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Show ;").,8 0 v ATHOCIOUS JUDGES. ·. (A. D. 1!3t8. Hough, were summoned before the Court of Ecclesiastical Commi sion. Jeffreys ob erved that Dr. Fairfax, one of their number, had not signed the answer of the college io the charge of <lisrcgarcling the king's recommendation. Fairf~lx a king leave to explain his reasons for declining to sign the an wer, Jeffreys thought that he was willing to conform, aud exclaimed, "Ay, this looks like a man of sen e, and a good subject. Let' hear what he will say." Fairfax.-" I don't object to the answer, because it is the vindication of 1ny college : I go further ; and as, according to the rule of lhc eccle iastical courts, a libel is given to the party that he may know the grounds of his accusation, I J emand that libel ; for I do not kno·w otherwise wherefore I am called here, and be ide"', this affair should be discussed in We tmin ·tcr IIall." Jeffreys. -"You are a doctor of divinity, not of law."Fai'ijux.-" By what authority do you sit here? " ,Jeffreys. -"Pray, what commis. ion have you to be so impuuent in court? Thi · man ought to be kept in a dark ro01n. \Vhy do you uffer him without a guardian? Why did you not bring him to me ? Pray let 1ny officers eize him." Three n1embers of the eccl siast icul con1mi ion were ent to Oxford to reprc cnt that formidable body, and they annulled the election of IIough, expelled the refractory fellow;-:, and made l\iacrdalen Collecre, for a time a Popi h e tauli ·h- o 0 ' ment - the court in London, under the presidency of tT cffrey.', confinning all their proceeuings. l'he lord chancellor next involved the king in the prosecution of the seven bi ~ hop., which, more than any other act of misrule during hi · r eign, led to his downfall.* On the 2t3th * In James's memoirs, all the blame of this prosecution is thrown upo.n Jeffreys; but it is more probable that he only recklessly supported his master. A. D.l688.] GEOUGE JEF.FHEYS. 339 of April, 1688, a new '' declaration of indulgence " can1e out under the great seal; and, ihat it 1uight be the n1ore generally known and obeyed, an order was sent from the council to all bishops in England, enjoining that it . ·houhl be read by the clergy in all churches and chapel" within their diocese~ durj ng divine service. A pcU Lion, igncu by San croft, tile archbishop, and six other prelates, was laid before the king, praying in respectful language that the clergy ruight be excu 'ed fi·o1n reading the d claration; not because they were wanting iu <luty to the sovereign, or in tendernc~ to the di · enter , but because it was founded upon the uispensing power, which had often been de lured illrgal in Parli<unent, and on iltat account they could not, in prudence, honor, or con cience, he such parties to it a the reading of it in the church ·would imply. Even the Earl of Snnucrland and .Father Peter r epre"cnted to the kinrr the d•tn<rer of arravinrr the whole clmrch of b ~ b .I b England again t the aulhoriLy of the crown, and advi,'cd ltim that the bi hops should 1n rely be admoni:hed to be 1nore compliant. But with Ute concurrence of Jeffrey~ he resolved to visit then1 with condign punishment, and they were ordered to appear before the council, with a. view to obtain evid nee against them, as the petition had been privately pre en ted to the king. When they entered the council chamber, J cffi.·<'y::> said to them, " Do you own the petition?" After some hesitation, the archbi hop confcssctl that be wrote it, and the bishops, that they igncd i t. Jeffreys.-" Did you publi~h it?" They, thinking he r eferred to the printing of it, of which the king had loudly complained, uenied this very resolutely; but they a<.lmi tted that they had deljvered jt to the king at vVhitehall palace, in the county of l\Iiuulesex. This |