Ecclesiam Romano-Catholicam Parliaments naturally begat Entities and the want of Parliaments produceth Nullities Surely God and the King are must averse to such Parliaments Mark Gods Parliament the first Parliament in the World wherein the Three Persons in Trinity are consulting together Faciamus Hominem and you shall find it was to beget Entities Therefore God is scarce present in that Consultation that brings forth Nullities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Philosopher begins his Ethicks Every Consultation is for some Good some End some Entitie and most opposite to an Abortion or Nullity And therefore you may applaud those former Laws of Learning Piety Grace and Bounty which you handled before In my Opinion Mr. Speaker you have kept the good Wine and the best Law of them all till now which is Solon's Law Lex Oblivionis A Law of Forgetfulness That by His Majesties Grace and Favour freely offer'd unto us the last day all the Memory of these Unfortunate Abortions may be Buried in the River Lethe and never be had in any further Remembrance I will put you in Mind of a Story which Tully relates out of Thucydides and leave the Application to this Honourable Auditory When the Thebans having gâ—t the better of the Lacedaemonians Erected a Brazen Trophy for that Victory they were complain'd of apud Amphictyonas that is before the common Council of Greece Eo quod aeternum inimicitiarum Monumentum Graecos de Graecis Statuere non oportuit Because it was most unfit that between Greek and Greek there should remain any Record of perpetual Enmity Fifthly For the Common Law of England if we regard the Meridian for which it is Erected it is a Law as was said of those of Lycurgus Disciplinae Convenientissimae of a most apt and convenient Frame and His Majesty hath ever so approved of it Nay He is so precisely affected and disposed in this kind that as Paterculus writes of Cato Id solum ei visum est rationem habere quod haberet Justitiam He could never allow of any Devise or Project how plausible soever that was not justifiable at the Common Law 183. Sixthly For the Supply of Princes in this Kingdom His Majesty makes no Question but that by Parliament and Subsidy is the most Comfortable to the King and most Favorable to the Subject It Comforts the King as issuing from the Heart and it Easeth the Subject as brought by the Hands not of one or two but of all the People That which you call Benevolence or Good Will brings unto His Majesty neither so much Good nor so much Will as the other support And therefore the Kings of this Land though it hath been accepted by most of them have made of Benevolence but Anchoram Sacram a help at a dead lift when Parliaments being great Bodies and of slow Motions could not soon be Assembled nor Subsidies issuing from the Purses of Particulars be so suddenly Collected And it is very well known with what Reluctancy His Majesty was drawn to shoot out this Anchor never Assenting thereunto until he was in a manner forced by those intolerable Provocations from without and those general Invitations from whithin the Kingdom Remember therefore that good Lady in whose Defence the Money was spent that inimitable Pattern once of Majesty but now of Patience to the Christian World and you will say no Man can be found of that Malevolence as to find fault with this one Benevolence Seventhly His Majesty Returns you most hearty Thanks for your Care and Zeal of the True Religion And is much Rejoyced to hear That this Lower House as it is now Compos'd is such another Place as Tully describes the Town of Enna Non Domus sed fanum ubi quot Cives tot Sacerdotes It is no vulgar House but as Originally a Sacred Chappel wherein are Assembled in regard of their Zeal and Devotion look how many Men so many Church-Men And his Majesty gives you full assurance that he nothing so much Regards the Airy State or Glory of this Life as he doth that inestimable Jewel of our Religion which is to remain his only Ornament after this Life If there be any Scandals to the contrary not given but taken for want of due Information his Majesty wisheth as Aphonso the Wise King of Aragon did Omnes populares suos reges fuisse That every one of his People had been a King for then they might soon understand and be as soon satisfied with the Reasons of Estate His Majesty hath never spared the Execution of any Law but for the Execution of a greater Law to wit Salus Reip. the Good the Peace and Safety of the Church and Common Wealth And you know that is the ultimus finis all the rest are but fines sub fine For as the Orator well Observes Nemo Leges legum causâ salvas esse vult sed Reipublicae We do not desire the Observing of our Laws for the written Laws but for the Common-Wealths sake And for those Statutes made for the preservation of Religion they are all as you heard last day from that Oracle of Truth and Knowledg in full force and in Free Execution Nor were ever intended to be connived with in the least Syllable but for