Spur and Incentive to all the Students of the Law that they might more easily concoct those otherwise insupportable Difficulties and Harshness of their Studies in hope one Day to attein unto those Honours wherewith all of you by his Majesties Favour and your own Merits are now to be Invested Those outward Decorums of Magnificence which set forth your Exaltation this Day are very specious and sparkle so much in the Eyes of the young Fry that swim up after you that they cannot but make very sensible Impression in their Minds to follow your Industry that they may attein to your Dignity That Gold which you give away secundum Consuetudinem regni in hoc casu implies that by your faithful Labour and Gods Providence you have attein'd to the Wealth of a fair Estate And Wisdom is good with an Inheritance Eccles 7.11 Nay I wish heartily that all wise Men had plentiful Inheritances and that the Silly and Sottish were not so fortunate in gathering Treasure For a Rich ignorant Man is but a Sheep with a Golden Fleece Then your great and sumptuous Feast is like that at a Kings Coronation At which you entertain the Ambassadors of Foreign Kings now Resident about the City and the prime Officers and Nobility of this Realm But to ascend higher King Henry the Seventh in his own Person did Grace the Sergeants Feast held then at Ely-Palace in Holborn So estimable was your Order in those Days to that Mighty Monarch I should be too long if I should speak of the Ornament of your Head your pure Linen Coif which evidences that you are Candidates of higher Honour So likewise your Librata Magna your abundance of Cloth and Liveries your Purple Habits belonging antiently to great Senators yea to Emperors all these and more are but as so many Flags and Ensigns to call up those young Students that fight in the Valleys to those Hills and Mountains of Honour which you by your Merits have now atchieved Neque enim virtutem amplectimur ipsam Praemia si tollas 124. Gentlemen I have told you from the Explanation of your Title what you are by Denomination You must be dutiful and respect my Lords the Judges because you are but Servientes Servants And you must be Reverenced by all of your Robe but the Judges because you are Servientes ad Legem Journey-Men of the Law whereas the rest though call'd to the Bar are no more than Discipuli in Justinian's Phrase or as your own Books term Apprenticii mere Apprentices You serve in that Law which is of excellent Composure for the Relief of them that seek Redress in this Nation through all Cases And of rare Privilege it is above the Tryals of all other Kingdoms and States for the Tryal of those that are under Criminal Attainder by a Jury of their own Peers Which I find as one to have used in antient Polities but Cato major in his own Family Supplicium de Servo non sumsit nisi postquam damnatus est conservorum judicio He punish'd none of his Bondmen unless they were cast by the Verdict of their fellow Bondmen To be elected the prime Servants of our most wise and most equal Laws supposeth in you great Reading great Reason great Experience which deservedly casts Honour upon your Persons Emulous I may say Envious Censurers speak scornfully of your Learning and Knowledge that it is gainful to your at Home in your own Country but of no use or value abroad For what is a Sergeant or Counsellor of these Laws if he get Dover Cliffs at his back So I remember Tully in his Oration pro Murenâ being more angry than he had cause with Sâ—lpitius who was Vir juris consultissimus disdains his Skill with this Taunt Sapiens existimari nemo potest in eâ prudentiâ quae extra Romam nequicquam valet That was a wise Art indeed which was wise no further than the Praetors Courts in Râ—e Let Sulpitius answer for himself But in your behalf I have this to answer That beside your Judicious Insight into the Responsa Prudintum and the laudable Customs of this Kingdom which are proper with our Statute-Laws to our own People I say beside these the Marrow of the whole Wisdom of the Caesarcan Transmarine Law is digested into our Common and Statute-Laws as wiâ— easily appear to him that examines the Book of Entries or Original Writs Which makes you sufficient to know the Substance and Pith of the Civil Law in all Courts through Europe So that you would be to seek in their Text not in their Reason and in their Traverses and Formalities of Pleadings which are no prejudice to the Worthiness of your Function Now I have told you as a judge that you are Servants but Honourable Servants of the Law before I conâ— let me admonish you as a Bishop that you are in your highest Title the Servants of God Therefore keep a good Conscience in all things Serve that holy Law which bids you Not to pervert the Right and Cause of the Innocâ— I know it is very hard to discern the Right from the Wrong in many Suits till they come to be throughly sisted and examin'd So truly did Quimilian say Lib. 2. Cap. 8. Potest accidere ut ex utráque parte vir bonus dicat An honest Man in many Pleaâ— may be entertain'd on either side Therefore it is no discredit to your Profession that as the Aetolians in Greece of old and the Suitzers in the Cantâ—ns at this Day are often Auxiliaries of both sides in a pitcht Battail so you should be Feed to try your Skill either for Plaintiff or Defendant But when you discern a Clients Cause is rotten then to imploy your Cunning to give it Victory against Justice is intolerable The more vulgar that Iniquity is the more it is odious As Pliny said Lib. 8. Episto ad Russiuum Decipere pro meribus temporum prudentia est It was the great Blindness and Corruption of the Times when Cheating past for Wisdom He that labours by Witty Distortions to overthrow the Truth he serves Lucre and not God he serves Mammon and not the Law You know you cannot serve those two Masters for they are utterly opposite But to conclude three Masters you may nay you ought to serve which are subordinate Serve God Serve the King Serve the Law Ite alacres tantaeque precor confidite Causae I have ended The Fear of God go with you and his Blessing be upon you 125. All things upon this Festival Day of the new Sergeants were answerable to this Eloquent Speech Yet every Day look'd clowdy and the People were generally indisposed to Gawdy Solemnities because the Prince was in a far Country Others may undertake to write a just History of that Journey into Spain and a just History gives Eternity to Knowledge I fall upon no more than came under the dispatch of one Person upon whom I insist Yet some Passages upon the whole Matter will require their
