learned man And it would be a generous act and highly conducive to the honor of Mr. Noy's memory as well as the Kings and Churches interest if such Treasures were communicated to the benefit of all his Majesties Subjects which are now only useful to some single persons Neither was this all the trouble that Dr. Heylyn met with at this â—ime For some enemies then living added to the sorrow and disturbance that he had for his departed Friend The grievances which the Collegiate Church of Westminster suffered under the Government of Iohn Lord Bishop of Lincoln then Commendatory-Dean thereof became so intolerable that our Doctor was constrained for the common safety of that Foundation to draw up certain Articles no less than 36. against his Lordship by way of charge which he communicated to Dr. Thomas Wilson Dr. Gabriel Moore and Dr. Ludovicus Wemmys Prebendaries of the said Church who embarqu'd themselves in the same bottom with him and resolved to make complaint by way of Petition which was drawn up and presented to the King by all four together in the Withdrawing-Chamber at Whitehal March 31. 1634. And a Commission was issued out thereupon to the Archbishops of Centerbury and York the Earl of Manchester Lord Privy-Seal Earl of Portland Lord high Treasurer the Lord Bishop of London Lord Cottington and the two Secretaries of State viz. Sir Iohn Coke and Sir Francis Windebank authorizing them to hold a Visitation of the Church of Westminster to examine particular charges made against Iohn Lord Bishop of Lincoln and to redress such Grievances and Pressures as the Prebendaries of the said Church suffered by his Mis-government The Articles were returned to Dr. Heylyn to be put in Latine and the Commission bore date April 20. But the whole thing lay dormant till December 1635. at which time the Bishop began again to rage in his Province of Westminster dispossessing the Prebendaries of their Seats neglecting to call the Chapter to pass accounts conferring Orders in the said Church within the space of a month permitting a Benefice in the gift of the said Church and lying within his Diocess to be lapsed unto himself with many other Grievances which caused the forementioned Prebendaries to present a second Petition to his Majesty Humbly beseeching him to take the ruinous and desperate estate of the said Church into his Princely consideration as 't is worded in the Petition it self Upon which the former Commission was revived and delivered to the Lords whom it did concern and a Citation fixed upon the Church-doors of Westminster accordingly Upon Ianuary 25. they were warned by the Sub-Dean to meet the Bishop in Ierusalem-Chamber where amongst other matters his Lordship desired to know what those things were that were amiss that so he might presently redress them To whom Dr. Heylyn replied That seeing they had put the business into his Majesties hands it would ill become them to take it out of his into their own Ian. 27. both parties met before the Lords in the Inner Star-Chamber where the Commission was tendred and accepted and the whole business put into a methodical course each following Monday being appointed for the day of hearing till the whole was concluded Feb. 1. The Commissioners with the Plaintiffs and Defendant met in the Council-Chamber at Whitehal where it was ordered that the Plaintiffs should be called by the name of Prebendaries-Supplicant That they should be admitted upon Oath as Witnesses That they should have a sight of all Registers Records Books of Accounts c. That the first business that they should proceed in should be that of the Seat because that made the breach or difference more visible and offensive to the world than those matters that were more private and domestick and finally that the Prebendaries-Supplicant should have an Advocate who should plead their Cause defend their Rights and represent their Grievances And the person that they unanimously made choice of was Dr. Peter Heylyn Feb. 8. the Dean put in his Plea about the Seat or great Pew under Richard the II. and the Advocate being appointed by the Prebendaries-Supplicant to speak in the defence of their common Interest in the Seat now controverted and of which the Bishop of Lincoln had most disgracefully dispoâ—sessed them he made choice to represent to the Lord Commissioners 1. Their Original Right 2. Their Derivative Right and lastly their Possessory Right Their Original Right he proved from the Charter of their Foundation from Queen Elizabeth their Foundress who declared by Act of Parliament made in the first year of her Reign the Abbey of St. Peter in Westminster fell into her hands and that being seized thereof and of all the Lands thereunto belonging she did by her Letters Patents erect the said dissolved Abbey into a Collegiate Church consisting of a Dean and twelve Prebendaries and that the said Dean and Prebendaries should be both in re nomine unum corpus corporatum one only Body Politick that they should have a perpetual Succession a Common Seal and that they should Call Plead and be Impleaded by the name of the Dean and Chapter of the Collegiate Church of St. Peter in Westminster So that by this Donation the Dean hath no propriety in the said Church his own Stall excepted but is joynt-Owner with the Prebendaries of the Site and Soil Nor did the Queen bestow upon them the Church alone but bestowed it joyntly upon them una cum omnibus antiquis privilegiis libertatibus ac liberis consuetudinibus and those to be enjoyned in as full a manner as ever tho Abbot and Convent did before enjoy the same By which it appears that all the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the Church of Westminster is vested joyntly in the Dean and Chapter and not in the Dean alone For as the Dean and Chapter are one Body so they make one Ordinary and as one Ordinary have a common and joynt Power to dispose of Seats Their Derivative Right he proved from their Original Right For the Queen giving the Dean and Prebendaries with their Successors all Rights Possessions Privileges and Immunities they need only to prove their Succession in the Church of St. Peter and then whatever Right was in their Predecessors Original must be on them derived As for their Possessory Right he desired their Lordships pardon if he should fail in the proof of it For the Book of the Chapter-Acts was missing which was very necessary in order to it And although one offered to take his Oath that the Bishop of Lincoln never saw it yet the Oath was so desperate that either the person who offered to take it had an hand in making away the Book or else that he durst swear whatever the Bishop of Lincoln said or asserted But being deprived of that Evidence he proceeded to Testimony where he did not make use of such Witnesses as were summoned by the Dean viz. Colâ—ege-Servants and Tenants who were obnoxious to him but indifferent men that were no way
Port or lofty looks or in all or in none Admitting the most and worst you can of these particulars would you have men that shine in a higher Orb move in a lower Sphere than that in which God has placed them Or being rank'd in Order and Degree about you would you not have them keep that distance which belongs to their Places Or because you affect a Parity in the Church would you have all men brought to the same Level with your self without admitting Sub and Supra in the Scale of Government If they were your Fathers in God why did not you look upon them with such reverence as becomes Children If your Superiors in the Lord why did not you yield them that subjection which was due unto them If fix'd in Place and Power above you by the Laws of the Land only and no more than so why did not you give obedience to those Laws under which you lived and by which you were to be directed Take heed I beseech you Mr. Baxter that more Spiritual Pride be not found in that heart of yours than ever you found worldly and external Pride in any of my Lords the â—â—â—hops and that you do not trample on them with greater insolence Calco platonis Fastum sed majori Fastu as you know who said in these unfortunate days of their Calamity than ever they expressed toward any in the time of their Glory Were it my case as it is yours I would not for ten thousand worlds depart this life before I had obtained their pardon and given satisfaction to the world for these horrible Scandals 3. As for those persons that were heartily affected with Episcopacy and dissatisfied with the extinction of an Order so sacred and venerable there was this way found out to quiet their diâ—contents viz. to persuade them that Bishops and Presbyters were of equivolent importance and comprehended under the same name in the Holy Scriptures But grant says this their Champion that they be so who that pretends to Logick can dispute so lamely as from a Community of names to infer an Identity or Sameness in the thing so named Kings are called Gods in Holy Scripture and God does frequently call himself by the name of King yet if a man should thence infer that from this Community of names there arises an Identity or Sameness between God and the King he might worthily be condemned for so great a Blasphemer St. Peter calls our Saviour Christ by the name of Bishop and himself a Presbyter or Priest or an Elder as we unhandsomly read it yet were it a sorry piece of Logick to conclude from hence that there is no distinction between an Apostle and an Elder the Prince of the Apostles and a simple Presbyter or between Christ the Supreme Pastor of his Church and every ordinary Bishop Lastly take it for granted that Bishops have an Identity or Sameness in Name Office Ordination and Qualification with Presbyters it will not follow convertibly that Presbyters have the like Identity or Sameness of Qualification Ordination Name and Office which the Bishop hath My reason is because a Bishop being first Regularly and Canonically to be made a Priest before he take the Order and Degree of a Bishop hath in him all the Qualifications the Ordination Name and Office which a Presbyter has and something further superadded as well in point of Order and Iurisdiction which every Presbyter hath not So that altho every Bishop be a Priest or Presbyter yet every Presbyter is not a Bishop To make this clear by an example in the Civil Government When Sir Robert Cecil Knight and principal Secretary of State was made first Earl of Salisbury and then Lord Treasurer continuing Knight and Secretary as he was before it might be said that he had an Identity or Sameness in Name Office Order and Qualification with Sir Iohn Herbert the other Secretary yet this could not be said reciprocally of Sir Iohn Herbert because there was something superadded to Sir Robert Cecil viz. the Dignity of an Earl and the Office of Lord Treasurer which the other had not So true is that of Lactantius Adeo argumenta ex absurdo petita ineptos habent exitus It is ordinary for Arguments built