private Laird to be a Peer of that Realm made him first Treasurer Depute Chancellor of the Exchequer we should call him in England afterwards Lord Treasurer and Privy Counsellor of that Kingdom This man he wrought himself so far into Lauds good liking when he was Bishop of London only that he looked upon him as the fittest Minister to promote the Service of that Church taking him into his nearest thoughts communicating to him all his Counsels committed to his care the conduct of the whole Affair and giving order to the Archbishops and Bishops of Scotland not to do any thing without his privity and direction But being an Hamiltonian Scot either originally such or brought over at last he treacherously betrayed the cause communicated his Instructions to the opposite Faction from one time to another and conscious of the plot for the next daies tumult withdrew himself to the Earl of Mortons house of Dalkeith to expect the issue And possible it is that by his advice the executing of the Liturgy was put off from Easter at what time the reading of it was designed by his Majesty as appears by the Proclamation of December 20. which confirmed the Book By which improvident delay he gave the Presbyterian Faction the longer time to confederate themselves against it and to possess the people with Fears and Jealousies that by admitting of that book they should lose the Purity of their Religion and be brought back unto the Superstitions and Idolatries of the Church of Rome And by this means the People were inflamed into that Sedition which probably might have been prevented by a quicker prosecution of the Cause at the time appointed there being nothing more destructive of all publick Counsels than to let them take wind amongst the People cooled by delaies and finally blown up like a strong Fortress undermined by some subtle practice And there were some miscarriages also amongst the Prelates of the Kirk in not communicating the design with the Lords of the Council and other great men of the Realm whose Countenance both in Court and Country might have sped the business Canterbury had directed the contrary in his Letters to them when the first draughts of the Liturgy were in preparation and seems not well pleased in another of his to the Archbishop of St. Andrews bearing date September 4. that his advice in it was not followed nor the whole body of the Council made acquainted with their Resolutions or their advice taken or their power called in for their assistance till it was too late It was complained of also by some of the Bishops that they were made strangers to the business who in all Reason ought to have been trusted with the knowledge of that intention which could not otherwise than by their diligence and endeavours amongst their Clergy be brought to a happy execution Nor was there any care taken to adulce the Ministers to gain them to the Cause by fair hopes and promises and thereby to take off the edge of such Leading men as had an influence on the rest as if the work were able to carry on it self or have so much Divine assistance as countervailed the want of all helps from man And which perhaps conduced as much to the destruction of the Service as all the rest a publick intimation must be made in all their Churches on the Sunday before that the Liturgie should be read on the Lords day following of purpose as it were to unite all such as were not well affected to it to disturb the same And there were some miscarriages also which may be looked on as Accessories after the Fact by which the mischief grew remediless and the malady almost incurable For first the Archbishops and Bishops most concerned in it when they saw what hapned consulted by themselves apart and sent up to the King without calling a Council or joyning the Lay Lords with them whereas all had been little enough in a business of that nature and so much opposed by such Factious persons as gathered themselves on purpose together at Edenborough to disturb the Service A particular in which the Lay Lords could not be engaged too far if they had been treated as they ought But having run upon this error they committed a worse in leaving Edenborough to it self and retiring every one to his own Diocess except those of Galloway and Dumblaine For certainly they must needs think as Canterbury writes in one of his Letters to Traquaire that the Adverse party would make use of the present time to put further difficulties upon the work and therefore that they should have been as careful to uphold it the Bishop of Ross especially whose hand had been as much in it as the most But possibly the Bishops might conceive the place to be unsecure and therefore could not stay with safety neither the Lords of the Council nor the Magistrates of the City having taken any course to bring the chief Ringleaders of the Tumult to the Bar of Justice which must needs animate all disaffected and seditious persons and almost break the hearts of those who were well enclined And such indeed was the neglect of the Civil Magistrate that we hear of no man punished scarce so much as questioned for so great a Riot as was not to be expiated but by the death or some proportionable punishment of the chief offenders Which had it been inflicted on some three or four for a terror to others it might have kept that City quiet and the whole Kingdom in obedience for the time to come to the saving of the lives of many thousands some hundreds of thousands at the least in all the three Kingdoms most miserably lost in those long and cruel Wars which ensued upon it But the Lords of Scotland were so far from looking before them that they took care only for the present and instead of executing Justice on the Malefactors suspended the Liturgie it self as the cause of the Tumult conceiving it a safer way to calm the differences than to encrease the storm by a more rigorous and strict proceeding All that they did in order to his Majesties Service or the Churches peace was the calling in of a scandalous Pamphlet entituled A dispute against the English Popish Ceremonies obtruded on the Kirk of Scotland which not being done till October 20 following rather declared their willingness to suffer the said Book to be first dispersed and set abroad then to be called in and suppressed Nor seemed the business to be much taken to heart in the Court of England from whom the Scots expected to receive Directions Nor Order given them for unsheathing the Sword of Justice to cut off such unsound and putrified Members which might have saved the whole Body from a Gangreen the drawing of some Blood in the Body Politick by the punishment of Malefactors being like letting Blood in the Body Natural which in some strong Distempers doth preserve the whole Or granting that the Tumult
processerint did in the ministration of the Sacraments bestir themselves in a white Vesture so he advers Pelag Lib. 2. with which compare St. Chrysostom in his 83 Homily on St. Matthews Gospel for the Eastern Churches And hereunto the Cope was added in some principal Churches especially in the Celebration of the Blessed Eucharist Both which appear most evidently by the first Liturgy of K. Edw. 6. compared with one of the last clauses of the Act of Parliament 1 Eliz. c. 2. in which it is provided that such ornaments of the Church and of the Ministers shall be retained and be in use as were in the Church of England by Authority of Parliament in the second year of the Reign of King Edw. vi But this Vestur◠having been discontinued I know not by what fatal negligence many years together it pleased the Bishops and Clergy in the Convocation Anno 1603. to pass a Canon to this purpose viz. That in Cathedral and Collegiate Churches the Holy Communion shall be administred upon principal Feast dayes sometimes by the Bishops c. and that the principal Minister using a decent Cope c. Canon 24. 9. In that part of Divine Service which concerns the offering of the peoples Prayers to Almighty God it was required of the Priest or Presbyter first that in all the dayes and times appointed he used the Prayers prescribed in the publick Liturgy according to the Act of Parliament 1 Eliz. c. 2. and many subsequent Canons and Constitutions made in that behalf Secondly That he conformed himself to those Rites and Ceremonies which were prescribed in that Book and unto such as should be afterwards ordained by the Queens Majesty with the advice of her Commissioners appointed and authorized under the great Seal of England for causes Ecclesiastical or of the Metropolitan of this Realm as may be most for the advancement of Gods Glory the edifying of his Church and the due reverence of Christs Holy Mysteries and Sacraments And thirdly and more particularly That in his reading of the Prayers and Psalms he turn his face toward the East and toward the People in the reading of the Lessons or Chapters as appears plainly by the Rubrick which directs him thus That after the reading of the Psalms the Priest shall read two Lessons distinctly that the people may hear the Priest that reads the two Lessons standing and turning himself so as he may best be heard of all such as be present The Psalms or Hymns to be indifferently said or sung at the will of the Minister but the Hymns for the most part sung with Organs and sometimes with other Musical Instruments both in the Royal Chappels and Cathedral Churches Fourthly That he makes use of no other Prayers in the Congregation and therefore neither before nor after Sermon then those which are prescribed in the said Book of Common Prayer it being specially provided in the Act aforesaid that no Priest nor Minister shall use any other Rite Ceremony Order Form or manner of Celebrating the Lords Supper openly or privately or Mattens Evening Song Administration of the Sacraments or other open Prayers that is to say such Prayers as are meant for others to come unto or hear either in common Churches or private Chappels c. then is mentioned or set forth in the same Book Fifthly That all Priests and Deacons shall be bound to say daily the Morning and Evening Prayer either privately or openly except they be lett by Preaching studying of Divinity or some other urgent cause And sixthly That the Curate that ministreth in every Parish Church or Chappel being at home and not being otherwise reasonably letted shall say the same in the Parish Church or Chappel where he ministreth and shall toll a Bell thereto at convenient time before he begin that such as ar◠disposed may come to hear Gods Word and pray with him so as in some cases it may be said of the Priest as the Father doth of Christ that he is Os ipsum per quod loquimur The very mouth by which we speak unto our Father which is in Heaven And though it be intended in the Act of Parliament and exprest in the Articles of Religion that the Prayers are to be made in such a tongue as may be understood of the common people yet it is not meant as is declared in the Preface to the Book it self but that when men say Morning and Evening Prayers privately they may say the same in any language that they themselves understand Nor was it meant but that the Morning and Evening Service might be used in the Colledges and Halls of either University in the Latine tongue where all may be supposed to understand it as appears clearly by the constant and continual practise of Christ-Church in Oxon in which the first Morning Prayers commonly read about six of the Clock were in Latine the Morning and Evening Service with the Psalms of David being printed in Latine by themselves for that end and purpose 10. As for the Preaching of the Word that belongs properly and originally as the performance of all other Divine Offices did of old to the Bishops themselves as being the ordinary Pastors of the several and respective Diocesses and to the Priests no otherwise then by deputation as Curates and substitutes to the Bishops as may be proved out of the Instrument of their Institution For when a Clerk is to be admitted into any Benefice he puts himself upon his knees and the Bishop laying one Hand upon his Head and having the Instrument in the other repeats these words viz. Te N. N. ad Rectoriam de N. Ritè Canonicè instituimus curam regimen animarum Parochianorum ibidem tibi in Domino committentes committimus per presentes that is to say that he doth institute him into the said Benefice according to the Laws and Canons committing to him by these presents the care and Government of the Souls of all the Parishioners therein And therefore it concerns the Bishop not to Licence any man to Preach to the Congregation of whose good affections to the Publick abilities in Learning sobriety of Life and Conversation and conformity to the Government Discipline and form of Worship here by Law established he hath not very good assurance For though the Priest or Presbyter by his Ordination hath Authority to preach the word of God in the Congregation yet it is with this clause of Limitation If he shall be so appointed that is to say sufficiently Licenced thereunto and not otherwise And none were Licenced heretofore as was expresly ordered in the injunctons of Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth but either by the Bishop of the Diocess who is to answer by the Law for every Minister he admits into the same for that Diocess only or by the Metropolitan of the Province for that Province alone or finally by either of the Universities upon the well performing of some publick exercise over all the Kingdom Considering therefore
he was chosen to be one of the four Dr. Andrews Bishop of Chichester Dr. Barlow Bishop of Rochester and Dr. King then Dean of Christchurch and not long after Bishop of London were the other three who were appointed to Preach before his Majesty at Hampton-court in the Month of September 1606. for the Reductions of the two Melvins and other Presbyterian Scots to a right understanding of the Church of England In the performance oâ— which Service he took for his Text those words of the Apostle Let every soul c. Rom. 13.1 In canvasing whereof he fell upon the Point of the Kings Supremacy in Causes Ecclesiastical which he handled as the most Reverend Archbishop Spotwood who was present at the Sermon hath informed us of him both learnedly and soundly to the satisfaction of all the hearers but that the Scottish Ministers seemed very much grieved to hear the Pope and the Presbytery so often equalled in their opposition to Sovereign Princes Hist. of the Church of Scotland Lib. VII pag. 497. And though the other three with the like abilities and elocution had discharged their parts yet gained they nothing on the Scots who were resolved like the deaf Adder in the Psalmist not to give ear unto the Charmers charmed they never so wisely But whatsoever they lost in the opinion of that proud and refractory Generation they gained exceedingly on the King and great Preferments for themselves Bishop Andrews being not long after removed to the See of Ely Bishop Barlow unto that of Lincoln Dr. King preferred to the See of London and Dr. Buckridge to that of Rochester where he continued till the year 1627. when by the power and favour of this his present Pupill then Bishop of Bath and Wells he was translated to the rich Bishoprick of Ely in which See he died Of this man I have spoken the more at large that finding the temper of the Tutor we may the better judge of those ingredients which went to the making up of the Scholar Having spent about a year in his Colledge there was raised such a good report of him in the Town of Reading that partly by his own proficiencies and partly by the good esteem which was had of his Father he was nominated by the Mayor and others of that Corporation unto a Scholars place in that House according to the Constitutions of Sir Tho. White the Honourable and sole Founder of it who though he had designed the Merchant-Taylors School in London for the Chief Seminary of his Colledge yet being a man of a more publick Spirit than to confine himself to any one place he allowed two Fellowships to the City of Coventry and as many to Bristol two also to the Town of Reading and one to Tunbridg Admitted a Scholar of the House on this nomination at the end of three years according to the Custom of that Colledge he was made one of the Fellows taking his Academical Degrees according to that custom also by which custom those of that Society are kept longer from taking their degrees in the Arts but are permitted to take their Degrees in Divinity much sooner than in other Houses so that although he proceeded not Master of Arts till the Month of Iuly 1599. yet at the end of five years only he took the Degree of Batchelour in Divinity without longer stay during which interval he was first made Deacon and afterwards was put into the Order of Priesthood by Dr. Young then Bishop of Rochester the See of Oxon. being vacant in which vacancy it had continued for the space of 11. years that is to say from the death of Bishop Vnderhill An. 1592. till the Consecration of Dr. Bridges on the twelfth of February An. 1603. The Patrimony of that Church being in the mean time much dilapidated and made a prey for the most part to the Earl of Essex to whom it proved as miserably fatal as the Gold of Tholouse did of old to the Soldiers of Caepio And now being fallen upon his Studies in Divinity in the exercise whereof he met with some affronts and oppositions it will be necessary to take a short view of the then present Estate of that University that so we may the better discern the Reasons of those affronts and oppositions under which he suffered Know then that Mr. Lawrence Humphrey one of the Fellows of Magdalen Colledge being deprived of his Fellowship there in Queen Maries time betook himself to the City of Zurich a City of chiefest note amongst the Switzers remarkable for the Preachings and Death of Zuinglius from whence and from the Correspondence which he had at Geneva he brought back with him at his returning into England on Queen Maries death so much of the Calvinian both in Doctrine and in Discipline that the best that could be said of him by one who commonly speaks favourably of all that Party is that he was a moderate and conscientious Non-conformist Immediately on his return he was by Queen Elizabeth made President of Magdalen Colledge and found to be the fittest man as certainly he was a man of very good parts and the Master of a pure Latin Style for governing the Divinity Chair as her Majesties Professor in that Faculty in which he continued till the year 1596. and for a great part of that time was Vice-chancellor also By which advantages he did not only stock his Colledge with such a generation of Non-conformists as could not be wormed out in many years after his decease but sowed in the Divinity Schools such seeds of Calvinism and laboured to create in the younger Students such a strong hate against the Papists as if nothing but Divine Truths were to be found in the one and nothing but Abominations to be seen in the other And though Doctor Iohn Holland Rector of Exceter Colledge who succeeded Humphries in the Chair came to it better principled than his Predecessor yet did he suffer himself to be borne away by the violent current of the times contrary in some cases to his own opinion And yet as zealous as Doctor Humphries shewed himself against the Papists insomuch as he got the title of a Papisto Mastyx he was not thought though seconded by the Lady Margarets Professor for that University to make the distance wide enough betwixt the Churches A new Lecture therefore must be founded by Sir Francis Walsingham Principal Secretary of Estate a man of Great Abilities in the Schools of Policy an extreme hater of the Popes and Church of Rome and no less favourable unto those of the Puritan Faction The designe was to make the Religion of the Church of Rome more odious and the differences betwixt them and the Protestants to appear more irreconcileable than before they did And that he might not fail of his purpose in it the Reading of this Lecture was committed to Doctor Iohn Reynolds President of Corpus Christi Colledge a man of infinite Reading and as vast a Memory who
Worship of God his design to bring in Popery by the back-door of Arminianism and his endeavouring of a Reconciliation betwixt us and Rome And first as touching such Innovations in the Worship of God he makes a general purgation of himself in his Speech made in the Star-Chamber the sum and substance whereof you have seen before Out of which I shall only take this short and pithy Declaration which he makes of himself in relation to this part of his charge viz. I can say it clearly and truly as in the presence of God that I have done nothing as a Prelate to the utmost of what I am conscious but with a single heart and with a sincere intention for the good Government and honour of the Church and the maintenance of the Orthodox truth and Religion of Christ professed established and maintained in the Church of England For my care of this Church the reducing it to Order the upholding of the External Worship of God in it and the settling of the Rules of its first Reformation are the cause and the sole cause whatsoever is pretended of this malicious storm that hath lowred so black upon me and some of my Brethren The like Declaration he also makes in his first Speech to the Lords at the time of his tryal where we find it thus Ever since I came into place saith he I have laboured nothing more than that the External Worship of God so much slighted in divers parts of this Kingdom might be preserved and that with as much Decency and Uniformity as might be For I evidently saw that the publick neglect of Gods Service in the outward face of it and the nasty lying of many places dedicated to that Service had almost cast a damp upon the true and inward Worship of God which while we live in the body needs External helps and all little enough to keep it in any vigour And this I did to the utmost of my knowledge according both to Law and Canon and with the consent and liking of the People nor did any Command issue out from me against the one or the other And finally we shall find the like Declaration made by him on the Scaâ—fold at the time of his death in which sad hour there was no dissembling and I conceive all charitable men will believe so of it before God or man But because it relates also to the next particular we shall there meet with it And for the next particular concerning the designing to bring in â—â—pery it hath been further aggravated by his correspondency with tâ—e Popes Ministers here in England and his indulgence to that Party upon all occasions But of this he cleansed himself sufficiently in the 〈◊〉 Chamiber Speech before remembred in which he publickly avowed First That he knew of no plot or purpose of altering the Religion established Secondly That he had never been far from attempting any thing that may truly be said to tend that way in the least degree And thirdly having offered his Oath for the other two that it the King had a mind to change Religion which he knew he had not his Majesty must seek for other Instruments how basely soever those men had conceived of him The like 〈…〉 gives also in the last hour of his life when he was goâ—â—â— to tender an account of all his Actions before Gods Tribunal â—here is a Clamour that I would have brought in Popery but I was 〈◊〉 and baptized saith he in the bosome of the Church of England established by Law in that profession I have ever since lived and in that I come now to dye This is no time to dissemble with God least of all in matters of Religion and therefore I 〈◊〉 it may be remembred I have alwaies lived in the Protestant Religion established in England and in that I come now to die And then he adds with reference to the point before What Clamours and slanders I have endured for labouring to keep an Uniformity in the External Service of God according to the Doctrine and Discipline of this Church all men know and I have abundantly 〈◊〉 His Conference with Fisher the Iesuite in the year 1622. and 〈…〉 of that Conference Anno 1637. with Derings attestation 〈…〉 before we had do most abundantly evince this truth at he approved not the Doctrine of the Church of Rome And as 〈◊〉 approveâ— not of their Doctrines so he as much disliked their 〈◊〉 for gaining Proselytes or multiplying their followers in all 〈…〉 the Kingdom concerning which he tells his Majesty That 〈…〉 never had advised a persecution of the Papists in any 〈◊〉 yet God forbid saith he that your Majesty should let born Laws and Discipline sleep for fear of a Persecution and in the mean time let Mr. Fisher and his Fellows Angle in all parts of your Dominions for your Subjects If in your Grace and Goodness you will spare their persons yet I humbly beseech you to see to it that they be not suffered to lay either their Weels or bait their Hâ—oks or cast their Nets in every stream least the Temptation grow both too general and too strong So he in the Epistle Dedicatory to his Large Relation of the Conference between him and Fisher published in the end of the year forgoing Assuredly it must needs seem extremely ridiculous to others and contradictory to it self to confute the chief Doctrines of the Papists and oppose their practicings if he â—ad had any such design to bring in Popery And being thus averse from them in point of Doctrine he declined all correspondence and acquaintance with them whereby he might come under the suspicion of some secret Practice I hold it probable enough that the better to oblige the Queen unto him of whose Prevalency in the Kings affections he could not be ignorant he might consent to Con's coming hither over from the Pope to be assistant to her in such affairs as the nature of her Religion might occasion with the Sea of Rome But he kept himself at such a distance that neither Con nor Panzani before him who acted for a time in the same capacity could fasten any acquaintance on him The Pamphlet called The Popes Nuncio Printed in the year 1643. hath told us That Panzani at his being here did desire a Conference with the Archbishop of Canterbury but was put of and procrastinated therein from day to day That at the last he departed the Kingdom without any Speech with him The like we find in the discovery of Andreas ab Habernfield who tells us of this Con That finding the Kings Judgment to depend much on the Archbishop of Canterbury his faithful Servant he resolved to move every stone and bend all his strength to gain him to his side being confident he had prepared the means For he had a command to make offer of a Cardinals Cap to the Lord Archbishop in the name of the Pope of Rome and that he should allure him
CYPRIANUS ANGLICUS OR THE HISTORY OF THE Life and Death OF The most Reverend and Renowned PRELATE WILLIAM By Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of all ENGLAND and Metropolitan Chancellor of the Universities of Oxon. and Dublin and one of the Lords of the Privy Council to His late most SACRED MAJESTY King CHARLES the First Second MONARCH of Great Britain CONTAINING ALSO The Ecclesiastical History of the Three Kingdoms of ENGLAND SCOTLAND and IRELAND from His first rising till His Death By P. Heylyn D. D. and Chaplain to Charles the first and Charles the second Monarchs of Great Britain ECCLUS 44. VERS 1 3. 1. Let us now praise Famous Men and our Fathers that begat Vs. 3. Such as did bear Rule in their Kingdoms Men Renowned for their Power giving Counsel by their Vnderstanding and Declaring Prophesies LONDON Printed for A. Seile MDCLXVIII To the Honourable Sir IOHN ROBINSON Kt. and Baronet HIS MAJESTIES Lieutenant of the Tower of London SIR YOV have here before you the History of an Eminent Prelate and Patriot a Person who lived the honour and died a Martyr of the English Church and State for it was his sad Fate to be crusht betwixt Popery and Schism and having against both defended the Protestant Cause with his Pen he after chearfully proceeded to Seal that Faith with his Bloud Together with the Story of this Great Man you have likewise that of the Age he lived in especially so far as concerned the Church wherein you will find recorded many notable Agitations and Contrivances which it were pity should be lost in silence and pass away unregarded These Considerations towards a Gentleman of your worth Curiosity and loyalty are warrant enough to justifie me in this Dedication And yet I must not conceal that it belongs to you by another right that is to say the Care of recommending this VVork to the Publick was committed to a Gentleman who himself had presented it to your hand if God had not taken him away just upon the point of putting his purpose in execution So that it seems in me as well matter of Conscience as of Respect to deliver it wholly up to your Patronage and Protection since in exposing it to the world I do but perform the will of my dead Father and in addressing it to your self together with my own I also gratifie that of my deceased Friend The value of the VVork it self I do not pretend to judge of my duty and interest for the Author forbids it but for the Industry Integrity and good meaning of the Historian I dare become answerable And in truth I hope well of the rest without which I should not have made bold with Sir John Robinson's Name in the Front of it who being so nearly related both in bloud and affection to that Incomparable and Zealous Minister of God and his Prince cannot besides a Natural but upon an Honourable Impression concern himself in the glories or blemishes of this Character defective in nothing but that it could not be as ample as his worth And now having discharged my trust and duty as I could do no less so I have little more to add for my self but that I am SIR Your most humble and obedient Servant HENRY HEYLYN A Necessary INTRODUCTION To the following HISTORY BEFORE we come unto the History of this Famous Prelate it will not be amiss to see upon what Principles and Positions the Reformation of this Church did first proceed that so we may the better Judge of those Innovations which afterwards were thrust upon her and those Endeavours which were used in the latter times to bring her back again to her first Condition 1. Know therefore that King Henry viii having obtained of the Bishops and Clergie in their Convocation Anno 1530. to be acknowledged the Supream Head on Earth of the Church of England did about three years after in the 26 of his Reign confirm the said Supremacy to Himself his Heirs and Successors with all the Priviledges and Preheminencies thereunto belonging by Act of Parliament And having procured the said Bishops and Clergie in another of their Convocations held in the year 1532. to promise in verbo Sacerdotii not to assemble from thenceforth in any Convocation or Synodical Meeting but as they should be called by his Majesties Writ nor to make any Canons or Constitutions Synodal or Provincial without his Leave and Licence thereunto obtained nor finally to put the same in Execution till they were Ratified and Confirmed under the Great Seal of England Procured also an Act of Parliament to bind the Clergie to their promise Which Act called commonly The Act of the Submission of the Clergie doth bear this name in Poulton's Abridgment viz. That the Clergie in their Convocation should Enact no Constitutions without the Kings assent Anno 25. Henry viii c. 19. Which Grounds so laid he caused this Question to be debated in both Universities and all the Famous Monasteries of the Kingdom viz. An aliquid auâ—horitatis in hoc Regno Angliae Pontifici Romano de jure competat plusquam alii cuicumque Episcopo extero Which Question being concluded in the Negative and that Conclusion ratified and confirmed in the Convocation Anno 1534. there past an Act of Parliament about two years after Intituled An Act Extinguishing the Authority of the Bishops of Rome In which there was an Oath prescribed for abjuring the Popes Authority within this Realm The refusing whereof was made High-Treason Anno 28. H. viii c. 10. 2. But this Exclusion of the Pope as it did no way prejudice the Clergy in their power of making Canons Constitutions and other Synodical Acts but only brought them to a dependance upon the King for the better ordering of the same so neither did it create any diminution of the Power and Priviledges of the Arch-Bishops and Bishops in the free exercise of that Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction which anciently belonged to them For in the Act of Submission before-mentioned there passed a Clause that all former Constitutions Synodal or Provincial which were not contrary to the Word of God the Kings Prerogative Royal or the Laws and Statutes of this Realm should remain in force until they were reviewed and fitted for the use of the Church by 32 Commissioners to be nominated by the King for that end and purpose Which re-view being never made in the time of that King nor any thing done in it by K. Edw. vi though he had an Act of Parliament to the same effect the said Old Canons and Constitutions remained in force as before they were By means whereof all causes Testamentary Matrimonial and Suits for Tythes all matters of Incontinency and other notorious Crimes which gave publick Scandal all wilful absence from Divine Service Irreverence and other Misdemeanours in the Church not punishable by the Laws of the Land were still reserved unto the Ecclesiastical Courts Those Ancient Canons and Constitutions remaining also for the perpetual standing Rule
