have a Parliament wherein the People should have no more Religion then to beleive nor Learning then to understand his sense nor wisedome then to take heed of a Negative Vote But it befell otherwise for though it was called the Lack-learning Parliament yet had it well enough to discern the Clergies inside and Resolution enough to enter a second claime against the Clergies Temporalties and taught the King a Lesson That the least understanding Parliaments are not the best for his purpose For though the wisest Parliaments have the strongest sight and can see further then the King would have them yet they have also so much wisedome as to look to their own skins and commonly are not so venterous as to tell all the World what they know or to act too much of that which they doe understand But this Parliament whether wise or unwise spake loud of the Clergies superfluous Riches and the Kings wants are parallel'd therewith and that the Church-men may well spare enough to maintaine fifteen Earles fifteen hundred Knights six thousand two hundred Esquires and one hundred Hospitalls more then were in his Kingdome This was a strong temptation to a needy and couragious Prince but the Arch-Bishop was at his elbow the King tells the Commons that the Norman and French Cells were in his Predecessors time seized under this colour yet the Crowne was not the richer thereby he therefore resolves rather to add to then diminish any thing from the maintenance of the Clergy Thus as the King said he did though he made bold with the Keyes of Saint Peter for he could distinguish between his owne Clergy and the Romane The People are herewith put to silence yet harbour sad conceits of the Clergy against a future time which like a hidden fire are not onely preserved but increased by continuall occasions and more principally from the zeal of the Clergy now growing fiery hot against the Lollards For that not onely the People but the Nobles yea some of the Royall blood were not altogether estranged from this new old way whether it was sucked from their Grand-Father Duke John or from a Popular strain of which that House of Lancaster had much experience I determine not These were the Dukes of Bedford and Glocester Bedford was first at the Helme of Affaires at home whiles the King acted the Souldiers part in France as ill conceited of by the Clergy as they sleighted by him At a Convocation once assembled against the Lollards the Duke sent unto their Assembly his Dwarfe as a great Lollard though he was a little Man and he returned as he went even as Catholique as any of them all Non tam dispectus à Clero quam ipse Clerum despiciens atque eludens This and some other sleights the Clergy liked not they therefore finde a way to send him into France to be a Reserve to his Brother And in his roome steps forth Humphrey Duke of Glocester that was no lesse coole for the Romane way then he Henry the Fifth was not more hearty in Romes behalf for although he was loath to interrupt his Conquest abroad with contests at home yet he liked not of advancements from Rome insomuch as perceiving the Bishop of Winchester to aspire to a Cardinals Hat he said that he would as well lay aside his own Crowne as allow the Bishop to take the Hat Nor was he much trusted by the Clergy who were willing he should rather ingage in the Wars with France then minde the Proposalls of the Commons concerning the Clergies Temporalties which also was renued in the Parliament in his dayes Above all as the Lancastrian House loved to looke to its own so especially in relation to Rome they were the more jealous by how much it pretended upon them for its favour done to their House And therefore Henry the Fourth the most obleiged of all the rest looked to the Provisors more strictly then his Predecessors had and not only confirmed all the Statutes concerning the same already made but had also provided against Provisors of any annuall Office or Profit or of Bulls of Exemption from payment of Tythes or from Obedience Regular or Ordinary and made them all punishable within the Statute and further made all Licenses and Pardons contrary thereto granted by the King void against the Incumbent and gave damages to the Incumbent in such vexations for the former Lawes had saved the right to the true Patron both against Pope and King And thus the English Kings were Servants to the Church of England at the charges of Rome whiles the Popedome being now under a wasting and devouring Scisme was unable to help it selfe and so continued untill the time of Henry the Sixth at which time the Clergy of England got it selfe under the power and shadow of a Protector a kinde of Creature made up by a Pope and a King This was the Bishop of Winchester so great a Man both for Birth parts of Nature Riches Spirit and Place as none before him ever the like for he was both Cardinall Legate and Chancellour of England and had gotten to his aide the Bishop of Bathe to be Lord Treasurer of England Now comes the matter concerning Provisors once more to be revived First more craftily by collogueing with the Nobility who now had the sway in the Kings minority but they would none An answer is given by the King that he was too young to make alteration in matters of so high Concernment yet he promised moderation The Clergy are put to silence herewith and so continue till the King was six yeares elder and then with Money in one hand and a Petition in the other they renue their Suit but in a more subtill way For they would not pretend Roâ—e but the English Churches liberties they would not move against the Statutes of Praemuniri but to have them explained it was not much they complained of for it was but that one word Otherwhere which say they the Judges of the Common Law expound too largely not onely against the Jurisdiction of the Holy Sea but against the Jurisdiction of the English Prelacy which they never intended in the passing of those Lawes Their Conclusion is therefore a Prayer That the King will please to allow the Jurisdiction of their Ecclesiasticall Courts and that Prohibitions in such Cases may be stopped But the King either perceiving that the Authority of English Prelacy was wholly dependent on the Sea of Rome and acted either under the shadow Legatine or at the best sought an Independent power of their own Or else the King doubting that the calling of one word of that Statute into question that had continued so long might indanger the whole Law into uncertainty declined the matter saving in the moderation of Prohibitions Thus the English Clergy are put to a retreat from their reserve at Rome all which they now well saw yet it was hard to wean them The Cardinall of Winchester was a
them Church-motes For the first of them which is sayd to be holden in the yeare 816. is called a Synod and both Preists and Deacons were there present which are no Members of Parliament consisting onely of the House of Lords and they all of them did Pariter tractare de necessarijs utilitatibus Ecclesiarum The second of them is called a Synodall Councill holden Anno 822. and yet there were then present Omnium dignitatum optimates which cannot be understood onely of those of the House of Lords because they ought all to be personally present and therefore there is no Optimacy amongst them The last of these three is called Synodale Conciliabulum a petty Synod in great letters and besides there were with the Bishops and Abbots many Wise men and in all these respects it cannot be a Parliament onely of the great Lords The next Councill said to be holden in the yeare 823. cannot also be called properly a Parliament but onely a consultation between two Kings and their Councill to prevent the invasion of the Danes and the attests of the Kings Chapplain and his Scribe doe shew also that they were not all Members of the House of Lords The Councill cited by the Opponent in the next place was holden An 838. being onely in nature of a Councill for Law or Judicature to determine the validity of the Kings Grant made to the Church of Canterbury which is no proper worke for a Parliament unlesse it befall during the fitting of the same The next is but a bare title of a Councill supposed to be holden An. 850. And not worth its room for it neither sheweth whether any thing was concluded nor what the conclusions were The worke of the next Councill alleadged to be holden An. 851. was to confirme the Charter of the Monastry of Croyland and to determine concerning affaires belonging to the Mercinies and if it had beene a Parliament for that people it might be worthy of inquiry how regularly the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London and the Ambassadors from the West Saxons could sit amongst them and attest the conclusions therein made as wel as the proper members of that Nation He commeth in the next place to a Councill holden in the yeare 855. which is more likely to be a Parliament then most of them formerly mentioned if the Tithes of all England were therein given to the Church but hereof I have set downe my opinion in the former part of the discourse And though it be true that no Knights and Burgesses are therein mentioned as the Opponent observeth out of the Title yet if the body of the Lawes be duly considered towards the conclusion thereof it will appeare that there was present Fidelium infinita multitudo qui omnes regium Chirographum Laudaverunt Dignitates vero sua nomina subscripserunt And yet the Witagen-motes in these times began to be rare being continually inrerrupted by the invasions of the Danes The three next Councills alleaged to be in the yeares 930. 