the whole matter I believe this Committee will prove the National Synod of England to the great dishonour of this Church And what else may follow upon it God knoweth March 22. Munday The Earl of Strafford's Trial began in Westminster-Hall and it continued till the end of April taking in the variation of the House of Commons who after a long Hearing drew a Bill of Attainder against him Anno 1641. March 25. Thursday A. Sh. performed his Promise to the uttermost May 1. Saturday The King came into the Upper-House and there declared before both Houses how diligently he had hearkned to all the Proceedings with the Earl of Strafford and found that his fault what-ever it was could not amount to High Tre ason That if it went by Bill it must pass by him and that he could not with his Con science find him Guilty nor would wrong his Conscience so fa r. But advised them to pro ceed by way of Misdemeanour and he would concur with them The same day after the King was gone a Letter was Read in the Upper-House from the Scots in which they did earnestly desire to be gone It was moved for a present Conference with the House of Commons about it The Debate about it was very short yet the Commons were risen beforehand Maij 12. Wednesday The Earl of Strafford beheaded upon Tower-Hill June 23. Wednesday I acquainted the King by my Lord of London that I would resign my Chancellorship of Oxford and why June 25. Friday I sent down my Resignation of the Chancellorship of Oxford to be published in Convocation July 1. Thursday This was done and the Earl of Pembroke chosen Chancellor by joint consent August 10. Tuesday The King went Post into Scotland the Parliament sitting and the Armies not yet dissolved Septemb. 23. Thursday Mr Adam Torles my Ancient Loving and Faithful Servant then my Steward after he had served me full forty two Years dyed to my great loss and grief Octob. 23. The Lords in Parliament Sequestred my Jurisdiction to my inferior Officers and Ordered that I should give no Benefice without acquainting them first to whom I would give it that so they might approve This Order was sent me on Tuesday Novemb. 2. in the Afternoon Novemb. 1. News came to the Parliament of the Troubles in Ireland the King being then in Scotland where there were Troubles enough also Novemb. 25. Thursday The King at his return from Scotland was sumptuously Entertained in London and great joy on all hands God prosper it Decemb. 30. Thursday The Arch-Bishop of York and eleven Bishops more sent to the Tower for High Treason for delivering a Petition and a Protestation into the House that this was not a free Parliament since they could not come to Vote there as they are bound without danger of their Lives Januar. 4. Tuesday His Majesty went into the House of Commons and demanded the Persons of Mr Denzill Hollis Sir Arthur Haslerig Mr John Pym Mr John Hampden and Mr William Stroude whom his Attorney had the day before together with the Lord Kimbolton Accused of High Treason upon seven Articles They had Information and were not then in the House they came in after and great stir was made about this Breach of the Priviledges of Parliament Febr. 6. Saturday Voted in the Lords House that the Bishops shall have no Votes there in Parliament The Commons had passed that Bill before Great Ringing for joy and Bonfires in some Parishes Febr. 11. Friday The Queen went from Greenwich toward Dover to go into Holland with her Daughter the Princess Mary who was lately Married to the Prince of Orange his Son But the true Cause was the present Discontents here The King accompanied her to the Sea Febr. 14. His Majesties Message to both Houses Printed by which he puts all into their Hands so God bless us Febr. 14. An Order came that the Twelve Bishops might put in Bail if they would and that they should have their Hearing upon Friday February 25 They went out of the Tower on Wednesday February 16 and were sent in again February 17 the House of Commons on Wednesday-night protesting against their coming forth because they were not in a Parliamentary way made acquainted with it Feb. 20. Sunday There came a tall Man to me under the Name of Mr Hunt He professed he was unknown to me but came he said to do me service in a great particular and prefaced it that he was not set on by any States-Man or any of the Parliament So he drew a Paper out of his Pocket and shewed me 4. Articles drawn against me to the Parliament all touching my near conversation with Priests and my Endeavours by them to subvert Religion in England He told me the Articles were not yet put into the House they were subscribed by one Willoughby who he said was a Priest but now come from them I asked him what Service it was he cou'd do me He said he looked for no advantage to himself I conceived hereupon this was a piece of Villany And bad him tell Willoughby he was a Villain and bid him put his Articles into the Parliament when he will So I went presently into my inner Chamber and told Mr Edward Hide and Mr Richard Cobb what had befallen me But after I was sorry at my Heart that my Indignation at this base Villany made me so hasty to send Hunt away and that I had not desir'd Mr Lieutenant to seize on him till he brought forth this Willoughby Feb. 25. Friday The Queen went to Sea for Holland and her Eldest Daughter the Princess Mary with her March 6. Sunday After Sermon as I was walking up and down my Chamber before Dinher without any Slip or Treading awry the Sinew of my Right Leg gave a great crack and brake asunder in the same place where I had broken it before Feb 5 〈◊〉 Orders about Stisted Anno 1642. It was two Months before I could go out of my Chamber On Sunday Maii 15 I made shift between my Man and my Staff to go to Church There one Mr Joslin Preached with Vehemency becoming Bedlam with Treason sufficient to hang him in any other State and with such particular Abuse to me that Women and Boys stood up in the Church to see how I could bear it I humbly thank God for my Patience All along things grew higher between the King and the Parliament God send a good Issue Maij 29. Four Ships came into the River with part of the Ammunition from Hull August 22. Munday the King set up his Standard at Nottingham August 24. The Parliament having committed Three Officers of the Ordinance and sent two new ones in the room This day they brake open all the Doors and possessed themselves of the Stores August 27. Saturday Earl of Southampton and Sir Jo. Culpepper sent from the King to have a Treaty for Peace refused unless the King would take down his Standard and recall his Proclamation which
made them Traytors Septemb. 1. Thursday Bishops Voted down and Deans and Chapters in the Lower House That Night Bonfires and Ringing all over the City Ordered cunningly by Pennington the new Lord Mayor About this time ante ult Aug. the Cathedral of Canterbury grosly Profaned Septemb. 9. Friday An Order from the House about the giving of Alhallows-Bread-street The Earl of Essex set forward towards the King Septemb. 10. Voted down in the upper House Dubitatur Octob. 15. Saturday Resolved upon the question that the Fines Rents and Profits of Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans and Chapters and of such notorious Delinquents who have taken up Arms against the Parliament or have been active in the Commission of Array shall be sequestred for the use and service of the Common-wealth Octob. 23. Sunday Keinton Field Octob. 24. Munday An Order from the House to keep but Two Servants speak with no Prisoner or other Person but in the presence of my Warder this common to other Prisoners Octob. 26. Wednesday Mr. Cook 's Relation to me of some Resolutions taken in the City c. Octob. 27. The Order of Octob. 24. not shewn me till Octob. 26. and I sent a Petition to the House for a Cook and a Butler Thursday October 28. This Order revoked Friday And this granted me Novemb. 2. Wednesday Night I Dreamed the Parliament was removed to Oxford the Church undone Some old Courtiers came in to see me and jeared I went to St. John's and there I found the Roof off from some parts of the Colledge and the Walls cleft and ready to fall down God be Merciful Novemb. 8. Seventy Eight Pounds of my Rents taken from my Controuler by Mr. Holland and Mr. Ashurst which they said was for Maintenance of the King's Children Novemb. 9. Wednesday Morning Five of the Clock Captain Brown and his Company entred my House at Lambeth to keep it for Publick Service and they made of it The Lords upon my Petition to them deny'd they knew of any such Order and so did the Committee yet such an Order there was and divers Lords hands to it but upon my Petition they made an Order that my Books should be secured and my Goods Novemb. 10. Some Lords went to the King about an Accommodation Novemb. 12. Saturday A Fight about Brainford Many slain of the Parliaments Forces and some taken Prisoners Such as would not serve the King were sent back with an Oath given them The Fight is said to begin casually about billotting Since this Voted in the House for no Accommodation but to go on and take all advantages Novemb. 16. Wednesday An Order to barr all Prisoners Men from speaking one with another or any other but in presence of the Warder nor go out without the Lieutenants leave And to barr them the Liberty of the Tower Novemb. 22. Tuesday Ordered That any one of them may go out to buy Provision Novemb. 24. Thursday The Souldiers at Lambeth House brake open the Chappel door and offered violence to the Organ but before much hurt was done the Captains heard of it and stayed them Decemb. 2. Friday Some of the King's Forces taken at Farnham About an hundred of them brought in Carts to London Ten Carts full their Legs bound They were sufficiently railed upon in the Streets Decemb. 19. Munday My Petition for Mr Coniers to have the Vicaridge of Horsham Before it came to be delivered the House had made an Order against him upon complaint from Horsham of his disorderly Life So Decemb. 21. St. Thomas's day I petitioned for my Chaplain Mr. William Brackstone Refused yet no Exception taken That day in the Morning my young dun 〈◊〉 were taken away by Warrant under the Hands of Sir John Evelyn Mr. Pim and Mr Martin Decemb. 23. Thursday Dr. Layton came with a Warrant from the House of Commons for the Keys of my House to be delivered to him and more Prisoners to be brought thither c. January 5. A final Order from both Houses for setling of Lambeth Prison c. Thursday All my Wood and Coals spent or to be spent there not reserving in the Order that I shall have any for my own use nor would that Motion be hearkned to January 6. Friday Epiphany Earl of Manchester's Letter from the House to give All-Hallowes-Bredstreet to Mr. Seaman January 26. Thursday The Bill passed the Lords House for Abolishing Episcopacy c. Feb. 3. Friday Dr. Heath came to perswade me to give Chartham to Mr. Corbet c. Febr. 14. Tuesday I received a Letter from his Majesty dated January 17. to give Chartham to Mr Reddinge or lapse it to him That Afternoon the Earl of Warwick came to me and brought me an Order of the House to give it to one Mr Culmer This Order bare date Febr 4 Febr. 25 Saturday Mr Culmer came to me about it I told him I had given my Lord my Answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thursday St Cedd's day The Lord Brooke shot in the left Eye and killed in the place at Lichfeild going to give the Onset upon the Close of the Church he having ever been fierce against Bishops and Cathedrals His Bever up and armed to the Knees so that a Musket at that distance could have done him but little harm Thus was his Eye put out who about two Years since said he hoped to live to see at St Pauls not one Stone left upon another March 10. Friday This Night preceeding I dreamed a Warrant was come to free me and that I spake with the Lieutenant that my Warder might keep the Keys of my Lodging till I had got some place for my self and my Stuff since I could not go to Lambeth I waked and slept again and had the very same Dream a second time March 20. Munday The Lord of Northumberland Mr Pierpoint Sir John Holland Sir William Ermin and Mr Whitlock went from both Houses to Treat of Peace with his Majesty God of his Mercy bless it and us March 24. Friday One Mr Foord told me he is a Suffolk Man that there was a Plot to send me and Bishop Wrenn as Delinquents to New-England within fourteen days And that Wells a Minister that came thence offered wagers of it The Meeting was at Mr Barks a Merchant's House in Friday-street being this Foord's Son-in-Law I never saw Mr Foord before Anno 1643. March 28. Tuesday Another Order from the Lords to give Chartham to one Mr Edward Hudson My Answer as before April 11. Tuesday Another Order for the same and very peremptory This came to me April 12. whereupon I petitioned the House Thursday April 13. My former Answer being wilfully mistaken by Hudson That present day another Order very quick which was brought to me Friday April 14. I Petitioned the House again the same day with great submission but could not disobey the King April 12. Another peremptory Order to Collate Chartham on Mr Edw Corbet brought to me Saturday April 22. April 24. Munday I gave my Answer as before but in
serve turns and to be carried about with every wind of vain Doctrine to serve and please other Mens Fancies and not a Man 's own either Understanding or Conscience Seventhly I think the greatest Enemies I have are of Opinion that if I would have turned to the Roman Party especially if I would have been such an active Instrument for them as this Article would make me I might have been welcome to them and should have been rewarded by them at least that I should have been made able to live in Credit if not in Honour And this being granted I would fain know what could stay me here save only my Conscience in and to the Truth Surely not any care of Wife and Children for I have them not And as this Storm drives upon me I most humbly and heartily bless God for it that I have not any of these Clogs to hang about me Not the Greatness of my Place For if in this present Tumble any thing be put either upon it or me that a knowing Conscience ought to check at the World shall soon see how little I value Canterbury in regard of Conscience Not the Honour of my place neither For if I stood upon that I cannot but see how Malice hath laid that in the Dust or lower if it may be And can any Man think then that I would indure so much hatred and so many base Libels as have filled the Streets against me and such bitter revilings of me in Print as the Gall of some Pens have cast upon me when I might go live elsewhere with Content and Reputation Sure nothing but Conscience could stay me here in such a Condition Not the Wealth to be gotten in my place For the Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury is far short of the value put upon it according as I have given a faithful Account to his Majesty And if it were of never so great a value I have made it manifest to the World that Wealth is not my aim For whatsoever benefit hath accrewed to me over and above my necessary and decent Expences I have refunded back upon the Poor or the Publick or the Church from whence I had it as in better times Church-Men were wont to do So there could be no external motive to work upon me to make me stay here if my Conscience went along with Rome And my Conscience being not that way set as most certainly it is not no Man can so much as probably think I should with hazard of my Life and Honour and all things practise the Change of Religion and that against my Conscience Eighthly This scandalous false Report that I should Negotiate with the Pope and with Rome for the Change of Religion in this Kingdom was first spread by the Scots who shamelesly Printed it in these words Canterbury did Negotiate with Rome about the frame of our Service-Book and Canons c. Now if this be false why did they Print it And if it be true why do they desert it It comes a great deal more home than double all else they have said against me And yet it seems when they had considered better of it and found they could not make it good they left it quite out of those Articles which they preferred into the Parliament of England against me And I presume they would never have left that out which they had published in Print to the World could they have gotten any shew of Proof Immediately upon the arrival of this Pamphlet in England Court City and Country grew presently full of it that the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury had Negotiated with Rome about the alteration of Religion And since they have thus Defamed me and that in Print I do challenge Mr. Alexander Henderson who doubtless was either sole Author of that Remonstrance or had a great hand in it either to make it good against me or by like Publick acknowledgment of it in Print give me satisfaction for so foul a Calumny or to answer me when I shall not fail to challenge him for it at the Bar of Christ. Lastly I received Information out of Holland when his Majesty was last in the North that there was a Plot laid of a dangerous Treason against his Majesty's Life That this Treason was plotted here in England by Signior Con and his Complices and that these Contrivers took a deep dislike against me because they could not get within me nor make me pliable to their Projects about Religion and that they were so angry with me for it as that they resolved my Life must be first taken away before they could hope to get their Will of the King This Advertisement came to me from one that professed he was in the Bosom of Con and knew all the Secrets of his Imployments hither This business was first made known under an Oath of 〈◊〉 as I remember to Sir William Boswell his Majesty's Agent in Holland and it was ordered between them that his Papers should be sent over sealed to me as they were and that by an Express and a Charge to deliver them to no Hand but mine as he tendred the King's safety in regard so many Great Men were as he said in the Treason I sent away these Letters and Papers to his Majesty's own Hands and received direction what Answer I should give to Sir William Boswell At his Majesty's return at the beginning of this Parliament he named a Committee of Lords to hear this business and commanded me to bring the Papers thither This I did and they were all Read before his Majesty and the Committee Sir William Boswell's Letters and the other Papers are yet all in my Hands but it seems the Particulars could not all be got out Now this is a hard straight into which I am cast The Pope's Agent as 't is said plots my Death on the one side because I will not be wrought upon to help to bring in the Roman Superstition and the Parliament on the other side Articles to overthrow me out of a Jealousie that I go about to bring it in So that I am in the Prophet David's Case Ps. 31. For I also have heard the Blasphemy of the Multitude and fear is on every side while they conspire together against me and take their Counsel to take away my Life But my hope hath been and is in thee O Lord. And for the latter part of this Article it is utterly untrue that ever I either permitted or countenanced any Popish Hierarchy or Ecclesiastical Government to be Established in this Kingdom And if any such be Established it is more than I know to this Instant But this I am sure of and can prove that when the Queen's Almoner was to be made a Bishop I laboured as much against it as I could Whereupon he delayed the taking of his Bishoprick upon him for a good time And when divers Offers were made on his behalf and the Queen grew earnest for his Preferment I was called again
terrifie Men of great Resolution and much Constancy they do in all Humility and Duty protest before your Majesty and the Peers of this most Honourable House of Parliament against all Votes Resolutions and Determinations and that they are in themselves null and of no effect which in their absence since the Twenty Seventh of this instant Month December 1641. have already passed and likewise against all such as shall hereafter pass in that most Honourable Assembly during such time of their forced and violented absence from the said most Honourable House Not denying but if their absenting of themselves were wilful and voluntary that most Noble House might proceed in all these Premises their absence and Protestation notwithstanding And humbly beseecheth your Most Excellent Majesty to command the Clerk of the House of Peers to enter this their Petition and Protestation in their Records They will ever pray God to bless and preserve c. Jo. Eborac Williams Geo. Hereford Coke Tho. Duresme Moorton Rob. Oxon Skinner Rob. Co. Lich. Wright Ma. Ely Wren Jos. Norwich Hall Godfr Glouc. Goodman Jo. Asaphen Owen Jo. Peterburg Towers Guil. Ba. Wells Pearce Mor. Llandaff Owen On Tuesday January 4. his Majesty went into the House of Commons some number of Gentlemen accompanyed him to the Door but no farther There he demanded the Persons of Mr. Denzil Hollis Sir Arthur Haselrigge Mr. Jo. Pymm Mr. Jo. Hampden and Mr. William Strode whom together with the Lord Kimbolton Sir Ed. Herbert his Majesty's Attorney General had the day before charged with High Treason in the Vpper House upon seven Articles of great consequence It seems they had information of the King 's coming and were slipt aside This made a mighty noise on all hands But the business was so carried that the House adjourned to sit in a Committee at Guild-Hall and after at the Grocer's-Hall Where things were so Ordered that within two or three days these Men were with great salutes of the People brought and in a manner guarded to the Committee and after to the House at Westminster and great stir made to and fro about the Accusation of these Men and the breach of the Priviledges of Parliament by his Majesty's coming thither in that manner Things were carried in a higher strain than ever before The King left the City and withdrew privately first to Hampton-Court after that to Windsor Many puttings on and puttings off concerning this and other great Affairs between the King and the House All which I leave to publick Records as not concerning this poor History Yet could not omit to say thus much in the general because much of the Church-business as well as the States and much of mine as well as the Churches will depend upon it CAP. XII UPon Thursday January 20. upon no Complaint that I know for I am sure I never deserved any in that kind there was an Order made in the Lords House to take away my Arms. They stood me in above Three Hundred Pounds I provided them for the Service of the State as Need might require I never employed any of them to any the least Disservice of it nor ever had thought to do Yet the Order is as follows both to my Disgrace to have them so taken from me and to my loss for though the Sheriffs of London be to take them upon Inventory yet of whom shall I demand them when they are out of their Office Die Jovis 20. Jan. 1641. IT is this Day Ordered by the Lords in Parliament That the Sheriffs of the City of London or either of them shall receive by inventory all such Ordnance and other Arms as belong to any private Persons which are to be kept to their Uses remaining now at Fox-Hall Canterbury-House the Arch-Bishop of York's House in Westminster and in the Bishop of Winchester's House a fit proportion of Arms being left at each Place for necessary Security thereof The said Sheriffs being to receive their Directions from a Committee lately appointed by the Parliament But the Intents of the Lords are and it is farther Ordered that such Ordnance and Arms as do belong to his Majesty shall be forthwith sent unto the King's Magazine in the Tower Upon Saturday Feb. 6. the Bill passed That the Bishops should have no Votes in Parliament nor have to do in Civil Affairs This was mightily strugled for almost all this Session and now obtained The Bishops have ever had this in Right and Possession ever since there was any use of Parliaments in England which the antientest Family of the Nobility which now sit there and thrust them out cannot say There was great Joy upon the Passing of this Bill in both Houses and in some Parishes of London Ringing and Bonfires The King gave way to this Bill and so that is setled And if it after prove that the King and Kingdom have Joy in it it is well But it may be that the Effects of this Eclipse may work farther than is yet thought on and the Blackness of it darken the Temporal Lords Power more than is yet feared And here I must tell you two Things The one that for the compassing of their ends in this Bill the nowbecome-usual Art was pursued and the People came in Multitudes and Clamour'd for the outing of the Bishops and the Popish Lords Votes so they were still joyned out of the House Insomuch that not the People of London only but Petitioners were brought out of divers Counties with Petitions either sent unto them or framed ready for them here against they came and they in every Petition for preservation of the Priviledges of Parliament desired the taking away of the Bishops and the Popish Lords Votes out of the House as if it were a common Grievance The other That now the Bishops have their Votes taken away by Act of Parliament you shall not see in haste any Bill at all Pass for taking away the Votes of the Popish Lords which will infer this as well as some other things That these were joyned together to make the Bishops more odious to the People as if they were Popishly affected themselves and to no other end The Court removed from Windsor to Hampton-Court and on Thurs-Day Febr. 10. The King and Queen came to Greenwich and on Friday Febr. 11. they went from thence toward Dover the Queen resolving to go into Holland with her young Daughter the Princess Mary who the Year before was Married to the Prince of Aurange his Son But the true Cause of this intended Journey was to be out of the Fears Discontents and Dangers as she conceived of the present Times And doubtless her Discontents were many and great and what her Dangers might have been by staying or may be by going God alone knows His Majesty while he was upon that Journey sent a Message to both Houses This was Printed Febr. 14. By this the King puts all
obligatam ideo aperto nomine praesentibus Reverentiae tuae innotescere volui mansurus Hagae Comitum Sept. 14. S. N. 1640. Observantissimus Officiosissimus Andreas ab Habernfeld Illustrissimo ac Reverendissimo Dom. Domino Gulielmo Archiepiscopo Cantuariensi Primati Metropolitano totius Regni Angliae Dom. meo Most Illustrious and most Reverend Lord ALL my Senses are shaken together as often as I revolve the present business neither doth my Vnderstanding suffice to conceive what Wind hath brought such horridthings that they should see the Sunshine by me For besides expectation this good Man became known unto me who when he had heard me discoursing of these Scottish stirs said that I knew not the Nerve of the Business that those things which are commonly scattered abroad are Superficial From that hour he every day became more familiar to me who acknowledging my dexterity herein with a full Brest poured forth the Burdens of his Heart into my Bosom supposing that he had discharged a Burthen of Conscience wherewith he was pressed Hence he related to me the Factions of the Jesuits with which the whole Earthly World was assaulted and shewed that I might behold how through their Poyson Bohemia and Germany were devoured and both of them maimed with an irreparable Wound That the same Plague did creep through the Realms of England and Scotland the matter whereof revealed in the adjacent writing be discovered to me Which things having heard my Bowels were contracted together my Loyns trembled with horrour that a pernicious Gulf should be prepared for so many thousands of Souls With Words moving the Conscience I inflamed the Mind of the Man He had scarce one hour concocted my Admonitions but he disclosed all the Secrets and he gave free Liberty that I should treat with those whom it concerned that they might be informed thereof I thought no delay was to be made about the things The same Hour I went to Master Boswell the King 's Leger at the Hague who being tied with an Oath of Secrecy to me I communicated the Business to him I admonished him to weigh these things by the Ballance neither to defer but act that those who were in danger might be speedily succoured He as becomes an honest man mindful of his Duty and having nearer looked into the business refused not to obey the monitions Moreover he forthwith caused that an Express should be dispatched and sent word back again what a most acceptable Oblation this had been to the King and your Grace for which we rejoyced from the Heart and we judged that a safe and favourable Deity had interposed it self in this Business whereby you might be preserved Now that the verity of the things related might be confirmed some principal heads of the Conspiracy were purposely pretermitted that the Knowledge of them might be extorted from the circumvented Society of the Conspirators Now the things will be speedily and safely promoted into Act if they be warily proceeded in at Bruxels By my advice that day should be observed wherein the Packet of Letters are dispatched which under the Title of To Monsieur Strario Arch-Deacon of Cambray tied with one Cover are delivered to the Post-Master such a Packet may be secretly brought back from him yet it will be unprofitable because all the inclosed Letters are written Characteristically Likewise another Packet coming weekly from Rome which is brought under this Subscription to the Most Illustrious Lord Count Rossetti Legat for the time these are not to be neglected to whom likewise Letters writ in the same Character are included That they may be understood Read is to be consulted with The forenamed day of dispatch shall be expected In Read's house an accumulated Congregation may be circumvented which succeeding it will be your Grace's part to order the Business The Intestine Enemy being at length detected by God's Grace all Bitterness of Mind which is caused on either side may be abolished delivered to oblivion deleted and quieted the Enemy be invaded on both parts Thus the King and the King's Friend and both Kingdoms near to danger shall be preserved delivered from imminent Danger Your Grace likewise may have this Injunction by you if you desire to have the best advice given you by others that you trust not overmuch to your Pursevants for some of them live under the Stipend of the Popish party How many Rocks how many Scillaes how many displeased Charibdes appear before your Grace in what a dangerous Sea the Cockboat of your Grace's Life next to Shipwrack is tossed your self may judge the Fore-deck of the Ship is speedily to be driven to the Harbour All these things I whisper into your Grace's Ear for I know it bound with an Oath of Secresie therefore by open Name I would by these Presents become known unto your Grace Hague 14. Sept. S. N. 1640. Your Grace's most Observant and most Officious Andrew Habernfeld Andreas ab Habernfeld a Chaplain as some affirm to the Queen of Bohemia his Indorsement hereon The Arch-Bishop's Indorsement with his own hand Rece Octob. 14. 1640. Andreas ab Habernfeld his Letters sent by Sir W. Boswell about the discovery of the Treason I conceive by the English Latin herein that he must needs be an Englishman with a concealed and changed Name And yet it may be this kind of Latin may relate to the Italian Or else he lived some good time in England The declaration of this Treason I have by his Majesty's special Command sent to Sir W. Boswell that he may there see what proof can be made of any particulars The general Overture and Discovery of the Plot sent with Sir William Boswell's first Letter The King's Majesty and Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury are to be secretly informed by Letters 1. THat the King's Majesty and the Lord Arch-Bishop are both of them in great danger of their lives 2. That the whole Common-wealth is by this means endangered unless the mischief be speedily prevented 3. That these Scottish Troubles are raised to the end that under this pretext the King and Arch-Bishop might be destroyed 4. That there is a means to be prescribed whereby both of them in this case may be preserved and this Tumult speedily composed 5. That although these Scottish Tumults be speedily composed yet that the King is endangered and that there are many ways by which Destruction is plotted to the King and Lord Arch-Bishop 6. That a certain Society hath conspired which attempts the Death of the King and Lord Arch-Bishop and Convulsion of the whole Realm 7. That the same Society every week deposits with the President of the Society what intelligence every of them hath purchased in eight days search and then confer all into one Packet which is weekly sent to the Director of the Business 8. That all the Confederates in the said Conspiracy may verily be named by the Poll. But because they may be made known by other means it is thought meet
Legat should be so familiar with the King and the King make much of him instead of banishing him is a Riddle * The Archbishop therefore and he had some familiarity and acquaintance at first * This offer appears under the Arch Bishop's own hand in the 〈◊〉 of his Life The Papacy of Cant. and this otherWorld is of greater value than an Italian Cardinalship But he kept not him from the Court. Jesuits are both diligent and able to remove their 〈◊〉 at Court from out of Place and Favour too It is admirable this Faction should be so powerfully predominant as to displace the greatest and faithfulest Officers Jesuit I will be sure to move Hell when they cannot prevail with Heaven Jesuits cannot indure neuters If a man may be saved in any Religion be may safely imbrace any and cleave close to none * The Bishop's Tyranny against Puritans the best advantage and greatest advancement of Popes designs * He means the Scottish Prayer-book the alterations whereof from the English were found in the Original Copy under the Arch-Bishop's own hand when his Chamber was 〈◊〉 The Jesuits love to Fish when the Bishops trouble the Streams with their Innovations and Popish Ceremonies The Jesuits the plotters and chief directors of the Scottish War * The King tied to Conditions by Papists before they aided him †Now practised in Oxford Wales and the Northern parts by open toleration * The more shame and pity and a good Caveat for the Parliament henceforth to look to it †The King then must needs be in great danger among Papists now * Jesuits make but a vaunt of poysoning Kings †The Jesuits it seems know very well King James was poysoned belike by some of their Instruments * It seems some Noblemens Chaplains are but the Popes and Jesuits Intelligencers if not their Confederates All foreign Popish States contribute their best assistance to reduce England to Rome * A meet Guerdon for such a Service Jesuits will not give over acting till they 〈◊〉 their Designs Bishops Sons oft-times the Pope's greatest Agents 〈◊〉 industrious Activity should shame our Slothfulness The Protestants want of such mutual correspondency and intelligence is a great weakning to their cause Let them learn Wisdom by their Enemies * A 〈◊〉 place for their intelligence and correspondency with Ireland lying in the midst between both The Jesuits 〈◊〉 make 〈◊〉 use of all Nations and 〈◊〉 * O that such Romish Seducers should obtain such Power and Rewards for being seducing Instiuments The Jesuits it seems are very powerful at 〈◊〉 The Pope's weekly intelligence at Rome from hence can 〈◊〉 no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 England Jesuits 〈◊〉 how to 〈◊〉 their Names and 〈◊〉 There are more Popish Chapel in and about London than are 〈◊〉 known Jesuits can 〈◊〉 any 〈◊〉 or Part to delude the 〈◊〉 Papists large Contributions to undermine our Religion should make us liberal to defend it Jesuits are as wise as Serpents though not so innocent as Doves The Jesuits 〈◊〉 of the Serpent to seduce men by female 〈◊〉 to their ruin Her Voyage to Rome to visit the Pope made her frequently to visit his Legat The Countess belike was his forerunner 〈◊〉 No wonder theEarls Debts be so great A School of Nunns Is not the King in gre it danger who hath such a Person in his Bed-chamber now keeper of the great Seal Both King and Prince have Jesuitical 〈◊〉 in their Bed-chambers All businesses and imployments must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aside to 〈◊〉 this Plot. A Jesuitical Secretary his 〈◊〉 and Articles in Parliament confirm 〈◊〉 this and more Papists spare no cost The other Conspirators Names A sit Cover for such a Dish It seems their Purses were strong and their hopes great A good Caveat for England now †Jesuits know well how to equivocate thus * Ij Popes must not favour Protestant Princes it s a Miracle that they should favour them or harbour any of their Agents now neer them a I did all I could and the whole Business was examined at a Committee of Lords his Majesty being present And Sir William Roswell's last Answer to these Lords Committees came after I was committed when it lay not in my Power to follow it any farther * This must needs be the 〈◊〉 or one employed from him b Yet by 〈◊〉 c Most false d This is added * Page 171. e 'T is no Challenge neither f Most false g I could not prosecute him Nor the Author of this Tract had he been in my place h The slanderous Tongues of your Faction made him presume if any thing i These Words are not mine Besides take the whole Sentence and then c. * See the General Hist. of France in the Life of H. 3. 4. ‖ See the English Pope k I had 〈◊〉 with either of them And have received Blame from some Great Men that I would not make use of them as my Predecessor 〈◊〉 have done k I had 〈◊〉 with either of them And have received Blame from some Great Men that I would not make use of them as my Predecessor 〈◊〉 have done l I had good reason to write them in my own Hand Yet shall they never be proved to be all 〈◊〉 And if they were yet c. m This is according to the First Book of Edw 6. * With which his Speech in Star-chamber agrees There it is Hoc est corpus meum c. n This is no greater Proof of Corporal Presence than the retaining of it is only to make a bare remembrance c. * To elevate the Hostia as Papists do o It was never meant of Dr. 〈◊〉 p I hope I shall not answer for other Men if they prove not as they should * See the Articles against him in Parliament q He was 〈◊〉 inward with another Bishop and who laboured his Preferment more 〈◊〉 I. r Go Potlids s My Chaplains have answered their Faults or may when 〈◊〉 t Who told you so u Vtterly False x I helped on that Parliament And Sir Henry Vane was the Man that brake it for ought I know y When 't is prepared it shall be welcome to me to have any end * 〈◊〉 Eccles. 〈◊〉 p. 322. Ead. lib. 1. and 〈◊〉 Acts and Mon. Vol. 1. Edit ult p. 926. * 23 Eliz. c. 1. 35 Eliz. c. 2. 3 〈◊〉 c. 3 4 5. * See 1 2 Phil. Mary c. 8. * Joh. 10. 10 11 12 13. †2 Joh. 10 11. * Gratian. caus 23. a Sir Henry Vane wrought him out * Gen. 3. †1 King 11. ‖ Qui amat 〈◊〉 peribit in co * Chamberlain Cardinal Richelieu his Agent * Now a Prisoner in the Tower and taken in the Field in actual Rebellion in Ireland * Grimston in his Life Fox Speed †General History of France * 〈◊〉 Grimston †See Dr. 〈◊〉 Book and the Commons Charge against the Duke of 〈◊〉 * It should seem that this Popish 〈◊〉 had assumed a wrong Name and made use of that of a much 〈◊〉 Person then a Member of the Vniversity who perhaps being absent at that time might have unadvisedly left a Commission with this Emissary to receive the Letters directed to him at Oxford For from Dr Bayly's Answer to the Arch-Bishop it appears that after all the enquiry he could make into the matter he could not find any reason to fasten any Suspicion upon Mr. Pully or that he was in the least inclined to Popery * His Name is Weale Ethic. l. 1.
