Archbishop knew full well how small a Progress he should make in his Reformation for reducing the French and Dutch to a Communion with the Church of England and the Church of England to it self if London were not brought to some Conformity Which City having a strong influence on all parts of the Kingdom was generally looked on as the Compass by which the lesser Towns and Corporations were to steer their Course the practice of it being pleaded upon all occasions for Vestries Lectures and some other Innovations in the State of the Church And to this nothing more concurred than that the Beneficed Clergy being but meanly provided for were forced to undertake some Lectures or otherwise to connive at many things contrary to their own Judgment and the Rules of the Church in hope that gaining the good will thereby of the Chief of their Parishes they might be gratified by them with Entertainments Presents and some other helps to mend their Maintenance The Lecturers in the mean time as being Creatures of the People and depending wholly on the Purse of the wealthier Citizens not only overtopped them in point of Power and Reputation but generally of Profit and Revenue also Not that these Lecturers were maintained so much by the Zeal and Bounty of their Patrons as by a general Fraud which for many years last past had been put upon the Regular Clergy by the diminishing of whose just Dues in Tythes and Offerings such Lecturers and Trencher-Chaplains had been fed and cherished For the better understanding whereof we are to know That in the year 1228. Roger Niger Bishop of London ordained by a Synodical Constitution That the Citizens should pay of every pounds Rent by the year of all Houses Shops c. the Sum of 3 s. 5 d. as time out of mind had formerly been paid Which 3 s. 5 d. did arise from the Offerings upon every Sunday and thirty of the principal Holydays in the same year after the Rate of one halspeny for every twenty shillings Rent of their Houses Shops c. This Order of Roger Niger remaining in force till the year 1397. and the Câ—â—â—gy being kept to such Rates for the Rents of Houses as at the first making of the same it was decreed by Thomas Arundell then Bishop of Canterbury That as the Rent increased so the Offerings or Tythes should increase also That the said Order should be read in every Parish-Church four times in the year and a Curse laid upon all those who should not obey it Confirmed by Pope Innocent vii and Nicholas v. with a Proviso That the said Oblations should be paid according to the true yearly value of the Shops and Houses It so remained until the twenty fifth year of Henry viii at what time many of the former Holydays being abrogated by the Kings Authority the yearly Profit of the Clergy found a great abatement the greater in regard of the variances which arose betwixt them and their Parishioners about the payment of their Dues the People taking the advantage of some Disorders which the Clergy at that present had been brought unto by acknowledging the King for the Supream Head of the Church of England Upon this variance a Complaint is made unto the King who refers the whole matter to Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury Audley Lord Chancellor Gardiner Bishop of Winton Cromwell Chief Secretary of Estate Fitz-Iames and Norwich Chief Justices of the several Benches by whom it was concluded That from thenceforth 2 s. 9 d. only should be paid out of every pound for the Rents of Houses Shops c. And to this Order the Citizens did not only consent as they had good reason but bound themselves by an Act of Common Council to perform the same the said Decree confirmed by Act of Parliament in the twenty seventh and afterwards in the thirty seventh of that King with a power given to the Lord Mayor to commit to Prison every person whatsoever who should not pay his Tythes and Dues according to that Proportion But contrary to the true intent and meaning of the said Decrees and the several Acts of Parliament which confirmed the same the covetous and unconscionable Landlords who had the Fee-simple or some long Leases at the least of such shops and houses devised many base and fraudulent waies to put a cheat upon the Law and abuse the Clergie reserving some small sum in the name of a Rent and covenanting for other greater Sums to be paid quarterly or half yearly in the name of Fines Annuities Pensions Incomes Interest money c. Finding these Payments so conditioned and agreed upon to be too visible a cheat some were so wise as to take their Fines in gross when they sealed their Leases some inconsiderable Rent being charged upon them others so cunning as to have two Leases on foot at the same time one at a low contemptible Rent to gull the Incumbent of his dues the other with a Rent four or five times as great to keep down the Tenant and some by a more cleanly kind of conveyance reserving a small Rent as others did caused their Tenants to enter into several bonds for the payment of so much money yearly with reference to the term which they had in their Leases By which Devises and deceits the house-Rents were reduced to so low a value that some Aldermen who do not use to dwell in Sheds and Cottages could be charged with no more than twenty shillings for a whole years Tythe the Rent reserved amounts after that proportion but to seven pounds yearly The Clergie by the Alteration of Religion had lost those great advantages which had before accrued unto them by Obits Mortuaries Obventions to the Shrines and Images of some special Saints Church Lands and personal Tythes according to mens honest gain which last was thought to have amounted to more than the Tythe of houses Being deprived of the one and abused in the other they were forced in the sixteenth of King Iames Anno 1618. to have recourse to the Court of Exchequer by the Barons whereof it was declared that according to the true intent of the said Acts the Inhabitants of London and the Liberties thereof ought to pay the Tythe of their houses shops c. after the rate of two shillings nine pence in the pound proportionable to the true yearly value of the Rent thereof In order whereunto it was then ordered by the Court that a Shed which had been built and made a convenient dwelling house should pay twenty four shillings nine pence yearly in the name of a Tythe as was afterwards awarded by Sir Henry Yelverton upon a reference made unto him that one Rawlins who paid forty shillings yearly to his Landlord in the name of a Rent and twelve pound by the name of a fine should from thenceforth pay his Tythe to the Incumbent of the Parish in which he dwelt after the rate of fourteen pound yearly This and the like Arbitrements about that time
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
at the Cross preached by the eloquent and religious Prelate Dr. Iohn King Lord Bishop of London The Sermon being ended the Collation began His Majesty attended with all the Lords and the rest of his Train being entertained by the said Lord Bishop at a sumptuous Banquet with no less honour to himself than content to his Majesty But there was more intended by this Visit than Pomp and Ostentation only For his Majesty having taken a view of the Ruinous Estate in which he beheld that goodly Fabrick issued not long after a Commission for repair thereof and somewhat was done in it both by Bishop King and Bishop Mountain But the carrying one of this work was reserved to another man For a breach following not long after between Spain and England and wars soon following on that breach a stop was made to all proceedings in that work till the year 1631. At what time Laud being Bishop of London obtained a like Commission from the hands oâ— King CHARLES and set his heart so much upon it that in few years he had made a mighty Progress in it of which more hereafter And here it was once feared that this present History might have ended without going further for on the second of April as he past from London towards Oxon he took up his Inn at Wickam upon the Rode where he fell suddenly dead and was not without much diffâ—culty and Gods special favour restored unto his former being But God reserved him to a life more eminent and a death more glorious not suffering him to dye obscurely like a traveller in a Private Inn but more conspicuously like a Martyr on the Publick Theatre for on the 22. of Ianuary he was installed Prebend in the Church of Westminster after no less than ten years expectation of it And on the last of the same Month he sate as Dean of Glocester in the Convâ—cation The Prince Elector Palatine who married the Kings only Daughter in the year 1612. had the last year most inconsiderately took upon him the Crown of Bohemiah not taking with him the Kings Counsel in it as he might have done but giving him an account oâ— it on the Post-Fact only The Emperour exasperated with this Usurpation as by him reputed gave up his Country for a prey assigning the Electoral Dignity with the Upper Palatinate to the Duke of Bavaria and the Lower to the King of Spain who had possest themselves of divers good Towns and pieces in it For the recovery whereof and the Preservation of the rest in which his Daughter and her Children were so much concerned it pleased his Majesty to call a Parliament to begin on the thirtieth day of Ianuary accompanied with a Convocation as the custom is on the morrow after The business of their Conveening being signified unto them by the King the Parliament at their first sitting which ended March 27. bestowed upon his Majesty two Subsidies but they gave no more which rather served to stay his stomach than allay his hunger They had some turns to serve upon him before they would part with any more money if they did it then But the Clergy dealt more freely with him in their Convocation because they had no other ends in it than the expressing of their duty and good affections In testimony whereof they gave him three entire Subsidies of four shillings in the pound at their first sitting and would not have been wanting to his Majesty in a further addition in the second or third if his Majesty had required it of them Incouraged with which supplies and the hopes of greater he sent some Regiments of old English Souldiers for the defence and preservation of the Lower Palatinate under the Command of that Noble Souldier Sir Horatio Vere When the Commons bestowed upon him the said two Subsidies he took them only as a bit to stay his stomach as before was said giving himself some hopes that at the next Session they would entertain him with a better and more costly dinner but then they meant that he should pay the reckoning for it For at their reassembling on the seventeenth of April instead of granting him the supplies he looked for they fell to pick quarrels with his Servants and one of his chief Ministers of State not only questioning Sir Giles Mompesson and Sir Francis Michael but even the Lord Chancellor Bacon also These men supposing them to have been as criminal as their enemies made them were notwithstanding such as acted under his Commissions and therefore not to have been punished by his own Authority only The giving of them over to the Power of the Parliament not only weakened his own Prerogative but put the House of Commons upon such a Pin that they would let no Parliament pass for the times to come without some such Sacrifice And so foll Bacon Lord Chancellor of England Lord Verulan and Viscount of St. Albans a man of good and bad qualities equally compounded one of a most strong brain and a Chimical head designing his endeavors to the perfecting of the Works of Nature or rather improving Nature to the best advantages of life and the common benefit of mankind Pity it was he was not entertained with some liberal Salary abstracted from all affairs both of Court and Judicature and furnished with sufficiency both of means and helps for the going on in his design which had it been he might have given us such a body of Natural Philosophy and made it so subservient to the publick good that neither Aristotle nor Theophrastus amongst the Ancients nor Paracelsus or the rest of our later Chimists would have been considerable In these Agitations held the Parliament till the fourth of Iune without doing any thing in order to his Majesties Service who thereupon adjourned them till the fourteenth of November following before which time we find Laud mounted one step higher and ready to take place amongst the Bisâ—ops in the House of Peers And therefore here we will conclude the first Part of our present History THE LIFE OF The most Reverend FATHER in GOD WILLIAM Lord Archbishop of Canterbury LIB II. Extending from his being made Bishop of St. Davids till his coming to the See of Bath and Wells IT is an observation no less old than true that Patience and Perseverance overcome all difficulties And so it hapned unto Laud. He had with most incredible patience endured the baffles and affronts which were put upon him by the power and practises of his enemies Nor did he shew less patience in his so long and chargeable attendance at the Court for which he had so small regard that he was rather looked upon as the Bishop of Durhams Servant than the Kings But notwithstanding these cross winds he was resolved to ride it out neither to shift his sails nor to tack about but still to keep his way and to stem the current till he had gained the Port he aimed at His Majesty had been made acquainted by
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
the execution of such penal Laws as were made against them The People hereupon began to cry out generally of a Toleration and murmur in all places against the King as if he were resolved to grant it And that they might not seem to cry out for nothing a Letter is dispersed abroad under the name oâ— Archbishop Abbot In this Letter his Majesty is told That by granting any such Toleration he should set up the most damnable and Heretical Doctrine of the Church of Rome the whore of Babylon That it would be both hateful to God grievous to his good Subjects and contradictory to his former Writings in which he had declared their Doctrines to be Superstitious Idolatrous and detestable That no such toleration could be granted but by Parliament only unless it were his purpose to shew his people that he would throw down the Laws at his pleasure That by granting such a Toleration there must needs follow a discontinuance of the true Profession of the Gospel and what could follow thereupon but Gods heavy wrath and indignation both on himself and all the Kingdom That the Prince was not only the Son of his Flesh but the Son of his People also and therefore leaves him to consider what an errour he had run into by sending him into Spain without the privity of his Council and consent of his Subjects And finally That though the Princes return might be safe and prosperous yet they that drew him into that dangerous and desperate Action would not scape unpunished This was the substance of the Letter whosoever was the Writer of it For Abbot could not be so ill a Statesman having been long a Privy Councellour as not to know that he who sitteth at the Helm must stear his course according unto wind and weather And that there was a very great difference betwixt such personal indulgencies as the King had granted in that case to his Popish Subjects and any such Publick Exercise of their Superstitions as the word Toleration doth import and howsoever that it was a known Maxime in the Arts of Government that necessity over-rules the Law and that Princes many times must act for the publick good in the infringing of some personal and particular rights which the Subjects claim unto themselves Nor could he be so ignorant of the Kings affections as to believe that the King did really intend any such toleration though possibly he might be content on good reason of State that the people should be generally perswaded of it For well he knew that the King loved his Soveraignty too well to quit any part thereof to the Pope of Rome and consequently to part with that Supremacy in Ecclesiastical matters as needs he must have done by a Toleration which he esteemed the fairest Flower in the Royal Garland In which respect King Iames might seem to be made up of Caesar and Pompey as impatient of enduring an equal as of admitting a Superiour in his own Dominions Or had he been a greater stranger at the Court than can be imagined yet could he not be ignorant that it was the Kings chief interest to preserve Religion in the same state in which he found it and could not fear but that he would sufficiently provide for the safety of it Upon which Premises it may be rationally inferred that Abbot was only the reputed Author of this Bastard Letter and not the natural Parent of it Nor was the Toleration more feared by the English Protestants than hoped for by the Papists here and presumed by the Pope himself In confidence whereof he nominated certain Bishops to all the Episcopal Sees of England to exercise all manner of Jurisdiction in their several and respective Diocesses as his false and titular Bishops did in the Church of Ireland The intelligence whereof being given to the Jesuites here in England who feared nothing more than such a thing one of them who formerly had free access to the Lord Keeper Williams acquaints him with this mighty secret assuring him that he did it for no other reason but because he knew what a great exasperation it would give the King and consequently how much it would incense him against the Catholicks Away with this Intelligence goes the Lord Keeper to the King who took fire thereat as well as he and though it was somewhat late at night commanded to go to the Spanish Embassadour and to require him to send unto the King his Master to take some course that those proceedings might be stopt in the Court of Rome or otherwise that the Treaty of the Match should advance no further The Lord Keeper finds the Embassadour ready to send away his Pacquet who upon hearing of the news commanded his Currier to stay till he had represented the whole business in a Letter to the King his Master On the receiving of which Letter the King imparts the same to the Popes Nuncio in his Court Who presently sends his dispatches to the Pope acquainting him with the great inconveniences and unavoidable dangers of this new design which being stopt by this device and the Treaty of the Match ending in a rupture not long after the same Jesuite came again to the Lord Keepers Lodging and in a fair and facetious manner thanked him most humbly for the good office he had done for that Society for breaking and bearing off which blow all the friends they had in Rome could find no buckler Which Story as I heard from his Lordships own mouth with no small contentment so seemed he to be very well pleased with the handsomness of the trick which was put upon him Laud was not sleeping all this while It was not possible that a man of such an Active Spirit should be out of work and he had work enough to do in being the Dukes Agent at the Court The Marquiss was made Duke of Buckingham at his being in Spain to make him more considerable in the eye of that Court and this addition to his honours was an addition also to that envy which was borne against him Great Favourites have for the most part many enemies such as are carefully intent upon all occasions which may be made use of to supplant them Which point the Duke had so well studied that though he knew himself to be a very great Master of the Kings affections yet was he apprehensive of the disadvantages to which this long absence would expose him It therefoâ—e concerned him nearly to make choice of some intelligent and trusty friend whom he might confide in and he was grown more confident of Laud than of any other from whom he might receive advertisement of all occurrences and such advice as might be most agreeable to the complexion of affairs Nor did it happen otherwise than he expected for long he had not been in Spain when there were many fearings of him in the Court of England many strange whisperings into the ears of the King concerning the abuse of his Royal Favours the general
against the like Instructions in the time of King Iames and the late Declaration published by the King reigning For what less could be aimed at in them than suppressing the Divine Ordinance of Preaching or at the least a dreadful diminution of the number of Sermons And what could follow thereupon but negligence in the Priests ignorance in the People Popery and Superstition in the mean time gaining ground on both Spending the afternoons in teaching the Catechism was a work fitter for a Pedagogue than a preaching Minister who rather were ordained to provide strong meats for men than milk for babes and yet such was the strictness of the said Instructions in looking to the observance of the late Declaration that they were not suffered to set strong meats before the people though men of ripe years and somewhat more than children in their understandings Preaching must be restrained hereafter to Gods Will revealed to Faith in Christ and Moral duties toward God and men but as for his secret Will and Purpose in the unfathomable depths of Predestination those must be kept sealed up under lock and key and none but the Arminians have the opening of them And yet the grief had been the less if Lecturers had been left to their former liberty and not tied up to Gown and Surplice or fettered with Parochial cures and consequently with Subscriptions and Canonical Oaths badges of Antichrist and professed enemies to the pure Freedom of the Gospel Where might a man repair with comfort to hear Gods Word preached in truth and simplicity the Sacraments administred in their original nakedness to hear Christ speaking in his Prophets and the Prophets speaking to the People if this world went on But notwithstanding these secret Murmurs on the one side and the open Clamours of the other Laud was resolved to do his duty who summoning all the Ministers and Lecturers about the City of London to appear before him made a solemn Speech in which he pressed the necessity of his Majesties said Instructions for the good of the Church and of their chearful obedience to them He directed Letters also to every Archdeacon in his Diocess requiring them to see them published to all the Clergy and to give him an exact account at the end of their Visitations how they were observed especially insisting on the third Instruction For keeping the Kings Declaration that so the differences and disputes in those prohibited points might be laid aside The like care taken also by the rest of the Bishops but slackning by degrees when the heat was over and possibly in short time after they had not been looked into at all if Abbot had continued longer in the See of Canterbury or that his Majesty had not enjoyned the Bishops to give him an exact account of their proceedings in the said particulars not once for all but Annually once in every year on the second of Ianuary Which care being taken for the peace and happiness of the Church of England we will lay hold upon this opportunity for crossing over into Ireland and taking a short view of the state of Religion in that Country which from henceforth shall be lookt into more than hath been formerly Concerning which we are to know that when the Reformation was advanced in the Church of England the first care was to let the people have the Bible the publick Liturgie and certain godly Homilies in the English tongue as appeareth by the Statutes 2 3. Edw. vi 5 6. Edw. vi and 1 Eliz. Secondly The like care was taken of the Welch For whose Instruction it was further ordered partly by the Queen and partly by Act of Parliament in the fifth of her Reign that as well the Bible as the Common-Prayer Book should be Translated Printed and Published in that Language one Book of each sort to be provided for every several Church at the Charge of the Parish Which being Printed at the first in the large Church-Volume was afterwards reduced to a more portable bulk for Domestical uses by the cost and charge of Rowland Heylyn Citizen and Alderman of London about the beginning of the Reign of this King But for Ireland no such care was taken The Acts of the Supremacy and of the Consecrations of Archbishops and Bishops were received there as before in England the English Liturgie imposed on them by order from hence and confirmed by Parliament in that Kingdom Which notwithstanding not only the Kernes or natural wild Irish but many of the better sort of the Nation either remain in their old barbarous ignorance or else adhere unto the Pope or finally to their own superstitious fancies as in former times And to say truth it is no wonder that they should there being no care taken to instruct them in the Protestant Religion either by translating the Bible or the English Liturgy into their own Language as was done in Wales but forcing them to come to the English Service which they understood no more than they did the Mass. By means whereof the Irish are not only kept in continual ignorance as to the Doctrine and Devotions of the Church of England but those of Rome are furnished with an excellent argument for having the Service of the Church in a Language which the Common people understand not And though somewhat may be pleaded in excuse thereof during the unquietness of that Kingdom under Queen Elizabeth who had the least part of it in her possession yet no sufficient plea can be made in defence of it for the time succeeding when the whole Country was reduced and every part thereof lay open to the course of Justice So that I cannot look upon it without great amazâ—mâ—nt that none of the Bishops of that Church should take care herein or recommend the miserable condition of that people to tâ—e Court of England Now as Popery continued by this means in the Realm of Ireland so Calvinism was as strongly rooted in that part thereof which professed the Doctrine and Religion of the Church of England And touching this we are to know also that the Calvinian Doctrines being propagated in both Universities by such Divines as lived in exile in Queen Maries time one Peter Baroe a Frenchman obtained to be the Lady Margarets Professor in the Divinity Scâ—ools at Cambridge This man approving better the Melancthonian Doctriâ—â— of Predestination than that of Calvin publickly taught it in tâ—ose Schools and gained in short time very many followers Whitaker was at that time her Majesties Professor for Divinity there and Perkins at the same time was of no small note both Calvinists in these points of Doctrine and both of them supralapsarians also Betwixt these men and Baroe there grew some disputes which afterwards begat some heats and those heats brake out at last into open Factions Hereupon Whitaker Perkins Chaderton and others of the same opinion thought it expedient to effect that by power which they were not able to obtain by Argument And to that end
and suppressing Downham's Book he might be made as sensible of his Error in writing the aforesaid History as if his own had been made subject to the like condemnation His Majesty therefore gives him Order by Letters bearing date at Woodstock August 24. the next day after the said Sentence of Thorn Hodges c. to call in Bishop Downham's Book who thereupon sent out Warrants and caused all the Books that were unsent into England to be seised on But so long it was before the King had notice of it and so long after that before his Letters came to the Lord Primates hands which was not till the fifteenth of October following that almost all the Copies were dispersed in England and Ireland before the coming out of the Prohibition And for preventing of the like for the time to come a Command is laid on Beadle Bishop of Killmore which sheweth that Vsher was not thought fit to be trusted in it to have an eye unto the Press and to take care that nothing hereafter should be published contrary to his Majesties said Directions So Beadle in his Letter to the Bishop of London dated November 8. 1631. Which care being taken for the Peace of that Church and nothing else presented to us on that side of the Sea to detain us any longer there we will hoise Sail again for England where we finde more Work More Work indeed and far the greatest not only of this present year but the greatest of this Bishops Life A Work before in project but in project only None had the Courage or the Power to carry it on so far as he He could not rest under the shade of those vast Ruines of St. Paul's Church his own Cathedral without continual thought and some hopes withal of repairing those deformities in it which by long time had been contracted Of the first Founding of this Church by Ethelbert King of Kent the first Christian King and the sixth Monarch of the Saxons and the Enlargement of the same by Erkenwald the fourth Bishop of it we have spoke already And now we are to know That their old Fabrick being much wasted by Fire in the time of the Conqueror Mauritius then Bishop of London Anne 1083. began the Foundation of that most magnificent Pile now standing viz. all the Body of the Church with the South and North cross Isles Toward which Work he made use of a great part of the Materials of the old Palatine Castle standing in the same place where the Covent of the Black-Friars was after built great part whereof had perished by the same Fire also But the Foundations which this worthy Bishop had laid being sutable to his mind were so vast as the Historian observes That though he prosecuted the Work twenty years he left the performing thereof to the care of Posterity amongst which none more transcendently aâ—fected to this business than his next Successor Richard Beaumis who bestowed the whole Revenue of his Bishoprick upon it supporting himself and his Family by other means And after him some other Bishops succeeding between them that Richard who was Treasurer to King Henry ii being made Bishop of London in the first year of King Richard bestowed great Sums of Money in the Reparation of this Church and the Episcopal Houses which belonged unto it But all this Charge was principally laid out on the main Body of the Church and the Crossed Isles thereof the Choire not holding Proportion with so vast a Structure So that resolving to make it fairer and more capacious than before they began with the Steeple which was finished in Anno 1221. 5 Hen. 3 In which year the Dedication of it was celebrated with great magnificence the King himself Otho the Popes Legate Edmond Archbishop of Canterbury Roger sirnamed Niger then Bishop of London a chief Advancer of the Work with five other Bishops besides infinite multitudes of the Nobility Gentry Citizens and others of the Common People from all parts of the Land being present at it Nor is it to be thought that the Charges of that stately and magnificent Structure was supported by the Bishops only or issued out of such Revenues as belonged unto the Dean and Chapter but that the Clergy and People generally both of England and Ireland contributed largely to the Work the People of those Times out of their Devotion to Gods Service being easily incited to further all Works of this nature as occasion offered And this appears by the sundry Letters of several Bishops of both Nations to the Clergy under their Jurisdiction for recommendation of that business to their particular Congregations many of which are extant still upon Record Nor were the People stirred on only by the sollicitation of their Priests or the exhortatory Letters of their several Prelates but by the grants of such Indulgences and relaxation from their several and respective Penances which in those Letters were extended unto all sorts of People who with a chearful heart and liberal hand did promote the Service By means whereof some men contributed Materials others sent in Money and many Masons Carpenters and other Artificers who were to labour in the Work bestowed their pains and toil upon it for less consideration and reward than in other Buildings Besides which Henry de Lacy Earl of Lincoln is said to have been a principal Benefactor to that part of it which was then called the New-Work in a Chappel whereof dedicated to St. Dunstan we find his body to be interred And so was Ralph de Baldock also both while he was Dean and when he was Bishop of this Church whose Body was also buried in another part of the New-Work called Our Ladies Chappel But this vast Pile the Work of so long time and so many Ages was on the fourth of Iune Anno 1561. in danger to be suddenly consumed by a violent Fire beginning in the Steeple and occasioned by the negligence of a Plummer who left his pan of coals unquench'd at his going to dinner A Fire so violent that in the space of few hours it consumed not only the Steeple where it first began but did spread it self to the upper Roof of the Church and Isles totally burning all the Rafters and whatsoever else was of combustible nature The Queen knew well as well as any that the Revenues of that Church were so dilapidated that neither the Bishops themselves nor the Dean and Chapters were able to repair the least part of those Ruines which the Fire had made And thereupon out of a deep apprehension of that lamentable Accident forthwith directed her Letters to the Lord Mayor of London requiring him to make some speedy Order for its repair and to further the Work gave out of her Purse 1000 Marks in Gold as also a Warrant for 1000 Load of Timber to be taken out of her Woods and elsewhere Nor were the Citizens slack herein for having given a large Benevolence they added three whole Fifteens to be speedily
about it Maxwell applying himself to Laud then Bishop of London from whom he received this positive Answer That if his Majesty would have a Liturgie setled there different from what they had already it was best to take the English Liturgie without any variation from it that so the same Service-Book might pass through all his Majesties Dominions Maxwell replying That the Scottish Bishops would be better pleased to have a Liturgie of their own but such as should come near the English both in Form and Matter the Cause was brought before the King who on a serious consideration of all Particulars concurred in Judgment for the English And on these terms it stood till this present year Laud standing hard for admitting the English Liturgie without alteration the Scottish Bishops pleading on the other side That a Liturgie made by themselves and in some things different from the English Service would best please their Countrymen whom they found very jealous of the least dependence on the Church of England But because Letters writtten in the time of Action are commonly conceived to carry more truth in them than Relations made upon the post-fact for particular ends take here this short Remembrance in one of his Letters to the Earl of Traquaire dated September 11. 1637. where we find this Passage And since saith he I hear from others That some exception is taken because there is more in that Liturgie in some few particulars than is in the Liturgie of England Why did they not admit the Liturgie of England without more ado But by their refusal of that and the dislike of this 't is more than manifest they would have neither and perhaps none at all were they left to themselves But besides this there was another Invitation which wrought much upon him in order to the present Journey At his first coming to the Crown the great Engagements then upon him want of Supply from England and small help from Scotland forced him to have recourse to such other ways of assistances as were offered to him of which this was one In the Minority of King Iames the Lands of all Cathedral Churches and Religious Houses which had been setled on the Crown by Act of Parliament were shared amongst the Lords and great men of that Kingdom by the connivence of the Earl of Murrey and some other of the Regents to make them sure unto that side And they being thus possessed of the same Lands with the Regalities and Tythes belonging to those Ecclesiastical Corporations Lorded it with Pride and Insolence enough in their several Territories holding the Clergy to small Stipends and the poor Peasant under a miserable Vassalage and subjection to them not suffering them to carry away their nine parts till the Lord had carried off his Tenth which many times was neglected out of pride and malice those Tyrants not caring to lose their Tythe so that the poor mans Crop might be left unto spoil and hazard King Iames had once a purpose to revoke those Grants but growing into years and troubles he left the following of that Project to his Son and Successor Having but little help from thence to maintain his Wars by the Advice of some of the Council of that Kingdom he was put upon a course of resuming those Lands Tythes and Regalities into his own hand to which the present Occupants could pretend no other Title than the unjust Usurpation of their Predecessors This to effect he resolves upon an Act of Revocation Commissionating for that purpose the Earl of Annandale and the Lord Maxwell afterwards Earl of Niddisdale to hold a Parliament in Scotland for Contribution of Money and Ships against the Duynkirkers and arming Maxwell also with some secret Instructions for passing the said Act of Revocation if he found it feasible Being on the way as far as Barwick Maxwell was there informed That his chief errand being made known had put all at Edenborough into Tumult That a rich Coach which he had sent before to Dalkeith was cut in pieces the poor Horses killed the People seeming only sorry that they could not do so much to the Lord himself Things being brought unto this stand the King was put to a necessity of some second Counsels amongst which none seemed more plausible and expedient to him than that of Mr. Archibald Achison who from a puisne Judge in Ireland was made his Majesties Procurator or Solicitor-General in the Kingdom of Scotland who having told his Majesty That such as were Estated in the Lands in question had served themselves so well by the bare naming of an Act of Revocation as to possess the People whom they found apt to be inflamed on such Suggestions That the true intendment of that Act was to revoke all former Laws for suppressing of Popery and settling the Reformed Religion in the Kirk of Scotland And therefore That it would be unsafe for his Majesty to proceed that way Next he advised That instead of such a General Revocation as the Act imported a Commission should be issued out under the Great Seal of that Kingdom for taking the Surrendries of all such Superiorities and Tythes within the Kingdom at his Majesties Pleasure And that such as should refuse to submit unto it should be Impleaded one by one to begin first with those whom he thought least able to stand out or else most willing to conform to his Majesties Pleasure Assuring him That having the Laws upon his side the Courts of Iustice must and would pass Iudgment for him The King resolved upon this course sends home the Gentleman not only with Thanks and Knighthood which he had most worthily deserved but with Instructions and Power to proceed therein and he proceeded in it so effectually to the Kings Advantage that some of the impleaded Parties being cast in the Suit and the rest seeing that though they could raise the People against the King they could not raise them against the LaWs it was thought the best and safest way to compound the business Hereupon in the year 1630. Commissioners are sent to the Court of England and amongst others the Learned and right Noble Lord of Marcheston from whose mouth I had this whole Relation who after a long Treaty with the King did at last agree That the said Commission should proceed as formerly and That all such Superiorities and Tythes as had been or should be surrendred should be re-granted by the King on these Conditions First That all such as held Hereditary Sheriffdoms or had the Power of Life and Death over such as lived within their Iurisdiction should quit those Royalties to the King Secondly That they should make unto their Tenants in their several Lands some permanent Estates either for their Lives or one and twenty years or some such like Term that so the Tenants might be encouraged to Build and Plant and improve the Patrimony of that Kingdom Thirdly That some Provisions should be made for augmenting the Stipends of the
and not Absolved before he make a publick Revocation of his Error Such was the Canon passed in this Convocation for the approbation and reception of the Articles of the Church of England Which Canon was no sooner passed confirmed and published but the Primate and his Party saw the danger which they had cast themselves into by their inadvertency and found too late That by receiving and approving the English Articles they had abrogated and repealed the Irish. To salve this sore it concerned them to bestir themselves with their utmost diligence and so accordingly they did For first the Primate and some Bishops of his opinions required subscription to the Articles of both Churches of all such as came to be ordained at the next Ordination But it went no further than the next for if the Papists made it a matter of Derision to have three Confessions in the three Churches of his Majesties Kingdoms How much more matter must it give them of scorn and laughter that there should be two different Confessions in the same Church and both subscribed unto but as one and the same The Primate next applies himself to the Lord Deputy beseeching him that the former Articles might receive a new Ratification by Act of Parliament for preventing all innovations in the Religion there established But he found but little comfort there the Lord Deputy threatning to cause the said Confession to be burnt by the hand of the hangman if at the least the Scots Commissioners may be believed amongst whose Articles against him I find this for one Finding no better hopes on that side of the Sea he dispatcheth his Letters of Advice to his Friends in England one to an Honourable Person amongst the rest assuring them that though by a Canon passed in that Convocation they had received and approved the Articles of England yet that the Articlers of Ireland were ever called in might well be reckoned for a fancy The like affirmed in a Certificate made by Bernard and Pullen two Members of the Lower House in this Convocation where it is said That whosoever do aver that the said Articles were abolished are grosly mistaken and have abused the said Convocation in delivering so manifest an untruth And to back this another Certificate must be gained from one who comes commended to us under the Title of a most eminent judicious and learned person who having considered of the matter Conceives that both Confessions were consistent and that the Act of the Synod was not a Revocation of the Irish Articles but an approbation of the English as agreeing with them But all this would not serve the turn or save those Articles from being brought under a Repeal by the present Canon For first it appeareth by the Canon That they did not only approve but receive the Articles of the Church of England Their approbation of them had they gone no further had been a sufficient manifestation of their agreement with the Church of England in the Confession of the same Protestant Religion But their receiving of the same doth intimate a superinducing of them upon the other and is equivalent both in Fact and Law to the Repealing of the old For otherwise St. Paul must needs be out in the Rules of Logick when he proved the Abrogating of the old Covenant by the superinduction of a new For having affirmed that God by speaking of a New Covenant had antiquated and made void the first or made the first old as our English read it he adds immediatly That that which is old decayeth and is ready to vanish away that is to say as Diodati descants on it The old being disanulled by the new there must necessarily follow the abolishment of its use and practice Nor find they any other abrogation of the Iewish Sabbath then by the superinducing of the Lords day for the day of worship By means whereof the Sabbath was lessened in authority and reputation by little and little and in short time was absolutely laid aside in the Church of Christ the fourth Commandement by which it was at first ordained being still in force So then according to these grounds the Articles of Ireland were virtually though not formally abrogated or else it must be granted that there were two Confessions in the same one Church different both in form and matter and contrary in some points unto one another which would have been so far from creating an uniformity between the Churches in the concernments of Religion that it would have raised a greater disagreement within Ireland it self than was before between the Churches of both Kingdoms And certainly the gaining of this point did much advantage the Archbishop conducing visibly to the promotion of his ends and Counsels in making the Irish Clergy subject to the two Declarations and accountable for their breaking and neglect thereof that is to say his Majesties Declaration about Lawful Sports and that prefixt before the book of Articles for appeasing Controversies Take for a farewell this acknowledgment of a late Historian speaking as well the sense of others as his own A Convocation concurrent with a Parliament was called saith he and kept at Dublin in Ireland wherein the thirty nine Articles of the Church of England were received in Ireland for all to subscribe unto It was adjudged fit seeing that Kingdom complies with England in the Civil Government it should also conform thereunto in matters of Religion And thereupon he thus concludes That in the mean time the Irish Articles concluded formerly in a Synod 1616. mistaken for 1615. wherein Arminianism was condemned in terminis terminantibus and the observation of the Lords day resolved Iure divino were utterly excluded But leaving Ireland to the care of the Lord Deputy and the Bishop of Derry who under him had the chief managing of the affairs of that Church let us see how the new Archbishop proceeds in England where he had so many plows going at once too many as it after proved to work well together For not thinking he had done enough in order to the peace and uniformity of the Church of England by taking care for it here at home his thoughts transported him with the like affection to preserve it from neglect abroad To which end he had offered some considerations to the Lords of the Council as before was said Anno 1622. relating to the regulation of Gods publick Worship amongst the English Factories and Regiments beyond the Seas and the reducing of the French and Dutch Churches settled in divers parts of this Realm unto some conformity In reference to the first he had not sate long in the Chaire of Canterbury when he procured an Order from the Lords of the Council bearing date Octob. 1. 1633. By which their English Churches and Regiments in Holland and afterwards by degrees in all other Foreign parts and plantations were required strictly to observe the English Liturgie with all the Rites and Ceremonies prescribed in it
and Dangers in the Premises Lastly Whereas these fears are not built upon Conceits but upon such Grounds and Objects as may well terrifie Men of Resolution and much Constancy they do in all Humility and Duty Protest before Your Majesty and the Peers of the Most Honourable House of Parliament against all Laws Orders Votes Resolutions and Determinations as of themselves Null and of None Effect which in their Absence since the 27th of this Instant Moneth of December 1641. have already passed As likewise that all such as shall hereafter Pass in the Most Honourable House during the time of this their Forced and Violent Absence from the said Most Honourable House not denying but if their absenting of themselves were Wilful and Voluntary that Most Honourable House might Proceed in all their Premises their Absence or this Protestation Notwithstanding And humbly beseeching Your Most Excellent Majesty to Command the Clerk of the House of Peers to Enter this their Petition and Protestation among his Records They will ever Pray God to bless c. This Petition being presented to his Majesty was by him deliâ—vered to the Lord Keeper Littleton to be Communicated the next day being the 30th of Decemb. to the House of Peers But the Lord Keeper contrary to his Majesties directions did first impâ—rt iâ— to some of the Preaching party in both Houses of Parliament and after as the plot was laid to the Peers in general Upon the â—eading whereof a conference was desired with the House oâ— Câ—mmons to whom the Lord Keeper whom they had under the Laâ—â— was pleased to signifie that this Petition and Protestation of the twelâ—e Bishops contained matters of high and dangerous consequence extending to the deep intrenching upon the Fundamental Priviledges and Being of Parliament Whereupon the said twelve Bishops were Impeached by the Commons of high Treason The Usher called Black-Rod Commanded to find them out and to bring them to the Bar in the House of Peers which by reason of their scattered and divided Lodgings could not be effected till eight of the Clock at night at what time being brought together their offence was signified unto them and an Order presently made for their commitment to the Tower whither they were all carried the next day Except the Bishops of Durham and Lichfield who found the favour the one by reason of his Eminent Learning and both of them in regard of their age and Infirmities to stand committed to the custody of the Gentleman Usher Our Archbishop had now more Neighbours then â—e desired but not more company then before it being prudently Ordered amongst themselves that none of them should bestow any visits on him for fear of giving some advantage to their common enemy as if they had been hatching some conspiracy against the Publick But they refrained not on either side from sending meâ—â—ages of Love and consolation unto one another those mutual civilities being almost every day performed betwixt the two Archbishops also though very much differing both in their Counsels and Affections in the times foregoing The Archbishop of York was now so much declined in favour tâ—at he stood in as bad terms with the Common People as the other did His picture cut in Brass attired in his Episcopal Robes with his square Cap upon his head and Bandileers about his Neck shouldering a Musket upon one of his shoulders in one hand and a Rest in the other either presaging that which followed or else relating unto that which had passed in defence of the Abbey Together with which a book was Printed in which he was Resembled to the Decoy-Duck alluding to the Decâ—yes in Lincolnshire where he had been Bishop restored to Liberty on design that he might bring more company with him at his coming back and a device Ingraven for the Front of the Book which represented the conceit and that not unhappily Certain I am that our Archbishop in the midst of those sorrows seemed much pleased with the Fancy whither out of his great Love to wit oâ— some other self-satisfaction which he found therein is beyond my knowledge These Bishops bâ—ing thus secured and no body left in a manner to solicite the Common Cause but the Bishop of Rochester the Bill against their Votes passed currantly in the House of Peers on February 6. the Citizens who before had feasted the King with such signs oâ— Affection now celebrating the Concurrence of the House against his Interest with Bâ—lls and Bonfires Nor was it long before the â—ing gave over the Cause for which he had so long contended For either terrified with the Apprehension of his own Dangers or wrought on by the importunity of some about him he signed the Bill at Canterbury on February 14. to which place he had accompanied the Queen in her way toward Holland And by that Bill it was desired to be Enacted That no Archbishop Bishop or any other Person in Holy Orders from February 15. then next following should have any Seat or Place Suffrage or Voice use or execute any Power or Authority in the Parliaments of this Realm nor should be of the Privy-Council of his Majesty his Heirs or Successors or Justices of the Peace of Oyer and Terminer or Gaol-delivery or execute any Temporal Authority by vertue of any Commission but should be wholly disabled or be uncapable to have receive use or execute any of the said Offices Places Powers Authorities and Things aforesaid The passing of which Act what specious Pretences soever were given out for it redounded little to his Majesties Benefit and far less to his Comfort For by cutting off so many of his Friends at a blow he lost his Power in the House of Peers and not long after was deprived of his Negative Voice when the great Business of the Militia came to be disputed And though he pleased himself sometimes with this perswasion of their contentedness in suffering a present diminution of their Rights and Honours for his sake and the Commonwealths yet was it no small trouble to his Conscience at other times that he had added this to the former injury in consenting to the taking away of the Coercive Power of their Jurisdiction for this we find to be one of those three things which lay heaviest on him in the time of his Solitude and Sufferings as appears by this passage in one of his Prayers viz. Was it through ignorance that I suffered innocent Blood to be spilt by a false pretended Iustice Or that I permitted a wrong way of Worship to be set up in Scotlan Or injured the Bishops in England By which we see that the Injury done unto the Bishops of England is put into the same scale with his permitting a wrong way of Worship to be set up in Scotland and the shedding of the innocent Blood of the Earl of Strafford And if this Act proved so unpleasing to the King it must needs be grievous to the Bishops themselves to none more than the