944. 948. Were doubtlesse of inferiour value as the matters therin concluded were of inferiour regard being such as concerne the passing of the Kings Grants Infeodations and confirmations The Councill mentioned to be in the yeare 965. is supposed to be one and the same with the next foregoing by Sir Henry Spelman which calls it selfe a generall Councill not by reason of the generall confluence of the Lords and Laity but because all the Bishops of England did then meet The Primi and Primates were there who these were is not mentioned but its evident that the King of Scots was there and that both he and diverse that are called Ministri Regis attested the conclusions It will be difficult to make out how these should be Members of the House of Lords and more difficult to shew a reason why in the attesting of the acts of these Councills which the Opponent calls Parliaments we finde so few of the Laity that scarce twelve are mentioned in any one of them and those to descend so low as the Ministri Regis to make up the number Five more of these instances remaine before the comming in of the Normans The first of which was in the yeare 975. and in a time when no Parliament according to the Opponents principles could sit for it was an Inter regnum The two next were onely Synods to determine the difference between the Regulers and the Seculers in the Kings absence by reason that he was under age and they are sayd to be in the yeares 977 and 1009. But it s not within the compasse of my matter to debate their dates The last two were Meetings or Courts for Judicature to determine the crime of Treason which every one knowes is determinable by inferiour Courts before the high Steward or Judges and therefore not so peculiar to a Parliament as to be made an argument of its existence And thus are we at an end of all the instances brought by the Opponent to prove that Parliaments before the Norman times consisted of those whom we now call the House of Lords All which I shall shut up with two other notes taken out of the Book of Councils published by Sir Henry Spelman The first of which concerneth a Grant made by Canutus of an exemption to the Abby of Bury Saint Edmonds in a Councill wherein were present Arch-Bishops Bishops Abbots Dukes Earles Cum quamplurimis gregariis militibus cum populi multitudine copiosa votis regiis unanimiter consentientes The other taken out of the confessors Lawes which tells us that Tithes were granted to the Church A Rege Baronibus populo And thus shall leave these testimonies to debate with one another whiles the Reader may judge as seemeth most equall to himselfe Being thus come to the Norman times and those ensuing I shall more summarily proceed with the particulars concerning them because they were times of force and can give little or no evidence against the customes rightly setled in the Saxon times which I have more particularly insisted upon that the originall constitution of this government may the better appeare Now for the more speedy manifesting of the truth in the particulars following I shall pre-advise the Reader in three particulars First that the Church-motes grew more in power and honor by the aide of the Normans Law refusing the concurrence and personall presence of Kings whom at length they excluded from their Councils with all his Nobles and therefore it is the lesse wonder if we heare but little of the Commons joyning with them Secondly that the Norman way of government grew more Aristocraticall then the Saxon making the Lords the cheif Instruments of keeping Kings above and people underneath thus we meet with much noise of meetings betweene the King and Lords and little concerning the grand meetings of the Kings and the representative of the people although some footsteps wee finde even of them
feminine Spirit which they sent over into England to be their Queen and in one Civill Warre shedding more English blood by the English Sword then they could formerly doe by all the men of France were revenged upon England to the full at the English mens own charge For what the English gain by the Sword is commonly lost by discourse A Kingdome is never more befooled then in the Marriage of their King if the Lady be great she is good enough though as Jezabell she will not either reverence her Husband obey her Lord and King nor regard his People And thus was this Kingdome scourged by a marriage for the sinne of the Wise men that building upon a false Foundation advised the King in the breach of Contract with the Earle of Arminiacks Daughter And thus the King also for that hearkning to such Councell he murthered the Duke of Glocester that had been to him a Father yeilded up his Power to his Queen A Masterlesse and proud Woman that made him like a broken Idol without use suffered a Recovery of his Crown and Scepter in the Parliament from his owne Issue to the Line of Yorke then renewing the Warre at his Queens beck lost what he had left of his Kingdome Countrey and Liberty and like the King that forgot the kindnesse of Jehojada lost his life by the hand of his Servant CHAP. XIV Of the Parliament during the Reignes of these Kings THe interest of the Parliament of England is never more Predominant then when Kings want Title or Age The first of these was the Case of Henry the Fourth immediately but of them all in relation to the pretended Law of the Crown but Henry the Sixth had the disadvantage of both whereof in its due place The pretended Law of the Crown of England is to hold by Inheritance with power to dispose of the same in such manner by such means and unto such persons as the King shall please To this it cannot be denied divers Kings had put in their claimes by devising their Crowne in their last Will but the successe must be attributed to some Power under God that must be the Executor when all is done and which must in Cases of Debate concerning Succession determine the matter by a Law best known to the Judge himselfe Not much unlike hereunto is the Case of Henry the Fourth who like a Bud putting up in the place of a fading Leafe dismounts his Predecessor First from the Peoples regard and after from his Throne which being empty some times he pretending the resignation of his Predecessor to him other whiles an obscure Title by descent his Conscience telling him all the while that it was the Sword that wrought the worke But when he comes to plead his Title to Forrain Princes by Protestation laying aside the mention of them all he justifies upon the unanimous consent of the Parliament and the People in his own onely Person And so before all the World confessed the Authority and power of the Parliament of England in disposing of the Crown in speciall Cases as a sufficient barr unto any pretended right that might arise from the House of Mortimar And yet because he never walks safely that hath an Enemy pursuing him still within reach he bethinks himself not sure enough unlesse his next Successors follow the dance upon the same foote to this end an Act of Parliament leades the tune whereby the Crowne is granted or confirmed to Henry the Fourth for life and intailed upon his Sonnes Thomas John and Humphrey by a Petition presented 5. Hen. 4. Thus Henry the Fourth to save his owne stake brought his Posterity into the like capacity with himselfe that they must be Kings or not subsist in the World if the House of Yorke prevailes and so he becomes secured against the House of Yorke treading on his heeles unlesse the Parliament of England shall eat their owne word However for the present the House of Lancaster hath the Crown intailed and the Inheritance is left in the Clouds to be revealed in due time For though this was the first president of this kinde yet was it not the last wherein the Parliament exercised a Power by Grant or Confirmation to direct the Law and Course of the Crown as they pleased The due consideration hereof will make the things that follow lesse strange For the Parliament according to occasion as the Supreame power of this Kingdome exercised Supreame Jurisdiction in order to the safety of the Kingdome as if no King had beene to be found in issuing forth Writs under the great Seale concluding of matters without the Royall assent treating of Peace with Forrain Nations and of other matters and determining their Resolves before discovery made to the King of their Councells making Ordinances and ruling by them 3 H. 6. n. 29. 