upon weak grounds to have worse Conclusions And a better Instance cannot be given of this than in the Retortion that Mr. Selden made to one in the House of Commons who disputed against the Divine Right of Episcopacy His argument was this 1. That Bishops are Iure Divino is of Question 2. That Archbishops are not Iure Divino is out of Question 3. That Ministers are Iure Divino there is no Question Now if Bishops which are questioned whether Iure Divino shall Suspend Ministers which are Iure Divino I leave it to you Mr. Speaker Which Mr. Selden whether with greater Wit or Scorn is hard to say thus retorted on him 1. That the Convocation is Iure Divino is a Question 2. That Parliaments are not Iure Divino is out of Question 3. That Religion is Iure Divino is no Question Now Mr. Speaker that the Convocation which is questioned whether Iure Divino and Parliaments which out of Question are not Iure Divino should meddle with Religion which questionless is Iure Divino I leave to you Mr. Speaker There are some other Points relating to Episcopacy which Dr. Heylyn has long time since cleared and determined And if some of our pretending States-men had considered and read what was written upon those Subjects their time and pains would have been more profitably spent to the honor and security of this Church and Kingdom than in raising doubts and scruples which had long before been so clearly stated and resolved For 1. As for Bishops sitting in Parliament to Vote in Causes of Blood and Death this the Doctor evinced not only in the Tract entituled De Iure paritatis Episcoporum but in his Observations upon Mr. L'Estrange's History where he says that altho the ancient Canons disable Bishops from Sentencing any man to Death yet they do not from being Aâ—sistants in such cases from taking Examinations hearing Depositions of Witnesses or giving Counsel in such matters as they saw occasion The Bishops sitting as Peers in the English Parliament were never excluded from the Earl of Strafford's Trial from any such Assistances as by their Gravity and Learning and other Abilities they were enabled to give in any dark and difficult business tho of Blood and Death which were brought before them 2. With the like solid reasoning the Doctor has evinced the Bishops to be one of the Three Estates For not to mention what he says upon this Argument in his Stumbling-Block of Disobedience That they have their Vote in Parliament as a Third Estate not in capacity of Temporal Barons altho they are so as Mr. Selden evinces and an Act of Parliament Stat. 25. Edw. III. will evidently appear from these following Reasons For
13th year of his Age sent to London by his Father to be under the Cure of Dr. Turner Husband to that Gentlewoman that had a hand in the Death of Sir Tho. Overbury who keeping him to a strict Diet and frequent Sweatings sent him back into the Country after four Months time But his Distemper again returning he was fain once more to apply himself unto his old Doctor before a Cure could be completed Upon his return to Burford he found his old Master dead and was committed to the Care of a Successor viz. Mr. Davis a Reverend good man who notwithstanding his long discontinuance from School found his Scholar not to have mis-spent or mis-employed any time that gave him the least Relaxation from his Distemper and therefore placed him Third in the â—ppermost Form Mr. Davis spared no diligence that might tend to the cultivating of a Plant so flourishing and hopeful making him fit for the University by having him but twelve Months under his Tuition A kindness so gratefully resented by our Doctor that he dedicated to him one of his Books called Ecclesia Vindicata and had it not been for the misfortune of the War had given better Testimonies of a thankful and generous mind in preferring him to some considerable Benefice or Dignity in the Church He was the beginning of December 1613. in the 14th year of his Age sent to Oxford and placed under the Tuition of Mr. Ioseph Hill an antient Batchelor in Divinity once one of the Fellows of Corpus Christi College but then Commoner of Hart-Hall by whom Mr. Walter Newberry afterward a zealous Puritan was made choice of to instruct him in Logick and other Academical Studies as far as the tenderness of his Age rendred him capable And he made such progress in them that upon the 22d of Iuly 1614. he stood Candidate for a Demies place in Magdalen College having no other Recommendations than Sir Iohn Walters then Attorney General to the Prince and afterward Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer Grand-Father to that worthy Gentleman Sir William Walter now of Sarsden in the County of Oxford Baronet Dr. Langton President of the College put Mr Heylyn the Eighth upon the Roll which was the first place of the second Course but it succeeded not till the year following being then Elected First upon the Roll and having very much endeared himself to the President and Fellows by a facetious Latine Poem upon a Journey that he made with his two Tutors unto Woodstock But immediately after his admission into that noble Foundation he fell into a Consumption which constrained him to retire to his Native Air where he continued till Christmas following He was a year after his Admission made Impositor of the Hall in which Office he acquitted himself with so much Fidelity that the College-Dean continued him longer in it than any ever before by which means he contracted a great deal of Hatred and Enmity from those Students that were of his own standing being called by them the Perpetual Dictator But he diverted the violence of the Storm by the assiduity of his Studies and particularly by Composing an English Tragedy called Spurius which was so well approved of by some learned persons of that Foundation that the President caused it to be privately acted in his own Lodgings In Iuly 1617. he obtained his Grace for the degree of Batchelor of Arts but was not Presented to it till the October following by reason of the absence of one of his Seniors holding it unworthy to prejudice another person for his own Advancement After the performance of the Lent-Exercises for his Degree he fell into a Fever which increasing with great violence at last turned into a Tertian Ague and caused him again to retreat unto his Countrey Air which he enjoyed till the middle of Iuly following and then according to the College Statutes which require that Exercise to be performed every long Vacation by some Batchelor of Arts he began his Cosmographical Lectures and finished them in the end of the next August His Reading of those Lectures drew the whole Society into a profound admiration of his Learning and Abilities insomuch that before he had ended them he was admitted Fellow upon Probation in the place of one Mr. Love And that he might give a Testimony of his grateful mind for so unexpected a Favour he writ a Latine Comedy call'd Theomachia which he Composed and Transcribed in a Fortnights space On Iuly 29. 1619. he was admitted in verum perpetuum Socium and not long before was made Moderator of the Senior Form which he retained above two years And within that compass of time he began to write his Geography accordingly as he designed when he Read his Cosmographic-Lectures which Book he finish'd in little more than two months beginning it Feb. 22. and completing it the 29th of April following At the Act Ann. Dom. 1620 he was admitted Master of Arts the honor of which Degree was the more remarkable because that very year the Earl of Pembroke Chancellor of the University signified his pleasure by special Letters that from that time forward the Masters of Arts who before sate bare should wear their Caps in all Congregations and Convocations unto which Act of Grace his Lordship was induced by an humble Petition presented to him by the Regent Masters in behalf of themselves and Non-Regents as also by Dr. Prideaux then Vice-Chancellor who being pre-acquainted with the business gave great encouragement to proceed onward in it and lastly by the indefatigable pains of one Master Clopton junior of Corpus-Christi-Colledge who was the principal Solicitor in that Affair His Geography was committed by him to the perusal of some Learned Friends and being by them well approved he obtained his Fathers consent for the Printing of it which was done accordingly November 7. 1621. The first Copy of it was presented by him to King Charles the First then Prince of Wales unto whom he Dedicated it and by whom together with its Author it was very graciously received being introduced into the Princes Presence by Sir Robert Carre one of the Gentlemen of his Highnesses Bed-Chamber and since Earl of Ancram unto whose Care Master Heylyn was commended by the Lord Danvers then at Cornbury by reason of some bodily Indisposition But after this Sun-shine of Favour and Honor darted on him by the Prince there followed a Cloud which darkened all his Joys for in a few months after his Father died at Oxon with an Ulcer in his Bladder occasioned by the Stone with which he had been for many years grievously afflicted His Body was conveyed to Lechlade in Glocestershire where he was buried near his Wife who died six years before him of a Contagious Fever and lay in the Chancel of that Parish-Church Septemb. 15. 1622. he received Confirmation from the hands of Bishop Lake in the Parish Church of Wells and in a short space after exhibited a Certificate to Doctor Langton concerning
