heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we never receiv'd hurt by listning to them that exhorted us to preserve our Peace but the Counsels of others have brought Dishonour and put us to Shifts and Calamities 177. I would these Notions might be read considerately when any rash Spirit shall attempt to open Janus's Temple after it hath been long shut Yet wo be to the Vicar that should have read this Homily to my Lord Duke The Lord Keeper's Name was in his black Book of Remembrance for it till his Lordship did not only cross him but blot him out Revenge is the effect of smother'd Anger as Flame is but lighted Smoak The Scene wherein an Argument of a kind of Tragedy is couch'd upon it is in the Lord Duke's Secretaries Letter Cab. Pag. 86. challenging the Lord Keeper That at the select Council he had run a course opposite to his Lordship and by consequent to sill up the Crime dangerous to the Kingdom prejudicious to the cause of Religion That the two last times they met in Council the Duke found that he took his Kue from the Kings Mind just as other Men did and joyn'd with them in their Opinions whose aim was to tax his Proceedings in the managing of the Prince's Business How imperious is this And how all that follows it like the roaring of a Lyon And for no more offence but because he would not condemn the King of Spain out of the proof of his Grace's Mouth and ammerce him with an implacable War wherein an Hundred Thousand Lives might be spilt for a Quarrel begun between himself and Olivarez which was not worth a bloody Nose Certainly the Lord Keeper could not be afraid of the Duke being so much alienated for any hurt that could come of it at the present I was not in his Heart to espy whether he look'd forward upon another Age in the next Reign One thing I am conscious of that he courted no Man but him with supple Submission being unwilling to nothing more than that the World should observe him dissever'd from his Promoter though he were innocent as to making a breach or the least thought of Opposition The best part he could act was to protest how much and how unseignedly he was that Lords in a most Pathetical Vow as it is to be found Cab. P. 89. Let this Paper bear Record against me at the great Parliament of all if I be not in my Heart and Soul your Graces most faithful and most constant poor Friend and Servant Somewhat also may be pick'd out of that Letter by a sharp Censure as if he had sought the Duke with Phrases too low and too Petitionary And I am my self within a little of that Opinion But this was ever a venial Fault at Court where it was usual for Men in Place to drink down such hot Affronts as would scald their Throats that could not endure the Vassallage which was tied to Ambition The best Apology is That a Thankful Man looks for leave chuse you whether you will grant it for he will take it to lay himself under the Feet of his Benefactor to be reconciled to him I learn it from Tully pleading for himself against Lateranensis Orat pro Plancio Nimis magnum beneficium Plancii exaggero Quare verò me tuo arbitratu non meo gratum esse oportet Lateranensis says I do too much extol the Favours which I have received from Plancius As if it were not Reason that I should be Grateful by my own Acknowledgment and not by his Opinion In short that the Duke might be the better aslur'd of the reading of so able a Minister in the Parliament at Hand the Prince with his never-failing Sweetness made up this Gap between them but with a loose Pale Yet leave should have been given where leave was look'd for The Lord Keeper did not give the Duke content in this select Junto no more did the Duke give content to the King In the same Measure that he did mete it was measured unto him 178. Look back about a Twelve-month and a story will drop in where the Duke did hearken to the Party with more content That which was acted a Year ago is in season to be produced now because it was publish'd upon Consideration against the Parliament that sate now Those dangerous and busie Flies which the Roman Seminaries send abroad had buzzed about the Countess of Buckingham had blown upon and infected her She was Mother to the great Favourite but in Religion become a Stepmother She doated upon him extreamly as the Glory of her Womb Yet by turning her Coat so wantonly when the Eyes of all the Kingdom were upon her Family she could not have wrought him a worse turn if she had studied a mischief against him Many marvelled what rumbled in her Conscience at that time For from a Maid to an Old Madam she had not every ones good Word for practice of Piety And she suffered Censure to the last that she lest the Company of Sir Tho. Compton her Husband It hath been so with many others But why should a Libertine that cares not to live after the way of the Gospel pretend to seek Satisfaction more than ordinary about the true Doctrine of The Gospel They that have Beams in their own Eyes unsanctified Manners beyond the most why should they cavil at Moats in the Eye of the Reformed Religion Let them answer it to Him alone who hath Power to judge them But divers that had sense of a Godly Fear as they pitied the Revolt of this Lady so they dreaded the Consequents that did hang upon her Power and Opportunity Ar. Wilson complains P. 275. That the Countess of Buckingham was the Cynosura that all the Papists steered by I believe it was above her Ability to bear the weight of that Metaphor The common Jealousie was that the Duke would be ring-streaked with spots of Popery by resorting to his Mothers Trough Nay there was a trivial Gradation in Vulgar Mouths which reach'd higher That the Mother had a great Influence upon her Son the Son upon the King and the King upon the People The Lord
close unto his Theme and Subject For as Pliny made his censure of Homer and Virgil Brevis uterque est sed facit quod instituit Either of them seem to be short for they do their work so succinctly there falls not a word besides the purpose His Majesty hath himself abundantly exprest the substance of what he offers to your Consideration at this Meeting Some few Circumstances I shall by his Royal Command add thereunto as touching the time the manner and the end of that loving and dutiful Expression which his Majesty may without any fear of Immodesty as he conceives promise unto himself from this first Session of his first Parliament The main reason of his calling the Parliament at this time beside the looking upon the Faces of his Subjects in this perfect representation which he is resolv'd to make his most pleasant Theater under Heaven as long as God shall give him Life is to let you understand those deep Engagements for the recovery of the Palatinate that is for the Honour of the British Nation by Leagues Alliances Diversions Wars by Sea and by Land which his aying Father hath imposed upon the King or peradventure the King in part upon his Father or rather to speak truly and historically your selves but upon grave and just Consideration upon them both For the breaking of both the Treaties with that potent King that of the Alliance and that of the Restitution moved originally from you mediately by the King our Sovereign finally to the King his Father of Blessed Memory accompanied in all the Ways and Passages with your Promise and Assurance to feed the Enterprize from time to time with all fuâ—ing and necessary Supplies Hereupon our late Sovereign that is with God to the very time of his recovering Heaven had no other Object of his Consultations Resolutions and Actions than the recovery of the Palatinate The Foreign Treaties and Alliances the Supply of the Low Countries the Forces under the Conduct of Count Mansfield the Reparation of the Forces in England the Troops sent over into Ireland lastly this great and by God's Assistance invincible Fleet and Navy though they shew like so many Lines scattered and divided in the Circumference yet do they meet and unite themselves in the Recovery of the Palatinate as in the Center that bears and supports them all These great Designs the Holy Ghost I hope hath inspir'd into you you to the King our Sovereign he and you to the King his Father He before his Death had so ripened and prepared as the King our Master finds himself so wrapped and engaged in the Enterprize as it fares with his Heroical Heart as with that Pompey Necesse est ut eam non ut vivam He would more willingly go on to his Grave which God of his Goodness will not permit than not go onward with this brave Design Now all your Subsidies and Fifteens and fully to speak in measure and compass as much more of the Means of the Crown being spent in the Preparation forward the Action cannot move without a new Support and Supply which is the Substance of all which his Majesty hath now recommended unto you 9. The first Circumstance remembred unto you is that of Time A most pressing and important Circumstance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Sophocles calls it the greatest Commander of all our Actions For as Dion Cassius observes Lib. 11. Non rebus tempora sed res temporibus inserviunt Actions do not govern Times but Times govern Actions be they never so weighty And as Quintilian says wisely Plaerumque sera pro nullis sunt That Supply which comes too late proves many times no supply at all His Majesty knows very well that you are wise and provident to observes Times and Seasons You cannot but observe that Europe stands this day like the Pool of Bethesda the Waters are stirred every where and we hope by a good Angel The Honour of England which hath languished for these late Years stands at the brink and now or not in haste is to be healed and repaired His Majesty therefore desires you to conceive that this Meeting in this Session is but as a Meeting in a General 's Tent a Consultation in the heat of an Action which will endure no long Debate He expects therefore that you will be pleased to bestow this Session upon him or rather upon this Action and to hasten for that Cause And his Majesty will appoint the next as soon and as long as you please for yours and our own home Affairs This much concerning Time The second Circumstance is for the Manner which looks upon the Time as the Time doth upon the Action For if the manner of gathering this Supply should prove heavy and slow Time as Callistratus in his Statutes sets him forth hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Pair of Wings at his Feet and will quite out-run it If therefore in your own Judgments and Resolution you shall find the usual way and manner of Supplies by Subsidy to be too slow and backward for these present and undelayable Occasions his Majesty no friend to Innovation Etiam cum illi necessitas lenocinetur not now when necessity might seem to priviledge the same doth rather desire to hear and to receive from you then to project and propound unto you the manner of supplying this present Action This is the second Circumstance The Last is the End and the Issue of the Action which hath no meaner Consequence than the Fame and Reputation of our sweet and gracious Sovereign for many Years after For as Theodoricus that brave King of Lombardy was wont to say Ipsa initia plantare debent Principis nominis famam as a King sows his Reputation in his first Actions so shall he reap his Harvest of Glory in the Progress of his Life And therefore I must say of our gracious Master as the Orator said of himself Haec actio illi aures hominum haec famae januam patefaciet His Majesty at this time puts his Fame and Reputation that is all that he hath of a King For what is a King without these very much upon your Love and Affections And this not as Caesar upon his Army at all Adventures with a Jacta est alea a Mum-chance a cast of a Dye but with the greatest Confidence and Assurance that ever was plac'd by a loving King on a most loving and indulgent People Witness that Posie of his in his new stamp'd Coin not to be engraven as it is in Silver or Gold but in the solid Substance of Loyal Hearts Amor civium regis munimentum shewing that he cares little for other Forts being so well assured of the Love of his People And therefore as in Nature Rex subditus the King and the People are proper Relatives and consequently simul naturâ of one and the same Date and Existence So doth his Majesty little doubt that as soon as himself shall be known in Europe to be