man Whereupon Secretary Windebank commands the Clerk of the Court by a Letter under the Signet to stay the Commission so order'd and to appoint another Examiner whom Kilvert did nominate Thirdly The same Secretary directed one Peachy a Messenger of the Chamber start not at it Reader for 't is true to attend Kilvert in his Coat of Arms all along with the Commission to apprehend and close imprison such as Kilvert should appoint pretending Matters of State and of deep consequence against them And Peachy did apprehend and close imprison in the face of the Commission Philip Pregion George Walker and Thomas Lund Witnesses for the Bishop and chased away most of the rest that durst not be seen for fear Those three Prisoners were brought to London to the Secretary who told them he had nothing against them but bade them give Satisfaction to Kilvert who could get no Liberty by his Masterships Leave till they had confessed Crimes against the Bishop and themselves which afterward they revok'd upon Oath Nor would he permit George Walker's Wife to see her Husband close kept by the Messenger but for a base Courtesie not to be named Is not the Wand of Mercury like to charm Witnesses to say and swear what they would have them when such Snakes as Kilvert and Peachy are twined about it If all this be not true though incomparably vile Aut Thetidi aut Veneris largire marito either wash the Book away or throw it into the Fire I meet with a mighty Concussion of Justice in Sidon Apol. lib. 5. c. 7. yet nothing so bad as this yet take it because it is the nearest to it upon Record Deputant arbitros judicanda dictant dictata convellunt attrahunt litigaturos protrahunt audiendos The French Mercury hath related strange Presidents from the Parliament of Grenoble let him match this if he can But the Bishop coming home from his Progress with Kilvert and the Examiner having sped his Commission in all haste Publication must be granted and the Bishop is served for a Hearing so he came prepared with excellent Counsel to defend a Cause which he feared the more because neither he nor his Counsel could see in a matter so violently pursued any thing to be feared But the King's Counsel having perused the Books spied more than Kilvert could see and found that the imaginary false News and blazing the King's Counsels were the damnable Invention and Conspiracy of Lamb Sibthorp Allâ—n and Burden Much was urged to expunge all on the Bishop's part that laid a Combination of Villany to their charge because it did impeach the Credit of the King's Witnesses The L. F. prest it over and over which was but once and that fairly and modestly offer'd by the King's Counsel After a long Argument of five hours at the least the Court did all vote except the Archbishop and the L. F. that the Defence should remain undispunged for else an unavoidable Mischief would follow to all the King's Subjects that being accused by two desperate Witnesses they were remediless in that high Court if they may not be called in question by the Defendant for their Acts and Honesties The L. Coventry having gathered the Votes of the Court and being ready to pronounce the Order so much conducing to the good of all men the L. Finch desired their Lordships to take notice that his Opinion continued contrary to them all Quibusdam evenit ut quaedam scire se nesciant Sen. Ep. 7. Nay such Spleen was conceived at this just Order that though the L. Keeper had pronounced it the Register had drawn it up a Copy of it given to the Defendant yet so precious a Rule for the common Safety of all honest men durst never be enter'd into the Book to this day Yet this Order though smother'd and buried made an end of this first Cause for the Combination of the four Contrivers was not held meet to come abroad into pleading who would have fallen to pieces with a little shaking that thought to lay the dead Child in the Bishop's Bosom while he slept but their Patron had a care to keep them from Scandal and that they knew As Hegesippus says of Mariamne the Wife of Herod the Great Secura quod nihil ab eo exitii perpeti possit qui supra modum dilexit So these were the bolder to come off untouch'd under the shelter of that Favour that did never forsake them 116. Of a sudden by the perswasion of some noble Lords the King began to grow milder to the Bishop Et reserata viget vegetabilis aura Favoni Lucret. His Majesty hearkened to some Conditions to have all Bills against the Bishop cast out and to let him purchase his Peace with his Purse Some would disswade Lincoln from it because to buy a Pardon was to confess a Guiltiness A Nicety says Xenophon that cost Socrates his Life Apol. pro. Socr. who would pay no Fine to the Court of Athens nor suffer any to be paid in his Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He said To be acquit with a Ransom was to confess a Crime The like was told me by the Lady Eliz. Hotton That the Lord Cook was offered his Place in the Kings-bench from which he had been removed if he would bind himself in again with a Golden Chain But he stood upon a Rule made by his own Wisdom That a Judge must not take a Bribe nor pay a Bribe Our Bishop's Resolution stuck not in those Briers who saw that this Offer proceeded out of the streights of his Occasions Though no Evil were found in him yet if the King's Power contest who can stand upright And if Malice will take no satisfaction but Ruin the most innocent must fall The L. Keeper a good man was over-balanc'd the Star-chamber was become like the Tribunal of L. Cassius Scopulus reorum Tacit. Annal. l. 13. a Rock that split all Causes that lately came into it in pieces The Archbishop thought not himself absolute till this man was unprelated and cared not what he cast at him so he might hit him home As Grotius accuseth the Spaniards that they are so set upon Revenge Ut in hostem nihil turpe sit nihil illicitum An. Belg. p. 5. He feared the L. F. as much as any who in his private Chambers slasht and cut out from his Defences that which was most material to his Safety Et stylus non minùs agit cum delet says Quintilian He that puts out the Marrow of Defence is worse than he that puts in the Venom of an Accusation The Secretary was prepared for any Execution yet the Bishop gives him this Praise in his Notes That he was a modest and a virtuous Gentleman but in this Cause set on by his Maker Therefore the Bishop is content to satisfie the King's Demands that is to pitch and pay The first Condition brought to him by the L. Cottington was to part with 4000 l. with his Deanry and two inconsiderable
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
