not; and then they were allowed to meddle with nothing but religion. All jurisdiction belonged to him, and he scantled them out as much as he pleased, and so things have since continued. They excommunicate for three or four things, matters concerning adultery, tithes, wills, &c. which is the civil punishment the state allows for such faults. If a bishop excommunicate a man1 for what he ought not, the judge has power to absolve, and punish the bishop. If they had that jurisdiction from God, why does not the church excommunicate for murder, for theft? If 10 the civil power might take away all but three things, why may they not take away them too? If this excommunication were quite taken away, the presbyters would be quiet ; 'tis that they have a mind to, 'tis that they would fain be at.

1 A man, H. 2] omitted in H.

1. 2. he scantled them out] i. e. simply-he measured them out. The word involves no notion of a scanty measure, as the reading in the printed editions-'scanted '-does.

1. 7. If a bishop excommunicate &c.] Selden, in his De Synedriis veterum Ebraeorum, bk. i. ch. 10, gives numerous examples in support of his assertion that in this country, as in other Christian states, the power of excommunication was fixed and strictly limited by the law of the land. He shows that a sentence, illegally pronounced, was liable to be annulled by the King's order; that punishment was threatened or inflicted on clerics who refused to obey the order; and that satisfaction in money was granted to the person injured. This he traces from William I to his own day. Works, vol. i. 977-990. See also note on Power, State, sec. 7.

1. 14. 'tis that they have a mind to, &c.] The Westminster assembly of divines claimed for the Presbytery the uncontrolled right, jure divino, to suspend from the sacrament such persons as they should judge to be ignorant, or profane, or of scandalous lives. This they first settled by a majority vote among themselves, Selden and his friends dissenting, and then again and again pressed upon Parliament to admit and ratify their claim. This, however, the Parliament refused to do. After some delay it granted them the power they sought, but added a provision that if any person suspended from the Lord's Supper found himself aggrieved by the proceedings of the local Presbytery, he should have the right to appeal to the Assemblies, and thence, in

Like the wench that was to be married; she asked her mother when 'twas done, if she should go to bed presently? No, says her mother, you must dine first; And then to bed mother? No, you must dance after dinner; And then to bed mother? No, you must go to supper; And then to bed mother? &c.

XL.

FASTING DAYS.

I. WHAT the Church debars us one day, she gives us leave to take it out in another. First we fast, and then we 10 feast. First there is a carnival, and then a lent.

2. Whether do human laws bind the conscience? If they do, 'tis a way to ensnare: If we say they do not, we open a door to disobedience.

Answer. In this case we must look to the justice of the law, and intention of the lawgiver. If there be not justice in the law, 'tis not to be obeyed; if the intention of the lawgiver be absolute, our obedience must be so too. If the intention of the lawgiver enjoin a penalty as a compensation for the breach of the law, I sin not if I submit to the 20 penalty; if it enjoin a penalty, as a further enforcement of obedience to the law, then ought I to observe it; which may be known by the often repetition of the law. The way of fasting is enjoined unto them who yet do not observe it. The law enjoins a penalty as an enforcement to obedience; which intention appears by the often calling upon the last instance, to Parliament. See Whitelock, Memorials, pp. 129, 135, 164, 165, 169, 170; Neal's History of the Puritans, iii. 242, 246. The exact words of the Parliamentary resolution are given in Rushworth, Collections, part iv. vol. i. 212. Selden's speech in the debate, covering the same ground as his remarks in the Table Talk, is given by Whitelock, p. 169. For the sequel of the dispute, see 'Presbytery,' sec. 4.

1. 25. which intention appears &c.] See Gibson, Codex, tit. x. ch. 6,

us to keep that law by the king, and the dispensation to the Church to such as are not able to keep it, as young children, old folks, diseased men, &c.

XLI.

FATHERS AND SONS.