the further propagation of the same Religion What knowest thou O Man if thou shalt save thy Wife was a Text that gave no Offence in St. Paul'stime Remember the King's Simile which indeed is God's Simile Zach. 6. Kingdoms are like to Horses Kings resemble the Riders the Laws the Spurs and the Reins by which Horsemanship is managed A good Rider carries always a sure but not always a Stiff Hand But if Agar grow insolent by those Favours then in Gods Name out with the Bond-woman and her Sons For his Majesty is fully Resolv'd That as long as Life remains in his Body and the Crown upon his Head the Sons of the Bond-woman shall never be Heirs in this Island with the Sons of the Free-woman And our Royal Master gives us his Chaplains free leave to put him in mind of that of Synesius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is still careful of the Good of Kings and Kings cannot be too careful of the Good and Service of God In the Eighth place his Majesty exceedingly comforted with the just Feeling and Resentment you express against the Usurpation of that invading Enemy who hath expell'd our most sweet Princess from her Jointure and her Olive Branches from their Rightful Inheritance Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor Surely if the Rule be true Attollit vires in milite causa That a good Cause makes good Souldiers it is no such impossibility to regain the Palatinate You say Sir Cato was positively of Opinion Carthaginem evertendam That whatever became of other designs Carthage must be overthrown And you are of Opinion and so are all good Men besides Palatinatum reglutinandum That the Palatinate must be Glued again to the Right Owner and pluck'd out of
Cause It is the Author of the Observations upon H. L. his History of the Reign of King Charles pag. 137. He hath not bestowed his Name upon his Reader but he hath a Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Homer Odyss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I ought not to put him to the first Question of our Catechism Quo nomine vocaris For good Writers nay Sacred Pen-Men do not always Inscribe their Names upon their Books Scholars do invariably Father the Work and some of them say they have it from the Printer upon one that hath Wrote and Publish'd much favoring of Industry and Learning And they give Reasons which will come into the Sequel though a great while deferr'd why he blotts the good Name of King James Why he grates so often upon the mild Nature and matchless Patience of King Charles And if Fame have taken the right Sow by the Ear it is one that had provok'd the then Bishop of Lincoln in Print with great Acrimony Twenty years ago and that Anger flames out in him now as hot as ever Panthera domari nescia non semper saeuit Yet when that Bishop came out of the Tower and this Adversary sought him for Peace and Love because the Bishop was then able to do him a Displeasure he found him easie to be Reconciled What should move this Man to forget that Pacification so truly observ'd on the Bishops part who was the greater and the offended Party Naturale est odisse quem laeseris And Malice is like one of the Tour Things Prov. 30.15 That never say it is enough 'T is Degenerous for the Living to Trample upon the Dead but very Impious that he that was once a Christian nay a Christian Priest should never cease to be an Enemy The Words with which he wounds the Spanish Match through his side though otherwise he is one that witheth it had succeeded are these That that Bishop being in Power and Place at C◠the time of King James made himself the Head of the Popish Faction because he thought the Match with Spain which was then in Treaty would bring not only a Connivance to that Religion but a Toleration of it And who more like to be in Favour if that Match went on than such as were most zealous in doing Good Offices to the Catholick Cause Here 's a Knot of Catter-Pillars wrapt in a thin Cobweb so easie it will be to sweep them of The accused Person was always free of Conference Let any now living say that heard him often Discourse of the adverse Church if he did not constantly open himself not for a Gainsayer only but for a Stiff Defier of their Corrupt Doctrines although he was ever pitiful for Relaxation of their Penalties And would that Party cleave unto him for their greatest Encourager Encouragement was the least their Head could give them Beside the Thing is a Chimaera I never knew any Head of the Popish Faction in this Kingdom Others and Bishops in Rank above him have been traduced in that Name but who durst own that Office especially in the end of King James his Reign when every year almost was begirt with a Parliament and every Parliament procreated an inquisitive Committee for Matters of Religion What Mist did he walk in that neither Parliament nor Committees did detect him for Head or Patron or Undertaker call it what you will of the Pseudo-Catholick Cause could nothing but the goggle Eye of Malice discover him 