any Church but by the leave of the King or of the Ordinary of the place nor privately by any Women Artificers Apprentices Journey-men Husband-men Labourers or by any of the Servants of Yeomen or under with several pains to those who should do the contrary This is the substance of the Statute of the 34 and 35 Hen. 8. c. 1. Which though it shews that there was somewhat done in Parliament in a matter which concern'd Religion which howsoever if you mark it was rather the adding of the penalties than giving any resolution or decision of the points in question yet I presume the Papists will not use this for an Argument that we have either a Parliament-Religion or a Parliament Gospel or that we stand indebted to the Parliament for the Use of the Scriptures in the English Tongue which is so principal a part of the Reformation Nor did the Parliament speed so prosperously in the undertaking which the wise King permitted them to have a hand in for the foresaid ends or found so general an obedience in it from the common people as would have been expected in these Times on the like occasion but that the King was fain to quicken and give life to the Acts thereof by his Proclamation Anno 1546. which you shall find in Fox his Book fo 1427. To drive this Nail a little further The terrour of this Statute dying with H. 8. or being repealed by that of K. Ed. 6. c. 22. the Bible was again made publique and not only suffered to be read by particular persons either privatly or in the Church but ordered to be read over yearly in the Congregation as a part of the Liturgie or Divine Service Which how far it relates to the Court of Parliament we shall see anon But for the publishing thereof in Print for the Use of the people for the comfort and edification of private persons that was done only by the King at least in his Name and by His Authority And so it also stood in Q. Elizabeth's time the translation of the Bible being again reviewed by some of the most learned Bishops appointed thereunto by the Queens Commission from whence it had the name of the Bishops Bible and upon that review Reprinted by her sole Commandement and by her sole Authority left free and open to the Use of her well-affected and religious subjects Nor did the Parliament do any thing in all Her Reign with reference to the Scriptures in the English Tongue otherwise than at the reading of them in that Tongue in the Congregation is to be reckoned for a part of the English Liturgy whereof more hereafter In the translation of them into Welch or British somewhat indeed was done which doth look this way It being ordered in the Parliament 5. Eliz. c. 28. That the B. B. of Hereford St. Davids Bangor Landaff and St. Asaph should take care amongst them for translating the whole Bible with the Book of Common Prayer into the Welch or Brittish Tongue on pain of forfeiting 40 l. a piece in default hereof And to incourage them thereunto it was Enacted that one Book of either sort being so translated and imprinted should be provided and bought for every Cathedral Church as also for all Parish-Churches and Chappels of Ease where the said tongue is commonly used the Ministers to pay the one half of the price and the Parishioners the other But then you must observe withal that it had been before determined in the Convocation of the self-same year Anno 2562. That the Common-Prayer of the Church ought to be celebrated in a tongue which was understood by the people as you may see in the Book of Articles of Religion Art 24. which came out that year and consequently as well in the Welch or Brittish as in any other Which care had it been taken for Ireland also as it was for Wales no question but that people had been more generally civiliz'd and made conformable in all points to the English Government long before this time And for the new Translation of K. James his time to shew that the Translation of Scripture is no work of Parliament as it was principally occasioned by some passages in the Conference at Hampton Court without recourse unto the Parliament so was it done only by such men as the King appointed and by His Authority alone imprinted published and imposed care being taken by the Canon of the year 1603. That one of them should be provided for each several Church at the charge of the Parish No flying in this case to an Act of Parliament either to Authorize the doing of it or to impose it being done 4. Of the Reformation of Religion in points of Doctrine NExt let us look upon the method used in former Times in the reforming of the Church whether in points of Doctrine or in forms of Worship and we shall find it still the same The Clergy did the work as to them seemed best never advising with the Parliament but upon the post-fact and in most cases not at all And first for Doctrinals there was but little done in K. Henries time but that which was acted by the Clergy only in their Convocation and so commended to the people by the Kings sole Authority the matter being never brought within the cognizance of the two Houses of Parliament For in the year 1536. being the year in which the Popes Authority was for ever banished there were some Articles agreed on in the Convocation and represented to the King under the hands of the Bishops Abbots Priors and inferior Clergy usually called unto those Meetings the Original whereof being in Sir Robert Cotton's Library I have often seen Which being approved of by the King were forthwith published under the Title of Articles devised by the Kings Highness to stable Christian quietness and unity amongst the people In which it is to be observed First that those Articles make mention of three Sacraments only that is to say of Baptisme Penance and the Sacrament of the Altar And secondly That in the Declaration of the Doctrine of Justication Images honouring of the Saints departed as also concerning many of the Ceremonies and the fire of Purgatory they differ'd very much from those Opinions which had been formerly received in the Church of Rome as you may partly see by that Extract of them which occurs in Fox his Acts and Monuments Vol. 2. fol. 1246. For the confirming of which Book and recommending it to the use of the people His Majesty was pleased in the Injunctions of the year 1536. to give command to all Deans Parsons Vicars and Curates so to open and declare in their Sermons and other Collations the said Articles unto them which be under their Cure that they might plainly know and discern which of them be necessary to be believed and observed for their salvation and which do only concern the decent and politique Order of the Church And this he did upon this ground that the said
Battels and Assaults which we shall sum up briefly in their place and time And first for Coronations which as before I said are mixt kind of actions compound of sacred and of civil William surnamed Rufus was crowned at Canterbury by Archbishop Lanfrancke the 25 of Septemb. being Sunday Anno 1087. So was King Stephen the 21 of Decemb. being Sunday too Anno 1135. On Sunday before Christmas day was Henry the second crowned at London by Archbishop Theobald Anno 1155. and on the Sunday before Septuagesima his Daughter Joane was at Palermo crowned Queen of Sicily Of Richard the first it is recorded that hoysing Sail from Barbeflet in Normandy he arrived safely here upon the Sunday before our Lady day in Harvest whence setting towards London there met him his Archbishops Bishops Earls and Barons cum copiosa militum multitudine with a great multitude of Knightly rank by whose advise and Councel he was crowned on a Sunday in September following Anno 1189. and after crowned a second time on his return from Thraldom and the Holy Land Anno 1194. on a Sunday too The Royal and magnificent form of his first Coronation they who list to see may find it most exactly represented in Rog. de Hoveden And last of all King John was first inaugurated Duke of Normandy by Walter Archbishop of Roane the Sunday after Easter day Anno 1200. and on a Sunday after crowned King of England together with Isabel his Queen by Hubert at that time Archbishop of Canterbury For Synods next Anno 1070. A Council was assembled at Winchester by the appointment of King William the first and the consent of Alexander then Pope of Rome for the degrading of Stigand Archbishop of Canterbury and this upon the Sunday next after Easter And we find mention of a Synod called by Richard Archbishop of Canterbury Anno 1175. the Sunday before holy Thursday ad quod concilium venerunt fere omnes Episcopi Abbates Cantuariensis dioeceseos where were assembled almost all the Bishops and Abbots of the whole Province For Councils of Estate there was a solemn meeting called on Trinity Sunday Anno 1143. in which assembled Maud the Empress and all the Lords which held her party where the Ambassadours from Anjou gave up their account and thereupon it was concluded that the Earl of Gloucester should be sent thither to negotiate his Sisters business So in the year 1185 when some Embassadours from the East had offered to King Henry the second the Kingdom of Hierusalem the King designed the first Sunday in Lent for his day of answer Upon which day there met at London the King the Patriarch of Hierusalem the Bishops Abbots Earls and Barons of the Realm of England as also William King of Scotland and his Brother David with the Earls and Barons of the Countrey habito inde cum deliberatione concilio c. and then and there upon mature deliberation it was concluded that though the King accepted not the Title yet he would give his people leave to put themselves into the action and take up the Cross For civil Business of another nature we find it on Record that on the fourth Sunday in Lent next following the same King Henry Knighted his Son John and sent him forthwith into Ireland Knighthood at those times being far more full of ceremony than now it is Which being but a preparation to War and military matters leads us unto such Battels as in these times were fought on Sunday Of which we find it in our Annals that in the year 1142. upon a Sunday being Candlemas day King Stephen was taken prisoner at the battel of Lincoln as also that on Holy-Cross day next after being Sunday too Robert Earl of Gloucester Commander of the adverse force was taken Prisoner at the battel of Winchester So read we that on Sunday the 25th of August Anno 1173. the King of France besieged and forced the Castle of Dole in Brittain belonging to the King of England As also that on Sunday the 26th of Septemb. Anno 1198. King Richard took the Castle of Curceles from the King of France More of the kind might be remembred were not these sufficient to shew how anciently it hath been the use of the Kings of England to create Knights and hold their Councils of estate on the Lords day as now they do Were not the others here remembred sufficient to let us know that our Progenitours did not think so superstitiously of this day as not to come upon the same unto the Crowning of their Kings or the publick Synods of the Church or if need were and their occasions so required it to fight as well on the Lords day as on any other Therefore no Lords day Sabbath hitherto in the Realm of England Not hitherto indeed But in the Age that followed next there were some overtures thereof some strange preparatives to begin one For in the very entrance of the 13th Age Fulco a French Priest and a notable Hypocrite Rog. de Hoteden as our King Richard counted him and the story proves lighted upon a new Sabbatarian fancy which one of his Associates Eustathius Abbat of Flay in Normandy was sent to scatter here in England but finding opposition to his doctrine he went back again the next year after being 1202. he comes better fortified preaching from town to town and from place to place ne quis forum rerum venalium diebus Dominicis exerceret that no man should presume to market on the Lords day Where by the way we may observe that notwithstanding all the Canons and Edicts before remembred in the fifth Chapter of this book and the third Section of this Chapter the English kept their markets on the Lords day as they had done formerly as neither being bound to those which had been made by foreign states or such as being made at home had long before been cut in peeces by the sword of the Norman Conqueror Now for the easier bringing of the people to obey their dictates they had to shew a warrant sent from God himself as they gave it out The title this Mandatum sanctum Dominicae diei quod de coelo venit in Hierusalem c. An holy mandat touching the Lords day which came down from Heaven unto Hierusalem found on S. Simeons Altar in Golgotha where Christ was Crucified for the sins of all the world which lying there three days and as many nights strook with such terrour all that saw it that falling on the ground they besought Gods mercy At last the Patriarch and Akarias the Archbishop of I know not whence ventured to take into their bands that dreadful letter which was written thus Now wipe your eyes and look a while on the Contents which I shall render with as much brevity as the thing requires Ego Dominus qui praecepi vobis ut observaretis diem sanctum Dominicum non custodistis eum c. I am the Lord which hath commanded to keep
albeit the light of Reason doth abide yet is it much darkned and with much difficulty doth discern things that be inferiour and pertain to this present life but to understand and perceive things that be spiritual and pertain to that everlasting life it is of it self unable And so likewise there remains a certain freedom of the will in those things which do pertain unto the desires and works of this present life yet to perform spiritual and heavenly things Freewill of it self is unsufficient and therefore the power of mans Freewill being thus wounded and decayed hath need of a Physician to heal it and one help to repair it that it may receive light and strength whereby it may be so and have power to do those godly and spiritual things which before the fall of Adam it was able and might have done To this blindness and infirmity of mans Nature proceeding of Original sin the Prophet David hath regard when he desired his eyes to be lightened of Almighty God that he might consider the marvellous things that be in his Law And also the Prophet Jeremy saying Psalm 115. Jer. 16. Heal me O Lord and I shall be made whole Augustin also plainly declareth the same saying We conclude that Freewill is in man after his fall which thing whoso denieth is not a Catholick man but in spiritual desires and works to please God it is so weak and feeble hat it cannot eithre begin or perform them unless by the Grace and help of God it be prevented and holpen And hereby it appeareth that mans strength and Will in all things which be helpful to the soul and shall please God hath need of the graces of the holy Ghost by which such things be inspired to men and strength and constancy given to perform them if we do not wilfully refuse the said Grace effered to them And likewise as many things be in the Scripture which do shew Freewill to be in man so there be now fewer places in Scripture which declare the Grace of God to be so necessary that if by it Freewill be not prevented and holpen it neither can do nor will any thing good and godly of which sort be these Scriptures following Without me you can do nothing no man cometh to me except it be given him of my Father John 15. Jon. 6.1 Cor. 3. We be not sufficient of our selves as of our selves to think any good thing According unto which Scriptures and such other like it followeth That Freewill before it may will or think any godly thing must be holpen with the grace of Christ and by