Monroe an old experienced Commander with his three thousand old and experienced Scots train'd up for five or six years then last past in the Wars of Ireland By whose assistance it is possible enough that he might not have lost his first Battle not long after his Head which was took from him on the same day with the Earl of Hollands But God owed him and that Nation both shame and punishment for all their â—reacheries and Rebellions against their King and now he doth begin to pay them continuing payment after payment till they had lost the Command of their own Countrey and being reduced unto the form of a Province under the Commonwealth of England live in as great a Vassalage under their new Masters as a conquered Nation could expect or be subject to Fol. 1078. This while the Prince was put aboard the revolted Ships c. and with him his Brother the Duke of York c. the Earls of Brentford and Ruthen the Lord Cuâ—pepper c. In the recital of which names we finde two Earls that is to say the Earls of Brentford and Ruthen which are not to be found in any Records amongst our Heralds in either Kingdom Had he said General Ruthen Earl of Brentford he had hit it right And that both he and his Reader also may the better understand the Risings and Honors of this Man I shall sum them thus Having served some time in the Wars of Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden he was Knighted by him in his Camp before Darsaw a Town of Pomerella commonly counted part of Prussia and belonging to the King of Poland Anno 1627. at what time the said King received the Order of the Garter with which he was invested by Mr. Peter Yong one of his Majesties Gentlemen Huishers and Mr. Henry St. George one of the Heralds at Arms whom he also Kinghted In the long course of the German Wars this Colonel Sir Patrick Ruthen obtain'd such a Command as gave him the title of a General and by that title he attended in a gallant Equipage on the Earl of Morton then riding in great pomp towards Windsor to be installed Knight of the Garter At the first breaking out of the Scots Rebellion he was made a Baron of that Kingdom and Governor of the Castle of Edinburgh which he defended very bravely till the Springs which fed his Well were broken and diverted by continual Batteries Not long ater he was made Earl of Forth and on the death of the Earl of Lindsey was made Lord General of his Majesties Army and finally created Earl of Brentford by Letters Patents dated the 27 of May Anno 1644. with reference to the good Service which he had done in that Town for the fiâ—st hanselling of his Office So then we have an Earl of Brentford but no Earl of Ruthen either as joyn'd in the same Person or distinct in two Not much unlike is that which follows Ibid. His Commissions to his Commanders were thus stiled Charls Prince of great Britain Duke of Cornwal and Albany Here have we two distinct Titles conferred upon one Person in which I do very much suspect our Authors Intelligence For though the Prince might Legally stile himself Duke of Cornwal yet I cannot easily believe that he took upon himself the Title of Duke of Albany He was Duke of Cornwal from his Birth as all the eldest Sons of the Kings of England have also been since the Reign of King Edward the third who on the death of his Uncle Iohn of Eltham E. of Cornwal invested his eldest Son Edw. the Black Prince into the Dukedom of Cornwal by a Coronet on his head a ring on his finger and a silver Verge in his hand Since which time as our learned Camden hath observed the King of Englands eldest Son is reputed Duke of Cornwal by Birth and by vertue of a special Act the first day of his Nativity is presumed and taken to be of full and perfect age so that on that day he may sue for his Livery of the said Dukedom and ought by right to obtain the same as well as if he had been one and twenty years old And he hath his Royalties in certain Actions and Stannery Matters in Wracks at Sea Customs c. yea and Divers Officers or Ministers assigned unto him for these or such like matters And as for the Title of Duke of albany King Charls as the second Son of Scotland receiv'd it from King Iames his Father and therefore was not like to give it from his second Son the eldest Son of Scotland being Duke of Rothsay from his Birth but none of them Dukes of Albany for ought ever I could understand either by Birth or by Creation Fol. 1094. And so the dignity of Arch-Bishops to fall Episcopal Iurisdiction also Our Author concludes this from the general words of the Kings Answer related to in the words foregoing viz. That whatsoever in Episcopacy did appear not to have clearly proceeded from Divine Institution he gives way to be totally abolished But granting that the Dignity of Arch-Bishops was to fall by this Concession yet the same cannot be affirmed of the Episcopal Iurisdiction which hath as good Authority in the holy Scripture as the calling it self For it appears by holy Scripture that unto Timothy the first Bishop of Ephâ—sus St. Paul committed the power of Ordination where he requires him to lay hands hastily on no man 1 Tim. 5 22 And unto Titus the first Bishop of Crete the like Authority for ordaining Presbyters or Elders as our English reads it in every City Tit. 1. v. 5. Next he commands them to take care for the ordering of Gods publick Service viz. That Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of Thanks be made for all men 1 Tim. 2. 1. which words relate not to the private Devotions of particular persons but to the Divine Service of the Church as it is affirmed not onely by St Chrysostom Theophylact and Oâ—cumenius amongst the Ancients and by Estius for the Church of Rome but also by Calvin for the Protestant or Reformed Churches Next he requires them to take care that such as painfully labor in the Word and Doctrine receive the honor or recompence which is due unto them 1 Tim. 5. 17. as also to censure and put to silence all such Presbyters as preached any strange Doctrine contrary unto that which they had received from the Apostles 1 Tim 1. 3. And if that failed of the effect and that from Preaching Heterodoxies or strange Doctrines they went on to Heresies then to proceed to Admonition and from thence if no amendment followed to a rejection from his place and deprivation from his Function 1 Tit. 3. 10. as both the Fathers and late Writers understand the Text. Finally for correction in point of Manners as well in the Presbyter as the people St. Paul commits it wholly to the care of his Bishop where he adviseth Timothy not to receive an Accusâ—ation against
passing of the Statute of Praemunire were without any further Ratification obligatory to all subjected to their jurisdiction And he hath told us also of such Convocations as had been called between the passing of the Statute of Praemunire and the Act for Submission that they made Canons whiche were binding although none other then Synodical Authority did confirme the same Upon whiâ—â—â—remisses I shall not fear to raise this Syllogism viz That power which the Clergy had in their Convocations before their submission to the King to binde the subject by their Canons and Constitutions without any further Ratification then own Synodicall Authority the same they had when the Kings power signified in his Royal assent was added to them but the Clergy by our Authors own confession had power in their Convocations before their submission to the King to binde the Subject by their Canons and Constitutions without any further ratification then their own Synodical Authority Ergo they had the same power to binde the Subjects when the Kings power signified by the Royal assent was added to them The Minor being granted by our Author as before is shewed the Major is only to be proved And for the proof hereof I am to put the Reader in minde of a Petition or Remonstrance exhibited to the King by the House of Commons Anno 1532. in which they shewed themselves agrieved that the Clergy of this Realm should act Authoritatively and Supremely in the Convocations and they in Parliament do nothing but as it was confirmed and ratified by the Royal assent By which it seems that there was nothing then desired by the House 〈◊〉 â—ommons but that the Convocation should be brought down to the same level with the Houses of Parliament and that their Acts and Constitutions should not binde the Subject as before in their Goods and Possessions untill they were confirmed and ratified by the Regal power The Answer unto which Remonstrance being drawn up by Dr. Gardiner then newly made Bishop of Winchester and allowed of by both Houses of Convocation was by them presented to the King But the King not satisfied with this Answer â—â—solves to bring them to his bent leâ—t else perhaps they might have acted something to the hindrance of his divorce which was at that time in agitation and therefore on the 10 of May he sends a paper to them by Dr. Fox after Bishop of Hereford in which it was peremptorily required That no Constitution or Ordinance shall be hereafter by the Clergy Enacted Promulged or put in Execution unlesse the Kings Highness do approve the same by his high Authority and Royal assent and his advice and favour be also interponed for the execution of every such constitution among his Highnesse Subjects And though the Clergy on the receipt of this paper remov'd first to the Chappel of St. Katherines and after unto that of St. Dunstan to consult about it yet found they no Saint able to inspiâ—e them with a resolution contrary to the Kings desires and therefore upon the Wednesday following being the 15 of the same Moneth they made their absolute submission binding themselves in Verbo Sacerdotii not to make or execute any Canons or other Synodical Constitutions but as they were from time to time enabled by the Kings Authority But this submission being made unto the King in his single person and not as in conjunction with his Houses of Parliament could neither bring the Convocation under the command of Parliaments nor render them obnoxious to the power thereof as indeed it did not But to the contrary hereof it is said by our Author that Fol. 194. He viz. the King by the advice and consent of his Clergy in Convocation and great Councel in Parliament resolved to reform the Church under his inspection from grosse abuses crept into it To this I need no other Answer then our Author himself who though in this place he makes the Parliament to be joyned in Commission with the Convocation as if a joynt Agent in that great business of Reforming the Church yet in another place he tels us another tale For fol. 188. it will appear saith he and I can tell from whom he saith it upon serious examination that there was nothing done in the Reformation of Religion save what was acted by the Clergy in their Convocations or grounded on some Act of theirs precedent to it with the Advice Counsel and Consent of the Bishops and most eminent Churchmen confirmed upon the Postfact and not otherwise by the Civill Sanction according to the usage of the best and happiest times of Christianity So then the Reformation of the Church was acted chiefly by the King with the advice of the Clergy in their Convocation the confirmation on the post-fact by the King in Parliament and that by his leave not in all the Acts and Particulars of it but in some few only for which consult the Tract entituled The Way and Manner of the Reformation of the Church of England Now as our Author makes the Parliament a joynt Assistant with the King in the Reformation so he conferreth on Parliaments the supreme Power of ratifying and confirming all Synodicall Acts. Fol. 199. The Parliament saith he did notifie and declare that Ecclesiasticall power to be in the King which the Pope had formerly unjustly invaded Yet so that they reserved to themselves the confirming power of all Canons Ecclesiastical so that the person or property of Refusers should not be subjected to temporal penalty without consent of Parliament But certainly there â—is no such matter in that Act of Parliament in which the submission of the Clergy and the Authority of the King grounded thereupon is notified and recorded to succeeding times nor any such reservation to themselves of a confirming power as our Author speaks of in any Act of Parliament I can knowingly and boldly say it from that time to this Had there been any such Priviledge any such Reservation as is here declared their power in confirming Ecclesiastical Canons had been Lord Paramount to the Kings who could have acted nothing in it but as he was enabled by his Houses of Parliament Nor is this only a new and unheard of Paradox an Heterodoxie as I may call it in point of Law but plainly contrary to the practice of the Kings of England from that time to this there being no Synodical Canons or Constitutions I dare as boldly say this too confirmed in Parliament or any otherwise ratified then by the superadding of the Royal assent For proof whereof look we no further then the Canons of 603 and 640 confirmed by the two Kings respectively and without any other Authority concurring with them in these following words viz. We have therefore for Us our Heirs and lawful Successors of our especial Grace certain knowledge and meer motion given and by these pâ—esents do give our Royal assent according to the foâ—m of the said Statute or Act of Parliament aforesaid to all and every of