135. Perhaps the Contemplation of the Spanish Match might embolden him so this Author would have us think It could not it did not take a little in the highest Topicks to both It could not For as the Anteceding Parliament was much taken with King James's Words That if the Match should not prove a fartherance to our Religion he were not Worthy to be our King so this his Majesties near Counsellor knew his meaning of which he often discours'd that when the Holy-Days of the Great Wedding were over his Majesty would deceive the Jealousies of his Subjects and be a more vigorous Defender of the Cause of the True Faith than ever And Judge the Bishop by his own Words in his Sermon Preach'd at the Funerals of that Good King that his Majesty charg'd his Son though he Married the Person of that Kings Sister never to Marry her Religion I said likewise he did not Look back to the first Letters he dispatch'd into Spain but much more let every Reader enjoy the Feature of his own Piety and Wisdom which he put into the Kings Hand to have his liking while his Majesties Dear Son was in Spain to Cure popular Discontents and sickly Suspicions which had come forth with Authority in October following if the long Treaty had not Set in a Cloud The Original Draught of his Contrivances yet remaining is thus Verbation That when the Marriage was Consummated and the Royal Bride received in England His Majesty should Publish his Gracious Declaration as followeth First To assure his Subjects throughout his three Kingdoms that there is not one word in all the Treaty of the Marriage in prejudice of our own Religion Secondly To Engage himself upon his Kingly Word to do no more for the Roman-Catholics upon the Marriage than already he did sometime voluntarily Grant out of Mercy and Goodness and uncontroulably may do in disposing of his own Mulcts and Penalties Thirdly That our Religion will be much Honoured in the Opinion of the World that the Catholic King is content to match with us nor can he Persecute with Fire and Sword such as profess no other Religion than his Brother-in-Law doth Fourthly That His Majesty shall forthwith advance strict Rules for the Confirmation of our Religion both in Heart and in the outward Profession 1. Common-Prayer to be duly performed in all Churches and Chappels Wednesdays and Fridays and two of every Family required to be present 2. Every Saturday after Common-Prayer Catechising of Children to be constantly observed 3. Confirmation called Bishopping to be carefully executed by the Bishop both in the General Visitations of his Diocese and every Six months in his own House or Palace 4. That Private Prayers shall no Day be omitted in the Family of him that is of the Degree of an Esquire else not to be so named or reputed 5. All Ladies and all Women in general to be Exhorted to bestow two hours at the least every Day in Prayer and Devotion 6. All our Churches to be Repaired and outwardly well Adorned and comely Plate to be bought for the Communion-Table 7. Dispensations for Pluralities of Livings to be granted to none upon any Qualification but Doctors and Batchelors in Divinity at the least and of them to such as are very Learned Men. 8. Bishops to encourage Public Lectures in Market-Towns of such Neighbouring Ministers as be Learned and Conformable 9. A Library of Divinity-Books to be Erected in every Shire-Town for the help of the poorer Ministers and Leave shall be
is a Virtue among Gentlemen And will they make a Virtue Criminal But where lies the Offence Perhaps that his Highness shewed no disrelish in his Answer to the PopesMotion Neither did he shew Encouragement so far the Terms are even Fair Language in that Case would cost the Prince nothing it would save him much For the more Hurt the Pope could do the less he was to be displeas'd with Provocation To go further He that will Censure an Action must not Judge upon it Naked but with all its Copartments Many Things that were well done if you will peel away the Bark of their Circumstances will seem Reproachfull The Behaviours of Abraham and Isaac Gen. 20.26 in the Courts of the Kings of the Philistins with the excuse of Fear are fall of Prudence without that Plea they are full of Frailty No Deed was ever rigidly expended into which a Man was thrust by Necessity unless it wanted a Wise Historian to scan it The Phocensians when their Chief Men were in no better Condition in Asia then if they had been Hostages did appear for the Persian Monarch when he led an Army to Invade Greece but says Herodotus 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they did Medize or Temporize with the Persians not with a good will but out of a Compulsion And Tully with me one of the Wisest of the Heathen Orat pro Quintio Omnes quâ—rum in alterius manu vita â—sica est saepiùs cogitant quid possit is cujus in potestate ac ditione sum quà m quid debont sacere He that is fallen into the Power of others and is demanded not a wicked thing which must not be yielded but an