April ensuing and pleasantly bad him expect the Labourers peny as soon as they that had serv'd him longer But the Bishop of Winchester made a proposition before his Majesty for another employment and both could not consist together that whereas the Arch-Bishop of Spalato a Proselyte much welcom'd at that time was design'd to be present at Cambridge commencement in the next July that he might behold the University in the fairest Trim and hear the disputation the best being ever provided for that appearance that Mr. Williams might be reserv'd unto that time for a double Service to answer publickly in Divinity for the Degree of Doctor the fittest to be the Days-man before that Learned Prelate and likewise give him Hospitality such as a great Guest deserv'd so it was order'd and so it was perform'd Some men are right Learned yet with all that worth steal out of the World unknown because it was their ill hap never to be brought upon a Theatre of manifestation And some are as Valiant as the best and yet are never praised for it because they were never invited into the Field to shew it So Velleius speaks for Seianus that he never Triumph'd nou merito sed materiâ adipiscendi triumphalia defectus est he deserv'd it but the matter of a Triumph never fell in his way There are others whom not only deliberate Advice but every casualty and contingence puts forward to be Aspectabiles it conducts them likely where they may best be viewed and their full Stature seen upon the advantage of a Rising I fall into this contemplation because an Object is before me wherein I may aptly Exemplify Dr. Williams his Title for which he stood in the Act an 1617. cull'd not out gaudy Seasons for vain Glory that cannot be suspected because he took all his Academical degrees in their just year But he above that disposeth all things provided those Co-incidencies of great Resort and Celebrity such as Arch-Bishop Spalato's Presence at this Commencement to make his Worthiness be known the further The Theses which he defended in the Vespers and were imposed upon him by the over-ruling Power of the Vice-Chancellor and Heads of the Consistory it is their Right and Custom were these 1. Supremus Magistratus nou est Excommunicabilis 2. Subductio calicis est mutilatio Sacramenti Sacerdotii It was well for the Doctor that he was a right Stag well breath'd and had a fair Head with all his Rights for I never heard a Respondent better hunted in all my time that I was a Commorant in Cambridge The Opponents were the Princes of their Tribes Men of Renown in their Generation Dr. Richardson the first Dr. Branthwait Dr. Ward Dr. Collins Dr. Alabaster Dr. Goad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who did Honour the University that day to the admiration of Mr. Antonie de Dominis with the utmost of their Learning Every Argument they pressed was a Ramm to throw down the Bulwarks of the Cause and yet it totter'd not neither did the Answerer give ground Such a Disputation was worthy to be heard which was carried with equal Praise of the Assailants and Defendants As Plutarch lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says of Moral Precepts that they require a good Speaker and a good Hearer with mutual Diligence as a Game at Tennis is well play'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When the Stroke is serv'd well and the Service taken well 39. That I may mix some Profit to the Reader in this Relation I will let him know upon what Rules and Reasons the Respondent proceeded in the first Cause for the Conviction of all Gainsayers both of the Pontifician part and of the heady Consistories of some Reformed Churches The Pontifician Rubbish he removed away as a Dunghil of unsavoury Filth fit to be cast out of the Lord's Vine-yard either because the Popes medled so far beyond their own Bounds attempting to send out Effulminations against Christian Kings in all Countries upon Arrogation of an Universal bishoprick which hath the Plenitude of all Jurisdiction in it self alone to which they have exalted themselves without Christ's Warrant and Seal or because by the Declaratory Sentence of their Excommunications they inflict the highest Temporal Indignities upon Kings that can be imagin'd As inhibiting their Courts of Justice to proceed any further till he that sits in the Throne shall receive Absolution from their Grace Absolving their Subjects from obligation of all Service and Fidelity Deposing them from their Government and exposing their Lives to Assassinate For though they do not say that such Effects should necessarily go along with Excommunication yet they maintain That if the Pope see cause such Tragical Punishments may be annex'd unto it Far wide from the Truth For it is evident that an Excommunicated Person can be deprived of nothing by the Church but that which is enjoyed through the Ministry of the Church and its Priviledges but how can he be dispossess'd of that which he holds by Civil and Natural Right which are not dependant upon Spiritual Relations And as it is expedient to chip away these hard Crusts of Error so neither is the Crum to be digested which likes the Palates of some who are devoted to the Presbyterian Discipline A King is not obnoxious to be interdicted or deprived of the Sacraments by their Aldermen who can shew no more for the Proof of such Officers with whom they Organize a Church then the Pope can for his unlimited Jurisdiction Nor is it to be suffered that they should deny a Christian King to be a Church-Officer properly and by right of his Crown over Christian Subjects as Christians whose Causes can never be separated by their Metaphysical Abstractions before distinct supreme Rulers that are co-ordinate but that there will be endless Jarrs in their several Entrenchments and God is not the God of Confusion Should he that is next under God in all Causes be subject to the Courts of his Liege-People and Homagers He is their common Parent and the only Mandat how to bear our selves to our Father is to Honour him But what can make him more vile before the People then to thrust him out of the Communion of Saints Moreover the greater Excommunication includes in it the Horror of Anathematizing or a Curse but Curse not the King no not in thy thought Eccles 10.20 Neither would God give a constant Power to any which were in vain and could not sting Vanum est quod fine suo destuuitur But it is vain to interdict a King over whom there is no external Power appointed to bring him into order by Violence and Coercion if he will not be Interdicted In every Policy there must be a Supreme that can be Judged of none for else the Process between Party and Party would be Circular or rather Infinite These Aphorisms and abundance more flowed from the Doctor Respondent in the warmth of Disputation Above all his Answer was highly applauded which he gave to Dr.
