TWO SPEECHES spoken in the house of the LORDS, By the Lord Viscount Newarke.  
The first Concerning the right of Bishops to sit in Parliament, May 21, 1641.  
The second about the lawfulness and conveniency of their intermeddling in Temporal affairs, May the 24th. following.  
London, Printed 1641.   

The first Speech Concerning the right of Bishops to sit in Parliament, May 21. 1641.  
My Lords,  
I Shall take the boldness to speak a word or two upon this subject, first as it is in itself, then as it is in the consequence: For the former I think he is a great stranger in Antiquity, that is not well acquainted with that of their sitting here, they have done thus and in this manner, almost since the conquest, and by the same power and the same right the other Peers did, and your Lordships now do, and to be put from this their due, so much their due, by so many hundred years strengthened and confirmed, and that without any offence, nay, pretence of any, seems to me to be very severe; if it be jus, I dare boldly say it is summum. That this hinders their Ecclesiastical vocation, an argument I hear much of, hath in my apprehension more of shadow then substance in it: if this be a reason, sure I am it might have been one six hundred years ago.  
A Bishop, my Lords, is not so circumscribed within the circumference of his Diocese, that his sometimes absence can be termed, no not in the most strict sense a neglect or hindrance of his duty, no more than that of a Lieutenant from his County, they both have their subordinate Ministers, upon which their influences fall, though the distance be remote.  
Besides, my Lords, the lesser must yield to the greater good; to make wholesome and good Laws for the happy and well regulating of Church and Commonwealth, is certainly more advantageous to both, than the want of the personal execution of their office, and that but once in three years, and then peradventure but a month or two, can be prejudicial to either. I will go no further to prove this, which so long experience hath done so fully, so demonstratively.  
And now my Lords, by your Lordship's good leave, I shall speak to the consequence as it reflects both on your Lordships, and my Lords the Bishops. Dangers & inconveniences are ever best prevented è longinquo; this precedent comes near to your Lordships, and such a one, that mutato nomine devobis. Pretences are never wanting, nay, sometimes the greatest evils appear in the most fair and specious outsides, witness the Shipmoney, the most abominable, the most illegal thing that ever was, and yet this was painted over with colour of the Law; what Bench is secure, if to allege, be to convince, and which of your Lordships can say then he shall continue a member of this House, when at one blow twenty six are cut off. It than behoves the Neighbour to look about him cum proximus ardet Vcalegon.  
And for the Bishops, my Lords, in what condition will you leave them? The House of Commons represents the meanest person, so did the Master his Slave, but they have none to do so much for them, and what justice can tie them to the observation of those Laws, to whose constitution they give no consent, the wisdom of former times gave proxies unto this House merely upon this ground, that every one might have a hand in the making of that, which he had an Obligation to obey: This House could not represent, therefore proxies in room of persons were most justly allowed.  
And now my Lords, before I conclude, I beseech your Lordships to cast your eyes upon the Church, which I know is most dear and tender to your Lordships, you will see her suffer in her most principal members, and deprived of that honour which here and throughout all the Christian World ever since Christianity she constantly hath enjoyed; for what Nation or Kingdom is there in whose great and public assemblies, and that from, her beginning, she had not some of hers if I may not say as essential, I am sure I may say as integral, parts thereof, and truly my Lords, Christianity cannot alone boast of this or challenge it only as hers, even Heathenism claims an equal share.  
I never read of any of them, Civil or Barbarous, that gave not thus much to their Religion, so that it seems to me to have no other original, to flow from no other spring than Nature itself.  
But I have done, and will trouble your Lordships no longer, how it may stand with the honour and justice of this House to p●sse this Bill, I most humbly submit unto your Lordships, the most proper and only Judges of them both.