except it be in his own dreams to confirm these Articles or that the Parliament of the 13 of the Queen being that he speaks of appointed any Committee for Religion to examine the Oxthodoxy of those Articles and make report unto the House All that was done was this and on this occasion Some Ministers of the Church too stiffly wedded to their old Mumpsimus of the Masse and some as furiously prosecuting their new Sumpsimus of Inconformity it was thought fit that between these contending parties the Doctrine of the Church should be kept inviolate And thereupon it was Enacted That every person under the degree of a Bishop which did or should pretend to be a Priest or Minister of Gods holy word and Sacraments in the Church of England should before Christmas then next following in the presence of his Diocesan Bishop testifie his assent and subscribe to the said Articles of the year 1562. Secondly that after such subscribing before the Bishop he should on some Sunday in the forenoon in the Church or Chappel where he served in time of Divine Service read openly the said Articles on pain of being deprived of all his Ecclesiastical promotions as if he were then naturally dead Thirdly that if any Ecclesiastical person should maintain any Doctrine contrary to any of the said Articles and being convented by his Bishop c. should persist therein it should be just cause to deprive such person of his Ecclesiastical promotions Fourthly that all persons to be admitted to any Benefice with Cure should likewise subscribe to the said Articles and publickly read the same in the open Church within two moneths after their induction with declaration of their unfaigned assent to the same on the pain aforesaid in all which there was nâ—â—thing done to confirm these Articles but only a pious care expressed for reformation of such disorders as were like to rise amongst the Ministers of the Church by requiring their subscription and assent unto them under such temporal punishments which at that time the Canons of the Church had not laid upon them So that our Author very well might have spared this Flourish that the Obligatoriness of these Articles as to temporal punishments beares not date nine years before from their composition in Convocation but henceforward from their confirmation in Parliament And here I must crave leave to fetch in another passage relating to the Acts of this Convocation fol. 102. in which he telleth us that till the year 1572. The Bishops had been more sparing in pâ—â—ssing and others more daring in denying subscription because the Canons made in the Convocation Anno 1563. were not for nine years after confirmed by Act of Parliament c. In which onâ— Authoâ— shews much zeal and but little knoâ—ledge theâ—e being no Canons madâ— in the Convoâ—ation of 1562. 1563. in our Authors reckoning noâ— any thing at all done in it more then the setling of the Articles and passing a bill for the granting of a Subsidie to the Queen as by the Records thereof may be easily seen But rather then the Parliament shall not have the power of confirming Canons our Author will finde our some Canons for them to confirm which never had a being or existence but in his brains only From the Articles our Author proceeds unto the Hoâ—ilies approved in those Articles and of them he tels us Fol. 75. That if they did little good they did little harm With scoâ—â— and insolence enough Those Homilies were so composed as to instruct the people in all positive Doctrines necessary for Christian men to know with reference both to Faith and Manneâ—s and being penned in a plain style as our Author hath it were â—â—tter for the edification of the common people then either the strong lines of some or the flashes of 〈◊〉 wiâ— in others in these latter times And well it had been for the peace and happiness of this Church if they had been more constantly read and nor discredited by those men who studied to advance their own inventions above those grave and solid pieces composed by the joynt counsels and co-operations of many godly learned and religious peâ—sons But it is well howsoever that by reading these so much viâ—ified Homilies the Ministeâ—â— though they did little good did but little harm it being to be feared that the precommant humor of Sermonizing hath on the contrary done much harm and but little good But our Author hath not yet done with this Convocation for so it followeth Fol. 76. The English Bishops conceiving themselves impowered by their Canons began to shew their authority in urging the Clergy of their Diâ—â—eâ—s to subscribe to the Liturgie Ceremonies and Discipline of the Church and such as refused the same were braaded with the odious name of Puritans Our Author having given the Parliament a power of confirming no Canons as before was shewed he brings the Bisâ—ops acting by as weak Authority in the years 1563. 1564. theâ—e being at that time no Canons for them to pâ—oceed upon for requiring thâ—ir Clergy to subscribe to the Liturgie Ceremonies and Discipline of the Church And therefore if they did any such thing it was not aâ— tâ—ey were impowered by their Canons but as they were inâ—â—bâ—â—d by that Authoâ—ity whiâ—h was inherent naturally in their Epiâ—copal Office But whereas he tells us in the following words thâ—t the name of Puritan in that notion began this year viz. 15â—4 I fear he hath anticipated the time a little Genebrard a right good Chronologer placing it ortos in Angâ—â—â— Puritanâ—s about two years after Anno 1566. And so far I am of our Authors minde that the grief had not been great if the name had ended that year upon condition thâ—t the occasion for which it was given them had then ended also But when he tells us that the name of Puritans was given to the opposers of the Hierarâ—â—y and Church-Serviceâ— and signifâ—eth a Non-conformist as often as I meet such Opposers and such Non-conâ—oâ—mists in the coâ—â—e of this Hiâ—â—ory I have warrant good enough to call them by the name of Puritans If any did abuse the nâ—mâ—s as â—â—â—â—leth us afterwards lib. x. fol. 100. to asperse the most Orthodox in Doctrine and religious in Conversation they weâ—e the moâ—e to blame let them answer for it But if those Orthodox and religious persons were Orthodox only in his sense and under the colour of Religion did secretly 〈◊〉 with those who oppos'd the Hierarchy and the eâ—â—â—blisht Orders of the Church it might be a disgrace but no wâ—ong unto them to be called Puritans And if it 〈◊〉 extended further to denote such men also as mainâ—â—â—ned any of the private Opinions and Doctrines of 〈◊〉 against the tendries of the Church I see no reason why our Author should complain of it so much as he does in the place afoâ—esaid The practices of some men are many times Doctrines to others and the Calvinia 〈◊〉 being built upon Calvins practices and those
King as our Authour words is it gave the King occasion to consider of the generall tendency of the Puritan doctrine in this point unto downright Iudâ—â—sme and thereupon to quicken the reviving of his Fathers Declaration about Lawfull sports in which the signification of his pleasure beareth date the 18. of October in the 9. year of his Reign Anno 1633. A remedy which had been prescribed unseasonably to prevent and perhaps too late to cure the disease if Bradburns Book had been publisht six years before as our Authour makes 〈◊〉 Our Authour secondly relating this very businesse of Bradburnes Book or rather of Barbarous Books as he cals them there fol. 196. must either be confest to speak Vngrammatically or else the coming out of these Barbarous Books must be one chief motive for setting out that Declaration by King Iames Anno. 1618. Thirdly This Bradbuâ—u was not made a Convert by the High Commission Couâ—t bâ—t by a private conference with some Learned Divines to which he had submitted himself and which by Gods blessing so far prevailed with him that he became a Converts and freely conformed himself to the Orthodoxall Doctrine of the Church of England both concerning the Sabbath day and likewise concerning the Lords day So Bishop White relates the Story in his Epistle Dedicatory before his Book to the Aâ—ch-Bishop of Canterbury Anno 1635. Fourthly Whereas our Authour tels us fol. 175. That the Declaration was not 〈◊〉 on the Ministers to publish more proper for a Lay-Officer or a Constable I must needs grant that the publishing of this Declaration was not prest on the Minister by any expresse command of the King But then I would fain know withall how the Bishops could take Order that publication thereof be made in all the Parish Churches of their severall Diocesses according to his 〈◊〉 will and pleasure but by the mouth of the Ministers The Constable and other Lay-Officers whom our Authour thinks more proper for that Employment were not under the Bishopâ— command as to that particular and therefore as he â—ad nâ— Authority so he had no reason to require any such duty from them And as for the Church-Wardens which are more liable to the power and command of the Oâ—dinary it happeneth many times especially in Countrey-Villages that they cannot reade and theâ—efore no such publication of the Kings pleasure to be laid on them The Ministers who had takeâ— an Oath oâ— Canonicall Oâ—edience to their severall and respective Bishops must consequently bâ— the fittest men for that Employment implicitly intended though not explicitly named in the Declaration As many mistakes there are concerning the decay and repair of S. Pauls Church in London For first the high Spire was not burnt down by accident of Lightning in the time of Queen Elizâ—beth as our Authour tels us fol. 176. That vulgar Errour hath been confuted long agoe and no such thing as the burning of Pauls Steeple by Lightning hath for these twenty years and more occurred in the Chronologies of our common Almanacks that dreadfull accident not happening by the hand of Hâ—aven but by the negligence of a Plumber who leaving his pan of Coals there when he went to Dinner was the sole occasion of that mischief Secondly The Commission for the Repair of this Church issued in the time of King Charles came not out in the year 1632. where our Authour placeth it but had past the Seal and was published in Print the year before Anno 1631. Thirdly The Reparation of the Church began not at the West end as our Authour tels us fol. 177. the Quire or Eastern part of the Church being fully finisht before the Western part or the main body of the Chuâ—ch had been undertaken Fourthly The little Church called S. Gregories was not willingly taken down to the ground the Parishioners opposing it very strongly and declaring as much unwillingnesse as they could or durst in that particular and fiftly the Lord Mayor for the time then being was not named Sir Robert 〈◊〉 as our Authour makes it but Sir Robert Ducy advanc'd by â—is â—ajesty to the dâ—gree of a Baronet as by the Commission doth appear so many mistakes in so few linâ—â— are not easily met with in any Author but our present Histâ—â—rian But we proceed Fol. 179. â—he Turkâ— hâ—ve Auxiliâ—ry friendâ—hip of the 〈◊〉 Tartar Chrim from whose Ancestors Tamberlain proceeded â— A Proposition strangely mixt of truth and falshood it being most true that the Turks have Auxiliary Forces from the Tartar Chrim and no less false that Tamberlain dâ—â—cended from him All who have written of that great Prince make him the son of Og or Zain-Cham the Cham of Zagathey a Province some thousands of miles distant from the dwellings of the Tartar-Chrim which Og or Zâ—in-Châ—m was the Grand-childe of another Zâ—in-Cham the third great Cham of the Tartars and he the Grand-childe of Cingis the first great Cham who laid the foundation of that mighty and for a time most terrible Empire Whereas the Chrim-Tartar or the Tartar-Chrim as our Authâ—r calls him derives 〈◊〉 from Lochtan-Cham descended from one Bathu or Roydo a great Commander of the Tartars who during the Reign of Hoccata the second great Cham subdued these Countries But this mistake I shall more easily pardon in our Author then another of like nature touching Vladislaus King of Poland of whom he tells us that being the fâ—urth of that name he succeeded his Brother Sigismund in that Kingdom Vladislaus the fâ—â—rth saith he was after the death of his Brother Sigismund by the consent of the States preferred to the â—hroâ—e fol. 182. In which few words there are two things to be corrected For first Vlâ—dislâ—us who succeeded Sigâ—smund was not his Brother but his Son And secondly he succeeded not by the name of Vladislaus the fourth but of Vladâ—slâ—us the sevenâ—h Adde herein his making of Smolensko a Town of Pâ—land ibâ—d which most of our Geograpâ—ers have placed in Râ—ssia A Town whâ—ch sometime by the chance of War or otherwise hâ—th been in possession of the Pole though properly belonging to the great Duke of Muscovy which can no more entitle it to the name of a Polish Town then Calice may be now said to be an English Colony because once a Colony of the English Nor does our Author speâ—k more properly I will not say more understandingly of the Affairs of Ireland then of those of Poland For first He tells us fol. 185. That the Conquest of it was never perfected till its subjection to King Charls whereas there was no other subjection tendred by that People to King Charls then by those of his other two Kingdoms of England and Scotland Secondly Forgetting what he had said before he tells us fol. 186. That Mountâ—oy made an end of that War in the Reign of King James and yet he says not true in that neither â—or the War was ended by Mountjoy at the Battle of Kingsale by which that great Rebel the Earl
