Lord and others it may be made ready to receive them Now this Lord having thus belaboured these two Points that Bishops by meddling in Civil Affairs do hurt themselves in their Consciences and in their Credits he proceeds to instruct us farther And thus As these things hurt themselves in their Consciences and Credits so have they and if they be continued still will make them hurtful to others The Reason is because they break out of their own Orb and move irregularly There is a Carse upon their leaving their own Place My Lord is now come to his second general part of his Speech and means to prove it if he can that Bishops by any kind of meddling in Civil Affairs do not only hurt themselves in Conscience and in Credit but also if they continue in them they will make them hurtful to others also And that he may seem to say nothing without a Reason his Lordship tells us the Reason of this is because they break out of their own Orb and move irregularly But I conceive this Reason weak enough For first as is before proved these Stars to follow my Lord in his Metaphor are not so fixed to their Orb of Preaching the Gospel but that they may do other things also at other times so this be not neglected And therefore it will not follow that all their Motions out of this Orb are irregular Secondly when they do thus move they are not violently to break out of their Orb but to sit still till Authority find cause to call any of them a little aside to attend Civil Affairs that they may proceed never the worse and the Gospel the better As for that Curse which this Lord speaks of which follows upon their leaving of their own Place I know of none nor any leaving of their own Place This I am sure of whatever this Lord says that many extraordinary Blestings and Successes have come both upon this Kingdom and other Nations by Counsels given by Clergy-Men and I pray God his Counsels such as they have been do not bring Dishonour and a Curse to boot upon this Church and Kingdom But his Lordship goes on with his Metaphor and argues very strongly by Similitudes which hath but a Similitude of Argumentation The Heavenly Bodies while they keep within their own Spheres give Light and Comfort to the World but if they should break out and 〈◊〉 from their regular and proper Motions they would set the World on 〈◊〉 So have these done While they kept themselves to the Work of the Ministery alone and gave themselves to Prayer and the Ministery of the Word according to the Example of the Apostles the World received the greatest Benefits from them they were the Light and Life thereof But when their Ambition cast them down like Stars from 〈◊〉 to Earth and they did grow once to be advanced above their Brethren I do appeal to all who have been versed in the antient Ecclesiastical History or modern Histories whether they have not been the common Incondiaries of the Christian World never ceasing from Contention one with another about the Precedency of their Sees and Churches Excommunicating one another drawing Princes to be Parties with them and thereby casting them into bloody Wars This Argument is grounded upon si 〈◊〉 ruat if Heaven falls we shall get store of Larks But Heaven cannot sall and so 't is here The Heavenly Bodies while they keep within their own Spheres give Light and Comfort to the World but if they should break out which is impossible and fall from their Regular Motions which cannot possibly be they would set the World on fire or perhaps drown it again had not God promised the contrary according as the Irregular Motion bended So have these done Nay not so with this Lord's leave For First Clergy-Men are not so fixed to their Orbs as those Heavenly Bodies are but in themselves are free and voluntary Agents which those Bodies are not And Secondly they may and ought as occasion is offered them do many things in publick Civil Affairs which may much advantage the Gospel of Christ and they will never Fire the World by such attendance upon them and they may and ought give themselves to Prayer and to the Ministery of the Word notwithstanding this and they may be the same Benefits to the World of Light and Life as before Yea and I make no doubt but that when this Lord and his Followers will be as liberal and devout as the Primitive Christians were who sold their Land and 〈◊〉 the Money and laid it at the Apostles Feet Acts 4. 37. to make a Stock for their and the Church's Wants the Bishops will be well content to follow the Apostles Example as far and as well as they can But if the Bishops may meddle with no Temporal Affairs according to the Example of the Apostles how came the Apostles to meddle with the Receiving first and after with the Layings out of all this Money For say it was to be employed on charitable Actions yet some Diversion more or less it must needs be to the Preaching of the Gospel But since the Example and Practice of the Apostles is so often pressed by this Lord I would willingly his Lordship should tell me if he will make their Practice a Rule general and binding why now among Christians all should not be common as the Apostles and other Believers had it and that no Man might say that ought of the things which he possessed was his own Acts 4. 32. and then where is the Property of the Subject And then why do we not go up and down and Preach at large according to the Examples of the Apostles and endure neither Division of Parishes nor Parish Churches And why do we not receive the Communion after Supper at 't is well known Christ and his Apostles did Indeed if any Bishops or other Clergy-Men should become falling Stars from Heaven to Earth especially if their Sin should be so like the Devil 's as to cast themselves down by their own Ambition That as it makes the Fall heavy to them so yet I must say to this Lord that both Fall and Fault is the Person 's the Episcopal Office is not the cause of it as is here charged by him Nor did they become falling Stars so soon as they did once grow to be advanced above their Brethren as this Lord insinuates it For among the Apostles themselves there was a Chief in order S. Luke 22. 26. and some were advanced to Dignity and Power above their Brethren even in the Apostles Days whom yet I presume this Lord will not be so ill advised as to call fallen Stars As for the Appeal which he makes to all them who have been versed in Antient or Modern Ecclesiastical Histories that 's no great matter For in all Histories you shall find great Men of all sorts doing what in Honour and Duty should not be done and Ambition hath been the cause of