inconvenient considers not what is absolutely expedient but what is expedient in that Case And a sharp witted Christian it is Grotius writes upon that Passage Deut. 22.25 If a Man sind a Betrothed Damosel in the Field and the Man force her and lie with her then the Man only that lay with her shall Die but unto the Damosel that shalt do nothing Thus he says Docet hoc exemplo Lex parcendam iis qui vi ad cli aliquid peceaverint He means they are not to be perisht who are compelled to suffer a Sin and are forc'd into it Therefore if the Prince being at Madrid not at London wrote things honest to the Pope but as Meekly and Pleasingly as Paul spake before Festus and Agrippa when he was in Bonds Who can accuse him For by Law of Nature no Man must deliver himself up to a danger which he can innocently avoid The harmlesâ— Dove is not bound to forget the Wisdom of the Serpent But the strongest hold which his Highness's Justification will maintain for ever against all Assaults is That the whole Contents of his Letter were unblameable and yet very unpleasing to the High Priest to whom he wrote Take the express Words and only Controverted The Exploits of my Noble Predecessors have not been more than the Care which I have that the Peace of the Church might be bounded in true Concord and as the Glory of God requires our Endeavours to unite it I do not Esteem it greater Honour to be Descended from such Princes than to imitate them in true Zeal of Piety In which it assures me much to have known the Mind and Will of our thrice Honour'd Lord and Father to give concurrence to so laudable a Design For it doth not grieve him a little to see that great evil grows from Division of Christian Princes whose peaceable Settlement if this Marriage between the Infanta of Spain and my self may procure I shall the rather conclude my Happiness therein For as I have been far from encouraging Novelties or to be a Partisan in any Factions against the Catholick Religion so shall I seek occasion to take away Suspicions that I desire but one Religian and one Faith seeing we all believe in one Jesus Christ having resolved in my self to spare nothing that I have in the World my Estate and Life for a thing so pleasing unto God whom I implore to give your Holiness Health and Happiness A Synod or an Assembly of Divines Togati vel Palliati could not have handled the Pope with greater Wit and Dexterity Who is pincht to the quick in the Letter and yet could not justly complain of Uncivility or Exasperation The Prince promiseth to follow the Footsteps of his Father as Spartianus said of Geta Son to Emperor Severus Paternarum sententiarum memor he could not dress himself better than by his Fathers Glass And how doth he promise to follow him in that which he had begun To accord the Variances of all Christian Churches that their Peace might be bounded in true Concord Which is as much as to bring the Pope to be Sub-Canonical to Conform him to the Decrees of a free Council called by Christian Monarchs This was the Helena for which King James contended And this was the Europia or new sound Paradise in the Phansie of Arch-Bishop Spalato as is handled before for which Revenge was taken by Fire upon his Dead Carkass I believe this Letter fretted his Crazy Holiness and did his Hectick no good of which he died not long after I am sure after his Nuncio had gotten a Copy of it he could never endure the Prince more From hence the Embraces of Truth may see how staringly false and daringly impudent that Report is That the Prince had not come out of Spain but that he lest his Faith as well as his Proxy behind him and got thence with the very same Trick that Sir Francis Mitchel said he got out of the Inquisition at Rome which is a Weldenism p. 162. a familiar Trope in the Rhetorick of the blatant Beast 141. Proceeding now to the Proceedings of June There were many suspitions here how the Capitulations went ill in Spain because Letters Arrived not till after Five Weeks silence as the Lord Keeper observes the exact time in the next he Wrote The most furmised things were at a standing Water and did neither Ebb nor How whereas indeed they were come to the High-Water Mark but the Wind and Tide went as contrary as could be imagined Carina Vim geminam sentit paretque incerta dâ—obus Nothing was dispatch'd for every Oar-man struck unevenly to the rest that sate in the Transomes of the Galley All the Agents were Ruin'd together for they complain'd both of the Resisting Council and of the assisting Council by their own part How far they are to be believed in Angry Reports they made of each other and very unfriendly Relations I cannot decide Therefore I pre-monish Though I am not in a Labyrinth yet it is not such a â—n way that all way-faring Mâ—n though no Fâ—ols shall not err in it Isa 35.8 The Humors which bred the Distemper were the Popes Dispensation Con. Olivarez Insolent and Inconstant struggling The Duke of Buckingham disliking all things and dislik'd of all The Earl of Bristow favour'd too much