his Spirit be prevented and inspired that it may be able thereunto And being so made able may from thenceforth work together with grace and by the same sustained holpen and maintained may both accomplish good works and avoid sin and persevere also and increase in grace It is true of the grace of God only that first we are inspired and moved to any good thing but to resist temptations and to persist in goodness and go forward it is both of the Grace of God and our Freewill and endeavour And finally after we have persevered unto the end to be crowned with glory therefore is the gift and mercy of God who of his bountiful goodness hath ordained that reward to be given after this life according to such good works as be done in this life by his Grace Therefore men ought with much diligence and gratitude of mind to consider and regard the inspiration wholesom motions of the holy Ghost and to embrace the Grace of God which is offered to them in Christ and moveth them to work good things And furthermore to go about by all means to shew themselves such as unto whom the Grace of God is not given in vain And when they do settle that notwithstanding their diligence yet through their infirmity they be not able to do that they desire then they ought earnestly and with a fervent devotion and stedfast faith to ask of him which gave the beginning that he would vouchsafe to perform it which thing God will undoubtedly grant according to his promise to such as persevere in calling upon him For he is naturally good and willeth all men to be saved and careth for them and provideth all things by which they may be saved except BY THEIR OWN MALICE they will be evil and so by the righteous judgment of God perish and be lost For truly men be to themselves the AVTHOR OF SIN and DAMNATION God is neither the AVTHOR OF SIN nor the CAVSE OF DAMNATION and yet doth he most righteously damn those men that do with Vices corrupt their Nature which he made good and do abuse the same to evil desires against his most holy will wherefore men be to be warned that they do not impute to God their Vice or their damnation but to themselves who by Freewill have abused the grace and benefits of God All men be also to be monished and chiefly Preachers that in this high matter they looking on both sides so attemper and moderate themselves that neither they so preach the Grace of God as to take away thereby Freewill Nor on the other side so extol Freewill that injury be done to the grace of God Such was the judgment of the Bishops and Clergy assembled in Convocation Anno 1543. touching the nature of Freewill and the co-operations of it with the grace of God In which I can see nothing not agreeable to the present establish'd Doctrine of the Church of England And if it be objected as perhaps it may that this Convocation was held in times of Popery and managed by a Popish Clergy it may be answered that the Bishops and Clergy then assembled were such as had a principal hand in the Reformation and generally subscribed unto the Articles of Religion agreed upon and published in King Edwards time Anno 1552. At which time fifteen of the Bishops which had been present at the Convocation Anno 1543. were not only living but present and consenting to the Articles in King Edwards time that is to say Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury Parfew Bishop of Saint Asaph Buchely Bishop of Bangor Bush Bishop of Bristol Sampson Bishop of Litchfield Barlow Bishop of Saint David Goodrich Bishop of Ely Ship Bishop of Hereford Folgate Bishop of Landaff and afterwards Archbishop of York King Bishop of Oxon Chambers Bishop of Peterborough Cepon Bishop of Sarum Thirlby then Bishop of Westminster Aldrich then Bishop of Carlile and Bird Bishop of Chester By which proportion we may conclude that a far greater number of the Deans and Arch-deacons who have a personal right of voting in all Convocations and coming to the number of eighty and thereabouts must be living and consenting also to the Reformation as being younger men than the Bishops were not to say any thing of the Clerks or Procurates of Cathedral Churches and those of the Diocesan Clergy as being variable and changeable
continual Prevalency of a busie faction And I have carried it on no further because at this time Bishop Laud to whom the raising and promoting of the Arminian doctrines as they call them is of late ascribed was hardly able to promote and preserve himself opprest with a hard hand by Archbishop Abbot secretly traduced unto the King for the unfortunate business of Early of Devonshire attaining with great difficulty to the poor Bishoprick of St. Davids after ten years service and yet but green in favour with the Duke of Buckingham What happened afterwards towards the countenancing of these Doctrines by the appearing of King Charles in the behalf of Mountague the Letter of the three Bishops to the Duke in defence of the man and his Opinion his questioning and impeachment by the House of Commons and his preferment by the King to the See of Chichester are all of them beyond the bounds which I have prescribed unto my self in this Narration Nor shall I now take notice of his Majesties Proclamation of the 14. of June Anno 1626. For establishing the peace and quiet of the Church of England by which he interdicted all such preaching and printing as might create any fresh disturbance to the Church of England or for his smart Answer to that part of the Remonstrance of the House of Commons Anno 1628. which concerned the danger like to fall on this Church and Kingdom by the growth of Arminianism or of the Declaration prefixed before the book of Articles in the same year also for silencing the said Disputes or finally of his Majesties Instructions bearing date Decemb. 30. 1629. for causing the Contents of the Declaration to be put in execution and punctually observed for the time to come By means whereof and many fair encouragements from many of our Prelates and other great men of the Realm the Anti-Calvinist party became considerable both for power and number A POSTSCRIPT TO THE READER Concerning some particulars in a scurrilous Pamphlet intituled A Review of the Certamen Epistolare c. PRimâ dicta mihi summâ dicenda camaenâ with thee good Reader I began and with thee I must end I gave thee notice in the Preface of a scurrilous Libel the Author whereof had disgorged his foul stomach on me and seemed to glory in the shame But whether this Author be a Cerberus with three heads or a Smectymnuus with fire or but a single Shimei only for it is differently reported is all one to me who am as little troubled with the noise of Billings-gate as the cry of an Oyster-wife It is my confidence that none of the dirt which he most shamefully confesseth himself to have thrown in my face will be found upon it P. 175. notwithstanding that necesse est ut aliquid haereat may be sometimes true Omitting therefore the consideration of his many Obscenities which every where are intermingled for the flowers of his Rhetorick I cannot but do my self so much justice as to satisfie the Reader in the truth of some things which otherwise may be believed to my disadvantage I am content to suffer under as much obloquie as any foul-mouth'd Presbyterian can spit upon me but I am not willing to be thought a slanderer a profane person or ungrateful for the sinallest favours all which the Author of that scurrilous Pamphlet hath imposed upon me In the first place it is much laboured to make me guilty of ingratitude and disaffection to Magd. Coll. of which I had the honour to be once a member P. 22. and do retain so high an estimation of it that whensoever I shall write or speak any thing to the reproach of that foundation let my tongue cleave unto the roof of my mouth and my right hand forget its cunning But I am able to distinguish between the duty I own to the House it self and that which every member of it is to challenge from me quid civitati quid civibus debeam in the Orators Criticism And therefore I would not have the Libeller or his Partners think that his or their taking Sanctuary under the name of Magdalen Colledge shall so far priviledge them in their actings either against the Church in general or my own particular but that I shall as boldly venture to attacque them there without fear of sacriledge as Joab was smitten by Benaiah at the horns of the Altar But the best is that I am made to have some ground for my disaffection though there be no less falshood in the fundamentals than the superstructure And a fine tale is told of some endeavours by me used for bringing one of my own brood into that foundation the failing of which hopes must of necessity occasion such an undervaluing of that Colledge as to change it from a nest of Sparrows to a nest of Cucknes P. 22. But the truth is that the party for whom I was a suitor was so far from being one of my own brood as not to be within the compass of my Relations so much a stranger to my blood that he was no otherwise endeared unto me than by the extraordinary opinion which I had of his parts and industry And therefore I commended him no further unto Dr. Goodwin than that it was not my desire to have him chosen if any abler Scholar should appear for the place And it was well for the young man that I sped no better Periisset nisi periisset as we know who said For within less than two years after he was elected into the Society of Merton Colledge to their great honour be it spoken upon no other commendation than his own abilities In the next place I am made a slanderer for saying that the new Sabbath speculations of Dr. bound and his adherents had been embraced more passionately of late than any one Article of Religion here by Law established How so Because saith he or they 't is no matter which it is well known that they do more passionately embrace the great truths of Christs Divinity and the Divine Authority of Scripture c. than any opinion about the Sabbath What may be meant by the c. it is hard to say perhaps the Presbyterian Discipline or the Calvinian Doctrines of Predestination the two dear Helena's of the Sects as sacred and inviolable in their estimation as any of their new opinions about the Sabbath But whether the great truths of Christs Divinity the Divine Authority of Scripture or any Article of Religion here by Law established be embraced by them with the like passion as their new Saint Sabbath may be discerned by that impunity which is indulged by them to all Anabaptists Familists Ranters Quakers and all other Sectaries by whom the great Truths of Christs Divinity and the Divine Authority of holy Scripture and almost all the Articles of the Christian Faith have been called in question And yet we cannot choose but know with what severity they proceeded when they were in power against all persons whatsoever
honour of the Empire and the publick safety Nor is this any new authority which the Ecclesiastical Estate hath gained in the latter times but such wherein they were intrusted from the first beginning of that Empire It being affirmed by Aventinus a Writer of unquestioned credit that long before the institution of the seven Electors which was in An. 996. the Prelates the Nobility and the chief of the People had the election of the Emperour Aventini Annal Boiorum l. 5. And if the Prelates were intrusted in so high a point as the Election of the Emperour or the Soveraign Prince no question but they were imployed also in his publick Councels in matters which concerned the managery of the Common-wealth Next pass we over into France and there we find the Subjects marshalled into three Estates whereof the Clergy is the first Rex coactis tribus Ordinibus Sacerdotio Nobilitate Plebe Paul Aemilius hist Franc. l. 9. subsidia rei pecuniariae petiit that is to say the King assembling or conveening the three Estates viz. the Clergy the Nobility and the Commons demanded subsidies for the support of his Estate So Paulus Aemilius doth inform us Out of these three are chosen certain Delegates or Commissioners some for each Estate as often as the Kings occasions do require their meeting the time and place whereof is absolutely left unto his disposing and these thus met do make up the Conventus Ordinum or L' Assemblie des Estats as the French men call it in form much like the English Parliament but in nothing else the power and reputation of it being much diminished in these latter times especially since the great improvement of the Court of Parliament fixed and of long time fixed in Paris Which Court of Parliament as it was instituted at the first by Charles Martel Mayre of the Palace to the Merovignian line of France and Grand-father to Charle magne so it consisted at the first of the same ingredients of which the great Assembly des Estats consisteth now that is to say the Prelates and the Peers and certain of the principal Gentry which they call La Nebless together with some few of the most considerable Officers of the Kings houshold A Court of such esteem in the former time that the Kings of Sicily Cyprus Bohemia Scotland and Navar Andre du Chesne have thought it no disparagement unto them to be members of it and which is more when Frederick the second had spent much time and treasure in his quarrels with Pope Innocent the fourth he was content to submit the whole cause in difference unto the judgement of this Court But being at last become sedentaire and fixed at Paris as other ordinary Courts of Justice were which was in An. 1286. or thereabouts the Nobles first and after them the Bishops withdrew themselves from the troubles of it and left it to the ordering of the Civil Lawyers though still the Peers do challenge and enjoy a place therein as oft as any point of moment is in agitation the Bishop of Paris and the Abbot of St. Denys continuing constant members of it to this very day But for the Assembly des Estats or Conventus Ordinum made up of the Clergy the Nobility and the Commons as before I told you he that would see the manner of it the points there handled and that remainder of authority which is left unto them let him repair unto Thuanus Thuan. hist sui temp lib. and look upon the great Assembly held at Bloys An. 1573. He shall find it there Pass we next over the Pyrenees to the Realms of Spain and we shall find in each the same three Estates whose meeting they call there by the name of Curia Bodin de Repub lib. 3. c. the Court 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or by way of eminency consisting of the Clergy the Nobility and Commissioners of the Provinces and most antient Cities But we must tell you by the way that long before the institution of these Courts and long before the division of Spain into so many Kingdoms the Prelates of that Church were of such authority that a chief stroke in the election of their Kings did belong to them For in the eighth Council of Toledo summoned by Recesvintus the 25th of the Gothish race of the Kings of Spain An. 653. so long agoe in which were present 52 Bishops 12 Abbots and the Delegates of Vicars of ten other Bishops who could not personally attend the service it was ordered with the Kings consent that from thenceforth the Kings of Spain should be elected in the Regal City or in what other place soever the King should happen to decease by the joynt suffrages of the Prelates and the great Lords of the Court Majores Palatii as the Canon calls them Concil Tolet. VIII Can. 10. But take the whole Canon with you for the more assurance and you find it thus Abhinc ergo deinceps ita erunt in Regni gloria praeficiendi Rectores ut aut in urbe Regia aut in loco ubi Princeps decesserit cum Pontisicum Majorumque Palatii omnimodo eligantur assensu But after Spain became divided into several Kingdoms and that each Kingdom had its Court or Curia as they call their Parliament the Clergy were esteemed in each for the third Estate the first indeed of all the three and either in person or by their Proxies made up the most considerable part in those publick meetings For proof of which we need but look into the General History of Spain translated out of French by Grimston and we shall find a Court or Parliament for the Realm of Aragon consisting of the Bishops Nobles and Deputies of Towns and Commonalties having place in the said Estates conveened by King James at Saragossa Anno 1325. for setling the Succession and declaring the Heir another at Monson Gen. hist of Spain l. 14. Id. lib. 11. where the Estates of Aragon and Catalogne did conveen together 1236. to consult about the Conquest of Valentia and before that another Assembly of the Bishops and Noblemen called at Saragossa by Alfonso the Great touching the War against the Moores Id. lib. 9. And as for the Realm of Naples and Sicily being appends on this Crown there is little question to be made but that the Bishops and Clergy of both enjoyed the place and priviledges of the third Estate both Kingdoms being antiently hoden of the Pope and of his Erection and the Italian Bishops as lying directly under his nose more amply priviledged for the most part than in other Countries Thus for Castile we find a Parliament of Lords Prelates and Deputies of Towns summoned at Toledo by Alfonso the Noble An. 1210. upon occasion of an invasion made by the Moores another before that at Burgos Id. lib. 10. under the same King Anno 1179. for levying of money on the people to maintain the Wars that great Convention of the States held