would have suffered him to take that place upon him so contrary to the command of Christ and the Practice of the Apostles if it had been so indeed Or would they have suffer'd their Preachers which then attended their Commissioners at London not only to meddle with but to preach so much temporal Stuff as little belonged to the Purity of the Gospel had they been of this Lord's Opinion Surely I cannot think it But let the Bishops do but half so much yea though they be commanded to do that which these Men assume to themselves and 't is a venture but it shall prove Treason against the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom and an endeavouring to bring in an Arbitrary Government Well! I 'll tell you a Tale. There 's a Minister at this day in London of great Note among the Faction well esteem'd by this Lord and others of this Outcry against the Bishops Votes in Parliament and their meddling in Civil Affairs this Man I 'll spare his Name being pressed by a Friend of his how he came to be so eager against the Church of which and her Government he had ever heretofore been an Upholder and had Subscribed unto it made this Answer Thou art a Fool thou knowest not what it is to be the Head of a Party This Man is one of the great Masters of the present Reformation and do you not think it far more inconsistent with his Ministerial Function to be in the Head of a turbulent Faction to say the least of them than for a Bishop to meddle in Civil Affairs Yet such is the Religion of our Times But 't is no matter for all this his Lordship hath yet more to say against the Ambition of the Prelates For Their Ambition and intermeddling with Secular Affairs and State Business hath been the cause of shedding more Christian Blood than any thing else in the Christian World and this no Man can deny that is versed in History This is the same over and over again saving that the Expression contains in it a vast Untruth For they that are versed in History must needs say 't is a loud one that Bishops meddling in Temporal Affairs hath been the cause of shedding more Christian Blood than any thing else in the Christian World What a happiness hath this Lord that his pale Meagerness cannot blush at such thing as this Yea but he will prove it here at home in this Kingdom For says he We need not go out of our own Kingdom for Examples of their Insolency and Cruelty When they had a dependency upon the Pope and any footing thereby out of the Land there were never any that carryed themselves with so much Scorn and Insolency towards the Princes of this Kingdom as they have done Two of them the Bishop that last spake hath named but instances of many more may be given whereof there would be no end 'T is true indeed we need not go out of our own Kingdom for Examples of their Insolency and Cruelty For in so many Ages 't is no wonder in any Kingdom to find some bad Examples be it of Insolency Cruelty or what you will Especially in the midst of so much Prosperity as accompanied Clergy-Men in those times But 't is true too that there are far more Examples of their Piety and Charity would this Lord be pleased to remember the one with the other As for their bad Examples his Lordship gives a Reason why not all but some of them carryed themselves with so much Scorn and Insolency towards their Princes even with almost as much as this Lord and his Faction carry themselves at this day towards their mild and gracious King And the Reason is a true one it was their dependency upon the Pope and their footing which thereby they had to subsist out of the Land which may and I hope will be a sufficient warning to his Majesty and his Successours never to let in again a foreign Supream Power into any of his Dominions For 't is to have one State within yet not dependent upon the other which can never be with Safety or Quiet in any Kingdom And I would have the World consider a little with what Insolency and perhaps Disallegiance this Lord and his Round-head Crew would use their Kings if they had but half so strong a foreign dependance as the Bishops then had that dare use the most gracious of Kings as they do this present day Two of these Insolent ones this Lord says the Bishop that last spake named Lincoln stands in the Margin by which it appears that Dr. John Williams then Bishop of Lincoln and since Arch-Bishop of York was the Man that named two but because this Lord names them not I know not who they are and therefore can say nothing for or against them but leave them to that Lord which censured them As for that which follows that the instances of many more may be given whereof there would be no end This is a piece of this Lord 's loud Rhetorick which can have no Truth in it especially relating as it doth to this Kingdom only But whereas this Lord said immediately before that their meddling in State business hath been the cause of shedding more Christian Blood than any thing else in the Christian World and in the very next words falls upon the proof of it in this Kingdom I must put him in mind that one Parliament in England namely that which most irreligiously and trayterously deposed Richard II. was the cause of the effusion of more Christian Blood amongst us than all the Bishops that ever were in this Kingdom For that base and unjust Parliament was the cause of all the Civil Wars those Bloody Wars which began in the Heir's time after the Usurpation of Henry IV. and ceased not till there were slain of the Royal Blood and of Nobles and the common People a Numberless Number And I heartily beg it of God that no disloyal Parliament may ever bring this Kingdom into the like distress For our Neighbours are far stronger now than they were then and what desolation it might bring upon us God in Heaven knows So this Lord may see if he will what a Parliament it self being misgoverned may do But will his Lordship think it Reason to condemn all Parliaments because this and some few more have done what they should not do as he here deals by Bishops Sure he would not But having done with the Bishops dependency on the Pope he goes on and tells us farther that Although the Pope be cast off yet now there is another Inconvenience no less prejudicial to the Kingdom by their sitting in this House and that is they have such an absolute dependency upon the King that they sit not there as free Men. I am heartily sorry to see this Lord thus far transported The Pope is indeed cast off from domineering over King Church and State But I am sorry to hear it from this Lord that this other
