Thomas Dove, bishop of Peterborough, made him his vicar, official, and commissary general, jointly with Henry Hickman, on 10 June 1615.
A strong supporter of the royal prerogative, he carried matters with a high hand against the Puritans in Northamptonshire, compelling them to attend church regularly on the Sunday, to observe holy days, and to contribute to church funds, imposing penances on recusants, and commuting them for fines, and holding courts by preference at inconvenient times and places, fining those who failed to appear.
In 1621 the mayor and corporation of Northampton presented a petition to parliament complaining of these grievances, and the speaker issued his warrant for the examination of witnesses.
[1] Lambe was a member of the high commission court from 1629 until its abolition by the Long Parliament, and was one of Laud's most active supporters throughout that period.
[4] As the Long Parliament met, the parishioners of Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire, whom he had compelled to maintain two organs and an organist, petitioned for redress, and on 1 February 1641 Lambe was summoned to appear before a committee of the House of Commons to answer the charge.
At the same time he was harassed by proceedings in the House of Lords by the widow of one of the churchwardens of Colchester, whom he had excommunicated in 1635 for refusing to rail in the altar, and by a certain Walter Walker, whom he had unlawfully deprived of the office of commissary of Leicester.
[5] Lambe had two daughters, both considered beauties, one of whom married Robert Sibthorpe; the other, Barbara, was second wife of Basil Feilding, afterwards Earl of Denbigh.