at Toledo by Ferdinand the Catholick 1479. for swearing to the succession of his Son Don John in which the Prelates the Nobility and almost all the Towns and Cities which sent Commissioners to the Assembly are expresly named Id. lib. Thus finally do we find a meeting of the Deputies of the three Estates of Navarre at the Town of Tasalla Anno 1481. for preserving the Kingdom in obedience to King Francis Phoebus being then a Minor under Age and that the Deputies of the Clergy Id. lib. 22. Nobility Provinces and good Towns and Portugal assembled at Tomara Anno 1581. to acknowledg Philip the second for their King and to settle the Government of that Kingdom for the times to come Id. lib. 30. Now let us take a view of the Northern Kingdoms and still we find the people ranked in the self-same manner and their great Councils to consist of the Clergy the Nobility and certain Deputies sent from the Provinces and Cities as in those before In Hungary before that Realm received the Gospel we read of none but Nobiles Plebeii Bonfinius in hist Hungar. Dec. l. 1. Id. ibid. Dec. 2. l. 2. Id. Decad. 2. l. 3. the Nobility and common people who did concur to the Election of their Kings but no sooner was the Faith of Christ admitted and a Clergy instituted but instantly we find a third Estate Episcopos Sacerdotum Collegia Bishops and others of the Clergy superadded to them for the Election of the Kings and the dispatch of other businesses which concerned the publick as it continueth to this day In Danemark we shall find the same if we mark it well For though Poutanus seem to count upon five Estates making the Regal Family to be the first and subdividing the Commons into two whereof the Yeomanry makes one and the Tradesman or Citizen the other Pontan in Doriae descript Id. in histor Rerum Danic l. 7. yet in the body of the History we find only three which are the Bishops the Nobility and Civitatum delegati the Deputies or Commissioners of Towns and Cities Take which of these Accounts you will and reckon either upon Five or on three Estates yet still the Ecclesiastick State or Ordo Ecclesiasticus as himself entituleth it is declared for one and hath been so declared as their stories tell us ever since the first admittance of the Faith amongst them the Bishops together with the Peers and Deputies making up the Comitia or Conventus Ordinum In Poland the chief sway and power of Government next to the King is in the Council of Estate Secundum Regem maxima Augustissima Senatus autoritas Thuan. hist sui temp l. 56. as Thuanus hath it And that consisteth of nine Bishops whereof the Archbishops of Guisna and Leopolis make always two of fifteen Palatines for by that name they call the greater sort of the Nobility and of sixty five Chastellans which are the better sort of the Polish Gentry who with the nine great Officers of the Kingdom or which the Clergy are as capable as any other sort or degree of Subjects do compleat that Council The Common people there are in no Authority à procuratione Reipub. omnino summota not having any Vote or suffrage in the great Comitia Thuan. hist sui temp l. 56. or general Assemblies of the Kingdom as in other places For Sweden it comes near the Government and Forms of Danemark and hath the same Estates and degrees of people as amongst the Danes that is to say Proceres Nobiles the greater and the less Nobility Episcopi Ecclesiastici the Bishops and inferiour Clergy Civitates universitates the Cities and Towns corporate for so I think he means by universitates as Thuanus mustereth them Id. lib. 131. And in this Realm the Bishops and Clergy enjoy the place and priviledges of the third Estate notwithstanding the alteration of Religion to this very day the Bishops in their own persons and a certain number of the Clergy out of every Sochen a division like our Rural Deanries in the name of the rest have a necessary Vote in all their Parliaments And as for Scotland their Parliament consisted anciently of three Estates as learned Cambden doth inform us that is to say the Lords spiritual as Bishops Abbots Priors the temporal Lords as Dukes Marquesses Earls Vicounts Barons Cambden in descript Scotiae and the Commissioners of the Cities and Burroughs To which were added by King James two Delegates or Commissioners out of every County to make it more conform to the English Parliaments And in some Acts the Prelates are by name declared to be the third Estate as in the Parliament Anno 1597. Anno 1606 c. for which I do refer you to the Book at large And now at last we are come to England where we shall find that from the first reception of the Christian Faith amongst the Saxons the Ecclesiasticks have been called to all publick Councils and their advice required in the weightiest matters touching the safety of the Kingdom No sooner had King Ethelbert received the Gospel but presently we read that as well the Clergy as the Laity were called unto the Common Council which the Saxons sometimes called Mysel Synoth the Great Assembly and sometimes Wittenagemots the Council or Assembly of the Wise men of the Realm Anno 605. Coke on Lit. l. 1.2 sect H. Spelman in Concil p. 126. Ethelbertus Rex in fide roboratus Catholica c. Cantuariae convocavit eommune concilium tam Cleri quam populi c King Ethelbert as my Author hath it being confirmed in the Faith in the year 605. which was but nine years after his conversion together with Bertha his Queen their son Eadbald the most Reverend Archbishop Augustine and all the rest of the Nobility did solemnize the Feast of Christs Nativity in the City of Canterbury and did there cause to be assembled on the ninth of January the Common-council of his Kingdom as well the Clergy as the Lay Subject by whose consent and approbation he caused the Monastery by him built to be dedicated to the honour of Almighty God by the hand of Augustine And though no question other Examples of this kind may be found amongst the Saxon Heptarchs yet being the West Saxon Kingdom did in fine prevail and united all the rest into one Monarchy we shall apply our selves unto that more punctually Where we shall find besides two Charters issued out by Athelston Consilio Wlfelmi Archiepiscopi mei aliorum Episcoporum meorum Ap. eund p. 402 403. by the advice of Wlfelm his Archbishop and his other Bishops that Ina in the year 702. caused the Great Council of his Realm to be assembled consisting ex Episcopis Principibus proceribus c. of Bishops Princes Nobles Earls and of all the Wise men Elders and people of the whole Kingdom and there enacted divers Laws for the weal of his
Realm Apud eund p. 219. Thus do we read that Egbert who first united the seven Kingdoms of the Saxons under the name of England did cause to be convened at London his Bishops and the Peers of the highest rank pro consilio capiendo adversus Danicos Piratas Charta Whitlafii Merciorum Regis ap Ingulf to advise upon some course against the Danish Pirates who infested the Sea coasts of England Another Parliament or Council call it which you will called at Kingsbury Anno 855. in the time of Ethelwolph the Son of Egbert pro negotiis regni to treat of the affairs of the Kingdom Chart. Bertulfi Merc. Regis ap Ingulf Ingulfi Croyland hist the Acts whereof are ratified and subscribed by the Bishops Abbots and other great men of the Realm The same King Ethelwolph in a Parliament or Assembly of his States at Winchester Anno 855. Cum consilio Episcoporum principum by the advice and counsel of the Bishops and Nobility confirmed unto the Clergy the tenth part of all mens goods and ordered that the Tithe so confirmed unto them should be free ab omnibus secularibus servitutibus from all secular services and impositions In the Reign of Edred we find this Anno 948. In Festo igitur nativitatis B. Mariae cum universi Magnates regni per Regium edictum summoniti tam Archiepiscopi Episcopi ac Abbates quam caeteri totius Regni proceres optimates Londoniis convenissent ad tractandum de negotiis publicis totius Regni Id ibid. p. 49. edit Lond. viz. That in the Feast of the Nativity of the blessed Virgin the great men of the Realm that is to say Archbishops Bishops Abbots Nobles Peers were summoned by the Kings Writ to appear at London to handle and conclude about the publick affairs of the Kingdom Mention of this Assembly is made again at the foundation and endowment of the Abbie of Crowland Id. p. 500. and afterwards a confirmation of the same by Edgar Anno 966. praesentibus Archiepiscopis Espiscopi Abbatibus Optimatibus Regni in the presence of the Archbishops Bishops Id. pag. 501. 502. Abbots and Peers of the Kingdom Like convention of Estates we find to have been called by Canutus after the death of Edmund Ironside for the setling of the Crown on his own head of which thus the Author Rog. Hoveden Annal. pars prior p. 250. Cujus post mortem Rex Canutus omnes Episcopos Duces necnon principes cunctosque optimates gentis Angliae Londoniae congregari jussit Where still we find the Bishops to be called to Parliament as well as the Dukes Princes and the rest of the Nobility and to be ranked and marshalled first which clearly shews that they were always reckoned for the first Estate before the greatest and most eminent of the secular Peers And so we find it also in a Charter of King Edward the Confessor the last King of the Saxon race by which he granted certain Lands and priviledges to the Church of Westminster Anno 1066. Cum consilio decreto Archiepiscoporum Episcoporum Comitum aliorumque Optimatum Ap. H. Spelman in Concil p. 630. with the Council and decree of the Archbishops Bishops Earls and others of his Nobles And all this while the Bishops and other Prelates of the Church did hold their Lands by no other Tenure than in pura perpetua eleemosyna or Frank almoigne Cambden in Brit. as our Lawyers call it and therefore sat in Parliament in no other capacity than as spiritual persons meerly who by their extraordinary knowledg in the Word of God and in such other parts of Learning as the World then knew were thought best able to direct and advise their Princes in points of judgment In which capacity and no other the Priors of the Cathedral Churches of Canterbury Ely Winchester Coventry Bath Worcester Norwich and Durham the Deans of Exeter York Wells Salisbury and Lincoln the Official of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Dean of the Arches the Guardian of the Spiritualties of any Bishoprick when the See was vacant Selden Titles of hon part 2. c. 5. and the Vicars general of such Bishops as were absent beyond the Seas had sometimes place and suffrage in the house of Lords in the Ages following But when the Norman Conqueror had possest the State then the case was altered the Prelates of the Church were no longer suffered to hold their Lands in Frankalmoigne as before they did or to be free from secular services and commands as before they were Although they kept their Lands yet they changed their Tenure and by the Conqueror Mat. Paris in Will 1. Auno 1.70 were ordained to hold their Lands sub militari servitute either in Capite or by Baronage or some such military hold and thereby were compâ—â—lable to aid the Kings in all times of War with Men Arms and Horses as the Lay subjects of the same Tenures were required to do Which though it were conceived to be a great Disfranchisement at the first and an heavy burden to the Prelacy yet it conduced at last to their greater honour in giving them a further Title to their place in Parliament than that which formerly they could pretend to Before they claimed a place therein ratione Officii only by reason of their Offices or spiritual Dignities but after this by reason also of those ancient Baronies which were annexed unto their Dignities Stamfords Pleas l. 3. c. 1. en respect de lour possessions l'antient Baronies annexes a lour dignities as our Lawyers have it From this time forwards we must look upon them in the House of Parliament not as Bishops only but as Peers and Barons of the Realm also and so themselves affirmed to the Temporal Lords in the Parliament holden at Northamptâ—n under Henry 2. Non sedimus hic Episcopi sed Barones nos Barones vos Barones Ap. Selden Titles of hon p. 2. c. 5. Pares hic sumus We fit not here say they as Bishops only but as Barons We are Barons and you are Barons here we sit as Peers Which last is also verified in terminis by the words of a Statute or Act of Parliament wherein the Bishops are acknowledged to be Peers of the Land Stat. 25 Edw. 3. c. 5. Now that the Bishops are a fundamental and essential part of the Parliament of England I shall endeavour to make good by two manner of proofs whereof the one shall be de jure and the other de facto And first we shall begin with the proofs de jure and therein first with that which doth occur in the Laws of King Athelstan amongst the which there is a Chapter it is Cap. 11. entituled De officio Episcopi quid pertinet ad officium ejus and therein it is thus declared Spelm. concil p. 402. Episcopo jure pertinet omnem rectitudinem promovere Dei scilicet seculi