Peterburrough Doctor Iohn Cosen Prebend of Durham and Dean of Peterburrough after Iackson Doctor Benjamin Lany Master of Queens Colledge in Cambridge and Dean of Rochester Doctor Robert Newell his half Brother Prebend of Westminster and Durham and Archdeacon of Buckingham Doctor Gabriel Clarke Prebend and Archdeacon of Durham Doctor Eliazer Duncum one of the Prebends of Durham also Mr. Barlow a right solid man but not possessed of any Dignity in the Church to my best remembrance and some others of good note whose Names and Titles I cannot presently call to minde In the beginning of the Reign of King Iames by the power and mediation of Archbishop Bancroft he was made Clerk of the Closet to that King that standing continually at his Elbow he might be ready to perform good offices to the Church and Churchmen Aud he discharged his trust so well that though he lost the love of some of the Courtiers who were too visibly enclined to the Puritan Faction yet he gained the favour of his Master by whom he was preferred to the Deanry of Westminster and afterwards successively to the Bishopricks of Rochester Litchfield Lincoln and Durham one of the richest in the Kingdom which shews that there was in him something more than ordinary which made that King so bountiful and gracious to him Nor staid he there but by the Power and Favour of this his Chaplain he was promoted in the Reign of King Charles to the See of Winton and finally exalted to the Metropolitan See of York where at last he died about the latter end of October 1640. None of his Chaplains received so much into his Counsels as Doctor Laud to which degree he was admitted in the year 1608. whom he found both an active and a trusty Servant as afterwards a most constant and faithful friend upon all occasions The first Ecclesiastical Preferment which fell unto him was the Vicaridge of Stamford in Northamptonshire But having put himself into the Service of Bishop Neile he was by him preferred into the Rectory of Cuckstone in Kent toward the latter end of May 1610. On the acceptance thereof he gave over his Fellowship in October following that so he might more fully apply himself to the service of his Lord and Patron But Cuckstone proving an unhealthy place he exchanged it for another called Norton a Benefice of less value but scituate in a better and more healthy Air His Patron in the mean time being translated to the See of Litchfield on the end of September whose Fortunes he was resolved to follow till God should please to provide otherwise for him For first the Bishop before his going off from the Deanry of Westminster which he held in commendam with his Bishoprick of Rochester obtained for him of King Iames to whom not otherwise known but by his Recommendation the Reversion of a Prebend in that Church which though it fell not to him until ten years after yet it fell at last and thereby neighbour'd him to the Court And on the other side his good Friend and Tutor Doctor Buckridge being nominated Successor unto Neile in the See of Rochester laid a good ground for his Succession in the Presidentship of St. Iohn's Colledge thereby to render him considerable in the University But this was both suspected and feared by Abbot who being consecrated Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield on the third of December 1609. and from thence removed to London in the end of Ianuary next ensuing resolved to hinder the design with all care and diligence So natural a thing it is to hate the man whom we have wronged to keep him down whom we have any cause to fear when we have him under To which end he made great Complaints against him to Thomas Lord Elsmer Lord Chancellor of England many years before and newly then made Chancellor of that University on the death of the Lord Archbishop Bancroft insinuating to him That he was at the least a Papist in heart and cordially addicted unto Popery That he kept company with none but profest and suspected Papists and That if he were suffered to have any place of Government in the Vniversity it would undoubtedly turn to the great Detriment of Religion and Dishonour of his Lordship The Chancellor hereupon makes his Address unto the King informing him of all which had been told him concerning Laud which was like to have destroy'd his hopes as to that design notwithstanding his petition to the King to believe otherwise of him if Bishop Neile his constant and unmovable Friend had not acquainted his Majesty with the Abilities of the man and the old grudge which Abbot had conceived against him This Bar being thus removed the design for the Presidentship went on in the obtaining whereof he found a greater difficulty than he had expected Rawlinson once a Fellow of the same House and afterwards Principal of St. Edmonds Hall appearing a Competitor for it Each of them having prepared his Party the Fellows proceeded to an Election May 10. Anno 1611. The Scrutiny being made and the Election at the point to be declared one of the Fellows of Rawlinson's Party seeing which way the business was like to go snatch'd up the Paper and tore it suddenly in pieces The Nomination being thus unhappily frustrated an Appeal was made unto King Iames who spent three hours in giving Audience to both parties and upon full consideration of the Proofs and Allegations on either side notwithstanding all the former practices and prejudices to encline him otherwise he gave Sentence in behalf of Laud which hapning on the 29th of August being the day of the beheading of St. Iohn Baptist by whose Name that Colledge was entituled by the Founder of it hath given an occasion unto some to look upon it as an Omen or Prognostication that this new Head should suffer death by being beheaded as the other did The King having thus passed Judgment for him he was thereupon sworn and admitted President and being so sworn and admitted he could not for example sake but inflict some punishment on the party who had torn the Scrutiny But knowing him for a man of hopeful Parts industrious in his Studies and of a Courage not to be disliked he not only released him from the Censure under which he lay but took him into special Favour trusted him in all his weighty businesses made him his Chaplain and preferred him from one good Benefice to another married him to his Brothers Daughter and finally promoted him to the very Presidentship which had been the first cause of that breach and one of the best Deanries of the Kingdom To such others of the Fellows as had opposed him in his Election to that place he always shewed a fair and equal countenance hoping to gain them by degrees But if he found any of them to be untractable not easily to be gained by favours he would finde some handsom way or other to remove them out of the Colledge that others
Dr. Abbot being thus removed to an higher spheare it seemed not good to Laud to pursue the quarrel but patiently to attend the year of his expectation before the expiring whereof the King bestowed upon him the Deanry of Glocester as before was said At the bestowing of which Deanry his Majesty told him that he had been informed that there was scarce ever a Church in England so ill governed and so much out of order as that was requiring him in the general to reform and set in order what he found amiss Being thus forewarned and withall forearmed he makes hast to Glocester where he found the Church in great decay many things out of order in it the Communion Table standing almost in the middest of the Quire contrary to the posture of it in his Majesties Chappel and of all the Cathedral Churches which he had seen Which being observed he called a Chapter of the Prebends and having acquainted them with his Majesties Instructions easily obtained their consent to two Chapter Acts The one for the speedy Repairing of the Church where it was most necessary The other for transposing the Communion Table to the East end of the Quire and placing it all along the Wall according to the scituation of it in other Cathedral or Mother Churches which Transposition being made he recommended to the Prebendaries the Quire men Choresters and the under-Officers of the Church the making of their humble reverence to Almighty God not only at their first entrance into the Quire but at their approaches toward the holy Table according to the laudible custom of the Primitive times retained still in the sollemnities of the Knights of the Garter at the Act in Oxon. in the Chappels of his Majesty and divers great persons in the Realm His Majesties instructions the Contents of the two Chapter Acts and how he had proceeded on them I find certified under his hand in two Letters The one to his good Friend the Bishop of Lincoln bearing date March 3. 1616. The other unto the Bishop of Glocester who had shewed himself offended at his proceedings bearing date on the twenty seventh of February then next foregoing The Bishop of Glocester at that time was Dr. Miles Smith once of Brazen-Nose Colledge a great Hebrician and one that took as much pains as any in the last Translation of the Bible as a reward for which he received this Bishoprick But then withall he was a man that spared not to shew himself upon all occasions in favour of the Calvinian party and more particularly in countenancing the Lecturers within his Diocess against the lawful Minister of the Parish when ever any complaint of their proceedings was made unto him No sooner had he heard what the new Dean had done about the Communion Table but he expressed his dislike of it and opposed it with all the power he had But finding that he could not prevaile according unto his desires he is said to have protested unto the Dean and some of the Prebends that if the Communion Table were removed or any such Innovations brought into that Cathedral he would never come more within those Walls which Promise or Protestation he is said by some to have made good and not to have come within that Church to his dying day Which if he did forbear upon that occasion he must needs shew himself a man of great pertinacity and one that feared not to give a publick scandall to the Church and the Court to boot This transposition being made in the declining of the year 1616. his Pallace standing near the walls of that Cathedral and he not dying till the year 1624. which was eight years after Seeing how little he prevailed one White his Chaplain takes upon him in a Letter written to the Chancellor of that Diocess to acquaint him with the strange Reports which were come unto them touching the scituation of the Communion Table in the place where the High Altar stood before and that low obeysance were made to it assuring him how much the secret Papists would rejoyce in hope that that which they long looked for was now near at hand In which Letter he also challenged and upbraided the Prebends and other Preachers of that City that they did not offer either by word or deed to resist the Dean in those proceedings admiring that no man should have any spark of Elias Spirit to speak a word in Gods behalf that the Preachers should swallow down such things in silence and that the Prebends should be so faint hearted as to shrink in the first wetting especially having the Law on their side against it It was not long before this Letter was made a Libell Either the Letter it self or a Copy of it being cast into the Pulpit at St. Michaels Church where Prior the Sub-Dean used to preach to the end that he and others of the Prebendaries might take notice of it Found by the Parish Clerk and by him put into the hands of the Curate by them communicated unto others who took Copies of it and in short time divulged over all the City The City at that time much pestered with the Puritan Faction which was grown multitudinous and strong by reason of the small abode which the Dean and Prebendaries made amongst them the dull connivance of their Bishop and the remiss Government of their Metropolitan so that it seemed both safe and easie to some of the Rabble to make an out-cry in all places that Popery was coming in that the translating of the Communion Table into an Altar with the worship and obeysance which were done to it were Popish superstitions and the like Iones one of the Aldermen of the City and a Justice of the Peace withall caused some of the principal dispersers of this Libellous Letter to be brought before him committed some of them to prison and threatned to bind the rest to their good behaviour But fearing lest his own power might not be sufficient to crush that Faction which had begun to gather strength by long connivance he advised that the business might be referred to the High Commissioners as men more able to deal with them Notice hereof being given to the new Dean by some Letters thence bearing date Feb. 21. he addressed this Letter above mentioned to the Bishop of Glocester In which he desired such Favour and Equity at his hands as that his Lordship would joyn to reform such Tongues and Pens as knew not how to submit to any Law but their own that of necessity he was to acquaint his Gracious Majesty not only with the thing it self but with the entertainment which it found among Turbulent Spirits and that he doubted not but that his Majesty would be well pleased to hear how careful his Lordship shewed himself in preserving the Order and Peace of the Church But fearing that the Bishop whose Chaplain was the sole cause of the mischief would not be very forward to redress it he dispatched the other Letter
Wolsey's exorbitant Power or Cromwel's contempt of the Nobility under Henry viii or Leicesters Tyranny and Oppressions under Queen Elizabeth were ever suffered to be canvased or condemned in Parliament That the King got nothing by that unhappy condescension but the laying himself open to all disadvantages which a Prince abandoning his Ministers or abandoned by them might have just reason to expect That when Princes begin to fall so much beneath themselves as to manage Pen-Combate with their Subjects they put themselves as it were upon equal ground and stand on the same Level with their Vassals and by the loss of their Authority get nothing but the Reputation of an able Writer And then the Reason of these his yieldings being brought in Question they were by some imputed to a natural timidity or want of Courage which rendred him unable to hold out long when he encountred those who would put him to it Others ascribed it to his wants and his wants unto his prodigality which made his Exchequer always empty and Money must be had whatever it cost him But those who thought they came most neer unto the mark discoursed of him as a man that loved not business and loved no business less than that of Parliaments That it was usual with him when he called a Parliament and had given them their Errand as he thought to retire to Theobalds Hampton-Court or Windsor and sometimes further off to Royston or New-Market as his pleasure carried him That by this means the Commons not having opportunity of Access to his Person were forced upon a plausible necessity of making their Addresses to him by Messages Remonstrances and Petitions That those Remonstrances and Petitions did beget their Answers and their Answers did beget Replies which ended commonly in Exasperations on either side But nothing was so much admired at as the encreasing of the Priviledges of the House of Commons as well in nature as in number And thereupon it was observed that the Commons had mistook themselves in the very ground on which they built their Protestation That the known Priviledges of the Commons were only liberty of speech in Debate and Conference Freedom from all Arrests for themselves and their Servants and opportunity of access to his Majesties Person as their occasions did require That even those Priviledges could not be called the undoubted Birth-Right and Inheritance of the Subjects of England because they were no otherwise exercised and enjoyed than from one Parliament to another by the grace and goodness of their Kings That were it otherwise it must needs be a great impertinency in their Speaker at the first opening of every Parliament to put himself upon his knees and humbly to beseech his Majesty in behalf of the House of Commons to indulge them the continuance of those Priviledges which were of right their own before That they had been as much mistaken in making the House of Commons by involving both Houses in the name of Parliament to be of equall Power and Priviledge with the House of Peers the contrary whereof being so well known That the Peers and People being summoned to Parliament by several Writs the Peers were called only ad consulendum to counsell and advise the King in matters of most concernment to the Church and State And that the People were called only ad consentiendum faciendum to give consent and yield obedience to such things as were ordained in the Great Council of the Peers That even the Peers themselves had no general warrant to meddle in all Affairs of State but in such only as his Majesty commend and propound to them And therefore that these words in the Writ Super arduis regni negotiis are not left at large but limited and restrained by the word quibusdam to such particulars and such only in which the King required their Counsels But nothing seemed so new or strange as that no Member of the said House should be impeached imprisoned and molested other than by Censure of the House it self for or concerning any speaking reasoning or declaring of any matter or matters touching the Parliament or Parliament business A Priviledge not heard of in Queen Elizabeths time when in the 35. of her Reign She imprisoned no less than five of the Members at a clap not only without their leave but against their liking And held them in so strict a durance that the Commons did not think it safe to move her Majesty to restore them to their former liberty And therefore that they were to shew under what rust and rubbish of Antiquity this Priviledge had so long been hidden and how it came to be found out at last when no body heard of it or looked after it The like discoursed also of the following Priviledge which had been long buried in the same grave and never came till now to a resurrection viz. That the King is to take no private information of any complaint concerning matters said or done in that House till it be shewn unto him by the House it self of which it was affirmed that it was as contrary to the Presidents and Practise of former times as the other was That when the Queen had laid an Imposition upon Currans and that this Imposition had been complained of by some Merchants to the House of Commons she had present notice given her of it by some of her Servants in that House that shewing her dislike thereof to Sir Robert Cicill principal Secretary of State he signified the same unto the House telling them it was a Noli me tangere a point not fit for them to touch at and that if they desisted not from entertaining that complaint he must acquaint her Majesty with it as in duty bound Nor was there any better ground for that other branch touching their Liberty and Freedom in breaking of all matters which came under their Cognizance in such method and order as to them seemed fittest but that they did intend to lay it as a foundation for preferring their own business before the Kings in all times to come I had not dwelt so long upon these Discourses nor on the former passages between his Majesty and the House of Commons as being Exotical to my business but that they were the chief occurrences of this first Parliament of which our new Bishop was a Member And though the sitting was but short not above a Month yet it afforded him a liberal prospect into the Humours and Affections the Counsels and Designs of the House of Commons of which he was not to be taught how to make such use as should prove most to the advantage of the Church and State But that which chiefly did concern him to take notice of was the interposing and embracements of that House in the cause of Religion which if it were so much in danger by the extraordinary encrease of Popery as they gave it out it must be much to the Reproach both of himself and the rest of the Bishops
their own distaste or smoothing up of those idle fancies which in this blessed time of so long a Peace doth boil in the brains of an unadvised People That many of their Sermons were full of rude and undecent railings not only against the Doctrines but even against the persons of Papists and Puritans And finally that the People never being instructed in the Catechism and fundamental Grounds of Religion for all these aiery novellisms which they received from such Preachers were but like new Table-books ready to be filled up either with the Manuals and Catechisms of the Popish Priests or the Papers and Pamphlets of Anabaptists Brownists and other Puritans His Majesty thereupon taking the Premises into his Princely Consideration which had been represented to him by sundry grave and reverend Prelates of this Church thought it expedient to cause some certain Limitations and Cautions concerning Preachers and Preaching to be carefully digested and drawn up in Writing Which done so done as Laud appears to have a hand in the doing of it and being very well approved by the King he caused them to be directed to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York by them to be communicated to the Bishops of their several Provinces and by those Bishops to be put in execution in their several Diocesses Which Directions bearing date of the fourth of August 1622. being the 20th year of his Majesties Reign I have thought convenient to subjoin and are these that follow viz. I. That no Preacher under the Degree and Calling of a Bishop or Dean of a Cathedral or Collegiate Church and they upon the Kings days only and set Festivals do take occasion by the Expounding of any Text of Scripture whatsoever to fall into any set course or common place otherwise than by opening the coherence and division of his Text which shall not be comprehended and warranted in essence substance effect or natural inference within some one of the Articles of Religion set forth 1562. or in some one of the Homilies set forth by Authority in the Church of England not only for a help of non-preaching but withal as a pattern as it were for the Preaching Ministers and for their further instruction for the performance thereof that they forthwith read over and peruse diligently the said Book of Articles and the two Books of Homilies II. That no Parson Vicar Curate or Lecturer shall Preach any Sermon or Collation hereafter upon Sundays and Holy-days in the Afternoons in any Cathedral or Parish Church throughout this Kingdom but upon some part of the Catechism or some Text taken â—ut of the Creed or Commandments or the Lords Prayer Funeral Sermons only excepted and that those Preachers be most encouraged and approved of who spend their Afternoons Exercise in the Examination of Children in their Catechisms which is the most ancient and laudable Custom of Teaching in the Church of England III. That no Preacher of what Title soever under the degree of a Bishop or Dean at the least do from henceforth presume to Preach in any popular Auditory the deep Points of Predestination Election Reprobation or of the universality efficacity resistibility or irresistibility of Gods Grace but rather leave those Themes to be handled by Learned Men and that modestly and moderately by Vse and Application rather than by way of positive Doctrine as being fitter for Schools and Vniversities than for simple Auditories IV. That no Preacher of what Title or Denomination soever shall presume from henceforth in any Auditory within this Kingdom to declare limit or bound out by way of positive Doctrine in any Lecture or Sermon the Power Prerogative Iurisdiction Authority or Duty of Sovereign Princes or therein meddle with matters of State and reference between Princes and People than as they are instructed in the Homily of Obedience and in the rest of the Homilies and Articles of Religion set forth as before is mentioned by Publick Authority but rather confine themselves wholly to these two Heads of Faith and Good Life which are all the subject of the ancient Sermons and Homilies V. That no Preacher of what Title or Denomination soever shall causelesly and without any invitation from the Text fall into any bitter Invectives and undecent railing Speeches against the Papists or Puritans but wisely and gravely when they are occasioned thereunto by the Text of Scripture free both the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England from the aspersions of either adversary especially when the Auditory is suspected to be tainted with the one or the other infection VI. Lastly That the Archbishops and Bishops of the Kingdom whom his Majesty hath good cause to blame for their former remisseness be more wary and choice in Licencing of Preachers and Verbal Grants made to any Chancellor Officiall or Commissary to pass Licence in this Kingdom And that all the Lecturers throughout the Kingdom a new body severed from the ancient Clergy of England as being neither Parson Vicar or Curate be licensed henceforward in the Court of Faculties only upon recommendation of the party from the Bishop of the Diocess under his hand and seal with a Fiat from the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury and a confirmation under the Great Seal of England and that such as transgress any of his directions be suspended by the Bishop of the Diocess or in his default by the Lord Archbishop of that Province Ab officio beneficio for a year and a day untill his Majesty by the advice of the next Convocation prescribe for some further punishment No sooner were these Instructions published but strange it was to hear the several descants and discourses which were made upon them How much they were misreported amongst the People and misinterpreted in themselves those very men who saw no just reason to condemn the Action being howsoever sure to misconstrue the end For though they were so discreetly ordered that no good and godly man could otherwise than acknowledge that they tended very much to Edification Yet such Interpretations were put upon them as neither could consist with his Majesties meaning nor the true sense of the Expressions therein used By some it was given out that those Instructions did tend to the restraint of Preaching at the lest as to some necessary and material points by others that they did abate the number of Sermons by which the People were to be instructed in the Christian Faith by all the Preachers of that Party that they did but open a gap for Ignorance and Superstition to break in by degrees upon the People Which coming to his Majesties Ears it brought him under the necessity of making an Apology for himself and his actions in it And to this end having summed up the reasons which induced him to it he required the Archbishop of Canterbury to communicate them to his Brother of York by both to be imparted to their several Suffragans the inferiour Clergy and to all others whosoever whom it might concern which notwithstanding it