wrote by him he called by the name of Mercurius Anglicus which name continued as long as the Cause did for which it was written And besides these weekly Tasks being influenced by the same Royal Commands he writ divers other Treatises before he could obtain his Quietus est from that ungrateful Employment viz. 1. A Relation of the Lord Hopton ' s Victory at Bodwin 2. A View of the Proceedings in the West for Pacification 3. A Letter to a Gentleman in Leicestershire about the Treaty 4. A Relation of the Queens Return from Holland and the seizing of Newark 5. A Relation of the Proceedings of Sir John Gell. 6. The Black Cross shewing that the Londoners were the cause of the present Rebellion with some others that were never Printed These zealous services produced the very same effect that he foresaw when he first undertook them For in the space of six months he was voted a Delinquent in the House of Commons this being given for a reason viz. that he resided and lived at Oxon. Upon which an Order was sent to the Committee at Portsmouth to Sequester his whole Estate and seize upon all his Goods And Reading being taken by the Earl of Essex a free and easie passage was opened for the Execution of those unrighteous Decrees For in a short space after his Corn Cattle and Money were taken by one Captain Watts and all his Books carried to Portsmouth Colonel Norton's hand being set to the Warrant of his Sequestration he twice Petition'd to have some Reparation out of his Estate but was denied the first time and put off in a more Courtly manner the last Before he left Alresford he took care to hide some of his choicest and most costly Goods designing the first opportunity to have them conveyed to Oxon. But either by ill luck or the treachery and baseness of some of his Neighbours the Cart with all the Goods were taken by part of Nortons Horse and carried to Portsmouth himself also violently pursued and by Divine Providence delivered from the snare of those Fowlers who thirsted after his Blood and lay in wait for his Life The Cart with all contained in it was carried to Southampton and delivered unto Norton Saintship then being the ground of Propriety as it afterward was of Sovereignty A loss great in it self but much more so to a poor Divine and chiefly to be ascribed to a Colonel in the King's Army who denied to send a Convoy of Horse for the guarding of his Goods although the Marquess of Newcastle gave Order for it And these Oppressions which he suffered from his Enemies were increased by as unjust proceedings of those who ought to have been his Friends For part of the Royal Army defaced his Parsonage-House at Alresford making it unhabitable and taking up all the Tithes for which he never had the least satisfaction unless it was the Manumission of himself from the troublesome Employment under Mr. Secretary Nicholas and at his going off at the request of that worthy Gentleman he writ a little Book called The Rebels Catechism Being thus dismissed from business so disagreeable to his Genius he found leisure to employ his Contemplative thoughts about subjects more weighty and serious And having obeyed the Commands of his Superiors he endeavoured to satisfie the doubts of his Friends and particularly of one whose thoughts were confusedly perplexed about our Reformation And to do this he drew up a Discourse in answer to that common but groundless Calumny of the Papists who brand the Religion of our Church with the nick-name of that which is Parliamentary But our Reverend Doctor Demonstrates in that Book how little or indeed nothing the Parliament acted in the Reformation For some years indeed that are past there have been Parliaments that have had a Committee for Religion which is to have an Apostolical care of all the Churches And our Reverend Doctor observes that this custom was first introduced into the House of Commons when the Divinity-School in Oxon was made the Seat of their Debates For the Speaker being placed in or near the Chair in which the Kings Professor of Divinity did usually read his publick Lectures and moderate in all publick Disputations they were put into a conceit that the determining in all Points and Controversies in Divinity did belong to them As Vibius Rufus having married Tullies Widow and bought Caesar's Chair conceived that he was then in a way to gain the Eloquence of the one and the Power of the other For after this we find no Parliament without a Committee for Religion and no Committee for Religion but what did â—hâ—nk it self sufficiently instructed to mannage the greatest Controversies in Divinity which were brought before them And with what success to the Religion here by Law Established we have seen too clearly Tractent fabrilia fabri Let things of a spiritual nature in the name of God be debated and determined by Spiritual persons Doctrinal matters are proper for the cognizance of a Convocation not of a Committee which does often consist of wise men but the common Title given to some of them does at least prove that those wise men are not always either the best Christians or greatest Clerks Neither were these things the only Subjects of the vast mind and contemplative â— thoughts of this great man For toward the latter end of this year being 1644. he Presented to his Majesty a Paper containing the Heads of a Discourse writ by him called The Stumbling-block of Disobedience removed in answer to and examination of the two last Sections in Mr. Calvins Institutions against Sovereign Monarchy The Lord Hatton the Bishop of Sarum Sir Orlando Bridgman and Dr. Steward perused the whole Treatise and the King approving of the Contents commanded the Lord Digby further to consider the Book in whose hands it did for a long time rest neither was it made publick till about ten years after the War was ended In the beginning of the year 1645. he left Oxon and went into Hampshire settling himself and Family at Winchester Alresford with all the rest of his Preferments being taken from him and having nothing to subsist upon besides his own Temporal Estate And yet even now the exuberancy of an honest zeal that I may use his own words though upon another occasion carried him rather to the maintenance of his Brethrens and the Churches Cause than to the preservation of his own peace and particular contentments And therefore considering unto what a deplorable condition the poor Loyal Clergy were reduced how they were hungry and thirsty and their souls ready to faint in them as also how the Parliament were about to establish those Presbyterian Ministers for term of life in those Livings out of which himself and many others were ejected he drew up some Considerations and presented them to some Members of the House of Commons to see whether he could move them to any Christian Charity and Compassion And they
Disputation in St. Iohns College for which he was much blamed by Arch-Bishop Abbot then Vice-Chancellor and made a By-word and Reproach in the University Finally he exhorted him to continue in that moderate course telling him That as God had given him more than ordinary Gifts so he would pray to God that he might employ them in such a way and manner as might make up the Breaches in the Walls of Christendom The Discourse between them continued for the space of two hours Amotis Arbitris For he ordered his Servants that no one should come to him on any occasion before he called But this was not all that was done then by our young Divine to secure himself from the Reproach of a Papist For in November next following he Preached before the King on those words Iohn 4. 20. Our Fathers worshipped on this Mountain In which Sermon he declared himself with such warm zeal against some Errors and Corruptions in the Roman Church that he shewed himself to be far enough from any inclination to the Roman Religion But his innocency in that matter will be made more apparent in some following passages of his Life Unto one of the most principal parts of which the Reader is now invited viz. his Marriage which was so far from being Clandestine and Clancular as it was objected to him in Print above thirty years after its solemnization that he ordered it to be performed upon St. Simon and Iudes day between ten and eleven of the Clock in the morning in his own College-Chappel which by his appointment was set out with the richest Ornaments in the presence of a sufficient number of Witnesses of both Sexes according to Law and Practice The Wedding-Dinner was kept in his own Chamber some Doctors and their Wives with five or six of the Society being invited to it Mrs. Bride was placed at the head of the Table the Town-Musick playing and himself waiting most part of the Dinner and no Formality wanting which was accustomably required even to the very giving of Gloves at the most solemn Wedding These things are more particularly related because some of his Enemies having nothing else with which they could blast his Reputation were pleased to accuse him of a Clandestine Marriage and that he was obliged in Conscience to restore all the Emoluments that he had received from his Fellowship between that time and his Resignation But what shall be given to thee or what shall be done unto thee thou false tongue It seems it must be injustice in Mr. Heylyn to receive his share of an half-years Divident which was usually allowed to persons in his circumstances but it was no act of unrighteousness in other men to take bread out of the mouths of young Students and send them to wander in solitary ways being hungry and thirsty and their souls ready to faint in them The Ceremony was performed by his faithful and ingenuous friend Dr. Allibond and the person that he made choice of for his Wife was Mrs. Laetitia Heygate third Daughter of Thomas Heygate of Heys Esq one of his Majesties Justices of Peace for the County of Middlesex who in his younger days whilst his elder Brother was alive had been Provost-Marshal-General of the Army under the Earl of Essex at the Action of Cales and of Margery Skipwith his Wife one of the Daughters of Skipwith of in the County of Leicester a Family of good note and credit in those parts Which said Thomas Heygate the Father was second Son of that Thomas Heygate who was Field-Marshal-General of the English Forces before St. Quintins under the Command of the Earl of Pembroke Anno Dom. 1557. and of Stonner his Wife a Daughter of the antient Family of the Stonners in Oxfordshire These particulars are set down by our learned Doctor in his little Manuscript to this end That Posterity might know from what Roots they sprang and not engage in any thing unworthy their Extraction 'T is an inestimable blessing for any one to be well Born and Descended but the present guilt and future account of that person will be increased who blemishes and stains his Family by unworthy and ill-done actions Continuing this time Mr. Heylyn had no very considerable subsistence for himself and his new Companion For the Portion which he was to have by her being a thousand pounds was never paid many irreparable losses and mis-fortunes happening to her eldest Brother which he was not able to recover though left by his Father in the possession of 800 l. per Annum His Fellowship he resigned and although he had the Advowson of Bradwel a very good Living in Glocestershire left him by his Father together with a Rent-charge of Inheritance paid him out of the Mannor of Lechlade yet he was constrained for a while to wrestle with some necessities and frowns of Fortune He parted with his Title to Bradwel resolving to lay the foundation of his future Felicity in this world by his own honest industry and not bury himself in the obscurity of a Rural Life His noble Friend the Earl of Danby whom he attended in the quality of a Chaplain to the Isles of Guernsey and Iersey his own Chaplains modestly refusing a Voyage which they conceived to be troublesome and dangerous was not a little troubled to see such extraordinary merits continue still discouraged and unrewarded and therefore out of his generous Nature presented him to the great Judg and Mecoenas of Learning Arch-Bishop Laud then Bishop of London who making a second and more narrow enquiry into his Temporal concerns appointed him to meet him Court which not long after was to remove to Woodstock But his Lordship fell sick at Reading and Mr. Heylyn met with some rude usages in the Kings Chappel which was talked of the more at Oxon the interest he had at Court being universally known in that University But it was not very many months after that power was given him to revenge the Affront being admitted Chaplain in Ordinary to the King and into great Favour with the Grandees of that time But a soul enobled with the principles of Gratitude and Generosity is as averse to retaliate as to do an injury The first person therefore unto whom he paid his thankful Acknowledgments for his honorable Preferment was the Earl of Danby who presently told him That those thanks were not in the least due unto himself but to the Lord Bishop of London unto whose generous and active mind the whole of that Dignity was to be ascribed Upon which hint he attended upon the Bishop who after he had wish'd him happiness in his new Preferment gave him some particular Instructions for his behaviour in it which he carefully observed the whole time of his Attendance upon the Sacred Person of his gracious Master Having thus gained the advantage of this rising ground he found out an honest Art by which he might recommend himself to the Patronage of some noble mind and that was to assert