illa quibus conciliatur plebis animus cò usque ne differantur donec ea praestare cogi videantur Passing right is Sir J. Haward's Hist of H. IV. p. 4. says he The Multitude are more strongly drawn by unprofitable Courtesies than by churlish Benefits Among those that argued for this Petition de Droit I shall remember what past from two eminent Prelates Archbishop Abbot offer'd his own Case to be consider'd banish'd from his own Houses of Croydon and Lambeth confin'd to a moorish Mansion-place of Foord to kill him debarr'd from the management of his Jurisdiction and no cause given for it to that time harder measure than ever was done to him in his Pedagogy for no Scholar was ever corrected till his Fault was told him But he had fuller'd the Lash in a Message brought by the Secretary and no cause pretended for it And what Light of Safety could be seen under such dark Justice The Bishop of Lincoln likewise promoted the Petition but he was a great Stickler for an Addition that it might come to the King's Hands with a mannerly Clause That as they desir'd to preserve their own Liberties so they had regard to leave entire that Power wherewith His Majesty was entrusted for the Protection of his People which the Commons disrelish'd and caused to be cancell'd This caused the Bishop to be suspected at first as if he had been sprinkled with some Court-holy-water which was nothing so but a due Consideration flowing from his own Breast that somewhat might be inserted to bear witness to the Grandeur of Majesty A Passage in Xenophon commends such unbespoken Service lib. 8. Cyrip says he Hystaspus would do all that Cyrus bade but Chrysantus would do all which he thought was good for Cyrus before he bade him 77. In the Debate of this great matter among the Lords this Bishop hath left under his own Pen what he deliver'd partly in glossing upon a Letter which His Majesty under the Signet sent to the House May the 12th partly in contesting with the chief Speakers that quarrel'd at the Petition As to the former First the King says That his Predecessors had never given Leave to the free Debates of the highest Points of Prerogative Royal. The Bishop answered The Prerogative Royal should not be debated at all otherwise than it is every Term in Westminster-hall Secondly the Letter objects What if some Discovery nearly concerning Matters of State and Government be made May not the King and his Council commit the Party in question without cause shewn For then Detection will dangerously come forth before due time Resp No matter of State or Government would be destroyed or defeated if the Cause be exprest in general terms And no danger can likely ensue if in three Terms the Matter be prepared to be brought to Trial. Ob. 3. May not some Cause be such as the Judges have no Capacity of Judicature or Rules of Law to direct or guide their Judgment Resp What can those things be which neither the Kings-bench nor Star-chamber can meet them Obj. 4. Is it not enough that we declare our Royal Will and Resolution to be which God willing we will constantly keep not to go beyond a just Rule and Moderation in any thing which shall be contrary to our Laws and Customs And that neither we nor our Council shall or will at any time hereafter commit or command to Prison for any other cause than doth concern the State the Publick Good and Safety of our People Resp Not the Council-Table but the appointed Judges must determine what are Laws and Customs and what is contrary to them And this gracious Concession is too indefinite to make us depend upon that broad Expression of Just Rule and Moderation Especially be it mark'd That all the Causes in the Kingdom may be said to concern either the State the Publick Good or the Safety of the King and People This under Favour is abundantly irresolute and signifies nothing obtain'd Obj. 5. In all Causes hereafter of this nature which shall happen we shall upon the humble Petition of the Party or Signification of our Judges unto us readily and really express the true cause of the Commitment so as with Conveniency and Safety it be fit to be disolosed And that in all Causes of ordinary Jurisdiction our Judges shall proceed to the delivery or bailment of the Prisoner according to the known and ordinary Rules of this Land and according to the Statutes of Magna Charta and those six Statutes insisted on which we intend not to abrogate or weaken according to the true intention thereof Resp To disclose the cause of Imprisonment except Conveniency and Safety do hinder are ambiguous words and may suffice to hold a man fast for coming forth And if all Causes be not of ordinary Jurisdiction as I hope they are who shall judge which be the extraordinary Causes We are lost again in that Uncertainty So likewise for the Intention of Magna Charta and the six Statutes who shall judge of the true Intention of them That being arbitrary we are still in nubibus for any assurance of legal Liberty So the Concessions of His Majesty's Letter were waved as unsatisfactory 78. And the Bishop went on to shew that the Contents of the Petition were suitable to the ancient Laws of the Realm ever claimed and pleaded expedient for the Subject and no less honourable for the King which made him a King of Men and not of Beasts of brave-spirited Freemen and not of broken-hearted Peasants The Statute in 28 Edw. 3. is as clear for it as the day at Noon-tide That no man of what state or condition soever shall be put out of his Lands or Tenements nor taken nor imprison'd nor disinherited nor put to death without being brought to answer by due process of Law I know one Lord replied to this lately That the Law was wholsom for the good of private men and sometime it might be as wholsom for the Publick Weal that the Soveraign Power should commit to Custody some private man the cause not being shew'd in Law upon more beneficial occasion than a private man's legal Liberty And though the Hand of Power should seem to be hard upon that one person a Benefit might redound to many First be it consider'd if no Law shall be fixt and inviolable but that which will prevent all Inconveniencies we must take Laws from God alone and not from men Then be it observ'd that to bring the exception of a Soveraign Power beside the Laws in Cases determined in the Laws takes away all Laws when the King is pleas'd to use and put forth this Soveraign Power wherewith he is trusted and makes the Government purely arbitrary and at the Will of the King So shall this Reason of State eat up and devour the Reason of Laws Shew me he that can how the affirmation of a Soveraign Power working beside the Law insisted upon shall not bring our Goods and our
to visit this Diocess as well for the Reasons premised as because all the means of Livelihood belonging to this See being taken away by the Duke of Somerset 2 Ed. 61. and a new airy and phantastical Corps being framed for the miserable Bishoprick consisting in great part of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction if your Grace should inhibit the exercise thereof and divert the Profits assigned therefrom for the Bishop's Maintenance he should not be able to eat or drink much less to pay unto his Majesty First-fruits Tenths and Subsidies charged upon this Bishoprick with relation to this last Endowment In the which last Difference this Bishoprick is for ought I know miserably distinguish'd from all others Thus I conceive the case to stand my gracious Lord and I hope unless your Grace will be pleased to permit me to go on with my Visitation for this year and take further time to consider thereof by our Lady-Eve to procure all those several pieces which confirm these Premisses to be transcribed out of our Records and Registries and sent by my Officers to attend your Grace's further Good-will and Pleasure c. How reasonable the Propositions of this Letter are I know not I know they did not prevail Sed ne querelae tum quidem gratae fuere cum forsitan erant necessariae says Livy in his Preface His Complaints were not well taken though they were necessary and good to stand upon Record to shew what was alledg'd for the benefit of his own See and the emolument of smaller Bishopricks In the end our Bishop let it go on the Archbishop's side without more contradiction having not forgotten that Philosophy in Seneca Acerbissimam partem servitutis effugit qui imperium libens excipit 97. All this and so many Quarrels piled one upon another were too little to bow the straightness of his Spirit yet there was enough to make his Foes audacious because a heavy Charge in Star chamber depended Seven years against him prosecuted for the King by the Attorny-General concurrent all along with the rehearsed Troubles Omne tulit secum Caesaris ira malum Ov. 3. Trist el. 12. God complains of the Rigour of the Heathen against Jerusalem I was but a little displeased and they helped forward the affliction Zech. 1.15 Beware to help Affliction forward Revenge is fierce when Misery cannot mitigate it It may be a Court-lesson it is not a Christian to thrust him down that is a falling Mark Reader that the Actors herein came into the hands of a Power or rather of a Tyranny that had no compassion of any Optima vindex insolentiae variet as humanae conditionis Valer. lib. 4. c. 7. The Wheel of Vicissitude turning many Sticklers that were at the top to the bottom is the Act and Motion of Providence to be the Scourge of Insolency Among all Devices to thrust him under Water that was sinking already none was hatcht of more Despight and Indignity than a Book publish'd by a Bluster-master ann 1636. call'd A Coal from the Altar to defame a Letter sent nine years before by the Bishop to some Divines of the Neighbourhood of Grantham in Lincolnshire to resolve a Doubt upon the Site of the Communion-Table or Altar as the Vicar of Grantham call'd it from whose Indiscretion the Contention began If ever any had a Wolf by the Ear the Bishop was in that quandary upon this provocation Gladly he would have made his Peace with the King to which he came near twice or thrice but at last utterly lost the sight of it It behoved him for his Safety not to make them his Enemies who were like to be his Judges chiefly not to trespass against the Likings of Archbishop Laud who could draw the King with one Hand farther than all the Lords in the Court with their whole Arm. From anno 1627 when the Letter was written in the Case of the Vicar of Grantham to anno 1636 there had been much done in Preaching and Practice to introduce some comelinesses