That there was no design in the King or Prince or in any of the Court or Court-Bishops of what name soever to alter the Religion here by Law established or that the Prince was posted into Spain of purpose that he might be perverted or debauched from it But the best is that he which gave the Wound hath made the Plaister and such a Plaister as may assuredly heal the Sore without troubling any other Chyrurgeon It is affirmed by him who published the Breviate of our Bishops Life That he was not only privy to this Journey of the Prince and Buckingham into Spain but that the Journey was purposely plotted to pervert him in his Religion and reconcile him to Rome And this he makes apparent by the following Prayer found amongst others in the Bishops Manual of Devotions than which there can be nothing more repugnant to the Propositions â—or proof of which it is so luckily produced Now the said Prayer 〈◊〉 thus verbatim viz. O Most merciful God and gracious Father the Prince hath put himself to a great Adventure I humbly beseech thee make clear the way before him give thine Angels charge over him be with him thy self in Mercy Power and Protection in every step of his Iourney in every moment of his Time in every Consultation and Address for Action till thou bring him back with Safety Honour and Contentment to do thee service in this place Bless his most truly and faithful Servant the Lord Duke of Buckingham that he may be diligent in Service provident in Business wise and happy in Counsel for the honour of thy Name the good of the Church the preservation of the Prince the contentment of the King the satisfaction of the State Preserve him I humbly beseech thee from all Envy that attends him and bless him that his eyes may see the Prince safely delivered to the King and State and after it to live long in happiness to do thee and them service through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen And with this Prayer so plainly destructive of the purpose for which it was published I shut up the Transactions of this present year We will begin the next with the dismission of the Archbishop of Spalato a man defamed by the Italians at his coming hither and as much reproached by the English at his going hence His name was Marcus Antonius de Dominis Archbishop of Spalato in Fact and Primate of Dalmatia in Title Such anciently and of right those Archbishops were till the Bishop of Venice being made a Patriarch by Pope Eugenius the Fourth Anno 1450. assumed that Title to himself together with a Superintendency over all the Churches of that Country as subordinate to him He had been long conversant with the Fathers and Ancient Councils By this Light he discerned the Darkness of the Church of Rome and the blind Title which the Popes had for their Supremacy Inclining to the Protestant Religion he began to fear that his own Country would prove too hot for him at the last and therefore after he had sate in the See of Spalato about fourteen years he quitted his Preferments there and betook himself for Sanctuary to the Church of England Anno 1616. Extremely honoured at his first coming by all sorts of people entertained in both Universities with solemn Speeches presented complemented feasted by the great Lords about the Court the Bishops and some principal Persons about the City Happy was he that could be honoured with his Company and satisfied with beholding his comely presence though they understood not his Discourses Commended by King Iames at first for a constant Sojourner and Guest to Archbishop Abbot in whose Chappel at Lambeth he assisted at the Consecration of some English Bishops Made afterwards by the King the Master of the Savoy and Dean of Windsor and by himself made Rector of West-Illesby in the County of Berks A Revenue not so great as to bring him under the suspicion of coming hither out of Covetousness for the sake of filthy Lucre nor so contemptible but that he might have lived plentifully and contentedly on it During his stay here he published his learned and elaborate Book entituled De Republica Ecclesiastica never yet answered by the Papists and perhaps unanswerable He had given great trouble to the Pope by his defection from that Church and no small countenance to the Doctrine of the Protestant Churches by his coming over unto ours The foundring of so great a Pillar seemed to prognosticate that the Fabrick of that Church was not like to stand And yet he gave greater blows to them by his Pen than by the defection of his person the wound so given being conceived to be incurable In these respects those of that Church bestirred themselves to disgrace his person devising many other causes by which he might be moved or forced to forsake those parts wherein he durst no longer tarry but finding little credit given to their libellous Pamphlets they began to work upon him by more secret practises insinuating That he had neither that Respect nor those Advancements which might encourage him to stay That the new Pope Gregory the Fifteenth was his special Friend That he might chuse his own Preferments and make his own Conditions if he would return And on the other side they cunningly wrought him out of credit with King Iames by the Arts of Gundamore Embassadour at that time from the King of Spain and lessened his esteem amongst the Clergy by some other Artifices So that the poor man being in a manner lost on both sides was forced to a necessity of swallowing that accursed bait by which he was hooked over to his own destruction For having sollicited King Iames by several Letters the last of them bearing date on the third of February to licence his departure home he was by the King disdainfully turned over to the High-Commission or rather to a special Commission directed to Archbishop Abbot the Lord Keeper Lincoln the Bishops of London Durham and Winchester with certain of the Lords of the Privy Council These Lords assembling at Lambeth on the 30th of March and having first heard all his Excuses and Defences commanded him to depart the Realm within twenty days or otherwise to expect such punishment as by the Laws of the Land might be laid upon him for holding Intelligence by Letters Messages c. with the Popes of Rome To this Sentence he sorrowfully submitted protesting openly That he would never speak reproachfully of the Church of England the Articles whereof he acknowledged to be sound and profitable and none of them to be Heretical as appears by a Book entituled SPALATO's Shiftings in Religion published as it was conceived by Laud's especial Friend the Lord Bishop of Durham How well or rather how ill he performed this promise and what became of him after his return to Rome is not now my business The man is banished out of England and my History leads me next into Spain not Italy The
hereof being given to Laud he considered of the sad effects and consequents which might follow on it communicating those his fears to some other Bishops By whom it was thought fit that Mountagues case and not his only but the case of the Church it self should be commended to the care and power of the Duke of of Buckingham According unto which Advice and Resolution three of them framed and signed the ensuing Letter But before this Letter was delivered Mountague had taken so much care of himself as to prepare his way by a Letter of his own bearing date Iuly 29. In which Letter he first laid open the state of his case desiring that by his Majesties Power he might be absolutely freed from those who had neither any Authority over his person as being one of his Majesties Servants nor over his Book as being commanded by his Father and authorized by himself Which being said he makes this resolute declaration That if he could not really and throughly answer whatsoever was or could be imputed to him in any of his Books he would no further desire favour and protection of his Majesty or his Grace but willingly would be left unto the power of his Enemies Which Letter being sent before to prepare the way this of the said three Bishops followed within four daies after May it please your Grace WE are bold to be Suitors to you in the behalf of the Church of England and a poor Member of it Mr. Mountague at this time not a little distressed We are not strangers to his person but it is the Cause which we are bound to be tender of The cause we conceive under correction of better Iudgment concerns the Church of England nearly for that Church when it was reformed from the superstitious opinions broached or maintained by the Church of Rome refused the apparent and dangerous Errors and would not be too busie with every particular School-Point The Cause why she held this mederation was because she could not be able to preserve any unity among Christians if men were forced to subscribe to curious particulars disputed in Schools Now may it please your Grace the opinions which at this time trouble many men in the late Book of Mr. Mountague are some of them such as are expresly the resolved Doctrine of the Church of England and those he is bound to maintain Some of them are such as are fit only for Schools and to be left at more liberty for learned men to abound in their own sense so they keep themselves peaceable and distract not the Church And therefore to make any Man subscribe to School-opinions may justly seem hard in the Church of Christ and was one great fault of the Council of Trent And to affright them from those opinions in which they have as they are bound subscribed to the Church as it is worse in it self so may it be the Mother of greater danger May it please your Grace farther to consider That when the Clergie submitted themselves in the time of Henry the Eighth the submission was so made that if any difference Doctrinal or other fell in the Church the King and the Bishops were to be Iudges of it in the National Synod or Convâ—cation the King first giving leave under his Broad Seal to handle the Points in difference But the Church never submitted to aâ—y other Iudge neither indeed can she though she would And we humbly desire your Grace to consider and then to move his most Gracious Majesty if you shall think fit what dangerous consequences may follow upâ—n it For first if any other Iudge be allowed in matter of Doctrine we shall depart from the Ordinance of Christ and the continual Course and Practice of the Church Secondly If the Church be once brought down beneath her self we cannot but fear what may be the next stroke at it Thirdly It will some way touch the honour of his Majesties dear Father and our most Dread Soveraign of glorious and ever blessed memory King James who saw and approved all the opinions of this Book And he in his rare Wisdom and Iudgment would never have allowed them if they had crossed with truth and the Church of England Fourthly We must be bold to say that we cannot conceive what use there can be of Civil Government in the Commonwealth or of Preaching or External Ministry in the Church if such fatall opinions as some which are opposite and contrary to these delivered by Mr. Mountague are shall be publikely taught and maintained Fifthly We are certain that all or most of the contrary opinions were treated of at Lambeth and ready to be published but then Queen Elizabeth of famous memory upon notice given how little they agreed with the Practice of Piety and obedience to all Government caused them to be suppressed and so they have continued ever since till of late some of them have received countenance at the Synod of Dort Now this was a Synod of that Nation and can be of no Authority in any other National Church till it be received there by publick Authority And our hope is That the Church of England will be well advised and more than once over before she admit a foraign Synod especially of such a Church as condemneth her Discipline and manner of Government to say no more And further we are bold to commend to yâ—ur graces Wisdom this one particular His Majesty as we have been informed hath already taken this business into his own care and most worthily referred it in a right course tâ— Church consideration And we well hoped that without further trouble to the State or breach of unity in the Church it might so have been well and orderly composed as we still pray it may These things considered we have little to say for Mr. Mountagues person only thus much we know He is a very good Scholar and a right honest man A man every way able to do God his Majesty and the Church of England great service We fear he may receive discouragement and which is far worse we have some cause to doubt this may breed a great backwardness in able men to write in defence of the Church of England against either home or foraign Adversaries if they shall see him sink in Fortunes Reputation or health upon occasion of his Book And this we most humbly submit to your Graces Iudgment and care of the Churches peace and welfare So commending your Grace to the Protection of Almighty God We shall ever rest at Your Graces Service Io. Rossens Io. Oxâ—n Guil. Meneven August 2. 1625. After this no more news of Montague in the present Parliament Adjourned by his Majesty on the eleventh of Iuly by reason of the Plague to Oxâ—n there to be reassembled on the first of August Which time being come his Majesty puts them again in mind of his pressing occasions acquaints them with the necessity of setting out the Fleet then ready for Service That the eyes of
in sundry parts of this Kingdom And therefore he did not only require that none of them might have any manner of Covert Protection Countenance or connivence from them or any of the rest as they tendred his Royal Commandment in that behalf but that all possible diligence be used as well to unmask the false shadows and pretences of those who may possibly be won to Conformity letting all men know That he could not think well of any that having Place and Authority in the Church do permit such persons to pass with impunity much less if they give them any countenance to the emboldening them or their adherents On the receiving of these Letters Abbot transmits the Copies of them to his several Suffragans and to our Bishop of St. Davids amongst the rest requiring him to conform therein to his Majesties Pleasure and to see the same executed in all parts of his Diocess On the receipt whereof the Bishop commands his Chancellor Arch-Deacons and other Ecclesiastical Officers within his Diocess of St. Davids That all possible care be taken of such as are any way backward in Points of Religion and more especially of known and professed Recusants that they may be carefully presented and Proceedings had against them to Excommunication according to form and order of Law and that there be a true List and Catalogue of all such as have been presented and proceeded against sent to him yearly after Easter by him to be presented to the Archbishop of Canterbury as had been required No Command given unto his Chancellor and other Officers to look into the Practises and Proceedings of the Puritan Faction for which I am able to give no reason but that he had received no such Direction and Command from Archbishop Abbot whose Letter pointed him no further it is no hard matter to say why than to the searching out presenting and Excommunicating the Popish Recusants And in what he commanded he was obeyed by his Chancellor returning to him in Iune following the names of such Recusants as lived within the Counties of Caermarthen and Pembroke the chief parts of his Diocess The Kings Coronation now draws on for which Solemnity he had appointed the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin better known by the name of Candlemas day The Coronations of King Edward vi and Queen Elizabeth had been performed according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Roman Pontificals That at the Coronation of King Iames had been drawn in haste and wanted many things which might have been considered of in a time of leasure His Majesty therefore issueth a Commission to the Archbishop of Canterbury and certain other Bishops whereof Laud was one to consider of the Form and Order of the Coronation and to accomodate the same more punctually to the present Rules and Orders of the Church of England On the fourth of Ianuary the Commissioners first met to consult about it and having compared tâ—e Form observed in the Coronation of King Iames with the publick Rituals it was agreed upon amongst them to make some Alterations in it and Additions to it The Alteration in it was that the Unction was to be performed in forma Crucis after the manner of a Cross which was accordingly done by Abbot when he officiated as Archbishop of Canterbury in the Coronation The Additions in the Form consisted chiefly in one Prayer or Request to him in the behalf of the Clergy and the clause of another Prayer for him to Almighty God the last of which was thought to have ascribed too much Power to the King the first to themselves especially by the advancing of the Bishops and Clergy above the Laity The Prayer or Request which was made to him followed after the Vnction and was this viz. Stand and hold fast from henceforth the Place to which you have been Heir by the Succession of your Forefathers being now delivered to you by the Authority of Almighty God and by the hands of us and all the Bishops and Servants of God And as you see the Clergy to come neerer to the Altar than others so remember that in place convenient you give them greater honour that the Mediator of God and Man may establish you in the Kingly Throne to be the Mediator between the Clergy and the Laity that you may Reign for ever with Iesus Christ the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who with the Father and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth for ever Amen The Clause of that Prayer which was made for him had been intermitted since the time of King Henry vi and was this that followeth viz. Let him obtain favour for the People like Aaron in the Tabernacle Elisha in the Waters Zacharias in the Temple Give him Peters Key of Discipline and Pauls Doctrine Which Clause had been omitted in times of Popery as intimating more Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to be given to our Kings than the Popes allowed of and for the same reason was now quarrell'd at by the Puritan Faction It was objected commonly in the time of his fall That in digesting the form of the Coronation he altered the Coronation Oath making it more advantageous to the King and less beneficial to the People than it had been formerly from which calumny his Majesty cleared both himself and the Bishop when they were both involved by common Speech in the guilt thereof For the clearer manifestation of which truth I will first set down the Oath it self as it was taken by the King and then the Kings Defence for his taking of it Now the Oath is this The Form of the CORONATION-OATH SIR says the Archbishop Will you grant keep and by your Oath confirm to your People of ENGLAND the Laws and Customs to them granted by the Kings of ENGLAND your Lawful and Religious Predecessors and namely the Laws Customs and Franchises granted to the Clergy by the Glorious King St. Edward your Predecessor according to the Laws of God the true Profession of the Gospel established in this Kingdom and agreeable to the Prerogative of the Kings thereof and the Ancient Customs of this Land The King Answers I grant and promise to keep them Archbishop Sir Will you keep Peace and Godly Agreement entirely according to your Power bâ—th to God the Holy Church the Clergie and the People Rex I will keep it Archbishop Sir Will you to your Power cause Iustice Law and Discretion in Mercy and Truth to be executed in all your â—udgments Rex I will Archbishop Sir Will you grant to hold and grant to keep the Laws and rightful Customs which the Commâ—nalâ—y of this your Kingdom have and will you deâ—end and uphold them to the honour of God so much as in you lieth Rex I grant and promise so to do Then one of the Bishops reads this Admonition to the King before the People with a loud voice Our Lord and King we beseech you to pardon and to grant and to preserve unto us and
supposed it makes exceedingly to the honour and commendation of this our Bishop as well in point of Secrecy as unfeigned Fidelity that his Majesty should pick out him from all other men to be his Pen-man or Chief Secretary in such weighty businesses Then again it is affirmed That he not only corrected and amended the Dukes Answer to the Impeachment which was made against him by the Commons but that he also penned that Speech which the Duke subjoined unto his Answer A Crime of the same nature and proved by the same Mediums as the others was and such as rather might have served for a strong assurance both of his honest Fidelity to his Friend and Patron and the even temper of his own mind in the managing of it For if we may believe the Author of the first History of the Life and Reign of King Charles as I think we may this Answer of the Duke was so in-laid with Modesty and Humility that it became a new Grievance to his Adversaries and was like to have a powerful influence toward the conversion of many who expected a Defence of another and more disdainful Spirit Thus have we brought two Parliaments unto an end but we hear nothing of the Convocations which were summoned with them Nothing indeed of the first Convocation but the passing of a Grant for three Subsidies toward the Advancement of his Majesties Service In the second we find something more though no Subsidies are granted in it On the fifth Sunday in Lent Goodman then Bishop of Glocester preach'd before his Majesty and press'd so hard upon the Point of the Real Presence that he was supposed to trench too neer the borders of Popery which raised a great clamour both in Court and Country The matter of which Sermon was agitated pro and con in the Convocation March 29. without determining any thing on either side But his Majestie out of a desire to satisfie both himself and his Houses of Parliament touching that particular referred the consideration of it to Abbot Archbishop of Canterbury Andrews Bishop of Winchester and Laud Bishop of St. Davids who meeting and considering of it on the twelfth of April returned this Answer to the King That some things in that Sermon had been spoke less warily but nothing falsly That nothing had been innovated by him in the Doctrine of the Church of England But howsoever That they thought very fit that Goodman should be appointed to Preach again before his Majesty for the better explaining of his meaning and shewing how and in what Particulars he had been mistaken by his Auditors Which he accordingly performed But nothing was of such concernment to a Convocation as the cause of Mountague vexed and molested by the Commons in both the Parliaments for supposed Popery and Arminianism matters meerly Doctrinal And possibly it may be admired that they should do nothing in a matter of their own peculiar having his Majesty to Friend for it appears in the Letter of the three Bishops before-mentioned to the Duke of Buckingham That his Majesty had taken that business into his own care and had most worthily referred it in a right course to Church-consideration And it appears also by the Breviate pag. 8. That on Sunday April 22. of this present year his Majesty had commanded all the Bishops to come before him and reprehended such as came being fourteen in number for being silent in Causes which concerned the Church and had not made known unto him what might be profitable or unprofitable for it the Cause whereof he was so ready to promote But then we are to call to mind that Laud not long since had been sent by the Duke of Buckingham to consult with Andrews and learn of him what he thought fitting to be done in the Cause of the Church and more especially in the Five Articles so hotly agitated between the Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants in the Belgick Provinces And it appears by the event That Andrews did not hold it fit for any thing to be done in that particular as the case then stood the truth in those Opinions not being so generally entertained amongst the Clergy nor the Archbishop and the greater part of the Prelates so inclinable to them as to venture the determining of those Points to a Convocation But that which was not thought fit in that present Conjuncture for a Convocation his Majesty was pleased to take order in by his Royal Edict Many Books had been written against Mountague by Carleton Bishop of Chichester Sutcliffe Dean of Exeter Yates and Rouse by which the differences were rather increased than diminished Which coming to his Majesties notice it pleased him by the Advice of his Bishops to signifie by his Proclamation of Iune 14. Not only to his own People but to all the World his utter dislike of all those who to shew the subtilty of their Wits or to please their own Humours or vent their own Passions do or shall adventure to stir or move any new Opinions not only contrary but differing from the sound and Orthodoxal Grounds of the true Religion sincerely Professed and happily Established in the Church of England and also to declare his full and constant Resolution That neither in matter of Doctrine nor Discipline of the Church nor in the Government of the State he will admit of the least Innovation but by Gods assistance will so guide the Scepter of these his Kingdoms and Dominions by the Divine Providence put into his hand as shall be for the comfort and assurance of his sober Religious and well-affected Subjects and for the repressing and severe punishing of such as out of any sinister respects or disaffection to his Person or Government shall dare either in Church or State to distract or disquiet the Peace thereof His Majesty thereupon commands all his Subjects the Clergy most especially both in England and Ireland That from thenceforth they should carry themselves so wisely warily and conscionably that neither by Writing Preaching Printing Conferences or otherwise they raise any doubts or publish or maintain any new Inventions or Opinions concerning Religion than such as are clearly grounded and warranted by the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England heretofore published and happily established by Authority Straightly charging all Archbishops and Bishops in their several Diocesses as also all Counsellors of State Judges and Ministers of Justice speedily to reclaim and repress all such Spirits as shall adventure hereafter to break this Rule of Sobriety and due Obedience to his Majesty his Laws and this Religious Duty to the Church of God or in the least degree attempt to violate this bond of Peace adding withal this intimation of his Royal Pleasure That whosoever from thenceforth should take the boldness wilfully to neglect this his Majesties gracious Admonition and either for the satisfying of their unquiet and restless Spirits or for expressing of their rash and undutiful Insolencies should wilfully break that
Revenue thought it not fit in that low ebb of the Exchequer that the Church of Winton should be filled with another Bishop before the Michaelmas Rents at least if not some following Pay-days also had flowed into his Majesties Coffers Which though it were no very long time compared with the Vacancies of some former Reign yet gave it an occasion to some calumniating Spirits to report abroad That this Bishoprick was designed to be a Subsistence for one of the Queen of Bohemia's younger Sons who was to hold it by the Name of an Administrator according to an ill Custom of some Princes amongst the Lutherans But this Obstruction being passed by Neile with great chearfulness in himself and thankfulness unto the King proceeded in his Translation to the See of Winton his Election being ratified by his Majesty and confirmed in due form of Law before the end of the next year 1627. In Mountains hands the business did receive a stop He had spent a great part of his Life in the air of the Court as Chaplain to Robert Earl of Salisbury Dean of Westminster and Bishop Almoner and had lived for many years last past in the warm City of London To remove him so far from the Court and send him into those cold Regions of the North he looked on as the worst kind of Banishment next neighbour to a Civil death But having a long while strived in vain and understanding that his Majesty was not well pleased with his delays he began to set forward on that Journey with this Proviso notwithstanding That the utmost term of his Removal should be but from London-House in the City to Durham-House in the Strand And yet to beget more delays toward Laud's Advancement before he actually was confirmed in the See of Durham the Metropolitan See of York fell void by the death of the most Reverend Prelate Doctor Toby Matthews This Dignity he affected with as much ambition as he had earnestly endeavoured to decline the other and he obtained what he desired But so much time was taken up in passing the Election facilitating the Royal Assent and the Formalities of his Confirmation that the next Session of Parliament was ended and the middle of Iuly well near passed before Laud could be actually Translated to the See of London These matters being in agitation and the Parliament drawing on apace on Tuesday the fifth of February he strained the back-sinew of his right Leg as he went with his Majesty to Hampton-Court which kept him to his Chamber till the fourteenth of the same during which time of his keeping in I had both the happiness of being taken into his special knowledge of me and the opportunity of a longer Conference with him than I could otherwise have expected I went to have presented my service to him as he was preparing for this Journey and was appointed to attend him on the same day seven-night when I might presume on his return Coming precisely at the time I heard of his mischance and that he kept himself to his Chamber but order had been left amongst the Servants that if I came he should be made acquainted with it which being done accordingly I was brought into his Chamber where I found him sitting in a Chair with his lame leg resting on a Pillow Commanding that no body should come to interrupt him till he called for them he caused me to sit down by him inquired first into the course of my Studies which he well approved of exhorting me to hold my self in that moderate course in which he found me He fell afterwards to discourse of some passages in Oxon. in which I was specially concerned and told me thereupon the story of such oppositions as had been made against him in that University by Archbishop Abbot and some others encouraged me not to shrink if I had already or should hereafter find the like I was with him thus remotis Arbitris almost two hours It grew towards twelve of the clock and then he knocked for his Servants to come unto him He dined that day in his ordinary Dining-room which was the first time he had so done since his mishap He caused me to tarry Dinner with him and used me with no small respect which was much noted by some Gentlemen Ephilston one of his Majesties Cup-bearers being one of the Company who dined that day with him A passage I confess not pertinent to my present Story but such as I have a good precedent for from Philip de Comines who telleth us as impertinently of the time though he acquaint us not with the occasion of his leaving the Duke of Burgundies Service to betake himself to the Imployments of King Lewis xi It is now time to look into the following Parliament in the preparation whereunto to make himself more gracious in the eyes of the People his Majesty releaseth such Gentlemen as had been formerly imprisoned about the Loan which in effect was but the letting loose of so many hungry Lions to pursue and worry him For being looked upon as Confessors if not Martyrs for the Common-wealth upon the merit of those sufferings they were generally preferred afore all others to serve in Parliament and being so preferred they carried as generally with them a vindicative Spirit to revenge themselves for that Restraint by a restraining of the Prerogative within narrower bounds At the opening of this Parliament March 17. the Preaching of the Sermon was committed to the Bishop of Bath and Wells who shewed much honest Art in perswading them to endeavour to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace Ephes. 4.3 which he had taken for his Text In which first laying before them the excellency and effects of VNITY he told them amongst other things That it was a very charitable tie but better known than loved a thing so good that it was never broken but by the worst men nay so good it was that the very worst men pretended best when they broke it and that it was so in the Church neuer yet Heretick renting her Bowels but he pretended that he raked them for Truth That it was so also in the State seldom any unquiet Spirit dividing her Vnion but he pretends some great abuses which his integrity would remedy O that I were made a Iudge in the Land that every man which hath any Controversie might come to me that I might do him Iustice and yet no worse a man than David was King when this cunning was used 1 Sam. 15. That Vnity both in Church and Common-wealth was so good that none but the worst willingly broke it That even they were so far ashamed of the breach that they must seem holier than the rest that they may be thought to have had a just cause to break it And afterwards coming by degrees to an Application Good God saith he what a preposterous Thrift is this in men to sow up every small rent in their own Coat and not care what