me in my Sleep having been dead two Years before at least He seemed to me in very good plight and merry enough I told him what I had done for his Widow and Children He after a little thought answered That the Executor had satisfied him for those Legacies while he was yet alive And presently looking upon some Papers in his Study adjoyning he added that it was so He moreover whispering in my Ear told me that I was the Cause why the Bishop of Lincoln was not again admitted into Favour and to Court Apr. 4. Wednesday When his Majesty King Charles forgave to Doctor Donne certain slips in a Sermon Preached on Sunday Apr. 1. what he then most graciously said unto me I have wrote in my Heart with 〈◊〉 Characters and great 〈◊〉 to God and the King Apr. 7. Saturday Going to Court to wait upon the King at Supper in going out of the Coach my foot stumbling I fell headlong I never had a more dangerous fall but by God's mercy I escaped with a light bruise of my Hip only Apr. 24. Tuesday There were then first sent to me the Exceptitions which the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury had Exhibited against Doctor Sibthorp's Sermon and what followed April 29. Sunday I was made Privy-Councellour to his Majesty King Charles God grant it may conduce to his Honour and to the good of the Kingdom and the Church May 13. Whitsunday I Preached before the King c. Junij 7 8. I attended King Charles from London to Southwick by Portsmouth Junij 11. His Majesty dined a-board the Triumph where I attended him June 17. The Bishoprick of London was granted me at Southwick June 22. We came to London June 24. I was commanded to go all the Progress June 27. The Duke of Buckingham set forwards towards the Isle of Ree June 30. The Progress began to Oatlands July 4. The King lost a Jewel in Hunting of a 1000 l. value That day the Message was sent by the King for the Sequestring of A. B. C. July 7. Saturday-night I dreamed that I had lost two Teeth The Duke of Buckingham took the Isle of Ree July 26. I attended the King and Queen at Wellingburrough July 29. The first News came from my Lord Duke of his Success Sunday August 12. The second News came from my Lord Duke to Windsor Sunday August 26. The third News came from my Lord Duke to Aldershot Sunday September News came from my Lord Duke to Theobalds The first fear of ill Success News from my Lord Duke to Hampton-Court I went to my Lord of Rochester to consider about A. B. C. and returned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Court 〈◊〉 King's Speech to me in the withdrawing Chamber That if any did c. I c. before any thing should sink c. The business of Doctor Bargar Dean of Canterbury began about the Vicaridge of Lidd October The Commission to the Bishops of London Durham Rochester Oxford and my self then Bath and Wells to Execute Archiepiscopal Jurisdiction during the Sequestration of my Lord's Grace of Canterbury The Dean of Canterbury's Speech that the business could not go well in the Isle of Ree There must be a Parliament some must be Sacrificed that I was as like as any Spoken to Doctor W. The same Speech after spoken to the same Man by Sir Dudlye Diggs I told it when I heard it doubled Let me desire you not to trouble your self with any Reports till you see me forsake my other Friends c. Ita Ch. R. The Retreat out of the Isle of Ree November My Lord Duke's return to Court The Countess of Purbeck censured in the High Commission for Adultery December 25. I Preached to the King at White-Hall January 29. Tuesday A resolution at the Council Table for a Parliament to begin March 17. if the Shires go on with levying Money for the Navy c. January 30. Wednesday My Lord Duke of Buckingham's Son was Born the Lord George New Moon die 26. February 5. Tuesday The straining of the back sinew of my right Leg as I went with his Majesty to Hampton-Court I kept in till I Preached at the opening of the Parliament March 17. but I continued lame long after saving that Februar 14. Thursday Saint Valentine's-day I made a shift to go and Christen my Lord Duke's Son the Lord George at Wallingford-House March 17. I Preached at the opening of the Parliament but had much ado to stand it was Munday Anno 1628. June 1. Whitsunday I Preached at White-Hall June 11. My Lord Duke of Buckingham Voted in the House of Commons to be the Cause or Causes of all Grievances in the Kingdom June 12. Thursday I was complained of by the House of Commons for warranting Doctor Manwaring's Sermons to the Press June 13. Dr. Manwaring answered for himself before the Lords and the next day June 14. Being Saturday was Censured After his Censure my Cause was called to the Report And by God's Goodness towards me I was fully cleared in the House The same day the House of Commons were making their Remonstrance to the King One Head was Innovation of Religion Therein they Named my Lord the Bishop of Winchester and my self One in the House stood up and said Now we have Named these Persons let us think of some Causes why we did it Sir Edw. Cooke answered Have we not Named my Lord of Buckingham without shewing a Cause and may we not be as bold with them June 17. This Remonstrance was delivered to the King on Tuesday June 26. Thursday The Session of Parliament ended and was Prorogued to October 20. July 11. Tuesday My Conge-deslier was Signed by the King for the Bishoprick of London July 15. Tuesday St. Swithin and fair with us I was Translated to the Bishoprick of London The same day the Lord Weston was made Lord Treasurer August 9. Saturday A terrible salt Rheum in my left Eye had almost put me into a Fever August 12. Tuesday My Lord Duke of Buckingham went towards Portsmouth to go for Rochell August 23. Saturday St Bartholomew's Eve the Duke of Buckingham slain at Portsmouth by one Lieutenant Felton about Nine in the Morning August 24. The News of his Death came to Croydon where it found my self and the Bishops of Winchester Ely and Carlile at the Consecration of Bishop Montague for Chichester with my Lord's Grace August 27. Wednesday Mr. Elphinston brought me a very Gracious Message from his Majesty upon my Lord Duke's Death August 30. As I was going out to meet the Corps of the Duke which that Night was brought to London Sir W Fleetwood brought me very Gracious Letters from the King's Majesty written with his own Hand September 9. Tuesday The first time that I went to Court after the Death of the Duke of Buckingham my dear Lord The Gracious Speech which that Night the King was pleased to use to me September 27. Saturday I fell Sick and came Sick from Hampton-Court Tuesday Septemb. ult I was sore
B. and me Maij 18. Whitson-Munday At Greenwich my Account to the Queen put off till Trinity-Sunday Maij 24. then given her by my self And assurance of all that was desired by me c. May June and July In these Months the Troubles at the Commission for the Treasury and the difference which hapned between the Lord Cottington and my self c. Julij 11. Saturday and Julij 22. Wednesday Two sad meetings with K. B. and how occasioned Julij 12. Sunday At Theobalds the Soap business was ended and setled again upon the new Corporation against my offer for the Old Soap-boylers yet my offer made the King's Profit double and to that after two Years the new Corporation was raised how 't is performed let them look to it whom his Majesty shall be pleased to trust with his Treasurer's Staff In this business and some other of great consequence during the Commission for the Treasury my old Friend Sir F W forsook me and joyned with the Lord Cottington Which put me to the exercise of a great deal of patience c. August 16. Sunday-night Most extream Thunder and Lightning The Lightning so thick bright and frequent I do not remember that I ever saw Septemb. 2. Wednesday I was in attendance upon the King at Woodstocke and went thence to Cudsden to see the House which Dr John Bancroft then Lord Bishop of Oxford had there built to be a House for the Bishops of that See for ever He having built that House at my perswasion Septemb. 3. Thursday I went privately from the Bishop of Oxford's House at Cudsden to St John's in Oxford to see my building there and give some directions for the last finishing of it And returned the same Night staying there not two Hours Septemb. 23. Wednesday I went to Saint Pauls to view the building and returned that Night to Croydon Septemb. 24. Scalding Thursday Septemb. 29. The Earl of Arundel brought an Old Man out of Shropshire He was this present Michaelmas-day shewed to the King and the Lords for a Man of 152 or 153 Years of Age. Octob. 26. Munday This Morning between four and five of the Clock lying at Hampton-Court I dreamed that I was going out in haste and that when I came into my outer Chamber there was my Servant Will Pennell in the same Riding Suit which he had on that day sevennight at Hampton-Court with me Methoughts I wondred to see him for I left him sick at home and asked him how he did and what he made there And that he answered me he came to recieve my Blessing and with that fell on his knees That hereupon I laid my Hand on his Head and Prayed over him and therewith awaked When I was up I told this to them of my Chamber and added that I should find Pennell dead or dying My Coach came and when I came home I found him past Sense and giving up the Ghost So my Prayers as they had frequently before commended him to God Novemb. 15. Sunday at Afternoon the greatest Tide that hath been seen It came within my Gates Walks Cloysters and Stables at Lambeth Novemb. 21. Saturday Charles Count Elector Palatine came to White-Hall to the King This Month the Plague which was hot in some parts of France and in the Low-Countries and Flanders began at Greenwich God be merciful unto us Novemb. 30. Saint Andrew's day Munday Charles Prince Elector Palatine the King's Nephew was with me at Lambeth and at solemn Evening Prayer Decemb. 1. Many Elm-Leaves yet upon the Trees which few Men have seen Decemb. 14. Munday Charles Prince Elector came suddenly upon me and dined with me at Lambeth Decemb. 25. Christmas-day Charles Prince Elector Received the Communion with the King at White-Hall He kneeled a little beside on his left Hand He sate before the Communion upon a Stool by the wall before the Traverse and had another Stool and a Cushion before him to kneel at Decemb. 28. Munday Innocent's-day about ten at Night the Queen was Delivered at St. James's of a Daughter Princess Elizabeth I Christend her on Saturday following Jan. 2. Feb. 2. Tuesday Candlemas-day My nearer care of J. S. was professed and his promise to be guided by me And absolutely setled on Friday after Feb. 5. Feb. 14. Sunday-night my Honest Old Servant Rich. Robinson dyed of an Apoplexy Feb. 28. I Consecrated Doctor Roger Manwaring Bishop of Saint Davids March 6. Sunday William Juxon Lord Bishop of London made Lord High Treasurer of England No Church-Man had it since Henry 7. time I pray God bless him to carry it so that the Church may have Honour and the King and the State Service and Contentment by it And now if the Church will not hold up themselves under God I can do no more Anno 1636. April 7. Thursday The Bill came in this day that two dyed of the Plague in White-Chappel God bless us through the Year An extream dry and hot April and May till the middle of June Maij 16. Munday The Settlement between L. M. St. and me God bless me c. Maij 17. Tuesday I Visited the Dean and Chapter of St. Pauls London c. Maij 19. Thursday the Agreement between me and L. K. Ch. which began very strangly and ended just as I thought it would Junij 21. Tuesday My Hearing before the King about my Right to Visit both the Universities Jure Metropolitico It was Ordered with me The Hearing was at Hampton-Court Junij 22. Wednesday The Statutes of Oxford finished and Published in Convocation Aug. 3. Wednesday-Night towards the Morning I Dreamed that L. M. St. came to me the next Day Aug. 4. and shewed me all the Kindness I could ask And that Thursday he did come and was very Kind towards me Somniis tamen haud multum fido Aug. 19. Friday I was in great danger of breaking my Right Leg. But God be Blessed for his Providence only delivered me Aug. 29. Munday King Charles and Queen Mary entred Oxford being to be there entertain'd by me as Chancellor of the University Aug. 30. On Tuesday I entertained them at St. John's Colledge It was St. 〈◊〉 his Day and all passed happily Charles Prince Elector Palatine and his Brother Prince Rupertus was there These two were present in Convocation and with other Nobles were made Masters of Arts. Aug. 31. Wednesday They left Oxford And I returned homewards the Day after Having first entertained all the Heads of Houses together Octob. 14. Friday Night I Dreamed marvelously that the King was offended with me and would cast me off and tell me no cause why Avertat Deus For Cause I have given none Novemb. 4. Friday Night the most extream Wind that ever I heard and much Hurt done by Sea and by Land Twice or thrice since Thunder and Lightning and Hail Novemb. 20. Sunday Night my fearful Dream Mr. Cobb brought me word c. Decemb. 24. Saturday Christmas-Eve That night I Dreamed I went to seek Mr. St. and
as are warrantable by Act of Parliament 6. All Fortifications to desist and no further working therein and they to be remitted to his Majesty's Pleasure 7. To restore to every one of his Majesty's Subjects their Liberty Lands Houses Goods and Means whatsoever taken and detained from them by whatsoever means since the aforesaid time The Copy of the Act of the Pacification as it passed under his Majesties Hand and includes these Articles above written is as follows Ch. R. WE having considered the Papers and humble Petitions presented unto us by those of our Subjects of Scotland who were admitted to attend our pleasure in the Camp and after a full Hearing by Our Self of all that they could say or alledge thereupon having communicated the same to Our Council of both Kingdoms upon mature deliberation with their unanimous Advice We have thought fit to give them this Just and Gracious Answer That though We cannot condescend to Ratifie and Approve the Acts of the pretended General Assembly at Glasgow for many Grave and Weighty Considerations which have happened both before and since much importing the Honour and Security of that true Monarchical Government Lineally descended upon Us from so many of Our Ancestors Yet such is Our Gracious Pleasure That notwithstanding the many disorders committed of late We are pleased not only to confirm and make good whatsoever Our Commissioner hath granted and promised in Our Name But also We are further Graciously pleased to declare and assure That according to the Petitioner's humble desires all Matters Ecclesiastical shall be determined by the Assemblies of the Kirk and Matters Civil by the Parliament and other inferiour Judicatories Established by Law which accordingly shall be kept once a Year or as shall be agreed upon at the General Assembly And for setling the general distractions of that Our Ancient Kingdom Our Will and Pleasure is that a free General Assembly be kept at Edinburgh the sixth day of August next ensuing where We intend God willing to be personally present And for the Legal Indiction whereof We have given Order and Command to Our Council and thereafter a Parliament to be holden at Edinburgh the 20th day of August next ensuing for Ratifying of what shall be concluded in the said Assembly and setling such other things as may conduce to the Peace and Good of Our Native Kingdom and therein an Act of Oblivion to be passed And whereas We are further desired that Our Ships and Forces by Land be recalled and all Persons Goods and Ships restored and they made safe from Invasion We are Graciously pleased to Declare that upon their disarming and disbanding of their Forces dissolving and discharging all their pretended Tables and Conventicles and restoring unto Us all Our Castles Forts and Ammunitions of all sorts as likewise Our Royal Honours and to every one of Our Good Subjects their Liberty Lands Houses Goods and Means whatsoever taken and detained from them since the late pretended General Assembly We will presently thereafter recall Our Fleet and retire our Land-Forces and cause Restitution to be made to all Persons of their Ships and Goods detained and arrested since the aforesaid time Whereby it may appear that Our intention in taking up of Arms was no ways for Invading of Our Native Kingdom or to Innovate the Religion and Laws but meerly for the Maintaining and Vindicating of Our Royal Authority And since that hereby it doth clearly appear that We neither have nor do intend any alteration in Religion or Laws but that both shall be maintained by Us in their full integrity We expect the performance of that Humble and Dutiful Obedience which becometh Loyal and Dutiful Subjects and as in their several Petitions they have often professed And as We have just Reason to believe that to Our peaceable and well-affected Subjects this will be satisfactory so We take God and the World to witness that whatsoever Calamities shall ensue by Our necessitated suppressing of the Insolencies of such as shall continue in their disobedient Courses is not occasioned by us but by their own procurement This Pacification was not much sooner made by the King than it was broken by the Scots For whereas it was agreed by the Seventh Article and is repeated in the Body of the Pacification That every one of his Majesties good Subjects shou'd enjoy their Liberty Lands Houses Goods and Means whatsoever taken and detayned from them since the aforesaid time The * Lord Lindsay in the Name of the rest made a Protestation either in the Camp at Dunns or at the Cross in Edinburgh that no Bishop or Clergyman was included in this Pacification which yet in manifest and plain Terms extended it self to all the Kings good Subjects And this Protestation was so pursued as that it obtained and no Clergyman was relieved in any the Particulars Upon this and other Particulars agitated in Parliament amongst them his Majesty thought fit to look to himself and examine their Proceedings farther To this end he often called his Council and in particular made a Committee of eight more particularly to attend that service They were the Lord Bishop of London then Lord Treasurer the Lord Marquis Hamilton the Earl of Northumberland Lord Admiral the Earl of Strafford Lord Deputy of Ireland the Lord Cottington Sir Henry Vane and Sir Francis Windebanck Secretaries and my self to which was after added the Earl of Arundel Lord Marshal And though I spake nothing of these Scottish Businesses but either openly at Council-Table or in presence of all or so many of this Committee as occasionally met and so had Auditors and Witnesses enough of what I did or said yet it was still cast out among the 〈◊〉 that I was a chief Incendiary in the Business Where yet had I said or done any thing worse than other there wanted not Sir Henry Vane to discover it At this Committee many things were proposed diversly for the Aid and Assistance of the King and many Proposals rejected as Illegal At last the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland propos'd the calling of a Parliament Much was not said against this but much said for it Nor indeed was it safe for any Man to declare against it after it was once publickly moved So a Parliament was resolved on and called against April 13. 1640. At that time it sat down and many Tumultuary Complaints were made by the Scots against the Bishops and Church Government in England and with great vehemency against my self All this while the King could get no Money to Aid him against the Scottish Rebellion At last after many Attempts Sir Henry Vane told the King plainly that it was in vain to expect longer or to make any other overture to them For no Money wou'd be had against the Scots Hereupon his Majesty called all his Lords of Council together and upon Maij 5. being Tuesday at Six in the Morning they met in the Council-Chamber I by the mistake of the Messenger was warned
Answer was returned to the first That the People would not besatisfied nor believe he was Dead unless they saw him Dye publickly And to the second That time enough was given already and that if any farther delay were used the People would think Justice should not be done at all and resort thither again in Multitudes to the hazzard of Publick Peace The Earl made these two Suits and in the mean time one Offer was made to him It was this That if he would employ his Power and Credit with the King for the taking of Episcopacy out of the Church he should yet have his Life His Christian Answer was very Heroical Namely That he would not buy his Life at so dear a rate The Man that sent him this Message was his Brother-in-Law Mr. Denzill Hollis one of the great Leading Men in the House of Commons And my Lord Primate of Armagh avowed this from the Earl of Strafford's own Mouth And as he was of too Generous a Spirit to lye basely so being in preparing of himself to leave the World it cannot be thought he would with a Dying-Mouth bely his Brother These Answers being returned the Earl prepared himself And upon Wednesday Morning about Ten of the Clock being May the Twelfth he was Beheaded on the Tower-Hill many Thousands beholding him The Speech which he made at his End was a great Testimony of his Religion and Piety and was then Printed And in their Judgment who were Men of Worth and some upon some near the Scaffold and saw him Dye he made a Patient and Pious and Couragious end insomuch that some doubted whether his Death had more of the Roman or the Christian in it it was so full of both And notwithstanding this hard Fate which fell upon him he is dead with more Honour than any of them will gain who hunted after his Life Thus ended the Wiseest the Stoutest and every way the Ablest Subject that this Nation hath bred these many Years The only Imperfections which he had that were known to me were his want of Bodily Health and a Carelesness or rather Roughness not to oblige any And his Mishaps in this last Action were that he groan'd under the Publick Envy of the Nobles served a Mild and a Gracious Prince who knew not how to be or be made great and trusted false perfidious and cowardly Men in the Northern Imployment though he had many Doubts put to him about it This Day was after called by divers Homicidium Comitis Straffordiae the Day of the Murder of Strafford Because when Malice it self could find no Law to put him to Death they made a Law of purpose for it God forgive all and be Merciful The Earl being thus laid low and his great Services done in Ireland made part of his Accusation I cannot but observe two things The one That upon Sunday Morning before Francis Earl of Bedford having about a Month before lost his second Son in whom he most Joyed Dyed the Small Pox striking up into his Brain This Lord was one of the Main Plotters of Strafford's Death And I know where he with other Lords before the Parliament Sat down resolved to have his Blood But God would not let him Live to take Joy therein but cut him off in the Morning whereas the Bill for the Earl of Strafford's Death was not Signed till Night The other is That at this time the Parliament tender'd two and but two Bills to the King to Sign This to cut off Strafford's Head was one and the other was that this Parliament should neither be Dissolved nor Adjourned but by the consent of both Houses in which what he cut off from himself Time will better shew than I can God Bless the King and his Royal Issue I told you before the People came in a Tumultuous Way to call for Justice And half an Eye may see how and by whom they were set on In the mean time let me tell you farther that this Art being once begun without Consideration of the Danger or Care of the Dishonour of such Proceedings whensoever there was any thing proposed in the House of Commons which it was thought the Lords would stick at or the King not grant by and by the Rabble came about the Houses and called for this and that Justice as they were prompted God Bless the Government of this Kingdom or all is lost I must tell you farther that from the time that the Earl of Strafford was first brought to his Answer in Westminster-Hall the bitter and fierce Libels of the factious People came daily out to keep up and increase the Peoples Hate against him And though they were full of most notorious Untruths yet coming from that Party were swallowed and believed by the most Among divers others they spread one in which they delivered to the World that the Earl of Strafford drawing near to his End when he saw no Remedy but he must Dye fell into great and passionate Expressions against me That I and my Counsels had been the Ruine of him and his House and that he cursed me bitterly Now as this is most false in it self so am I most able to make it appear so For his Lordship being to Suffer on the Wednesday Morning did upon Tuesday in the Afternoon desire the Lord Primate of Armagh then with him to come to me and desire me that I would not fail to be in my Chamber Window at the open Casement the next Morning when he was to pass by it as he went to Execution that though he might not speak with me yet he might see me and take his last leave of me I sent him word I would and did so And the next Morning as he passed by he turned towards me and took the Solemnest leave that I think was ever by any at distance taken one of another and this in the sight of the Earl of Newport then Lord Constable of the Tower the Lord Primate of Armagh the Earl of Cleveland the Lieutenant of the Tower and divers other Knights and Gentlemen of Worth Besides though during the time of both our Restraints and the nearness of our Lodgings we held no Intercourse each with other yet Sir William Balfore then Lieutenant of the Tower told me often what frequent and great expressions of Love the Earl made to me Which cannot stand with that base Slander which the lewd Libel vented But I leave that Honourable Person in his Grave and while I live shall Honour his Memory But must here a little go back For May the first after the King had declared his Conscience and his Judgment concerning the Earl of Strafford's Offences to both Houses as is before set down and was gone away a Letter was read in the Vpper House from the Scots in which their Army did earnestly desire to be gone It was moved to have a present Conference with the Commons about it and the Debate was very short many Lords being desirous
how such a Carriage as this through the whole Course of my Life in private and publick can stand with an Intention nay a Practice to overthrow the Law and to introduce an Arbitrary Government which my Soul hath always hated I cannot yet see And 't is now many Years since I learned of my great Master In humanis Aristotle Periculosum esse that it is a very dangerous thing to trust to the Will of the Judge rather than the written Law And all Kingdoms and Commonwealths have followed his Judgment ever since and the School-Disputes have not dissented from it Nay more I have ever been of Opinion that Humane Laws bind the Conscience and have accordingly made Conscience of observing them And this Doctrine I have constantly Preached as occasion hath been offered me And how is it possible I should seek to overthrow those Laws which I held my self bound in Conscience to keep and observe Especially since an endeavour to overthrow Law is a far greater Crime than to break or disobey any particular Law whatsoever all Particulars being swept away in that General And my Lords that this is my Judgment both of Parliaments and Laws I beseech your Lordships that I may read a short Passage in my Book against Fisher the Jesuit which was Printed and Published to the World before these Troubles fell on me and before I could so much as suspect this Charge could come against me and therefore could not be purposely written to serve any Turn I had leave and did read it but for Brevities sake refer the Reader to the Book it self As for Religion I was born and bred up in and under the Church of England as it yet stands Established by Law I have by God's Blessing and the Favour of my Prince grown up in it to the Years which are now upon me and to the Place of Preferment which I yet bear And in this Church by the Grace and Goodness of God I resolve to Dye I have ever since I understood ought in Divinity kept one constant Tenor in this my Profession without variation or shifting from one Opinion to another for any worldly Ends And if my Conscience would have suffered me to shift Tenets in Religion with Time and Occasion I could easily have slid through all the difficulties which have pressed upon me in this kind But of all Diseases I have ever hated a Palsie in Religion well knowing that too often a Dead-Palsie ends that Difease in the fearful forgetfulness of God and his Judgments Ever since I came in Place I laboured nothing more than that the External Publick Worship of God too much slighted in most parts of this Kingdom might be preserved and that with as much Decency and Uniformity as might be being still of Opinion that Vnity cannot long continue in the Church where Vniformity is shut out at the Church-Door And I evidently saw that the Publick neglect of God's Service in the outward Face of it and the nasty lying of many Places Dedicated to that Service had almost cast a Damp upon the true and inward Worship of God which while we live in the Body needs External helps and all little enough to keep it in any vigour And this I did to the uttermost of my Knowledge according both to Law and Canon and with the consent and liking of the People Nor did any Command Issue out from me against the one or without the other that I know of Farther my Lords give me leave I beseech you to tell you this also That I have as little Acquaintance with Recusants of any sort as I believe any Man of Place in England hath And for my Kindred no one of them was ever a Recusant but Sir William Webb Grandchild to my Uncle Sir William Webb sometimes Lord Mayor of London and him with some of his Children I reduced back again to the Church of England as is well known and I as able to prove One thing more I humbly desire may be thought on 't is this I I am fallen into a great deal of Obloquy in Matter of Religion and that so far as that 't is charged in the Articles That I have endeavoured to advance and bring in Popery Perhaps my Lords I am not ignorant what Party of Men have raised this Scandal upon me nor for what End nor perhaps by whom set on But howsoever I would fain have a good Reason given me if my Conscience lead me that way and that with my Conscience I could Subscribe to the Church of Rome what should have kept me here before my Imprisonment to indure the Libels and the Slanders and the base usage in all kinds which have been put upon me and these to end in this Question for my Life I say I would fain know a good Reason of this For first My Lords Is it because of any Pledges I have in the World to sway me against my Conscience No sure For I have nor Wife nor Children to cry out upon me to stay with them and if I had I hope the Call of my Conscience should be heard above them Or Secondly Is it because I was loth to leave the Honour and the Profit of the Place I was risen unto Surely no For I desire your Lordships and all the World else should know I do much scorn Honour and Profit both the one and the other in comparison of my Conscience Besides it cannot be imagined by any Reasonable Man but that if I could have complyed with Rome I should not have wanted either Honour or Profit And suppose I could not have so much of either as here I had yet sure would my Conscience have served me that way less of either with my Conscience would have prevailed with me more than greater against my Conscience Or Thirdly Is it because I lived here at ease and was loth to venture the loss of that Not so neither For whatsoever the World may be pleased to think of me I have 〈◊〉 very painful Life and such as I could have been very well content to change had I well known how And had my Conscience led me that way I am sure I might have lived at far more ease and either have avoided the barbarous Libellings and other bitter and grievous Scorns which I have here indured or at the least been out of the hearing of them Nay my Lords I am as Innocent in this business of Religion as free from all Practice or so much as thought of Practice for any alteration to Popery or any way blemishing the True Protestant Religion Established in the Church of England as I was when my Mother first bare me into the World And let nothing be spoken against me but Truth and I do here Challenge whatsoever is between Heaven and Hell to say their worst against me in point of my Religion In which by God's Grace I have ever hated Dissimulation and had I not
Church as appeared in the taking down of his House was broken or pared away to make room for the uncleanness to pass into the Vault And surely were I to sit again in the High-Commission I should give my Vote to Censure this Prophanation But himself confesses he paid but Thirty Pound of it which was too little for such an Offence And besides my Lords this was the Act of the High-Commission and cannot be charged singly upon me And I cannot forbear to add thus much more That the Bishop and Dean and Chapter whoever they were did ill to give way to these Buildings and to increase their Rents by a Sacrilegious Revenue No Law that I know giving way to Build upon Consecrated Ground as that Church-Yard is But howsoever the present Tenants being not in Dolo I ever thought fit they should have Recompence for their Estates and they had it The next Charge was about the Shops of the Goldsmiths in Cheapside and Lumbard-street An Order was made at the Council-Table Novemb. 12. 1634. That within Six Months the Goldsmiths should provide themselves Shops there and no where else till all those Shops were furnished And this under a Penalty and to give Bond. These two were the ancient Places for Goldsmiths only Time out of Mind And it was thought fit by the Lords for the Beauty of the Place and the Honour of the City to have these Places furnished as they were wont and not to have other Trades mixed among them Beside it concerned all Mens Safety For if any Plate were stoln the enquiry after it might be made with more ease and speed Whereas if the Goldsmiths might dwell here and there and keep their Shops in every by-place of the City stoln Plate might easily be made off and never heard of But howsoever if in this Order there were any thing amiss it was the Order of the Council-Table not mine And far enough off from Treason as I conceive 1. Upon this Charge there were two Instances The first is Mr Bartley who said his House was taken from him by Order to the Lord Mayor 1637. That my Hand was to the Order That he was Imprisoned Six Months and recovered 600. l. Damages of Sir Ed. Bromfield That after this he was Committed to Flamsted a Messenger belonging to the High Commission about Dr. Bastwick's and Mr. Burton's Books That after this he was sent for to the Council and there heard my Voice only That when he desired some help Sir Tho. Ailsbury's Man told him he were as good take a Bear by the Tooth That all this was for his entertaining a Man that came out of Scotland and lastly That Dr. Haywood my Chaplain had Licensed a Popish Book To which I gave this Answer That if the Lord Mayor put him from his house by Order from the Lords being a Stationer among the Goldsmiths then it was not done by me And though my Hand were to the Order yet not mine alone and I hope my Hand there subscribed no more Treason than other Lords Hands did And if he did recover 600 l. against Sir Ed. Bromfield who I think was the Lord Mayor spoken of surely he was a Gainer by the Business And whereas he says he was after seized again and Committed to Flamsted about the Books Named If he were as was informed a great Vender of those and such like Books less could not be done to him than to call him to Answer He says farther that he was sent for to the Council-Table and there he heard my Voice only against him It may be so and without all fault of mine For that heavy Office was usually put upon me and the Lord Keeper to deliver the Sense of the Board to such as were called thither and Examined there And by this Means if any sour or displeasing Sentence passed how just soever it mattered not it was taken as our own and the Envy of it fell on us And that this was so many Lords here present know well He adds what Sir Thomas Ailsbury's Man said when he would have Petitioned again But since Mr. Bartley is single here and in his own Cause why doth he rest upon a Hearsay of Sir Thomas Ailsbury's Man Why was not this Man Examined to make out the Proof And if this Man did so far abuse me as to speak such Words of me shall I be Abused first and then have that Abuse made a Charge That he was troubled thus for a Scotchman's coming to him is nothing so nor is any Proof offered Though then the Troubles were begun in Scotland and therefore if this had any relation to that Business I pleaded again the Act of Oblivion For that of Dr. Haywood I shall give my Answer in a more proper Place for 't is objected again 2. The second Instance was in Mr Manning's Case He speaks also of the Order of the Council Novemb. 12. 1634. That the Goldsmiths in their Book make an Order upon it June 15. 1635. That they which obey not should be suspended I think 't is meant from use of their Trade That when some intreated them to Obedience I should say This Board is not so Weak but that it can Command or to that effect For the Council's Order it was theirs not mine For the Order which the Company of Goldsmiths made upon it It was their own Act I had nothing to do with it For the Words If I did speak them which is more than I remember he is single that Swears them and in his own Cause But my Lords I must needs say whether I spake it then or not most true it is that the Council-Table is very weak indeed if it cannot Command in things of Decency and for Safety of the Subject and where there is no Law to the contrary And this was then my Answer The Third Charge of this Day was That I forced Men to lend Money to the Church of St Pauls And Mrs Moore was called upon But this was deserted The next Charge was concerning a long and tedious Suit between Rich and Poole about the Parsonage of North-Cerny in Glocestershire That Rich was turned out after three Years Possession by a Reference procured by Poole to the Lord Keeper Coventry and my self And that I did in a manner Act the whole Business at the Reference That Letters were sent from the Council to Sir William Masters one of the Patrons to see Poole Instituted and to Imprison Rich if he refused Obedience That after by the Lord Marshal's procurement there was another Reference obtained to thirteen Lords who awarded for Rich. I was never more weary of any Business in my Life than I was of this Reference And I was so far from Acting the whole Business as that I did nothing but as the Lord Keeper directed the Cause was so entangled with Quare Impedits and many other Businesses of Law Our Judgments upon full Hearing went with Poole and we certified accordingly And upon this it may
