Assent and Consent to the use of all things contained and prescribed in the Book of Common-Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites Ceremonies of the Church according to the use of the Church of England or have not subscribed the Declaration or Acknowledgment contained in a certain Act of Parliament made in the 14 Year of His Majesties Reign and Intituled An Act for the Vniformity of publick Prayers and Administration of Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies and for the establishing the Form of making ordaining and consecrating of Bishops Priests and Deacons in the Church of England according to the said Act or any other subsequent Act And whereas they or some of them and diverse other person and persons not ordained according to the Form of the Church of England and as have since the Act of Oblivion taked upon them to preach in unlawful Assemblies Conventicles or Meetings under colour or pretence of Exercise of Religion contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom have setled themselves in divers Corporations in England sometimes three or more of them in a place thereby taking an opportunity to distil the poisonous Principles of Schism and Rebellion into the hearts of His Majesties Subjects to the great danger of the Church and Kingdom II. Be it therefore enacted by the Kings most excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same That the said Parsons Vicars Curates Lecturers and other persons in Holy Orders or pretended Holy Orders or pretending to Holy Orders and all Stipendiaries or other persons who have been possessed of any Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Promotion and every of them who have not declared their unfeigned Assent and Consent as aforesaid and subscribed the Declaration aforesaid and shall not take and subcribe the Oath following I A. B. do swear That it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King and that I do abhor that Traiterous position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person or against those that are commissioned by him in pursuance of such Commissions and that I will not at any time endeavour any Alteration of Government either in Church or State III. And all such person and persons as shall take upon them to preach in any unlawful Assembly Conventicle or Meeting under colour or pretence of any exercise of Religion contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom 2. shall not at any time from and after the 24th day of March which shall be in this present year of our Lord God One thousand six hundred sixty and five unless only in passing upon the Road come or be within five Miles of any City or Town Corporate or Burrough that sends Burgesses to the Parliament within His Majesties Kingdom of England Principality of Wales or of the Town of Berwick upon Tweed 3 or within five Miles of any parish Town or place wherein he or they have since the Act of Oblivion been Parson Vicar Curate Stipendiary or Lecturer or taken upon them to preach in any unlawful Assembly Conventicle or Meeting under colour or pretence of any exercise of Religion contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom 4 Before he or they have taken and subscribed the Oath aforesaid before the Justices of the Peace at their Quarter-Sessions to be holden for County Riding or Division next unto the said Corporation City or Burrough Parish place or Town in open Court which said Oath the said Justices are hereby impowered there to administer 5 Upon forfeiture for every such Offence the sum of Forty pounds of lawful English Money the one third part thereof to His Majesty and His Successors the other third part to the use of the poor of the Parish where the Offence shall be committed and the other third part thereof to such person or persons as shall or will sue for the same by Action of Debt Plaint Bill or Information in any Court of Record at Westminster or before any Justices of Assize Oyer and Terminer or Gaol-delivery or before any Justices of the Counties Palatine of Chester Lancaster or Durham or the Justices of the great Sessions in Wales or before any Justices of Peace in their Quarter Sessions wherein no Essoin Protection or wager of Law shall be allowed IV. Provided always and be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That it shall not be lawful for any person or persons restrained from coming to any City Town Corporate Burrough Parish Town or place as aforesaid or for any other Person or Persons as shall not first take and subscribe the aforesaid Oath and as shall not frequent Divine Service established by the Laws of this Kingdom and carry him or her self reverently decently and orderly there to teach any publick or private School or take any Boarders or Tablers that are taught or instructed by him or her self or any other upon pain for every such Offence to forfeit the sum of Forty pounds to be recovered and distributed as aforesaid V. Provided also and be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid that it shall be lawful for any two Justices of the Peace of the respective County upon Oath to them of any Offence against this Act which Oath they are hereby impowered to administer to commit the Offender for six Months without Bail or Mainprise unless upon or before such Commitment he shall before the said Justices of the Peace swear and subscribe the aforesaid Oath and Declaration VI. Provided always that if any person intended to be restrained by vertue of this Act shall without fraud or Covin be served with any Writ Sub-poena Warranr or other Process whereby his personal appearance is required his Obedience to such Writ Sub-poena or Process shall not be construed an Offence against this Act. Note That as to the Penalty of Forty Pound the party must be tried at the Assises or Sessions before it is forfeited But any two Justices of Peace may commit for six Months unless before them he 'l swear and subscribe the Oath in this Declaration specified the Assent and Consent and the Declaration therein referr'd unto which if he do he puts himself out of their power Now the Assent and Consent he has spoke of is appointed by the Stat. 13 and 14. of Car. 2di chap. 4. as follows I A. B. do here declare my unfeigned Assent Consent to all every thing contained prescribed in by the Book intituled the Book of common Prayer Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church according to the use of the Church of England together with the Psalter or Psalms of David pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches and the form and manner of making ordaining and consecrating of Bishops Priests and Deacons The Declaration is by the Act last mentioned as
no new Laws bind the People of England but such as are by common consent agreed on in that great Council By the second He has a share in the Executive part of the Law no Causes being Tryed nor any man Adjudged to lose Life Member or Estate but upon the Verdict of his Peers or Equals his Neighbours and of his own Condition these two Grand Pillars of English Liberty are the Fundamental Vital Priviledges whereby we have been and are preserv'd more free and happy than any other People in the World and we trust shall ever continue so For whoever shall design to Impair Pervert or Undermine either of these do strike at the very Conisttution of our Government and ought to be Prosecuted and Punished with the utmost Zeal and Rigour To cut down the Banks and let in the Sea or to Poyson all the Springs and Rivers in the Kingdom could not be a greater Mischief for this would only affect the present Age but the other will Ruine and Enslave all our Posterity But besides these General Paramount Priviledges which the English are Estated in by the Original Constitution of their Government there are others more particularly declared and expressed in diverse Acts of Parliament of which several of the most remarkable and usefull are here presented at large to the Reader with some Notes thereupon for his better understanding of the same MAGNA CHARTA or the Great Charter made in the ninth Year of King Henry the Third and confirmed by King Edward the First in the eight and twentieth Year of his Reign EDward By the Grace of God King of England Lord of Ireland and Duke of Guyan To all