in the 20th Article which thus runs in terminis viz. Habet Ecclesia Ritus sive Ceremonias statuendi Ius in Fidei Controversiis Authoritatem c. But the Regius Professor was as little pleased with these Questions and the Respondents stating of them as he was with the former And therefore that he might the more effectually expose him he openly declared how the Respondent had falsified the publick Doctrine of the Church and charged the Article with that Sentence viz. Habet Ecclesia Ritus sive Ceremonias c. which was not to be found in the whole Body of it and for the proof thereof he read the Article out of a Book which lay before him beginning thus Non licet Ecclesiae quicquam instituere quod verbo Dei scripto adversetur c. To which the Respondent reaâ—iâ—y answered That he perceived by the bigness of the Book which lay upon the Doctors Cushion that the Article he read was out of the Harmony of Confessions publish'd at Ceneva Anno Dom. 1612. which therein followed the Edition of the Articles in the time of King Edw. 6. Anno Dom. 1552. in which that Sentence was not found but that it was otherwise in the Articles agreed on in the Convocation Anno Dom. 1562. to which most of us had subscribed in our several places but the Professor still insisting upon that point and the Respondent perceiving the greaâ—est part of his Auditory dissatisfied he called to one Mr. Westly who had formerly been his Chamber-Fellow in Magdalen College and desired him to fetch the Book of Articles from some Adjacent Booksellers which being observed by the Professor he declared himself very willing to decline any farther Debate about that business and to go on directly in the Disputation But the Respondent was resolved to proceed no further Vsque dum liberaverit animam suam ab istâ calumniâ as his own words were till he had freed himself from that Imputation And it was not long before the coming of the Book put an end to the Controversie out of which he read the Article in English in his verbis The Church hath power to decree Rites and Ceremonies and Authority in Controversies of Faith c. which done he delivered the Book to one of the Auditors who desired it of him the Book passing from one hand to another till all were satisfied And at this point of time it was that the Bishop of Angolesme Lord Almoner to the Queen left the Schools professing afterward That he could see no hope of a fair Disputation from so foul a beginning It has been laid to Doctor Heylyn's charge that at this time he was Hissed because he excluded King and Parliament from being parts of the Church But he never deny'd either to be parts of the Diffusive Body of the Church but only to be parts of the Church Representative which consists of the Bishops and Clergy in their several Councils For neither King nor Parliament are Members of the Convocation as he then proved and asserted The Articles ascribe to the Church of England Represented in a National Council power of decreeing Rites and Ceremonies and Authority of determining Controversies in Faith as well as other Assemblies of that nature And this neither deserved nor met with any Hiss Perhaps a Hiss was then given but it was when the Regius Professor went to prove that not the Convocation but the High Court of Parliament had power of ordering matters in the Church in making Canons ordaining Ceremonies and determining Controversies in Religion And he could find no other medium to make it good but the Authority of Sir Edw. Coke in one of the Books of his Reports An Argument unto which the Respondent returned no other Answer than Non credendum est cuique extra suam Artem upon which immediately he gave place to the next Opponent which put an end to the heats of that Disputation But it did not so to the Regius Professors passion against Dr. Heylyn For conceiving his Reputation somewhat lessened in the eye of the world he gave an account in a paper of the whole transaction that tended very much to the Doctors disgrace as well as his own Justification But Dr. Heylyn well knew upon what bottom he stood and therefore in his own Vindication caused the Professor to be brought before the Council-Table at Woodstock where he was publickly rebuked for the mis-representations that he had made of him And upon the coming out of the Kings Declaration concerning Lawful Sports Dr. Heylyn took the pains to translate the Regius Professors Lecture upon the Sabbath into English and putting a Preface before it caused it to be Printed A performance which did not only justifie his Majesties proceedings but abated much of that opinion which Dr. Prideaux had amongst the Puritanical Faction in those days Pass we now from the University the School of Learning and Study to the Court the Seat of Breeding and Business where Dr. Potter afterward Dean of Worcester presented to the King a very learned Treatise called Charity Mistaken and for a reward of his great Abilities had a Prebendship of Windsor design'd for him which was then likely to become vacant by the promotion of the Bishop of Glocester to the See of Hereford Many of Dr. Heylyn's Friends were very zealous with the King on his behalf especially Dr. Neile then Archbishop of York But his Lordship stuck faster to his Bishoprick than he did to his Principles and so the business ended But whilst it was in agitation it occasioned this merry Epigram from our young Doctor who was conceived by every one to have missed that Prebendship upon the supposed Vacancy When Windsor Prebend late disposed was One ask'd me sadly how it came to pass Potter was chose and Heylyn was forsaken I answered 't was Charity Mistaken But the Doctors Juvenile humor was presently converted iuto a far less pleasing passion For Mr. Attorney-General Noye left this world for a better very much to the sorrow but much more to the loss of Dr. Heylyn He kept his Whitsontide in 1634. with the Doctor at Brentford where he used all imaginable arguments and intreaties to dissuade him from going to Tunbridge-Waters the following Vacation importuning him to accompany him to Alresford where he would be certain to find a better Air and a more careful Attendance But we are very often wise to our own hurt and stand in that light which would guide us to safety and felicity But whatsoever damage our Doctor sustained by the loss of so invaluable a Friend some persons else have gained well by it having two large Manuscripts of Mr. Noys own hand-writing The one contains the Collections he made of the Kings maintaining his Naval power accroding to the practice of his Royal Predecessors The other about the Priviledges and Jurisdictions of Ecclesiastical Courts These two Books Doctor Heylyn had a sight of from Mr. Noye about two months before the death of that
Friends to the Complainants but only to the Truth some of them Bishops some Doctors in Divinity all of them of unquestion'd Credit and such as spake upon certain and affirmative knowledge Finally the Advocate than whom never any Orator or Lawyer did better acquit himself urged that however things were in time past yet the Bishop by his Non-Claim had pre-judged himself and that the possession of the Prebendaries since his Lordship became Dean of Westminster was sufficient to create a Right though they had never any right before And this he made good by particular Cases and Decisions in the Civil Canon and Common Laws First for the Civil Law it was determined by the Laws of the twelve Tables That a continued and quiet possession which any man had gained in a Personal Estate for one year only or for two years together in matters Real which they call Immovable should create a Right those times being thought sufficient for any man to put in his Claim And so it held in Rome many hundred years till that upon some inconveniences which did thence arise it pleased Iustinian to set out his Edict which is still extant in the 7th Book of his Code and in that Edict to Decree That a possession of three years in matters Personal should beget a Right and as for Real Estates it was determined that a possession of ten years inter praesentes and twenty years inter absentes should conclude as much And in almost all Nations Christened the same Law has continued to this very time So that if this be applied to my Lord of Lincoln he is gone in Civil Law For being resident here continually for fifteen years together he never made his Claim to the Seat in question and so has lost his Right if ever he had any Next for the Canon Law it yields as many ruled Cases and Decisions by which to regulate this point as the former But the Advocate instanc'd only in one The Church of Sutry in Tuscany being void the Canons go to the Election of a Bishop and make choice of one whom they desire to have confirmed The Clergy of the Convents about the City interpose their Claim and make it manifest Eos Electionibus trium Episcoporum qui immediatè praefuerunt c. interfuisse i. e. that they were present at the Election of the three last Bishops and did give their Voices The Pope thereupon determined that seeing the Witnesses on the Canons part did seem to differ among themselves Et quod negativam quodammodo astruere satagebant and that they went about to prove the Negative viz. that the said Clerks had no Voices in the three last Elections or were not present in the same which negative proof it seems was taken for a strange attempt And seeing on the other side that it was manifest how the said Clerks were present at the three last Elections and had their Voices in the same the former Election was made void and the said Clerks put into that possession which they had before A Case says Dr. Heylyn that is very parallel to our present business we claiming that if not before yet in the time of the three last Deans we had