this judgment generally shall be openly done in deed. As anent the first reckoning, Christ reckoneth with rich men of this world, and showeth them how much they owe him, and showeth by righteousness of his law how they and theirs should be sold, and so make amends by pain of things that they performed not in deed. But many such men for a time have compunction in heart, and pray God of his grace to have patience in them, and they shall in this life serve to Christ truly. And so Christ forgiveth them upon this condition. But they wend out, and sue not Christ their Lord in mercy, but oppress their servants that owe them but a little debt, and put them in prison, and think not on God's mercy, and other servants of God, both in this life and in the other, tell to God this fellness, and pray him of vengeance. doubt, God is wroth at this, and at two reckonings with man he reasoneth this cruel man, and judgeth him justly to pain. And therefore Christ biddeth, by Luke, all men to be merciful, for their Father of heaven that shall judge them is merciful. But we should understand by this that this mercy that Christ asketh is nothing against reason, and so by this just mercy men should sometime forgive, and sometime should they punish, but ever by reason of mercy. The reason of mercy standeth in this; that which men might dɔ cruelly they (may) do justly for God's sake to amendment of men; and men may mercifully reprove men, and punish them, and take of them their just debts for bettering of these debtors. On this manner doth God that is full of mercy, and saith that he reproveth and chastiseth his wanton children that he loveth; and thus Christ reproved Pharisees, and punished priests with other people, and punisheth mercifully all damned men in hell, for it standeth not with his right that he punish but mercifully. God giveth goods of kind by grace to these men that he damneth, and if he punished them more, yet he meddleth mercy. But here men should beware that all the goods that they have be goods of their God, and they naked servants of God; and thus should they warily flee to take their own vengeance, but venge injury of God and intend amendment. Thus Christ, meekest of all, suffered his own injury in two temptations of the fiend, but in the third he said: "Go, Satan," and proved him sharply by authority of God. Thus Moses, mildest man of all, killed many thousand of his folk, for they worshiped a calf as they should worship God. And thus in our works of mercy lieth much discretion, for oft times our mercy asketh to venge and to punish men, and else justices of man's law should never punish men to the death, but oft times they do amiss, and they wit not when they do well, and so religion of priests should leave such judgments. PH CONCERNING A GRAIN OF CORN (Nisi granum frumenti.- John xii. 24) HILOSOPHERS doubt whether (the) seed loseth his form when it is made a new thing, as the Gospel speaketh here; and some men think nay, for sith the same quantity or quality or virtue that was first in seed, liveth after in the fruit, as a child is often like to his father or his mother, or else to his eld father, after that the virtue lasteth,- and sith all these be accidents, that may not dwell without subject,-it seemeth that the same body is first seed and after fruit, and thus it may oft change from seed to fruit and again. Here many, cleped philosophers, glaver diversely; but in this matter God's law speaketh thus, as did eld clerks, that the substance of a body is before that it be seed, and now fruit and now seed, and now quick and now dead. And thus many forms must be together in one thing, and specially when the parts of that thing be meddled together; and thus the substance of a body is now of one kind and now of another. And so both these accidents, quality and quantity, must dwell in the same substance, all if it be changed in kinds, and thus this same thing that is now a wheat corn shall be dead and turn to grass, and after to many corns. But variance in words in this matter falleth to clerks, and showing of equivocation the which is more ready in Latin; but it is enough to us to put, that the same substance is now quick and now dead, and now seed and now fruit; and so that substance that is now a wheat corn must needs die before that it is made grass, and sith be made a whole ear. And thus speaketh Holy Writ and no man can disprove it. Error of freres in this matter is not here to rehearse, for it is enough to tell how they err in belief. SIR WILLIAM WYNDHAM (1687-1740) IR WILLIAM WYNDHAM'S attack on Sir Robert Walpole, made during the debate on the repeal of the Septennial Act, was celebrated during the eighteenth century as one of the best examples of skillful political invective. Wyndham was leader of the opposition to Walpole in the House of Commons, and he made, by indirection, charges which neither he nor his partisans were prepared to prove. Wyndham was born in Somersetshire, England, in 1687. Educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford, he entered Parliament in 1710; became Secretary at War in 1711, and Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1713. On the accession of George I. in 1714, he was dismissed from office, and in 1715 he was sent to the Tower on suspicion of being concerned in a Jacobite plot. There was no real evidence against him, however, and he was released. Returning to the House of Commons, he became an opposition leader, and acquired celebrity for his eloquence. He died July 17th, 1740. He must not be confounded with William Windham (1750-1810), who was Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in the "Ministry of all the Talents," under Lord