Commanders Or if he came to be tried in the Furnace of the next Session of Parliament he had need to make the Refiners to be his Friends 210. Here steps in Dr. Preston a good Crow to smell Carion and brought Conditions with him to make his Grace malleable upon the great Anvil and never break This Politick Man that he might feel the Pulse of the Court had preferr'd himself to be Chaplain to the Prince and wanted not the Intelligence of all dark Mysteries through the Scotch especially of his Highness's Bedchamber These gave him countenance more than others because he prosecuted the Endeavours of their Countrymen Knox. To the Duke he repairs And be assured he had more Skill than boisterously to propound to him the Extirpation of the Bishops remembring what King James had said in the Conference at Hampton-Court Anno 1. No Bishop No King Therefore he began to dig further off and to heave at the Dissolution of Cathedral Churches with their Deans and Chapters the Seminary from whence the ablest Scholars were removed to Bishopricks At his Audience with the Duke he told him He was sorry his Grace's Actions were not so well interpreted abroad as Godly Men thought they deserved That such Murmurings as were but Vapours in common Talk might prove to be Tempests when a Parliament met That his safest way was to Anchor himself upon the Love of the People And let him perswade himself he should not sail to be Master of that Atchievement if he would profess himself not among those that are Protestants at large and never look inward to the Center of Religion but become a warm and zealous Christian that would employ his best help strenuously to lop off from this half-reformed Church the superfluous Branches of Romish Superstition that much disfigured it Then he named the Quire-Service of Cathedral and Collegiate Churches with the Appennages which were maintained with vast Wealth and Lands of excessive Commodity to feed fat lazy and unprofitable Drones And yet all that Chanting and Pomp hindred the Heavenly Power and Simplicity of Prayer And furthered not the Preaching of the Gospel And now says he let your Grace observe all the ensuing Emoluments if you will lean to this Counsel God's Glory shall be better set forth that 's ever the Quail-Pipe to bring Worldings into the Snares of Sacrilege The Lands of those Chapters escheating to the Crown by the Dissolution of their Foundations will pay the King's Debts Your Grace hath many Alliances of Kindred all sucking from you and the Milk of those Breasts will serve them all and nourish them up to great Growth with the best Seats in the Nation Lastly Your Grace shall not only surmount Envy but turn the Darling of the Commonwealth and be reverenced by the best Operators in Parliament as a Father of a Family And if a Crum stick in the Throat of any considerable Man that attempts to make a contrary part it will be easie to wash it down with Mannors Woods Royalties Tythes c. the large Provent of those Superstitious Plantations Thus far the Doctor and to these Heads as the Duke in a good Mind reveal'd it The most crafty and clawing Piece of all was That the Destruction of these Sacred Foundations would make a Booty for a Number of Gentlemen And as the Greeks say proverbially 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When a great Oak falls every Neighbour may scuffle for a Faggot You may be sure the Duke sent this Doctor away with great Thanks and bad him watch the best times of leisure and come to him often who did not lose the Privilege of that Liberty but thrust into his Bedchamber at least thrice a Week with a sly Audacity The Lord Keeper heard of it and wondred what occasion'd their private and frequent Meetings Nor could he knock off the Bar of the Secret with his Golden Hammer till it was revealed to him by some of the nearest about his Majesty For the Duke had cast forth the Project in a dark imperfect Form before the King and the King muffling his true Face that it could not be seen heard him with a dissembled Patience because he was pleas'd to have him nibble upon this Bait that he might divert the Yonker as long as he could from forcing him to undertake a War which was a violent Caustick that seared up the Comfort of his Majesties Heart All this was conveyed to the Lord Keeper and being feeble and scarce upon his Legs again it wrought upon his sick Spirits with great Anxiety He was sure his Majesty had no Stomach to devour such an unsanctified Morsel Yet against that assurance he objected to himself That the Duke was wont to overturn all Obstacles that stood in his way And that the Imperial Eagle of Necessity would stoop to any Prey Then he took Chear again that he had never Noted in the Lord Duke a Displicency against the Prosperity of the Church Again his Comfort was rebated that Self-Preservation will make a Saint a Libertine and that Nice Points of Religion are not usually admitted to give Law against it Howsoever he resolv'd to