Widow and her Children And as himself confesses His Majesty being informed that Mrs. Burrill was Sister to the Reverend Prelate Bishop Andrews being then dead should say that he would not have granted it to Mr. Smith had he known so much This was an Honourable Memory of his faithful Servant her Worthy Brother But whatsoever was done in this business was by Order of the Council-Board and not by me As was also the 250 l. which he says was paid in to Sir William Beecher by way of deposite as I conceive In which if he had any hard Measure the Law was open for his Right And in the whole business he is single and in his own Cause The next Charge was Sir Jo Corbett's which because it is expressed at large in the Article before recited I shall not here repeat but apply the Answer to it which I then gave Sir John says he was sent for about Reading the Petition of Right at a Sessions in the Country and that the Earl of Bridgwater should say he was disaffected to the King This concerns not me in any thing He says That for this he was Committed lay long in the Fleet and was denied Bail But he says it was denyed by the whole Board So by his own Confession this was the Act of the Council not mine And this Answer I gave to Mr. Browne when he put this part of the Charge into his Summ. In his Cause with Sir John Stonehouse about a Waste I cannot recal the Particulars But what-ever was done therein himself confesses was by Order at the Council-Table and His Majesty present April 18. 1638. For the I le built by the Lord Viscount Kilmurrye the Grant which I made was no more than is ordinary in all such Cases And 't is expressed in the Body of the Grant Quantum in nobis est de Jure possumus so there is nothing at all done to the prejudice of Sir John's Inheritance For if we cannot Grant it by Law then the Grant is voided by its own words And that the Grant was such and no other I shew'd the Deeds ready Attested out of the Office Besides had I wronged him there was an ordinary Remedy open by Appeal to the Delegates And this was well known to him for he did so Appeal from a like Grant against him by the now Lord Bishop of Duresme then of Lichfield and Sir John's Diocesan And whereas 't is alledged That I made this Grant without the consent of him the Patron or the then Incumbent Sir John acknowledges like a Gentleman that I sent unto him for his consent if it might have been had And this I foresaw also that if I had denyed the Lord Viscount that which was not unusual then the Complaint would have fallen more heavy on the other side that I made Persons of Quality in a manner Recusants by denying them that conveniency which was in my power to grant So I must be faulty whatever I do Then the business of the Tythes of London was raised up in Judgment against me And it was Read out of my Diary that I projected to give the Ministers assistance therein I had been much to blame having been Bishop of London should I have had other thoughts For their Case is very hard all their Offerings being shrunk a way into nothing but a poor Easter-Book The Ministers of London had often petitioned about some Relief long before my time And I did then and do still think it most just they should have it For they are now under the Taskmakers of AEgypt the Tale of Brick must be made they must Preach twice a Sunday get Straw where they can And yet I never thought of any thing contrary to Law had all been done which I desired For that was no more than that the Citizens would voluntarily yield to some reasonable addition where Right and Need appeared And this I am sure nor did nor could cross with the Act of Parliament concerning the Tythes of London And Mr. Moss who is their only Witness in this particular says no more against me but that I pressed this business much and often Which is most true I did and held it my Duty so to do but still in the way before mentioned After this came the great Charge as it was accounted concerning the Censure of Mr Pryn and Burton and Bastwick in the Star-Chamber and their Banishment as 't is called upon it The Witnesses produced in some Circumstances of that Cause were Mr Cockshott Tho Edwards William Wickens Mr Burton Mrs Bastwicke and Mr Pryn himself The Censure is known and urged to be against Law But so far as any Particular is put upon me my Answer is present to it 1. And first for Mr Cockshott he says Mr. Attorney Bancks sent him being then his Servant to give me an Account of that Business Hence 't is inferred That I took care of it This might have had some shew of Proof if I had sent to Mr. Attorney to give me an account of it But there 's no word of any such Proof And yet considering what relation their Cause had to the Church if I had sent and desired some Account of the Proceedings I humbly conceive my Place in the Church considered it could have been no great Crime 2. Then were Read certain Warrants One Febr. 1. 1632. for Commitment another of Febr. 2. 1636. to bar access to them These were Acts of the Lords sitting in Star-Chamber not mine Then was Read a third Order after Sentence given of May 13. 1634. for the seizing of his Books But this as the former was an Act of the Court not mine And 't is expressed in the Order as the Charge it self lays it down for the disposal of the Books according to Law Then the Warrant of their Commitment to the Islands Aug. 27. 1637. This Commitment was no Device of mine nor did I ever hear of it till it was spoken by others in the Star-Chamber Nor do any one of these Warrants prove any thing that can be call'd my Act And I humbly conceive that I ought not by Law nor can by Usage of Parliamentary-Proceedings be charged single for those things which were done in Publick Courts The last Order was November 12. 1637. about the Aldermen of Coventry and the Quo Warranto resolved upon against the Charter of that City only for supposed Favours shew'd to Mr. Pryn in his passage that way First 't is confessed in the Charge that this was an Act of the Lords Secondly that it was made at a full Board Thirdly 't is not urged that any one Man disliked it Fourthly the Complaint which caused it was that both Aldermen and their Wives and other Citizens were not content to shew Mr. Pryn kindness but they both did and spake that which was disgraceful to the Star-Chamber-Sentence But howsoever there is no Particular in that Order that is or can be Charged upon me 3. This for
I. 11 Then he says That at last Mr. Holt came to him but was threatned that very Afternoon for it But he doth not tell your Lordships by whom and for my part more than civil giving him the time of the Day I never spake with him in all my Life 12 He tells your Lordships next how he passed through Coventry to which I have spoken already and how through Chester and how some Chester men were used concerning him and his entertainment But my Lords whatsoever was done in this was by the High-Commission at York and if any thing be therein amiss they must answer that did it 13 Lastly he spake of sending Sir William Balfore to me and some other like Particulars Of all which there is no Proof but a bare Relation what Mr. Hungerford Mr. Ingram and Sir William Balfore said which is all Hearsay and makes no Evidence unless they were present to Witness what is said And here give me leave to observe that Mr. Pryn hath in this Charge woven together all that he cou'd say concerning both Causes for which he was Censured For in the third Particular he speaks of his Book for which he was first Censured and in the Ninth and Tenth of his Cross-Bill and the like which were in his second Cause 6. The sixth Witness was Mr. Burton a Party too For that which he said agreeable to Mr. Pryn it received the same Answer And he added nothing new but that his Wife was kept from him by Warrant from the Lords And if it was by the Lords Order then was it not by me And when it was replyed that till he was Sentenced to Garnsey his Wife had access to him Mr. Burton answered Yea but my Lords she was not suffered to be with me at Nights At which the Lords fell a Laughing and there ended his Charge 7. The last Witness was Mrs. Bastwick And she also said nothing different from Mr. Pryn but that she was kept from her Husband and that she Petitioned the Lords about it But of me in particular not one Word And though Mr. Brown in his last Reply upon me said The Time of these Mens Censure was the noted Time of the Oppression of the Subjects Liberty yet I shall crave leave to say of these Men as S. Augustin once said of two great Donatists in his time who it seems had received some Sentence and afterwards a return not altogether unlike these Men They were Felicianus and Pretextatus of those thus S. Augustin If these Men were Innocent why were they so Condemned And if they were Guilty why were they with such Honour returned and received This applies it self And here I am willing to put the Reader in Mind too that Mr. Brown drawing up an exact Summ of my Charge and pressing it hard against me to my Remembrance and I think my Notes could not have slipped it passed by this Charge concerning Mr. Pryn and I cannot but think he had some Reason for it This tedious Charge being over the World ran round and I was brought back again to another Charge about demolishing the Houses at St Pauls and here three Witnesses more came against me 1. The first was Mr. Bently He said there were above Sixty Houses pulled down I Answered I know not the number but if there were so many the Recompence given was sufficient for more He said farther That there was Twenty Yards between the Church and some of the Houses There were very few if any such let him look to his Oath but then some were close upon the Wall of the Church And suppose all had been Twenty Yards distant that was not room enough to bring in and Lodge Materials for the Repair and to turn the Carriages And here again I made mention of my Salvo before desired for the Record of Ed. 3. touching the like Buildings and their Demolition 2. The second Witness was Mr. Goare For the Sixty Houses as was before testified I gave the same Answer as also that the Act of the Council-Table cannot be said to be my Act. For St. Gregory's Church they were not left without a Place for Divine Service as he would fain have it thought For they were assigned to a part of Christ-Church till another Church might be built for them And for the pulling down of St. Gregory's 't is well known to divers of that Parish that I was not so much as one of the Referees to whose view and consideration it was referred But the Truth is this Man Rented the Parsonage-House and had a good Penniworth of it to gain by his Under-Tenant The going down of that House troubles him and not the Church 3. The Third Witness Walter Biggs says nothing different from the two former but that I said I was opposed for the pulling down of the Houses Whence it was inferred that it was my Act because I was opposed But my Lords I hope I might say I was Opposed without any Offence or without taking the Order of the Council-Table to my self For 't is well known the Work of that Repair under God was mine and I took no indirect no oppressing Way to it nor can I now be ashamed of that which in future times in despight of the present Malice will be my Honour So that the Care of the Work lying upon me I might well say I was opposed though the Opposition went higher against the Orders of the Lords The last Charge of this Day was about the putting down of two Brewers in Westminster because the Excessive and Noysom Smoak from thence much annoyed the King's House Gardens and Park at St. James These two were Mr Bond and Mr Arnold 1. For Mr. Bond he begins with somewhat that I should say at the Council-Table As Namely that he must Seal a Bond of two Thousand Pounds to Brew no more with Sea-Coal Now this argues if I did so speak that it was in delivering to him the Sense of the Board which Office as I have before expressed and is well known was usually put upon me if I were present And your Lordships may here again see what Envy hath followed me upon that which I could not decline He says farther that upon this Mr. Attorney Banks proceeded against him in the Exchequer That there upon some occasion the Lord Chief Baron should say ye are wise Witnesses for the King That his Councel were forbid to Plead and so a Verdict passed for the King All this is nothing to me I was neither Chief Baron nor Witness nor one of the Jury that gave the Verdict He says he was informed that there was an Order of Council made that no Man should put up a Petition for him But himself doth not so much as mention that this Order was procured by me And it is but a Report that no Petition might be delivered for him and none of them that told him so produced for proof So he scandalizes the Lords by Hearsay Next he says
he is a Juror And according to this I gave Mr. Browne my Answer And howsoever the Attachment goes of Course out from the Commission and not from me The second Charge of this Day was about the Censure which fell on the Inhabitants of Beckington in Sommersetshire about their refusing to remove the Communion-Table according to the Order of their Diocesan About which were produced three Witnesses to whose Evidence I shall Answer in order 1. The first was William Longe who says he was Foreman of the Jury when these Men were Indicted for a Riot and that as he conceives the Parson spake with the Judge about it which caused a sudden Verdict The Parson of the Place spake with the Judge and he conceives that produced a sudden Verdict First he doth but conceive so and that can make no Proof If it did make Proof 't is only against the Parson not against me And if the Parson speaking of it did say as Mr. Longe affirms he did That this Riot was like a Waldensian or Swisserland Commotion He must answer for his own Distempered Language me it cannot concern 2. The second Witness was George Longe He says The Bishop of Bath Commanded the Communion-Table to be removed and set at the upper end of the Chancel that the Church-Wardens refusing were Excommunicated But he says withal that they Appealed to the Arches and had remedy Then he adds farther that the Bishop proceeded again but the Church-Wardens would not remove it saying it was an Innovation and against Law But my Lords 't is neither And therefore these Church-Wardens were in a great Contempt against their Bishop to the ill Example of all that Country And that it is no Innovation against Law appears by the Injunctions of Queen Elizabeth where it is Commanded Expresly to be set there The Words are The Holy Table in every Church not Cathedrals only shall be decently made and set in the place where the Altar stood Now all Men know that with us in England the Altar stood North and South at the upper end of the Chancel And to set it East and West had been cross the place where the Altar stood and not in it And this being Law in the beginning of the Reformation cannot now be an Innovation When they came to me again as they say they did if I then told them they deserved to be laid by the Heels for the Contempt of their Bishop under Favour my Lords I spake Truth And give me leave I beseech you to tell you this It began to be a General Complaint not of the Bishop of Bath only but of other Bishops also that they could do little or no Service in their several Countries by reason of the Inhibitions which issued out of my Courts to stay their Proceedings And I wanted no good Friends in Court to tell the King as much when any thing was complained of By this I was brought into great straights Deny Appeals I might not Frequent granting in my Courts destroyed in a manner the Bishops Jurisdictions In this difficulty seeing the wilfulness of these Men and knowing they had received full benefit by their Appeal once already in the same Case I did refuse to hear any more of it unless there were new Matter but yet left them free to Appeal to the Delegats For Mr. Hughes the Parson there if he gave ill Words or laid violent Hands on any of his Neighbours it concerns not me Let him answer for what he hath said or done 'T is farther said That Mr. Hughes was with me at Windsor and had Letters from me to the Lord Chief Justice Finch But this Witness delivers not this upon his own knowledge I sent no Letter by him nor did he see me send by any other So this is meerly a Report and he doth not so much as tell from whom Yea but then he says that Mr. Morgan a Man inward with the Judge told him that the Judge told him that the little Man had put a spoke in their Cart and thereupon as he conceives the Petty-Jury was Changed Here are if your Lordships mark them two great Proofs The one is the Witnesses Report of Mr. Morgan's Report that the Judge had said so of me But why is not Mr. Morgan produced to clear this The other is not the Knowledge but the Conceit only of the Witness He conceives which I am Confident cannot sway with your Lordships for a Proof Besides were Mr. Morgan never so inward with that Judge yet it follows not that he must know all And if that Judge did mean me for Name me he did not he did me the more wrong For I never desired any thing of any Judge him or other but what was according to Law Nay I so expressed my self as that if by mistake or misinformation I had desired any thing which was not according to Law I humbly desired my Motion might be as if it had never been made 3. The third Witness is Mr. Jo. Ash. That which this Gentleman says is That Sir John Lambe told that the Man which came about that Business could have no Appeal admitted without me and that if he would be so troublesome he should be laid by the Heels I have given your Lordships an Account why he could not have an Appeal without me He had had the benefit of an Appeal before in the same Cause And for this Witness he delivers no knowledge of his own but only he says the Man imployed related it to him So 't is a Relation no Proof He says the Penance was injoyned them in three Churches And truly my Lords their Disobedience to their Bishop was great but if the Penance injoyned were too heavy it was the Act of their own Bishop not mine Then he says that the Lord Finch told him another powerful Hand was upon him intimating me First this is no knowledge of the Witness but a Speech of the Lord Finch Secondly if the Lord Finch did say so of a powerful Hand he wronged me much but himself more to confess he could be drawn awry in Judgment Thirdly this Witness says not that he named me but that he Intimated me I pray your Lordships Judgment what a forward Witness this Man is that can upon Oath deliver what is Intimated and of whom He says farther That upon Petition to Sir William Portman for some Assistance the Bishop of Bath laid all upon me and that when himself came to me at the Tower since my Restraint I told him the Bishop of Bath did like an Obedient Bishop to his Metropolitan For this my Lords here is no Proof that the Bishop laid this Business upon me but Sir William Portman's Report Sir William is a worthy Gentleman why is not he produced Why is not the Bishop that is said to lay all upon me brought into the Court that he may clear himself and me if he said it not or that I may make him ashamed if he said it For 't is
and not follow it in his own Name himself confesses was made in open Court by Mr. Bierly and that from me he had no Instructions at all 2. The second Witness is Adams in his own Cause To the place of Scripture I have spoken already And the next that he says is That Sir Nath. Brent in my Visitation commanded the setting of the Communion Table at the upper end of the Chancel That upon his not blotting out the passage of Scripture he had an Action and that his Solicitor was Committed by J. Jones till he relinquished his Suit In all this there is not one word of any thing that I did And for that which Sir Nath. Brent did about placing the Communion Table 't is answered before He says also that when he saw that he must Prosecute his Suit against Commissary Dade in his own Name he left the Kingdom And surely my Lords if he would leave the Kingdom rather than Prosecute his Cause in his own Name 't is more than a sign that his Cause was not very good 3. The third Witness was Mr. Cockshot one of Mr. Attorney Banks his Servants He says that Adams moved him and he Mr. Attorney and that thereupon Mr. Attorney gave his Warrant against Dade By which your Lordships may see how active Mr. Cockshot was against a Church-Officer and in so foul a Scandal He says also that Mr. Dade came to Mr. Attorney and told him that I did not think it fit a Prosecution in such a Cause should be followed in Mr. Attorney's Name First 't is true I did not think it fit nor did Mr. Attorney himself when upon Mr. Bierlye's Motion he fully understood it Secondly the Cause being so scandalous to a Church-Officer I conceive I might so say to Mr. Dade or any other without offence But then thirdly here 's not one word that I sent Mr. Dade to Mr. Attorney about it He came and used my Name so Mr. Cockshot says but not one word that I sent him Lastly he says That Mr. Attorney told him that I blamed him for the business and that thereupon he chid this Witness and sent him to me and that I rebuked him for it but he particularly remembers not what I said Nor truly my Lords do I remember any of this But if I did blame Mr. Attorney for lending his Name in such a Scandalous Cause as this I did as I conceive what became me And if he chid his Man he did what became him And if I rebuked Mr. Cockshot when he was sent to me sure he deserved it and it seems it was with no great sharpness that he cannot remember any thing of it And so I answer'd Mr. Browne when he instanced in this 4. The last Witness was Mr. Pryn who says no Appeal was left him But that under Favour cannot be For if my Courts refused him which is more than I know he might have Appealed to the Delegats He says That he advised Adams to an Action of the Case that he blamed Lechford for deserting the Suit and that he advised him to go to Mr. Attorney So here 's no assistance wanting to Adams but the Church-Officer Mr. Dade must have none Yet I blame not Mr. Pryn because he says he did it as his Councel He says farther That when Adams was put to prefer his Bill in his owne Name that then the Excommunication was pleaded in Bar But he doth not say it was pleaded by me or my Advice nor do I hear him say it was unjustly pleaded And had not Adams been wilful he might have taken off the Excommunication and then proceeded as it had pleased him Then the Charge went on against me about the stop of Mr. Bagshawe the Reader of the Middle-Temple The Witnesses are two Lawyers which accompanied Mr. Bagshawe to Lambeth Mr. White and Mr. Pepys They say that Mr. Bagshawe insisted upon these two points First that a Parliament might be held without Bishops and Secondly that Bishops might not meddle in Civil affairs My Lords these things are now setled by an Act of this Parliament but then they were not And I conceive under Favour that Mr. Bagshawe the Crasiness of these Times considered might have bestowed his time better upon some other Argument And sure no Man can think that either my self or any Church-Governour could approve his Judgment in that Particular And whereas they say that the Lord Keeper Finch and the Lord Privy Seal told them that I was the Man that complained of it to the King and the Lords 'T is most true I did so and I think I had been much to blame if I had not done it And if when they came over to Lambeth about it they heard me tell Mr. Bagshawe as they also say they did that he should answer it in the High-Commission Court next Term I humbly conceive this no great Offence but out of all Question no Treason to threaten the High-Commission to a Reader of the Inns of Court The last Charge of this Day was concerning the Lord Chief Justice Richardson and what he suffered for putting down Wakes and other disorderly Meetings in Sommersetshire at the Assises there holden The single Witness to this is Edward Richardson a Kinsman of the Judges as I suppose He says That Complaints were made to the Judge of Wakes and Feasts of Dedication that his Majesty writ Letters about it to Sir Robert Philips and others They Certify a Command comes by the Lord Keeper to revoke the Order next Assises First 't is not done Then by Command from the Lords of the Council the Judge upon that second Command revokes it but as 't is Certified not fitly In all this here 's not one Word that concerns me Then he says That upon this last Certificate the business was referred to the Lord Marshal and my self and the Judge put from that Circuit I cannot now remember what Report we made But what e're it was the Lord Marshal agreed to it as well as I. Then a Letter of mine was produced of Octob. 4. 1633. But the Letter being openly read nothing was found amiss in it And under your Lordships Favour I am still of Opinion that there is no Reason the Feasts should be taken away for some Abuses in them and those such as every Justice of Peace is able by Law to remedy if he will do his Duty Else by this kind of proceeding we may go back to the old Cure and Remedy Drunkenness by rooting out all the Vines the Wine of whose Fruit causes it As for the Pretences which this Witness spake of they were none of mine as appears Evidently by the Letter it self As an Appendix to these was added a Letter of my Secretary Mr. Dell to Sir John Bridgman Chief Justice of Chester in a Cause of one Ed. Morris It was as I think it appears upon an Incroachment made in the Marches Court upon the Church In which Case I conceive by my Place
that Business And this I did because in some things I did utterly dislike that Canvas and the Carriage of it At last some of the Senior Fellows came to me and told me That the College had been many Years without the Credit of a Proctor and that the Fellows began to take it ill at my hands that I would not shew my self and try my Credit and my Friends in that Business Upon this rather than I would lose the Love of my Companions I did settle my self in an honest and fair way to right the College as much as I could And by God's Blessing it succeeded beyond Expectation But when we were at the strongest I made this fair Offer more than once and again That if the greater Colleges would submit to take their Turns in Order and not seek to carry all from the lesser we would agree to any indifferent course in Convocation and allow the greater Colleges their full proportion according to their Number This would not be hearkned unto whereupon things continued some Years After this by his Majesty's Grace and Favour I was made Bishop of St. Davids and after that of Bath and Wells When I was thus gone out of the Vniversity the Election of the Proctors grew more and more Tumultuous till at the last the Peace of the Vniversity was like to be utterly broken and the divided Parties brought up a Complaint to the Council-Table The Lords were much troubled at it especially the Right Honourable William Earl of Pembroke Lord Steward and their Honourable Chancellour I had by that time and by the great Grace of his Now Majesty the Honour to be a Councellor and was present There I acquainted the Lords what Offers I had made during my time in the Vniversity which I did conceive would settle all Differences and make Peace for ever The Lords approved the way and after the Council was risen my very Honourable Lord the Earl of Pembroke desired me to put the whole Business in Writing that he might see and consider of it I did so His Lordship approved of it and sent it to the Vniversity with all Freedom to accept or refuse as they saw Cause The Vniversity approved all only desired the addition of a Year or two more to the Circle which would add a turn or two more to content some of the greater Colleges This that Honourable Lord yielded unto and that Form of Election of their Proctors was by unanimous Consent made a Statute in Convocation and hath continued the Vniversity in Peace ever since And this is all the carrying on of a Canvas for a Proctor's place which any Truth can challenge me withal And it may be my Lord is pleased to impute narrow Comprehensions to me because my Advice inclosed the choice of the Proctors within a Circle I am heartily sorry I should trouble the Reader with these Passages concerning my self but my Lord forces me to it by imputing so much Unworthiness to me But my Lord leaves not here but goes on and says worse of me Being suddenly advanced to highest Places of Government in Church and State had not his Heart enlarged by the Enlargement of his Fortune but still the maintaining of his Party was that which filled all his Thoughts which he prosecuted with so much Violence and Inconsiderateness that he had not an Eye to see the Consequences thereof to the Church and State until he had brought both into those Distractions Danger and Dishonour which we 〈◊〉 find our selves 〈◊〉 withal The next thing which my Lord charges me with is That I was suddenly advanced to highest Places of Government in Church and State This is like the rest And I dare say when my Lord shall better consider of it he will neither re-affirm nor avouch such an Untruth Suddenly advanced What does my Lord call Suddenly I was Eleven Years his Majesty's Chaplain in Ordinary before I was made a Bishop I was a Bishop Twelve Years before I was preferred to be Archbishop of Canterbury that Highest Place my Lord mentions When I was made Archbishop I was full Threescore Years of Age within less than one Month. Whereas my immediate Predecessor was not any one Month in his Majesty's Ordinary Service as Chaplain but far from that Honourable indeed but yet Painful and Chargeable Service and was made Bishop of Lichfield of London and of Canterbury within the compass of two Years he being at the time of his Translation to Canterbury but Forty nine Years of Age and yet never Charged as a Man suddenly advanced But my Advancement which it seems pleased not my Lord so well as his did was very sudden which I leave to the impartial Reader to judge Next being advanced to this High Place as my Lord calls it but now made low enough by his Lordship and other of the same Feather he says I had not my Heart enlarged with the Enlargement of my Fortune Sure my Lord is mistaken again For my Heart I humbly thank God for it was enlarged every way as much as my Fortune and in some things perhaps more But it may be my Lord meant that my Heart was not sufficiently enlarged because I could not receive those Separatists into it farther than to pray for them which would not suffer the open Bosom of the Church of England to receive them but neglecting their Father's Commandment forsook also their Mother's Instruction Nor did I maintain any Party but any Church-man or any Man else that loved Order and Peace in the Church was very welcome to me And I leave the World to judge by what they now see whether I or this Lord have practised or studied most the Maintenance and Advancement of a Party And as I did not maintain a Party so much less did it fill all my Thoughts as narrow as my Lord thinks them Nor did I prosecute these or any other my Thoughts either with Violence or Inconsiderateness Not with Violence for I can name many of whose Preferment under God and the King I was cause who yet went not with them which my Lord will needs miscal my Party Nor did I punish either more or more severely any that were brought before me in the Commission than were punished for the like Offences in any the same number of Years in my late Predecessor's Time As will manifestly appear by the Acts of the Court Nor with Inconsiderateness For I have many Witnesses that mine Eye was open and did plainly see and as freely tell where I then hoped there might have been remedy what was coming both upon Church and State though not as Consequences upon my Proceedings and I wish with all my Heart they were no more Consequences upon my Lord's Proceedings than they have been upon mine And my Lord is extreamly mistaken to say that I brought both into those distractions Danger and Dishonour with which they are now encompassed For 't is not I that have troubled this Israel of God For God is my
and send to the Lord Chief Justice who rides that Circuit which I did accordingly and hope your Majesty will be pleased to take Care that there may be some Settlement in this Particular My Lord the Bishop of Ely informs me That Sir John Cutts a Gentleman near Cambridge keeps a Chaplain being not thereto as he conceives qualify'd by Law Sir John pretends that he keeps him as a Curate to the Parson The Case may it please your Majesty is this In the Town of Childerly there were of old two Parishes Magna Parva The one was long since wasted and lost the other remains Presentative But the whole Town is depopulated except the Knight's House and the Church is gone upon the decayed Walls whereof stand mean Houses of Office as Brewhouse Stable c. Upon this Rectory the Knight ever provides to have a Titular Incumbent who now is one Mr Rainbowe a Fellow of S Magdalen College in Cambridge and Houshold Chaplain to the Earl of Suffolk What Allowance the Knight makes him is not known Tithes he takes none The Knight and his Family go to no other Church But he hath a Chappel which he saith was Consecrated by Bishop Heton and produces an Instrument with Seal purporting that on such a day at Childerly Bishop Heton did Consecrate a Chappel by saying Service there himself and having a Sermon Now upon colour hereof the Knight entertains a Stipendary who is termed his Chaplain and pays him a Stipend but he is neither appointed nor payed by the Incumbent The Bishop questioning the whole business hath required him to attend me to know whether such a Consecration be to be allowed of And if it be then whether I will allow of a Chappel in that place instead of a Parish Church now diverted to other profane Uses Of this I shall take the best care I can by advice of the ablest Civilians And in the mean time certifie your Majesty that the Bishop hath reason to be as strict in this as he may because there is a good Rectory devoured by this means and that almost in the view of the University of Cambridge I likewise find by my Lord the Bishop's Account that there are divers Particulars of moment and very fit for redress presented to him in his late yet being his first Visitation and most of them in the University and Town of Cambridge As namely that Emanuel Sidney and Corpus Christi Colleges have certain Rooms built within the Memory of Man which they use for Chappels to all Holy Uses yet were never Consecrated That most of the Church-Yards within the Town of Cambridge are annoyed and profaned with Dwelling-Houses and Shops and part of them turned in Gardens where by digging the Bones of the Dead have been displaced with divers other Profanations as namely the Church-Yards of St Michaels St Marys St Bennets and of St Botolphs And farther that in most of the Chancels of the Churches in Cambridge there are common Seats over-high and unfitting that place in divers Respects In all which businesses the Bishop hath been very tender both out of his respect to his Mother the University of Cambridge and because divers of the Benefices in Cambridge are Impropriations belonging to some Colleges there yet is pleased to ask my Direction herein as I most humbly do your Majesty's And herein if your Majesty so please I think it may be fit to consider well of the ill Example if Three College Chappels shall be used without any Consecration And for the Profanations and disorderly Seats I think if an Admonition would amend them it were well given But if that prevail not the High-Commission may order it if your Majesty so please And I hope my Lord the Bishop should not have had all this to do at his first coming into that Diocess if I could have held my Metropolitical Visitation of that See before this time From performance of which Duty I have been bold heretofore to acquaint your Majesty what hath hindred me There are also divers poor Cures within Six or Seven Miles round about Cambridge which are served by some Fellows or other Members of Colleges within the University who being many of them Stipendaries go or send thither upon Sundays and perchance on Holy-Days to read Service but are absent all the rest of the Week from all necessary Duties of their Cure And by this means the Parishioners want such necessary help and comfort in all time of Sickness either of them or their Families Against this I have taken the best care I can in Oxford But how to effect it in Cambridge I understand not so well being not acquainted with the course of that University There hapned also in the Town of Tadlow a very ill Accident on Christmas-day 1638. by reason of not having the Communion-Table railed in that it might be kept from Profanations For in Sermon time a Dog came to the Table and took the Loaf of Bread prepared for the Holy Sacrament in his Mouth and ran away with it Some of the 〈◊〉 took the same from the Dog and set it again upon the Table After Sermon the Minister could not think fit to Consecrate this Bread and other fit for the Sacrament was not to be had in that Town and the Day so far spent they could not send for it to another Town So there was no Communion And this was Presented by Four Sworn Men of the Town aforesaid Lastly it was likewise Presented to the Bishop that about Forty Years ago one Sir Francis Hind did pull down the Church of St Etheldred in Histon to which then appertained a Vicarage Presentative and forc'd the Parishioners to thrust themselves upon another small Church in the said Town to the great wrong of the Parishioners thereof And that the Lead Timber Stones Bells and all other Materials were sold away by him or imployed to the Building of his House at 〈◊〉 And that now it is called in question the People not being able of themselves to re-edifie the Church can get no redress against the Descendents from the said Sir Francis because the Heir was a Child and in Wardship to your Majesty There is notice come to my Lord the Bishop of some Brownists in that part of his Diocess adjoyning to Wales which Schismatically preach dangerous Errours and stir up the People to follow them And when they hear of any Enquiry made after them they slip out into another Diocess But the Bishop promises to do his best to order them But howsoever your Majesty may hereby see how these Schisms increase in all parts of your Dominions This Diocess is in good order and there was lately given Ten Pounds per Annum for Four Solemn Sermons to be preached Annually for ever which the Bishop hath ordered very well In this Diocess Catechising in the Afternoon by Question and Answer is generally well observed though some Men do preach also in the Afternoon
enim quod nemo nostrum quando apprehenditur reluctatur nec adversus injustam violentiam vestram quamvis nimius copiosus noster sit Populus ulciseitur Cyprian Epistola ad Demetrianum Quum tam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ne verbe quidem reluctamur sed Deo 〈◊〉 ultionem Lactant. L. 5. Divin Instit. c. 22. Neque tunc Civitas Christi quanquam haberet 〈◊〉 magnorum agmina Populorum adversùs impios persecutores pro temporali salute pugnavit Sed 〈◊〉 ut obtineret 〈◊〉 non repugnavit S. Aug. Lib. 22. de Civitat Dei c. 6. a Nec singulis civibus nec universis fas est summi Principls vitam famam aut fortunas in discrimen 〈◊〉 si omnium scelerum c. Poenis acerbissimis statuendum est in eos qui 〈◊〉 scriptis subditos in Principes armare consueverunt Bodin L. 2. de Repub. c. 5. p. 210 212. b Temporibus Locis nimium servientes c. Nec hoc locum habet in privatis tantum sed nec Magistratibus inferioribus hoc licet c. Grotius L. 1. de Jure belli pacis c. 4. n. 6. c Ibid. n. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14. d Rebellem propriè strictè dici qui contra Imperatorem vel ejus officiales resistit in pertinentibus ad statum Imperij Asserit Lancelot Conradus L. 1. de praestantia potestate Imperat. n. 12. * Greg. Turonens L. 5. Hist. n. 18. e Aristoteles citat apud Grotium L. 1. de Jure 〈◊〉 c. 4. n. 2. f Seneca Epist. 73. g Tacitus L. 4. Histor. h Nec 〈◊〉 nec licitum Regis 〈◊〉 manus 〈◊〉 Plutarch In vit Agidis Cleomen Boni expetendi qualescunque tolerandi k 〈◊〉 L. 1. Epist Fam. Epist. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nec patriae vim offerri oportere Jerem. 38. 5. * Procured Rushw. Pryn. * p. 9. †Worse Rushw. Pryn. * Conjunction †〈◊〉 Rushw. Pryn. * By 〈◊〉 Rushw. Pryn. †It 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 * Superstitions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Desunt 〈◊〉 in Rushw. †put to Rush Pryn. Who was Register or Secretary to the Scotch Commissioners Decemb. 14. 1640. Decemb. 18. 1640. Ecclus. 51. 〈◊〉 †Conjunction Psal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Decemb 15. 1640. * Profess Rushw. Pryn. †The Scottish 〈◊〉 The Survey of the Discipline * Thereafter Pryn Rushw. †Skill †Ceased Rush. * Brought Rushw. * 〈◊〉 in Platinae Hyginum Vide autem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dissert 1. 4. 2. W S. A. C. Rom. 1. 8. a Jewell's Reply to Dr. Harding * United Rushw Pryn. †The same is added from Pryn and Rush. * Jan. 22. 1641. * 〈◊〉 habens Lutherus rem sine Ecclesiae pernicie abrogari non posse quod unum potuit nomen sustulit 〈◊〉 puriore vocabulo Graeco parum Latinum supposuit pro Episcopis Superintendentes pro Archiepiscopis Generales Superintendentes appellans Tilenus 〈◊〉 ad Scotos c. 6. And he well knew the state of his Neighbour Churches Saravia similiter Praefat. L. de diversis Ministrorum Evangelii gradibus Zanchius de Relig. Observat. c. 25. n. 10 11. Jacob. Haerbrand Lutheranus In 〈◊〉 Commun p. 699. Saving that he dislikes not the Alteration of the Name a S. Aug. L. 19. de Civ Des c. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Latinè superintendere possumus dicere quod ille qui 〈◊〉 eis quibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sc. 〈◊〉 * Recombustion after this Rushw. Pryn. See Rushw. par 3. vol. 2. pag. 135. 152 153 154. 174. 183 184 187. 193 194 c. 207. 235. c. 282 c. See the Petitions of these three Men presented to the House of Commons against the Arch-Bishop apud Rushworth par 3. vol. 1. p. 74 c. * It was 〈◊〉 Libel indeed in strictness of Law having the Author's Name set to it but it is called a Libel for the scurrilous and soul Language of it H. W. †Jan. 26. 1641. Dec. 21. 1640. * There were present and concurring in the Sentence Sir The. Coventry Lord Keeper of the Great Seal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Manchester Lord President of the Council W. Earl of Pembroke Lord Steward Philip 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 Lord Chamberlain Edw. Earl of 〈◊〉 Oliver Lord Viscount Grandison George Lord Bishop of London Rich. Lord Bishop of Duresme Sam. Lord Bishop of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord Bishop of Rochester William Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells Sir 〈◊〉 Coke Secretary Sir Hen. Martin Jo. 〈◊〉 Dean of St. Pauls Walt. 〈◊〉 Dean of Rochester Tho. 〈◊〉 Doctor of Divinity Edm. Pope and Hugh Barker Doctors of Law and Sir Charles 〈◊〉 who only desired to be spared and so gave no Sentence * Close Prisoner from the High-Commission-Court was not to shut him up in his Chamber but only not 〈◊〉 suffer him to go out of the Prison W. C. †Jan. 28. 1641. †Jan. 21. 1640. Feb. 26. 1640. Rushworth saith they were carried up by Mr. Pym Mr. Hampden and Mr. Maynard and inserteth Pym's Speech made at the 〈◊〉 of them to the Lords Par. 3. Vol. p. 195. 199. c. So also Pryn pag. 24 25 28. who also Exhibits p. 23 24. the Preliminary Votes and Orders of the 〈◊〉 made Febr. 22 23 24 26. for the framing and carrying up the Articles to the Lords H. W. * 'T is Article 10. There are Printed also in Rushworth par 3 vol 1. p. 196. c. 〈◊〉 Compl. Hist. p. 25 c. †Rushw. * This Kingdom of England Rush. Pryn. Ad 〈◊〉 * Arist. L 3. Polit. c. 11. Ad Secundum †〈◊〉 King Ad Tertium Rushw. Pryn. Desunt in Rushw. Pryn. Ad Quartum All this about Stone is afterward more perfectly related and so this to be omitted here according to the Arch-Bishop's Direction p. 159. Only compare them first together W. S. A. C. The Account being short I thought it better to let it stand here than 〈◊〉 the History for the sake of one single Repetition H. W. Desunt in 〈◊〉 Pryu Ad Quintum * Rush. 〈◊〉 Ad Sextum * Rushw. 〈◊〉 Ad Septim * Other Rushw. Pryn. †Commendation Rushw. Pryn. Ad Octavum * Pryn Rushworth Ad 〈◊〉 Ad 〈◊〉 †Arift l 2. Rhetor. c. 5. Arift Rhet. l. 2. c. 7. §. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 | Non omnis 〈◊〉 perficit 〈◊〉 boni sed solùm illa à quâ dependet esse perfectum 〈◊〉 Tho. 1. 2. q. 36. Art 3. ad quint I would not adventure to 〈◊〉 and disjoint the History The Reader if he so pleaseth may 〈◊〉 by such Repetitions H. W. * I find that some things in my general Answer to the Articles are repeated again in the beginning of my particular Answers when my Tryal came on I desire for I had no time to do it my self that to avoid tediousness all those may be left out of the first Answer that are perfected in the 2d W. 〈◊〉 2. 3. 4. 2 Cor. 13. 8. 5. 6. 7. 〈◊〉 *