For confirmation of it I will anticipate how he was breath'd till he was almost out of breath with a violent but short Sickness upon the end of the first Term that he appeared in Chancery It was the Term of Michaelmas and in the November of it the Parliament sate again in which he attended in the Office of Speaker in the Lords House With these concur'd a spiny and difficult Treaty between our Merchants and the Agents of the United-Provinces for the most savage Insolencies committed at Amboyna a Treaty wherein he was the Chief Commissioner and the sharpest against those Thieves and Murderers Which Treaty took up three Afternoons constantly in every week while it continued to hear that Cause In the Court of Chancery beside the ordinary Work several Causes and of a reaching number were referred in the preceding Session of Parliament to the succeeding Lord Keeper to review the Orders of the Predecessor displaced Into this vast Sea of Business he launch'd forth all at once Hereupon my self and half an hundred more have seen his Industry that he was compel'd to sit by Candle-light in the Court two hours before day and there to remain till between eight and nine that the Prince being come to the Lords House sent for him to take his Place there to Propound and Report the Questions of that Honourable House till past twelve every day not seldom till past one After a short Repast at home he returned to hear the Causes in Chancery which he could not dispatch in the morning Or if he did attend at Council in Whitehall he came back toward evening and followed his Employment in Chancery till eight at night and later Then on the neck of this when he came home he perused such Papers as were brought to him by his Secretaries And after that though far in the night prepared himself for so much as concerned him to have in readiness for the Lords House in the morning In this overwhelming hurry of Troubles of such divers sorts and compositions what time come could he borrow for necessary Refreshment or the Repose of his wearied Body night or day And as the good King pick'd him out for this Task because He foresaw that none would outdo him in Diligence so He prefer'd him to be Great in Place because He knew he was great in Courage The Supporters on the Steps of Salomon's Throne were not Sheep but Lions The way to be Just is to be Inflexible the way to be Inflexible is to be Stout casting all thoughts of Fears and Favours under feet No man by natural complexion could be better engrained for it I will take it up from one that had no mind to say the best of him Mr. Art Wil. p. 196. He was of a comely and stately Presence and that animated with a great Mind made him appear very proud to the vulgar Eye Quaedam videntur non sunt So far was his Heart from Pride that he never thought himself the finer for the Trappings of Fortune Yet so far from baseness that he knew the Bench he sate upon and would not be made despicable in the Eyes of the World much less be brought about to serve great Men's turns and stretch the Causes of the Court according to the Contents of their Letters and Messages which were no better in a rude Phrase then to be a Pandar to their Lust to let them deflower Justice Therefore in the same Leaf says Ar. Wil. again The height of his Spirit made him odious to them that raised him happily because they could not attain to those Ends by him which they required of him The height of his Spirit made him speak freely and counsel faithfully and decree justly though that Lord to whom he had espoused his greatest Devotion were concerned in the Opposition Which was rectitude and magnitude of Mind as Tully in his Brutus makes Atticus decipher Caesar Splendidam miniméque veteratoriam dicendi rationem tenet voce motu formâ etiam magnifieâ generosâ quodammodò His Person his Gesture his Eloquence were magnificent and generous whose wont it was to reduce his chief Friends to Reason not craftily and timidly but with a noble and sublime Sincerity 65. Among the Qualities of a good Judge there is one remaining and fit to bring up the Rear which the King look'd upon as verily to be presaged in his new Officer an Hand clean from corruption and taking Gifts which blind the Eyes of the Wise and pervert the Words of the Righteous Deut. 16.19 'T was loudly exclaimed and the King was ashamed to have so far mistaken the Persons that there were sucking Horse-Leeches in great places Things not to be valued at Money were saleable and what could not Gold procure As Meander writes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is Friends and Judges and Witnesses you may have them for a Price nay such as sit in the place of God will serve you for such Wages The wise King having little prevailed by Monitions and Menaces against this fordid Filthiness cast his Liking upon a Man whom He might least suspect for Gripleness and Bribery The likeliest indeed of all others to shake this Viper from his hand and to be armed with a Breast-plate of Integrity against the Mammon of Iniquity for he was far more ready to give then to take to oblige then to be beholding Magis illud laborare ut illi quamplurimi debeant as Salust of Jugurtha He was well descended of a fortunate and ancient Lineage and had made his progress to Advancements by Steps of Credit a good Bridle against base Deviations What then made an an unsavoury Historian call him Country Pedant A Reproach with which H. L. doth flirt at him in his History of King Charles a scornful Untruth So I shake off this Bar and return to the Reverend Dean who was in a Function of Holy Calling next to God Among them I know all have not been incorrupt the Sons of Samuel turned aside after Lucre and took Bribes and perverted Judgment 1 Sam. 8.3 But commonly I trust they do not forget what a Scandal it is if God's Stewards turn the Devils Rent-Gatherers He was also unmarried and so unconcerned in the natural Impulsion of Avarice to provide for Wife and Children Our old moral Men touched often upon this String that Justice is a Virgin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Hesiod and therefore fit to be committed to the trust of a Virgin Magistrate He was never fullied with Suspicion that he loved Presents no not so much as Gratuidad di Guantes as the Spaniards Phrase is but to go higher they are living that know what Sums of Value have been brought to his Secretaries such as might have swayed a man that was not Impregnable and with how much Solicitousness they have been requested to throw them at his Feet for Favours already received which no man durst undertake as knowing assuredly it would displace the Broker and be his Ruine And