hazard all to crush this Cockatrice in the Egg. Causa jubet superes mâ—lior sperare secundos He that stickles for Gods Cause sails by the Cape of Good Hope 211. At the first Onset he had small Encouragement For he came to Wallingford-House to break with the Duke upon this matter who was then shut up with Dr. Preston in close Consultation where the Great Seal and the Keeper of it waited two Hours in the Anti-Camera and was sent Home without the Civility of Admission Next Day he got Speech with Dr. Preston by Friends employ'd to bring him to Westminster And after much Pro and Con in their Discourse supposing the want of Preserment had disgusted the Doctor he offer'd to him if he would busie himself no more in contriving the Ruine of the Church that he would the next Day resign the Deanery of Westminster to him But the wily Doctor did not believe him For he came to cheat and not to be cheated So they parted unkindly The Lord Keeper saw now that this Nail was driven in far Yet he did not despair to pluck it out with his Wit And thus he went into the Adventure He obtain'd an Opportune Conference with the Duke and in the Defence of the Church he could never be taken unprovided He pray'd his Grace to believe That no Man wish'd his Safety more cordially than himself by whose Hand he was lifted up to that Place of Pre-eminence wherein he sate Therefore it was his Duty to admonish him timely that he was building that Safety upon hollow Ground He had spoken with Preston who had offer'd his Grace flitten Milk out of which he should churn nothing There were other ways to level Envy than by offending God And if he meant to gather Moneys for War let him Wage it with the Prayers of the Clergy and not with their
Majesty Commanded the Keeper to draw up the Discourse lately past between the French Embassador and him and to bring it with him which he finish'd carefully but with Enlargements in some Places as he can remember that turn'd his Books and assisted the Expedition In some things more in some things less was spoken at first but thus goes the Draught which the King received My Lord Embassador Villoclare gave me a Breviate of the Instrument of Grace which he agitated to pass in the Behalf of the Romish Recusants When he supposed I had read it almost to the End he spake thus to the Matter That it would be a great Token of Assurance that their Lady and Mistress should be received into this Realm with the Love of the King the Prince and all good English People if the distressed Catholicks combined with her Highness's Obedience to the same Church might obtain for her Sake Indemnity from our grievous Laws live in security of Conscience for hence forth from continual Persecution and call this Year the Jubilee of the long afflicted and the end of their Oppression I told him to this that I should reply to him in stanumering and ill pronounced French but with clear English Satisfaction Our Laws said I against 〈◊〉 whose Clientele you undertake have been disputed both by Church-men and States 〈◊〉 the Books are well known And by Debate of Arguments we have justified the Wisdom and Moderation of our Parliament to all that can correct prejudice by Reason What Law is rigid which impendent Danger extorts for the Safety of the People The Storms lookt black over our Heads in those times when such Statutes past so offensive to your Lordship and were enacted not out of Revenge for Wrongs sustained but out of Forecast against Harms to be prevented not out of Spleen towards Adversaries but out of Charity to our selves So much and without Pause or Faultring I am compelled to say for our Laws because I am a principal Judge by the Favour of the King my Master and sworn to the Maintainance of the Law This Answer though neither tart nor umbragious yet it set my Lord Ambassador's Teeth on edge and he rose up to these high Words at one pitch That he could not imagine how our Laws could have been sharpned with more Cruelty against the Catholicks For it would look like Mercy to take away their Lives or rather than to cut them so low with the Sickle of Penal Statutes that they had scarce Stubble to maintain their Bodies and their Souls were utterly starved for want of Priests to instruct them none of them daring to adventure to hold out Breasts of Apostolick Doctrine to feed them with sincere Milk but that resolved to be ript up and quartered for their Holy Duty Yet he goes on I bewail not so much those Excellent Servants of God executed upon your Gibbets they are recompensed with the Crown of Martyrdom But you murder the Souls of the Lay-Catholicks and if you pity them not to the Good of their Salvation all other pretended Favours light upon them like Mildews which are not a fruitful but a fatal Moisture You know my meaning Sir you are Learned in Cases of Divinity and need not to be told that the Use and Fruition of the Sacraments are the vital Part of Christian Religion in our Catholick Apprehension Who shall celebrate them Who shall impart