2 H. 6. n. 27. 8 H. 6. n. 12. referring matters determinable in Parliament to be determined according to their directions Authoritate Parliamenti Confirming Peace made by the King protesting against Peace made without or against their consent making Ambassadours with power to ingage for the Kingdome making Generals of the Army Admiralls at Sea Chancellors Barons and Privy Councellors and giving them instructions 8 H. 4. n. 73. 76. 31. 5 H. 4. n. 57. 31 H. 6. n. 21. and binding them to observance upon Oath 11 H. 4. n. 19.39 Ordering the Person of the King denying his power of Judicature in Parliament and ordering his Houshold and Revenue besides many other particulars Now if such as these things were thus done not by one Parliament which possibly might be overwayed by Factions but by the course of a Series of Parliaments that mightily laboured against Faction and unworthy ends and aimes that man shal determin the same to be unjust or indiscreet should himself first be determined to be very just and exceeding wise Nor was the Parliament partiall in all this but being in a way of Reformation it set upon the work of reforming it selfe Some that are very zealous in the point of Arbitrary and absolute Government of Kings in this Nation and all in other amongst other grounds rest upon this one That an English King hath power to call Parliaments and dissolve them to make and unmake Members as he shal please I do easily grant that Kings have many Occasions and Opportunities to beguile their People yet can they do nothing as Kings but what of right they ought to doe They may call Parliaments but neither as often or seldome as they please if the Statute-Laws of this Realme might take place Nor if they could is that power necessarily and absolutely arising from Supremacy seeing it is well known that such power is betrusted by the Superiour States in other Nations to the Inferiour who dayly attend on publique Affaires and therefore can discern when the generall Conventions are most necessary As touching the dissolving of Parliaments against the wills of
underlings to the great men then they are to their Fethers to were them no longer then they will make them brave Secondly the Person thus agreed upon his intertainment must be accordingly and therefore the manner of taxing in full County and levying the rate of Wages for their maintenance is reformed and settled And lastly their Persons are put under the Protection of the Law in an especiall manner for as their work is full of reflexion so formerly they had met with many sad influences for their labour And therefore a penall Law is made against force to be made upon the Persons of those workmen of State either in their going to that Service or attending thereupon making such Delinquents liable to Fine and Imprisonment and double damages And thus however the times were full of confusions yet a foundation was laid of a more uniforme Government in future times then England hitherto had seen CAHP. XV. Of the Custos or Protector Regni KIngs though they have vast dimensions yet are not infinite nor greater then the bounds of one Kingdome wherein if present they are in all places present if otherwise they are like the Sunn gone down and must rule by reflexion as the Moone in the night In a mixt common wealth they are integrall members and therefore regularly must act Per deputatum when their Persons are absent in another Ligialty and cannot act Per se Partly because their Lustre is somewhat eclipsed by another Horizon and partly because by common intendment they cannot take notice of things done in their absence It hath therefore been the ancient course of Kings of this Nation to constitute Vicegerents in their absence ' giving them severall titles and severall powers according as the necessity of affaires required Sometimes they are called Lord Warden or Lord Keeper of the Kingdome and have therewith the generall power of a King as it was with John Warren Earle of Surry appointed therunto by Edw. the first who had not onely power to command but to grant and this power extended both to England and Scotland And Peter Gaveston though a Forrainer had the like power given him by Edward the second over England to the reproach of the English Nobility which also they revenged afterward Somtimes these Vicegerents are called Lievtenants which seemeth to conferr onely the Kings power in the Militia as a Lievtenant Generall in an army And thus Richard the second made Edmund Duke of Yorke his Lievtenant of the Kingdome of England to oppose the entry of the Duke of Hertford Afterwards called Henry the fourth into England during the Kings absence in Ireland And in the mean while the other part of the Royalty which concerned the revenues of the Crowne was betrusted to the Earle of Wiltshire Sir John Bush Sir James Baggot and Sir Henry Green unto whom men say the King put his Kingdome to farme But more ordinarily the Kings power was delegated unto one under both the titles of Lord Gaurdian of the Kingdome and Lievtenant within the same such was the title of Henry Lacy Earle of Lincolne and of Gilbert De clare Earle of Glocester and of Audomar De valentia Earle of Pembroke all of them at severall times so constituted by Edward the second as by the Patent Roles appeareth So likewise did Edward the third make his Brother John of Eâ—tham twice and the black Prince thrice and Lionell Duke Clarence and his Brother Thomas each of them once in the severall passages of Edward the third beyond the Sea in the third fifth twelfth fourteenth sixteenth nineteenth and thirty third years of his reigne concerning which see the Patent Rolls of those yeares And Henry the fifth gave likewise the same title and authority to the Duke of Bedford upon the Kings voyage into France and afterward that Duke being sent over to second the King in the French Wars the Duke of Glocester obtained the same power and place But Henry the sixth added a further title of Protector and Defendor of the Kingdome and Church of England this was first given to the Duke of Bedford and afterwards he being made Regent of France it was conferred upon the Duke of Glocester And towards the later time of Henry the sixth it was granted by him to Richard Duke of Yorke This title carried along with it a power different from that of a King onely in honor and the Person so adorned may be said to sway the Scepter but not to weare the Crowne And therefore in the minority of Henry the sixth when as the Government was ordered by the Parliament and to that end a Protector was made and he wel guarded with a Privy Councill and they provided with instructions one of them was that in all matters not to be transacted ordinarily but by the Kings expresse consent the Privy Councell should advise with the Prorector but this is not so needfull in regard that it concerneth the power of executing of Lawes which by right of the liberty of the Subject is the known duty of the Scepter in whose hands soever it is holden And therefore I shall passe to the Legislative power wherein its evident that the Protectors power was no whit inferiour to the Kings power For first the Protector Ex officio by advice