278 Tbe HISTORY of the PURITANS. Chap. VII "rreen ceflom.- To which it was anfwered, That fuch an oath was never allowed L! iv,5a3b4e.th by any canon of the church, or general council, for a thoufand years after Chrift ; that when it was ufed againft the primitive chriftians, the pagan emperors countermanded it ; that it was againft the pope's law in the decre- tals, which admits ofmuch an inquifition ONLY in cafes of herefy nor was it ever ufed in England, till the reign of kingHenry the IVth, and then it was enforced as law, only by a haughty archbifllop, without confent of the commons of England, till the 25th of Henry the VIlIth, when it was ut- L. of whit- terly abrogated. This pretended law was again revived by queen Mary, gift, P.393, but repealed by the 1 ft of queen. Elizabeth, and fo remained. Befides, 394' as this purging men by oath, has no foundation in the law of the land, it is undoubtedly contrary to the law of nature and nations, where this is . a received maxim, Nemo tenetur flip/urn accufare : No man is bound to accufe himfelf. The queen therefore had no power to authorize her corn- miffioners, to met up an inquilition, and adminifter an oath to the fufpetted peifon, to anfwer all queftions the court fhould put to him, and to coevi& him upon thofe anfwers ; or if they could confront h s declara- tions, to punifh him as perjured. If any perlons difobeyed the orders and decrees of the court, by not ap- pearing at their Ammons, &c. the commifìoners were empowered to punifh them by FINE OR IMPRISONMENT, AT THEIR DISCRETIONS. This alfo was contrary to law, for the body of a fubjeét is to be dealt with, fe- cundum legem terra., according to the lawofthe land, as Magna Charta and the law faith. The clerk felon in the bifhop's prifon, is the king's pri- foner, and not the bifhop's, and therefore by the 1 ft of Henry the VIIth, cap. 4. " The bifhop of the diocefe is empowered to imprifonmuch priefts, " or other religious perlons within his jurifdidion, as (hall by examina- " Lion, and other lawful proofs requifite by the law of the church, be L. of Ayl. " conviéled offornication, ince, or any flefhly incontinency, and there to P r45 " detain them for fuch time, as (hall be thought by their difcretions.con- " venient, according to the quality of the offence; and that none of the " laid archbithops or bifhops, flail be chargeable with an action of falle imprifonment, for fodoing." Which plainly implies, that a bifhop can- not by law commit a man to prifon, except in the cafes abovementioned ; and that in all others, the law remains in force as before. If then the queen by her ecclefiaftical commiffion, could not difpenfe with the laws of the land, it is evident that the long and arbitrary imprifonrnents of the pu- ritan clergy, before they had been legally conviéted, and all their confine- ments afterwards, beyond the time limited by the ftatutes, were fomany ails of oppref ion; and every acting bifhop or commiffioner, was liable to be fued in an adtion offate imprifonment. The Their power of impriifn- ment.
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