which he had in a Monastery called Becc in Normandy and that Hospitality kept him when he fled out of England and all the Revenues of his Mitre failed him Stephen Gardner Bishop of Winton and Lord-Chancellor held the Mastership of Trinity-hall to his dying-Dying-day and though he gave forty better Preferments to others he would never leave his Interest in it and did not conceal the Cause but said often If all his Palaces were blown down by Iniquity he would creep honestly into that Shell They that will not be wise by these Examples Ia Teâ— I will send them to School to a Fable in Plautus Cogitato mus pusillus quà m sit sapiens bestia AEtatem qui uni cubili nunquam committit suam Qui si unum ostium obsideatur aliud perfagium quaerit So in the upshot he said Walgrave was but a Mouse-hole yet it would be a pretty Fortification to Entertain him if he had no other Home to resort to He was not the only Prophet of that which is fallen out in these dismal Days many such Divinations flash'd from others who saw the Hills of the Robbers afar off who have now devoured the Heritage of Jacob and say they are not Guilty and they that have sold us and bought us say Blessed be the Lord for we are rich Zech. 11.5 74. Whom I leave to a Day of Account having an Account to give my self how Prosperous the Lord-Keeper was in the King's Affections at this time to whom His Majesty measured out his accumulated Gifts not by the Bushel or by the Coome but by the Barn-full It was much he had compacted his own Portion to such advantage but it was not all for being warm in Favour he got the Royal Grant for the Advancement of four more who are worthy to be named He spake and sped for Dr. Davenant to be made Bishop of Salisbury who had plowed that I may allude to Elisha 1 King 19.19 with twelve yoke of Oxen and was now with the twelfth when this Mantle was cast upon him Twelve years he had been Public Reader in Divinity in Cambridge and had adorn'd the Place with much Learning as no Professor in Europe did better deserve to receive the Labourer's Peny at the twelfth Hour of the Day Beside what a Pillar he was in the Synod of Dort is to be read in the Judgment of the Britain Divines inserted among the public Acts his Part being the best in that Work and that Work being far the best in the Compilements of that Synod The Bishopric of Exon being also then void it came into the Lord-Keeper's head to gratifie a brace of worthy Divines if he could attain it his old Friends who had been both bred in the House of Wisdom with the Lord-Chancellor Egerton Dr. Carew who had been his Chaplain a man of great Reason and polish'd Eloquence and Dr. Dunn who had been his Secretary a Laureat Wit neither was it possible that a vulgar Soul should dwell in such promising Features The Success was quickly decided for these two prevailed by the Lord-Keeper's Commendation against all Pretenders the Bishopric of Exeter was conferred upon Dr. Carew and Dr. Dunn succeeded him in his Deanery of St. Paul's The See of St. David's did then want a Bishop but not Competitors The Principal was Dr. Laud a Learned Man and a Lover of Learning He had fasten'd on the Lord Marquess to be his Mediator whom he had made sure by great Observances But the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury had so opposed him and represented him with suspicion in my judgment improbably grounded of Unsoundness in Religion that the Lord Marquess was at a stand and could not get the Royal Assent to that Promotion His Lordship as his Intimates know was not wont to let a Suit fall which he had undertaken in this he was the stiffer because the Arch-Bishop's Contest in the King's Presence was sour and supercilious Therefore he resolved to play his Game in another hand and conjures the Lord-Keeper to commend Dr. Laud strenuously and importunately to the King 's good Opinion to fear no Offence neither to desist for a little Storm Accordingly he watch'd when the King's Assections were most still and pacisicous and besought His Majesty to think considerately of his Chaplain the Doctor who had deserved well when he was a young Man in his Zeal against the Millenary Petition And for his incorruption in Religion let his Sermons plead for him in the Royal Hearing of which no Man could judge better then so great a Scholar as His Majesty 75. Well says the King I perceive whose Attorney you are Stenny hath set you on You have pleaded the Man a good Protestant and I believe it Neither did that stick in my Breast when I stopt his Promotion But was there not a certain Lady that forsook her Husband and married a Lord that was her Paramour Who knit that Knot Shall I make a man a Prelate one of the Angels of my Church who hath a flagrant Crime upon him Sir says the Lord-Keeper very boldly you are a good Master but who dare serve you if you will not pardon one Fault though of a scandalous Size to him that is heartily Penitent for it I pawn my Faith to you that he is heartily Penitent and there is no other Blot that hath fullied his good Name Vellcius said enough to justifie Murena that had committed but one Fault Sine hòc facinore potuit videri probus You press well says the King and I hear you with patience neither will I revive a Trespass any more which Repentance hath mortified and buried And because I see I shall not be rid of you unless I tell you my unpublish'd Cogitations the plain Truth is that I keep Laud back from all Place of Rule and Authority because I find he hath a restless Spirit and cannot see when Matters are well but loves to toss and change and to bring Things to a pitch of Reformation stoating in his own Brain which may endanger the steadfastness of that which is in a good pass God be praised I speak not at random he hath made himself known to me to be such a one For when three years since I had obtained of the Assembly of Perth to consent to Five Articles of Order and Decency in correspondence with this Church of England I gave them Promise by Attestation of Faith made that I would try their Obedience no further anent Ecclesiastic Affairs nor put them cut of their own way which Custom had made pleasing unto them with any new Encroachments Spotswood p. 543. Marquess Hamilton the King's Commissioner in the last Parliament that ever he kept in Scotland having Ratified the Five Articles of Perth by Aâ—â— of Parliament assured the People that His Majesty in his days should not press any more Change on Alterations in matters of that kind without their Consent Yet this man hâ—th pressed me to invite them to a nearer conjunction with the
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