of the Councell did summon Parliaments by Writs even as the Kings themselves under their owne Teste and if not bear the Royall Assent yet did they direct the same and received Petitions in Parliament to them directed as to Kings and every way supplied the roome of a King in order to the perfecting publishing and inforcing of Law to Execution Secondly the Parliaments holden by Protectors and Lawes therein made are no whit inferiour to those by the King whether for Honour or Power And therefore if a Parliament be-holden by the Lord Warden and sitting the Parliament the King in person shall arrive and be there present neither is the Parliament interrupted thereby nor the power thereof changed at all though the power and place of the Wardenship of the Kingdome doth utterly vanish by the personall accesse of the King because in all Cases where the King is subservient to the Kingdome or the Common-wealth The Lord Warden in his absence is conservient unto him being in his stead and not under him for the very Place supposeth him as not because not present And this was by a Law declaratively published at such time as Henry the fifth was Regent of France and therefore by common presumption was likely to have much occasion of residence in that Kingdome and it holdeth in equall force with all other Lawes of the highest Size which is the rather to be noted because it is though under a Protector obligatory to the King and makes his personall presence no more considerable then the presence of his shadow For the King spent three whole yeares in the French Warres and during that time never saw England where
Chancellor hath his Conscience the Arch-Bishop brings Religion the Judges bring Law so as its probable nothing will be done but according to Justice Conscience Religion and Law a very faire mixture but that there was a Treasurer in the Case yet the successe answered not expectation the Persons offended were many times inferiour and their estates not great the Offenders more meane and of desperate fortunes for great men were too wise to try this new way or to tast of their entertainment Therefore within nine yeares the Judges of Assize are betrusted with all and that Court so continued for as many yeares more and then the King marked out one Crime amongst the rest for his owne tooth belonging to the great men onely for they onely are able to commit the Crime and to give recompence sutable to the Kings Appetite It is giving of Liveries and Retainders a sore evill in the eyes of a jealous King tending to draw the inferiour sort to honour and admire and be of the suit of those of the greater sort and then beware the Crown These therefore must be tried before the King himself and his Councell that he may know whom he is to feare and of whom to take heed And herewith is a strange power given to summon upon a meere Suspition To proceed without information To examine the Defendant upon Oath and make him his own Accuser To punish according to discretion by fine and Imprisonment and thus the King and his Councell have gotten a power under colour of Liveries and Retainders to bring the whole Kingdome to be of their Livery or else they can suspect whom they please apprehend whom they suspect put him presently to the rack of confession and so into prison till he hath satisfied both displeasure and jealousie and covetousnesse it self Never was England before now in so low a degree of thraldome bound under a double knot of self-accusing and arbitrary Censure and this out-reached not onely in matters meerly civill tending to the common Peace but was intruded also into matters Ecclesiasticall in order to the Peace of the Church All bound unto the good behaviour both in Body and Soul under perill of losse of all that a man hath deare to him in this World The plot of all this was first laid by Henry the seventh and was followed by Henry the eighth who put that into practise which his Father had in designe being led thereto by such a skilfull Guid as Cardinall Woolsie was who though of meane Birth yet of a Spirit above a King and equall to the Popedome strained the string of Prerogative to its utmost heighth and then taught the King to play thereon which he did after his blunt manner till his dying day And thus though the Clergy are brought a Peg lower and the Nobility advanced higher yet was it the pollicy of these Kings to make them all of their own Livery and Retaindership to keep them in an upper region looking on the poore Commons at a distance far below and well it was for the Commons thus to be till the influence of these blazing Stars grew cooler CHAP. XXXII Of the Militia IT may fall within the verge of opinion that the guilty Title of Henry the seventh to the Crowne of England galled his minde with jealousie the greatest part of his Reigne Whether it were that he had not declared himself so fully upon his Title by his Wife or that as yet he feared some unknown Plantagenet would arise and put his Crown to the question This made him skilfull in the point of Fortification wherein he likewise spent the greatest part of his Reigne not so much by force of Armes for he cared not much for that noise well knowing that Peace is the safer condition for a King that comes in by power but principally by way of gaining Concessions and acknowledgment from the Subjects a Musick that he much delighted to heare well knowing it would conclude those amongst them that knew too much and instruct them that knew too little and so in time he should passe for currant amongst them all It was no hard matter for the King to accomplish this the greater part of the Kingdome being pre-ingaged unto his Title and of them many depending upon him for livelyhood if he failed they must look to loose all But the present occasion urged more importantly the Title to the Crown was already put to the question by the pretentions of one that named himself Duke of Yorke And it s now high time for the Law to declare it self to direct the People in such a Case What shall the People do where Might overcomes Right or if dayes come like those of Henry the sixth wherein the Subjects should be between two millstones of one King in Title and another King in possession for whom must they take up Armes if for Edward the fourth then are they Traitors to Henry the sixth if for Henry the sixth then are they Traitors to Edward the fourth and so now if for Henry the seventh then they may be Traitors to the Duke of Yorke if for the Duke of Yorke then are they Traitors to Henry the seventh For though the Duke of Yorke was said to be but a contrivance of the House of Burgundy yet a great part both of the great men and others were of another opinion and the King himself was not very certaine of his condition for the space of six years thereby This puts the Title of allegiance and that power of the Militia to the touch at length both King and Parliament come to one Conclusion consisting of three particulars First that the King for the time being whether by right or wrong ought to have the Subjects Allegiance like to that of the wise Councellor of that brave King of Israell Whom the Lord and his People and all the men of Israell chuse his will I be And this is not onely declared by the expresse words in the Preface of the Law but also by the Kings own practise for he discharged such as aided him against Richard the third then King by pardon by Parliament but such as aided him being King by declaration of the Law Secondly that this Allegiance draweth therewith ingagement for the defence of that King and Kingdome Thirdly that the discharge of this Service whereto the Subjects are bound by allegiance ought not to be imputed unto them as Treason Nor shall any person be impeached or attainted therefore the first and the last of these need no dispute The second is more worthy of consideration in the particular words set downe in the Statute Viz. That the Subjects are to serve their Prince in his Warres for the defence of him and the Land against every rebellion Power and Might reared against him and with him to enter and abide in Service in Battell Wherein two things are to be considered the Service and the time or occasion The Service is to serve the Prince