History to Note which of them were in his Hands and which being wanting to him were to be sought elsewhere He was earnestly employed about this Matter and the Original and Copy with many of the Papers belonging to it lay on his Scrutoire before him and himself was then writing certain Quaeries Memoranda's and Directions for his use therein in a 〈◊〉 paper when a violent 〈◊〉 seized him August 25. which having 〈◊〉 him to his Bed full thirteen weeks he at last surrendred up his Pious Soul to God the 24th of November on Friday early in the Morning in the 77th Year of his Age. As soon as he had Reason to apprehend that his Sickness would prove mortal remembring what he was last employed about the Edition of this History he was desirous to see me that so he might commit the care of it to me But so it was that I hearing of his Sickness and not knowing any thing either of this History being in his Hands or of his Intentions about it took a Journey into Suffolk to wait upon him as in Duty bound having the Honour and the Happiness to be his Chaplain whither I came on the last day of October He was then pleased to acquaint me with his Design related to me how the History with the other Papers of Arch-Bishop Laud came into his Hands how he had often prepared himself for the perfection of this Edition and was at last hindred by his present Sickness In fine he laid his Commands upon me to perfect what he had begun and to Publish the History as soon as might be and then immediately caused to be delivered to me the Original and Copy of the History with the Diary and all other Papers of Arch-Bishop Laud or his own relating to them which then laid upon or about his Scrutoire or could be found in his Study His Voice was then very weak and his Spirits faint so that he could not give to me that perfect account by what means the Copy came into Arch-Bishop Sheldon's Hands which I had desired of him For he having omitted to tell me that distinctly and I desiring satisfaction in that and some other Questions about this Book he could only answer me These are material Questions but I am weary with speaking and my Spirits are faint I cannot make to you any farther Answers herein After which I never presumed to trouble him with the Question However having observed upon Reading the Book and looking over the Papers that many even of those Memorials were wanting which I found that my Most Reverend Patron had in his written Notes marked to be in his Hands I took the boldness when I next waited on him on November 22. following to acquaint him with this defect Whereupon he immediately ordered me to search all his Papers the greater part of which had not been opened nor put in order since his removal from Lambeth which I began forthwith to do and thereby found many Papers relating to this History or other Papers of Arch-Bishop Laud scattered and divided among several parcels of other Writings But before I had searched half way evident signs of approaching Death appearing in him I quitted the search at that time and renewed it not again till several weeks after his Death when I looked over the remaining part of his Papers and with the leave of his Executors took thence whatsoever related to or might be subservient to this Design In this latter search I found many things but neither first nor last could find several Papers of Arch-Bishop Laud of great moment which I am well assured were in the Hands of my late Lord Arch-Bishop Sancroft because I find them testified so to be in the Catalogue of Arch-Bishop Laud's Papers in his hands drawn by himself Among these is a large Answer of Arch-Bishop Laud to a Speech made by William Lord Viscount Say and Seal against the Civil Power of Bishops and Printed by him London 1642. His Answer to the Speech of the same Lord against the Liturgy and Printed London 1641. I found and have published in the end of this Volume as well because it contains many Historical passages of the Arch-Bishop's own Life and Actions as for that it is no where referred to in this History and so could not well be placed among the Memorials intended for the Second Part. Arch-Bishop Laud had also wrote a large and elaborate Answer to the Speech of Nathaniel Fiennes Son to the Lord Say against the new Canons made in the end of the Year 1640. and Printed London 1641. which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to in this History This also was in the Hands of my late Lord Arch-Bishop Sancroft as I find as well by the written Catalogue before mentioned as by a particular Paper of Observations made by him upon it toward the completion and illustration of it whereby it appears to consist of above fifty Pages in Folio But this after a tedious and diligent search I could not find Which will not appear incredible to those who know what a vast multitude of Papers and Collections my late Lord Arch-Bishop Sancroft left behind him and therein more perhaps wrote with his own Hand than any Man either of this or the last Age ever did write Having obtained all the Papers which could be found I set my self to perfect the Edition of this History which I have at last performed yet with greater trouble and labour than can easily be imagined I caused the Diary to be exactly Transcribed adjoined an English Translation to the Latin part of it diligently collated the Copy of the History with the Original the Articles and other Memorials with the Printed Copies if any such were added what Observations I thought necessary in the Margin have every where Religiously retained the Author 's own words and expressions throughout although therein I must confess against the Judgment of my most Reverend Patron expressed in his written Notes have only amended the Orthography which both in Original and Copy was monstrously vitious inserted some words where the Sense was imperfect but have always included such in Crotchets and in some places substituted Greek words instead of Latin in Citations out of Greek Fathers or Authors So that the Reader may be assured this History is faithfully conveyed to the Publick I have retained all my late Lord Arch-Bishop Sancroft's Observations whether wrote in the Margin of the Book or elsewhere if considerable subjoyning to them the Letters W S A C I have subjoined to many of my own Observations of greater moment the Letters H. W. And where Arch-Bishop Laud had added any thing in the Margin I have adjoyned the Letters W C As for the Collection of Memorials and other Papers which by the Author's Direction should have accompanied this History finding that they could 〈◊〉 be Published in the same Volume without swelling it to too great a bulk I have reserved them for a Second Part and if God grant me Life and Health will cause them
long Service He was pleased to say He had given me nothing but Gloucester which he well knew was a Shell without a Kernel June 29. His Majesty gave me the Grant of the Bishoprick of St. Davids being St. Peter's day The general expectation in Court was that I should then have been made Dean of Westminster and not Bishop of St. Davids The King gave me leave to hold the Presidentship of St. John Baptist's Colledge in Oxon in my Commendam with the Bishoprick of St. Davids But by Reason of the strictness of that Statute which I will not violate nor my Oath to it under any colour I am resolved before my Consecration to leave it Octob. 10. I was chosen Bishop of St. Davids Octob. 10. 1621. I resigned the Presidentship of St. Johns in Oxford Novemb. 17. 1621. I Preached at Westminster Novemb. 5. I was Consecrated Bishop of St. Davids Novemb. 18. 1621. at London-House Chappel by the Reverend Fathers the Lords Bishops of London Worcester Chichester Elye Landaffe Oxon. The Arch-Bishop being thought Irregular for casual Homicide Januar. 6. The Parliament then sitting was dissolved by Proclamation without any Session Januar. 14. The King's Letters came to the Arch-Bishop and all the Bishops about London for a Contribution of the Clergy toward recovery of the Palatinat Januar. 21. The Arch-Bishop's Letters came to me about this business Januar. 25. I sent these Letters and my own into the Diocess Febr. 17. I Preached at Westminster All my former Sermons are omitted March 9. I heard of the death of L. B. He died Januar. 17. between 6 and 7 in the Morning March 18. Dr. Theodore Price went towards Ireland out of London about the Commission appointed there March 24. I Preached at Court commanded to Print Anno 1622. April 13. The King renewed my Commendam April 16. I was with his Majesty and the Prince's Highness to give notice of Letters I received of a Treasonable Sermon Preached in Oxford on Sunday April 14. by one Mr. Knight of 〈◊〉 April 14. Sunday I waited at the Entertainment of Count Swartzenburge the Emperour's Ambassadour in the Parliament House April 23. Being the Tuesday in Easter week the King sent for me and set me into a course about the Countess of Buckingham who about that time was wavering in point of Religion April 24. Dr. Francis White and I met about this May 10. I went to the Court to Greenwich and came back in Coach with the Lord Marquess Buckingham My promise then to give his Lordship the Discourse he spake to me for May 12. I Preached at Westminster May 19. I delivered my Lord Marquess Buckingham the Paper concerning the difference between the Church of England and Rome in point of Salvation c. May 23. My first Speech with the Countess of Buckingham May 24. The Conference between Mr. Fisher a Jesuit and my self before the Lord Marquess Buckingham and the Countess his Mother I had much Speech with her after June 9. Being Whitsunday my Lord Marquess Buckingham was pleased to enter upon a near Respect to me The particulars are not for Paper June 15. I became C. to my Lord of Buckingham And June 16. Being Trinity Sunday he Received the Sacrament at Greenwich June 22. c. I saw two Books in Folio of Sir Robert Cottons In the one was all the Order of the Reformation in the time of Hen 8. The Original Letters and Dispatches under the Kings and the Bishops c. own hands In the other were all the Preparatory Letters Motives c. for the suppression of the Abbies their suppression and value in the Originals An Extract of both which Books I have per Capita July 5. I first entred into Wales July 9. I began my first Visitation at the Colledge in Brecknocke and Preached July 24. I visited at St. Davids and Preached July 25. August 6 7. I visited at Carmarthen and Preached The Chancellor and my Commissioners visited at Emlyn c. July 16 17. and at Haverford-West July 19 20. Aug. 15. I set forwards towards England from Carmarthen Septemb. 1. My Answer given to His Majesty about 9 Articles delivered in a Book from Mr Fisher the Jesuit These Articles were delivered me to consider of Aug. 28. The Discourse concerning them the same Night at Windsor in the presence of the King the Prince the Lord Marquess Buckingham his Lady and his Mother Septemb. 18. aut circiter There was notice given me that Mr. Fisher had spread certain Copies of the Conference had between him and me Maij 24. into divers Recusants hands Octob. .... I got the sight of a Copy c. in October made an Answer to it Octob. 27. I Preached at Westminster Decemb. 12. My Ancient Friend Mr R Peashall died horâ 6. matutinâ It was Thursday and Sol in Capri. Lucia Virgo in some Almanacks a day before in some a day after it Decemb. 16. My Lord Marquess Buckingham's Speech to me about the same Keye Decemb. 25. I Preached at St. Giles without Cripplegate I was three times with the King this Christmas and Read over to him the Answer which I had made to Fisher which he commanded should be Printed and I desired it might pass in a third Person under the Name of R. B. Januar. 11. My Lord of Buckingham and I in the inner Chamber at York House Quòd est Deus Salvator noster Christus Jesus Januar. 17. I received a Letter from E. B. to continue my favour as Mr. R. P. had desired me Januar. 19. I Preached at Westminster Januar. 27. I went out of London about the Parsonage of Creeke given me into my Commendam Januar. 29. I was instituted at Peterborough to the Parsonage of Creeke Januar. 31. I was inducted into Creeke Februar 2. Being Sunday and Candlemas day I Preached and Read the Articles at Creeke Febr. 5. Wednesday I came to London I went that Night to his Majesty hearing he had sent for me He delivered me a Book to read and observe It was a Tract of a Capuchin that had once been a Protestant He was now with the French Ambassadour The Tract was to prove that Christ's Body was in two places at once in the Apparition to St Paul Act IX Feb. 9. I gave the King an account of this Book Febr. 9. Promovi Edmundum Provant Scotum in Presbyterum Primogenitus meus fuit in Domino I Ordained Edmund Provant a Scot Priest He was my First-begotten in the Lord. Febr. 17. Munday the Prince and the Marquess Buckingham set forward very secretly for Spain Febr. 21. I wrote to my Lord of Buckingham into Spain Febr. 22. Saturday I fell very ill and was very suddenly plucked down in 4 days I was put into the Commission of Grievances There were in the Commission the Lord Marquess Buckingham Lord Arundel Lord Pembroke Bishop of Winchester and my self The Proclamation came out for this Febr. 14. March 9. I Ordained Thomas Owen Bat of Arts Deacon March 10. I
Ordained him and John Mitchel Priests March 23. I Preached at White-Hall Anno 1623. March 31. I received Letters from my Lord of Buckingham out of Spain April 9. I received Letters from my Lord of Buckingham out of Spain April 13. Easter-day I Preached at Westminster April 26. I Ordained John Burrough Master of Arts Deacon and Priest May 3 and 16. My Speech with B. E. and the taking off my Jealousies about the great business June 1. Whitsunday I Preached at St. Brides June 13. I received Letters from the Duke of Buckingham out of Spain June 15. R. B. died at Stony Stratford which what it will work with B. E. God in Heaven knoweth and be merciful unto me July 6. I Preached at Westminster July 15. St. Swythin A very fair day till towards 5 at Night Then great extremity of Thunder and Lightning Much hurt done The Lanthorn at St. James's House blasted The Vane bearing the Prince's Arms beaten to pieces The Prince then in Spain It was Tuesday and their St. James's day Stilo Novo Aug. 17. I received Letters from the Duke of Buckingham out of Spain Aug. 31. I Preached at Sunninge with my Lord of Bristol Septemb. 8. I was at Bromley and heard of the unfortunate passage between my Friends there Octob. 3. Friday I was with my Lord Keeper to whom I found some had done me very ill Offices And he was very jealous of L. B's Favour Octob. 5. The Prince and the Duke of Buckingham landed at Portsmouth from Spain Octob. 6. Munday they came to London The greatest expression of Joy by all sorts of People that ever I saw Octob. 20. I Ordained Thomas Blackiston Batch of Arts Deacon Octob. 26. The fall of an House while Drewrye the Jesuit was Preaching in the Black-Fryars About 100 slain It was in their Account Novemb. 5. Octob. 31. I acquainted my Lord Duke of Buckingham with that which passed between the Lord Keeper and me Novemb. 12. Wednesday night a most grievous Fire in Bread-street in London Alderman Cocking's House with others burnt down Novemb. 18. Tuesday night the Duke of Buckingham Entertained the two Spanish Embassadors Don Diego de Mendoza the Extraordinary and Don Carolo 's Columnas the Ordinary and Mexia I think his Name was Ambassador from the Arch-Dukes One of the Extraordinary Ambassadors of Spain Marquess Iniioca came not because Mendoza and he could not agree upon Precedency His Majesty and the Prince were there The Bishop of London and my self waited upon the King Decemb. 14. Sunday night I did Dream that the Lord Keeper was dead that I passed by one of his Men that was about a Monument for him that I heard him say his lower Lip was infinitely swelled and fallen and he rotten already This Dream did trouble me Decemb. 15. On Munday Morning I went about business to my Lord Duke of Buckingham We had Speech in the Shield-Gallery at White-Hall There I found that the Lord Keeper had strangely forgotten himself to him and I think was dead in his Affections Decemb. 21. I Preached at Westminster Decemb. 27. St. John's day I was with my Lord Duke of Buckingham I found that all went not right with the Lord Keeper c. He sent to speak with me because he was to Receive the next day Decemb. 30. I adventured to tell my Lord Duke of Buckingham of the Opinion generally held touching the Commission of sending Sir Edward Coke and some others into Ireland before the intended Parliament Januar. 3. I received my Writ to appear in Parliament Febr. 12. following Januar. 10. I received a Command under Seal from my Lord of London to warn for the Convocation Januar. 10. I was with my Lord Duke of Buckingham and shewed him the state of the Book Printed about the Visitation of the Church and what was like to ensue upon it Januar. 11. I was with his Majesty to shew him the Epistle that was to be Printed before the Conference between me and Fisher the Jesuit Maij 24. 1622. which he was pleased to approve The King brake with me about the Book Printed then of the Visitation of the Church He was hard of belief that A. B. C. was the Author of it My Lord Keeper met with me in the with-drawing-Chamber and quarrelled me gratis Januar. 12. I sent the Summons down into the Country to the Clergy for their appearance at the Convocation Januar. 14. I acquainted my Lord Duke of Buckingham with that which passed on the Sunday before between the Lord Keeper and me Januar. 16. I was all day with Doctor W. about my Papers of the Conference and making them ready for the Press Here is left a large void space in the Original to insert the Occurrences of the Eight following Days which space was never filled up Januar. 25. Dies Solis erat Ego solus nescio quâ tristitiâ languens Premebat anxium invidia J. L. odium gratuitum Sumpsi in manus Testamentum Novum Groeco idiomate pensum diei ordine lecturus Caput autem mihi occurrit ad Hebr. XIII Ibi statim occurrit mihi moerenti metuentique illud Davidis Psal. 56. Dominus mihi Adjutor non timebo quid faciat mihi homo Exemplum mihi putavi propositum sub eo Scuto quis non tutus Protege me O Dominus Deus meus Januar. 31. Commissio emissa sub magno Sigillo Angliae me inter alios Judicem Delegatum constituit in Causa Dilapidationis inter Rev. in Christo Patrem Richard Neile Dominum Episcopum Dunelm Franciscum James Filium Haeredem Praedecessoris Huic Commissioni inservivi ab horâ secundâ 〈◊〉 ad quintam Dies erat Saturni Locus Camera magna ubi Legum Doctores simul convivant vulgò dictus Doctors Commons Februar 1. Dies solis erat Astiti Illust. Principi Carolo Prandenti Hilaristum admodum sibi conviva multa obiter cum suis. Inter caetera se si necessitas aliquod genus 〈◊〉 imponeret Juristam esse non posse Subjunxit Rationes Nequeo inquit malam causam defendere nec in bonâ succumbere Sic in majoribus succedas in aeternum faustus Serenissime Princeps Februar 4. Dies Mercurij erat Colloquium cum Fishero Jesuitâ habitum Maij 24. 1622. Jussu Sereniss Regis Jacobi Scriptis mandatum Regi ipsi antea perlectum typis excudendum hodiè traditur cum Approbatione Episcopi London Nunquam ante-hac sub praelo Laboravi Nullus Controversor Et ita oro amet beetque animam meam Deus ut ego benè ad gloriam nominis ejus sopitas cupio conorque Ecclesiae nunquam satis deflendas distractiones Invisi hodiè Ducissam Buckinghamiae Ostendit mihi illa 〈◊〉 Faemina Precum formulam Hanc ei in manus dedit alia mihi nè de Nomine nota Mulier Perlegi Mediocra omnia nihil egregium nisi quòd Poesi similior canebat Januar. 25. It was Sunday I was alone and languishing with I know not what
Subsidies in a Year my Error if it were one was pardonable So we parted I went to my Lord Duke and acquainted him with it lest I might have ill Offices done me for it to the King and the Prince Sic Deus beet me servum suum laborantem sub pressurà eorum qui semper voluerunt mala mihi So may God bless me his Servant labouring under the pressure of them who alway wished ill to me April 16. Friday My Conference with Fisher the Jesuit Printed came forth April 18. Sunday I Preached at Paul's Cross. April 27. Tuesday My very good Friend Dr. Linsell cut for the Stone Circiter horam nonam ante Meridiem About Nine a Clock in the Forenoon May 1. Saturday E. B. Marryed The Sign in Pisces May 5. Wednesday Ascension-Eve The King's Speech in the Banquetting House at Whitehall to the upper House of Parliament concerning the Hearing of the Lord Treasurer's Cause which was to begin the Friday following This day my Lord Duke of Buckingham came to Town with his Majesty Sick And continued Ill till Saturday May 22. May 13. Thursday Lionel Earl of Middlesex Lord Treasurer of England and Master of the Wards Censured in Parliament for Bribery and Extortion and Deceiving the King c. To lose his Offices To be ever disinabled to bear any Fined to the King in 50000 l. Imprisoned in the Tower during the King's Pleasure Never to sit again as a Peer in Parliament Not to come within the Verge of the Court. May 15. Saturday Whitson-Eve The Bill passed in Parliament for the King to have York-House in exchange for other Lands This was for the Lord Duke of Buckingham May 16. Whitsunday night I watched with my Lord Duke of Buckingham This was the first Fit that he could be perswaded to take orderly May 18. Tuesday night I watched with my Lord Duke of Buckingham he took this Fit very orderly May 19. Wednesday The Bishop of Norwich Samuel Harsnet was presented by the House of Commons to the Lords His Cause was referred by the House to my Lord's Grace of Canterbury and the High Commission May 22. Saturday My Lord Duke of Buckingham missed his Fit May 26. Wednesday He went with his Majesty to Greenwich May 28. Friday E. B. came to London He had not leisure to speak with me though I sent and offered to wait all opportunities till June 16 being Wednesday May 29. Saturday The first Session of Parliament ended And the Prorogation was to the Second of November June 6. Second Sunday after Trinity I Preached at Westminster June 8. Tuesday I went to New-Hall to my Lord Duke of Buckingham and came back to London on Friday June 11. June 16. Wednesday I took my lasting leave of E. B. The great dry Summer My Dream June 4. Wednesday night 1623. In this Dream was all contained that followed in the carriage of E. B. towards me and that Night R. B. Sickned to the Death May 29. Saturday night 1624. I was marvellously troubled with E. B. before they came to London That there was much declining to speak with me but yet at last I had Conference and took my lasting leave And this so fell out Respice ad Maij 28. See May 28. July 7. Wednesday night My Lord of Durham's quarrel about the trifling business of Fr. N. July 23. Friday I went to lye and keep House and Preach at my Livings held in Commendam Creek and Ibstock That Friday night at St. Albans I gave R. R. my Servant his first Interest in my Businesses of moment July 27. This I confirmed unto him the Wednesday Morning following at Stanford August 7. Saturday while I was at Long Whatton with my Brother my passion by Blood and my fear of a Stone in my Bladder August 8. Sunday I went and Preached at my Parsonage at Ibstock and set things in order there August 26. Thursday My Horse trod on my foot and lamed me which stayed me in the Country a week longer than I intended Septemb. 7. Tuesday I came to London Septemb 9. Thursday My Lord of Buckingham consulted with me about a Man that offered him a strange way of Cure for himself and his Brother At that time I delivered his Grace the Copies of the two little Books which he desired me to write out Septemb. 16. Thursday Prince Charles his grievous fall which he had in Hunting Septemb. 25. Saturday My Lord Duke's proposal about an Army and the Means and whether Sutton's Hospital might not c. Octob. 2. Saturday In the Evening at Mr. Windebanks my Ancient Servant Adam Torless fell into a Swoon and we had much ado to recover him but I thank God we did Octob. 10. Sunday I fell at Night in Passionem Iliacam which had almost put me into a Fever I continued ill fourteen days Octob. 13. Wednesday I delivered up my Answer about Sutton's Hospital Novemb. 21. Sunday I Preached at Westminster Decemb. 6. Munday There was a Referment made from his Majesty to my Lord's Grace of Canterbury My Lords of Durham and Rochester and my self to Hear and Order a Matter of Difference in the Church of Hereford concerning a Residentiaryship and the Lecturer's place which we that day Ordered Decemb. 13. Munday I received Letters from Brecknock that the Salt-Peter Man was dead and buried the Sunday before the Messenger came This Salt-Peter Man had digged in the Colledge-Church for his work bearing too bold upon his Commission The News of it came to me to London about Novemb. 26. I went to my Lord Keeper and had a Messenger sent to bring him up to answer that Sacrilegious abuse He prevented his punishment by Death Decemb. 21. Tuesday Fest. Sancti Thomae Mr. Crumpton had set out a Book called St Augustins Summe His Majesty found fault with divers passages in it He was put to recall some things in Writing He had Dedicated this Book to my Lord Duke of Buckingham My Lord sent him to me to overlook the Articles in which he had recalled and explained himself that I might see whether it were well done and fit to shew the King This day Mr Crumpton brought his Papers to me Decemb. 23. Thursday I delivered these Papers back to Mr. Crumpton The same day at York-House I gave my Lord Duke of Buckingham my Answer what I thought of these Papers The same day I delivered my Lord a little Tract about Doctrinal Puritaenism in some Ten Heads which his Grace had spoken to me that I would draw for him that he might be acquainted with them Decemb. 31. Friday His Majesty sent for me and delivered unto me Mr. Crumpton's Papers the second time after I had read them over to himself and commanded me to correct them as they might pass in the Doctrin of the Church of England Januar. 3. Munday I had made ready these Papers and waited upon my Lord Duke of Buckingham with them and he brought me to the King There I was about an hour and a
half reading them and talking about them with his Majesty and my Lord Duke After this I went to visit my Sister who lay then Sick at London Januar. 5. Wednesday My Lord Duke of Buckingham shewed me two Letters of c. the falshood of c. That day as I waited to speak with my Lord Secretary Calvert fell in Speech with me about some differences between the Greek and the Roman Church Then also and there a Young Man that took on him to be a Frenchman fell into discourse about the Church of England He grew at last earnest for the Roman Church but Tibi dabo claves and Pasce oves was all he said save that he would shew this proposition in St. Augustin Romana Ecclesia facta est caput omnium Ecclesiarum ab instante mortis Christi I believe he was a Priest but he wore a Lock down to his shoulders I heard after that he was a French Gentleman Januar. 15. Saturday The Speech which I had with my Lord Duke at Wallingford-House Januar. 21. Friday The business of my Lord Purbeck made known unto me by my Lord Duke Januar. 23. Sunday Night the Discourse which Lord Duke had with me about Witches and Astrologers Januar. 25. Tuesday Night I acquainted my Lord Duke with my hard hap in my business with L. C. D. For which I had been so often blamed Januar. 28. Friday I took my leave of my Lord Duke His wish that he had known K. L. sooner but c. Januar. 30. Sunday Night my Dream of my Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. One of the most comfortable passages that ever I had in my Life Febr. 12. Saturday I Ordained Mr. Thomas Atkinson of St. John's Deacon Febr. 13. Sunday I Preached at Westminster March 5. Saturday The High Commission sat first about Sir R. H. c. March 6. Sunday the first in Lent I Preached at the Temple at the Reader 's Solemnity The Duke of Buckingham and divers other Lords there March 13. Sunday second in Lent I Ordained Robert Rockell Priest Eleazar Dunkon and Edward Quarles Deacons They were Masters of Arts of Pembroke-Hall in Cambridge Anno 1625. Mart. 27. 〈◊〉 media quadragesimae Concionem habui in Aulâ Regiâ vulgò dicta White-Hall Turbatus tristissimis temporibus ascendi suggestum Rumoribus tum praevalentibus Regem Serenissimum Jacobum Sacratissimae mihi Memoriae mortuum esse Avocatus Doloribus Ducis Buckinghamiae Sermonem abrupi medio Mortuus est Rex Theobaldi quùm tempus numer asset tres quartas ultra horam undecimam ante meridianam Religiosissimè constantissimâ fide intrepidus emisit Animam Beat am Eo die horam circiter quintam Proclamatione Carolus Princeps quod faustum foelixque sit Rex promulgatur AEgrotare incaepit Rex Mart. 4. die Veneris Morbus qui apparuit Tertiana Febris Sed vereor repercussam Medicinis à pedibus ad inveriora Podagram Apr. 1. Die Veneris Accepi Literas a Comite Pembrochiae Camerario Regio in iis Mandatum Serenissimi Regis Caroli de concione per me habendâ in Comitiis Parlamentariis coram ipso Proceribus Regni Maij 17. proximè futuro Apr. 3. Die Solis Dedi in manus Ducis Buckinghamiae Annotationes breves in Vitam Mortem Augustissimi Regis Jacobi quas jussit ut describerem Apr. 5. Die Martis Schedulam exhibui in qua Nomina erant virorum Ecclesiasticorum sub Literis O. P. Nomina ut sic digererem jussit ipse Dux Buckinghamiae traditurus ea ut dixit Regi Carolo Apr. 9. Die Sabbati Mihi omnibus nominibus colendissimus Dux Buckinghamiae certiorem me fecit Aliquem ex nescio quâ Invidiâ Nomen meum denigrasse apud Serenissimam Majestatem Caroli Causa arrepta ex errore in quem nescio quo fato olim in causa Caroli Comitis Devoniae Decemb. 26. 1605. incidi Eodem die in Mandatis accepi ut Reverendum Episcopum Winton adirem quid velit in causâ Ecclesiae sciscitarer Responsumque referrem praecipuè in quinque Articulis c. Apr. 10. Die Solis post concionem finitam adij Episcopum qui tum in Camerâ suâ in Aulâ 〈◊〉 erat Protuli quae accepi in Mandatis Responsum dedit Simul indè invisi ut preces in Domo Somersetensi audituri Audimus Postea ibi invisimusCorpus nuperrimi Regis Jacobi quod ibi expectabat adhùc diem Funeris Apr. 13. Die Mercurij Retuli ad Ducem Buckinghamiae quid responderit Episcopus Winton Eodem tempore certiorem me fecit de Clerico qui Regi erat à Conclavi Venerando Episcopo Dunelm quid statuerat Rex de Successore Apr. 17. Die Paschatis AEgrotante Episcopo Dunelm Assignatus fui sed petitione dicti Episcopi ab Illustrissimo Comite Pembrokiae Domi Camerario ut inservirem Regiae Majestati loco Clerici à Conclavi quod munus praestiti ad Maij primum Apr. 23. Burton Scriptum tradidit Regi Maij. 1. Conjugium Celebratum Parisiis inter Regem Serenissimum Carolum Insignissimam Heroinam Henriettam Mariam Galliae Henrici Quarti Filiam Maij 7. Die Saturni Funus ducimus Jacobi Regis Maij 11. Die Mercurij Primo manè Dux Buckinghamiae versùs mare se transtulit obviam iturus Reginae Mariae in Galliam Dedi ad Ducem eo die Literas sed quae properantem sequerentur Maij 17. Parliamentum rejectum est in Maij ult Maij 18. Iter brevius suscepi cum Fratre meo ad vicum Hammersmith visurus ibi communes Amicos Dies erat Mercurij Maij 19. Die Jovis Literas secundas misi ad Ducem Buckinghamiae tum paulisper morantem Parisiis Maij 29. Die Solis Literas tertias dedi in manus Episcopi Dunelm qui cum Rege iturus traderet eas Duci Buckinghamiae ad Littus applicanti Maij 30. Die Lunae Chelsey profectus sum ad Ducissam Buckinghamiae Maij 31. Die Martis Parliamentum secundò expectat initium Junij 13. Die Lunae Carolus Rex versùs Doroberniam iter suscepit obviam iturus Reginae Junij 5. Die Pentecostes manè instanter iturus ad Sacra Literae è Galliâ à Duce Clarissimo Buckinghamiae in manus meas se dedere Junij 6. Responsum dedi Aurorâ proximâ Post datum Responsum Episcopus Venerabilis Lancel Winton ego simul proficiscimur ad aedes Tusculanas quas juxta Bromlye possidet Joh. Roffensis Prandemus Redimus Vesperi Junij 8. Die Mercurij Chelsey profectus sum sed frustratus redij Junij 12. Die Solis 〈◊〉 Trinitatis Dies fuit Regina Maria maria pertransiens ad Littus nostrum appulit circitèr horam 7. vespertinam Det Deus ut Hespera sit foelix Stella Orbi nostro Junij 13. Die Lunae Parliamentum iterum expectans Regem recedit in Diem Sabbati Junij 18. Junij 16. Die Jovis Rex Regina Londinum venerunt Salutaverunt Aulam ad horam quintam Dies erat tristior
Epiphaniae dies Veneris nocte 〈◊〉 avi Matrem meam diu ante defunctam lecto meo astitisse deductis paululum stragulis hilarem in me aspexisse laetatus sum videre eam aspectu tam jucundo Ostendit deindè mihi Senem diù ante defunctum quem ego dum vixit novi amavi Jacuisse videbatur ille humi laetus satis sed rugoso vultu Nomen ei Grove Dum paro salutare evigilavi Januar. 8. Dies erat Lunae 〈◊〉 visum Ducem Buck. Gavisus est in manus dedit Chartam de Invocatione Sanctorum quam dedit ei Mater Illi vero nescio quis Sacerdos Jan. 13. Dies erat Saturni Episcopus Lin. petiit reconciliationem cum 〈◊〉 Buckinghamiae c. Januar. 14. Die Solis versùs manè somniavi Episcopum Lin. nescio què advenisse cum catenis ferreis sed redeuns liberatus ab iis equum insiluit abiit nec assequi potui Januar. 16. Die Martis Somniavi Regem venatum 〈◊〉 quòd quum esuriit abduxi eum de improviso in Domum Fran. Windebanck Amici mei Dum parat comedere ego dum alii aberant Calicem ei de more porrigebam Potum attuli non placuit Iterum adduxi sed poculo argenteo Dicit Serenissimus Rex Tu 〈◊〉 me semper è vitro bibere Abeo iterum evigilavi Januar. 17. Die Mercurij Ostendi Rationes Regi cur Chartae Episcopi Winton defuncti de Episcopis quòd sint Jure Divino praelo tradendae sint contra illud quod miserè in maximum damnum Ecclesiae Anglicanae Episcopus Lincoln significavit Regi sicut Rex ipse mihi antea narravit Febr. 7. Dies erat Cinerum Concionatus sum in Aulâ ad White-Hall Feb. 9. Die Veneris nocte sequente somniavi me morbo scorbutico laborasse repentè Dentes omnes mihi laxos fuisse unum praecipuè in inferiori maxillâ vix digito me retinere potuisse donec opem peterem c. Feb. 20. Die Martis Incaepit Jo. Fenton 〈◊〉 pruriginis 〈◊〉 c. Febr. 22. Die Jovis Iter suscepi versus Novum Mercatum ubi tum Rex fuit Martij 3. Dies Saturni erat Cantabrigiam concessi unà cum Duce Buckinghamiae Cancellario istius almae Academiae alijs Comitibus Baronibus Incorporatus ibi fui sic primus qui praesentatus fuit Illustrissimo Duci tum sedenti in domo Congregationis ipse fui Habitus ibi fuit ab Academicis Dux insignis Academicè celebriter Redimus Martij 6. Die Martis Rediit Rex è Novo Mercato ego versùs Londinum Martij 8. Die Jovis Veni Londinum Nocte sequente somniavi me reconciliatum fuisse Ecclesiae Romanae Hoc anxiè me habuit miratus sum 〈◊〉 unde accidit Nec solum mihi molestus fui propter Errores illius Ecclesiae sed etiam propter scandala quae ex illo lapsu meo multos egregios doctos viros in Ecclesiâ Anglicanâ onerarent Sic turbatus insomnio dixi apud me me statim iturum confessione factâ veniam ab Ecclesiâ Anglicanâ petiturum Pergenti obviam se dedit Sacerdos quidam voluit impedire Sed indignatione motus me in viam dedi Et dum fatigavi me morosis cogitationibus evigilavi Tales impressiones sensi ut vix potui credere me somniâsse Martij 12. Die Lunae cum Rege concessi Theobaldas Redij die proximo Martij 13. Martij 17. Die Saturni Vigiliâ Palmarum Horâ noctis ferè mediâ sepelivi Carolum Vicecomitem Buckinghamiae Filium natu maximum tum unicum Georgij Ducis Buckinghamiae AEtdtis 〈◊〉 fuit Anni unius ferè quatuor mensium Mortuus est Die Veneris praecedente Anno 1626. March 26. Sunday D. B. sent me to the King There I gave to the King an account of those two Businesses which c. His Majesty thanked me March 29. King Charles spoke to both Houses of Parliament but directed his Speech chiefly to the Lower House both by himself and by the Right Honourable the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal in the Palace at White-Hall He also added much concerning the Duke of Buckingham c. In the Convocation held that Day there was much debating concerning the Sermon which Gabriel Goodman Bishop of Glocester had Preached before the King on the Sunday preceding being the fifth Sunday of Lent April 5 Wednesday The King sent in the Morning commanding the Bishops of Norwich Litchfeild and St Davids to attend him I and the Bishop of Litchfeild waited upon him the Bishop of Norwich being gone into the Country We received the King's Commands about c. and returned April 12. Wednesday at 9. in the Forenoon we met together viz. the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Bishops of Winchester Durham and St Davids being commanded by the King to consult together concerning the Sermon which Dr Goodman the Bishop of Glocester had Preached before his Majesty on the 5th Sunday in Lent last past We advised together and gave this Answer to the King That some things were therein spoken less cautiously but nothing falsely That nothing was innovated by him in the Doctrine of the Church of England That the best way would be that the Bishop should preach the Sermon again at some time to be chosen by himself and should then shew how and wherein he was misunderstood by his Auditors That Night after 9. a Clock I gave to the King an account of what I had received in command on the 5th of April and of other things relating thereto Among the rest concerning restoring Impropriations The King spoke many things very graciously therein after I had first discoursed of the manner of effecting it April 14. Friday The Duke of Buckingham fell into a Fever April 19. Wednesday The Petition of John Digby Earl of Bristol against the Duke of Buckingham was read in the House of Lords It was very sharp and such as threatens Ruin to one of the Parties April 20. Friday King Charles referred the Cognisance of that whole matter as also of the Petition of the Earl of Digby to the House of Parliament April 21. Saturday the Duke of Buckingham sent to me to come to him There I first heard what Sir John Cook the King's Secretary had suggested against me to the Lord Treasurer and he to the Duke Lord be merciful to me thy Servant April 22. Sunday The King sent for all the Bishops to come to him at 4. a Clock in the Afternoon We waited upon him 14. in number Then his Majesty chid us that in this time of Parliament we were silent in the Cause of the Church and did not make known to him what might be Useful or was Prejudicial to the Church professing himself ready to promote the Cause of the Church He then commanded us that in the Causes of the Earl of Bristol and Duke of Buckingham we should follow the direction of our own Consciences being led by Proofs
