spitits for truly when all is done the way of love is the best and a more winning way and if any thing about yet the fairest when the poore wretch shall see that the Magistrate loves his soule and is sorry for his misery and would not punish him but that the necessity of Justice exacts it now till this be effected why may not the Prisoners where there is no danger of running away goe out with their Keepers to the publike Preaching or if not all why not so many as can be conveniently attended upon It will be said that this might be construed to be an escape in Law What if a poore Prisoner should goe out in the morning on the Lords Day to serve God and returne at night will any Creditor be so divellish to Count that an escape As if like one that had the Pestilence he should envie the salvation and wish the destruction of his Christian Brother whom surely he reckoned so at first or else he would have had no dealing with him There is some question about Arrests on the Lords Day but I thinke the question should rather be whether any but Accomptants ought to be imprisoned for Debts there is I confesse a difference taken in our Bookes 67â—25 on 27. E. 3. 9 Rep. 66. Mackallyes case that no judiciall act may be done upon the Lords Day but that ministeriall acts such as to Arrest men may be done the reason is rendred because it is a good thing to doe well upon the Sabbath certainly there is more dexterity of wit then solidity of Christian Judgement in this difference I am sorry the reverend Author should put a Bristol-stone amongst so many diamond Reasons as are in that case what manner of reasoning is this A poore man in debt would faine serve God upon the Christian Sabbath if he might goe free from Arrest The Law priviledges men going to Faires cundo morando redeundo no saies that Booke if you goe to the Market for your Soule you must be arrested and so the poore man it may be drinkes away the day and splits his Soule even upon the rocke of dispaire and whether this be not a breach of the fourth Commandement judge you for this is an everlasting rule for all Christian Magistrates that whatever any mans offence be they must take care for that mans soule I am perswaded that that which was formerly spent in Pageantlike vanities upon a Lord Mayors day would have fed all the mendicant poore about the City I professe considering what fopperies are beyond Seas a man might well have askt whether the Lord Mayor was a Christian or did honour to some Heathen Deity but blessed be God the moderation of this City is knowne and beloved of all good men me thinkes a crowne a house within the Line advanced by the Landlord should make a comfortable provision for all the Beggers I know the streetes in that populous City of Paris were so covered with Beggers that as you walkt along upon their Holy-daies you might have imagined your selfe in a continued Hospitall one Gedouen famous Gedouen Provost of the City a compassionate man prevailed to lay a Leavy of five shillings a house throughout the City wherewith the Beggers were cloathed those that could worke imployed the impotent provided for that in a moneths space a Begger was as hard to be found as a Wolfe now in England or as I hope ere long it will be to finde an Enemy to the Kingdome in the bowels of it we have many excellent Statutes to this purpose 42 Eliz. which are in substance the Law of God and can never be repealed and were there once no Beggers in London I should have some probability to nourish my faith that it would be Universall for this City is an excellent Copy for the whole Kingdome to write after I heare others complaining of numerous Priviledges but I hope the Noble Peeres and worthy Patriots will not renounce their legall rights to gratifie a company of old Usurers or cozoning oppressors for I observe that those which are conscionable in lending are curteous in forbearing and at that word Usurer my heart rises and is so brim full that it must needs a little run over poore Soules they lost a fifth part of their comforts when Money was reduced from Ten to Eight cruelty is their Genius but I hope that Trade is not long lived Luther thunders against it indeed sincere Calvin uppon occasion of many English mens flying for Religion to Franckford and Geneva taking some Money with them intreated the Bankers to allow them three or foure in the Hundred because they knew not how to imploy it but he delivered his Opinion with many cautions so as the lender gaine by it and be well able to pay it and so as none be offended by it It it the honour of our Nation that the Practice of Usury is not by any Law allowed 13 Eliz. 8. 39 El. 18. 