in the Worship of God as they were stiled which had not been before The Archbishop set his Mind upon it which a late Writer calls his Pregnancy to revive ancient Ceremonies and another Book Antid Lincol. p. 85. No Metropolitan of this Church that more seriously endeavour'd to promote the Uniformity of Publick Order than his Grace now being The Clamours raised upon him are an Evidence of it The Compliance of many to curry Favour did out-run the Archbishop's Intentions if my Opinion deceive me not and made the Clamour the greater which meeting with other Discontents might have warned Wisdom to stop or go on slowly So well it is known to be dangerous to run against the Stream and Unwillingness of the People and no good Physician will try Experiments upon an accrased Pody An honest Mind is not enough to patronize that which is much condemâ—â—â— I would have none to suspect the Archbishop that he meant any Change in the Doctrine of our Church I would have none to tax his Reformation for Superstition but I will say as Polybius did in defence of the nice Observations of the old Roman Religion that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Excess of Piety Yet be not too bold against causeless Jealousies Grant it but I do not give it that the Clamours did rise from weak Judgments and pass over that Rule That the strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please our solves Rom. 15.1 Policy ought to listen abroad to the Talk of the Streets and the Market-places for secular Policy is no prophane thing well used in the Service of God and not to despise Rumours when they are sharpened against the innovating of any Discipline These things appeared but Straws to stumble at to a resolved Stomach and a Champion comes out in print to gagg all popular murmuring against the placing of the Holy Table Altar-wise Ambustum Torrâ—m Corinaeus ab arâ corripit Aen. 12. one that would vent more I believe than the Masters of the Game would have done that put him into the Lists Athletâ—e suts ineitatoribus fortiores sunt says St. Hicrom in an Epistle to Julianus Yet the common Vogue was that this Author though learned was not the fittest to defend the Cause being not fortunate in the good opinion of the Times It was remembred that the Spartans would not pass that into a Decree which was good in it self which a scandalous Fellow oster'd to their Council but turned him by and set up a plain honest man to prefer it Sic bona sententia mansit turpis autor mutatus est Gel. lib. 18. c. 3. But if the Press must be set awork as the Pulpits Schools and Consistories had been to maintain this matter of no great moment God wot why must this Bishop and his Letter be the Block to fashion their Wit upon He was one that would carry no Coals they knew it A judicious Reply from him would make the Shadow return
or Constitutions differing from the alledg'd or did vary in their Judgment that they would send their Reasons and they should be kindly and thankfully accepted How could a Prelate carry himself with more Moderation or a Scholar write with more Modesty or a Variance be more suddenly composed as it was with more Indifferency Did this Letter deserve to be ript up nine years after and torn into Raggs by an angry Censure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Odyss w. It will be a dishonour to the Times that Posterity should hear of it I see if the Dr. had been in the place of the Bishop he would have led the Parish of Grantham another Dance to their cost and vexation Many that are in low condition are best where they are As Livy says lib. 1. dec 5. Quidnam illi Consules Dictatoresve facturi erant qui proconsularem imaginem tam trucem saevÃmque fecerint If such had been the Consuls and Dictators of the Church what would they have done who flew so high when they had no Authority 99. Scan this now both for the Form and Matter before equal Judges in some Moral and Prudential Rules The Letter or private Monition as he calls it that drew it up Hol. Tab. p. 82. was written nine years before and in all that time had gained this Praise that it savour'd of Fatherly Sweetness to satisfie the Scrupulous by Learning in matter of Ceremony rather than to strike the case dead with Will and Command The Contents of it had been quoted in a Parliament with well done good and faithful Servant thou hast been faithful in a little A Divinity-Professor in his Chair Dr. Pr. had spoken reverendly of it by the relation of many it was punctually read or opened fully to the King at the hearing of the Cause of St. Gregory's Church Ho. Tab. p. 58. and no Counsellor did inform that it was disparaged A Litter of blind Whelps will see by that time they are nine days old and was the Answerer blind that could not see the reputation this Paper had got by that time it was nine years old Let a Presbyter for me dispute the truth with him that is of the greatest Order in the Church yet what Canons will suffer him to taunt and revile a Bishop whose whole Book was but a Libel against a Diocesan p. 58. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Const lib. 2. c. 31. Which Canon will not allow a Clerk of a lower degree to raise an evil Murmur against a Bishop Much of the like is an Antiquity from Ignatius downward Their supereminent Order is not to be exposed to petulant Scoffings by their own Tribe Sed servanda est uniuscujusque Episcopi reverentia says Gregory Ep. 65. Ind. 2. since the Age grew learned and Knowledge puffed men up Ministers are more malapart among us and in every state with the Fathers of the Church but from the beginning it was not so If the like to this had been done upon the Person of another Bishop he would have been taught better Manners that had presum'd it The Example is the same wheresoever it lighted and might have taught them that where Reverence is forgotten to any of the chief Order that he that abuseth one doth threaten many It is a sad Presage to my Heart to apply that of Baronius to them that did not maintain the Honour of their Brother Quod Praesides ecclesiarum alter alterius vires infringebant Deus tranquilla tempora in persecutiones convertebat an 312. p. 6. These Annals prevent me not to forget that for a better colour to make licentious Invectives the Respondent takes no notice that a Bishop wrote the Letter For why not rather some Minorite among the Clergy Indeed it had not the Name but the Style tells him all the way that it could come from none but the Diocesan of Grantham Therefore I will give him his Match out of Baronius anno 520. p. 22. Maxentius contra epistolam Hormisdae scripsit sed ut liberam sibi dicendi compararet facultatem Hormisdae esse negavit sed ab adversariis ejus nomine scriptam esse affirmans This is a stale Trick to bait a Pope or a Prelate in the name of one that was much beneath them Sternitur infoelix alieno vulnere Aen. lib. 10. but he that wilfully makes these mistakes I take him for what he is I pass to the main Question What did this Letter prescribe that it should be torn with the Thorns of the Wilderness It pared away no Ceremony enjoyned O none further from it but it moderated a doubtful case upon the Mode and Practice of a Ceremony how the Communion-Board should stand and how the Vicar in that Church should pray and read at it for best edification of his Flock He must give me time to study upon it that would demand me to start him a Question belonging to God's Service of less moment Had the Gensdarmery of our great Writers no other Enemy to fight with Nothing to grind in their Brain-mill but Orts This the Colleges of Rome would have to see us warm in petty Wranglings and remiss in great Causes as Laertius says of one Xenophon of the Privy-Purse to Alexander the Great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 632 He would quiver for cold in the hot Sun and sweat in the Shade It was a Task most laudably perform'd by Whitgift Bridges Hooker Morton Burgess to maintain the use of innocent Ceremonies with whom Bishop Williams did ever jump and as Fulgentius says in P. Paulo's Life would defend and observe all Ordinances the least considerable and no whit essential But this was a great deal below it to litigate not about the continuance but about the placing of a Ceremony an evil beginning to distract Conformists who were at unity before and to make them sight like Cocks which are all of a Feather and yet never at peace with themselves Wo be to the Authors of such Cadmaean Wars Quibus semper praelia clade pari Propertius A most unnecessary Gap made in the Vine yard through which both the wild Boar our foreign Enemy and the little Foxes at home may enter in to spoil the Grapes Plutarch lib. de Is Osyr tells me of a Contention between the Oxyndrites and Cynopolites who went to War for the killing of a Fish which one of the Factions accounted to be a sacred Creature and when they were weaken'd with slaughter on both sides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in sine the Romans over-run them and made them their Slaves Let the Story be to them that hates us and the Interpretation fall upon our Enemies 100. Yet will some of the stiffer Faction say it was time to clip the Wings of this Letter or if it could be done to make it odious abroad for the Mctropolitan intending one common decency in all Churches of his Province about the Table of Christ's Holy Supper this Paper six years older than his translation to the See of Canterbury
where it was spread made it difficult to be obey'd One about that time would have replied thus Hold your Hands for all that is ye be Good-fellows for your hour is not yet come The Stream is against you Both they that have read this Letter and they that never heard of it wonder why you are so double-diligent about Accessories more than about the Work it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Aristoph in Acharn and are not pliable for this Alteration He that seeks a thing in the wrong way goes so far backward The sage Prelates that ruled for 80 years before did overlook this matter and they neither wanted Will nor Care to advance Decency with God's Glory If you think that he hath more Power that now sits in chief than the best of his Order before him that 's true Yet let him rein in a galloping Fortune and he will sit the surer Beside he must have more than Power he must have the Hearts of Men that will form them to a new Model this the Metropolitan wants if he had that he might easily command them if he have not he must slatter them or he will do worse And it is well known how he that will bring a People from a Custom in God's Worship with which they have been inured to a Change must be more than wise that is he must be thought to be wise Look you to that Can you say there is any harm in that which you are so busie to correct Then what good can you hope to bring in which is more valuable than Constancy I think Plato was a prudent Moralist from whom this came 7. de Leg. