Authority to examin upon the Evangelist every such Chuser how much he may expend by the Year 6. And if any Sheriff returned Knights to come to the Parliament contrary to the said Ordinance the Judges of Assize in their Sessions of Assizes shall have power by the Authority aforesaid thereof to enquire 7. And if any Inquest the same be found before the Justices and the Sheriff thereof be duly attainted that then the said Sheriff shall incur the Pain of 100 l. to be paid to our Lord the King and also that he have Imprisonment by a Year without being let to Main Prize or Bail 8. And that the Knights of the Parliament returned contrary to the said Ordinance shall loose their Wages Provided always that he which cannot expend 40 s. by the Year as aforesaid shall in no wise be Chuser of Knights for the Parliament 2. And that in every Writ that shall hereafter go forth to the Sheriffs to chuse Knights for the Parliament mention be made of the said Ordinance Note Tho this Statute make the Penalty on the Sheriff but 100 l. for a false return yet the House may further punish him by Imprisonment c. at their Pleasure by the Law and Custom of Parliaments Anno 4. Ed. 3. Cap. 14. A Parliament shall be holden once every Year Item It is accorded that a Parliament shall be holden every Year once and more often if need be Anno 26. Ed. 3. Cap. 10. A Parliament shall be holden once in the Year Item For Maintenance of the said Articles and Statutes and redress of divers Mischiefs and Grievances which yearly happen a Parliament shall be holden every Year as another time was ordered by Statute BEfore the Conquest as the Victory of Duke William of Normandy over Harold the Usurper is commonly tho very improperly called Parliaments were to be held twice every Year as appears by the Laws of King Edgar Cap. 5. and the Testimony of the Mirror of Justices Cap. 1. Sect. 3. For the Estates of the Realm K. Alfred causes the Committees some English Translations of that ancient Book read Earls but the word seems rather to signify Commissioners Trustees or Representatives to meet and ordain a Perpetual Usage that twice in the Year or oftner if need were in time of Peace they should assemble at London to speak their Minds for the guiding of the People of God how they should keep themselves from Offences live in quiet and have right done them by certain Usages and sound Judgments K. Edw. the First says Cook 4. Inst fol. 97. kept a Parliament once every two years for the most part And now in this K. Edw. the Thirds time one of the most Wise and most Glorious of all our Kings it was thought fit to enact by these two several Statutes that a Parliament should be held once at least every Year which two Statutes are to this Day in full Force For they are not repealed but rather confirmed by the Statute made in the 16th Year of our late Sovereign King Charles the Second Chap. 1. Intituled An Act for the assembling and holding of Parliaments once in three Years at the least the words of which are as follow Because by the Ancient Laws and Statutes of this Realm made in the Reign of King Edw. the Third Parliaments are to be held very often Your Majesties Humble and Loyal Subjects the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in the Present Parliament assembled most humbly do beseech Your Majesty that it may be declared and enasted by the Authority aforesaid that hereafter the sitting and holding of Parliaments shall not be intermitted or discontinued above three Years at the most but that within three Years from and after the determination of this present Parliament so from time to time within 3 Years after the determination of any other Parliament or Parliaments or if there be occasion more or oftner your Majesty your Heirs and Successors do issue out your Writs for calling assembling and holding of another Parliament to the end there may be a frequent calling assembling and holding of Parliaments once in three Years at the least By what has been said you may percieve the work of an English Parliament is not as some would have it only to be Keys to unlock the Peoples Purses That is but one part and perhaps one of the least parts too of their Office they are to propose new Laws that are wanting for general Good and to press the Abrogation of Laws in being when the Execution of 'em is found prejudicial or dangerous to the publick they are to provide for Religion and the Safety and the Honour of the Nation they have a Power as you have heard from Sir Tho. Smith to order the Right to the Crown understand all this with the King's Consent and they have very frequently undertaken and actually limited the same contrary to and different from the Common Line of Succession Nay by the Statute of 13 Eliz. Cap. 13. It is expresly enacted That if any Person shall in any wise hold and affirm or maintain that the Queen with and by the Parliament of England is not able to make Laws and Statutes of sufficient Force and Validity to limit and bind the Crown of this Realm and the Descent Linitation Inheritance