Chap. VIII. Tl6eTI I S TORY ofthe PuRrTANS. 36L " bifhops the fame ruleunder the kingas they had under the pope, he anf .Queen 'C wered, that there was a claufe in the at which refkrains them from of- ,Elizabeth, " fending againft the king's prerogative, and the laws and cuftoms of the r9¡¡`, " realm ; and according to the laws and cuftoms of the realm, no fob- " jest can hold a court but by fpecial warrant from the crown." Mr. Beal (poke on the fame fide, and added, " that the bifhops had incurred a pr vmunire, becaufe the ftatute of 13 Eliz. requires fubfcription to ar- " tides of faith only; that this limitationwas made by the lords after the " bill had paft the commons ; and that no councils nor canons gave au- " thority to the bithops ti frame articles, and require fubfcription at their " pleafure." For which fpeech the queen forbid him the court, and com- manded him to abfent from parliament. Thefe debates awakened the civilians in the houfe, and particularly Mr. Dalton, who oppofed the, reading of the bill, becaufe the queen had often forbid them to meddle with the reformation ofthe church ; which Sir Ro- bert Cecil, one of her majefty's fecretaries of flate confirmed. As foon as the queen was acquainted with the proceedings of the houfe, Stop: by the the lent for thefpeaker Coke, and commanded him to tell the houfe, that it gel': was wholly in her power to call, to determine, to antor dnt, to any thing p efb. Htí}. done in parliament ; that the calling of this was only, that fttch as negletled p. 320. thefervice of the church might be compelledto it with force(harp laws; and that the fafety of her majßy's perfon and the realm might be providedfor ; that it was not meant that theyJhould meddle with matters offtate or caufs ecclefiafical; thatthe wondered they fhouldattempt a thing fo contrary to her commandment ; thatfhe was highly ojèndedat it, and that it was her royal pleafure, that no bill touching any matters offiate and caufes ecclefiaftical, fhould be there exhibited. At the fame time Mr..elttorney Morrice was feized on in the houfe by a ferjeant at arms, difcharged from his office in the court of the dutchy at Lancafer, difabled from any practice in his profeffion, as a barrifter at law, , and kept for tome years prifoner in Tutbury Cattle. If there had been a jufi fpirit of Englilh liberty in the houfe of com- mons, they would not have fubmitted fo tamely to the infults of an ar- bitrary court, which arrefted their members for liberty of fpeech, and committed them to prifon; which forbid their redreffing the grievances of church or Elate, and fent for their bills out of the houfe and cancelled them. Thefe were fuch acts of fovereign power, which none of her majefty's predeceffors had dared to affume, and which coil one of her fuc- cef orshis crown and his life. But this parliament, inflead of afferting their own and the peoples li- t forpu- berties, Elands upon record for one of the fevereft ads of opprcßïon and nYhing refu- cruelty, that ever was paled by the reprefentatives of a proteftant nation firs toeomo to , VoL. I. A a a ohm&
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