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cause_n	great_a	see_v	think_v	3,978	5	3.8757	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51706	Concerning penal laws a discourse, or charge at sessions in the burrough of Bridgewater, 12 July, 1680 / by Sir John Mallet, Kt. ...	Mallet, John, Sir, 1622 or 3-1686.	1680 (1680)	Wing M338; ESTC R4353	14,666	22

a few indifferent Ceremonies seeing they agree with us in the main and substantial matters of Doctrine And there hath been some considerable doubt whether those Penal Statutes which at the time of making them were exprest and intended to be only against Popish Recusants shall extend to Protestant Dissenters One other thing I have always thought of which I think is worthy the most serious consideration of all English Magistrates That the ever good and ancient way of Tryal even from the beginning of our English Laws having been by Juries whereof the Great Charter is but Declaration and Confirmation of our common Laws therein which also hath been multitude of times confirm'd by our Statute Laws and Acts of Parliament Justices of the. Peace and others to whom the Ministration of our Laws belong cannot be too careful in any matters left wholly to their Will and Power to hear and determine without Juries I say I think they cannot be too careful to avoid going beyond the Rigor of the Laws or hardly to the utmost Rigor of them For my part I think it hath been no unhappiness to me that whilest I was in Commission of the Peace in the County there was seldom any considerable Complaint made to me wherein I might Judge according to my own Will without a Jury And if there were at any time any such cause brought before me I thought it my best way for fear of exceeding the Laws if it must be thought an Error in me to be as gentle as may be to erre on the gentlest side By such means to prevent and reclaim any from Offending rather than to watch and take all Opportunities to make them feel the extremity of Penal Laws especially where the proceedings are without Jury Yet I acknowledge the Execution of such Laws are very just when the Magistrate doth not exceed the Directions and the Methods of those Laws and Statutes in those cases Though I have observed that some such Laws in King Henry the Seventh's time were of short continuance and soon repealed and two of the Promoters and busiest Executioners of them came shortly after to unhappy ends for their severe Exactions Besides how free soever any Justice may be from having any part of the Moneys yet if he be very active in Levying great Summs of Money by Fines set by himself out of Sessions unless in such other publick manner as may make it appear he hath no share it will be very hard to avoid being suspected thereof how free soever he may be of it I will give you some Observations more of Tryals by Juries They are to be of the same County indifferently chosen and return'd by Sworn Officers and are to be Free-holders or other honest men of good Understanding and sufficient Estate It would seem as strange a thing to see a very mean Jury rerurn'd to try Offenders of very great Quality as for the greatest sort of Persons to be returned and serve in the Tryals of persons of the lowest degree In what Manner and for what Causes the party to be Tryed may except against the Jury or any of them will not be needfull here to mention For my part I think Juries of the Gentry and Yeomandry or men of good Estates with some equality and indifference mixt together to be the best way of Tryal in the world and most agreeable to the ancient Laws of England I do not find that the Clergy-men though there be about nine or ten Thousand of them Free-holders in England reckoning about so many Parishes whereof they are Parsons and Vicars besides other Dignitaries have for above six hundred years been returned or serv'd as Jury-men I am sure in matters Criminal and cases of Blood they were never used as Juries in any such matters except perhaps which I am not very certain of concerning the Statute commmonly call'd the Statute of six Articles made in the Thirty first Year of King Henry the eighth Wherein what is there mentioned and call'd Heresie was thereby made tryable by Jury Of which Statute an honest and worthy Clergy-man Dr. Burnet in his History of the Reformation lately written by him and 23 May 1679. allow'd by the truly honourable Secretary Coventry to be Printed saith thus There was but one Comfort that the poor Reformers could pick out of the whole Act that they were not left to the Mercy of the Clergy in their Ecclesiastical Courts but were to be tryed by a Jury where they might expect more candid and gentle dealing Yet it seems the Clergy which were then of the Popish Religion did shortly after the making of that Statute leave off Juries and proceed in their Arbitrary way of Tryal without them For to remedy their so doing in the thirty fifth Year of the same King another Law was made That no person shall be put to his tryal upon any Accusation of any Offences comprised in the aforesaid Statute of Thirty one Henry Eight but only such as shall be made by the Oath of twelve men before Commissioners authorized and the presentment to be made within one year after the Offence Commited And that no person shall be Committed to prison for any such Offence before he be Indicted thereof I forbear from hence and from much more that might be said from our Laws but chiefly from the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament wherein Christ did refuse to be a Judge in Case of Blood and other Temporal matters to make any Inference or reflection upon any of our Clergy seeing many of them are pleased with employment of that kind But for Juries I have some few short Notes more to observe unto you That after Juries of Tryal are sworn and the Tryal begun I think they should not at all but I am sure they are not ordinarily to be adjourned till the Cause be fully heard and ended And then if they go from the Barr as they may go together if they will before they give their verdict for it may seem to prejudice the freedom which belongeth to them to perswade them not to go from the Barr and consult together in some private place where none may have influence over them And they must have time allow'd them in private till they be all and every one of them agreed before they give their Verdict in the Court. For a Jury of twelve men for tryal of a Cause doth differ from a Grand Jury of Enquiry in this that in all Juries of Tryal all and every one of the Jury must be agreed in the same point without going to the Poll for the Major part of Votes whereas Juries of Enquiry may carry matters before them by the Vote of the greatest number among themselves Now to close this part of this Discourse about Tryals with somewhat concerning Witnesses It hath ever been the good old way warranted by the Holy Scripture and by the Laws and Usage of England that the party accused should know the Witnesses and Informers against him