not by Reports April 30. Sunday I Preached before the King at White-Hall May 1. Munday The Earl of Bristol was accused in Parliament of High Treason by the King's Attorney Sir Robert Heath the Earl then and there preferred 12. Articles against the Duke of Buckingham and therein charged him with the same Crime and other Articles also against the Lord Conway Secretary of State The Earl of Bristol was committed to the Custody of James Maxwell the Officer in Ordinary of the House of Peers May 4. Thursday Arthur Lake Bishop of Bath and Wells Died at London May 8. Munday At Two a Clock in the Afternoon the House of Commons brought up to the House of Peers a Charge against the Duke of Buckingham consisting of 13. Articles May 11. Thursday King Charles came into the Parliament House and made a short Speech to the Lords concerning preserving the Honour of the Nobility against the vile and malicious Calumnies of those in the House of Commons who had accused the Duke c. They were Eight who in this matter chiefly appeared The Prologue Sir Dudly Digges the Epilogue John Elliot were this day by the King's Command committed to the Tower They were both dismissed thence within few days May 25. Thursday The Earl of Arundel not being sent back to the House nor the Cause of his detainment made known the House of Peers began to be jealous of the breach of their Priviledges and resolved to Adjourn the House to the next day On which day May 26. They Adjourned again to June 2. resolving to do nothing until the Earl should be set free or at least a Cause given c. May 25. On which day these Troubles first began was the Feast of Pope Vrban and at this time Vrban VIII sitteth in the Papal Chair to whom and to the Spaniard if they who most desire it would do any acceptable service I do not see what they could better devise in that kind than to divide thus into Parties the great Council of the Kingdom June 15. Thursday After many Debates and Struglings private Malice against the Duke of Buckingham prevailed and stopped all publick Business Nothing was done but the Parliament was dissolved Junij 20. Tuesday His Majesty King Charles named me to be Bishop of Bath and Wells And at the same time commanded me to prepare a Sermon for the Publick Fast which he had by Proclamation appointed to be kept on the 5th of July following July 5. A Solemn Fast appointed partly upon account of the Pestilence yet raging in many Parts of the Kingdom partly on account of the Danger of Enemies threatning us I Preached this day before the King and Nobility at White-Hall It was Wednesday July 8. The King commanded me to Print and Publish the Sermon It was Saturday July 16. Sunday I presented that Sermon which was now Printed to his Majesty and returned July 26. Wednesday The King signed the Conge d' Eslire empowering the Dean and Chapter to elect me Bishop of Bath and Wells July 24. Thursday In the Morning Dr. Feild Bishop of Landaff brought to me 〈◊〉 Letters from the most Illustrious Duke of Buchingham The Letters were open and wrote partly in Characters The Duke sent them to me that I should consult one Named Swadlinge mentioned in those Letters as one who could read the Characters I was also named in them as to whom that Swadling was known having been educated in S. John's Colledge in Oxford at what time I was President of that Colledge Aug. 1. Thomas Swadlinge came to me whom from his leaving the Colledge to that day for almost 8. Years I had not once seen He bestowing some pains at length read the Characters and Aug. 4. Friday I and he went to the Duke He read them They were certain malicious things The Duke as was fit despised them We returned Aug. 16. I was elected Bishop of Bath and Wells being Wednesday the Letter D. Aug. 25. Friday Two Robin-red-breasts flew together through the Door into my Study as if one pursued the other That sudden motion almost startled me I was then preparing a Sermon on Ephes. 4. 30. and Studying Septemb. 14. Thursday Evening the Duke of Buckingham willed me to form certain Instructions partly Political partly Ecclesiastical in the Cause of the King of Denmark a little before brought into great streights by General Tilly to be sent through all Parishes Certain heads were delivered to me He would have them made ready by Saturday following Sept. 16. I made them ready and brought them at the appointed hour I read them to the Duke He brought me to the King I being so commanded read them again Each of them approved them Sept. 17. Sunday They were read having been left with the Duke before the Lords of the Privy-Council and were thanks be to God approved by them all Sept. 18. Munday My election to the Bishoprick of Bath and Wells was confirmed Sept. 19. Tuesday At Theobalds I swore Homage to his Majesty who there presently restored me to the Temporalties from the death of my Predecessor What passed between me and the Lord Conway Principal Secretary to the King in our return Sept. 21. Munday about four a Clock in the Morning Died Lancelot Andrews the most worthy Bishop of Winchester the great Light of the Christian World Sept. 30. Saturday The Duke of Buckingham signified to me the King's Resolution that I should succeed the Bishop of Winchester in the Office of Dean of the Chappel-Royal Octob. 2. Munday The Duke related to me what the King had farther resolved concerning me in case the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury should die c. Octob. 3. Tuesday I went to Court which was then at Hampton-Court There I returned Thanks to the King for the Deanry of the Chappel then granted to me I returned to London Octob. 6. I took the Oath belonging to the Dean of the Chappel in the Vestry before the Right Honourable Philip Earl of Montgomery Lord Chamberlain Stephen Boughton the Sub-Dean Administring it It was Friday Novemb. 14. Or thereabout taking occasion from the abrupt both beginning and ending of Publick Prayer on the fifth of November I desired his Majesty King Charles that he would please to be present at Prayers as well as Sermon every Sunday and that at whatsoever part of the Prayers he came the Priest then Officiating might proceed to the end of the Prayers The most Religious King not only assented to this Request but also gave me thanks This had not before been done from the beginning of K. James's Reign to this day Now thanks be to God it obtaineth Decemb. 21. I dreamed of the burial of I know not whom and that I stood by the Grave I awaked sad Decemb. 25. Christmas-day Munday I Preached my first Sermon as Dean of the Chappel-Royal at White-Hall upon S. John 1 14. part 1. Januar. 5. Epiphany-Eve and Friday In the Night I dreamed that my Mother long since dead stood by my
plucked with this Sickness c. October 20. Munday I was forced to put on a Truss for a Rupture I know not how occasioned unless it were with swinging of a Book for my Exercise in private Novemb. 29. Felton was Executed at Tyburn for killing the Duke and afterwards his Body was sent to be Hanged in Chains at Portsmouth It was Saturday and St. Andrew's Even and he killed the Duke upon Saturday St. Bartholomew's Even December 25. I Preached at White-Hall December 30. Wednesday The Statutes which I had drawn for the reducing of the Factious and Tumultuary Election of Proctors in Oxford to several Colledges by course and so to continue were passed in Convocation at Oxford no Voice dissenting January 26. Munday the 240 Greek Manuscripts were sent to London-House These I got my Lord of Pembrooke to buy and give to Oxford January 31. Saturday-night I lay in Court I dreamed that I put off my Rochet all save one sleeve and when I would have put it on again I could not find it Feb. 6. Friday Sir Thomas Roe sent to London-House 28 Manuscripts in Greek to have a Catalogue drawn and the Books to be for Oxford March 2. Munday The Parliament to be dissolved declared by Proclamation upon some disobedient passages to his Majesty that day in the House of Commons March 10. Tuesday the Parliament Dissolved the King present The Parliament which was broken up this March 10. laboured my ruin but God be ever blessed for it found nothing against me Anno 1629. March 29. Sunday Two Papers were found in the Dean of Paul's his Yard before his House The one was to this effect concerning my self Laud look to thy self be assured thy Life is sought As thou art the Fountain of all Wickedness Repent thee of thy monstrous Sins before thou be taken out of the World c. And assure thy self neither God nor the World can endure such a vile Councellor to live or such a Whisperer or to this effect The other was as bad as this against the Lord Treasurer Mr. Dean delivered both Papers to the King that Night Lord I am a grievous Sinner but I beseech thee deliver my Soul from them that hate me without a Cause April 2. Thursday Maundy-Thursday as it came this Year About Three of the Clock in the Morning the Lady Dutchess of Buckingham was delivered of her Son the Lord Francis Villiers whom I Christened Tuesday Apr. 21. Apr. 5. I Preached at White-Hall Maij 13. Wednesday This Morning about Three of the Clock the Queen was delivered before her Time of a Son He was Christened and Died within short space his Name Charles This was Ascention Eve The next Day being Maij 14. Ascention Day Paulò ante mediam Noctem I Buried him at Westminster If God repair not this loss I much fear it was Descention-day to this State Aug. 14. Dies erat Veneris I fell sick upon the way towards the Court at Woodstock I took up my Lodging at my ancient Friend's House Mr. Francis Windebanck There I lay in a most grievous burning Fever till Munday Sept. 7. Septemb. 7. On which Day I had my last Fit Octob. 20. I was brought so low that I was not able to return towards my own House at London till Tuesday Octob. 29. Octob. 26. I went first to present my humble Duty and Service to his Majesty at Denmark-House Munday 26. Octob. March 21. After this I had divers Plunges and was not able to put my self into the service of my Place till Palm-Sunday which was March 21. Anno 1630. Apr. 10. The Earl of Pembroke Lord Steward being Chancellor of the University of Oxford died of an Apoplexie Apr. 12. The University of Oxford chose me Chancellor and word was brought me of it the next Morning Munday April 28. Wednesday The University came up to the Ceremony and gave me my Oath Maij 29. Saturday Prince Charles was born at St. James's Paulò ante Horam primam post Meridiem I was in the House 3. Hours before and had the Honour and the Happiness to see the Prince before he was full one Hour old Junij 27. Sunday I had the Honour as Dean of the Chappel my Lord's Grace of Canterbury being infirm to Christen Prince Charles at St. James's Horâ ferè quintâ Pomeridianâ August 22. Sunday I Preached at Fulham Aug. 24. Tuesday St Bartholomew Extream thunder Lightning and Rain The Pestilence this Summer The greatest Week in London was 73. à 7. Octob. ad 14. spread in many Places miserably in Cambridge The Winter before was extream wet and scarce one Week of Frost This Harvest scarce A great Dearth in France England the Low-Countreys c. Octob. 6. Wednesday I was taken with an extream Cold and Lameness as I was waiting upon St. George his Feast at Windsor and forced to return to Fulham where I continued ill above a Week Octob. 29. Friday I removed my Family from Fulham to London-house Novemb. 4. Thursday Leighton was degraded at the High Commission Novemb. 9. Tuesday That Night Leighton broke out of the Fleet. The Warden says he got or was 〈◊〉 over the Wall the Warden professes he knew not this till Wednesday Noon He told it not me till Thursday Night He was taken again in Bedfordshire and brought back to the Fleet within a Fortnight Novemb. 26. Friday Part of his Sentence was executed upon him at Westminster Decemb. 7. Tuesday The King Sware the Peace with Spain Don Carlo Colonna was Embassadour Decemb. 25. I Preached to the King Christmas-day January 16. Sunday I Consecrated St. Catherine Creed-Church in London January 21. The Lord Wentworth Lord President of the North and I c. In my little Chamber at London-House Friday January 23. I consecrated the Church of St. Giles in the Fields Sunday Feb. 20. This Sunday Morning Westminster-Hall was found on Fire by the Burning of the little Shops or Stalls kept there It is thought by some Pan of Coals left there over night it was taken in time Feb. 23. Ash-Wednesday I preached in Court at White-Hall March 20. Sunday His Majesty put his great Case of Conscience to me about c. Which I after answered God Bless him in it The Famine great this Time But in part by Practice Anno 1631. March 27. Coronation day and Sunday I Preached at St. Paul's Cross. April 10. Easter-Munday I fell ill with great pain in my throat for a Week It was with Cold taken after Heat in my service and then into an Ague A fourth part almost of my Family Sick this Spring June 7. Tuesday I Consecrated the Chappel at Hammersmith June 21. Tuesday and June 26. Saturday My nearer Acquaintance began to settle with Dr. S. I pray God bless us in it June 26. My business with L. T. c. about the Trees which the King had given me in Shotover towards my building in St. John's at Oxford Which work I resolved on in November last And
found him with his Mother sitting in the Room It was a fair Chamber he went away and I went after but missed him and after tyred my self extreamly but neither could I find him nor so much as the House again Anno 1637 March 30. Thursday I Christened the Lady Princess Ann King Charles his third Daughter She was born on Friday March 17. Junij 10. My Book of the Records in the Tower which concerned the Clergy and which I caused to be Collected and Written in Vellam was brought me finished 'T is ab Ann. 20. Ed. 1. ad Ann. 14. Ed. 4. Junij 14. This Day Jo Bastwick Dr of Physick Hen Burton Batch of Divinity and Will Prynne Barrister at Law were Censured for their Libells against the Hierarchy of the Church c. Junij 26. The Speech I then spake in the Star-Chamber was commanded by the King to be Printed And it came out Junij the 25. Junij 26. This Day Munday The Prince Elector and his Brother Prince Rupert began their Journey toward the Sea Side to return for Holland Junij 30. Friday the above named three Libellers lost their Ears Julij 7. Friday A Note was brought to me of a Short Libel pasted on the Cross in Cheapside that the Arch-Wolf of Cant. had his Hand in persecuting the Saints and shedding the Blood of the Martyrs Memento for the last of June Julij 11. Tuesday Dr. Williams Lord Bishop of Lincoln was Censured in the Star-Chamber for tampering and corrupting of Wit in the King's Cause Julij 24. Being Munday He was suspended by the High Commission c. Aug. 3. Thursday I Married James Duke of Lenox to the Lady Mary Villars sole Daughter to the Lord Duke of Buckingham The Marriage was in my Chappel at Lambeth the Day very Rainy the King present Aug. 23. Wednesday My Lord Mayor sent me a Libel found by the Watch at the South Gate of St. Pauls That the Devil had lett that House to me c. Aug. 25. Friday Another Libel brought me by an Officer of the High Commission fastned to the North Gate of St. Pauls That the Government of the Church of England is a Candle in the Snuff going out in a Stench Aug. 25. The same Day at Night my Lord Mayor sent me another Libel hanged upon the Standard in Cheapside My Speech in the Star-Chamber set in a kind of Pillory c. Aug. 29. Tuesday Another short Libel against me in Verse Octob. 22. Sunday A great Noise about the perverting of the Lady Newport Speech of it at the Council My free Speech there to the King concerning the increasing of the Roman Party the Freedom at Denmark-house the Carriage of Mr. Wal. Montague and Sir Toby Matthews The Queen acquainted with all I said that very Night and highly displeased with me and so continues Novemb. 22. Wednesday The extream and unnatural hot Winter Weather began and continued till Decemb. 8. Decemb. 12. Tuesday I had Speech with the Queen a good space and all about the Business of Mr. Montague but we parted fair Anno 1638. April 29. The Tumults in Scotland about the Service-Book offered to be brought in began July 23. 1637. and continued increasing by fits and hath now brought that Kingdom in danger No question but there is a great Concurrence between them and the Puritan Party in England A great aim there to destroy me in the King's Opinion c. Maij 26. Saturday James Lord Marquess Hamilton set forth as the King's Commissioner to appease the Tumults in Scotland God prosper him for God and the King It was a very Rainy Day June My Visitation then began of Merton Coll. in Oxford by my Visitors was Adjourned to my own Hearing against and upon Octob. 2. Octob. 2. 3. 4. I sate upon this Business these Three Days and Adjourned it to July 1. inter Horas primam tertiam Lambeth The Warden appeared very foul Octob. 19. Friday News was brought to us as we sate in the Star-Chamber That the Queen-Mother of France was Landed at Harwich many and great Apprehensions upon this Business Extream Windy and Wet Weather a Week before and after the Water-men called it Q Mother Weather Octob. 26. Friday A most Extream Tempest upon the Thames I was in it going from the Star-Chamber Home between six and seven at Night I was never upon the Water in the like Storm And was in great Danger at my Landing at Lambeth Bridge Octob. 31. Wednesday The Q Mother came into London and so to St James's Novemb. 13. Tuesday The Agreement between me and Ab. S. c. Novemb. 21. Wednesday The General Assembly in Scotland began to Sit. Novemb. 29. Thursday The Proclamation issued out for dissolving the General Assembly in Scotland under pain of Treason Decemb. 20. They sate notwithstanding and made many strange Acts till Decemb. 20. which was Thursday and then they rose But have indicted another Assembly against July next Januar. 14. Munday About 5. at Night a most grievous Tempest of Wind Thunder Lightning and Rain Feb. 10. My Book against Fisher the Jesuit was Printed and this day being Sunday I delivered a Copy to his Majesty Feb. 12. Tuesday-night I dreamed that K. C. was to be Married to a Minister's Widow And that I was called upon to do it No Service-Book could be found and in my own Book which I had I could not find the Order for Marriage Anno 1639. March 27. Wednesday Coronation-day King Charles took his Journey Northward against the Scottish Covenanting Rebels God of his infinite Mercy bless him with Health and Success March 29. Friday An extream Fire in St. Olaves Parish Southwark forty Houses burnt down April 3. Wednesday Before the King 's going I setled with him a great business for the Queen which I understood she would never move for her self The Queen gave me great Thanks And this day I waited purposely on her to give her Thanks for her gracious acceptance She was pleased to be very free with me and to promise me freedom April 29. Munday This day the King went from York toward New-Castle but stayeth at Durham for a week at least Maij 28. His Majesty incamped two Miles West from Barwick by Tweed Junij 4. Whitson-Tuesday As I was going to do my duty to the Queen an Officer of the Lord Mayor's met me and delivered to me two very Seditious Papers the one to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen the other to excite the Apprentices c. Both Subscribed by John Lilburn a Prisoner in the Fleet Sentenced in the Star-Chamber c. Junij 5. Wednesday I delivered both these to the Lords of the Council Junij 15 17. Saturday and Munday The Peace concluded between the King and the Scottish Rebels God make it safe and Honourable to the King and Kingdom Junij 28. Friday I sent the remainder of my Manuscripts to Oxford being in number 576. And about an Hundred of them were Hebrew Arabick and Persian
to be there at Seven in the Morning as if need be I can prove by sufficient Witness and at that Hour I came By this accident I came late and found a Resolution taken to Vote the dissolution of that Parliament and the Votes entred upon my Lord Cottington being in his Speech when I came into the Council-Chamber All Votes concurred to the ending of that Parliament save two The Persons dissenting were the Earls of Northumberland and Holland I co-operated nothing to this breach but my single Vote Yet the very next day Libels were set up in divers parts of the City animating and calling together Apprentices and others to come and meet in St. George's Fields for the Hunting of William the Fox for the Breach of the Parliament This setting up of Libels and animation of the baser People continued I acquainted his Majesty and the Council with it But upon Munday night following being May 11. Five Hundred of them came about my House at Lambeth to offer it and me violence By God's Merciful Providence I had some Jealousie of their intent and before their coming left the best Order I could to secure my House and by the Advice of some Friends went over the water and lay at my Chamber in White-Hall that Night and some other following So I praise God no great hurt was done One young Fellow only had a little hurt with a Dag who was after taken and Executed Thus you see how the malignity of the Time fastned and continued upon me For this Libelling in a very base and most unworthy manner continued against me But not one of them charged me with any one Particular save the breaking of the Parliament of which I was not guilty During this Parliament the Clergy had agreed in Convocation to give his Majesty six Subsidies payable in six Years which came to Twenty Thousand Pound a Year for six Years but the Act of it was not made up His Majesty seeing what lay upon him and what fears there were of the Scots was not willing to lose these Subsidies and therefore thought upon the continuing of the Convocation though the Parliament were ended but had not opened those Thoughts of his to me Now I had sent to dissolve the Convocation at their next sitting haste and trouble of these businesses making me forget that I was to have the King 's Writ for the Dismissing as well as the Convening of it Word was brought me of this from the Convocation-House while I was sitting in Council and his Majesty present Hereupon when the Council rose I moved his Majesty for a Writ His Majesty gave me an unlooked for reply Namely that he was willing to have the Subsidies which we had granted him and that we should go on with the finishing of those Canons which he had given us power under the Broad Seal of England to make And when I replyed it would be excepted against in all likelyhood by divers and desired his Majesty to Advise well upon it The King Answered me presently That he had spoken with the Lord Keeper the Lord Finch about it and that he assured him it was Legal I confess I was a little troubled both at the difficulties of the Time and at the Answer it self that after so many Years faithful Service in a business concerning the Church so nearly his Majesty would speak with the Lord Keeper both without me and before he would move it to me And somewhat I said thereupon which pleased not but the Particulars I do not well remember Upon this I was Commanded to sit and go on with the Convocation At first some little Exception was taken there by two or three of the Lower House of Convocation whether we might sit or no. I acquainted his Majesty with this doubt and humbly besought him that his Learned Council and other Persons of Honour well acquainted with the Laws of the Realm might deliver their Judgment upon it This his Majesty Graciously approved and the Question was put to them They answer'd as followeth under their Hands The Convocation being called by the King 's Writ under the Great Seal doth continue until it be dissolved by Writ or Commission under the Great Seal notwithstanding the Parliament be Dissolved 14. Maij 1640. Jo. Finch C. S. H. Manchester John Bramston Edward Littleton Ralph Whitfield John Bankes Rob. Heath This Judgment of these great Lawyers setled both Houses of Convocation So we proceeded according to the Power given us under the Broad-Seal as is required by the Statute 25 H. 8. Cap. 19. In this Convocation thus continued we made up our Act perfect for the gift of six Subsidies according to Ancient Form in that behalf and delivered it under Seal to his Majesty This passed Nemine Refragante as may appear apud Acta And we followed a President in my Lord Arch-Bishop Whitgift's time An. 1586 who was known to be a Pious and a Prudent Prelate and a Man not given to do boisterous things against the Laws of the Realm or the Prerogative of the Crown but one that went just and fair ways to both Nor did this Grant lye dead and useless for divers Processes are yet to be seen for the fetching in of that which was so Granted to the Queen's use in case any Man refused payment Together with this Act for Subsidies we went on in deliberation for certain Canons thought necessary to be added for the better Government and more setled Peace of the Church which began to be much disquieted by the proceedings of some Factious Men which have since more openly and more violently shewed themselves In the Debates concerning these Canons I dare be bold to say never any Synod sate in Christendom that allowed more freedom either of Speech or Vote The Canons which we made were in number seventeen and at the time of the Subscription no Man refused or so much as checked at any one Canon or any one Branch in any one of them Saving a Canonist or two who excepted against two or three Clauses in some of the last of the Canons which concerned their Profit and their Carriage towards the Clergy in which they were publickly and by joint consent over-ruled in the House And excepting Godfrey Goodman Lord Bishop of Glocester who was startled at the first Canon about the Proceedings against the Papists This Canon is very express for the use of all good and Christian means to bring them out of their Superstitious Errors and to settle them in the Church of England This Canon would not down with my Lord of Glocester And the Morning before the Subscription was to be he came over to Lambeth to me and after great expressions of his dislike I gave him the best Counsel I could that he would keep himself out of that scandal which his refusing to Subscribe would bring both upon his Person his Calling and the Church of England in these broken times especially But I fell so short of
prevailing with him that he told me plainly He would be torn with wild Horses before he would Subscribe that Canon And so we parted The hour of Convocation drew on and we met to Subscribe the Canons When it came to the Bishop of Glocester's turn his Lordship would neither allow the Canons nor reject them but pretended as he had once done about a week before that we had no Power to make Canons out of Parliament time since the Statute of H. 8. It was then told his Lordship that we had the King's Power according to that Statute And that his Lordship was formerly satisfied by the Lawyers Hands as well as we And that this was but a pretence to disgrace our Proceedings the better to hide his unwillingness to Subscribe that Canon against the Papists as appeared by that Speech which he had privately used to me that Morning and with which I publickly charged him upon this occasion and he did as publickly in open Convocation acknowledge that he spake the words unto me Besides this he was further told that in all Synods the Suffragants were to declare themselves by open Affirmation or denyal of the Canons agreed upon and that therefore he ought to express his Consent or his Dissent And though at that time I pressed it no further on him yet it stands with all Reason it should be so For otherwise it may so fall out that the Synod may be disappointed and be able to determine nothing And it seems they were bound to declare in Synod For otherwise when points of difficulty or danger came the Fathers might have with more sasety forborn to Vote which yet they did not For in the Case of Nestorius in the Ephesine Council the heats grew very high between Cyril of Alexandria and John of Antioch and though most of the Votes went with Cyril for the deposition of Nestorius yet the rest held with John who was thought to favour Nestorius So for matter of Opinion and point of Faith when Cyril had set out his twelve Anathematisms Recorded in the Acts of the Ephesine Synod The Eastern Bishops in a Body and Theodoret by himself set out their Confutations of them And this I believe verily they had not done the temper of those Times considered if they might have sate still as Spectators only without declaring their Judgment But this appears more plainly by the Fourth Council of Toledo where it was Decreed That no Man should dare to dissolve the Council till all things were determined and subscribed by the Bishops For this makes it evident that every one who had a Voice in Council was not only to declare his Judgment but subscribe his Name Nor can I see why either the absence of a Bishop being Summon'd thither or his departure thence before all things were concluded should be so penal as by the Ancient Canons it was in case they were not bound to declare their Judgments being once come thither It being all one upon the matter to be absent thence and to say nothing there For by the Council of Arles it was no less than Excommunication And though that was after mitigated in the Council of Orleans to suspension for six Months in the Year 552. Yet in the Council of Sevil in the Year 590. upon sight of the Inconveniencies which fell out upon it it was made Excommunication as it was formerly And a President of this we have in our own Acts of Convocation An. 1571. And this was not only since the Act of the submission of the Clergy but since the Reformation too For there it appears that Richard Cheyney Bishop of Glocester for not attending the Convocation though he were then in Westminster and going home without leave asked of the Arch-Bishop was Excommunicated by the joint consent of all his Brethren Yet I may not deny that in the Question of King Hen. 8th's Marriage with his Brother's Wife when the business came to Voting in the lower House of Convocation fourteen affirmed that the Law De non ducendâ fratris Relictâ for a Man 's not Marrying the Widow of his Brother was indispensable and seven denied and one doubted As also in the Act of the Submission of the Clergy consisting of three Articles when it came to Voting in that House the first Article was denied by eighteen and referred by eight The two other were denied by nineteen and referred by seven the residue consenting unto all But neither of these had they then been thought on could have relieved the Bishop of Glocester Because he neither doubted nor referred but peremptorily said to me that Morning that he would be torn with wild Horses before he would subscribe that Canon against the Papists And yet when it came to the Subscription he would neither affirm nor deny the Canon but would have turn'd it off as if we had not Power to make those Canons Therefore when his Lordship would not do either I with the consent of the Synod suspended him Divers of my Lords the Bishops were very tender of him and the Scandal given by him And John Davenant then Lord Bishop of Salisbury and Joseph Hall then Lord Bishop of Exeter desired leave of the House and had it to speak with my Lord of Glocester to see if they could prevail with him They did prevail and he came back and Subscribed the Canons in open Convocation But I told him Considering his Lordship's Words I did not know with what Mind he Subscribed and would therefore according to my Duty acquaint his Majesty with all the Proceedings and there leave it The Subscription to the Canons went on no one man else checking at any thing And that work ended the Convocation was dissolved Maij 29. being Friday The Convocation thus ended I did acquaint his Majesty with my Lord of Glocester's Carriage and with that which was done upon it His Majesty having other Jealousies of this Bishop besides this resolved to put him to it So his Lordship was brought before the King and the Lords in Council and restrained to his Lodging and a Writ Ne exeat Regnum sent him But this Writ proceeded not for any thing said or done by his Lordship in the Convocation but upon other information which his Majesty had received from some Agents of his beyond the Seas As shall appear hereafter if this be objected against me In the mean time let this Bishop rest for me The Canons thus Freely and Unanimously Subscribed were Printed And at their first Publication they were generally approved in all Parts of the Kingdom and I had Letters from the remotest Parts of it full of Approbation Insomuch that not my self only but my Breth'ren which lived near these Parts and which were not yet gone down were very much Joyed at it But about a Month after their Printing there began some Whisperings against them by some Ministers in London and their Exceptions were spread in writing against them And
this set others on work both in the Western and the Northern Parts Till at last by the practice of the Faction there was suddenly a great alteration and nothing so much cryed down as the Canons The comfort is Christ himself had his Osanna turned into a Crucifige in far less Time By this means the Malice of the Time took another occasion to whet it self against me The Synod thus ended and the Canons having this Success but especially the Parliament ending so unhappily The King was very hardly put to it and sought all other means as well as he could to get supply against the Scots But all that he could get proved too little or came too late for that service For the averse party in the late Parliament or by and by after before they parted ordered things so and filled Mens Minds with such strange Jealousies that the King 's good People were almost generally possest that his Majesty had a purpose to alter the ancient Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom and to bring in Slavery upon his People A thing which for ought I know his Majesty never intended But the Parliament-men which would not relieve the King by their meeting in that Assembly came to understand and inform one another and at their return were able to possess their several Countries with the Apprehensions themselves had and so they did Upon this some Lords and others who had by this time made an underhand solemn Confederacy with a strong faction of the Scots brought an Army of them into the Kingdom For all Men know and it hath been in a manner confessed that the Scots durst not have come into England at that Time if they had not been sure of a Party here and a strong one and that the King should be betrayed on all hands as shall after appear By these and the like means the King being not assisted by his Parliament nor having Means enough to proceed with his Forces in due Time the Scots were brought in as is aforesaid upon both King and Kingdom They under the Conduct of Sir Alexander Leshley their General passed the Tyne at Newborne Aug. .... 1640. and took New-castle the next Day after And all this gross Treason though it had no other end than to Confirm a Parliament in Scotland and to make the King call another in England that so they might in a way of Power extort from him what they pleased in both Kingdoms yet Religion was made almost all the pretence both here and there and so in pursuance of that pretence Hatred spread and increased against me for the Service-Book The King hearing that the Scots were moving Posted away to York Aug. 20. being Thursday There he soon found in what Straights he was and thereupon called his Great Council of all his Lords and Prelates to York to be there by September 24. But in regard the Summons was short and suddain he was Graciously pleased to dispense with the Absence of divers both Lords and Bishops and with mine among the rest How things in Particular succeeded there I know not nor belongs it much to the Scope of this short History intended only for my self But the Result of all was a present Nomination of some Lords Commissioners to treat at Rippon about this Great Affair with other Commissioners from the Scotch Army But before this Treaty at Rippon one Melborne or Meldrum Secretary to general Leshly as he was commonly said to be at the Shire-House in Durham when the Country-Gentlemen met with the chief of the Scottish Army about a composition to be made for Payment of Three Hundred and Fifty Pounds a Day for that County expressed himself in this Manner Septemb. 10. 1640. I wonder that you are so Ignorant that you cannot see what is good for your selves For they in the South are sensible of the good that will ensue and that we came not unsent for and that oftner than once or twice by your own Great Ones There being a Doubt made at these words Great Ones He reply'd your own Lords with farther Discourse These Words were complained of during the Treaty at Rippon to the English Lords Commissioners by two Gentlemen of the Bishoprick of Durham to whom the Words were spoken by Meldrum The Gentlemen were Mr. John Killinghall and Mr. Nicholas Chaytor and they offer'd to Testify the Words upon Oath But the Lords required them only to Write down those Words and set their Hands to them which they did very readily The Lords acquainted the Scotch Commissioners with the Words They sent to Newcastle to make them known to General Leshly He called his Secretary before him questioned him about the Words Meldrum denyed them was that enough against two such Witnesses This Denyal was put in Writing and sent to Rippon Hereupon some of the English Lords Commissioners required that the two Gentlemen should go to Newcastle to the Scotch Camp and there give in their Testimony before General Leshly The two Gentlemen replyed as they had great reason to do that they had rather testify it in any Court of England and could do it with more safety Yet they would go and testify it there so they might have a safe Conduct from the Scottish Commissioners there being as yet no Cessation of Arms. Answer was made by some English Lords that they should have a safe Conduct Hereupon one of the Kings Messengers attendant there was sent to the Scotch Commissioners for a safe Conduct for the Two Gentlemen He brought back Word from the Earl of Dumfermling to whom it was directed that the Two Gentlemen were unwise if they went to give such Testimony at the Camp And then speaking with the Lord Lowdon he came again to the Messenger and told him that such a safe Conduct could not be granted and that he would satisfy the Earl that sent for it who was Francis Earl of Bedford The Messenger returning with this Answer the Gentlemen were dismissed So the business dyed it being not for somebody's safety that this Examination should have proceeded for it is well enough known since that many had their hands in this Treason for Gross Treason it was by the express Words of the Statute of 25 Edw. 3. c. 2. The Truth of all this will be sworn to by both the Gentlemen yet living and by a very honest grave Divine who was present at all these Passages at Rippon and gave them to me in Writing In this Great Council while the Treaty was proceeding slowly enough it was agreed on that a Parliament should begin at London Nov. 3. following And thither the Commissioners and the Treaty were to follow and they did so After this how things proceeded in Parliament and how long the Scotch Army was continued and at how great a charge to the Kingdom appears olsewhere upon Record for I shall hasten to my own particular and take in no more of the Publick than Necessity shall inforce me to make my sad Story hang together