Arch-Bishops Bishops c. We have seen the great Charter of the Lord Henry sometimes King of England our Father of the Liberties of England in these Words HEnry By the Grace of God King of England Lord of Ireland Duke of Normandy and Guyan and Earl of Anjou To all Arch-Bishops Bishops Abbots Priors Earls Barons Sheriffs Provosts Officers and to all Baysliffs and other our Faithful Subjects which shall see this present Charter Greeting Know you that We unto the Honour of Almighty God and for the Salvation of the Souls of our Progenitors and Successors Kings of England to the Advancement of Holy Church and Amendment of our Realm of our meer and free Will have Given and Granted to all arch-Arch-Bishops Bishops Abbots Priors Earls Barons and to all Free-men of this our Realm these Liberties following to be kept in our Kingdom of England for ever CHAP. I. A Confirmation of Liberties FIrst We have granted to God and by this our present Charter have confirm'd for Us our Heirs for ever That the Church of England shall be free and shall have all her whole Rights and Liberties Inviolable 2 We have granted also and given to all the Free-men of our Realm for Us and our Heirs for ever these Liberties under-written to have and to hold to them and their Heirs for ever CHAP. II. The Relief of the Kings Tenant of full Age. IF any of our Earls or Barons or any other which Hold of Us in Chief by Knights Service dye and at the time of his Death his Heir be of full Age and oweth to us Relief he shall have his Inheritance by the old Relief that is to say the Heir or Heirs of an Earl for a whole Earldom by one hundred pound the Heir or Heirs of a Baron for an whole Barony by one hundred marks the Heir or Heirs of a Knight for one whole Knights Fee one hundred shillings at the most And he that hath less shall give less according to the old Custom of the Fees CHAP. III. The Wardship of an Heir within Age The Heir a Knight BUt if the Heir of any such be within Age his Lord shall not have the Ward of him nor of his Land before that he hath taken of him Homage 2. And after that such an Heir hath been in Ward when he is come to full Age that is to say to the Age of one and twenty Years he shall have his Inheritance without Relief and without time so that if such an Heir being within Age be made Knight yet nevertheless his Land shall remain in the keeping of his Lord unto the Term aforesaid CHAP. IV. No wast shall be made by a Guardian in Wards Lands THE Keeper of the Land of such an Heir being within Age shall not take of the Lands of the Heir but reasonable Issues reasonable Customs and Reasonable Services and that without destruction and waste of his Men and his Goods 2. And if we commit the Custody of any such Land to the Sheriff or to any other which is answerable unto us for the Issues of the same Land and he make destruction or waste of those things that he hath in Custody we will take of him amends and recompence therefore 3. And the Land shall be committed to two lawful and discreet men of that Fee which shall answer unto Us for the Issues of the same Land or unto him whom we will Assign 4. And if we give or sell to any man the Custody of any such Land and he therein do make destruction or waste he shall lose the same Custody And it shall be Assigned to two lawful and discreet men of that Fee which also in like manner shall be answerable to Us as afore is said CHAP. V. Guardians shall maintain the Inheritance of their Wards And of Bishopricks THe Keeper so long as he hath the Custody of the Land of such an Heir shall keep up the Houses Parks Warrens Ponds Mills and other things pertaining to the same Land with the Issues of the said Land And he shall deliver to the Heir when he cometh to his full Age all his Land stored with Ploughs and all other things at the least as he receiv'd it All these things shall be observed in the Custody of Arch-Bishopricks Bishopricks Abbeys Priories Churches and Dignities vacant which appertain to Us Except this that such Custody shall not be sold CHAP. VI. Heirs shall be Married without Disparagement HEirs shall be Married without Disparagement CHAP. VII A Widow shall have her Marriage Inheritance and Quarentine The Kings Widow A Widow after the Death of her Husband Incontinent and without any difficulty shall have her Marriage and her Inheritance 2. And shall give nothing for her Dower her Marriage or her Inheritance which her Husband and She held the day of the Death of her Husband 3. And She shall tarry in the chief House of her Husband by forty days after the Death of her Husband within which days her Dower shall be Assigned her if it were not Assigned her before or that the House be a Castle 4. And if she depart from the Castle then a competent House shall be forthwith provided for her in the which She may honestly dwell until her Dower be to her Assigned as it is aforesaid And She shall have in the
quam nolumus esse Arguendam By our Prerogative which we will not have disputed Yet such Protections have been argued by the Judges according to their Oath and Duty and adjuged to be void As Mich. 11 H. 7. Rot. 124. a Protection granted to Holmes a Vintrier of London his Factors Servants and Deputies c. Resolved to be against Law Pasch 7. H. 8. Rot. 66. such a Protection disallowed and the Sheriff amerced for not executing the Writ Mich. 13. and 14 Eiiz. in Hitchcocks Case and many other of latter time And there is a notable Record of Ancient time in 22 E. 1. John de Mershals Case Non pertinct ad vicecomitem de protectione Regis Judicare imo ad Curiam Justice or Right We shall not sell deny or delay Justice and Right neither the End which is Justice nor the Mean whereby we may attain to the End and that is the Law Right is taken here for Law in the same sence that Justice often is so called 1. Because it is the Right Line whereby Justice distributive is Guided and Directed and therefore all the Commissioners of Oier and Terminer of Gaol-delivery of the Peace c. have this Clause Facturi quod ad Justititiam pertinet secundum Legem Consuetudinem Angliae that is to do Justice and Right according to the Rule of the Law and Custom of England and that which is called Common Right in 2 E. 3. is called Common-Law in 14 E. 3. c. and in this sence it is taken where it is said Ita quod stat Rectus in Curia id est Legi in Curia 2. The Law is called Rectum because it discovereth that which is Tort Crooked or Wrong for as Right signifieth Law so Tort Crooked or Wrong signifieth Injuries and Injuria est contra Jus Injury is against Right Recta Linea est index sui obliqui a right line is both declaratory of it self and the oblique Hereby the Crooked Cord of that which is called Discretion appeareth to be unlawful unless you take it as it ought to be discretio est discernere per Legem quid sit Justum discretion is to discern by the Law what is Just 3. It is called Right because it is the best Birth-right the Subject hath for thereby his Goods Lands Wife and Children his Body Life Honour and Estimation are protected from Injury and Wrong Major Haereditas venit unicunque nostrum a Jure Legibus quam a Parentibus A greater Inheritance descends to us from the Laws than from our Progenitors Thus far the very words of that Oracle of our Law the Sage and Learned Coke which so fully and excellently explain this incomparable Law that it will be superfluous to add any thing further thereunto A Confirmation of the Charters of the Liberties of England and of the Forrest made in the 35th Year of Edw. the First EDward by the Grace of God King of England Lord of Ireland and Duke of Guyan to all those these present Letters shall hear or see Greeting Know ye that we to the Honour of God and of Holy Church and to the profit of our Realm have granted for us and our Heirs that the Charter of Liberties and the Charter of the Forrest which were made by Common Assent of all the Realm in the time of King Henry our Father shall be kept in every point without Breach And we will that the same Charter shall be sent under our Seal as well to our Justices of the Forrest as to others and to all Sheriffs of Shires and to all our other Officers and to all our Cities throughout the Realm together with our Writs in the which it shall be contained that they cause the aforesaid Charters to be published and to