Secondly he bought not the Dutchy of Gelders neither but possest himself of it by a mixt Title of Arms and Contract The first Contract made between Charls the Warlike Duke of Burgundy and Arnold of Egmond Duke of Gelders who in regard of the great Succors which he received from him when deprived and Imprisoned by his own ungracious son passed over his whole Estate to him for a little mony But this alienation being made unprofitable by the death of Charls the intrusion of Adolph the son of Arnold and the succession of Charls the son of Adolph this Emperor reviv'd the claim and prest Duke Charls so hotly on all sides with continual Wars that he was forc'd to yield it to him upon condition that he might enjoy it till his death which was afterwards granted Thirdly if he had any right to the Dukedom of William it accrued not to him by discent as King of Spain but as a â—ief forfeited to the Empire for want of Heirs male in the House of Sforsa which not being acknowledged by the French who pretended from the Heir General of the Galeazzo's he won it by his Sword and so disposed thereof to his Son and Successor King Philip the second and his Heirs by another right then that of Conquest The proceeding of the short Parliament and the surviving Convocation have been so fully spoken of in the Observations on the former History that nothing need be added here But the long Parliament which began in November following will afford us some new matter for these Advertisements not before observ'd And first we finde That Fol. 336. There came out an Order of the Commons House that all Projectors and unlawful Monopolists that have or had â—â—tely any benefit from Monopolies or countenanced or issued out any Warrants in favor of them c. shall be disabled to sit in the House A new piece of Authority which the Commons never exercised before and which they had no right to now but that they knew they were at this time in such a condition as to venture upon any new Incroachment without control For ancientlyâ— and legally the Commons had no power to exclude any of their Members from their place in Parliament either under colour of false elections or any other pretence whatsoever For it appears on good Record in the 28 year of Queen Elizabeth that the Commons in Parliament undertaking the examination of the chusing and returning of Knights of the Shire for the Counâ—y of Norfolk were by the Queen sharply reprehended for it that being as she sent them word a thing improper for them to deal in as belonging onely to the Office and Charge of the Lord Chancellor from whom the Writs issue and aâ—e returned And if they may not exclude their Members under colour of undue Elections and false Returns much less Authority have they to exclude any of them for acting by vertue of the Kings Letters Patents or doing any thing in order to his Majesties Service For if this power were once allowed them they might proceed in the next place to shut out all the Lords of the Privy Councel his Counsel learned in the Laws his Domestick Servants together with all such as hold any Offices by his Grant and Favor because forsooth having dependance on the King they could not be true unto the Interest of the Commonwealth And by this means they might so weed out one another that at the last they would leave none to sit amongst them but such as should be all ingag'd to drive on such projects as were laid before them But whereas our Author tells us in the following words that it was Ordered also That Mr. Speaker should issue out new Warrants for electing other Members in their places he makes the Commons guilty of a greater incroachment then indeed they were All that they did or could pretend to in this case was to give order to the Speaker that intimation might be given to his Majesty of the places vacant and to make humble suit unto him to issue out new Writs for new Elections to those places But the next Incroachment on the Kings Authority was far greater then this and comes next in order Fol. 360. The Bill for the Trienial Parliament having pâ—ssed both Houses was confirmed with the Kings Royal Assent Febr. 16. And then also he past the Bill of Subsidies fol. 361. The Subsidies here mentioned were intended for the relief of the Northern Counties opprest at once with two great Armies who not onely liv'd upon Free Quarter but raised divers sums of money also for their present necessities the one of them an Army of English rais'd by the King to right himself upon the Scots the other being an Army of Scots who invaded the Kingdom under colour of obtaining from the King what they had no right to So that the King was not to have a peny of that Money and yet the Commons would not suffer him to pass the one till he had before hand passed the other which the King for the relief of his poor Subjects was content to do and thereby put the power of calling Parliaments into the hands of Sheriffs and Constables in case he either would not or should not do it at each three years end But the nexâ— incroachment on the Power and Prerogative Royal was worse then this there being a way left for the King to reserve that Power by the timely calling of a Parliament and the dissolving of it too if called within a shorter time then that Act had limited But for the next sore which was his passing of the Bill of Tonnage and Poundage there was no Plaister to be found the King being for'd remember that the Commons had an Army of Scots at their devotion to pass away all his Right unto it before he could obtain it but for three Moneths onely as was said before In which Bill it is to be observ'd that as they depriv'd the King of his Right to Tonnage and Poundage so they began then to strike at the Bishops Rights to their Vote in Parliament For whereas generally in all former Acts the Lords Spiritual and Temporal were distinctly named in this that distinction was left out and the Bill drawn up in the name of the Lordâ— and Commons which being disputed by the Bishops as well fore-seeing what the Commons intended by it was notwithstanding carried for the Commons by the Temporal Lords who thereby made a way for their own exclusion when the Commons were grown as much too strong for them as they were for the Bishops The secular Lords knew well that the Lords Spiritual were to have the precedence and therefore gave them leave to go first out of the House that they themselves might follow after as they ought to do Proceed we next to the business of the Earl of Strafford aâ— whose Tryal our Author tells us That Fol. 376. The Earl of Arundel was made Lord High Steward and the Earl of
ordinary temper And so much was the King startled when he heard of the giving up of that City with the Fort and Castle and that too in so short a time that he posted away a Messenger to the Lords at Oxford to displace Col. Legg a well known Creature of Prince Ruperts from the Government of that City and Garison and to put it into the hands of Sir Thomas Glenham which was accordingly done and done unto the great contentment of all the Kings party except that Prince and his Dependents But Legg was sweetned not long after by being made one of the Grooms of his Majesties Bed-chamber a place of less command but of greater trust Fol. 891. And now the Parliament consider of a Term or Titleâ— to be given to the Commissioners intrusted with their Great Seal and are to be called Conservators of the Common-wealth of England Not so with reference either to the time or the thing it self For first The Commissioners of the Great Seal were never called the Conservators fo the Common-wealth of England And Secondly If they ever had been called so it was not now that is to say when the Kings Seals were broken in the House of Peers which was not long after Midsummer in the year 1646. But the truth is that on the 30 of Ianuary 1648. being the day of the Kings most deplorable death the Commons caused an Act or Order to be printed in which it was declared that from thenceforth in stead of the Kings Name in all Commissions Decrees Processes and Indictments the â—â—tle of Custodes Libertatis Angliae or the Keepers of the Liberties of England as it was afterwards englished when all Legall Instruments were ordered to be made up in the English-Tongue should be alwaies used But who these Keepers of the Liberties were was a thing much questioned some thought the Commissioners for the great Seal were intended by it whom our Authour by a mistake of the Title cals here the Conservators of the Common-wealth others conceiv'd that it related to the Councel of State but neither rightly For the truth is that there were never any such men to whom this Title was appliable in one sense or other it being onely a Second Notion like Genus and Species in the Schools a new devised term of State-craft to express that trust which never was invested in the persons of any men either more or fewer Fol. 892. â—o then the eldest Son and the yongest Daughter are with the Quâ—â—n in France the two Dukes of York and Glocester with the Princess Elizabeth at St. James 's The Prince in the Weâ—t with his Army â— This is more strange then all the rest that the Kings eldest Son should be with his Mother in France and yet that the Prince at the same time should be with his Army in the West of England I always thought till I saw so good Authority to the contrary that the Prince and the Kings eldest Son had been but one person But finding it otherwise resolved I would fain know which of the Kings Sonâ— is the Prince if the eldest be not It cannot be the second or third for they are here called both onely by the name of Dukes and made distinct persons from the Prince And therefore we must needs believe that the Kings eldest Son Christned by the name of Charls-Iames who dyed at Greâ—nwich almost as soon as he was born Anno 1629. was raised up from the dead by some honest French Conjurer to keep company with the yong Princess Henrietta who might converse with hâ—m as a Play-Fellow without any terror as not being able to distinguish him from a Baby of Clouts That he and all that did adhere unto him should be safe in their Persons Honors andâ—â—onsciences in the Scotish Army and that they would really and effectually joyn with him and with such as would come in unto him and joyn with them for his preservation and should employ their Armies and Forces to assist him to his Kingdomâ— in the recovery of his â—ust Rights But on the contrary these jugling and perfidious 〈◊〉 declare in a Letter to their Commissioners at London by them to be communicated to the Houses of Parliament that there had been no Treaty nor apitulation betwixt his Mâ—â—esty and them nor any in their names c. On the receit of which Letters the Houses Order him to be sent to Warwick Castle But Lesâ—ly who had been us'd to buying and selling in the time of his Pedlâ—ry was loth to lose the benefit of so rich a Commodity and thereupon removes him in such post-haste that on the eighth of May we finde him at Southwel and at Newcastle on the tenth places above an hundred Miles distant from one another and he resolv'd before-hand how to dispose of him when he had him there â—o Scotland he never meant to carry him though some hopes were given of it at the first for not onely Lesly himself but the rest of the Covenanters in the Army were loth to admit of any Competitor in the Government of that Kingdom which they had ingrossed whoâ—y to themselves but the 〈◊〉 in an Assembly of theirs declare expresly against his coming to live amongst them as appears fol 〈◊〉 So that there was no other way left to dispose of his person but to â—ell him to the Houses of Parliament though at the first they made 〈◊〉 of it and would be thought to stand upon Terms or Honor The Eaâ—l of Lowdon who lov'd to hear himsâ—lf speak more â—hen â—ny man living in some Speâ—ches made beâ—ore â—he Houses protested strongly against the dâ—livery of their Kings Person into their Power 〈◊〉 what in 〈◊〉 â—â—amy would lie upon them and the whole Nation â—f 〈◊〉 â—hould to 〈◊〉 But this was but a coâ—y of their Countenance onely 〈◊〉 â—â—vice to raise the Marâ—eâ— and make is â—uch money 〈…〉 as they could At last they came to this Agreement that for the sum of Two hundred thousand pounds they should deliver him to such Commissioners as the Houses should Authorize to receive him of them which was done accordingly For Fol. 939. The Commissioners for receiving the Person of the King came to Newcastle Iune 22. c. Not on the 22 of Iune I am sure of that the Commodity to be bought and sold was of greater value and the Scots too cunning to part with it till they had raised the price of it as high as they could The driving of this Bargain took up all the time betwixt the Kings being carried to Newcastle and the middle of the Winter then next following so that the King might be delivered to these Commissioners that is to say from Prison to Prison on the 22 day of Ianuary but of Iune he could not And here it will not be amiss to consider what loss or benefit redounded to those Merchants which traded in the buying and selling of this precious Commodity And first The Scots not long before their breaking out