possession of this Seat and therefore are to be restored unto that possession out of which we had been cast by my Lord of Lincoln Lastly for the Common Law however there is nothing against which the Laws do provide more carefully than the preventing or removing of a Force nor any thing wherein they do proceed with more severity than in punishing of the same yet by the Laws it is enacted that they which keep their possessions by Force in any Lands or Tenements whereof they or their Ancestors or they whose Estate they have in such Lands or Tenements have continued their Possession by the space of three years or more be not endangered by any former Statutes against Force Forcible Entries and Forcible Detainers So careful are the Laws to preserve Possession that in most cases they do prefer it before Right at least till Right be cleared and Judgment be pronounced in favour of it And albeit in the Common Laws there is no ruled Case in the present business as being meerly of Ecclesiastical Cognizance and Jurisdiction yet in the Common Law there is one Case which comes very near it and 't is briefly this If there be two Ioynt-Tenants or Tenants in Common of certain Lands and one of them doth expel or put forth the other out of Possession of the said Lands by force he that is so expelled may either bring his Writ of Assize of Novel Disseisin and so recover treble dammages or have his Action of Trespass of Forcible Entry against his Companion that did so expel him and thereupon shall have a Writ of Restitution This Case is very near ours as before is said the Dean and Prebendaries being Ioint-Tenants or Tenants in Common of the Seat in question out of which we are expelled forcibly by my Lord of Lincoln and now desire the benefit of the Law for our Restitution But says the Advocate my Lord objects that the Prebendaries are in subjection to him that they swear Canonical Obedience to him and therefore should not sit in the same Seat with him But to both we answer with an Absque hoc we are not in subjection to him for we are made Ioynt-Governors with him in every thing pertaining to the Church and in the Statutes are entituled Primarii principes viri and are to be Assistants to him and Associates with him in the common Government of the same Nor do we swear Canonical Obedience to him as is pretended We only make Oath that we shall give him dignam debitamque Reverentiam and that we swear to give to all Officers So that if Digna Reverentia is â—o be construed Canonical Obedience we owe Canonical Obedience to the Arch-Deacon the Treasurer the Sub-Dean and Steward as well as to the Bishop of Lincoln Much more was spoken by Dr. Heylyn vivâ voce in this matter which will be too tedious to be inserted in his Life But when he had ended his Speech the Lord Commissioners expected that the Bishop would have made a Reply but after a long pause he said no other words than these If your Lordships will hear that young fellow prate he will presently persuade you that I am no Dean of Westminster But upon hearing the proofs of both sides it was ordered by general consent of the Lord Commissioners that the Prebendaries should be restored to their old Seat and that none should sit there with them but Lords of the Parliament and Earls Eldest Sons according to the antient custom After this there was no Bishop of Lincoln to be seen at Morning-Prayer in the Church and seldom at Evening Feb. 15. the Lord Commissioners went on in hearing the particulars of the second Petition and so they proceeded from one Monday to another till Monday April 4. and then adjourned
King by whose Special Command he undertook it in a less space of time than four months and had a second Edition within three months after and notwithstanding the polemical Debates upon that Argument there was never any one yet that had the courage to return an Answer to that History And whoever peruses it with serious and unprejudiced thoughts will find that its Author principally designed to withdraw his Country-men from a Iudaical Observation of the Lords day i. e. from Dedicaâ—ing the whole of that time to the services and offices of Religion and refusing to engage in any business which our own or our Neighbors Conveniences or Necessities might exact from us And when all that our voluminous Writers have said upon this Argument is summ'd up together there are none of them but will subscribe to the truth of these two Propositions 1. That worldly cares and bodily Recreations tend very much to discompose and rarifie menâ— spirits and to fill them full of froth and worldliness of gaiety and wantonness so that they cannot fix their thoughts upon Christian Duties with any serious or continued Attention 2. That 't is impossible for the minds of the generality of Christians who are not used to Contemplation to be for a whole Lords day or the greatest part of it intent upon Religious Exercises And besides if all Refreshments and Recreations were absolutely unlawful upon that day poor Servants and the laborious part of mankind would be highly prejudiced for whose benefit the Sabbath was first instituted and appointed No sooner had the Doctor perfected this History but the Dean of Peterborough engages him to answer the Bishop of Lincloln's Letter to the Vicar of Grantham He received it upon Good-Friday and by Thursday night following discovered the Sophistry Mistakes and Falshoods of it and yet did not for all that intermit any of the publick Religious Exercises of the holy Feast of Easter It was approved by the King by him given to the Bishop of London to be Licensed and Published under the Title of A Coal from the Altar In less time then aâ— twelve-month the Bishop of Lincoln writ an Answer to it entituled The Holy Table Name and Thing but pretended it was writ long before by a Minister in Lincolnshire against Dr. Cole a Divine in the days of Queen Mary Our Reverend Doctor received a Massage from his Majesty to return a Reply to it and not in the least to spare the Author April 1. 1637. And he obeyed the Royal Command in the space of seven weeks presenting it ready Printed to the King the 20th of May following and called it Antidotum Lincolniense And although the Bishops Book was from the dissatisfaction of the times the subject-matter of the Book it self and the Religious esteem of the Author who was held in high Veneration looked upon to be unanswerable and sold for no less than 4 s. yet upon the coming out of the answer it was brought to less than one But before this he answered Burtons Seditious Sermon being thereunto also appointed by the King which Book although he dispatch'd in a fortnight yet it was not published till Iune 26. 1637. being kept in readiness till the Execution of the Star-Chamber Sentence upon the Triumviri that so people might be satisfied as well in the greatness of the Crimes as the necessity and justice of the punishment inflicted upon those Offenders In Iuly 1637. the Bishop of Lincoln was Censured in the Star-Chamber for tampering with Witnesses in the Kings Cause being suspended à Beneficio Officio and sent to the Tower where he continued three years and did not in all that space of time hear either Sermon or Publick Prayers Not long after this Dr. Heylyn was chosen Treasurer for the Church of Westminster and continued in that Office all the while of the Bishops Imprisonment and Suspension And he made use of the power with which that place invested him to the best advantage of that Foundation For first he reguâ—ated the Disorders of the Iury by exacting the Sconces or Perdition-money and dividing it amongst those that were most diligent and devout Then he proceeded to repair the Timber-work of the great West Isle which was ready to fall down caused the new Arch over the Preaching-place to be new Valuted and the Roof thereof to be raised to the same heighth with the rest of the Church the Charge whereof amounted to 434 l. 18 s. 10 d. and lastly made the South-side of the lower West-Isle to be new Timbred Boarded and Leaded being fallen into great decay Thrice he assisted in the Election at Westminster-School and every time had an opportunity of bringing in a Scholar into that Royal Foundation for two of which he was never spoke unto and for his kindness unto all three he never had the value of one pint of Wine nor any thing of less moment Whilst he continued Treasurer the Parsonage of Islip became vacant by the Death of Dr. King unto which he was presented by the Chapter But he deferr'd receiving Institution by reason of its great distance from Alresford being advised to exchange it for some other that was more near and convenient After many offers he at last exchanged with Mr. Atkinson of St. Iohns College in Oxon for South-Warnborough which was eight miles distant from his other Living and the perpetual Patronage of which Archbishop Laud had bestowed upon that fore-mentioned Society But that Gentleman enjoyed Islip but a few weeks and those of his College conceiving themselves prejudiced by the change our Doctor was so generous as to obtain for one of the Fellows a second Presentation to Islip for which he never received so much as the least civil Acknowledgment But he had other things to afflict his spirit at that time his whole Family being visited with a contagious Fever and no person in it except one Servant but were all sick at one and the same time The Doctor did as narrowly escape death as St. Paul and his Companions did Shipwrack when they went to Rome The Fever had so seized upon his spirits that after the abatement of its Paroxisms he had many dull and sleepless nights and returning upon him with greater violence a twelve-month after he was reduced to so extreme a weakness that all his Friends together with himself supposed him fallen into a deep Consumption And yet even at this time his mind was not idle or unactive For now it was that he first meditated of a project of Writing a History of the Church of England since the Reformation And no sooner had he recovered some measure and degrees of strength but he prepared materials for it and upon his return to London obtained the freedom of Sir Robert Cotton's Library and by the recommendation of Archbishop Laud had liberty granted him to carry home some of the Books leaving 200 l. apiece as a pawn behind him About this time it was that the Commotions began to be hot