back again to the Tower where he continued till the end of the year 1659. without any Charge or Accusation produced against him But as for the Archbishop of Canterbury as he first took possession of that Fatal Lodging before any of the rest came to him so he continued there after their dismission without hope of finding his passage out of it by any other door than the door of Death which as he did not look for before it came so when it came he did not fear it He had then been fifteen months a Prisoner since his first Commitment to that place as far from being brought unto his Trial as he was at the first and is to lye there as much longer before he should hear any thing of them which might tend that way only they had some pulls at him from one time to another to keep him in remembrance of his present condition and to prepare him by degrees to his last dissolution For on October 23. in the year foregoing the House of Peers sequestred his Jurisdiction from him conferring it on Brent and others of his under-officers and ordered that he should bestow none of the Benefices within his gift without acquainting them with the name and quality of the party whom he intended to prefer leaving to them the Approbation if they saw cause for it And on October 15. this present year for so long he remained without further disturbance it was resolved upon the Question That the Fines Rents and Profits of Archbishops and Bishops should be sequestred for the use and service of the Commonwealth In which though he was no more concerned yet he was as much concerned as any other of the Episcopal Order so much the more as being sure to find less favour whensoever that Vote should be put in execution by them that made it For on the ninth of November following his house at Lambeth was forcibly possessed by a Party of Souldiers to keep it for the publick Service and 78 pounds of his Rents as forcibly taken from some of his Officers by an Order under the hands of some of the Lords upon pretence of imploying it to the maintenance of his Majesties Children But upon his Petition shortly after he had an Order for securing of his Goods and Books though he secured them rather from the power of the Souldiers than from the hands of any other on whom the Houses should bestow them when they saw time for it Upon the neck of that came another Order to bar him from having Conference with any of the other Prisoners or speaking with any other but in the presence of the Warder who was appointed to attend him and from having the Liberty of the Tower or from sending any of his Servants into the City but on occasion of providing Victuals and other necessaries Not long after the Souldiers brake open the doors of his Chappel in Lambeth house and began to make foul work with the Organs there but before any great hurt was done their Captain came and put a period to their fury On December 21. his Saddle-horse was seised on by Order from some Members in the House of Commons and on 23. Leighton the Schismatick who had before been sentenced in the Star-Chamber for his libellous and seditious Pamphlets came with an Order from that house to disposses the Souldiers of their quarters there and turn his house into a Prison His Wood and Coals seised on without any permission to make any use of them for himself On March 14. he had word brought him of a plot for sending him and Bishop Wren his fellow Prisoner to perpetual Exile in new-New-England and that Wells a factious Preacher which came lately thence had laid wagers of it but when the matter came in agitation in the House of Commons it appeared to be so horrible and foul a practice that it was generally rejected In the beginning of May 1643 the Windows in his Chappel were defaced and the steps torn up his Goods and Books seised on by Leighton and some others And on the sixteenth of the same month he was served with an Order of both Houses debarring him from bestowing any of his Benefices which either were or should be vacant for the time to come And on the last day of the same an Order issued from some Members of that close Committee directed unto Prynne and others to seise on all his Letters and Papers to be perused by such as should be Authorised to that end and purpose So far they had proceeded in pulling him from himself piece-meal before they were ready for his Trial or seemed to have any thoughts which might look that way They had then a greater game to play and on this occasion His Majesty at his late being in Scotland expostulated with some of the chief amongst them touching their late coming into England in an hostile manner and found that some who were now leading men in the Houses of Parliament had invited them to it and having furnished himself with some proofs for it he commanded his Atturney General to impeach some of them of High Treason that is to say the Lord Kimbolton a Member of the House of Peers Hollis Pym Hasterig Stroud and Hambden of the House of Commons But sending a Serjeant at Arms to Arrest their persons there came a countermand from the House of Commons by which the Serjeant was deferred from doing his office and the Members had the opportunity of putting themselves into the Sanctuary of the City The next day being Ianuary 4. his Majesty being no otherwise attended than with his ordinary Servants and some few Gentlemen armed no otherwise than with Swords and Courage went to the House of Commons to demand the five Members that he might proceed against them in a way of Justice but his intention was discovered and the birds flown before his coming And this was voted by the House of Commons for such an unexpiable breach of Priviledge that neither tâ—e Kings qualifying of that Action nor his desisting from the prosecution of that impeachment nor any thing that he could either say or do would give satisfaction nothing must satisfie their Iealâ—usies and secure their Fears but the putting the Tower of London into their hands together with the Command of the Royal Navy as also of the Forts Castles and the Train-bands of the Kingdom all comprehended under the name of the Militia which if his Majesty would fling after all the rest they would continue his most loyal and obedient subjects On this the King demurs a while but having shipt the Queen for Holland and got the Prince into his own power he becoms more resolute and stoutly stands on the denial But finding the Members too strong for him and London by reason of the continual tumults to be a dangerous Neighbour to him he withdraws to York that being in a place of safety he might the better find a way to compose those differences which now began to embroil
as thought of Practice for any Alteration unto Popery or any blemishing of the true Protestant Religion established in England as I was when my Mother first bore me into the World And let nothing be spoken but truth and I do here re-challenge whatsoever is between Heaven and Hell that can be said against me in point of my Religion in which I have ever hated dissimulation And had I not hated it perhaps I might have been better for worldly safety than now I am but it can no way become a Christian Bishop to halt with God Lastly If I had a purpose to blast the true Religion established in the Church of England and to introduce Popery sure I took a wrong wâ—â— to it For my Lords I have staid more going to Rome and reduced more that were already gone than I believe any Bishop or Divine 〈◊〉 this Kingdom hath dâ—ne and some of them men of great Abilities and some persons of great place And is this the way to introduce Popery My Lords If I have blemished the true Protestant Religion how could I have brought these men to it And if I had promised to introduce Popery I would never have reduced these men from it And that it may appear unto your Lordships how many and of what condition the persons are which by Gods blessing upon my labours I have settled in the true Protestant Religion established in England I shall briefly name some of them though I cannot do it in order of time as I converted them First Henry Berkinstead of Trinity Colledge in Oxon. seduced by a Iesuite and brought to London Two Daughters of Sir Richard Lechford in Surrey sent towards a Nunnery Two Scholars of S. Johns Colledge in Cambridge Toppin and Ashton who had got the French Embassadors Pass and after this I allowed means to Toppin and then procured him a Fellowship in St. Johns And he is at this present as hopeful a young man as any of his time and a Divine Sir William Webb my Kinsman and two of his Daughters and his Son I took from him and his Father being utterly decayed I bred him at my own charge and he is a very good Protestant A Gentleman brought to me by Mr. Chesford his Majesties Servant but I cannot recall his name The Lord Mayo of Ireland brought to me also by Mr. Chesford The Right Honourable the Lord Duke of Buckingham almost quite gone between the Lady his Mother and Sister The Lady Marquiss Hamilton was settled by my direction and she died very Religiously and a Protestant Mr. Digby who was a Priest Mr. James a Gentleman brought to me by a Minister of Buckinghamshire as I remember Dr. Heart the Civilian my Neighbours Son at Fulham Mr. Christopher Seaborne a Gentleman of an ancient Family in Herefordshire The Right Honourable the Countess of Buckingham Sir William Spencer of Parnton Mr. Chillingworth The Sons and Heirs of Mr. Winchcomb and Mr. Wollescot whom I sent with their Friends liking to Wadham Colledge Oxon. and received a Certificate Anno 1638. of their continuing in Conformity to the Church of England Nor did ever any one of these named relapse again but only the Countess of Buckingham and Sir William Spencer It being only in Gods power not mine to preserve them for relapse And now let any Clergy-man in England come forth and give a better account of his zeal to the Church This being said and all Parties commanded to withdraw their Lordships after some short time of consideration appointed the next Morning at nine of the clock for the beginning of the Prosecution to be made against him In order whereunto the twenty four Articles for so many there were in both impeachments were reduced under these four general Heads viz. 1. His traiterous Endeavours and Practices to alter and subvert Gods true Religion by Law established in this Realm and in stead thereof to set up Popish Superstition and Idolatry the particulars wherof are specified in the 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Original and 6 7 8 9 Additional Articles 2. His traiterous usurpation of a Papal and Tyrannical Power in the Church of England in all Ecclesiastical affairs to the prejudice and derogation of his Majesties Royal Prerogative and the Subjects Liberties comprised in the sixth Original Article 3. His traiterous Attempts and Endeavours to subvert the Fundamental Temporal Laws Government and Liberties of the Realm and Subjects of England and instead thereof to introduce an Arbitrary and Temporal Government against Law and the Subjects Liberty expressed in the 1 2 3 4 5 6 13 Original and 1 2 2 3 4 5 10 Additional Articles And 4. His traiterous Endeavours to subvert the Rights of Parliament and ancient course of Parliamentary Proceedings and by â—alse and malicious slanders to incense his Majesty against them contained in the 14 Original and the 1 9 10 Additional Articles The managing of the Evidence committed to Maynard Wilde and Nicholas all Members of the House of Commons by whom the business was drawn out to so great a length that it took up no less than seventeen daies not altogether but with so many pauses and intermissions as the Scots prospered and came forwards that the pleadings were not fully finished till the end of Iuly I hope it will not be expected that I should lay down the proceedings on both sides the Proofs and Testimonies which were brought against him or the defences which were made by him in full Answer to them that being a work which of it self would make a greater Volume than our present History All I shall say amounts to no more but this That there wanted neither wit nor will in the Prosecutors to make him appear as guilty in the eye of the Lords as his Accusers could desire And as for him it is related by the Pen of his greatest Adversary That he made as Full as Gallant as Pithy a Defence and spake as much for himself as was possible for the wit of man to invent and that with so much Art Vivacity Oratory Audacity and Confidence that he shewed not the least acknowledgment of Guilt in any of the particulars which were charged upon him And though the Relator putting the worst gloss upon the Text be pleased to say that these Abilities did argue him rather Obstinate than Innocent Impudent than Penitent a far better Orator Sophister than Protestant or Christian a truer Son of the Church of Rome than of the Church of England yet in the midst of these Reproaches he gives him the Commendations of Wit and Eloquence of being a good Orator and a subtle Disputant which with the rest of the Abilities ascribed unto him considering the suddenness of his Preparations the frailty of his Memory the burthen of seventy years with other natural infirmities then lying heavy on him may not unjustly be imputed to Divine assistance What sense the Commons had of his justification and what satisfaction was found in it by the House of
Of the Form of Consecration observed but not prescribed since the Reformation What kinde of Images they are which were prohibited by the Queens Injunctions The Articles of the Regal Visitation and What is to be said in answer to such passages as are found against them in the Book of Homilies The Lords Day built upon the same foundation with the other Holy dayes according to the Book of Homilies and The Act of Parliament 5.6 of EDW. vi What works of labour were permitted on the Lords Day and the other Holy dayes by the Book of Homilies The Statute 5. and 6. of EDW. vi The Injunctions of King EDW. vi and Of Queen ELIZ. Practised accordingly in the Court from that time to this Reverence required of the people at their first entrance in to the Church According to the practice of the Primitive times and The example of the Knights of the Garter c. and That example well enforced by Archbishop LAUD p. 47. Kneeling and standing when required The reverence to be used at the name of Iesus continued by Injunct 52. and Afterwards renewed by the Canon of the year 1603. with The Reasons for it The moderate proceedings of the first Reformers In reference to the Pope and The Church of ROME Observed and applauded by K. JAMES The Power of the Church asserted in the twentieth Article In the 34th reduced to practice and Of the power ascribed in Sacred Matters to the Kings of ENGLAND The Sacrament of the Lords Supper called frequently The Sacrament of the Altar as viz. by the Act of Parliament by Bishop RIDLEY Bishop LA TIMER and Some other Martyrs The Lords Table ordered to be placed where the Altar stood by the Injunctions of Q. ELIZ 1559. The Book of Orders 1561 and Advertis of the year 1565. and At the same the second Service to be said on the Sundayes and Holy Dayes The Lords Supper frequently called a Sacrifice by The Ancient Fathers By many Learned men amongst our selves Some of our godly Martyrs also and In what respect A Real Presence proved by The publick Liturgy By Bishop RIDLEY By Mr. Alex. Nowel and By Bishop BILSON The same confirmed â—y the words of the Catechism As also by the testimony of Bishop ANDREWS Bishop Morton The Article of Christs descent made figurative by Calvin and The Lord Primate but Justified to be Local By the Articles of the Church of ENGLAND The words of Mâ— Alexander Nowel and The works of Learned Bishop Bilson The necessity of Baptisme maintained by the first â—eformâ—râ— Justified in the Conference at Hampton-Court and Not gain said by any alteration in the publick Rubrick and Of the efficacy ascribed unto it by the Church Justification how divided betwixt Faith and Works In what respects ascribed to Faith by the Church of ENGL. and In what to Works Of the efficacy of good Works and The Reward belonging to them and Of the Doctrine of the Church of ENGLAND in that particular The great Divisions in the Church touching Predestination The stating of the point by the Church of ENGLAND Illustrated by the story of Agilmond and Lamistus Kings of Lombardy Predestinatination how defined The definition explicated The explication justified by the ancient Fathers By Bishop LATIMER and The last clause of the 17th Article The Church why silent in the point of Reprobation The absolute Decree unknown to Bishop HOOPER By Bishop LATIMER and By King Iames. Universal Redemption maintained by the Book of Articles Many plain passages in the Publick Liturgy And the testimony of our ancient Martyrs The freedom of the Will too much advanced by the 〈◊〉 Decryed as much by Luther and The Contra Remonstrants The temper of St. Augustiâ— in it Approved and imitated in the Articles of the Church of ENGL. and Her Publick Liturgie The Churches Doctrine vindicated and explained by Bishop Hoopâ—â— and by Bishop Latimer as also by the Lutheran Churches and St. Augustine himself The Churches Doctrine in the point of Falling away Made clear by some expressions of Bishop Hâ—oper Of Bishop Latimer and The Conference at Hampton Court The harmony and consent in Judgment between Bishop Hooper and Bishop Ridley and Between Bishop Ridley and Archbishop Cranmer The judgment of Archbishop Craâ—â—â—â— in the point disputed The authority ascriâ—ed to the Works of Erasmus by our first Reformers The Points which still remain in difference betwixt the Churches How far with in the possibility of Reconcilement And in what points they joyn together against the Anabaptists and Sectaries Liberty of Opinion left in other Points by the first Reformers 〈◊〉 Their discretion in so doing Approved and commended by King Iames. Anno Dom. 1573. (a) Brev. 1. Lord Brook p. 3. (b) Brev. 1. Lord Brook p. 3. Camld Rens p. 273. last Edit 1589. (d) 〈◊〉 scribendo quam concionaâ—do veâ—â—â—â—tem Evâ—ngâ—â—icam haud sigâ—â—â—er saâ—agiâ— pâ—opugâ—are Godwin Catal. â—pisc 584. (e) Hist. of Scot. lib. 7. p. 497. 1590. 1593. 1599. (f) Full. Hist. lib. 9. p. 234. (g) Cant. Dâ—me p. 469. (h) Hâ—oker Prefâ—ce (i) 〈…〉 quia 〈…〉 in communes errores Ludo. Vives in Aug. de Civit Dei Nisi quod ex illa ipsa doctrina catholici Patres vetâ—res Episcopi câ—llâ—gâ—râ—nt (k) Lib. Can. cap. De conâ—â—â—at p. 19. 1602. 1603. 1604. 1606. L. Decad. 3. 〈◊〉 Cant. Dome p. 409. (m) Injuria contumelici R. E. Clericorum exâ—gitatus in Montani partes transit B Rhen. in Tertull. (n) Câ—llâ—ct of Speeches p. 5 (o) 〈◊〉 n. Mat. 19.9 9 Bre. p. 4. p. 6. 1608. 1610. 1611. (p) Conf. at Hamp p. 85. Hist. of K. Charles by H. L. p 31. 1611. (z) Iohn 21. v. 3 6. 1614. (s) Church Hist. l. 10 p 59. t 〈…〉 Gâ—dw in Continuat 1617. Hist. Scotl. l. 7. p. 531. Nâ—m p. 534. 1618. Hist. 〈◊〉 Scot. â—â—l 5â—0 (b) 1620. Anno Dom. 1621. 1622. (g) Vide quà m praetiolâ—s vaâ—is administrant Mariae Fâ—lâ—â— Socrat. Hist. Eccl. lib. 3. (h) Cant. Dâ—â—â— p. 504 Et tani ad Sacramenta quam Sacramentalia tum Coenae Dominicae tum etiam Baptismatis Sacri in â—andem ministrantur c. Hidden wâ—rks of dâ—rk p. 47 Iâ— p. 25. (m) Hidden works p. 34. Cant. Dâ—â—m p. 276. Hiâ—d Works c. 34. Brev. p. 3. (p) Breviate p. 14. (q) 〈◊〉 p. 47. Sâ—alâ— 530. (r) Digby â—â— Calvert Iul. 25. (s) to Colverâ— Dec. 28. to K. James Octob. 24. Hâ—dd Works p. 6â— Act of Parl. A. 11 Jac. 21. c. 34. (s) D. Whites Preface to his Reply c. (t) Epist. dediâ—at to tâ—e King 16â—7 (e) Epist. dedicatâ— to Appello Caesâ— (a) Hidden 〈◊〉 p. 73. (b) Ib. p. 69. 1625. Breviate p. 6. Breviâ—te p. 6. 〈◊〉 p. 156. (a) Eâ—â— Regia p. 12. Iâ—id p 15. Cant Doom 69. Hist. K. Ch. 20. 〈…〉 Collect 〈…〉 Eâ—act Collâ—â—t of Edw. Huâ—â— 290. Sâ—r. 3. p. 102 Pag. 104. P. 107. P. 109. 1626. Cabal Breviâ—te p. 7. Pa. 8. Hist. King Charles p. 50. Ch. Hist. lib. 2.
leave to Worship God as your selves do For if it be Gods Worship I ought to do it as well as you and if it be Idolatry you ought not to do it more then I. 19. This duty being performed at their first entrance into the Church it was next required by the Rubrick that they should reverently kneel at the reading of the publick Prayers and in the receiving of the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper that they should stand up at the reading of the Apostles Creed and consequently at the Athanasian and Nicene also which are as Commentaries on that Text as also at the frequent Repetitions of the Gloria Patri which is an Abridgement of the same And in the next place it was required by the Queens Injunctions That whensoever the Name of Iesus shall be in any Lesson Sermon or otherwise in the Church pronounced that due reverence be made of all persons young and old with lowness of courtesie and uncovering the heads of the mankinde as thereunto doth necessarily belong and heretofore hath been accustomed In which it is to be observed that though this Injunction was published in the first year of the Queen yet then this bowing at the Name of Iesus was lookt on as an ancient custom not only used in Queen Maries Reign but also in King Edwards time and in those before And in this case and in that before and in all others of that nature it is a good and certain rule that all such Rites as had been practised in the Church of Rome and not abolisht nor disclaimed by any Doctrine Law or Canon of the first Reformers were to continue in the same state in which they found them But this commendable custom together with all other outward reverence in Gods publick Service being every day more and more discontinued as the Puritan Faction got ground amongst us it seemed good to the Prelates and Clergy assembled in Convocation Anno 1603. to revive the same with some enlargement as to the uncovering of the Head in all the acts and parts of publick worship For thus we have it in the 18. Canon of that year viz. No man shall cover his head in the Church or Chappel in time of Divine Service except he have some Infirmity in which case let him wear a night Cap or Coife And likewise when the Name of Iesus shall be mentioned due and lowly reverence shall be done by all persons present as it hath been accustomed testifying by this outward Ceremony and Gesture their inward Humility Christian Resolution and due acknowledgement that the Lord Iesus Christ the true and eternal Son of God is the only Saviour of the world in whom alone all Graces Mercies and Promises of Gods love to mankinde for this life and the life to come are wholly comprised In which Canon we have not only the Doctrine that bowing is to be used to the Name of Iesus but the uses also and not alone the custom but the reasons of it both grounded on that Text of Scripture Phil. 2.10 that at the Name of IESVS every knee should bow according to such expositions as were made thereof by St. Ambrose and others of the ancient Writers 20. In matters which were meerly doctrinal and not practical also so the first Reformers carried on the work with the same equal temper as they did those which were either mixt or meerly practical And first beginning with the Pope having discharged themselves from the Supremacy which in the times foregoing he had exercised over them in this Kingdom I finde no Declaration in any publick Monument or Records of the Church of England that the Pope was Antichrist whatsoever some of them might say in their private Writings some hard expressions there are of him in the Book of Homilies but none more hard then those in the publick Litany first published by King Hen. viii at his going to Bolongue and afterwards retained in both Liturgies of King Edward vi In which the people were to pray for their deliverance from the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and his detestable enormities c. This was conceived to be as indeed it was a very great scandal and offence to all those in the Realm of England who were well affected to the Church of Rome and therefore in the Liturgy of Queen Elizabeth it was quite left out the better to allure them to the Divine Service of the Church as at first it did And for the Church of Rome it self they beheld it with no other eyes then as a Member of the visible Church which had for many hundred years maintained the Fundamentals of the Christian Faith though both unsound in Doctrine and corrupt in Manners Just as a man distempered in his Brain Diseased in all the parts of his Body and languishing under many putrified Sores doth still retain the being of a natural man as long as he hath sense and motion and in his lucid intervals some use of Reason They tell us in the 19. Article that the Church of Rome hath erred not only in their living and manner of Ceremonies but in matters of Faith But then they lookt upon her as a Member of the Visible Church as well as those of Ierusalem Antioch and Alexandria which are there affirmed to have erred also Erre then she might and erre she did indeed too grosly and yet might notwithstanding serve as a conduit-pipe to convey to us many of those Primitive Truths and many of those godly Rites and Ceremonies which she had superstitiously defiled In which last place it was a very pious rule that in the Reformation of a Church abuses being taken away the primitive Institution should be left remaining Tollatur abusus maneat usus as the saying is and in the first as piously observed by King Iames in the Conference at Hampton-Court that in all Reformations he would not have any such departure from the Papists in all things that because we in some points agree with them therefore we should be accounted to be in an error Let us then see how near the first Reformers did and might come unto the Papists and yet not joyn with them in their Errors to the betraying of the Truth 21. The Pope they deprived of that unlimitted Supremacy and the Church of Rome of that exorbitant power which they formerly challenged over them yet did they neither think it fit to leave the Church without her lawful and just Authority nor saâ—e to put her out of the protection of the Supream Governour Touching the first it was resolved in the 20. Article That the Church hath power not only to decree Rites and Ceremonies but also in Controversies of Faith as the English Ecclesia habet Ritus Ceremonias Statuendi jus in fidei controversiis Authoritatem as it is in the Latine And so it stands in the Original Acts of the Convocation Anno 1562. and publisht in the self same words both in Latine and English Afterwards in the year
first and afterwards the efficacy of it And first in reference to the Necessity The first Reformers did not only allow the administration of this Sacrament in private houses but permitted it to private persons even to women also For it was ordered in the Rubrick of Private Baptism That when any great need shall compel as in extremity of weakness they which are present shall call upon God for his Grace and say the Lords Prayer if the time will suffer and then one of them shall name the Childe and dip him in the water or poure water upon him saying these words N. I Baptize thee in the name of the Father c. At which passage when King Iames seemed to be offended in the Conference at Hampton-Court because of the liberty which they gave to Women and Laicks It was answered then by Dr. Whitgift Archbishop of Canterbury That the administration of Baptisme by Women and Lay Persons was not allowed in the practice of the Church but enquired of and censured by the Bishops in their Visitations and that the words in the Book inferred no such meaning Against which when the King excepted urging and pressing the words of the Book that they could not but intend a permission and suffering of Women and private Persons to Baptize It was answered by Dr. Babington then Bishop of Worcester That indeed the words were doubtful and might be pressed to that meaning but that it seemed by the contrary practice of this Church censuring Women in this case That the Compilers of that Book did not so intend them and yet propounded them ambiguously because otherwise perhaps the Book would not have then passed in the Parliament But then stood forth the Bishop of London Dr. Bancroft and plainly said That it was not the intent of those Learned and Reverend men who framed the Book of Common-Prayer by ambiguous terms to deceive any but did indeed by those words intend a permission of private persons to Baptize in case of Necessity whereof their Letters were witnesses some parts whereof he then read and withal declared That the same was agreeable to the practice of the ancient Church as appeared by the Authority of Tertullian and of S. Ambrose on the 4th of the Ephesians who are plain in that point laying also open the absurdities and impieties of their opinions who think there is no necessity of Baptism And though at the motion of that King it was ordered that the words Lawful Minister should be put into the Rubrick First let the LAWFVL MINISTER and them that be present call upon God for his Grace c. The said LAWFVL MINISTER shall dip it into the Water c. yet was the alteration greater in sound then sense it being the opinion of many great Clerks that any man in cases of extream necessity who can pronounce the words of Baptism may pass in the account and notion of a lawful Minister So much for the necessity of Baptism And as for the efficacacy thereof it is said expresly in the 27. Article To be a sign of Regeneration or New Birth whereby as by an Instrument they that receive Baptisme rightly are grafted into the Church the promises of forgiveness of Sin and of our Adoption to be the Sons of God by the Holy Ghost are visibly signed and sealed Faith is confirmed and Grace is encreased by vertue of Prayer unto God and as expresly it is said in one of the Rubricks before Confirmation That it is certain by Gods word that Children being Baptized have all things necessary for their Salvation and be undoubtedly saved that is to say for so it must be understood in case they dye before they fall into the committing of Actual Sins 29. Touching good works and how far they conduce unto our Iustification the breach was wider at the first breakin gs out of Luther then it hath been since Luther ascribing Iustification unto Faith alone without relation unto Works and those of Rome ascribing it to good Works alone without relation unto Faith which they reckoned only amongst the preparatives unto it But when the point had been long canvased and the first heats were somewhat cooled they began to come more neer unto one another For when the Papists attributed Iustification unto Works alone they desired to be understood of such good Works as proceeded from a true and lively Faith and when the Lutherans ascribed it to Faith alone they desired to be understood of such a Faith as was productive of good Works and attended by them The Papists thereupon began to cherish the distinction between the first and second Iustification ascribing the first unto Faith only the second which the Protestants more properly called by the name of Sanctification to the works of Righteousness The Protestants on the other side distinguishing between Fides sola and solitaria between Sola Fides and Fides quae est Sola intending by that nicity that though Faith alone doth justifie a sinner in the sight of God yet that it is not such a Faith as was alone but stood accompanied with good Works And in this way the Church of England went in her Reformation declaring in the 11 Article That we are accounted righteous before God only for the Merits of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ by Faith and not for our own works or deservings Which Justification by Faith only is further declared to be a most wholesome Doctrine and very full of comfort for which we are referred to the Book of Homilies And in the Book of Homilies we shall also finde That we may well bear the name of Christian men but we lack that true Faith which belongeth thereunto For true Faith doth evermore bring forth good Works as St. Iames speaketh Shew me thy Faith by thy Works Thy Deeds and Works must be an open testimony of thy Faith otherwise thy Faith being without good Works is but the Devils faith the faith of the wicked a phantasie of Faith and not a true Christian Faith And that the people might be be trained up in the works of Righteousness it is declared in the 7th Article That no Christian man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the Commandments which are called Moral According whereunto it is ordered by the publick Liturgy that the said Commandments shall be openly read in the Congregation upon Sundayes and Holy Dayes contrary to the usage of all ancient Liturgies the people humbly praying God To have mercy upon them for their transgression of those Laws and no less humbly praying him To encline their hearts to keep the same So that though Faith must lead the way to our Iustification yet holiness of life manifested in the works of Charity and all other acts of godly living must open the way for us to the Gates of Heaven and procure our entrance at the same as is apparent by the 25. of St. Matthews Gospel from verse 34. to 41. 30. Which being so it may be well affirmed without any wrong
Doctrine or to the establisht Government and Forms of Worship of the Church of England they are not for so doing to be branded by the name of Papists or their writings to be censured and condemned for Popish because perhaps they differ in those matters from the Churches of Calvins Platform Veritas a quocunque est est a spiritu sancto as divinely Ambrose Truth is no more restrained to the Schools of Calvin then to those of Rome some truths being to be found in each but not all in either And certainly in this the first Reformers did exceeding wisely in not tying up the judgements of learned men where they might be freed but leaving them a sufficient scope to exercise their wits and Pens as they saw occasion Had they done otherwise and condemned every thing for Popish which was either taught or used in the times of Popery they must then have condemned the Doctrine of the Trinity it self as was well observed by King Iames in the Conference at Hampton-Court And then said he You Dr. Reynolds must go barefoot because they wore hose and shooes in times of Popery p. 75. Besides which inconvenience it must needs have followed that by a general renouncing of all such things as have been taught and used by the Church of Rome the Confession of the Church of England must have been like that both in condition and effect which Mr. Craig composed for the Kirk of Scotland of which King Iames tells us p. 39. that with his I renounce and I abhor his Detestations and Protestations he did so amaze the simple people that they not able to conceive all those things utterly gave over all falling back to Popery or still remaining in their former ignorance 41. Such was the Moderation which was used by our first Reformers and on such Principles and Positions did they ground this Church Which I have laid down here at large that so we may the better Judge of those Deviations which afterwards were made by Factious and unquiet men as also of the Piety of their endeavours who aimed at the Reduction of her to her first condition If the great Prelate whom I write of did either labour to subvert the Doctrine or innovate any thing either in the Publick Government or Formes of Worship here by Law Established contrary to the Principles and Positions before expressed his Adversaries had the better Reason to clamor against him whilst he lived and to persue their clamors till the very last But on the other side if neither in his own person or by the diligence and activity of his subservient Ministers he acted or suffered any thing to be justified in point of Practice or allowed any thing to be Preached or Prayed or hindred any thing from being Published or Preached but what may be made good by the Rules of the Church and the complexion of the times in which he lived those foul Reproaches which so unjustly and uncharitably have been laid upon him must return back upon the Authors from whom they came as stones thrown up against the Heavens do many times fall upon the heads of those that threw them But whither side deserved the blame for innovating in the Doctrine Rites and Ceremonies of the Anglican Church according to the first Principles and Positions of it will best appear by the course of the ensuing History Relation being had to this Introduction which I have here placed in the front as a Lamp or Candle such as we find commonly in the Porches of Great Mens houses to light the way to such as are desirous to go into them that they may enter with delight converse therein with pleasure and return with safety 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 I. Containing the History of his Life and Actions from the day of his Birth Octob. 7. 1573. to the day of his Nomination to the See of Canterbury August 6. 1633. LONDON Printed by E. Cotes for A. Seile 1668. THE LIFE OF The most Reverend FATHER in GOD WILLIAM Lord Archbishop of Canterbury LIB I. Extending from the time of his Birth till his being made Bishop of St. Davids TO Recommend unto Posterity the Lives and Actions of eminent and famous Persons hath alwayes been esteemed a work becoming the most able Pens Nothing so much enobleth Plutarch as his committing unto memory the Actions and Achievements of the most renowned Greeks and Romans or added more unto the fame of Diogenes Laertius than that which he hath left us of the Lives and Apophthegms of the old Philosophers Some pains have fortunately been taken in this kind by Paulus Iavius Bishop of Como and by Matthew Parker Archbishop of Canterbury in the dayes of our Fathers Nor can we be so little studdied in the World as not to know that even particular persons I speak not here of Kings and Princes have had their own particular and distinct Historians by whom their Parts and Piety their Military Exploits or Civil Prudence have been transmitted to the knowledge of succeeding ages So that adventuring on the Life of this famous Prelate I cannot be without Examples though without Encouragements For what Encouragements can there be to such a work in which there is an impossibility of pleasing all more than an ordinary probability of offending many no expectation of Reward nor certainty of any thing but misconstructions and Detractings if not dangers also Howsoever I shall give my self the satisfaction of doing my last duty to the memory of a man so Famous of such a Publick Spirit in all his actions so eminently deserving of the Church of England With which profession of my Piety and Ingenuity I shall not be altogether out of hope but that my Labours in this Piece may obtain a pardon if they shall not reach to an Applause William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury was born on the 7th day of October An. 1573. A year remarkable for the buslings of the Puritan Faction who before they had served an Apprentiship in the Trade of Sedition began to set up for themselves and seeing they could not have the countenance of Authority to justifie the advancing of their Holy Discipline resolved to introduce it by little and little as opportunity should be given them which they did accordingly His Birth place Reading the principal Town of Berks for Wealth and Beauty remarkable heretofore for a stately and magnificent Abby founded and liberally Endowed by King Henry I. and no less eminent in these last Ages for the Trade of Clothing the Seminary of some Families of Gentry within that County And of this Trade his Father was who kept not only many Lomes in his
house but many Weavers Spinners and Fullers at continual work living in good Esteem and Reputation amongst his Neighbours to the very last His Mother Lucy Webb was Sister to Sir William Webb Lord Maior of London Anno 1591. the Grand-Father of Sir William Webb not long since deceased She was first Marryed to Iohn Robinson a Clothier of the same Town also but a Man of so good Wealth and Credit that he Marryed one of his Daughters to Dr. Cotsford and another unto Dr. Layfield men of parts and worth and left his youngest Son called William in so good a way that he came to be Doctor of Divinity Prebend of Westminster and Archdeacon of Nottingham beside some other preferments which he dyed possest of Having buryed her Husband Iohn Robinson she was Re-marryed unto Laud this Archbishops Father to whom she brought no other child than this Son alone as if she had satisfied that duty which was owing to her second Marriage bed by bringing forth a Son who was to be the Patriarch in a manner of the British Islands He was not born therefore of such Poor and obscure Parents as the Publisher of his Breviat makes him much less E faece Plebis of the dregs of the People as both he and all the rest of the Bishops were affirmed to be by the late Lord Brook who of all others had least Reason to upbraid them with it in a book of his touching the nature of that Episcopacy which had been exercised in England But granting that he had been born of as poor and obscure Parents as those Authors make him yet must it needs add to the commendation of his Parts and Industry who from so mean and low a Birth had raised himself into such an eminent height of Power and Glory that no Bishop or Archbishop since the Reformation had attained the like The greatest Rivers many times have the smallest Fountains such as can hardly be found out and being found out as hardly quit the cost of the discovery and yet by long running and holding on a constant and continual course they become large navigable and of great benefit unto the Publick Whereas some Families may be compared to the Pyramides of AEgypt which being built on great Foundations grow narrower and narrower by degrees until at last they end in a small Conus in a point in nothing For if we look into the Stories of the Times foregoing we shall find that poor and obscure Cottages have bred Commanders to the Camp Judges unto the Seats of Justice Counsellors to the State Peers to the Realm and Kings themselves unto the Throne as well as Prelates to the Church When such as do pretend to a Nobler Birth do many times consume themselves in effeminate Luxuries and waste their Fortunes in a Prodigal and Libidinous Course Which brings into my mind the Answer made by Mr. Pace one of the Secretaries to King Hen. viii to a Nobleman about the Court For when the said Nobleman had told him in contempt of Learning That it was enough for Noblemens Sons to wind their Horn and carry their Hawk fair and to leave Study and Learning to the Children of mean men Mr. Pace thereunto replied Then his Lordship and the rest of the Noblemen must be content to leave unto the Sons of meaner Persons the managing of Affairs of Estate when their own Children please themselves with winding their Horns and managing their Hawks and other Follies of the Country But yet notwithstanding such was the envy of the Times that he was frequently upbraided in the days of his Greatness as well in common Speech a scattered Libells with the mean condition of his Birth And I remember that I found him once in his Garden at Lambeth with more than ordinary Trouble in his Countenance of which not having confidence enough to enquire the Reason he shewed me a Paper in his hand and told me it was a printed Sheet of a Scandalous Libel which had been stopp'd at the Press in which he found himself reproach'd with so base a Parentage as if he had been raked out of the Dunghil adding withal That though he had not the good fortune to be born a Gentleman yet he thank'd God he had been born of honest Parents who lived in a plentiful condition employed many poor People in their way and left a good report behind them And thereupon beginning to clear up his Countenance I told him as presently as I durst That Pope Sixtus the Fifth as stout a Pope as ever wore the Triple Crown but a poor mans Son did use familiarly to say in contempt of such Libells as frequently were made against him That he was Domo natus Illustri because the Sun-beams passing through the broken Walls and ragged Roof illustrated every corner of that homely Cottage in which he was born with which facetiousness of that Pope so applicable to the present occasion he seemed very well pleased But to go forwards with our Story Having escaped a dangerous Sickness in his Childhood he was trained up as soon as he was sitted for it in the Free Grammar-School of Reading in which he profited so well and came on so fast that before he was sixteen years of age which was very early for those times he was sent to Oxon and entred a Commoner in St. Iohn's Colledge and there committed to the tuition of Mr. Buckeridge one of the Fellows of that Colledge and afterwards the worthy President of it It proved no ordinary happiness to the Scholar to be principled under such a Tutor who knew as well as any other of his time how to employ the two-edged Sword of Holy Scripture of which he made good proof in the times succeeding brandishing it on the one side against the Papists and on the other against the Puritans or Nonconformists In reference to the first it is said of him in the general by Bishop Godwin That he endeavoured most industriously both by Preaching and Writing to defend and propagate the True Religion here by Law established Which appears plainly by his Learned and Laborious Piece entituled De potestate Papae in Temporalibus Printed at London Anno 1614. in which he hath so shaken the Foundation of the Papal Monarchy and the pretended Superiority of that See over Kings and Princes that none of the Learned men of that Party did ever undertake a Reply unto it With like success but with less pains unto himself he managed the Controversie concerning Kneeling at the Lords Supper against those of the Puritan Faction the Piety and Antiquity of which Religious Posture in that Holy Action he asserted with such solid Reasons and such clear Authorities in a Treatise by him published Anno 1618. that he came off without the least opposition by that Party also But before the publishing of these Books or either of them his eminent Abilities in the Pulpit had brought him into great credit with King Iames insomuch that
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
having lived sometimes in one of our English Seminaries beyond the Seas declared himself as profest a Papist and as eager in the pursuit of that way as any other whatsoever But being regained unto this Church by his Brother William who lost himself in the encounter he thought he could not sufficiently express his detestation of the errors and corruptions in the Church of Rome but by running to the other extream and making himself considerable amongst the Puritans On which account as he became very gracious to Sir Francis Walsingham so was he quickly made the Spiritual Head of the Puritan Faction in which capacity he managed their business for them in the Conference at Hampton Court Anno 1603. where he appeared the principal if not only Speaker the other three that is to say Spark Chadderton and Knewstubs serving no otherwise than as Mutes and Cyphers to make up the mess. By the power and practices of these men the disposition of those times and the long continuance of the Earl of Leicester the principal Patron of that Faction in the place of Chancellor the face of that University was so much altered that there was little to be seen in it of the Church of England according to the Principles and Positions upon which it was at first Reformed All the Calvinian Rigors in matters of Predestination and the Points depending thereupon received as the Established Doctrines of the Church of England the necessity of the one Sacrament the eminent dignity of the other and the powerful efficacy of both unto mans salvation not only disputed but denyed the Article of Christs local descent into hell so positively asserted in two Convocations Anno 1552. and 1562. at first corrupted with false Glosses afterwards openly contradicted and at last totally disclaimed because repugnant to the Fancies of some Forreign Divines though they at odds amongst themselves in the meaning of it Episcopacy maintained by halves not as a distinct Order from that of the Presbyters but only a degree above them or perhaps not that for fear of giving scandal to the Churches of Calvins Platform the Church of Rome inveighed against as the Whore of Babylon or the Mother of Abominations the Pope as publickly maintained to be Antichrist or the Man of Sin and that as positively and magisterially as if it had been one of the chief Articles of the Christian Faith and then for fear of having any good thoughts for either the visibility of the Church must be no otherwise maintained than by looking for it in the scattered Conventicles of the Berengarians in Italy the Albigenses in France the Huffites in Bohemia and the Wickliffists among our selves Nor was there any greater care taken for the Forms and Orders of this Church than there had been for points of Doctrine the Surplice so disused in officiating the Divine Service of the Church and the Divine Service of the Church so slubbered over in most of the Colledges that the Prelates and Clergy assembled in Convocation Anno 1603. were necessitated to frame two Canons that is to say Can. 16 17. to bring them back again to the ancient practise particularly the bowing at the Name of IESVS commanded by the Injunctions of Queen Elizabeth Anno 1559. and used in most Churches of the Kingdom so much neglected and decryed that Airy Provost of Queens Colledge writ a Tract against it the Habits of the Priests by which they were to be distinguished from other men not only by the Queens Injunctions but also by some following Canons made in Convocation so much despised and laid aside that Doctor Reynolds had the confidence to appear in the Conference at Hampton Court in his Turky Gown and therefore may be thought to have worn no other in the University And in a word the Books of Calvin made the Rule by which all men were to square their Writings his only word like the ipse dixit of Pythagoras admitted for the sole Canon to which they were to frame and conform their Judgments and in comparison of whom the Ancient Fathers of the Church men of Renown and the Glories of their several Times must be held contemptible and to offend against this Canon or to break this Rule esteemed a more unpardonable Crime than to violate the Apostles Canons or dispute the Doctrines and Determinations of any of the four first general Councels so as it might have proved more safe for any man in such a general deviation from the Rules and Dictates of this Church to have been look'd upon as an Heathen or Publican than an Anti-Calvinist But Laud was of a stronger Metal than to give up himself so tamely and being forged and hammered on a better Anvil would not be wrought on by the times or captivate his Understanding to the Names of Men how great soever they appeared in the eyes of others Nor would he run precipitately into common Opinions for common Opinions many times are but common Errors as Calderinus is reported to have gone to Mass because he would not break company with the rest of his friends His Studies in Divinity he had founded on the Holy Scriptures according to the Glosses and Interpretations of the ancient Fathers for doing which he had the countenance and direction of a Canon made in Convocation Anno 1571. by which it was appointed That in interpreting the Scriptures they were to raise no other Doctrines from them than what had been collected thence from the ancient Fathers and other godly Bishops of the Primitive times And laying to this Line the establish'd Doctrines and Determinations of the Church of England it was no hard matter to him to discern how much the Church had deviated from her self or most men rather from the Church in those latter times how palpably the Articles had been wrested from the Literal and Gramatical sence to fit them to the sence of particular persons how a different construction had been put upon them from that which was the true and genuine meaning of the men that framed them and the Authority which confirmed them and finally that it would be a work of much glory but of much more merit to bring her back again to her native Principles But then withal it was as easie to discern how desperate an attempt it must needs appear for a single man unseconded and not well befriended to oppose himself against an Army how vain a thing to strive against so strong a stream and cross the current of the times that the disease by long neglect was grown so natural and habitual that more mischief might be feared from the Medicine than from the Malady that he must needs expose himself to many Censures and Reproaches and possibly to some danger also by the undertaking But these last considerations being weighed in the Scale of the Sanctuary appeared so light that he was resolved to try his fortune in the work and to leave the issue thereof unto God by whom Paul's planting