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'T is hazardous to tamper with that which hath continued long to mend it unless it be evil But list Sirs and tell me what Bell it is that rouls in your Ears Do you not hear that Great and Small are not only froward but sull of Threatning against the Grandeur of the Church As yet we have lost nothing all our care should be to keep that which we have else as good Bishop Hall wrote while we plead for a higher strain of Prosperity we bring our selves into a necessity of Ruin Archbishop Abbot said often Parta tueri Play for no more lest you lose your Stake It is an Epitaph for the Grave-stone of a Fool I was well and would be better I took Physick and dyed Can you be insensible of this impendent Ruin Are you so intent upon your Altars that you know not how the Nation bears a grudge at you Are you only Strangers in Jerusalem As Budaeus said of the Troubles that broke in while he lived de Asse l. 4. p. 110. France wanted Eyes and Ears and which is strange it wanted a Nose Qui tantam cladem odorari ante non potuimus quà m ab eâ oppressi You do not smell the Vultures but while you are chopping and changing the Vultures smell after you to prey upon the Carcass of your Patrimony You cannot say that there is any thing in it of Conscience to God why you should not forbear to provoke the Discontents of the Kingdom any further Lege fidei manente coetera jam disciplinae conversationis admittunt novitatem correctionis Tertul. de Vel. Virg. c. 1. Keep the Old Faith God is the Judge of that Order and Discipline may vary according to the liking of the Times Discretion is the Judge of that In a word we do not see but the Swarms of God's Servants work well in all Parishes if you will let them alone if you remove their Hives or stir them take heed they do not sting you It may be a Coal-kindler would think such Counsel as this not worth the hearing Fore-cast and Fear with him are phlegmatick things the Piety of the Times and a rigid prosecution of a comely Uniformity must not stoop unto them Then do I say no more but that I do not altogether dislike what a wise man hath taught me That warm Devotion quiet and innocent is less hurtful than ardent Zeal which is turbulent and misdirected 101. So much advisedly thought of might have conduced not to meddle in that Cause at this time but this Bishop and his Estimation was shot at and he must be tempted what he would do by a Provocation in Print They were none of the Bishop's worst Friends that wish'd him when he read the Coal to look no more after it It is a small thing but a pretty which Camerarius tells of Melancthon p. 79. His Daughter had gadded from home till it was late What will you say to your Mother if she chide you says he Nothing says the Girl 'T is well resolved says her Father The Bishop had more reason to take that course because the Rulers of the time frowned on him and he that Answers a Calumny keeps it alive he that will not starves it A Reproach is warm when it is fresh but no longer As Astronomers say of the Dog-star Cunicula calore oritur frigore occidit It riseth in a hot Month it sets in a cold 'T is much he did not listen to this and if it were but for another reason that he thought Learning did surfeit of too many Books and that the most of our late Authors were more troublesome than profitable To which Sir H. Wootton's Motto comes near That the Itch of Writing makes a Scabby Church And what else made so great a Wit as Fryar Paul profess it is in his Life That he would never write any thing with intention to print it unless Necessity constrain'd him It may be the Bishop fancied somewhat like Necessity in this case or it was because every one hath not both the Qualities of the brave General Decebalus in Dion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He knew how to charge on and how to retreat upon occasion Therefore he publish'd a little Tractate called The Holy Table under the name of a Lincolnshire Minister The Analyse of it may be spared since it is in many hands it insists chiefly upon two Heads the Name Altar and the Posture of Christ's Table Altar-wise a mean Subject for the Pen of so good a Scholar but Art is confin'd to small things sometimes as well as Nature And Pliny teacheth us lib. 29. c. 1. Non puduit naturam gignere muscam cum gignat hominem Nature is not ashamed to be the Parent of a Fly as well as to be the Parent of a Man That the name of Altar might pass with more allowance the Vicar of Grantham declared that he would set up a Fabrick of Stone to support the Elements of the Holy Sacrament Quite cross to the Advertisements 17 of Q. Eliz. That the Parish provide a decent Table standing on a frame for the Communion and cross to the Canons Anno 1571. Title Church-wardens They shall see there be a joined handsom Table which may serve for the administration of the Holy Communion in the Latin Curabunt mensam
Xeno Ath. Resp 'T is pardonable for every man to help himself Nor was it an indirect way no not a jot for there was neither Perjury nor Contradiction found between the first and second Depositions of the Parties And what the Bishop did was by the advice of the best Counsel in England to draw up some few Interrogatories to be put to the four Witnesses only to interpret and not to vary from or to substract or contradict what they had deposed before For the words being ambiguous in themselves might be taken in one sense to Defame in another fence not at all to touch upon the credit of Pregion It was agreed that Pregion offer'd money to A. Tubb and Alice Smith to procure Eliz. Hodgson to lay the base Child upon another man this they had sworn this the Bishop never endeavoured to impeach But an interrogatory is drawn up and offer'd to them whether El. Hodgson was dealt with to lay it upon the right Father which was a just and lawful motion or upon some other whether he had been the Father or no. They both answer That Pregion sollicited her to lay it upon another that was the true Father And this variation is all the Offence that is none at all in that particular And in that right meaning Sir J. Wray Sir J. Bolls and Richardson the Clerk of the Peace did receive it in the Sessions This Practice so little as it is is the grand Objection all beside comes not to so much as a filip on the Forehead For instance one Ward swears that he heard a Servant of the Bishop C. Powel offer Alice Smith Monies to take an Oath of his framing but Alice swears directly it was not so Powel swears he offer'd and paid her Money to bear her Charges as a Witness which is fit and lawful Nec ist a benignitas adimenda est quae liberalitatem magis significat quà m largitionem Cic. pro Murenâ T. Lund takes his Oath That Pregion told him that he never had touch'd El Hodgson but twice Being demanded hereof more strictly in his examination in the Star-chamber he swears That Pregion did not say to him that he touch'd her carnally nor did he know what he meant by touching Is there either substraction or contradiction in this or any more than a plain interpretation Lastly Wetheral had deposed That he was entreated by Pregion not to be at the Sessions He stands to it but adds that he was not bound to be there nor summoned He had deposed That Pregion spake to him to swear to no more than the Court should ask him What harm was there in that Caution Being examined in Star-chamber he swears That Pregion tempted him to nothing by Bribes or Reward but that he told him if he were sworn to tell the whole Truth he would not conceal it Only one Witness George Walker layeth it on the Bishop how Powel and Richard Owen entreated him in the Bishop's Name to speak with Witheral upon these matters which though it include no ill yet Owen and Powel depose They were never employed by the Bishop to deal with G. Walker upon such an Errand So the Bishop is cleared in every Information by sufficient Oaths of such against whose Faith there was no exception How easie a Province had the Defendant's Counsel to crumble these Impeachments into Dust and to blow them into the Eyes of the Impeachers Verba innocenti reperire facilè est Curt. lib. 6. Yet the Oratory of the Court by pre-instructions did turn them into filthy Crimes As Irenaeus says in the beginning of his Work That out of the same Jewels which being handsomly put together make the Image of a Prince being taken asunder you may contrive them into the Shape of a Monster 119. Could it be expected that such Driblets or rather Phantoms of Under-dealing with Witnesses should hold the Court ten days hearing in the long Vacation after Trinity-Term What leisure was taken to bolt out to exaggerate to wrack to distort to make an Elephant of a Fly which I may justly pour forth in the words of Tully for his Client Quintius de fortunis omnibus deturbandus est Potentes diserti nobiles omnes advocandi Adhibenda vis est veritati minae intentantur pericula intenduntur formidines opponuntur But here were worse things which the Oratour had never cause to complain of under the Roman Laws All the Depositions of the main Witnesses for the Bishop were deleted not fairly by a Hearing in open Court where their Lordships might every one have consider'd of it but were spunged out by that Judge in his private Chamber who was the bane of the Cause from the beginning to the end and forsooth because they were impertinent Scandals against Kilvert and others that had deposed for the King Only the Bishop was allowed to put in a cross Bill when it was too late after he was first ruin'd in his Honour Fortunes and Liberty and then lest to seek a Remedy against a Companion not worth a Groat And who was ever used like this Defendant since the Star-chamber sate that when his Cause was so far proceeded as to be heard in three sittings that two new Affidavits should be brought in by Kilvert which struck to the very substance of the Cause to which no Answer could be given because they were new matters quite out of the Books obtruded long after publication yet from thenceforth produced every day which seduced divers of the noble Lords and no doubt many of the Hearers as though they had been Depositions in that Cause which were not so but Materials of another information and in their due time were fully cleared and disproved When was it known before that in every of the ten days that the Cause was in debate a Closet-meeting was held at Greenwich the Lords sent for to it one by one the Proofs there repeated to them and their Votes bespoken Which was no better than when Junius Marius in Tacitus bespake the Emperor Claudius to impart his private Commentaries unto him Per quos nosceret quisque quem accusandum poposcisset And between the full hearing and sentencing the Cause the Lords were well told a Passage That a noble Personage had offered Ten thousand pounds to compound for the Bishop's Peace which is true that the Duke of Richmond did it when he saw how the Game went in the Cabinet Which was the very reason that induced their Lordships to lay such an immense Fine upon a Fault conceiv'd that was never sentenc'd in any Kingdom or State before Yet all this did not suffice but in that morning of the day when the Cause was sentenc'd it was first debated in an inner Chamber so long till many hundreds waited for their coming forth till high noon wherein Agreement was concluded by all Parties before they sate There and then it was that the Archbishop press'd for the degradation of his Brother Bishop and his deportation God knows whither Now
