"Iustus es Domine, &c. O Lord thou art iust, &c.
The Praier.
"Absolue quæsumus Domine delicta famuli tui, vt à peccatorum suorum nexibus, quæ pro sua fragilitate contraxit, tua benignitate liberetur, & in hoc iudicio quoad meruit, iustitia tua præueniente, ad veritatis censuram peruenire mereatur, per Christum Dominum, &c. That is: Pardon we beséech thée O Lord, the sinnes of thy seruant, that being deliuered from the burden of his offenses, wherewith he is intangled, he may be cleared by thy benignitie, and in this his triall (so far as he hath deserued thy mercie preuenting him) he may come to the knowledge of the truth, by Christ our Lord, &c.
The Gospell. Mar. 10.
"In illo tempore, cùm egressus esset Iesus in via, procurrens quidam genu flexo ante eum, rogabat eum dicens, Magister bone, quid faciam vt vitam æternam percipiam? Iesus autem dixit ei, Quid me dicis bonum? &c. In those daies when Iesus went foorth toward his iourneie, and one méeting him in the waie running, and knéeling vnto him, asked him saieng: Good master what shall I doo that I may possesse eternall life? Iesus said vnto him, Whie callest thou me good? &c. Then followeth the secret, and so foorth all of the rest of the masse. But before the partie dooth communicate, the priest shall vse these words vnto him: Adiuro te per patrem, & filium, & spiritum sanctum, & per veram christianitatem quam suscepisti, & per sanctas relliquias quæ in ista ecclesia sunt, & per baptismum quo te sacerdos regenerauit, vt non præsumas vllo modo communicare, neq; accedere ad altare, si hoc fecisti aut consensisti, &c. I adiure thée by the father, the sonne, and the holie Ghost, by the true christendome which thou hast receiued, by the holie relikes which are in this church, and by the baptisme wherewith the priest hath regenerated thée, that thou presume not by any maner of means to communicate, nor come about the altar, if thou hast doone or The cup yet in vse. consented vnto this, whereof thou art accused, &c. Here let the priest suffer him to communicate, saieng; Corpus hoc, & sanguis Domini nostri Iesu Christi, sit tibi ad probationem hodie. This bodie & this bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ, be vnto thee a triall this daie. The praier: Perceptis Domine Deus noster sacris muneribus, supplices deprecamur, vt huius participatio sacramenti à proprijs nos reatibus expediat, & in famulo tuo veritatis sententiam declaret, &c. Hauing receiued O Lord God these holie mysteries, we humblie beséech thée that the participation of this sacrament may rid vs of our guiltinesse, and in this thy seruant set foorth the truth. Then shall follow Kyrieleson, the Letanie, and certeine Psalmes, and after all them Oremus: Let vs praie. Deus qui per ignem signa magna ostendens, Abraham puerum tuum de incendio Chaldæorum quibusdam pereuntibus eruisti, Deus qui rubum ardere ante conspectum Mosis & minimè comburi permisisti, Deus qui de incendio fornacis Chaldaicis plerisque succensis, tres pueros tuos illæsos eduxisti, Deus qui incendio ignis populum Sodomæ inuoluens, Loth famulum tuum cum suis salute donasti, Deus qui in aduentu sancti spiritus tui, illustratione ignis fideles tuos ab infidelibus decreuisti: ostende nobis in hoc prauitatis nostræ examine virtutem eiusdem spiritus, &c: & per ignis huius feruorem discernere infideles, vt à tactu eius cuius inquisitio agitur, conscius exhorrescat, & manus eius comburatur, innocens verò pœnitus illæsus permaneat, &c. Deus cuius noticiam nulla vnquam secreta effugiunt, fidei nostræ tua bonitate responde, & præsta vt quisquis purgandi se gratia, hoc ignitum tulerit ferrum, vel absoluatur vt innocens, vel noxius detegatur, &c. In English thus: O God, which in shewing great tokens by fire diddest deliuer Abraham thy seruant from the burning of the Chaldeis, whilest other perished; O God which sufferedst the bush to burne in the sight of Moses, and yet not to consume; O God which deliueredst the thrée children from bodilie harme in the fornace of the Chaldeis, whilest diuerse were consumed; O God which by fire didst wrap the people of Sodome in their destruction, and yet sauedst Lot and his daughters from perill; O God which by the shining of thy brightnesse at the comming of the holie ghost in likenesse of fire, diddest separate the faithfull from such as beléeued not: shew vnto vs in the triall of this our wickednesse, the power of the same spirit, &c: and by the heat of this fire discerne the faithfull from the vnfaithfull, that the guiltie whose cause is now in triall, by touching thereof, may tremble and feare, and his hand be burned, or being innocent, that he may remaine in safetie, &c. O God from whome no secrets are hidden, let thy goodnesse answer to our faith, and grant that whosoeuer in this purgation, shall touch and beare this iron, may either be tried an innocent, or reuealed as an offender, &c. After this the priest shall sprinkle the iron with holie water saieng: The blessing of the father, the sonne, and the holie ghost, be vpon this iron, to the reuelation of the iust iudgement of God. And foorthwith let him that is accused beare it, by the length of nine foot, and then let his hand be wrapped and sealed vp for the space of three daies: after this if any corruption or raw flesh appeare where the iron touched it, let him be condemned as guiltie: if it be whole and sound, let him giue thanks to God." And thus much of the firie Ordalia, wherevnto Water. that of the water hath so precise relation, that in setting foorth of the one, I haue also described the other, wherefore it shall be but in vaine to deale anie further withall.
Hitherto also (as I thinke) sufficientlie of such lawes as were in vse before the conquest. Now it resteth that I should declare the order of those, that haue beene made and receiued since the comming of the Normans, referred to the eight alteration or change of our maner of gouernance, and therevnto doo produce thrée score and foure seuerall courts. But for asmuch as I am no lawier, and therefore haue but little skill to procéed in the same accordinglie, it shall suffice to set downe some generall discourse of such as are vsed in our daies, and so much as I haue gathered by report and common heare-saie.
Ciuill law. We haue therefore in England sundrie lawes, and first of all the ciuill, vsed in the chancerie, admeraltie, and diuerse other courts, in some of which, the seuere rigor of iustice is often so mitigated by conscience, that diuerse things are thereby made easie and tollerable, which otherwise would appeare to be méere iniurie and extremitie.
Canon law. We haue also a great part of the Canon law dailie practised among vs, especiallie in cases of tithes, contracts of matrimonie, and such like, as are vsuallie to be séene in the consistories of our bishops and higher courts of the two archbishops, where the exercise of the same is verie hotlie followed. The third sort of lawes that we haue are our owne, & those alwaies so variable, & subiect to alteration and change, that oft in one age, diuerse iudgements doo passe vpon one maner of case, whereby the saieng of the poet,
"Tempora mutantur, & nos mutamur in illis,"
Lawiers of England not alwaies constant in iudgment. may verie well be applied vnto such, as being vrged with these words; In such a yeare of the prince, this opinion was taken for sound law; doo answer nothing else, but that the iudgement of our lawiers is now altered, so that they saie farre otherwise. The regiment that we haue therefore after our owne ordinances, dependeth vpon thrée lawes, to wit, Statute law, Common law, Customarie law, and Prescription, according to the triple maner of our trials and iudgments, which is by parlement, verdict of twelue men at an assise, or wager of battell, of which the last is little vsed in our daies, as no appeale dooth hold in the first and last rehearsed. But to returne to my purpose.