After they had continued at York till Octob. 28. the King and the Lords returned and the Parliament sate down Novemb. 3. Great Heats appear'd in the very beginning On Wednesday Novemb. 10. Tho. L. 〈◊〉 Earl of Strafford was accused by the House of Commons of High Treason and Committed by the Lords to Mr. James Maxwell the Officer of the House And upon general Articles sent up He was upon Wednesday Novemb. 25. committed to the Tower It is thought and upon good Grounds that the Earl of Strafford had got Knowledge of the Treason of some Men and that he was preparing to accuse them And this Fear both hastned and heated the proceedings against him And upon Dec. 4. being Friday his Majesty at the great Importunity of some Lords of his Council gave way that his Council should be examined upon Oath in the Earl of Strafford's Case and I with others was examined that very Day There were great Thoughts of Heart upon this Business and somewhat vapoured out at Mens Tongues but the thing was done Now at and after the breaking up of the late Parliament Sir Hen. Vane at the private Committee concerning the Scotch Affairs before mentioned instead of setting down the Heads of the several Businesses then Treated of Writ down what every Man said at the Committee though it were but Matter of deliberation and debate Afterwards by a cunning conveyance between his Son who had been Governour in New-England and himself this Paper or a Copy of it was delivered to some Members of the House of Commons and in all probability was the Ground of that which was after done against the Lord Strafford my self and others and the Cause why the King was so hard pressed to have the Lords and others of his Council examined was that so Sir Henry Vane might upon Oath avow the Paper which his Son had seen and shewed and others be brought to witness as much had Truth and their Memories been able to say as much as his Paper After the examination of me and others concerning these Particulars there arose great and violent Debates in the House of Commons against the Bishops and particularly their Votes in Parliament After that Decemb. 16. 1640. they Voted against the late Canons as containing in them many Matters contrary to the fundamental Laws and Statutes of the Realm to the Rights of Parliaments to the Property and Liberty of the Subject and matters tending to Sedition and of dangerous Consequences I was made the Author of all and presently a Committee put upon me to inquire into my Actions and prepare a Charge The same Morning in the Upper-House I was Named as an Incendiary in an Accusation put in by the Scottish Commissioners For now by this Time they were come to that Article of the Treaty which reflected upon me And this was done with great noise to bring me yet further into Hatred with the People especially the Londoners who approved too well the Proceedings of their Brethren the Scots and debased the Bishops and the Church Government in England The Articles which the Scots put into the Upper House by the Hands of their Lords Commissioners against me Decemb. 15. were read there Decemb. 16. I took out a true Copy as it follows here And though I was to make no answer then till the House of Commons had digested them and taken as much out of them as as they pleased to fill my intended Charge withall yet because I after found that the House of Commons insisted upon very few of these particulars if any I thought my self bound to vindicate my Innocency even in these Particulars which shall now appear in their full strength against me if they have any in Wise and Learned Mens Judgments CAP. III THe Novations in Religion which are universally acknowledged to be the main Cause of Commotions in Kingdoms and States and are known to be the true Cause of our present Troubles were many and great besides the Books of Ordination and Homilies First some particular alterations in matters of Religion pressed upon us without Order and against Law contrary to the Form established in our Kirk Secondly a new Book of Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical Thirdly a Liturgy or Book of Common-Prayer which did also carry with them many dangerous Errours in matters of Doctrine Of all these we challenge the Prelate of Canterbury as the prime Cause on Earth I shall easily grant that Novations in Religion are a main Cause of Distempers in Commonwealths And I hope it will be as easily granted to me I am sure it should that when great Distempers fall into Kingdoms and Common-wealths the only way to ingage at home and get Credit abroad is to pretend Religion which in all Ages hath been a Cloak large enough to cover at least from the Eyes of the Many even Treasons themselves And For the present Troubles in Scotland Novations in Religion are so far from being known to be the true Cause as that it is manifest to any Man that will look upon it with a single Eye that Temporal Discontents and several Ambitions of the great Men which had been long a working were the true cause of these Troubles And that Religion was call'd in upon the bye to gain the Clergy and by them the Multitude For besides that which was openly spoken by the right Honourable James then Earl of Carlile that somewhat was a brewing in Scotland among some discontented there which wou'd break out to the Trouble of this Kingdom 't is most apparent there were many discontents among them Some whereof had no relation at all to Religion and were far antienter than the Troubles now began and were all Legally proved against the Lord Balmerino who was condemned of high Treason before any of these Stirs began For there were Grievances as they said propounded in the Convention Anno 1628. about Coyning and their black Money which they say were slighted again in the Parliament held 1633. Murmuring also there was as if the Articles and Parliament were not free Great Clamour likewise was there against the Bishops Power in choosing the Lords of the Articles though that Power belonged unto them by the fundamental Laws of that Kingdom As much against the Act of Revocation and the Taxations which yet were voluntarily offer'd and miscalled on purpose to edge the People As also for Applying as they said these Taxations to wrong uses With all which and more Religion had nothing to do Nay this discontented Party grew so High and so Bold that a very Base and Dishonourable Libel was made and spread against the King Anno 1633. by these and the like Pretences to alienate the Hearts of the People from him Of this Libel if one Hagg were the Authour Balmerino was the Divulger and so prov'd And though it be true that then also some things were to be done against the Church-government yet their
but also though it be done as a help to Continency And S. Hilary agrees with this and calls it not a Custom but a Constitution such a Constitution as that if any Man shall advisedly and of set purpose Fast on the Lord's Day by the Decree of the Fourth Council of Carthage he should not be accounted a Catholick And they must needs do it advisedly and of set purpose who appoint a publick solemn Fast upon that Day and then keep it And this was so strictly observed in S. Ambrose his time that it was not held Lawful to Fast upon that Day no not in Lent Nay he goes farther For he says expresly If any Man make a Law or give a Command for Fasting on the Lord's Day he believes not in the Resurrection of Christ. And is not this opposite to Christianity it self And is not that Legem indicere when they Proclaim or Command a Publick Fast With him S. Augustin joyns very fully and first says it is a great Scandal Then he gives the reason of it Because Christ joyned Mourning with Fasting which becomes not this Day unless Men think 't is fit to be sorry that Christ is risen from the Dead And this I am sure is opposite to Christianity it self For if Christ be not Risen then is our Preaching vain and your Faith is also vain 1. Cor. 15. After this he asks this Question Who doth not offend God if with the Scandal of the whole Church of Christ he will Fast upon the Lord's Day I will not go lower down This is enough if any thing be Yet this I will add that as this Fasting on Sunday was antiently prohibited so was it never practised of old but by notorious and professed Hereticks as by the Manichees who appointed that Day for fasting so S. Aug. and were justly condemned for it so S. Ambrose And by Aerians who Fasted on Sunday and Feasted on Fridays so Epiphanius And by the Priscilianists whom S. Aug. therefore calls the Imitators of the Manichees and so they were indeed For neither of them believed that our Blessed Saviour was a true Man and therefore disregarded the Day of his Resurrection as appears in S. Leo. And as against these the Council held at Caesar-Augusta An. 381. provided so before An. 324. the Council at Gangra made their Canon against Eutactus the Armenian Monk and his Ground was pretence of Abstinence as if he could never Fast enough This is enough and all this is within the compass of the Primitive Church which certainly if these Men did not scorn they would never have urged this against me Well! This is they say drawn out of my fourteen Letters Next they will prove me the Author of many Disturbances among them 2. By two Papers of Memoirs and Instructions from the Pretended Bishop of St. Andrews to the pretended Bishop of Ross coming to this Prelate that is of Canterbury for ordering the Affairs of the Kirk and Kingdom of Scotland It is manifest here by their own Words that these Memorials and Instructions whatsoever they were had not me the Prelate of Canterbury for their prime cause on Earth for they came from the Reverend and Prudent Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews to the Reverend Bishop of Ross by him to deliver to me for the ordering of the Affairs of the Kirk and Kingdom of Scotland Surely I think no Man will judge it to be a Crime in me to give my Bretheren the Bishops of Scotland the Best Counsel and with that Counsel the best Assistance to his Majesty that I could in their Church-Affairs considering their absence and remoteness from him and the Place that I bear about him And for my own part had I been defective therein I should have thought my self not only unkind to them but faulty otherwise in my Duty both to his Majesty and that Church But for the Affairs of that Kingdom though I had the Honour to be a Sworn Counsellor of that State as well as this yet I never medled with them but at such time and in such a way as I was called and commanded to by his Majesty Let us therefore see the Particulars which are Named As not only to obtain Warrants to order the Exchequer the Privy-Council the great Commission of Surrenders The matter of Balmerinoe's Process as might please our Prelates but Warrants also for the sitting of the High-Commission-Court once a Week in Edinburgh and to gain from the Noble-Men for the Benefit of the Prelates and their Adhaerents the Abbacies of Kelsoe Arbroth St. Andrews and Lindores For the first of these my obtaining Warrants to order the Exchequer there that is indeed an Affair of the Kingdom and a great one But all or most that I did herein was at the earnest entreaty of the Earl of Traquair Treasurer Depute and after that Lord Treasurer who avowed to me that if the Orders were setled for the Exchequer he would not only bring the King out of Debt but raise him some Revenue also with a Protestation farther that for that and some such like particulars he could trust no hand but mine in his absence to get them done and kept private And at so great an Officers intreaty and for Matters under his own Charge I could not refuse so much Service for the King as was pretended by him As for Orders to the Privy-Council I remember not any procured by me And sure I am if I did any thing to that Honourable Body it was by his Majesty's Command and in relation to Church Affairs there And for the Great Commission of Surrenders in which both the Bishops and the inferiour Clergy were deeply interessed and did much fear the loss of their Tythes and to be made Stipendiaries I conceive I had all the reason in the World to give them my best assistance and yet I undertook not this Care till his Majesty gave me a special Command to do what I did And if the Bishops were in any thing mistaken in this Commission that cannot charge upon me who followed it no farther than I received special directions from his Majesty for the publick good For the Lord Balmerinoe's Process I heard much discourse of it at Court but I medled nothing with it one way or other saving that at the intreaty of some Men of Honour of that Nation I did twice if not thrice adventure to become an humble Suitor to his Majesty in that Lord's behalf And this was all the Harm I did him As for the High-Commission-Court if there were no fault in it as such a Court then I am sure there could be none in the Sitting of it once a Week If the having of such a Court be a Fault as it seems 't is now accounted as well here as there yet for my own part with all humble Submission to better Judgment I cannot think it is and I must still pray that both Nations
have not Cause to Repent the Abolishing of it But howsoever this was not of my procuring A Scotchman of good Place was imployed about it from the Bishops and effected it and I could name him but since it is here charged as a Fault I shall accuse no Man else but defend my self And this for the Sitting of it once a Week But for the establishing of that Court in that Kingdom that was done long before I was a Bishop or had any thing to do in the Publick For it appears by one of the greatest Factionists in that Kingdom that the Hich-Commission-Court was setled and in full Execution in the Year 1610. when all Men know I led a private Life in Oxford by which it is more than manifest that I neither was nor could be Author of this pretended Novation or any disturbance that followed from it The next is a great Charge indeed were there any Truth in it That I laboured to gain from the Noblemen for the Benefit of the Prelates and their Adhaerents the Abbacies of Kelsoe Arbroth S. Andrews and Lindores To begin at the last The Man that followed that was Mr. Andrew Lermot He came recommended to me very highly and with assurance that the Title which he laid to Lindores was Just and Legal But notwithstanding all this my Answer was That I knew not the Laws of that Kingdom nor would meddle with any thing of that nature And though he made great means to me yet he could never get me to meddle in it and which is more I told him and his Friends that for so much as I did understand I did much fear this way taken by him would do Mischief And tho' Mr. Lermot have the general repute of an Honest and a Learned Man yet for this very business sake I have made my self a Stranger to him ever since and that all this is Truth he and his Friends yet living are able to Testify For St. Andrews his Majesty took a resolution to Rebuild the Cathedral there which he found he could no way so well do as by annexing that Abby to the Arch-Bishoprick of St. Andrews with a Legal Caution for so much Yearly to be laid out upon that Building My Lord Duke of Richmond and Lenox who was owner of it had for it ....... Thousand Pounds The Earl of Tarquair who then managed the Lord Duke's Affairs made the Bargain with the King and that which I did in it was meerly to consider how security might be given that the Money which the King intended for so good and great a Work as the rebuilding of that Cathedral might be imployed to the right use and no other For Arbroth my Lord Marquis Hamilton without any the least Thought of mine that way made his earnest Suit to me that his Majesty would take Arbroth and joyn it to the very poor Bishoprick of Brechen close to which it lay and give him for it a Suit here in England At his Lordship's intreaty I obtained this And he very Nobly conveyed Arbroth as he promised But things were so carried by the Earl of Traquair the Lord Treasurer of Scotland that the poor Bishop of Brechen could never get that setled upon his See which was not the only thing in which that Lord played fast and loose with me For Kelsoe the like earnest Suit did my Lord the Earl of Roxborough make to me of himself for an Exchange and pressed me three or four times before he could get me to move his Majesty Indeed I was fearful least the King should grow weary of such Exchanges for sure I was whatsoever was pretended none of these Lords meant to lose by their Bargain Till at last my Lord of Roxborough was so Honourable as that he would needs leave Kelsoe to the King 's disposing and stay for such Recompence as he should think fit to give him till his Majesty found his own time This at his earnest intreaty still I acquainted the King with And so that business setled for a small time but how 't is now I know not And this was all that ever I did about Arbroth and Kelsoe And these two Honourable Lords are yet living and will witness this Truth But the Charge says farther That in the smallest Matters they the Prelates received his Commandments As for taking down Galleries and stone Walls in the Kirks of Edinburgh and St. Andrews for no other end but to make way for Altars and Adoration towards the East which beside other Evils made no small noise and disturbance amongst the People deprived hereby of their ordinary accommodation for Publick Worship This Charge is like the rest Is it probable that such Grave and Learned Men as those of the Scottish Bishops were which held intercourse with me should not resolve in the smallest Matters till they received my Commandments who never sent Command to any of them in my Life but what I received expresly from the King And they certainly were not for the smallest Matters As for the taking down of Galleries in St. Andrews to the uttermost of my Memory I never gave either Command or Direction Nor can it stand with any shew of probability that I should command the taking down of Galleries in St. Andrews where I had nothing to do and let Galleries stand in so many Churches in London and other parts of my Province where I had Power The Truth is I did never like Galleries in any Church They utterly deface the grave Beauty and Decency of those Sacred Places and make them look more like a Theater than a Church Nor in my Judgment do they make any great accomodation for the Auditory For in most places they hinder as much room beneath as they make above rendring all or most of those places useless by the noise and trampling of them which stand above in the Galleries And if I be mistaken in this 't is nothing to the business in hand For be Galleries what they will for the use I commanded not the taking of them down at St. Andrews At Edinburgh the King's Command took down the stone Walls and Galleries which were there removed and not mine For his Majesty having in a Christian and Princely way Erected and Indowed a Bishoprick in Edinburgh he resolved to make the great Church of St. Giles in that City a Cathedral And to this end gave Order to have the Galleries in the lesser Church and the Stone-wall which divided them taken down For of old they were both one Church and made two by a Wall built up at the West end of the Chancel So that that which was called the lesser Church was but the Chancel of St. Giles with Galleries round about it And was for all the World like a square Theater without any shew of a Church As is also the Church at Brunt-Iland over-against it And I remember when I passed over at the Frith I took it at first sight for a large square Pigeon-House So free
was it from all suspition of being so much as built like an Antient Church Now since his Majesty took down these Galleries and the Stone-wall to make St. Giles's Church a Cathedral there certainly my Command took them not down to make way for Altars and Adoration towards the East which I never commanded in that or any other Church in Scotland The Charge goes on ART II. The second Novation which troubled our Peace was a Book of Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical obtruded upon our Kirk found by our General Assembly to be devised for Establishing a Tyrannical Power in the Persons of our Prelates over the Worship of God and over the Consciences Liberties and Goods of the People and for Abolishing the whole Discipline and Government of our Kirk by General and Provincial Assemblies Presbyteries and Kirk-Sessions which was setled by Law and in continual practice from the time of Reformation This Charge begins with a General and will come to Particulars after And first it seems they are angry with a Book of Canons Excellent Church-Government it seems they would have that will admit of no Canons to direct or controul their Liberty And if they mean by obtruding upon their Church that the Canons were unduly thrust upon them because that Book was Confirmed by the King's Anthority then 't is a bold Phrase to call it Obtruding For if His Majesty that now is did by his Sole Authority Command the present Book of Canons to the Church of Scotland he did but Exercise that Power which King James challenged did in the right of his Crown belong to him As appears manifestly by a Letter of his to the Prelates of Scotland then Assembled at Perth That Royal Letter is large but very worthy any Mans Reading and is to be seen in the Relation of those Proceedings But because they speak of my Novations if they mean that this Book of Canons was Obtruded upon their Church by me Or if it were found in a Just Synod and upon fair Proceedings to Establish a Tyrannical Power of the Prelates over the Worship of God or the Consciences Liberties or Goods of the People Or for Abolishing any thing that was setled by Laws they had Reason both to be troubled and to seek in a Dutiful manner first rightly to inform His Majesty and then to desire a Remedy from him But if the Book of Canons did really none of these things as for ought I yet know it did not and as I hope will appear when they come to Particulars then this will be no longer a Charge but a Slander And howsoever if any thing in those Canons were Ordered against their Laws it was by our invincible Ignorance and their Bishops fault that would not tell us wherein we went against their Laws if so we did And for my own part I did ever advise them to make sure in the whole Business that they attempted nothing against Law But if their late General Assembly in which they say these things were found to be against Law did proceed Unwarrantably or Factiously as the most Learned Men of that Kingdom avow it did the less heed must and will in future times be given to their Proceedings But before they come to Particulars they think fit to lay Load on me and say That Canterbury was Master of this Work is manifest by a Book of Canons sent to him written upon the one side only with the other side blank for Corrections Additions and putting all in better Order at his pleasure Which accordingly was done as may appear by the Interlinings Marginals and filling up of the Blank Pages with Directions sent to our Prelates I was no Master of this Work but a Servant to it and Commanded thereunto by His Sacred Majesty as I have to shew under his Hand And the Work it self was begun in His Majesties Blessed Fathers Time For the Bishops of Scotland were gathering their Canons then And this is most manifest by a Passage in the Sermon which my Lord the Arch-Bishop of S. Andrews Preached before the General Assembly at Perth An. 1618 when I was a private Man and had nothing to do with these things The words are these And when I least expected these Articles that is the five Articles of Perth were sent unto me not to be proponed to the Church but to be inserted amongst the Canons thereof which were then in gathering touching which Point I humbly excused my self c. So this Work was begun and known to that Church long before I had any thing to do with it And now when it came to be Perfected I did nothing but as I was Commanded and Warranted by His Majesty But indeed according to this Command I took a great deal more pains than I have thanks for as it too often falls out with the best Church-Men To this end 't is true a Book of Canons was not sent me but brought by my Lord the Bishop of Ross and delivered to me And if it were written on one side only and left Blank on the other for Corrections or Additions I hope there 's no sin in that to leave room and space for me to do that for which the Book was brought to me As for that which follows it hath less fault in it For they say it was for my putting all in better Order And I hope to put all in better Order is no Crime Censurable in this Court. And whatever they of Scotland think that Church did then need many things to be put in better Order and at this Day need many more Yea but they say this should not be done at my pleasure I say so too Neither was it For whatsoever I thought fit to correct or add in the Copy brought to me I did very humbly and fairly submit to the Church of Scotland And under those Terms delivered it back to the Bishop which brought it with all the Interlinings Marginals and fillings up of Blank Pages and the best Directions I was able to give them And all this was in me Obedience to His Majesty and no Wrong that I know to the Church of Scotland I am sure not intended by me Neither are these Interlinings or Additions so many as they are here insinuated to be for the Bishops of Scotland had been very careful in this Work All which would clearly appear were the Book produced Yet the Charge goes on against me still And that it was done by no other than Canterbury is evident by his Magisterial way of Prescribing and by a new Copy of these Canons all written with S. Andrews own hand precisely to a Letter according to the former Castigations and Directions sent back to procure the King's Warrant unto it which accordingly was obtained By no other Hand than Canterburies is very roundly affirmed How is it proved Why by two Reasons First they say 't is evident by his Magisterial way of Prescribing An Excellent Argument The Book of Canons was delivered to me
possess their Religion in Peace especially being against no worse Devices or no greater Novations than they have quarelled at in these Books Yet for all this I shall after make it appear that I kindled no War against them but kept it off from them as much and as long as I could And as themselves confess I was not the Sole so neither they nor any man else shall ever be able to prove I was the Principal Agent or Adviser of that War Yea but When by the Pacification at Barwick both Kingdoms looked for Peace and Quietness he spared not openly in the hearing of many often before the King and privately at the Council-Table and the Privy Junto to speak of us as of Rebels and Traytors and to speak against the Pacification as dishonourable and meet to be broke Neither did his malignancy and bitterness ever suffer him to rest till a new War was entred upon and all things prepared for our destruction This Article about the breach of the Pacification the Parliament of England have thought fit to make a part of their Charge against me And therefore I shall put off the main of my Answer till I come to those Articles In the mean time thus much in brief I shall say to some circumstantial things in this Charge And first I do not think that any thing can be said to be Privately spoken at the Council-Table that is openly delivered there in the hearing of his Majesty and all the Lords present And so was all which I spake there Secondly they say I did openly and often speak of them the Scots as of Rebels and Traytors That indeed is true I did so And I spake as I then thought and as I think still For it was as desperate a plotted Treason as ever was in any Nation And if they did not think so themselves what needed their Act of Oblivion in Scotland or the like in England to secure their Abetters here Thirdly For the Pacification at Barwick whatever I said touching the Dishonour of it as shall after appear yet no Man can truly Charge me that I said it was meet to be broken Fourthly I had no Malignity answerable to their bitterness against the Church of England nor did the entring upon a new War proceed from my Counsels nor did I give farther way to it than all the Lords of the Junto did Lastly it is manifest here how truly the King was dealt with on all Hands For here ye see they take on them to know not only what was done at the Council-Table but what was said also at the private Junto When in all that time his Majesty could get no information of any thing that proceeded in Scotland But they proceed yet farther against me By him was it that our Covenant approven by National Assemblies Subscribed by his Majesty's Commissioner and by the Lords of his Majesty's Council and by them commanded to be Subscribed by all the Subjects of the Kingdom as a Testimony of our Duty to God and the King By him was it still called Ungodly Damnable Treasonable By him were Oaths invented and pressed upon divers of our poor Countrymen upon the pain of Imprisonment and many other Miserie 's which were unwarranted by Law and contrary to their National Oath This their Covenant indeed as it was made at first without at least if not against the King I did utterly dislike And if I did say it was Vngodly Damnable and Treasonable I said no more than it deserved Nor was it any thing the better but much the worse if as it was so made at first it were approved by National Assemblies For that was but the greater sign that the Rebellious Faction grew stronger But I never found fault with their Covenant after they were pleased to take in the King and by his Authority signified by the Subscription of his Commissioner to do what was fit to be done Nor was there any Oath invented or pressed by me upon their Countrymen unwarrantable by Law for I neither invented nor pressed any But whatsoever was done in this kind was done by Publick Authority at the Council Table And if any Oath tendred to them there were contrary to their National Oath I doubt it will easily be found that their National Oath if such it be was contrary to their due and Natural Allegiance But what 's next Why this When our Commissioners did appear to render the Reasons of our demands he spared not in the presence of the King and the Committee to rail against our National Assembly as not daring to appear before the World and Kirks abroad where himself and his Actions were able to indure tryal And against our just and necessary Defence as the most malicious and treasonable Contempt of Monarchical Government that any by-gone Age had heard of His hand also was at the Warrant of Restraint and Imprisonment of our Commissioners sent from the Parliament warranted by the King and seeking the Peace of the Kingdom There are divers things in this part of the Charge And the first is that I railed at their National Assembly in the presence of the King and the Committee But that under favour is not so Nor is it my fashion to rail at any body much less in such a Presence I was then openly taxed and by Name by the L. Lowdon one of the Commissioners and that which I said in answer to him was in my own defence And it was to this effect That whatsoever their Assembly had concluded did not much move me For I did assure my self nothing they could say or do could sink my Credit in Christendom going upon grounds which would every where abide tryal And I somewhat doubted whether the Acts of their Assembly would do so since even at home not the Bishops only but the Learned Divines of Aberdeen opposed divers of them This was not railing against their Assembly And if it shall be thought too much to be spoken by though for my self I humbly desire the Christian Reader to remember That even S. Paul was forced to commend himself when false Brethren accused him 2 Cor. 12. Next they say I spake against their just and necessary defence Truly not I That which I spake was against their defence as being neither Just nor Necessary And if I then said speaking of things as they stood then that they were Treasonable Contempts of Monarchical Government then being such their defence of them could neither be Just nor Necessary And truly as they stood then I held them very desperate against the Honour and just Power of the King I say as they stood then For since his Majesty hath referred them to Honourable Commissioners of both Nations and out of his Clemency and Goodness hath admitted all or most of them which I believe few Kings would have done I have spoken nothing of them but in Prayer that God will graciously be pleased to turn all these things to the Good and
Tyrannical Government contrary to Law I could not endeavour this my knowledge and judgment going ever against an Arbitrary Government in comparison of that which is settled by Law I learned so much long ago out of Aristotle and his Reasons are too good to be gone against And ever since I had the honour to sit at the Council Table I kept my self as much to the Law as I could and followed the Judgment of those great Lawyers which then sat at the Board And upon all References which came from His Majesty if I were one I left those freely to the Law who were not willing to have their business ended any other way And this the Lord Keeper the Lord Privy Seal and the Councel Learned which attended their Clients Causes can plentifully witness I did never advise His Majesty that he might at his own Will and Pleasure levy Money of his Subjects without their Consent in Parliament Nor do I remember that ever I affirmed any such thing as is Charged in the Article But I do believe that I may have said something to this effect following That howsoever it stands by the Law of God for a King in the just and necessary defence of himself and his Kingdom to levy Money of his Subjects yet where a particular National Law doth intervene in any Kingdom and is settled by mutual consent between the King and his People there Moneys ought to be Levied by and according to that Law And by God's Law and the same Law of the Land I humbly conceive the Subjects so met in Parliament ought to supply their Prince when there is just and necessary cause And if an Absolute necessity do happen by Invasion or otherwise which gives no time for Counsel or Law such a Necessity but no pretended one is above all Law And I have heard the greatest Lawyers in this Kingdom confess that in times of such a Necessity The King 's Legal Prerogative is as great as this And since here is of late such a noise made about the Subversion of the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom and Mens Lives called this way in question 't is very requisite that these Fundamental Laws were known to all Men That so they may see the danger before they run upon it Whereas now the Common Laws of England have no Text at all In so much that many who would think themselves wronged if they were not accounted good Lawyers cannot in many points assure a Man what the Law is And by this means the Judges have liberty to retain more in Scrinio Pectoris than is fitting and which comes a little too near that Arbitrary Government so much and so justly found fault with Whereas there is no Kingdom that I know that hath a setled Government but it hath also a Text or a Corpus Juris of the Laws written save England So here shall be as great a punishment as is any where for the breach of the Laws and no Text of them for a Man's direction And under favour I think it were a work worthy a Parliament to Command some prime Lawyers to draw up a Body of the Common Law and then have it carefully Examined by all the Judges of the Realm and thoroughly weighed by both Houses and then have this Book Declared and Confirmed by an Act of Parliament as containing the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom And then let any Man go to Subvert them at his Peril 2. He hath for the better accomplishment of that his Trayterous Design advised and procured divers Sermons and other Discourses to be Preached Printed and Published in which the Authority of Parliaments and the force of the Laws of this Kingdom are denied and an Absolute and Vnlimited Power over the Persons and Estates of his Majesties Subjects is maintained and defended not only in the King but also in himself and other Bishops above and against the Law And he hath been a great Protector Favourer and Promoter of the Publishers of such false and pernicious Opinions I have neither advised nor procured the Preaching Printing or Publishing of any Sermons or other Discourses in which the Authority of Parliaments and the force of the Laws of this Kingdom are denied and an Absolute and Unlimited Power over the Persons and Estates of his Majesty's Subjects maintained and defended Nay I have been so far from this that I have since I came into place made stay of divers Books purposely written to maintain an Absolute Power in the Kingdom and have not suffered them to be Printed as was earnestly desired And were it fit to bring other Mens Names in question and expose their Persons to danger I have some of those Tracts by me at this present And as I have not maintained this Power in the King's Majesty so much less have I defended this or any other Power against Law either in my self or other Bishops or any other Person whatsoever Nor have I been a Protector Favourer or Promoter of any the Publishers of such false and pernicious Opinions knowing them to be such Men. 3. He hath by Letters Messages Threats Promises and divers other ways to Judges and other Ministers of Justice interrupted and perverted and at other times by the means aforesaid hath indeavoured to interrupt and pervert the course of Justice in his Majesty's Courts at Westminster and other Courts to the Subversion of the Laws of this Kingdom whereby sundry of his Majesty's Subjects have been stopped in their Just Suits and deprived of their Lawful Rights and subjected to his Tyrannical Will to their utter Ruin and Destruction I have neither by Letters Messages Threats nor Promises nor by any other Means endeavoured to interrupt or pervert the course of Justice in his Majesty's Judges or other Ministers of Justice either to the Subversion of the Law or the stopping of the Subjects in their Just Suits Much less to the ruin or destruction of any one which God forbid I should ever be guilty of The most that ever I have done in this kind is this When some poor Clergy-Men which have been held in long Suits some Seven Nine Twelve Years and one for Nineteen Years together have come and besought me with Tears and have scarce had convenient Clothing about them to come and make their address I have sometimes underwritten their Petitions to those Reverend Judges in whose Courts their Suits were and have fairly desired Expedition for them But I did never desire by any Letter or Subscription or Message any thing for any of them but that which was according to the Law and Justice of the Realm And in this particular I do refer my self to the Testimony of the Reverend Judges of the Common Law 4. That the said Arch-Bishop hath Traiterously and Corruptly sold Justice to those that have had Causes depending before him by Colour of his Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction as Arch-Bishop High-Commissioner Referree or otherwise and hath taken unlawful Gifts and Bribes of his