was that if he would be bandied no more in Star-chamber 1. He must leave his Bishoprick and Deanry and all his Commendams and take a Bishoprick in Ireland or Wales as His Majesty pleased 2. He must recant his Book 3. Secure all his Fine 4. Never question any that had been employed by His Majesty against him Strange Physick as ever was prescribed for it was a Pill as big as a Pumpion and whose Throat could swallow it down Non est pax sed servitutis pactio Tul. Philip. 12. The worst that all the Courts in England could do could not impose such Terms upon him Beside to yield thus far were to fly the Field and to receive an inglorious wound in his Back Then he falls upon other Thoughts that he would please the King by making an unparallel'd Submission to him And were it not best to be content with half a Ruine to prevent a whole He must be a loser yet a man spends nothing that buys that he hath need of So he wrote back to the same Earl that he would lay his Bishoprick and Deanry at His Majesty's Feet but excused his going into Ireland To the second That he could not recant his Book which contain'd no Doctrine that he was not ready to justifie To the third He would pay his Fine as he was able To the fourth he submitted Not this not all this was accepted The very L. Drusus in Paterculus Meliore in omnia ingenio animoque quà m fortunà usus His noble Wit and good Parts were still destituted by Fortune He received this Return from the Earl That His Majesty was not contented to receive his Bishoprick and Deanry from him his Residency in Lincoln and Rectory of Walgrave are requir'd to be voided and to Ireland or no Peace To the second No Doctrin should be recanted but Matters of Fact c. The Bishop wonders at this who look'd for Praise that he had stoop'd so low yet rather than contest with his Soveraign he resolves with David Adhuc ero vilior And the common Rule of Polybius was observ'd by all men lib. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of two good things chuse the greatest of two Evils chuse the least He offers to resign all he hath in the Church of England but still will live in England for the Book he pleaded so well for it that the King was satisfied with a conditional submission as If any thing contained in it offended His Majesty he was sorry But to the third about the Fine he found very imperfect and unsolid Proposals and No Ground that 's good is hollow Since he must be stript of all that he had in the Church he would know how much should be left him of his Lands and Leases to live upon that the King 's Fine-gatherers might not snatch up all And he craves an Answer whether that Pension of 2000 Marks per ann bought of the E. of Banbury by His Majesty's Direction and for his Service and Profit being then Prince of Wales and 24000 l. in Arâ—ears for the same should be consider'd towards the King's Payment The Rejoynder began at the latter Clause That Pensions are not paid to men in disfavour the E. of Bristol being the Example for it For the Proportion what he should have to live upon rising out of his own Estate he must know nothing till he had wholly submitted From that hour the false Glass wherein the Bishop saw a shadow of Peace was broken And he writes to the Earl in the Stile of a man That it were a tempting of God to part with all he had willingly and leave himself no assurance of a Livelihood That his Debts if he came out of the Prison of the Tower would cast him into another Prison no better provision being made for them than he saw appearance for That he would never hazard himself into a condition to beg his Bread Truly he had cause to look for better Offers and since they came not he would lay his Head upon the Pillow of Hope till he had slept his last He had not suffer'd as an Evil man his Conscience bore him witness whereby he was not obnoxious to Infamy Majore poenâ affectus quà m legibus statutum est non est infamis a Maxim of Reason and of Law in our Kingdom To surrender up all he had were to suffer as a Fool. Plato is made the Author of the Saying That he had rather leave somewhat to his Enemies when he died than stand in need of his Friends who might prove no Friends while he lived But this is surely Plato's in Apol. pro Socr. That when Socrates was ask'd how he felt himself affected when he was wrongfully condemn'd he said he could give no Answer till he met with Palamedes and Ajax 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till he had ask'd them how they took the Sentence of unrighteous Judges he was not fully provided to satisfie them Our bishop consulted day and night at his Study with Histories of Saints in by-past Ages and knew they had suffer'd more than he had done and was sorry for his human frailty if they could bear it better Now I am confident that the Prudent will collect that this Bishop was never deaf to Conditions of Agreement and that no man living could offer a greater Sacrifice than he did for a Peace-Offering unless he would have stript himself of all and not have left off his own two Mites in all the World to cast into the Corban 129. But if the Parly for Peace were nothing but Thunder and Thunder-bolt how will the Bishop endure it when it comes to strokes God be praised his Warfare in these Causes was at an end Flebile principium melior fortuna secuta est Metam lib. 7. The Chamber of Horror and its Star did not shine malignantly upon him again A time and times and half a time had pass'd over and these things were finisht Dan. 12.7 For three year and half he continued in the Tower and in that space lived as if he had drank of Homer's Cup Odyss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if he had represented and not felt the part he acted For except that so many Suits interrupted his Studies he lack'd nothing that could be perceived of Health Solace and Alacrity Benè dormit qui non sentit quà m malè dormiat a Fragment of Publius Mimus He wanted not good Society for I must ever praise his constant Friend Dr. Alabaster who took up a Lodging in one of the Mint-master's Houses to be with him continually While he was so many months shut up from the action of the World he began to hear of some Occurrences abroad which made him not dread his chief Enemy at Lambeth at all The Archbishop had entangled himself in his own Webb nay the King and all England and Scotland with him In illa liturgiâ infelicissimè ad Scotos missâ says wise Mr. Selden de Syn. Jud. par 2. His Majesty's Expedition into the
a Belly-god From the first breaking out of the Plot against the Earl they committed him as a Traytor to the Black Rod who for any thing of Treason or like to Treason might go bare-fac'd through the World and never be asham'd For in the end of all long after his Commitment they had no proof towards that Crime but a Paper brought out of old Sir H. Vane's Cabinet by his naughty Son Crudelis pater est magis an puer improbus ille What were other Misdemeanors to Treason Sift any man that hath been long in a great Office and if his Enemies may be permitted to accuse him see if he can escape a black Bill which will found to his peril and disgrace amplified with the Rhetorick of Malice So Plutarch defends the gallant Roman Fabius Tò 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not to offend at all in great matters is more than a man can do Let me speak of his Judges with reverence It was a Parliament which is more able to prepare Laws to pass where all are concern'd than to sit upon a Trial where one Subject is concern'd Wise and Weak have the same Right to Judge therefore Pliny the younger spared not to censure the Conscript-Fathers of the Roman Senate lib. 2. Ep. In publico concilio nihil est tam inaequale quam aequalitas quia cum sit impar prudentia par omnium jus est Those that are no Body when they are singled and stand alone must pass for Oracles when they vote with others in the House Like the Vanity of Astrologers as Salmasius taxeth them Chym. p. 795. Singula sidera vix pro numinibus habent Composita offigiata potentum numinum instar habere voluerunt The vertue of such and such a Star is not reckon'd in their Art but put it into a Constellation that Figure cast into a Globe of Stars they hold to be propitions in-flowing into the Life and Death of Men. There were some in this Parliament that out of their Birth and Education were carried to noble Attempts who would not concurr to the Ruin of great Wentworth but their Names were posted for it by Ruffians as Enemies to the State And this was never look'd into for a breach of Privilege An Indignity will never be forgotten till Truth hath left to breathe And it was to no purpose to reason it soberly with so violent Opposites Decernente ferocissimo quoque non sententiis sed clamore strepitu Liv. lib. 20. Their Blood was warmed with the greatness of their number and confidence in the People Beside says the rare Author in his Essay of Faction it is often seen that a few that are stiff will tire out a greater number that are more moderate What odds then was on their side that exceeded in quantity and stiffness Yet every thing that is stiff is not streight But here the bloody part were the Godly in their own Language they and no others All that came from them was pretended to be for Reformation and common Safety but as different in event as Numbers that are even and odd Hypocrisie dwells next door to Virtue but never comes into its Neighbor's House What Justice was that which was thrown by for ever which plaid its part so ill that the very Actors hiss'd it off the Stage and provided by their own Vote that it should be seen no more Quintil. lib. 7. hath this upon the Pleadings of his time Tot saeculis nullam repertam esse causam quae sit tota alterisimilis No Cause was ever pleaded that was the same with any that went before in all points and circumstances But how say you to this Cause when it was enacted by Statute That no Cause should be like it for the time to come Sir Rob. Dallington notes the Subtlety of the Pope in these words That he never challengeth a Power till he be able to maintain it no more did this High Court and then that he never approves a Mischief till it be done So did not this Court that would not approve their own Mischief when it was done They were not asham'd before and when they shed innocent Blood but after Quos cum nihil refert pudet ubi pudendum est deserit illos pudor Plaut in Bacch Finally no Evidence can have more light than this That they knew not how to make their Justice passable because before they began they found so many Knots and Scruples how to enter into a Trial. When they had resolved on a way the King would have crost them Discreet men were afraid lest Opposition should make them worse Lincoln is consulted approves the King's Zeal to use all expedient means to rescue his faithful Servant but thought it would do hurt to check what the Parliament had devised for a legal procedure He that seeks a thing the wrong way goes so far backward In all Contests of Power the King is ever thought to do wrong The King's Greatness made too much contemptible already must beware to take a foyl at this time Mary Queen of Scotland Mother to James the third who was deem'd worthy the Character of Livia the Empress Ulysses stolata Ulysses in a Petticoat Calig in Sueton. gave this Counfel to her Son on her Death-bed Suffer not your Prerogative to come in question but fore-seeing the danger rather give way to all that in reason is demanded of you Drum p. 79. With these Considerations the Bishop proceeds to deliver his Opinion as followeth to the Lords 143. The first Question which your Lordships have called upon me to resolve is Whether the House of Commons may examine some of the Members of their House before a Committee of your Lordships There is no question of the thing but of the time Regularly they ought not to do it yet but ought first to put in a Specifial Charge and the Reus or Defendant first be call'd to his Answer Then and not before Witnesses ought to be produced This is the regular Course If the Charge be not Specifial it may be demurred unto and need not be answer'd at all We have all this in the Acts of the Apostles cap. 25. Festus brought brought forth Paul to be examin'd before Agrippa that he might have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 27. some certain matter to lay to his charge so as he might not slip away from it Therefore a general and uncertain matter will not serve the turn For otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 28. it seem'd to Festus void of all reason to send a Prisoner to Rome and no Charge go along with him They are call'd there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 particular Criminations This is the regular way before your Witnesses are used The Star-Chamber goes a little further beside the Rule For in the King's Cause upon Affidavit of Sickness to prevent Mortality and as it were de benè esse some Witnesses have been admitted to Examination before any Answer put in or Issue joyned Though these Witnesses were
