Of sanctuaries.
And therefore, I insure you faithfullie for my mind, I will rather (mauger hir mind) fetch him awaie, than leaue him there, till hir frowardnesse and fond feare conueie him awaie. And yet will I breake no sanctuarie therefore. For verelie, sith the priuileges of that place, and other like, haue béene of long continued, I am not he that would be about to breake them. And in good faith, if they were now to begin, I would not be he that should be about to make them. Yet will I not say naie, but that it is a déed of pitie, that such men as the sea, or their euill debtors haue brought in pouertie, should haue some place of libertie, to kéepe their bodies out of danger of their cruell creditors.
And also, if the crowne happen (as it hath doone) to come in question, while either part taketh other as traitors, I will well there be some places of refuge for both. But as for théeues, of which these places be full, and which neuer fall from the craft, after they once fall thereto, it is pitie the sanctuarie should serue them. And much more, mankillers, whome God bad to take them from the altar and kill them, if their mother were wilfull. And where it is otherwise, there néed we not the sanctuaries that God appointed in the old law. For if either necessitie, his owne defense, or misfortune draweth him to that déed, a pardon serueth, which either the law granteth of course, or the king of pitie maie. Then looke me now how few sanctuarie men there be, whome anie fauourable necessitie compelled to go thither. And then sée on the other side, what a sort there be commonlie therin of them, whom wilfull vnthriftinesse hath brought to naught.
Westminster and saint Martins.
The abuse of sanctuaries.
What a rabble of théeues, murtherers, and malicious heinous traitors, and that in two places speciallie; the one at the elbow of the citie, the other in the verie bowels. I dare well auow it, weie the good that they doo, with the hurt that commeth of them, and ye shall find it much better to lacke both, than haue both. And this I saie, although they were not abused as they now be, & so long haue be, that I feare me euer they will be, while men be afraid to set their hands to the mendment, as though God & S. Peter were the patrones of vngratious liuing. Now vnthrifts riot & run in debt, vpon boldnesse of these places, yea, and rich men run thither with poore mens goods, there they build, there they spend, & bid there creditors go whistle them. Mens wiues run thither with their husbands plate, & saie they dare not abide with their husbands for beating. Théeues bring thither their stollen goods, and there liue thereon.
There deuise they new robberies, nightlie they steale out, they rob, and reaue, and kill, and come in againe, as though those places gaue them not onelie a safegard for the harme they haue doone, but a licence also to doo more. Howbeit, much of this mischiefe (if wise men would set their hands to it) might be amended, with great thanks to God, and no breach of the priuilege. The residue, sith so long ago, I wote néere what pope, and what prince more pitious than politike, hath granted it, & other men since, of a certeine religious feare, haue not broken it, let vs take a paine therewith, and let it a Gods name stand in force, as farre foorth as reason will, which is not fullie so farre foorth, as may serue to let vs of the fetching foorth of this noble man to his honor and wealth, out of that place, in which he neither is, nor can be a sanctuarie man.
The vse of sanctuaries.
A sanctuarie serueth alwaie to defend the bodie of that man that standeth in danger abroad, not of great hurt onlie, but also of lawfull hurt: for against vnlawfull harmes, neuer pope nor king intended to priuilege anie one place, for that priuilege hath euerie place. Knoweth anie man, anie place wherein it is lawfull one man to doo another wrong? That no man vnlawfullie take hurt, that libertie, the king, the law, and verie nature forbiddeth in euerie place, and maketh (to that regard) for euerie man euerie place a sanctuarie. But where a man is by lawfull means in perill, there néedeth he the tuition of some speciall priuilege, which is the onelie ground and cause of all sanctuaries.