moderation in the managing of so many troublesome businesses as have fallen in his time yet notwithstanding these and his other abilities for the discharge of that place I am resolved to name another to you both because among so many worthy and able men as are with you I would not pass by all the rest continually to overload any one And because I am very desirous to divide the Experience as well as the pains of that service among the Heads of Colleges to the end there may still be some that may be acquainted with the Burthen and weight of that Office and able the better to assist such as must newly enter upon it At this time upon very due Consideration I have thought fit to name Dr. Duppa Dean of Christ-Church to be Vice-Chancellour for this year ensuing whom I know to be a discreet able and worthy man for that place and one that will satisfie my Expectation and yours These are therefore to pray and require you to allow of this my Nomination and Choice of Dr. Duppa and to give him your best advice and assistance in all such Businesses as may concern the good Government and consequently the Honour of the University So I bid you all heartily farewel and rest To my very loving Friends the Doctours the Proctours and the rest of the Convocation of the University of OXFORD Fulham-House July 11.1632 Your very Loving Friend and Chancellour GVIL London QVum Serenissimae Regiae Majestati visum fuerit publico Edicto cavere ne quis in religionis materiâ quicquam contra literalem Articulorum sensum pro Concione publicè definire audeat Existant tamen nonnulli qui usque quo hoc Edictum extendi debeat aut pro incomperto habeant aut se ita habere simulent Idcirco nos quibus obedientiae praestandae publicaeque pacis conservandae demandatur Munus incumbit cura quorum etiam plenisque Serenissimae Regiae Majestatis tum actis tum de hâc re consiliis Woodstochiae interesse concessum est tam crassae supinae ignorantiae ansam praescindere volentes sic pronunciamus Quod ut dissidiorum flammam circa quinque Articulos quos vocant inter Remonstrantes contra Remonstrantes contraversos in exteris Regionibus accensam vicinit ate quadam mali nostros etiam Penates jamjam corripientem huic Edicto sanciendo occasionem praebuisse optimè perspectum habemus ita tanquam praesentissimum Remedium huic incendio restringuendo ad contraversias praecipuè circa hos Articulos exortas hoc Edictum extendendum esse judicamus Quicunque igitur in his controversiis pro sententiâ suâ tuendâ publicè de industriâ tractet temerè affirmet aut pertinaciter definiat Quicunque etiam publicè pro Concione adversam opinioni suae sententiam Argumentis Consequentiis odiosè proscindat aut in adversas sententias tuentium Nomina aut famam convitiis calumniis aut aliis quovismodo grassetur eundem illum tanquam violati Regii Edicti Pacisque Publicae turbatae reum postulandum censemus Talemque esse de hac re sententiam nostram solemni hâc nominum nostrorum subscriptione publicè testatum volumus tum ut post haec quod optandum est potiore habeatur loco charitas quoe oedificat quam scientia quae inslat tum etiam nequis in posterum majorem Curiositatis suoe quam tranquillitatis publicoe rationem habendam fore aut mercedis loco ducat pacata turbare SIR YOU have done very well in Hobbes's Business and the motion made by Dr. Pink to prevent pleading of ignorance c. was in it self very good and seasonable and you did as fitly lay hold of it and draw up the Order about it as I see by the inclosed yet nevertheless there is somewhat very considerable before you publish that Order As first that there are certain Incidents to some of those Five Articles which all Men upon the hearing presume forbidden Whereas by this Order they will take themselves confined to the five express Articles only And secondly it must be very well weighed what power You or I have to interpret or make an Order upon a Declaration set forth by the Authority of the King with the consent of his Bishops and I much doubt it will not be warrantable In the mean time it will be enough against the Plea of ignorance to declare upon all occasions the Five Articles controverted by the Remonstrants are the Doctrines for a time not to be meddled with that the Factions unhappily spread amongst our Neighbours may not infect this our Church or break the Peace of it There is somewhat else considerable also which I think not very fit to write But to this if you have any exception you may return me what Answer you please Feb. 15. 〈◊〉 GVIL London S. in Christo. AFter my hearty Commendations c. Upon occasion of difference between Lichfeild and Turner about their Printing there was cause given me to look into your Charters what power the University had for Printing and how many Printers were allow'd unto you Upon search I cannot find any Grant at all so that Custom is the best Warrant you have for that Privilege Your great Charter of Hen. VIII hath no mention at all of it But Cambridge which had the like Charter found that defect in it and repaired to the King again and obtained another particular Charter for Printing only which is very large and of great honour and benefit to that University Where by the way give me leave to tell you that they of Cambridge have been far more vigilant both to get and keep their Privileges than you at Oxford have been for they have gotten this and other of their Privileges confirmed by succeeding Princes and I think some of them by Act of Parliament which for Oxford hath not been done Upon consideration of this I thought it very just and equal that the two Universities should enjoy the same Privileges especially for Printing And when I had weighed all Circumstances I adventured to move his Majesty on your behalf who according to his great and princely favour to the University did most graciously grant it The motives which Iused were principally two the one that you might enjoy this privilege for Learning equally with Cambridge and the other that having many excellent Manuscripts in your Library you might in time hereby be encouraged to publish some of them in Print to the great honour of that Place this Church and Kingdom And now upon the Grant of the like Patent I doubt not but you will enter into some provident Consideration among your selves how you may set the Press going and do something worthy of this his Majesty's Favour and that the World may see it is not granted unto you for nothing This Patent I delivered according to appointment to Mr. Philip King who paid the Fees and took order for the safe carrying of it down But at