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
Employment by and from your excellent Majesty First your Majesty knoweth I was threatned before your Majesty to be complained of in Parliament on the third Day of your Reign And though your Majesty most graciously promis'd to do me Justice therein Yet was I left under that Minacy and the Minacer for ought I know left to his course against me 2. My Lord-Duke confest he knew the Complaints and Complainants and gave me leave to suspect his Grace which indeed I had cause to do if within three days and three days he should not acquaint me with the Names of the Parties Which I desir'd to know not to expostulate but to watch and provide to defend my innocency His Grace failed me in his promise herein I employed Sir Charles Glemham and Mr. Sackvile Crowe to press him for an Answer which was such as they durst not in modesty return unto me 3. Sir Francis Seymore a Knight whom I know not by sight told many of that House who imparted it unto me that upon his first coming to Oxford he was dealt with by a Creature of my Lord-Dukes whom I can name to set upon the Lord-Keeper and they should be backed by the greatest Men in the Kingdom Who gave this Answer That he found nothing against the Lord-Keeper but the Malice of those great Men. 4. Sir John Eliot the only Member that began to thrust in a Complaint against me the Lord-Viscount Saye who took upon him to name Sir Thomas Crew to succeed in my Place Sir William Stroud and Sir Nathanael Rich whom my Friends most noted to malice me were never out of my Lord-Duke's Chamber and Bosom 5. Noble-men of good Place and near your Majesty gave me often intelligence that his Grace's Agents stirred all their Powers to set the Commons upon me 6. I told the Lord-Duke in my Garden that having been much reprehended by your Majesty and his Grace in the Earl of Middlesex's Tryal for thanking the last King at Greenwich for promising to protect his Servants and great Officers against the People and Parliament I durst not be so active and stirring by my Friends in that House as otherwise I should be unless your Majesty by his Grace's means would be pleas'd to encourage me with your Royal Promise to defend and protect me in your Service If I might hear your Majesty say so much I would venture then my Credit and my Life to manage what should be entrusted to me to the uttermost After which he never brought me to your Majesty nor any Message from you Standing therefore upon these doubtful terms unemploy'd in the Duties of my Place which were now assign'd over to my Lord Conway and Sir J. Cooke and left out of all Committees among the Lords of the Council which I know was never done by the direction of your Majesty who ever conceiv'd of me far above my Merit and consequently fallen much in the Power and Reputation due to my place I durst not at this time with any Safety busie my self in the House of Commons with any other than that measure of Zeal which was exprest by the rest of the Lords of the Privy-Council Gracious and dread Sovereign if this be not enough to clear me let me perish 19. The King was a Judge of Reason and of Righteousness and found so much in that Paper that he dismist him that presented it graciously for that time his Destiny being removed two Months further off though it was strongly urg'd not to delay it for a day But in St. Cyprian's words Nemo diu tutus est periculo proximus About a Fortnight after at Holdbery in New-forrest the Duke unfast'ned him utterly from the good Opinion of his Majesty and at Plimouth in the midst of September obtain'd an irrevocable Sentence to deprive him of his Office If the Queen could have stopt this Anger he had not been remov'd with whom he had no little Favour by the Credit he had got with the chief Servants of her Nation and by a Speech which took her Majesty very much which he made unto her in May upon her coming to White-hall and in such French as he had studied when he presented his Brethren the Bishops and their Homage to her Majesty His Friends of that Nation shew'd themselves so far that Pere Berule the Queen's Confessor and not long after a Cardinal was the first that advertis'd him how my Lord-Duke had lifted him out of his Seat 'T is custom to Toll a little before a Passing-bell ring out and that shall be done in a Moral strode as Chaucer calls it Such as would know the true Impulsion unto this Change shall err if they draw it from any thing but the Spanish Negotiation Not as if the Lord-Keeper had done any one much less many ill Services to the Duke as one mistakes For I take the Observator to be so just that he would have done as much himself if he had been in place King James was sick'till that Marriage was consummated and died because he committed it to the Skill of an Emperick The Keeper serv'd the King's directions rather than the cross ways of the Duke which was never forgiven Though the late Parliament had wrought wonders to the King 's Content as it gave him none this innocent Person had receiv'd the Blow which was aimed at him before the Parliament sat He bestirr'd him in the former King's Reign to check the encroaching of the Commons about impeaching the great Peers and Officers of the Realm which the Duke fomented in the Earl of Middlesex's Case Since that House began to be filled with some that were like the turbulent Athenians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Meursius Ath. Attic. p. 79. It grieved him at the Heart that more time was spent by far to pluck up an honest Magistrate than to plant good Laws There was no Sin I think that he hated more than that Epidemick violence which he saw was come about that the People extoll'd them most as it was once in the Days of Marius that endeavour'd to thrust down the most noble Patricians This is the right Abstract what was and what was not the Cause of this Mutation 20. There were yet other things that did concur to precipitate his Downfall First My Lord of Buckingham's honest Servants would say that he gave their Master constantly the best Counsel but that he was too robustious in pressing it Vim temperatam Dii quoque provehunt in majus Horat. lib. 3. Od. Well I do not deny it But the more stout in that Point the more true and cordial He that loses such a one that comes to prop him up who had rather offend him than not save him Navem perforat in quâ ipse navigat Cicer. pro Milone he sinks the Bark wherein himself fails The Scythians were esteemed barbarous but this is wise and civil in them as Lucian reports in his Toxaris They have no wealth but he is counted the richest Man that hath