and Apollo's watering do receive increase For being thus resolved upon the point it was not long before he had an opportunity to set it forwards He had before attained unto an high esteem for Arts and Oratory and was conceived to have made so good a proficiency in the Studies of Divinity also that in the year 1602. he was admitted to read the Lecture of Mrs. May's Foundation with the general liking of that Colledge With the like general consent and approbation he was chosen out of all the rest of that Society to be a Candidate for the Proctorship in the University into which Office he was chosen on the fourth of May 1603. which was as soon as he was capable of it by the University Statutes which Office he discharged with great applause as to himself and general satisfaction unto others Doctor George Abbot Master of Vniversity Colledge who afterwards attained to the See of Canterbury was at that time Vice-chancellor of the University whom with the rest of the Doctors and Heads of Houses he accompanied to Woodstock Manor to present themselves and tender their most humble service to the most Mighty Prince King Iames succeeding on the 24th of March before to the Crown of England And in this year it was but whether in reading of the Lecture of Mrs. May's Foundation or some other Chappel Exercise I am not able to say he maintained the constant and perpetual visibility of the Church of Christ derived from the Apostles to the Church of Rome continued in that Church as in others of the East and South till the Reformation Dr. Abbot Master of Vniversity Colledg and Vice-chancellor was of a different opinion and could not finde any such visibility of the Christian Church but by tracing it as well as he could from the Berengarians to the Albigenses from the Albigenses to the Wickliffists from the Wickliffists unto the Hussites and from the Hussites unto Luther and Calvin for proof whereof we may consult a Book of his entituled The Visibility of the Church published in those busie Times when this impertinent Question viz. Where Was your Church before Luther was as impertinently insisted on by the Priests and Jesuites This being his opinion also when he lived in Oxon he thought it a great derogation to his Parts and Credit that any man should dare to maintain the contrary and thereupon conceived a strong grudge against him which no tract of time could either abolish or diminish In the next year viz. 1604. he peformed his Exercise for Batchelor of Divinity in which he maintained these two Points First The necessity of Baptism Secondly That there could be no true Church without Diocesan Bishops For which last he was shrewdly ratled by Doctor Holland above-mentioned as one that did endeavour to cast a bone of Discord betwixt the Church of England and the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas and for the first it was objected That he had taken the greatest part of his Supposition out of Bellarmines Works as if the Doctrine of the Incarnation of the Son of God or any necessary Truths were to be renounced because they are defended by that Learned Cardinal But misfortunes seldom come alone if at the least it may be counted a misfortune to be reproach'd for standing up in defence of truth For not long after viz. Anno 1606. he was questioned by Dr. Airy being Vice-chancellor for that year for a Sermon preached in St. Maries Church on the 26th of October as containing in it sundry scandalous and Popish passages the good man taking all things to be matter of Popery which were not held forth unto him in Calvins Institutes conceiving that there was as much Idolatry in bowing at the Name of IESVS as in worshipping the brasen Serpent and as undoubtedly believing that Antichrist was begotten on the Whore of Babylon as that Pharez and Zara were begotten on the body of Tamar Which advantage being taken by Doctor Abbot he so violently persecuted the poor man and so openly branded him for a Papist or at least very Popishly enclined that it was almost made an Heresie as I have heard from his own mouth for any one to be seen in his company and a misprision of Heresie to give him a civil Salutation as he walked the Streets But there will one day come a time when Doctor Abbot may be made more sensible of these Oppressions when he shall see this poor despised man standing upon the higher ground and more above him in respect of Power than beneath in Place So unsafe a thing it is for them that be in Authority to abuse their Power and carry matters on to the last extremities as if they had Fortune in a string and could be sure to lead her with them whithersoever they went This scandal being raised at Oxon it was not long before it flew to Cambridge also at what time Mr. Ioseph Hall who died Bishop of Norwich about the year 1657. was exercising his Pen in the way of Epistles in one of which inscribed to Mr. W. L. the two first Letters of his Name it was generally supposed that he aimed at him and was this that followeth I would saith he I knew where to finde you then I could tell how to take direct aims whereas now I must pore and conjecture To day you are in the Tents of the Romanists to morrow in ours the next day between both against both Our Adversaries think you ours we theirs your Conscience findes you with both and neither I flatter you not This of yours is the worst of all tempers Heat and Cold have their uses Lukewarmness is good for nothing but to trouble the stomack Those that are spiritually hot find acceptation those that are stark cold have a lesser reckoning the mean between both is so much worse as it comes neerer to good and attains it not How long will you halt in this indifferency Resolve one way and know at last what you do hold what you should Cast off either your wings or your teeth and loathing this Bat-like Nature be either a Bird or a Beast To die wavering and uncertain your self will grant fearful If you must settle when begin you If you must begin why not now It is dangerous deferring that whose want is deadly and whose opportunity is doubtful God cryeth with Iehu Who is on my side who Look at last out of your window to him and in a resolute courage cast down the Iezebel that hath bewitched you Is there any impediment which delay will abate Is there any which a just answer cannot remove If you had rather waver who can settle you But if you love not inconstancy tell us why you stagger Be plain or else you will never be firm c. But notwithstanding these false bruits and this smart Epistle Doctor Buckridge who had been his Tutor and from whom he received his Principles had better assurance of his unfeigned sincerity in the true
Protestant Religion here by Law established than to be so perswaded of him he had not else preferred him to the service of Bishop Neile or recommended him to the Colledge as the fittest man to succeed him in the Presidents place when he himself was at the point of his preferment to the See of Rochester So also had the whole Body of the University when they conferred upon him his Degrees in Divinity which certainly they had never done if either they had believed him to have been a Papist or at the least so Popishly affected as the Faction made him Neither could he have taken those Degrees had it been so with him without a most perfidious dissimulation before God and Man because in taking those Degrees he must both take the Oath of Supremacy and subscribe to the three Articles contained in the 36 Canon of the year 1603. In the first of which he was to have abjured the Popes Authority and in the next to have declared his approbation of the Doctrine Government and Forms of Worship established in the Church of England Which may sufficiently serve to over-balance the Depositions of Sir Nath. Brent and Doctor Featly the first of which deposed at his Tryal That whilst the Archbishop remained in Oxon he was generally reputed to be Popishly affected the other Not only that the Archbishop was generally reported to be Popish when he lived in Oxon but that both he and others conceived so of him But both these men were Abbot's Creatures and had received their Offices and Preferments from him I need say no more For had he either been a Papist or so strongly biassed on that side what should have hindred him from making an open Declaration of it or stop him from a reconciliation with the Church of Rome His Fellowship was not so considerable but that he might presume of a larger Maintenance beyond the Seas Nor was he of such common parts but that he might have looked for a better welcom and far more civil usage there than he found at home Preferments in the Church he had none at the present nor any strong presumptions of it for the time to come which might be a temptation to him to continue here against the clear light of his Understanding And this may be a further Argument not only of his unfeigned sincerity but of his constancy and stedfastness in the Religion here established that he kept his station that notwithstanding all those clamours under which he suffered he was resolved to ride out the storm and neither to desert the Barque in which he sailed nor run her upon any of the Roman Shores In this of a far better Temper than Tertullian was though as much provok'd of whom it is reported by Beatus Rhenamus That at first he only seemed to favour Montanus or at the least not to be displeased with his proceedings But afterwards being continually tormented by the tongues and pens of the Roman Clergy he fell off from the obedience of the Church and became at last a downright Montanist All which together make it plain that it was not his design to desert the Church but to preserve her rather from being deserted to vindicate her by degrees from those Innovations which by long tract of time and the cunning practises of some men had been thrust upon her And being once resolved on this the blustring winds which so raged against him did rather fix him at the root than either shake his resolution or force him to desist from his purpose in it And therefore it was well resolved by Sir Edw. Dering though his greatest enemy That he was always one and the same man that beginning with him at Oxon. and so going on to Canterbury he was unmoved and unchanged that he never complied with the times but kept his own stand until the times came up to him as they after did Such was the man and such the purpose of the man whom his good friends in Oxon. out of pure zeal no doubt we must take it so had declared a Papist During these Agitations and Concussions in the Vniversity there hapned an accident at Wansteed in the County of Essex which made as great a noise as his being a Papist but such a noise as might have freed him from that Accusation if considered rightly In the year 1605. he had been made Chaplain to Charles Lord Mountjoy Earl of Devonshire a man in great favour with King Iames for his fortunate Victory at Kinsale in Ireland by which he reduced that Realm to the obedience of this Crown broke the whole Forces of the Rebells and brought the Earl of Tir-owen a Prisoner into England with him For which great Services he was by King Iames made Lord Lieutenant of that Kingdom and one of the Lords of his Privy Council created Earl of Devonshire and one of the Knights of the most Noble Order of the Garter This Gentleman being a younger Brother of William Lord Mountjoy and known only by the name of Sir Charles Blunt while his Brother lived had bore a strong and dear affection to the Lady Penelope Daughter of Walter Earl of Essex a Lady in whom lodged all attractive Graces of Beauty Wit and sweetness of Behaviour which might render her the absolute Mistress of all Eyes and Hearts And she so far reciprocated with him in the like affection being a compleat and gallant man that some assurances past between them of a future Marriage But her friends looking on him as a younger Brother considerable only in his depending at the Court chose rather to dispose her in Marriage to Robert Lord Rich a man of an independent Fortune and a known Estate but otherwise of an uncourtly disposition unsociable austere and of no very agreeable conversation to her Against this Blunt had nothing to plead in Bar the promises which passed between them being made in private no Witnesses to attest unto it and therefore not amounting to a pre-Contract in due form of Law But long she had not lived in the Bed of Rich when the old flames of her affection unto Blunt began again to kindle in her and if the Sonet in the Arcadia A Neighbour mine not long ago there was c. be not too generally misconstrued she made her Husband the sole instrument to acquaint him with it But whether it were so or not certain it is that having first had their private meetings they afterwards converst more openly and familiarly with one another than might stand with honour unto either especially when by the death of his elder Brother the Title of Lord Mountjoy and the Estate remaining to it had accrued unto him As if the alteration of his Fortune could either lessen the offence or suppress the fame Finding her at his coming back from the Wars of Ireland to be free from Rich legally freed by a Divorce and not a voluntary separation only a toro mensa as they call it he thought himself obliged
to make her some Reparation in point of Honour by taking her into his Bosom as a Lawful Wiâ—e Besides he had some Children by her before she was actually separated from the Bed of Rich some of which afterwards attained to Titles of Honour whom he conceived he might have put into a capability of a Legitimation by this subsequent Marriage according to the Rule and Practice of the Civil Laws in which it passeth for a Maxime That subsequens Matrimonium legitimat prolem And to that end he dealt so powerfully with his Chaplain that he disposed him to perform the Rites of that Solemnization which was accordingly done at Wansteed Decemb. 26. being the Festival of St. Steven Anno 1605. Nor did he want some Reasons to induce him to it besides the perswasion of his Friends which might have gained upon a man not so much concerned in it as he was and may be used for his excuse if not for his justification also He found by the averment of the Parties that some assurances of Marriage had passed between them before she was espoused to Rich which though they could not amount to a pre-Contract in Foro Iudicii in a Court of Judicature yet he might satisfie himself in the truth thereof in Foro Conscientiae in the Court of his own private Conscience And thereupon he might conclude That being satisfied in the reality and truth of those Assurances and finding that Rich had quitted his pretensions to her by a formal Sentence of Divorce he might conceive it lawful for him to perform that Service which was required at his hands He had found also three Opinions touching the lawfulness or unlawfulness of such Marriages which are made after a Divorce The first That such Marriages are lawful unto neither Party as long as either of them liveth which is the Doctrine of the Papists determined positively in the Councel of Trent The second That such Marriages are lawful to the Party wronged but not unto the Guilty also which Opinion is maintained by some of the Calvinists and divers of the Ancient Writers The third That both the innocent and the guilty Party may lawfully marry if they please which Maldonate makes to be the general Opinions of the Lutheran and Calvinian Ministers as also of some Catholick Doctors And then why might he not conceive that course most fit to be followed in which all Parties did agree than either of the other two which was commended to him but by one Party only And though he followed in this case the worst way of the three â—et may it serve for a sufficient Argument that he was no Papist nor cordially affected unto that Religion because he acted so directly against the Doctrines and Determinations of the Church of Rome If any other considerations of Profit Preferment or Compliance did prevail upon him as perhaps they might they may with Charity be looked on as the common incidencies of Humane frailty from which the holiest and most learned men cannot plead Exemption But whatsoever motives either of them had to put a fair colour upon the business certain it is that it succeeded well with neither The Earl found presently such an alteration in the Kings countenance towards him and such a lessening of the value which formerly had been set upon him that he was put to a necessity of writing an Apology to defend his action But finding how little it edified both in Court and Country it wrought such a sad impression on him that he did not much survive the mischief ending his life before the end of the year next following Nor did the Chaplain brook it long without such a check of Conscience as made him turn the Annual Festival of St. Steven into an Anniversary Fast humbling himself from year to year upon that day before the Father of Mercies and craving pardon for that Error which by the perswasions of some Friends and other the temptations of flesh and blood he had fallen into And for this purpose he composed this ensuing Prayer BEhold thy Servant O my God and in the bowels of thy mercy have compassion on me Behold I am become a Reproach to thy holy Name by serving my Ambition and the sins of others which though I did by the perswasion of other men yet my own Conscience did check and upbraid me in it Lord I beseech thee for the mercies of Iesus Christ enter not into Iudgement with me thy Servant but hear his blood imploring thy mercies for me Neither let this Marriage prove a Divorcing of my Soul from thy grace and favour for much more happy had I been if being mindful of this day I had suffered Martyrdom as did St. Steven the first of Martyrs denying that which either my less faithful friends or less godly friends had pressed upon me I promised to my self that the darkness would hide me but that hope soon vanished away Nor doth the light appear more plainly than I that have committed that soul offence Even so O Lord it pleased thee of thy infinite mercy to deject me with this heavy Ignominy that I might learn to seek thy Name O Lord how grievous is the remembrance of my sin to this very day after so many and such reiterated Prayers poured forth unto thee from a sorrowful and afflicted Spirit Be merciful O Lord unto me hearken to the Prayers of thy humble and dejected Servant and raise me up again O Lord that I may not die in this my sin but that I may live in thee hereafter and living evermore rejoyce in thee through the merits and the mercies of Iesus Christ my Lord and Saviour Amen A brave example of a penitent and afflicted Soul which many of us may admire but few will imitate And though I doubt not but that the Lord in mercy did remit this fault yet was he not so mercifully dealt with at the hands of men by whom it was so frequently and reproachfully cast in the way of his Preferment that he was fain to make the Duke of Buckingham acquainted with the story of it and by his means to possess King Charles his gracious Master with the truth thereof So long it was before his Enemies had desisted from pressing this unhappy Error to his disadvantage The Earl of Devonshire being dead he was by Doctor Buckridge his most constant friend Anno 1608. commended to the Service of Doctor Richard Neile then Bishop of Rochester a man who very well understood the Constitution of the Church of England though otherwise not so eminent in all parts of Learning as some other Bishops of his time But what he wanted in himself he made good in the choice of his Servants having more able men about him from time to time than any other of that age Amongst which not to reckon Laud of whom now I speak were Doctor Augustine Linsell Bishop of Hereford Doctor Thomas Iackson President of Corpus Christi Colledge in Oxon. and Dean of
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
not engaged upon either side might succeed in their places But notwithstanding all this care the Faction still held up against him the younger fry inclining to the same side which had been taken by their Tutors But whiles these things were in agitation there hapned a great alteration in the Church of England by the death of the most Reverend Archbishop Bancroft who died on the second of November 1610. and with whom died the Vniformity of the Church of England A man he was of eminent parts and of a most undaunted spirit one who well knew his work and did it When Chaplain only to the Lord Chancellor Hatton he piec'd himself with Doctor Whitgift not long after his first coming to the See of Canterbury to whom he proved a great support in gaining the Lord Chancellor for him by whose assistance he was enabled to hold out against the over-ruling Power of the Earl of Leicester the Patron-General of the Faction In the year 1588. he Preached a Sermon at St. Paul's Cross and therein made an open Declaration of those manifold Dangers which the prevalency of that Faction would bring upon the Church and State if they might be suffered which blow he followed in a Book entituled Dangerous Positions and Proceedings published and practised within this Island of Britain under pretence of Reformation and for the Presbyterial Discipline And in that Book he made such a perfect discovery of their Plots and Practises and so anatomized them in every part that he made them odious unto those who before had been their greatest Patrons In the year 1593. he published another Treatise entituled A Survey of the Pretended holy Discipline in which he so dissected the whole Body of Calvin's Presbyterial Platform shewing the incoherencies of it in it self and the inconsistencies thereof with Monarchical Government that he took off the edge of many and those Great ones too who had not only seemed to like it but had longed for it The Plot was so laid down by Whitgift that at the same time there should come out two other Books the one written by Doctor Thomas Bilson Warden of the Colledge neer Winton for proof of the Antiquity and perpetual Government of the Church by Bishops the other by Doctor Richard Cosens a right Learned Civilian in justification of the Proceedings in the Ecclesiastical Courts By which four Books the Puritan Faction was so muzled that they were not able to bark in a long time after Nor do they want their several and just Rewards for such good performances Bilson being first made Bishop of Worcester and not long after Bishop of Winton Bancroft advanced to the See of London and Doctor Cosens Vicar-general and Dean of the Arches within few years after being consecrated Bishop of London on the eighth of May 1597. he kept such a watchfull eye over it and held so strict a hand upon it that from a receptactle and retreat of the Grandees of the Puritan party it became almost as free from Faction as any other in the Kingdom And knowing how much the Peace of this Church did depend upon it he managed a secret Corespondency with King Iames in Scotland insinuating unto him the necessity of conforming the Churches of both Kingdoms in Government and Forms of Worship and laying down a plot for restoring Episcopacy to that Kirk without noise or trouble Which counsel being advisedly followed by King Iames before his coming into England was afterwards so well pursued though not without some violent strugling of the Presbyterians of that Kingdom that on the 21. day of October in the year 1609. the designed Bishops of Glascow Brechen and Gallo-Way received Episcopal Consecration in the Chappel of London-house by the hands of Doctor George Abbot then Bishop of London Doctor Lancelot Andrews Bishop of Ely Doctor Iames Montague Bishop of Bath and Wells and Doctor Richard Neile then Bishop of Rochester Bancroft himself forbearing to lay hands upon them for the avoiding of all scruples amongst the Scots as if he pretended any Jurisdiction or Authority over them In the mean time Anno 1603. he carried a chief hand in the Conference at Hampton Court and had the sole management of the Convocation of the same year also in which he passed that excellent body of Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical to serve for a perpetual standing Rule to the Church of England Succeeding Whitgift in the See of Canterbury Anno 1604. he resolved to put the Canons into execution and press'd it with so stout a courage that few had confidence enough to stand out against him Some of them did and those he either depriv'd or silenc'd and thereby terrified the rest to an open Conformity They saw too plainly that they must not dally with his patience as they did with Whitgifts and that he was resolved to break them if they would not bow And they did wisely in so bowing for who could stand against a man of such a spirit armed with Authority having the Law on his side and the King to friend who had declared publickly in the Conference at Hampton Court That if they would not conform he would either hurry them out of the Kingdom or else do worse In the year 1608. he was chosen Chancellor at Oxon. and questionless would have set all things right in that University if Sickness and the stroke of Death had not prevented his intendments But die he must and being dead there was a Consultation amongst some of the Bishops and other Great men of the Court whom to commend unto King Iames for his Successor in that See They knew that Mountague and Abbot would be venturing at it but they had not confidence enough in either of them both of them being extremely popular and such as would ingratiate themselves with the Puritan Faction how dearly soever the Church paid for it And thereupon it was resolved to fix on Andrews for the man a man as one says very well of him of Primitive Antiquity in whom was to be found whatever is desirable in a Bishop even to admiration to whom they found the King to be well affected for taking up the Bucklers for him against Cardinal Bellarmine The Motion was no sooner made but it was embraced and they departed from the King with as good assurance as if the business had been done and Andrews fully setled in the Throne of Canterbury In confidence whereof some of them retired to their Country Houses and others lessened their accustomed diligence about the King and thereby gave an opportunity to the Earl of Dunbar a powerful Minister of State to put in for Abbot who had attended him in some Negotiations which he had with the Scots and he put in so powerfully in his behalf that at last he carried it and had the Kings Hand to the passing of the publick Instruments before the other Bishops ever heard of the Plot But when they heard of it there was no Remedy but Patience but it was
long experience with his great abilities his constancy courage and dexterity for managing affairs of moment And thereupon entring into speech with him in the beginning of Iune he was pleased to take notice of the long and unrewarded service which he had done him telling him that he looked on the Deanry of Glocester but as a Shell without a Kernel This gave him the first hopes of his growing Fortunes On Sunday the nineteenth of that Month he preached before the King at Wansteed that being the first of those Sermons which are now in Print And on St. Peters day next following there was a general expectation about the Court that he should have been made Dean of Westminster in the place of Williams who having been sworn Privy-Counsellor on the tenth of that Month and nominated to the See of Lincoln was on the tenth of Iuly honoured with the Custody of the great Seal of England upon the Deprivation of the Lord Chancellor St. Albans which before we spake of but Williams so prevailed at Court that when he was made Bishop of Lincoln he retained this Deanry in Commendam together with such other Preferments as he held at that time That is to say A Prebend and Residentiary place in the Cathedral Church at Lincoln and the Rectory of Walgrave in Northampton-shire so that he was a perfect Diocess within himself as being Bishop Dean Prebend Residentiary and Parson and all these at once But though Laud could not get the Deanry yet he lost nothing by the example which he made use of in retaining not only his Prebends place in the same Church of Westminster and his Benefices in the Country that being an ordinary indulgence to such as were preferred to the smaller Bishopsricks but also the Presidentship of his Colledge in Oxon which he valued more than all the Rest. For that his own expectation might not be made as frustrate as was that of the Court his Majesty nominated him the same day to the See of St. Davids in former times the Metropolitan City of the Welsh or Brittish But though he was nominated then he could not receive the Episcopal Character till five Months after the stay was long but the necessity unavoydable by reason of a deplorable misfortune which had befallen Archbishop Abbot and was briefly this The Archbishop had long held a dear and entire Friendship with Edward Lord Zouch a person of an eminent and known Nobility On whom he pleased to bestow a visit in his house at Bramshall invited to see a Deer hunted that he might take the fresh air and revive his Spirits a Cross-bow was put into his hand to shoot one of the Deer but his hand most unhappily swerving or the Keeper as unfortunately coming in his way it so pleased God the Disposer of Humane Affairs that he missed the Beast and shot the Man On which sad accident being utterly uncapable of consolation he retired himself to Guilford the place of his birth there to expect the Issue of his wofull Fortunes in an Hospital of his own Foundation The news of this wretched misadventure as ill news flies far came the same day to the Lord Keeper Williams and he as hastily dispatches this Advertisement of it to the Marquess of Buckingham My most Noble Lord AN unfortunate occasion of my Lords Grace his killing of a man casually as it is here constantly reported is the cause of my seconding of my yesterdays Letter unto your Lordship His Grace upon this Accident is by the Common Law of England to forfeit all his Estate unto his Majesty and by the Canon Law which is in force with us irregular ipso facto and so suspended from all Ecclesiastical Function until he be again restored by his Superiour which I take it is the Kings Majesty in this Rank and Order of Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction If you send for Doctor Lamb he will acquaint your Lordship with the distinct Penalties in this kind I wish withal my heart his Majesty would be as merciful as ever he was in all his life but yet I held it my duty to let his Majesty know by your Lordship that his Majesty is fallen upon a matter of great Advice and Deliberation To add affliction unto the afflicted as no doubt he is in mind is against the Kings Nature To leave virum sanguinum or a man of blood Primate and Patriarch of all his Churches is a thing that sounds very harsh in the old Councils and Canons of the Church The Papists will not spare to descant upon one and the other I leave the knot to his Majesties deep Wisdom to advise and resolve upon A rheum fallen into mine eye c. Which Letter bearing date Iuly 27. 1621. points us directly to the time of this woful Accident Being thus pre-judged and pre-condemned the miserable man must needs have had a hard bout of it if his cause had been referred to an hearing in Chancery But King Iames was as compassionate as just and as regardful of the Church as he was compassionate to the man Advising therefore with his Council and some chief Clergy-men about him though more with his own gracious disposition he after issued a Commission to the Lord Keeper Williams the Bishops of London Winchester St. Davids and Exon as also unto Hubbert and Dodderidge two of the Justices of the Courts at Westminster-hall Martin and Steward Doctors of the Civil Laws men of great Eminence and Abilities in their several Studies to make Inquiry into the Fact And having made Inquiry into the Fact they were to give their Resolution unto His Majesty whether the Archbishop had been made irregular by that sad accident as it was commonly reported In the managing of which great Cause there was much variety of Opinions amongst the Delegates some making him obnoxious to Irregularity and others as much labouring to acquit him of it Amongst these last were Doctor Andrews then Bishop of Winchester and Sir Henry Martin then Dean of the Arches and not long after Judge of the Prerogative Court to whose Authority and Judgment the rest of the Commissioners did in time conform Martin for his part had received his Offices and Preferments from him and therefore in an honest Gratitude thought himself obliged to bend the Law as much as possibly he could to his best Advantage But Andrews had no such impulsives there being between them some disgust which might have rather prevailed with him to have been his Enemy First therefore he was willing not to stand too rigidly upon the strictness of the Canons for fear lest others of the Bishops and himself amongst them either through ignorance or incogitancy might commit some acts which without a fair and mild construction might render them as uncanonical as that poor man was And then he saw that if the Archbishop at that time had been pronounced irregular and the See made void Williams being then Lord Keeper and in great favour with his Majesty and the Marquis too would
be challenged And when it was answered That there could be no reason to engage in such Disputations where no Moderator could be had The King replied That Charles should moderate between them and the opposite party At which when one of them seemed to smile upon the other the King proceeded and assured them that Charles should manage a point in Controversie with the best studied Divine of them all and that he had trained up George so far as to hold the Conclusion though he had not yet made him able to prove the Premises By which it seems that his Majesty conceived no such fear on the Princes part as that he could be practised or disputed out of his Religion and that he had no such fear of Buckingham neither but that he would be able to stand his ground notwithstanding any Arguments which were brought to move him And he that is so far confirmed as to stand his ground will never yield himself though he may be vanquished It was not then to be believed that me so principled and instructed as not to be forced out of their Religion should take such pains to be perverted or seduced upon worldly policies as well against their Science as against their Conscience Had they gone thither on that Errand what could have hindred them from putting the design in execution having in Spain sit opportunity to effect it at home the Kings Authority to confirm and Countenance it and the whole power of his Catholick Majesty which was offered more than once or twice to justifie and defend the misrule against all the world That they brought back the same Religion which they carried with them is a strong Argument to any man of Sense and Reason that they went not into Spain of purpose to betray it there Let us next look upon the proofs which are offered to us for Laud being privy to this journey whereof his being of Council to â—ervert the Prince and draw him to the Church of Rome there is no proof offered For first I find it charged that he wrote a Letter unto Buckingham on the fifth day after his departure and maintained a constant Correspondence with him when he was in Spain And secondly That he was privy to some Speeches which his Majesty had used to the Prince at his going hence His Majesty in some of his printed Books had maintained that the Pope was Antichrist and now he feared that this might be alledged against him in the Court of Rome to hinder the Popes Dispensation and obstruct the Marriage For the removal of which bar he commands the Prince to signifie if occasion were to all whom it might concern That his Majesty had writ nothing in that Point concludingly but by way of Argument That Laud was present at this Conference betwixt his Majesty and the Prince hath no proof at all He might be made acquainted with it on the post-fact when the Prince returned and yet because he was made acquainted with this passage though upon the post-fact it must be hence concluded as a matter certain That he was one of the Cabinet Council and privy to the Princes going into Spain and secondly as a matter probable That he suggested this distinction unto King James to please the Pope and promote the Match As little strength there is in the second proof touching his Writing to the Marquis on the fifth day after his departure But then it was not till the fifth before which time the Princes Journey into Spain was made the general Discourse of all Companies the ordinary Subject of all Tongues and Pens communicated by word of mouth by Letters and by what means not Nor can those following Letters which he received from Buckingham when he was in Spain convince him of being privy to that Journey when it was in project and design there being many others also who both received and dispatched Letters frequently from that very same person so far from being of the Council as to that particular that they were not of the Court at all So ordinary is the fate of such sorry Arguments to conclude nothing at all or that which is nothing to the purpose But what need more be said to confute this Calumny on which I have so long insisted than the great Care which was immediately taken by the King and his Bishops to maintain the Reputation of the Church of England in the Court of Spain No sooner had his Majesty notice that the Prince was come in safety to the Court of that King but order presently was taken for Officers of all Qualities and Servants of all sorts to be sent unto him that so he might appear in Publick with the greater lustre Nor was it the least part of his Royal Care to accommodate him with two such Chaplains as should be able to defend the Doctrine of this Church against all Opponents And that there might appear a face of the Church of England in the outward Forms of Worship also his Majesty was pleased by the Advice of the Bishops then about him of which Laud was one to give the said Chaplains Maw and Wren these Instructions following dated at Newmarket March 10. I. That there be one convenient Room appointed for Prayer the said Room to be employed during their abode to no other use II. That it be decently adorned Chappel-wise with an Altar Fonts Palls Linnen Coverings Demy-Carpet four Surplices Candlesticks Tapers Chalices Pattens a fine Towel for the Prince other Towels for the Houshold a Traverse of Waters for the Communion a Bason and Flaggons two Copes III. That Prayers be duly kept twice a day That all reverence be used by every one present being uncovered kneeling at due times standing up at the Creeds and Gospel bowing at the Name of JESUS IV. That the Communion be celebrated in due form with an Oblation of every Communicant and admixing Water with the Wine the Communion to be as often used as it shall please the Prince to set down smooth Wafers to be used for the Bread V. That in the Sermons there be no Polemical Preachings to inveigh against them or to confute them but only to confirm the Doctrine and Tenets of the Church of England by all positive Arguments either in Fundamental or Moral Points and especially to apply themselves in Moral Lessons to Preach Christ Jesus Crucified VI. That they give no occasions or rashly entertain any of Conference or Dispute for fear of dishonour to the Prince if upon any offence taken he should be required to send away any one of them but if the Lord Embassador or Mr. Secretary wish them to hear any that desire some information then they may safely do it VII That they carry the Articles of our Religion in many Copies the Books of Common Prayer in several Languages store of English Service-Books the Kings own Works in English and Latin Such were his Majesties Instructions to the said two Chaplains and being such they do concludingly demonstrate
Church of England had a great stock at that time to be driven in Spain and many of the Romish Factors were desirous to be trading in it No sooner was the Princes Train of Lords and Gentlemen come to the City of Madrid but the King of Spain assigned a day for his Reception A Reception so Magnificent so full of State and Royal Pomp that it redounded infinitely to the honour of the Spanish Court and the satisfaction of the Prince Never was King of Spain on the day of his inauguration received into that City with a more general concourse of all sorts of people and greater signs of Joy and Gallantry then the Prince was conducted through it to the Palace Royal. In which his Quarters being assigned him there wanted no allurements on their parts to win him to a fair esteem of their Religion and to put some high value also on their Court and Nation Nor was the Prince wanting for his part in all fit compliances by which he might both gain on them and preserve himself for by his Courtly Garb he won so much on the affections of the Lady Infanta and by his Grace and circumspect behaviour got so much ground upon that King and his Council that the Match went forward in good earnest A dispensation for the Marriage was procured from Gregory the fifteenth then sitting in the See of Rome The Articles of the Marriage with all the circumstances thereof were agreed upon and solemnly sworn to by both Kings Nothing remained to bring the whole business to a joyfull issue but the Consummation But before that could be obtained the Prince must try his fortunes in an harder Conflict than any he had learnt in the Schools of Love The change of his Religion was much hoped for by the Court of Spain at his first coming thither To perfect which he was plied from time to time with many perswasive Arguments by many persons of great Honour about that King And many of the most learned Priests and Jesuites made their Addresses to him with such Rhetorical Orations with such insinuating Artifices and subtle Practises as if they had a purpose rather to conquer him by kindness than by disputation Nor stop they there but dedicated many Books unto him to gain him fairly to their Party invited him to behold their solemn Processions to captivate his outward senses and carried him to the most Religious places famous for their magnificent Fabricks and pretended Miracles In which conjuncture of designs it is not to be thought but that the Pope bestirred himself in gaining to his Church a Prince of such parts and greatness For first he writes unto the Bishop of Conchen Inquisitor general of Spain not to be wanting to the opportunity which God had put into his hands The next day being the twentieth of April he addressed his lines unto the Prince extolling the piety of his Predecessors their Zeal unto the Catholick Church and to the head thereof the Pope inviting him by all the blandishments of Art to put himself upon the following of their brave examples Never had Prince a harder game to play than Prince Charles had now He found himself under the Power of the King of Spain and knew that the whole business did depend on the Popes dispensation with whom if he complied not in some handsome way his expectation might be frustrate and all the fruits of that long Treaty would be suddenly blasted He therefore writes unto the Pope in such general terms as seemed to give his Holiness some assurances of him but being reduced unto particulars signified nothing else but some civill complements mixt with some promises of his endeavours to make up the breaches in the Church and restore Christendom to an happy and desirable peace Which notwithstanding was after reckoned amongst his crimes by such as rather would not then did not know the necessity which lay upon him of keeping at that time a plausible correspondence with the Catholick party But these Temptations and Allurements these Artifices and Insinuations prevailed so little with the Prince that he still kept his stand and was found impregnable carrying himself with such a prudent Moderation in these Encounters that he came off alwaies without Envy but not without Glory And that it might appear on what grounds he stood it was thought fit to let them see that he professed no other Religion than what was agreeable to the Rules of Antiquity and not much abhorrent from the Forms then used in the Church Rome And to this end by the prudent care of the Lord Keeper Williams the English Liturgie was translated into Spanish so many Copies of the book then Printed being sent into Spain as gave great satisfaction both to the Court and Clergy The work performed by a converted Dominican who was gratified for his pains therein by a good Prebend and a Benefice as he well deserved And this I must needs say was very seasonably done For till that time the Spaniards had been made believe by their Priests and Jesuites that when the English had cast off the Pope they had cast off all Religion also That from thenceforth they became meer Atheists and that the name of God was never used amongst them but with a purpose to expose it to profanation An Argument whereof may be the extreme squeamishness of the Constable of Castile sent into England in the beginning of the Reign of King Iames to swear the peace between both Kings Who understanding that the business was to be performed in the Chappel where some Anthems were to be sung desired that whatsoever was sung Gods name might not be used in it and that being forborn he was content they should sing what they listed And when the Earl of Nottingham attended by many Gentlemen of worth and quality went into Spain to take the like Oath of the Catholick King it was reported by his followers at their coming back how much it was commiserated by the Vulgar Spaniards that so many goodly persons should be trained up in no other Religion than to worship the Devil But let us leave the Prince and return for England where the King had as hard a game to play For having left such a Pawn in Spain he was in a manner bound to his good behaviour and of necessity to gratifie the Popish Party in this Kingdom with more than ordinary Favours He knew no Marriage could be made without the Popes Dispensation and that the Popes Dispensation could not be obtained without indulging many graces to his Catholick Subjects To smooth his way therefore to the point desired he addresseth several Letters to the Pope and Cardinals in which he gives him the title of most holy Father and imploys Gage as his Agent in the Court of Rome to attend the business At home he dischargeth all such Priests and Iesuites as had been formerly imprisoned inhibiting all Processes and Superseding all proceedings against Recusants and in a word suspends
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
the Churches committed to our charge all Canonical Priviledges and due Law and Iustice and that you would protect and defend us as every good King in his Kingdom ought to be a Protector and Defender of the Bishops and the Churches under their Government The King answereth With a willing and devout heart I promisâ— and grant my pardon and that I will preserve and maintain to you and the Churches commâ—â—ted tâ—â—â—ur charge all Canonical Priviledges and due Law and Iustice and that I will be your Protector and Defender to my power by the Assistance of God as every good King ought in his Kingdom in right to protect and deâ—end the Bishops and Churches under theiâ— Government The King ariseth and is leaâ— to the Communion Table where he makes a soleâ—n Oath in â—ight of all the People to observe the Premises and laying his Hand upon the Book saith The things which I have before promised I shall perform and keep So help me Gâ—â— and the Contents of this Book Such was the Coronation-Oath accustomably taken by the Kings of England Which notwithstanding it was objected by the Lords and Commons in the time of the Long Parliament 〈…〉 the same which ought to have been taken by him And for proof thereof an antiquated Oath was found and published in a Remonstrance of theirs bearing date the twentieth of May 1642. To which his Majesty made this Answer That the Oath which he took at his Coronation was warranted and enjoyned by the Customs of his Predecessors and that the Ceremony of their and his taking of it they might find in the Records of the Exchequer And this it is c. Now in performing the Solemnities of the Coronation the Abbot anciently and for more than one hundred years last past the Deans of Westminster had a special place To them belonged the Custody of the old Regalia that is to say the Crown Sword Scepter Spurs c. of King Edward Sirnamed the Confessor kept by them in a secret place of Westminster Abbey not easily acceâ—â—able to any but such as know the mystery of it never brought forth but at the Coronation of a King or his going to Parliament Williams the late Lord Keeper was at this time Dean But being under the Kings displeasure was commanded to forbear his attendance at the Coronation and to depute one of the Prebends in his place This put him into some dispute within himself He had no mind to nominate Laud being then one of the Prebendaries of that Church because he lookt upon him as his Corrival and Supplanter in the Dukes good Grace and to have named otâ—er of a lower order there being a Bishop in the number would have subjected him to some discourse and misconstruction He therefore very wisely sent unto his Majesty the names degrees and dignities of all the Prebends leaving it unto him alone to make the Election who thereupon without any Hesitancy or deliberation deputed Laud unto the Service Laud being thus nominated and deputed prepared all things ready for that great Solemnity And finding the Old Crucifix among the Regalia he caused it to be placed on the Altar as in former times The Coronation being ended his Majesty going in his Robes to Westminster Hall did there deliver them to Laud representing in that Pomp the Dean of Westminster together with the Crown Scepter and the Sword called Cortena to be laid up with the rest of the Regalia in their old repository which he receiving from the King returned into the Abbey Church offered solemnly on the Altar in his Majesties name as by his place he was to do and so laid them up Two things there were remarkable in this Coronation which seemed to have something in them of Presage Senhouse who had been once his Chaplain when Prince of Wales and was now Bishop of Carlile had the honour to preach upon the day of that great Solemnity An eloquent man he was reputed and one that could very well express a passion but he had chosen such a Text as was more proper for a Funeral than a Coronation his Text being this viz. I will give thee a Crown of life Apoc. 2.10 and was rather thought to put the new King in mind of his Death than his duty in Government and to have been his Funeral Sermon when he was alive as if he were to have none when he was to be buried It was observed also that his Majesty on that day was cloathed in White contrary to the Custom of his Predecessors who were on that day clad in Purple And this he did not out of any necessity for want of Purple Velvet enough to make a Suite for he had many yards of it in his outward Garment but at his own choice only to declare that Virgin Purity with which he came to be espoused unto his Kingdom White as we know is the colour of the Saints who are represented to us in White Robes by St. Iohn in the Revelation and Purple is the Imperial and Regal colour so proper heretofore unto Kings and Emperours that many of the Constantinopolitan Emperours were called Porphyrogenites because at their first coming into the world they were wrapt in Purple And this some looked on also as an ill Presage that the King laying aside his Purple the Robe of Majesty should cloath himself in White the Robe of innocence as if thereby it were fore-signified that he should devest himself of that Regal Majesty which might and would have kept him safe from affront and scorn to rely wholly on the innocence of a vertuous life which did expose him finally to calamitous ruine No sooner were the Pomps of the Coronation ended but the Second Parliament began at the opening whereof on Munday the sixt of February our Bishop of St. Davids preacht before his Majesty the Lords c. in the Abbey Church He was appointed to have preached in the beginning of the former Parliament on Saturday the eighteenth of Iune but that turn being otherwise supplied he preached the same Sermon the next day before his Majesty at Whitehall his Text then Psal. 75.2 3. When I shall receive the Congregation I will judge according unto right c. But now he chose for the Theam or Subject of his discourse the 3 4 5 verses of the 112 Psalm viz. Ierusalem is like a City that is at unity in it self c. In which considering Ierusalem as a Type of the Church and State he first beholds it as a type of the State or Civil Government Where he considered That Ordo Politicus the wise ordering of the people in Concord and Vnity was simply the strongest Wall of a State But break Vnity once and farewell all strength And therefore disjoynted Factions in a State when they work upon Division are Publica irae divinae incendia the publick kindlings of Gods Anger and they burn down all before them And God seldom suffers these to fire a State till himself be heated first
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
on the Kings wants flattered themselves with the hope of a Toleration for it But old Sir Iohn Savill of Yorkshire who had been lately taken into his Majesties Council had found out a plot worth two of that conceiving that a Commission to proceed against Recusants for their thirds due to his Majesty by Law would bring in double the Sum which they had offered To this the King readily condescended granting him and some others a Commission for that purpose for the Parts beyond Trent as unto certain Lords and Gentlemen for all other Counties in the Kingdom By which means and some moneys raised upon the Loane there was such a present stock advanced that with some other helps which his Majesty had he was enabled to set forth a powerfull Fleet and a considerable Land Army for the relief of the Rochellers whose quarrel he had undertaken upon this occasion The Queen at her first coming into England had brought with her a complâ—at Family of French to attend her here according to the Capitulations between the Commissioners of both Kings before the Marriage But the French Priests and some of the rest of her Domesticks were grown so insolent and had put so many affronts upon his Majesty that he was forced to send them home within few daies after he had dissolved the foregoing Parliament In which he had done no more than what the French King had done before him in sending back all the Spanish Courtiers which his Queen brought with her But the French King not looking on his own Example and knowing on what ill terms the King stood both at home and abroad first seized on all the Merchants Ships which lay on the River of Burdeaux and then brake out into open war So that the King was necessitated to make use of those Forces against the French which were designed to have been used against the Spaniard and to comply with the desires of the Rochellers who humbly sued for his protection and defence But the Fleet not going out till after Michaelmas found greater opposition at Sea than they feared from the Land being encountred with strong Tempests and thereby necessitated to return without doing any thing but only shewing the Kings good will and readiness toward their assistance But the next Fleet and the Land-Army before mentioned being in a readiness the Duke of Buckingham appeared Commander general for that Service who hoped thereby to make himself of some consideration in the eyes of the People On the twenty seventh of Iune he hoised Sailes for the Isle of Rhe which lay before the Port of Rochel and embarred their trade the taking whereof was the matter aimed at And he had strength enough both for Sea and Land to have done the work if he had not followed it more like a Courtier than a Souldier For having neglected those advantages which the victory at his Landing gave him he first suffered himself to be complemented out of the taking of their chief Fort when it was almost at his mercy and after stood unseasonably upon point of Honour in facing those Forces which were sent from the French King to raise the Siege when he might have made a safe retreat unto his Ships without loss or danger So that well beaten by the French and with great loss of Reputation among the English he came back with the remainder of his broken Forces in November following as dearly welcom to the King as if he had returned with success and triumphs During the preparations for this unfortunate attempt on Sunday the twenty ninth of April it pleased his Majesty to admâ—t the Bishop of Bath and Wells for one of the Lords of his most honourable Privy Council An honour which he would not have accepted with so great chearfulness if his dear Friend the Lord Bishop of Durham had not been sworn at or about the same time also So mutually did these two Prelates contribute their assistances to one another that as Neile gave Laud his helping hand to bring him first into the Court and plant him in King Iames his favour So Laud made use of all advantages in behalf of Neile to keep him in favour with King Charles and advance him higher The Fleet and Forces before mentioned being in a readiness and the Duke provided for the Voyaye it was not thought either safe or fit that the Duke himself should be so long absent without leaving some assured Friend about his Majesty by whom all practises against him might be either prevented or suppressed and by whose means the Kings affections might be alwaies inflamed towards him To which end Laud is first desired to attend his Majesty to Portsmouth before which the Navy lay at Anchor and afterwards to wait the whole Progress also the Inconveniencies of which journeys he was as willing to undergo as the Duke was willing to desire it The Church besides was at that time in an heavy condition and opportunities must be watcht for keeping her from falling from bad to worse No better her condition now in the Realm of England than anciently in the Eastern Churches when Nectarius sate as Supâ—â—me Pastor in the Chair of Constantinople of which thus Nazianze writes unto him The Arians saith he were grown so insolent that they make open profession of their Heresie as if they had been authorized and licenced to it The Macedonians so presumptuous that they were formed into a Sect and had a Titular Bishop of their own The Apollinarians held their Conventicles with as much safety and esteem as the Orthodox Christians And for Eunomius the bosome-mischief of those times he thought so poorly of a general connivence that at last nothing would content him but a toleration The cause of which disorders he ascribeth to Nectarius only A man as the Historian saith of him of an exceeding fair and plausible demeanour and very gracious with the people one that chose rather as it seems to give free way to all mens fancies and suffer every mans proceedings than draw upon himself the envy of a stubborn Clergy and a factious Multitude Never was Church more like to Church Bishop to Bishop time to time the names of the Sects and Heresies being only changed than those of Constantinople then and of England now A pregnant evidence that possibly there could not be a greater mischief in a Church of God than a Popular Prelate This though his Majesty might not know yet the Bishops which were about him did who therefore had but ill discharged their duty both to God and man if they had not made his Majesty acquainted with it he could not chuse but see by the practises and proceedings of the former Parliaments to what a prevalency the Puritans were grown in all parts of the Kingdom and how incompatible that humour was with the Regal interest There was no need to tell him from what fountain the mischief came how much the Popularity and remiss Government of Abbot did contribute