not so fill he would have Souldiers but they must be his Patentees not for any skill or valour in them above others but he hoped they would compound with him for Licenses to absent rather then to adventure themselves and so he might get the more Money that could finde pay for Souldiers more and better then they were or would be for otherwise the Patentees might by the Statute have beene allowed to serve the King by their Deputies which would have done the King better Service in the Warrs then themselves could have done and for this very purpose much use was made of these Statutes as well by Henry the seventh as Henry the eighth both for Licenses and Pardons for composition in such Cases as their Records do plentifully shew Secondly let the Claime of Kings be what they will yet the matter in fact shew plainly that they never had possession of what they claimed Both these Kings pretended a Forraine-Warr each of them once against one and the same Nation and to that end advanced unto one place with their Armies although the one went in good earnest the other in jest Their Armies were not gathered by Prerogative but of Volunteirs this not only the Records but also the Statutes do clearly set forth Some souldiers served under Captaines of their own choise and therefore the Law inflicteth a penalty upon such Captains as bring not their number compleat according to their undertaking other Souldiers are levied by Commission by way of imprest which in those dayes were Volunteirs also and expecting favour from the publique the rather because they devoted themselves thereto without relation to any private Captaine willingly therefore received imprest Money And of this course the State saw a necessity both for the better choise of men and for the more publique owning of the worke For such as had been usually levied by the Captaines were fit only to fill up room and make up the number and yet many times there was a failing in that also and this manner of raising the Infantry was continued by Henry the eighth as by the like Law in his time may appeare As touching the levying of the Horse although diverse Statutes were made for the maintenance of the breed of Horses and Persons of all degrees of ability were assessed at the finding and maintaining of a certaine number of Horses yet do none of them tell us that they shall finde and maintaine them armed compleatly for the Warrs nor shall send them forth upon their own charge and therefore I suppose they were raised as formerly these two Kings had the happinesse to be admired the one for his shrewd cunning Head the other for a resolute and couragious Heart And it was no hard matter to finde men that loved to ingratiate themselves and indeavour to catch their favour though with the adventure of their Lives especially if they looked after Honour and Glory which as a Crowne they saw pitched at the Goale of their Actions Thirdly Concerning the pay of the Souldier the Law was the same as formerly the same was ascertained by the Statute-Law the payment was to be made by the Captaine under perill of imprisonment and forfeiture of Goods and Chattels and the true number of his Souldiers to be maintained and listed under the like perill Fourthly As touching the Souldiers service the same course also was taken as before if they dissert their Colours they shall be punished as Felons and the manner of tryall to be at the Common Law Fifthly For Fortifications the power properly belongeth to the supream Authority to give order therein For the people may not fortifie themselves otherwise then in their particular Houses which are reputed every mans Castle because publique Forts are enemies to the publique peace unlesse in case of publique danger concerning which private persons can make no determination And furthermore no Fortifications can be made and maintained without abridgement of the Common liberty of the people either by impairing their Freehold or exacting their labour or other Contribution none of which ought to be done but by publique Law and therefore when the Inhabitants of the County of Cornwall were to make defence against Invasion and Piracy from the Coast of Little Brittaine in regard they were a long slender County and upon sudden surprisals people could not so readily flock together for their joint defence they obtained an act of Parliament to give them power to fortifie the Sea coasts according to the direction of the Sheriff and Justices of the Peace Lastly Warrs once begun must be maintained at the charge of the undertakers If they be the Kings own Wars he must maintaine them out of his owne Treasury till the benefit of them doe prove to the common good and in such cases the charges have been sometimes provided before the work by Act of Parliament and sometimes after Henry the Seventh and Henry the eighth both of them at their severall times went to Boloigne with their Armies Henry the seventh with an intent to gaine profit to himselfe by an advantagious peace and had his ends therein and was ashamed to aske ayde of the people towards the charges of that Warr. Henry the Eighth went upon his owne charge also with his Army trusting to the Parliament for consideration to be had of his imployment wherein his expectation did not faile and in his absence made Queen Katharine Generall of all the Forces of England in his absence and gave her power with other five Noble Personages to take up Money upon Loane as occasion should require and to give security for the same for the maintaining and raising of Forces if need should require as is more particularly set forth in the Patent Rolls of these times Neverthelesse the Warr at Sea Infra quatuor maria was ever reputed Defensive as to the Nation and under the publique charge because no Warr could be there but an Enemy must be at hand and so the Nation in eminent danger and therefore the maintenance of the Navy Roiall in such cases was from the publique Treasury To conclude therefore If the Parliament and Common Law in all these cases of Levies of men for Warr payment of Souldiers and their deportment in cases of Fortifications and of maintenance of Warrs at Sea and the deportment of such as are imployed therein I say if they give the Law and carry the supream directory then certainely the Law rules in that which seemes most Lawlesse and though Kings may be cheife Commanders yet they are not the cheife Rulers CHAP. XXXIII Of the Peace PEace and Warr originally depend upon the same power because they relate each to other as the end to the meanes and receive motion from one and the same fountaine of Law that ruleth both in Peace and Warr It is very true that severall Ages hitherto have been troubled with arbitrary exhalations and these very times whereof we now treat are not altogether cleare
left the Duke to stand or fall before some other power which came to passe upon the entry of the next Successor The greatest trouble of his Government arose from the prosecution of a designe of his Grand-Fathers Henry the seventh for the uniting of the two Crownes of England and Scotland by marriage and settling an induring peace within this Isle and unto this worke all were ayders in both Nations but the Enemies of both But Gods wayes are not as Mans its a rare example to finde out one Marriage that did ever thrive to this end England meaned well in profering Love but the wooing was ill favoredly carried on by so much Blood Lastly As the Government was now tender so was it carried with much compliance with the People which ever gives occasion to such of them that are irregular to be more and such as are wel governed to be less because though pleasing it be yet it is with lesse awe and spirit which renders their obedience at the best but carelesse and idle unlesse such as are very consciencious be the more carefull over their owne wayes by how much their superiours are the lesse NOt thus was Queen Mary but like a Spaniard shee overruled all relations and ingagements by designe she was about forty yeares old and yet unmarried when shee came to the Throne it may seeme shee wanted a minde to that course of Life from naturall abstinency or was loath to adventure her feature which was not excellent to the Censure of any Prince of as high degree as shee held her self to be or her value was unknown so as to persons of meaner Interests shee might seeme too much above and to those of greater too much beneath Or possibly her Father was loath to let the World know her Title to the Crowne till needs must or to raise up a Title for an other man so long as he had