Temporal Subjects And this they did by their own sole Authority as before was said ordering the same to be levyed on all such as were refractory by Sequestration Deprivation Suspension Excommunication Ecclesiastical Censures all without relating to any subsequent confirmation by Act of Parliament which they conceiv'd they had no need of Nor finde we any thing of the Convocations of Queen Elizabeths time except that of the year 1562. and that not fairly dealt with neither as is elsewhere shewed though there passed many Canons in the Convocation of the year 1571. and of the year 1585. and the year 1597. all Printed and still publickly extant besides the memorable Convocation of the year 1555. in which the Clergy gave the Queen a Benevolence of 2â— in the pound to be levyed by Ecclesiastical Censures without relating to any subsequent confirmation by Act of Parliament as had accustomably been used in the Grant of Subsidies It might have been expected also that we should have found in a Church History of Britain the several degrees and steps by which the Heterodoxies and Superstitions of the Church of Rome did creep in amongst us and the degrees by which they were ejected and cast out again and the whole Reformation setled upon the Doctrine of the Apostles attended by the Rites and Ceremonies of the Primitive times as also that some honorable mention should be found of those gallant Defences which were made by Dr. Bancroft Dr. Bilson Dr. Bridges Dr. Cosins and divers others against the violent Batteries and Assaults of the Puritan Faction in Queen Elizabeths time and of the learned Writings of B. Buckeridge B. Morton Dr. Suâ—cliff Dr. Burges c. in justification of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England against the remnants of that scattered and then broken Faction in the time of King Iames of which we have Negry quidem not a word delivered Nor could it stand with his design which will discover it self in part in this Introduction and shall more fully be discovered in the Animadversions that it should be otherwise All which together make it clear and evident that there is too little of the Church or Ecclesiastical History in our Authors Book And that there is too much of the State or Civil History will be easily seen by that unnecessary intermixture of State-Concernments not pertinent to the business which he hath in hand Of this sort to look back no further is the long Will and Testament of King Henry the eighth with his Gloss or Comment on the same taking up three whole sheets at least in which there is not any thing which concerns Religion or which relates unto the Church or Church-affairs although to have the better colour to bring it in he tells us that he hath transcribed it not onely for the rarity thereof but because it contained many passages which might reflect much light upon his Church-History Lib. 5. â—ol 243. Of this sort also is his description of the pomp and order of the Coronation of King Charls which though he doth acknowledge not to be within the Pale and Park of Ecclesiastical History yet he resolves to bring it in because it comes within the Purlews of it as his own words are But for this he hath a better reason then we are aware of that is to say That if hereafter Divine Providence shall assign England another King though the transactions herein be not wholly precedential something of state may be chosen out grateful for imitation Lib. 11. fol. 124. As if the Pomp and order of a Coroâ—nation were not more punctually preserved in the Heralds Office who have the ordering of all things done without the Church and are eye-Witnesses of all which is done within then in our Authors second-hand and imperfect Collections The like may be said also of the quick and active Reigns of King Edward the sixth and Queen Mary in which the whole Body of the reformed Religion was digested setled and destroyed sufficient of it self to make a competent Volumn but contracted by our Author like Homers Iliads in the Nut shell into less then 25 sheets And yet in that small Abstract we finde many Impertinencies as to the work he hath in hand that is to say The great proficiency of King Edward in his Grammar Learning exemplified in three pieces of Latine of his making when he was but eight or nine years old the long Narrative of Sir Edward Mountague chief Iustice of the Common Pleas to vindicate himself from being a voluntary Agent in the business of the Lady Iane Gray the full and punctual relation of Wâ—ats Rebellion and the issue of it though acted upon some false grounds of Civil Interess without relating to Religion or to Church Affairs Infinitum esset â—re per singula It were an infinite labor to look into all particulars of this nature which are found in our Author make up a great part of the Book but we may guess by this brief view as Ex pede Hereulem that his diversion upon Civil Matters and Affairs of State which neither have relation to nor any influence at all upon those of the Church do make up a considerable part of the rest of the Book Which Civil Matters and State-Concernments being discharg'd also as in all reason they ought to be we next proceed to the Church-History it self In which if we should make the like defalkation and expunge every passage which is either positively false or ignorantly mistaken by him there would be very little left to inform the Reader as by the following Animadversions will appear sufficiently 8. But well it were if onely Abberrations from Historical truth were to be met with in our Author In whom we find such a continual vein of Puritanism such dangerous grounds for inconformity and Sedition to be raised upon as easily may pervert the unwary Reader whom the facetiousness of the stile like a hook baited with a painted Fly may be apt to work on Murthering of Kings avowed for necessary prudence as oft as they shall fall into the power of their Subjects Lib. 4 fol. 109. The Coronation of the Kings and consequently their succession to the Crown of England made to depend upon the suffrage and consent of the People Lib. 11. fol. 122. The Sword extorted from the Supream Magistrate and put into the hands of the common People whensoever the Reforming humor shall grow strong amongst them Lib. 9. fol. 51. The Church depriv'd of her Authority in determining controversies of the Faith and a dispute rais'd against that clause of the Atticle in which that Authority is declared whether forg'd or not Lib. 9. f. 73. Her power in making Canons every where prostituted to the lust of the Parliament contrary both to Law and constant practice the Heterodoxies of Wickliff Canoniz'd for Gospel and Calvins Opinions whatsoever they were declar'd for Orthodox the Sabbatarian Rigors published for Divine and Ancient Truths though there be no Antiquity nor Divinity
have produc'd those arguments by which some shameless persons endeavoured to maintain both the conveniency and necessity of such common Brothel houses Had Bishop Iewel been alive and seen but half so much from Dr. Harding pleâ—ding in behalf of the common women permitted by the Pope in Rome he would have thought that to cal to him an Advocate for the Stews had not beeen enough But that Doctor was nor half so wise as our Author is and doth not fit each Argument with a several Antidâ—te as our Author doth hoping thereby by but vainly hoping that the arguments alleadged will be wash'd away Some of our late Criticks had a like Design in marking all the wanton and obscene Epigrams in Martial with a Hand or Asterism to the intent that young Scholars when they read that Author might be fore-warn'd to pass them over Whereas on the contrary it was found that too many young fellows or wanton wits as our Author calls them did ordinarily skip over the rest and pitch on those which were so mark't and set out unto them And much I fear that it will so fall out with our Author also whose Arguments will be studied and made use of when his Answers will not Fol. 253. Otherwise some suspect had he survived King Edward the sixth we might presently have heard of a King Henry the ninth Our Author speaks this of Henry Fitz Roy the Kings natural Son by Elizabeth Blunt and the great disturbance he might have wrought to the Kings two Daughters in their Succession to the Crown A Prince indeed whom his Father very highly cherished creating him Duke of Somerset and Richmond Earl of Nottingham and Earl Marshal of England and raising him to no small hopes of the Crown it self as appears plainly by the Statute 22 H. 8. c. 7. But whereas our Author speaks it on a supposition of his surviving King Edward the sixth he should have done well in the first place to have inform'd himself whether this Henry and Prince Edward were at any time alive together And if my Books speak true they were not Henry of Somerset and Richmond dying the 22. of Iuly Anno 1536. Prince Edward not being born till the 12. of October An. 1537. So that if our Author had been but as good at Law or Grammar as he is at Heraldry he would not have spoke of a Survivor-ship in such a case when the one person had been long dead before the other was born These incoherent Animadversions being thus passed over we now proceed to the Examination of our Authors Principles for weakning the Authority of the Church and subjecting it in all proceedings to the power of Parliaments Concerning which he had before given us two Rules Preparatory to the great business which we have in hand First that the proceedings of the Canon Law were subject in whatsoever touched temporals to secular Laws and National Customs And the Laitie at pleasure limited Canons in this behalf Lib. 3. n. 61. And secondly that the King by consent of Parliament directed the proceedings of the Ecclesiastical Court in cases of Heresie Lib. 4. n. 88. And if the Ecclesiastical power was thus curbed and feâ—â—ered when it was at the highest there is no question to be made but that it was much more obnoxious to the secular Courts when it began to sink in reputation and decline in strength How true and justifiable or rather how unjustifiable and false these two principles are we have shewn already and must now look into the rest which our Author in pursuance of the main Design hath presented to us But first we must take notice of another passage concerning the calling of Convocations or Synodical meetings formerly called by the two Archbishops in their several Provinces by their own sole and proper power as our Author grants fol. 190. to which he adds Fol. 190. But after the Statute of Praemunire was made which did much restrain the Papal power and subject it to the Laws of the Land when Archbishops called no more Convocations by their sole and absolute command but at the pleasure of the King In which I must confess my self to be much unsatisfied though I finde the same position in some other Authors My reasons two 1. Because there is nothing in the Statute of Praemunire to restrain the Archbishops from calling these meetings as before that Act extending only to such as purchase or pursue or cause to be purchased or pursued in the Court of Rome or elsewhere any such translatations Processes Sentences of Excommunication Bulls Instruments or any other things whatsoever which touch the King against him his Crown and his Regality or his Realm or to such as bring within the Realm or them receive or make thereof notification or any other Execution whatsoever within the same Realm or without c. And 2. because I finde in the Statute of the submission of the Clergy that it was recognized and acknowledged by the Clergie in their Convocation that the Convocation of the said Clergie is always hath been and ought to be assembled always by the Kings Writ And if they had been always call'd by the Kings Writ then certainly before the Statute of Praemunire for that the whole Clergy in their Convocation should publickly declare and avow a notorious falsehood especially in a matter of fact is not a thing to be imagined I must confess my self to be at a loss in this intricate Labyrinth unless perhaps there were some critical difference in those elder times between a Synod and a Convocation the first being call'd by the Archbishops in their several and respective Provinces as the necessities of the Church the other only by the King as his occasions and affairs did require the same But whether this were so or not is not much material as the case now stands the Clergie not assembling since the 25 of King Henry the eighth but as they are convocated and convened by the Kings wâ—it only I only adde that the time and year of this submission is mistook by our Author who plâ—ceth it in 1533. whereas indeed the Clergy made this acknowledgement and submission in their Convocation Anno 1532. though it pass'd not into an Act or Statute till the year next following Well then suppose the Clergy call'd by the Kings Authority and all their Acts and Constitutions ratiâ—ied by the Râ—yal assent are they of force to binde the Subject to submit and conform unto them Not if our Author may be judge for he tels us plainly Fol. 191. That even such Convocations with the Royal assent subject not any for recusancy to obey their Canons to a civil penalty in person or property untill confirmed by 〈◊〉 of Parliament I marvel where our Author took up this opinion which he neither finds in the Registers of Convocation or Records of Parliament Himself hath told us fol. 190. that such Canons and Constitutions as were concluded on in Synods or Convocations before the