to begin When these things were fitted I gave notice to the King and the Queen and attended them into the Hall whither I had the happiness to bring them by a Way prepared from the President 's Lodging to the Hall without any the least disturbance And had the Hall kept as fresh and cool that there was not any one person when the King and Queen came into it The Princes Nobles and Ladies entred the same way with the King and then presently another Door was opened below to fill the Hall with the better sort of Company which being done the Play was begun and Acted The Plot was very good and the Action It was merry and without offence and so gave a great deal of content In the middle of the Play I ordered a short Banquet for the King the Queen and the Lords And the College was at that time so well furnisht as that they did not borrow any one Actor from any College in Town The Play ended the King and the Queen went to Christ-Church retired and supped privately and about 8 a Clock went into the Hall to see another Play which was upon a piece of a Persian Story It was very well penn'd and acted and the strangeness of the Persian Habits gave great Content so that all Men came forth from it very well satisfied And the Queen liked it so well that she afterwards sent to me to have the Apparel sent to Hampton Court that she might see her own Players act it over again and see whether they could do it as well as t' was done in the University I caused the University to send both the Clothes and the Perspectives of the Stage and the Play was acted at Hampton Court in November following And by all Men's confession the Players came short of the University Actors Then I humbly desired of the King and the Queen that neither the Play nor Cloathes nor Stage might come into the Hands and use of the Common Players abroad which was graciously granted But to return to Oxford This Play being ended all Men betook themselves to their rest and upon Wednesday Morning August 31. about Eight of the Clock my self with the Vice-Chancellor and the Doctors attended the coming forth of the King and Queen and when they came did our Duties to them They were graciously pleased to give the University a great deal of thanks and I for my self and in the Name of the University gave their Majesties all possible thanks for their great and gracious Patience and Acceptance of our Poor and mean Entertainment So the King and the Queen went away very well pleased together That Wednesday Night I entertained at St. John's in the same Room where the King Dined the Day before at the long Table which was for the Lords all the Heads of Colleges and Halls in the Town and all the other Doctors both the Proctors and some few Friends more which I had employed in this time of Service which gave the University a great deal of Content being that which had never been done by any Chancellor before I sat with them at Table we were merry and very glad that all things had so passed to the great satisfaction of the King and the honour of that place Upon Thursday September 1. I Dined privately with some few of my Friends And after Dinner went to Cuddesden to my ancient Friend my Lord the Bishop of Oxford's House there I left my Steward and some few of my Servants with him at Oxford to look to my Plate Linnen and other things and to pay all Reckonings that no Man might ask a Penny after we had left the Town which was carefully done accordingly Upon Friday September 2. I lay at a house of Mr. Justice Jones's of Henley upon Thames upon his earnest Invitation And upon Saturday September 3. God be thanked I returned sase home to my House at Croyden The week after my Steward and other Servants which staid with him came from Oxford to me where the Care of my Servants with God's Blessing upon it was such as that having borrowed all the King's Plate which was in the Progress and all my Lord Chamberlain's and made use of all mine own and hired some of my Gold-smith I lost none but only two Spoons which were of mine own Plate and but little of my Linnen My Retinue being all of my own when I went to this Entertainment were between 40 and 50 Horse though I came privately into Oxford in regard of the nearness of the King and Queen then at Woodstock There was great store of Provision in all kinds sent me in towards this Entertainment and yet for I bare all the Charge of that Play which was at St. John's and suffered not that poor College to be at a penny Loss or Charge in any thing besides all these sendings in the Entertainment cost me ........ Salutem in Christo. SIR THE Sickness of these Times and my many other occasions made me forget to write to you before the beginning of Michaelmas Term last concerning the Sermon and Prayers usually had at St. Maries at the beginning of Terms which were wont to be not so orderly as they should nor with so good Example to other places at large in the Kingdom as such a University should give For First the Communion was Celebrated in the Body of the Church and not in the Chancel which tho' it be permitted in the Church of England in some cases of necessity where there is a Multitude of People yet very undecent it is and unfitting in that place where so few the more the pity use to communicate at these Solemn times But this abuse I caused to be rectified in Dr. Duppa's time and I hope neither you nor your Successors will suffer it to return again into the former Indecency Secondly tho' none do come to those Solemn Prayers and Sermons but Scholars and those too of the best Rank yet to no small dishonour of that place the Sermon is in Latin and the Prayers in English As if Latin Prayers were more unfit for a Learned Congregation than a Latin Sermon And the truth is the thing is very absurd in it self and contrary to the Directions given at the beginning of the Reformation of this Church for in the Latin Service Books which were first Printed in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth there is an Express both Direction and Charge that notwithstanding the altering of the ordinary Form of Prayers throughout the whole Body of the Kingdom from Latin into English Yet in the Universities such Prayers unto which none but they which were Learned did resort should be in Latin And for my part I do much wonder considering how Publick that Direction was that the University at the beginning of Terms should fall from this Ordinance and so divide the Service and Sermon between Latin and English Upon Consideration of this I acquainted His Majesty both with that Printed Direction of Queen