regni negotiis ac aliis tractari consuetis cum caeteris dicti regni Paribus aliis ibidem jus interessendi habentibus consulere tractare ordinare statuere diffinire ac caetera facere quae Parliamento ibidem imminent facienda In vita Gul. Courtney This put together makes enough abundantly for the proofs de jure and makes the Bishops right to have Vote in Parliament to be undeniable Let us next see whether this right of theirs be not confirmed and countenanced by continual practice and that they have not lost it by discontinuance which is my second kind of proofs those I mean de facto And first beginning with the reign of the Norman Conqueror we find a Parliament assembled in the fifth year of that King wherein are present Episcopi Abbates Comites Primates toties Angliae the Bishops Abbots Earls and the rest of the Baronage of England Matth. Paris in Williglmo 1. In the 9th year of William Rufus an old Author telleth us de regni statu acturus Episcopos Abbates quoscunque Regni proceres in unum praecepti sui sanctione egit that being to consult of the affairs of the Kingdom he called together by his Writ the Bishops Abbots and all the Peers of the Realm Eadmer hist Nov. l. 2. During the reign of Henry the 2d for we will take but one Example out of each Kings reign though each Kings reign would yield us more a Patliament was called at London wherein were many things dispatched as well so Ecclesiastical as secular nature the Bishops and Abbots being present with the other Lords Coacto apud Londoniam magno Episcoporum Procerum Abbatumque Concilio multa ecclesiasticarum secularium rerum ordinata negotia decisa litigia saith the Monk of Malmesbury Malmesb. hist reg Angl. l. 5. And of this Parliament it is I take it that Eadmer speaketh Hist Novel l. 4. p. 91. Proceed we to King Henry the 2d for King Stephens reign was so full of Wars and Tumults that there is very little to be found of Parliaments and there we find the Bishops with the other Peers convened in Parliament for the determination of the points in controversie between Alfonso K. of Castile and Sancho K. of Navarre referred by compremise to that King of England and here determined by K. Henry amongst other things habito cum Episcopis Comitibus Baronibus cum deliberatione consilio as in Roger Hoveden Hoveder Annal pars posterin Hen. 2. Next him comes Richard the first his Son during whose imprisonment by the D. of Austria his Brother John then Earl of Moriton endeavoured by force and cunning in Normandy to set the Crown on his own head which caused Hubert the Arch-bishop of Canterbury to call a Parliament Convocatis coram eo Episcois Comitibus Baronibus regni wherein the Bishops Id in Joh. Earls and Barons did with one consent agree to seiz on his Estate and suppress his power the better to preserve the Kingdom in wealth peace and safety After succeded John and he calls a Parliament wherein were certain Laws made for the defence of his Kingdom Communi assensu Archiepiscoporum Episcoporum Comitum Baronum omnium fidelium suorum Angliae by the common Council and assent of the Arch-bishops Bishops Earls Barons and the rest of his Leiges Remember what was said before touching the Writ of Summons in the said Kings time From this time till the last Parliament of King Charles there is no Kings reign of which we have not many though not all the Acts of Parliament still in print amongst us Nor is there any Act of Parliament in the printed Books to the enactig of the which the Bishops approbation and consent is not plainly spectified either in the general Prome set before the Acts or in the body of the Act it self as by the books themselves doth at large appear And to this kind of proof may be further added the form and manner of the Writ by which the Prelates in all times have been called to Parliament being the very same verbatim with that which is directed to the Temporal Barons save that the Spiritual Lords are commanded to attend to the service in fide dilectione the Temporal in fide homagio and of late times in fide legeantia A form or copy of which summons as ancient as King Johns time V. Titles of Hon. pt 2. c. 5. is still preserved upon Record directed nominatim to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and then a scriptum est similiter to the residue of the Bishops Abbots Earls and Barons Then add the Priviledg of Parliament for themselves and their servants during the time of the Sessions the liberty to kill and take one or two of the Kings Deer as they pass by any of his Forests in coming to the Parliament upon his commandment Charta de Foresta cap. Cambden in Britannia their enjoying of the same immunities which are and have been heretofore enjoyed by the Temporaal Barons and tell me if the Bishops did not sit in Parliament by as good a Title and have not sat there longer by some hundreds of years in their Predecessors as or than any of the Temporal Lords do sit or have sat there in their Progenitours and therefore certainly Essential Fundamental parts of the Court of Parliament But against this it is objected first that some Acts have passed in Parliament to which the Prelates did not Vote not could be present in the House when the Bill was passed as in the sentencing to death or mutilation of a guilty person as doth appear both by the Laws and constitutions recognized at Clarendon and the following practice This hath been touched on before and we told you then that this restraint was laid upon them not by the Common Law of England or an Act or Ordinance of the House of Peers by which they were disabled to attend that service It was their own voluntary Act none compelled them to it but only out of a copnformity to some former Canons ad sanctorum Canonum instituta Antiqu. Brit. in Gul. Conrineâ— Constitut Othobon fol. 45. as their own words are by which it was not lawful for the Clergy-men to be either Judges or Assessors in causa Sanguinis And yet they took such care to preserve their Interests that they did not only give their Proxies for the representing of their persons but did put up their Protestation with a salvo jure for the preserving of their rights for the time to come jure Paritatis interessendi in dicto Parliamento quaod omnia singula ibi exercenda in omnibus semper salvo Antiqu. Britan. in Gul. Courtney as the manner was Examples of the which are as full and frequent as their withdrawing themselves on the said occasions But then the main Objection is that as some Acts have passed in Parliament absentibus Praelatis when the Bishops
be Lords of Parliament concerning which take this from Chief Justice Coke where he affirms that only a Lord of Parliament shall be tryed by his Peers being Lords of Parliament and neither Noblemen of any other Countrey nor others that are called Lords and are no Lords of Parliament are accounted Peers that is to say Peers within this Statute he meaneth the Magna Charta or Great Charter of England the ground of all our Laws and Liberties to this very day by which it seems that he conceived a Peer and a Lord of Parliament to be terms equivalent every Peer of the Realm being a Lord of Parliament and every Lord of Parliament a Peer of the Realm which clearly takes away the pretended difference that is made between them But secondly admit the distinction to be sound and solid yet it will easily be proved that Bishops are not only Lords of Parliament but Peers of the Realm In order whereunto we must take notice of some passages in our former Treatise touching the Bishops place and Vote in Parliament that is to say that from the first planting of the Gospel in the Realms of England parcelled at that time amongst several Kings the Bishops always had the principal place in their Common Councils which the Saxons call by the name of Wittenegemote or the Assembly of wise men and afterwards in the time of the Normans took the name of Parliaments In all which Interval from Ethelbert the first Christian King of Kent in the year of our Lord 605. till the death of Edward the Confessor which happened in the year 1066 no Common Council of the Saxons had been held without them and all this while they held their Courts by no other Tenures than purâ perpetuâ Eleemosynâ franke Almoigne as our Lawyers call it discharged from all Attendances upon secular Services And therefore they could sit there in no other Capacity than ratione officii spiritualis Dignitatis in regard of their Episcopal function which as it raised them to an height of eminence in the eye of the people so it was probably presumed that they were better qualified than the rest of the Subjects as the times then were for Governing the great Affairs of the Common-wealth But when the Norman Conqueror had attained the Crown he thought it an improvident Course to suffer so much of the Lands of the Nation as then belonged unto the Prelates whether Bishops or Abbots in the Right of their Churches to be discharged from doing service to the State And therefore he ordained them to hold their Lands sub militari servitute either in Capite or by Baronage or some such military hold whereby they were compellable to aid the Kings in all times of War with Men Arms and Horses as the Lay-subjects of the same Tenure were required to do Concerning which our Learned Antiquary out of Matthew Paris informs us thus viz. Cambden Brit. fol. 123. Rex enim Gulielmus Episcopatus Abbatias quae Baronias tenebant in purâ perpetuâ Eleemosynâ catenus ab omni servitute militari libertatem habuerunt sub servitute statuit militari Irrotulans singulos Episcopos Abbatias pro voluntate sua quot milites sibi successoribus hostilitatis tempore à singulis voluit exhiberi Which though at first it was conceived to be a great Disfranchisement and an heavy burden to the Prelacy yet Cambden very well observes that it conduced at last to their greater honour in giving them a further Title to their place in Parliament a claim to all the Rights of Peerage and less obnoxious to Disputes if considered rightly than that which formerly they could pretend to so that from this time forwards we must look upon them in all English Parliaments not only as Bishops in the Church but as Peers and Barons of the Realm of the same Tenure and therefore of the same preheminence with the Temporal Lords Which certainly must be the Reason that the Bishops of the Isle of Man are not called to Parliament because they hold not of the King by Barony as the rest of the English Bishops do but hold the whole Estate in Lands from the Earl of Darby Thus also saith a Learned Lawyer Coke Institut part 2. f. 3. Every Arch-bishoprick and Bishoprick in England are of the Kings foundation and holden of the King per Baroniam and many Abbots and Priors of Monasteries were also of the Kings foundation and did hold of him per Baroniam and in this Right the Arch-bishops and Bishops and such of the Abbots and Priors as held per Baroniam and were called by Writ to Parliament were Lords of Parliament And yet not Lords of Parliament only but Peers and Barons of the Realm as he shall call them very shortly on another occasion In the mean time we may observe that by this changing of their Tenure the Bishops frequently were comprehended in the name of Barons and more particularly in that passage of Magna Charta Coke Institut part 2. fol. 23. where it is said Comites Barones non amercientur nisi per pares suos that Earls and Barons are not to be amerced but by their Peers concerning which the said Great Lawyer tells us thus viz. That though this Statute as he calls it be in the negative yet long use hath prevailed against it for now the Amerciament of the Nobility is reduced to a certainty viz. a Duke 10 l. an Earl 5 l. a Bishop that hath a Barony 5 l. where plainly Bishops must be comprehended in the name of Barons and be amerced by their Peers as the Barons were though afterwards their Amerciaments be reduced to a certainty as well as those of Earls and Barons in the times succeeding And then if Bishops be included in the name of Barons and could not be legally amerced but by their Peers as neither could the Earls or Barons by the words of this Charter it must needs follow that the Bishops were accounted Peers as well as any either of the Earls or Barons by whom they were to be Amerced And for the next place we may behold the Constitutions made at Clarendon the tenth year of King Henry the 2d Matth. Paris in Hen. 2d Anno 1164. in which it was declared as followeth viz. Archiepiscopi Episcopi universae personae Regni qui Rege tenent in Capite habeant possessiones suos de Rege sicut Baroniam inde respondeant Justiciariis Ministris Regis sicut caeteri Barones debent interesse Curiae Regis cum Baronibus quousque perventum sit ad diminutionem membrorum vel ad mortem Where first I think that those words universae personae are to be understood of none but Ecclesiastical persons according to the notion of the word persona in the Common Law and so to comprehend the Regular Clergy as well as the Arch-bishops and Bishops But secondly if we must understand it of the Laity also it
his time save that the latter clause was altered and that for praising God for Saints departed put instead thereof as we may see in Bishop Latimers Sermon preached at Stanford whereof more anon Hitherto are we clear for King Edwards time and no less clear are we for King Henries also especially for the latter part thereof in which the use of Bidding prayers or moving the people unto prayer had by him been imposed upon the Clergy before this time the people had been trained up in a very gross ignorance not knowing explicitely the Articles of their belief accustomed to a Latin service in their publick Churches and to a daily stint of Pater-nosters and Ave-Maries in the Latin tongue which few or none of them understood But that King having taken on himself the Title of supreme Head of the Church of England and adding of the same to the stile Imperial viz. Anno 1535 there issued out an order by his Authority in this Form that followeth This is an Order taken for Preaching and Bidding of Beads in all Sermons to be made within this Realm First Whosoever shall Preach in the presence of the Kings Highness and the Queen's Grace shall in the bidding of Beads pray for the whole Catholick Church of Christ as well quick as dead and especially for the Catholick Church of this Realm and first as we be most bounden for our Soveraign Lord King Henry the VIII being immediatly next under God the only supreme Head of this Catholick Church of England And for the most gracious Lady Qu. Anne his Wife and for the Lady Elizabeth Daughter and Heir to them both And no further Item the Preacher in all other places of this Realm not in the presence of the Kings said Highness and the Queens Grace shall in the bidding of the Beads pray first in manner and Form and word for word as is above ordained and limited Adding thereto in the second part For all Archbishops and Bishops and for the whole Clergy of this Realm And specially such as the Preacher shall name of his devotion And thirdly for all Dukes Earls Marquess's and for all the whole Temporalty of this Realm and specially for such as the Preacher shall name of devotion And finally for the souls of all them that be dead and specially for such as it shall please the Preacher to name So far the very words of the Injunction as it relates unto the business now in hand which differs very little if at all in Form and fashion though there be some difference in the matter from those which followed in the Reign of K. Edward VI. and Q. Eliz. both of which out of question took their hint from hence Besides it is to be observed that the said King having assumed unto himself the stile and Title of supreme Head of the Church of England as before is said did before this by Proclamation dated June 9. An. 1534. declare and signifie his Royal pleasure that all and all manner of Ecclesiastical persons should teach preach publish and declare in all manner of Churches the said his just Title Stile and Jurisdiction on every Sunday and high Feast throughout the year which after was enjoyned in the Injunction of the year Anno 1536 set out by the Lord Cromwell being then Vicar General with the Kings authority As also in the Injunctions of King Edward the 6. An. 1547. which again was revived in the Queens Injunctions Anno 1559. As after in the first Convocation of King James in the year 1603. And besides this it was appointed in the said Injunctions of King Henry the 8. that the Preacher or Parochial Priest should every Sunday in the Pulpit rehearse distinctly