would witness against me for my Council-Table Opinion I would say to him as Gallus did to Tyberius Caesar Good Sir speak you first for I may mistake and you may witness against me for it in the next Parliament Some did make Laws with Ropes about their Necks What Must men give their Counsel as it were with Ropes about their Necks Solomon says When thou comest to a rich man's table put a knife to thy Throat But what 's here When we give Judgment as we are able among the Lords of the Council must we put an Ax to our Necks Beware of such Traps pittying the case of human Weakness 145. The fourth Question is thus comprized Whether some Members of the House of Commons may be present at the Examination Judicially they cannot the Judicature is in your Lordships but whether organically and ministerially is the Scruple to be satisfied I will be brief in my Conceptions what is against the claim of the House of Commons and what is for them This is not for them That 50 Edw. 3. one Love was a Witness in Lord John Nevile's Case Love denied what he had confest before two Knights Members of the Lower House The House of Commons send them to the Lords to confront Love which they did and Love was thereupon committed Now their being here was only to confront not to assist the Lords either judicially or ministerially Many things make for them why they may be there ministerially at least First Originally both Houses were together and so the Commons heard all Examinations Considerent inter se Modus ten Pl. and sate so till Anno 6 Edw. 3. by Mr. Elsing's Collections which are not over-authentick Secondly After that time they have all the House of Commons been present when Witnesses were sworn here Anno 5 Hen. IV. Rot. 11. swears his Fealty before the Lords and Commons and two or three days after by the same Oath and before the same persons clears the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Duke of York from a Suspicion of Treason laid to their charge The Commons were by and heard all this The third Reason is Mr. Attorny-General if this Lord were arraigned of Treason as I pray God bless him from deserving it would be by and observe his Defence and such Witnesses as he should produce for himself and would no doubt bring Counter proofs Sur le Champ and upon the sudden against the same if he were able The House of Commons is in this case the King's Attorny who make and maintain the charge So far out of brief Notes for take them to be no other you have a strong Judgment pass'd upon four Questions Says Tully in his Brutus of Caesar's Eloquence Tabulam benè pictam collocat in bono lumine He draws his Picture well and hangs it out to be well seen So here 's a Piece well drawn and placed in the light of Perspicuity His next Argument is very long but of that use to the Reader that he shall not sind so much Learning in any Author on that Theme that I know a Scholar would not want it They that fostered deadly Enmities against E. Strafford laboured to remove the Bishops from the hearing of his Cause This Bishop and his Brethren minding to him all the Pity and Help they could shew him the Opposites began to vote them out of Doors and would not admit them in the Right of Peers in this Cause because it was upon Life and Blood Lincoln maintains that the Lords did them Injury and that Bishops in England may and ought to vote in causâ sanguinis That they were never inhibited by the Law of this Land never by the Peers of the Land before this time That their voluntary forbearance in some Centuries of the Ages before proceeded from their Fears of the Canons of the Court of Rome and by the special Leave of the King and both Houses who were graciously pleased to allow of their Protestations for their Indemnity as Church-men when the King and Parliament might have rejected their Protestations if they had pleas'd And much he insisted upon it that the opponent Lords grounded their Judgment upon the corrupt Canons of the Church of Rome Indeed I find in my own Papers that the Monks of Canterbury complain'd against Hubert their Archbishop to the Pope for sitting upon Tryals of Life and Blood They could not complain that he went against the Laws and Customs of England but their Appeal was to the Pope's Justice and it was more tolerable for Monks to rake in the Rubbish of the Roman Courts than for English Barons And say in sooth must not Divines of the Reformed Church meddle in Cause of Blood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Amph. Would they be laugh'd at for this Hypocrisie or abhorr'd For who more forward to thrust into the Troops of the late War than the Ministers whom they countenanc'd Have I not seen them prance about the Streets in London with Pistols in their Holsters and Swords by their sides And so for Edg-hill and Newberry c. Could they rush into so many Fights and be clear from cause of Blood Nay the Pontisical part make but a Mockery of this Canon for anno 1633 a Book was printed in Paris sill'd with a Catalogue of Cardinals Bishops and Priests who had been brave Warriours most of them Leaders in the Field the Author a Sycophant aimed to please Cardinal Richlieu and a Fig for the Canons Reason Canons Parliamentary Privileges nay Religion are to corrupt men as they like them for their own ends Now hear how this Bishop did wage his Arguments for the affirmative 146. It is to be held for a good Cause against which nothing of moment can be alledg'd such is this concerning the Right of Bishops to vote in causâ sanguinis First It is not prohibitum quia malum not any way evil in it self no more than it is an evil thing in it self to do Justice Secondly It was in use from the Law of Nature when the eldest of the Family was King Priest and Prophet Thirdly It was in use under Moses's Law and so continued in the Priests and Levites down to Annas and Caiaphas and after Christ's death till the Temple was destroyed as appears by the scourging of the Apostles by the stoning of Stephen and commanding St. Paul to be smitten on the Mouth Fourthly It was in use in the persons of the Apostles themselves as in that Judgment given upon Ananias and Saphira in the delivery up to Satan as most of the ancient Fathers expound that Censure to be a corporal Vexation And generally in all the Word of God there is no one Text that literally inhibits Church-men more than Lay-men to use this kind of Judicature For that Precept to be no striker 1 Tim. 3.3 is no more to be appropriated to a Bishop distinct from the rest of Christian men than that which is added not to be given to Wine that is immoderately taken Proceed we
Lay-Lords and consequently continued present in Judicature in the eye and construction of the Law Therefore I apply my Answers to Courtney's Protestation principally which are divers and fit to be weighed and ponder'd First I do observe that Bishops did never protest or withdraw in Causes of Blood but only under the unsteddy Reign of Richard the Second Never before nor after the time of that unfortunate King to this present Parliament for ought appears in Record or History And that one Swallow should make us such a Spring and one Omission should create a Law or Custom against so many Actions of the English Prelates under so many Kings before so many Kings and Queens after that young Prince seems to me a strange Doctrine especially when I consider that by the Rules of the Civil and Common Law a Protestation dies with the death of him that makes it or is regularly vacated and disannulled Per contrarium actum subsequentem protestationem by any one subsequent act varying from the tenour of the said Protestation Regul Juris Bap. Nicol. part 2. Now that you may know how the Prelates carried themselves in this point and actually voted in Causes of Treason and sometimes to Blood before Richard the Second I refer me to what I cited before out of Mr. Selden and he out of Stephanides concerning Becket condemned by his Peers Ecclesiastical and Temporal 15 H. 2. Archbishop Stratford acquitted of High Treason in Parliament by four Prelates four Earls and four Barons under Edward the Third Antiq. Britan. p. 223. There was 4 Ed. 3. Roger de Mortimer Berisford Travers and others adjudged Traitors by Bishops as well as other Peers 16 Ed. 3. Thomas de Berkely was acquitted of Treason in pleno Parliamento And especially I refer my self to Roll 21 Rich. 2. Num. 10. which averrs That Judgments and Ordinances in the time of that King's Progenitors had been avoided by the absence of the Clergy which makes the Commons there to pray that the Prelates would make a Procurator by whom they might in all Judgments of Blood be at the least legally if they durst not be bodily present in such Judicatures And for the practice since the Reign of Rich. II. be it observed that in the fifth of Hen IV. the Commons thank the Lords Spiritual and Temporal for their good and rightful Judgment in freeing the Earl of Northumberland from Treason 3 Hen. 5. The Commons pray a Confirmation of the Judgment given upon the E. of Cambridge by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal 5 H. 5. Sir J. Oldcastle is attainted of Treason and Heresie by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal 28 H. 6. The Duke of Suffolk is charged with Treason before the Lords Spiritual and Temporal 31 H. 6. The Earl of Devon in like sort and so down to the Earl of Bristol's Case 22 Maii 1626. ten Bishops are joyned with ten Earls and ten Barons in the disquisition and agitation of that supposed Treason I leave it therefore to any indifferent Judgment Whether these Protestations made all under one Kings Reign dying with the Parties that made them can void a Right and Custom grounded on a continual Practice to the contrary in all other Tryals that have been since the Conquest to this present Parliament 151. Secondly It is fitting we know the nature of a Protestation which some may mistake Protestatio est animi nostri declaratio juris acquirendi vel conservandi vel damnum depellendi causâ facta saith Spiegle Calvin and all the Civilians No Protestation is made by any man in his Wits to destroy his own Right and much less another mans but to acquire or preserve some Right or to avoid and put off some Wrong that was like to happen to the Party or Parties that make the Protestation