declare to the People that we have Confirmed them in all points And that our Justicers Sheriffs Majors and other Ministers which under us have the Laws of our Land to guide shall allow the same Charters pleaded before them in Jugdment in all their points that is to wit the Great Charter as the Common Law and the Charter of the Forrest for the Wealth of our Realm Chap. 2. And we will that if any Judgment be given from henceforth contrary to the points of the Charters aforesaid by the Justicers or by any other our Ministers that hold plea before them against the points of the Charters it shall be undone and holden for nought Cap. 3. And we will that the same Charters shall be sent under our Seal to Cathedral Churches throughout our Realm there to Remain and shall be read before the People two times by the Year Cap. 4. And that all Archbishops and Bishops shall pronounce the Sentence of Excommunication against all those that by Word Deed or Council do contrary to the foresaid Charters or that in any point break or undo them And that the said Curses be twice a Year ddenounced and published by the Prelates aforesaid And if the same Prelates or any of them be Remiss in the Denunciation of the said Sentences the Archbishop of Canterbury and York for the time being shall compel and distrain them to the Execution of their Duties in Form aforesaid Cap. 5. And for so much as divers People of our Realm are in fear that the Aids and Tasks which they have given to us beforetime towards our Wars and other Business of their own Grant or good Will however they were made might turn to a bondage to them and their Heirs because they might be at another time found in the Rolls and likewise for the prizes taken throughout the Realm by our Ministers We have granted for us and our Heirs that we shall not draw no such Aids Tasks nor Prises into a Custom for any that hath been done heretofore be it by Roll or any other Precedent that may be founden Cap. 6. Moerover we have granted for us and our Heirs as well to Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors and other folk of Holy Church as also to Earls Barons and to all the Commonalty of the Land that for no business from henceforth we shall take such manner of Aids Tasks or Prises but by the common assent of the Realm and for the common profit thereof saving the Ancient Aids and Prises due and accustomed Cap. 7. And for so much as the more part of the Commonalty of the Realm find themselves sore grieved with the Maletot of Woolls that is to wit a Toll of Forty Shillings for every sack of Wooll and have made Petition to us for to Release the same We at their Request have clearly Released it and have granted for us and our Heirs that we shall not take such things without their common consent and good will saving to Us and Our Heirs the Custom of Woolls Skins and Leather granted before by the Commonalty aforesaid In Witness of which things we have caused our Letters to be Patent Witness Edward our Son at London the 10th of October and the Twenty
follows I A. B. do declare that it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King and that I do abhor that Traiterous position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person or against those that are commissioned by him and that I will conform to the Liturgy of the Church of England as it is now by Law established And I do declare That I do hold there lies no Obligation upon me nor any other person from the Oath commonly called the solemn League and Covenant to endeavour any change or alteration of Government either in Church or State and that the same was in it self an unlawful Oath and imposed upon the Subjects of this Realm against the known Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom But note that this last branch of this Declaration by a subsequent clause of the same Act was to continue but till the 25th day of March 1682. so that now the same is not to be required And thus much for this Five-Mile Act. We now proceed to the other Statute against Protestant Dissenters viz. Anno Vicessimo Secundo Caroli Secundi Regis Cap. 1. An Act to prevent and suppress Seditions Conventicles For providing further and more speedy Remedies against the growing and dangerous practices of Seditious Sectaries and other disloyal persons who under pretence of Tender Consciences have or may at their Meetings contrive Insurrections as late Experience hath shewn 2. Be it enacted by the King 's most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by Authority of the same That if any person of the Age of sixteen years or upwards being a Subject of this Realm at any time after the tenth day of May next shall be present at any Assembly Conventicle or Meeting under colour or pretence of any Exercise of Religion in other manner than according to the Liturgy and practice of the Church of England in any place within the Kingdom of England Dominion of Wales or Town of Berwick upon Tweed at which Conventicle Meeting or Assembly there shall be five persons or more Assembled together over and besides those of the same houshold if it be in a house where there is a Family inhabiting or if it be in a house field or place where there is no Family inhabiting then where any five persons or more are so Assembled as aforesaid it shall and may be lawful to and for any one or more Justices of the Peace of the County Limit Division Corporation or Liberty wherein the Offence aforesaid shall be Committed or for the chief Magistrate of the place where the Offence aforesaid shall be committed and he and they are hereby Required and Enjoyned upon Proof to him or them Respectively made of such Offence either by Confession of the Party or Oath of two Witnesses 3. Which Oath the said Justice and Justices of the Peace and Chief Magistrate respectively are hereby Required and Impowered to Administer or by Notorious Evidence and Circumstance of the fact to make a Record of every such Offence under his or their Hands and Seals respectively which Record so made as aforesaid shall to all intents and purposes be in Law taken and adjudged to be a full and perfect Conviction of every such Offender for such offence and thereupon the said Justice Justices and Chief Magistrate respectively shall Impose on every such Offender so convict as aforesaid a Fine of five shillings for such first Offence which Record and Conviction shall be certified by the said Justice Justices or Chief Magistrate at the next Quarter-Sessions of the Peace for the County or place where the Offence was committed 2. And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That if such Offender so convicted as aforesaid shall at any time again commit the like Offence or Offences contrary to this Act and be thereof in manner aforesaid convicted then such Offender so convict of such like Offence or Offences shall for every such Offence incur the penalty of ten shillings 2. Which Fine and Fines for the first and every other Offence shall be Levied by Distress and Sale of the Offenders Goods and Chattels or in case of the poverty of such Offender upon the Goods and Chattels of any other person or persons who shall be then convicted in manner aforesaid of the like Offence at the same Conventicle at the discretion of the said Justice Justices or Chief Magistrate respectively so as the Sum to be Levied on any one person in case of the poverty of other Offenders amount not in the whole to above the Sum of ten pounds upon occasion of any one Meeting as aforesaid 3. And every Constable Headborough Tythingman Church-Wardens and Over-seers of the Poor respectively are hereby Authorized and Required to Levy the same accordingly having first received a Warrant under the Hands and Seals of the said Justice Justices or Chief Magistrate respectively so to do 4 The said Monies so to be Levied to be forthwith delivered to the same Justice Justices or Chief Magistrate and by him or them to be distributed the one third part thereof to the use of the King's Majesty His Heirs and Successors to be paid to the High Sheriff of the County for the time being in manner following that is to say the Justice or Justices of Peace shall pay the same into the Court of the respective Quarter-Sessions which said Court shall deliver the same to the Sheriff and make a Memorial on Record of the payment and delivery thereof which said Memorial shall be a sufficient and final discharge to the said Justice and Justices and a charge to the Sheriff which said discharge and charge shall be certified into the Exchequer together and not one without the other And no Justice shall or may be questioned or accountable for the same in the Exchequer or elsewhere than in Quarter-Sessions another third part thereof to and for the use of the Poor of the Parish where such Offence shall be committed and the other third part thereof to the Informer and Informers and to such Person and persons as the said Justice Justices or chief Magistrate respectively shall appoint having regard to their diligence and Industry in the discovery dispersing and punishing of the said Conventicles 3. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That every person who shall take upon him to preach or teach in any such Meeting Assembly or Conventicle and shall thereof be convicted as aforesaid shall forfeit for every such first Offence the sum of Twenty pound to be Levied in manner aforesaid upon his Goods and Chattles 2. And if the said Preacher or Teacher so convicted be a stranger and his Name and Habitation not known and is fled and cannot be found or in the Judgment of the Justice Justices or chief Magistrate before whom he shall be convicted shall be thought unable to pay the same the said
hundred Pounds the one Moiety to the use of the Informer to be Recovered by Action Suit Bill or Plaint in any of his Majesties Courts at Westminster wherein no Essoign Protection or Wager of Law shall lie 12. And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that if any Person be at any time Sued for putting in Execution any of the Powers contained in this Act otherwise than upon Appeal allowed by this Act such Person shall and may Plead the General Issue and give the special matter in Evidence 2. And if the Plaintiff be Nonsuit or a Verdict pass for the Defendant every such Defendant shall have his full Treble Costs 13. And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that this Act and all clauses therein contained shall be Construed most largely and beneficially for the suppressing of Conventicles and for the Justification and Encouragement of all Persons to be Employed in the Execution thereof 2. And that no Record Warrant or Mittimus to be made by Vertue of this Act or any Proceedings thereupon shall be Reversed Avoided or any way Impeached by reason of any Default in form 3. And in Case any Person offending against this Act shall be an Inhabitant in any other County or Corporation or fly into any other County or Corporation after the Offence Committed the Justice of Peace or Chief Magistrate before whom he shall be Convicted as aforesaid shall certifie the same under his hand and Seal to any Justice of Peace or chief Magistrate of such other County or Corporation wherein the said person or persons are Inhabitants or are Fled into 4. Which said Justice or chief Magistrate respectively is hereby Authorized and required to Levy the Penalty or Penalties in this Act mentioned upon the Goods and Chattels of such person or Persons as fully as the said other Justice of Peace might have done in case he or they had been Inhabitants in the place where the Offence was Committed 14. Provided also that no Person shall be Punished for any Offence against this Act unless such Offender be Prosecuted for the same within three Months after the Offence Committed 2. And that no Person who shall be Punished for any Offence by Vertue of this Act shall be Punished for the same Offence by Vertue of any other Act or Law whatsoever 15. Provided and be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that every Alderman of London for the time being within the City of London and the Liberties thereof shall have and they and every of them are hereby Impowered and required to Execute the same power and Authority within London and the Liberties thereof for the Examining Convicting and Punishing of all Offences within this Act committed within London and the Liberties thereof which any Justice of Peace hath by this Act in any County of England and shall be subject to the same Penalties and Punishments for not doing that which by this Act is directed to be done by any Justice of Peace in any County of England 16. Provided and be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that if the Person Offending and Convicted as aforesaid be a Feme-covert cohabiting with her Husband the Penalties of five Shillings and ten Shillings so as aforesaid Incurred shall be Levyed by Warrant as aforesaid upon the Goods and Chattels of the Husband of each Feme-covert 17. Provided also that no Peer of this Realm shall be Attached or Imprisoned by Vertue or Force of this Act any thing matter or clause therein to the contrary notwithstanding 18. Provided also that neither this Act nor any thing therein contained shall extend to Invalidate or avoid his Majesties Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Affairs 2. But that his Majesty and his Heirs and Successors from time to time and at all times hereafter Exercise and Enjoy all Powers and Authority in Ecclesiastical Affairs as fully and as amply as himself or any of his Predecessors have or might have done the same any thing in this Act notwithstanding Notes upon the foregoing Act. 1. By the Title Preamble and Scope of the Act it appears that the same is intended for suppressing Seditious Conventicles under Pretence of Religious Worship that is where the Conventiclers meet together under a pretence of Worship not according to the Liturgy and Practice of the Church of England but indeed to carry on ill designs against the State 2. If any such Conventicle be the Justices knowing it by the Oaths of two Witnesses may make a Record thereof and then the Persons so offending shall forfeit so as in the Act you have heard 3. It must appear upon Oath before the Justices or Confession of the Parties 1. That it was a Seditious Conventicle met together to disturb the Peace under pretence of Religion 2. That the Worship there practised was not according to the Liturgy and Practice of the Church of England so that the Informers must be present the whole time of the Meeting for if they only hear a man Praying or Preaching that is not contrary to the Practice of the Church of England and how does it appear that they did not read the Liturgy 3. It must be proved that there were Assembled five Persons or more besides the Inhabitants in the House 4. If a party be Fined above ten Shillings if he pay down the Money or it be levied within one Week after such Payment or Levy he may Appeal from the Justice Convicting to the next Quarter-Sessions where he shall have a Tryal by Jury thereupon and undoubtedly if it do not appear to the said Jury that it was a Seditious Meeting they ought to find for the Appealer 5. A General Warrant from any Justice or Justices to Constables to inquire after Seize c. all Conventicles in their Precincts is not good it ought to particularize the House and Place Houses and Places where the Conventicle is or Conventicles are held and then the Constable ought forthwith to goe and if he finds it so to suppress it but otherwise the Constable might be put to endless Vexation in hunting after Meetings to no purpose whereas the Act enjoyns him no such trouble and if you go once and find no Conventicle you are not obliged to go a second time on the same Warrant but ought to have a new one nor is the Constable obliged to turn Informer 6. As to Breaking open Doors you see the Act directs that it may be done first only in an House where 't is Inform'd there is actually a Conventicle as aforesaid that is upon the Oaths of two Persons 2. the Constables c. cannot do this without first there be a Demand and Denial to enter 3. Nor then neither without a Warrant from the Justice to that purpose If a Constable upon a light vain tale without two persons Swearing it that there is at such a House a Meeting and without Warrant shall venture to break open the Doors and there be found no Conventicle he makes himself liable to