Grenville. ATTACK ON SIR ROBERT WALPOLE (Delivered in the House of Commons on a Motion for the Repeal of the Septennial Act, March 13th, 1734) E HAVE been told, sir, in this House, that no faith is to be WR given to prophecies. prophesy; but I may suppose a case, which, though it has not yet happened, may possibly happen. Let us then suppose, sir, a man abandoned to all notions of virtue or honor, of no great family, and of but a mean fortune, raised to be Chief Minister of State by the concurrence of many whimsical events; afraid or unwilling to trust any but creatures of his own making, and most of them equally abandoned to all notions of virtue or honor; ignorant of the true interest of his country, and consulting nothing but that of enriching and aggrandizing himself and his favorites; in foreign affairs, trusting none but those whose education makes it impossible for them to have such knowledge or such qualifications as can either be of service to their country or give any weight or credit to their negotiations. Let us suppose the true interest of the nation, by such means, neglected or misunderstood; her honor and credit lost; her trade insulted; her merchants plundered; and her sailors murdered; and all these things overlooked, only for fear his administration should be endangered. Suppose him next possessed of great wealth, the plunder of the nation, with a Parliament of his own choosing, most of their seats purchased, and their votes bought at the expense of the public treasure. In such a Parliament, let us suppose attempts made to inquire into his conduct, or to relieve the nation from the distress he has brought upon it; and when lights. proper for attaining those ends are called for, not perhaps for the information of the particular gentlemen who call for them, but because nothing can be done in a parliamentary way till these things be in a proper way laid before Parliament; suppose these lights refused, these reasonable requests rejected by a corrupt majority of his creatures, whom he retains in daily pay, or engages in his particular interest, by granting them those posts and places which ought never to be given to any but for the good of the public. Upon this scandalous victory let us suppose this chief minister pluming himself in defiance, because he finds. he has got a Parliament, like a packed jury, ready to acquit him. at all adventures. Let us further suppose him arrived to that degree of insolence and arrogance, as to domineer over all men of ancient families, all the men of sense, figure, or fortune in the nation, and, as he had no virtue of his own, ridiculing it in others and endeavoring to destroy or corrupt it in all. I am still not prophesying, sir; I am only supposing; and the case I am going to suppose I hope never will happen. But with such a minister and such a Parliament, let us suppose a prince upon the throne, either for want of true information, or for some other reason, ignorant and unacquainted with the inclinations and the interest of his people; weak and hurried away by unbounded ambition and insatiable avarice. This case, sir, has never yet happened in this nation. I hope, I say, it will never exist. But as it is possible it may, could there any greater curse happen to a nation than such a prince on the throne, advised, and solely advised, by such a minister, and that minister supported by such a Parliament ? The nature of mankind cannot be altered by human laws; the existence of such a Parliament I think we may suppose. And as such a Parliament is much more likely to exist, and may do more mischief while the Septennial Law remains in force, than if it were repealed, therefore I am most heartily for the repeal of it. ROYAL PREROGATIVE DELEGATED FROM THE PEOPLE (Delivered in Parliament on the Army Bill in 1734) HE gentlemen who have been pleased to speak against this proposition have all of them asserted, I find, sir, that should it take place, it would alter the very being of our Constitution; from whence we must conclude that these gentlemen think that the very being of our Constitution consists, not only in having a standing army, but in having that army absolutely and entirely dependent on the Crown, which is an opinion so directly contrary to that which every man ought to have about our Constitution, that I am sorry to hear of its being entertained by any gentleman who has the honor of being a Member of this House. I wish those gentlemen would consider a little better the nature or the being of our Constitution, and the many alterations that have, from time to time, crept into it; if they do, they will find no greater novelty, nor can they find one more dangerous than that of a standing army. It is not as yet, I hope, a part of our Constitution, and, therefore, what is now proposed cannot be an alteration of our Constitution; it is, indeed, so far otherwise, that the very design of it is to prevent our Constitution's being altered by a standing army's being hereafter made a part of it; or at least to make that army less dangerous in case it should become absolutely necessary for us always to keep up a standing army. We have likewise been told, sir, that the prerogative of the Crown is a part of our Constitution, and the lessening the power of the Crown, or robbing the Crown of its prerogative (as gentlemen have been pleased to call it), is an alteration of our Constitution. For my own part, sir, I have no notion of any legal power or prerogative but what is for the benefit of the community; nor do I think that any power can be legal but what is originally derived from the community, and it is certain that all the power that is or can be given by the people must be given |