Altar as it either was or could be in the power of our English Zealots to beat down superstitious Pictures and Images had they been so minded Solomon in the Book of Canticles compares the Church unto a Army Acies Castrorum ordinaâ—a as the Vulgar hath it an Army terrible with Banners as our English reads it A powerful Body out of doubt able which way soever it moves to waste and destroy the Countrey to burn and sack the Villages through which it passeth And questionless too many of the Souldiers knowing their own power world be apt to do it if not restrained by the Authority of their Commanders and the Laws of war Ita se Ducum Authoritas sic Rigor Disciplinae habet as we finde in Tacitus And if those be not kept as they ought to be Confusi Equites Peditesque in exitium ruunt the whole runs on to a swift destruction Thus is it also in the Church with the Camp of God If there be no subordination in it if every one might do what he list himself and make such uses of that power and opportunity as he thinks are put into into his hands what a confusion would ensue how speedy a calamity must needs fall upon it Courage and zeal do never shew more amiably in inferior powers then when they are subordinate to good directions especially when they take directions from the right hand from the Supreme Magistrate not from the interests and passion of their fellow subjects It is the Princes office to command and theirs to execute With which wise caution the Emperor Otho once represt the too great forwardness of his Souldiers when he found them apt enough to make use of their power in a matter not commanded by him Vobis Arma Animus mihi Consilium virtutis vestrae Regimen relinquites as his words there are He understood their duty and his own authority allows them to have power and will but regulates and restrains them both to his own command So that whether we behold the Church in its own condition proceeding by the warrant and examples of holy Scripture or in resemblance to an Army as compared by Solomon there will be nothing left to the power of the people either in way of Reformation or Execution till they be vested and intrusted with 〈◊〉 lawful power deriv'd from him whom God hath plac'd in Authority over them And therefore though Idolatry be to be destroy'd and to be destroyed by all which have power to do it yet must all those be furnisht with 〈◊〉 lawful power or otherwise stand guilty of as high a crime as that which they so zealously endeavour to condemn in others 3. But our Author is not of this minde and therefore adds That if the Soveraign do forget the Subjects should remember their duty A lesson which he never learn'd in the Book of God For besides the examples which we have in demolishing the Brazen Serpent and the Altar of Bethel not acted by the power of the people but the command of the Prince I would 〈◊〉 know where we shall finde in the whole courâ—e and current of the holy Scriptures that the common people in and by their own authority removed the high places and destroyed the Images or cut down the Gâ—oves those excellent Instruments of Superstition and Idolatry or that they did attempt any such thing till warranted and commissionated by the Supreme Powers Where shall we finde that any of the seven thousand person which had not bowed the knee to Baal did ever go about to destroy that Idol Or that Eliah or Elisha two men as extraordinary for their calling as their zeal and courage did excite them to it Where shall we finde the Primitive Christians when living under the command of Heathenish Emperors busied in destroying Idols or defacing the Temples of those Gods whom the Pagans worshipped thoâ—gh grown in those times to such infinite multitudes that they filled all places of the Empire Vestra omnia implevimâ—â— Cities Illes Castles Burroughs your places of Assembly Camps Tribes Palaces yea the very Senate and common Forum as Tertullian pleads it No other Doctrine 〈◊〉 â—eard of till either the new Gospel of Wickliffe or the new Lights shining from Geneva gave beginning to it when the Genevians were resolv'd on a Reformation and could not get the consent of their Bishop who was also their immediate Prince they resolv'd to take the work into their own hands and proceed without him And that the presence of their Bishop might not be a hinderance unto their designs they rais'd a tumult put themselves in to a posture of war and thereby force him and his Clergy to forsake the City And this being done they did not only order matters of Religion as they pleas'd themselves but took the Soveraignty of the City into their own hands changing the Government thereof to the form of a Common-wealth Eo ejecto Genevates Monarchiam in popularem Statum commutarunt as Calvin hath it in his Epistle unto Cardinal Sadolet The practice of these men drawn afterwards into example by Knox and others became at last to be the standing Rule and Measure of all Reformations For when the King and Queen of Scots refus'd to ratifie two Acts which were sent unto them concerning the abolishing of the Mass and the Popes supremacy Knox Winram and the rest of that gang without more ado devised and set up a new form of Discipline ingrossing that power unto the Kirk which formerly had been usurped by the Popes of Rome Afterwards when the Queen was return'd into Scotland and that some of their importunate Petitions were neglected by her it was concluded by the Ministers in as plain terms as might be that if the Queen will not then we must ibid. fol. 33. According to this Rule the Netherlands proceeded also not only driving on the design which they had in hand as the French Hugonots also did without the Kings Authority but against it also Finally from a matter practical it came at last to be delivered for a point of Doctrine that if the Prince or Supreme Magistrate did not reform the Church then the people might For this I finde in Clesselius one of the Contra-Remonstrants of Roterdam If saith he the Prince and Clergy do neglect their duties in the Reforming of the Church Necesse est tumid facere plebeios Israelitas that then it doth belong to the common people And it is with a Necesse too if you mark it well they might not only do it but they must be doing Not in the way of Mediation or Petition by which the dignity of the Magistrate might be preserv'd but by force and violence Licet ad sanguinem usque pro eo pugnent even to the shedding of their own bloud and their brethrens too Our Author preacheth the same Doctrine whether by way of Application or Instruction it comes all to one for Qui Parentes laudat filios provocat as
why his Children should desire a restitution in bloud not otherwise to be obtained but by Act of Parliament And so without troubling the learned in the Law for our information I hope our Author will be satisfied and save his Fee for other more necessary uses Fol. 72. In the Convocation now sitting the nine and thirty Articles were composed agreeing for the main with those set forth in the Reign of King Edward the sixth though in some particulars allowing more liberty to dissenting judgements This is the active Convocation which before I spake of not setling matters of Religion in the same estate in which they were left by King Edward but altering some Articles expunging others addingsome de novo and fitting the whole body of them unto edification Not leaving any liberty to dissenting Iudgments as our Author would have it but binding men unto the literal and Grammatical sense They had not othewise attained to the end they aimed at which was ad tollendam opinionum dissensionem consensum in vera Religione firmandum that is to say to take away diversity of Opinions and to establish an agreement in the true Religion Which end could never be effected if men were left unto the liberty of dissenting or might have leave to put their own sense upon the Articles But whereas our Author instances in the Article of Christs descent into Hell telling us that Christs preaching unto the Spirits there on which the Article seemed to be grounded in King Edwards Book was left out in this and thereupon inferreth that men are left unto a latitude concerning the cause time manner of his descent I must needs say that he is very much mistaken For first the Church of England hath alwayes constantly maintained a locall Descent though many which would be thought her Children the better to comply with Calvin and some other Divines of forain Nations have deviated in this point from the sense of the Church And secondly the reason why this Convocation left out that passage of Christ preaching to the Spirits in hell was not that men might be left unto a latitude concerning the cause time and manner of his Descent as our Author dreams but because that passage of St. Peter being capable of some other interpretations was not conceived to be a clear and sufficient evidence to prove the Article For which see Bishop Bilsons Survey p. 388 389. Fol. 74. In a word concerning this clause whether the Bishops were faulty in their addition or their opposites in their substraction I leave to more cunning Arithmeticians to decide The Clause here spoken of by our Author is the first Sentence in the twentieth Article entituled De Ecclesiae Authoritate where it is said that the Church hath power to decree Rites and Ceremonies and Authority in Controversies of the Faith Which being charged upon the Bishops as a late addition the better to support their power and maintain their Tyranny the late Archbishop of Canterbury in his Speech in the Star-Chamber Iune the 15 1637. made it appear that the said Clause was in a Printed Book of Articles published in the year 1563. being but very few moneths after they had passed in the Convocation which was on the 29. of Ianuary 1562. in the English account And more then so he shewed unto the Lords a Copy of the twentieth Article exemplified out of the Records and attested by the hands of a publick Notary in which that very Clause was found which had been charged upon the Bishops for an innovation And thus much I can say of mine own knowledge that having occasion to conâ—â—â—t the Records of Convocation I found this controverted Clause verbatim in these following words Habet Ecclesia Ritus statuendo jus in fidei Controversis Authoritatem Which makes me wonder at our Author that having access to those Records and making frequent use of them in this present History he should declare himself unable to decide the doubt whether the addition of this Clause was made by the Bishops or the substraction of it by the opposite party But none so blinde as he that will not see saies the good old proverb But our Author will not so give over He must first have a fling at the Archbishop of Canterbury upon this occasion In the year 1571. the Puritan Faction beginning then to grow very strong the Articles were again Printed both in Latin and English and this Clause left out publisht according to those copies in the Harmony of Confessions Printed at Geneva Anno 1612. and publisht by the same at Oxford though soon after rectified Anno 1636. Now the Archbishop taking notice of the first alteration Anno 1571. declares in his said Speech that it was no hard matter for that opposite Faction to have the Articles Printed and this clause left out considering who they were that then governed businesses and rid the Church almost at their pleasure What says our Author to this Marry saith he I am not so well skilled in Historical Horsemanship as to know whom his Grace designed for the Rider of the Church at that time fol. 74. Strange that a man who undertakes to write an History should professe himself ignorant of the names of those who governed the businesse of the times he writes of But this is only an affected ignorance profest of purpose to preserve the honour of some men whom he beholds as the chief Patrons of the Puritan Faction For aftâ—â—wards this turn being served he can finde out who they were that then governed businesses and rid the Church almost at their pleasure telling us fol. 138 that the Earl of Leicester interpos'd himself Patron-general to the non-subscribers and that he did it at the perswasion of Roger Lord North. Besides which two we finde Sir Francis Knollys to be one of those who gave countenance to the troubles at Frankforâ— at such time as the Faction was there hottest against the Liturgy and other Rites and â—eremonies of the Church of England Who being a meer kinsman of the Queens and a Privy Counsellor made use of all advantages to pursue that project which being 〈◊〉 on foot beyond sea had been driven on here and though Leicester was enough of himself to rid the Church at his pleasure it being fitted with such helps Sir Francis Walsingham and many more of that kind which the times then gave him they drove on the faster till he had almost plung'd all in remedilesse Ruine But our Author hath not done with these Articles yet for he tels us of this Clause that it was Ibid. Omitted in the English and Latin Artiâ—â—â—â—â— set forth 1571 when they were first ratified by Actâ—â— Our â—uthor doth so dream of the power of Parliaments in matters of Religion that he will not suffer any Canon or Act of Convocation to be in sorce or obligatiory to the subject till confirmed by Parliament But I would fain know of him where he finds any Act of Parliament