hope of a Son of his own to succeed him and yet had formerly designed her for a wife to Charles the fifth and afterwards to the Dauphine of France Or it may be her self had set a command upon her self not to change her Estate till shee saw the course of the Crown either to or fro however the time is now come that shee must marry or adventure her Woman-hood upon an uncertaine and troublesome state of Affaires Shee liked the Lord Courtnoe above the Prince of Spaine but feared he would not designe with her Shee held him not unmeet for her degree for shee feared he was good enough for her Sister that then also had the Title of a Kingdome waiting so nigh her person as shee was an object of hope to her Freinds and feare to her Enemies And yet Queene Mary married the Prince of Spaine It may be it ran in the blood to marry into their owne blood or rather shee was thereto led by reason of state partly to inable her with greater security in the reseisure of her Kingdome in the Popish Religion wherein shee knew shee had to do with a People not easie to be reduced where Conscience pretended reluctancy and partly to assure her Dominion against the outworks of the French and Scottish designes And so shee yeilded up the Supremacy of her Person to the Prince of Spaine but thanks to the Nobility the Supremacy of the Kingdome was reserved to her own use for it was once in her purpose to have given up all to the man rather then to misse of the man And yet their condition was not much comfortable to either the peoples dislike of the match sounded so loud abroad that when the Prince was to come over the Emperour his Father demanded fifty Pledges for his Sons safty during his abode in this Land which was also denied when he was come over the English Feare the Spanish Tiranny and the Spanish the old Saxon entertainment of the Danes so both ly at their close guards as after some time the King and Queen did no lesse for the Queen was either never earnest in her affection or now much lesse finding his Body diseased and his Minde lingring after unlawfull game On the other side the King not finding that content in her Person especially after her supposed Concepcion that he expected looked to his owne Interest apart from hers and thereby taught her to do the like and this she thought cost England the losse of Callis and he Spaine the losse of many advantages that might have been obtained and was expected from this conjunction Thus by the severall interests betweene the King Regnant and the Queen Regent the Government of England became like a knot dissolving neither fast nor loose Towards the People she might well be reserved if not rigid for she knew her entry was not very acceptable though accepted and that her designe was contrary to her ingagements and therefore it was vaine to think to please her self and pleasure them Nor did she much busie her thoughts therewith that abominated trick of Impost upon Merchandise she brought into fashion which had by many publique acts been damned for the space of two hundred years this was done without either shame or fear for if the People turned head she knew she had a good reserve from Spaine and the People might very well consider of that though for her part she desired not much to improve that Forraine Interest because she might well see that Spaine designed to keep England so far beneath that France might not get above And that Phillip neither loved the double Crowne of England no nor the triple Crowne at Rome otherwise then in order to that of Spaine This distance between her and her King wrought her to a more nigh dependency upon her Councell and English Nobility and so became lesse discerned in her Government although questionlesse she did much and wanted not Wisdome or courage to have done more but that she was not wholly her owne Woman All men do agree that she was devout in her kind of profession and therin as deeply ingaged as her Brother Edward had beene in his though it may be out of tendernesse of Conscience but she out of a Spanish kind of gravity that indures not change and whereunto she was well aided by her Clergy who were her beloved for her Mothers sake and now also so much the more sowre by how much the nigher to the bottome It s the lesse wonder therefore if the zeale of these times burnt into a flame that at length consumed even those that kindled it In one thing more above all the rest she acted the part of her Sect rather then her Place and the same contrary to the advice of her Ghostly Fathers and all rules of policy and the agreement between her King and self upon Marriage which was the ingageing of England in the Warr at Saint Qui ntins against the French contrary to the Nationall league formerly made Neverthelesse the issue was but sutable for though the English
92 165 Benevolence first used by Edward the fourth 184. taken away by Richard the third 185. taken up again by Henry the seventh 196 Bishops not impeachable before the civil Magistrate 49. their Temporalties to be neither seised nor wasted in the vacancy 50. vide Ordinary Buggery made Felony 299 C. CAnons their power anciently in debate 61. such as are not according to the Law are taken away 236 Castles and Gaols restored to the County 113. vide Forts and Fortifications Chancery once an Office afterwards a Court 35. the power grows by Act of Parliament 36 162. the manner of the Proceedings 38. Keeper of the great Seal increaseth in power 162 Chancellor elected by the Parliament 39 Cheshire made a Principality 11 Children carried into Cloisters remedied 163 Clergy priviledged from Arrest 52. discharged of purveyance and free quarter 52. their Temporalties in question 63. the Commons love not their persons 147. their first declining from Rome in the matter of Provisors 150. they gain free process in matters Ecclesiastical 192. their defection from Rome and submission to the Crown 206 Clergy upon Triall but once allowed 257. in some cases disallowed 250 298 Commissioners Ecclsiastical 288. High Commission ibid. Conjuration vide Witchcraft Conservators of the Truce 162 Constables Court vid. Marshals Court Convocation established by Parliament 151. it then undertook great matters but much more after the Clergies forsaking the Pope 229 Councels the Privy Councel ordered by Parliament 21 33 141. of use for suddain motions 27. their Oath 29. and jurisdiction 31. and power 142 Magnum Concilium or the grand Councel of Lords 28 Crown intitled not by Discent 128 277. but intailed 128. vide 188. Womanhood 270. Coverture 273 Custos Regni a formality of State under the Parliaments Order 134. many times conferred upon Children 137. and upon a Woman 252 D. DElegates though named by the King yet by Authority of the Parliament 227 Defender of the Faith 213 Dispensations Licenses and Faculties never in the Crown but by the Parliament given to the Archbishop under Limitations 234 238 Duels ordered by the Martiall as Subservient to the Common Law 108 E. EDward the third his Reign 3. his Title upon Entry by Election ibid. Edward the fourth his Reign though had Title of Inheritance yet entred by Election 181 Edward the fifth approached the Crown by Inheritance but never put it on 184 Edward the sixth his Reign his Title and Possession did meet though he was a Childe and his Sister Mary grown in age 259 Ecclesiastical power vide Prelacy and Prelates Elizabeth Queen her Reign 264. her Title by Election 278 Englishire taken away 95 Episcopacy vide Prelates and Prelacy Errors vide Heresie Exchange ordered by the statute 75 Excommunication 271. the Writ de excommunicato capiendo ordered 289. vide Parliament exportation 72 F. FAlse News punished 112 Felony by riding in armed Troops 95 113 172 257 299 First-fruits regulated 153. taken away from Rome 222 Forcible Entries 173 Forts Fortificacations and Castles ordered by Parliament 252 295 G. GAol-delivery by the Judges of the Benches 92 165. vide Judges Gaols regulated 113 254 Guard for the Kings Person brought in by Henry the seventh 195 Gipsies made Felons 299 H. HEnry the fourth his Reign doubtfull in his Title but rested upon Election chosen by Parliament sitting when there was no King 116 c. Henry the fifth his Reign his Title by an Intail by the Parliament 119 c. Henry the sixth his Reign his Title by the Intail last mentioned though a Childe he is admitted to the Crown 123 c. Henry the seventh first settled a constant