IT hath ever been the way of fathers to bind their sons. To strengthen this by the law of the land, every one, at twelve years of age, is to take the oath of allegiance in court-leets, whereby he swears obedience to the king.

XLII.

FAITH AND WORKS.

'Twas an unhappy division that has been made betwixt faith and works; though in my intellect I may divide them, just as in the candle, I know there is both heat and light; but yet put out the candle, and they are both gone: one remains not without the other. So 'tis betwixt faith and works. Nay, in a right conception, fides est opus. If I believe a thing, because I am commanded, that is opus.

p. 254, where the successive statutes on fasting, with the penalties for disobeying them and the provisions made for dispensations in case of need, are set out at length.

1. 7. the oath of allegiance in court-leets] 'The court-leet... is a court of record, held once in the year, within a particular hundred, lordship or manor, before the steward of the leet; being the king's court granted by charter to the lords of those hundreds or manors. It was also anciently the custom to summon all the king's subjects as they respectively grew to years of discretion and strength to come to the courtleet, and there take the oath of allegiance to the king.' Blackstone, Comment., bk. iv. ch. 19, sec. 10.

That twelve was the age of discretion appears from the fact that persons under that age were excused attendance at the court-leet.

10

XLIII.

FINES.

THE old law was, that when a man was fined, he was to be fined salvo contenemento, so as his countenance might be safe; taking countenance in the same sense as your countryman does, when he says, if you will come unto my house, I will shew you the best countenance I can, that is, not the best face, but the best entertainment. The meaning of the law was, that so much should be taken from a man, such a gobbet sliced off, that yet notwithstand10 ing he might live in the same rank and condition he lived in before. But now they fine men ten times more than they are worth.

ΙΟ

1. II.

But now they fine men &c.] It was one of the grievances urged against the High Commission Court that 'they imposed great fines upon those who were culpable before them; sometimes above the degree of the offence which course of fining was much more frequent and the fines heavier after the King had granted all that revenue to be employed for the reparation of St. Paul's Church.' Clarendon, Hist., i. 439. So, too, in the Star Chamber, part of the sentence on Burton, Bastwick and Prynne was that they were fined £5000. Bishop Williams, for having received and divulged some libellous letters, was fined £8000. It was not paid, and could not have been, owing to what the bishop termed 'the vacuity of his purse.' Fuller, Church Hist., bk. xi. sec. 8, § 4.

Again, in 1641, when the High Commission Court and Star Chamber had been swept away, and when judges and accused had changed places, the fines were as heavy as before. Archbishop Laud, e. g. for his part in framing and putting out the Canons of 1640, was sentenced by Parliament to pay a fine of £20,000; Bishop Juxon of London, and Bishop Wren of Ely to pay £10,000 each; the rest of the offending bishops to pay £5000. Rushworth, Collections, iv. 235.

A fine of £20,000 was imposed on Judge Berkley for his opinion in favour of ship-money, and £10,000 was actually paid by him and by his fellow-culprit Baron Trevor. Clarendon, Hist. ii. 566.

XLIV.

FREE-WILL.

THE Puritans who will allow no free-will at all, but God does all, yet will allow the subject his liberty to do or not to do, notwithstanding the king, the god upon earth. The Arminians, who hold we have free-will, yet say, when we come to the king there must be all obedience, and no liberty must be stood for.

XLV.

FRIENDS.

OLD friends are best. King James used to call for his 10 old shoes; they were easiest for his feet.

XLVI.

FRIARS.

I. THE friars say they possess nothing; whose then are the lands they hold? Not their superior's, he hath vowed poverty as well as they. Whose then? To answer this 'twas decreed they should say they were the pope's. And why must the friars be more perfect than the pope himself?

2. If there had been no friars, Christendom might have continued quiet, and things remained at the stay.

If there had been no lecturers [which succeed the friars 20 in their way] the Church of England might have stood and flourished at this day.

1. 20. If there had been no lecturers &c.] See note on 'Lecturers,'

sec. I.