Bishop of Chichester as finally the two first Chapters about the Tiâ—hing of the Iews were learnedly reviewed by Mr. Nettles a Countâ—ey 〈◊〉 but excellently well skilled in Talmudical Learning In which encounters the Historian was so gall'd by Tillesly so gagg'd by Montague and stung by Nettles that he never came off in any of his undertakings with such losse of credit In the Preface to his History he had charged the Clergy with ignorance and lazinesse upbraided them with having nothing to keep up their credit but beard habit and title and that their Studies reache no further then the Breviary the Postils and the Polyanthea But now he found by these encounters that some of the ignorant and lazie Clergy were of as retired studies as himself and could not only match but overmatch him too in his own Philoâ—ogiâ— But the Governours of the Church went a shorter way and not expecting till the Book was answered by particular men resolv'd to seek for reparation of the wrong from the Author himself upon an Information to be brought against him in the High Commission Fearing the issue of the business and understanding what displeasures were conceived against him by the King and the Church he made his personal appearance in the open Court at Lambeth on the eight and twentieth day of Ianuary Annâ— 1618. where in the presence of George L. Archbishop of Canterbury Iohn L. B. of London Lancelot L. B. of Winchester Iohn L. B. of Rochester Sir Iohn Benet Sir William Bird Sir George Newman Doctors of the Laws and Thâ—mas Mothershed Notary and Register of that Couâ—t he tendred his submission and acknowledgement all of his own hand-writing in these following words My goâ— Lords I most humbly acknowledge my error whicâ— haâ—e committed in publishing the History of Tithes and especially in that I have at all by shewing any interpretation of Holy Scriptures by medling with Councels Faâ—hers or Câ—nons or by whatsoever occurs in it offered any occasion of argument against any right of Maintenance â—ure divino of the Ministers of the Gospel beseeching your Lordships to receive this ingenuous and humble acknowledgement together with the unfeigned protestation of my grief for that through it I have so incurred both his Majesties and your Lordships displeasure conceived against me in behalf of the Church of England IOHN SELDEN Which his submission and acknowledgement being received and made into an Act of Court was entred into the publick Registers thereof by this Title following viz. Officium Dominorum contra Joh. Seldeâ—â— de inter Templo London Armigerum So far our Author should have gone had he plaid the part of a good Historian but that he does his work by halfs in all Church-concernments Fol. 72. James Montague Bishop of Winchester a potent Courtier took exceptions that his Bishoprick in the marshalling of them was wronged in method as put after any whose Bishop is a Privy Counsellour The Bishop was too wise a man to take this as our Author hates it for a sufficient ground of the proceeding against Dr. Mocket who had then newly translated into the Latin tongue the Liturgy of the Church of England the 39. Articles the Book of the Ordination of Bishops Priests and Deacons and many Doctrinal points extracted out of the Book of Homilies All which with Bishop Iewels Apology Mr. Noels Catechism and a new Book of his own entitâ—led Politiâ— Ecclesiae Anglicanae he had caused to be Printed and bound up together A Book which might have been of great honour to the Church of England amongst forain Nations and of no lesse use and esteem at home had there not been somewhat else in it which deserved the fire then this imaginary Quarrel For by the Act of Parliament 31 H. 8. 6. 10. the precedency of the Bishops is thus Marshalled that is to say the Archbishop of Canterbury the Archbishop of York the Bishop of London the Bishop of Durham the Bishop of Winchester the rest according to the order of their Consecrations yet so that if any of them were Secretary to the King he should take place of all those other Bishops to whom otherwise by the Order of his Consecration he had been to give it If the Doctor did mistake himself in this particular as indeed he did the fault might easily have been mended as not deserving to be expiated by so sharp a punishment The following reason touching his derogating from the Kings power in Ecclesiastical matters and adding it to the Metropolitan whose servant and Chaplain he was hath more reason in it if it had but as much truth as reason and so hath that touching the Propositions by him gathered out of the Homilies which were rather framed according to his own judgement then squared by the Rules of the Church But that which I conceive to have been the true cause why the Book was burned was that in publishing the twentieth Article concerning the Authority of the Church he totally left out the first clause of it viz. Habet Ecclesia Ritus sive Ceremonias statuendi jus in Controversus â—ides Authoritatem By means whereof the Article was apparently falsified the Churches Authority disâ—vowed and consequently a wide gap opened to dispute her power in all her Canons and Determinations of what sort soever And possible enough it is that some just offence might be taken at him for making the Fasting dayes appointed in the Liturgy of the Church of England to be commanded and observed ob Politiâ— is solum rationes for Politick Considerations only as insinuated pag. 308. whereas those Fasting-dayes were appointed in the first Liturgy of King Edward the sixth Anno 1549. with reference only to the primitive Institution of those several Fasts when no such Politick considerations were so much as thought of But whatsoever was the true cause or whether there were more then one as perhaps there was certain I am it could not be for derogating any thing from the Kings Power and enlarging that of the Archbishop in confirming the election of Bishops as our Author tels us For though the Doctor doth affirm of the Metropolitans of the Church of England pag. 308. Vt Electiones Episcoporum suae Provinciae confirment that it belongs to them to confirm the Electioâ—s of the Bishops of their several Provinces and for that purpose cites the Canon of the Councel of Nice which our Author speaks of yet afterwards he declares expresly that no such confirmation is or can be made by the Metropolitans without the Kings assent preceding Cujus 〈◊〉 electi comprobantur comprobati confirmantur confirmati consecrantur pag. 313. which very fully clears the Doctor from being a better Chaplain then he was a Subject as our Author makes him Fol. 77. At this time began the troubles in the Law-Countries about matters of Religion heightned between two opposite parties Remonstrants and Contra-Râ—monstrants their Controversies being chiefly 〈◊〉 to five points c Not at this time viz. 1618. which our
England is much beholding to our Author for making question whether their adhering to the Liturgy then by Law established were not to be imputed rather unto obstinacy and doating then to love and constancy The Liturgy had been lookt on as a great blessing of God upon this Nation by the generality of the people for the spâ—ce of fourscore years and upwards they found it estâ—â—lisâ—t by the Law seal'd by the bloud of those that made it confirm'd by many godly and religious Pâ—inces and had almost no other form of making their ordinary addresses to Almighty God but what was taught them in the Book of Common-Prayer And could any discreet man think or wise man hope that a form of Prayer so univeâ—sally receiv'd and so much esteem'd could be laid by without reluctancy in those who had been so long accustom'd to it or called obstinacy or doating in them if they did not presently submit to every new nothing which in the name of the then disputable Authority should be laid before them And though our Author doth profess that in the agitating of this Controveâ—sie pro and con he will reserve his private opinion to himself yet he discovers it too plainly in the present passage Quid verba audiam cum facta videam is a good rule here He must needs shew his private opinion in this point say he what he can who makes a question whether the adhesion of the people generally to the publick Liturgy were built on obstinacy and doating or on love and constancy But if it must be obstinacy or doating in the generality of the people to adhere so cordially unto the Book of Common-Prayer I marvel what it must be called in Stephen Marshall of Essex that great Bel-weather for a time of the Presbyterians who having had a chief hand in compiling the Directory did notwithstanding marry his own Daughter by the form prescrib'd in the Common-Prayer Book and having so done paid down five pound immediately to the Church-wardens of the Parish as the fine or forfeiture for using any other form of Marriâ—ge then that of the Directory The like to which I have credibly been infoâ—med was done by Mr. Knightly of Fawsley on the like occasion and probably by many others of the same strain also With like favour he beholds the two Universities as he dâ—e the Liturgy and hard it is to say which he injureth most And first beginning with Oxford he lets us know that Fol. 231. Lately certain Delegates from the University of Oxford pleaded their priviledges before the Committee of Parliament that they were only visitable by the King and such who should be deputed by him But their Allegations were not of proof against the Paramount power of Parliament the rather because a passage in an Article at the rendition of Oxford was urged against them wherein they were subjected to such a Visitation Our Author here subjects the Vniversity of Oxford to the power of the Parliament and that not only in regard of that Paramount power which he ascribes unto the Parliament that is to say the two Houses of Parliament for so we are to understand him above all Estates but also in regard of an Article concerning the surrendry of Oxford by which that Vniversity was subjected to such Visitations I finde indeed that it was agreed on by the Commissioners on both sides touching the Surrendry of that City That the Chancellor Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxon and the Governors and Students of Christ-Church of King H. 8. his Foâ—ndation and all other Heads and Governors Masters Fellows and Scholars of the Colledges Halls and Bodies Corporate and Societies of the same University and the publiâ—â—â— Professors and Readers and the Orator thereoâ— and all other persons belonging to the said University or to any Colledges or Halls therein shall and may according to their Statutes Charters and Customs enjoy their antient form of government suboâ—dinate to the immediate Authority and power of Parliament But I finde not that any of the Heads or Delegates of that University were present at the making of this Article or consented â—o it or thoâ—ght themselves oblig'd by any thing contained in it Nor indeed could it stand with reason that they should wave the patronage of a gracious Soveraign who had been a Nursing Father to them and put themselves under the arbitrary power of those who they knew minded nothing but destruction toward them And that the University did not think it self oblig'd by any thing contained in that Article appears even by our Author himself who tells us in this very passage that the Delegates from the Vniversity pleaded their priviledges before the Committee of Parliament that they were only visitable by the King and such as should be deputed by him which certainly they had never done unless our Author will conclude them to be fools or mad-men had they before submitted to that Paramount power which he adscribes unto the Houses Nor did the Houses of Parliament finde themselves impowered by this clause of the Article to obtrude any such Visitation on them And therefore when the Delegates had pleaded and prov'd their priviledges a Commission for a Visitation was issued by the two Houses of Parliament in the name of the King but under the new broad Seal which themselves had made which notwithstanding the University stood still on their own defence in regard that though the Kings name was us'd in that Commission yet they knew well that he had never given his consent unto it Whereupon followed that great alteration both 〈◊〉 the Heads and Members of most Colledges which our Author speaks of Nor deals he much more candidly in relating the proceedings of the Visitation which was made in Cambridge the Visitors whereof as acting by the Paramount power of Parliament he more sensibly favoureth then the poor sufferers or malignant members as he calls them of that Vniversity For whereas the Author of the Book called Querela Cantabrigionsis hath told us of an Oath of Discovery obtruded by the Visitors upon several persons whereby they were sworn to detect one another even their dearest friends Our Author who was out of the storm seeming not satisfied in the truth of this relation must write to Mr. Ash who was one of those Visitors to be inform'd in that which he knew before and on the reading of Mr. Ash his Answer declares expresly that no such Oath was tendred by him to that Vniversity But first Mr. Ash doth not absolutely deny that there was any such Oath but that he was a stranger to it and possibly he might be so far a stranger to it as not to be an Actor in that part of the Tragedy Secondly Mr. Ash only saith that he cannot call to minde that any such thing was mov'd by the Earl of Manchester and yet I â—row such a thing might be mov'd by the Earl of Manchester though Mr. Ash after so many years was willing not
