132 ne HIs T 0 R y of the PuRITANS. VoL. II. 'K, Charles I. diocefe; for certainly fianding in fuch a relation to the church, they ought ~ to have been as ready to inform the bilhop as to obey the jufi:ice of the . . peace. Szttmg of the Lqflly, The managers objected to the archbifhop, " the convocation's convocatzm fi . c. h 1. d'Ir.J d J h · · after the par-" lttlng a1ter t e par tament was JHO ve , contrary to aw; t ea· unliament. " paling an oath on the iubject, and their making fundry canons, which M. c;harge. '' had fi nce been voted by both houfes of parliament contrary to the king's ArtJc e5· " prerogative, to the fundamental laws of the realm, to the rights of " parliament, to the property and liberty of the fubject, and containing Abp's reply, Laud's hift. p. 28~. " matters tending to [edition, and of dangerous confequence." The archbifhop replied, that the fitting of the convocation after the dif– folution of the parliament was, in the opinion both of judges and other lawyers, according to law; that as they were called to lit in convocation by a different writ from that which called them, as bifhops to lit in parliament, fo they could not rife till they had a writ to difcharge them. As– for the oath fo much complained of, it was according to law, or elfe they were mifled by fuch precedents as were never excepted againfi, for in the canons made in king Jamds time, there was an oath againft Jimony, and an oath for licences for marriages, and an oath for judges in ecclefiaflical courts, and all thefe efi:ablifhed by no other authority than the late one.. As to the vote of both houfes, which condemned the canons, fince their lordfhips would not futfer him to debate the jufiice and equity of it, he could only reply, that all thefe canons were made in open and full con– vocations, and are acts of that body, and cannot be afcribed to him though prelident of that fynod, fo by me ( fays the archbifhop) they wer; not made. Thefe were the principal evidences produced by rhe commons, in main– tenance of the firft branch of their charge, (viz.) his grace's endeavours to fubvert the rights of parliament, and the fundamental temporal laws of the kingdom. From whence it is eafy to obferve, that belides'the fharpnefs of the archbifhop's temper, there are three capital miftakes which run through this part of his defence. Remarks. • I. A groundlefs fuppolition, that where the law is ji!ent the prerogative takes place ; and that in all fuch cafes, a proclamation, an order of coun– cil, or a decree of the ftar-chamber, &c. is binding upon the fubjecl:; and · that difobedience t-o fuch proclamations or orders might be punifhed at dif– cretion. This gave rife to moft of the unwarrantable orders by which the fubject ·was infutferably oppreffed in the former part of this reign, and to the exorbitant fines that were levied for difobedience, in which the arch– bifhop himfelf was notoriouily active. 2. 'Ihe
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