and Dominion of Wales and of all and every the Offender or Offenders therein and them and every of them to order correct reform and punish by Censure of the Church And also We do give and grant full Power and Authority unto you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one in like manner as is aforesaid from time to time and at all times during Our Pleasure to inquire of search out and call before you all and every Ecclesiastical Person or Persons of what Degree or Dignity soever as shall offend in any of these Particulars before mentioned and them and every of them to correct and punish for such their Misbehaviours and Misdemeanors by suspending or depriving them from all Promotions Ecclesiastical and from all Functions in the Church and to inflict such other Punishment or Censures upon them according to the Ecclesiastical Laws of this Realm And further we do give full Power and Authority unto you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one by virtue hereof and in like manner and form as is aforesaid to inquire hear determine and punish all Incest Adulteries Fornications Outrages Misbehaviours and Disorders in Marriage and all other Grievances and great Crimes or Offences which are punishable or reformable by the Ecclesiastical Laws of this Our Realm committed or done or hereafter to be committed or done in any Place exempt or not exempt within this Our Realm according to the Tenor of the Ecclesiastical Laws in that Behalf Granting you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the Lord Chancellor to be one full Power and Authority to order and award such Punishment to every such Offender by Censures of the Church or other lawful Ways as is abovesaid And further We do give full Power and Authority to you or any three or more of you as aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellour to be one to call before you or any three or more of you as aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one all and every Offender and Offenders in any of the Premises and all such as you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one shall seem to be suspected Persons in any of the Premises which you shall object against them and to proceed against them and every of them as the Nature and Quality of the Offence or Suspicion in that Behalf shall require and also to call all such Witnesses or any other Person or Persons that can inform you concerning any of the Premises as you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one and them and every of them to examine upon their Corporal Oaths for the better Trial and opening of the Truth of the Premises or any Part thereof And if you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one shall find any Person or Persons whatsoever obstinate or disobedient in their Appearance before you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Chancellor to be one at your Calling and Commandments or else in not obeying or in not accomplishing your Orders Decrees and Commandments or any thing touching the Premises or any Part thereof or any other Branch or Clause contained in this Commission that then you or any three or more of you as aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one shall have full Power and Authority to punish the same Person or Persons so offending by Excommunication Suspension Deprivation or other Censures Ecclesiastical And when any Persons shall be convented or prosecuted before you as aforesaid for any of the Causes above expressed at the Instance and Suit of any Person prosecuting the Offence in that Behalf that then you or any three or more of you as aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one shall have full Power and Authority to award such Costs and Expences of the Suit as well to and against the Party as shall prefer or prosecute the said Offence as to and against the Party or Parties that shall be convented according as their Causes shall require and to you in Justice shall be thought reasonable And further Our Will and Pleasure is That you assume our well-beloved Subject William Bridgman Esquire one of the Clerks of our Council or his sufficient Deputy or Deputies in that behalf to be your Register whom we do by these Presents depute to that effect for the registring of all your Acts Decrees and Proceedings by virtue of this our Commission and that in like manner you or any three or more of you whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one by your Discretions shall appoint one or more Messenger or Messengers and other Officer or Officers necessary and convenient to attend upon you for any Service in this behalf Our Will and express Commandment also is That there shall be two Paper-Books indented and made the one to remain with the said Register or his sufficient Deputy or Deputies the other with such Persons and in such Places as you the said Commissioners or any three or more of you whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one shall in your Discretion think most fit and meet in both which Books shall be fairly enter'd all the Acts Decrees and Proceedings made or to be made by virtue of this Commission And whereas our Universities of Oxford and Cambridg and divers Cathedral and Collegiate Churches Colleges Grammar Schools and other Ecclesiastical Incorporations have been erected founded and endowed by several of our Royal Progenitors Kings and Queens of this Realm and some others by the Charity and Bounty of some of their Subjects as well within our Universities as other Parts and Places the Ordinance Rules and Statutes whereof are either embezeled lost corrupted or altogether imperfected We do therefore give a full Power and Authority to you or any five or more of you of whom we will you the afore-named Lord Chancellor always to be one to cause and command in our Name all and singular the Ordinances Rules and Statutes of our Universities and all and every Cathedral and Collegiate Churches Colleges Grammar-Schools and other Ecclesiastical Incorporations together with their several Letters Patents and other Writings touching or in any wise concerning the several Erections and Foundations to be brought and exhibited before you or any five or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one willing commanding and authorizing you or any five or more of you as aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one upon the exhibiting and upon diligent and deliberate View Search and Examination of the said Statutes Rules and Ordinances Letters Patents and Writings as is aforesaid the