of another Nature and so he is at a loss in that And if it be of another Nature yet it appears by the Apostle's practice that for all that it can give a Rule in this For that which can give the Apostle a Rule can give a Rule to us And so he is at a loss in the whole Proposition For whether that which was before be or be not of another Nature yet it can give a Rule I have been long upon this Passage because I conceive the main Controversie hangs and turns upon this hinge And if any Reader think it long or tedious or be of this Lord's Mind that he need not go so high for Proof yet let him pardon me who in this am quite of another Judgment And for the pardon I shall gratifie him by being as brief as possibly I can in all that follows Thus then this Lord proceeds The Question which will lye before your Honours in passing this Bill is not Whether Episcopacy I mean this Hierarchical Episcopacy which the World now holds forth to us shall be taken away Root and Branch but Whether those exuberant and superfluous Branches which draw away the Sapp from the Tree and divert it from the right and proper use whereby it becomes unfruitful shall be cut off as they use to pluck up Suckers from the Root After this Lord had told us we need not go so high for the business he comes now to state the present Question Where he tells us what himself means by Episcopacy Namely Hierarchical Episcopacy such as is properly and now commonly so called in the World And this his Lordship adds because of that distinction made by Beza in his Tract de Triplici Episcopatu Divino scilicet Humano Satanico In which what part Beza plays I will forbear to speak but leave him and his Gall of bitterness to the Censure of the Learned Sir Edw. Deering in his printed Speeches tells us that others in milder Language keep the same sense and say there is Episcopus Pastor Praeses and Princeps So in his account Episcopus Princeps Satanicus is all one in milder terms But the Truth is that in the most learned and flourishing Ages of the Church the Bishops were and were called Principes Chief and Prime and Prince if you will in Church Affairs For so Optatus calls them the Chief and Princes And so likewise did divers others of the Fathers even the best learned and most devout And this Title is given to Diocesan or Hierarchical Bishops which doubtless these Fathers would neither have given nor taken had Episcopus Princeps and Satanicus been all one Nor would Calvin have taught us that the Primitive Church had in every Province among their Bishops one Arch-Bishop and that in the Council of Nice Patriarchs were appointed which should be in order and dignity above Bishops had he thought either such Bishops or Arch-Bishops to have been Satanical And had Beza lived in those times he would have been taught another Lesson And the Truth is Beza when he wrote that Tract had in that Argument either little Learning or no Honesty But for this Lord whether he means by Hierarchical Episcopacy the same which Beza I will not determine He uses a Proper word and a Civil and I will not purpose to force him into a worse meaning than he hath or make him a worse Enemy to the Church if worse he may be than he is already Though I cannot but doubt he is bathed in the same Tub. Having told us what he means by Episcopacy he states the business thus That the Question is not whether this Hierarchical Episcopacy shall be taken away Root and Branch So then I hope this Lord will leave a Hierarchy such as it shall be in the Church We shall not have it all laid level We shall not have that Curse of Root and Branch for less it is not laid upon us Or at least not yet But what shall follow in time when this Bill hath us'd its edge I know not Well if not Root and Branch taken away what then What why 't is but whether those exuberant and superfluous Branches which draw away the Sapp from the Tree and divert it from the right and proper use whereby it becomes unfruitful shall be cut off as they use to pluck up Suckers from the Root This Lord seems to be a good Husbandman but what he will prove in the Orchard or Garden of the Lord I know not For most true it is that Suckers are to be plucked from the Root and as true that in the prime and great Vine there are some Branches which bear no fruit and our Saviour himself tells us that they which are such are to be taken away St. Joh. 15. 2. And therefore I can easily believe it that in Episcopacy which is a far lower Vine under and in the Service of Christ and especially in the husbanding of it there may be some such Branches as this Lord speaks of which draw away Sapp and divert it and make the Vine less fruitful and no doubt but such Branches are to be cut off So far I agree and God forbid but I should But then there are divers other Questions to be made and answered before this sharp Lord fall to cutting As first What Branches they be which are Exuberant and Superfluous as this Lord is pleased to call them What time is fittest to cut them off Whether they be not such as with Pruning may be made fruitful If not then how near to the Body they are to be cut off Whether this Lord may not be mistaken in the Branches which he thinks divert the Sapp Whether a Company of Lay-Men without any Order or Ordinance from Christ without any Example from the days of Christ may without the Church take upon them to prune and order this Vine For whatever this Lord thinks in the over abundance of his own Sense the Lord hath appointed Husbandmen to order and prune this Vine and all the Branches of it in his Church without his Usurpation of their Office And while he uses a Bill which is too boisterous a Weapon for a Vine instead of a Pruning-hook the Church it self which is the Vine which bears Episcopacy may bleed to death in this Kingdom before Men be aware of it And I am in great fear if things go on as they are projected that Religion is upon taking its leave of this Kingdom But this Lord hath not quite done stating the Question for he tells us next That The Question will be no more but this Whether Bishops shall be reduced to what they were in their first advancement over the Presbyters which although it were but a Humane device for the Remedy of Schism yet were they in those times least offensive or continue still with the addition of such things as their own Ambition and the Ignorance and Superstition of succeeding times did add thereunto and which are now