and Government thereof or any other Statute to be made by the Authority of the Parliament of England with the Royal Ascent for limiting the Crown is not are not or shall not or ought not to be for ever good and sufficient Force and Validity to bind limit rest rain and govern all Persons their Rights and Titles that in any wise may or might claim any Interest or possibility in or to the Crown of England in Possession Remainder Inheritance Succession or otherwise howsoever and all other Persons whatsoever every Person so holding affirming or maintaining during the Life of the Queen shall be adjudged an high Traytor and suffer and forfeit as in Cases of high Treason is accustomed And every Person so holding affirming or maintaining after the Decease of our said Soveraign Lady shall forfeit all his Goods and Chattels Which Clause and last mentioned Penalty is to this Day in Force and ought to be considered by any who shall now pretend that an Act of Parliament cannot dispose of the Succession But nothing is more properly the work of a Parliament then to redress Grievances to take notice of Monopolies and Oppressions to curb the Exorbitances of pernicious Favourites and ill Ministers of State to punish mighty Delinquents as look upon themselves too big for the ordinary reach of Justice to inspect the Conduct of such as are intrusted with Administration of the Laws or dispose of the Publick Treasure of the Nation All Crimes of these and and the like kinds are publick Nusances common Mischiefs and wound the whole Body Politick in a vital part and can scarce at all times be found out or redressed by reason of the
and the other is to preserve inviolably our Liberty and Property according to the known Laws of the Land without any giving way unto or Introduction of that Absolute and Arbitrary Rule practiced in Foreign Countries which we are neither to imitate or regard Therefore take care to chuse such as are well known to be Men of good Consciences fearing God throughly principled in the Protestant Religion and of High Resolution to maintain it with their Lives and Fortunes And amongst these rather cast your favour upon Men of large Principles I mean in Matters of meer opinion such as will not sacrifice their Neighbours Property Civil Rights to the forwardness of their own Party in Religion Narrow Souls that will own none but those that bear their own Image and Superscription will sooner raise Persecution at home then secure us from Popery and Invasion from abroad The great Interest of England at this day is to tolerate the tolerable to bear with the weak to encourage the Conscientious and to restrain none but such as would restrain all besides themselves 2. As we ought as near as we can possibly judg to Elect good Protestants towards God and just towards Men. Yet since in this corrupt Age wherein we live Men are not so spiritual as they ought to be it is not amiss to seek for those whose Spiritual Interest are seconded by a Tâ—mporal one For tho Men talk high and keep a great noise with Conscience and Love to their Country yet when you understand Mankind aright not as it should be but as it is and I fear ever will be then you will find that private Interest is the String in the Bears Nose it is that governs the Beast And therefore the surest Champions for our Religion Câ—â—teris Paribus Against the Papacy 〈◊〉 our Abby Lâ—nded-men for notwithstanding the register'd Dispensation to King Henry the 8th from the Pope for the seizing of those Monistries and Lands yet of late they pretend the Pope had not power to alien them from the Church so that the present Possessors can never trust nor rely upon that or any new Promises or actuâ—â— Grants thereof especially from him whose everlasting and declared Maxim it is never to keep Faith with Hereticks Undoubtedly to make easy his Assent into the Saddle he will proffer many Assurances and Grants but if these Abby Land-men be not the most silly of all others they will never believe him for when he is once firmly settled then will he with his Cannon Law Distinctionâ— like Fire under Quick-Silver evaporate away all his Promises and violently resume the Lands glorying in his own Bounty if he require not the mean Profits ever since they have been Sacreligiously withheld from Holy Church 3. Endeavour to chuse Men of Wisdom and Courage who will not be he hectored out of their Duties by the Frowns and Scowles of Men Never had you more need to pitch upon the old English Spirit that durst be faithful and just against all Temptations What a degenerate Race have we known that could never yet resist Smile or Eâ—oâ—n but tamely sunk below their own Conuictions and knew the evil they did yet durst not but commit it 4. Make it your business to chuse such as are resolved to stand by and maintain the Power and Priviledges of Parliaments for they are the Heart-Strings of the Common-wealth together with the Power and Just Rights of the King according to the Laws of the Kingdomso as the one may not entrench upon the other And such as with a