same to correct amend and alter And also where no Statutes are extant in all or any of the aforesaid Cases to devise and set down such good Orders and Statutes as you or any five or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one shall think meet and convenient to be by us confirmed ratified allowed and set forth for the better Order and Rule of the said Universities Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches Colleges and Grammar-Schools Erections and Foundations and the Possessions and Revenues of the same as may best tend to the Honour of Almighty God Encrease of Vertue Learning and Unity in the said Places and the publick Weal and Tranquillity of this our Realm Moreover our Will Pleasure and Commandment is That our said Commissioners and every of you shall diligently and faithfully execute this our Commission and every Part and Branch thereof in manner and form aforesaid and according to the true Meaning hereof notwithstanding any Appellation Provocation Privilege or Exemption in that behalf to be made pretended or alledged by any Person or Persons resident or dwelling in any Place or Places exempt or not exempt within this our Realm any Law Statutes Proclamations or Grants Privileges or Ordinances which be or may seem to be contrary to the Premises notwithstanding And for the better Credit and more manifest Notice of your doing in Execution of this our Commission our Pleasure and Commandment is That to your Letters missive Processes Decrees Orders and Judgments for or by you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid to be awarded sent forth had made decreed given or pronounced at such certain publick Places as shall be appointed by you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid for the due Execution of this our Commission you or some three or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Chancellor to be one shall cause to be put and fixt a Seal engraven with the Rose and Crown and the Letter J. and Figure 2. before and the Letter R. after the same with a Ring or Circumference about the same Seal containing as followeth Sigillum Commissiariorum Regiae Majestatis ad Causas Ecclesiasticas Finally We will and command all and singular other our Ministers and Subjects in all and every place and places exempt and not exempt within our Realm of England and Dominion of Wales upon any Knowledg or Request from you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid to them or any of them given or made to be aiding helping and assisting unto you and to your Commandment in and for the due executing your Precepts Letters and other Processes requisite in and for the due executing of this our Commission as they and every of them tender our Pleasure and Will to answer the contrary at their utmost Perils In witness c. Here I make these Remarks upon this Commission First That the Archbishop of Canterbury who was first named in it refused to act in it so the Bishop of Chester was put in tho not in the first place Secondly How unwarily it was drawn for though I believe every one understands the Design of this Commission was to introduce a Roman Hierarchy which assumes a Power over the temporal in order to the spiritual Good yet here this Commission grants the temporal Power viz. the Chancellor and any other two viz. my Lord Treasurer President or Chief Justice a Power of Excommunication which is a pure spiritual Act. But whilst this Commission was thus in Embrio 't is fit to observe what was done before its coming into Act. You have heard how severely Oates was treated for discovering the Popish Plot Dangerfield's turn comes now to be as severely treated but with a worse Fate for discovering the Meal-tub Plot which was to have thrown the Popish Plot upon the Presbyterians Dangerfield in his Depositions before the Parliament had revealed that he was imployed by the Popish Party chiefly by the Lords in the Tower and Countess of Powis to kill the King and was encouraged and promised Impunity and Reward and part of it given him by the Duke of York for that end Upon this he was tried in Westminster-Hall in Trinity I think or Easter-Term in 1686 upon a Scandalum Magnatum and as Juries went was found Guilty and had the same Sentence of Whipping which Oates had and in his return from his Whipping from Tyburn towards Newgate was run into the Eye with a Tuck at the end of a Cane by one Robert Francis a fierce Papist of which with the Agony of his Whipping he soon after died but his Body was so swoln and martyr'd with his Whipping that 't was a question whether he died of the Whipping or Wound in his Eye You may read the Information at large which was ordered to be printed by the Commons Novem. 10. 1680. and after the Speaker Williams was fined 10000 l. for Licensing it tho by Order of the Commons to be printed The same Term I think Mr. Samuel Johnson commonly known by the Name of Julian Johnson was sentenced by the Court of King's Bench Sir Edward Herbert Chief Justice to stand three times in the Pillory and to be whipped from Newgate to Tyburn which was severely executed for making this humble and hearty Address to all the English Protestants in the Army raised by the King Gentlemen NEXT to the Duty we owe to God which ought to be the principal Care of Men of your Profession especially because you carry your Lives in your Hand and often look Death in the Face the second thing which deserves your Consideration is the Service of your Native Country wherein you drew your first Breath and breath a free English Air. Now I desire you to consider how well you comply with these two main Points by engaging in the present Service Is it in the Name of God for his Service that you have joined your selves with Papists who indeed will fight for the Mass Book but burn the Bible and who seek to extirpate the Protestant Religion with your Swords because they cannot do it with their own And will you be aiding and assisting to set up Mass-Houses to erect that Kingdom of Darkness and Desolation amongst us and to train up all our Children in Popery How can you do these things and call your selves Protestants And then what Service can be done your Country by being under the Command of French and Irish Papists and by bringing the Nation under a foreign Yoke Will you help them to make forcible Entry into the Houses of your Countrymen under the Name of Quartering contrary to Magna Charta and Petition of Right Will you be aiding and assisting to all the Murders and Outrages which they shall commit by their void Commissions which were declared Illegal and sufficiently blasted by both Houses of Parliament if there had been any need of it for it was very well known before that a Papist cannot