them to this People robbed of Christ Who shall satiate their Souls with those Comforts if the Priests the Dispensers of those Mysteries be utterly kept from them You commonly say you have done well for the Generality of Catholicks that they have Liberty of Conscience I say your Gift is useless if you permit them not Teachers that are set over their Conscience We are more clement to the Churches of Hugonots and allow them their Ministers Without that Favour a Rush for all the rest Should I send Cloth and Food enough to a Fraternity of Religious Men What Good shall they reap from that Charity if none shall be suffered to make them Garments with that Cloth None permitted to dress the Meat that is sent them Or let me spread before you your Unmerciful Dealing in this Similitude you have not made a Law to pull out their Eyes but you have past a Law that they shall have no Light to see by My Lord Why should I make it a Labour to contest with you to have no such Statutes in Force Methinks it is enough to prompt you that such Incongruities of very bad Fame Abroad should be supervised and corrected upon so demulcing an Occasion as this Marriage Thus far my Lord Secretary To whom I said in this Manner 221. Provident Men and the Learnedest in all Faculties voted those Laws to be in Power and at some times to be put in ure which your Lordship condemns with a very stinging Invective At which I less marvail because you are a Stranger here and not acquainted with the Reasons and Motions that produced them And since you know not how they rose you are no competent Judge when they should fall In Fifty Years after they were first ordained they that have succeeded in Power and Authority have not repented of them but all to whome the Care of the Kingdom 's Welfare is committed have continu'd them Being nevertheless as pitiful as any that have soft Hearts and Christian Principles For though the Terror of the Laws is great yet the Execution hath been gentle Such as are convict of Recusancy who are no great Number in this Land they alone pay Pecuniary Mulcts but upon such easie Compositions that they have both the Crust and the Crumb of their Estates to themselves and the King hath scarce the Chippings The Disbursments of the Crown are great and the more under a most Munificent King so that the Exchequer sometimes expects the Aid of a plentiful Tribute Yet these your Lordship's Clients never contributed the Fifth Part of that which might have been called for least they should say We have made Abraham rich But my Lord most Men live as if they lived to this World only and therefore never think they have enough of Wealth I am willing to refer it to this Disease which is common to most in corrupted Nature that they that put on this Complaint fill your Lordship's Ears with Whining that their Purses are no fuller If they say they are become indigent or Bankrupts by the Issues of slender and mitigated Payments the Lye is written in their Fore-heads We live with them we know their Possessions Their Seats are well repaired and bravely furnished their Credit is good with our Marchants They give Portions in Marriages with their Daughters as great as the best of the King's Subjects considered to have equal Estates of Wealth Their Gallantry their Feasting their Revelling and Gaming are seen in the broad Day-light They bear their Heads as high as their Equals in all Expences These then are no Symptoms of Poverty
to Practice and Use in our own Country Why it was in use in this Island before the Romans entred the same when the Druids gave all the Sentences in Causes of Blood Si coedes facâ—e pâ—as constituunt Caesar Bel. Gai. li. 6. And see Mr. Selden's Epinomis c. 2. Nor is it like that the Romans when they were our Masters should forbid it in Priests whose Pontifical College after they had entertain'd the twelve Tables meddled in all matters of this kind Strabo Geogr. lib. 4. And it is as unlike that the Christian Religion excluded Bishops in this Island from Secular Judicatures since King Lucius is directed to take out his Laws for the regulating of his Kingdom by the Advice of his Council ex utráque pagina the Old and New Testament which could not be done in that Age without the help of his Bishops See Sir H. Spelman's Councils p. 34. Ann. Dom. 185. And how the great Prelates among the ancient Britains were wholly employ'd in these kind of secular agitations you may see in the Ecclesiastical Laws of Howel Dha set forth by Sir H. Spelman pag. 408. anno 940. And a little before this Howel Dha lived K. Aetheljtan in the second Chapter of whose Ecclesiastical Laws we have it peremptorily set down Hinc debent Episcopi cum Saeculi Judicibus interesse judiciis and particularly in all Judgments of the Ordeals which no man that understands the word can make any doubt to have been extended to Mutilation and Death Sir H. S. Counc p. 405. ann 928. And that the Bishops joyned alwaies with the secular Lords in all Judicatory Laws and Acts under the