five Year of our Reign Sententia lata super Chartas The Sentence of the Clergy against the Breakers of the Articles above written IN the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Amen Whereas our Sovereign Lord the King to the Honour of God and of Holy Church and for the common profit of the Realm hath granted for him and his Heirs for ever these Articles above written Robert Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of all England admonished all his Province once twice and thrice Because that shortness will not suffer so much Delay as to give knowledge to all the People of England of these presents in Writing We therefore enjoyn all Persons of what Estate soever they be that they and every of them as much as in them is shall uphold and maintain these Articles granted by our Sov L. the K. in all points And all those that in any point do Resist or break or in any manner hereafter procure Counsel or any ways assent to resist or break those Ordinances or go about it by word or deed openly or privily by any manner of Pretence or Colour We the foresaid Arch-bishop by our Authority in this Writing expressed do Excommunicate and accurse and from the Body of our Lord Jesu Christ and from all the Company of Heaven and from all the Sacraments of Holy Church do Sequester and exclude NOTES It may be observed that this Curse is left out of our late Printed Statute-Book though inserted at large in that Printed in three Volumns in Queen Elizabeth's days Anno. 1557. There is likewise another like dreadful but more full and express Curse Solemnly pronounced before in the time of King Henry 3d. which being also omitted in our Modern Statute-Book I shall add here for the Readers satisfaction The Sentence or Curse given by the Bishops against the Breakers of the Great Charter IN the Year of our Lord One thousand two hundred and fifty three the Third day of May in the great Hall of the King at Westminster in the Presence and by the assent of the Lord Henry by the Grace of God King of England and the Lord Richard Earl of Cornwal his Brother Roger Bigot Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk Marshal of England Humphry Earl of Hereford Henry Earl of Oxford John Earl Warren and other Estates of the Realm of England William Boniface by the Mercy of God Arch-bishop of Canterbury Primate of all England F. of London H. of Ely S. of Worcester E. of Lincoln W. of Norwich G. of Hereford W. of Salisbury W. of Durham R. of Exeter M. of Carlile W. of Bath E. of Rochester T. of Saint Davids Bishops apparelled in Pontificials with Tapers burning against the Breakers of the Churches Liberties and of the Liberties or other Customs of the Realm of England and namely of those which are contained in the Charter of the Common Liberties of England and Charter of the Forrest have denounced the Sentence of Excommunication in this Form By the Authority of Almighty God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost and of the Glorious Mother of God and perpetual Virgin Mary of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and of all Apostles and of all Martyrs of Blessed Edward King of England and of all the Saints of Heaven We Excommunicate Accurse and from the Benefits of our Holy Mother the Church we Sequester All those that hereafter willingly and maliciously deprive or spoil the Church of her Right And all those that by any Craft or Wiliness do Violate Break Diminish or Change the Churches Liberties and free Customs contained in the Charters of the Common Liberties and of the Forr est granted by our Lord the King to Archbishops Bishops and other Prelates of England and likewise to the Earls Barons Knights and other Freeholders of the Realm And all that secretly or openly by Deed Word or Council do make Statutes or observe them being made and that bring in Customs or keep them when they be brought in against the said Liberties or any of them the Writers the Law-makers Councellors and the Executioners of them and all those that shall presume to judge against them All and every which Persons before mentioned that wittingly shall commit any of the Premises let them well know that they incurr the foresaid Sentence ipso facto i. e. upon the Deed done And those that Commit ought ignorantly and be admonished except they reform themselves within 15 dayes after the time of the admonition and make full satisfaction for that they have done at the will of the Ordinary shall be from that time forth wrapped in the said Sentence and with the same Sentence we burden all those that presume to disturb the Peace of our Soveraign Lord the King and of the Realm To the perpetual Memory of which thing we the foresaid Prelates have put our Seals to these presents So Zealous were our Ancestors to preserve their Liberties from encroachments that they employed all the strength of humane Policy and Religious Obligations to secure them intire and inviolate And since this Act is still in as much force as the Act against Conventicles I cannot fadome the Reason why our Prelates should not as well hold themselves obliged twice a Year to accurse the Infringers thereof as to Prosecute Protestant Dissenters However we may note that by this Statute Chap. 2. it is expresly provided that if any Judgments be given from that time forwards against any of the points of Magna Charta they shall be annull'd and holden for nought therefore Quaere whether the conviction of Protestant Dissenters by a Justice and spoiling them of their goods without any Trial and Conviction by a Jury which is expresly against the 29 Chapter of Magna Charta ought not to be taken notice of and redress'd and the original Promoters thereof to be Curs'd by my Lords the Bishops as aforesaid A Statute made Anno 34 Edw. 1. commonly called de Tallageo non Concedendo CHAP. I. The King or his Heirs shall have no Tallage or Aid without consent of Parliament NO Tallage or Aid shall be taken or Levied by Us or our Heirs in our Realm without the good Will and Assent of Arch-Bishops Bishops Earls Barons Knights Burgesses and other Freemen of the Land CHAP. II. Nothing shall be purveyed to the Kings Vse without the Owners consent NO Officer of ours or of our Heirs shall take Corn Leather Cattel or any other Goods of any manner of Person without the good Will and Assent of the Party to whom the Goods belonged CHAP. III. Nothing shall be taken of Sacks of Wooll by Colour of Maletot NOthing from henceforth shall be taken of Sacks of Wooll by colour or occasion of Maletot CHAP. IV. All Laws Liberties and Customs confirmed WE Will and Grant for Us and our Heirs That all Clerks and Lay-men of our Land shall have their Laws Liberties and free Customs as largely and wholly as they have used to have the same at any time
an Author to whom I do not much desire to be beholden Some Senators are drawn from their duties by Pleasure perhaps a party at Tennis Bowles Cards a pack of Dogs a Cock-Fight or a Horse-match a Comedy a Good Fellow or a Mistress And while they are thus employed the Vigilant faction steals a Vote that is worth a Kingdom Some again are so transported with the Vanity of Dress and Language that rather then serve the publick with one hair amiss or in one broken Period they 'l let the publick perish Mallent Rempublicam turbari quam capillos These while their Country lies at Stake are ordering of their heads and Polishing the Phrase shaping the parts of a Set-Speech till it is too late to use it Nothing methinks does less beseem a Grave Assembly then this Facultatula Loquendi this same Rhetorical Twittle-twattle it spins out so much time in tedious Circumstance that it makes a man e'en sick of a good Cause and for the very form prejudge the Reason of it Sloth and Neglect are yet more dangerous in a Senator in regard of Surprizes from the Faction these think a wet day or a cold morning a sufficient discharge of their Attendance and while they are taking t'other Napp or t'other Bottle the Monarch perhaps has lost his Crown or the Subject his Liberty 9. Avoid all those that play the Protestants in Design and are indeed disguised Papists ready to pull off their mask on the first opportunity whenever time serves You may know them by their swaggering for a Popish Successor to maintain the Protestant Religion Their Laughing at the Popish Plot and disgracing the Evidence of it and at the same time affirming without any grounds the reality of a Presbyterian Plot their associating