next Year gave Reputation to these Rumours and here we end this Year 1615. being the thirteenth Year of King James his Reign Tho Turner Weston Elvis and Franklin were convicted and hanged last Year for the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury yet the Trial of the Earl of Somerset and the Countess was put off till the 24th of May this Year yet the Earl being a Prisoner and utterly cast out of the King's Favour the young Favourite Villiers having now no Competitor rose as fast upon the Earl's Ruin as he fell and began to appear in his own Colours from being Sir George and of the Bed-Chamber to the King in the beginning of the Month of January to be made Master of the Horse and upon the Conviction of the Earl and Countess the King seized upon the huge Estate of the Earl only allowing him 4000 l. per Annum during his Life as was said for the King reprieved the Earl and Countess too not only from Death but Imprisonment and the Earl 24 Years after saw his Daughter married to the now Duke of Bedford who proved to be the Mother of many Children whereof my Lord Russel cut off by King Charles the Second was one and a Lady of great Honour and Vertue The seizing of Somerset's Estate at present afforded a plentiful Harvest to our young Favourite and that proportionable Honours which were no burden to him might attend him upon the 17th of August he is created Viscount Villiers and Baron of Whaddon We will stay a little here and look abroad and see what Dishonour the King by his Prodigality to his Favourites and his ill Terms with his Subjects brought upon himself This Year seven of the twelve Years Truce made between the King of Spain the Arch-Dukes and the Dutch States in 1609. were worn out and now the Dutch hugely swelled their Tradeâ— not only in Europe and Africa but in the East-Indies and to Turkey but they could never be truly esteemed High and Mighty so long as the English possest the Brill Rammekins and Flushing which were the Keys of their Country and opened the Passages into and out of the Maese Rhine and Scheld They could not now pretend Poverty as they did to Queen Elizabeth for not payment of the Money with Interest upon Interest at 10 per Cent. which being two Millions when upon the Account stated between the Queen and them due Anno 1598. besides the Payment of the English in Garison in the Cautionary Towns this Year did amount to above six Millions of Money and how to get rid of this Debt and get the English out of the Cautionary Towns was the Design of Barnevelt and the States Barnevelt had his Eyes in every corner of the Court he observed the King was wholly intent upon his Pleasures exalting his Favourites and writing against Bellarmine and Peron against their King-killing and Deposing Doctrines and otherwise utterly neglected his Affairs both at Home and Abroad and by how much longer the King continued these Courses so much better might the States make a Bargain with him about restoring their Cautionary Towns but not as Merchants but Bankrupts The Truce between the Spaniard and them was above half expired and if the English should keep their Towns till the War broke out again the King might impose what Terms he pleased upon them Barnevelt also observed the ill Terms which the King was upon with his Subjects upon the Dissolution of the last Parliament about 14 Months before and imprisoning the Members for representing the Subjects Grievances which the King made worse by a Proclamation forbidding Men to talk of State-Affairs and that he doted upon and was wholly governed by Viscount Villiers a raw and unexperienced Gentleman in State-Affairs scarce of Age Upon these Considerations Barnevelt advised the States not to pay the English in Garison in their Cautionary Towns tho this was expresly contrary to the Agreement they made with Queen Elizabeth in 1598. The English debarred of their Pay apply themselves to the King for Relief the King was incensed at the Dutch and talked high what he would do but upon Repose he advised what to do the Lord Treasurer Suffolk told him there was no Money in the Exchequer to call a Parliament would be a work of Time and in the mean while the Souldiers in Garison in the Cautionary Towns must either starve or revolt besides the Wounds which the imprisoned Members had were so green that the Parliament in all likelihood would rather seek to cure them than supply the King's Necessities and starve or revolt the Souldiers might rather than the King would abate any thing of his Bounty to his Favourites Hereupon it was agreed That the King should enter into a Treaty with the Dutch concerning the Delivery of their Cautionary-Towns the Dutch expected it and had given Orders to their Ambassador here called the Lord Caroon to treat about it and what they would give the King must take and Caroon's Instructions were to give two hundred and forty eight thousand Pounds in full Satisfaction of the whole Debt which was scarce Twelve Pence in the Pound but was greedily accepted of by the King and his Favourites But how well this Agreement did sort with the Treaty made with the King of Spain and Arch-Dukes in August 1604 where in the 7th Article the King swears and promises in the Word of a King That in a competent time he would assign a Treaty with the Dutch States to acccept and receive Conditions agreeable to Justice and Equity for a Pacification to be had with the renowned Princes his dear Brethren which if the States shall refâ—se to accept his Majesty from thenceforward as being freed from former Conventions will determine of those Towns according as he shall judg it to be Just and Honourable wherein the said Princes his loving Brethren shall find there shall be no want of these good Offices which can be expected from a friendly Prince let the World judg Tho the Bargain were agreed yet the King and Courtiers were in fear the Money should not be paid accordingly and therefore the King wrote to the States in a Stile far differing from that he used to the Parliament for says my Author William de Britain fol. 12. the King told them He knew the States of Holland to be his good Friends and Confederates both in Point of Religion and Policy one as true as the other for the Religion of the Dutch was Presbytery which the King hated nor did he ever imitate their Policy therefore he apprehended not the least fear of Difference between them In Contemplation whereof if they would have their Towns again he would willingly surrender them So tho the Dutch got their Towns again yet the King got not all the Money for my Lord Treasurer Suffolk kept back so much of it as he was fined 30000 l. in the Star-Chamber for it and had not scaped so if Sir Francis Bacon then Lord Chancellor had