mature deliberation and with the Advice of so many of Our Bishops as might conveniently be called together thought fit to make this Declaration following That the Articles of the Church of England which had been allowed and authorized heretofore and which Our Clergy generally have subscribed unto do contain the true Doctrine of the Church of England agreeable to Gods Word which We do therefore ratifie and confirm requiring all Our loving Subjects to continue in the Vniform Profession thereof and prohibiting the least difference from the said Articles which to that end We command to be reprinted and this Our Declaration to be published therewith That We are Supreme Governour of the Church of England and that if any difference arise about the External Policie concerning Injunctions Canons or other Constitutions whatsoever thereunto belonging the Clergy in their Convocation is to order and settle them having first obtained leave under Our Broad Seal so to do And We approving their said Ordinances and Constitutions providing that none be made contrary to the Laws and Customs of the Land That out of Our Princely care that the Church-men may do the work which is proper unto them the Bishops and Clergie from time to time in Convocation upon their humble desire shall have licence under Our Broad Seal to deliberate of and to do all such things as being made plain by them and assented by Vs shall concern the settled continuance of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England established from which We shall not endure any variation or departing in the least degree That for the present though some differences have been ill raised We take comfort in this that all Clergie-men within Our Realm have alwaies most willingly subscribed to the Articles established which is an Argument to Vs that they all agree in the true usual literal meaning of the said Articles and that even in those curious Points in which the present differences lye men of all sorts take the Articles of the Church of England to be for them which is an argument again that none of them intend any desertion of the Articles established That therefore in these both curious and unhappy differences which have for many hundred years in different times and places exercised the Church of Christ We will that all further curious search be laid aside and these disputes be shut up in Gods Promises as they be generally set forth unto Vs in holy Scriptures and the general meaning of the Articles of the Church of England according to them And that no man hereafter shall either Print or Preach to draw the Article aside any way but shall submit to it in the plain and full meaning thereof And shall not put his own sense or Coment to be the meaning of the Article but shall take it in the literal and Grammatical sense That if any Publick Reader in either Our Vniversities or any Head or Master of a Colledge or any other person respectively in either of them shall affix any new sense to any Article or shall publickly read determine or hold any publick Disputation or suffer any such to be held either way in either the Vniversities or Colledges respectively or if any Divine in the Vniversities shall Preach or Print any thing either way other than is established in Convocation with Our Royal Assent He or they the Offenders shall be liable to Our displeasure and the Churches Censure in Our Commission Ecclesiastical as well as any other and We will see there shall be due execution upon them No sooner were the Articles published with this Declaration but infinite were the clamours which were raised against it by those of the Calvinian Party Many exclaimed against it for the depths of Satan some for a Iesuitical Plot to subvert the Gospel For what else could it aim at as they gave it out but under colour of silencing the disputes on either side to give incouragement and opportunity to Arminians here to sow their tears and propagate their erroneous Doctrines And what effects could it produce but the suppressing of all Orthodox Books the discouraging of all godly and painful Ministers thereby deteâ—red from preaching the most comfortable Doctrines of mans election unto life The Arminians in the mean time gathering strength and going on securely to the end they aimed at And to give the better colour to these suspitions a Letter is dispersed abroad pretended to be written to the Rector of the Jesuites in Bruxells the chief City of Brabant In which the Writers lets him know with what care and cunning they had planted â—ere that Soveraign drug Arminianism which they hoped would purge the Protestants from their Heresies and that it begin to flourish and bear fruit already That for the better preventing of the Puritans the Arminians had lockt up the Dukes ears c. with much of the like impudent stuff which no sober man did otherwise look on than a piece of Gullery Upon which grounds a Petition was designed for his Sacred Majesty by some of the Calvinian Party in and about the City of London For the revoking of the said Declaration by which they were deterred as the matter was handled from preaching the saving Doctrines of Gods Free Grace in Election and Predestination And this say they had brought them into a very great straight either or incurring Gods heavy displeasure if they did not faithfully discharge their Embassage in declaring the whole Counsel of God or the danger of being censured as violaters of his Majesties said Act if they preacht those constant Doctrines of our Church and confuted the opposite Pelagian and Arminian Heresies both preached and Printed boldly without fear of censure And thereupon they pray on their bended knees that his gracious Majesty would take into his Princely consideration the forenamed Evils and Grievances under which they groaned and as a wise Physician prescribe and apply such speedy Remedies as may both cure the present Maladies and secure the peace of Church and Common-wealth from all those Plagues which their Neighbours had not a little felt and more may fear if the Council of his Majesties Father to the States of the United Provinces were not better followed But this Petition being stopt before it came to the King they found more countenance from the Commons in the next Parliamentary meeting than they were like to have found at the hands of his Majesty For the Commons conceiving they had power to declare Religion as well as Law and they had much alike in both they voted this Anti-Declaration to be published in the name of that House viz. We the Commons now assembled in Parliament do claim profess and avow for truth the sense of the Articles of Religion which were established in Parliament the thirteenth year of Queen Elizabeth which by the publick Acts of the Church of England and the general and currant exposition of the Writers of our Church have been delivered to us and we
reject the sense of the Iesuites Arminians and all others wherein they differ from us Which Declaration of the Commons as it gave great animation to those of the Calvinian Party who entertained it with the like ardency of affection as those of Ephesus did the Image of DIANA which fell down from heaven so gave it great matter of discourse to most knowing men The Points were intricate and weighty such as in all Ages of the Church had exercised the wits of the greatest Scholars Those which had taken on them to declare for truth that which they took to be the sense and meaning of the Articles in those intricate Points were at the best no other than a company of Lay Persons met together on another occasion who though they might probably be supposed for the wisest men could not in reason be relied on as the greatest Clerks And therefore it must needs be looked on as a kind of Prodigie that men unqualified and no way authorized for any such purpose should take upon them to determine in such weighty matters as were more proper for a National or Provincial Council But being it proceeded from the House of Commons whose power began to grow more formidable every day than other no body durst adventure a Reply unto it till Laud himselâ— by whose procurement his Majesties Declaration had been published laying aside the Dignity of his Place and Person thought fit to make some Scholia's or short notes upon it Which not being published at that time in Print for ought I have either heard or seen but found in the rifling of his Study amongst the rest of his Papers I shall present unto the Reader in these following words And first saith he the Publick Acts of the Church in matters of Doctrine are Canons and Acts of Councils as well for expounding as determining The Acts of the High Commission are not in this sense Publick Acts of the Church nor the meeting of a few or more Bishops Extra Concilium unless they be by lawful Authority called to that work and their decision approved by the Church Secondly The currant Exposition of Writers is a strong probable argument De sensu Canonis Ecclesiae vel Articuli yet but probable The currant Exposition of the Fathers themselves have sometimes missed Sensum Ecclesiae Thirdly Will you reject all sense of Jesuite or Arminian May not some be true May not some be agreeable to our Writers and yet in a way that is stronger than ours to confirm the Article Fourthly Is there by this Act any Interpretation made or declared of the Articles or not If none to what end the Act If a sense or interpretation be declared what Authority have Lay-men to make it For interpretation of an Article belongs to them only that have power to make it Fifthly It is manifest there is a sense declared by the House of Commons the Act saies it We avow the Article and in that sense and all other that agree not with us in the aforesaid sense we reject these and these go about misinterpretation of a sense Ergo there is a Declaration of a sense yea but it is not a new sense declared by them but they avow the old sense declared by the Church the publick Authentick Acts of the Churcâ— c. yea but if there be no such publick Authentick Acts of the Church then here is a sense of their own declared under the pretexts of it Sixthly It seems against the Kings Declaration 1. That say We shall take the general meaning of the Articles This Act restrains them to consent of Writers 2. That says The Articles shall not be drawn aside any way but that we shall take it in the literal and Grammatical sense This Act ties us to consent of Writers which may and perhaps do go against the literal sense for here is no exception so we shall be perplexed and our consent required to things contrary Seventhly All consent in all Ages as far as I have observed to an Article or Canon is to it self as it is laid down in the body of it and if it bear more senses then one it is lawful for any man to chuse what sense his judgment directs him to so that it be a sense secundum Analogiam fidei and that he hold it peaceably without distracting the Church and this till the Church that made the Article determine a sense And the wisdom of the Church hath been in all Ages or in most to require consent to Articles in General as much as may be because that is the way of unity and the Church in high points requiring assent to particulars hath been rent as De Transubstantiatione c. It is reported of Alphonso King of Castile Sirnamed the Wise that he used many times to say never the worse for so saying That if he had stood at God Almighties Elbow when he made the world he would have put him in mind of some things which had been forgotten or otherwise might have been better ordered than they were And give me leave to say with as little wisdom though with no such blasphemy that if I had stood at his Lordships Elbow when he made these Scholia's I would have put him in mind of returning an answer to that Clause of the said Declaration in which it is affirmed That the Articles of Religion were established in Parliament in the thirteenth of Queen Elizabeth But I would fain know of them whether the Parliament they speak of or any other since or before that time did take upon them to confirm Articles of Religion agreed on by the Clergy in their Convocations or that they appointed any Committee for Religion to examine the Orthodoxie of those Articles and make report unto the House All which was done in that Parliament was this and on this occasion Some Ministers of the Church so stifly wedded to their old Mumsimus of the Mass and some as furiously prosecuting their new Sumpsimus of inconformity it was thought fit that between those contending parties the Doctrine of the Church should be kept inviolate And thereupon it was Enacted That every person under the degree of a Bishop which did or should pretend to be a Priest or Minister of Gods holy Word and Sacraments in the Church of England should before Christmass next following in the presence of his Diocesan Bishop testifie his assent and subscribe to the said Articles of the year 1562. Secondly That after such subscribing before the Bishop he should on some Sunday in the Forenoon in the Church or Chappel where he served in time of Divine Service read openly the said Articles on pain of being deprived of all his Ecclesiastical Promotions as if he were then naturally dead Thirdly That if any Ecclesiastical person should maintain any Doctrine contrary to any of the said Articles and being Convented before his Bishop c. and should persist therein it should be just cause to deprive such person of his Ecclesiastical
Preoccupate the most Reverend Archbishop Whitgift with most sad complaints touching the Rupture made by Baroe in that Vniversity For remedy whereof the Archbishop calls unto him Fletcher the Lord Elect of London Vaughan the Lord Elect of Bangor Tyndal Dean of Ely and such Divines as came from Cambridge who meeting at his house in Lambeth on the twenty sixth day of November Anno 1595. did then and there conclude upon certain Articles for regulating disputations in those points of Controversie Which Articles being nine in number are these that follow I. God from all eternity hath predestinated certain men unto life certain men he hath reprobated II. The moving or efficient cause of Predestination unto life is not the foresight of Faith or of perseverance or of God-works or of any thing that is in the person predestinated but only the good will and pleasure of God III. There is predetermined a certain number of the Predestinate which can either be augmented or diminished IV. Those who are not predestinated to salvation shall be necessarily damned for their sins V. A true living and justifying faith and the Spirit of God justifying is not extinguished falleth not away it vanisheth not away in the Act either finally or totally VI. A man truly faithful that is such a one who is enduced with a justifying Faith is certain with the full assurance of faith of the remission of his sins and of his everlasting salvation by Christ. VII Saving grace is not given is not granted is not communicated to all men by which they may be saved if they will VIII No man can come unto Christ unless it shall be given unto him and unless the Father shall draw him and all men are not drawn by the Father that they may come to the Son IX It is not in the will or power of every one to be saved These Articles being brought to Cambridge so discouraged Baroe that when the ordinary time of his publick readings was expired he forsook that place and not many years after died in London His Funerall being attended by order from Bishop Bancroft by most of the Eminent Divines about that City which shews that both the Bishop and the most eminent Divines of London were either inclinable to his opinions or not so averse from them as not to give a solemn attendance at the time of his Funeral The news of which proceedings being brought to the Queen she was excâ—edingly offended conceiving it a deep intrenchment upon her Prerogative that any such Declaration should be made in matter of Religion without her Authority Once was she at a point to have them all indited of a Praemunire but the high esteem she had of Whitgift whom she commonly called her black husband reprieved all the rest from the danger of it Howsoever such a strict course was taken for suppressing the said Articles that a Copy of them was not to be found in Cambridge for a long time aâ—ter though after the Queens death they began to peep abroad again and became more publick Nor was King Iames better conceited of them than Queen Elizabeth was for when it was moved by Dr Reynolds at Hampton Court that the nine Orthodoxal Assertions as he pleased to call them which were concluded on at Lambeth might be admitted into the confession of the Church of England the King so much disliked the motion that it was presently rejected without more ado But that which the Calvinians could not get in England they effected at the last in Ireland where the true and genuine Doctrines of the Church of England had been less looked after than at home For in the year 1615. a Parliament and Convocation being holden in Dublin it was resolved on by the Archbishop Bishops and the rest of the Clergy then assembled that a Book of Articles should be framed to be the Publick Confession of that Church for succeeding times the drawing up whereof was committed to Doctor Iames Vsher afterwards Archbishop of Armagh and Lord Primate of Ireland a Rigid Calvinist but otherwise the ablest Scholar of that Nation And he accordingly fashioning the Doctrine for that Church by his own Conceptions inserted into the said Book of Articles the nine Conclusions made at Lambeth to be the standing Rule as he thought and hoped of that Church for ever And yet they did not stay there neither The Sabbatarian Doctrines had been broached by Bownd in the same year wherein the nine Articles had been made at Lambeth Which being opposed by Archbishop Whitgift and never admitted in this Church were by the cunning of that Faction and the zeal or diligence of this man incorporated into the Body of the Articles for the Church of Ireland in which it is declared for a Doctrinal Point That the first day of the Week which is the Lords-day is wholly to be dedicated to the Service of God and therefore we are Bound therein to rest from our common and daily Business and to bestow that leisure upon holy Exercises both Publick and Private And because he concluded in himself that the Pope was Antichrist that also must be made an Article of this Confession in which we find it in these words viz. The Bishop of Rome is so far from being the Supream Head of the Vniversal Church that his Works and Doctrines do plainly discover him to be the Man of Sin foretold in the Holy Scripture whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of his mouth and abolish with the brightness of his coming And hereunto That the Plantation of the Scots in Vlster unhappily projected in the time of King Iames brought in so much Puritanism such a contempt of Bishops such a neglect of the Publick Liturgie and other Divine Offices of this Church that there was nothing less to be found amongst them than the Doctrine Government and Forms of Worship established in the Church of England The Papists in the mean time encreasing more and more grew at the last to so great a confidence by the clashings here in England betwixt the King and his Parliaments that they gave themselves great hope of a Toleration And possibly enough they might have obtained somewhat like it if the Irish Bishops had not joined together in a Protestation to the contrary and caused it to be published in the Pulpit by the Bishop of Derry with infinite Acclamations of the Protestant Hearers Howsoever the lost hopes had so far emboldened them that they set up some Religious Houses even in Dublin it self shewed themselves openly in their Friars Habits and publickly affronted not only the Mayor but the Archbishop of that City This coming to his Majesties knowledge he caused his pleasure to be signified to the Lords of his Council That Order should be taken there That the House where the said Seminary Friars appeared in their Habits and wherein the Reverend Archbishop and the Mayor of Dublin received their first Affront be speedily demolished and be the Mark of Terrour to
the Resisters of Authority and that the rest of the Houses erected or employed there or elsewhere to the use of Superstitious Societies be converted to Houses of Correction and to set the People on work or to other Publick uses for the Advancement of Justice good Arts or Trade Which Order of the Council-Table bears date 31 Ianuary 1629. That part of the Remonstrance of the House of Commons which related to the Affairs of Ireland first alarm'd Laud to take the Business of that Church into consideration And that he might be the better informed in all Particulars which concerned it he took order with Doctor William Beadle designed unto the Bishoprick of Killmore to give him an exact Account of the Estate of that Church as soon as he could make any perfect Discovery of it This Order of the Council-Table reinforced that case and quickned the dispatch of Beadle for his satisfaction from whom he received a Letter dated April the first Anno 1630. In which he signified That he had not been unmindful of his Lordships commands which he was now the better able to perform because saith he I have been about my Diocess and can set down out of my knowledge and view what I shall relate and shortly to speak much ill matter in few words Which said he lets his Lordship know That the Estate of his Church was very miserable That the Cathedral Church of Ardagh united to the See of Killmore one of the most ancient in Ireland and said to be built by St. Patrick together with the Bishops House there was down to the ground That the Church at Killmore had been built but without Bell or Steeple Font or Chalice That the Parish-Churches were all in a manner ruined or unroofed and unrepaired That the People saving a few British Planters here and there which are not the tenth part of the Remnant were obstinate Recusants That there was a Popish Clergy more numerous by far than the English Clergy That they were in full Exercise of all Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical by their Vicars-general and Officials who were so confident as to Excommunicate those that come to the Courts of the Protestant Bishops That the Popish Primate for Ireland lived within two miles of his House and the Bishops in another part of his Diocess further off That every Parish had their Priest and some two or three apiece and so their Massing-houses also and that Masses are sometimes said in their Churches That there were Friars in divers places who went about though not in their Habit who by their importunate begging did impoverish the People That Poverty was much increased as well by their paying double Tythes both to their own Clergy and the English as by the dearth of Corn and the death of their Cattel That the Oppressions of the Courts Ecclesiastical which was reckoned for another cause of the common poverty were not indeed to be excused which for his part he had a purpose to reform That in each Diocess there were some seven or eight Ministers of good sufficiency but being English they neither understood the Tongue of the People nor could perform any Divine Offices nor converse with them as they ought and consequently could give no stop to the growth and increase oâ— Popery That most of the said Ministers held two three four or more Vicaridges apiece and that sometimes one man was Clerk of three or four Parishes which were ordinarily bought sold and let to Farm And finally That by those and such other means his majesty was King as to the Hearts and Consciences of that People but so that it remained wholly at the Popes Discretion Here was sufficient work for a Reformation and we shall see Laud taking care of it in convenient time But first we must look back to England where we shall find a new Honour attending on him On Saturday being the tenth of April William Lord Herbert Earl of Pembroke Lord Steward of his Majesties Houshold and Chancellor of the University of Oxon. died suddenly at his House called Baynards-Castle having then made up the â—iâ—tieth year of his life beyond which it had been foresignified by some Learned Mathematicians that he should not live This News being brought to Oxon. the same night or else betimes on Sunday morning Laâ—d's friends not only in St. Iohns but in other Colledges so bestirred themselves that before noon there was a Party strong enough to confer that honourable Office on him Frewen of Magdalen Colledge being then Vice-Chancellor was at that time as far as Andover in a Colledge-Progress where hearing accidentally of the Earls decease he made such haste back again to Oxon. that he came thither before the end of Evening Prayer and finding his own Colledge in so good a posture advised with some other Heads of Houses whom he knew to have the same Inclinations to make sure work of it by whom it was agreed That a Convocation should be called the next day to speed the business before any other Competitor should appear against him Nor did they make more haste than good speed in it some Agents coming thither before night in behalf of Philip Earl of Montgomery Brother to the Earl deceased and they so well discharged their Trust that those of the Welch Nation generally Prideaux and some other Heads of Houses who were of the Calvinian Party and the four Colledges belonging to the Visitation of the Bishop of Lincoln that is to say Baliol Orial Lincoln and Brazen-nose were wholly in a manner for him that Bishop stickling in the Cause not so much out of love to him as hate to Laud. But all their diligence could not carry it as they desired the Election passing clear for the Bishop of London of which he was presently advertised by the University On his receiving of which Message he presently addressed himself unto the King acquainted him with what had hapned and humbly submitted the Place unto his disposal To which his Majesty most graciously returned this Answer That he knew none more worthy of it than himself and that he should rathâ—r study how to add further Honours to him than take any from him On which incouragement he appointed Wednesday the twenty eighth of the same Month for the Solemnity of his Investiture in that Oâ—fice which was performed in a frequent Convocation of that University held at London-House to the great contentment oâ— both Parties To add a further Honour to him it pleased his Majesty to send him the joyful news under his Royal Signature of the Princes Birth born at his Majesties House of St. Iames's on Saturday May the twenty ninth about one of the Clock in the afternoon He had the happiness of seeing the Royal Infant in the first hour of his Birth and the honour afterwards to Baptize him By ancient Priviledge belonging to the See of Canterbury those Archbishops are Ordinaries of the Court his Majesties Houshold wheresoever the same shall be being reckoned to
conjure down these unruly Spirits which otherwise would not be confined within their Circle Mady the Lecturer of Christ-Church near Newgate must needs fly out upon the Point of Election and the motives to it For this contempt he is called before the Bishop of London and on some further misbehaviour prohibited from preaching any more within that Diocess Burges who afterwards pulled down the Cross in St. Pauls Church-yard must needs add scorn to his contempt telling his Auditors that if their Minister preached Popery or Arminianism they might change their dwellings and not trouble the peace and order of their Church For which about the same time he is questioned also White and some others in that Diocess suspended by this Bishop on the same occasion From the City pass we to the Court Where toward the end of the same Month we find Davenant Bishop of Sarum preaching a Lent Sermon before the King and therein falling upon some of those prohibited points even before his face for which the King being much offended as he had good reason he caused him to be called before the Lords of his Council The cause is managed against him by Archbishop Harsnet Laud all the while walking by in silence who gravely laid before him as well the Kings Piety in setting forth the said Declaration as the greatness of his the said Davenants offence in making so little reckoning of it Davenant at first endeavoureth many defences to make good his Action but at last wisely casts himself upon this submission he tells the Lords in answer to one of Harsnets objections That he was sorry he did no sooner understand his Majesties intention which if he had done before he would have taken some other matter to treat of which might have given none offence and that for the time to come he would conform himself as readily as any other to his Majesties Command Arundel Earl Marshal bids him hold to that as his safest plea and that he should proceed to no further defence a bad cause not being made the better by two much handling To this counsel he conforms himself And being afterwards admitted to the kiss of his Majesties hand which his attendance might deserve though his Sermon did not his Majesty declared to him his Resolution That he would not have this high Point meddled withal or debated either the one way or the other because it was too high for the Peoples understanding and that other Points which concerned Reformation and Newness of life were more needful and profitable I hope the lower Clergy will not say hereafter as some did of old That Laws are like the Spiders Cobwebs which suffer the great flies to break through and lay hold only upon those of the smaller size From the Court let us go to Oxon. where we find the next year beginning in a manner with a Sermon preached at St. Maries Church by one Hill of Heart-hall May 24. point blank enough against his Majesties Declaration and more than bitter enough against those of different perswasion from him whom he charged with handling Scriptures worse than poor Christians were by the Turk at Tunis enforcing them to the vassallage of the foulest errours not without some reflection on the Higher Powers by whom they were mischieved into honour For which indiscretion being convented before the Vice-Chancellor and Heads of Houses but not without the Chancellors privity he confessed his fault and craved pardon for the same which he obtained on his submission made in the Convocation the sixteenth of Iuly following But worse it fared not long after with Ford of Magdalen Hall Hodges of Exeter Colledge and Thorne of Baliol who in their several Sermons had not only committed the like error but charged their Renovation of some ancient order in the Church to be no other than plain Innovation Questioned for this by Smith then Warden of Wadham Colledge and Vice-Chancellor of that University they appeal from him to the Convocation The Proctors having unadvisedly received the Appeal were at the point to have named Delegates when Smith appealed to the King But they took their aim amiss when they shot this bolt For both his Majesty and the Chancellor were alike concerned in it the King to justifie his Declaration the other to preserve his own power and dignity neither of which could have been done but by defending Smith in his lawful acting On the twenty third of August all Parties interessed in the Cause appeared before the King at Woodstock who after a full hearing of both sides it was ordered thus That the three Delinquents should be expelled the University Doughty and Bruch the two Proctors should be deprived of their places Prideaux and Wilkinson this last then Principle of Magdalen Hall being checked for stickling so much in it and glad they were that they escaped without further censure But they shewed not the same mercy which they found for Rainsford of Wadham Colledge preached at St. Maries in August following in defence of Vniversal Grace and Mans Election unto life from Faith foreseen No man more forward than Prideaux to appeach him of it on whose complaint and prosecution he was sentenced to a publick acknowledgment of his offence in a form prescribed which was as much as had been done in the case of Hill So that the Rigid Calvinians can pretend no just ground for that so great Calumnie that none but they were censured from preaching those prohibited Doctrines those of the Arminian Party as they commonly called them going off unpunished From Oxon. cross we into Ireland where we shall see Lauds care as great for preserving the Kings Authority and the Churches peace as it was in England Vsher the Lord Primate of that Church had published a Book this same year in the Latine Tongue called The History of Gotteschalchus for which he was after much extolled by Twist of Newbury as professed a Calvinian as himself in a Letter of his dated May 29. 1640. For having first commended him for his great learning and various reading manifested in his Book De Primodiis Britannicarum Ecclesiarum he magnifies next his singular wisdom for taking an occasion to insert therein the History of the Pelagian Heresie coming so opportunely in his way and then he addeth that his History of Gotteschalchus was a piece of the like nature and came forth most seasonable so much the more because it seemed to give some check to a Book written by Vossius a right Learned man which had been much cried up by the Remonstrants Downham then Bishop of Derry had somewhat before that published a Discourse about Perseverance wherein some Passages were found directly thwarting his Majesties most pious purpose in the said Declaration But Vshâ—r's Book being writ in Latin gave the less offence Nor seemed it fit to put any publick disgrace on a man to whom the Government of the whole National Church had been committed by King Iames of most Blessed Memory By questioning
paid for that purpose all which amounted to three thousand two hundred forty seven pound sixteen shillings two pence half-peny The Clergy of England within the Province of Canterbury freely contributed the fortieth part of all such Church Livings as were charged with First-fruits and the thirtieth part of all their Benefices not so charged those of London only excepted who besides the thirtieth part of such as paid First-fruits gave the twentieth part of all the rest Which Contribution of the Clergy amounted to one thousand four hundred sixty one pound thirteen shillings and eleven pence whereunto was added by the benevolence of the Bishop of London at several times coming in all to nine hundred five pound one shilling and eleven pence By the Dean and Chapter one hundred thirty six pound thirteen shillings and four pence and made of the surplusage of Timber one hundred nineteen pound three shillings and nine pence Given by the Justices and Officers of the Common Pleas thirty four pound five shillings and by those of the Kings Bench seventeen pound sixteen shillings eight pence All which together made no more than six thousand seven hundred and two pound thirteen shillings and four pence And yet with this small Sum such was the cheapness of those Times the Work was carried on so prosperously that before the Month of April 1566. all the Roofs of Timber whereof those large ones of the East and West framed in Yorkshire and brought by Sea were perfectly finished and covered with Lead the adding of a new Steeple being thought unnecessary because too chargeable though divers Models have been made and presented of it The whole Roof being thus Repaired the Stone-work of it stood as before it did sensibly decaying day by day by reason of the corroding quality of the Sea-coal smoke which on every side annoyed it Which being observed by one Henry Farley about the middle of the Reign of King Iames he never left solliciting the King by several Petitions and Addresses to take the Ruinous Estate thereof into his Princely Consideration till at last it was resolved on by the King And to create the greater Veneration to so good a Work he bestowed that magnificent Visit on it described at large in the first Book of this History Anno 1620. The product and result whereof was the issuing out a Commission under the Great Seal of England bearing date the sixteenth day of November then next following directed to Sir Francis Iones Knight then Lord Mayor of London George Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Francis Lord Verulam then Lord Chancellor of England and divers others to the number of sixty Persons and upwards Which Commission importing That this Church being the greatest and most eminent as also one of the principal Ornaments of the Realm and in much decay any six or more of these Commissioners whereof three to be of the said Kings Privy-Council should meet to make Particulars of the decay and likewise what Houses Cellars c. had been built near it either to the annoyance of it or the Church-yard And moreover to Inquire what Lands Rents c. had been given towards its Repair or Sums of Money collected to that purpose and not accordingly employed And further to consider of the most fit and proper means to raise money to carry on the said Repair And lastly to appoint Surveyors and other Officers of their Work and to make Certificate of their Proceedings therein into the Chancery Upon the Meeting of which Commissioners and diligent search made into the Particulars afore-mentioned it was acknowledged that the Bishop of London had the whole care of the Body of that Church and the Dean and Chapter of the Choires But that which each of them enjoyed to this purpose was so little that they yearly expended double as much upon the Roof and other parts decayed to preserve them from present ruine Which being made evident to the Commissioners as also that in former times even from the very first foundation thereof it had been supported partly out of the large Oblations of those that visited the Shrines and Oratories therein and partly from Publick Contributions in all parts of the Kingdom It was concluded to proceed in the same way now as had been done formerly And that it might proceed the better the King himself and many of the principal Nobility and Gentry declared by their Superscriptions for the encouragement of others to so good a Work what Sums they resolved to give in pursuance of it Doctor Iohn King then Bishop of London subscribing for 100 l. per Annum as long as he should continue in that See Mountain who succeeded not long after in that Bishoprick procured with great charge and trouble some huge massie Stones to be brought from Portland for the beginning of the Work But money coming slowly in and he being a man of small activity though of good affecâ—ions the heat of this great business cooled by little and little and so came to nothing But Laud succeeding him in the See of London and having deservedly attained unto great Authority with his Majesty no sooner saw his Office settled both at home and abroad but he possessed him with a Loyal and Religious Zeal to persue that Work which King Iames had so piously designed though it went not much further than the bare design Few words might serve to animate the King to a Work so pious who aimed at nothing more than the Glory of God in the Advancement of the Peace and Happiness of the Church of England And therefore following the example oâ— his Royal Father he bestowed the like Visit on St. Pauls whither he was attended with the like Magnificence and entertained at the first entrance into the Church with the like Solemnity The Divine Service being done and the Sermon ended which tended principally unto the promoting of a Work so honourable both to his Majesties Person and the English Nation his Majesty took a view of the Decays of that Church and there Religiously promised not to be wanting in the Piety of his best Endeavours to the Repair of those Ruines which Age the Casualties of Weather or any other Accidents had brought upon it In order whereunto in the beginning oâ— this year he issued out his Royal Commission under the Great Seal of England bearing date the tenth of April in the seventh year of his Reign directed to Sir Robert Ducy Lord Mayor of the City of Londan George Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Lord Coventry Lord Keeper of the Great Seal c. William Lord Bishop of London Richard Lord Bishop of Winton Iohn Lord Bishop of Ely c. Nicholas Rainton Ralph Freeman Rowland Heylyn c. Aldermen of the City of London Edward Waymack and Robert Bateman Chamberlain of the said City of London In which Commission the said King taking notice of this Cathedral as the goodliest Monument and most ancient Church of his whole Dominions as also that it was the principal
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
another by means whereof it must needs follow that as they are now a Church within a Church so in short time they might grow to be a Common-wealth in the middest of a Kingdom Fourthly That these bodies standing thus divided from the Church and State are planted for the most part in such Haven Towns as lay fittest for France and the Low-Countries which may be a shrewd temptation to them to take such advantages to themselves or to make use thereof for others as occasion offereth Fifthly That the example is of ill consequence in Church-affairs to the Subjects of England many being confirmed by it in their stubborn waies and inconformities but in London chiefly Sixthly That neither French nor Dutch Church be longer tolerated in this Kingdom than the Subjects of this Kingdom be suffered to enjoy the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England in those several parts beyond the Seas where they have their abode The dangers and inconveniencies being thus laid down he proceeds to the Remedies And first he doth advise That the number of them in all places of the Kingdom be fully known to the end a better Judgment might be made of the way by which they are to be reduced to the rest of the Kingdom Secondly That a Command be issued to this purpose from the State it self and that it be avowedly and not perfunctorily taken in all places where they do reside and a Certificate returned of the men of most credit and wealth amongst them Thirdly That if they will continue as a distinct body both from State and Church they should pay all duties double as strangers used to do in this Realm and not be capable of such immunities as the Natives have as long as they continue so divided from them Fourthly That when it shall be thought convenient to reduce them to the same condition with the rest of the Subjects they should then be warned in an Ecclesiastical way excepting such as be new Commers to repair diligently to their Parish Churches and to conform themselves to their Prayers and Sacraments which if they should refuse to do then to proceed against them by Excommunication and so unto the Writ de Excommunicato capiendo for a terror to others Fifthly and lastly That if this course prevaile not with them a Declaration to be made by the State to this effect That if they will be as natives and take the benefit of Subjects they must conform themselves to the Laws of the Kingdom as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal That being the likeliest way to make them capable of the inconveniencies they should run unto by their refusal and perverseness Such were the considerations offered by him to the Lords of the Council for advancing the peace and honour of this Church both at home and abroad But long it will not be before we shall behold him sitting in the Chair of Canterbury acting his own counsels bringing these Conceptions to the birth and putting the design into execution of which more hereafter These matters standing in this state we must at last look toward Scotland for the receiving of which Crown his Majesty and the Court prepare the beginning of this year But besides the Pomp and Splendor of a Coronation which the people with great importunity had long prest upon him there were some other Loadstones which made the Needle of his Compass point so much to the North. Concerning which the Reader may be pleased to know that at the first Alteration of Religion in the Kirk of Scotland the Scots petitioning for aide from Queen Elizabeth to expell the French obliged themselves by the subscription of their hands to embrace the Liturgie Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England According whereunto an Ordinance was made by their Reformers that in all Parishes of that Realm the Common-Prayer should be read weekly on Sundaies and other Festival daies with the Lessons of the Old and New Testament conform to the order of the Book of Common-Prayer of the Church of England it being well known that for divers years after they had no other order for Common-Prayer but that which they received from hence But as Presbytery prevailed so the Liturgie sell the fancy of Extemporary Prayers growing up so fast in the minority of King Iames that it soon thrust all Publick Forms out of use and credit In which confused estate it stood till the coming of that King to the Crown of England where he much pleased himself with the Sobriety and Piety of the publick Liturgie This made him cast his eyes more sadly on the Kirk of Scotland where for want of some such publick Forms of Prayers the Ministers prayed so ignorantly that it was a shame to all Religion to have God spoke to in that barbarous manner and sometimes so seditiously that their Prayers were plain Libells against Authority or stuft with lies made up of all the false reports in the Kingdom For remedy whereof after he had restored and settled the Episcopal Government he procured the General Assembly of that Kirk held at Aberdeen Anno 1616. to pass an Act for Authorising some of the Bishops and divers others to compile a Publick Liturgie for the use of that Kirk which being presented unto the King and by him approved should be universally received over all the Kingdom To prepare the way unto them his Majesty gave order the next Spring after That the English Liturgie should be Officiated day by day in his Chappel-Royal in the City of Edenborough and in the year following 1618. obtained the five Articles before-mentioned as so many chief Ingredients for the Common-Prayer-Book to be passed at Perth by which Encouragements the Commissioners which were appointed to compile the Book went so luckily forwards that it was not long before they brought it to an end and sent it to King Iames by Archbishop Spotswood who not only carefully perused every Passage in it but caused it to be revised by some of the Bishops of that Kingdom which were then in England in whose Judgments he reposed especial confidence Fitted according to his mind he sent it back again to those from whose hands he received it to be by them commended to the use of the Church which undoubtedly had took effect if the Breach with Spain and the Death of that King which followed not long after had not unfortunately interrupted the Success of the business In this condition of Affairs King Charles succeeded in the Crown ingaged in a War with the King of Spain and standing upon no good terms with his People at home so that the business of the Liturgie seemed to be laid asleep if not quite extinct But in the year 1629. having agreed his differences with the Crown of France and being in a good way towards an Accommodation with the King of Spain the Scottish Bishops were again remembred of their Duty in it who dispatch'd Maxwell then one of the Preachers of Edenborough to the Court
the Ministers there might by degrees prepare the People to such impressions of Conformity as his Majesty by the Council and Consent of the rest of the Bishops should graciously be pleased to imprint upon them But such ill luck his Majesty had with that stubborn Nation that this was look'd upon also as a general Grievance and must be thought to aim at no other end than Tyranny and Popery and what else they pleased We have almost done our work in Scotland and yet hear nothing all this while of the Bishop of London not that he did not go the Journey but that there was little to be done at his being there but to see and be seen And yet it was a Journey which brought him some access of Honour and gave him opportunity of making himself known to those of best Quality of that Kingdom He had been in Scotland with King Iames but then he waited only as a private Chaplain He is now looked upon as the third Bishop of England in Place and the greatest in Power a Counsellor of State and the Kings great Favorite He entred Scotland as a Privy-Counsellor of England only but returned thence as a Counsellor for that Kingdom also to which Office he was sworn on the fifteenth of Iune Nor did he shew himself less able in that Church than in the Council-Chamber being appointed by his Majesty to Preach before him on the last of that Month in which some question may be made how he pleased the Scots although it be out of question that he pleased the King The greatest part of the following Iuly was spent in visiting the Country and taking a view of the chief Cities and most remarkable Parts and Places of it Which having seen he made a Posting Journey to the Queen at Greenwich whither he came on Saturday the twentieth of Iuly crossing the Water at Blackwall and looking towards London from no nearer distance But in this Act he laid aside the Majesty of his Predecessors especially of Queen Elizabeth of Famous Memory of whom it was observed That she did very seldom end any of her Summer Progresses but she would wheel about to some end of London to make her passage to Whitehall thorow some part of the City not only requiring the Lord Mayor and Aldermen in their Scarlet Robes and Chains of Gold to come forth to meet her but the several Companies of the City to attend solemnly in their Formalities as she went along By means whereof she did not only preserve that Majesty which did belong to a Queen of England but kept the Citizens and consequently all the Subjects in a reverent Estimation and Opinion of her She used the like Arts also in keeping up the Majesty of the Crown and Service of the City in the Reception and bringing in of Foreign Embassadors who if they came to London by Water were met at Gravesend by the Lord Mayor the Aldermen and Companies in their several Barges and in that Solemn manner conducted unto such Stairs by the Water side as were nearest to the Lodgings provided for them But if they were to come by Land they were met in the like sort at Shooters-Hill by the Mayor and Aldermen and thence conducted to their Lodgings the Companies waiting in the Streets in their several Habits The like she used also in celebrating the Obsequies of all Christian Kings whether Popish or Protestant with whom she was in Correspondence performed in such a Solemn and Magnificent manner that it preserved her in the estimation of all Foreign Princes though differing in Religion from her besides the great contentment which the People took in those Royal Pomps Some other Arts she had of preserving Majesty and keeping distance with her People yet was so popular withal when she saw her time that never Majesty and Popularity were so matched together But these being laid aside by King Iames who brooked neither of them and not resumed by King Charles who loved them not much more than his Father did there followed first a neglect of their Persons which Majesty would have made more Sacred and afterwards a mislike of their Government which a little Popularity would have made more grateful Laud having no such cause of hastning homewards returned not to his House at Fulham till the twenty sixth of the same Month But he came time enough to hear the news of Abbot's Sickness and within few days after of his Death which hapned on Sunday morning the fourth of August and was presently signified to the King being â—hen at Greenwich A man he was that had tasted both of good and ill Fortune in extremes affirmed by the Church Historian for I shall only speak him in the words of others to be a grave man in his Conversation and unblameable in his Life but said withal to have been carried with non amavit gentem nostram forsaking the Birds of his own feather to fly with others and generally favouring the Laity above the Clergie in all Cases which were brought before him Conceived by one of our State Historians to be too facil and yielding in the exercising of his Function by whom it also affirmed That his extraordinary remisness in not exacting strict Conformity to the prescribed Orders of the Church in point of Ceremony seemed to resolve those legal Determinations to their first Principle of Indifferency and to lead in such an habit of Inconformity as the future reduction of those tender-conscienc'd men to long discontinued Obedience was interpreted an Innovation By the first Character we find what made him acceptable amongst the Gentry by the last what made him grateful to the Puritan in favour of which men he took so little care of the great Trust committed to him and gave them so many opportunities of increasing both in Power and Numbers that to stop tâ—em in their full career it was found necessary to suspend him from his Metropolitical Jurisdiction as before was noted It is reported That as Prince Henry his Majesty then Duke of Yorke Archbishop Abbot with many of the Nobility were waiting in the Privy Chamber for the coming out of King Iames the Prince to put a jest on the Duke his Brother took the Archbishops Square Cap out of his hands and put it on his Brothers head telling him that if he continued a good Boy and followed his Book he would one day make him Archbishop of Canterbury Which the Child took in such disdain that he threw the Cap upon the ground and trampled it under his feet not being without much difficulty and some force taken off from that eagerness This though first it was not otherwise beheld than as an Act of Childish Passion yet when his Brother Prince Henry died and that he was Heir apparent to the Crown it was taken up by many zealous Church-men for some ill presage unto the Hierarchy of Bishops the overthrow whereof by his Act and Power did seem to be fore-signified by it But as