the Lords prayer the Articles of the Creed and the ten Commandments in the English Tongue for the better instructing of the people in their duties both to God and Man which being ordered at the same time as the bidding of the Beads in the Forni spoken of before was first enjoyned shews plainly the intention and effect of both to be no other than to instruct the people in the principles of faith and piety So that as well to teach the people how to pray and what things they chiefly were to pray for in the publick meeting as to make known unto them the Kings just Title by which they were to recommend him in their devotions the Form before remembred of Bidding prayers or Beads was prescribed the Priests by them to be proposed unto the people in their several Sermons For instance of the which in point of practice in the said Kings time we need but look upon a Sermon of Bishop Latimers being that before the Convocation Anno 1536. which was the 28. of King Henries Reign In which being entred on his matter as the use then was he thus bids the prayers That all that I say shall may turn to the glory of God your Souls health and the edifying of Christs Body I pray you all to pray with me unto God and that also in your Petitions you desire that these two things he vouchsase to grant us First a mouth for me to speak rightly next Ears for you that in hearing me you may take profit at my hands and that this may come to effect you shall desire him unto whom our Master Christ bad we should pray saying even the same prayer which Christ himself did Institute Wherein we shall pray for our Sovereign Lord the King chief and supreme Head of the Church of England under Christ and for the most excellent gracious and vertuous Lady Queen Jane his most lawful Wife and for all his whether they be of the Clergy or Laity whether they be of the Nobility or else other his Grace's Subjects humbly beseeching Almighty God that every one of us even from the highest to the lowest may in his degree and Calling earnestly endeavour to set forth the glory of God and the Gospel of his Son Christ Jesus that so living in his fear and love we may in the end of our days depart out of this life in his friendship and favour For these graces and what else his wisdom knoweth more needful for us let us pray as we are taught saying Our Father c. Put all that hath been said together and the sum is this That if we do interpret the Canon of the year 1603. by the Queens Injunctions and construe both of them according to the Injunctions in King Edwards and King Henries days we shall see plainly that the Form of prayer appointed by the Canon is no new Invention neither obtruded on the Church by the Bishops of these times on a design to stint the Spirit as some now give out or on a like design of Archbishop Bancroft and the Prelates of his time as is said by others but carried and transmitted from hand to hand since the very first beginning of the Reformation nor did it stand thus only in point of Law not being reduced unto practice
Council the Spiritualty and Temporalty And I shall desire you to commend unto God with your prayers the Souls departed unto God in Christs Faith and among those most especially our late Sovereign Lord King Henry VIII your most noble Father for these and for grace necessary I shall desire you to say a Pater-nosler and so forth Which Form of his agrees most exactly with that order in the Kings Injunction not altered then in that clause for the Saints departed which as it seems continued till the alteration of the publick Liturgy Anno 1552. and then was changed with the same In other things no difference between him and that other Form which was commanded and set forth by the Queens Injunction and between him and Bishop Latimer so little that it may seem to be in words more than meaning In both we have a clear and pregnant evidence that then they used no proper and direct address to God in a formal Prayer of their own devising but only laid before the people some certain heads they were to pray for which in the Language of that time was called Bidding of prayer We should now look upon the practice in King Henries days but that I think no question can or will be made in that particular considering the severe temper of that Prince in exacting full obedience unto all his Mandates or if there be that Form of Prayer which we find used by Bishop Latimer in his Sermon Preached before the Convocation in the 28th of that Kings Reign which before we spake of may serve once for all without further Instances which brings the precept and the practice to the like Antiquity Put all that hath been said together and the sum is this That if we do interpret the Canon of the year 1603. by the Queens Injunctions and construe both of them according to the Injunctions in King Edwards and King Henries days seconded by the constant practice in all times succeeding we shall see plainly that in the intention of the Church we are to use no Prayer before our Sermons by way of Invocation to God but somewhere in them or before them to use a Form of Bidding prayer by way of Exhortation to the Auditory This said we will declare in brief how the new Form of Prayer by way of Invocation and address to God which is now generally taken up came in use amongst us and afterwards lay down some reasons not so much to oppose that Form of Invocation lately taken up as to establish and confirm the other Form of Bidding prayers founded upon the Canon the Injunctions and the antient practice Now this new Form of Invocation to deal plainly in it was first contrived and set on foot by the Puritan faction who labouring with might and main 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the saying is to overthrow the publick service of this Church then by Law established endeavoured to advance in the place thereof an Arbitrary and Extemporary Form of Prayer of every ptivate mans devising and that not only before but after Sermon Calvin had so appointed in Geneva and Knex in Scotland and rather than not have it so in England also the Brethren were resolved to put all in hazard This when they could not compass with their noise and clamour they fell upon a way which came somewhat near it and was more likely far to effect their purpose Their Lecturers and Preachers yea and followers too not coming to the Church till the Service ended and their own Prayer was to begin The Book of dangerous practices and positions writ as was thought by Bishop Bancroft though not then a Bishop will give us some of those examples take one among them for a tryal and you shall find him boast himself that every Sabbath so he called it not medling with the Liturgy prescribed he used to Preach unto his people Ego singulis sabbatis si non alius adveniens locum suppleat cum praescriptâ liturgias formula nihil habens commercii in coetu concionem habeo What he professed for himself was then the practice of them all some of them as it is observed in the Conference at Hampton Court being content to walk in the Church-yard till Sermon time rather than to be present at publick prayer and is still I fear used by many Lecturers in and about the City of London Thus having limited all Gods Service unto Preaching and some Extemporary Prayer of their own devising they brought the people at last unto this persuasion that in the publick Liturgy there was nothing but a meer formality which the Law enjoyned Their Arbitrary and Extemporary Forms of Prayer savouring only of the Spirit and true devotion which when they could not bring about at the first attempt they practised with a counterfeit Devil to undertake it The seven of Lancashire when they were taught by Mr. Darrel to play the Demoniacks were also taught by him to promote the cause As often as any of those Ministers who were conformable to the Church and kept themselves unto the Forms of the publique Liturgy did come to visit them and in their hearing read some Prayers out of the Common-prayer Book the Devil was as quiet as any Lamb as if he were well pleased with that Form of Service or that there was not any thing in those Prayers or the men that used them to trouble him or disturb his peace But when as Mr. Darrel and other Brethren of the Non-conformity approached in sight who used to fall upon him with whole volleys of raw and indigested Prayers of their own devising such as they had prepared and fitted for the present occasion then were the wicked Spirits much more troubled and perplexed extreamly whereby you may perceive that even the Puritans also had a kind of Holy-water with which to fright away the Devil lest else the Papists should in any thing have the start before them And whereas the Injunction had restrained the Clergy to some certain heads by them to be commended to the Peoples prayers these men took neither care of the Form or matter of the said Injunction not of the Form for they directed their address to Almighty God in manner of a formal prayer as hath since been used against the Canon nor of the matter of the same for they began their Prayer with a long confession or a discourse rather of their own uncleanness and the corruption of mans nature fill'd it with praise and thanksgiving for particular blessings even for their Godly friends and acquaintance and ended it with a kind of a charm or transubstantiating as viz. That the words which they should speak might not be entertained as the words of a mortal man but as they were indeed the words of the immortal and living God For in that very stile I have heard it often nay they went so far in the end that the Visitation of the Sick prescribed by the Church was quite laid aside their weak estate being reduced unto
had any thing to do in the Land at all For as I am informed by Sir Edward Coke in his Comment upon Littletons Tenures lib. 1. cap. 9. Sect. 73. fol. 58. It appeareth by the Laws and Ordinances of ancient Kings and especially of King Alfred that the first King of this Realm had all the lands of England in Demesne and les grands manours royalties they reserved to themselves and with the remnant they for the defence of the Realm enfeoffed the Barons of the Realm with such jurisdiction as the Court Baron now hath So he the professed Champion of the Common Laws And at this time it was when all the Lands in England were the Kings Demesne that Ethelwolph the second Monarch of the Saxon race his father Egbert being the first which brought the former Heptarchie under one sole Prince conferred the Tithes of all the Kingdom upon the Church by his royal Charter Of which thus Ingulph Abbot of Crowland an old Saxon Writer a Anno 855. Rex Ethelwulfus omnium Praelatorum Principum suorum qui sub ipso variis Provinciis totius Angliae praeerant gratuito Consensu tunc primo cum decimis terrarum bonorum aliorum sive catallorum universam dotavit Ecclesiam per suum Regium Chirographum Ingulph Anno 855. which was the 18. of his Reign King Ethelwulph with the consent of his Prelates and Princes which ruled in England under him in their several Provinces did first enrich the Church of England with the Tithes of all his Lands and Goods by his Charter Royal. Ethelward an old Saxon and of the blood Royal doth express it thus b Decimavit de omni possessione sua in partem Domini in universo regimine Principatus sui sic constituit Ethelward He gave the Tithe of his possessions for the Lords own portion and ordered it to be so in all the parts of the Kingdom under his command Florence of Worcester in these words c Aethelwulphus Rex decimam totius Regni sui partem ab omni Regali servitio tributo liberavit in sempiterno Graphio in Cruce Christi pro Redemptione Animae suae Praedecessorum suorum uni trino Deo immolavit Florent Wigorn. King Ethelwolfe for the Redemption of his own soul and the souls of his Predecessors discharged the tenth part of his Realm of all Tributes and Services due unto the Crown and by his perpetual Charter signed with the sign of the Cross offered it to the three-one God Roger of Hovenden hath it in the self same words and Huntingdon more briefly thus d Totam terram suam propter amorem Dei Redemptionem ad opes Ecclesiarum decimavit Henr. Huntingd. That for the love of God and the redemption of his soul he tithed his whole Dominions to the use of the Church But what need search be made into so many Authors when the Charter it self is extant in old Abbot Ingulph and in Matthew of Westminster and in the Leiger Book of the Abbey of Abingdon which Charter being offered by the King on the Altar at Winchester in the presence of his Barons was received by the Bishops and by them sent to be published in all the Churches of their several Diocesses a clause being added by the King saith the Book of Abingdon That whosoever added to the gift e Qui augere voluerit nostram donationem augeat omnipotens Deus dies ejus prosperos siquis vero mutare vel minuere praesumpserit noscat se ad Tribunal Christi redditurum rationem nisi prius satisfactione emendaverit God would please to prosper and increase his days but that if any did presume to diminish the same he should be called to an account for it at Christs Judgment-seat unless he made amends by full satisfaction In which as in some other of the former passages as there is somewhat savouring of the errour of those darker times touching the merit of good works yet the authorities are strong and most convincing for confirmation of the point which we have in hand Now that the King charged all the Lands of the Kingdom with the payment of Tithes and not that only which he held in his own possession is evident both by that which was said before from Sir Edward Coke and by the several passages of the former Authors For if all the Lands in the Kingdom were the Kings Demesnes and the King conferred the Tithes of all his Lands on the Church of God it must follow thereupon that all the Lands of the Realm were charged with Tithes before they were distributed amongst the Barons for defence of the Kingdom And that the Lands of the whole Realm were thus charged with Tithes as well that which was parted in the hands of Tenants as that which was in the occupancy of the King himself the words before alledged do most plainly evidence where it is said that he gave the tenth of all his Lands as Ingulph the Tithe of his whole Land as Henry of Huntingdon the tenth part of his whole Kingdom as in Florence of Worcester the tenth part of the Lands throughout the Kingdom in the Charter it self And finally in the Book of Abingdon the Charter is ushered in with this following Title viz. Quomodo Ethelwolfus Rex dedit decimam partem regni sui Ecclesiis that is to say how Ethelwolf gave unto the Church the tenth part of his Kingdom This makes it evident that the King did not only give de facto the Tithe or the tenth part of his whole Realm to the use of the Clergy but that he had a right and a power to do it as being not only the Lord Paramount but the Proprietary of the whole Lands the Lords and great Men of the Realm not having then a property or estates of permanency but as accomptants to the King whose the whole land was And though it seems by Ingulph their consents were asked and that they gave a free consent to the Kings Donation yet was this but a matter of Form and not simply necessary their approbation and consent being only asked either because the King was not willing to do any thing to the disherison of his Crown without the liking and consent of the Peers or that having their consent and approbation they should be barred from pleading any Tenant-right and be obliged to stand in maintenance and defence thereof against all pretenders And this appears yet further by a Law of King Athelstanes made in the year 930 about which time not only the Prelates of the Church as formerly but the great Men of the Realm began to be setled in Estates of permanency and to claim a property in those Lands which they held of the Crown and claiming so begun it seems to make bold to subduct their Tithes For remedy whereof the King made this Law commanding all his Ministers throughout the Kingdom that in the first place they should pay the Tithes