purpose to discourage such a pious work which good men rejoyced at But greater was the clamour of the Puritan Faction who in a meeting held that night conceived no punishment great enough to inflict upon him which either Law Malice or Revenge could expose him to Being thus alarmed on the one side and threatned by the other he sent a Copy of his Sermon to the Bishop of London not long before made Chancellour of that University and signified in a Letter therewith sent that he was both able and ready to make good his charge whensoever it should be required This information came opportunely to his Lordship with whom the King had used some Speech as appears by his Breviate p. 12. about restoring Impropriations to the Church which this new project seemed to frustrate And thereupon he entred it in the Memorandum at the end of his Breviate viz. To overthrow the Feoffment dangerous both to Church and State going under the specious pretence of buying in Impropriations The Preacher in the mean time making a further search into the business observed these particulars first That no Impropriation by them bought was laid unto the Parish Church and settled upon the present Incumbent as was first expected that being utterly destructive of their design Secondly That a great part of that Revenue was spent in maintaining a dayly Lecture in the Church of St. Antholins at six a clock in the Morning to serve for a Seminary for the training up of such Novices as were to be sent into the Country Thirdly That another part of it was laid out not only for the support of silenced Ministers during their own lives but of their Wives and Children also after their decease than which there could not be a greater tye to unite men to them and make them sticklers in the Cause Fourthly These Pensions neither were so settled nor their Lectures so well established in their several places but that the one might be withdrawn and the other removed at the will and pleasure of their Patrons if they grew slack and negligent in the holy cause which fastened a dependence on them to the very last It was not long before Noy that Renowned Lawyer was made his Majesties Atturney General to whom the Preacher was commanded to deliver a particular of all such passages as he had observed in the carrying on of this design the Feoffees thereupon being called into the Court of Exchequer the Feoffment damned the Impropriations by them bought confiscated to his Majesties use and the merit of the cause reâ—erred to a further censure And though the Sentence past not on them in the Court of Exchequer Anno 1632. yet I have laid all here together that so I might proceed to the rest of my business with the less disturbance For whilest the business of these Feoffees was under a more strict enquiry some things were acted by this Bishop which brought him into the like danger of an Inquisition St. Catherine Creed Church in London being ruinous and in great decay had in some places been taken almost down to the ground and rebuilt again by the Parishioners at such time as Mountain was their Bishop who suffered it to be made use of for Religious Offices without any new consecration of it which coming to the knowledge of Bishop Laud he caused it for a time to be suspended from all Divine Service Sermons and Sacraments till it was reconsecrated by himself Which Office he solemnly performed on Sunday Ianuary 16. An infinite number of people of all sorts drawing together to behold that Ceremony to which they had so long been strangers ignorant altogether of the Antiquity and the necessity of it The like done also at the Church of St. Giles in the Fields on the Sunday after which had been generally repaired and for the greatest part new built in the time of his Predecessor also Divine Service Preaching and Administration of the Sacraments being used therein without any such dedication of it contrary to the practice of the Primitive times and the Ancient Canons And that we may lay these things together the next year after Iune the seventh he consecrated a new Church at Hammersmith built at the charges of that Village and the next â—ear after that Iuly the seventeenth a new Church built at Stanmore magna in the County of Middlesex erected at the sole cost and charges of Sir Iohn Wolstenholm one of the Farmers of the Customs who made that day a sumptuous and magnificent Feast for the entertainment of all such persons of quality as resorted thither to behold the Consecration It was my chance to bestow a visit on his Lordship at his house in Fulham as he was preparing to set forwards to this last Consecration and being one of his Chaplains was at that time absent and that he was of ordinary course to make use of two he took me along with him to perform the Office of the Priest in the solemnity in which his Chaplain Bray was to Act the Deacons I observed all the Circumstances and religious Ceremonies which were used by him in that sacred Action from his first coming into the Church till his going out but could see nothing in it savouring of that Superstition which had raised so much talk amongst ignorant People and afterwards was certified by Willingham at the time of his trial in reference to the consecration of St. Katherine Creed Church The Antiquity of which Consecrations hath been shown in our Introduction performed by the Fathers at such times when the Church hated nothing more than superstitious vanities or the accumulating of unnecessary and fruitless Ceremonies The form and manner of it left by our first Reformers to the care and discretion of the Bishops whom it most concerned Presuming that nothing would be done by them which would not be consistent with the Rules of Piety and the ancient practise of the Church in the times foregoing And such a Form was that which this Bishop now made use of digested first by the learned Andrews for his own particular use but afterwards copied out approved and followed though possibly not without some alterations by most Bishops else Nor did he take care only of the Fabrick the material Church to make it fit and ready for Gods publick Service but that Gods publick Service should be so done in it as might most tend to the edification of the Mystical Church the body aggregate of Gods People His Majesty had took special care as well by his Proclamation of the fourteenth of Iune 1626. as by his Declaration before the Articles 1628. for the silencing of all disputes touching Predestination and the points depending thereupon which had begun to threaten such a general disturbance to the peace of the Church But neither Proclamation nor Declaration could perswade the Calvinian Party unto any such silence which they interpreted to be a plain betraying of Gods Cause into the hands of his enemies Somewhat is to be done to
thinking favourably of our Churches or resorting to them and to some moderate Protestants also in beautifying and adorning Churches after such a manner as without giving just offence might draw the greater Estimation to those sacred Places In which respect Laud did not only aggravate the Crime as much as he could in reference to the dangerous Consequences which might follow on it but shewed how far the use of painted Images in the way of Ornament and Remembrance might be retained in the Church not justifying the painting of God the Father in the shape of an Old Man as he was commonly misreported but only laying down the Reason which induced some Painters to that Representation which they grounded on Daniel 7.9 where God the Father is not only called the Ancient of Days to signifie his Eternity before all time which was so much insisted on by the Earl of Dorset but described after the similitude of an Old Man the hair of whose head was like the pure wooll In fine though Sherfeild found some Friends yet they were but few the major part concurring in this Sentence on him that is to say to be fined a thousand pounds to the King deprived of his Recordership bound to his good behaviour for the time to come as also to make a publick Acknowledgment of his Offence not only in the Parish Church of St. Edmonds where it was committed but in the Cathedral Church it self that the Bishop in contempt of whose Authority he had plaid this Pageant might have Reparation This Censure being past on Sherfeild on the eighth of February Order is given to Noy the Atturney-General to make preparation for another but of greater consequence We shew'd before how busie Prynne had made himself in some present Controversies and with what insolence he carried himself from the High-Commission Prepared with confidence and success for a further Calamity he publishes a small Pamphlet called Lame GILES his Halting An Appendix against Bowing at the Name of IESVS a larger Book called Anti-Arminianism and notably bestirs himself in discovering a mistake an Imposture it must needs be called in the Historical Narration published 1631. against which he never lest exclaiming till he had procured Archbishop Abbot with whom he was grown very gracious to call it in But not contented with that Triumph he prepares another Pageant for us in the end of Michaelmas Term this year known by the name of Histrio-Mastyx in which he seemed to breath nothing but Disgrace to the Nation Infamy to the Church Reproaches to the Court Dishonour to the Queen and some things which were thought to be tending to the destruction of his Majesties Person Neither the Hospitality of the Gentry in the time of Christmas nor the Musick in Cathedrals and the Chappels Royal nor the Pomps and Gallantries of the Court nor the Queens harmless Recreations nor the Kings solacing himself sometimes in Masques and Dances could escape the venom of his Pen expressed for the most part in such bitter Language and frequently interlaced with such dangerous Aggravations and Insinuations that it was not possible for the Author to escape uncensured This Book being brought before the Lords of the Council toward the end of Ianuary and found too tedious for their Lordships to be troubled with it it pleased his Majesty to give order that the Book should be committed to the Reading of one of the Prebends of Westminster with command to draw out of it and digest such particular Passages as tended to the danger or dishonour of the King or State On the finishing and return of which Collection Prynne is committed to the Tower on Sunday being Candlemas day and on the morrow after the Collector received a further Order to review his Notes and deduct out of them such Logical Inferences and Conclusions as might and did naturally arise on those dangerous Premises One Copy of the same to be leâ—t for the Lords of the Council and another with Noy the Atturney-General and the rest of his Majesties Council-Learned in the Laws of this Realm which Papers gave such satisfaction to the one and such help to the other that when the Cause was brought to hearing in the Star-Chamber they repeated his Instructions only as Prynne himself informed against him to the House of Commons What was done further in this business we shall see hereafter This business being put into a course our Bishop offereth some Considerations to the Lords of the Council concerning the Dishonour done to the Church of England by the wilful negligence of some Chaplains and other Ministers both in our Factories and Regiments beyond the Seas together with the Inconveniencies which redounded to it from the French and Dutch Congregations settled in many places amongst our selves He had long teemed with this Design but was not willing to be his own Midwife when it came to the Birth and therefore it was so contrived that Windebank should make the Proposition at the Council-Table and put the Business on so far that the Bishop might be moved by the whole Board to consider of the several Points in that weighty Business who being thus warranted to the execution of his own desires presented two Memorials to their Lordships at the end of this year March 22. The one relating to the Factories and Regiments beyond the Seas the other to the French and Dutch Plantations in London Kent Norfolk Yorkshire Hampshire and the Isle of Axhelme He had observed not without great indignation how Tenacious the French and Dutch Churches were of their own received Forms both in Worship and Government as on the other side how ignoble and degenerous the English had shown themselves in neglecting the Divine Service of this Church in their several Factories where they were licenced to make use of it by the Power and Countenance of that State in which they Traded The Earl of Leicester being sent this year to negotiate some Affairs with the King of Denmark and Anstrother ready to come from the Court of the Emperour they were appointed by his Majesty to meet at Hamborough there to expect the coming of Pennington with some Ships to conduct them home The English driving a great Trade in that Town were by the Magistrates thereof indulged all the Priviledges of an English Church but they retained nothing of a Church of England governing themselves wholly by Calvin's Plat-form which they had taken up in England The two Embassadors being met but the Ships not come the Elders of the Church humbly desired their Lordships to do them so much honour in the eyes of the People as to vouchsafe their presence at the English Church and that their Lordships Chaplains might be ordered to Exercise in the Congregation This Motion being chearfully embraced by both the Earl of Leicester's Chaplain first mounts the Pulpit and after a short Psalm according to the Genevian fashion betakes himself unto his Sermon The like was done by Iohnson Anstrothers Chaplain for I remember
their fears in that were groundless so their conjectures were no better grounded than their fears there never being a greater Patron of the Episcopal order than he lived and died but whether there might not be some presage in it in reference to the Archbishops person the diminution of his Dignity and fall of his Power may be best judged by this suspension and the consequents which followed on it And though he lived not long under the disgrace yet in the interval of time he saw so much of his Authority devolved on Laud that he grew more and more discontented and was ready in a manner to have made himself the head of the Puritan Faction It is related by a late Writer That towards his death he was not only discontented himself but that his house was the Rendezvouz of all the Malecontents in Church and State that he turned Midnight to Noonday-by constant keeping of Candles lighted in his Chamber and Study as also that such Visitants as repaired unto him called themselves Nicodemites because of their secret coming to him by night I know how much that Author hath been mistaken in other things but I see nothing in this which may not be consistent with the truth of History Certain I am his Chaplains were successively declared Calvinians his Secretary a professed Patron of the Puritan Faction his doors continually open to the Chiefs of that party and such as stickled in that cause and amongst others to him by whose Suggestion if we may take his own report the Historical Narration was called in for the great danger which it threatned to the grounds of Calvinism For his compliance with the Gentry against the Clergie this reason is alledged from his own mouth That he was so severe to the Clergy on purpose to rescue them from the severity of others and to prevent the punishment of them by lay Iudges to their greater shames which leaves the poor Clergy under a greater obloquy than any which their enemies had laid upon them But the truer reason of it was that having never been Parson Vicar nor Curate he was altogether ignorant of those afflictions which the Clergy do too often suffer by the pride of some and the Avarice of others of their Country Neighbours and consequently shewed the least compassion towards them when any of them had the hard fortune to be brought before him And for his compliance with the Puritans against the Church this reason is alledged by others viz. That he shewed the greater favour to them to keep the ballance even betwixt them and the Papists as Laud was thought to be indulgent to the Papists the better to keep down the pride and prevalency of the Puritan Faction But the truer reason of it was That he had been alwaies inclinable to them from his first beginnings insomuch that when he went Chaplain into Scotland with the Earl of Dunbar imployed by King Iames in some negotiation about that Church he was upon the point of betraying the cause if Hodgskins afterwards one of the Residentiaries of York who went Chaplain with him had not preacquainted the Earl with his tergiversation And as he laboured to be Popular upon both accounts so he endeavoured a more particular correspondence with the Gentry of Kent but most especially of his own Diocess It had been formerly the custom of his Predecessors to spend the greaâ—est part of the long vacations in the Palace of Canterbury met at the first entrance into the Diocess with a body of five hundred horse conducting them to Canterbury with great love and duty feasting the Gentry relieving the poor City entertaining their Tenants and by them liberally furnished on the other side with all sorts of provisions Abbot affected not this way and therefore never bestowed any such visit upon his Diocess but when he was confined to his house at Ford by the Kings appointment and yet resolved upon a course which carried some equivalence with it towards his design For once or twice in every year and sometimes oftner at the end of the term he would cause enquiry to be made in Westminster Hall the common Rendezvouz in St. Pauls Church and the Royal Exchange for all such Gentlemen of his Diocess as lodged in and about the City of London dispersing several Tickets from one to another by which they were invited to a general entertainment at his house in Lambeth the next day after the end of the present term where he feasted them with great bounty and familiarity A course as acceptable to the Kentish Gentry as if he had kept open Hospitality in his Palace at Canterbury because it saved them both the trouble of attending on him and the charge of sending Presents to him both which had been expected if he had spent any part of the year amongst them But this he discontinued also for three or four years or more before his death fearing as his affairs then stood that it might render him obnoxious to some misconstructions which he was willing to avoid To bring his Story to an end I shall say no more but that he had his Birth at Guilford the chief Town of Surrey and the best part of his breeding in Baliol Colledge in Oxon. whereof he was Fellow and from thence preferred to be Master of Vniversity Colledge and Dean of Winton Other preferments he had none till he came to Lichfield of which he was consecrated Bishop on the third of December Anno 1609. from thence translated unto London within few Months after and within twelve Months after that to the See of Canterbury Marks of his Benefaction we find none in places of his Breeding and Preferments but a fair Hospital well built and liberally endowed in the place of his Birth To which the woful man retired in the first extremity of those afflictions which his misfortune at Bramzill had drawn upon him and to this place he designed his body whensoever it should please God to translate him out of the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant which hapned on the fourth of August as before was said The End of the First Part. CYPRIANUS ANGLICUS OR THE HISTORY OF THE Life and Death OF The most Reverend and Renowned PRELATE WILLIAM By Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of all ENGLAND and Metropolitan Chancellor of the Universities of Oxon. and Dublin and one of the Lords of the Privy Council to His late most SACRED MAJESTY King CHARLES Second MONARCH of Great-Brittain PART II. Carrying on the History from his Nomination to the Metropolitical See of Canterbury August 6. 1633. to the day of his Death and Burial Jan. 10. 1644. LONDON Printed by E. Cotes for A. Seile 1668. THE LIFE OF The most Reverend FATHER in GOD WILLIAM Lord Archbishop of Canterbury LIB IV. Extending from his being made Archbishop of Canterbury to the end of the Parliament and Convocation Anno 1640. CANTERBVRY was anciently the principal City of the Kingdom and afterwards of the
without Mayors Bayliffs Constables and other Officers to take notice and to see observed as they tender Our displeasure And We further Will That Publication of this Our Commmand be made by Order from the Bishops thorow all the Parish Churches of their several Diocesses respectively Given at our Palace at Westminster Oct. 18. in the ninth year of Our Reign 1633. His Majesty had scarce dried his Pen when he dipt it in the Ink again upon this occasion The Parishioners of St. Gregories in St. Pauls Church-yard had bestowed much cost in beautifying and adorning their Parish Church and having prepared a decent and convenient Table for the holy Sacrament were ordered by the Dean and Chapter of St. Pauls as being Ordinaries of the place to dispose of it in such a Posture in the East end of the Chancel as anciently it had stood and did then stand in the Mother Cathedral Against this some of the Parishioners not above five in number appeal unto the Dean of the Arches and the Dean and Chapter to the King The third day of November is appointed for debating the Point in controversie before the Lords of the Council his Majesty sitting as chief Judge accompanied with Laud Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Keeper Lord Archbishop of Yorke Lord Treasurer Lord Privy Seal Lord Duke of Lenox Lord High Chamberlaine Earle Marshal Lord Chamberlaine Earle of Bridgewater Earle of Carlisle Lord Cottington Mr. Treasurer Mr. Comptroller Mr. Secretary Cooke Mr. Secretary Windebanke The cause being heard and all the Allegations on both sides exactly pondered his Majesty first declared his dislike of all Innovations and receding from ancient Constitutions grounded upon just and warrantable reasons c. And afterwards gave Sentence in behalf of the Dean and Chapter But because this Order of his Majesty in the case of St. Gregories was made the Rule by which all other Ordinaries did proceed in causing the Communion Table to be placed Altarwise in the Churches of their several and respective Diocesses I will subjoyn it here verbatim as it lies before me At Whitehall Novem. 3. 1633. This day was debated before his Majesty sitting in Council the question and difference which grew about the removing of the Communion Table in St. Gregories Church near the Cathedral Church of St. Paul from the middle of the Chancel to the upper end and there placed Altarwise in such manner as it standeth in the said Cathedral and Mother-Church as also in other Cathedrals and in his Majesties own Chappel and as is consonant to the practice of approved Antiquity which removing and placing of it in that sort was done by order of the Dean and Chapter of St. Pauls who are Ordinaries thereof as was avowed before his Majesty by Doctor King and Doctor Montfort two of the Prebends there Yet some few of the Parishioners being but five in number did complain of this act by appeal to the Court of Arches pretending that the Book of Common Prayer and the 82 Canon do give permission to place the Communion Table where it may stand with most fitness and convenience Now his Majesty having heard a particular relation made by the Counsell of both parties of all the carriage and proceedings in this cause was pleased to declare his dislike of all innovation and receding from ancient Constitutions grounded upon just and warrantable reasons especially in matters concerning Ecclesiastical Orders and Government knowing how easily men are drawn to affect Novelties and how soon weak Iudgments in such cases may be overtaken and abused And he was also pleased to observe that if those few Parishioners might have their wills the difference thereby from the foresaid Cathedral Mother-Church by which all other Churches depending thereon ought to be guided would be the more notorious and give more subject of discours and disputes that might be spared by reason of the nearness of St. Gregories standing close to the Wall thereof And likewise for so much as concerns the Liberty by the said Common Book or Canon for placing the Communion Table in any Church or Chappel with most conveniency that liberty is not so to be understood as if it were ever left to the discretion of the Parish much less to the particular fancy of any humorous person but to the judgment of the Ordinary to whose place and Function it doth properly belong to give direction in that point both for the thing it self and for the time when and how long as he may find cause Vpon which consideration his Majesty declared himself that he well approved and confirmed the Act of the said Ordinary and also gave commandment that if those few Parishioners before mentioned do proceed in their said Appeal then the Dean of the Arches who was then attending at the hearing of the cause should confirm the said Order of the aforesaid Dean and Chapter Of this last Declaration there was no great notice took at first the danger being remote the case particular and no necessity imposed of conforming to it But the other was no sooner published then it was followed and pursued with such loud outcries as either the Tongues or Pens of the Sabbatarians could raise against it Some fell directly on the King and could find out no better names for this Declaration than a Profane Edict a maintaining of his own honour and a Sacrilegious robbing of God A Toleration for prophaning the Lords day Affirming That it was impossible that a spot of so deep a dye should be emblanched though somewhat might be urged to qualifie and alleviate the blame thereof Others and those the greatest part impute the Republishing of this Declaration to the new Archbishop and make it the first remarkable thing which was done presently after he took possession of his Graceship as Burton doth pretend to wit it in his Pulpit Libell And though these Books came not out in Print till some years after yet was the clamour raised on both at the very first encreasing every day more and more as the reading of it in their Churches had been pressed upon them To stop the current of these clamours till some better course might be devised one who wisht well both to the Parties and the Cause fell on a fancy of Translating into the English Tongue a Lecture or Oration made by Dr. Prideaux at the Act in Oxon. Anno 1622. In which he solidly discoursed both of the Sabbath and Sunday according to the judgment of the ancient Fathers and the most approved Writers of the Protestant and Reformed Churches This Lecture thus translated was ushered also with a Preface In which there was proof offered in these three Propositions First That the keeping holy of one day of seven is not the moral part of the fourth Commandment Secondly That the alteration of the day is only an humane and Ecclesiastical Constitution Thirdly That still the Church hath power to change the day and to transfer it to some other Which as they are the general Tendries of the