never move His Majesty directly or indirectly for that Honour and was surprized with it as altogether unlooked for when His Majesty's Resolution therein was made known unto him Nor ever did that Bishop take so much upon him as a Justiceship of the Peace or meddle with any Lay-Employment save what the Laws and Customs of this Realm laid upon him in the High Commission and the Star-Chamber while those Courts were in being and continued Preaching till he was Threescore and four and then was taken off by Writing of his Book against Fisher the Jesuit being then not able at those Years to continue both And soon after the World knows what trouble befel him and in time they will know why too I hope Besides the Care of Government which is another part of a Bishop's Office and a necessary one too lay heavy upon him in these Factious and broken Times especially And whatsoever this Lord thinks of it certainly though Preaching may be more necessary for the first planting of a Church yet Government is more noble and necessary too where a Church is planted as being that which must keep Preaching and all things else in order And Preaching as 't is now used hath as much need to be kept in order as any even the greatest Extravagance that I know Nor is this out of Christ's Commission Pasce Oves John 21. 15. for the feeding of his Sheep For a Shepherd must guide govern and defend his Sheep in the Pasture as well as drive them to it And he must see that their Pasture be not tainted too or else they will not thrive upon it And then he may be answerable for the Rot that falls among them The Rhetorick goes farther yet To contend for sitting at Council Tables to govern States No but yet to assist them being called by them To have States-Men instead of Church-Men No but doing the Duty of Church-Men to mingle pious Counsels with States-Mens Wisdom To sit in the highest Courts of Judicature And why not in a Kingdom where the Laws and Customs require it Not to be employed in making Laws for Civil Polities and Government And I conceive there is great Reason for this in the Kingdom of England and greater since the Reformation than before Great Reason because the Bishops of England have been accounted and truly been grave and experienced Men and far fitter to have Votes in Parliaments for the making of Laws than many young Youths which are in either House And because it is most fit in the making of Laws for a Kingdom that some Divines should have Vote and Interest to see as much as in them lies that no Law pass which may perhaps though unseen to others intrench upon Religion it self or the Church And I make no doubt but that these and the like Considerations settled it so in England where Bishops have had their Votes in Parliaments and in making Laws ever since there were Parliaments yea or any thing that resembled them in this Kingdom And for my part were I able to give no Reason at all why Bishops should have Votes in Parliament yet I should in all Humility think that there was and is still some great Reason for it since the Wisdom of the State hath successively in so many Ages thought it fit And as there is great Reason they should have Votes in making Laws so is there greater Reason for it since the Reformation than before For before that time Clergy-Men were governed by the Church Canons and Constitutions and the Common Laws of England had but little Power over them Then in the Year 1532. the Clergy submitted and an Act of Parliament was made upon it So that ever since the Clergy of England from the Highest to the Lowest are as much subject to the Temporal Laws as any other Men and therefore ought to have as free a Vote and Consent to the Laws which bind them as other Subjects have Yet so it is that all Clergy-Men are and have long since been excluded from being Members of the House of Commons and now the Bishops and their Votes by this last Act are cast out of the Lord's House By which it is at this Day come to pass that by the Justice of England as now it stands no Clergy-Man hath a Consent by himself or his Proxy to those Laws to which all of them are bound In the mean time before I pass from this Point this Lord must give me leave to put him in mind of that which was openly spoken in both Houses that the Reason why there was such a Clamour against the Bishops Votes was because all or most of them Voted for the King so that the potent Faction could not carry what they pleased especially in the Vpper House And when some saw they could not have their Will to cast out their Votes fairly the Rabble must come down again and Clamour against their Votes not without danger to some of their Persons And come they did in Multitudes But who procured their coming I know not unless it were this Lord and his Followers And notwithstanding this is as clear as the Sun and was openly spoken in the House that this was the true Cause only why they were so angry with the Bishops Votes yet this most Godly and Religious Lord pretends here a far better Cause than this namely that they may as they ought carefully attend to the Preaching of the Word and not be distracted from that great Work by being troubled with these Worldly Affairs And I make no doubt but that the same Zeal will carry the same Men to the devout taking away the Bishops and the Church Lands and perhaps the Parsons Tythes too and put them to such Stipends as they shall think fit that so they may Preach the Gospel freely and not be drawn away with these Worldly Affairs from the principal Work of that Function Well! my Lord must give me leave here to Prophesie a little and 't is but this in short Either the Bishops shall in few Years recover of this Hoarseness and have their Honour and their Votes in Parliament again or before many Years be past all Baseness Barbarity and Confusion will go near to possess both this Church and Kingdom But this Lord hath yet somewhat more to say namely that If they shall be thought fit to sit in such Places and will undertake such Employments they must not be there as ignorant Men but must be knowing in Business of State and understand the Rules and Laws of Government and thereby both their Time and Studies must be necessarily diverted from that which God hath called them unto And this surely is much more Vnlawful for them to admit of than that which the Apostles rejected as a distraction unreasonable for them to be interrupted by Why but yet if they shall be thought fit to sit in such Places and will undertake such Employments what then Why then they must not sit there as ignorant Men