21 Jac. 17. in point of Religion or Conscience and the words of the Statute are That all Usury being forbidden by the Law of God is sinne and detestable and therefore enacts that he that takes lesse then ten shall forfeit the interest though it be under eight which is in force to this day and might be of singular use if the proceedings by way of information or action were quick but in truth they move like ponderous bodies it is rolling a Stone upon a Hill and if there be the least mistake down it tumbles upon the Plaintiffe to compell men to deal like Christians who worse then Jewes cry out for Interest in these straight times from their Christian Brethren who have been plundered of all in the Country driven from their habitation scarce having food and rayment and where to hide their heads and yet the Usurer cries I have nothing to live upon but my Use not considering that the Debtor hath neither Use nor Principall and this is true in case of Sureties contrary to the true intent of the ancient Law that the Surety should not be questioned but in default of the Principall Si defeceris principalis untill the witty Arch-Bishop Keeper being angry with a Surety said That he that was first in intention should be first in execution and for his conceit sake sent him to the Fleet though the principall was able to have made satisfaction besides there are too many evasions out of good Statutes if a man give Bond of an hundred pound for a Horse not worth ten pound this they say is no usurious Contract An old Usurer delivers twenty pound to a young Heire and an old Bond of eighty pound not worth sixe pence Morsura non usura who gives Bond to pay one hundred pound this is divellish biting but it must not be called Usury within the Statute though I conceive it cleerly within the intent of the Law-makers When we object stewes against the Papists they say they will
honour shall conferre honour upon them why should this be said an honouring of the whore I looke upon humility as an Vsher of honour and hope that every Iudge shall at the least hold by Barony the place and office being full of state and Majestie for if the habit of a Iudge be vocall and strikes a terror into the wicked and incourages the welldoers as the Seargeants party coloured Robes Argue their abundance and variety of learning how much more a title of Lordship and why should not this be virgin honour I dare say no profession hath more hated the whore then this of the Law have they not in Aegiptian times made a head and opposed Antichristian Courts did not Mr. Greene of Lincolnes-Inne suffer Martiredome for it in Queene Maries daies And with what Christian Courage did our vvorthy and learned Brethren Mr. Sherfield and Mr. Pryn oppose the superstitious and Court vanities and the pride of the Bishops the latter resisting unto bloud never to be forgotten and standing valiantly for our Lawes by which wee enjoy all that wee have But Anonimous is angry that many have got such great estates 10. or 12000. li. per Annum the matter of fact I shall not dispute it Faelix est cujus prosperitas est calcar pietati argentum bonum est non unde sis bonus sed facias bonum great estates lawfully acquired doe not exclude any man from hapinesse only make the way more craggy for riches in our Saviours time were like Thornes and I think they are much of the same nature I confesse I doubt our great practisers finde one maine inconvenience that they have scarce time enough to keep grace alive in the Soule by prayer meditation and holy Conference Spirituall Zeale which is the seale of the Spirit being often quenched if not lost in the throng and Croud of overmuch temporal imployments which made them heretofore give advise upon the Lords day a bad Custom for shall we take Fees on that day when Manna was not to be gathered upon the Sabbath Every student of the Law hath great need to be a practiser of Divinity much wisdome being required to walke in high places As heavenly Doctor Sibbâ— would often say unto me study the Law but practise Divinity he that advises or studies before himselfe hath beene a Client at the Throne of Grace It is not study but a studious vanity Botero and Paruta two Italian Politicians to abate the edge of Avarice Non est studium sed studiosa vanitas Optima lex vetat peccatum finding how infinitely and immeasurably the Advocates and Marchants were addicted to filthy lucre propounded a Law That no man should get above 20000. l. by his profession or occupation which being acquired he should either desist and give way to others or continue it for the publike good whereby no man should ever bee guilty of Coveting more because hee might not keep it I confes it is a very sad consideration to see how most men abuse their Callings the end whâ—reof is to serve God by serving men he that imployes his talent only to get honours profits and pleasures profanes his calling living to another end then God hath appointed him T is true every man must labour in his calling to maintaine his Family but that is not the maine scope and end of our lives the true end of life is to doe service to God in serving men in our severall stations And for a recompence of this service God blesses mens honest travailes and allowes them to take moderately for their