As here in Courtney's Protestation the Prelates in the first place conceive a Right and Power they had voluntarily to absent themselves while some matters were treated of at that time in the House of Lords which by the Canon-Law the Breach whereof the Popes of Rome did vindicate in those times with far more Severity than they did the Transgressions of the Law of God they were not suffer'd to be present at not for want of Right to be there in all Causes but for fear of Papal Censures In the next place they did preserve their former Right as Peers which they still had though voluntarily absenting themselves More solito interessendi considerandi tyactandi ordinandi definiendi all things without exception acted and executed in that Parliament And in the last place they protest against any loss of right of being or voting in Parliament that could befall them for this voluntary absenting of themselves at this time And where in all this Protestation is there one word to prejudice their Successors or to authorize any Peer to command his fellow-Peer called thither by the same Writ of Summons that himself is and by more ancient Prescription to withdraw and go out from this Common-Council of the Kingdom Thirdly We do not certainly know what these matters were whereat Archbishop Courtney conceived the Prelates neither could nor ought to be present These matters are left in loose and general words in that Protestation Some conceive indeed it was at the Condemnation of Tressilian Brambre L. Beauchamp and others Ant. Brit. p. 286. But the Notes of Privileges belonging to the Lords collected by Mr. Selden do with more reason a great deal assign this going forth of the Prelates to be occasion'd by certain Appeals of Treason preferred in that Parliament by the Duke of Gloucester against Alexander Archbishop of York whom the Popish Canons of those Times as you know exempted as a sacred person from the cognizance of King or Parliament and therefore the rest of the Bishops as the Squares went then neither could nor ought to be present and Parties to break the Exemptions Immunities and Privileges of that great Prelate But the Earl of Strafford is not the Archbishop but the President of York and to challenge any such Exemptions and Immunities at this time from the cognizance of King and Parliament amounts to little less than Treason Therefore this Protestation is very unseasonably urged to thrust out any Protestant Prelate from voting in Parliament Lastly In the Civil and Canon-Law for the Law of this Land knoweth it not a Protestation is but a Testation or witnessing before-hand of a man 's own Mind or Opinion whereby they that protest provide to save and presorve their own Right for the time to come It concludes no more bende themselves no Stranger to the Act no Successor but if it be admitted sticks as inherent in the singular and individual person until either the Party dyes or the Protestation be drawn and revoked Therefore what is a Protestation made by Will. Courtney to Will. Laud Or by Tho. Arundel to bind Tho. Morton And what one Rule in the Common-Law of the Land in the Journaâ—-Books or
by inch somewhat may be gotten out of small pieces of business nothing out of supervacaneous And Sir says he I would it were not true that I shall tell you Some of the Commons are preparing a Declaration to make the Actions of your Government odious if you gallop to Scotland they will post as fast to draw up this biting Remonstrance Stir not till you have mitigated the grand Contrivers with some Preferments But is this credible says the King Judge you of that Sir says the Bishop when a Servant of Pymm 's in whose Master 's House all this is moulded came to me to know of me in what terms I was contented to have mine own Case in Star-chamber exhibited among other Irregularities And I had much ado to keep my Name and what concerns me out of these Quotations but I obtain'd that of the fellow and a Promise to do me more Service to know all they have in contrivance with a few Sweetbreads that I gave him out of my Purse What is there in all that the Bishop said especially in the last touch that look'd not like sober Warning Yet nothing was heeded The King saw Scotland and I know not what he brought thence unless it were matter to charge the five Members of Treason who were priviledg'd from it with a Mischief His Majesty being returned to London Nov. 26. That which the Commons called The Remonstrance of the state of the Kingdom came forth by their Vote Decemb. 15. to besoil His Majesly's Reign with studied bitterness And this was a Night-work and held the Members Debate all Wednesday night and till three of the Clock in the Thursday morning Synesius spake his worst of Trypho's Tribunal Lib. de Prov. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he did not administer justice in the day-time but in the night a time more proper for thieves to go to work and for the beasts of the forrest to come out of their dens and get their prey if the loyal part had staid it out who appeared the greater number in the beginning of the question they had cast it out for a vile desamation but the one half of that part had slunk away and were gone to bed as st Peter stood to his Master stoutly till midnight but railed him by the second crowing of the Cock If these had kept the wise Rules of the Roman Senate the one part had been frustrate in all they obtained in the dead of the night and long after Says Budaeus Senatus consultum ante exortum post occasum solis nullum fait lib. 1. in Pand. p. 231. And the other part had been fined for departing away Senatori qui non aderit aut causa aut culpa esto Cic. de Leg. But their Apology is That those were no Juridical hours either for a Roman or an English Senate Birds of Day keep not time with Screetch-owls But these Libertines had leave to sit as long as they would by night or day Magna sumendo majora praesumimus Sym. Ep. p. 9. Great Concessions are the cause of greater Presumptions 156. During some part of the time that the King was in the North Miseries came trooping all at once upon the Church The Reverend Fathers every day libelled and defamed in the Press durst not come in to help The Times did make it appear what Blood was about mens Hearts They that feared to diversifie from the received Doctrine and Discipline of the Church before dreading Ecclesiastical Consistories and the High-Commission Court encreased into so many Sects almost as there were Parishes in England And as Aventine said lib. 8. Annal. of the Schoolmen newly sprung up in his days Singulae sectae judicio multarum sectarum stultitiae cowvincuntur But what were we the better when every Spark kindled another to make a general Combustion Our Case in God's House was as bad as that of the Gauls in Caesar's time lib. 6. Bel. Gal. Non solùm in omnibus civitatibus atque in omnibus pag is partibusque sed in singulis domibus factiones sunt The Parliament which saw the Body of Christ wounded look'd on and passed by on the other side Luke 10.32 as if they did but smile at the variety of Throngs and Dispositions I think they durst net pour in Wine or Oyl to heal the Wounds of Religion for that reason which Dr. Owen gives Praef. to Vind. p. 36. For by adhering to one Sect professedly they should engage all the rest against them Only Lincoln for all this universal Contempt of Episcopacy visited his great Diocess in October not by his Chancellor but in his own person Naequid expectes amicos quod tute agere possies so cited out of Ennius Trust not to your Friends when you can do your Work your self A Bishop is lazy that doth his Duty by a Proxy Pontificium significat potestatem officium says a Critick Heral in Arnob. p. 115. The Etymology of a Pontificate imports Power and Office They are both Yoke-fellows Says another Critick and a good Judge indeed Salmas in Solin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Age of Christian Emperors were Visitors that went from Church to Church like Paul and Barnabas to set things in order who long before that were Physicians that were sent from Village to Village to cure the Sick This Labour our Bishop undertook personally to heal the Maladies of Brain-sick Distempers at Boston Lester Huntington Bedford Hitchin the last Visitation that was held in either Province to this day And God grant he might not say as Synesius did of his Diocess of Ptolomais when he and all the Bishops of Aegypt were ejected by a conquering Party 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O my Ptolomais am I the last Bishop that ever thou shalt have But I hope better things Hope is the common Revenue of the Distressed they have much of that who have nothing else I go on with our Bishop who so long as he was in Place and for a while that his Words were remembred brought those Counties to a handsom state of quietness Cocus magnum abenum quando fervet paulâ confutat truâ When a Cauldron of hot Liquor boils and is ready to run over a Cook stays it by casting in a Ladle of cold Water No man could comprize his Exhortations in better Harmony than this Oratour and set several Instruments in tune one to another and the Voice to them all Eloquium tot lumina clausit Meta. l. as Mercury lull'd Argos asleep with all his Eyes for says he much to this meaning Countrymen and Neighbors whither do you wander Here are your lawful Ministers present to whom of late you do not refort I hear but to Tub-preachers in Conventicles There is a Penalty for this and no Power can protect you against the Statutes in force which are not yet repealed but you are bound in Conscience to keep those Laws which are not Fetters upon your Hands but Bracelets they are the
Service and Affairs And in that respect as well as your common interest and duty we command your suitable compliance which we assure you shall be looked upon by us as a fresh acceptable Testimony of your Affections to Us and our Cause and preserved in our Royal remembrance with the rest of your Merits against the time when it may please God to enable Us to reflect thereon for your good Thus far his Majesty to make way for the Lord Byron a gallant Person a great Wit a Scholar very Stout full of Honour and Courtesie yet favour'd the English Interest above the Welsh in those Counties which did not take And the Dye of War run so false that he lost the Cast to one who had not the Ames-Ace of Valour in him Neither did the scatter'd Forces of those distressed Parts ever set them another Stake Prince Rupert observing the Royal Directions wrote largely as followeth May 16. 