going a Journey this may be allowed of in case they permit not Mass and Prayers This I find extant as a Canon of the 6. General Council holden in Constantinople but since both this and all the rest of the same stamp there are nine in all are thought not to belong of right unto it I have chosen rather to rafer it to this Theodulphus though a private man amongst whose works I find it in the great Bibliotheca Patrum Tom. 9. Thus in a Synod held at Coy within the Realm and Diocess of Oviedo Anno 1050. it was decreed that all men should repair to Church on the Lords day and there hear Mattins Mass and other the canonical hours as also Opus servile non exerceant nec sectentur itinera that they should do no servile work Tit. 6. nor take any Journey Yet with exceptions four or five namely unless it were for Devotions sake or to bury the Dead or to visit the Sick or finally pro secreto regis Saracenorum impetu on special business of the Kings or to make head against the Saracens The King was much beholden to them that they would take such care of his State Affairs more than some Princes might be now in case their business were at the disposing of particular men So had it been decreed by several Emperours yea and by several Councils too which for the East pars was confirmed by Emanuel Comneus the Eastern Emperiour Anno 1174. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that all access to the Tribunal should be quite shut up that none of those who sat in Judgment should sit on any Cause that day Yet this not absolutely but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. unless the King shall please on any new emergent cause as many times business comes unlooked for to appoint it otherwise Thus also for the works of labour fishing had been resirained on the Lords day as toilsom Act and on he other Holy days as well as that yet did it please Pope Alexander the third he entred on the Chair of Rome Decretal l. 2. tit 9. c 3. Anno 1160. to order by his decretal that on the Lords day and the rest it might be lawful unto those who dwelt upon the Coast Si halecia terrae inclinarint eorum captioni ingruente necessitate intendere to set themselves unto their fishing in case the Herring came within their reach and the time was seasonable Provided that they sent a convenient portion unto the Churches round about them and unto the poor Nay even the works of Handicrafts were in some sort suffered For whereas in the Council of Laodicea it was determined that men should rest on the Lords day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from all their handy work and repair to Church Balsamon tells us in his Glass In Can. 29. concil Laod. that so it was resolved amongst them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not absolutely but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if with conveniency they could For still saith he he lived in Anno 1191 in case men labour on that day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either because of want or any other necessity they are held excusable Lastly Chronic. Aditâ—i whereas Pope Gregory the ninth had on the Sundays and the Holy days commanded ut homines jumenta omnia quiescant that there should be a general restraint from labour both of man and beast there was a refervation also nisi urgens necessitas instet vel nisi pauperibus vel Ecclesiae gratis fiat unless on great necessity or some good Office to be done unto the poor or to the Church Nor were there reservations and exceptions only in point of business and nothing found in point of practice but there are many passages especially of the greatest persons and most publick actions left upon Record to let us know what liberty that assumed unto themselves as well on this day as the rest And in such only shall I instance and as being most exemplary and therefore most conducing to my present purpose Aventine Hist l. 3. And first we read of a great Battel fought on Palm-Sunday An. 718. between Charles Martel Grand master of the Houshold of the King of France and Hilpericus the King himself wherein the Victory fell to Charles and yet we read not there of any great necessity nay of none at all but that they might on both sides have deferred the Battel had they conceived it any sin to fight that day Upon the Sunday before Lent Anno 835. Ludovick the Emperour â—urnamed Pius or the godly together with his Prelates and others Baron which had been present with him at the Assembly held at Theonville went on his Journey unto Mets nor do we find that it did derogate at all from his Name and Piety Upon the Sunday after Whitsontide Anno 844. Ludowick Son unto Lotharius the Emperour made his solemn entrance into Rome the Roman Citizens attending him with their Flaggs and Ensigns the Pope and Clergy staying his coming in St. Peters Church there to entertain him Upon a Sunday Anno 1014. Ditmarus Hist l. 7. Otho Frising hist l. 6. c. 29. Henry the Emperour duodecim senatoribus vallatus environed with twelve of the Roman Senatours came to St. Peters Church and there was crowned together with his Wife by the Pope then being On Easter day in ipsa die paschalis solennitatis Anno 1027. Conrade the Emperour was solemnly inaugurated by Pope John Canutus King of England and Rodalph King of the Burgundians being then both present and the next Sunday after began his Journey towards Germany Upon Palm Sunday Anno 1084. Wibert Archbishop of Ravenna was solemnly inthronized in the Chair of Rome â—â—spergen Chronicon and the next Sunday after being Easter day Henry the third Imperiali dignitate sublimatus est was crowned Emperour On Passion Sunday Anno 1148. Lewis the King of France afterwards Canonized for a Saint made his first entry into Hierusalem with all his Army and yet we read not any where that it was laid in Bar against him to put by his Sainting as possibly it might be now were it yet to do What should I speak of Councils on this day assembled as that of Chartres Anno 1146. for the recovery of the Holy land of Tours on Trinity Sunday as we call it now Anno 1164. against Octavian the Pseudo-Pope that of Ferrara upon Passion Sunday Anno 1177. against Frederick the Emperour or that of Paris Anno 1226. summoned by Stephen then Bishop there on the fourth Sunday in Lent for the condemning of certain dangerous and erronious positions at that time on foot I have the rather instanced in these particulars partly because they hapned about these times when Prince and Prelate were most intent in laying more and more restraints upon their people for the more honour of this day and partly because being all of them publick actions and such as moved not forwards but by divers wheels they did require
having built that Church unto the honour of God and memory of Saint Peter invited Mellitus Bishop of London Adredus de Gestis Edwardi on a day appointed unto the consecration of it The night before S. Peter coming to the further side crosseth the Ferry goes into the Church and with a great deal of celestial musick lights and company performs that office for the dispatch of which Mellitus had been invited This done and being wafted back to the further side he gives the Ferri-man for his fare a good draught of Fishes only commanding him to carry one of them which was the best for price and beauty for a present from him to Mellitus in testimony that the work was done to his hand already Then telling who he was he adds that he and his Posterity the whole race of Fisher-men should be long after stored with that kind of Fish tantum ne ultra piscari audeatis in die Dominica provided always that they fished no more upon the Sunday Aldredus so reports the story And though it might be true as unto the times wherein he lived which was in the declining of the twelfth Century that Fishing on the Lords day was restrained by Law yet sure he placed this story ill in giving this injunction from St. Peter in those early days when such restraints were hardly setled if in a Church new planted they had yet been spoken of Leaving this therefore as a fable let us next look on Beda what he hath left us of this day in reference to our Ancestors of the Saxons-Race and many things we find in him worth our observation Before we shewed you how the Sunday was esteemed a Festival that it was judged heretical to hold Fasts thereon Hist l. 3. c. 23. This Ordinance came in amongst us with the faith it self S. Chadd having a place designed him by King Oswald to erect a Monastery did presently retire unto it in the time of Lent In all which time Dominica excepta the Lords day excepted he fasted constantly till the Evening as the story tells us The like is told of Adamannus Hist l. 4. c. 25. one of the Monastery of Coldingham now in Scotland but then accounted part of the Kingdom of Northumberland that he did live in such a strict and abstemious manner ut nil unquam cibi vel potus excepta die Dominica quinta Sabbati perciperet that he did never eat nor drink but on the Sunday and Thursday only This Adamannus lived in Anno 690. Before we shewed you with what profit Musick had been brought into the Church of God and hither it was brought it seems 〈◊〉 hist l. 2. c. 20. with the first preaching of the Gospel Beda relates it of Paulinus that when he was made Bishop of Rochester which was in Anno 631. he left behind him in the North one James a Deacon cantandi in Ecclesia peritissimum a man exceeding perfect in Church Musick who taught them there that form of singing Divine Service which which he learnt in Canterbury And after in the year 668 what time Archbishop Theodorus made his Metropolitical visitationn Lib. 4. c. 2. the Art of singing Service which was then only used in Kent for in the North it had not been so setled but that it was again forgotten was generally taken up over all the Kingdom Sonos cantandi in Ecclesia quos eatenusin Cantica tantum noverant ab hoc tempore per omnes Anglorum Ecclesias dicere coeperunt as that Author hath it Before we shewed how Pope Vitalianus Anno 653. added the Organ to that vocal Musick which was before in use in the Church of Christ In less than 30 years after and namely in the year 679. were they introduced by Pope Agatho into the Churches of the English and have continued in the same well near 1000 years without interruption Before we shewed you how some of the greater Festivals were in esteem before the Sunday Bed Eccl. hist l. 4. c. 19. and that it was so even in the Primitive times And so it also was in the Primitive times of this Church of England it being told us of Qu. Etheldreda that after she had put her self into a Monastery she never went unto the Bathes praeter imminentibus soleniis majoribus but on the approach of the greater Festivals such as were Easter Pentecost and Christmas for so I think he means there by Epiphanie as also that unless it were on the greater Festivals she did not use to eat above once a day This plainly shews that Sunday was not reckoned for a greater Festival that other days were in the opinion and esteem above it and makes it evident withal that they conceived not that the keeping of the Lords day was to be accounted as a part of the law of Nature or introduced into the Church by divine Authority but by the same Authority that the others were Ap. Lambert Archaion For Laws in these times made we meet with none but those of Ina a West-Saxon King who entred on his Reign Anno 712. A Prince exceedingly devoted to the Church of Rome and therefore apt enough to imbrace any thing which was there concluded By him it was enacted in the form that followeth Servus si quid operis patrarit die Dominico ex praecepto Domini sui liber esto c. If a servant work on the Lords day by the appointment of his Master he was to be set free and his Master was to forfeit 30 shillings but of he worked without such order from his Master to be whipped or mulcted Liber si hoc die operetur injussu Domini sui c. So if a Freeman worked that day without direction from his Master he either was to be made a Bondman or pay 60 shillings As for the Doctrine of these times In Luc. 59. we may best judg of that by Beda First for the Sabbath that he tell us ad Mosis usque tempora caeterorum dierum similis erat was meerly like the other days until Moses time no difference at all between them therefore not institute and observed in the beginning of the World as some teach us now Next for the Lords day that he makes an Apostolical sanction only no Divine Commandment as before we noted and how far Apostolical sanctions bind we may clearly see by that which they determined in the Council of Hierusalem Of these two Specialties we have spoken already This is the most we find in the Saxon Heptarchie and little more than this we find in the Saxon Monarchie In this we meet with Alured first the first that brought this Realm in order Lambert Archaion who in his Laws cap. de diebus festis solennibus reckoneth up certain days in which it was permitted unto Freemen to enjoy their Festival liberty as the phrase there is servis autem iis qui sunt legitima officiorum servitute astricti non item but not