hundred thousand pound which the King desired to borrow of them upon good security so peny wise and so pound foolish was that stubborn City Fol. 107. Which we shall refer to the subsequent time and place fitting But of those in their due place hereafter Our Author had found fault with the Observator for saying that the King had not done well in excluding the Bishops from their Votes in Parliament and that there was some strange improvidence in his Message from York June 17. where he reckons himself as one of the three Estates a Member of the House of Peers But why he thus condemneth the Observator we must seek elsewhere which is a kinde of Hallifax Law to hang him first and afterwards to put him upon his Tryal Seek then we must and we have sought as he commandeth in subsequent time and place fitting in their due place hereafter as the phrase is varied But neither in the latter end of the year 1641. when the Bishops were deprived of their Votes in Parliament nor in all the time of the Kings being at York Anno 1642. can we finde one word which relates to either of those points In which our Author deals with the Observator as some great Criticks do with their Authors who when they fall on any hard place in Holy Scripture or any of the old Poets or Philosophers which they cannot master adjourn the explication of it to some other place where they shall have an opportunity to consider of both Texts together Not that they ever mean to touch upon it but in a hope that either the Reader will be so negligent as not to be mindeful of the promise or else so charitable as to think it rather a forgetfulness then an inability in the undertaker Fol. 115. To these he was questioned by a Committee and in reason â—ustly sentenced The party here spoken of is Doctor Manwaring then Vicar of the Parish of St. Giles in the Fields his Crime the preaching of two Sermons in which he had maintained that the King might impose Taxes and Subsidies on the Subject without consent in Parliament and that the people were bound to pay them under pain of Damnation his Sentence amongst other things that he should be Imprisoned during the pleasure of the Parliament pay a thousand pound Fine unto the King and be made uncapable of all Ecclesiastical Preferments for the time to come which heavy Sentence our Author thinks to have been very justly inflicted on him though the Doctor spake no more in the Pulpit then Serjeant 〈◊〉 in Queen Elizabeths time had spoke in Parliament By whom it was affirmed in the Parliament of the 43 of that Queen that He marvell'd the House stood either at the granting of a Subsidy or time of payment when all we have is her Majesties and she may lawfully at her pleasure take it from us and that she had as much right to all our Lands and Goods as to any Revenue of the Crown and that he had presidents to prove it For which see the Book called The Free-holders grand Inquest pag. 62. But some may better steal a Horse then others look on as the saying is the Serjeant being never questioned and the poor Doctor sentenced and justly as our Author makes it to an absolute ruine if the King had not been more merciful to him then the Commons were From Dr. Manwaring our Author proceeds to the Observator for saying that Doctrinal matters delivered in the Pulpit are more proper for the cognizance of the Convocation or the High Commission then the House of Commons which though it may consist most times of the wisest Men yet it consists not many times of the greatest Clerks For saith he Fol. 116. That the Preacher is Jure Divino not to be censured but by themselves smells of the Presbyter or Papist But Sir by your good leave neither the Presbyter nor the Papist stand accused by our Orthodox Writers for not submitting themselves their Doctrines and Opinions to the power of Parliaments who neither have nor can pretend to any Authority in those particulars That which they stand accused for is that they acknowledge not the King to be the supream Governor over all persons in all causes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil within his Dominions and consequently decline his Judgement as incompetent when they are called to answer unto any charge which is reducible to an Ecclesiastical or Spiritual nature How stiff the Papists are in this point is known well enough by their refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy And for the peremptoriness of the Presbyterians take this story with you One David Blake at a Sermon preached at St. Andrews in the time of King Iames had cast forth divers Speeches full of spight against the King the Queen the Lords of Councel and Session and among the rest had called the Queen of England an Atheist a Woman of no Religion For which being complained of by the English Ambassador he was cited to appear before the King and his Councel on the tenth of November Aâ—no 1596. Which being made known to the Commissioners of the last general Assembly it was concluded that if he should submit his Doctrine to the Tryal of the Councel the liberties of the Church and Spiritual Government of the House of God would be quite subverted and therefore that in any case a Declinator should be used and Protestation made against these Proceedings This though it was opposed by some moderate men yet it was carried by the rest who cryed out it was the cause of God to which they ought to stand at all hazards thereupon a Declinaâ—or was formed to this effect That howbeit the Conscience of his Innocency did uphold him sufficiently against the Calumnies of whomsoever and that he was ready to defend the Doctrine uttered by him whether in opening the Words or in Application yet seeing he was brought thither to be judged by his Majesty and Councel for his Doctrine and that his answering to the pretended Accusation might import a prejudice to the Liberties of the Church and be taken for an acknowledgement of his Majesties Iurisdiction in matters meerly Spiritual he was constrained in all humility to decline â—udicatory Which Declinator being subscrib'd by the Commissioners and delivered by Blake he referred himself to the Presbytery as his proper Iudges And being interrogated whether the King might not judge of Treason as well as the Church did in matters of Heresie iâ— said That speeches delivered 〈◊〉 Pulpiâ—s albert alledged to be 〈…〉 could not be judged by the King till the Church 〈…〉 therâ—of What became after of this 〈…〉 may â—inde it in Arch-Bishop Spotswoods History of the Church of Scotland Had Dr. Manwaring done thus and the Observator justified him in it they had both favored of the Presbyter or Papist there 's no question of it But being the Observator relates onely to the proceedings in Parliament and incroachments of the House of
the Houses of Parliament being loth to lose so many good men appointed Mr. Stephen Marshal to call them together and to absolve them from that Oath which he did with so much confidence and Authority that the Pope himself could not have done it better The King was scarce setled in Oxford the fittest place for his Court and Counsel to reside in When Fol. 597. The noble Lord Aubigny Brother to the Duke of Richmond dyed and was buried at Oxford This Lord Aubigny was the second Son of Esme Duke of Lenox and Earl of March succeeding his Father both in that Title and Estate entail'd originally on the second Son of the House of Lenox he receiv'd his deaths wound at Edge-Hill but dyed and was solemnly interr'd at Oxford on the 13 of Ianuary then next following the first but not the last of that Illustrious Family which lost his life in his Kings Service For after this in the year 1644. the Lord Iohn Stewart lost his life in the Battle of Cheriton near Alresford in the county of South-Hampton And in the year 1645. the Lord Bernard Stewart newly created E. of Litchfield went the same way in the fight near Câ—ester The Duke of Richmond the constant follower of the King in all his Fortunes never injoying himself after the death of his Master languishing and pining from time to time till at length extremity of Grief cast him into a Fever and that Fever cast him into his Grave A rare example of a constant and invincible Loyalty no paralel to be found unto it in the Histories of the antient or latter Ages Philip de â—omines telleth us of a Noble Family in Flanders that generally they lost their lives in the Wars and Service of their Prince And we finde in our own Chronicles that Edmond Duke of Summerset lost his life in the first Battle in St. Albans Duke Henry following him taken in the Battle of Hexam and so beheaded a second Duke Edmond and the Lord Iohn of Somerset going the same way in the Battle near Teâ—xbury all of them fighting in the behalf of King Henry the sixth and the House of Lancaster But then they heapt not Funeral upon Funeral in so short a time as the first three Brothers of this House in which as those of the House of Somerset did â—all short of them so those of that Noble House in Flanders fell short of the House of Somerset Fol. 601. In this time the Queen in Holland now Imbarques for England the sixteenth of February and with contrary winds and foul Weather was forced back again and thereafter with much hazzard anchored at Burlington Bay the nineteenth and Lands at the Key the two and twentieth In this our Author tells the truth but not the whole truth the Queen induring a worse Tempest on the Shore then she did upon the Sea Concerning which the Queen thus writes unto the King viz. The next night after we came unto Burlington four of the Parliament Ships arrived without being perceived by us and about five of the clock in the Morning they began to ply us so fast with their Ordnance that it made us all 〈◊〉 rise out of our Beds and to leave the Village at least the Women one of the Ships did me the favor to flank upon the House where I lay and before I was out of my Bed the Cannon Bullets whistled so loud about me that all the Company pressed me earnestly to go 〈◊〉 of the House their Cannon having totally beaten down all the neighboring Houses and two Cannon Bullets falling from the top to the bottom of the House where I was So that clothed as I could be I went on foot some little distance out of the Town under the shelter of a ditch like that of New-market whither before I could get the Canon-Bullets fell thick about us and a Sergeant was killed within twenty paces of me We in the end gained the Ditch and staied there two hours whilest their Canon plaied all the time upon us the Bullets flew for the most part over our headâ— some few only grazing on the Ditch covered us with Earth Nor had they thus given over that disloyal violence if the ebbing of the Sea and some threatnings from the Admiral of Holland who brought her over had not sent them going Fol. 603. The next day the Prince marches to Glocester his hasty Summons startled them at these strange turnings So saies our Authour but he hath no Authour for what he saith The Prince marched not the next day to Glocester nor in many moneths after having businesse enough to do at Cirencester where he was upon the taking of which Town the Souldiers Garrison'd for the Parliament in the Castles of Barkly Sudely and the Town of Malmsbury deserted those places which presently the Prince possessed and made good for the King Which done he called before them all the Gentry of Cotswold and such as lived upon the banks of Severn betwixt Glocester and Bristol who being now freed from those Garisons which before had awed them were easily perswaded by him to raise a Monethly contribution of 4000. pound toward the defence of the Kings person their Laws and Liberties It was indeed generally beleeved that if he had marched immediatly to Glocester while the terrour of sacking Cirencester fell first upon them the Souldiers there would have quitted the place before he had come half way unto it the affrightment was so generall and their haste so great that Massey had much adoe to perswade the Townsmen to keep their Houses and the Souldiers to stand upon their Guard as I have often heard from some of good quality in that City till the Scouts which he sent out to discover the Motions of the Prince were returned again But whatsoever they feared at Glocester the Prince had no reason to march towards it his Army being too small and utterly unfurnisht of Canon and other necessaries for the attempting of a place of such a large circumference so well mann'd and populous as that City was Contented therefore with that honour which he had got in the gaining of Cirencester and feeling the Kings affairs in that Countrey he thought it a point of higher wisedom to return towards Oxford then hazard all again by attempting Glocester Fol. 604. The Scots Army marched Southwards and crossed Tine March 13. If so it must be in a dream not in Action the Scots not entring into England till December following when the losse of Bristol Exceter and generally of all the West compelled the Houses of Parliament to tempt the Scots to a second invasion of the Kingdome And this appears most clearly by our Authour himself who tels us fol. 615. ' That Sir William Aâ—min was sent to Edinburgh from the Parliament to hasten the Scots Army hither having first sworn to the Solemn League and Covenant each to other Before which Agreement as to the taking of the Solemn League and Covenant by all the Subjects of