whole reign of the Saxons and Danes in this Island we may see by those Saxon-Danish Laws or rather Capitularies which among the French and Germans do signifie a mixture of Laws made by the Prince the Bishops and the Barons to rule both Church and Common-wealth set forth by Mr. Lambert anno 1568. See particularly the ninth Chapter of St. Edward's Laws De his qui ad judicium sorri vel aquae judicati sunt fol. 128. And thus it continued in this Kingdom long after the Conquest to wit in Henry Beu-clerk's time after whose Reign it began to be a little limited and restrained for at Clarendon anno 1164 8 Calend. Febr. 11 Henr. 21 a general Record is agreed upon by that King 's Special Command of all the Customs and Liberties of this Kingdom ever since Hen. the First the King's Grandfather as you may see in Matth. Paris p. 96 of the first Edition where among other Customs agreed upon this is one Archbishops and Bishops and all other persons of this Kingdom which hold of the King in capite are to enjoy their Possessions of the King as a Barony and by reason thereof are to answer before the Judges and Officers of the King and to observe and perform all the King's Customs And just as the rest of the Barons ought for it was a Duty required of them as the King now by his Summons doth from us to be present in the Judgments of the King's Courts together with the rest of the Barons until such time as they shall there proceed to the mangling of Members or Sentence of Death 147. Observe that there is a diversity of reading in the last words for Matth. Paris a young Monk that lived long after reads this Custom thus Quousque perveniatur ad diminutionem membrorum vel ad mortem Which may be wrested to the first agitation of any Charge tending that way but Quadrilogus a Book written in that very Age and the original Copy of the Articles of Clarendon which Becket sent to Rome extant at this day in the Vatican Library and out of which Baronius in his Annals anno 1164 transcribes it reads the Custom thus Usque perveniatur in judicio ad diminutionem membrorum c. which leaves the Bishops to sit there until the Judgment come to be pronounced amounting to Death or Mutilation of Members And as this was agreed to be the Custom so was it the Practice also after that 11th year to wit in the 15th year of Henry the Second at what time the Lay-Peers are so far from requiring the Bishops to withdraw that they endeavour to force them alone to hear and determine a matter of Treason in the person of Becket Stephanides is my Author for this who was a Chaplain and Follower of that Archbishop The Barons say saith that Author You Bishops ought to pronounce Sentence upon your selves we are Laicks you are Church-men as Becket is you are his fellow-Priests and fellow-Bishops To whom some one of the Bishops replied This belongs to you my Lords rather than to us for this is no ecclesiastical but a secular Judicature We sit not here as Bishops but as Barons Nos Barones vos Barones hic Pares sumus And in vain it is that you should labour to find any difference at all in our Order or Calling See this Manuscript cited by Mr. Selden Titles of Honour 2 Edit p. 705. And thus the Custom continued till the 21st year of the same King Henry II. at what time that Provincial Synod was kept at Westminster by the Archbishop of Canterbury and some few of his Suffragans which Roger Hoveden mentions in his History p. 543. And it seems Gervasius Dorobernensis which is a Manuscript I have not seen The quoting of this Monk in the Margin of that Collection of Privileges which Mr. Selden by command had made for the Upper House of Parliament is the only ground of stirring up this Question against the Bishops at this present intended by Mr. Selden for a Privilege to the Bishops not for a Privilege to the Lay Peers to be pressed against the Bishops The Canon runs thus It is not lawful for such as are constituted in Holy Orders Judicium sanguinis agitare to put in execution Judgment of Blood and therefore we forbid that they shall either in their own persons execute any such mutilation of Members or sentence them to be so acted by others And if any such person shall do any such thing he shall be deprived of the Office and Place of his Order and Function We do likewise sorbid under the peril of Excommunication that no Priest be a secular Sheriff or Provost Now this is no Canon made in England much less confirmed by Common Law or assented to by all the Bishops of the Province of Canterbury or by any one of the Province of York but transcribed as appears by Hovenden's Margin out of a Council of Toledo which in the time that Council is supposed to be held was the least Kingdom in Spain and not so big as York-shire and consequently improper to regulate all the World and especially this remote Kingdom of England Beside as this poor Monk sets it down it doth inhibit Church-men from being Hang-men rather than from being Judges to condemn men to be thus mutilated and mangled in their