and Unity of his Church against the Errors Schisms and Persecutions of its Enemies whether Papists Socinians or Disciplinarians His Book upon the Creed is a mixture of all these excellent Ingredients insomuch that whoever would be acquainted with the Sence of the Greek and Latine Fathers upon the Twelve Articles of our Faith as also with Positive Polemical and Philological Theology he will not find either his labour lost or his time mispended if he peruse what our learned Doctor has writ upon that Subject But neither Learning or Innocency are a sufficient safe-guard against the assaults of mischievous and malicious men many of whom combined together to render Dr. Heylyn as infamous in his Name as they had before made him improsperous in his Estate And to that purpose they used their utmost endeavours to have one of his Books burned called Respondet Petrus by an Order from Olivers Council-Table For Dr. N. Bernard Preacher of Grays-Inn putting out a Book entituled The Iudgment of the Lord Primate of Ireland c. our Reverend Doctor being therein accused for violating his Subscription and running cross to the publick Doctrine of the Church or England as also being taxed with Sophistry Shamelesness and some other things which he could not well endure either from the Dead or the Living he returned an Answer to it against which Articles were presently formed and presented to the then Council-Table and the common Rumor went that the Book was publickly burnt A fame as the Doctor says that had little truth in it though more colour for it than many other charges which had been laid upon him He was in London when he received the first notice of it and though he was persuaded by his friends to neglect the matter as that which would redound to his honour and knew very well what Sentence had been passed by Tacitus upon the Order of Senate or Roman Consul for burning the Books of Cremutius Cordus the Historian Neque aliud externi Reges aut qui eâdem saevitiâ usi sunt nisi dedecus sibi atque illis gloriam peperere i. e. they gained nothing but ignominy to themselves and glory to all those whose Books they burnt yet our Doctor was rather in that particular of Sir Iohn Falstaff's mind not liking such grinning honour and therefore rather chose to prevent the Obloquy than boast in it To which purpose he applied himself to the Lord Mayor of London and a great Man in the Council of State and receiving from them a true information of what had passed he left his Solicitude being quite freed from all fear and danger About this time it was that the King Church and Church-men were arraigned and traduced by many voluminous Writers of the Age and the Doctor being solicited to answer them by Letters Messages and several personal Addresses by men of all Orders and Dignities in the Church and of all Degrees in the Universities was at last overcome by their Importunities the irresistible Intreaties of so many Friends having something in them of Commands And the first Author whose Mistakes Falsities and Defects he examined was Mr. Thomas Fuller the Church-Historian who intermingling his History with some dangerous Positions which if reduced into practice would overthrow the Power of the Church and lay a probable Foundation for Disturbances in the Civil-State the Doctor made some Animadversions on him by way of Antidote that so if possible he might be read without danger Another was Mr. Sanderson's long History of the Life and Reign of King Charles I. whose errors being of that nature as might mis-guide the Reader in the way of Knowledg and Discourse our Doctor rectified him with some Advertisements that so he might be read with the greater profit It would swell these Papers into too great a bulk if I should give a particular account of the Contests that this Reverend man had with Mr. Harington Mr. Hickman and Mr. Baxter the last of which was so very bold as to disgorge himself upon the whole Clergy of England in his Grotian Religion which caused in our Doctor as he tells his Brethren the old Regular Clergy So great an horror and amazement that he could not tell whether or no he could give any credit to his Senses the words sounding loud in his ears and not sinking at first into his heart Neither Did Mr. Baxter arraign the whole Clergy in general but more particularly directed his Spleen against Dr. Heylyn whose name he wish'd afterwards he had spared But it was whilst he was living he has made more bold with him since he was dead and that for no other reason that I can learn but for exposing the Follies Falshoods and uncharitableness of a daring and rash Writer who never returned one word of Answer besides Railing and Reproaches unto what our Doctor Published against him And having made mention of these Authors against whom our excellent Doctor appeared in the Lists it may not perhaps be deemed unacceptable to those Readers who are either unable to buy or unwilling to read the Books written against them to transcribe some particular passages which may be a farther testification of the zeal of this great Scholar for the King and Church And the first relating to the King shall be about the Coronation it being a piece of new State-Doctrine that the Coronation of the King should depend upon the consent of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament For in the Form and Manner of the Coronation of King Edward VI. described in the Catalogue of Honour set forth by Thomas Mills of Canterbury Anno Dom. 1610 we find it thus The King being carried by certain Noble Courtiers in another Chair unto the four sides of the Stage was by the Archbishop of Canterbury declared to the people standing round about both by Gods and mans Laws to be the Right and Lawful King of England France and Ireland and proclaimed that day to be Crowned Consecrated and Anointed unto whom he demanded Whether they would Obey and Serve or not By whom it was again with a loud cry answered God save the King and ever live his Majesty The same we have in substance both in fewer words in the Coronation of King Iames where it is said The King was shewed to the people and that they were required to make acknowledgment of their Allegiance to his Majesty by the Archbishop which they did with Acclamations But assuredly says Dr. Heylyn the difference is exceeding vast between Obeying and Consenting between the peoples acknowledging their Allegiance and promising to Obey and Serve their Lawful Sovereign and giving their Consent to his Coronation as if it could not be performed without it This makes the King to be either made or unmade by his people according to the Maxim of Buchanan Populo jus est imperium cui velit deferat than which passage there is nothing in all his Books more pestilent or seditious Neither is another Position any less
derogatory to Regal Power viz. That Parliaments are to be Assistant to the King in the exercise of his Regal Government Unto which our excellent Doctor says That Parliaments or Common-Councils consisting of the Prelates Peers and other great men of the Realm were frequently held in the time of the Saxon Kings and that the Commons were first called to those great Assemblies at the Coronation of K. Henry I. to the end that his Succession to the Crown being approved by the Nobility and People he might have the better colour to exclude his Brother And as the Parliament was not instituted by King Henry III. so was it not instituted by him to become an Assistant to him in the Government unless it were from some of the Declarations of the Commons in the Long Parliament in which it is frequently affirmed That the Fundamental Government of this Realm is by King Lords and Commons which if so then what became of the government of this Kingdom under Henry III. when he had no such Assistants joyned with him Or what became of the Foundation in the Intervals of following Parliaments when there was neither Lords nor Commons on which the Government could be laid And therefore it must be apparently necessary either that the Parliaments were not instituted by King Henry III. to be his Assistants in the Government or else that for the greatest space of time since Henry III. the Kingdom hath been under no Government at all for want of such Assistants And I would fain learn who should be Judg touching the Fitness or Vnfitness of such Laws and Liberties by which the People and Nobility are to be gratified by their Kings For if the Kings themselves must judg it it is not likely that they will part with any of their just Prerogatives which might make them less obeyed at home or less feared abroad but where invincible necessity or violent importunity might force them to it And then the Laws and Liberties which were so extorted were either violated or annulled whensoever the Granter was in power to weaken or make void the Grant for Malus diuturnitatis Custos est metus But if the People must be Judges of such Laws and Liberties as were fittest for them there would be no end of their Demands unreasonable in their own nature and in number infinite For when they meet with a King of the Giving hand they will press him so to give from one point to another till he give away Royalty it self and if they be not satisfied in all their Askings they will be pleased with none of his former Grants But that which pared the Prerogative to the quick was that the Reformation of Religion was the Province of the People or that they might do their Duty in the business when the King omitted his concerning which our excellent Doctor delivers his judgment in these clear and convincing words Exam. Hist. 135. That Idolatry is to be destroyed by all them that have power to do it is easily granted But then it must be understood of lawful Power and not permitted to the liberty of unlawful violence Id possumus quod jure possumus was the Rule of old and it hath held good in all attempts for Reformation in the elder times For when the Fabrick of the Iewish Church was out of order and the whole Worship of the Lord either defiled with Superstitions or intermingled with Idolatries as it was too often did not Gods Servants tarry and wait for leisure till those who were Supreme both in Place and Power were by him prompted and inflamed to a Reformation How many years had that whole People made an Idol of the Brazen-Serpent and burnt Incense to it before it was defaced by Hezekiah How many more might it have stood longer undefac'd untouch'd by any of the common People had not the King given order to demolish it How many years had the seduced Israelites adored before the Altar at Bethel before it was hewn down and cut in pieces by the good Iosiah And yet it cannot be denied but that it was much in the power of the Iews to destroy that Idol and of the honest and Religious Israelites to break down that Altar as it either was or could be in the power of our English Zealots to beat down Superstitious Pictures and Images had they been so minded Solomon in the Book of Canticles compares the Church to an Army Acies castrorum ordinata as the Vulgar hath it An Army terrible with Banners as we read it A powerful Body without doubt able which way soever it moves to wast and destroy the Country to burn and sack the Villages through which it passes And questionless many of the Soldiers knowing their own Power would be apt to do it if not restrained by the Authority of their Commanders and the Laws of War Ita se ducum Authoritas sic gor disciplinae habet as we find in Tacitus And if those be not kept as they ought to be