with known Papists and winking at them but eager heats to put the Laws in Execution with the utmost rigour upon Protestant Dissenters These are men whose affection for the Protestant Interest notwithstanding all their fair Speeches may justly be question'd since their practice gives their words the Lye nor will their large pretensions and seeming zeal for the Church of England at all prevail with wise men for we know the Papists themselves when 't is for their Interest will pretend the same thing and speak fair of our Church and rail only upon the Fanaticks when yet in their hearts they hate our Church as much as they do any of the Sects Observe all their Pamphlets the noise is against the Presbyterians and Dissenters but 't is with a design to destroy them first and the Church of England afterwards for when so great a body of Protestants are represented as Disloyal and Dangerous and Crusht and undone the Church of England-men will be left alone and then they hope to deal with them well enough and that this is their aim may be perceiv'd if you observe how zealous the Papists are to stirr up Prosecution against the Dissenters and none more Joyful when it goes on c. Now what 's all this for are they think you indeed and in earnest so very kind to the Church of England for what acqualntance No no 't is all Dissimulation and Roguery a Design which they drive on first to divide and then to ruine us Therefore beware how you chuse any such Tool as they make use of therein The contrary are men that bless God for the most happy discovery of the Hellish Popish Plot and all their wicked shams ever since and would have the bottom thereof fairly searcht into and the Traitors though never so great or potent brought to Condign punishment and in their Conversation zealously direct themselves in an Opposition to the Papal Interest which indeed is a combination against good Sense Reason and Conscience and to Introduce a blind Obedience without if not against Conviction And that Principle which Introduces Implicite Faith and blind Obedience in Religion will also Introduce Implicite Faith and blind Obedience in Government so that it shall be no more the Law in the one than in the other but the will and power of the Superiour that shall be the Rule and Bond of our Subjection this is that fatal mischief Popery brings with it to Civil Society and for which all such Societies ought to beware of it and its friends and Abetters which sure none can be but such who are design'd for Slaves by Nature as well as Fortune debaucht lew'd unthinking Animals properly enough called Tories Silly Servile yet conceited and Cruel Creatures altogether of an Irish understanding 10. As for you Citizens Burgesses and Freemen of Cities and Corporations in particular I shall only say That whoever is not fit to be chosen Knight of the Shire is likewise unfit to be chosen a Burgess Neither let the more specious pretences of any man that shall promise to build you a Town-Hall or Relieve you poor with mony or out of his Adjacent Woods or any such Good-morrows deceive you for if so wherein are you wiser than your Horses whom you catch every day and Clap a Bridle into their mouths only by shewing them a few Oats which they are never like to Eat Even the very Mice are too wise to be taken by an Old Bait but will first have the trap â—ew baited before they 'le meddle And yet I have known a Corporation which has been taken TWICE by the same bait But suppose these men do really perform what they promise what Compensation is that if the same men should lay a good Swinging Tax upon your Estates without any real cause or should give up the very power you have of Taxing yourselves or sending your Representatives in Parliament for one bad Parliament may ruiue us what good would the money for your Poor do in such a case more than that when you are thereby reduced to beggery you might perhaps yourselves the Gentry of the Country having no reason to releive you be forc'd to comein for a small share of this their Hypocrital Charity An excellent Reward for Knavish Folly Neither say Oh! this is but one man and can have but one Vote he will do our Town a great deal of good and can do us but little hurt if he would c. For 1. as I told you before one or two Voices have sometimes carried a Vote of great Importance 2. You know not what mischief your bad example may do in other Corporations and if all should do so what a miserable case would you be in Since the Voices of the Boroughs make two thirds of the House Lastly no man can tell the Influence that one running Talkative Ill-man may get over the rest of the House especially over those that weigh words more than Sense or Reason and the Interest of their Countrey Hitherto we have talked Negatives and described such as are not fit to be Chosen Now we came positively to set before you who are fit for such a Trust especially in such a dangerous Juncture as we are faln into In
Sheriff or other Officer by whom the said VVrit of Capias or any of them shall be Returned as is aforesaid do make an untrue Return upon any the said VVrits that the party named in the said VVrit hath not yielded his Body upon the said Proclamations or any of them where indeed the party did yield himself according to the effect of the same that then every such Sheriff or other Officer for every such false and untrue Return shall forfeit to the party grieved and damnified by the said Return the Sam of 40 l. 2. For the which Sum of 40 l. the said party grieved shall have his Recovery and due Remedy by Action of Debt Bill Plaint or Information in any of the Queens Courts of Record in which Action Bill Plaint or Information no Essoign Protection or Wager of Law shall be admitted or allowed for the party Defendant 10. Saving and Reserving to all Arch Bishops and Bishops and all others having Authority to certisie any person Excommunicated and like Authority to accept and receive the submission and satisfaction of the said person so Excommunicated in manner and form heretofore used 2. And him to Absolve and Release and the same to signifie as heretofore it hath been accustomed to the Queen's Majesty Her Heirs and Successors into the High Court of Chancery 3. And thereupon to have such VVrits for the deliverance of the said person so absolved and released from the Sheriff's Custody or Prison as heretofore they or any of them had or of right ought or might have had any thing in this present Statute specified or contained to the contrary hereof in any wise notwithstanding 11. Provided alwayes That in Wales the Counties Palatines of Lancaster Chester Durham and Ely and in the Cinque Ports being Jurisdictions and places Exempt where the Queen's Majesty 's VVrit does not run and process of Capias from thence not Returnable into the said Court of the King's-Bench after any Significavit being of Record in the said Court of Chancery The Tenour of such Significavit by Mittimus shall be sent to such of the Head Officers of the said Country of Wales Counties Palatines and places Exempt within whose Offices Charge or Jurisdiction the Offenders shall be Resiant that is to say to the Chancellour or Chamberlain for the said County Palatine of Lancaster and Chester and for the Cinque-Ports to the Lord Warden of the same and for Wales and Ely and the County Palatine of Durham to the Chief Justice or Justices there 2. And thereupon every of the said Justices and Officers to whom such Tenour of Significavit with Mittimus shall be directed and delivered shall by virtue of this Estatute have Power and Authority to make like Process to the Inferiour Officer and Officers to whom the Execution of Process there doth appertain Returnable before the Justices there at their next Sessions or Courts two Moneths at the least after the Teste of every such Process 3. So alwayes as in every degree they shall proceed in their Sessions and Courts against the Offenders as the Justices of the said Court of King's-Bench are Limited by the Tenour of this Act in Term-times to do and Execute 12. Provided also and be it Enacted That any person at the time of any Process of Capias aforementioned Awarded being in Prison or out of this Realm in the parts beyond the Sea or within Age or of non sanae memoriae or woman Covert shall not incur any of the pains or