consent of their several Churches they prepared these several Answers To the first it was answered That they had that Liturgie which all the Churches of the French Tongue both in France and in the United Provinces of the States have had since the blessed Reformation and which their Churches refuged here have had this sixty or seventy years or more That the English Liturgie was Translated into French but that they used it not and that they knew not whether it were Translated in Dutch or not To the second it was answered That the greatest part of the Heads of the Families were not born here but about a third part because that the greatest part of the old ones were Strangers born and many others are newly come since a few years But to the third they desired to be excused from making any Answer at all foreseeing as it was pretended a dissipation of their Churches in reference to the maintainance of their Ministry and relief of their poor if such Conformity should be pressed which they endeavoured to avoid by all means imaginable But before these Answers were returned it was thought fit to consult with the Coetus as they style it of the French and Dutch Churches in London who were concerned as much as they and who by reason of their wealth and number governed all the rest by whom they were advised to suppress those Answers and to present their Declinator fixing themselves upon their Priviledges and challenging the Exemption granted them by King Edward vi confirmed by several Acts of Council in the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth King Iames and his Sacred Majesty This Declinator no way satisfied his Grace of Canterbury He knew none better That Acts of Council were not like the Laws of the Medes and Persians but might be changed and varied as occasion served That the Letters Patents granted by King Edward vi to the first Congregation of Strangers under Iohn A Lasco by which they were Licenced to use their own Forms both of Worship and Government without any disturbance were vacated by the departure of the said Congregation in the time of Queen Mary and that the French and Dutch Churches now in England could pretend no succession unto that in the time of King Edward vi And therefore as soon as Brent returned from his Visitation of which we shall hear more anon and had a while reposed himself after that long Journey he was dispatched to Canterbury with these Injunctions viz. 1. That all the Natives of the Dutch and Walloon Congregations in his Graces Diocess are to repair to their several Parish Churches where they inhabite to hear Divine Service and Sermons and perform all Duties and Payments required in that behalf And 2. That all the Ministers and all other of the same Walloon or French Congregations which are Aliens born shall have and use the Liturgie used in the English Churches as the same is or may be faithfully Translated into French or Dutch These two Injunctions being given on the nineteenth of December with time for conforming thereunto till the first of March were presently communicated by the Kentish to the London Churches and by those of London to the rest in the Province of Canterbury requiring them to send their Deputies to consult together with them in this Common Danger There were at that time ten Churches of Strangers in this Province that is to say two in London two in Norwich and one apiece in Canterbury Sandwich Maidstone Southampton Colchester and Yarmouth who were to send their sufficient Deputies consisting of Ministers and Lay-Elders to make this Synod But because the time might be elapsed before these Deputies from so many Places could meet together and resolve upon any Conclusion it was determined by the Coetus that those of Kent whom it most immediately concerned should address themselves to the Archbishop and desire his favour for the enjoying of their Priviledges as in former times whose Propositions being heard and their Reasons pondered he answered That it was his purpose to make a General Visitation of all his Province and that he would begin at home That he did nothing but what had been communicated to the King and resolved by the Council That neither the Letters Patents of King Edward vi nor any Reasons by them alledged should hinder him from proceeding in the said Injunctions That their Churches were nests and occasions of Schism which he would prevent in Kent as well as he could That it were better there were no Foreign Churches nor Strangers in England than to have them thereby to give occasion of prejudice or danger to the Church-Government of it That they endeavoured to make themselves a State in a State and had vaunted That they feared not his Injunctions but That he hoped the King would maintain him in it as long as he Governed by the Canons That the dissipation of their Churches and maintenance of two or three Ministers was not to be laid in the same Balance with the Peace and Happiness of the Church of England That their ignorance in the English Tongue ought not to be used for a pretence for their not going to their Parish Churches considering that it was an affected Ignorance and they might avoid it when they would And finally That he was resolved to have his Injunctions put in execution and that they should conform to them at their peril by the time appointed Finding no hope of Good this way they expect the Sitting of the Synod on the fifth of February to which the Deputies made a Report of their ill Successes and thereupon it was resolved That a Petition in the name of all the Foreign Churches should be presented unto the King which way they found as unsuccessful as the other was For his Majesty having read the Petition delivered it to the Earl of Pembroke commanding him to give it to one of the Secretaries And though Pembroke either out of love to the Cause or hate to the Archbishops Person chose rather to deliver it to Cooke than Windebank yet neither Cooke himself nor Weckerly his chief Clerk a Walloon by birth who had very much espoused the Quarrel could do any thing in it The next course was to back that Petition with a Remonstrance containing the chief Reasons which they had to urge in their own behalf and that Remonstrance to be put into his Majesties hands by the Duke of Soubize a Prince of great Descent in France and a chief stickler in the Wars of the Hugonots against their King In which Reasons when they came to be examined more particularly there was nothing found material but what had formerly been observed and answered except it were the fear of a Persecution to be raised in France when it should there be known how much the French Churches in this Kingdom had been discountenanced and distressed And this they after aggravated by some fresh Intelligence which they had from thence by which they were advertised of some words of
it was not easie to Transcribe them insomuch that few of the Presbyters themselves could tell which of them were authentical which not So unsafely and uncertainly kept that they knew not where to address themselves for consulting with them That by reducing those numerous Act and those not known unto themselves to such a paucity of Canons published and exposed to the publick view no man should be insnared by ignorance or have just reason to complain of their multiplicity And finally That not one in all that Kingdom did either live under the Obedience of the Acts of those General Assemblies or did know what they were or where to find them Upon which grounds the Book of Canons being drawn up and presented to him he gave a Warrant under his Hand to the Archbishop of Canterbury requiring him together with the Bishop of London to peruse the same to see that they were well fitted to the Church-Government and as near as conveniently might be to the Canons of the Church oâ— England giving them and either of them full power to alter any thing in the said Canons as they found most fitting Which being done as he commanded and the Book made ready for the Press he pass'd his Royal Confirmation of it under the Great Seal oâ— the Kingdom in this manner following CHARLES REX WE 〈◊〉 of Our Royal Care for the Maintenance of the present Estate and Government of the Church of Scotland have diligently and with great content considered all the Canons and Constitutions after following and finding the same such as We are perswaded will be profitable not only to our whole Clergy but to the whole Church of that our Kingdom if so they be well observed Have for Vs Our Heirs and Lawful Successors of Our especial Grace certain Knowledâ—â— â—nd meer â—otion given and by these presents do give Our 〈◊〉 Assâ—â—t â—nto all the said Canons Orders and Constitutions 〈◊〉 all and every thing in them contained as they are afterwards set 〈◊〉 And further We do not only by Our Prerogative Royal and Supreme 〈◊〉 in Causes Ecclesiastical Ratifie and Confirm by these Our Letters Patâ—nts the said Canons Orders and Constitutions â—nd all â—nd every thing in them contained But likewise We command by 〈◊〉 â—uthority Royal and by these Letters Patents the same to be diligently observed and executed by all Our Loving Subjects of that Our Kingdom both within the Province of St. Andrews and â—lascow in all points wherein they do or may concern every or any of them according to this Our Will and Pleasure hereby expressed and declared And for the better observation of them We straightly Charge and Command all Our Archbishops Bishops and all others thaâ— exercise any Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction within that Our Realm to see the same Canons Orders and Constitutions to be in all points duly observed not sparing to execute the Penalties in them severally mentioned upon any that shall willingly break or neglect to observe the same as they tender the Honour of God the Peace of the Church the Tranquility of the Kingdom and their Service and Duty to Vs their King and Sovereign Given at Our Mannor of Greenwich 23 May 1635. These Canons when they came abroad were presently quarrelled and disclaimed by the Scottish Presbyters Quarrelled in reference to the subject matter comprehended in them Disclaimed because imposed upon them without their own approbation and consent The points most quarrelled at were these 1. That whosoever should affirm That the Kings Majesty had not the same Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical that the Godly Kings had among the Jews or the Christian Emperors in the Primitive Church or impugn in any part his Royal Supremacy in Causes Ecclesiastical was to incur the Censure of Excommunication 2. The like Censure to be inflicted on those who should affirm That the Worship contained in the Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments though at the making of these Canons there was no such Book of Common Prayer recommended to them or That the Government of the Church by Archbishops and Bishops or the form of Making and Consecrating Archbishops and Bishops c. did contain any thing repugnant to the Scriptures or was corrupt superstitious or unlawful in the Service and Worship of God 3. That the Ordinations were restrained to four times in the year that is the first Weeks of March June September and December 4. That every Ecclesiastical Person at his Admission should take the Oath of Supremacy according to the form required by Parliament and the like Oath for avoiding Symonie required in the Book of Consecration 5. That every Presbyter shall either by himself or by another Person lawfully called read or cause Divine Service to be done according to the form of the Book of that Common Prayer before all Sermons and that he should Officiate by the said Book of Common Prayer in all the Offices Parts and Rubricks of it when as yet none of them had seen the said Book or Liturgie 6. That no Preacher should impugn the Doctrine delivered by another in the same Church or any neer adjoining to it without leave from the Bishop which they conceived to be the way to pin their whole Religion on the Bishops Sleeves 7. That no Presbyter should hereafter become Surety or Cautioner for any Person whosoever in Civil Bonds and Contracts under pain of Suspension 8. That whatsoever remained of the Bread and Wine prepared for the Communion should be distributed to the poorer sort which receive that day to be eaten and drunken of them before they go out of the Church 9. That Presbyters are enjoined to Minister the Sacrament of Baptism in private Houses and upon every day alike in case of infirmity and that the People were required not to receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper but upon their knees 10. That in all Sentences of Separation a Thoro Mensa there shall be a Caution inserted and given accordingly That the Persons so separated should live continently and chastly and not contract Marriage with any Person during each others life which seemed to put the innocent Party into as bad a condition as the guilty contrary to the Judgment of the Reformed Churches 11. That no private Meeting be kept by Presbyters or any other Persons whatsoever for expounding Scripture or for consulting upon matters Ecclesiastical Such matters to be handled only in the Lawful Synods held by Bishops 12. That under pain of Excommunication no Presbyter or Layman jointly or severally make Rules Orders or Constitutions in Causes Ecclesiastical or to add or detract from any Rubricks or Articles or other things now established without the Authority of the King or his Successors 13. That National or General Assemblies were to be called only by the Kings Authority That the Decrees thereof should bind as well the Absent as the Present in Matters Ecclesiastical and That it should not be lawful for the Bishops themselves in such Assemblies or otherwise to
alter any Articles Rubrick Canon Doctrinal or Disciplinary whatsoever without his Majesties leave first had and obtained 14. That no man should cover his Head in time of Divine Service except with a Cap or Night-coife in case of infirmity and that all Persons should reverently kneel when the Confession and other Prayers were read and should stand up at the saying of the Creed 15. That no Presbyter or Reader be permitted to conceive Prayers ex tempoâ—e or use any other form in the Publick Liturgie or Service than is prescribed under the pain of Deprivation from his Benefice or Cure 16. That by this Prohibition the Presbyters seemed to be dâ—barred from using their own Prayers before their Sermons by reason that in c. 3. num 13. it is required That all Presbyters and Preachers should move the People to join with them in Prayer using some few and convenient words and should always conclude with the Lords Prayer which in effect was to bind them to the form of bidding Prayer prescribed in the 55 th Canon of the Church of England 17. That no man should Teach either in Publick School or Private House but such as shall be allowed by the Archbishop of the Province or Bishop of the Diocess under their Hand and Seal and those to Licence none but such as were of good Religion and obedient to the Orders of the Church 18. That none should be admitted to read in any Colledge or School except they take first the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy 19. That nothing â—e hereafter Imprinted except the same be seen and allowed by the Visitors appointed to that purpose the Penalty thereof as in all like Cases in which no Penalty is expressed being left to the discretion of the Bishops 20. That no Publick Fast should be appointed upon Sundays as had been formerly accustomed but on the Week-days only and them to be appointed by none but His Majesty 21. That for the Ministring of the Sacrament of Baptism a Font should be prepared and placed somewhat near the entry of the Church as anciently it used to be with a Cloth of fine Linnen which shall likewise be kept all neatly 22. That a comely and decent Table for Celebrating the Holy Communion should be provided and placed at the upper end of the Chancel or Church to be covered at the times of Divine Service with a Carpet of decent Stuff and at the time of Ministration with a white Linnen Cloth And that Basons Cups or Chalices of some pure Metal shall be provided to be set upon the Communion Table and reserved to that only use 23. That such Bishops and Presbyters as shall depart this life having no Children shall leave their Goods or a great part of them to the Church and Holy Vses and that notwithstanding their having Children they should leave some Testimony of their love to the Church and advancement of Religion 24. That no Sentence of Excommunication should be pronounc'd or Absolution given by any Presbyter without the leave and approbation of the Bishop And no Presbyter should reveal or make known what had been opened to him in Confession at any time or to any Person whatsoever except the Crime be such as by the Laws of the Realm his own Life may be called in question for concealing the same 25. And finally That no Person should be received into Holy Orders nor suffered to Preach Catechise Minister the Sacraments or any other Ecclesiastical Function unless he first subscribe to be obedient to these present Canons Ratified and Approved by his Majesties Royal Warrant and Ordained to be observed by the Clergy and all others whom they concern These were the matters chiefly quarrelled in this Book of Canons visibly tending as they would make the World believe to subject that Kirk unto the Power of the King the Clergy to the command of their Bishops the whole Nation to the Discipline of a Foreign Church and all together by degrees to the Idolatries and Tyrannies of the Pope of Rome But juster cause they seemed to have for disclaiming the said Book of Canons because not made nor imposed upon them by their own approbation and consent contrary to the usage of the Church in all Times and Ages Had his Majesty imposed these Orders on them by the name of Injunctions according to the example of King Henry viii Anno 1536. of King Edward vi Anno 1547. and of Queen Elizabeth Anno 1559. he might perhaps have justified himself by that Supremacy which had been vested in him by the Laws of that Kingdom which seems to have been the Judgment of King Iames in this very case At his last being in Scotland Anno 1617. he had prepared an Article to be passed in Parliament to this effect viz. That whatsoever his Majesty should determine in the External Government of the Church with the advice of the Archbishop Bishops and a competent number of the Ministry should have the strength of a Law But understanding that a Protestation was prepared against it by some of the most Rigid Presbyterians he commanded Hay the Clerk or Register to pass by that Article as a thing no way necessary the Prerogative of his Crown giving him more Authority than was declared or desired by it But as for Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical if they concerned the whole Church they were to be advised and framed by Bishops and other Learned men assembled in a General Council and testified by the Subscription of such Bishops as were then assembled Or if they did relate only unto National Churches or particular Provinces they were to be concluded and agreed upon by the Bishops and Clergy that is to say so many of the Clergy as are chosen and impowered by all the rest for that end and purpose assembled in a National or Provincial Synod No Canons nor Constitutions Ecclesiastical to be otherwise made or if made otherwise not to bind without a voluntary and free submission of all Parties to them And though it could not be denied but that all Christian Emperours Kings and Princes reserved a Power unto themselves of Ratifying and Confirming all such Constitutions as by the Bishops and Clergy were agreed on yet still the said Canons and Constitutions were first agreed on by the Bishops and Clergy before they were tendred to the Sovereign Prince for his Ratification The Scottish Presbyters had formerly disclaimed the Kings Authority either in calling their Assemblies or confirming the Results and Acts thereof which they conceived to be good and valid of themselves without any additional power of his to add strength unto them And therefore now they must needs think themselves reduced to a very great vassalage in having a body of Canons so imposed upon them to the making whereof they were never called and to the passing whereof they had never voted But as they had broke the Rules of the Primitive Church in acting Soveraignty of themselves without requiring the Kings approbation and
positively defined by the Church of England and therefore he conceived it as unsafe as the other that such a doubtful controversie as that of the Popes being Antichrist should be determined Positively by Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England of which there was great difference even amongst the Learned and not resolved on in the Schools With these objections against that passage he acquaints his Majesty who thereupon gave order that the said Letters Patents should be cancelled and new ones to be drawn in which that clause should be corrected or expunged and that being done the said Letters Patents to be new sealed and the said Collection to proceed according to the Archbishops first desires and proposition made in that behalf But before this Collection was finished and the money returned Charles Lodowick Prince Elector Palatine eldest surviving Son of the Queen of Bohemia comes into England to bestow a visit on his Uncle and to desire his aid and counsel for the recovery of the Electoral Dignity and Estate which did of right belong unto him On the twenty second of November this present year 1635. he comes to Whitehall graciously welcomed by the King who assigned him for his quarters in the Court the Lodgings properly belonging to the Prince his Son where he continued whilst he made his abode in England except such times as he attended his Majesty in his Summers Progress Knowing how forward the Archbishop had expressed himself in doing all ready Services for the Queen his Mother and the good offices which he had done for her sake to the distressed Ministers of his Dominions on the 30 day of the same Month he crost over to Lambeth and was present with the Archbishop at the Evening Prayer then very solemnly performed and upon that day fortnight came unexpectedly upon him and did him the honour to dine with him And that he might the better endear himself to the English Nation by shewing his conformity and approbation of the Rites and Ceremonies here by Law established he did not only diligently frequent the Morning and Evening Service in his Majesties Closet but upon Christmass day received the Communion also in the Chappel Royal of Whitehall For whose accommodation at the receiving of it there was a Stool placed within the Traverse on the left hand of his Majesty on which he sate while the Remainder of the Anthem was sung and at the Reading of the Epistle with a lower Stool and a Velvet Cushion to kneel upon both in the preparatory Prayers and the Act of Receiving which he most reverently performed to the great content of all beholders During his being in the Court he published two Books in Print by the advice of the King and Council not only to declare his Wrongs but assert his Rights The first he called by the name of a PROTESTATION against all the unlawful and violent proceedings and actions against him and his Electoral Family The second called the MANIFEST concerning the right of his Succession in the Lands Dignities and Honours of which his Father had been unjustly dispossessed by the Emperour Ferdinand the Second After which Preparatory writings which served to no other effect than to justifie his own and the Kings proceedings in the eye of the world he was put upon a course for being furnished both with men and money to try his fortune in the Wars in which he wanted not the best assistance which the Archbishop could afford him by his Power and Counsels But as he laboured to advance his interess in the recovery of his Patrimony and Estates in Germany so he no less laboured to preserve the Interess of the Church of England against all dangers and disturbances which might come from thence And therefore when some busie heads at the time of the Princes being here had published the Book entituled A Declaration of the Faith and Ceremonies of the Palsgraves Churches A course was took to call it in for the same cause and on the same prudential grounds on which the Letters Patents before mentioned had been stopt and altered The Prince was welcome but the Book might better have stayed at home brought hither in Dutch and here translated into English Printed and exposed to the publick view to let the vulgar Reader see how much we wanted of the Purity and simplicity of the Palatine Churches But we must now look back on some former Counsels in bringing such refractory Ministers to a just conformity in publishing his Majesties Declaration about lawful Sports as neither arguments and perswasions could pâ—evaâ—l upon And that the Suffragan Bishops might receive the more countenance in it the Archbishop means not to look on but to act somewhat in his own Diocess which might be exemplaâ—y to the rest some troublesome persons there were in it who publickly opposed all establisht orders neither conforming to his Majesties Instructions nor the Canons of the Church nor the Rubricks in the publick Liturgy Culmer and Player two men of the same aâ—â—â—ctions and such as had declared their inconformity in â—ormer times were prest unto the publishing of this Declaration Brent acting in it as Commissary to the Bishop of the Diocess not Vicar General to the Archbishop of the Province of Canterbury On their refusal so to do they were called into the Consistory and by him suspended Petitioning the Archbishop for a release from that suspension they were answered by him That if they knew not how to obey he knew as little how to grant He understood them to be men of Factious spirits and was resolved to bring them to a better temper or else to keep them from disturbing the publick peace And they resolving on the other side not to yield obedience continued under this suspension till the coming in of the Scottish Army not long before the beginning of the Long Parliament Anno 1640. which wanted little of four years before they could get to be released Wilson another of the same Crew was suspended about the same time also and afterwards severely sentenced in the High Commission the profits of his Living sequestred as the others were and liberal assignments made out of it for supplying the Cure In which condition he remained for the space of four years and was then released on a motion made by Dering in the House of Commons at the very opening in manner of the Long Parliament that being the occasion which was taken by them to bring the Archbishop on the Stage as they after did And though he suspended or gave order rather for suspending of no more than these yet being they were leading-men and the chief sticklers of the Faction in all his Diocess it made as much noise as the great Persecution did in Norfolk and Suffolk By one of which first County we are told in general That being promoted to this dignity he thought he was now Plenipotentiary enough and in full capacity to domineer as he listed and to let his profest enemies
Church of St. Matthews in Friday Street took for his Text those words in the Proverbs viz. My Son fear thâ—n the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change Chap. 24.22 In this Sermon if I may wrong the Word so far as to give it to so lewd a Libel he railes most bitterly against the Bishops accuseth them of Innovating both in Doctrine and Worship impeacheth them of exercising a Jurisdiction contrary to the Laws of the Land 1 Edw. 6. c. 2. and for falsifying the Records of the Church by adding the first clause to the twentieth Article arraigneth them for oppressing the Kings Liege people contrary unto Law and Justice exciting the people to rise up against them magnifying those disobedient Spirits who hitherto have stood out in defiance of them and seems content in case the Bishops lives might be called in question to run the hazard of his own For this being taken and imprisoned by a warrant from the High Commission he makes his appeal unto the King justifies it by an Apology and seconds that by an Address to the Nobility In which last he requires all sorts of people Noblemen Judges Courtiers and those of the inferiour sort to stand up stoutly for the Gospel against the Bishops And finally Prints all together with an Epistle Dedicatory to the King himself to the end that if his Majesty should vouchsafe the reading of it he might be brought into an ill opinion of the Bishops and their proceedings in the Church Whose actions tend only as he telleth us to corrupt the Kings good peoples hearts by casting into them fears and jealousies and sinister opinions toward the King as if he were the prime cause of all those Grievances which in his name they oppress the Kings good Subjects withall Thus also in another place These Factors of Antichrist saith he practice to divide Kings from their Subjects and Subjects from their Kings that so between both they may fairly erect Antichrists Throne again For that indeed that is to say the new building of Bable the setting up again of the throne of Antichrist the bringing in of Popery to subvert the Gospell is made to be the chief design of the Prelates and Prelatical party to which all innovations usurpations and more dangerous practices which are unjustly charged upon them served only as preparatives and subservient helps Such being the matter in the Libell let us next look upon the Ornaments and dressings thereof consisting most especially in those infamous Attributes which he ascribes unto the Bishops For Fathers he calls them Step-fathers for Pillars Caterpillars their houses haunted and their Episcopal Chairs poysoned by the Spirit that bears rule in the air They are saith he the Limbs of the Beast even of Antichrist taking his very courses to bear and beat down the hearing of the Word of God whereby men might be saved p. 12. Their fear is more toward an Altar of their own invention towards an Image or Crucifix toward the sound and syllables of Iesus then toward the Lord Christ p. 15. He gives then the reproachful Titles of Miscreants p. 28. The trains and wiles of the Dragons doglike flattering taile p. 30. New Babel builders p. 32. Blind Watchmen dumb dogs thieves and robbers of Souls False Prophets ravening Wolves p. 48. Factors for Antichrist p. 75. Antichristian Mushrumps And that it might be known what they chiefly aimed at we shall hear him say that they cannot be quiet till res novas moliendo they set up Popery again in her full Equipage p. 95. Tooth and naile for setting up Popery again p. 96. Trampling under feet Christs Kingdom that they may set up Antichrists Throne again p. 99. According to the Spirit of Rome which breaths in them by which they are so strongly biassed to wheel about to their Roman Mistress p. 108. The Prelates consederate with the Priests and Jesuites for rearing up of that Religion p. 140. Calling them upon that account in his Apology Iesuited Polipragmaticks and Sons of Belial Having thus lustily laid about him against all in general he descends to some particulars of most note and eminence Reviling White of Ely with railing and perverting in fighting against the truth which he makes to be his principal quality p. 127. and Mountague of Chichester for a tried Champion of Rome and the devoted Votary to his Queen of Heaven p. 126. And so proceeding to the Archbishop for of Wren he had spoke enough before he tells us of him That he used to set his foot on the Kings Laws as the Pope did on the Emperors neck p. 54. That with his right hand he was able to sweep down the third part of the Stars in heaven p. 121. And that he had a Papal infallibility of Spirit whereby as by a divine Oracle all Questions in Religion are finally determined p. 132. These are the principal flowers of Rhetorick which grew in the Garden of H. B. sufficient questionless to shew how sweet a Champion he was like to prove of the Church and Gospel And yet this was not all the mischief which the Church suffered at that time for presently on the neck of these came out another entituled The holy Table name and thing intended purposely for an Answer to the Coal from the Altar but cunningly pretended by him to be written long ago by a Minister in Lincolnshire against Dr. Coale a judicious Divine in Queen Maries daies Printed for the Diocess of Lincoln by the Bishop whereof under the name of Iohn Lincoln Dean of Westminster it was authorized for the Press In managing whereof the point in Controversie was principally about the placing of the Holy Table according to the practice of the Primitive Church and the received Rules of the Church of England at the first Reformation of it In prosecution of which point he makes himself an Adversary of his he know not whom and then he useth him he cares not how mangling the Authors words whom we would confute that so he might be sure of the easier conquest and practising on those Authors whom he was to use that they may serve his turn the better to procure the victory Of the composure of the whole we may take this Character from him who made the Answer to it viz. That he that conjectured of the house by the trim or dress would think it very richly furnished the Walls whereof that is the Margin richly set out with Antick hangings and whatsoever costly workmanship all nations of these times may be thought to brag of and every part adorned with flourishes and pretty pastimes the gay devices of the Painter Nor is there any want at all of Ornaments or Vtensils to set out the same such especially as may serve for ostentation though of little use many a fine and subtle Carpet not a few idle couches for the credulous Reader and every where a pillow for a Puritans elbow all very pleasing to the eye