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
County of Kent situate about seven miles from the Sea and neighboured by a little River capable only of small boats and consequently of no great use for the wealth and trading of the place It was made an Archiepiscopal See at the first planting of the Gospel amongst the English Augustine the Monk who first preacht the one being the first Archbishop of the other For though that Dignity was by Pope Gregory the Great designed for London yet Augustine the Monk whom he sent hither on that Errand having received this City in gift from the King resolved to six himself upon it without going further Merlin had prophesied as much if those Prophesies be of any credit signifying that the Metropolitan dignity which was then at London should in the following times be transferred to Canterbury Ethelbert then King of Kent having thus given away the Regal City retires himself unto Reculver where he built his Palace for himself and his Successors in that Kingdom leaving his former Royal Seat to be the Archiepiscopal Palace for the Archbishops of Canterbury The Cathedral having been a Church before in the Britains time was by the said Archbishop Augustine repaired Consecrated and Dedicated to the name of Christ which it still retains though for a long time together it was called St Thomas in honour of Thomas Becket one of the Archbishops hereof who was murthered in it The present Fabrick was begun by Archbishop Lanfranck and William Corboyle and by degrees made perfect by their Successors Take Canterbury as the Seat of the Metropolitan it hath under it twenty one Suffragan Bishops of which seventeen are in England and four in Wales But take it as the Seat of a Diocesan and it containeth only some part of Kent to the number of 257 Parishes the residue being in the Diocess of Rochester together with some few particular Parishes dispersed here and there in several Diocesses it being an ancient priviledge of this See that wheresoever the Archbishops had their Mannors or Advousons the place forthwith became exempt from the Ordinary and was reputed of the Diocess of Canterbury The other Priviledges of this See are that the Archbishop is accounted Primate and Metropolitan of ALL England and is the first Peer of the Realm having precedency of all Dukes not being of the Royal bloud and all the great Officers of the State He hath the Title of Grace afforded him in common speech and writes himself Divina Providentia where other Bishops only use Divina Permissione The Coronation of the King hath anciently belonged unto him It being also formerly resolved that wheresoever the Court was the King and Queen were the proper and Domestical Parishioners of the Archbishop of Canterbury It also did belong unto him in former times to take unto himself the Offerings made at the holy Altar by the King and Queen wheresoever the Court was if he were present at the same and to appoint the Lent Preachers but these time hath altered and the King otherwise disposed of Abroad in General Councils he had place at the Popes Right foot At home this Royal Priviledge That those which held Lands of him were liable for Wardship to him and to compound with him for the same though they held other Lands in chief of our Lord the King And for the more increase of his power and honour it was Enacted 25 Hen. viii and 21. That all Licences and Dispensations not repugnant to the Law of God which heretofore were sued for in the Court of Rome should be hereafter granted by the Archbishop of Canterbury and his Successors As also in the 1 Eliz. and 2. That by the Advice of the Metropolitan or Ecclesiastical Commissioners the Queens Majesty might ordain and publish such Rites and Ceremonies as may be most for the Advancement of Gods glory the Edifying of his Church and the due Reverence of Christs holy Sacraments To this high dignity Laud succeedeth on the death of Abbot nominated unto it by the King on the sixth of August the Election returned and presented to his Majesty from the Dean and Chapter on the twenty fifth of the same and the translation fully perfected on the nineteenth of September then next following on which day he kept a solemn and magnificent Feast at his house in Lambeth his State being set out in the great Chamber of that house and all persons standing bare before it after the accustomed manner his Steward Treasurer and Comptroller attending with their white staves in their several Offices Thus have we brought him to his height and from that height we may take as good a prospect into the Church under his direction as the advantage of the place can present unto us And if we look into the Church as it stood under his direction we shall find the Prelates generally more intent upon the work committed to them more earnest to reduce this Church to the ancient Orders than in former times the Clergy more obedient to the Commands of their Ordinaries joyning together to advance the work of Vniformity recommended to them the Liturgie more punctually executed in all the parts and offices of it the Word more diligently preacht the Sacraments more reverendly administred than in some scores of years before the people more conformable to those Reverend Gestures in the House of God which though prescribed before were but little practised more cost laid out upon the beautifying and adorning of Parochial Churches in furnishing and repairing Parsonage houses than at or in all the times since the Reformation the Clergy grown to such esteem for parts and power that the Gentry thought none of their Daughters to be better disposed of than such as they had lodged in the Arms of a Church-man and the Nobility grown so well affected to the State of the Church that some of them designed their younger Sons to the Order of Priesthood to make them capable of rising in the same Ascendent Next if we look into the Doctrine we shall find her to be no less glorious within than beautified and adorned to the outward eye the Doctrines of it publickly avowed and taught in the literal and Grammatical sense according to the true intent and meaning of the first Reformers the Dictates and Authorities of private men which before had carried all before them subjected to the sense of the Church and the Church hearkening to no other voice than that of their great Shepherd speaking to them in his holy Scriptures all bitternesses of spirit so composed and qualified on every side that the advancement of the great work of Unity and Uniformity between the parties went forwards like the building of Solomons Temple without the noise of Axe or Hammer If you will take her Character from the mouth of a Protestant he will give it thus He that desires to pourtray England saith he in her full structure of external glory let him behold the Church shining in transcendent Empyreal brightness and purity
Protestant Lutheran and Calvinian Writers beyond the Seas so were they briefly touched at and maintained in the Doctors Lecture which came out thus translated in the next Candlemas Term under the Title of The Doctrine of the Sabbath delivered in the Act at Oxon. An. 1622. By D. Prideaux his Majesties Professor for Divinity in that Vniversity The name of Prideaux was so Sacred that the Book was greedily bought up by those of the Puritan Faction presuming they should find in it some invincible Arguments to confirm both the Party and the Cause But when they found how much they had deceived themselves in that expectation and that nothing could be writ more smartly against them and their Lords-day-Sabbath as it did very much cool their courage and abate their clamours so did it no less tend to the diminution of that high esteem and veneration which before they had harboured of the man What followed afterwards when the reading of the book was pressed and the clamours multiplied by such as refused to read it future time shall shew These passages concerning England being laid together we must look back into the North which still took up a great part of his Majesties thoughts He had observed how much his Fathers Pious Order for officiating by the English Liturgie in the Chappel Royal of that Kingdom had been discontinued and neglected imputing thereunto the opposition which he found amongst them at his late being there And being resolved to pursue his said Fathers most Religious purpose of settling an uniformity of Divine Worship in all the Churches of these Kingdoms he thought it most expedient to pursue the same Method also to the end that the people being prepared by little and little might the more willingly admit of that or some other Liturgie like unto it when he should think it reasonable to commend it to them In order whereunto he sends to Ballentine then Bishop of Dumblaine and Dean of the Chappel of that Kingdom these Instructions following to be observed in the Chappel Royal of Holy Rood house in the City of Edenburgh CHARLES REX I. Our express Will and Pleasure is That the Dean of Our Chappel that now is and his Successors shall be assistant to the Right Reverend Father in God the Archbishop of St. Andrews at the Coronation so often as it shall happen II. That the Book of the Form of Our Coronation lately used be put in a little Box and laid into a Standard and committed to the care of the Dean of the Chappel successively III. That there be Prayers twice a day with the Choires as well in Our absence as otherwise according to the English Liturgy till some other course be taken for making one that may fit the Customes and Constitutions of that Church IV. That the Dean of the Chappel look carefully that all that receive the blessed Sacrament there receive it kneeling and that there be a Communion held in that Our Chappel the first Sunday of every Month. V. That the Dean of Our Chappel that now is and so successively come duly thither to Prayers upon Sundaies and such Holidaies as the Church observes in his Whites and preach so whensoever he preach there and that he be not absent thence but upon necessary occasion of his Diocesses or otherwise according to the course of his preferment VI. That these Orders shall be Our warrant to the Dean of Our Chappel that the Lords of Our Privy Council the Lords of the Session the Advocate Clerk Writers to the Signet and Members of Our Colledge of Iustice be commanded to receive the holy Communion once every year at the least in that Our Chappel Royal and kneeling for example sake to the Kingdom and we likewise command the Dean aforesaid to make report yearly to Vs how We are obeyed therein and by whom as also if any man shall refuse in what manner he doth so and why VII That the Copes which are consecrated for the use of Our Chappel be delivered to the Dean to be kept upon Inventory by him and in a Standard provided for that purpose and to be used at the Celebration of the Sacrament in Our Chappel Royal. To these Orders we shall hereafter add others if we find others more necessary for the Service of God there Together with these directions bearing date the eighth of October he sends a Letter of the same Date to the said Bishop of Dumblaine requiring him to put them speedily in execution and all things to be carefully performed by him as he was directed commanding also that he should certifie the Lords of the Council there if any person who had been formerly appointed to communicate in the said Chappel Royal should either neglect or refuse conformity to his Majesties pleasure to the end that the Council might take such further order in it as had been directed by his Majesty in some former Letters But knowing or at the least suspecting that Ballentine might have somewhat more of the Presbyter than the Bishop in him as indeed he had he gave a Warrant under his hand to his Grace of Canterbury Requiring him to hold correspondency with the said Bishop of Dumblaine that the said Bishop might from time to time receive his Majesties directions for ordering of such things as concerned his Service in that Chappel He had before a Primacy in the Church of England and a strong influence on the Government of the Church of Ireland This Warrant gives him some just ground of a superintendency over the Kirk of Scotland also which from henceforth was much directed by his power and wisdome as will appear by that which follows in its proper place Mean while we will behold such alterations as by his power were made in the Preâ—erments of the Church of England which in the beginning of this year lamented the death of Bishop Godwin made Bishop of Landaff in the year 1601. from thence translated unto Hereford Anno 1617. A man whose memory shall be precious in succeeding times for his indefatigable pains and travel in collecting the Catalogue of Succession of all the Bishops of this Church since the first planting of the Gospel amongst the Saxons not pretermitting such of the Brittish Church as by the care and diligence of preceding Writers or any old Monument and Record had been kept in memory For his Successor in that See Iuxon then Dean of Worcester and Clerk of his Majesties Closet as before was said is recommended and elected But before the business had proceeded to confirmation there was a Supersedeas to it by Lauds preferment to the Metropolitan See of Canterbury who having a great confidence in him and no less aâ—fection to his Person than confidence of his Wisdom and Moderation commended him so efficaciously to his Majesties Favour that he made him not only Bishop of London but Dean oâ— the Chappel Royal also It had been Lauds great care as he grew into credit with his Majesty to give a stop
the Archbishop thought it a more noble Act to remit the crime than to trouble the Court or any of his Majesties Ministers in the prosecution But herein Prynne sped better than some others who had before been snarling at him and laboured to expose him both to scorn and danger No sooner had he mounted the Chair of Canterbury but one Boyer who not long before had broke prison to which he had been committed for felony most grosly abused him to his face accusing him of no less than High Treason For which being brought into the Star-Chamber the next Michaelmas Term he was there censured by their Lordships as the Crime deserved And presently on the neck of this one Greene a poor decayed Printer for whom his Grace then Bishop of London had procured a Pension of five pound per Annum to be paid by the Company of Stationers yearly as long as he lived adventured into the Court of St. Iames's with a great Sword by his side desperately swearing That it the King did not do him Justice against the Archbishop he would take another course with him For this committed unto Newgate but how long he staid there and what other Punishment he suffered or whether he suffered any other or not let them seek that list And that the other Sex might whet their tongues upon him also the Lady Davies the Widow of Sir Iohn Davies Atturney-General for King Iames in the Realm of Ireland scatters a Prophesie against him This Lady had before spoken something unluckily of the Duke of Buckingham importing that he should not live till the end of August which raised her to the Reputation of a Cunning Woman amongst the ignorant people and now she Prophesies of the new Archbishop That he should live but few days after the fifth of November for which and other Prophesies of a more mischievous nature she was after brought into the Court of High-Commission the Woman being grown so mad that she phancied the Spirit of the Prophet Daniel to have been infused into her Body And this she grounded on an Anagram which she made of her Name viz. ELEANOR DAVIES REVEAL O DANIEL And though the Anagram had too much by an L and too little by an S yet she found Daniel and Reveal in it and that served her turn Much pains was taken by the Court to dispossess her of this Spirit but all would not do till Lamb then Dean of the Arches shot her through and through with an Arrow borrowed from her own Quiver For whilst the Bishops and Divines were reasoning the Point with her out of Holy Scripture he took a Pen into his hand and at last hit upon this excellent Anagram viz. DAME ELEANOR DAVIES NEVER SO MAD A LADIE Which having proved to be true by the Rules of Art Madam said he I see you build much on Anagrams and I have found out one which I hope will fit you This said and reading it aloud he put it into her â—ands in Writing which happy Phansie brought that grave Court into such a laughter and the poor Woman thereupon into such a confusion that afterwards she grew either wiser or was less regarded This ended as succesfully as he could desire but he sped worse with another of his Female Adversaries The Lady Purbeck Wiâ—e of Iohn Villers Viscount Purbeck the elder Brother by the same Venter to the Duke of Buckingham had been brought into the High-Commission Anno 1627. for living openly in Adultery with Sir Robert Howard one of the younger Sons of Thomas the first Earl of Suffolk of that Family Sentenced among other things to do Penance at St. Paul's Cross she â—scaped her Keepers took Sanctuary in the Savoy and was from thence conveyed away by the French Embassador The Duke being dead all further prosecution against her died also with him which notwithstanding the proud woman being more terrified with the fear of the Punishment than the sense of the Sin vented her malice and displeasure against the Archbishop who had been very severe against her at the time of her Trial when he was come unto his Greatness spending her tongue upon him in words so full of deep disgrace and reproach unto him that he could do no less than cause her to be laid in the Gatehouse But being not long after delivered thence by the Practise of Howard afore-mentioned Howard was seised upon and laid up in her place which Punishment though it was the least that could be looked for he so highly stomach'd that as soon as the Archbishop was impeach'd by the House of Commons and committed to Custody by the Lords which hapned on Fryday December 18. 1640. he petitioned for Relief against the Archbishop and some other of the High Commissioners by whom the Warrant had been signed The Lords upon the reading of it imposed a Fine of 500 l. on the Archbishop himself and 250 l. apiece upon Lamb and Duck and pressed it with such cruel rigour that they forced him to sell his Plate to make payment of it the Fine being set on Munday the 21. of December and ordered to be paid on the Wednesday after But these Particulars have carried me beyond my year I return therefore back again and having shewed what Actings had been set on foot both in England and Scotland must now cross over into Ireland where we find Wentworth made Lord Deputy in the place of Faulkland We told you formerly of some dearness which was growing between him and Laud then Bishop of London at his first Admission to the place of a Privy-Counsellor Toward the latter end of Ianuary Anno 1630. Wentworth being then Lord President of the Council established for the Northern Parts bestowed a Visit on him at London-House where they had some private Conference touching the better Settlement of Affairs both in England and Ireland of which Kingdom Wentworth not long after was Created Lord Deputy He staid somewhat longer from his Charge than he would have done to be present at the Censure of Williams Bishop of Lincoln informed against in the Star-Chamber by his Majesties Atturney-General for some dangerous and disgraceful words which he was reported to have spoken of his Majesties Government and revealing some Secrets which his Majesty had formerly committed to his Trust as a Privy-Counsellor But Williams found so many shifts to put off the Trial that the Deputy was fain to leave him in the same estate in which he found him and hoised Sail for Ireland Scarce was he setled in his Power but he began to reform some things which he beheld as blemishes in the face of that Church In the Chappel of the Castle of Dublin the chief Seat of his Residence he found a fair large Pue at the end of the Choire erected for the use of his Predecessors in that place the Communion-Table in the mean time being thrust out of doors This Pue he commands to be taken down and the Holy Table to be restored to its ancient
Which Order contained the sum and substance of those considerations which he had offered to the Board touching that particular With which the Merchant Adventurers being made acquainted with joynt consent they made choice of one Beaumont reputed for a learned sober and conformable man to be Preacher to their Factory residing at Delf Forbes a Scot by birth who formerly had been Preacher to the Society being either dead or other wise departed to avoid conformity And that this man might be received with the better welcome a Letter is sent with him to the Deputy Governour subscribed by the Archbishop himself in which he signifieth both to him and the rest in his Majesties name That they were to receive him with all decent and courteous usage fitting his person and calling allowing him the ancient Pension which formerly had been paid to his Predecessors Which said in reference to the man he lets them know that it was his Majesties express command that both he the Deputy and all and every other Merchant that is or shall be residing in those parts beyond the Seas do conform themselves to the Doctrine and Discipline settled in the Church of England and that they Frequent the Common-Prayer with all Religious duty and reverence at all times required as well as they do Sermons and that out of their company they should yearly about Easter as the Canons prescribe name two Church-Wardens and two Sides-men which may look to the Orders of the Church and give an account according to their office It was also required that these present Letters should be registred and kept by them that they which come after might take notice what care his Majesty had taken for the well ordering of the said Company in Church affairs and that a Copy of the same should be delivered to the said Beaumont and to every Successor of his respectively that he and they might know what his Majesty expected of them and be the more inexcusable if they disobey it With this Dispatch bearing date the seventeenth of Iune this present year 1634. away goes Beaumont into Holland taking with him these Instructions for his own proceedings that is to say That he should punctually keep and observe all the Orders of the Church of England as they are prescribed in the Canons and the Rubricks of the Liturgie and that if any person of that Company shall shew himself refractory to that Ordinance of his Majesty he should certifie the name of any such offender and his offence to the Lord Bishop of London for the time being who was to take order and give remedy accordingly Which Order and Instructions given to Beaumont in private were incorporated also in the Letter least otherwise he might be thought to act any thing in it without good Authority And he accordingly proceeded with such honest zeal and was so punctual in observing his Majesties pleasure and commands that for a reward of his good service he was preferred unto a Prebends place in the Church of Canterbury though by the unhappy change of times it brought more reputation than advantage with it And now at last we have the face of an English Church in Holland responsal to the Bishops of London for the time being as a part of their Diocess directly and immediately subject to their Jurisdiction The like course also was prescribed for our Factories in Hamborough and those further off that is to say in Turky in the Moguls Dominions the Indian Islands the Plantations in Virginia the Barbadoes and all other places where the English had any standing Residence in the way of trade The like done also for regulating the Divine Service in the Families of all Ambassadours residing in the Courts of Foreign Princes for his Majesties Service as also in the English Regiments serving under the States The superinspection of which last was referred to Boswel his Majesties Resident at the Hague and his Successors in that place as he and all the rest of the Embassadors in what place soever were to be ordered by the care of the Lords of the Council and they to be accountable therein to his Sacred Majesty as the Supream Ordinary The English Agents and Embassadours in the Courts of Foreign Princes had not been formerly so regardful of the honour of the Church of England as they might have been in designing a set Room for religious uses and keeping up the Vestments Rites and Ceremonies prescribed by Law in performance of them It was now hoped that there would be a Church of England in all Courts of Christendom in the chief Cities of the Turk and other great Mahometan Princes in all our Factories and Plantations in every known Part of the world by which it might be rendred as diffused and Catholick as the Church of Rome In reference to the regulating of the French and Dutch Churches here amongst our selves he conceived himself in a capacity of putting his own Counsels in execution either as Bishop of the Diocess or Archbishop of the Province of Canterbury He had considered of the dangers which those Foreign Churches drew on this by standing divided and dismembred from the rest of the body and of the countenance and encouragement which was given to the Puritan Faction in the promoting of Schism There was no Traverse to be made to this Dilemma but either they were or were not of the same Religion with the Church of England If they were not of the same Religion why should they being strangers borne in other Countries or descending from them expect more Liberty of Conscience than the Papists had being all Natives and descending from English Parents If of the same why should they not submit to the Government and Forms of Worship being the outward acts and exercises of the Religion here by Law established It was now as when they first fled into this Land from the Fire and Faggot from which their own Countries having felt no Persecution for forty or fifty years last past were at this time freed And therfore if they did not like the Terms of their staying here they might return from whence they came in peace and safety with thanks to God and the good English Nation for the long and comfortable Entertainment they had found amongst them Upon these grounds and such Considerations as had before been offered to the Lords of the Council before he had sate a whole year in the Chair of Canterbury he caused these three Articles to be tendred to the French Congregation in that City and the two Dutch Congregations in Sandwich and Maidston Apr. 14. 1634. 1. What Liturgie do you use or whether you have not the Dutch or French in use 2. Of how many Descents for the most part they were born Subjects 3. Whether such as are born Subjects will conform to the Church of England For Answer to the Articles after some fruitless Pleas touching their Exemptions they obtained time till the fifth of May against which time with the
Minister of the Parish should be prest to the publishing of it But then withall they should consider that the Bishops were commanded to take order for the publishing of it in their several Parishes and whom could they require to publish it in the Parish Churches but the Ministers only Bound to them by an Oath of Canonical obedience at their admission to their Cures So that the Bishops did no more than they were commanded in laying the publication of this Declaration on the back of the Ministers and the Ministers by doing less than they were commanded infringed the Oath which they had taken rendring themselves thereby obnoxious to all such Ecclesiastical Censures as the Bishops should inflict upon them It was alledged secondly That the publishing of this Declaration was a work more proper for the Constable or Tything-man or the Church-wardens at the least than it was for the Ministers But then it was to be considered that the Constable or Tything-man were Lay-officers meerly bound by the Law to execute the Warrants of the Judges and Justices but not the Mandates of the Bishops so far from being Proper Instruments in such a business that none of the Judges thought it fit to command their Service in publishing their Orders against Ales and Revels And though the Church-wardens had some relation to Church-matters and consequently to the Bishop in the way of Presentments yet was he not bound to execute any such Commands because not tyed by an Oath of Canonical obedience as the Ministers were Or were it otherwise yet doth it happen many times in Country Villages that the Church-wardens cannot read and therefore not to be imployed in publishing such Declarations which require a more knowing man than a silly Villager And last of all it was alledged that the Ministers of all others were most unfit to hold the Candle for lighting and letting in such a course of licenciousness as was indulged on the Lords day by the said Declaration But then it was to have been proved that any of the Sports allowed of in it might have been brought within the compass of such Licentiousness which neither the Word of God nor the Canons of the Christian Church nor any Statutes of the Realm had before forbidden Or had it been as they pretended that the Command was contrary to the Law of God and could not be obeyed with a saâ—e conscience yet this was only a pretenâ—â— their reading of the Book being no more an argument of their approbation of any thing therein contained than when a common Crier reads a Proclamation the Contents whereof perhaps he likes not The Business being at this stand it was thought fit that the Bishops should first deal with the Refusers in a Fatherly and gentle way but adding menaces sometimes to their perswasions if they saw cause for it and that in the mean season some discourses should be writ and published to bring them to a right understanding of the truth and their several duties which burden being held of too great weight for any one to undergo and the necessity of the work requiring a quick dispatch it was held fit to divide the imployment betwixt two The Argumentative and Scholasticall part referred to the right learned Dr. White then Bishop of Ely who had given good proof of his ability in Polemical matters in several Books and Disputations against the Papists The Practical and Historical by Heylyn of Westminster who had gained some reputation for his Studies in the ancient Writers by Asserting the History of S. George maliciously impugned by those of the Calvinian Party upon all occasions Both of them being enjoyned their tasks were required to be ready for the Press against Michaelmas Term at the end whereof both books came out The Bishops under the Title of A Treatise of the Sabbath day containing a defence of the Orthodoxal Doctrine of the Church of England against Sabbatarian Novelty The other called The History of the Sabbath was divided into two Books or Parts The first whereof began with the Creation of the World and carried on the Story till the destruction of the Temple The second beginning with our Saviour Christ and his Apostles was drawn down to the year 1633. when the publishing of this Declaration was required But going different waies to work they did not both encounter the like success The Bishops Book had not been extant very long when an Answer was returned unto it by Byfield of Surrey which Answer occasioned a Reply and that Reply begat a Rejoynder To Heylyns Book there was no Answer made at all whether because unanswerable or not worth the Answering is to me unknown And though it is not to be doubted but that the Arguments of the one and the Authorities of the other prevailed with some to lay aside their former obstinacy and averseness yet did there still remain too many who stopp'd their ears like the deaf Adder in the Psalmist and would not hear the voice of the Charmers charmed they never so sweetly By which it did appear too plainly That there was some Association had and made amongst them to stand it out to the last and put some baffle or affront upon their Superiors by whose Command the reading of the Book was imposed upon them And thereupon it was resolved That the Bishops in their several Diocesses should go to work more roundly with them and either bring them to Conformity if it might be done or otherwise to proceed against them by Ecclesiastical Censures But whilst these things were acting on the Stage of England the Bishops of Scotland were as active in drawing of a Book of Canons and framing a Publick Liturgie for the use of that Church Both Undertakings warranted by the Act of a General Assembly held at Aberdeen Anno 1616. and the one brought to a good forwardness before the death of King Iames But being discontinued by the Accidents and Debates before-remembred it pleased his Majesty at the last to yield unto the importunity of the Scottish Bishops in having a Liturgie of their own differing in some things from that of the Church of England to shew the independency and self-subsistence of their Kirk but agreeing with it in the main to testifie the Conformity between the Churches Which being thus condescended to they were ordered to proceed with all speed and diligence which they did accordingly But the Canons being the shorter work were first brought to an end for the compiling whereof his Majesty gives these Reasons in his large Declaration First That he held it but exceeding necessary that there should be some Book extant to contain the Rules of the Ecclesiastical Government so that as well the Clergy as the Laity might have one certain standing Rule to regulate the Power of the one the Obedience and Practise of the other Secondly That the Acts of General Assemblies were Written only and not Printed and therefore could not come to the knowledge of many So large and voluminous that
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
Iews commanded by Antiochus gave up the Divine Books to his Officers to be destroyed it was afterwards adjudged in favour of them by Optatus Bishop of Milevis a right godly man to be sin rather in them that commanded than of those who with fear and sorrow did obey their Mandates That when the Emperour Mauritius had made an Edict That no Souldier should be admitted into any Monastery and sent it to be published by Gregory sirnamed the Great the Pope forthwith dispersed it into all parts of the Christian World because he was subject to his command though in his own judgment he conceived the said Edict to be unlawful in it self and prejudicial unto many particular persons as well in reference to their spiritual as their temporal benefit and finally That it was resolved by St. Augustine in his Book against Faustus the Manichee cap. 75. That a Christian Souldier fighting under a Heathen Prince may lawfully pursue the War or exercise the Commands of his immediate or Superior Officers in the course of his Service though he be not absolutely assured in the justice of the one or the expedience of the other Such were the Reasons urged in behalf of all Parties concerned in this business and such the Defences which were made for some of them in matter of fact but neither the one nor the other could allay that storm which had been raised against him by the Tongues and Pens of unquiet Persons of which more anon Nor was the Clamour less which was raised against such of the Bishops as either pressed the use of his Majesties Instructions concerning Lecturers and silencing the Arminian Controversies or urged the Ministers of their several and respective Diocesses to use no other form of Prayer before their Sermons than that which was prescribed Canon 55. It had been prudently observed That by suâ—fering such long Prayers as had accustomably been used of late before the Sermons of most Preachers the Publick Liturgie of the Church had been much neglected That the Puritan Preachers for the most part had reduced all Gods Service in a manner to those Pulpit-Prayers That the People in many places had forborn to go into the Church till the Publick Liturgie was ended and these Prayers begun That by this means such Preachers prayed both what they listed and how they listed some so seditiously that their very Prayers were turned into Sin others so ignorantly and impertinently that they dishonoured God and disgraced Religion For remedy whereof it was thought convenient by the Archbishop and some other Prelates to reduce all to the form of Prayers appointed in the Canon above-mentioned according to the like form prescribed in the Injunctions of Queen Elizabeth and before her time by King Edward the Sixth and before his time also by King Henry the Eighth practised accordingly in the times of their several Reigns as appears by the Sermons of Bishop Latimer Bishop Gardiner Archbishop Parker Bishop Iewell Bishop Andrews and generally by all Divines of the Church of England till by the artifices and endeavours of the Puritan Faction these long Prayers of their own making had been taken up to cry down the Liturgie Which being in charge in the Visitation and afterwards in the Articles of several Bishops made as much noise amongst ignorant and factious People under colour of quenching the Spirit of God expressed in such extemporary Prayers of the Preachers conceiving as silencing the Doctrines of Predestination changing the afternoons Sermons into Catechisings and regulating the Extravagances of some of their Lecturers under the colour of a Plot to suppress the Gospel In which last Calumny as most of the Bishops had a share so did it fall as heavy on Pierce of Bath and Wells as on any other though he did nothing in that kind but what he was required to do by the Kings Instructions His Crimes were That he had commanded the Ministers in his Diocess to turn their afternoons Sermons into Catechisings and those Catechisings to be made according to the Questions and Answers in the Catechism authorised by Law and extant in the Book of Common Prayer which some few absolutely refusing to conform unto and others contrary to the meaning of the said Instructions taking some Catechism-point for their Text and making long Sermons on the same were by him suspended and so continued till they found a greater readiness in themselves to obey their Ordinary But the Great Rock of Offences against which they stumbled and stumbling filled all places with their Cries and Clamours was That he had suppressed the Lecturers in most parts of his Diocess and some report That he proceeded so far in it as to make his brag not without giving great Thanks to God for his good Success That he had not left one Lecturer in all his Diocess of what sort soever whether he Lectured for his Stipend or by a voluntary combination of some Ministers amongst themselves Which if it should be true as I have some reason to believe it is not ought to be rather attributed to some exiliency of humane frailty of which we are all guilty more or less than to be charged amongst his Sins But for his Actings in this kind as also for his vigorous proceedings in the Case of Beckington he had as good Authority as the Instructions of the King and the Directions of his Metropolitan could invest him in And so far Canterbury justified him in the last particular as to take the blame if any thing were blame-worthy in it upon himself though then a Prisoner in the Tower and under as much danger as the Power and Malice of his Enemies could lay upon him For such was his undaunted Spirit that when Ash a Member of the House of Commons demanded of him in the Tower Whether the Bishop of Bath and Wells had received his Directions from him in the Case of Beckington he answered roundly That he had and that the Bishop had done nothing in it but what became an obedient Diocesan to his Metropolitan So careful was he of preserving those who had acted under him that he chose rather to augment the number of his own misfortunes then occasion theirs If all the Bishops of that time had joined their hearts and hands together for carrying on the work of Uniformity as they were required the Service might have gone more happily forwards and the Envy would have been the less by being divided but leaving the whole burden upon so few and turning it over to their Chancellors and Under-Officers if they did so much they did not only for as much as in them was destroy the business but expose such as took care of it to the publick hatâ—ed For such was their desire to ingratiate themselves amongst the People that some of them being required to return the names of such Ministers as refused the reading of the Book made answer That they would not turn Informers against their Brethren there being enough besides
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
But now Laud being Archbishop of Canterbury and Wren Dean of the Chappel it was resolved to move his Majesty that the Lent Sermons might be preached on Wednesdaies as they had been Anciently To which his Majesty condescending and the Bill of Lent-Preachers being drawn accordingly it was first muttered secretly and afterwards made a publick clamour that this was one of the Archbishops Artifices a trick devised for putting down the Tuesday Sermons of which you should never hear more when this Lent was over Which Cry growing lowder and lowder as the Lent continued was suddenly hush'd and stilled again on the Easter Tuesday when they saw the Preacher in the Pulpit as at other times So usual is it with some men to be afraid of their own shadows and terrified with fears of their own devising This Interruption thus past over I shall unwillingly resume my former Argument concerning Bastwick and the rest of his fellow-Criminals who being called unto their Answer used so many delays that the Case could not come to Sentence before Midsomer Term. Some Answers they had drawn but they were so Libellous and full of scandal that no Counsellor could be found to put his hand to them according to the course of that Court Instead whereof they exhibited a cross Bill against Canterbury and his Confederates as they called them charging them with the greatest part of those Reproaches which had been made the subject-matter of their former Libels which being signed by no hands but their own and tendred so to the Lord Keeper was by him rejected and themselves taken pro confessis their obstinacy in not answering in due form of Law being generally looked on by the Court as a self-conviction On the fourteenth of Iune they received their Sentence which briefly was to this effect Prynne to be fined 5000 l. to the King to lose the remainder of his ears in the Pillory to be branded on both cheeks with the Letters S. L. for a Schismatical Libeller and to be perpetually imprisoned in Carnarvan Castle Bastwick and Burton condemned in the like Fine of 5000 l. to be Pilloried and lose their Ears the first to be imprisoned in the Castle of Lanceston in Cornwal and the second in the Castle of Lancaster On the thirtieth of the same Month Burton being first degraded of his Ministry in the High-Commission they were brought into the Palace-yard of Westminster to receive their punishment not executed on them with such great severity as was injuriously given out But being executed howsoever it was a great trouble to the spirits of many very moderate and well-meaning men to see the three most Eminent Professions in all the World Divinity Law and Physick to be so wretchedly dishonoured in the Persons of the Malefactors as was observed by the Archbishop himself in his Epistle to the King Which part of the Punishment being inflicted they were conveyed with care and safety to their several Prisons the People either foolishly or factiously resorting to them as they passed and seeming to bemoan their Sufferings as unjustly Rigorous And such a haunt there was to the several Castles to which they were condemned of purpose for preventing all Intelligence and Correspondence to be held between them that the State found it necessary to remove them further Prynne to the Castle of Mont Orgueil in the Isle of Iersey Burton to Castle-Cornet in the Road of Guernsey and Bastwick to St. Maries Castle in the Isle of Silly which last remembreth me of the like Confinement to which Instantius a professed Priscilianist a very near Kinsman of the English Puritan had been condemned by the Justice of the Primitive Times At the pronouncing of this Sentence the Archbishop made a long and elaborate Speech in vindication of himself and the rest of the Bishops from any Design to bring in Popery or innovating in the Government and Forms of Worship here by Law established He made his Introduction to it in a brief Discourse touching the nature of the Crime shewing how odious a thing it was to think of defending Religion in the way of Libels a thing not used by any of the Primitive Christians in the greatest heats of Persecution and then professing for his own part That he had done nothing as a Bishop but with a sincere intention for the good Government and Honour of the Church of England and the maintenance of the Orthodox Truth and Religion professed and established in it adding withal That nothing but his Care of reducing the Church into Order in the External Worship of God and the settling of it on the Rules of its first Reformation had raised this Storm against himself and the rest of the Bishops for which alone they stood accused of Innovations by those which were the greatest Innovators in the Christian World He spake next touching the Calling of Bishops which he maintained to be Iure Divino though not all the Adjuncts of that Calling averring further That from the time of the Apostles to the days of Calvin the Government of the Church was by Bishops only Lay-Elders being never heard of which Claim by Divine Right derogateth not from the King either in Right or Power as the Libellers made it no more than the Calling of the Presbyters by the same Right could be thought to do in regard they exercised not any Iurisdiction in the Kings Dominions but with his Licence for so doing Or were it otherwise yet that the Bishops stood in England in as good a case as the present Laws could make them and therefore they that Libelled against them Libelled against the King and State by the Laws whereoâ— they were established and consequently could aim at no other end than the stirring of Sedition amongst the People As touching the design of bringing in Popery by which Artifice they chiefly hoped to inflame the People he first acquitted the King of it by shewing his sincerity and constancy in his Religion exemplified by his Carriage in Spain where he wanted no temptations to draw him from it and his Deportment since in England in which â—e had so often declared a settled Resolution to maintain the same Or were it otherwise and that the King had any mind to change Religion he must seek for other Instruments than himself to effect that purpose most humbly thanking God That as yet he knew not how to serve any Man against the Truth of Christ so â—e hoped he should never learn professing further for the satisfaction of all which heard him That he knew of no plot nor purpose of altering the Religion here established and that for his own part he had ever been far from attempting any thing which might be truly said to tend that way in the least degree to both which he was ready to take his Oath Which said in general he briefly touch'd on those Innovations which in those Libels had been charged on him and the rest of the Bishops in order unto that Design To the
a base and Libellous Answer without the name of any Author Place or Printer or any Bookseller according to the unusual Custom where and of whom it might be bought I shall not trouble my self any more about it than by a Transcript of the Title which was this that followeth viz. DIVINE and POLITICK OBSERVATIONS newly translated out of the Dutch Language wherein they were lately divulged upon some lines in the Speech of the Archbishop of Canterbury pronounced in the STAR-CHAMBER the fourteenth of June 1637. VERY expedient for preventing all prejudice which as well through ignorance as through malice and flattery may be incident to the judgment which men make thereby either of his Graces power over the Church and with the King or of the Equity Iustice and Wisdom of his ENDS in his said Speech and of the reasons used by him for attaining to his said ENDS And though he took great care and pains concerning that supposed additional clause to the 20th Article so much as might satisfie any man not extremely partial yet find I a late Writer so unsatisfied in it that he leaves it to the State-Arithmeticians to decide the Controversie whether the Bishops were more faulty in the addition than the opposites in their substraction of it One other Charge there was and a great one too which I find not touched at in this Speech and that is that the Prelates neither had nor sought to have the Kings Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England for their keeping Courts and Visitations c. but did all in their own Names and under their own Seals contrary to the Law in that behalf Concerning which we are to know that by a Statute made in the first year of King Edward the Sixth it was Enacted That all Summons Citations and other Process Ecclesiastical in all Suites and causes of Instance and all causes of Correction and all causes of Bastardy or Bigamy or De jure Patronatus Probates of Testaments and Commissions of Administrations of persons deceased be made in the name and with the Style of the King as it is in Writs Original or Iudicial at the Common Law c. As also that no matter of person or persons who hath the Exercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction use any other Seal of Jurisdiction but wherein his Majesties Arms be engraven c. on pain of incurring his Majesties indignation and suffering imprisonment at his will and pleasure Which Statute and every branch thereof being repealed by Queen Mary and not revived by Queen Elizabeth in all her Reign the Bishops of her time were safe enough from any danger on that side But in the first Parliament of King Iames there passed an Act for continuing and reviving of divers Statutes and for repealing of some others 1 Iac. c. 25. Into the Body whereof a Clause was cunningly conveyed his Majesties Council learned not considering or fraudulently conniving at it for the repealing of that Statute of the Reign of Queen Mary by which King Edwards stood repealed of which no notice being taken for some while by those whom it chiefly did concern it was now discovered and made use of as a Rod to affright the Prelates from exercising their Jurisdiction over obstinate and incorrigible Non-conformists as formerly they had been accustomed For remedy whereof and for encouraging the Bishops to perform their duties iâ— was declared by the Judges with an unanimous consent and so delivered by the Lords Chief Justices in the Star-Chamber the fourteenth of May in this present year That the said Act of Repeal 1 of Queen Mary did still stand in force as unto that particular Statute by them so much pressed This was sufficient for the present but the Archbishop would not trust to it for the time to come and thereupon in in his Epistle to the King before remembred He humbly desired his Majesty in the Churches name That it might be resolved by all the Reverend Judges of England and then published by his Majesty that the Bishops keeping of their Courts and issuing Processes in their own names and the like exceptions formerly taken and now renued were not against the Laws of this Realm that so the Church Governours might go on chearfully in their duty and the peoples minds be quieted by this assurance that neither their Law nor their Liberty as Subjects was thereby infringed A motion favourably heard and graciously granted his Majesty issuing out his Royal Proclamation on the eighteenth day oâ— August then next following For declaring that the proceedings of his Ecclesiastical Câ—urts and Ministers were according to Law The Tenour of which Proclamation or Declaration was as followeth By the King WHereas in some of the Libellous Books and Pamphlets lately published the most Reverend Fathers in God the Lord Archbishops and Bishops of the Realm are said to have usurped upon his Majesties Prerogative Royal and to have proceeded in the High Commission and other Ecclesiastical Courts contrary to the Laws and Statutes of the Realm It was Ordered by his Majesties High Court of Star-Chamber the twelfth of June last that the Opinion of the two Lords Chief Justices the Lord Chief Baron and the rest of the Judges and Barons should be had and certified in these particulars viz. whether Processes may not issue out of the Ecclesiastical Courts in the names of the Bishops Whether a Patent under the Great Seal be necessary for the keeping of the Ecclesiastical Courts and enabling Citations Suspensions Excommunications and other Censures of the Church And whether the Citations ought to be in the Kings Name and under his Seal of Arms and the like for Institutions and Inductions to Benefices and correction of Ecclesiastical offences And whether Bishops Archdeacons and other Ecclesiastical persons may or ought to keep any Visitation at any time unless they have express Commission or Patent under the great Seal of England to do it and that as his Majesty Visitors only and in his name and right alone Whereupon his Majesties said Judges having taken the same into their sâ—rious consideration did unanimously agree and concur in opinion and the first day of Iuly last certified under their hands as followeth That Processes may issue out of Ecclesiastical Courts in the name of the Bihops and that a Patent under the Great Seal is not necessary for the keeping of the said Ecclesiastical Courts or for the enabling of Citations Suspensions Excommunications and other Censures of the Church And that it is not necessary that Summons Citations or other Processes Ecclesiastical in the said Courts or Institutions and Inductions to benefices or correction of Ecclesiastical offences by Censure in those Courts be in the Kings name or with the Style of the King or with the Kings Seal or the Seals of the Office have in them the Kings Arms And that the Statute 1 Edw. 6. c. 2. which enacted the contrary is not now in force And that the Archbishops Bishops Archdeacons and other Ecclesiastical