Guard his sixfold Right to the Crown and his gaining Prerogative in the Person and Estates of the People ibid. 194 c. Henry the eighth his natural Endowments 199 c. his power in the matters Ecclesiastical 206 c. in Tempoporals 213 c. H. HEresie and Error in Doctrine under the cognisance of the Civil Magistrate 62 156. not punishable by death by Law till Henry the eighths time 216 236. the Writ De Heretico comburendo hath no legal ground in any of those former Times 63 158 161 216 236. Honors vide Parliament Hospitals visited by the Prelacy 154 I. IMportation 70 Judges of Assize 165 244 Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical not originally in the Prelacy nor absolutely 235 Justices of the Peace their residency and quality their number various their work also 109 171. one Justice 112. and the settling of their Sessions ibid. their power to take Bail 254 K. KIngs vide Parliament Allegiance Supremacy Militia L. LAbourers their Work and Wages 70. ordered by the Justices of the Peace 110 Lancaster the Princes of that House freinds to the Clergy in policy 146 Laws made by the Successors of Henry the eighth during their minority annulled 217. Ecclesiastical Laws vide Parliament Leiges by Birth though not born within the Allegiance of England 97 Liveries and Tokens inhibited to the Lords 112 177. and limited in the Kings person 177. means of jealousie between the King and his People 244 Libels in the Spiritual Court to be delivered in Copies upon demand 154 Licenses vide Dispensations Lords their power and jurisdiction in the Parliament 23. in Councel 29 242 Lunacy no impediment in Triall of Treason 258 M. MAry Queen her Reign 261. her Title by Election 278. she prejudiced her Supremacy by Marriage 275 Marque and Reprisal 279 Martials Court 107 Matrimonial Causes after the Reformation by Henry the eighth in the Cognisance of the Clergie by leave 238 Militia 98 175 245 290 vide War Mint 74 142. vide Parliament Monastries dissolved 220 maintained by Henry the fourth 147 Money out of England to Rome stopped 54 N. NAvy Royall as Forts for the publique safety maintained at the publique charge 253 Nisi prius 167 Non-residency 238 Noble Ladies Triall 174 O. OYer Terminer 92 165 Ordinary not to be questioned in the Civil Courts for things under Ecclesiastical jurisdiction 47 49. hath Cognisances of Vsury 47. of Avoidances Bigamy and Bastardy 48. grant Administration 51. visit Hospitals and call Executors to account 154. hath power to fine and imprison 157 239. to keep Courts but the Authority doubtfull 235. have Cognisance of the Heresie 156 236. Matrimony Non-residency 236. In Queen Elizabeths time their jurisdiction left in doubt 286 c. Oath ex Officio first brought in by the Church-men in matters Ecclesiastical 157. afterwards by the Parliament into the Star-chamber in cases criminal 244 P. PArdon of Crimes not absolutely in the King 19 Parliament without the King consisting of three States 117. without the Clergie 58 Parliaments power in ordering of the Crown 127 228 277 In ordering the Kings Person by Protectors 14. vide Protector In ordering their children In ordering their Family 15 129 In ordering their Revenues 16 129 115 In ordering their Councel 141 In the Militia vide Militia and War In conferring places of Honor and Trust
Parliament is looked upon as the cheif supporters in the maintaining both the Honour and Power of that Authority that otherwise would fall under contempt A work that must be done with a curious touch or a cleare hand or they must look for the like Censure to that of a King to a great Lord that Crowned him My Lord I like your work very well but you have left the print of your fingers upon my Crown Such was the condition of these times wherein a Child and two Women are the cheifs but ever under the correction and direction of the Common Councel in matters of common concernment Two things declare the point the course of the Title of the Crown and the order of the powers thereof The Title ever had a Law which was at the Helm although diversly expounded Kings ever loved the rule of inheritance and therefore usually strained their Pedegree hard to make both ends meet though in truth they were guilty oftentimes to themselves that they were not within the degrees The People ever loved the Title of Election and though ever they joyned it to the Royall blood and many times to the right Heire to make the same pass more currant without interruption of the first love between them and their Princes yet more often had they Kings that could not boast much of their birth-right in their first entry into their Throne Of three and twenty Kings from the Saxons time foure of the former had no Title by inheritance the two Willams Henry the first and King Steven of two others Viz. Henry the second and Richard the first had right of birth yet came in by compact The seventh which was King John had no title but election The eight Viz. Henry the third came in a Child and contrary to compact between the Nobility and the French Lewes the ninth and tenth succeeded as by unquestionable Title of discent yet the Nobles were preingaged The eleventh which was Edward the third in his entry eldest Son but not Heire for his Father was alive but his Successor was his Heire its true there were other Children of Edward the third alive that were more worthy of the Crown but they were too many to agree in any but a Child that might be ruled by themselves Three next of the ensuing Kings were of a collatterall line Their two Successors Viz. Edward the fourth and Edward the fifth were of the right line yet Edward the fourth came in by dissesin and Edward the fifth by permission Richard the third and Henry the seventh were collatterall to one another and to the right blood Henry the eighth though when he was King might claime from his Mother yet came in as Heire to his Father And if Edward the sixth was right Heire to the House of Yorke by his Grand-Mother yet cannot the Crown be said to descend upon the two Sisters neither as Heires to him nor Henry the eighth nor to one another so long as the Statute of their illigittimation remained which as touching Queen Mary was till three Months after her entry upon the Throne and as touching Queen Elizabeth for ever for that Virago provided for her self not by way of repeale as her Sister had done but more tenderly regarding the Honour of her Father and the Parliament then to mention their blemishes in Government by doing and undoing She overlooked that Act of Henry the Eighth and the Notion of Inheritance and contented her self with her Title by the Statute made by her Father in his thirty fifth yeare which to her was a meere purchase and was not ashamed to declare to all the World that She did have and hold therby and that it was high Treason for any Subject to deny that the course of the Crown of England is to be ordered by Act of Parliament And this power did the Parliament exercise not onely in ordering the course of the Crown to Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth but during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth so far as to dis-inherit and dis-able any person who should pretend Right to the Crown in opposition to the Right of Queen Elizabeth and upon this point onely did the whole proceedings against Mary Queen of Scots depend who claimed to be and doubtless was Heir unto Henry the eighth after the determination of his right Line and yet She was put to death for pretending Right by the Common Law in opposition to the Act of Parliament True it is that this Doctrine doth not down well with those that do pretend to Prerogative aided as they say by the Act of Recognition made to King James and the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance which do make much parly concerning Inheritance and Heirs nevertheless it is as true that the Act of Recognition made no Law for the future nor doth the same cross the Statute of 13 Eliz. nor doth it take away the power of the Parliament from over-ruling the course of the Common Law for after Ages Nor do the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance hold forth any such Obligation unto Heirs otherwise then as supposing them to be Successors and in that relation onely And therefore was no such Allegiance due to Edward the sixth Queen Mary or Queen Elizabeth untill they were actually possessed of the Crown