labours according to the judgment of godly men but I see it is a very hard thing to finde a man that labours in his cal ing in love to Gods glory and his brethrens good Therefore a Writ which we have in Law will lye against many men another day Contra formam â—â—llationis N. B. Accipe dum delet but I know no calling makes more for the happy state of the kingdome then the Law and I am confident no profession so generous as ours in matter of recompence the Minister wilbâ— at a certainty for his Tithes and the Physitian will take whilst it akes though I would intreat our honest Doctors to consider that for a poore sicke man to give 10. s. for a Visit may bee more grievous to him then the disease it selfe I honour many of them for their worth sweetnesse you cannot take what and where you list upon credit onely you come into our studies put your Case leave your writings come as often as you please and if you leave nothing wee scorne to aske you whereas beyond Sea you cannot peepe into an Advocates study but hee cryes give give and if the Cause goe for his Client then he hath his Palmary Fee Feodum Parlâ—â—â—rium in token of Victory which I could wish were in use with us for he that gaines the cause may better afford to give 40. s. then the looser 10. s. Concerning our pleadings This I say that truth is the vertue of pleading and certainety is the beauty and grace of pâ—eading and I know no difference betweene putting a Case and pleading it but as Logicke and Rhetoricke the samething mere largely expressed yet I must agree that our pleadings are something difficult and hazardous Palma pro pugnâ— and therefore may it be called a Case at Common Law for the casualty of the successe Casus a Casu but a cause in Chancery for the cleerenesse of the matter Civilians challenge us for not admitting doubâ—e pleas saying wee force a man to fight and tye one hand behinde him as if an Infant Seale an obligation by dures he cannot take advantage both of Infancy and dutes by reason of duplicity least the Jury should bee too much incumbred which if the most intelligent Free-holders were alwayes impanelled might peradventure satisfie that scruple when Knights and Esquiors and the most Intelligent Gentlemen were Jurors the Kingdome was happy in this manner of tryall I wish it were reduced to the primitive practise or that every County might elect substantiall Jurors who in reason ought to have a competent allowance for their paines to serve annually for all matters As in Alderman Langham and Collonell Waltons cases for though our Reverend Judges doe their best leading the Jury by the eye and not by the Noses giving them all possible light in doubtfull matters yet it is commonly reported that very strong Verdicts have past And for our Colours in Writts of Assize and trespasse and plurality of Essoines in reall actions which are well remedied by tryalls in Ejectments yet remaine difficult for the Client where entryes are not congeable And some complaine that our proceedings are not in our Mother tongue a politicke Law left to the wisdome of Parliament as the Lawes of France were in Latine untill the time of Francis the first who for a summe of money consâ—nted to have them written
suppresse them when Protestants forbid Usury but I doe not say any thing against a tolleration of it in case of Orphans neither doe I make any question but that in great and weighty matters a Kingdome may allow eight or ten in the Hundred to get Money to preserve it selfe fot in case of necessity it was lawfull to eate the Shew-Bread and for Adams Sonnes to Marry with Adams Daughters besides what the wisedome of a State shall conclude upon in such cases cannot be thought prejudiciall but that which I drive at is that rich men in these daies make it an Instrument of oppression he that would be fully satisfied let him reade a Booke which I finde written by R. F. of Graies Inne 1611. I beleeve the most judicious that ever was concerning this Subject now to resume the matter of Priviledges which are private Lawes to be maintained and defended as well as the Publique some Noble Peeres deserve much Honour in maintaining their ancient and undoubted Priviledges and placing their legall favours upon fit Objects if any of their followers be any way ingaged they satisfie as they are able and the Creditors have returned their Lordships humble thankes for some Hundreds of pounds paid by the Creditors who had never paid a penny had they been imprisoned others may thanke that Noble Knight for their Debts who for his clemency and commiseration entended to poore Prisoners deserves to be stiled The Humanist of England And here I would humbly beseech those Honourable Personages who are moved to grant Habeas Corpusses for poore Prisoners in Execution to goe abroad in vacations either like Bees to fetch in a little Honey to the Hive gathered from the flowers of their friends charity or to get in their estates which is a hard matter