Persons to Ecclesiastical Dignities Promotions and Benefices belonging to his Majesty and divers of the Nobility Clergy and others and hath taken upon him the Nomination of Chaplains to the King by which means he hath preferred to his Majesty's Service and to other great Promotions in the Church such as have been Popishly affected or other wise Vnsound and Corrupt both in Doctrine and Manners I did never wittingly abuse the Power or Trust which His Majesty reposed in me Nor did I ever intrude upon the Places of any great Officers or others to procure to my self the Nomination of Persons Ecclesiastical to Dignities Promotions and Benefices belonging to His Majesty the Nobility or any other And though here be no Particular named yet I guess at that which is meant and will clearly set down the Truth His Majesty some few Years since assumed to himself from the Right Honourable the Lord Coventry the Lord Keeper that then was and from my Lord Cottington then Master of the Court of Wards the disposing of all such Benefices as came to the King's Gift by Title of Wardship of what value soever they were The Reason which moved His Majesty to do this was The Lord Keeper and the Lord Cottington became humble Suitors to him to end a Contention between them about the giving of those Benefices both for their own Quiet and the Peace of other His Majesties Subjects For the Course was when any thing fell void in the Gift of a Ward he of these two great Officers which came first to know of the avoidance gave the Living This caused great and oft-times undue Practising among them which were Suitors for the Benefices And many times the Broad-Seal and the Seal of the Court of Wards bore Date the same Day And then the Bishop which Clerk soever he Instituted was sure to offend the other Lord. And these Lords too many times by the earnest putting on of Friends were not well pleased one with another in the Business Upon this Suit of their own His Majesty gave a Hearing to these Lords and in Conclusion of it took the Disposal of all such Benefices into his own Hands and for ought I know with both their liking and content In the disposing of these Benefices to such Men as had served His Majesty at Sea or otherwise I was trusted by the King and I served him in it faithfully but proceeded no farther nor otherwise than he directed and commanded me But I never took the Nomination of any one to my self or my own disposing And the Truth of this as His Majesty knows so I am Confident my Lord Cottington who is yet living will Witness For the Nomination of Chaplains to the King if I had done it I think the work was as proper for the Arch-Bishop as for any Man Yet because by Ancient Custom it was conceived to belong in a great part to the Lord Chamberlain who was then the Right Honourable the Earl of Pembrook I never Named any to His Majesty but I did fairly acquaint the Lord Chamberlain with it and desired his favour But in all my time I never was the means to prefer any Man to His Majesties Service as a Chaplain or to any Promotion whom I knew to be Popishly affected or any way Corrupt in Doctrine or Manners 9. He hath for the same Trayterous and Wicked intent chosen and employed such Men to be his own Domestical Chaplains whom he knew to be Notoriously disaffected to the Reformed Religion grosly addicted to Popish Superstition and Erroneous and unsound both in Judgment and Practice And to them or some of them he hath committed Licensing of Books to be Printed By which means divers false and Superstitious Books have been Published to the great Scandal of Religion and to the seducing of many of His Majesties Subjects I never chose any Man to be my Chaplain who I knew or had good Cause to suspect was Popishly affected Nor any that was unsound in Judgment or Practice Nor did I commit the Licensing of Books to any such but to those only who I then did and do still believe are Orthodox and Religious Divines and Men of very good Judgment for that Necessary and great Service And if they or any of them have by negligence or otherwise suffered any Erroneous and Dangerous Books to pass the Press they must answer both the Church and the State for whatsoever they have done amiss in that kind for it is not possible for the Archbishop to perform all those Services in Person And in the committing of them to my Chaplains and other Divines of Note I have done no new thing but that which my Predecessors have done before me This I am sure of I gave often and express and strict Command to all and every of them that they should License nothing that was contrary to the Doctrine and Discipline Established in the Church of England or might Personally or otherwise give Offence or Distaste And I hope they have Obeyed my Directions If not they must Answer for themselves 10. He hath Trayterously and Wickedly endeavoured to reconcile the Church of England with the Church of Rome And for the effecting thereof hath Consorted and Confederated with divers Popish Priests and Jesuits and hath kept secret intelligence with the Pope of Rome And by himself his Agents and Instruments treated with such as have from thence received Authority and Instruction He hath permitted and countenanced a Popish Hierarchy or Ecclesiastical Government to be Established in this Kingdom By all which Trayterous and Malicious Practices this Church and Kingdom have been exceedingly indangered and like to fall under the Tyranny of the Roman See The Article is now come of which I spake before and in my Answer to which I promised to set down the substance of that which I spake in the Parliament House to the Lords when this General Charge was brought up against me and I shall somewhat inlarge it yet without any Change of the Grounds upon which I then stood And now I shall perform that Promise And I shall be of all other least afraid to answer all that is here said concerning Religion For my Heart I bless God for it is sound that way to the uttermost of my Knowledge and I think I do well understand my Principles And my Old Master Aristotle hath taught me long since that Qui se bene habent ad divina audaciores sunt they which are well and setledly composed in things pertaining to God that is in Religion are much the bolder by it And this not only against Slanders and Imputations cast upon Men for this but in all other Accidents of the World what ever they be And surely I may not deny it I have ever wished and heartily Prayed for the Unity of the whole Church of Christ and the Peace and Reconciliation of torn and divided Christendom But I did never desire a Reconciliation but such as might stand
by his Majesty in the presence of a Secretary of State and commanded to speak my Judgment and my Conscience And I did so And declared clearly against any Bishops of the Roman Party his coming into the Kingdom to reside or exercise any Jurisdiction here And I gave then for my Reason the very self-same which is since Published by the 〈◊〉 of Commons in their Remonstrance A different and inconsistent Church within a Church which ever brought hazard upon the State And in this Judgment I persisted and never permitted much less countenanced any Popish Hierarchy to settle in this Kingdom but hindred it by all the 〈◊〉 and means I could 11. He in his own Person and his Suffragans Visitors Surrogats Chancellors or other Officers by his Command have caused divers Learned Pious and Orthodox Preachers of Gods Word to be Silenced Suspended Deprived Degraded Excommunicated or otherwise grieved and vexed without any just and lawful Cause whereby and by divers other Means he hath hindred the Preaching of God's Word caused divers of his Majesty's Loyal Subjects to forsake the Kingdom and increased and cherished Ignorance and Prophaneness amongst the People That so he might the better facilitate the way to the effecting of his own Wicked and Trayterous Designs of altering and corrupting the True Religion here Established I have neither by my self nor by my Command to my Officers Silenced Suspended Deprived Degraded or Excommunicated any Learned Pious and Orthodox Preachers nor any other but upon Just Cause Proved in Court and according to Law And I think it will appear that as few be the Cause never so Just have been Suspended or Deprived in my Diocess as in any Diocess in England Nor have I by these Suspensions hindred the Preaching of Gods Word but of Schism and Sedition as now appears plainly by the Sermons frequently made in London since the time of Liberty given and taken since this Parliament first began Nor have I caused any of his Majesty's Subjects to forsake the Kingdom but they forsook it of themselves being Separatists from the Church of England as is more than manifest to any Man that will but consider what kind of Persons went to New-England And whereas in their late Remonstrance they say The high Commission grew to such excess of Sharpness and Severity as was not much less than the Romish Inquisition and yet in many Cases by the Arch-Bishops Power was made much more heavy being assisted and strengthned by Authority of the Council-Table I was much troubled at it that such an Imputation from so great a Body should be fastned on me And therefore first I considered that my Predecessors were all or most of them strengthned with the same Authority of the Council-Table that I was And therefore if I did use that Authority to worse ends or in a worse manner than they did I was the more to blame Therefore to satisfie my self and others in this particular I did in the next place cause a diligent search to be made in the Acts of that Court which can deceive no Man what Suspensions Deprivations or other Punishments had past in the Seven Years of my Time before my Commitment Then I compared them with every of the Three Seven Years of my immediate Predecessor for so long he sat and somewhat over and was in great esteem with the House of Commons all his Time and I find more by Three Suspended Deprived or Degraded in every Seven Years of his Time than in the Seven Years of my Time so cryed out upon as you see for Sharpness and Severity even to the equasling of that Commission almost to the Romish Inquisition So safe a thing it is for a Man 〈◊〉 Imbarque himself into a Potent Faction and so hard for any other Man be he never so intire to withstand its Violence 12. He hath 〈◊〉 endeavoured to cause Division and Discord between the Church of England and other Reformed Churches And to that end hath Suppressed and Abrogated the Priviledges and Immunities which have been by his Majesty and his Royal Ancestors granted to the French and Dutch Churches in this Kingdom And divers other ways hath expressed his Malice and Disaffiction to these Churches that so by such Disunion the Papists might have more advantage for the Overthrow and Extripation of both I never endeavoured to set Division between the Church of England and other Reformed Churches And if I had so done it had been a very Unchristian and unworthy Act but yet no Treason as I conceive And for the Priviledges and Immunities granted by his Majesty and his Royal Progenitors to the French and Dutch Churches in this Kingdom I did not seek to Suppress or Abrogate any of them which kept Conform to their first Toleration here much less did I labour by any Disunion betwixt them and us to advantage the Papists to the overthrow of both But this I found that they did not use their Priviledges with that Gratitude and Fairness to his Majesty the State and Church of England as they ought to have done And hereupon I acquainted his Majesty and the Lords in full and open Council with what I conceived concerning that business As Namely 1. That their living as they did and standing so strictly to their own Discipline wrought upon the Party in England which were addicted to them and made them more averse than otherwise they would have been to the present Government of the Church of England 2. That by this means they lived in England as if they were a kind of God's Israel in Egypt to the great Dishonour of the Church of England to which at first they fled for Shelter against Persecution And in that time of their Danger the Church of England was in their Esteem not only a true but a glorious Church But by this Favour which that Church received it grew up and incroached upon us till it became a Church within a Church and a kind of State within a State And this I ever held dangerous how small beginning soever it had And that upon two main Reasons The one because I find the Wisdom of God against it For he says plainly to his prime People One Law and especially for Divine Worship shall be to him that is home-born and to the Stranger that Sojourns among you Exod. 12. And the other because I find the Wisdom of this State against it For this Parliament in their Remonstrance give the self-same Reason against the Papists but must hold good against all Sects that labour to make strong and inlarge themselves The Words are these Another State moulded within this State independent in Government contrary in Interest and Affection 〈◊〉 corrupting the Ignorant or Negligent Professors of our Religion and closely Vniting and Combining themselves against such as are sound in this posture waiting for an Opportunity c. And the Words are as true of the one Faction as the other and
I ever pressed the Argument alike against both as I can prove by good Witness if need be And I pray God this Faction too little feared and too much nourished among us have not now found the Opportunity waited for 3. That they live here and enjoy all freedom and yet for the most part scorn so much as to learn the Language or to converse with any more than for advantage of Bargaining And will take no Englishman to be their Apprentice nor teach them any of their Manufactures which I did then and do still think most unreasonable 4. That for Religion if after so many descents of their Children born in the Land and so Native Subjects these Children of theirs should refuse to Pray and Communicate with the Church of England into whose bosom their Parents fled at first for succour I thought then and do still that no State could with safety or would in Wisdom endure it And this concerning their Children was all that was desired by me As appears by the Act which my Vicar General made concerning those Churches at Canterbury Sandwitch and Maidstone in my Diocess and the Publication of this Act in their Congregations by their own Ministers in this Form following I am commanded to signifie unto you that it is not his Majesty's intent nor of the Council of State to dissolve our Congregations And to that end his Majesty is content to permit the Natives of the first degree to continue Members of our Congregations as before But the Natives in this Church after the first descent are injoyned to obey my Lord Arch-Bishop his Injunction which is to conform themselves to the English Discipline and Liturgy every one in his Parish without inhibiting them notwithstanding from resorting sometimes to our Assemblies And my Lord Arch-Bishop of 〈◊〉 means notwithstanding that the said Natives shall continue to contribute to the Maintenance of the Ministry and Poor of this Church for the better subsisting thereof And promiseth to obtain an Order from the Council if need be and they require it to maintain them in their Manufactures against those which would trouble them by Informations Now that which I injoyned the French and Dutch Churches was to a syllable all one with this in all parts of my Province where these Churches resided As at South-hampton and Norwich And I have a Letter to shew full of thanks from the Ministers and Elders of the French and Walloon-Churches at Norwich All which is far from an endeavour to suppress any just Priviledges and Immunities which these Churches had in England or ought to have in any well-governed Kingdom And since this time I have not only seen but gotten the very Original Letter of Queen Elizabeth of Happy Memory written to the Lord Treasurer Pawlet specifying what Order she would should be taken with and for these Churches The Letter is Signed with her Majesty 's own Hand and Signet and gives them not half so much Liberty I do not say as they take but as I have been ever most content to give them For the Queen in these Letters allows them nothing contrary to her Laws and therefore nothing but our Liturgy in their own Language not another Form of Divine Service and Discipline much different from it This was the Wisdom of those times which I pray God we may follow The Queen's Letter follows in these words Elizabeth RIght Trusty and right well-beloved Cozen we greet you well Whereas in the time of our Brother and Sister also the Church of the late Augustine Fryars was appointed to the use of all the Strangers reparing to the City of London for to have therein Divine Service considering that by an Universal Order all the rest of the Churches have the Divine Service in the English Tongue for the better edifying of the People which the Strangers Born understand not Our Pleasure is that you shall Assign and Deliver the said Church and all things thereto belonging to the Reverend Father in God the Bishop of London to be appointed to such Curates and Ministers as he shall think good to serve from time to time in the same Churches both for daily Divine Service and for Administration of the Sacraments and Preaching of the Gospel so as no Rite nor Use be therein observed contrary or derogatory to our Laws And these our Letters shall be your sufficient Warrant and Discharge in that behalf Given under Our Signet at Our Palace of Westminster the ...... of February the Second Year of our Reign To our Trusty and right well beloved Cousin and Counsellor the Marquess of Winchester High Treasurer of England 13. He hath maliciously and Trayterously Plotted and endeavoured to stir up War and Enmity betwixt his Majesty's two Kingdoms of England and Scotland and to that purpose hath laboured to introduce into the Kingdom of Scotland divers Innovations both in Religion and Government all or the most part tending to Popery and Superstition to the great Grievance and Discontent of his Majesty's Subjects of that Nation And for their refusing to submit to such Innovations he did trayterously Advise his Majesty to Subdue them by Force of Arms And by his own Authority and Power contrary to Law did procure sundry of his Majesty's Subjects and inforced the Clergy of this Kingdom to contribute toward the Maintenance of that War And when his Majesty with much Wisdom and Justice had made a Pacification betwixt the two Kingdoms the said Arch-Bishop did presumptuously censure that Pacification as Dishonourable to his Majesty and by his Counsel and Endeavours so incensed his Majesty against his said Subjects of Scotland that he did thereupon by Advice of the said Arch-Bishop enter into an offensive War against them to the great 〈◊〉 of his Majesty's Person and his Subjects of both Kingdoms I did not Endeavour to stir up War between his Majesty's two Kingdoms of England and Scotland but my Counsels were for Peace As may appear by the Counsel which I gave at Theobalds in the beginning of these unhappy Differences For there my Counsel only put a stay upon the Business in hope his Majesty might have a better Issue without than with a War And if I were mistaken in this Counsel yet it agreed well with my Profession and with the Cause which was differences in Religion which I conceived might better be composed by Ink than by Blood And I think it cannot easily be forgotten that I gave this Counsel For my Lord the Earl of Arundel opposed me openly at the Table then and said my Grounds would deceive me And my Lord the Earl of Holland came to me so soon as we were risen from Counsel and was pleased to say to me that I had done my self and my Calling a great deal of Right and the King my Master the best Service that ever I did him in my Life And Mr. Patrick Male of his Majesty's Bed-chamber when he heard what I had done came and gave me
a great deal of Thanks in the Name of that Nation Nor did I labour to introduce into the Kingdom of Scotland any Innovations in Religion or Government Neither do all or the most part or indeed any of those pretended Innovations tend to Popery or Superstition as hath before been sufficiently proved Neither did I upon their refusal to submit to these Advise his Majesty to Subdue them by force of Arms but the Counsels which I gave were open either at the Committee or the Council-Table Neither did I by my own Power and Authority contrary to Law procure any of his Majesty's Subjects or inforce the Clergy of England to contribute to the maintenance of that War But the Subsidies which were given to his Majesty at that time were given freely and in open Convocation and without any practice of my self or any other as appears by what I have formerly laid down But because so much noise hath been made against me both in the Scottish Charge before answered and in this Article about Popish Innovations in that Service-Book and that I laboured the introducing both of it and them I think it fit if not necessary to set down briefly the Story what was done and what I did and by what Command in all that Business And it follows Dr. John Maxwel the late Bishop of Ross came to me from his Majesty it was during the time of a great and dangerous Fever under which I then laboured It was in the Year 1629. in August or September which come that time is Thirteen Years since The Cause of his coming was to speak with me about a Liturgy for Scotland At his coming I was so extream Ill that I saw him not And had Death which I then expected daily as did my Friends and Physicians also seized on me I had not seen this heavy time After this when I was able to sit up he came to me again and told me it was his Majesty's Pleasure that I should receive Instructions from some Bishops of Scotland concerning a Liturgy for that Church and that he was imployed from my Lord the Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews and other Prelates there about it I told him I was clear of Opinion that if his Majesty would have a Liturgy setled there it were best to take the English Liturgy without any variation that so the same Service-Book might be established in all his Majesty's Dominions Which I did then and do still think would have been a great Happiness to this State and a great Honour and Safety to Religion To this he replyed that he was of a contrary Opinion and that not he only but the Bishops of that Kingdom thought their Country-men would be much better satisfied it a Liturgy were framed by their own Clergy than to have the English Liturgy put upon them yet he added that it might be according to the Form of our English Service-Book I answered to this that if this were the Resolution of my Brethren the Bishops of Scotland I would not entertain so much as Thoughts about it till I might by God's Blessing have Health and Opportunity to wait upon his Majesty and receive his farther directions from himself When I was able to go abroad I came to his Majesty and represented all that had passed His Majesty avowed the sending of Dr. Maxwell to me and the Message sent by him But then he inclined to my Opinion to have the English Service without any alteration to be established there And in this Condition I held that Business for two if not three Years at least Afterwards the Scottish Bishops still pressing his Majesty that a Liturgy Framed by themselves and in some few things different from ours would relish better with their Countrymen They at last prevailed with his Majesty to have it so and carried it against me notwithstanding all I could say or do to the contrary Then his Majesty Commanded me to give the Bishops of Scotland my best Assistance in this Way and Work I delayed as much as I could with my Obedience and when nothing would serve but it must go on I confess I was then very serious and gave them the best help I could But wheresoever I had any doubt I did not only acquaint his Majesty with it but Writ down most of the Amendments or Alterations in his Majesty's Presence And I do verily believe there is no one thing in that Book which may not stand with the Conscience of a right Good Protestant Sure I am his Majesty approved them all and I have his Warrant under his Royal Hand for all that I did about that Book And to the end the Book may be extant and come to the view of the Christian World and their Judgment of it be known I have caused it to be exactly Translated into Latin and if right be done it shall be Printed with this History This was that which I did concerning the Matter and Substance of this Service-Book As for the way of Introducing it I ever advised the Bishops both in his Majesty's Presence and at other times both by Word and by Writing that they would look carefully to it and be sure to do nothing about it but what should be agreeable to the Laws of that Kingdom And that they should at all times be sure to take the Advice of the Lords of his Majesty's Council in that Kingdom and govern themselves and their Proceedings accordingly Which Course if they have not followed that can no way reflect upon me who have both in this and all things else been as careful of their Laws as any Man who is a Stranger to them could be And in a Letter of mine after my last coming out of Scotland thus I wrote to the late Reverend Arch-Bishop of S. Andrews Septemb. 30. 1633. concerning the Liturgy That whether that of England or another were resolved on yet 〈◊〉 should proceed Circumspectly Because his Majesty had no intendment to do any thing but that which was according to Honour and Justice and the Laws of that Kingdom And a Copy of this Letter I have yet by me to shew And for the truth of this Narration I know His Majesty and my Lord of Ross himself will avow it And here I take leave to acquaint the Reader That this was no new Conceit of His Majesty to have a Liturgy framed and Canons made for the Church of Scotland For he followed his Royal Father King James his Example and Care therein who took Order for both at the Assembly of Perth An. 1618. And now to return again to the Article There is one Charge more in it and that 's concerning the Pacification made the 〈◊〉 Year The Article says I did Censure it as Dishonourable and Advise for a new War But I did neither That which I spake was openly at the Council-Table and in His Majesty's presence And it was this There arose a debate at the Table about these Affairs and the Pacification and I
said that I did often wish from my Heart that His Majesty had kept the Army which he had at Barwick together but Eight or Ten Days longer And that I did not doubt but that if he had so done he might have had more Honourable Conditions of his Scottish Subjects This I said and more or otherwise I said not and whosoever shall relate them otherwise forgets Truth Now to say that His Majesty might have had more Honourable Conditions doth not infer that the Pacification then made was upon Dishonourable Conditions but only upon less Honourable than it might have been And I had great Reason to observe my own words and remember them because I saw some Lords at the Table touched with them perhaps in their own Particulars Nor was I alone in this Judgment For my Lord the Earl of Holland though he then said nothing at the Council-Table yet at his first return from Barwick his Lordship did me the Honour to come and see me at Lambeth And in the Gallery there while we were discoursing of the Affairs in the North of himself he used these words to me That His Majesty did too suddenly dissolve his Army there indeed so suddenly that every body wondered at it And that for his part he was so sorry especially for the dismissing of all the Horse which he said were as good as any were in Christendom And farther that he offer'd His Majesty to keep one Thousand of them for a Year at his own and his Friends Charge till the King might see all things well setled again in Scotland By which it is apparent that in his Lordships Judgment things might have been better had not that Army been so suddenly dissolved And I hope it was no Sin in me to wish the best success and the most Honour to the King's Affairs Now that which moved me to say thus at the Council-Table was this The last Article in the Pacification was To restore to every one of His Majesties Subjects their Liberties Lands Houses Goods and Means whatsoever taken and detained from them by whatsoever means since the aforesaid time But within two Days or three at the most after the Pacification agreed upon and concluded the Lord Lindsay made an open and publick Protestation either in the Camp at Dunns or at the 〈◊〉 in Edenburgh or both that no Clergy Man his Goods or Means was included in the Pacification Which yet expresses every one of His Majesties Subjects And this I did then conceive and do still was a very bold audacious Act of that Lord very injurious to the Poor Clergy and not so Honourable for the King And this made me say and I say it still His Majesty might have had more Honourable Conditions and his Pacification better kept had he continued his Army but Eight or Ten Days longer For in all probability the Scots could not so long have continued their Army together And I did farther conceive that by this Act of the Lord Lindsay in protesting and by the Scots making his Protestation good against the Clergy there was a direct and manifest Breach of the Pacification on their behalf And then though I saw no Reason why the King should be bound to keep that mutual Pacification which they had broken for a Knot must be fast at both ends or loose at both Yet remembring my Calling I did not Incense His Majesty against his Subjects in Scotland nor did hereupon advise the undertaking of an Offensive War against them nor ever give other Counsel in this Particular than what I openly gave before the Lords either in the Committee or at the Board And there my Concurring in Opinion with all the rest of the Lords was I hope no other nor no greater fault than in them though I be thus singled out And for the Pacification I shall say thus much more Though I could with all my Heart have wished it more Honourable for the King and more express and safe for my Brethren of the Clergy yet all things Considered which were put unto me I did approve it For before the Pacification was fully agreed upon His Majesty did me the Honour to write unto me all with his own Hand In this Letter He Commanded me all delay set apart to send him my Judgment plainly and freely what I thought of the Pacification which was then almost ready for conclusion I in all Humility approved of the Pacification as it was then put to me and sent my Answer presently back and my Reasons why I approved it Little thinking then but that my Poor Brethren the Bishops of Scotland should have had all restored unto them according to the Article of the Pacification before recited or at least for so long till they had defended themselves and their Calling and their Cause in a free General Assembly and as free a Parliament Now this was ever assumed to me should be done and to procure this was all which the Bishops seemed to desire of me And for the Truth of this I appeal to His Majesty to whom I writ it And to my Lord Marquess Hamilton to whom the King shewed my Letter As my Lord Marquess himself told me at his return And to Dr. Juxon Lord Bishop of London then Lord High Treasurer of England to whom I shewed my Letter before I sent it away And this is all I did concerning the Pacification 14. That to preserve himself from being questioned for these and other his Trayterous Courses he hath laboured to subvert the Rights of Parliament and the Ancient Course of Parliamentary proceedings And by false and malicious Slanders to incense His Majesty against Parliaments By which Words Counsels and Actions he hath Trayterously and contrary to his Allegiance laboured to alienate the Hearts of the Kings Liege People from his Majesty to set a Division between them and to 〈◊〉 and Destroy his Majesty's Kingdoms For which they do impeach him of High Treason against our Soveraign Lord the King his Crown and Dignity I did never Labour to subvert the rights of Parliaments or the antient Course of their Proceedings And not doing it at all I could not do it to keep my self from being questioned Much less did I by any malitious Slanders or any other way incense his Majesty against Parliaments nor ever thereby labour to alienate the Hearts of the King's Liege People from his Majesty nor to set any Division between them or to Ruine and Destroy his Majesty's Kingdoms And am no way Guilty in the least Degree of High Treason against our Soveraign Lord the King his Crown and Dignity It is true I have been much and very often grieved to see the great distractions which have happened of later Years both in King James his time and since about the Breaches which have been in Parliaments And I have as heartily wished and to my Power endeavoured that all Parliaments which have been called might come to their Happy Issue and end in the Contentment of
Religion to let you know that their said Lordships have assigned and appointed you to attend on them as Assistant in that Committee And to let you know in general that their Lordships do intend to examine all Innovations in Doctrine or Discipline introduced into the Church without Law since the Reformation and if their Lordships shall in their Judgments find it behoveful for the good of the Church and State to Examine after that the degrees and perfection of the Reformation it self Which I am directed to intimate unto you that you may prepare your Thoughts Studies and Meditations accordingly Expecting their Lordships pleasure for the particular points as they shall arise and giving you to understand that their Lordships next sitting is upon Friday next in the Afternoon I recommend you to God's protection being Your very loving Friend and Brother Jo. Lincoln West Coll. 12 Martij 1640. To my very loving Friends and Brethren Dr. Brownrig Mr. Shute Dr. Featly Mr. Calamy Dr. Hacket Mr. White Dr. Westfield Mr. Marshal Dr. Burges What use will be made of this Committee for the present I shall expect but what it shall produce in future I dare not prophesie But it may be it will prove in time superiour to the National Synods of England And what that may work in this Church and State God knows I setled my self in my Lodging in the Tower where I yet am and pass my weary time as well as I can On Saturday Mar. 13. Divers Lords dined with the Lord Herbert Son to the Earl of Worcester at his new House by Fox-Hall in Lambeth As they came back after Dinner three young Lords were in a Boat together and St. Paul's Church was in their Eye Hereupon one of them said he was sorry for my Commitment if it were but for the building of St. Pauls which would go but slowly on there-while The Lord Brook who was one of the three replyed I hope one of us shall live to see no one stone left upon another of that building This was told and avowed by one of the Lords present And when I heard it I said now the Lord forbid and bless his poor Church in this Kingdom CAP. IX ON Munday Mar. 22. the Earl of Strafford's Tryal began in Westminster-Hall And it continued with some few Intermissions till the end of April The Earl got all the time a great deal of Reputation by his Patient yet Stout and clear Answers and changed many Understanding Mens Minds concerning him Insomuch that the great Lawyers of his Council affirmed there openly That there was no Treason appearing to them by any Law Upon this the House of Commons who were all the while present in a Body left the Hall and instead of leaving the whole Cause to the Judgment of the Lords in the ordinary Way of Parliaments betook themselves to their Legislative Power and so passed a Bill of Attainder against him and having none made a Law to take away his Life This Bill was denyed by two or three and fifty as able Men as any in the House of Commons But the Faction grew so hot that all their Names were Pasted up at the Exchange under the Title of Straffordians thereby to increase the Hatred of the People both against him and them and the Libels multiplyed This Bill went on with great haste and earnestness which the King observing and loth to lose so great and good a Servant his Majesty came into the House of Lords and there upon Saturday Maii 1. Declared unto both Houses how carefully he had heard and observed all the Charge against the Earl of Strafford for he was present at every Days Hearing and found that his Fault whatever it were could not amount to Treason And added That if they meant to proceed by Bill it must pass by him and that he could not in his Conscience find him guilty nor would ever wrong his Honour or his Conscience so far as to pass such a Bill or to that Effect But advised them to proceed by way of Misdemeanour and he would concur with them in any Sentence This displeased mightily and I verily think it hastened the Earl's Death And indeed to what end should the King come voluntarily to say this and there unless he would have abode by it whatever came And it had been far more Regal to reject the Bill when it had been brought to him his Conscience standing so as his Majesty openly professed it did than to make this Honourable Preface and let the Bill pass after The House of Commons and some Lords too it seems eagerly bent against the Earl of Strafford seeing by this the King 's bent grew more sharp and pursued the Bill the more violently In so much that within two or three Days after some Citizens of London and Prentices came down in Multitudes to the Parliament called there for Justice and pretended all Trade was stopp'd till Justice was done upon the Earl of Strafford Who brought on the People to this way I would not tell you if I did certainly know but wise Men see that plain enough without telling These People press upon the Lords in a way unknown in the English Government yea or in any setled Government in Christendom In conclusion they are taught to threaten the King and his Court in a strange Manner if they may not have speedy Justice The Bill comes up to the Lords when the House was none of the fullest but what made so many absent I know not and there it past And upon Sunday May 9. the King was so laid at and so frighted with these Bugbears that if Justice were not done and the Bill Passed for the Earl of Strafford's Execution the Multitude would come the Next Day and pull down White-Hall and God knows what might become of the King himself that these fears prevailing his Majesty gave way and the Bill passed and that Night late Sir Dudly Carlton one of the Clerks of the Council was sent to the Tower to give the Earl warning that he must prepare to Dye the Wednesday Morning following The Earl of Strafford received the Message of Death with great Courage yet Sweetness as Sir Dudly himself after told me On Munday Morning the Earl sent for the Lord Primate of Armagh to come to him He came and the same Day visited me and gave me very high Testimony of the Earl's Sufficiency and Resolution And among the rest this That he never knew any Lay-man in all his Life that so well and fully understood Matters of Divinity as the Earl did and that his Resolutions were as firm and as good In this Interim before the Day of his Death he made by his Friends two Suits to his Majesty The one that he might Dye privately within the Tower the other That his Death might be Respited till the Saturday that he might have a little more time to settle his Estate His Majesty sent these Requests to the Houses
to lay hold of that Opportunity to be rid of the Scots But so good and so quick was the Intelligence from some of the Lords that the House of Commons was risen before the Messengers from the Lords could get thither and so the Conference was not only prevented but things so ordered that the Scots stayed in England till the middle of August following at a marvellous great Charge to the Kingdom and with what Wrong and Dishonour to King and Kingdom let Posterity Judge Before the Death of the Earl of Strafford the Libels came out thick and very Malitious against him And all this to whet the Malice that was against him and make the People more greedy for his Death But no sooner was he gone into his Rest but the Libellers which during that time reviled him fell on me and no question but to the same end And the Libels and Ballads against me were frequently spread through the City and sung up and down the Streets And I thank God for it they were as full of Falshood as Gall. Besides they made base Pictures of me putting me into a Cage and fastning me to a Post by a Chain at my Shoulder and the like And divers of these Libels made Men sport in Taverns and Alehouses where too many were as Drunk with Malice as with the Liquor they sucked in Against which my only Comfort was that I was fallen but into the same Case with the Prophet David Psal. 69. For they that sat in the Gate spake against me and I was the Song of the Drunkards About this time I fell into a Tertian Ague which was Comfortless in a Prison But I humbly Praise God for it after seven or eight Fits he restored me to my Health the only Comfort which I have under him in this time of my Affliction CAP. X. UPon Wednesday June 23. I acquainted His Majesty by my Lord of London that now I had answered all Complaints come against me concerning the Vniversity of Oxford I thought it requisite for me to Resign the Chancellorship of that place And I gave His Majesty such Reasons as he approved for my so doing And the truth is I suffered much by the Clamours of the Earl of Pembroke who thought it long till he had that place which he had long gaped for And after the Cloud was once spread over me spared me in no Company though I had in all the time of my Prosperity observed him in Court more than ever he had deserved of me And I had reason notwithstanding all his causless Heat to keep the place till I had justified my self against the Towns-Mens Petition to the Lords wherein they Charged me with no less than Treason for setting out a Proclamation about Regulating the Market in my own Name But I made it appear to the Lords that I did no more therein than the Earl of Leicester in Queen Elizabeth's time or the Earl of Dorset in King James his time did before me when they were Chancellors of that Vniversity And I was able to shew the Lords and did so the Copies of both their several Proclamations in Print in their own Names And farther I made appear by the Vniversity Records that the Chancellors for the time being had frequently done it ever since the time of King Edward 3 And that the Lord Mayor of London and other Mayors having the Clark-ship of the Market as the Chancellors of Oxford have and not the Mayor do it daily So this great and most Malicious Complaint of the City of Oxford vanished when they and some body else for them had shewed their Teeth but could not bite But having ended this Business and my Vice-Chancellor whom I was not willing to Expose to anothers hand had finished his Year and that according to Duty I had given His Majesty an Account of the Business I pursued my Resolution And upon Friday June the 25th I sent down my Resignation of the Chancellorship of Oxford to be Published in Convocation which was done accordingly and the Earl of Pembroke had his desires and was chosen into it God bless the Vniversity there-while and grant they may never have need of me now unable to help them On Tuesday August 10. His Majesty rode away Post into Scotland the Parliaments Sitting in both Kingdoms and the Armies not yet dissolved There was great Scanning about this Journey And the House of Commons sent some Commissioners thither as the Scots had some here Among the Scotch Commissioners the Prime Man was the Earl of Róthes who also was one of the greatest and most Zealous Leaders of the Scottish Rebellion under the pretence of Religion and a deadly Enemy to the Earl of Strafford and was heard to say more than once they would have his Head And they had it But much about this time Rothes his Zeal was so hot among the Ladies and the Citizens Wives that he fell very foully into the Pox And divers of his Friends as they told me themselves going to visit him were not admitted to see him and at last he was conveyed from London to Richmond by his Aunt the Lady Roxborough where he dyed But this base and dishonourable End of his in Rottenness they concealed as much as they could What the King did in Scotland hath no Relation for ought I yet hear to this poor Story of mine And the Parliament here made a Recess Aug. ... till Octob. ..... leaving a considerable Committee Sitting to prepare Business against the House met again During this Recess there was all silence concerning me And as is conceived upon this Ground Because before the Recess the Committee appointed for that Business failed in some Proofs which they well hoped should have reached me home in Matters of Religion and thereupon have done little since And the Libels since that time have neither been so frequent nor so Malicious against me God quiet this Storm though I praise God I know not why it was raised so high against me On Thursday September 23 1641. Mr Adam Torless my Ancient Loving and Faithful Servant and then my Steward after he had served me full Forty and Two Years dyed to my great both loss and grief For all my Accounts since my Commitment were in his Hands and had he not been a very Honest and Careful Man I must have suffered much more than I did yet I suffered enough besides the loss of his Person who was now become almost the only Comfort of my Affliction and my Age. So true it is that Afflictions seldom come single CAP. XI DUring the Recess of the Parliament Sir Hen Martyn dyed and I made Dr Merricke Judge of the Prerogative Dr Duck missing his hopes of this Office by his own absence and default and finding me under this thick Cloud hoped to have wrested this Office out of my Hands and his to whom I had given it This was one of the basest and most ungrateful parts that