which there is a good resort by Land and it hath also a Navigable River which brings Traffick not only for the Profit of the Merchants here and the Countrey hereabouts but paying also considerable Customs and Duties to the Kings Exchequer And as it hath by the Grace and favour of former Kings had Charters whereby it hath very anciently been Incorporated with great Priviledges granted to it so it is for the prayse and commendation of those who have been and are of it that they have behaved themselves so well that those favours have been increased and not diminished The latter Charters having still enlarged your Bounds and Priviledges and from being limited within that part of your Town which was the ancient Burrough they now extend to the large compass of your Parish which is of great Circuit having so many Streets and Hamlets as except the two Cities which give name to the Diocess there is I think but one Town in this County that hath more dwelling Houses than this Whereby may easily be understood the Concernment Interest and Esteem of this good Town And in respect of its Scituation in a very good County of which I would not because our dwellings are in it be thought to speak partially or flatteringly but really I speak my heart and my thoughts of it and what hath been observed and said by others thereof This County of Somerset is one of the best Counties in England for Arable as well as Pasture and abundantly stored with the Noblest kind of Provision this Land hath been famous for Which the Kings Court the great City of London and those who provide Victuals for the Navy well know And I may further truely say for its praise and commendation and affirm it of my own knowledge and observation having lived many years in it and being pretty well acquainted with the Inhabitants of it They are in their several degrees in respect of the goodness of their Natures Understanding and honest Dispositions as good people as in any County of England In Religion they are good Protestants and so few Papists amongst them that I think I may say no County in this Kingdom hath fewer Papists than this And consequently it is a most Loyal County for I will boldly and truly affirm That the Protestant Religion is a Religion of Loyalty My love to my King and Countrey hath caused me to take this occasion of saying this in Vindication of this County from Aspersions of its Loyalty and also to vindicate the sincerity of the Protestant Religion As I have said this of the County in General I now come more particularly to your Town here and our present business Entring into which I must first take notice that when we met here last which was shortly after Easter we of your Corporation gave unanimous testimony of our being good Protestants and Loyal Subjects by receiving the holy Sacrament in your Church on Sunday and the next day in this Hall openly at your Sessions by our Oaths and Subscriptions And then all things were so well amongst you all that your Grand Jury of that Sessions by their Enquiry on their Oaths did not know any thing amiss of any moment to be presented that I can remember Whether there were any smaller matter of private Nuisance or Trespass then presented I know not but if there were I suppose it will appear by the Records and Books of that Sessions which being so lately and things well then I hope they so continue especially in respect of the greatest matters If any thing be amiss it will be your part to make presentment thereof as you shall find Cause and this Court will do right accordingly And as I am your Recorder it is my part to give you some directions therein But here I must by your favour take leave First to say something of my self yet without Vanity for I do not love Boasting though now it seem somewhat necessary for me to say what I thank God I can most truly say That in the long time I have had this Relation to your Town and the longer time whilest I had the honour to be one of his Majesties Justices of the Peace of this County which was from the first time his Majesty Commissioned any for I never would have nor had or acted by any other Commission than the Kings I alwayes made it my care so to behave my self therein that no man hath hitherto charged me or can have any cause that I know of to charge me with doing any Injustice or Oppression or of taking any Bribe whatsoever or doing any thing that would be a Scandal or Shame to Justice If I have done any such thing I desire any one to bear Witness against me openly I am not Ignorant that something hath been reported as a seeming Reflexion That I have not been severe enough against those of his Majesties Protestant Subjects who are commonly called Dissenters in Church matters Of which I have this to say That I do not Justifie any Disobedience of any persons to the Laws neither by my own Example or Encouragement For it is well known that I and all my Family have ever constantly resorted to the Church and come thither at the very beginning and often times before the Common-Prayer and Service begin there and continue there all the while and this not out of a formal but I hope with hearty Reverence And I can boldly say that in two Parishes where I am most concern'd by having long time dwelt in a Parish in the West part of this County and of late years in another Parish in the East part of it my Example in those places and the Neighbourhood and Gentle discoursing to perswade them to come to Church hath brought I think all of those Parishes to the Church I am sure most of them come more constantly thither considering the proportionable largeness of those Parishes than in other places where Severities have been used And I will with your leave make this further Observation which hath been a common Note That it frequently happens that those who are for the more rigid Compulsion of others oftentimes fail themselves they or some of their Families being commonly absent from Church But I am not ashamed or afraid to say That I do own my Tenderness to others hath been not only of a Kindness which I think is natural to most English Gentlemen but of a charitable belief that most part of those who are called Dissenters do hold the same true Doctrine and Principles of Religion with what is contained in the Articles of the Doctrine of the Church of England which do all of them agree with the Holy Scriptures and the true Doctrine of all sound and Orthodox Protestants And of the Loyalty and peaceableness of such Protestans I think no body hath cause to doubt but rather to pity their Tenderness and by Gentleness seek to win them to comply in the smaller matters of outward Conformity and