is made by these Men as if it were Contra Regem against the King in Right or in Power But that 's a meer ignorant shift for our being Bishops Jure Divino by Divine Right takes nothing from the King 's Right or Power over us For though our Office be from God and Christ immediately yet may we not exercise that Power either of Order or Jurisdiction but as God hath appointed us that is not in His Majesty's or any Christian King's Kingdoms but by and under the Power of the King given us so to do And were this a good Argument against us as Bishops it must needs be good against Priests and Ministers too for themselves grant that their Calling is Jure Divino by Divine Right and yet I hope they will not say that to be Priests and Ministers is against the King or any his Royal Prerogatives Next Suppose our Callings as Bishops could not be made good Jure Divino by Divine Right yet Jure Ecclesiastico by Ecclesiastical Right it cannot be denied And here in England the Bishops are confirmed both in their Power and Means by Act of Parliament So that here we stand in as good Case as the present Laws of the Realm can make us And so we must stand till the Laws shall be repealed by the same Power that made them Now then suppose we had no other string to hold by I say suppose this but I grant it not yet no Man can Libel against our Calling as these Men do be it in Pulpit Print or otherwise but he Libels against the King and the State by whose Laws we are established Therefore all these Libels so far forth as they are against our Calling are against the King and the Law and can have no other purpose than to stir up Sedition among the People If these Men had any other Intention or if they had any Christian or charitable desire to reform any thing amiss why did they not modestly Petition his Majesty about it that in his Princely Wisdom he might set all things right in a Just and Orderly manner But this was neither their Intention nor Way For one clamours out of his Pulpit and all of them from the Press and in a most virulent and unchristian manner set themselves to make a Heat among the People and so by Mutiny to effect that which by Law they cannot and by most false and unjust Calumnies to defame both our Callings and Persons But for my Part as I pity their Rage so I heartily pray God to forgive their Malice No Nation hath ever appeared more jealous of Religion than the People of England have ever been And their Zeal to God's Glory hath been and at this day is a great honour to them But this Zeal of theirs hath not been at all times and in all Persons alike guided by knowledge Now Zeal as it is of excellent use where it sees its way so it is very dangerous company where it goes on in the dark And these Men knowing the Disposition of the People have laboured nothing more than to misinform their knowledge and misguide their Zeal and so to fire that into a Sedition in hope that they whom they causlesly hate might miscarry in it For the main scope of these Libels is to kindle a Jealousie in Mens Minds that there are some great Plots in Hand dangerous Plots so says Mr. Burton expresly to change the Orthodox Religion established in England and to bring in I know not what Romish Superstition in the room of it As if the external decent worship of God could not be upheld in this Kingdom without bringing in of Popery Now by this Art of theirs give me leave to tell you that the King is most desperately abused and wounded in the Minds of his People and the Prelates shamefully The King most desparately For there is not a more cunning trick in the World to withdraw the Peoples Hearts from their Sovereign than to persuade them that he is changing true Religion and about to bring in gross Superstition upon them Aud the Prelates shamefully For they are charged to seduce and lay the Plot and be the Instruments For his Majesty first This I know and upon this occasion take it my Duty to speak There is no Prince in Christendom more sincere in his Religion nor more constant to it than the King And he gave such a Testimony of this at his being in Spain as I much doubt whether the best of that Faction durst have done half so much as his Majesty did in the Face of that Kingdom And this you my Lord the Earl of Holland and other Persons of Honour were Eye and Ear Witnesses of having the happiness to attend Him there And at this day as his Majesty by God's great Blessing both on him and us knows more so is he more settled and more confirmed both in the Truth of the Religion here established and in Resolution to maintain it And for the Prelates I assure my self they cannot be so base as to live Prelates in the Church of England and labour to bring in the Superstitions of the Church of Rome upon themselves and it And if any should be so foul I do not only leave him to God's Judgment but if these Libellers or any other can disdover that his base and irreligious falshood to shame also and severe Punishment from the State And in any just way no Man's Hand shall be more or sooner against him than mine shall be And for my self to pass by all the scandalous reproacbes which they have most injuriously cast upon me I shall say this only First I know of no Plot nor purpose of altering the Religion established Secondly I have ever been far from attempting any thing that may truly be said to tend that way in the least degree And to these two I here offer my Oath Thirdly If the King had a mind to change Religion which I know he hath not and God forbid he should ever have he must seek for other Instruments For as basely as these Men conceive of me yet I thank God I know my Duty well both to God and the King And I know that all the Duty I owe to the King is under God And my great happiness it is though not mine alone but your Lordships and all his Subjects with me that we live under a Gracious and a Religious King that will ever give us leave to serve God first and Him next But were the days otherwise I thank Christ for it I yet know not how to serve any Man against the Truth of God and I hope I shall never learn it But to return to the business what is their Art to make the World believe a change of Religion is endeavoured What Why forsooth they say there are great Innovations brought in by the Prelates and such as tend to the advancing of Popery Now that the Vanity and Falshood of this may appear I shall humbly