first Innovation touching the suppressing of Sermons during the time of the late Fast in infected places contrary to the Orders in former times he answered First That after-Ages might without offence learn to avoid any visible inconvenience observed in the former And secondly That the suppressing of those Sermons was no Act of the Bishops but a Command proceeding on a full debate from the Lords of the Council the better to avoid the spreading of the Contagion And thirdly That as Sermons on the Fast-days had been used of late they were so far from humbling men in the sight of God that they were fitter for other operations as the raising of Sedition amongst the People of which there could not be a clearer instance than in that of Burton To the second That by appointing the Weekly Fasts to be on Wednesdays and those Fasts to be kept without any Sermons there was a plot for suppressing all Wednesday Lectures for ever after It was answered That Wednesday was the usual day for such Publick Fasts That it was named by the Lord Keeper no great Friend to Popery and that those men had lived to see the Fast ended and the Wednesday Lectures still continued To the third That the Prayer for Seasonable Weather was left out of the last Book and that the leaving of it out was one cause of the Shipwracks and Tempestuous Weather which followed after He answered generally first That all Fast-Books are made by the command of the King who alone had Power to call such Fasts and that the Archbishops and Bishops who had the ordering of those Books had also Power under the King of putting in and leaving out of those Books whatsoever they think fit for the present occasion Secondly as to this particular That when the Fast-Book was made the Weather was very Seasonable and the Harvest in and that it was not the Custom of the Church to pray for seasonable Weather when they had it but when it was wanting Thirdly That it was very boldly done to ascribe the cause of those Tempests to the leaving out of that Prayer which God had never revealed unto them and they could not otherwise know but by Revelation To the fourth touching a Clause omitted in the first Collect in which Thanks had been given to God for delivering us from Popish Superstition He answered That though our Fore-fathers had been delivered from such Superstitions yet God be blessed that for our parts we were never in them and therefore could not properly be said to have been delivered To the fifth touching the leaving out of a passage in one of the Orders for the Fast concerning the abuse thereof in relation to Merit he answered That it was left out because in this Age and Kingdom there was little opinion of Merit by Fasting insomuch that all Fasts were contemned and scorned both at Lent and all other set times except such as some humerous men called for of themselves to promote their ends The sixth Innovation charged upon them was the leaving of the Lady Elizabeth and her Children out of one of the Collects And the seventh That out of the same Collect the words Father of thine Elect and of their Seed was expunged also To which it was answered That the said Collect was not in the Common-Prayer-Book confirmed by Law neither King Edward vi nor Queen Elizabeth having any Children Secondly That it was added to the Book at the coming in of King Iames who brought a Princely Issue with him and left out again in the beginning of the Reign of King Charles who at that time and for four years after had no Issue neither Thirdly That as the Lady Elizabeth and her Children were put into the Collect when the King had no Issue of his own so when the King had Issue of his own there was as much reason to leave them out Fourthly For the leaving out of that Clause Father of thine Elect c. it was done by his Predecessor and that the leaving out of the Lady Elizabeth and her Issue was done by the Command of the King The eighth Innovation charged upon them was bowing at the Name of IESVS and altering to that end the words in the Epistle on the Sunday next before Easter by changing IN the Name of Iesus to AT the Name of Iesus And it was answered unto this That bowing at the Name of IESVS was no Innovation made by the Prelates of this Age but required by the Injunction of Queen Elizabeth in the very first beginning of the Reformation And secondly Though it be IN the Name of Iesus in the old Editions of the Liturgie yet it is AT the Name of Iesus in the Translation of Geneva Printed in the year 1567. and in the New Translation Authorised by King Iames. The ninth relates to the Alteration of two Passages in the Form of Prayer set forth by Act of Parliament for the Fifth of November in which Form it is thus expressed Root out the Babylonish Sect which say of Jerusalem Down with it c. And in the other place Cut off those Workers of Iniquity whose RELIGION is REBELLION Which are thus altered in the Books which came out last viz. Root out that Babylonish and Antichristian Sect of them which say c. And in the other Cut off those workers of Iniquity who turn RELIGION into REBELLION c. To which it was replied That the Book of Prayer appointed for the Fifth of November was neither made set forth or commanded to be read by Act of Parliament but only made and appointed to be read by the Kings Authority Secondly That being made and appointed to be read by no other Authority than the Kings the King might alter in it what he thought convenient and that he had the Kings hand for those Alterations What Reasons there might be to move his Majesty to it we may enquire into hereafter on another occasion To the tenth for the leaving out the Prayer for the Navy he answered that the King had then no Fleet at Sea nor any known enemy to assault as he had when that Prayer was first put in and that howsoever if there had been any design to bring in Popery to which these Innovations must be made subserviâ—nt they should rather have kept in that Prayer than have left it out Concerning the Communion Table there were three Innovations urged the placing of it Altarwise reading the second Service at it and bowing towards or before it For answer to the first It was proved to have been no Innovation in regard of Practice because it had so stood in his Majesties Chappels and divers Cathedrals of this Kingdom since the first Reformation Which posture if it be decent and convenient for the Service of God either in the Kings Chappels or Cathedrals it may be used also in other Churches but if it served to bring in Popery it was not to be used in them Nor was it any Innovation in regard of Law
do for Kilvert against their Master The Story whereof desireth the Readers further patience though it come somewhat out of time and is briefly this Osbaldston the late Schoolmaster and then Prebend of Westminster a profess'd Creature of the Bishops and much imployed by him in his greatest businesses had written a Letter to him about Christmas in the year 1635. touching some Heats which hapned in that cold Season betwixt the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Treasurer Weston Osbaldston conceiving this to be a fit opportunity for the Bishop to close in with Weston and by his means to extricate himself out of those Perplexities in which this Star-Chamber Suit had so long intangled him This Intelligence he disguised in these expressions viz. The little Vermin the Vrchin and Hocus Pocus is this stormy Christmas at true and real variance with the great Leviathan And this conceit the Bishop out of too much jollity makes known to others by whom at last it came to Kilvert who laying hold on the Advantage exhibits a new Bill against him for divulging Scandalous Libels against Privy Counsellors there being good proof to be produced That by the names of Little Vermin Vrchin and Hocus Pocus the writer of that Letter designed no other than the Archbishop and the Lord Treasurer Weston by the Great Leviathan Both being made Parties to the Bill Osbaldston answers for himself That by Leviathan he intended Chief Justice Richardson and Spicer a Doctor of Laws by the other Character The differing statures of the men seeming to make good this Construction which the Grammar of the Text might bear as well as the other The Bishop pleaded for his part That he remembred not the receiving of any such Letter and that if any such Letter had come unto him it could not be brought within the compass of a Libel because not written in such plain and significant terms as might apparently decypher and set forth the Person intended in it But all this proved to be but shifts on either side for Kilvert had a Letter ready which Walker was supposed to have put into his hands to make sure work of it a Letter which the Bishop had writ to the said Walker being then his Secretary at the time of that falling out betwixt Laud and Weston Here is a strange thing saith that Letter Mr. Osbaldston importunes me to contribute to my Lord Treasurers use some Charges upon the Little Great Man and assures me they are mortally out I have utterly refused to meddle in this business and I pray you learn from Mr. S. and Mr. H. if any such falling out be or whether somebody hath not gulled the Schoolmaster in these three last Letters and keep it unto your self what I write unto you If my Lord Treasurer would be served by me he must use a more neer solid and trusty Messenger and free me from the Bonds of the Star-Chamber else let them fight it out for me This Secret thus discovered and the Mystery opened it was not long before the Cause was brought to Censure For the two Letters being compared with the Time and Circumstances it was no hard matter to the Lords who had their own Concerment in it to conclude both of them to be guilty of the Crime called Scandalum Magnatum a Libelling and defaming the Great Men of the Realm proâ—ibited and punishable by the Laws of the Land So that no Buckler being â—ound to bear off the Blow a Fine of another 8000 l. was imposed on the Bishop Osbaldston fined 5000 l. to be deprived of all his Ecclesiastical Preferments his Ears to be tack'd to the Pillory in the Palace-yard and Dammages or Costs of Suit to be paid by both to the Archbishop of Canterbury A Censure greater than the Crime as most men conceived in respect of Osbaldston whose Indiscretion might have been corrected with far less severity and less severity was intended then the Sentence intimated For though Osbaldston at that time conceived the Archbishop to be his greatest Enemy yet the Archbishop was resolved to shew himself his greatest Friend assuring the Author of this History before any thing was known of his supposed flight that he would cast himself at the Kings feet for obtaining a discharge of that corporal punishment unto which he was Sentenced Which may obtain the greater credit first in regard that no course was taken to stop his flight no search made after him nor any thing done in order to his Apprehension And secondly By Osbaldstons readiness to do the Archbishop all good Offices in the time of his Troubles upon the knowledge which was given him at his coming back of such good intentions For Osbaldston not hoping for so much favour and fearing more the shame of the Punishment than the loss of Preferment had seasonably withdrawn himself to a Friendâ— House in London where he lay concealed causing a noise to be spread abroad of his going beyond Sea and signifying by a Paper which he left in his Study That he was gone beyond Canterbury But this hapned not till the latter end of the year next following though I have laid it here together because of the coherence which it hath with the former Story To look back therefore where we left The Bishop of Lincoln was no sooner Suspended by the High-Commission that part of the Sentence being executed Iuly 24. but all the Profits of his Preferments in the Church were Sequestred to the Use of the King A Privy Seal is sent to the Sub-Dean and Prebends of the Church of Westminster requiring them to set apart all the Profits certain and uncertain which of right accrued unto that Dean and to pay the same from time to time into the Receipt of the Exchequer And that his Majesties Profits might not suffer any diminution nor the Prebends of that Church be punished for the fault of their Dean a Commission was issued under the Great Seal of England inabling them to Let and Set to Renew Leases keep Courts and make Grants of Offices and finally to act and do all manner of things which concerned the Government of that Church in as ample manner as if the Dean himself had been present at the doing of them The like course also taken in gathering in the Profits of his other Promotions those of the Bishoprick of Lincoln naturally flowing into the Exchequer as in times of Vacancy And as for his Episcopal Iurisdiction that fell as naturally to the Archbishop of the Province as the Temporal Revenue to the King the Archbishop of Canterbury exercising all kind of Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction throughout the Diocess of Lincoln not only as Ordinary of that Diocess but as Visitor of all those Colledges which had any dependence on that See Amongst which Colledges as that of Eaton was the chief so there was somewhat in it which was thought to want a present Remedy some Information being given That they had diminished the number of their Fellows from Ten to Seven
This being a matter easily to be proved they were required to make up their number according to their first Foundation by King Henry vi But against this the Fellows pleaded That out of an hatred to their Founder a great part of their Lands had been taken from them by King Edward iv conferred by him upon the Abby of Westminster and the Church of Windsor and by them enjoyed until this day and that they hoped his Grace would not tye them to maintain the whole number of their Fellows with little more than half their Lands To which so reasonable a desire upon full proof made of the Suggestion his Grace did readily consent and left them in the same state in which he found them The noise of these Proceedings in England in the Iune and Iuly of this year being quickly posted to the Scots became a principal Incentive of those Combustions which not long after inflamed that Kingdom For it could be no hard matter for the Presbyterians there to possess the People with the sense of the like smart Sufferings by the Pride and Tyranny of their Bishops if they permitted them to grow great and powerful and did not cast about in time to prevent the mischief And to exasperate them the more the Superstitions of the Liturgie now at the point of being put in execution were presented to them which if once settled amongst them as was then intended would in short time reduce them under the Obedience of the Church of Rome They could not but confess That many things which were found fault with in the English Liturgie were in this altered unto the better the name of Priest so odious unto them of the Puritan Faction changed to that of Presbyter no fewer than sixty Chapters or thereabouts taken out of the Apocrypha appointed to be read by the Church in the English Book reduced to two and those two to be read only on the Feast of All-Saints The new Translation Authorised by King Iames being used in the Psalms Epistles Gospels Hymns and Sentences instead of the old Translation so much complained of in their Books and Conferences But what was this compared with those Superstitions those horrible Corruptions and Idolatries now ready to be thrust upon them in which this Liturgy as much exceeded that of England as that of England had departed from the simplicity and purity of the holier Churches Now therefore somewhat must be done to oppose the entrance of the Popish superstitious Service-Book either now or never But the Presbyterian Ministers who had gone thus far did not alone bring fewel to feed this flame to which some men of all degrees and qualities did contribute with them The Lords and Gentry of the Realm who feared nothing so much as the Commission of surrendries above mentioned laid hold on this occasion also and they being seconded by some male-contented Spirits of that Nation who had not found the King to be as prodigal of his bounties to them as his Father had been before endeavoured to possess them with Fears and Jealousies that Scotland was to be reduced to the Form of a Province and governed by a Deputy or Lord Lieutenant as Ireland was The like done also by some Lords of secret Counsel who before had governed as they listed and thought their power diminished and their persons under some neglect by the placing of a Lord President over them to direct in Chief So that the People generally being fooled into this opinion that both their Christian and Civil Liberty was in no small danger became capable of any impression which the Presbyterian Faction could imprint upon them nor did they want incouragements from the Faction in England to whom the Publication of the Book for Sports the transposing of the holy Table the suppressing of so many Lecturers and Afternoon Sermons and the inhibiting of Preaching Writing Printing in defence of Calvinism were as distasteful and offensive as the new Liturgie with all the supposed superstitions of it was to those of Scotland This Combination made and the ground thus laid it is no wonder if the people brake out into those distempers which soon after followed Sunday the 23 of Iuly was the day appointed for the first reading of the New Liturgy in all the Churches of that Kingdom and how it sped at Edenborough which was to be exemplary to all the rest shall be told by another who hath done it to my hand already Iuly 23. being Sunday the Dean of Edenborough began to read the Book in St. Giles his Church the chief of that City but he had no sooner entred on it than the inferiour multitude began in a tumultuous manner to fill the Church with uprore whereupon the Bishop of Edenborough stept into the Pulpit and hoping to appease them by minding them of the Sanctity of the place they were the more enraged throwing at him Cudgels Stools and what was in the way of Fury unto the very endangering of his life Upon this the Archbishop of St. Andrews Lord Chancellor was enforced to call down from the Gallery the Provost Bailiffs and other Magistrates of the City to their assistance who with much ado at length thrust the unruly Rabble out of the Church and made fast the doors This done the Dean proceeded in reading the Book the multitude in the mean while rapping at the doors pelting the Windows with stones and endeavouring what in them lay to disturb the Sacred Exercise but notwithstanding all this clamour the Service was ended but not the peoples rage who waiting the Bishops retiring to his Lodging so assaulted him as had he not been rescued by a strong hand he had probably perisht by their violence Nor was S. Giles his Church thus only pestered and profaned but in other Churches also though not in so high a measure the peoples disorders were agreeable The Morning thus past the Lord Chancellor and Council assembled to prevent the like darings in the Afternoon which they so effected as the Liturgy was read without any disturbance Only the Bishop of Edenborough was in his return to his Lodging rudely treated by the people the Earl of Roxboroughs Coach in which he passed serving for no protection to him though Roxborough himself was highly favoured of the People and not without some cause suspected to have had a hand in the Commotions of that day The business having thus miscarried in Edenborough stood at a stand in all other Churches of that Kingdom and therefore it will not be amiss to enquire in this place into the causes and occasions of it it seeming very strange to all knowing and discerning men that the Child that had so long lain in the Womb perfectly formed and now made ready for the birth should not have strength enough to be delivered Amongst which causes if disposed into ranke and order that which appears first is the confidence which Canterbury had in the Earl of Traquaire whom he had raised from the condition of a
excused for Age and indisposition testified their affections to his Majesties Service in good Sums of money The Flower of the English Gentry would not stay behind but chearfully put themselves into the Action upon a confidence of getting honour for themselves as well as for their King or Country many of which had been at great charge in fâ—rniâ—â—ing themselves for this Expedition on an assurance of being repaid in Favours what they spent in Treasure And not a few of our old Commanders which had been trained up in the Wars of Holland and the King of Sweden deserted their Employments 〈◊〉 to serve their Soveraign whether with a greater gallantry or a â—ection it is hard to say The Horse computed to 6000. as good as ever charged on a standing Enemy The Foot of a sufficient number though not proportionable to the Horse stout men and well a 〈◊〉 for the most part to the Cause in hand the Canon Bullets and all other sorts oâ— Ammunition nothing inferiour to the rest of the Preparations An Army able to have trampled all Scotland under their feet Gods ordinary providence concurring with them and made the King as absolutely Master of that Kingdom as many Prince could be of a conquered Nation The chief Command committed to the Earl of Arundel who though not biassed toward Rome as the Scots reported him was known to be no friend to the Puritan Faction The Earl of Holland having been Captain of his Majesties Guard and formerly appointed to conduct some fresh â—ecruits to the Isle of Rhee was made Lieutenant of the Horse And the Earl of Essex who formerly had seen some service in Holland and very well understood the Art of War Lieutenant-General of the Foot Besides which power that marcht by Land there were some other Forces embarqued in a considerable part of the Royal Navy with plenty of Coin and Ammunition which was put under the command of Hamilton who must be of the Quorum in all businesses with order to ply about the Coasts of Scotland and thereby to surprise their Ships and destroy their Trade and make such further attempts to Landward as opportunity should offer and the nature of affairs require It is reported and I have it from a very good hand that when the old Archbishop of St. Andrews came to take his leave of the King at his setting forward toward the North he desired leave to give his Majesty three Advertisements before his going The first was That his Majesty would suffer none of the Scottish Nation to remain in his Army assuring him that they would never fight against their Countrymen but rather hazard the whole Army by their â—ergiversation The second was that his Majesty would make a Catalogue of all his Counsellors Officers of Houshold and domestick Servants and having so done would with his Pen obliterate and expunge the Scots beginning first with the Archbishop of St. Andrews himself who had given the Counsel conceiving as he then declared that no man could accuse the King of Partiality when they found the Archbishop of St. Andrews who had so faithfully served his Father and himself about sixty years should be expunged amongst the rest A third was That he must not hope to win upon them by Condescensions or the sweetness of his disposition or by Acts of Grace but that he should resolve to reduce them to their duty by such waies of Power as God had put into his hands The Reason of which Counsel was because he found upon a sad experience of sixty years that generally they were a people of so cross a grain that they were gained by Punishments and lost by Favours But contrary to this good Counsel his Majesty did not only permit all his own Servants of that Nation to remain about him but suffered the Earls of Roxborough and Traquaire and other Noblemen of that Kingdom with their several Followers and Retinues to repair to York under pretence of offering of some expedient to compose the differences Where being come they plyed their business so well that by representing to the Lords of the English Nation the dangers they would bring themselves into by the Pride and Tyranny of the Bishops if the Scots were totally subdued they mitigated the displeasures of some and so took off the edge of others that they did not go from York the same men they came thither On the discovery of which Practice and some intelligence which they had with the Covenanters they were confined to their Chambers the first at York the other at Newcastle but were presently dismissed again and sent back to Scotland But they had first done what they came for never men being so suddenly cooled as the Lords of England or ever making clearer shews of an alteration in their words and gestures This change his Majesty soon found or had cause to fear and therefore for the better keeping of his Party together he caused an Oath to be propounded to all the Lords and others of chief Eminency which attended on him before his departure out of York knowing full well that those of the inferiour Orbs would be wholly governed by the motion of the higher Spheres The Tenor of which Oath was this that followeth I A. B. do Swear before the Almighty and Ever-living God That I will bear all faithful Allegiance to my true and undoubted Sovereign King CHARLES who is Lawful King of this Island and all other his Kingdoms and Dominions both by Sea and Land by the Laws of God and Man and by Lawful Succession And that I will mâ—st constantly and most chearfully even to the utmost hazard of my Life and Fortunes oppose all Seditions Rebellions Conjurations Conspiracies whatsoever against his Royal Dignity Crown and Person raised or set up under what pretence or colour soever And if it shall come vailed under pretence of Religion I hold it more abominable both before God and Man And this Oath I take voluntarily in the Faith of a good Christian and Loyal Subject without Equivocation or mental Reservation whatsoever from which I hold no Power on Earth can absolve me in any part Such was the Tenour of the Oath which being refused by two and but two of the Lords of which one would not Say it nor the other â—rock it the said Refusers were committed to the Custody of the Sheriffs of York and afterwards for their further Tryal Interrogated upon certain Articles touching their approbation or dislike of the War To which their Answers were so doubtful and unsatisfactory that his Majesty thought it safer for him to dismiss them home than to keep them longer about him to corrupt the rest By means whereof he furnished them with an opportunity of doing him more disservice at home where there was no body to attend and observe their Actions than possibly they could have done in the Army where there were so many eyes to watch them and so many hands to pull them back if they proved extravagant As to the