becoming true English Courage will prosecute all Traitors whether already impeach'd or to be impeach'd and to secure us from Popery hereafter and to get removed all Corrupt and Arbitrary Ministers of State and wicked Judges and all Stiflers of the Discovery of the late accursed Conspiracy against His Majesties Life and Suâ—â—mers and Vile Pamphleteers that endeavour so industriously to clear the Papists and expose the Protestant Religion and poison the People Lastly Take particular notice of those who are Men of Industry and Improvement for such as are Ingenious and Laborious to propagate the growth and advantage of their Country will be very tender of yielding to any thing that will weaken or impoverish it If you conduct your selves thus prudently honestly and gallantly in your Choice without putting the Gentleman whom you â—huse to serve you to Charges The Consequence will be that as you will be sure to have a good Parliament when ever His Majesty shall please to call one and such as will be zealous for the Protestant Religion and Prosperity of the Nation if they shall continue to sit and act so on the other side if they shall be dissolved and never so many new Parliaments call'd yet you run no hazard for the same Canditates will be still ready to serve you And so we shall conclude our discourse of Parliaments when I shall first have observed that anciently all Freemen of England tho not Freeholders had a Right to chuse their Representatives to the same was alter'd and limited by the following Statute for the Reasons therein mentioned The Statute Anno 8 Hen. 6. Cap. 7. What sort of Men shall be Cqosers and who shall be chosen Knights of the Parliament Item WHereas the Elections of Knights of Shires to come to the Parliament of our Lord the King in many Counties of the Realm of England have now of late been made with very great outragious and excessive Numbers of People dwelling within the same Counties of the Realm of England of the which most was of People of small Substance and of no value whereof every one of them pretend a Voice equivolent as to such Elections to be made with the most Worthy Knights and Esquires dwelling within the same Counties whereby Manslaughters Riots Batteries and Division among the Gentlemen and other People of the same Counties shall very likely rise and be unless convenient and due remedy be provided in this behalf 2. Our Lord the King considering the Premisses hath provided ordained and established by Authority of this present Parliament that the Knights of the Shires to be chosen within the said Realm of England to come to the Parliament of our Lord the King hereafter to be chosen shall be chosen in every County of of the Realm of England by People dwelling and resident in the said Counties whereof every one of them shall have Land or Tenement to the value of 40 s. by the Year at the least above all Charges 3. And that they which shall be so chosen shall be dwelling and resident within the same Counties 4. And such as have the greatest number of them that may expend 40 s. by the Year and above as afore is said shall be returned by the Sheriffs of every County Knights for Parliament by Indentures sealed betwixt the said Sheriffs and the said Chusers to be made 5. And every Sheriff of the Realm of England shall have power by the said
Power and Influence of the Offenders but in this great and awful Senate before whom the haughtiest Criminals tremble and it has been observed that they scarce ever persecuted any tho never so great or highly in Favour at Court but sooner or latter they hit him and it proved his ruin Take a few Examples King Edw. II. dotes upon Piece Gravestone a French Gentleman he wasts the King's Treasures has undeserved Honour conferred on him affronts the ancient Nobility the Parliament in the beginning of the King 's 〈…〉 Reign complain of him he is banished into Ireland the King afterwards calls him home and marries him to the Earl of Gloucester's Sister The Lords complain again so effectually that the King not only consents to his second Banishment but that if ever he returned or were found in the Kingdom he should be held and proceeded against as an Enemy to the State yet back he comes and is receiv'd once more by the King as an Angel who carries him with him into the North and hearing the Lords were in Arms to bring the said Gravestone to Jutice plants him for safety in Scarborrough-Castle which being taken his Head was chopt off In K. Richard the 2d's time most of the Judges of England to gratify certain Corrupt and Pernicious Favourites about the King being sent for to Nottingham were by Perswasions and Menaces prevailed with to give false and illegal Resolutions to certain Questions proposed to them declaring certain Matters to be Treason which in truth were not so for which in the next Parliament they were called to account and attainted and Sir Robert Tresilian Lord Chief Justice of England was drawn from the Tower through London to Tyburn and there hang'd as likewise was Blake one of the King's