themselves to prayer and Gods publick service Particularly Fitz-Herbert tells us that no plea shall be holden Quindena Paschae Nat. Brevium fol. 17. 1 Eli◠p. 168. because it is always on the sunday but it shall be holden crastino quindenae paschae on the morrow after So Justice Dyer hath resolved that if a Writ of scire facias out of the Common-pleas bear Test on a Sunday it is an errour because that day is not dies juridicus in Banco And so it is agreed amongst them that on a Fine levied with Proclamations according to the Statute of King Henry VII if any of the Proclamations be made on the Lords day all of them are to be accounted erroneous Acts. But to return unto the Canon where before we left however that Archbishop Langton formerly and Islip at the present time had made these several restraints from all servile labours yet they were far enough from entertaining any Jewish fancy The Canon last remembred that of Simon Islip doth express as much But more particularly and punctually we may find what was the judgment of these times in a full declaration of the same in a Synod at Lambeth what time John Peckham was Archbishop which was in Anno 1280. Lindw l. 1. tit de offic Archipresb It was thus determined Sciendum est quod obligatio ad feriandum in Sabbato legali expiravit omnino c. It is to be understood that all manner of obligation of resting on the legal Sabbath as was required in the Old Testament is utterly expired with the other ceremonies And it is now sufficient in the New Testament to attend Gods service upon the Lords days and the other Holy days ad hoc Ecclesiastica authoritate deputatis appointed by the Church to that end and purpose The manner of sanctifying all which days non est sumendus à superstitione Judaica sed à Canonicis institutis is not to be derived from any Jewish superstition but from the Canons of the Church This was exact and plain enough and this was constantly the doctrine of the Church of England Joannes de Burgo who lived about the end of K. Henry VI. doth almost word for word resolve it so in his Pupilla oculi part 10. c. 11. D. Yet find we not in these restraints that Marketting had been forbidden either on the Lords day or the other Holy days and indeed it was not that came in afterwards by degrees partly by Statutes of the Realm partly by Canons of the Church not till all Nations else had long laid them down For in the 28 of King Edward III. cap 14. it was accorded and established that shewing of Wools shall be made at the Stapie every day of the week except the Sunday and the solemn Feasts in the year This was the first restraint in this kind with us here in England and this gives no more priviledge to the Lords day than the solemn Festivals Antiq. Brit. in Stafford Nor was there more done in it for almost an hundred years not till the time of Henry VI. Anno 1444. what time Archbishop Stafford decreed throughout his Province ut nundina emporia in Ecclesiis aut Coemiteriis diebusque Dominicis atque Festis praeterquam tempore messis non teneantur that Fairs and Markets should no more be kept in Churches and Church-yards or on the Lords days or the other Holy-days except in time of Harvest only If in that time they might be suffered then certainly in themselves they were not unlawful on any other further than as prohibited by the higher powers Now that which the Archbishop had decreed throughout his Province Tabians Chronicle Catworth Lord Mayor of London attempted to exceed within that City For in this year saith Fabian Anno 1444. an Act was made by Authority of the Common Council of London that upon the Sunday should no manner of thing within the franchise of the City be bought or sold neither Victual nor other thing nor no Artificer should bring his Ware unto any man to be worn or occupied that day as Taylers Garments and Cordwayners Shooes and so likewise all other occupations But then it followeth in the story the which Ordinance held but a while enough to shew by the success how ill it doth agree with a Lord Mayor to deal in things about the Sabbath Afterwards in the year 1451. which was the 28 of this Henries Reign it pleased the King in Parliament to ratifie what before was ordered by that Archbishop in this form that followeth 28. H. 6. c. 16. Considering the abominable injuries and effences done to Almigvty God and to his Saints always ayders and finguler affistants in our necessities by the necasion of Fairs and Marhets upon their high and principal Feasts as in the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord. in the day of Corpus Christi in the day of Whitsunday Trinity Sunday and other Sundays as also in the high Feast of the Assumption of our Blessed Lady the day of all Saints and on Good Friday accustomably and miserably holden and used in the Keaim of England c. our Soveraign Lord the King c. hath ordained that all manner of Fairs and Markets on the said principal Feasts and Sundays and Good Friday shall clearly cease from all shewing of any Goods and Merchandises necessary Victual only ercept which yet was more than was allowed in the City-Act upon pain of forfeiture of all the goods aforesaid to the Lord of the franchise or liverty where such goods be or shall be she wed contrary to this Ordinance the four Sundays in Harvest except Which clause or reservation sheweth plainly that the things before prohibited were not esteemed unlawful in themselves as also that this Law was made in confirmation of the former order of the Archbishop as before was said Now on this Law I find two resolutions made by my Lords the Judges First Justice Brian in the 12th of King Edward the fourth declared that no sale made upon a Sunday though in a Fair or Market-overt for Markets as it seemeth were not then quite laid down though by Law prohibited shall be a good sale to alter the property of the goods And Ploydon in the time of Queen Elizabeth was of opinion Daltons Justice cap. 27. that the Lord of any Fair or Market kept upon the Sunday contrary to the Statute may therefore be indicted for the King or Queen either at the Assizes or general Goal delivery or Quarter Sessions within that County If so in case such Lord may be Endicted for any Fair or Market kept upon the sunday as being contrary to the Statute then by the same reason may he be Endicted for any Fair or Market kept on any of the other Holy-days in that Statute mentioned Nor staid it here For in the 1465. which was the fourth year of King Edward IV. it pleased the King in Parliament to Enact as followeth Our Soveraign Lord the
thirty sixth Canon Directions to the Vice-Chancellor Heads c. Jan. 18. 1616. that no man in the Pulpit or Schools be suffered to maintain Dogmatically any point of doctrine that is not allowed by the Church of England that none be suffered to preach or lecture in the Towns of Oxon or Cambridg but such as were every way conformable to the Church hoth in doctrine and discipline and finally which most apparently conduced to the ruin of Calvinism that young Students in Divinity be directed to study such books as be most agreeable in doctrine and discipline to the Church of England and excited to bestow their time in the fathers and Councils Schoolmen Histories and Controversies and not to insist too long upon Compendiums and abbreviations making them the grounds of their study in Divinity This seemed sufficient to bruite these doctrines in the shell as indeed it was had these directions been as carefully followed as they were piously prescribed But little or nothing being done in pursuance of them the Predestinarian doctrines came to be the ordinary Theam of all Sermons Lectures and Disputations partly in regard that Dr. Prideaux who had then newly succeeded Dr. Rob. Abbot in the Chair at Oxon had very passionately exposed the Calvinian Interest and partly in regard of the Kings declared aversness from the Belgick Remonstrants whom for the reasons before mentioned he laboured to suppress to his utmost power And yet being careful that the Truth should not fear the worse for the men that taught it he gave command to such Divines as were commissionated by him to attend in the Synod of Dort An. 1618. not to recede from the doctrine of the Church of England in the point of Vniversal Redemption by the death of Christ A point so inconsistent with that of the absolute and irrespective decree of Reprobation and generally of the whole Machina of Predestination and the points depending thereupon as they are commonly maintained in the Schools of Calvin that fire and water cannot be at greater difference But this together with the rest being condemned in the Synod of Dort and that Synod highly magnified by the English Calvinists they took confidence of making those disputes the Subject of their common discourses both from the Pulpit and Press without stint or measure and thereupon it pleased his Majesty having now no further fear of any dangers from beyond the Seas to put some water into their Wine or rather a Bridle into their mouths by publishing certain Orders and directions touching Preachers and preaching bearing date the 4th of August 1622. In which it was enjoyned amongst other things Directions of preaching and Preachers That no Preacher of what Title soever under the degree of a bishop or Dean at least do from henceforth presume to teach in any popular Auditory the deep points of Predestination Election Reprobation or of the Vniversality Efficacy Resistability or Irresistability of Gods Grace but rather leave those Theams to be handled by learned men and that modestly and moderately by use and application rather than by way of positive Doctrine as being fitter for Schools and Vniversities than for simple Auditors The violating of which Order by Mr Gabriel Bridges of Corpus Christi Colledg in Oxon by preaching on the 19. of January then next following against the absolute decree in maintenance of universal Grace and the co-operation of mans free-will prevented by it though in the publick Church of the University laid him more open to the prosecution of Dr. Prideaux and to the censure of the Vice-Chancellor and the rest of the Heads than any preaching on those points or any of them could possibly have done at mother time Much was the noise which those of the Calvinian party were observed to make on the publishing of this last Order as if their mouths were stopped thereby from preaching the most necessary doctrines tending towards mans salvation But a far greater noise was raised upon the coming out of Mountagues answer to the Gagger in which he asserted the Church to her primitive and genuine doctrines disclaimed all the Calvinian Tenents as disowned by her and left them to be countenanced and maintained by those to whom they properly belonged Which book being published at a time when a Session of Parliament was expected in the year 1624. The opportunity was taken by Mr. Yates and Mr. Ward two of the Lecturers or Preachers of Ipswich to prepare an Information against him with an intent to prosecute the same in the following Session A Copy whereof being come into Mountagues hands he flies for shelter to King James who had a very great estimation of him for his parts and learning in which he had over-mastred they then though much less Selden at his own Philologie The King had already served his own turn against the Remonstrants by the Synod of Dort and thereby freed the Prince of Orange his most dear Confederate from the danger of Barnevelt and his faction Archbishop Abbot came not at him since the late deplorable misfortune which befell him at Branzil and the death of Dr. James Mountague Bishop of Winton left him at liberty from many importunities and sollicitations with which before he had been troubled so that being now master of himself and governed by the light of his own most clear and excellent Judgment he took both Mountague and his dectrines into his Protection gave him a full discharge or quietus est from all those Calumnies of Popery or Arminianism which by the said Informers were laid upon him iucouraged him to proceed in finishing his just Appeal which he was in hand with commanded Dr. Francis White then lately preferred by him to the Deanry of Carlisle and generally magnified not long before for his zeal against Popery to see it licensed for the Press and finally gave order unto Mountague to dedicate the book when printed to his Royal self In obedience unto whose Command the Dean of Carlisle licensed the book with this approbation That there was nothing contained in the same but what was agreeable to the publick Faith Doctrine and Discipline established in the Church of England But King James dying before the book was fully finished at the Press it was published by the name of Appello Caesarem and dedicated to King Charles as the Son and Successor to whom it properly belonged the Author touching in the Epistle Dedicatory all the former passages but more at large than they are here discoursed of in this short Summary And thus far we have prosecuted our Discourse concerning the Five Points disputed between the English Protestants the Belgick Remonstrants the Melancthonian Lutherans together with the Jesuits and Franciscans on the one side the English Calvinists the Contra Remonstrants the Rigid Lutherans and the Dominican Fryers on the other side In the last part whereof we may observe how difficult a thing it is to recover an old doctrinal Truth when overborn and almost lost by the
darling Doctrine of this present time so is it very eagerly pursued by Buchannan who affirms expresly Quicquid juris populus alicui dederit Buchann de jure Regni idem justis de causis posse reposcere that whatsoever power the people give unto their King or Supream Magistrate they may resume again upon just occasions Their Power they make so small and inconsiderable that they afford them very little even in matters of Temporal and no Authority at all in things Spiritual Calvin professeth for himself that he was very much agrieved to hear that King Henry the eighth had took unto himself the Title of Supream Head of the Church of England accuseth them of inconsiderate zeal nay blasphemy who conferred it on him and though he be content at last to allow Kings a Ministerial power in matters which concern the Reformation of Gods Publick Worship yet he condemns them as before of great inconsiderateness Calvin in Amos cap. 7. Qui facerent eos nimis spirituales who did ascribe unto them any great authority in spiritual matters The designation of all those who bear publick Office in the Church the calling of Councils or Assemblies the Presidency in those Councils Ordaining publick Fasts and appointing Festivals which anciently belonged unto Christian Princes as the chief branches of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction which is vested in them are utterly denied to Kings and Princes in their Books of Discipline Insomuch that when the Citizens of Embden did expel their Earl they did it chiefly for this reason Thuan. hist l. 114. Quod se negotiis Ecclesiasticis Consistorialibus praeter jus aequitatem immisceret that he had intermedled more than they thought fit in Ecclesiastical causes and intrenched too much upon their Consistory As for their power in Temporal or civil Causes by that time Knoxes Peers and Buchannans Judges Paraeus his inferiour Magistrates and Calvins popular Officers have performed their parts in keeping them within the compass of the Laws arraigning them for their offences if they should transgress opposing them by force of Arms if any thing be done unto the prejudice of the Church or State and finally in regulating their Authority after the manner of the Spartan Ephori and the Roman Tribunes all that is left will be by much too little for a Royd'Ivitot or for a King of Clouts as we English phrase it Last of all for their persons which God held so sacred that he gave it for a Law to his people Israel not to speak evil of their Princes saying Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy people Let us but look upon these men and we shall find the basest attributes too good for the greatest Kings Calvin calls Mary Queen of England by the name of Proserpine Calvin in Amos cap. 7. and saith that she did superare omnes Diabolos that all the Devils of Hell were not half so mischievous Beza affords Queen Mary of Scotland no better Titles than those of Medea and Athaliah Beza in Epist ad Jo. of which the last was most infamous in divine the other no less scandalous in humane stories the one a Sorceress and a Witch the other a Tyrant and Usurper The Author of the Altare Damascenum whosoever he was can find no better attribute for King James of most blessed memory than infensissimus Evangelii hostis Didoclaviuâ— in Epistola ad â—â—ctor the greatest and deadly Enemy of the Gospel of Christ And Queen Elizabeth her self did not scape so clear but that the zealous Brethren were too bold sometimes with her Name and Honour though some of them paid dearly for it and were hanged for their labour How that seditious Hugonot the Author of the lewd and unworthy Dialogue entituled Eusebius Philadelphus hath dealt with three great Princes of the House of France and what reproachful names he gives them I had rather you should look for in the Author than expect from me being loath to wade too far in these dirty puddles save that I shall be bold to add this general Character which Didoclavius gives to all Kings in general viz. Naturâ insitum est in omnibus Regibus Christi odium that all Kings naturally hate Christ which may serve for all This is enough to let us see how irreconcileable an hatred these of the Calvinian faction bear against Kings and Princes how well they play the part of the very Antichrist in exalting themselves against whatsoever is called God and that the special reason why they affect so much to be called the Saints is out of a strong probable hope to see the day in which they shall bind Kings in chains and all the Princes of the earth in fetters of iron Finally such is their disaffection unto sacred Monarchy which they have sucked out of the grounds and principles here laid down by Calvin that we may justly say of them what was most truely said of the ancient Romans quasi nefas esset Regem aliquem prope eorum terminos esse Jâ—stin hist l. 29. they have bestirred themselves so bravely in defiance of the Regal Government as if they did account it an unpardonable sin to suffer any King though most good and gracious to border near them Which lest they should not be of power to compass by their popular Magistrates or by the Judges or the Peers or the People severally which make the main Battel for this Combat let us next look on the Reserve and see what hopes they have to effect the business by the three Estates conjoyned in Parliament or by what other name soever we shall call their meeting which Calvin in the last place doth reflect upon but cautiously with a qua forte or a peradventure as in that before CHAP. V. What are the three Estates in each several Kingdom in which CALVIN speaks and what particularly in the Realm of England 1. Of the division of a People into three Estates and that the Priests or Clergy have been always one 2. The Priests employed in Civil matters and affairs of State by the Egyptians and the Persians the Greeks Gauls and Romans 3. The Priests and Levites exercised in affairs of Civil Government by Gods own appointment 4. The Prelates versed in Civil matters and affairs of State in the best and happiest times of Christianity 5. The Clergy make the third Estate in Germany France Spain and the Northern Kingdoms 6. That antiently in the Saxon times the Ecclesiasticks of this Realm were called to all publick Councils 7. The Prelates an essential fundamental part of the English Parliament 8. Objections answered and that the word Clerus in the Legal notion doth not extend unto the Prelates 9. That the inferior Clergy of the Realm of England had anciently their Votes in Parliament to all intents and purposes as the Commons had 10. Objections answered and that the calling of the Clergy to Parliaments and Convocations were after different maners and by several Writs