for him in such a place and amongst people so enraged notwithstanding his great clemency shewed unto them in the Pacification His Majesty was now at leisure to repent the loss of those Advantages which God had put into his hands He found the Scots so unprovided not having above 3000. compleat Arms amongst them that he might have scattered them like the dust before the wind at the very first onset By making this agreement with them he put them into such a stock of Reputation that within the compass of that year they furnished themselves out of Holland with Cannon Arms and Ammunition upon days of Payment without disbursing any money which he knew they had not He came unto the borders with a gallant Army which might assure him under God of a very cheap and easie victory an Army governed by Colonels and other Officers of approved Valour and mingled with the choicest of the English Gentry who stood as much upon his honour as upon their own This Army he disbanded wiâ—â—out doing any thing which might give satisfaction to the world himsâ—lf or them Had he retired it only to a further distance he had done as much as he was bound to by the Capitulations But he disbanded it before he had seen the least performance on their parts of the points agreed on before he had seen the issue and success of the two Conventions in which he did expect a settling of his peace and happiness which had he done he had in all reasonable probabilities preserved his honour in the eye of Foraign Nations secured himself from any danger from that people and crusht those Practices at home which afterwards undermined his Peace and destroyed his Glories But doing it in this form and manner without effecting any thing which he seemed to Arm for he animated the Scots to commit new Insolencies the Dutch to affront him in his own Shores by fighting and destroying the Spanish Navy lying under his protection and which was worst of all gave no small discontentment to the English Gentry Who having with great charge engaged themselves in this Expedition out of hope of getting honour to the King their Country and themselves by their faithful service were suddenly dismissed not only without the honour which they aimed at but without any acknowledgment of their Love and Loyalty A matter so unpleasing to them that few of them appeared 〈◊〉 the next years Army many of them turned against him in the following troubles the greatest part looking on his Successes with a careless eye as unconcerned in his Affairs whether good or bad In this condition of Affairs he returned toward London in the end of Iuly leaving the Scots to play their own Game as they listed having first nominated Traquaire as his High Commissioner for managing both the Assembly and the following Parliament In the first meeting of the two they acted over all the parts they had plaid at Glasco to the utter abolition of Episcopacy and the destruction of all those which adhered unto it their Actings in it being confirmed in his name by the High Commission In the Parliament they altered the old form of chusing the Lords of the Articles erected a third Estate out of Lairds and Barons instead of the Bishops invaded the Soveraign power of Coynage Resolved upon an Act for abrogating all former Statutes concerning the Judicature of the Exchequer for making of Proxies and governing the Estates of Wards and finally conceived the King to be much in their debt by yielding to a prorogation till a further time The news whereof reduced the King to such a stand that he was forced to send for Wentworth out of Ireland where he had acted things in settling the Estate of that broken Kingdom beyond expectation or belief This charged on Canterbury as a project and crime of his and both together branded for it in a Speech made by the Lord Faulkland in the first year of the Long Parliament where speaking first of the Bishops generally he tells the Speaker That they had both kindled and blown the fire in both Nations and more particularly that they had both sent and maintained that book of which the Author hath no doubt long since wished with Nero Vtinam nescissem Literas And of which more than one Kingdom hath cause to wish that he who writ it had rather burned a Library though of the value of Ptolemies And then he adds We shall see then saith he who have been the first and principal cause of the breach I will not say of but since the Pacification at Berwick We shall find them to have been the almost sole Abettors of my Lord of Strafford whilst he was practicing upon another Kingdom that manner of Government which he intended to settle in this where he committed so many so mighty and so manifest enormities as the like have not been committed by any Governour in any Government since Veires left Sicily And after they had called him over from being Deputy of Ireland to be in manner Deputy of England all things here being governed by a Iuntillo and that Iuntillo governed by him to have assisted him in the giving of such Counsels and the pursuing of such courses as it is a hard and measuring cast whether they were more unwise more unjust or more unfortunate and which had infallibly been our destruction if by the grace of God their share had not been as small in the subtilty of Serpents as in the innocence of Doves But these were only the Evaporations of some Discontents which that noble Orator had contracted of which more elsewhere Wentworth being called unto this Service was presently made Lord Leiutenant of Ireland and not long after with great solemnity Created Earl of Strafford in the County of York As Lord Lieutenant he had Power to appoint a Deputy that so he might the better attend the Service here without any prejudice to that Kingdom which Office he committed to Wansford a Yorkshire Gentleman and an especial Confident of his whom he had took along with him into Ireland at his first going thither And because great Counsels are carried with most faith and secrecy when they are entrusted but to few his Majesty was pleased to commit the Conduct of the Scottish Businesses to a Iuncto of three that is to say the Archbishop of Canterbury the new Lord Lieutenant and the Marquis of Hamilton which last the other two knew not how to trust and therefore communicated no more of their Counsels to him than such as they cared or feared not to make known to others By these three joyned in Consultations it was conceived expedient to move his Majesty to try his fortune once more in calling a Parliament and in the mean time to command some of the Principal Covenanters to attend his Pleasure at the Court and render an account of their late Proceedings In order to the first they had no sooner signified what they thought fit for his Majesties Service but
amongst the People yet is but in one of our Authors neither who hath no other Author for it then a nameless Doctor And in the way towards so happy an agreement though they all stand accused for it by the English Pope pag. 15. Sparrow may be excused for placing it with Auricular Confession and Wâ—llâ— for for Penance Heylyn for Adoration toward the Altar and Mountague for such a qualified praying to Saints as his books maintain against the Papists If you would know how far they had proceeded towards this happy Reconciliation the Popes Nuncio will assure us thus That the Vniversities Bishops and Divines of this Realm did dayly embrace Catholick Opinions though they profess'd not so much with Pen or Mouth for fear of the Puritans For example they hold That the Church of Rome is a true Church That the Pope is Superiour to all Bishops That to him it appertains to call General Councils That it is lawful to pray for the Soul of the Departed That Altars ought to be erected of Stone In sum That they believe all that is taught by the Church but not by the Court of Rome Another of their Authors tells us as was elsewhere noted That those amongst us of greatest Worth Learning and Authority began to love Temper and Moderation That their Doctrines began to be altered in many things for which their Progenitors forsook the Visible Church of Christ as for example The Pope not Antichrist Prayers for the Dead Limbus Patrum Pictures That the Church hath Authority in determining Controversies of Faith and to interpret Scriptures about Free will Predestination Universal Grace That all our Works are not Sins Merit of Good Works Inherent Iustice Faith alone doth justifie Charity to be preferred before Knowledge The Authority of Traditions Commandments possible to be kept That in Exposition of the Scripture they are by Canon bound to follow the Fathers And that the once fearful Names of Priests and Altars are used willingly in their Talk and Writings In which Compliances so far forth as they speak the truth for in some Points through the ignorance of the one and the malice of the other they are much mistaken there is scarce any thing which may not very well consist with the established though for a time discontinued Doctrine of the Church of England the Articles whereof as the same Iesuit hath observed seem patient or ambitious rather of some sense wherein they may seem Catholick And such a sense is put upon them by him that calls himself Franciscus a Sacta Clara as before was said And if upon such Compliances as those before on the part of the English the Conditions offered by the Pope might have been confirmed Who seeth not that the greatest Benefit of the Reconciliation would have redounded to this Church to the King and People His Majesties Security provided for by the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance so far as it concerned his Temporal Power The Bishops of England to be independent of the Popes of Rome The Clergy to be permitted the use of Marriage The People to receive the Communion in both KINDS and all Divine Offices officiated in the English Tongue No Innovation made in Doctrine but only in the qualifying of some Expressions and discharging some Out-landish Glosses as were put upon them And seeing this What man could be so void of Charity so uncompassionate of the Miseries and Distractions of Christendom as not to wish from the very bottom of his Soul That the Reconciliation had proceeded upon so good Terms as not to magnifie the men to succeeding Ages who were the Instruments and Authors of so great a Blessing But then admitting as we may That no such Reconciliation was upon the Anvil and that our two Discoursers have proceeded only upon Suppositions yet Canterbury had good ground for what he did were it no other than the settling of the Church of England upon the first Principles and Positions of her Reformation But he had further aims than so He had some thoughts and I have reason to believe it by Conferences first and if that failed by the ordinary course of Ecclesiastical Censures of gaining the Papists to the Church and therefore it concerned him in point of Prudence to smooth the way by removing all such Blocks and Obstacles which had been laid before them by the Puritan Faction He knew that from their Infancy they had been trained up in a Regular Order of Devotion and that they loved that Religion best which came accompanied with Decency and External Splendour That they objected nothing more against us than the Novelty of our Doctrine the Heterodoxies maintained in Publick by some of our Preachers the slovenly keeping of our Churches the Irreverence of the People in them the rude and careless slubbering over of our Common Prayers And what Encouragements had they for resorting to the Congregation when they should hear the Pope defamed whom they behâ—ld with Reverence as their Common Father their Ceremonies to be counted Antichristian their Mass â—â—â—latrous their whole Religion worse than that of the Turks and Moors conâ—ormity to whom in Rites and Ceremonies was held to be more tolerable by the Puritan Preachers than to those of Rome These â—ubs were first to be removed before they could have any thoughts of uniting to us And for the removing of those Rubs he â—â—ll up on the courses before-mentioned which being Renovations only of some ancient Usages were branded by the odious name of Innovations by some of those who out of cunning and design had long disused them Some zealous Protestants beheld his Actings with no small fear as byaâ—sing too strongly toward Rome that the Puritans exclaimed against him for a Papist and the Papists cried him up for theirs and gave themselves some flattering hopes of our coming towards them But the most knowing and understanding men amongst them found plainly That nothing could tend more to their destruction than the introducing of some Ceremonies which by late negligence and Practice had been discontinued For I have heard from a Person of known Nobility That at his being at Rome with a Father of the English Colledge one of the Novices came in and told him with a great deal of joy That the English were upon returning to the Church of Rome That they began to set up Altars to Officiate in their Copes to Adorn their Churches and to paint the Pictures of the Saints in the Church Windows To which the old Father made Reply with some indignation That he talked like an ignorant Novice That these Proceedings rather tended to the Ruine than Advancement of the Catholick Cause That by this means the Church of England coming nearer to the ancient Usages the Catholicks there would sooner be drawn off from them than any more of that Nation would fall off to Rome In reference to Doctrinal Points Heterodoxies and new Opinions and such extravagant Expressions both from Press and Pulpit he took as much
supply but in the grant thereof blasted his Majesties Expedition against the Scots whose Cause they resolved to make their own and received thanks from them for that favour in their next Remonstrance Which coming to his Majesties ears on Munday the fourth of May he called his Council together on the next Morning betimes by whose unanimous consent he dissolved the Parliament On Tuesday April 14 the Convocation assembled in the Chapter-house of the Church of St. Paul from whence they waited on his Grace and the rest of the Bishops to hear the Sermon in the Quire The Sermon preacht by Turner Residentiary of the Church His Text was taken out of Mat. 10.16 Behold I send you forth as Sheep in the midst of Wolves which he followed home unto the Purpose In the close of the Sermon he had a passage in these words or to this effect that all the Bishops held not the Reins of Church Discipline with an even hand but that some of them were too easie and remiss in the ordering thereof Whereby though they sought to gain to themselves the popular plause of meekness and mildness they occasionally cast on other Bishops more severe than themselves the unjust imputation of Rigour and Tyranny and therefore he advised them withall with equal strictness to urge an universal Conformity The Sermon ended the Clergy fell to the electing of their Prolocutor as before commanded pitching unanimously on Dr. Richard Steward Clerk of his Majesties Closet and Dean of Chichester to be presented the next day to the Archbishop and the rest of the Prelates in the Chappel of King Henry vii at Westminster to which the Synod was adjourned The next day being come after a Protestation made in writing by the Sub-Dean and Prebendaries of that Church for not acknowledging the Archbishop of Canterbury or the rest of the Bishops to have any Jurisdiction in that place and the admitting of the same for good and valid they were permitted to proceed in their Convocation The business of that day was the presenting of the Prolocutor by Sheldon Warden of All-souls his Admission by the Archbishop and Stewards unwilling readiness to discharge the Office each of them delivering their conceptions in Elegant Latine Speeches as the custome is but the Archbishops longer than both the rest Which Ceremonies being performed his Grace produced a Commission under the Great Seal by which they were enabled according to the said Statute of King Henry viii to propose treat consult and agree upon the Exposition or Alteration of any Canon then in force and upon such new Canons Orders and Constitutions as the said Bishops and Clergy of which the Lord Archbishop to be alwaies one should think â—it necessary and convenient for the honour and service of Almighty God the good and quiet of the Church and the better Government thereof to be performed and kept by the said Archbishops Bishops and the rest of the Clergy in their several places as also by the Dean of the Arches and by all others having Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in the Province of Canterbury and by all other persons within this Realm so far as being Members of this Church they may be concerned Provided alwaies that no such Canons Orders or Constitutions so to be considered on as aforesaid be contrary or repugnant to the Liturgy established or the Rubricks in it or the 39 Articles or any Doctrinal Orders and Ceremonies of the Church of England already established as also that nothing should be done in execution of the same till being exhibited to his Majesty in writing to be allowed approved confirmed and ratified or otherwise disallowed annihilated and made void as he should think fit requisite and convenient and then to be allowed approved and confirmed by Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England Also the said Commission to continue and remain in force during the present Session of Parliament and to expire together with it For the procuring of this Commission as the Archbishop had good reason as well for countenancing and confirming his former Actings as for rectifying many other things which required reformation so had his Majesty as good reasons for the granting of it the grounds whereof contained in his Commission of Iune 13. for confirming all the Acts of this Convocation are to this effect He had been given to understand that many of his Subjects being misled against the Rites and Ceremonies then used in the Church of England had taken offence at the same upon an unjust supposal That they were not only contrary to Law but also introductive unto Popish Superstitions whereas it well appeared unto him upon mature deliberation that the said Rites and Ceremonies which were then so much quarrelled at were not only approved of and used by those godly and learned Divines to whom at the time of the Reformation under King Edward vi the compiling of the Book of Common-Prayer was committed divers of which suffered Martyrdom in Queen Maries daies but also again taken up by this whole Church under Queen Elizabeth Which Rites so taken up had been so duly and ordinarily practiced for a great part of her Reign within the memory of divers living as that it could not then be imagined that there would need any Rule or Law for the observation of the same nor that they could be thought to savour of Popery He found too plainly that since those times for want of an express Rule therein and by the subtle practices of some men the said Rites and Ceremonies began to fall into disuse and in place thereof other Foreign and unfitting usages by little and little to creep in But being he found withal that in the Royal Chappels and in many other Churches most of them had been ever constantly used and observed his Majesty could not but be very sensible of the inconvenience And he had cause also to conceive that the Authors and Fomenters of those Jealousies though they coloured the same with a pretence of zeal and did seem to strike only at some supposed iniquity in the said Ceremonies yet aimed at his Royal Person and would have his good Subjects think that he himself was perverted and did worship God in a superstitious way and that he did intend to bring in some alteration in the Religion here established From which how far he was and how utterly he detested the very thought thereof he had by his many Declarations and upon sundry other occasions given such assurance to the World that no man of wisdom and discretion could ever be so beguiled as to give any serious entertainment to such brainsick Jealousies And as for the weaker sort who were prone to be misled by crafty seducers he alwaies assured himself that as many of them as had loyal or but charitable hearts would from thenceforth utterly banish all such causeless fears and surmises upon those his Sacred Professions so often made as a Defender of the Christian Faith their King and Sovereign He
thought it convenient that a Canon should be prepared to that purpose or not Which being carried in the affirmative without any visible dissent one of the Clerks for the Diocess of Bristol presented a Canon ready drawn for the same effect but drawn in such a commanding and imperious Style that it was disliked by all the company but himself and thereupon a Sub-committeee was appointed to prepare the Canon and make it ready with as much dispatch as they could conveniently Which was no sooner agreed on and the Committee continued for some following business but the Archdeacon of Huntington who was one of the number made his first appearance so extreamly discontented that he was not stayed for and that the business was concluded before he came and earnestly pressing the Prolocutor that the debate might be Resumed or at the least his Reasons might be heard against the Vote which when the Prolocutor upon very good Reasons had refused to yield too he fell upon him with such heats and used him so exceeding coursly that on complaint made thereof and of some other intervening harshness made by the Prolocutor in a full House of the Clergy he was ordered by the far Major part to quit the House though afterwards Restored again on the acknowledgment of his Errour when his heats were down Which Rubb removed the Canon went very smoothly on without opposition commended Generally for the Modesty and Temper of it in which Respect I hold it worthy to be presented to the Reader in its full proportion without any Abbreviation of it as of those before A Declaration concerning some Rites and Ceremonies BEcause it is generally to be wished that Vnity of Faith were accompanied with Vniformity of Practice in the outward Worship and Service of God chiefly for the avoiding the groundless suspicioâ— of those who are weak and the malicious Aspersions of the professed enemies of our Religion the one fearing Innovations the other flattering themselves with a vain hope of our back-sliding unto their Popish Superstition by reason of the situation of the Communion Table and the approaches thereunto the Synod declareth as followeth That the standing of the Communion Table side-way under the East Window of every Chancelâ—or Chappel is in its own nature indifferent neither commanded nor condemned by the Word of God either expresly or by immediate deduction and therefore that no Religion is to be placed therein or scruple to be made thereon And albeit at the time of reforming this Church from the gross superstition of Popery it was carefully provided that all means should be used to roâ—t out of the Minds of the People both the inclination thereunto and memory thereof especially of the Idolatry committed in the Mass for which cause all Popish Altars were demolished yet notwithstanding it was then ordered by the Injunctions and Aâ—vâ—rtisements of Queen Elizabeth of blessed memâ—ry that the holy Table should stand in that place where the Altar stood and accordingly have been continued in the Royal Chappels of three famous and pious Princes and in most Cathedral and some Parochial Churches which doth sufficiently acquit the manner of placing the said Tables from any illegality or just suspicion of Popish Superstition or Innovation And therefore We judge it fit and convenient that all Churches and Chappels do conform themselves in this particular to the example of the Cathedral or mother Churches saving alwaies the general liberty left to the Bishop by Law during the time of the Administration of the holy Communion And We declare that this Situation of the holy Table doth not imply that it is or ought to be esteemed a true and proper Altar whereon Christ is again really sacrificed But it is and may be called an Altar by us in that sense which the Primitive Church called it an Altar and no other And because experience hath shewed us how irreverent the behaviour of many people is in many places some leaning other casting their hats and some sitting upon some standing at and others sitting under the Communion Table in time of Divine Service For the avoiding of these and the like abuses it is thought meet and convenient by this present Synod that the said Communion Table in all Churches or Chappels be decently severed with Rails to preserve them from such or worse prophanations And because the Administration of holy things is to be performâ—d with all possible decency and reverence therefore we judge it fit and convenient according to the word of the Service-Book established by Act of Parliamenâ— Draw near c. that all communicants with an humble reverence shall draw near and approach to the holy Table there to receive the divine mysteries which have heretofore in some places been unfitly carried up and down by the Minister unless it should be otherwise appointed in respect of the incapacity of the place or other inconvenience By the Bishop himself in his Iurisdiction and other Ordinaries respectively in theirs And lastly whereas the Church is the House of God dedicated to his holy Worship and therefore ought to mind us both of the greatness and goodness of his divine Majesty certain it is that the acknowledgment thereof not only inwardly in our hearts but also outwardly with our bodies must needs be pious in it self profitable unto us and edifying unto others We therefore think it very meet and behoveful and heartily commend it to all good and well-affected people Members of this Church that they be ready to tender unto the Lord the said acknowledgment by doing reverence and obeysance both at their coming in and going out of the said Churches Chancels or Chappels according to the most ancient custome of the Primitive Church in the purest times and of this Church also for many years of the Reign of Queen Elizaâ—eth The receiving therefore of this ancient and laudable Custome we heartily commend to the serious consideration of all good People not with any intention to exhibit any Religious Worship to the Communion Table the East or Church or any thing therein contained in so doing or to perform the said Gesture in the Celebration of the holy Eucharist upon any opinion of the Corporal presence of the Body of Christ on the holy Table or in the mystical Elements but only for the advancement of Gods Majesty and to give him alone that honour and glory that is due unto him and no otherwise And in the practice or omission of this Rite we desire that the Rule of Charity prescribed by the Apostle may be observed which is That they which use this Rite despise not them who use it not and that they whâ— use it not condemn not those that use it No sooner was this Declaration passed and sent up to the Lords but on the same day or the next an Address was made to the Prolocutor by the Clerk for Westminster concerning the confusion which hapned in most parts of the Church for want of one uniform body oâ— Articles to be used
himself was fain to call both Houses before him within two daies after there to Explain or rather to Retract so harsh a Title calling them afterwards by the name of his Subjects of Scotland as he used to do which gave the Commons such a sense of their Power and of his Compliance that they resolved to husband both to their best advantage and not so easily to part with their Friends of Scotland as his Majesty first hoped they would The differences might have been agreed at York or Rippon if the Commissioners of the Scots had been as forward as the English but the Scots so delayed them as his Majesty noted in that Speech that it was not possible to end it there The Scots had other work to do besides their own and must be kept in pay at the charge of the English till they had brought his Majesty into such a condition that it was not safe for him to deny them any thing which they had the confidence to require Such a beginning had this long and unhappy Parliament unhappy to the King and to all that loved his Power or Person most men who looked on his Affairs with the eye of Judgment presaging that this thrifâ—y omission of the Publick Pomp in the present Conjunctures would prove as inauspicious to him as the like neglect had done at his Coronation and that this Parliament which began without solemnity would prove a Parliament of sorrows unto him and his With little better Fortune did the Convocation take beginning at S. Pauls Church on the morrow after handselled at their first meeting by the sad news of the Decease of Dr. Neile Archbishop of York which had been brought unto the Town the day before A man he was who had past through all Degrees and Orders in the Church of England and thereby made acquainted with the conveniencies or distresses incident to all conditions He had served the Church as Schoolmaster Curate Vicar Parson Master of the Savoy Dean of Westminster Clerk of the Closet to both Kings successively Bishop of Rochester Lichfield Lincoln Durham and Winchester and finally Archbishop of York in which place he died Many good Offices he had done to the Church and Church-men in his attendance at the Court crossing the Scots in most of their suits their Ecclesiastical Preferments which greedily and ambitiously they hunted after and thereby drawing on himself the general hatred not only of the Scots but Scotizing English But of this Prelate we have spoke so much upon other occasions that we may save the labour of any further addition than that he died as full of years as he was of honours an affectionate Subject to his Prince an indulgent Father to his Clergy a bountiful Patron to his Chaplains and a true friend to all which relied upon him more fortunate in the time of his death than the course of his life in being prevented by that blessed opportunity from seeing those calamities which afterwards fell upon the King the Church and all that wish well to either of them which must have been more grievous to him than a thousand deaths But this bad news retarded not the Convocation from proceeding forwards the Prelates and Clergy attending the Archbishop from the Chapter-house into the Choire where they heard the Sermon Preached at that time by Bargrave then Dean of Canterbury which done the Clergy settled to the choice of a Prolocutor electing the same man who had before discharged the Place with so much dexterity Adjourned to Westminster and Protestation made by the Sub-Dean and Prebends according to the usual custome the Prolocutor was presented to the Archbishop and Bishops in the Chappel of King Henry vii at what time the Archbishop in an eloquent but sad Oration bemoaned the infelicities which he saw hanging over the Church advising every one there present to perform their Duties and not to be wanting to themselves or the cause of Religion as far forth as they were concerned in their several places Nothing more done of any moment in this Convocation but that a motion was made by Warmistre one of the Clerks for the Diocess of Worcester to this effect viz. That they should endeavour according to the Levitical Laws to cover the Pit which they had opened and to prevent their Adversaries intention by condemning such offensive Canons as were made in the last Convocation He had before offered at many things in that Convocation but such was his ill-luck that the Vote was for the most part passed before he spake nor had he better fortune in his motion now than his offers then the Members of that House not being willing to condemn themselves till they were accused So that not having any other way to obtain his purpose he caused a long Speech which he had made upon this occasion to be put in Print bitter enough against some Canons and Proceedings in the former Session but such as could not save him from a Sequestration when the rest of the Clergy were brought under the same condition Whilst these things were acting on the Stage of Westminster the Earl of Strafford was not Idle in acting his part at York amongst the Souldiers whose affections he had gained so far that he was generally beheld with esteem and veneration He had before sufficient proof how strongly the Scots aimed at his destruction expressed in their Remonstrance and the Intentions of their Army as they called the Pamphlet but more especially by the refusal of the Scots Commissioners to hold the Treaty at York and the reasons given for their refusal for in a Paper of theirs presented on October 8. They had insisted on the danger apprehended by them in going to York and casting themselves and others who might be joyned with them into the hands of an Army commanded by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland against whom as a chief Incendiary according to their demands which was the subject of the Treaty it self they resolved to proceed They complained also in that Paper That in the Parliament of Ireland he had proceeded against them as Traitors and Rebels That he honoured them in his common talk with no better Titles That his Commission was to destroy them And that by all means and by all occasions he had hindred all Propositions tending to a Pacification for fear himself might be excluded from the benefit of it He was not without a strong presumption that the Scots were animated unto these Demands and incouraged to invade the Kingdom by some of those which were of greatest Prevalency in both Houses of Parliament And lying so near the Scots in the head of his Army he had not only gained assurance as he conceived in many particulars to confirm it but that there was a Confederacy made between the Heads of the Covenanters and some of the leading Members of both Houses his most Capital Enemies to subject the Government of the Church and innovate in that of the Civil State which Intelligence being digested