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
their Religion and therefore was pleased to declare That as he abhorreth all Superstitions of Popery so he would be most careful that nothing should be allowed within his Dominions but that which should most tend to the Advancement of the true Religion as it was presently professed within his Ancient Kingdom of Scotland and that nothing was nor should be done therein against the laudable Laws of that his Native Kingdom The Rioters perceived by this Proclamation that the King was more afraid than hurt And seeing him begin to shrink they resolved to put so many fears upon him one after another as in the end might fashion him to their desires First therefore they began with a new Petition not of a rude Multitude but of Noblemen Barons Ministers Burgesses and Commons the very Flower of the whole Nation against the Liturgie and Canons This Petition being sent to the Courts could do no less and it did no more than produce another Proclamation in Reply to the Substance of it some Menaces being intermingled but sweetned in the close to give them the better relish His Majesty first lets them know the Piety of his Intent in appointing the Liturgie assuring them That he had no other end in it than the maintenance of the true Religion there already professed and the beating down of all Superstition That nothing passed in the said Book but what was seen and approved by himself before the same was either divulged or printed and that he was assured That the Book it self would be a very ready means to preserve the Religion there professed of which he doubted not to give them satisfaction in his own time Which said he lets them know That such as had Assembled for subscribing the said Petition had made themselves liable to his highest Censures both in Life and Fortune That notwithstanding he was pleased to dispence with the errour upon a confidence that it proceeded rather from a preposterous Zeal than a disaffection to Sovereignty on condition that they retired themselves upon notice hereof as became good and dutiful Subjects He interdicted also the like Concourse as had been lately made at Edenborough upon pain of Treason commanding that none of them should repair to Sterling to which the Term was then Adjourned or any other place of Counsel and Session without Warrant from the Lords of the Council and that all such of what sort soever not being Lords of the Council or Session which were not Inhabitants of the Town should within six hours after publication thereof depart the same except they were so Licenced and Warranted as before is said under pain of Treason And finally he concludes with this That he would not shut his ears against any Petition upon this or any other Subject which they should hereafter tender to him provided that the matter and form thereof be not prejudicial to his Regal Authority Had his Majesty followed at the heels of this Proclamation with a powerful Army according to the Custom of his Predecessors Kings of England it might have done some good upon them But Proclamations of Grace and Favour if not backed by Arms are but like Cannons charged with Powder without Ball or Bullet making more noise than execution and serve for nothing in effect but to make the Rebel insolent and the Prince contemptible as it proved in this For on the very day and immediately after the reading of it it was encountered with a Protestation published by the Earl of Hume the Lord Lindsey and others justifying themselves in their Proceedings disclaiming all his Majesties Offers of Grace and Pardon and positively declaring their Resolution to go on as they had begun till they had brought the business to the end intended And in pursuance hereof they erected a new Form of Government amongst themselves despotical enough in respect of those who adhered unto them and unaccountable to his Majesty for their Acts and Orders This Government consisted of four Tables for the four Orders of the State that is to say the Noblemen Barons Burgesses and Ministers each Order consulting at his own Table of such things as were necessary for the carrying on of the Design which being reduced into Form were offered debated and concluded at the General Table consisting of a choice number of Commissioners out of all the rest And that this new Government might be looked on with the greater reverence they fixed themselves in Edenborough the Regal City leaving the Lords of Council and Session to make merry at Sterling where they had little else to do than to follow their Pleasures The Tables were no sooner formed but they resolved upon renewing of the Ancient Confession of that Kirk with a Band thereunto subjoined but fitted and accommodated to the present occasion which had been signed by King Iames on the 28th of Ianuary Anno 1580. after their Account and generally subscribed by all the Nation And by this Band they entred Covenant for Maintenance of their Religion then professed and his Majesties Person but aiming at the destruction of both as appeareth both by the Band it self and their Gloss upon it For by the one they had bound themselues to defend each other against all Persons whatsoever the King himself not being excepted and by the other they declared That under the general Names of Popery Heresie and Superstition which were there expressed they had abjured and required all others so to do not only the Liturgie and Canons lately recommended to them but the Episcopal Government and the five Articles of Perth though confirmed by Parliament And to this Covenant in this sense they required an Oath of all the Subjects which was as great an Usurpation of the Regal Power as they could take upon themselves for confirming their own Authority and the Peoples Obedience in any Project whatsoever which should afterwards issue from those Tables In this Estate we leave the Scots and return to England where we shall find all things in a better condition at least as to the outward appearance whatsoever secret workings were in agitation amongst the Grandees and chief Leaders of the Puritan Faction Little or no noise raised about the publishing of the Book for Sports or silencing the Calvinian Doctrines according to his Majesties Declaration before the Articles No clamour touching the transposing of the Holy Table which went on leisurely in most places vigorously in many and in some stood still The Metropolitical Visitation and the Care of the Bishops had settled these Particulars in so good a way that mens Passions began to calm and their Thoughts to come to some repose when the Commands had been more seriously considered of than at first they were And now the Visitation having been carried into all parts of the Realm of England and Dominion of Wales his Grace began to cast his eye upon the Islands of Guernsey and Iersey two Islands lying on the Coast of Normandy to the Dukedom whereof they once belonged and in the
Right of that Dukedom to the Crown of England Iersey the bigger of the two more populous and of richer soil but of no great Trading Guernsey the lesser the more barren but nourishing a wealthier People Masters of many stout Barques and managing a rich Trade with the neighbouring Nations Attempted often by the French since they seised on Normandy but always with repulse and loss the People being very affectionate to the English Government under which they enjoy very ample Priviledges which from the French they could not hope for As parts of Normandy they were subject in Ecclesiastical Matters to the Bishops of Constance in that Dukedom and so continued till the Reformation of Religion here in England and were then added to the Diocess and Jurisdiction of the Bishops of Winchester But the Genevian Discipline being more agreeable to such Preachers as came to them from France they obtained the Exercise thereof in the eighth year of Queen Elizabeth Anno 1565. The whole Government distinguished into two Classes or Colonies that of Iersey of it self being one and that of Guernsey with the Islands of Sark and Alderney making up the other both Classes meeting in a Synod every second or third year according to the Order of their Book of Discipline digested by Snape and Cartwright the two great Ring-leaders of that Faction here in England in a Synod held at Guernsey Iune 28. 1576. And this manner they continued till the time of King Iames when the Churches in the Isle of Iersey falling into some disorder and being under an immediate Governour who was no great Friend to Calvin's Plat-form they were necessitated for avoiding of a greater mischief to cast themselves into the Arms of the Church of England The principal Ecclesiastical Officer whilst they were under the Bishops of Constance had the Title of Dean for each Island one the several Powers both of the Chancellor and Archdeacon being united in his Person This Office is restored again his Jurisdiction marked out his Fees appointed his Revenue settled but made accountable for his Administration to the Bishops of Winchester The English Liturgie is Translated also into French to be read in their Churches Instructions first and afterwards a Body of Canons framed for Regulating both the Ministers and People in their several Duties those Canons bearing date the last of Iune in the one and twentieth year of that King For the confirming of this Island in their Conformity to the Government and Forms of Worship there established and the reducing of the others to the like condition it was resolved That the Metropolitical Visitation should be held in each of them at the next opening of the Spring And that it might be carried on with the greater assurance the Archbishop had designed a Person for his Principal Visitor who had spent some time in either Island and was well acquainted with the Bayliffs Ministers and men of special note amongst them But the Affairs of Scotland growing from bad to worse this Counsel was discontinued for the present and at last laid by for all together But these Islands were not out of his mind though they were out of sight his care extending further than his Visitation The Islanders did use to breed such of their Sons as they designed for the Ministry either at Saumur or Geneva from whence they returned well seasoned with the Leaven of Calvinism No better way to purge that old Leaven out of the Islands than to allure the people to send their Children to Oxon or Cambridge nor any better expedient to effect the same than to provide some preferments for them in our Universities It hapned that while he was intent on these Considerations that one Hubbard the Heir of Sir Miles Hubbard Citizen and Alderman of London departed this Life to whom upon an inquisition taken after his death in due form of Law no Heir was found which could lay claim to his Estate Which falling to the Crown in such an unexpected manner and being a fair Estate withal it was no hard matter for the Archbishop to perswade his Majesty to bestow some small part thereof upon pious uses To which his Majesty consenting there was so much allotted out of it as for the present served sufficiently to endow three Fellowships for the perpetual Education of so many of the Natives of Guernsey and Iersey not without some probable â—ope of doubling the number as the old Leases of it â—â—ould expire These Fellowships to be founded in Exeter Iesus and Pembroke Colledges that being disperst in several Houses there might be an increase both of Fellows and Revenues of the said foundations By means whereof he did both piously and prudently provide for those Islands and the advancement of Conformity amongst them in the times to come For what could else ensue upon it but that the breeding of some Scholars out of those Islands in that University where they might throughly acquaint themselves with the Doctrine Government and Forms of Worship establisht in the Church of England they might afterwards at their return to their native Countries reduce the Natives by degrees to conform unto it which doubtless in a short time would have done the work with as much honour to the King and content to himself as satisfaction to those People It is not to be thought that the Papists were all this while asleep and that neither the disquiets in England nor the tumults in Scotland were husbanded to the best advantage of the Catholick Cause Panzani as before is said had laid the foundation of an Agency or constant correspondence between the Queens Court and the Popes and having so done left the pursuit of the design to Con a Scot by birth but of a very busie and pragmatical head Arriving in England about the middle of Summer Anno 1636. he brought with him many pretended reliques of Saints Medals and Pieces of Gold with the Popes Picture stamped on them to be distributed amongst those of that Party but principally amongst the Ladies of the Court and Country to whom he made the greatest part of his applications He found the King and Queen at Holdenby House and by the Queen was very graciously entertained and took up his chief Lodgings in a house near the new Exchange As soon as the Court was returned to Whitehall he applied himself diligently to his work practising upon some of the principal Lords and making himself very plausible with the King himself who hoped he might make some use of him in the Court of Rome for facilitating the restitution of the Prince Elector And finding that the Kings Councils were much directed by the Archbishop of Canterbury he used his best endeavours to be brought into his acquaintance But Canterbury neither liked the man nor the Message which he came about and therefore kept himself at a distance neither admitting him to Complement nor Communication Howsoever by the Kings Connivence and the Queens Indulgence the Popish Faction gathered not only strength
his words and mistakes his meaning wresting the most Orthodox and innocent truths to his wicked ends and putting his own corrupt Gloss and sense upon them And which is yet most strange of all with an unparalelled impudence he dedicates it to his Sacred Majesty calling upon him To send out his Royal Edict for the taking down of all Altars which where ever they stand are by him said to stand in open defiance of Christ Another for calling in the Book for Sports on the Lords day A third for calling in his Declaration before the Articles of Religion A fourth for calling in of all Orders for the Restraint of Preaching A fifth for restoring to their place and Ministry all those who out of Conscience of their duty to God had by the Prelates been thrust out of all for refusing to read the said Book And finally for releasing and setting at liberty the three poor banished prisoners the loud cry of whose oppressions might otherwise provoke the thunderbolt of Divine Revenge to blast the beauty of his State Now as he laboured by these means to preserve the Church of England from the growth of Popery so he took care for preventing the subversion of it by the spreading of the Socinian Heresies He had before took care for suppressing all Books of that nature which had been imported into England out of other Countries and had received thanks for it from the Pen of a Jesuit But Burton chargeth it upon him among his Crimes reproaching him for suppressing those books for no other reason but because they magnified the Authority of the holy Scriptures and by the late Decree for Printing of which more anon he had took such order that no Eggs of that pestiferous Brood should be laid in England or if they were should ever peep out of the Shell or appear in sight There had been published a Discourse called Disquisitio Brevis in which some of the principal Socinian Tenents were cunningly inserted pretending them for the best Expedients to appease some Controversies betwixt us and Rome The Book ascribed in common Speech to Hales of Eaton a man of infinite reading and no less ingenuity free of Discourse and as communicative of his knowledge as the Coelestial Bodies of their light and influences There past also up and down a Discourse of Schism not Printed but transmitted from hand to hand in written Copies like the Bishop of Lincolns Letter to the Vicar of Grantham intended chiefly for the encouragement of some of our great Masters of Wit and Reason to despise the Authority of the Church Which being dispersed about this time gave the Archbishop occasion to send for him to Lambeth in hope that he might gain the man whose abilities he was well acquainted with when he lived in Oxon. An excellent Grecian in those daies and one whom Savil made great use of in his Greek Edition of St. Chrysostoms Works About nine of the Clock in the Morning he came to know his Graces pleasure who took him along with him into his Garden commanding that none of his Servants should come at him upon any occasion There they continued in discourse till the Bell rang to Prayers and after Prayers were ended till the Dinner was ready and after that too till the coming in of the Lord Conway and some other Persons or honour put a necessity upon some of his Servants to give him notice how the time had passed away So in they came high coloured and almost panting for want of breath enough to shew that there had been some heats between them not then fully cooled It was my chance to be there that day either to know his Graces pleasure or to render an account of some former commands but I know not which and I found Hales very glad to see me in that place as being himself a meer stranger to it and unknown to all He told me afterwards That he found the Archbishop whom he knew before for a nimble Disputant to be as well versed in books as business That he had been ferretted by him from one hole to another till there was none left to afford him any further shelter That he was now resolved to be Orthodox and to declare himself a true Son of the Church of England both for Doctrine and Discipline That to this end he had obtained leave to call himself his Graces Chaplain that naming him in his Publick Prayers for his Lord and Patron the greater notice might be taken of the Alteration Thus was Hales gained unto the Church and gained a good preferment in it promoted not long after by the Archbishops Commendation to be Prebend of Windsor and to hold the same by special dispensation with his place in Eaton Nor was the Archbishop less intent upon all Advantages for keeping down the Genevian Party and hindring them from Printing and Publishing any thing which might disturb the Churches Peace or corrupt her Doctrine To this end he procured a Decree to be pass'd in the Star-Chamber on Iuly 1. Anno 1637. to Regulate the Trade of Printing and prevent all Abuses of that Excellent Art to the disturbance of the Church By which Decree it had been Ordered That the Master-Printers from thenceforth should be reduced to a certain number and that if any other should secretly or openly pursue that Trade he should be set in the Pillory or whipped through the Streets and suffer such other Punishment as that Court should inflict upon him That none of the said Master-Printers should from thenceforth Print any Book or Books of Divinity Law Physick Philosophy or Poetry till the said Books together with the Titles Epistles Prefaces Tables or Commendatory Verses shall be lawfully Licenced either by the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Bishop of London for the time being or by some of their Chaplains or by the Chancellors or Vice-Chancellors of either of the two Vniversities upon pain of loosing the Exercise of his Art and being proceeded against in the Star-Chamber or the High-Commission Court respectively That no Person or Persons do hereafter Re-print or cause to be Re-printed any Book or Books whatsoever though formerly Printed with Licence without being reviewed and a new Licence obtained for the Re-printing thereof That every Merchant Bookseller or other Person who shall Import any Printed Books from beyond the Seas shall present a true Catalogue of them to the said Archbishop or Bishop for the time being before they be delivered or exposed to Sale upon pain of suffering such Punishment as by either of the said two Courts respectively shall be thought fit That none of the said Merchants Booksellers or others shall upon pain of the like Punishment deliver any of the Books so Imported till the Chaplains of the said Archbishop or Bishop for the time being or some other Learned Man by them appointed together with the Master and Wardens of the Company of Stationers or one of them shall take a view of the same with Power to seize
same Month he gives Order for a General Assembly to be held at Glasco on November 21. next following in which he could not but be sure that after so many previous Condescensions on his part they would be able to do whatsoever they listed in defiance of him For before the Assembly was Indicted the Covenanters had so laid the Plot that none but those of their own Party should have Suffrage in it as afterwards by several Orders from their Tables they directed that no Chaplain nor Chapter-man nor any who have not subscribed the Covenant should be chosen to it not suffering the Archbishops or Bishops to sit as Moderators in their Presbyteries where the Elections were to pass and citing them to appear as Criminal Persons at the said Assembly by means of which Exclusions and Prelimitations the greatest part of the Assembly did consist of such as either were irregularly chosen by the over-ruling Voices of Lay-Elders which were thrust upon them or else not capable of being Elected some of them being under the Censures of the Kirk of Scotland others under the Censures of the Church of Ireland and some not having taken the Oath of Supremacy required by the Laws of the Land Upon which just and weighty Reasons as also the Admission of the Schismatical Clergy to sit as Judges over their Bishops the intrusion of so many Lay-Elders contrary to the Constitution of former General Assemblies the countenancing of a scandalous Libel against their Function and Persons and the prejudging of their Cause in their several Presbyteries by excluding them from having any Vote in the said Assembly when they were not present to interpose or speak any thing in their own behalf the Archbishops and Bishops in the name of themselves and all which did adhere unto them prepared their Declinator or Protestation against the said General Assembly and all the Acts and Conclusions of it as being void and null in Law to all intents and purposes whatsoever The day being come Hamilton marcheth to the place appointed for the Session in the equipage of a High-Commissioner the Sword and Seal being carried before him the Lords of the Council and all the Officers of State attending on him like a King indeed The reading of his Commission the putting in and rejecting of the Declinator the chusing of Henderson to be Moderator of the Assembly the constituting of the Members of it and some Debates touching the Votes and Suffrages challenged by Hamilton for such as were Assessors to him took up all the time between their first Meeting and their Dissolution which was by Proclamation solemnly declared on the twenty ninth of the same Month having â—ate only eight days by the Kings Authority For notwithstanding the said Dissolution the Members of the said Assembly continued and kept their Session and therein passed many Acts for the utter overthrow of the Polity and Government of the Church the infringing of his Majesties Prerogative Royal and violating the Authority of Parliaments For they not only Excommunicated the Bishops and their Adherents but condemned the very Function it self to be Antichristian and utterly to be abolished out of the Church notwithstanding that several Parliaments had confirmed the same The like Censure they also past on the Service Book and Canons with the five Articles of Perth though the two first received the Stamp of Royal Authority and the five last were confirmed in Parliament also They condemned in one breath all the Arminian Tenents in case of Predestination without examining the Arguments on which they were built and declared all men subject to Excommunication and other Censures of the Church who should refuse to yield obedience to all their unlawful Actings and Determinations And though his Majesty by the same Proclamation had commanded all his faithful Subjects not to yield any obedience to their Acts and Ordinances and bound himself in the Word of a King to defend them in it yet those of the Assembly were resolved to maintain their Authority For notwithstanding his Majesties late Declaration and Commands not only the Bishops and Clergy but also as many of the Layty as had refused to subscribe to the Acts thereof were deprived of their Offices and Preferments banished their Country and forced to fly into England oâ— other places the King not being able to protect them from the power and malice of their Adversaries For having lost the opportunity of suppressing them in their first Insurrection in the year precedent aâ—d afterwards of reducing them by force of Arms in the year next following he was forced to shuffle up such a Pacification in the Parliaments of both Kingdoms Anno 1641. as left his Party dâ—â—â—â—tute of all protection but what they found in England by his Majesties Favour in providing the Clergy of some small Benefices for their present subsistance which possibly might amount to more than formerly they enjoyed in their own Country And yet the Covenanters did not play all parts in this Assembly the King and his Commissioner had one part to act which was the presenting of a Declaration containing the sum and substance of all his Majesties gracious Condescensions exprest in the several Proclamations before remembred and a Command to have it registred in the Acts and Records thereof But upon what considerations and reasons of State his Majesty might be moved to commit that Paper to be registred amongst the Acts of Assembly is beyond my reach 〈◊〉 â—â—ough many times the wisest Princes have sent out Proclamations of Grace for redress of Grievances and pardoning of fore-past o 〈…〉 yet were those Proclamations and Acts of Grace beheld no otherwise than as temporary and occasional Remedies for the present mischiefs not to be drawn into Example and much less put upon Record for the times cusuing his Majesties Condescensions had been large enough and too much to the prejudice of his Crown and Dignity without this Enrolment Nor wants it somewhat of a â—iddle that at such time as Hamilton tendred the Paper of his Majâ—stiâ—s â—racious Concessions for discharging of the Service Book c. to be enrolled amongst the Acts of the Assembly he both declared and protested that his so doing should be no acknowledgment of the lawfulness and validity of that Convention which was instantly to be dissolved or that his Majestie should give order to have those Acts of Grace and Favour enrolled in the Records of the Assembly to stand full and sure to all his good Subjects for their assurance of and in the true Religion which Assembly at the same time â—e declared to be illegal and all the Acts thereof to be null and void I must confess I am not Oedipus enough for so dark a Sphinx and must therefore leave this depth of State-craft to more able heads Only I cannot chuse but note how little his Majesty got by those Condescensions the stubborn and rebellious Scots being so far unsatisfied with these Acts of Grace that they not only forced all
Army That the like be done for Mustering and Arraying the Clergy throughout England or otherwise to furnish the King with a proportion of Armed Men for the present Service 6. That Writs be issued out into all Counties for certifying the King what number of Horse and Foot every County could afford him in his Wars with Scotland 7. The like also to the Borders requiring them to come unto the Kings Army well armed Commissions to be made for punishing such as refused 8. That the Sheriffs of the Counties were commanded by Writ to make Provisions of Corn and Victuals for the Kings Army and to cause them to be carried to the place appointed The like Command sent to the Merchants in the Port-Towns of England and Ireland and the Ships of the Subject taken to Transport such Provisions to the place assigned 9. Several Sums of Money raised by Subsidies and Fifteens from the English Subject and Aid of Money given and lent by the Merchant-Strangers toward the Maintenance of the War 10. That the King used to suspend the payment of his Debts for a certain time in regard of the great occasions he had to use Money in the Wars of Scotland Other Memorials were returned to the same effect but these the principal According to these Instructions his Majesty directs his Letters to the Temporal Lords his Writs to the High-Sheriffs his Orders to the Lord-Lieutenants and Deputy-Lieutenants in their several Counties his Proclamations generally to all his Subjects Requiring of them all such Aids and Services in his present Wars as either by Laws oâ— Ancient Customs of the Land they were bound to give him He caused an Order also to be made by the Lords of the Council directed to the two Archbishops Ianuary 29. by which they were Required and Commanded To write their several and â—espâ—ctive Letters to all the Lords Bishops in their several Provinces respectively forthwith to convene before them all the Clergy oâ— Ability in their Diocesses and to incite them by such ways and means as shall be thought best by their Lordships to aid and assist his Majesty with their speedy and liberal Contributions and otherwise for defence of his Royal Person and of this Kingdom And that the same be sent to the Lord Treasurer of England with all diliâ—ence Subscribed by the Lord Keeper Coventry the Bishop of London Lord Treasurer the Earl of Manchester Lord Privy Seal tâ—â— Duke of Lenox the Earl of Lindsey Lord Great Chamberlain tâ—â— Earl of Arundel Earl-Marshal the Earl of Dorset Lord Chamberlain to the Queen the Earl oâ— Pembroke Lord Chamberlain to the King the Earl of Holland Chancellor of Cambridge Cottington Maâ—ter of the Wards Vane Treasurer of the Houshold Cooke and Winâ—â—bank the two Principal Secretaries Which Warrant whether it proceeded from the Kings own motion or was procured by the Archbishop himself to promote the Service is not much material Certain I am that he conformed himself unto it with a chearful diligence and did accordingly direct his Letters to his Suffragan Bishops in this â—ollowing â—orm My very good Lord I Have received an Order from the Lords of his Majesties most Honourable Privy Council giving me notice of the great Preparations made by sâ—me of Scotland both of Arms and all other Necessaries for War And that this can have no other end than to invade or annoy this his Majesties Kingdom of England For his Majesty having a good while since most graciously â—ielded to their Demands for securing the Religion by Law established amongst them hath made it appear to the World That it is not Religion but Sedition that stirs in them and fills them with this most irreligious Disobedience which at last breaks forth into a high degree of Treason against their Lawful Sovereign In this Case of so great danger both to the State and Church of England your Lordships I doubt not and your Clergie under you will not only be vigilant against the close Workings of any Pretenders in that kind but very free also to your Power and Proportion of Means leâ—t to the Church to contribute toward the raising of such an Army as by Gods Blâ—ssing and his Majesties Care may secure this Church and Kingdom from all intended Violence And according to the Order sent unto me by the Lords a Copy whereof you shall herewith receive these are to pray your Lordship to give a good Example in your own Person and with all convenient speed to call your Clergie and the abler Schoolmasters as well those which are in Peculiars as others and excite them by your self and such Commissioners as you will answer for to contribute to this Great and Necessary Service in which if they give not a good Example they will be much to blame But you are to call no poor Curates nor Stipendaries but such as in other Legal ways of Payment have been and are by Order of Law bound to pay The Proportion I know not well how to prescribe you but I hope they of your Clergie whom God hath blessed with better Estates than Ordinary will give freely and thereby help the want of Means in others And I hope also your Lordship will so order it as that every man will at the least give after the Proportion of 3 s. 10 d. in the Pound of the valuation of his Living or other Preferment in the Kings Books And this I thought fit to lâ—â— you further know That if any man have double Benefices or a Benefice and a Prebend or the like in divers Diocesses yet your Lordship must call upon them only for such Preferments as they have within your Diocess and leave them to pay for any other which they hold to the Bishop in whose Diocess their Preferments are As for the time your Lordship must use all the diligence you can and send up the Moneys if it be possible by the first of May next And for your Indempnity the Lord Treasurer is to give you such discharge by striking a Tally or Tallies upon your several Payments into the Exchequer as shall be fit to sâ—cure you without your Charge Your Lordship must further be pleased to send up a List of the Names of such as refuse this Service within their Diocess but I hope none will put you to that trouble It is further expected That your Lordship and every other Bishop express by it self and not in the general Sum of his Clergie that which himself gives And of this Service you must not fail So to Gods blessed Protection I leave you and rest Your Lordships very Loving Friend and Brother WILL. CANT Lambeth Ian. ult 1638. On the receiving of these Letters the Clergy were Convented in their several Diocesses encouraged by their several Ordinaries not to be wanting to his Majesty in the Present Service and divers Preparations used beforehand to dispose them to it which wrougâ—t so powerfully and effectually on the greatest part of them those which wish'd well unto the Scots seeming
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
also with higher promises that he might corrupt his sincere mind yet a fitting occasion was never offered whereby he might insinuate himself into the Lord Archbishop to whom free access was to be impetrated by the Earl and Countess of Arundel as also by Secretary Windebank all whose intercessions he neglected and did shun as it were the Plague the company or Familiarity of Con. He was also sollicited by others of no mean Rank well known to him and yet he continued unmovable And whereas some found a way to help at last by making Windebank the Internuncio betwixt him and them that only serves to make the matter rather worse than better there being a great strangeness grown betwixt him and Windebank not only before Con's coming into the Realm but before Panzani had settled any course of intelligence in the Court of England As for his favours towards those of the Catholick Party and his connivence of their Practices which is next objected as he had good reason for the one so there could be no reason to object the other He had good reason for the one viz. That by shewing favours to the Papists here they might obtain the like favours for such Protestants as lived in the Dominion of Popish Princes Upon which ground King Iames extended many favours to them in his time as opinions as that Writer makes them appears first by the Testimony of the Archbishop of Spalato declaring in the High Commission a little beâ—ore â—iâ—â—oing hence that he acknowledged the Articles of the Church to be true or profitable at the least and none of them to be Heretical It appears secondly by a Tractate of Franciscus a Sancta Clara as he calls himself in which he pâ—tteth such a gloss upon the 39 Articles of the Church of England as rendreth them not inconsistent with the Doctrines of the Church of Rome And iâ— without prejudice to the truth the controversies might have been composed it is most probable that other Protestant Churches would have suâ—d by their Agents to be included in the Peace if not the Church of England had lost nothing by it as being hated by the Calvinists and not loved by the Lutherans Admitting then that such a Reconciliation was endeavoured betwixt the Agents for both Churches Let us next see what our great States-men have discoursed upon that particular upon what terms the Agreement was to have been made and how far they proceeded in it And first the book entituled the Popes Nuncio affirmed to have been written by a Venetian Ambassador at his being in England doth discourse it tâ—us As to a Reconciliation saith he between the Churches of England and Rome there were made some general Propositions and overtures by the Archbishops Agents they assuring that his Grace was very much disposed thereunto and that if it was not accomplisht in his life time it would prove a work of more difficulty after his death that in very truth for the last three years the Archbishop had introduced some Innovations approaching â—ear the Rites and Forms of Rome that the Bishop of Chichester a great Confident of his Grace the Lord Treasurer and eight other Bishops of his Graces party did most passionately desire a Reconciliation with the Church of Rome that they did day by day receed from their Ancient Tenents to accommodate with the Church of Rome that therefore the Pope on his part ought to make some steps to meet them and the Court of Romeâ—â—mit â—â—mit something of its Rigor in Doctrine or otherwise no accord would be The composition on both sides in so good a forwardness before Panzam leâ—t the Kingdom that the Archbishop and and Bishop of Chichester had often said that there were but two sorts of People likely to impede and hinder the Reconciliation to wit the Puritans amongst the Protestants and the Iesuites amongst the Catholicks Let us next see the judgement and Relation of another Author in a gloss or Comment on the Former intituled the English Pope Printed at London in the same year 1643. And he will tells us that after Con had undertook the managing of the affairs matters began to grow toward some agreement The King required saith he such a dispensation from the then Pope as that his Catholick Subjects might resort to the Protestant Churches and to take the oaths of Supremacy and Fidelity and that the Popes Jurisdiction here should be declared to be but of humane Right And so far had the Pope consented that whatsoever did concern the King therein should have been really performed so far forth as other Catholick Princes usually enjoy and expect as their due and so far as the Bishops were to be Independent both from King and Pope there was no fear of breach on the Popes part So that upon the point the Pope was to content himself amongst us in England with a Priority instead of a Superiority over other Bishops and with a Primacy in stead of a Supremacy in thâ—se parts of Christendom which I conceive no man of Learning and Sobriety would have grudged to grant him It was also condescended to in the name of the Pope that marriage might be permitted to Priests that the Communion might be Administred sub utraque specie and that the Liturgy might be officiated in the English tongue And though the Author adds not long after that it was to be suspected That so far as the inferiour Clergy and the people were concerned the after-performance was to be leâ—t to the Popes Discretion yet this was but his own suspicion without ground at all And to obtain a Reconciliation upon these Advantages the Archbishop had all the Reason in the world to do as he did in ordering the Lords Table to be placed where the Altar stood and making the accustomed Reverence in all approaches towards it and accesses to it in beautifying and adorning Churches and celebrating the Divine Service with all due Solemnities in taking care that all offensive and exasperating passages should be expunged out of such Books as were brought to the Press and for reducing the extravagancy of some opinions to an evener temper His Majesty had the like Reason also for tolerating Lawful Recreations on the Sundays and Holy-days The rigorous Restraint whereof made some Papists think those most especially of the vulgar sort whom it most concerned that all honest Pastime were incompetible with our Religion And if he approved Auricular Confession and shewed himself willing to introduce it into the use of the Church as both our Authors say he did it is no more then what the Liturgy Commends to the care of the Penitent though we find not the word Auricular in it or what the Canons have provided for in the point of security for such as shall be willing to confess themselves But whereas we are told by one of our Authors that the King should say he would use force to make it be received were it not for fear of Sedition
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
in every Quarter of the year at Morning Prayer And it was added by the Canons that if any Parson Vicar Curate or Preacher should Voluntarily or carelesly neglect his duty in publishing the said Explications and Conclusions according to the Order above prescribed he should be suspended by his Ordinary till his Reformation That all Bishops Priests and Ministers should Teach Preach and Exhort their People to Obey Honour and Serve their King and that they presume not to speak of his Majesties Power any other way then in the Canon is expressed with reference to Excommunication and a Suspension of two years for the first Offence and Deprivation for the second to be inflicted by his Majesties Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical upon all Persons whatsoever which in any Sermon Lecture Determination or Disputation should maintain any point of Doctrine contrary to the said Propositions and Explications In reference to the preservation of the Episcopal power an Oath was dâ—awn up in the Upper and sent down to the Lower House of Convocation by them to be debated approved and ratified upon Approbation Which Oath was required to be taken by all Archbishops Bishops Priests and Deacons before the second day of November then next following to be tendered in the presence of a publike Notary to all Priests and Deacons by the Bishop in person or his Chancellour or some grave Divines named and appointed by the Bishop under his Episcopal Seat In the first words of the Oath aâ— it came from the Lords it was expressed in these words that every man should Swear to the Doctrine and Discipline established in Church of England And this occasioned some dispute concerning the extent of the word Discipline whither it comprehended the Episcopal Government and the publick Forms of Divine Worship or was to be restrained only to the use of the Keys as it was practiced in Ecclesiastical Courts Some would have had the words run thus I. A. B. do swear that I approve the Doctrines Discipline or Government established c. But against this it was objected First that the Government of the Church was sufficiently provided for by the following clause in which there was an especial Enumeratâ—â—â— of all Offices impowred in the Government of the Church and that it was incongruous to make that Discipline and Government to be the same and that Government should be said to contain all things or any thing which was necessary to Salvation And they that thus objected would have had it pass in these words viz. I approve the Doctrine Discipline and Forms of Worship established in the Church of England as containing all things necessary unto Salvation Which though it seemed more plausible and intelligible then the other was yet being put unto the vote it was carried for Discipline or â—â—â—â—rnment under pretence of not clogging the Oath with things unnecessary and such as might be made capable of a variation According to which Vote the Canon was drawn up with this title viz. An Oath injoyned for the preventing of all Innovations in Doctrine and Government and the Oath it self injoyned in this form following that is to say I. A. B. Do swear that I do Approve the Doctrine and Discipline or Government Established in the Church of England as containing all things necessary to salvation And that I will not endeavour by my self or any other directly or indirectly to bring in any Pâ—pish Doctrine contrary to that which is so established Nor will I ever give my consent to alter the Government of this Church by Archbishops Bishops Deans and Archdeacons c. As it stands now established and as by Right it ought to stand nor yet ever to subject it to the usurpations and Superstitions of the See of Rome And all these things I do plainly and seriously acknowledge and swear according to the plain and Common sense and understanding of the same words without any Equivocation or mental evasion or secret reservation whatsoever And this I do heartily willingly and truly upon the faith of a Christian So help me God in Jesus Christ. The Oath being past the Canon was drawn up by the former hand according to such Instructions as were sent along with it By which it was required that all Masters of Art the Sons of Noblemen only excepted all Bachelors or Doctors in Divinity Law or Physick all that are licenced to practice Physick all Registers â—â—ctuaries and Procters all School-masters all such as being natives oâ— Naturalized do come to be incorporated into the Universities here having taken any Degree in any Foreign University should be bound to take the said Oath the same Oath to be Administred to all such of the persons abovenamed residing in any University by the Governors of their several Houses and by the Bishop Respectively to all which should from thenceforth be admitted to holy Orders or receive any Institution Collation or Licence for the serving of any cure with several Penalties to all beneficed Parsons and all such as were then in any Ecclesiastical dignity for their Refusal of the same that is to say a suspension ab officio for the first Refusal à beneficio officio for the second and Deprivation for the tâ—ird a Moneths deliberation being granted betwixt each Refusal These two great matters being thus concluded A message is delivered by the Prolocutor from the house of Bishops by which the Clergy were desired to consider of the best expedient for inducing an Uniformity in the Church about the situation of the Lords Table the Receiving of the blessed Sacrament and the due Revenue to be used in the house of God and to prepare a Caâ—â—â— to that purpose if they found it necessary On the Receiving of 〈◊〉 message a grand Committee was selected out of the Ablest men oâ— the House to take that great and weighty business into consideration and to Report unto the House whatsoever they should do therein that it might pass or be rejected as the House thought fit The Committee consisted of 27. the Prolocutor being reckoned into the number their meeting to be held the same afternoon in the Chappel of King Hen. 7. Where being met and sitting about the table provided for the use of the Bishops the points were seriously debated every man speaking his opinion in them when it came to his turn without interruption beginning with the Prolocutor and so proceeding from man to man till it concluded with the Clerk for the Church of Westminster So placed of purpose that he might answer all such arguments as had been brought against any of the points proposed and were not answered to his hand The Prolocutor having taken the summe of every mans Judgement declared that the far Major part had appeared for placing the Lords Table where the Altar stood the drawing neer unto it to receive the Sacrament and the making of due Reverences at the entring into the Church and going out of it and thereupon put it to the question whether they
of the Kingdom honoured him with the Order of the Garter and made him one of the Lords of his Privy Council so that no greater characters of Power and Favour could be imprinted on a Subject The Office of Lieutenant General he had committed unto the Earl of Strafford Lord Lieutenant of Ireland of whose Fidelity and Courage he could make no question And the Command of the Horse to Edward Lord Conway whose Father had been raised by King Iames from a private condition to be one of his principal Secretaries and a Peer of the Realm Of which three great Commanders it was observed that one had sufficient health but had no will to the business That another had a good will to it but wanted health and that a third had neither the one nor the other And yet as crasie and infirm as the Earl of Strafford found himself he chearfully undertook the charge of the Army in the Generals absâ—nce and signified by Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury that he durst venture upon the peril of his head to drive the Scots out of England but that he did not hold it Counsellable as the case then stood If any other of the Lords had advised the King to try his Fortune in a Battel he doubted not of sending them home in more haste than they came but the Scots had rendred him unfit to make the motion for fear it might be thought that he studied more his own Concernments than he did the Kings For these Invadors finding by whose Counsels his Majesty governed his Affairs resolved to draw them into discredit both with Prince and People And to that end it was declared in a Remonstrance publisht before their taking Arms That their Propositions and Desires so necessary and vital unto that Kingdom could find no access unto the ears of the gracious King by reason of the powerful Diversion of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Deputy of Ireland who strengthned with the high and mighty Faction of Papists near his Majesty did only side in all matters of Temporal and Spiritual affairs making the necessity of their Service to his Majesty to appear in being the only fit Instruments under the pretext of vindicating his Majesties Honour to oppress both the just Liberties of his Free Subjects and the true Reformed Religion in all his Kingdoms Seconding this Remonstrance with another Pamphlet called The Intention of the Army they signified therein to the good People of England that they had no design either to waste their Goods or spoyl their Country but only to become Petitioners to his Sacred Majesty to call a Parliament and to bring the said Archbishop and Lord Lieutenant to their condign Punishments In which those modest men express That as they desired the unworthy Authors of their trouble who had come out from themselves to be tried at home according to their own Laws so they would press no further Process against Canterbury and the Lieutenant of Ireland and the rest of those pernicious Counsellors in England whom they called the Authors of all the miseries of both Kingdoms than what their own Parliament should discern to be their just deserving And that the English might see the better whom they chiefly aimed at a book was published by the name of Laudensium Autocatacrisis or the Canterburians Self-conviction in which the Author of it did endeavour to prove out of the Books Speeches and Writings of the Archbishop himself as also of some Bishops and other learned men who had exercised their Pens in the late disputes That there was a strange design in hand for bringing in Superstition Popery and Arminianism to the subversion of the Gospel and of suppressing the Religion here by Law established But as these Reproaches moved not him so neither did their Remonstrance or any other of their Scribbles distract his Majesties Resolutions untill he found himself assaulted by a Petition from some Lords in the South which threatned more danger at his back than he had cause to fear from the Northern Tempest which blew directly in his teeth Complaint was made in this Petition of the many inconvenicences which had been drawn upon this Kingdom by his Majesties engagings against the Scots as also of the great encrease of Popery the pressing of the present payment of Ship-money the dissolving of former Parliaments Monopolies Innovations and some other grâ—evances amongst which the Canons which were made in the late Convocation could not be omitted For Remedy whereof his Majesty is desired to call a Parliament to bring the Authors of the said pretended grievances to a Legal Trial and to compose the present War without Bloudshed Subscribed by the Earls of Essex Hartford Rutland Bedford Exeter Warwick Moulgrave and Bullingbrooke the Lords Say Mandevil Brooke and Howard presented to the King at York on the third of September And seconded by another from the City of London to the same effect His Majesty being thus between two Milstones could find no better way to extricate himself out of these perplexities than to call the great Council of his Peers to whom at their first meeting on the 24 of the same month he signified his purpose to hold a Parliament in London on the third of November and by their Counsel entertained a Treaty with those of Scotland who building on the confidence which they had in some Lords of England had petitioned for it According unto which Advice a Commission is directed to eight Earls and as many Barons of the English Nation seven of which had subscribed the former Petition enabling them to treat with the Scots Commissioners to hear their Grievances and Demands and to report the same to his Majesty and the Lords of his Council These points being gained which the Puritan Faction in both Kingdoms had chiefly aimed at the Scots were insolent enough in their Proposals Requiring freedom of Commerce Reparation of their former Losses and most especially the maintenance of their Army at the charge of the English without which no Cessation would be harkned to Satisfaction being given them in their last Demand and good Assurances for the two first they decline York as being unsafe for their Commissioners and procure Rippon to be named for the place of the Treaty where the Lord Lieutenant was of less influence than he was at York and where being further from the King they might shuffle the Cards and play the Game to their best contentment The rest of October from the end of the first week of it when they excepted against York was drilled on in requiring that some persons of quality intrusted by the Scottish Nation might have more Offices than they had about his Majesty and the Queen and in the Court of the Prince That a Declaration might be made for naturalizing and settling the Capacities and mutual Priviledges of the Subjects in both Kingdoms but chiefly that there might be an Unity and Uniformity in Church-Government as a special means for conserving