Hall to be printed to which he hath no more Right than Sir Ro. H had to Charing-cross Thirdly My Breviate shall only tell you and no more who they were in great Place that trod this man down by oppression and false ways whose Pictures are drawn out at length in the larger Frame 'T is too much the Recreation of the common man to stick longest in that Page wherein he reads Invectives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Demosth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So engrafted it is in us to listen unto Contumelies as unto Musick But I will not feed my Guests with such Acorns It is enough for a Warning to others that God did quickly bring the day which he had called and they were made like him Lam. 1.21 Or worse that opprest the Bishop for the abuse of Fiduciary Power will never pass long unpunish'd 108. Every Effect is best known in its Cause that 's the best ground for a beginning It is apparent that much Anger was seeded and thrust out of one bitter Root The chief Counsellors of K. James and of his Cabinet that devised with their Master how to compass the Spanish Match and took no joy in the Failing pleased their old Master but lost the Prince his Son alienated from them by Buckingham after he had returned home Richmond Hamilton Belfast lived not long after Middlesex and Bristol the first blown down the other shaken by Impeachments in Parliament and both laid aside Arundel sent to the Tower and there had continued but for the clamour of the Peers in the Upper House for nothing but for marrying his eldest Son to a Daughter of the House of Lenox How then could Lincoln escape who was K. James's right hand in all Dispatches about that Treaty Nothing was unassay'd to scourge him because he knew more Secrets than any man and shewed most Stomach to defend himself Sir A. Wel. beyond his wont tells Truth in this p. 174. That his Ruine was determined not upon any known Crime but upon Circumstances and upon Examinations to pick out Faults committed in his whole life-time And the blow was given after nine years had been spent upon one matter to frame a Censure out of it Majora animalia diutiùs visceribus parentum continentur Quint. lib. II. The Whelps and Cubbs of great Beasts are long in the Womb before they be brought forth It came about anno 1628. that the Bishop had suspended Burden and Allen the one a Surrogate to Sir J. Lamb the other a Proctor in his Court both of Leicestershire for doing Injustice and being vexatious both to Clergy and Laity Ut non Compositus meliùs cum Bytho Baccius They petition'd and clamour'd to be restored but as Budaeus says proverbially of a Land-leaper that makes himself a Cripple and cries out for help Tolleeum qui non novit De Asse p. 104. Let him pity him that doth not know him So Burden and Allen were too well known to get any Favour At last Sir J. Lamb a Creature of dark Practices and Dr. Sibthorp undertook for them and propounded it to the Bishop at his Table when their Hand was with him in the Dish But when they would ingratiate them for their good Parts as Mr. Hooker said of Ithacius that there was nothing commendable in him but his Zeal against the Priscillianists so these had nothing to brag of in their Brace of Greyhounds but that they were the swiftest of their kind to chase the Puritans The Bishop told them Dr. Morrison and Mr. Pregian Register of Lincoln and Leicester being present That men of erroneous but tender Consciences would never be reduced by such as were scandalous for Bribes and Taverns and other bad haunts how that Severity against that Party was not seasonable at that time for he had lately conferred with the King and that His Majesty had condescended to give them some forbearance though not openly profess'd to get his ends out of some Members of Parliament who were leading men and more easie to be brought about by holding a gentle hand over the Ministers of their Faction Here 's the sum of all This was the King's mind And how could it be follow'd but by being revealed to some that were in Office If there be any blame in this let him that said it cry out as Philotas did Curt. lib. 6. Fides veri consilii periculosa libertas vos me decepistis vos quae sentiebam ne reticerem impulistis Patt to the Bishop's case to a word This was carried to Bissham in the Progress where Bishop Laud attended and by him exaggerated to the King that his secret Counsels were abused The Historian Sanderson taking it out of another I suppose who wrote the Reign of K. Charles hath fancied an Accusation that was never dreamt of p. 220. That the Bishop's Wit and Will tempted him to talk disloyally of the King and a Bill put in against him for it A Woodcock 's Bill but no such Bill was put in Star-chamber Nullum decuit haec scribere nisi quem constat optasse Sym. Ep. p. 129. He that wrote so would have had it so Piety forbid that a Bishop should violate the sacred Honour of his Prince with a disloyal word Yet how moderately did Q. Elizabeth speak of Sir J. Perrott's Offence in that kind Camden anno 1592. quoting the Saying of Theodosius Si quis Imperatori maledixerit si ex levitate contemnendum si ex insaniá miserandum si ab injuriâ remittendum But Aurelian went further that he might not hear of such Complaints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sanxit ne audirentur qui deferebant malè locutos de principibus Carion l. 3. c. 61. It was a generosity in those heroical men which Shimei and Railers at Kings did not deserve but Lincoln was not touch'd with the lightest suspicion of this Fault O but His Majesty's Counsels were revealed and expiable Crime in the adverse Bishop's Construction Kings Counsels may be of that reach and choice that to blab them abroad may touch his Life that did it Upon such great points of State Bodin moves a Question De Repub. p. 386. An poena capitis statuenda sit iis qui principis arcana divulgant Augustus told a Secret to one of the â—abii that he would bring Agrippa home again from Mitylene Fabius told this to his Wife and she to Livia who disaffected Agrippa and it cost Fabius his Life as Salmasius enlargeth it in his Preface to Solinus Plutarch hath wrote more upon it Lib. de Cur. Aud. how dangerous it is to know the Privacies of Potentates lest they should be vented in rashness So that Philippides asking Lysimachus what he should give him says Lysimachus any thing but a Secret But the thing communicated to our Bishop was but petty in comparison and no Secret neither not imparted at the Council-Table but in Conference in the time of Parliament as to a Peer of the House lock'd up with no Seal of Silence but to
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