grosly abused by the multiplicity of Libellous Pamphlets and my self debarred from wonted access to the best of Princes and it is Vox Populi that I am Popishly affected How earnest I have been in my Disputations Exhortations and otherwise to quench such sparks lest they should become Coals I hope after my death you will all acknowledge yet in the midst of all my afflictions there is nothing 〈◊〉 hath so nearly touched me as the remembrance of your free and joyful acceptance of me to be your Chancellour and that I am now shut up from being able to do you that Service which you might justly expect from me When I first received this honour I intended to have carried it with me to my Grave neither were my hopes any less since the Parliament called by his Majesties Royal Command committed me to this Royal Prison But sith by reason of matters of greater consequence yet in hand the Parliament is pleased to procrastinate my Trial I do hereby as thankfully resign my Office of being Chancellor as ever I received that Dignity entreating you to Elect some Honourable Person who upon all occasions may be ready to serve you and I beseech God send you such an one as may do all things for his glory and the furtherance of â—â—ur most famous Vniversity This is the continual Prayer of Your dejected Friend and Chancellour Being the last time I shall write so Will. Cant. Tower Iune 28 1641. This Resignation having eased him of some part of his cares it was no small refreshment to him in the midst of his sorrows that notwithstanding all the clamour about Innovations the Parliament had made no Order to alter any thing which he had laboured to establish The Commons might perhaps have some thoughts that way but they either kept them to themselves or found but little comfort in them when they suffered them to go abroad or shew themselves in any motion to the House of Lords The Peers were then so far from entertaining any such extravagant Fancies that taking notice of the Irregular Zeal of some forward men who had not patience enough to attend the leisure of Authority they joyned together with the Prelates in this Order of Ianuary 16. for putting a stop to their Exorbitancies at the first breaking out For by that Order it was signified to be the pleasure of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal assembled in the High Court of Parliament That the Divine Service be performed as it is appointed by the Acts of Parliament of this Realm And that all such as shall disturb that wholsom Order shall be severely punished according to the Law And the Parsons Vicars and Curates in the several Parishes shall forbear to introduce any Rites or Ceremonies that may give offence otherwise than those which are established by the Laws of the Land Which last Clause being couched in such general terms related only to such Rites and Ceremonies as otherwise might have been introduced for the time to come not unto such as had been entertained and settled by any former Authority Countenanced and secured by which Declaration the Ordinaries went on chearfully in the exercise of their Jurisdiction suffering no alteration or disturbance to pass unquestioned if any troublesome or unquiet person did begin to stir But no sooner was the Coercive power of Bishops and other Ecclesiastical Judges restrained or rather utterly abolished by the late Act of Parliament and the Kings Journey into Scotland left men and matters at more liberty than before they were but presently the House of Commons took upon them such a Reformation so it must be called in which they neither found concurrence of the House of Peers or could expect it from the King But finding that they were strong enough to set up for themselves without working Journey-work any longer unto either of them they made the following Order of September 8. to be the first Experiment or Essay of their undertakings For though in a Conference had the same day with the Lords they desired their consent therein and that the Lords returned them no other Answer than by sending them the next day being the day of the Recess a Copy of the former Order of Ianuary 16. in which they desired then to concur yet Pym who governed the Committee during that Recess dispatcht his Mandate oâ— the 29 th of the same month over all the Kingdom requiring all Ministers and Churchwardens to publish the said Order in their several Churches to see it put in execution and cause Certificates to be made thereof by the time appointed Which Order being the Leading Card to the Game that followed was verbatim thus viz. WHereas divers Innovations in or about the Worship of God have been lately practised in this Kingdom by enjoyning sâ—me things and prâ—â—â—â—â—â—ng others without warrant of Law to the great grievance and disconâ—ent of his Majesties Subjects For the suppression of such Innovations and for preservation of the Publick Peace It is this day Ordered by the Commons in Parliament assembled That the Churchwardens of every Parish Church or Chappel respectively doth forthwith remove the Communion Table from the East end of the Church Chappel or 〈…〉 some other convenient place and that they take away the 〈…〉 the Chancâ—ls as heretofore they were before the late 〈…〉 That all Crucifixes scandalous Pictures of any one or 〈…〉 of tâ—e Trinity and all Images of the Virgin Mary shall 〈…〉 and aâ—olished and that all Tapers Candlesticks and 〈…〉 from the Communion Table That all Corporal Bâ—w 〈…〉 IESVS or toward the East end of the Church 〈…〉 or towards the Communion Table be henceforth 〈…〉 That the Orders aforesaid be observed in all the several Ca 〈…〉 Churches of this Kingdom and all the Colledges Churches or 〈◊〉 in the two Vniversities or any other part of this Kingdom 〈◊〉 in thâ— Temple Church and the Chappels of other Inns of Court 〈◊〉 the Deaâ—s of the said Cathedral Churches by the Vice-Chancellours of the said Vniversities and by the Heads and Governours of the several Câ—lleâ—ges and Halls aforesaid and by the Benchers and Readers in 〈…〉 Inns â—f Court respectively That the Lords day shall be duly obsâ—râ—ed and sanctified All Dancing or other Sports either before or after Diâ—iâ—e Service be forborne and restrained and that the Preaching 〈…〉 â—â—rd be permitted in the Afternoon in the several Churches and Chappels of this Kiâ—gdom and that Ministers and Preachers be encouâ—â—gâ—d thereunto That the Vice-Chancellours of the Vniversities Heads 〈…〉 Colledges all Parsons Vicars Churchwardens do 〈◊〉 Câ—rtificate of the performance of these Orders and if the same shall 〈◊〉 be observed in any places aforementioned upon complaint therâ—of made to the two next Iustices of the Peace Major and Head-Officers of Cities and Towns Corporate It is ordered That the said Iustices Major and other Head-Officer respectively shall examine the 〈◊〉 of all such complaints and certifie by whose default the same are â—â—mitted All which Certificates are to
him at Hampton-Court with a Petition thereunto annexed within few days after his return In which it was desired amongst other things that he would please to pass an Act for depriving the Bishops of their place and Vote in Parliament which Bill had formerly been cast out of the House of Peers as before was said and was not by the course of Parliaments to be offered again To this Demand and others which concerned Religion he returned this Answer That for preserving the peace and safety of this Kingdom from the designs of the Popish party he had and would still concur with all the just desires of his people in a Parliamentary way That for the depriving of the Bishops of their Votes in Parliament he wisht them to consider that their right was grounded upon the Fundamental Law of the Kingdom and constitution of Parliament That he conceived the taking away of the High Commission had well moderated the Inordinate power of the Clergy but if there continued any usurpations or Excesses in their jurisdictions he then neither had nor would protect them That he would willingly concur in the removal of any illegal Innovations which had crept into the Church That if the Parliament should advise to call a National Synod which might duly Examine such Ceremonies as gave just cause of offence to any he would take it into consideration and apply himself to give due satisfaction therein That he was very sorry to hear Corruptions in Religion to be Objected in such General terms since he was perswaded in his Conscience that no Church could be found upon earth that professed the true Religion with more purity of Doctrine then the Church of England at that time That by the grace of God he was resolved to maintain both the Government and Doctrine of it in their Glory and Purity and not only against all invasions of Popery but from the Irreverence of those many Schismaticks and Separatists wherewith of Late this Kingdom and the City of London did so much abound to the great dishonour and hazard both of Church and State for the suppressing of whom he required their aid and timely assistance This Resolute and Religious Answer did not so satisfie the Commons but that they were Resolved to persue the Enterprize till they had gained the Point they aimed at Some endeavours â—ad formerly been used by the Earl of Essex and the Baron of Kimbolton to perswade the Bishops so far to gratifie the importunate desires of the house of Commons as voluntarily to Relinquish their Votes in Parliament upon assurance that the Peers would be bound in Honour to preserve them in all the essential parts of their calling and Function But the Bishops who had little or nothing left to keep them up in Reputation amongst the People but their Rights of Peerage could not be easily entreated to betray themselves and become Felones de se as the Lawyers Phrase it as long as his Majesty would be pleased to maintain their Interest and in theirs His own Doubly Repulst the Apprentices are drawn in huge multitudes to cry at the Parliament doors No Bishops No Bishops Petitions daily brought against them as the Common Grievances imputing to them the decay of Trade and the obstruction of all businesses in both Houses of Parliament their Persons presented with Revilings and sometimes with stones so that they could neither come out of their Coaâ—â—es if they came by Land nor out of their Barges if they came by water without manifest danger of their lives the Abby of Westminster Violently Assaulted and as Couragiously defended by the Scholars Choiremen Officers and other Servants concluding in the death of Wiseman a Knight of Kent who having taken on himself the Conduct of the Tumult was killed by one of the Defendants with a Tile from the Battlements Hereupon Williams the â—ate Bishop of Lincoln having been translated unto York invites as many of the Bishops as were left in London to a Private Conference to be hâ—ld amongst them in the Lodgings of the Dean of Westminster where they subscribed to a Protestation and Petition to be presented to his Majesty in the House of Peers containing a Relation of the abuses offered them for some days last past together with a Declaration of their sense and meaning for the time to come The Apprehension of their own dangers inclined them willingly to any such course as visibly conduced to the preservation of their Rights as Bishops and their lives as men For both which the subscribing of this Petition and Protestation and the entring of it in the Journal of the House of Lords seems to have provided It was about the middle of Christmas when some of the Bishops were retired into the Countrey others not returned from their Recess and no fewer then five Sees either vacant or not filled Actually at the present so that no more of them met at this Assembly then the Archbishop of York the bishops of Durham Lichfield Glocester Norwich Asaph 〈◊〉 Herâ—ford Oxon Ely Peterborough and Landaff all which subscribed this last preservative for their Place and Persons And being it was the last flash of their dying light I shall not think it improper to keep it from Expiring as long as I can by serving as a Prolâ—nger to it in this present History Now the Petition and Protestation was as followeth WHereas the Petitioners are called up by Several and Respective Writs and under great Penalties to attend the Parliament and have a clear and indubitable right to vote in Bills and other mattâ—â—s whatsoever Debateable in Parliament by the Ancient Customs Laws and Statutes of this Realm and ought to be Protected by your Majesty quietly to attend and prosecute that Great Service They humbly Remonstrate and Protest before God Your Majesty and the Noble Lords and Peers now Assembled in Parliament that as they had an Indubitate Right to sit and Vote in the House of Lords so are they if they may be Protected from force and violence most Willing and Ready to Perform their Duties accordingly And that they do abominate All Actions or Opinions tending to Popery or the maintainance thereof as also all propension and Inclination to any Malignant Party or any other Side or Party whatsoever to the which their own Reasons and Conscience shall not move then to adhere But whereas they have been at several times Violently Menaced Affronted and Assaulted by multitudes of People in their coming to perform their Services in that Honourable House and lately chased away and put in danger of their lives and can find no Redress or Protection upon sundry Complaints made to both Houses in these particulars They humbly prâ—â—est before Your Majesty and the Noble House of Peers That saving unto themselves all their Right and Interess of Sitting and Voting in that House at other times they dare not Sit or vote in the House of Peers until Your Majesty shall further secure them from all Affronts Indignities
the Kingdom At Hull he had a Magazine of Arms and Ammunition provided for the late intended War against the Scots and laid up there when the occasion of that War was taken away Of this Town he intended to possess himself and to make use of his own Arms and Ammunition for his own preservation but coming before the Gates of the Town he was denied entrance by Hoâ—ham who by the appointment of the House of Commons had took charge of that place The Gentry of Yorkshire who had Peâ—â—tioned the King to secure that Magazine became hereby more firmly united to him The like had been done also by the Yeomandry and those of the inferiour sort if his proceedings had not been undermined by a Committee of four Gentlemen all the Members of the House of Commons and all of them Natives of that County sent thither purposely in a new and unprecedent way to lie as Spies upon his Counsels and as Controllers to his Actions Some Messages there were betwixt him and the Houses of Parliament concerning the atoning of these differences whilst he was at York but the nineteen Propositions sent thither to him did declare sufficiâ—â—tly that there was no peace to be expected on his part unless he had made himself a Cypher a thing of no signification in the affairs of State It was desired in the eighth of these Propositions That his Majesty would be pleased to consent to such a Reformation as should be made of the Church Government and Liturgy as both Houses of Parliament should Advise wherein they intended to have Consultation with Divines as was Expressed in their Declaration And that his Majesty would contribute his best assistance to them for the raising of a sufficient maintenance for Preaching Ministers throughout the Kingdom And that his Majesty would be pleased to give his Consent to Laws for taking away of Innovations and Superstitions and of Pluralities and against Scandalous Ministers For satisfaction whereunto he first repeats unto them so much of a former Answer returned to their Petition which accompanied the Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom as hath already been laid down in the year foregoing and after calls to their Remembrance a material clause in his Message of the 14th of February at such time as he yielded his consent to deprive the Bishops of their Votes in Parliament In which it was declared That his Majesty had Observed great and different troubles to arise in the hearts of his people concerning the Government and Liturgy of the Church and therefore that he was willing to refer the whole consideration to the Wisdom of his Parliament which he desired them to enter into speedily that the present Distractions about the same might be composed that he desired not to be pressed to any single Act on his part till the whole was so digested and settled by both Houses that his Majesty might cleerly see what was fit to be left as well as what was fit to be taken away Of which he addeth that he the more hoped for a good success to the general satisfaction of his People because they seemed in their Proposition to desire but a Reformation and not as had been daily Preached for Necessary in those many Coventicles which for the ninteen Months last past had so swarmed in this Kingdom a Destruction of the Present Discipline and Liturgy that he should most cheerfully give his best assistance for raising a sufficient maintenance for Preaching Ministers in such course as should be most for the encouragement of Piety and Learning that to the Bills they mentioned and the Consultation which they intimated as he knew nothing of the particular matters of the one though he liked the Titles of themselves so neither did he of the manner of the other but by an Informer to whom he gave little credit and wisht no man did more Common Fame he could say nothing till he saw them With which general well studied answer he dismissed that Article These Propositions and the entertaining of so many Petitions by the Houses of Parliament visibly tending to the Abolition of Episcopal Government made it appear most necessary in the Eyes of those who wisht well to it to hasten the publishing of such Petitions as had been presented to the King in behalf thereof and by his Majesty had been Ordered to be published accordingly For what could otherwise be expected but that many such Petitions should be presented to his Majesty and both Houses from several Counties in the Kingdom for the preserving of that Government under which this Church had flourished with Peace and Happiness since the Reformation Amongst which none did plead the cause with greater servency then that which was tendred in the name of the Gentry and Clergy of the Diocess of Canterbury partly out of the esteem they had to their Metropolitan and partly out of the affection which they carried to the cause it self In which Petition it was sâ—ewed That notwithstanding this Kingdom hath by the singular Providence of Almighty God for many years last past happily flourished above all other Nations in the Christian World under the Religion and Government by Law Established yet hath it been of late mâ—st miserably disâ—racted through the sinister Practices of some private persons ill affected to them both By whose means the present Government is disgraced and traduced the houses of God are profaned and in part deâ—aced the Ministers of Christ are contemned and despised the Ornaments and many Vtensils of the Church are abused the Liturgie and Book of Common Prayer depraved and neglected That absolute model of Prayer the Lords Prayer vilified the Sacraments of the Gospel in some places unduly administred in other places omitted Solemn days of Fasâ—ing observed and appointed by private Persons Marriages Illegally Solemnized Burials uncharitably performed And the very Fundamentals of Religion subverted by the Publication of a new Creed and teaching the Abrogation of the Moral Law For which purpose many offensive Sermons are daily Preached and many Impious Pamphlets Printed And in contemning of Authority many do what seemeth good in their own Eyes onely as if there were no King nor Government in this our Israel Whereby God is highly provoked his Sacred Majesty dishonoured the Peace of the Kingdom endangered the Câ—nsciences of the People disquieted the Ministry of Gods word disheartned and the Enemies of the Church imboldned in their enterprise For redress whereof May it please this great and Honourable Council speedily to Command a due observation of the Religion and Government by Law Established in such manner as may seem best to the Piety and Wisdom of his Royall Majesty aâ—d this Honourable Court Your Petitioners as they shall confidently expect a blessing from heaven upon this Church and Kingdom so shall they have this further cause to implore the Divine Assistance upon this Honourable Assembly To this Petition there subscribed no fewer then 24 Knights and Baronets Esquires and Gentlemen
Archbishop of Canterbury to the Stake at Oxon. this Covenant and the Makers of it did express no less in bringing the Last Protestant Archbishop to the Block in London For no sooner was this Covenant taken but to let the Scots see that they were in earnest a further impeachment consisting of ten Articles was prepared against him which being digested into Form and Order were to this effect viz. 1. That to introduce an Arbitrary Government and to destroy Parliaments he had caused the Parliament held in the third and fourth year of his Majesty to be dissolved and used many reproachful speeches against the the same 2. That out of an endeavour to subvert the fundamental Laws of the Land he had laboured to advance the power of the Council Table the Canons of the Church and the Kings Prerogative against the said Fundamental Laws and had used several Speeches to the same effect 3. That to advance the Ecclesiastical Power above the Laws of the Land he had by undue means to the Judges procured a stop of his Majesties Writs of Prohibition whereby Justice had been delayed and hindred and the Judges diverted from doing their duties 4. That a judgment being given against one Burly for wilful non-residency he caused execution on it to be staid saying That he would never suffer a Judgment to pass against any Clergy-man by a nihil dicit 5. That he had caused Sir Iohn Corbet of Shropshire to be committed to prison by an Order of the Council Table for calling for the Petition of Right and causing it to be read at the Sessions of the Peace for the County upon just and necessary occasion and had used some other Acts of Injustice toward him 6. That he had supprest the Corporation of Feoffees for buying in Impropriations under pretence of being dangerous to the Church and State 7. That contrary to the known Laws of the Land he had advanced Popery and Superstition within this Realm and to that end had wittingly and willingly harboured divers Popish Priests as Sancta Clara and St. Giles 8. That he had said about four years since there must be a blow given to the Church such as hath not been yet given before it could be brought to Conformity 9. That after the dissolution of the Parliament 1640. he caused a Synod or Convocation to be held and divers Canons to be made therein contrary to the Laws of the Realm the Rights and Priviledges of Parliament c. and particularly the Canon which enjoyns the Oath which he caused many Ministers of the Church to take upon pain of Suspension c. 10. That a Vote having been passed at the Council Table a little before the last Parliment for supplying his Majesty in Extraordinary ways if the said Parliament should prove peevish he wickedly advised his Majesty to dissolve the same telling him not long after that now he was absolved from all Rules of Government and left free to use Extraordinary ways for his supply Such was the substance of the Charge which some intended Chiefly for an Introduction to bring on the Tryal or to revive the noise and clamor amongst Ignorant People which rather judge of such particulars by tale then weight For otherwise there is nothing in these last ten which was not easily reducible to the first fourteen no not so much as his suppressing the Feoffees for Impropriations which seemed most odious in the eyes of any knowing men These Articles being thus digested were sent up to the Lords the 23th of Octob. presented by the hands of Wilde a Serjeant at Law and one of the Members of the House of Commons by whom he was designed to manage the Evidence when the cause was Ready for a hearing on the Receipt whereof it was Ordered that he should appear on that day Sevennight and to bring in his answer in writing to the particular Articles of the several charges which Order being served upon him within few hours after found him not very well provided for a present conformity He had obtained leave at his first Commitment to repair to his Study at Lambeth House and to take thence such Papers and Memorials as might conduce to his defence but all these had been forcibly seazed on and in a manner ravisht from him by Prynne and others which made his case not much unlike to that of the Israelites in the House of Bondage deprived first of their former allowance of Straw and Stubble and yet injoyned to make up their whole tale of Brick as at other times His Rents and Goods were Sequestred for the use of others so that he had not a sufficiency for a poor Subsistence but by the Charity of his Friends much less a superabundance out of which to Fee his Counsel and reward his Solicitors And what were seven days to the drawing up of an Answer unto twenty four Articles most of them having young ones in their bellies also as like to make as Loud a cry as the Dams themselves No way to Extricate himself out of this perplexities but by petitioning the Lords and to them he flys humbly beseeching that Chute and Hearn two able Lawyers might be assigned him for his Counsel that he might be allowed money out of his own Estate to reward them and others for their pains in his business his Books and Papers restored to him for the instruction of his Counsel and his own Defence some of his own Servants to attend him for following all such necessary occasions as the cause required and that a Solicitor and further time might be allowed as well for drawing up his answer as providing witnesses To which this Answer was returned Upon reading of the Petition of the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury this 24th day of Octob. It is Ordered c. that time is given him until Munday the 6th of November next for putting in his answer in writing into this house unto the particular Articles brought up from the House of Commons in maintenance of their former impeachment of High Treason c. That Master Hearn and Master Chute are hereby assigned to be of Counsel for the drawing up of his Answer who are to be permitted to have free access in and out to him That this house doth hereby recommend to the Committee of Sequestrations that the said Lord Archbishop shall have such means afforded him out of his Estate as will enable him to pay his Counsel and defray his other Charges That when his Lordship shall set down particularly what Papers and Writings are Necessary for his Defence that should be restored unto him their Lordships will take it into consideration That upon his Lordships nominating who shall be hiâ— Solicitor the Lords will return their Answer And for the witnesses when a day shall be appointed for his Lordships tryal this House will give such directions therein as shall be juâ—â— This doubtful Answer gave him small assurance of an equal hearing His desired Counsel was allowed him Hales superadded to the