forfeitures aforementioned which shall grow by any Return or Default happening during such time of Nonage Imprisonment being beyond the Sea or non sanae memoriae 2. And that by virtue of this Estatute the party grieved may plead every such cause or matter in bar of and upon the distress or other Process that shall be made for Levying of any of the said pains or forfeitures 13. And if that the Offender against whom any such Writ of Excommunicato Capiendo shall be Awarded shall not in the same Writ of Excommunicato Capiendo have a sufficient and lawful addition according to the form of the Statute of Primo of Henry the Fifth in cases of certain Suits whereupon Process of Exigent are to be Awarded 2. Or if in the Significavit it be not contained that the Excommunication doth proceed upon some cause or contempt of some Original matter of Heresie or refusing to have his or their child Baptized or to recieve the Holy Communion as it is now commonly used to be Received in the Church of England or to come to Divine Service now commonly used in the said Church of England or Errour in matters of Religion or Doctrine now received and allowed in the said Church of England Incontinency Vsury Simony Perjury in the Ecclesiastical Court or Idolatry 3. That then all and every pains and forfeitures limited against such persons Excommunicate by this statute by reason of such Writ of Excommunicato capiendo wanting sufficient Addition or of such Significavit wanting all the Causes afore mentioned shall be utterly void in Law 4. and by way of Plea to be allowed to the party grieved 14. And if the Addition shall be with a Nuper of the place Then in every such case at the Awarding of the first Capias with Proclamation according to the form mentioned one VVrit of Proclamation without any pain expressed shall be Awarded into the County where the Offender shall be most commonly Resiant at the time of the Awarding of the said first Capias with pain in the same VVrit of Proclamation to be returnable the day of the return of the said first Capias with pain and Proclamation thereupon at some one such time and Court as is Prescribed for the Proclamation upon the said first Capias with pain 2. And if such Proclamation be not made in the County where the Offender shall be most commonly Resiant in such cases of Addition of Nuper That then such Offenders shall sustain no pain or forfeitures by vertue of this Statute for not yielding his or her body according to the Tenour afore-mentioned any thing before specified and to the Contrary hereof in any wise Notwithstanding The Comment With a Discourse of the Nature of Excommunication and how to prevent or take off the VVrit De Excommunicato Capiendo THough Excommunications pretend a Title Jure Divino as an Institution of Christ and therefore his Sacred Name is therein made use of and several other Spiritual Phrases purporting that the same and all proceedings thereunto are by his Authority yet they being so commonly thundered out by persons who have immediately no Authority from our Lord or his Word to manage them and for such trivial Crimes as no Law of God hath ordered them against and in such a Light and precipitant manner as no part of Holy Scripture warranteth The wiser sort of men do therefore look upon them rather as Excommunings or a sort of Civil punishment like that in use among
said Courts are to make out process for Levying the Twelve pences which shall be Levied by the Church-Wardens for the use of the poor However there being 52 Sundaies and 29 Holy-daies appointed by our Liturgy to be observed in the year the Constant charge by this statute for not coming to Church would be but 4l 1s p. An. And yet by the way Note That We have more Holy-daies or Feasts to be observed since his Majesties Restauration than ever the Church of England owned before For there were antiently but 27. But upon the Review of the Book of Common prayer my Lords the Bishops were pleased to add 2 New ones viz. The Conversion of St. Paul and St. Barnabas and whereas in our old Common-prayer-Books 't is said The Feast of St. Michael the Arch-Angel in our present Books 't is St. Michael and all Angels Which seems an Affront to S. Michael at once to leave out his Title of Arch-Angel and at the same time bring in all other Angels as well of the lower as Higher Hierarchies to share with him in a Festival the Honour of which he had enjoyed so long solely and Intire to himself but this by the by So that upon the whole matter If any body should be busy to Execute this Act upon the Protestant dissenters from the Established Church of England yet considering the trouble of such a Conviction and the difficulty of proving a Negative viz. that a man was not at Church for note the words are shall repair to his own Parish Church or to some usual place where Common Prayer shall be used So that if he were at Mr. Read's Meeting-House I Conceive he were safe from this Act. All this I say Considered the Labour would be more than the trouble therefore let 's proceed 2. The second Act of this kind is 23 Eliz. Cap. 1. Intituled An Act to Retain the Queens Majesties Subjects in their due Obedience And by this to Reconcile any or for any to be Reconciled to the See of Rome To with-draw or be with-drawn from the Establisht Religion to the Romish Religion Is made High-Treason And that every one saying Mass shall forfeit 200 Marks and every one that hears it 100 Marks And every one above 16. years old not repairing to some Church or Chappel but forbearing the same contrary to the said Stat. 1. Eliz. C. 2. shall being lawfully Convicted forfeit 20 l. for every month And the Justices at the Quarter Sessions are Impowered to Inquire into the Offences against this Act Except Treason And if any Indicted hereupon Except for Treason will submit in open Court and conform before Judgment given he shall be discharged Now that this Statute was expressly and wholly made against the Papists is evident by the whole Scope thereof as punishing saying of Mass drawing the Queens Subjects to Popery c. More especially by its preamble which alwaies opens and declares the Scope of a Law whereas since the Statutes made in the 13. year of the Reign of the Queen our Soveraign Lady Intituled An Act against the bringing in and putting in Execution of Bulls Writings Instruments and other Superstitious things from the See of Rome divers ill affected Persons have practised by other means than by Bulls or Instruments Written or Printed to with-draw Her Majesties Subjects to obey the said usurped Authority of Rome and IN RESPECT OF THE SAME pray mark to perswade great numbers to with-draw their due Obedience from Her Majesties Laws establisht for the due service of Almighty God For Reformation WHEREOF be it Enacted viz. That to with-draw to the Church of Rome shall be Treason and not coming to Church shall forfeit 20 l. p. month Nothing can be more plain than that this Levelled wholly against the Papists and cannot at all affect dissenting Protestants 3. The Statute of 29. Eliz. Cap. 6. Is only a Reinforcement of the last Act and therefore must be only intended of the same Persons viz. Popish Recusants For as yet there were no other whose Penalties this Statute Encreases for not coming to Church For where is by the former Statute of 23d it was to be only 20 l. p. month and bound to the good Behaviour after Conviction This gives to the Queen Her Heirs a Right to 20 l. p. month for every month after such Conviction till they came to Church And if default be made of payment of the 20 l. a month then to seize all their Goods and 2 parts of their Real Estate 〈…〉 But this is still concerning Popish Recusants for it respects the same that were Offenders against the Statute of the 23. And they were only Papists Therefore 't is absurd and unjust to turn the Edge on 't upon Protestants 4. We come now to the Statute of 1. Jac. Ca. 4. which confirms all the former Statutes made against Popish Recusants in the Queens time But provides for their being discharged tho Convicted upon their coming to Church And that it means and intends none but Jesuits and Popish Priests and other Popish Recusants appears manifestly not only in the Title but in the first Section of the Act it self and so throughout The Title is An Act for the due Execution