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
but the Incapacity and as the Philosopher would call it the Natural Impotency imposed by this Bill on Men in Holy Orders to serve the King or the State in this kind be they never so able never so willing never so vertuous Which makes me draw a kind of Timanthes vail over this Point and leave it without any amplification at all unto your Lordships wise and inward thoughts and considerations The fifth Point is the Salvo made for the two Universities to have Justices of Peace among them of their own Heads of Houses which I confess to be done upon mature and just consideration For otherwise the Scholars must have gone for Justice to those Parties to whom they send for Mustard and Vineger But yet under favour the Reasons and Inducements cannot be stronger than may be found out for other Ecclesiastical Persons as the Bishop of Durham who was ever since the days of K. John suffered by the Princes and Parliaments of England to exercise Justice upon the Parties in those Parts as being in truth the King's Subjects but the Bishops Tenants and therefore not likely to have their Causes more duly weighed than when the Balance is left in the hand of their own proper Landlord The Case of the Bishop of Ely for some parts of that Isle is not much different But if a little Partiality doth not herein cast some little Mist before mine eyes the Case of the Dean and City of Westminster wherein this Parliament is now sitting is far more considerable both in the Antiquity extent of Jurisdiction and the Warrants whereupon it is grounded than any one of those places before mentioned For there is a clear Statute made 27 Eliz. for the drawing all Westminster St. Clement and St. Martins le Grand London into a Corporation to be reigled by a Dean a Steward twelve Burgesses and twelve Assistants And if some Salve or Plaister shall not be applied to Westminster in this Point all that Government and Corporation is at an end But this I perceive since is taken into consideration by the Honourable House of Commons themselves I come now to the last Point and the second Salvo of this Bill which is for Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts Barons or Peers of this Kingdom which is a Clause that looks with a kind of contrary glance upon Persons in Holy Orders it seems to favour some but so that thereby and in that very act it casts an aspersion of baseness and ignobility upon all the rest of that Holy Profession For if no Persons in Holy Orders ought to intermeddle in Secular Affairs how come those Nobles to be excepted out of the Universal Negative Is it because they are nobly born Then surely it must be granted that the rest must be excluded as being made of a worser and rougher piece of Clay For the second part of this Reason in the beginning of the Bill can never bear out this Salvo That the Office of the Ministry is of so great importance that it will take up the whole Man and all his best Endeavours Surely the Office of the Ministry is of no greater importance in a poor man than in a noble man nor doth it take up the whole Man in the one and but a piece of him in the other I cannot give you many Instances herein out of Scripture because you know that in those days Not many mighty not many noble were called 1 Cor. 1.26 But when any Noble were called I do not find but that they did put more of the whole Man and their best Endeavours upon the Ministry than other Men in Holy Orders are at the least in Holy Scripture noted to have done I puâ— your Lordships in mind of those Noble men of Beraea compared with thâ—se of Thessalonica Acts 17.11 So that this Salvo for the Nobility must needs be under your Lordships favour a secret wound unto the rest of the Ministry unless your Lordships by your great Wisdom will be willing to change it into a Panacaea or common Plaister both to the one and to the other And under your Lordships Favour I conceive it may be done under a very foâ—ing Argument The Office of the Ministry is of equal importance and takes up the whâ— Man and all his best Endeavours in the Noble born as well as in the mean born Bishop But it is lawful all this notwithstanding for the noble born Minister to intermeddle in Secular Affairs and therefore it is likewise lawful for the mean born so to do And so in may Conscience I speak it in the presence of God and great Noblemen it is most lawful for them to intermeddle with Secular Affairs so as they be not intangled as the Apostle calls it with this intermedling as to slight and neglect the Office of their Calling which no Minister noble or ignoble can do without grievously sinning against God and his own conscience It is lawful for Persons in Holy Orders to intermeddle it is without question or else they could not make provision of Meat and Drink as Beza interprets the place It is not lawful for them to be thus intangled and bound up with Secular Affairs which I humbly beseech your Lordships to consider not as a Distinction invented by me but clearly expressed by the Apostle himself 166. And thus my noble Lords I shall without any further molestation and with humble thanks for this great patience leave this great Cause of the Church to your Lordships wise and gracious consideration Here is my Mars-hill and further I shall never appeal for Justice Some assurance I have from the late solemn Vow and Protestation of both Houses for the maintaining and defending the Power and Priviledges of Parliament that if this Bill were now to be framed in the one House it would never be offered without much qualification and I perswade my self it will not be approved in the other Parliaments are indeed Omnipotent but no more Omnipotent than God himself who for all that cannot do every thing God cannot but perform what he hath promised A Parliament under favour cannot un-swear what it hath already vowed This is an old Maxim which I have learned of the Sages of the Law A Parliament cannot be Felo de se it cannot destroy or undo it self An Act of Parliament as that in the eleventh and another in the one and twentieth of Richard the Second made to be unrepealable in any subsequent Parliament was ipso facto void in the constitution Why because it took away the Power and Priviledges that is not the Plumes and Feathers the remote Accidents but the very specisial Form Essence and Being of a Parliament So if an Act should be made to take away the Votes of all the Commons or all the Lords it were absolutely a void Act. I will conclude with the first Ep. to the Corinthians c. 12. v. 15. If the soot shall say because I am not the hand I am not of the body is it therefore not of