and Ministers shall move the people to joyn with them in Prayer in this Form or to this effect as briefly as conveniently they may Ye shall pray for Christs holy Catholick Church that is for the whole Congregation of Christian people dispersed through the whole world and especially for the Churches of England Scotland and Ireland And herein I require you most especially to pray for the Kings most excellent Majesty our Sovereign Lord James King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governour in these his Realms and all other his Dominions and Countreys over all Persons in all causes as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal Ye shall also pray for our gracious Queen Ann the noble Prince Henry and the rest of the Kings and Queens Royal Issue Ye shall also pray for the Ministers of Gods holy Word and Sacraments as well Archbishops and Bishops as other Pastors and Curats Ye shall also pray for the Kings most honourable Council and for all the Nobility and Magistrates of this Realm that all and every of those in their several callings may serve truly and painfully to the Glory of God and the edifying and well-governing of his people remembring the accompt they must make Also ye shall pray for the whole Commons of this Realm that they may live in true Faith and fear of God and humble obedience to the King and Brotherly Charity one to another Finally let us praise God for all those that are already departed out of this life in the Faith of Christ and pray unto God that we may have grace to direct our lives after their good examples that this life ended we may be made partakers with them of the glorious Resurrection in the life everlasting Always concluding with the Lords Prayer So far the Letter of the Canon in which there was not any purpose nor in the makers of the same to introduce into the Church any Form of Prayer or Invocation save those which were laid down in the Common prayer Book nor indeed could they if they would the Statute 1 Eliz. being still in force but to reduce her Ministers to the antient usage of this Church which had been much neglected if not laid aside The Canons then established were no late Invention as some give it out but a Collection of such Ordinances and pious Customs as had been formerly in use since the Reformation which being scattered and diffused in several Injunctions Orders and Advertisements published by K. Henry VIII K. Edward VI. and Q. Eliz. or in the Canons of particular Convocations in those times assembled or otherwise retained in continual practice was by the care and wisdom of the Clergy in the Synod at London An. 1603. drawn up together into one body and by his Majesty then being Authorized in due form of Law And being so Authorized by his Majesty the Canons then made had the force of Laws and were of power to bind the Subjects of all sorts according to their several and respective concernments as fully and effectually as any Statute or Act of Parliament can bind the Subject of this Realm in their goods and properties For which consult the Statute 25. H. 8. cap. 19. and the practice since Which as it may be said of all so more particularly of the Canon now in question of which it is to be considered that the main body of the same had been delivered formerly almost verbatim in the Queens Injunctions published by her Royal and Supream Authority in the first year of her Reign Anno 1559. which I will therefore here put down that by comparing both together we may the better see the true intention of that Canon and what is further to be said in the present business The Queens Injunction is as followeth The title this The Form of bidding the Prayers to be used generally in this uniform sort and then the body of it is this Ye shall pray for Christs holy Catholick Church that is for the whole Congregation of Christian people dispersed throughout the whole world and especially for the Churches of England and Ireland and herein I require you most especially to pray for the Queens most excellent Majesty our Soveraign Lady Eliz. Queen of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith and supream Governour of this Realm as well in causes Ecclesiastical as Temporal You shall also pray for the Ministers of Gods holy Word and Sacraments as well Archbishops and Bishops as other Pastors and Curats Ye shall also pray for the Queens most honourable Council and for all the Nobility of this Realm That all and every of these in their callings may serve truly and painfully to the glory of God and edifying of his people remembring the accompt they must make Also you shall pray for the whole Commons of this Realm that they may live in true faith and fear of God in humble Obedience and brotherly Charity one to another Finally let us praise God for all those that are departed out of this life in the faith of Christ and pray unto God that we may have grace to direct our lives after their good example that after this life we may be made partakers of the glorious resurrection in the life everlasting These are the very words of the Injunction wherein it is to be observed that as the Canon hath relation to this Injunction so neither this Injunction nor any thing therein enjoyned was of new erection but a Reviver only of the usual Form which had been formerly enjoyned and constantly observed in King Edwards days as we shall see by looking over the Injunction published and the practice following thereupon in the said Kings Reign Now the Injunction of King Edward the 6. is in this Form following The Title thus The Form of bidding the Common prayers and then the Form it self You shall pray for the whole Congregation of Christs Church and especially for this Congregation of England and Ireland wherein first I commend to your devout prayers the Kings most excellent Majesty supreme Head immediately under God of the Spiritualty and Temporalty of the same Church And for Queen Katharine Dowager and also for my Lady Mary and my Lady Elizabeth the Kings Sisters Secondly you shall pray for my Lord Protectors grace with all the rest of the Kings Majesties Council for all the Lords of this Realm and for the Clergy and Commons of the same Beseeching Almighty God to give every one of them in his degree Grace to use themselves in such wise as may be to Gods glory the Kings honour and the weal of this Realm Thirdly you shall pray for all them that be departed out of this world in the faith of Christ that they with us and we with them at the day of Judgment may rest both Body and Soul with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven This was the Form first published in the beginning of the Reign of King Edward VI. and it continued all
as well upon the Saturday as upon the Sunday it is now time we turned our course and set sail for England where we shall find as little of it as in other places until that forty years ago no more some men began to introduce a Sabbath thereunto in hope thereby to countenance and advance their other projects CHAP. VII In what estate the Lords day stood in this Isle of Brittain from the first Planting of Religion to the Reformation 1. What doth occur about the Lords day and the other Festivals amongst the Churches of the Brittains 2. Of the estate of the Lords day and the other Holy-days in the Saxon Heptarchy 3. The honours done unto the Sunday and the other Holy-days by the Saxon Monarchs 4. Of the publick actions Civil Ecclesiastical mixt and Military done on the Lords day under the first six Norman Kings 5. New Sabbath Doctrins broached in England in King Johns Reign and the miraculous original of the same 6. The prosecution of the former story and ill success therein of the undertakers 7. Restraint of worldly business on the Lords day and the other Holy-days admitted in those times in Scotland 8. Restraint of certain servile works on Sundays Holy-days and the Wakes concluded in the Council of Oxon under Henry III. 9. Husbandry and Legal process prohibited on the Lords day first in the Reign of Edward III. 10. Selling of Wools on the Lords day and the solemn Feasts forbidden first by the said King Edward as after Fairs and Markets generally by King Henry VI. 11. The Cordwainers of London restrained from selling their Wares on the Lords day and some other Festivals by King Edward IV. and the repealing of that Act by King Henry VIII 12. In what estate the Lords day stood both for the doctrine and the practice in the beginning of the Reign of the said King Henry AND now at last we are for England that we may see what hath been done amongst our selves in this particular and thereby be the better lessoned what we are to do For as before I noted the Canons of particular Churches and Edicts of particular Princes though they sufficiently declare both what their practice and opinion was in the present point yet are no general rule nor prescript to others which lived not in the compass of their Authority Nor can they further bind us as was then observed than as they have been since admitted into our Church or State either by adding them unto the body of our Canon or imitating them in the composition of our Acts and Statutes Only the Decretals of the Popes the body of their Canon Law is to be excepted which being made for the direction and reiglement of the Church in general were by degrees admitted and obeyed in these parts of Christendome and are by Act of Parliament so far still in force as they oppose not the Prerogative Royal or the municipal Laws and Statutes of this Realm of England Now that we may the better see how it hath been adjudged of here and what hath been decreed ordome touching the Lords day and the other Holy-days we will ascend as high as possibly we can even to the Church and Empire of the Brittains Of them indeed we find not much and that delivered in as little it being said of them by Beda Hist l. 1. c. 8. that in the time of Constantine they did dies festos celebrare observe those Holy-days which were then in use which as before we said were Easter Whitsontide the Feasts of Christs Nativity and his Incarnation every year together with the Lords day weekly And yet it may be thought that in those times the Lords day was not here of any great account in that they kept the Feast of Easter after the fashion of the Churches in the Eastern parts decima quarta luna on what day of the week soever which certainly they had not done had the Lords day obtained amongst them that esteem which generally it had found in the Western Churches And howsoever a late writer of Ecclesiastical History endeavour to acquit the Brittains of these first Ages from the erroneous observation of that Feast Brought hist l. 4. c. 13. and make them therein followers of the Church of Rome yet I conceive not that his proofs come home to make good his purpose For where it is his purpose to prove by computation that that erroneous observation came not in amongst the Brittains till 30 years before the entrance of S. Austin and his associates into this Island and for that end hath brought a passage out of Beda touching the continuance of that custom It 's plain that Beda speaks not of the Brittish but the Scottish Christians Permansit autem apud eos the Scottish-Irish Christians as himself confesseth hujusmodi observantia Paschalis tempore non pauco hoc est usque ad annum Domini 717. per annos 150. which was as he computes it somewhat near the point but 30 years before the entrance of that Austin Now for the Scots it is apparent that they received not the faith till the year of Christ 430 not to say any thing of the time wherein they first set footing in this Island which was not very long before and probably might about that time of which Beda speaks receive the custom of keeping Easter from the Brittains who were next neighbours to them and a long time lived mingled with them But for the Brittains it is most certain that they had longer been accustomed to that observation though for the time thereof whether it came in with the first plantation of the Gospel here we will not contend as not pertaining to the business which we have in hand Suffice it that the Brittains anciently were observant of those publick Festivals which had been generally entertained in the Church of God though for the time of celebrating the Feast of Easter they might adhere more unto one Church than unto another As for the Canon of the Council of Nice Anno 198. which is there alledged Baronius rightly hath observed out of Athanasius that notwithstaning both the Canon and the Emperours Edicts thereupon tamen etiam postea Syros Cilices Mesopotamios in eodem errore permansisse the Syrians Cilicians and Mesopotamians continued in their former errours And why not then the Brittains which lay farther off as well as those that dwelt so near the then Regal City Proceed we next unto the Saxons who as they first received the faith from the Church of Rome so did they therewithal receive such institutions as were at that time generally entertained in the Roman Church the celebration of the Lords day and the other Festivals which were allowed of and observed when Gregory the Great attained the Popedom And here to take things as they lie in order we must begin with a narration concerning Westminster which for the prettiness of the story I will here insert Sebert the first Christian King of the East Saxons