Inconvenience by Bishops sitting in the House of Parliament is no less prejudicial to the Kingdom Where first I observe that this Lord accounts the Pope's ruling in this Kingdom but a matter of inconvenience for so his words imply For that must be one Inconvenience if the Bishops voting be the other and I am sure the Laws both of this Church and State make it far worse than an Incovenience Had I said thus much I had been a Papist out of Question Secondly I 'll appeal to any prudent and moderate Protestant in the Christian World whether he can possibly think that the Bishops having Votes in the Parliaments of England can possibly be as great or no less an Inconvenience than the Pope's Supremacy here And I believe this Lord when he thinks better of it will wish these words unsaid Well! but what then is this inconvenience that is so great Why my Lord tells us 't is because they have such an absolute dependency upon the King that they sit not there as free-Men Where first 't is strange to me and my Reason that any dependency on the King be it never so absolute can be possibly so great an Inconvenience to the King as that upon an Independent foreign Power is the King being sworn to the Laws but the Pope being free and as he challenges not only independent from but superiour to both King and Laws Secondly I conceive the Bishops dependency is no more absolute upon the King than is the dependence of other Honourable Members of that House and that the Bishops sit there as absolute free-men as any others not excepting his Lordship And of this Belief I must be till the contrary shall be proved which his Lordship goes thus about to do That which is requisite to Freedom is to be void of Hopes and Fears he that can lay down these is a Free-man and will be so in this House But for the Bishops as the case stands with them it is not likely they will lay aside their Hopes greater Bishopricks being still in expectancy and for their Fears they cannot lay them down since their Places and Seats in Parliament are not invested in them by Blood and so hereditary but by annexation of a Barony to their Office and depending upon that Office so that they may be 〈◊〉 of their Office and thereby of their Places at the King's pleasure My Lord's Philosophy is good enough for to be void of Hopes and Fears is very requisite to Freedom and he that can lay these down is a Free-man or may be if he will But whether he will be so in that great House I cannot so well tell For though no Man can be free that is full charg'd with Hopes or Fears yet there are some other things which collaterally work upon Men and consequently take off their Freedom almost as much as Hopes and Fears can do Such are Consanguinity Affinity especially if the Wife bears any sway private Friendship and above all Faction And therefore though I cannot think that every Man will be a Free-man in that House that is void of Hopes and Fears yet I believe he may if he will Now I conceive that in all these collateral Stiflings of a Man's Freedom the Lay Lords are by far less free than the Bishops are Again for the main bars of Freedom Hopes and Fears into which all the rest do some way or other fall I do not yet see but that Bishops even as the case stands with them may be as free and I hope are in their Voting as Temporal Lords For their Hopes this Lord tells us 't is not likely they will lay them aside greater Bishopricks being still in expectancy Truly I do not know why a deserving Bishop may not in due time hope for a better Bishoprick and yet retain that Freedom which becomes him in Parliament as well as any Noble-man may be Noble and Free in that great Court and yet have moderated Hopes of being called to some great Office or to the Council-table or some honourable and profitable Embassage or some Knighthood of the Garter of all or some of which there is still expectancy Lay your Hand on your Heart my Lord and examine your self As for Fears his Lordship tells us roundly the Bishops cannot lay them down Cannot Are all the Bishops such poor Spirits But why can they not Why because their Places in Parliament are not hereditary but by annexation of a Barony to their Office and depending upon it so that they may be deprived of their Office and thereby of their Place at the King's pleasure First I believe the Bishops gave their Votes in Parliament as freely to their Conscience and Judgment as this Lord or any other Secondly If any of them for Fear or any other motive have given their Votes unworthily I doubt not but many Honourable Lords have at some time or other forgot themselves and born the Bishops company though in this I commend neither Thirdly I know some Bishops who had rather lose not their Baronies only but their Bishopricks also than Vote so unworthily as this Lord would make the World believe they have done Lastly it is true their Seat in Parliament depends on their Barony their Barony on their Office and if they be deprived of their Office both Barony and Seat in Parliament are gone But I hope my Lord will not say we live under a Tyrant and then I will say Bishops are not deprivable of their Office and consequently not of the rest at the Kings Pleasure But this Lord proceeds into a farther Amplification And to whet his inveterate Malice against the King says as follows Nay They do not so much as sit here dum bene se gesserint as the Judges now by your Lordships Petition to the King have their Places granted them but at Will and Pleasure and therefore as they were all excluded by Edward the First as long as he pleased and Laws made excluso Clero so may they be by any King at his Pleasure in like manner They must needs therefore be in an absolute dependency upon the Crown and thereby at Devotion for their Votes which how prejudicial it hath been and will be to this House I need not say If I could wonder at any thing which this Lord doth or says in such Arguments as these when his Heart is up against the Clergy I should wonder at this For if he will not suppose the King's Government to be Tyrannical the Bishops have their Places during Life and cannot justly be put out of them unless their Miscarriage be such as shall merit a Deprivation And therefore by this Lord 's good leave they have as good a Tenure as the Judges is of a Quamdiu bene se gesserint And this they have without their Lordships Petition to the King as his Lordship tells us was fain to be made for the Judges thereby galling the King for giving some Patents to the Judges during Pleasure which as