of the Statutes against Jesuites Seminary Priests Recusants the 2 former words including the Romish Clergy the latter the Laiety c. and begins thus For the better and more due Execution of the Statutes heretofore made Against whom as well against Jesuites Seminary Priests and other SUCH-LIKE Priests That is other Popish Priests tho not bred up in the Serminaries as also against all manner of Recusants That is Papists tho not in Orders Be it Enacted c. That all every the Statutes heretofore made against Jesuites seminary Priests and other Priests Deacons and Religions and Ecclesiastical Persons whatsoever made ordained or professed or to be made by any Authority or Jurisdiction derived Challenged or pretended from the See of Rome together with all those made against any manner of Recusants That is Papists still but Lay men not in Orders nor professed of any Order of Monks or Friars as those before mentioned were shall be put in due and Exact Execution Nothing can be more absurd than to rack force this Law so far besides its Scope as to make use of it against Protestants agreeing with the Church of England in all the Doctrines and only differing in a few Indifferent Ceremonies When it most manifestly appears intended only against Jesuits Romish Priests and other Papists 5. And now was discovered the Hellish Powder-Plot of the Papists which occasioned the making of the Statute 3 Jac. Ca. 4. Intituled An Act for discovering and Repressing Popish Recusants So that both the occasion and the very Title shews evidently against whom this Act is designed which also appears further in the preamble the whole purport of this Act all along being only to Reinforce the rest of the Acts against Popish Recusants and for that as
mans Guilt is enough to Condemn him I see not why their personal knowledge of a Prisoners Innocency or of the Witnesses Swearing falsely should not be sufficient to Acquit him 2. The other ground upon which the Grand Juries are to Proceed is Testimony of Witnesses and this is call'd EVIDENCE because it ought to be such as may make the matter clear manifest plain and evident to the Jury and of this Evidence the Jury are the proper and only Judges therefore they ought according to their Oath diligently Inquire into the Quality Repute and Circumstances of the Witnesses the likelyhood of what they Depose and whether they do not Swear out of Malice Subornation Self-Interest Combination or some ill design which to Discover they will do well to Examine them apart to note their Variations and Contradictions to ask them sudden questions and what questions are pertinent not the Judges but the Jury only can determine for they may know how to make use of them towards Discovery of the Truth thô the Judge does not and 't is They are upon their Oaths not he 't is they must satisfy their own Consciences the Judge has nothing to do to Intermeddle he is bound by their Verdict Let Witnesses be never so rampantly positive yet if the Jurors have good and reasonable grounds not to believe them they will they must remain as Ignorant to the parties Crime as before we find this expresly asserted for Law in our Books as Stiles's Reports L. 11. thô there be Witnesses who prove the Bill yet the Grand Inquest is not bound to find it if they see cause to the contrary so Coke L. 6. The Judges use to determine who shall be Sworn and what shall be produced as Evidence to the Jury but the Jury are to consider what Credit or Authority the same is worthy of If a Grand Jury are not Judges of Evidence they signifie nothing If as some would perswade us because People Swear desperately thô they do not believe them they shall be bound to find the Bill then they signifie nothing and are no security to preserve Innocency A lewd Woman once resolv'd to Indict the then Arch-bishop of Canterbury for a Rape she Swore it no doubt very heartily according to this new Doctrine of going according to Evidence the Jury must presently have found the Bill the Arch-bishop must have been Committed to Prison Suspended from Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction his Goods and Chattels throughout England Inventoried by the Sheriffs would it think you in that Case have been a good Excuse for the Grand Jury to have said that thô they believ'd in their Conscience the Baggage swore false yet she Swearing it positively they as so many Parish Clerks were but to say Amen to her Oath of the Fact and to find Billa Vera against that eminent Prelate And if the Jury be Judges of the Credibility of Evidence in this Case and may go contrary to it why I pray may they not have the same Liberty where they find good Cause in others If an Indictment be laid against a man for Criminal words said to be utter'd in a Colloquium or Discourse thô the Witnesses roundly Swear all the express words in the Indictment yet unless they will Relate and set forth the Substance of the whole talk 't is impossible the Jury should Judge of the matter for the foregoing and subsequent words may render Expressions that are Innocent and Loyal which taken to halfs may be rank Treason as if one should say To affirm the King has no more Right to the Crown of England than I have which is the Opinion of the Jesuits of his Majesty if once Excommunicated by the Pope is detestable Treason And two men at some distance not well Hearing or Remembring or Maliciously designing against his Life should Swear That he said The King had no more Right to the Crown than he had Now that the Man did utter these very words is true but if you ask the Evidence the rest of the Colloquium they shall tell you there was much more Discourse but they cannot remember it what satisfaction is this to a Jury or would it not be hard for a Man to be put to hold up his Hand at the Bar under the frightful Charge of Treason in this Case Or if a Minister in his Sermon should Recite that of the Psalms The Fool hath said in his Heart there is no God Jesuited Evidence now may come and Charge him with Blasphemy and Swear that he said There was no God and ask them what Expressions besides he used may excuse themselves and say 'T is a great while agoe we cannot remember a whole Sermon but this we all positively Swear He said there was no God The Inquiry of a Grand Jury should be suitable to their Title a Grand Inquiry else instead of serving their Countrey and presenting real Crimes they may Oppress the Innocent as in the Case of Samuel Wright and John Good at a Sessions in the Old Baily about December 1681. Good Indicts Wright for Treasonable words and Swore the words positively but after a Grand Enquiry the Grand Jury found that Wright only spoke the words as of others thus They say so and so and concluded with this They are Regnes for saying it and also Good at last Confessed that Wright was his Master and Corrected him for Misdemeanours and then to be Reveng'd he comes and Swears against him which he Confessed he was Instigated to by one Powel so the Grand Jury finding it to be but Malice Return'd the Bill Ignoramus whereas if they had not Examin'd him strictly they had never discover'd the Intreigue and the Master had Causelesly been brought to great Charge Ignominy and Hazard The Judicious Dalton p. 539 says well No less care or Concern at all lies on the Grand Jury than does on the Petty Jury People may tell you That you ought to find a Bill upon any probable Evidence for 't is but matter of Course a Ceremony a Business of Form only an Accusation the party is to come before another Jury and there may make his Defence But if this were all to what purpose have we Grand Juries at all why are the wisest best men in a County for such they are or should be troubled why are they so strictly Sworn Do not Flatter your selves you of the Grand Jury are as much upon your Oaths as the Petty Jury and the Life of the man against whom the Bill is brought is in your Hands The Lord Cook 3. Iustit 33. plainly calls the Grand Jury-men all wilfully forsworn and Perjured if they wrongfully find an Indictment and if in such a Case the other Jury thro Ignorance c. should find the person Guilty too you are Guilty of his Blood as well as they but suppose he get off there do you think it nothing to Accuse a man upon your Oaths of horrid Crimes your very doing of which puts him thô never so Innocent to