against their King had in the Court two Lords High Stewards and two Grooms of the Stool successively one after another And at their taking up of Arms they had a Master of the Horse a Captain of the Guard a Keeper of the privy Purse seven Grooms of eight in his Majesties Bed-Chamber and an equal number at the least of Gentlemen Ushers Quarter-Waiters Cup-Bearers Carvers Sewers and other Officers attending daily at the Table I speak not here of those which had places in the Stables or below the Stairs or of the Servants of those Lords and Gentlemen which either lived about the Court or had Offices in it All which together made up so considerable a number that the Court might well be called an Academy of the Scots Nation in which so many of all sorts had their Breeding Maintenance and Preferment Abroad they had a Lieutenant of the Tower a Fortress of the most consequence in all the Kingdom and a Master-â—unner of the Navy an Office of as great a trust as the other and more of those Monopolies Suits and Patents which were conceiv'd to be most grievous to the Subject then all the English of the Court. In the Church they had two Deanries divers Prebendaries and so many Excclesiastical Benefices as equalled all the Revenue of the Kirk of Scotland All which they lost like Aesops Dog catching after a shadow For what else were those empty hopes of ingrossing to themselves all the Bishops Lands and participating equally with both Houses in the Government of this Kingdom which drew them into England the second time but an airy shadow And yet by catching at that shadow they lost all those Advantages which before they had both in Court and Countrey and that not onely for the present but in all probability for the times to come The Presbyterians laid their Heads and Hands together to embroil the Realm out of a confidence that having alienated the greatest part of the Tribes from the House of David they might advance the golden Calves fo their Presbyteries in Dan and Bethel and all other places whatsoever within this Land And for the maintenance thereof they had devoured in conceit all Chapter Lands and parcelled them amongst themselves into Augmentations But no sooner had they driven this Bargain but a Vote passed for selling those Lands towards the payment of the Debts of the Commonwealth Nor have they lived to see their dear Presbytery setled or their Lay-Elders entertained in any one Parish of the Kingdom for the advancement whereof the Scots were first incouraged to begin at home and afterwards to pursue their work by invading England Others there were who labored for nothng more then the raising of a New Commonwealth out of the Ruins of the old Monarchy which Plot had been a carrying on from the first coming of this King to the Crown till they had gotten him into their hands these being like the Husbandmen in Saint Matthews Gospel who said among themselves this is the Heir come let us kill him and let us seize on his Inheritance Matth. 21. 38. A Commonwealth which they had so modelled in their Brains that neither Sir Thomas Moors Vtopia nor the Lord Verulams new Atlantis nor Plato's Platform nor any of the old Idaeas were equal to it the Honors and Offices whereof they had distributed amongst themselves and their own Dependents And in pursuance of this project they had no sooner brought the King to the end they aimed at but they pass an Act for so they called it prohibiting the Proclaiming of any Person to be King of England c. That done they passed another for the abolishing the Kingly Office in England c. dated the 17 of March One thousand six hundred forty eight A third for declaring and a constituting the People of England to be a Commonwealth and Free State dated May 19. 1649 which last they solemnly proclaimed by their Heralds and Serjeants in the most frequented parts of London and made themselves a new Great Seal with the Arms and Impress of their new Commonwealth ingraven on it And yet these men that had the purse of all the Kingdom at command and Armies raised for defence of their Authority within the space of six years were turned out of all And this was done so easily and with so little noise that the loss of that exorbitant Power did not cost so much as a broken Head or a Bloody Nose in purchasing whereof they had wasted so many Millions of Treasure and more then an Hundred thousand Lives So that all reckonings being cast up it will appear that all were losers by the Bargain as it happens commonly to such men as love to traffick in the buying and selling of prohibited Commodities and thereby make themselves obnoxious to all such forfeitures as the severity of the Laws and the King Displeasure shall impose upon them How he was carried by those Commissioners to Holdenbyâ—House â—House and from thence by a party of Horse to the Head-Quarters of the Army our Author hath inform'd us in the course of this History But being there he tells us that he was permitted to give a meeting to his Children Fol. 995. And accordingly they met at Maidstone where they dined together Well boul'd Vincent as our Authour knows who says in another place He gives us the Copy of a Letter in the very same fol. from the King to the Duke of York dated at Casam Iuly 4. 1647. in which he declares his hope that the Duke might be permitted with his Brother and Sister to come to some place betwixt that and London where he might see them adding withal that rather then hâ— might not see them he would be content they should come to some convenient place to dine and go back at night So then the place for this joyful meeting must be some convenient Town or other betwixt Casam and London But Casam is a Village of Berkshire distant about thirty Miles from London Westward and Maidstone one of the chief Townâ— of Kent is distant about thirty Miles from London towards the East so that London may be truly said to be in the middle betwixt Maidstone and Casam but Maidstone by no means to be in any position betwixt Casam and London Perhaps our Author in this place mistakes Maidstone for Madenhith from Reading ten and from London two and twenty miles distant and then he may do well to mend it in his second Edition And then he may correct also another passage about Judge Ienkins whom fol. 836. he makes to be taken Prisoner in the City of Hereford and fol. 976. at Castle in Wales So strangely does he forget himself that one might think this History had several Authors and was not written nor digested by any one man Fol. 96â— Nay did not Heraclius the Greek Emperor call for aid of theâ— Râ—ke-hell rabble of Scythians to assist him against the Saracens â— I believe he did not For as I remember not to
was not to be found in the whole body of it And for the proof thereof he read the Article out of a Book which lay before him beginning thus Non licet Ecclesia quicquam instituere quod verbo Dei scripto adversetur c. To which the Resâ—ondent readily answered that he perceived by the bignesse of the Book which lay on the Doctors Cushion that he had read that Article out of the Harmony of Confessions publisht at Geneva Anno 1612. which therein followed the Edition of the Articles in the time of King Edward the sixth Anno 1552. in which that sentence was not found but that it was otherwise in the Articles agreed on in the Convocation Anno 156â— to which most of us had subscribed in our severall places but the Doctor still persisting upon that point and the Respondent seeing some unsatisfiednesse in the greatest part of the Auditory he called on one M. Westly who formerly had been his Chamber-Fellow in Magdalenâ— College to step to the next Booksellers Shop for a Book of Articles Which being observed by the Doctor he declared himself very willing to decline any further prosecâ—tion of tâ—at particular and to go on directly to the Disputation But the Respondent was resolved to proceed no further Vsque dum liberaverit animam suam ab ist a calumnia as his own words were till he had freed himself from that odious Calumny but it was not long before the coming of the Book had put an end to that Controversie out of which the Respondent read the Article in the English Tongue in his verbis viz. The Church hath power to decree Rites and Ceremonies and authority in Controversies of faith c. which done he delivered the Book to one of the standers by who desired it of him the Book passing from one hand to another till all men were satisfied And at this point of time it was that the Queens Almoner left the Schools pâ—ofessing afterwards that he could see no hope of a fair Disputation from so foul a beginning and not as being tired with the tedious Preface of the Respondent before the Disputations begun which whether it were tedious or impertinent or not may perhaps be seen hereafter upon this occasion But to proceed upon the breaking of this blow the Doctor fell on roundly to his Argumentation and in the heat thereof insisted upon those extravagant expressions without any such qualification of them as is found in the Paper which made the matter of the Information which is now before us and for which if he received any check from the King at Woodstock it is no more then what he had received at the same place but two years before as afore is said Which notwithstanding the Book of Articles was printed the next Year at Oxon in the Latine tongue according to the Copy in the said Harmony of Confessions or to a corrupt Edition of them Anno 1571. in which that clause had been omitted to the great animation of the Puritan party who then began afresh to call in question the Authority of the Church in the points aforesaid For which as D. Prideaux by whose encouragement it was supposed to have been done received a third check from the Arch-bishop of Canterbury then Chancellor of that University So the Printers were constrained to re-print the Book or that part of it at the least according to the genuine and ancient Copies And here I should have parted with D. Prideaux but that there is somewhat in the Paper as it is now publisht to the world by M. Sanderson which is thought fit to have an answer though not held worthy of that honour when it was secretly disperst in scattered Copies The Paper tels us of a Hissâ— which is supposed to have been given and makes the Doctor sure that such a Hisse was given When the Respondent excluded King and Parliament from being parts of the Church But first The Respondent is as sure that he never excluded King and Parliament from being parts of the Church that is to say of the diffusive body of it but denied them to be members of the Convocation that is to say the Church of England represented in a Nationall Councel to which the power of decreeing Rites and Ceremonies and the Authority of determining Controversies in faith as well as to other Assemblies of that nature is ascribed by the Articles Which as it did deserve no Hisse so the Respondent is assured no such hisse was given when those words were spoken If any hisse were given at all as perhaps there was it might be rather when the Doctor went about to prove that it was not the Convocation but the High Court of Parliament which had the power of ordering matters in the Church in making Canons ordaining Ceremonies and determining Controversies in Religion and could finde out no other medium to make it good but the Authority of Sir Ed. Cooke a learned but meer common Lawyer in one of the Books of his Reports An Argument if by that name it may be called which the Respondent thought not fit to gratifie with a better answer then Non credendum esse quoquo extra artem suam Immediatly whereupon the Doctor gave place to the next Opponent which put an end unto the heats of that Disputation In which if the Doctor did affirm that the Church was Mera Chimaera as it seems he did what other plaister soever he might finde to salve that sore I am sure he could not charge it on the insufficiency of the Respondents answers who kept himself too close to the Churâ—h-Representative consisting of Arch-Bishops Bishops and other of the Clergy in their severall Councels to be beaten from it by any argument which the Doctor had produced against him And thus we have a full relation of the differences between D Prideaux and the Respondent forgotten long agoe by those whom it most concerned and now unseasonably revived revived as little to the honour of the reverend name and living fame of that learned Doctor as D. Bernards publishing the Lord Primates Letters never intended for the Presse hath been unto the honour of that emiâ—nent and pious Prelate But the Squire will not so give over he hath another peece in store which must now be printed though written as long since as any of the Lord Primates Letters or the Doctors Paper and must be printed now to shew what slender account is to be made of his that is to say the Respondents language that ways in reference namely to such eminent persons as he had to deal with For this he is beholden to some friend or other who helpt him to the sight of a Letter writ by D. Haâ—well in the year 1633. in which speaking of M. Heylyn since Doctor whom he stiles The Parton of that pretended Saint George he hath these words of him viz In the second Impression of his Book where he hath occasion to speak of