as may appear by the Oath formed by the Statute of Henry the eighth touching their Succession Nor did the Law suppose any Treason could be acted against the Heirs of Edward the sixth Queen Mary or Queen Elizabeth untill those Heirs were actually possessed of the Crown and so were Kings and Queens as by express words in the severall Statutes do appear Nor did the Recognition by the Parliament made to Queen Elizabeth declare any ingagement of the People to assist and defend her and the Heirs of her Body otherwise then with this Limitation Being Kings and Queens of this Realm as by the Statute in that behalf made doth appear And lastly had these Oaths bin otherwise understood the Crown had by the vertue of them been pre-ingaged so as it could never have descended to Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth or King James but must have remained to the Heirs of Edward the sixth for ever Secondly the same power that the Parliament exercised in ordering the course of succession in the Crown they exercised likewise in determining and distributing the Powers and Priviledges belonging to the same for these Times were full of Novelties The Crown had formerly fitted a childes head more then once but it never tried to fit a Womans head since the Saxon Times till now that it must make triall of two France might afford us a trick of the Salique Law if it might finde acceptance And the unsettled estate of the People especially in matter of Religion might require the wisest man living to sit at the Helm and yet himself not sufficient to steer a right course to the Harbour Nevertheless the Parliament having the Statute of Henry the
eighth to lead the way chose rather to pursue a Rule then to make one and soon determined the point viz. That the Crown of England with all the Priviledges thereof equally belong to a Woman in possession as to a Man or Childe A bold Adventure I say it was but that Henry the eighth was a bold Leader and yet the bolder it was if the consequence be considered for Queen Mary as a Woman brought in one new President but in her Marriage a worse for she aimed not onely at a forrain blood but at a Prince in Power and Majesty exceeding her own and thereby seeking advancement both to her self and her Realm indangered both The matter was long in debate between the Spanish and English and now had busied their wits above ten years at length a Supremacy is formed sutable to the Lord and Husband of Queen Mary that could not be content to be one inch lower then her self Philip had the name of a King and precedency and in many cases not without the Allegiance of the English Their offences against his person equally Treason with those against the Queens own person and Indictments run Contra pacem coronam D. Regis Reginae That in some cases he participated in the Regal Power may appear in that by the Articles he was to aid the Queen in the Administration of the Kingdom he joyned with the Queen in the royall Assent and in Commissions Letters Patents and in Writs of Summons of Parliament as well as others yet in the words the Crown is reserved onely to the Queen and she must reign as sole Queen Now if the King had broken this Agreement either the Parliament must over-rule the whole or all that is done must be undone and England must bear the burthen A Queen Regent is doubtless a dangerous condition for England above that of an Infant King unless she be married onely to her People This was observed by Queen Elizabeth who therefore kept her self unmarried nor did the People otherwise desire her Marriage then in relation to Posterity Few of them liking any one of their own Nation so well as to prefer him so highly above themselves and fewer any Forrainer This was soon espied by forrain Princes and the Queen her self perceiving that she was like to receive prejudice hereby in her interest amongst them signified by her Embassadours that she never meaned to stoop so low as to match with any of her Subjects but intended to make her choise of some forrain Prince who neither by Power or Riches should be able to prejudice the interest of any of her neighbouring Princes A pretty Complement this was to gain expectation from those abroad and better correspondency thereunto Upon this ground divers Princes conceived hopes of more interest then by triall they could finde And the Arch-duke of Austria began a Treaty which seemingly was entertained by her but her Proposals were such as silenced all those of the Austrian Interest for ever after viz. 1. That the Romish Religion should never be admitted into England 2. That no man that she married should ever wear the Title of King 3. That no Forrainer should ever intermeddle in the Rule and Government of the Church or Common-wealth nor in the Ministry of the Church 4. That if he survived the Queen he should never challenge any Title or Interest in the Government or any Possession in England 5. She would never marry any one that she might not first see So as either she aimed at some inferior Prince that durst not look so high or else she did but make semblance till she was nigh fourty years old and in all declared that she liked not her Sister Maries choise To these two Powers of Determining and Distributing I shall add a third of Deputing which the Parliament exercised as formerly it had done Henry the eighth had in Ecclesiastical matters exercised a Power beyond the reach of Law and yet by Parliament had provided positive Laws by which the same ought to have been ordered these were also confirmed in Edward the sixths time with some Additionals By these particular Commissioners were appointed for the making of Ecclesiastical Constitutions and the King himself had a power Episcofactory without Conge deslire They likewise limited the power of Ecclesiastical Courts altered their Process reformed their Censures even that grand Censure of Excommunication it self The like or much more may be said of their deputing power in Civil Affairs as well inlarging the Kings power as in abridging the same for whereas some of the Successors of Henry the 8. had power by vertue of his Letters Patents after 24 years of age to annull any Act of Parliament by them made before that Age. In the time of Edward the sixth notwithstanding the Proviso in that Law and although Edward the sixth was not then twelve years old yet the Parliament repealed all and restored to Edward the sixth onely that power for the time to come but not to any of his Successors and whereas Henry 8. had gained to himself his Successors a Legislative Power by Proclamation the Parliament in Edward the sixths time took the fame quite away and reduced Proclamations into their former sober posture The like may be observed of the power of the Parliament in ordering the Lives Members and Estates of the People in matters criminal and in making and altering Courts of Justice and bounding their power altering their Process abridging their Terms for Judicature reforming Errors in pleading amending common Conveyances and Assurance as in passing Fines with Proclamations their course in the County Palatine Limitations of Prescription fraudulent Deeds Recoveries by Collusion c. in all which the Crown had no power but in and by the Parliament Many particulars more might be added if the matter so required for the Statutes are more full in these later Times then formerly and may soon lead us beyond a just Period in so clear a matter CHAP. XXXVII Of Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical in these last Times IN the general and in relation to the forrain Jurisdiction of Rome it was like a Childe in an Ague under Fits of Heat and Cold but in it self under the Prelacy still growing in stature though not in strength Edward the sixth came in like a storm that tore up Episcopacy by the Roots yet a Top-Root remained intire with the stock bearing shew of a kinde of Divinity that though bared of the old Soile of the Papacy yet transplanted into the new Mould of Royalty soon conveyed a new life which made the stock still flourish and grow into a better condition then formerly it had Their Legislative power in matters concerning their own interest though in outward view seeming their own yet was doubly disturbed from the Pope and the King who though many times opposed one another yet evermore were both of them in opposition to the Church with the greater bitterness by their