Law guilty of death that he did never bear any touch of Conscience with greater regret which as a sign of his Repentance he had often with sorrow confessed both to God and Men as an Act of so sinful frailty that it discovered more a â—ar of Man than of God whose Name and Place on Earth no man is worthy to bear who will avoid Inconveniences of State by Acts of so high Injustice as no Publick Convenience can compâ—nsat◠〈◊〉 loss of this Gentlemans Life after such a manner so terrified 〈…〉 oâ— his Majesties Servants that as some had deserted him in 〈…〉 appearance of his Troubles so there were few that durst stand to him or put him upon â—â—solute or couragious Counsels when he most wanted such Assistance In which respect it was no 〈◊〉 matter for the Houses of Parliament to wire draw him by de 〈…〉 Conâ—â—secâ—sions as finally left the Church without any Authority and the Crown with little more Prerogative than a Tâ—tular and precarious Empire He had before passed an Act for Triâ—â—nial Parliaments to be called in his default by Sheriffs and Constaples and signed a Bill for the continuance of the present Parliament during the pleasure of the Houses at such time as he passed away this poor Gentlemans Life He must now give up so much of his Power at once as would disable him from subsisting by any other means than the Alms of his Parliament or keeping down those factions and seditious Humours for which the ordinary Courts of Justice tied to Formalities of Law could provide no remedy In reference to the first having kept him hungry and in appetite for seven Months and more from their first meeting in November they present him with a Bill for Tonnage and Poundage to be paid only for the three Months following and that too clogged in the Preamble with such a Condition as to disclaim all such Right unto it as had been formerly enjoyed by his Predecessors They prepared also other Bills for Repealing the Statute concerning Knighthood made by K. Edward ii and then made rather for the ease of the Subâ—â—ct than the advantage of the Crown as also For abolishing his Preâ—â—ntions to the Raising of Ship-money For retrenching the Perambu 〈◊〉 of his Forests For suppressing the Court of Stanneries in Cornwâ—â— And 〈◊〉 long-continued Jurisdiction of his Clerk of the Market Aâ—â— in relation to the other they prepared two Bills more the one for pâ—â—ting down the Court of Star-Chamber the other for destroying the Higâ— Commission without which bridles there had been no ruling of the Puritan Faction But as in the Bill for putting down the Star-Chamber there were some Clauses which extended to the overthrow of tâ—e Court of the Marches and the Council established in the North and for Regulating the Authority of the Council-Table so 〈…〉 for destroying the High-Commission there was a Clause which took away the Coercive power of Bishops Chancellors Archdeacons and all other Ecclesiastical Judges To these two last the Royal Assent having been passed unto all the former without any difficulty the King was pleased to demur which bred such a heat amongst the Commons that he was forced on Munday the fifth of Iuly being but two daies after his passing of the other to make an excuse for this small delay the business being of such importance as the Altering in a great measure those Fundamental Laws both Ecclesiastical and Civil which so many of his Predecessors had established How great a blow was given by the first Act to the Royal Authority I leave to be considered by our Civil Historians What the Church suffered by the second will appear by these words in which it was Enacted under the several penalties therein contained That from the fifth day of August then next following no Archbishop or Bishops or any other Person or Persons having or exercising any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction under the Kings Majesty within the Realm of England and Dominion of Wales should award impose or inflict any Pain Penalty Fine Amercement Imprisonment or any Corporal Punishment for any Contempt Misdemeanour Crime Offence Matter or Thing whatsoever belonging to Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Cognizance or Jurisdiction or should Ex Officio or at the instance or promotion of any person whatsoever urge enforce tender give or minister unto any Churchwarden Sideman or person whatsoever any Corporal Oath whereby they shall be obliged to make any Presentment concerning others or confess any thing against themselves which might make them lyable or expose them to any Censure Pain Penalty of what sort soever Which in effect was to take away the Power of Ecclesiastical Censures belonging naturally and originally to the Episcopal Function that is to say Suspensions Excommunications Deprivations and Degradations all which are both inflicted and renounced as Pains or Penalties to the no small encouragement of Inconformity Incontinency and all other irregular Courses both in Clergy and Laity because it nourisht an opinion of impunity in the hearts of those who formerly had been awed respectively by those several Censures For when the Subject fears neither Pain nor Penalty the Superiour under whom he lives will find little obedience and the Laws much less But we have too long left our Archbishop in his cares and sorrows and therefore must return to ease him of some part of his cares though his sorrows continued as before Hitherto he had given himself no improbable hopes of being called unto his Trial and given such strong proof of his integrity and innocence from the Crimes objected as might restore him to a capacity of doing those good offices to the University as that place of Chancellor did require But finding by the late proceedings of the Houses of Parliament in the business of his dear Friend the Earl of Strafford that his affairs were like to grow from bad to worse he would no longer undergo the name of that Office which he was not able to perform Resolved to put the University into such a condition as might enable them to proceed in the choice of a more fortunate Patron he acquaints the King with his intent by the Bishop of London and finding his Majesties Concurrence in opinion with him he sends his Resignation in his Letter of Iune 28. Which being published and excepted in the Convocation of the University on Iuly 1. The Earl of Pembroke was now elected to succeed him who had before been named in competition for the Office with him MY Present Condition saith the Letter is not unknown to the whole World yet by few pitied or deplored The righteous God 〈◊〉 knows the Iustice of my sufferings on whom both in life and death I will ever depend the last of which shall be unto me most welcome in that my life is now burdensome unto me my mind attended with variety of sad and grievous thoughts my soul continually vexed with Anxietie and troubles groaning under the burden of a displeased Parliament my name aspersed and
be delivered in Parliament before the thirtieth of October next ensuing Anno 1641. It may be justly wondred at that all this while we have heard nothing of the Scots the chief promoters of these mischiefs but we may rest ourselves assured that they were not idle soliciting their affairs both openly and underhand instant in season and cut of season till they had brought about all ends which invited them hither They had made sure work with the Lord Lieutenant and feared 〈◊〉 the Resurâ—â—ction of the Lord Archbishop though Doâ—med at that time only to a Civil death They had gratified the Commons in procuring all the Acts of Parliament before remembred and paring the Bishops nails to the very quick by the only terrour of their Arms and were reciprocally gratified by them with a gift of three hundred thousand pounds of good English money in the name of a brotherly assistance for their pretended former losses which could not rationally be computed to the tenth part of that Sum. And in relation to that Treaty they gained in a manner all those points which had been first insisted on in the meeting at Rippon and many additionals also which were brought in afterwards by London In their Demand concerning Unity in Religion and Uniformity in Church-Government the Answer savoured rather of delay than satisfaction amounting to no more than this That his Majesty with the Advice oâ— both Houses of Parliament did well approve of the affections of his Subjects of Scotland in their desires of having a Conformity of Church-Government between the two Nations And that as the Parliament had already taken into consideration the Reformation of Church-Government so they would proceed therein in due time as should best conduce to the glory of God and peace of the Church and of both Kingdoms Which Condescensions and Conclusions being ratified on August 7. by Act of Parliament in England a Provision was also made for the security of all his Majesties Party in reference to the former troubles excluding only the Scottish Prelates and four more of that Nation from the benefit of it And that being done his Majesty sâ—t forwards toward Scotland on Tuesday the tenth of the same month giving order as he went for the Disbanding of both Armies that they might be no further charge or trouble to him Welcomed he was with great joy to the City of Edenborough in regard he came with full desires and resolutions of giving all satisfaction to that People which they could expect though to the Diminution of his Royal Rights and just Prerogative He was resolved to sweeten and Caress them with all Acts of Grace that so they might reciprocate with him in their Love and Loyalty though therein he found himself deceived For he not only ratified all the Transactions of the Treaty confirmed in England by Act of Parliament in that Kingdom but by like Act abolished the Episcopal Government and yielded to an alienation of all Church-Lands restored by his Father or himself for the maintenance of it A matter of most woful consequence to the Church of England For the House of Commons being advertised of these Transactions prest him with their continual importunities after his Return to subvert the Government oâ— Bishops here in England in the destruction whereof he had been pleased to gratifie his Scottish Subjects which could not be râ—puted so considerable in his estimation nor were so in the eye of the World as the English were What followed hereupon we may hear too soon â—â—is good sucâ—â—ss of the Scots encouraged the Irish Papists to attempt the like and to attempt it in the same way the Scots had gone that is to say by seâ—sing his Majesties Towns Forts and Castles putting themselves into the body of an Army banishing and imprisoning all such as opposed their Practices and then Petitioning the King for a publick exercise of their Religion And they had this great furtherance to promote their hopes For when the King was prest by the Commons for the disbanding of the Irish Army a suite was made unto him by the Embassadour of Spain that he might have leave to list three or four thousand of them for his Masters Service in the Wars to which motion his Majesty readily condescending gave order in it accordingly But the Commons never thinking themselves 〈◊〉 as long as any of that Army had a Sword in his hand never 〈◊〉 inâ—pâ—â—tuning the King whom they had now brought to the condition 〈◊〉 dâ—â—ying nothing which they asked till they had made him â—at his word and revoke those Orders to his great dishonour which so â—xâ—â—pâ—rated that Army consisting of 8000 Foot and 1000 Horse that it was no hard matter for those who had the managing of tâ—at Plot to make sure of them And then considering that the Scâ—â—s by raising of an Army had gained from the King an abolition of tâ—e Episcopal Order the Rescinding of his own and his Fathers Acts aâ—out the reducing of that Church to some Uniformity with this aâ—d settled their Kirk in such a way as best pleased their own humours Why might not the Irish Papists hope that by the help of such an Army ready raised to their hands or easily drawn together tâ—ough dispersed at present they might obtain the like indulgences and grants for their Religion The 23 of October was the day designed for tâ—e seizing of the City and Castle of Dublin and many places of great Importance in that Kingdom But failing in the main dâ—â—ign which had been discovered the night before by one O Conally they brake out into open Arms dealing no better with the Protestants there than the Covenanters had done with the Royal Party in Scotland Oâ— this Rebellion for it must be called a Rebellion in the Irish though not in the Scots his Majesty gives present notice to the Houses of Parliament requiring their Counsel and assistance for the extinguishing of that Flame before it had wasted and consumed that Kingdom But neither the necessity of the Protestants there â—ot the Kings importunity here could perswade them to Levy one man toward the suppression of those Rebels till the King had disclaimed his power of pressing Souldiers in an Act of Parliament and thereby laid himself open to such Acts of violence as were then hammering against him But to proceed his Majesty having settled his Affairs in Scotland to the full contentment of the People by granting them the Acts of Grace before remembred and giving some addition of Honour to his greatest enemies amongst whom Lesly who commanded their two lâ—te Armies most undeservedly was advanced to the Title of Earl of Leven prepared in the beginning of Novemb. for his journey to London where he was welcomed by the Lord Mayor and Citizens with all imaginable expressions of Love and Duty But the Commons at the other end of the Town entertain'd him with a sharp Declaration Entituled The Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom which they presented to
Archbishop of Canterbury who had sâ—t so great a part of his affections on the preserving of this Church in her Power and Glory Whose sense hereof is thus express'd by one who for the time was his greatest Adversary That it struck proud Canterbury to the heart and undermined all his Prelatical Designs to advance the Bishops Pomp and Power whether with greater bitterness or truth is hard to say Their great hâ—pe was though it was such a hope as that of â—â—â—aham which the Scripture calls a hope against hope that havinâ— pâ—red the Jurisdiction of the Bishops and impaired their Power tâ—â—y would have suffered them to enjoy their Function with Peace and quiet as the only remaining Ornament and Honour of the Church oâ— England Conform therein unto the gallantry of the Ancient Romans who when they had brought the Carthaginians unto that condition as to compel them to deliver up their Ships Arms and Elephants and to make neither War nor Peace without their permission esteemed it an especial honour to their Commonwealth to preserve the City which was no longer to be feared though formerly it had contended for the Superiority But the Bishops Crimes were still unpunished And as the old Roman Citizen cried out upon his fine Country-house and pleasant Gardens when he found his name posted up amongst the Proscripts in the time of Sylla so might these Holy men complain of those fair Houses and goodly Manors which belonged to their Episcopal Sees as the only mâ—ans of the Subverâ—â—on of their Sacred Calling This had been formerly resolved oâ— but was not to be done at once as before was noâ—ed nor to be followed now but on some such colour as was pretended â—or depriving them of their Jurisdiction and Place in Parliament It was pretended for suppressing the Court of High-Commissiâ—n and the coercive Power of Jurisdiction That the Prelates had abused them both to the insufferable wrong and oppression of his Majesties Subjects And for the taking away of their Votes in Parliament with all other Civil Power in Church-men That it was found to be an occasion of great mischief both to Church and State â—he Office of the Ministry being of such great importance as to take up the whole Man And now to make way for the Abolition of the Calling it self it was given out amongst the People to have been made of no use to the Church by the Bishops themselves against whom these Objections were put in every mans mouth That they had laid aside the use of Confirming Children though required by Law whereby they had deprived themselves of that dependence which People of all sorts formerly had fastned on them That they had altogether neglected the duty of Preaching under the colour of attending their several Governments That in their several Governments they stood only as Cyphers transmitting their whole Jurisdiction to their Chancellors and under-Officers That none of them used to sit in their Consistories for hearing Grievances and Administring Justice to the Subject whether Clergy or Laity leaving them for a prey to Registers Proctors and Apparitors who most unconscionably extorted from them what they pleased That few or none of them held their Visitations in person whereby the face of the Bishop was unknown to the greatest part of the Clergy and the greatest part of the Clergy was unknown to him to the discouragement oâ— the Godly and painful Ministers and the encouragement of vicious and irregular Parsons That few of them lived in their Episcopal Cities and some there were who had never seen them whereby the Poor which commonly abound most in populous places wanted that Relief and those of the better sort that Hospitality which they had reason to expect the Divine Service in the mean time performed irreverently and perfunctorily in the Cathedrals of those Cities for want of the Bishops Residence and Superinspection That they had transferred the solemn giving of Orders from the said Cathedrals to the Chappels of their private Houses or some obscure Churches in the Country not having nor requiring the Assistance of their Deans and Chapters as they ought to do That they engrossed a sole or solitary Power to themselves alone in the Sentence of Deprivation and Degradation without the Presences and Consents of their said Deans and Chapters or any Members of the same contrary to the Canons in that behalf by which last Acts they had rendred those Capitular Bodies as useless to the Church as they were themselves And finally That seeing they did nothing which belonged unto the place of a Bishop but the receiving of their Rents living in ease and worldly pomp and domineering over the rest of their Brethren it was expedient to remove the Function out of the Church and turn their Lands and Houses unto better uses This I remember to have been the substance of those Objections made by some of the Gentry and put into the mouths of the Common People in which if any thing were true as I hope there was not such Bishops as offended in the Premises or in any of them have the less reason to complain of their own misfortunes and the more cause to be complained of for giving such Advantages to the Enemies of their Power and Function Nor was the alienating of their Lands and Houses the Total Sum of the Design though a great part of it As long as the Episcopal Jurisdiction stood much Grist was carried from the Mills in Westminster-Hall Toll whereof was taken by the Bishops Officers Therefore those Courts to be suppressed which could not be more easily done than in abolishing the Bishops whose Courts they were that so the managing of all Causes both Ecclesiastical and Civil might be brought into the hands of those who thought they could not thrive sufficiently by their own Common Law as long as any other Law was Common besides their own By means whereof all Offices and Preferments in the Admiral Archiepiscopal and Diocesan Courts being taken from the Civil Lawyers nothing can follow thereupon but the discouragement and discontinuance of those Noble Studies which formerly were found so advantagious to the State and Nation It is not to be thought that such a general Concussion should befal the Church so many Practices entertained against it and so many Endeavours used for the Ruine of it and that no man should lend a helping hand to support the Fabrick or to uphold the Sacred Ark when he saw it tottering Some well-affected in both Houses appeared stoutly for it amongst which none more cordially than the Lord George Digby in a Speech made upon occasion of the City-Petition and Sir Lucius Cary Viscount Faulkland both Members of the House of Commons Which last though he expressed much bitterness against the Bishops in one of his Speeches made in the first heats and agitation of business yet afterwards in another of them he shewed himself an especial Advocate in behalf of the Episcopal Order In which Speech of his
of note above 300. Divines 108. Freeholders and Subsidy men 800. A greater number in the total â—â—en might have been expected from so small a Diocess consisting 〈◊〉 of 257. Parishes distempered by the mixture of so many Churches of French and Dutch and wholly under the command of the Houses of Parliament Many Petitions of like nature came from other Counties where the People were at any Liberty to speak their own sense and had not their hands tied from Acting in their own concernments All which with some of those which had led the way unto the Rest were published by Order from his Majesty bearing date May 20. 1642. under the title of a Collection of the Petitions of divers Countries c. Which Petitions being so drawn together and besides many which were presented after this Collection amounted to nineteen in all that is to say two from the County of Chester two from Cornwall one from the University of Oxon. and another from the University of Cambridge One from the Heads of Colledges and Halls this from the Diocess of Canterbury another from the Diocess of Exeter one from the six Counties of North-wales and one apiece from the Counties of Notingham Huntington Somerset Rutland Stafford Lancaster Kent Oxford and Hereford Nor came these Petitions thus collected either from Persons â—ew in Number or inconsiderable in quality like those of the Porters Watermen and other poor people which clamored with so much noise at the doors of the Parliament but from many thousands of the best and most eminent Subjects of the Realm of England The total Number of Subscribers in seven of the said Counties only besides the Diocess of Canterbury and the Burrough of Southwark the rest not being computed in the said Collection amounting to 482. Lords and Knights 1748. Esquires and Gentlemen of Note 631. Doctors and Ministers 44559. Freeholders which shows how generally well affected the People were both to the Government and Liturgy of the Church of England if they had not been perverted and over-awed by the Armies and Ordinances of the House of Parliament which Commanded the greatest part of the Kingdom And though perhaps the Subscribers on the other side might appear more numerous considering how Active and United that party was yet was it very well observed in reference to the said Subscriptions by a Noble Member of that House That the numberless number of those of a different sense appeared not publickly nor cried so loud as being persons more quiet secure in the goodness of their Laws the wisdom of their Law-makers and that it was not a thing usual to Petition for what men have but for what they have not But notwithstanding the importunity of the Petitioners on the one side and the Moderation of the Kings Answer on the other the prevailing party in both Houses had Resolved long since upon the Question which afterwards they declared by their publick Votes For on the 11 â—h of September tâ—e Vote passed in the house of Commons for abolishing Bishops Deans and Chapters celebrated by the inâ—atuated Citizâ—ns as all other publick mischiefs were with Bells and Bonfires â—the Lords not coming in till the end of Ianuary when it past there also The War in the mean time begins to open The Parliament had their Guards already and the affront which Hotham had put upon his Majesty at Hull prompted the Gentlemen of Yorkshire to tender themselves for a Guard to his Person This presently Voted by both Houses to be a leavying of War against the Parliament for whose defence not only the Trained Bands of London must be in readiness and the Good people of the Country required to put themselves into a posture of Arms but Regiments of Horse and Food are Listed a General appointed great Summs of Mony raised and all this under pretence of taking the King out of the hands of his Evil Counsellors The noise of these preparations hastens the King from York to Notingham where he sets up his Standard inviting all his good Subjects to repair unto him for defence of their King the Laws and Religion of their Country He encreased his forces as he marched which could not come unto the Reputation of being an Army till he came into Shropshire where great Bodies of the Loyall and Stout hearted Welch resorted to him Strengthened with this and furnished sufficiently with field Pieces Arms and Ammunition which the Queen had sent to him out of Holland he resolves upon his March to London but on Sunday the 23th of Octob. was encountred on the way at a place called Edghill by the Parliaments Forces The Fight very terrible for the time no fewer then 5000 men slain upon the place The Prologue for a greater slaughter if the Dark night had not put an end to that dispute Each part pretended the Victory but it went cleerly on the Kings side who though he lost his General yet he kept the Field and possessed himself of the Dead bodies and not so only but he made his way open unto London and in his way forced Banbury Castle in the very sight as it were of the Earl of Essex who with his flying Army made all the hast he could toward the City that he might be there before the King to serve the Parliament More certain signs there could not be of an absolute victory In the battel of Turo between the Confederates of Italy and Charles the 8th of France it happened so that the Confederates kept the Field possest themselves of the Camp Baggage and Artillery which the French in their breaking through had left behind them And yet the Honour of the day was generally given unto the French For though they lost the Field their Camp Artillery and Baggage yet they obtained what they fought for which was the opening of their way to France and which the Confederates did intend to deprive them off Which Resolution in that Case may be a Ruling Case to this the King having not only kept the Field possest himself of the dead bodies Pillaged the Carriages of the Enemy but forcibly opened his way toward London which the Enemy endeavoured to hinder and finally entred Triumphantly into Oxon with no fewer then one hundred and twenty Colours taâ—en in the fight Having assured himself of Oxon. for his Winter Quarters he Resolved on his Advance toward London but made so many Halts in the way that Essex was got thither before him who had disposed of his Forces at Kingston Branford Acton and some other places thereabouts not only to stop his March but to fall upon him in the Rere as occasion served Yet he goes forward notwithstanding as far as Brainford out of which he beats two of their best Regiments takes 500 Prisoners sinks their Ordnance with an intent to march forward on the morrow after being Sunday November 13. But understanding that the Earl of Essex had drawn his Forces out of Kingston and joyning with the London Auxiliaries lay in the
way before him at a place called Turnhom-Green neer Chiswick it was thought safer to retreat toward Oxon. while the way was open than to venture his Army to the fortune of a second Battel which if it were lost it would be utterly impossible for him to raise another At Oxon. he receives Propositions of Peace from the Houses of Parliament but such as rather did beseem a conquering than a losing side Amongst which I find this for one That his Majesty would be pleased to give his Royal Assent for taking away Superstitious Innovations and to the Bill for the utter abolishing and taking away all Archbishops Bishops their Chancellors and Commissaries Deans Subdeans Deans and Chapters Archdeacons Canons and Prebendaries and all Chanters Chancellors Treasurers Sub-Treasurers Succentors and Sacrists and all Vicars Choral and Choristers old Vicars or new Vicars of any Cathedral or Collegiate Church and all other their under-Officers out of the Church of England To the Bill against Scandalous Ministers To the Bill against Pluralities and to the Bill for Consultation to be had with Godly Religious and Learned Divines That his Majesty would be pleased to pass such other Bills for settling of Church-Government as upon Consultation with the Assemby of the said Divines shall be Resolved on by both Houses of Parliament and by them to be presented to his Majesty Which Proposition with the rest being presented to him on Candlemas-day he referred to the following Treaty to be held at Oxon. in which he found the Commissioners of the Houses so streighted in Time and so tied up to their Instructions that nothing could be yielded by them which might conduce to the composing of the present Distempers But it was indifferent to them what Success they found either in the Propositions or the Treaty who had already entred on the Rents and Profits of all the Episcopal Sees and Capitular Bodies which were within the Power of their Armies and Sequestred the Benefices of all such as stood in their way under the common notion of scandalous Ministers who if they had offended against the Laws of tâ—e Realm by the same Laws were to have been proceeded against that so being legally deprived the vacant Churches might be left to be filled by the Patrons with more deserving Incumbents But such a course was inconsistent with the present Design Most of the Silenced Lecturers and Factious Ministers which within ten years then last past had left the Kingdom either for Inconformity or Debt or their own intemperance of Spirit had of late flock'd into it amain like so many Birds of Rapine to seek after the Prey And upon these and such as these the Sequestred Benefices were bestowed to be held no otherwise by them than as Vsufructuaries or Tenants at Will that so they might continue in a servile obsequiousness to the Power and Pleasure of their great Landlords With which his Majesty being made acquainted he presently signified his dislike and resentment of it by his Royal Proclamation bearing date at Oxon. May 15. 1643. In which he first complains That divers of the Clergy eminent for their Piety and Learning were forced from their Cures and Habitations or otherwise silenced and discharged from exercising their Ministry for no other reason but because contrary to the Laws of the Land and their own Consciences they would not pray against him and his Assistants or refused to publish any illegal Commands and Orders for fomenting the unnatural War raised against him but conformed themselves according to the Book of Common Prayers and Preach'd Gods Word according to the purity thereof without any mixture of Sedition Next That the said Clergy being so forcibly driven out or discharged of their Cures many Factious and Schismatical Persons were intruded into them to sow Sedition and seduce his good Subjects from their Obedience contrary to the Word of God and the Laws of the Land Part of the Profits of the said Benefices allotted to the said Intruders the rest converted to the Maintenance of the War against him And thereupon he streightly commandeth all his good Subjects to desist from such illegal courses against any of the Clergy aforesaid to pay their Tythes to the several and respective Incumbents or their Assigns without guile or fraud notwithstanding any Sequestration pretended Orders or Ordinances whatsoever from one or both Houses of Parliament and this to do under pain of being proceeded against according to Law as they should be apprehended and brought to the hands of Justice their Lands and Goods in the mean time to be sequestred and taken into saâ—e custody for their disobedience Requiring all Churchwardens and Sides-men to be assistant in gathering and receiving their Tythes Rents and Profits and to resist all such Persons as much as in them lay which were intruded into any of the Benefices or Cures aforesaid But this served rather to declare his Majesties Piety than to stop the course of those Proceedings For justifying whereof the Clergy must be branded with Offences of divers conditions some of them of such a scandalous and heynous nature as were not to be expiated with the loss of Livings but of Lives if any Legal Evidence had been found to prove them And that nothing might be wanting to their infelicity an infamous Pamphlet is dispersed Licenced by White Chairman for the Committee for Religion under the Title of The first Century of Scandalous and Malignant Priests c. Which though his Majesty abominated upon very good reason when it first came unto his knowledge yet would he not give way that a Recrimination should be made of the adverse Party by such as undertook to do it on far juster grounds In like manner they proceeded to the execution of another part of their design mentioned and presented in the said Proposition touching a Consultation to be had with Godly Religious and Learned Divines For not intending to expect his Majesties pleasure their Commissioners were no sooner returned from the Treaty at Oxon. but they caused such an Assembly to be called by their own Authority as should be sure to do the Work recommended to them The Convocation was in force but not fit to be trusted nor durst they venture to commit the choice of men to the Beneficed Clergy according to the course of National and Provincial Synods That Power they kept unto themselves committing the Nomination unto such as served for the several Counties that so each County might be furnished with such Persons to perform the Service as could have no Authority to bind them by their Constitutions or any other Publick Acts made and agreed upon in that Assembly An Assembly of a very strange mixture consisting of a certain number of the Lords and Commons with a greater proportion of Divines some of which were Prelatical some Independent and the greater part of them Presbyterians out of which spawned another Fry by the name of Erastians And that they might not be bound to this Journey-work
â—eâ—t and three of his Servants nominated to attend the business But he was left uncertain of providing for their satisfaction His Solicitor must be first approved by them before he could settle to his cause and whether they would approve of such an one as he thought sit to trust with his life and same was to him unknown and if he point particularly to such of his Papers and Remembrances as he conceived most necessary to his preservation it was onely promised to be taken into consideration which kept him in as great suspence as all the rest In this distress he was advised by his Counsel to move their Lordships that a Discrimination might be made betwixt the Articles to the end that such of them as were held to contain High Treason might be distinguished from such matters as were to be câ—arged for misdeamenors But no clear answer coming from their Lordships in that behalf he was Commanded to make his personal appearance before them on the 13th of Novemb. where by the advise of his Counsel he pleaded not guilty to the whole charge without answering more particularly to any Article or clause contained in it And on that day month it was Ordered by the House of Commons that the Committee Formerly appointed to prepare the Evidence for his Tryal should put the business into a quick and speedy course with power to send for Parties Witnesses Papers Records c. And to make all things ready for the sight of the House the care thereof Committed specially to Wilde who had before brought up the additional Articles Brought to the Bar again on Tuesday the 16th of Ianuary their Lordships were informed by Maynard in the name of the House of Commons that â—is former Answer being made only to the Additional Articles and 〈◊〉 to tâ—e Original also they could not in defect thereof proceed as otherwise they would have done to draw up the Issue aâ—d thereupon he was required peremptorily to prepare his Answer to those also against Munday following though deemed so General by his Counsel as not to be sufficiently capable of a Particular Reply Which day being come he claimed the benefit of the Act of Pacification for his discharge from all matters comprehended in the 13th Article relating to the troubles of Scotland and to the rest pleaded not Guilty as before Which put the cause to such a stand that there was no further speech of it in the House of Commons till the 22th of February when the Committee was required to prepaâ—e their evidence and the distribution of the parts thereof with all possible speed And thus the business was drilled on hastned or slackned as the Scots advanced in their expedition and as the expedition prospered in success and fortune so was it prosecuted and advanced to its fatal Period For understanding that the Scots were entred England and had marcht victoriously almost as far as the Banks of the River Tine they prest the Lords to name a day for the beginning of his Tryal who thereupon fixed it upon Tuesday the twelfth oâ— March next ensuing The day being come and the Archbishop brought unto the Baâ— in the House of Peers the Articles of the Impeachment were first read by the Clerk of the House together with the several answers of Not Guilty before remembred upon the hearing whereof he most humbly prayed that the Commons might be Ordered to sever the Articles which were pretended to be Treason from those which contained misdemeanors only that so he might know which of them were Treason and which not To which it was reply'd by Maynard that the Commons would not give way to that Proposition in regard that all the Articles together not any of them by it self made up the Treason wherewith he was charged that is to say his several endeavours to subvert and destroy Religion the Fundamental Laws of the Land and Government of the Reaâ—m and to bring in Popery and an Arbitrary Tyrannical Government against Law So that we have a Cumulative and Constructive Treason such as had formerly been charged on the Earl of Strafford A Treason in the conclusion which could not be gathered from the Premisâ—s A Treason in the Summa Totalis when nothing but misdemeanors at the most could be found in the Items Which being thus Resolved upon a long Studied Speech was made by Wilde in which there wanted neither words nor animosity to make him culpable of the crimes wherewith he was charged if his words could â—ave done it One passage there was in it which was Subject to some misâ—â—nstruction and so interpreted by those which otherwise had no good aâ—â—ection to the Prisoners Person for having set forth his offences in their foulest Colours he seems to make a wonder of it that any thing could be expected of the people but that they should have been Ready to have stoned him as they did him that did but Act the part of Bellerophon in Rome Which Passage was interpreted for an intimation to the Raskal multitude to save the Houses the dishonor of putting him to death in a form of Law by Stoneing him to death oâ— Tearing him in pieces or laying violent hands upon him on some other way as he past between his Barge and the House of Peers Wilde having done he humbly craved Liberty to wipe of the dirt which so injuriously had been cast upon him that he might not depart thence so foul a Person as he had been rendred to their Lordships Which leave obtained as it could not reasonably be denied a far meaner Person without any trouble in his Countenance or perturbation of his Mind he spake as followeth My Lords MY being in this Place in this Condition recalls to my Memory that which I long since read in Seneca Tormentum est etiam si absolutus quis merit causâ—m dixiffe 6. de Benef. c. 28. 'T is not a 〈…〉 no 't is no less than Torment for an ingenious man to â—lâ—â—d caâ—itâ—lly or criminally though it should so fall out that he be absolved The great Truth of this I find at present in my self and so much the more because I am a Christian and not that only but in Holy Orders and not so only but by Gods Grace and Goodness preferred to the greatest place this Church affords and yet brought causam dicere to plead for my self at this Great Bar. And whatsoever the World think of me and they have been taught to think much more ill of me than I humbly thank Christ for it I was ever acquainted with yet my Lords this I find Tormentum est 't is no less than a Torment to me to appear in this Place nay my Lords give me leave to speak plain truth No Sentence that can justly pass upon me and other I will neâ—er fear from your Lordships can go so neer me as causam dicere 〈◊〉 plead for my self upon this occasion in this place But as for the â—â—ntence â—e it what it shall I thank
God for it I am for it at St. Paul's word Acts 25.11 If I have committed any thing worthy of death I refuse not to die For I thank God I have so lived that I am neither afraid to die nor ashamed to live But seeing the Malignity which hath been raised against me by some men I have carried 〈◊〉 Life in my hands these divers years past I may not in this Case and at this Bar appeal unto Caesar yet to your Lordships Justice and Integrity I both may and do not doubting but that God of his Goodness will preserve my Innocency And as Job in the midst of his afflictious said to his mistaken Friends so shall I to my Accusers God forbid I should justifie you till I die I will not remove my Integrity from me I will hold it fast and not let it go my heart shall not reproach me as long as I live Iob. 27.5 6. My Lords the Charge against me is brought up in Ten Articles but the main Heads are two An Endeavour to subvert the Laws of the Land and the Religion Estaâ—liâ—â—ed Six Articles the five first and the last concern the 〈◊〉 and the other four Religion For the Laws first I think I may safely say I have been to my understanding as strict an Observer of them so far as they concern me as any man hath and since I came into the Place I have followed them and have been as much guided by them as any man that sate where I had the honour to sit And of this I am sorry I have lost the Testimony of the Lord Keeper Coventry and other Persons of Honour since dead And the Counsellors which attended thâ— Council-Board can witness some of them here present That in all References to the Bord or Debates arising at it I was for that part oâ— the Cause where I found Law to be and if the Counsel desired to have the Cause left to the Law well might I move in some Cases Charity or Conscience to them but I left them to the Law if thither they would go And how such a Carriage as this through the whole course of my Life in private and publick can stand with an intention to overthrow the Laws I cannot see Nay more I have ever been of opinion That Laws bind the Conscience And have accordingly made conscience in observing of them and this Doctrine I have constantly Preached as occasion hath been offered me and how is it possible I should seek to overthrow those Laws which I held my self bound in conscience to keep and observe As for Religion I was born and bred up under the Church of England as it stands established by Law I have by Gods Blessing growâ— up in it to the years which are now upon me and the Place of Preferment which I now bear I have ever since I understood ought of my Proâ—eâ—â—ion kept one constant Tenor in this my Profession without variation or shifting from one Opinion to another for any worldly ends And if my conscience would have suffered me to do so I could easily have slid through all the difficulties which have been prest upon me in this kind But of all Diseases I ever held a Palsie in Religion most dangerous well knowing and ever remembring That that Disease often ends in a Dead Palsie Ever since I came in place I have laboured nothing more than that the External Publick Wâ—rship of God so much slighted in divers parts of this Kingdom might be preserved and that with as much Decency and Vniformity 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 nor without the other Further my Lords give me leave I beseech you to acquaint you with this also That I have as little acquaintance with Recusants as I believe any mâ—n of my place in England hath or eveâ— had since the Reformation And for my Kindred no one of them was ever a Recusant but Sir William Webb Grandchild to my Vncle Sir William Webb sometimes Lord Mayor of London and since which sâ—me of his Children I reduced back again to the Church of England On this I humbly desire one thing more may be thought on That I am fallen into a great deal of Obloquy in matter of Religion and that so far as appears by the Articles against me that I have endeavoured to advance and bring in Popery Perhaps my Lords I am not ignorant what Party of men have raised these Scandals upon me nor for what end nor perhaps by whom set on but howsoever I would fain have a good Reasâ—n given me if my Conscience stood that way and that with my Conscience I could subscribe to the Church of Rome what should have kept me here before my Imprisonment to endure the Libelling and the Slander and the base Vsage that hath been put upon me and these to end in this Question for my Life I say I would know a good Reason for this â—irst my Lords Is it because of any Pledges I have in this World to sway me against my Conscience No sure for I had neither Wife nor Children to cry out upon me to stay with them And if I had I hope the calling of my Conscience should be heard above them Is it because I was both to lose the Honour and Profit of the Place I was risen to Surâ—ly no For I desire your Lordships and all the World should knâ—w I do much scorn the one and the other in comparison of my Conscience Besides it cannot be imagined by any man but that if I should 〈◊〉 gone over to them I should not have wanted both Honour and 〈◊〉 and suppose not so great as this I have here yet sure would 〈…〉 have served my self of either less with my Conscience 〈◊〉 have prevailed with me more then greater against my Consci 〈…〉 because I lived here at Ease and was loth to venture the 〈…〉 that Not so neither For whatsoever the World may be pleased to think of me I have led a very painful Life and such as I would 〈◊〉 been content to change had I well known how And would my Conscience have served me that way I am sure I might have lived at far more ease and either have avoided the barbarous Libelling and â—â—her bitter grievous Scorns which have been put upon me or at least been â—ut of the hearing of them Not to trouble your Lordships too long I am so innocent in the Business of Religion so free from all Practice or so much
r. was commanded p. 113. l. 40. r. Scrinia p. 119. l. 26. r. home p 134. l. 24. 〈◊〉 it p. 144 l. 23 r. named any p. 150. l. 4. 〈…〉 p. 151. 4. 11. r. â—een p. 161. l. 1. r. land p. 170. l. 8. r. in the. p. 172. l. 14. â— â—â—gden p. 174. l. 17. r. at it p. 181. l. 26. r. the suppâ—sed p. 182. l. 28. r. there â— p. â—â—9 l. 36. r. tares p. 192. l. 14. for worse r. wiser p. 194. l. 19. r. Acts of Grace p. 197. l. 4. â—eie for l. 27. r. Embarrassâ—s p. 215. l. 40. r. Twisse p. 219. l. 41. r Subscriptiâ—ns p. 233. l. 3. r. given p. 250. l. 31. r. of them p. 271. l. 20. r. Dauphine p. 〈…〉 33. 〈◊〉 them p. 298. l. 36. r. quarrelled with p. 308. l. 38. r. in a manner p. 321. l. 25â— but. p. 331. l. 11. r. knows p. 340. l. 26. r. they come p. 343. l. 37. r. keep p. 345. l. 15. r. Osbeston p. 378 l. 36. r. distaste p. 381. l. 8. r. too blame p. 390. l. 23 r. sentences of the Kirk l. 25. r. calumnies p. 392. l. 39. r. Vâ—rres p. 401. l. 43. r. 〈◊〉 p. 407. l. 8. dele be p. 410. l. 35. dele as p. 412. l. 39. r. imploy p. 413. l. 23. r 〈◊〉 p. 415. l. 45. dele for p. 432. l. 28. r. in the. p. 436. l. 37. r. thwarting p. 465. l. 45. r. â—y the Lord. p. 464. l. 46. r. he l. 46. till p. 465. l. 45. r. silliest p. 467. l. 31. r. tâ—le p. 476. l. 44. r. as to take p. 488. l. 37. r. nor p. 491. l. 11. r. them p. 493. l. 30. r. Scotland p. 495. l. 9. â— Consents of p. 500. l. 40. dele the. p. 515. l. 29. r. nor AN ELEGIE ON THE DEATH OF The most Reverend FATHER in GOD WILLIAM Lord Archbishop of Canterbury c. Ianuary 10. 1644. Horat. Carm. Lib. 4. Od. 8. Dignum Laude Virum musa vetat mori AND yet not leave thee thus I fain would try A Line or two in way of Elegie And wail so sad a Loss if to express The greatness of it would not make it less If to Lament thee might not vex thee more Than all the Scorns thou hast endur'd before And make thee think we envied thee thy start Or doubted that thou wert not where thou art Yet with thy leave I needs must drop a Verse Write it with Tears and fit it for thy Herse And at this distance from thy Grave which lacks The Pomps of Sorrow hang my Heart with Blacks Religious Prelate What a Calm hast thou I' th' midst of those turbulent Storms which now Shipwrack this Island At how cheap a Rate Hast thou procur'd this Change of thy Estate The Mitre for a Crown A few poor days For endless Bliss Vile Earth for Heavenly Joys Such Glories has thou found such Alteration In this thy Highest as thy last Translation How were thine Enemies deceiv'd when they Advanc'd thee thus and chalk'd thee out the Way A Way so welcome to thee No Divine But knows the Red-Sea leads to Palestine And since Christ Iesus Sanctified the Cross Death 's the best Purchase Life the greatest Loss Nor be thou griev'd Blest Soul that Men do still Pursue thee with black Slanders and do kill Thy Shadow now and trample on thy Ghost As Hectors Carcass by the Grecian Host Or that thou want'st Inscriptions and a Stone T' ingrave thy Name and write thy Titles on Thou art above those Trifles and shalt stand As much above Mens malice Though the hand Of base Detraction hath defil'd thy Name And spotless Virtues yet impartial Fame Shall do thee all just Honours and set forth To all succeeding Times thy matchless Worth No Annals shall be writ but what Relate Thy happy Influence both on Church and State Thy Zeal to Publick Order Thy Great Parts For all Affairs of Weight Thy Love to Arts And to our shame and his great Glory tell For whose dear Sake by whose vile Hands he fell A Death so full of Merits of such Price To God and Man so sweet a Sacrifice As by good Church-Law may his Name prefer To a fixt Rubrick in the Kalender And let this silence the Pure Sects Complaint If they make Martyrs we may make a Saint Or should Men envie thee this Right thy Praise An Obsequie unto it self can raise Thy brave Attempt on Pauls in time to come Shall be a Monument beyond a Tombe Thy Book shall be thy Statua where we find The Image of thy Nobler Part thy Mind Thy Name shall be thy Epitaph and he Which hears and reads of that shall publish thee Above the reach of Titles and shall say None could express thy Worths a braver way And thus though murther'd thou shalt never die But live Renown'd to all Posterity Rest thou then happy in the Sweets of Bliss Th' Elyzian the Christians Paradise Exempt from Worldly Cares secure from Fears And let us have thy Prayers as thou our Tears FINIS Submission of the Clergie Character and Ejection of the Pope No Diminution of the Power and Priviledges of the Church by the Alteration The manner of Electing and Confirming Archbishops and Bishops Established by King HENRY viii still continuing in effect notwithstanding some Statutes to the contrary by K. EDW. vi The Reformation of the Church under EDW. vi Modelled according to the Scriptures and the Ancient Fathers but with relation rather to the Lutheran then Calvinian Forms Bishops a distinct Order from that of the Presbytery The Power ascribed unto the Priest or Presbyter in hearing the Confession of and giving Absolution to the Penitent Party The security of the Penitent provided for by the Church and the Authority of Absolution more fully justified The several Offices which be performed by the Priest attired at ordinary times in his Surplice and at extraordinary in his Cope The Priest in his officiating the Divine Service of the Church Restrained to his appointed Postures Not permitted to use any Form of his own Composing Tyed to officiate daily both at morning and evening but With a liberty of officiating in the Latin tongue at some times and places Presbyters not to Preach without being Licenced By whom they were to be so licenced And why they were directed to the reading of Homilies Preaching or Homilizing only once a day on the Sundays and Holy dayes Lectures upon working dayes by whom and for what ends erected and Of the dangers which arose from the Institution Of Sacraments and Sacramentals No orders to be given but by Bishops only and Confirmation reckoned for one of their peculiars The rest promisenously permitted to the Presbyter also Penance how far retain'd in the Church of England Not only as commemorated on Ashwednesday yearly but As judicially imposed on scandalous and notorious Sinners in the open Consistory Consecration of Churches truly Primitive Honoured with Dedication Feasts and Those Feasts made annually and