for every man concludes that nothing can be due to a Prisoner Christianly to consider whether they can so cheerefully answer the deniall thereof as the granting of them at the day of Judgement when it will be easier to answer an errour of Indulgence and mercy then severity and strictnesse The Reverend Judges fitting for Lord Keepers granted many and Creditors found the benefit of it Hutton Harvy Crooke Vernon c. and when presidents are various it is presumed for liberty in Mitiorem partem much may be said in favorem libertatis for no man will returne to a Dungeon if he can satisfie the Bird will not come into the Cage unlesse ensnared But Habeas Corpusses have been abused saies the Creditor truly if he may be Judge it is in vaine for the Prisoner to plead not guilty But what has not been abused have not the Sunne Moone Starres nay Women Wine and all things sublunary been abused me thinkes these necessitous times should be as a golden Key to open the doore of hope for poore Prisoners it being almost a Proverbe beyond Sea or rather a progidie that an English Usurer may have as many slaves as he please though a Lord could not imprison his Villaine and it was resolved that a slave brought from Russia by an English Merchant was instantly a Free-man comming upon English ground and breathing our pure ayre And now concerning the necessary and laudable recrute of the Honourable House of Commons 11 Eliz. Cartwrights Case Camb. who may justly say The Motto of a Commoner like a glorious Torch Aliis inserviendo consumor We consume our selves in giving light to the Kingdome Anonimus brings in a floud of words but not one drop of reason to make good his assertion that Lawyers are not fit in this comjuncture of time to be chosen Members the weakenesse whereof will easily be discovered by the strength of reason and authority which are the two instruments to confirme all truthes in reason we see with our owne eyes Sapientis est propriis oculis videre in matters of Authority by other mens the Divine begins with reason proceeds to experience and ends in Authority the Phisitian begins with Authority proceeds by reason and concludes in experience the Lawyer begins with Authority proceeds to experience and ends in reason therefore for the discussion of this point I shall begin with the Authority in the last institutes the words are these At a Parliament holden at Coventry 6 Hen. 4. by colour of an Ordinance made in the Lords House in 46 Edw. 3. it was forbidden that no Lawyer should be chosen Knight Citizen or Burgesse by reason whereof the Parliament was fruitlesse and Lawyers ever since for the great and good Service of the Common-wealth have been eligible Corpus causidicorum est seminarium Magistratus now let right reason be Judge in all things the Innes of Court are the Academy of the Law and the body of the Lawyers is the seminary of all Magistracy Does not the Supreame Power governe the Kingdome by Law and are any so fit to be Law-makers as those that must be the Executors and Dispencers of them King James who certainly was the Phaenix of Princes for substantiall learning admires the wisedome of our Lawes that the Judges have no Vote in Parliament and the Pen of famous Bacon is of that Judgement the excellency of that observation in my weake apprehension lyes very deep I want a Bucket to draw can any man declare the meaning of an Act of Parliament so well as the makers who knowes the spirit of another man so well as himselfe the reverend Judges are bound to expound Statutes according to the minds of the Legislators otherwise they that are at the oares rowe contrary to him that sits at the helme then the Ship of State would quickly be in danger of drowning That the knowledge of out Municipall Lawes is not a necessary ingredient to the constitution of a Statesman is a fundamentall errour in Politiques I doe not hold that Reason is circumscribed within the limits of our profession perscrutation but I am confident that the common Lawyers of England are as understanding rationall men as any Practisers of any Profession whatsoever be in the world and I dare say that there are more Godly Religious Lawyers Attourneys and Solicitors in England then in all that habitable part of the World called Christendome But my Adversary would faine make his Ignorance seeme Iugdement I know not why he mentions Calice I confesse I do not love the least gall in inke the rather for that any thing I know to the contrary he may be an honest man and a good Christian though in some things erroneous I should tell him that he mistakes our Lawes As the Priest when we lost Calice took our English brawn for sturgeon and eate it lustily in Lent and sent for more English Sturgeon I can by that little knowledge I have in the Common Lawe tell the Civillians that our tryalls by Jury are more excellent then theirs by Witnesses onely for how easie a thing is it It is a merriâ— Story in Hollinsheds reigne of Queen Mary in a