Confusi equites peditesque in exitium ruunt the whole runs to a swift destruction Thus it is also in the Church with the Camp of God If there be no subordination in it if every one might do what he list himself and make such uses of that power and opportunity as he thinks are put into his hands what a confusion would insue how speedy a calamity must needs fall upon it Courage and zeal do never shew more zealously in inferiour powers than when they are subordinate unto good Directions from the right hand i. e. from the Supreme Magistrate not from the interests and passions of their Fellow-Subjects It is the Princes Office to Command and theirs to execute with which wise Caution the Emperor Otho once represt the too great forwardness of his Soldiers when he found them apt enough to make use of that power in a matter not commanded by him Vobis arma animus mihi Concilium virtutis vestrae Regimen relinquite as his words are He understood their Duty and his own Authority allows them to have power and will but regulates and restrains them both unto his own Command So that whether we behold the Church in its own condition proceeding by the starrant and examples of Holy Scripture or in resemblance to an Army as compared by Solomon there will be nothing left to the power of the people either in way of Reformamation or Execution till they be vested and entrusted with some lawful Power derived from him whom God hath placed in Authority over them And therefore though Idolatry be to be destroyed and to be destroyed by all which have Power to do it yet must all those be furnish'd with a lawful Power or otherwise stand guilty of as high a Crime as that which they so zealously endeavour to condemn in others And if it be urged That the Sovereign forgetting his Duty the Subjects should remember theirs 't is a lesson which was never taught in the
all parties tho I have made it my endeavour to dissatisfie none but those that hate to be reformed or otherwise are so tenaciously wedded to their own opinion that neither Reason nor Authority can divorce them from it In short his love to Truth and veneration to the Church of England were the only motives that made him undertake to write that History The one was the Mistris which he ever serv'd and the other was the Mother whose Paps he had always suck'd And whoever dis-regards or deviates from either of those may perhaps be offended with some particular passages in Ecclesia Restaurata As for his never vouching Authority fâ—r what he writ which is not to be forgiven him I hope he has met with a more merciful Judg in another world than it seems Dr. Burnet is in this But who is to pardon Dr. B. for accusing Dr. Heylyn of violent prejudices against persons of writing things so strangely as if he had been a Factor for the Papists and yet not specifying one particular Instance wherein he was thus partial and perfidious He began the writing of that History in September 1638 communicating his design to Archbishop Laud from whoâ— he received all imaginable encouragement And what benefit would any Reader receive to have quoted to him the pages of Manuscripts Acts of Parliament Registers of Convocation old Records and Charters orders of Council-Table or other of those rare pieces in the Cottonian Library which were made use of in that elaborate History Had Dâ— Heylyn borrowed his materials out of Vulgar or Printed Authors he ought then to have vouch'd particular Authorities for what he writ but making use of those which few Scholars either could or had perused it had been the part of a Pedant not of an Historian to have been exact and particular in his Quotations Not to mention either Greek or Latine Historians Does not Dr. B. esteem the Lord Bacon's History of Henry VII to contain as complete and judicious an account of the Affairs of that Princes Reign as any thing of that nature that is extant in English Story But the Margent of that Book is not stust with many more Quotations than the Doctors Ecclesia Restaurata And yet the Lord Bacon writ of Transactions beyond his own time and lived as far distant from the Reign of King Henry VII as Dr. Heylyn did from King Henry VIII who laid the first Foundation of our Reformation For my own part I cannot with the most diligent search find out any passages in Ecclesia Restaurata which evert the great Rule that ought to be observed by all Historians viz. Ne quid false audeant to commit nothing unto Writing which they know to be false or cannot justifie to be true History is the Record of time by which the Revolutions of Providence are transmitted from one Age unto another And if it can be proved that Dr. Heylyn has either suborned Witnesses falsified Records or so wrested Evidence that posterity cannot make a certain judgment of those Transactions of which he undertook to inform his Country-men then it must be confessed that he was led by Passion more than Judgment and by violent prejudices more than the substantial evidences of Truth And yet if all this were made out 't is no more than what may be laid at the door of that Author who not many years since writ the History of Duke Hamilton where are reported the most abominable Scandals broach'd by the malicious Covenanteers against the Hierarchy of the Scotish Church And the Historian without the least contradiction or confutation permits them to pass for infallible Truths that so Posterity as well as the present prejudiced Age might be leavened with an implacable enmity and hatred against the whole Order of Bishops And altho the Hamiltons were the old inveterate enemies of the Stuarts and the Duke of whom that large History is compiled was an enemy as treacherous to K. Charles I. as any that ever appeared against him in open Arms drawing the Scots in the English Court to be his Dependents alienating their Affections from the King his Master Tho wise men of both Nations thought that the first Tumult at Edinborough was raised by his Instruments and the Combustions that ensued were secretly fomented by him Tho when he was High Commissioner he drew the King from one Condescention to another in behalf of the Covenanteers till he had little else left to give but his Crown and Life Tho he drew him first to suspend and then to suppress the Liturgy and Canons made for the use of the Scotish Church and to abrogate the five Articles of Perth procured with so much difficulty by K. Iames and confirmed by Parliament Tho he authorized the Covenant with some few alterations in it and generally imposed it on that Kingdom Tho he yielded to the calling of the Assembly and was assured by that means that the Bishops by the Majority of their Enemies Voices should be Censured and Excommunicated that Episcopacy should be abolished and all the Regular Clergy exposed to Ruine Tho he got to himself so strong a Party in the Kingdom that the King stood but for a Party in the Calculation Tho when he had Command over a considerable part of the Royal Navy in the Frith at Edinburough he made good that saying of the Scots That the Son of so good a Mother being a most rigid Covenanter could do them no hurt by loitering about on purpose till he heatd that the Treaty of Pacification was begun at Barwick whither he came in Post-hast pretending to disturb that business when he knew it would be concluded before he came thither Tho he was guilty of the vilest Treachery to the Best of Princes and the Best of Subjects viz. Charles I. and the Marquess of Montross who returning out of France and designing to put himself into the Kings Service made his way to Hamilton who knowing the gallantry of the man and fearing a Competitor in his Majestiâ—s Favour told Montross on the one hand That the King slighted the Scottish Nation that he designed to reduce it unto a Province and that he would no longer continue in the Court were it not for some services that he was engaged to do for his Country And on the other hand told the King That Montross was so popular and powerful among the Scots that he would embroil the Affairs and endanger the Interest of his Majesty in that Kingdom which suggestions made the King take little notice of him and the Martyred Heroe was confirmed in the belief of what Hamilton had secretly whispered to him which caused him to go to Scotland and there to list himself with the Male-contents of that Kingdom whose concerns he espoused till he saw his own Error and Hamilton's Treachery Tho D. Hamilton was the man that prevailed with the King to pass that Act for continuation of the Parliament during the pleasure of the Two Houses and boasted how
too late standing in the world to be accounted the first Broacher of those Doctrinal Points which have such warrant from the Scriptures and were so generally held by the ancient Fathers both Greek and Latine till St. Austins time defended since that time by the Iesuites and Franciscans in the Church of Rome by all the Melancthonian Divines among the Lutherans by Castalio in Geneva it self by Bishop Latimer and Bishop Hooper in the time of K. Edward VI by some of our Confessors in Prison in the days of Qu. Mary by Bishop Harsnet in the Pulpit by Dr. Peter Baroe in the Schools in the Reign of Qu. Elizabeth by Hardem Bergius the first Reformer of the Church and City of Emden and finally by Anastasius Velvanus A. D. 1554. and afterward by Henricus Antonii Iohannes Ibrandi Clemens Martini Cornelius Meinardi the Ministers generally of the Province of Vtrecht by Manaus the Divinity Professor of Leyden by Gellius Succanus in the Province of Friezeland before the name of Iacob van Harmine was heard of in the world And if it be objected that the whole stream of Protestant Divines who were famous either for Piety or Learning embraced the Calvinian Doctrines to this also the Doctor gives a satisfactory answer in many places of his learned Writings The Reader may please to consider 1. That this being granted to be a truth we are rather to look upon it as an infelicity which befel the Church than as an argument that she concurr'd with those Divines in all points of judgment That which was most aimed at immediately after the Reformation and for a long time after in preferring men to the highest dignities of the Church and chief places in the Universities was their zeal against Popery and such a sufficiency of learning as might enable him to defend those Points on which our separation from the Church of Rome was to be maintained and the Queens Interest most preserved The Popes Supermacy the Mass with all the Points and Nicities which depended on it Iustification by Faith Marriage of Priests Purgatory the Power of the Civil Magistrate were the Points most agitated And whoever appeared right in those and withal declared himself against the corruptions of that Church in point of Manners was seldom or never looked into for his other Opinions until the Church began to find the sad consequences of it in such a general tendency to Innovation