Council and Vske the Under-sheriff of Middlesex who was to pack a Jury to serve the present turn against certain innocent Lords and others whom they intended to have had taken off and five more of the Judges were banished and their Goods forfeited And the Arch-Bishop of York the Duke of Ireland and the Earl of Suffolk three of the King 's evil Councillors were forced to fly and die miserable Fugatives in Foreign Parts In the beginning of King Henry the 8th's Reign Sir Richard Empsom Kt. Edmond Dudley one of the Barons of the Exchequer having by colour of an Act of Parliament to try People for several Offences without Juries committed great Oppressions were proceeded against in Parliament and lost their Heads In the 19th Year of King James's Reign at a Parliament holden at Westminster there were shewn saith Baker's Chron. Fol. 418. two great Examples of Justice which for future Terrour are not unfit to be here related one upon Sir Giles Mompesson a Gentleman otherwise of good parts but for practising sundry Abuses in erecting and setting up new Inns and Ale-houses and exacting great Sums of Money of People by pretence of Letter Pattents granted to him for that purpose was sentenced to be degraded from his Knight-hood and disabled to bear any Office in the Common-wealth tho he avoided the Execution by flying the Land But upon Sir Francis Mitchel a Justice of Peace in Middlesex and one of the chiefest Agents the Sentence of Degradation was executed and he made to ride with his Face to the Horses Tail thro the City of London The other Example was one Sir Fran. Bacon Viscount St. Albons Lord Chancellour of England who for Bribery was put from his place and committo the Tower In King Charles the First time most of the Judges that had given Opinions contrary to Law in the case of Ship-money were called to account and forced to fly for the same And in the 19th Year of K. Charles the Second the Earl of Clarenden Lord Chancellour of England being questioned in Parliament and retiring thereupon beyond the Seas was by a special Act banished and disabled In a word it was well and wisely said of that Excellent Statesman Sir William Cecil Lord Burleigh and High Treasurer of England that he knew not what an Act of Parliament might not do Which Apothegm was approved by King James and alledged as I remember in one of his published Speeches I shall give a few Instances besides those before mentioned of what the House of Commons hath done in former Ages 1. Anno. 20. Jacobi Dr. Harris Minister of Beechingly in Surry for misbehaving himself by Preaching and otherwise about Election of Members of Parliament upon complaint was called to the Bar of the House of Commons and there as a Delinquent on his Knees had Judgment to confess his Fault there and in the Country in the Pulpit of his Parish-Church on Sunday before Sermon 2. Anno. 21. Jacobi Ingrey Under-Sheriff of Cambridg-shire refusing the Pole upon the promise of Sir Tho. Steward to defend him therein kneeling at the Bar receiv'd his Judgment to stand committed to the Serjeant at Arms and to make Submission at the Bar and acknowledg his Offence there and to make a further Submission openly at the Quarter Sessions and there also to acknowledg his Fault 3. Anno 22. Jacobi the Mayor of Arundel for misbehaving himself in an Election by putting the Town to a great deal of charge not giving a due and general warning but packing a number of Electors was sent for by Warrant and after order'd to pay all the Charges and the House appointed certain Persons to adjust the Charges 4. Anno 3. Car. 1. Sir Williaw Wray and others deputed Lieutenants of Cornwal for assuming to themselves a Power to make whom they pleased Knights and defaming those Gentlemen that then stood to be chosen sending up and down the Country Letters for the Trained-Bands to appear at the Day of Election and Menacing the Country under the Title of his Majesties Pleasure had Judgment given upon 'em to be committed to the Tower 2. To make Recognition of their Offence at the Bar of of the House upon their Knees which was done 3. To make a Recognition and Submission at the Assizes in Cornwal in a Form drawn by a Committee 5. But most remarkable were the Proceedings in the same Parliament Anno. 1628 against Dr. Manwaring who being there charged with Preaching and Publishing offensive Sermons and the same being referred to a Committee they brought in their Reports which was delivered to the House with this Speech as I find in Dr. Fuller's Church-History L. 11. Fol. 129. Mr. Speaker I am to deliver from the Sub-Committee a Charge against Mr. Manwaring a Preacher and Dr. of Divinity but a Man so Criminous that he hath turned his Titles into Accusations for the better they are the worse is he that hath dishonoured 'em here is a great Charge that lies upon him it is great in it its self and great because it hath many great Charges in it Serpens qui serpentem Dovorat fit Draco his Charge having digested many Charges into it is become a Monster of Charges The main and great one