by which the proceedings in those Courts were to be regulated and directed so as it doth appear most clearly that it was not the purpose of that King either to diminish the Authority or to interrupt the Succession of Bishops which had continued in this Church from the first Plantation of the Gospel to that very time but only to discharge them from depending on the Popes of Rome or owing any thing at all to their Bulls and Faculties which had been so chargeable to themselves and exhausted so great a part of the Treasure of the Kingdom from one year to another 3. Upon this ground he past an Act of Parliament in the 25. year of his Reign for the Electing and Consecrating of Archbishops and Bishops In which it was Enacted that on the Vacancy of every Bishoprick within his Realm his Majesty should issue out his Writ of Conge d' eslire to the Dean and Chapter of the Church so Vacant thereby enabling them to proceed to the Election of another Bishop that the Election being returned by the Dean and Chapter and ratified by the Royal Assent his Majesty should issue out his Writ to the Metropolitan of the Province to proceed unto the Confirmation of the Party Elected and that if the Party so Confirmed had not before been Consecrated Bishop of some other Church that then the Metropolitan taking to himself two other Bishops at the least should proceed unto the Consecration in such form and manner as was then practised by the Church so that as to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Consecration there was no alteration made at all Those which were Consecrated after the passing of this Statute were generally acknowledged for true and lawful Bishops by the Papists themselves or otherwise Dr. Thomas Thurlby Bishop of Westminster had never been admitted to have been one of those who assisted at the Consecrating of Cardinal Pool when he was made Arch-Bishop of Canterbury on the death of Cranmer All which recited Statutes with every thing depending on them being abrogated by Act of Parliament in the time of Queen Mary were revived in the first Year of Queen Elizabeth and so still continue But so it was not with another alteration made in the form of exercising their jurisdiction by King Edw. 6. In the first Parliament of whose Reign it was enacted that all process out of the Ecclesiastical Courts should from thence forth be issued in the Kings Name only and under the Kings Seal of Arms contrary to the usage of the former times Which Statute being repealed by Queen Mary and not revived by Queen Elizabeth the Bishops and their subordinate Ministers have ever since exercised all manner of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in their own Names and under the distinct Seals of their several Offices 4. In Doctrinals and forms of Worship there was no alteration made in the Reign of K. Hen. 8. though there were many preparations and previous dispositions to it the edge of Ecclesiastical Affairs being somewhat blunted and the people indulged a greater Liberty in consulting with the Holy Scriptures and reading many Books of Evangelical Piety then they had been formerly which having left the way more open to Arch-Bishop Cranmer and divers other learned and Religious Prelates in K. Edwards time seconded by the Lord Protector and other great ones of the Court who had their ends apart by themselves they proceeded carefully and vigorously to a Reformation In the managing of which great business they took the Scripture for their ground according to the general explication of the ancient Fathers the practise of the Primitive times for their Rule and Pattern as it was expressed to them in approved Authors No regard had to Luther or Calvin in the procedure of their work but only to the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles Christ Iesus being the Corner-stone of that excellent Structure Melancthons coming was expected Regiis Literis in Angliam vocatus as he affirms in an Epistle to Camerarius but he came not over And Calvin made an offer of his service to Arch-Bishop Cranmer Si quis mei usus esset if any use might be made of him to promote the work but the Arch-Bishop knew the man and refused the other so that it cannot be affirmed that the Reformation of this Church was either Lutheran or Calvinian in its first original And yet it cannot be denied but that the first Reformers of it did look with more respectful eyes upon the Doctrinals Government and Forms of Worship in the Lutheran Churches then upon those of Calvins platform because the Lutherans in their Doctrines Government and Forms of Worship approach't more near the Primitive Patterns than the other did and working according to this rule they retain'd many of those ancient Rites and Ceremonies which had been practised and almost all the Holy Dayes or Annual Feasts which had been generally observed in the Church of Rome Nothing that was Apostolick or accounted Primitive did fare the worse for being Popish I mean for having been made use of in times of Popery it being none of their designs to create a new Church but reform the old Such Superstitions and Corruptions as had been contracted in that Church by long tract of time being pared away that which was good and commendable did remain as formerly It was not their intent to dig up a foundation of such precious stones because some superstructures of Straw and Stubble had been raised upon it A moderation much applauded by King Iames in the Conference at Hampton-Court whose golden Aphorisme it was That no Church ought further to separate it self from the Church of Rome either in Doctrine or Ceremony then she had departed from her self when she was in her flourishing and best estate p. 77. 5. The succession of Bishops continued as it did before but fitted in the form and manner of their Consecrations according to the Rules laid down with the fourth Council of Carthage celebrated Anno 407. or thereabouts and generally received in all the Provinces of the Western Church as appears by the Book of Consecrating Arch-Bishops and Bishops c. Approved first by the Book of Articles and confirmed in Parliament Anno 5.6 Edw. VI. as afterwards justified by the Articles of Religion agreed upon in Convocation in Queen Elizabeths time Anno 1562. And by an Act of Parliament in the 8th Year of her Reign accounted of as part of our Publick Liturgies And by that book it will appear that Bishops were then looked upon as a distinct Order of themselves and not as a different degree only amongst the rest of the Presbyters For in the Preface to that Book it is said expresly That it is evident to all men diligently reading Holy Scripture and Ancient Authors that from the Apostles time there have been these Orders of Ministers in the Church of Christ Bishops Priests and Deacons Not long after which it followeth thus viz. And therefore to the intent these Orders should be continued
and reverently used and esteemed in the Church of England it is requisite that no man not being at this present Bishop Priest or Deacon shall execute any of them except he be Called Tryed and Examined according to the form hereafter following But because perhaps it will be said that the Preface is no part of the Book which stands approved by the Articles of the Church and established by the Laws of the Land let us next look into the Body of the Book it self where in the Form of Consecrating of Arch-Bishops or Bishops we finde a Prayer in these words viz. Almighty God giver of all good things who hast appointed divers Orders of Ministers in thy Church Mercifully behold this thy Servant now called to the Work and Ministry of a Bishop and replenish him so with the truth of Doctrine and Innocency of Life that both by word and deed he may faithfully serve thee in this Office c. Here we have three Orders of Ministers Bishops Priests and Deacons the Bishop differing as much in Order from the Priest as the Priest differs in Order from the Deacon which might be further made apparent in the different Forms used in Ordering of the Priests and Deacons and the form prescribed for the Consecration of an Arch-Bishop or Bishop were not this sufficient 6. But though the Presbyters or Priests were both in Order and Degree beneath the Bishops and consequently not enabled to exercise any publick Jurisdiction in Foro judicii in the Courts of Judicature yet they retained their native and original power in Foro Conscientiae in the Court of Conscience by hearing the confession of a sorrowful and afflicted Penitent and giving him the comfort of Absolution a power conferred upon them in their Ordination in the Form whereof it is prescribed that the Bishop and the assisting Presbyters shall lay their Hands upon the Head of the Party who is to be Ordained Priest the Bishop only saying these words viz. Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins thou doest forgive they are forgiven and whose sins thou doest retain they are retained In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen Which words had been impertinently and unsignificantly used if the Priest received nor thereby power to absolve a sinner upon the sense of his sincere and true repentance manifested in Confession or in any other way whatsoever And this appears yet further by the direction of the Church in point of Practice For first it is advised in the end of the second Exhortation before the receiving of the Communion that if any of the people cannot otherwise quiet his own Conscience he should repair unto his Curate or some other discreet and learned Minister of Gods Word and open his grief that he may receive such Ghostly counsel and advice and comforts as his Conscience may be relieved and that by the Ministry of Gods Word he may receive comfort and the benefit of Absolution to the quieting of his Conscience and avoiding all scruple and doubtfulness Agreeable whereunto is that memorable saying of St. Augustine viz. Qui confiteri vult ut inveniat gratiam quâ—erat sacerdotem Secondly It is prescribed in the Visitation of the Sick That the Sick person shall make a special Confession if he feel his Conscience troubled with any weighty matter and that the Priest shall thereupon Absolve him in this manner following Our Lord Jesus Christ who hath left power to his Church to Absolve all Sinners which truly repent and believe in him of his great Mercy forgive thee thy Offences and by his Authority committed to me I Absolve thee from all thy Sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen Which form of Absolution is plainly Authoritative and not Declarative only such as that is which follows the General Confession in the beginning of the Morning and Evening Prayer as some men would have it 7. Now that the Penitent as well in the time of Health as in extremity of Sickness may pour his Sins into the Bosom of the Priest with the more security it is especially provided by the 113 Canon of the Year 1603. That if any man Confess his secret and hidden sins to the Minister for the unburthening of his Conscience and to receive spiritual Consolation and ease of Minde from him we do not any way binde the said Minister by this our Constitution but do streightly charge and admonish him that he do not at any time reveal and make known to any person whatsoever any Crime or Offence so committed to his secresie except they be such Crimes as by the Laws of this Realm his own Life may be called in question for concealing the same under the pain of Irregularity And by incurring the condition of Irregularity the party offending doth not only forfeit all the Ecclesiastical Preferments which he hath at the present but renders himself uncapable of receiving any other for the time to come Confession made upon such security will be as saving to the Fame of the Penitent as the Absolution to his Soul In which respect it was neither untruly nor unfitly said by a learned Writer Dominus sequitur servum c. Heaven saith he waits and expects the Priests Sentence here on Earth for the Priest sits Judge on Earth the Lord follows the Servant and what the Servant bindes or looseth here on Earth Clave non errante that the Lord confirms in Heaven 8. The like Authority is vested in the Priest or Presbyter at his Ordination for officiating the Divine Service of the Church offering the Peoples Prayers to God Preaching the Word and Ministring the Holy Sacraments in the Congregation Which Offices though they may be performed by the Bishops as well as the Presbyters yet they perform them not as Bishops but as Presbyters only And this appears plainly by the Form of their Ordination in which it is prescribed that the Bishops putting the Bible into their hands shall pronounce these words Take thou authority to preach the Word and Minister the Holy Sacraments in the Congregation where thou shalt be so appointed In the officiating of which Acts of Gods Divine Service the Priest or Presbyter is enjoyned to wear a Surplice of white Linnen Cloath to testifie the purity of Doctrine and innocency of Life and Conversation which ought to be in one of that Holy Profession And this St. Ierome tells us in the general Religionem Divinam alterum habitum habere in ministerio alterum in usu vitaque communi that is to say that in the Act of Ministration they used a different habit from what they use to wear at ordinary times and what this different habit was he tells us more particularly in his reply against Pelagius who it seems dislik't it and askt him what offence he thought it could be to God that Bishops Priests and Deacons or those of any inferiour Order in Administratione sacrificiorum candida veste
Promotions Fourthly That all persons to be admitted to any Benefice with cure should likewise subscribe to the said Articles and publickly read the same in the open Church within two months after their Induction with declaration of their unseigned assent to the same on the pain aforesaid In all which there was nothing done to confirm these Articles but only a pious care expressed for reformation of such disorders as were like to rise amongst the Ministers of the Church by requiring their subscription and assent unto them under such temporal punishments which at that time the Canons of the Church had not laid upon them But it is time to leave these follies of my own and return to our Bishop who had thus seasonably manifested both his Zeal and Judgment in reference to the peace of the Church in general nor shewed he less in reference to the peace of that Universitie which had the happiness and honour of his Education The Proctorship had beâ—ore been carried by a combination of some houses against the rest the weaker side calling in strangers and non-residents to give voyces for them For remedie whereof a Letter in another year was procured from the Earl of Pembroke then Chancellour of that University by which it was declared that only such as were actually Residents should be admitted to their Suffrages in the said Elections which Letter was protested against by the Proctors for the year 1627. as knowing how destructive it was of their plot and party And on the other side such Colledges as had many Chappelries and other places which were removable at pleasure invested many which came out of the Country in the said Offices and Places one after another thereby admitting them for the time into actual residence In which estate things stood when the great competition was April 23. 1628. betwixt Williamson of Magdalens and More of New-Colledge on the one side and Bruch of Brazen-nose with Lloyd of Iesus Colledge on the other side These last pretending foul play to be offered to them as indeed it was not very fair made their appeal unto the King before whom the proceedings being heard and examined Williamson and Lloyd were returned Proctors for that year the last pretending Kindred to the Dutchess of Buckingham And to prevent the like disorders for the time to come it was resolved by the King with the Advice of his Council but of Laud especially that the Proctors should from thenceforth be chosen by their severall Colledges each Colledge having more or fewer turns according to the number and greatness of their Foundations To which end a Cycle was devised containing a perpetual Revolution of three and twenty years within which Latitude of time Christ-Church was to enjoy six Proctors Magdalen five New-Colledge foure Merton All-Souls Exeter Brazen-Nose St. Iohns and Wadham Colledges to have three a piece Trinity Queens Orial and Corpus Christi to have only two the rest that is to say Vniversity Baliol Lincoln Iesus and Pembroke but one alone which Cycle was so contrived that every Colledge knew their turn before it came and did accordingly resolve on the fittest man to supply the place And for the more peaceable ordering of such other matters in the University as had relation thereunto some Statutes were digested by Laud and recommended by the King to the said University where they were chearfully received without contradiction and Entred on Record in the Publick Registers in December following Yet was not this the only good turn which that University recieved from him in this Year For in the two Months next ensuing he procured no fewer than 260 Greek Manuscripts to be given unto the Publick Library that is to say 240 of them by the Munificence of the Earl of Pembroke and 20 by the Bounty of Sir Thomas Row then newly returned from his Negotiations in the Eastern parts And now the time of the next Parliamentary Meeting which by divers Adjournments had been put off till the twentieth of Ianuary was neer at hand And that the Meeting might be more agreeable to his Intendments his Majesty was advised to smooth and prepare his way unto it first by removing of some Rubs and after by some popular Acts of Place and Favour Savill of Yorshire a busie man in the House of Commons but otherwise a politick and prudent Person he had taken off at the end of the former Parliament by making him one of his Privy Council and preferring him to be Comptroller of his Houshold in the place of Suckling then deceased and at the end of the last Session had raised him to the honour of Lord Savill of Pontfract Competitor with Savill in all his Elections for that County had been Sir Thomas Wentworth of Wentworth Woadhouse a man of most prodigous Parts which he had made use of at first in favour of the Popular Faction and for refusing of the Loan had been long imprisoned He looked on the Preferments of Savill his old Adversary with no small disdain taking himself to be as indeed he was as much above him in Revenue as in Parts and Power To sweeten and demulce this man Sir Richard Weston then Lord Treasurer created afterwards Earl of Portland used his best endeavours and having gained him to the King not only procured him to be one of his Majesties Privy Council but to be made Lord President of the North and advanc'd unto the Title of Viscount Wentworth by which he over-topped the Savills both in Court and Country Being so gained unto the King he became the most devout Friend of the Church the greatest Zealot for advancing the Monarchical Interest and the ablest Minister of State both for Peace and War that any of our former Histories have afforded to us He had not long frequented the Council-Table when Laud and he coming to a right understanding of one another entred into a League of such inviolable Friendship that nothing but the inevitable stroke of Death could part them and joining hearts and hands together cooperated from thenceforth for advancing the Honour of the Church and his Majesties Service These Matters being carried thus to assure himself of two such Persons in which he very much pleased himself his Majesty must do something also to please the People and nothing was conceived could have pleased them more than to grant them their desires in matters which concerned Religion and bestow Favours upon such men as were dear unto them In pursuance of his gracious Answer to the Lords and Commons touching Priests and Jesuits the growth of Popery and obstinacy of Recusants he had caused his Proclamation to be issued on the third of August for putting the Laws and Statutes made against Jesuits Priests and Popish Recusants in due Execution And now he adds another to it dated on the eleventh day of December for the Apprehension of Richard Smith a Popish Priest styling and calling himself the Bishop of Chalcedon a dangerous man and one who under colour of a
Foreign Title exercised all manner of Episcopal Jurisdiction in the Church of England And on the other side Archbishop Abbot a great Confident of the Popular Party in the House of Commons is sent for to the Court about Christmas and from out of his Barge received by the Archbishop of York and the Earl of Dorset by them accompanied to the King who giving him his Hand to kiss enjoined him not to fail the Council-Table twice a week And so far all was well beyond all exception but whether it were so in the two next also hath been much disputed Barnaby Potter Provost of Queens Colledge in Oxon. a thorow-pac'd Calvinian but otherwise his ancient Servant is preferr'd to the Bishoprick of Carlisle then vacant by the Translation of White to the See of Mountague's Book named Appello Caesarem must be called in also not in regard of any false Doctrine contained in it but for being the first cause of those Disputes and Differences which have since much troubled the quiet of the Church His Majesty hoping That the occasion being taken away men would no longer trouble themselves with such unnecessary Disputations Whether his Majesty did well in doing no more if the Book contained any false Doctrine in it or in doing so much if it were done only to please the Parliament I take not upon me to determine But certainly it never falleth out well with Christian Princes when they make Religion bend to Policy or think to gain their ends on men by doing such things as they are not plainly guided to by the Light of Conscience And so it hapned to his Majesty at this present time those two last Actions being looked on only as Tricks of King-craft done only out of a design for getting him more love in the hearts of his People than before he had Against the calling in of Mountague's Book it was objected commonly to his disadvantage That it was not done till three years after it came out till it had been questioned in three several Parliaments till all the Copies of it were dispersed and sold and then too That it was called in without any Censure either of the Author or his Doctrines That the Author had been punished with a very good Bishoprick and the Book seemingly discountenanced to no other end but to divert those of contrary perswasion from Writing or Acting any thing against it in the following Parliament And as for Potter what could he have done less in common gratitude than to prefer him to a Bishoprick for so many years Service as Potter in his time had done him both as Prince and King So true is that of the wise Historian When Princes once are in discredit with their Subjects as well their good Actions as their bad are all accounted Grievances For notwithstanding all these preparatory actions the Commons were resolved to begin at the same Point where before they ended The Parliament had been Prorogued as they were hammering a Remonstrance against Tonnage and Poundage which animated Chambers Rouls and some other Mercâ—ants to refuse the payment for which refusal some of their Goods was seised by Order from the Lord Treasurer Weston and some of them committed Prisoners by the Kings Command These matters so possessed their thoughts that a week was passed before they could resume their old care of Religion or think of Petitioning his Majesty for a Publick Fast but at last they fell upon them both To their Petition for a Fast not tendred to his Majesty till the thirtieth of Ianuary he returned this Answer the next day viz. That this Custom of Fasts at every Session was but lately begun That he was not so fully satisfied of the necessity of it at this time That notwithstanding for the avoiding of Questions and Jealousies he was pleased to grant them their Request with this Proviso That it should not hereafter be brought into President but on great occasions And finally That as for the form and times thereof he would advise with his Bishops and then return unto both Houses a particular Answer But so long it was before that Answer came unto them and so perverse were they in crossing with his Majesties Counsels that the Parliament was almost ended before the Fast was kept in London and Westminster and dissolved many days before it was to have been kept in the rest of the Kingdom And for Religion they insisted on it with such importunity that his Majesty could no longer dissemble his taking notice of it as a meer artifice and diversion to stave him off from being gratified in the Grant of Tonnage and Poundage which he so often press'd them to And thereupon he lets them know That he understood the cause of their delay in his business to be Religion of the preservation whereof none of them should have greater care than himself and that either it must be an Argument he wanted Power to preserve it which he thought no body would affirm or at the least That he was very ill counselled if it were in so much danger as they had reported This notwithstanding they proceed in their former way His Majesty had granted several Pardons to Mountague Cosens Manwaâ—ring and Sibthâ—rp before-mentioned These Pardons must be questioned and the men summoned to appear And Information is preferred by Iones against Mountague's Confirmation in the See of Chichester which after many disputes is referred to a Select Committee Complaint is made against Neile Bishop of Winton for for saying to some Divines of his Diocess That they must not Preach against Papists now as they had done formerly Marshall and Moor two Doctors in Divinity but such as had received some displeasures from him are brought in to prove it Upon him also it was charged That the Pardons of Mountague and Cosens were of his procuring Insomuch that Eliot pronounced positively That all the Dangers which they feared were contracted in the person of that Bishop and thereupon desired That a Motion might be made to his Majesty to leave him to the Iustice of that House Many Reports come flowing in to the Committee for Religion of turning Tables into Altars adoring towards or before them and standing up at the Gospels and the Gloria Patri which must be also taken into consideration The Articles of Lambeth are declared to be the Doctrines of this Church and all that did oppose them to be called in question Walker delivered a Petition from the Booksellers and Printers in complaint of the Restraint of Books written against Popery and Arminianism and the contrary allowed of by the only means of the Bishop of London and That divers of them had been Pursevanted for Printing of Orthodox Books and That the Licencing of Books was only to be restrained to the said Bishop and his Chaplains Hereupon followed a Debate amongst them about the Licencing of Books which having taken up some time was referred to the Committee also as the other was By these Embraceries the Committee
on the Earl of Argile who had declared himself for the Covenanters at the Assembly at Glasco resolved to stand to the Conclusion which he brought along with him though he found himself unable to make good the Premises so that some days being unprofitably spent in these debates the Archbishop and the rest of the Committee made a report of the whole business to the rest of the Council who upon full consideration of all particulars came to this Result That since the Scots could not be reclaimed to their obedience by other means they were to be reduced by Force This was no more then what the Scots could give themselves Reason to expect and therefore they bestirred themselves as much on the other side Part of the Walls of the Castle of Edenborough with all the Ordnance upon it had fallen down on the nineteenth of November last being the Anniversary day of his Majesties Birth not without some presage of that ill fortune which befel him in the course of this War for the Repair whereof they would neither suffer Timber nor any other Materials to be carried to it but on the contrary they began to raise Works and Fortifications against it with an intent to block it up and render it unuseful to his Majesties Service And to keep the Souldiers therein Garrisoned most of them English to hard meats they would not suffer them to come into the Market to recruit their Victuals They made Provisions of great quantity of Artillery Munition and Arms from Foreign Parts laid Taxes of ten Marks in the hundred upon all the Subjects according to their several Revenues which they Levied with all cursed Rigour though bruiting them abroad to be Free-will Offerings scattered abroad many Seditious and Scandalous Pamphlets for justifying themselves and seducing others some of which were burnt in England by the hand of the Hangman Fortified Inchgarvie and other places which they planted with Ordnance Imprisoned the Earl of Southesk and other Persons of Quality for their fidelity to the King took to themselves the Government of the City of Edenborough contrary to their Charters and Immunities by which the Citizens were disabled from serving his Majesty in any of his just Commands and finally employed their Emissaries in all Parts of England to disswade those who were too backward of themselves from contributing to the War against them and to sollicit from them such several Aids as might the better enable them to maintain the War against their Sovereign But their chief Correspondence was with France and Ireland In France they had made sure of Cardinal of Richelieu who Governed all Affairs in that Kingdom Following the Maxim of Queen Elizabeth in securing the Peace of his own Country by the Wars of his Neighbours he practised the Revolt of Portugal and put the Catalonians into Arms against their King to the end that he might waste the fiery Spirit of the French in a War on Flanders with the better fortune and success But knowing that it was the Interest of the Crown of England to hold the Balance even between France and Spain and that his Majesty by removing the Ships of Holland which lay before Duynkirk Anno 1635. had hindred the French from making such a Progress by Land as might have made them Masters of the Spanish Netherlands he held it a chief piece of State-Craft as indeed it was to excite the Scots against their King and to encourage them to stand it out unto the last being so excited Upon which ground he sent Chamberlain a Scot by Birth his Chaplain and Almoner to assist the Confederates in advancing the business and to attempt all ways for exasperating the first heat with Order not to depart from them till things succeeding as he wished he might return with good News And on the same appointed one of his Secretaries to reside in Scotland to march along with them into England to be present at all Councils of War and direct their business And on the other side Hamiltons Chaplains had free accesses unto Con the same Countryman also at such time as Chamberlain was Negotiating for the Cardinal to â—oment the Flames which had begun to rage already And by a Letter subscribed by the Earl of Rothes and others of chief note amongst the Covenanters they craved the Assistance of that King cast themselves upon his Protection beseeching him to give credit to Colvill the Bearer thereof whom they had instructed in all Particulars which concerned their Condition and Desires In Ireland they had a strong Party of Natural Scots planted in Vlster by King Iames upon the forfeited Estates of Tir-Owen Tir-Connel Odighirtie c. not Scots in Birth and Parentage only but Design and Faction But Wentworth was not to be told of their secret Practices he saw it in their general disposition to Schism and Faction and was not unacquainted with their old Rebellions It must be his care that they brake not into any new which he performed with such a diligent and watchful eye that he crushed them in the very beginning oâ— the Combination seising upon such Ships and Men as came thither from Scotland Imprisoning some Fining others and putting an Oath upon the rest By which Oath they were bound to abjure the Covenant not to be aiding to the Covenanters against the King nor to Protest against any of his Royal Edicts as their Brethren in Scotland used to do For the refusing of which Oath he Fined one Sir Henry Steward and his Wife Persons of no less Power than Disaffection at no less than 5000 l. apiece two of their Daughters and one Iames Gray of the same Confederacy at the Sum of 3000 l. apiece committing them to Prison for not paying the Fines imposed upon them All which he justified when he was brought unto his Trial on good Reasons of State There being at that time one hundred thousand Souls in Ireland of the Scottish Nation most of them passionately affected to the Cause of the Covenanters and some of them conspiring to betray the Town and Castle of Carickfergus to a Nobleman of that Country for which the Principal Conspirator had been justly Executed Nor staid he here but he gave finally a Power to the Bishop of Down and Connor and other Bishops of that Kingdom and their several Chancellors to attach the Bodies of all such of the meaner sort who either should refuse to appear before them upon Citation or to perform all Lawful Decrees and Orders made by the said Bishops and their Chancellors and to commit them to the next Gaol till they should conform or answer the Contempt at the Council-Table By means whereof he made the poorer sort so pliant and obedient to their several Bishops that there was good hopes of their Conformity to the Rules of the Church Having thus carried on the affairs of Scotland till the end of this year we must return to our Archbishop whom we shall find intent on the preservation of the
Hierarchy and the Church of England against the Practices of the Scots and Scotizing English and no less busied in digesting an Apologie for vindicating the Liturgie commended to the Kirk of Scotland In reference to the last he took order for translating the Scottish Liturgy into the Latine Tongue that being published with the Apologie which he had designed it might give satisfaction to the world of his Majesty Piety and his own great care the Orthodoxie and simplicity of the Book it self and the perverseness of the Scots in refusing all of it Which Work was finished and left with him but it went no further the present distemper of the times and the troubles which fell heavily on him putting an end to it in the first beginning But the best was that the English Liturgie had been published in so many Languages and the Scottish so agreeable to the English in the Forms and Offices that any man might judge of the one by perusing the other The first Liturgie of King Edward vi translated into Latine by Alexander Alesius a learned Scot for the better information of Martin Bucer when he first came to live amongst us the second Liturgie of that King with Queen Elizabeths Emendations by Walter Haddon President of Magdalen Colledge in Oxon. and Dean of Exeter and his Translation rectified by Dr. Morket in the times of King Iames according to such Explications and Additions as were made by order from the King The same translated into French for the use of the Isle of Iersey by the appointment of the King also into the Spanish for the better satisfaction of that Nation by the prudent care of the Lord Keeper Williams And finally by the countenance and encouragement of this Archbishop translated into Greek by Petley much about this time that so the Eastern Churches might have as clear an information of the English Piety as the Western had In order to the other he recommended to Hall then Bishop of Exon. the writing of a book in defence of the Divine Right of Episcopacy in opposition to the Scots and their Adherents Exeter undertakes the Work and sends him a rude draught or Skeleton of his design consisting of the two main points of his intended discourse together with the several Propositions which he intended to insist on in pursuance of it The two main points which he was to aim at were First That Episcopacy is a lawful most ancient holy and divine institution as it is joyned with imparity and superiority of Jurisdiction and therefore where it hath through Gods providence obtained cannot by any humane power be abdicated without a manifest violation of Gods Ordinance And secondly That the Presbyterian Government however vindicated under the glorious names of Christs Kingdom and Ordinance hath no true footing either in Scripture or the Practice of the Church in all Ages from Christs time till the present and that howsoever it may be of use in some Cities or Territories wherein Episcopal Government through iniquity of times cannot be had yet to obtrude it upon a Church otherwise settled under an acknowledged Monarchy is utterly incongruous and unjustifiable In which two points he was to predispose some Propositions or Postulata as he calls them to be the ground of his proceedings which I shall here present in his own conceptions that so we may the better judge of those corrections which were made upon them The Postulata were as followeth viz. 1. That Government which was of Apostolical Institution cannot be denied to be of Divine Right 2. Not only that Government which was directly commanded and enacted but also that which was practiced and recommended by the Apostles to the Church must justly pass â—or an Apostolical Institution 3. That which the Apostles by Divine Inspiration instituted was not for the present time but for continuance 4. The universal Practice of the Church immediately succeeding the Apostles is the best and surest Commentary upon the Practice of the Apostles or upon their Expressions 5. We may not entertain so irreverent an opinion of the Saints and Fathers of the Primitive Church that they who were the immediate Successors of the Apostles would or durst set up a Government either faulty or of their own heads 6. If they would have been so presumptuous yet they could not have diffused an uniform form of Government through the world in so short a space 7. The ancient Histories of the Church and Writings of the eldest Fathers are rather to be believed in the report of the Primitive Form of the Church-Government than those of this last Age. 8. Those whom the ancient Church of God and the holy and Orthodox Fathers condemned for Hereticks are not fit to be followed as Authors of our Opinion or Practice for Church-Government 9. The accession of honourable Titles or Priviledges makes no difference in the substance of the calling 10. Those Scriptures wherein a new Form of Government is grounded have need to be very clear and unquestionable and more evident than those whereon the former rejected Politie is raised 11. If that Order which they say Christ set for the Government of the Church which they call the Kingdom and Ordinance of Christ be but one and undoubted then it would and shall have been ere this agreed upon against them what and which it is 12. It this which they pretend be the Kingdom and Ordinance of Christ then if any Essential part of it be wanting Christs Kingdom is not erected in the Church 13. Christian Politie requires no impossible or absurd thing 14. Those Tenets which are new and unheard of in all Ages of the Church in many and Essential points are well worthy to be suspected 16. To depart from the Practice of the Universal Church of Christ ever from the Apostles times and to betake our selves voluntarily to a new Form lately taken up cannot but be odious and highly scandalous These first Delineations of the Pourtraicture being sent to Lambeth in the end of October were generally well approved of by the Metropolitan Some lines there were which he thought to have too much shadow and umbrage might be taken at them if not otherwise qualified with a more perfect Ray of Light And thereupon he takes the Pensil in his hand and with some Alterations of the Figure accompanied with many kind expressions of a fair acceptance he sent them back again to be compleatly Limned and Coloured by that able hand Which alterations what they were and his reasons for them I shall adventure to lay down as they come before me that so the Reader may discern as well the clearness of his apprehension and the excellency of his judgment in the points debated The Letter long and therefore so disposed of without further coherence that so it may be perused or pretermitted without disturbance to the sequel some preparations being made by the hand of his Secretary he proceeds thus to the rest The rest of your Letter is fitter to be
of the Church by whom a Sub-Committee was the same day named to prepare such matters as were to be discoursed and concluded by them the Bishop of Lincoln being in the 〈…〉 both Which Sub-Committee being made up of the Divines above-mentioned consisted of three Bishops nine Doctors in Divinity and four of some inferiour Degree in the Universities some of them being Prelatical and some Presbyterian in point of Government but all of them Calvinians in point of Doctrine Beginning first with points of Doctrine complaint was made that the whole body of Armimanism and many particular points of Popery for so they called all which agreed not with Calvin's sense had been of late maintained in Books and Sermons and sometimes also in the Divinity Schools And then descending to matter of Discipline they discoursed of many Innovations which they conceived to have been thrust upon the Church most of them in disposing and adorning the Communion Table and the more reverent Administration of the holy Sacraments some of them positively required or at least directed by the Laws of the Land as reading the Communion Service at the Lords Table on Sundaies and Holidaies reading the Litany in the middest of the Church the Ministers turning toward the East in the Creed and Prayers and praying no otherwise before Sermons than in the words of the Canon some of them never having been disused in many Parochial Churches and retained in most Cathedrals since the Reformation as standing at the Hymns and the Gloria Patri placing the Table Altarwise and adoring toward it some being left indifferent at the choice of the Minister as the saying or singing of the Te Deum in Parochial Churches officiating the Communion and the dayly prayers in the Latine tongue in several Colledges and Halls by and amongst such as are not ignorant of that Language And others not of so great moment as to make any visible alteration in the face of the Church or sensible disturbance in the minds of the People Which therefore might have been as well forborne as practiced till confirmed by Authority or otherwise might have been borne without any such clamour as either out of ignorance or malice had been raised against them They also took into consideration some Rubricks in the Book of Common Prayer and other things which they thought sit to be rectified in it Amongst which they advised some things not to be utterly disliked viz. That the Hymns Sentences Epistles and Gospels should be reprinted according to the new Translation That the Meeter in the Psalms should be corrected and allowed of Publickly and that no Anthems should be sung in Colledges or Cathedral Churches but such as were taken out of the Scripture or the publick Liturgy That fewer Lessons might be read out of the Books called Apocryphal and the Lessons to be read distinctly exclusive of the Liberty which is given to sing them as appears by the Rubrick That the Rubrick should be cleared concerning the Ministers power for repulsing scandalous and notorious sinners from the holy Communion and that the general Confession before the Communion be ordered to be said by the Minister only the People repeating it after him That these words in the Form of Matrimony viz. With my body I thee worship may be explained and made more intelligible And that instead of binding the married Couple to receive the Communion on their Wedding day which is seldom done they may be obliged to receive it on the Sunday after or the next Communion day following That none be licenced to marry or have their Banes asked who shall not first bring a Certificate from their Minister that they are instructed in the Catechism and that it be not required that the Infant be dipt in the water as is injoyned by the Rubrick in the case of extremity Some Passages they observed impertinently and not worth the altering as the expunging of some Saints which they falsly called Legendaries out of the Kalendar The constant adding of the Doxology at the end of the Pater noster Reading of Morning and Evening Prayer dayly by the Curate if not otherwise letted The leaving out of the Benedicite and the changing of the Psalm used in the Churching of Women That those words which only workest great marvels be left out of the Prayer for the Bishops and Clergy That Grievous sins instead of Deadly sins be used in the Letany That the sanctifying of the Flood Iordan be changed into sanctifying the Element of water in the Form of Baptism That those words In sure and certain hope of Resurrection which are used at Burials may be changed to these knowing assuredly that the dead shall rise again And that the Commination should be read at the Desk and not in the Pulpit all which remaining as they did could give no offence and might have easily been changed to give some content And finally some things there were of which they desired a Reformation which seemed to have so much of the Anti-Papist that they came close to the Puritan viz. That the Vestments prescribed by the first Liturgy of King Edward vi should not be required and the rule in that case to be altered That the Alms should be gathered rather after than before the Communion These words This is my body This is my bloud not to be Printed in great Letters and that a Rubrick be inserted to declare that kneeling at the Communion is required only in relation to the Prayer of the distribution Preserve thee body and soul c. That weekly Communion every Sunday be changed to monthly in Colledges and Cathedral Churches That the Cross in Baptism be either explained or quite disused and that in the Form of Confirmation these words importing that Children baptized are undoubtedly saved be no longer used That no times of Restraint may be laid on Marriage And that the Authoritative Form of Absolution in the Visitation of the sick may be turned to a Pronouncing or declaring of it I have the longer stood on the result of these Consultations because of the different apprehensions which were had of the Consequents and Issue of them Some hoped for a great Reformation to be prepared by them and settled by the Grand Committee both in Doâ—â—â—iâ—e and Discipline and others as much feared the affections of the men considered that Doctrinal Calvinism being once settled more alterations would be made in the Publick Liturgy than at first appeared till it was brought more near the Form of the Gallick Churches after the Platform of Geneva Certain I am that the imprisoned Archbishop had no fancy to it fearing least the Assembly of Divines in Ierusalem-Chamber so the place was called might weaken the foundations of Ierusalem in the Church of England That this Assembly on the matter might prove the National Synod of England to the great dishonour of the Church and that when their Conclusions were brought unto the great Committee the business would be over-ruled by the Temporal
Lords as double in number to the Bishops But whatsoever his fears were they were soon removed that Meeting being scattered about the middle of May upon the bringing in of a Bill against Deans and Chapters which so divided the Convenors both in their persons and affections that they never after met together Concerning which we are to know that not only most of the Lords of the Lower House and many Lower-House Lords in the Upper House resolving to pull up Episcopacy by the very roots thought it convenient to begin with lopping the Branches as laying no pretence to Divine Institution The voting of which Bill exceedingly amazed all those of the Prelatical Clergy as knowing at what Root it struck though none seemed presently concerned in it but such as had some benefit or subsistance in those foundations To still the great noise which was raised about it the Commons seemed not unwilling that some of the Cathedral Clergy should advocate for the continuance of those Capitular Bodies and others of the contrary Party to present their Reasons for their Dissolution The time appointed being come Hacket Archdeacon of Bedford and one of the Prebends of St. Pauls pleaded both learnedly and stoutly in behalf of those Churches and Burges of Watford who not long before brought down his Myrmidons to cry for Justice against Strafford to the Parliament doors was all for down with them down with them to the very ground But though they differed in their Doctrine yet they agreed well enough in their applications Burges declaring it unlawful as well as Hacket that the Revenues of those Churches should otherwise be imployed than to pious uses This seemed to put the business to a stand for the present time but Canterbury knowing with what case it might be resumed advised the drawing of a Petition to both Houses of Parliament in the name of the University of Oxon. which had a great stock going in the Ship of the Church not only for the preservation of the Episcopal Government but of those Foundations as being both the Encouragements and Rewards of Learning In which Petâ—tion having spoken in few words of the Antiquity and Succession of Bishops from the Apostles themselves they insist more at large upon such Suggestions as might best justifie and endear the cause of Cathedral Churches which being the most material of all those motives which were laid before them to that purpose we shall â—â—re subjoyn And we become further suiters saith that Vniversity for the continuance of the Pious Foundations of Cathedral Churches with their Lands and Revenues As Dedicate to the Service and Honour of God soon after the Plantation of Christianity in the English Nation As thought fit and usefully to be preserved for that end when the Nursâ—â—â—â— of Superstition were demolished and so continued in the last and 〈◊〉 times since the Blessed Reformation under King Edward the sixth Queen Elizabeth and King James Princes Renowned through the world for their Piety and Wisdom As approved and confirmed by the Law◠〈◊〉 this Land Ancient and Modern As the Principal and outwâ—rd 〈◊〉 and encouragements of all Students especially in Diviâ—â—â—â— and the fâ—ttest Reward of some deep and Eminent Scholars As 〈…〉 in all Ages many Godly and Learned men 〈…〉 strongly asserted the truth of the Religion we Profess 〈◊〉 the many fierce oppositions of our Adversaries of Rome As 〈…〉 a competent Portion in an Ingenious way to many younger brothers of good Parentage who devote themselves to the Ministery of the Gospel As the only means of subsistance to a multitude of Officers and other Ministers who with their families depend upon them and are wholly maintained by them As the main Authors or upholders of 〈…〉 Schools Hospitals High-ways Bridges and other Pious works 〈◊〉 special causes of much Profit and advantages to those Cities where 〈◊〉 are situate Not only by Relieving the Poor and keeping conve 〈◊〉 Hâ—â—pitality but by occasioning a frequent Resort of strangers 〈◊〉 other parts to the great benefit of all trades-men and inhabi 〈◊〉 in those places As the goodly Monuments of our Predecessors 〈◊〉 and present Honour of this Kingdom in the Eye of Foreign Na 〈◊〉 As the Chief support of many thousand families of the Layety who enjoy fair Estates under them in a free way As yielding a con 〈◊〉 and ample Revenue to the Crown And as by which many of the 〈…〉 Proâ—essors in our Vniversities are maintained The subver 〈…〉 whereof must as we conceive not only be attended 〈…〉 consequences as will redound to the Scandal of many well 〈…〉 our Religion but open the mouths of our Adversaries and if 〈…〉 against us and as likely in time to draw after it harder condi 〈…〉 in a considerable part of the Layety and Vniversal cheapness 〈…〉 upon the Clergy a lamentable drooping and defection of 〈…〉 knowledge in the Vniversities which is easie to firesee but will be hard to Remedy The like petition came from Cambridge as much concerned in this â—â—mmon cause as their sister of Oxon. But neither of them could 〈◊〉 so far as take off the edge of the ax which had been thus 〈◊〉 at the Root of the tree though it did blunt it at the present 〈◊〉 they which had the managing of the Design finding that the 〈◊〉 Churches were two strongly Cemented to be demolished at an Instant considered seasonably for themselves that the furthest way about did many times prove the nearest way to the journeys end A Bill was therefore passed in the House of Commons and sent up to the Lords by which it was to be Enacted if their Vote had carried it First that the Bishops should have no Voices in Parliament Secondly that they should not be Commissioners for the Peace or Judges in any Temporal Courts And that they should not fit in the Star-chamber nor be Privy Counsellors Which Bill being Voted part by part The two last parts were passed by a general consent not above one or two dissenting But the first branch was carried in the Negative by such an Unison consent in the Lords then present that if the Bishops had not Voted in defence of themselves the Temporal Lords alone who appeared for them had carried it by sixteen Voices The point being still upon debate those Lords which had shewed themselves against the Bishops resolved to put it to the Fortune of another day protesting that the Former manner of Voting the said Bill by Branches was both Vnparliamentary and Illegal and therefore that the Bill was either wholly to be passed or ejected wholly which being condescended to the whole Bill was utterly cast out of the House by so many voices that the Bishops might have spared their own till another time And though according to the Rules of all former Parliaments that a Bill which had been once cast out of the House should never be prest again the same Session yet this Bill found a way to it within few moneths after and almost