1644. To all Governours and Officers to all Sheriffs Commissioners of the Array or Peace all Vice-Admirals or Captains of Ships in the three Counties WHereas I understand by his Majesty's Letters unto me lately directed that the most Reverend Father in God John Lord Archbishop of York by reason of his great Experience and Imployments in the Affairs of this Kingdom as well under my Grandfather of famous memory as under his Majesty that now is hath been intrusted in the three Counties c. from the first beginning of these Troubles and gives his best Advice in Matters of Importance which have relation to the King's Service and the Peace and safe keeping of those Counties from all Invasions by Sea or Land And that he hath discharged that Trust reposed in him faithfully and successfully during the time of his abode in those parts My will and pleasure is That according to his Majesty's intimation to me you and every one of you in all matters of importance and moment touching or concerning his Majesty's or my Service under his Majesty in those Counties as also in all Matters of Questions Doubts and Variances which may fall out either among your selves or between your selves and the several Counties wherein you govern or command shall from time to come consult and advise with the said most Reverend Father in God and follow such his Advices and Counsels in the Premisses which shall be grounded upon the Laws of the Land or the pressing Necessities of these times and agreeing with our Directions and future Instructions from time to time RUPERT Nothing was wanting of Royal and Princely care to preserve the Archbishop in Conway-Castle yet all would not serve There was none whom Envy did more strive to hold down upon all occasions which his great Deservings brought upon him So true is that of Synesius de provid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vertue doth not quench Envy but rather kindle it One violent Person unframed all good Order who would submit to no Authority a hot Man for he was ever dry and he did not conceal it for he was always drinking 198. That Affront waited more leisure to break forth and suffered him to take a long and a tedious Journey in Winter to Oxford in obedience to these Lines which he received from his Majesty Decemb. 16. 1644. CHARLES R. WE having had frequent experience of your good Affection and Ability to serve us and having occasion at this time to make use of them here We have thought fit and do by these Presents require you to repair hither to Us to Oxon with all convenient expedition Desiring you to come as throughly informed as you can of the true condition of Our Affairs c. Presently he set forward though the ways were much beset and came in January with the first to the King for he had many things to represent and was not in his Element when he was consined in private Walls He took up his Lodging with the Provost of Queens-Colledge Dr. Christopher Potter a Master in Divinity and a Doctor of Piety He was received in the Court with much Grace where he saw his stay must be short For that City could not long receive so many Nobles and Gentry as came to make a Session of Parliament neither could so many of the King 's principal Friends be spared from their Countries Being then a good Husband of his time and having private Audience with his Majesty he gave him that Counsel to which Wisdom and Allegiance led him as Thraseas Paetus the famous Senator said Suum esse non aliam quà m optimam sententiam dicere One passage is fit to see the light which had much of prudence in it and too much of prophesie He desir'd his Majesty to be informed by him and to keep it among Advices of weight That Cromwel taken into the Rebels Army by his Cousin Hambden was the most dangerous Enemy that his Majesty had For though he were at that time of mean rank and use among them yet he would climb higher I knew him says he at Bugden but never knew his Religion He was a common Spokes-man for Sectaries and maintained their part with stubbornness He never discoursed as if he were pleased with your Majesty and your great Officers indeed he loves none that are more than his Equals Your Majesty did him but Justice in repulsing a Petition put up by him against Sir Thomas Steward of the Isle of Ely but he takes them all for his Enemies that would not let him undo his best Friend and above all that live I think he is Injuriarum persequentissimus as Porcius Latro said of Catiline He talks openly that it is sit some should act more vigorously against your Forces and bring your Person into the power of the Parliament He cannot give a good word of his General the Earl of Essex because he says the Earl is but half an Enemy to your Majesty and hath done you more favour than harm His Fortunes are broken that it is impossible for him to subsist much less to be what be aspires to but by your Majesty's Bounty or by the Ruin of us all and a common Confusion as one said Lentulus salvâ Repub. salvus esse non potuit Paterc In short every Beast hath some evil properties but Cromwel hath the properties of all evil Beasts My humble motion is that either you would win him to you by the Promises of fair Treatment or catch him by some stratagem and cut him short Now if it shall be objected Who reports this saving the Archbishop himself to magnifie his own parts that he was so excellent in fore-sight and as Ajax slighted his Rival Sua narret Ulysses Quae sine teste gerit I satisfie it thus His Servants and they that daily listned to his Discourses have heard it come from him long before the accident of saddest experience how some of them would live to see when Cromwel would bear down all other Powers before him and set up himself The King received it with a
have seen a Manuscript of Arch-Bishop Abbots stating the Reason of his own Relegation to Ford in Kent the Papers were written with his own Hand to my knowledge wherein he paints the Fickleness of the great Duke to set up and pluck down with these Lines First He wanted not Suggestors to make the worst of all Mens Actions whom they could misreport Secondly He loved not that any Man should stick too long in a Place of Greatness He hit the Nail in that For this Keeper continued the longest in a great Office of any that he had lifted up and did live to use them Which proceeded not from his Grace's Constancy but from the good-liking of the old King But as Symmachus said of Polemio Lib. 2. Ep. 14. Sic amicis utitur quasi sloribus tam diu gratis quà m diu recentibus So my young Lord chang'd his Friends as Men do Flowers he lik'd a Scent no longer than it was fresh Indeed he lookt from his Vassals for more than they could do and hurried to make tryal of those that would do more Thirdly says the Arch-bishop again He stood upon such fickle Terms that he feared his own Shadow and desperately adventur'd upon many things for his own Preservation Too true for by this time he had lost the People in whose good Opinion he thought he stood for the space of Nine Months Alas he had a slight fastning in them for he never got their Love further than his Hatred to Spain procur'd it And that was spent out upon an exacter Information of his bearing at Madrid This was the Jealousie which gave the Lord-Keeper the deadly Stoccada who would not abuse his own Knowledge so far to extol my Lord for his Spanish Transactions which broke the Peace the Credit the Heart of his King and his Patron never to be requited Therefore that he was fallen in less than a Year from the abundance of a great Esteem he thought he might thank the Keeper whose down-right Honesty gave the Example More may be said but once more shall suffice the Duke had attempted with King James that which he threatned now but his Majesty that then was did not allow of it and charged them both to unite and to work friendly together for his Service But that mighty Lord waited the opportunity to root up the Tree which he had gone about to unfasten For commonly the offended Person is an Eye-fore to him that did offend him And such as have done great wrongs are afraid of those whom they have provok'd and can never after affie in them So it was among the Rules of Michael Hospitalius the best of the Chancellors of France and yet in a Pet cashiered from keeping the Great-Seal as Thuanus remembers it Anno. 1568. Principum documentum esse ut iis nunquam serio reconcilientur quos temerè offenderint This as it is related was our Duke's Temper And the Keeper understood that no Peace was to be had from an Adversary seeded with such Qualities All that he could do to help himself was not by preventing but by retarding a Mischief For though with the Stoick's Fate was inevitable Yet Servius says in 8. Lib. Aen. that his great Poet thought it might be deferr'd though not avoided Two things stuck to the Keeper like Sorrows and gave him all the unrest that he had First He wish'd that his deposing might have come from any hand but his Patrons that raised him before whom he would fall rather than wrestle with him as an Enemy Secondly He had read much to teach him and seen the Proof of it that when Princes call back their Honours more Misery ensues But as yet he stood his ground and did become his Place as well as ever 4. He never made use so much of his whole stock of Worth and Wisdom as in matter of Religion which appears before in the Mazes wherein he led the Spanish Embassador with whom he shisted so cunningly that they could obtain nothing for the Toleration of Popish Recusants but Delays and Expectations from time to time Neither could the Monsieurs squeeze any more out of him against the Ratification of the French Marriage as appears in a bare Fortnight before K. James died witness the Letter written to the Duke March 13. 1624. Cabal p. 105. If your Grace shall hear the Embassador complain of the Judges in their Charges of their receiving Indictments your Grace may answer that those Charges are but Orations of course opening all the Penal Laws And the Indictments being presented by the Country cannot be refused by the Judges But the Judges are ordered to execute nothing actually against the Recusants nor will they do it during the Negotiation And your Grace may put him in mind that the Lord-Keeper doth every day when his the Embassadors Secretary calls upon him grant forth Writs to remove all the Persons Indicted in the Country into the Kings-Bench out of the Power and Reaches of the Justices of Peace And that being there the King may and doth release them at his Pleasure In all this there is no bar against the common Course of Law but Mercy reserv'd to the Royal Pleasure Now what cause had my Lord Duke to defie him by his Secretary Cab. p. 87. That his Courses were dangerous to his Country and prejudicial to the Cause of true Religion Forsooth because he proffer'd a Gap to be opened to the Immunities of the Papists in a desperate Plunge to bring the Prince home safe out of Spain where he stuck fast for want of such a Favour to be shewn to those Complainants Which was a liberal Concession in Promise but no Date set nor observ'd for the Expedition of it And so all that Indulgence which hung in nubibus and never dropt down is frankly granted now and he is commanded by this Warrant that follows to signifie to all Officers to suspend the Laws which are grievous to the Romish Profession dated 1 Car. May the first Charles Rex RIght Reverend and Right Trusty c. Whereas we have been moved in Contemplation of our Marriage with the Lady Mary Sister of our dear Brother the most Christian King to grant unto our Subjects Roman Catholicks a Cessation of all and singular Pains and Penalties as well Corporal as Pecuniary whereunto they be subject or any way may be liable by any Laws Statutes Ordinances or any thing whatsoever for or by reason of their Recusancy or Religion and every matter or thing concerning the same Our Will and Pleasure is and we do by these presents Authorize and Require you That immediately upon the receipt hereof you do give Warrant Order and Directions as well unto all our Commissioners Judges and Justices of the Peace as unto all others our Officers and Ministers as well Spiritual as Temporal respectively to whom it may appertain that they and every of them do forbear all and all manner and cause to be sorborn all and all manner of Proceedings against our said