both in Doctrine and Discipline as could not easily be redress'd 2. In answer to the fâ—re-mentioned objection It is recorded in St. Marks Gospel cap. 8. that the blind man whom our Saviour restored to sight at Bethsaida at the first opening of his eyes saw men as Trees walking ver 24. i. e. walking as Trees quasi dicat homines quos ambulantes video non homines sed arbores mihi viderentur as we read in Maldonate By which words the blind man declared saith he se qauidem videre aliquid cum nihil antè videret imperfectè tamen videre cum inter homines arbores distinguere non posset More briefly Estius upon the place Nondum ita clarè perfectè video ut discernere possim inter homines arbores I discern somewhat said the poor man but so imperfectly that I am not able to distinguish between Trees and Men. Such an imperfect sight as this the Lord gave many times to those whom he recovered out of the Egyptian darkness who not being able to discern all Divine Truths at the first opening of the eyes of their understandings were not to be a Rule and Precedent to those that followed and lived in clearer times and under a brighter Beam of Illumination than others did What grounds were laid down by this excellent person for Unity and Charity in the Worship of God and in the Doctrine and Government of the Church may be seen in these words to Mr. Baxter Unity and Charity in the ancient simplicity of Doctrine Worship and Government no man likes better than my self bring but the same affections with you and the wide Breach that is between us in some of the Causes which we manage on either side will be suddenly closed but then you must be sure to stand to the word Ancient also and not keep your self to simplicity only If Unity and Charity will content you in the ancient Doctrine in the simplicity thereof without subsepuent mixtures of the Church I know no Doctrine in the Church more pure and Ancient than that which is publickly held forth by the Church of England in the Book of Articles the Homilies and the Catechism authorized by Law of which I may safely affirm as St. Austin does in his Book Ad Marcelinum His qui contradicit aut a Christi fide alienus est aut est Haereticus i. e. He must either be an Inâ—idel or an Heretick who assents not to them If Vnity and Charity in the simplicity of Worship be the thing you aim at you must not give every man the liberty of worshiping in what Form he pleaseth which destroys all Vnity nor Cursing many times instead of Praying which destroys all Charity The ancient and most simple way of Worship in the church of God was by regular Forms prescribed for the publick use of Gods people in the Congregations and not by unpremeditated undigested Prayers which every man makes unto himself as his fancy shall lead him And if set Forms of Worship are to be retained you will not easily meet with any which hath more in it of the ancient simplicity of the Primitive Times than the English Liturgy And if ancient simplicity of Government be the point you drive at what Government can you find more pure or Ancient than that of Bishops of which you have this Character in the Petition of the County of Rutland where it is said to be That Government which the Apostles left the Church in that the Three Ages of Martyrs were governed by that the thirteen Ages since have always gloried in by their Succession of Bishops from the Apostles proving themselves Members of the Catholick and Apostolick Church that our Laws have established that so many Kings and Parliaments have protected into which we were Baptized as certainly Apostolical as the Lords day as the distinction of Books were written by such Evangelists and Apostles as the Conâ—ecration of the Eucharist by Presbyters c. An ample commendation of Episcopal Government but such as exceeds not the bounds of Truth or Modesty Stand to these grounds for keeping Vnity and Charity in the ancient simplicity of Doctrine Worship and Government in the Church of God and you shall see how chearfully the Regal and Preâ—atical Party will joyn hands with you and embrace you with most dear affections But you tell me That if I will have men in peace as Brethren our Union must be Law or Ceremonies or indifferent Forms This is a pretty Speculation but such as would not pass for
practicable in any well-governed Commonwealth unless it be in the old Vtopia the new Atlantis or the last discovered Oceana For how can men possibly live in peace as Brethren where there is no Law to limit their desires or direct their actions Take away Law and every man will be a Law unto himself and do whatsoever seems best in his own eyes without controul then Lust will be a Law for one Fellony for another Perjury shall be held no Crime nor shall any Treason or Rebellion receive their punishments for where there is no Law there can be no Transgression and where there is no Transgression there can be no punishment punishments being only due for the breach of Laws Thus is it also in the Worship of God which by the Hedg of Ceremonies is preserved from lying open to all prophaneness and by Set-Forms be they as indifferent as they will is kept from breaking out into open confusion St. Paul tells us that God is the God of Order not of Confusion in the Churches If therefore we desire to avoid Confusion let us keep some Order and if we would keep Order we must have some Forms it being impossible that men should live in peace as Brethren in the house of God where we do not find both David has told us in the Psalms that Ierusalem is like a City which is at Vnity with it self And in Ierusalem there were not only solemn Sacrifices Set-Forms of Blessing and some significant Ceremonies prescribed by God but Musical Instruments and Singers and Linnen Vestures for those Singers and certain Hymns and several Times and Places for them ordained by David Had every Ward in that City and every Street in that Ward and every Family in that Street and perhaps every Person in that Family used his own way in Worshiping the Lord his God Ierusalem could not long have kept the name of a City much less the honor of being that City which was at Vnity in it self When therefore the Apostle gives us this good counsel that we endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace he seems to intimate that there can be no Vnity where there is no Peace and that Peace cannot be preserved without some Bond. If you destroy all Ceremonies and subvert all Forms you must break the Bond and if the Bond be broken you must break the Peace and if you break the Peace what becomes of the Vnity So that it is but the dream of a dry Summer as the saying is to think that without Law or Forms or Ceremonies men may live peaceably together as becomes Brethren though they profess one Faith acknowledg one Lord receive one Baptism and be Sons of one Father which is in Heaven Having thus surveyed some particulars pertaining to the Doctrine and Ceremonies of the Church proeced we next to take a short view of some things delivered by this right learned man concerning the Convocation which in ancient times was part of the Parliament there being a Clause in every Letter of Summons by which the Bishops were required to attend in Parliament that they should warn the Clergy of their respective Dioceses some in their Persons and others by their Procurators to attend there also But this has beâ—n so long unpractis'â— that we find no foot-steps of it since the Parliaments in the time of King Richard the Second It is true indeed that in the 8th year of Henry VI. there passed a Statute by which it was enacted That all the Clergy which should be called thenceforth to the Convocation by the Kings Writ together with their Servants and Families should for ever after fully use and enjoy such liberty and immunity in coming tarrying and returning as the Great men and Commonalty of the Realm of England called or to be called to the Kings Parliament have used or ought to have or enjoy Which though it makes the Convocation equal to the Parliament as to the freedom of their Persons yet cannot it from hence be reckoned or reputed for a part thereof And as it is now no part of the Parliament so neither has it any necessary dependence upon that Honourable Council and Assembly either in the Calling or Dissolving of it or in the Confirmation or Authorizing of the Acts thereof but only in the King himself and not upon the Kings sitting in the Court of Parliament but in his Palace or Court-Royal where ever it be And this appears both by the Statute made in the 26th of Henry VIII and the constant practice ever since Indeed since the 25th year of Henry VIII no Convocation is to assemble but as it is Convocated and Convened by the Kings Writ for in the Year 1532. the Clergy made their Acknowledgment and Submission in their Convocation to that mighty and great Monarch which Submission passed into a Statute the very next year following But this does not hinder but that their Acts and Constitutions ratified by Royal Assent are of force to bind the Subject to submit and conform to them For before the Statute of Proemunire and the Act for Submission Convocations made Canons that were binding altho none other than Synodical Authority did confirm the same And certainly they must have the same power when the Kings Authority signified in his Royal Assent is added to them They also gave away the money of the Clergy by whom they were chosen even as the Commons in Parliament gave the money of the Cities Towns and Countries for which they served For in chusing the Clerks for Convocation there is an Instrument drawn up and sealed by the Clergy in which they bind themselves to the Arch-Deacons of their several Dioceses upon the pain of forfeiting all their Lands and Goods Se ratum gratum acceptum habere quicquid Dicti Procuratores sui dixerint fecerint vel constituerint i. e. to allow stand and perform whatsoever their said Clerks shall say do or condescend unto on their behalf Nor is this a speculative Authority only and not reducible unto practice but precedented in Queen Elizabeths time For in the year 1585. the Convocation having given one Subsidy confirmed by Parliament and finding that they had not done sufficiently for the Queens occasions did after add a Benevolence or Aid of two shillings in the pound to be levied upon all the Clergy and to be levied by such Synodical Acts and Constitutions as they digested for that purpose without having any recourse to the Parliament for it But against these things it was objected in the Long Parliament of King Charles I That the Clergy had no power to make Canons without common consent in Parliament because in the Saxon times Laws and Constitutions Ecclesiastical had the Confirmation of Peers and sometimes of the people unto which great Councils our Parliaments do succeed Which argumeut says our Reverend Doctor if it be of force to prove that the Clergy can make no Canons without consent of