ever any Man played me But he failed in his hopes and his Petition was cast out of the Lords House to try his Right at Law which was all that was asked by Dr Merricke Yet upon the earnestness of the then Lord Bishop of Lincoln and now Arch-Bishop of York the Lords Sequestred my Jurisdiction and put it into the Hands of my Inferiour Officers and added in the Order that I should dispose of neither Benefice nor any other thing but I should first acquaint them with it The Order follows in haec verba Die Sab. 23. Octob. 1641. IT is Ordered by the Lords in Parliament that the Jurisdiction of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury shall be Sequestred until he shall be Convicted or Acquitted of the Charge of High Treason against him and the same in the mean time to be Executed by his Inferiour Officers And farther concerning those Ecclesiastical Benefices Promotions or Dignities that are in his disposing he shall present to this House the Names of such Persons as shall be Nominated by him for the same to be Approved of first by this House before they be Collated or Instituted Jo. Browne Cler. Parliam c. For my Jurisdiction I Thank God I never knowingly abused it And of the other Restraint about the giving of my Benefices I cannot but think it very hard in two respects The one is that I should be put to Name to them before I give that which by Law is mine to give In the mean time they cry out of the violation of the Propriety which each Subject hath in his Goods and yet I must not give my own So also they condemn Arbitrary Government and yet press upon me an Arbitrary Order against Law The other is that if in Obedience to this Order I shall Nominate any Man to them be he never so worthy for Life and Learning yet if upon Misinformation or otherwise the House should refuse him I should not only not do him the good I intended but blast him for all the remainder of his Life And whensoever he shall seek for any other Preferment that shall be laid unto him that he was thought unworthy by the High Court of Parliament Yet how to ease my self against this Order I know not This day Novemb. 1. News came to the Parliament of the Rebellion in Ireland The King being then in Scotland where there were Troubles enough also The Irish pretended the Scots Example and hoped they should get their Liberties and the Freedom of their Religion as well as they But that Rebellion is grown fierce and strong and what end that War will have God knows A happy one God of his Mercy send For this Nation is in many difficulties at once and we have drawn them all upon our selves But this belongs not to my Story Only this I shall add which is the Judgment of all Prudent Men that I speak with both of Ireland and England that if the Earl of Strafford had Lived and not been blasted in his Honour and Service no Rebellion had been stirring there And if this be so 't is a soar Account must be given for his Blood If either that Kingdom be upon this occasion quite lost from the Crown of England or not recover'd without great Expence both of Treasure and Blood On Thursday Novemb. 25. the King returning from Scotland entred into London was received with great State and Joy and Sumptuously Entertained This made divers Men think there would have been a Turn in the present Business And what it might have proved if the King would have presently and vigorously set himself to vindicate his own Just Power and leave them their Antient and Just Priviledges is not I think hard to judge But he let it cool and gave that which is truly the Malignant Faction but call others so time to underwork him and bring the City round and all ran then stronger in the same Current than ever it did So God of his Mercy bless all On Thursday Decemb. 30. the Lord Arch-Bishop of York and Eleven other Bishops were sent to the 〈◊〉 for High Treason and two other Bishops Duresme and Coventry and Litchfield to Mr. Maxwell's for setting their Hands to a Petition and delivering of it with a Protestation that this was not a free Parliament since they who had Antient Right there could not come to give their Votes as they ought without danger of their Lives For by this time it was grown common that the Multitude came down in heaps if either the Lords or the King denyed any thing which the House of Commons affected But how it came to pass that these Multitudes should come down in such disorder and yet be sent back and dissolved so easily at a word or beck of some Men let the World judge The Petition and Protestation which the Bishops delivered in was as follows and perchance it was unseasonably delivered and perhaps some Words in it might have been better spared but the Treason and peradventure that 's my Ignorance I cannot find in it The Petition and Protestation of Twelve Bishops for which they were Accused of High-Treason by the House of Commons and Committed by the Lords to the Black-Rod THat whereas the Petitioners are called upon by several and respective Writs under great Penalties to Attend in Parliament and have a clear and indubitable Right to Vote in Bills and all other Matters whatsoever debated in Parliament by the Antient Customs Laws and Statutes of this Realm and are to be protected by your Majesty quietly to attend and prosecute that great Service They humbly remonstrate and protest before God your Majesty and the Noble Peers now Assembled in Parliament that as they have an indubitable Right to Sit and Vote in the House of Lords so they if they may be protected from force and violence are most ready and willing to perform that Duty accordingly and that they do abominate all Actions and Opinions tending to Popery or any inclination to the Malignant Party or any other side and Party whatsoever to the which their own Reasons and Consciences shall not adhere But whereas they have been at several times violently Menaced Affronted and Assaulted by multitudes of People in coming to perform their Service to that Honourable House and lately chased away and put in danger of their Lives and find no Redress or Protection upon sundry Complaints made to both Houses in that particular They likewise protest before your Majesty and that Noble House of Peers that saving to themselves all their Rights and Interests of Sitting and Voting in your House at other times they dare not sit to Vote in the House of Peers unless your Majesty shall further secure them from all Affronts Indignities and Danger in the Premises Lastly whereas their fears are not built upon Fancies and Conceipts but upon such Grounds and Objects as may well
Two Hundred And the Arms I bought of my Predecessor's Executors only some I was forced to mend the Fashion of Arms being changed He left to defend that large House but six Swords six Carbines three Halberds and two half Pikes Though the Order formerly made by the Lords required necessary defence for the House should be left But it seems Captain Royden's Order now given was stricter for he was towards me and my House very Civil in all things This day Sept. 1. 1642. the Bishops were Voted down in the House of Commons And that Night there was great Ringing and Bonfires in the City which I conceive was cunningly ordered to be done by Alderman Pennington the new Lord Mayor chosen in the room of Sir Richard Gurney who was then in the Tower and put out of his Office by the Parliament And my Mind gives me that if Bishops do go down the City will not have cause to joy in it About this time the Cathedral Church of Canterbury was grosly Prophaned yet far worse afterward All-Hallows Bredstreet was now fallen void and in my Gift and September 9. there came an Order from the House of Peers for me to give it But having Six Months Respite by Law I delayed it for that time which created me much trouble from the Parishioners who often sollicited me About the Tenth of this Month the Bishops were Voted down in the Vpper House So it seems I must live to see my Calling fall before me Upon Saturday Octob. 15. it was Resolved upon the Question That all Rents and Profits of all Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans and Chapters and other Delinquents should be Sequestred for the Use and Service of the Common-Wealth According to which Ordinance all the Profits of my Arch-Bishoprick were taken away from me and not one Penny allowed me for Maintenance Nay whereas this Order was not made till a full Fortnight after Michaelmas yet so hard a hand was carried over me as that my Rents due at Michaelmas were seized on to the use of the Parliament By which means my Estate was as good as Sequestred almost from our Lady-day before more than two parts of three of the Rents being payable only at Michaelmas An Order came from the House Octob. 24. that no Prisoner should keep above two Servants nor speak with any Man but in the presence and hearing of his Warder My Case for the former Branch of this Order differ'd from all other Prisoners For they lay in several Warders Houses in which they might be fitted by the Servants of the House for Ordering their Dyet but I was in a Prison-lodging void of all Comfort and Company And therefore upon Octob. 27. which was the very next day after the Order was shewed to me I humbly besought the Lords for a Cook and Butler beside the Two which were to attend me in my Prison by Reason of my Age and Infirmities which though with difficulty yet I humbly thank their Lordships was granted me Octob. 28. On Wednesday Novemb. 2. I Dreamed that Night that the Church was undone and that I went to St Johns in Oxford where I found the Roof off from some part of the College and the Walls ready to fall down God be merciful Upon Wednesday Novemb. 9. about Five of the Clock in the Morning Captain Brown and his Company entred my House at Lambeth to keep it for Publick Service Hereupon I Petitioned the Lords the same day for the safety of the Library of my own Study and of such Goods as were in my House All which was very Honourably granted unto me by a full Order of the Lords that very day with a strict Charge that they which were there employed in the Publick Service should take special care that all the fore-named things should be preserved in safety Either this day or the day before Mr Holland and Mr Ashurst two of the House of Commons came accompanied with some Musketeers and entred my House and searched for Mony and took away Seventy and Eight Pound from my Receiver Mr Walter Dobson and said it was for the Maintenance of the Kings Children God of his Mercy look favourably upon the King and bless his Children from needing any such poor Maintenance Novemb. 16. Wednesday an Order forbidding the Prisoners Men to speak one with another but in the presence of the Warder and to bar them the liberty of the Tower Only this Order was so far inlarged Novemb. 22. that any of them might go out of the Tower to buy Provision or other Necessaries On the 24th of this Month the Souldiers at Lambeth-House brake open the Chappel-doors and offer'd violence to the Organ but before much hurt was done the Captain heard of it and stayed them Upon the Death of Sir Charles Caesar the Mastership of the Faculties fell into my gift but I could not dispose of it by Reason of the Order of Parliament of Octob. 23. 1641. but with their Approbation Therefore I Petitioned the Lords that I might give it to 〈◊〉 Aylet or Dr Heath both then Attendants in that Honourable House well knowing it would be in vain to Name any other And the Lords sent me an Order to give it to 〈◊〉 Aylet and I did it accordingly The Vicaridge of Horsham in Sussex was in my gift and fell void At the intreaty of Sir John Conniers then Lieutenant of the Tower I Petitioned the House that I might give it to Mr. Conniers the Lecturer at Bow But before my Petition came to be delivered the House had made an Order against him upon complaint from Horsham of his disordered Life so busie were that Party of Men to complain of all Men who were not theirs in Faction and such ready admittance had both they and their Complaints in both Houses For my part the Man was a Stranger to me and inquiring after him as well as a poor Prisoner could I heard no ill of him for his Life Nevertheless hearing how the Lords were possessed against him I forbare the sending of that Petition and sent another for my own Chaplain 〈◊〉 William Brackstone But he was refused yet no exception taken against him for Life or Learning nor indeed could any be Upon the 〈◊〉 of the same Month 〈◊〉 Layton came with a Warrant from the Honourable House of Commons for the Keys of my House at Lambeth to be delivered to him that Prisoners might be brought thither I referred my self to God that nothing might trouble me But then I saw it evident that all that could should be done to break my patience Had it not been so some body else might have been sent to Lambeth and not Layton who had been Censured in the Star-Chamber to lose his Ears for a base and a most virulent Libel against Bishops and the Church-Government Established by Law In which Book of his were many things which in some Times might have cost him dearer
of this Comfortless and Tedious Tryal 7. Now for the Method which I shall hold in this History of my Tryal it shall be this I will set down the Evidence given on each day by it self and my Answer to it But whereas all the Evidence was given together and so my whole Answer after to avoid all looking back and trouble of turning Leaves to compare the Answer with the Evidence I will set down each particular Evidence and my Answer to it and so all along that the indifferent Reader may without farther trouble see the force of the one and the satisfaction given in the other and how far every Particular is from Treason And if I add any thing to my Answers in any place either it is because in the shortness of time then given me to make my Answer it came not to my present Thoughts or if it did yet I forbare to speak it with that sharpness holding it neither fit nor safe in my Condition to provoke either my Accusers or my Judges And whatsoever is so added by me in either of these respects the Reader shall find it thus marked in the Margent as here it stands in this 8. Nor did I wrong Mr. Pryn where I say that for all the haste to put in my Answer Jan. 22. he could not make this broken Business so soon ready against me For 't is well known he kept a kind of School of Instruction for such of the Witnesses as he durst trust that they might be sure to speak home to the purpose he would have them And this an Vtter Barrister a Man of good Credit knows who in the hearing of Men beyond Exception said The Arch-Bishop is a Stranger to me but Mr. Pryn's tampering about the Witnesses is so palpable and foul that I cannot but pity him and cry shame of it When I heard this I sent to this Gentleman to know if he tendered my Case so far as to witness it before the Lords The Answer I received was that the Thing was true and that very Indignation of it made him speak But heartily prayed me I would not produce him as a Witness for if I did the Times were such he should be utterly undone And 't is not hard to guess by whom Upon this I consulted some Friends and upon regard of his safety on the one side and my own doubt lest if forced to his undoing he might through Fear blanch and mince the Truth to my own prejudice who produced him I forbare the business and left Mr. Pryn to the Bar of Christ whose Mercy give him Repentance and amend him But upon my Christianity this Story is Truth CAP. XXII The First Day of my Hearing AND now I come to Tuesday March 12. the Day appointed for my Tryal to begin and begin it did When I was come and settled at the Bar Serjeant Wilde made a Solemn Speech for Introduction I had a Character given me before of this Gentleman which I will forbear to express but in this Speech of his and his future Proceedings with me I found it exactly true His Speech my decayed Memory cannot give you at large but a Skeleton of it I here present according to such Limbs as my brief Notes then taken can now call to my Memory He began and told the Lords That the Children which I had travel'd with were now come to the Birth and that my Actions were so foul and my Treason so great as that the like could not be read in any History nay so great as that Nullus Poet a fingere No Poet could ever fain the like And that if all Treason were lost and not to be found in any Author what it is it might be recovered and found out in me and my Actions with divers Pieces of Latin Sentences to this effect And though these high and loud Expressions troubled me much at the present yet I could not but think that in this Canto of his he was much like one of them which cry up and down the City Have you any old Ends of Gold and Silver After this he proceeded to give Reasons why I was not sooner proceeded against having now lain by it above three years The first Reason he gave was the Distractions of the Time And they indeed were now grown great but the Distractions which were now can be no Argument why I was not proceeded against at the beginning of the Parliament when things were in some better quiet His second Reason was the Death of some Persons But this could be no reason at all For if the Persons he speaks of were Witnesses against me more might die but the Dead could not be made alive again by this delay unless Mr. Serjeant had some hope the Resurrection might have been by this time that so he might have produced them And if the Persons were Members of the House of Commons as all Men know Mr. Pym was in the Chair for Preparation of my Tryal Then this is known too that Mr. Pym came up to the Committee of Lords full of great hopes to prove God knows what against me The Persons to be examined were William Lord Bishop of London and Matthew Lord Bishop of Ely my very Worthy Friends and Men like to know as much of me as any Men. A Lord then present told me there were some Eighteen or Nineteen Interrogatories upon which these Bishops were to be Examined against me concerning my Intercourse with Rome but all were built upon the first which was their knowledge of the Man who it seems was thought to be my Chief Agent in that Secret But both the Bishops denying upon their Oaths that they or either of them ever knew any such Man all the rest of the Interrogatories what Relations he had to me and the like must needs fall to nothing as they did And the Lord told me farther he never saw Mr. Pym and the rest so abashed at any thing in his Life After this Mr. Pym as 't is well known gave over that Chair despairing to do that against me which was desired His third Reason was a good large one and that was other Impediments And that 's true some Impediments there were no doubt or else I had come sooner to Hearing And as I conceive a chief Impediment was that there was not a Man whose Malice would make him diligent enough to search into such a forsaken Business till Mr. Pryn offered himself to that Service For I think I may be confident that that Honourable and Great House would not seek any Man out of their own Body for any such Imployment had not Suit some way or other been made for it After these Reasons given for the delay of my Tryal he fell upon me again as foul as at first as that I was the Author of all the Extravagancies in the Government and of all the Concussions in the State That the Quality of my Person aggravated my Crime That my Abilities and
hated it perhaps it might have been better with me for worldly safety than now it is But it can no way become a Christian Bishop to halt with God Lastly If I had any purpose to blast the True Religion Established in the Church of England and to introduce Popery sure I took a very wrong way to it For my Lords I have stayed as many that were going to Rome and reduced as many that were already gone as I believe any Bishop or other Minister in this Kingdom hath done and some of them Men of great Abilities and some of them Persons of great Place And is this the way my Lords to introduce Popery I beseech your Lordships consider it well For surely if I had blemished the True Protestant Religion I could not have setled such Men in it And if I had purposed to introduce Popery I would never have reduced such Men from it And though it please the Author of the Popish Royal Favourite to say That scarce one of the swaying Lord Prelats is able to say that ever he Converted one Papist to our Religion yet how void of Charity this Speech of his is and how full of Falshood shall appear by the number of those Persons whom by Gods Blessing upon my Labours I have setled in the True Protestant Religion Established in England And with your Lordships leave I shall Name them that you may see both their Number and their Condition though I cannot set them down in that order of time in which I either Converted or Setled them 1. And first Hen Birk-head of Trinity Coll. in Oxford was seduced by a Jesuit and brought up to London to be conveyed beyond the Seas His Friends complained to me I had the happiness to find him out and the blessing from God to settle his Conscience So he returned to Oxford and there continued 2. 3. Two Daughters of Sir Rich Lechford in Surrey were sent to Sea to be carried to a Nunnery I heard of it and caused them to be brought back before they were got out of the Thames I setled their Consciences and both of them sent me great thanks since I was a Prisoner in the Tower 4. 5. Two Scholars of St John's Coll. in Cambridge Topping and Ashton had slipped away from the College and here at London had got the French Embassadour's Pass I have the Pass to shew I found means to get them to me and I thank God setled both their Minds sent them back to their College Afterwards hearing of Topping's Wants I allowed him Means till I procured him a Fellowship And he is at this time a very hopeful Young Man as most of his time in that University a Minister and Chaplain in House at this Present to the Right Honourable the Earl of Westmerland 6. 7. 8. Sir William Web my Kinsman and two of his Daughters and the better to secure them in Religion I was at the Charge their Father being utterly decayed to Marry them to two Religious Protestants and they both continued very constant And his Eldest Son I took from him placed him with a careful Divine maintained him divers Years and then setled him with a Gentleman of Good Worth 10. 11. The next in my remembrance was the Lord Maio of Ireland who with another Gentleman whose name I cannot recal was brought to me to Fulham by Mr. Jefford a Servant of his Majesty's and well known to divers of your Lordships 12. The Right Honourable the Lord Duke of Buckingham was almost lost from the Church of England between the continual cunning Labours of Fisher the Jesuit and the Perswasions of the Lady his Mother After some Miscarriages King James of ever Blessed Memory Commanded me to that Service I had God's Blessing upon me so far as to settle my Lord Duke to his Death And I brought the Lady his Mother to the Church again but she was not so happy as to continue with us 14. The Lady Marchioness Hamilton was much solicited by some Priests and much troubled in Mind about it My Lord spake with me of it and though at that present I was so overlaid with Business that I could not as I much desired wait upon that Honourable Person my self yet I told my Lord I would send one to his Lordship that should diligently attend that Service and that I would give him the best direction I could And this I did and God be thanked she dyed very quietly and very Religiously and a good Protestant And my Lord Marquess told me he had acknowledged this Service of mine to an Honourable Lord whom I now see present 15. Mr. Chillingworth's Learning and Abilities are sufficiently known to all your Lordships He was gone and setled at Dowaye My Letters brought him back and he Lived and Dyed a Defender of the Church of England And that this is so your Lordships cannot but know For Mr. Pryn took away my Letters and all the Papers which concerned him and they were Examined at the Committee 16. 17. Mr. Digby was a Priest and Mr. James Gentleman a School-master in a Recusant's House This latter was brought to me by a Minister as far as I remember in Buckinghamshire I converted both of them and they remain setled 18. Dr. Hart a Civilian Son to a Neighbour of mine at Fulham He was so far gone that he had written part of his Motives which wrought as he said that Change in him I got sight of them shewed him wherein he was deceived had God's Blessing to settle his Conscience and then caused an able Divine to Answer his Motives and give him the Copy 19. There were beside these Mr. Christopher Seburne a Gentleman of an Ancient Family in Hereford-shire and Sir William Spencer of Yarnton in Oxfordshire The Sons and Heirs of Mr. Wintchome and Mr. Williscot whom I sent with their Friends good liking to Wadham-College in Oxford and I received a Certificate Anno 1638. of their continuing in conformity to the Church of England Nor did ever any of these relapse again to Rome but only the Old Countess of Buckingham and Sir William Spencer that ever I heard of And if any of your Lordships doubt of the Truth of any of these Particulars I am able and ready to bring full proof of them all And by this time I hope it appears that one of the swaying Prelats of the time is able to say he hath Converted one Papist to the Protestant Religion And let any Clergy Man of England come forth and give a better account of his Zeal to this present Church And now my Lords with my most humble Thanks for your Lordships favour and patience in hearing me I shall cease to be farther troublesom for the present not doubting but I shall be able to Answer whatever shall be particularly objected against me After I had ended this Speech I was commanded to withdraw As I went from
in that Law But how sufficient soever that Cause may be in Parliament if I had been in a Premunire there-while and lost my Liberty and all that I had beside for disobeying the Royal Assent I believe I should have had but cold Comfort when the next Parliament had been Summoned no Exception against the Man being known to me either for Life or Learning but only this Censure Nor is there any Exception which the Arch-Bishop is by that Law allowed to make if my Book be truly Printed Then followed the Charge of Dr. Heylin's Book against Mr. Burton out of which it was urged That an unlimited Power was pressed very far and out of p. 40. That a way was found to make the Subject free and the King a Subject that this Man was preferred by me that Dr. Heylin confessed to a Committee that I commanded him to Answer Mr. Burton's Book and that my Chaplain Dr. Braye Licensed it I Answer'd as follows I did not prefer Dr. Heylin to the King's Service it was the Earl of Danby who had taken Honourable Care of him before in the University His Preferments I did not procure For it appears by what hath been urged against me that the Lord Viscount Dorchester procured him his Parsonage and Mr. Secretary Coke his Prebend in Westminster For his Answer to the Committee that I commanded him to Write against Burton It was an Ingenuous and a True Answer and became him and his Calling well for I did so And neither I in Commanding nor he in Obeying did other than what we had good Precedent for in the Primitive Church of Christ. For when some Monks had troubled the Church at Carthage but not with half that danger which Mr. Burton's Book threatned to this Aurelius then Bishop commanded St. Aug. to Write against it and he did so His Words are Aurelius Scribere Jussit feci But though I did as by my Place I might Command him to Write and Answer yet I did neither Command nor Advise him to insert any thing unsound or unfit If any such thing be found in it he must Answer for himself and the Licenser for himself For as for Licensing of Books I held the same course which all my Predecessors had done And when any Chaplain came new into my House I gave him a strict Charge in that Particular And in all my Predecessors Times the Chaplains suffer'd for faults committed and not their Lords though now all is heaped on me As for the particular Words urged out of Dr. Heylin's Book p. 40. there is neither Expression by them nor Intention in them against either the Law or any Lawful Proceedings but they are directed to Mr. Burton and his Doctrine only The words are You have found out a way not the Law but you Mr. Burton to make the Subject free and the King a Subject Whereas it would well have beseem'd Mr. Burton to have carried his Pen even at the least and left the King his Freedom as well as the Subject his From this they proceeded to another Charge which was That I preferred Chaplains to be about the King and the Prince which were disaffected to the Publick Welfare of the Kingdom The Instance was in Dr Dove And a Passage Read out of his Book against Mr Burton And it was added that the declaring of such disaffection was the best Inducement or Bribe to procure them Preferment To this I then said and 't is true I did never knowingly prefer any Chaplain to the King or Prince that was ill-affected to the Publick And for Dr. Dove if he utter'd by Tongue or by Pen any such wild Speech concerning any Members of the Honourable House of Commons as is urged thereby to shew his disaffection to the Publick he is Living and I humbly desire he may answer it But whereas it was said That this was the best Inducement or Bribe to get Preferment This might have been spared had it so pleased the Gentleman which spake it But I know my Condition and where I am and will not lose my Patience for Language And whereas 't is urged That after this he was Named by me to be a Chaplain to the Prince his Highness the Thing was thus His Majesty had suit made to him that the Prince might have Sermons in his own Chappel for his Family Hereupon his Majesty approving the Motion commanded me to think upon the Names of some fit Men for that Service I did so But before any thing was done I acquainted the Right Honourable the Lord Chamberlain that then was with it my Lord knew most of the Men and approved the Note and delivered it to his Secretary Mr Oldsworth to Swear them This was the Fact And at this time when I put Dr Dove's Name into the List I did not know of any such Passage in his Book nor indeed ever heard of it till now For I had not Read his Book but here and there by snatches I am now come and 't is time to the last Particular of this day And this Charge was The giving of Subsidies to the King in the Convocation without consent in Parliament That the Penalties for not paying were strict and without Appeal as appears in the Act where it is farther said that we do this according to the Duty which by Scripture we are bound unto which reflects upon the Liberties of Parliaments in that behalf But it was added they would not meddle now with the late Canons for any thing else till they came to their due place 1. My Answer to this was That this was not my single Act but the Act of the whole Convocation and could not be appliable to me only 2. That this Grant was no other nor in any other way Mutatis Mutandis than was granted to Queen Elizabeth in Arch-Bishop Whitgift's time This Grant was also put in Execution as appeared by the Originals which we followed These Originals among many other Records were commanded away by the Honourable House of Commons and where they now are I know not But for want of them my Defence cannot be so full 3. For the Circumstances as that the Penalties are without Appeal and the like 't is usual in all such Grants And that we did it according to our Duty and the Rules of Scripture we conceived was a fitting Expression for our selves and Men of our Calling without giving Law to others or any intention to violate the Law in the least For thus I humbly conceive lyes the mutual Relation between the King and his People by Rules of Conscience The Subjects are to supply a full and Honourable Maintenance to the King And the King when Necessities call upon him is to ask of his People in such a way as is per pacta by Law and Covenant agreed upon between them which in this Kingdom is by Parliament yet the Clergy ever granting their own at all times And that this was my Judgment long before this
to give an easie Account for this But whereas I said the Repair of St. Pauls was a strange piece of Treason And they presently Replyed that they did not Charge the Repair upon me but the Manner of doing it by demolishing of Mens Houses To that I Answered as follows with this first that the Work hath cost me above One Thousand and two Hundred Pounds out of my own Purse besides all my Care and Pains and now this heavy Charge to boot No one Man offering to prove that I have Mis-spent or diverted to other use any one Penny given to that work or that I have done any thing about it without the Knowledge Approbation and Order of his Majesty or the Lords of the Council or both To the Particulars then For the three Orders taken out of the Council-Books I shall not need to repeat them But what is the Mystery that these Orders are reckoned backward the last first Is it to aggravate as if it rose by steps That cannot well be because the first Order is the Sourest if I conceive it right Besides here was real Composition allotted for them and that by a Committee named by the Lords not by me And I think it was very real for it Cost Eight or Nine Thousand Pounds as appears upon the Accounts meerly to take down the Houses which had no Right to stand there before we could come at the Church to Repair it And if any thing should be amiss in any of these which is more than I either know or believe they were the Council's Orders not mine And shall that be urged as Treason against me which is not Imputed to them so much as a Misdemeanour Besides the Lords of the Council are in the ancient Constitution of this Kingdom one Body and whatsoever the Major Part of them concludes is reputed the Act of the whole not any one Man's And this I must often Inculcate because I see such Publick Acts like to be heaped upon my Particular 1. The first Witness about this Business of St. Pauls is Mich. Burton and 't is charged that his House was pulled down in King James's time That he was Promised relief but had none That hereupon he got a Reference from his Majesty that now is and came with it to the Council and was referred to the Committee That Sir Hen. Martin told him that the Arch-Bishop was his hinderance That he resorted to me and that I bid him go to King James for his Recompence To this my Answer was That this House which he says was his was as is confessed by himself taken down in King James's Time when an attempt was made about the Repair of this Cathedral but nothing done If he desired satisfaction he was to seek it of them who took down his House not of me If his Majesty that now is gave him a Reference he was by the Lords of the Council or by me if to me it were Referred to be sent to the Sub-Committee because Satisfaction for each House was to be Ordered by them Nor had I any Reason to take it on my Care which was done so long before He says that Sir Henry Martin told him that I hindred him But that 's no Proof that Sir Hen Martin told him so For 't is but his Report of Sir Henry Martin's Speech And I hope Sir Henry neither did nor would do me such apparent Wrong He was the third Man to whom I brake my Intentions touching the Repair and the Difficulties which I foresaw I was to meet with And he gave me all Encouragement And it may be when nothing would satisfie the eager Old Man I might bid him go to King James for Recompence but 't is more than I remember if I did so And this Man is single and in his own Case and where lyes the Treason that is in it Besides least Consideration was due to this House For not many Years before the Demolishing of it it was Built at the West End of St. Pauls for a Lottery it was said to be the House of one Wheatly and after the Lottery ended finished up into a Dwelling-House to the great annoyance of that Church The Bishop and Dean and Chapter being asleep while it was done 2. The next Charge about St. Pauls was Witnessed by Mary Berry That her Husband was fain to set up his Trade elsewhere and that every Man reported the Bishop was the Cause of it Her Husband was forced by this Remove to set up his Trade elsewhere so she says And perhaps in a better Place and with Satisfaction sufficient to make him a better Stock Where 's the Wrong Beside she is single and in her own Cause and no Proof but that every Man reported the Bishop was the means to remove him And it is Observable that in King James his Time when the Commission issued out for the demolishing of these very Houses the Work was highly applauded and yet no Care taken for Satisfaction of any Private Mans Interest That now great Care hath been taken and great Sums of Money Expended about it yet I must be a Traytor and no less for doing it This makes me think some Party of Men were heartily angry at the Repair it self though for very Shame it be turned off upon the demolishing of the Houses 3. The next that came in was Tho Wheeler He says that his House was pulled down by the Committee by my Direction above Eleven Years ago And that Word was brought him of it His House was pulled down but himself confesses it was by the Committee It was he says above eleven Years ago and the time limited in that Article is Six Years He says that Word was brought him that I was the Cause or gave the Direction Word was brought him but he Names not by whom nor from whom so all this Proof is a single Hearsay of he knows not whom Whereas I had the Broad-Seal of England for all that was done It was replyed here That for demolishing of these Houses the King's Commission was no full and legal Warrant I should have procured Authority from Parliament I replyed to this Interruption That Houses more remote from the Church of St. Pauls were pulled down by the King's Commission only in K. Ed. 3. time and humbly desired a Salvo might be entered for me till I might bring the †Record which was granted 4. The last Instance for this Charge of St. Pauls was the House of W Wakern who Witnessed that he had a Hundred Pound recompence for his House but then was after Fined in the High-Commission-Court 100 l. for Prophanation of which he paid 30 l. To this I gave this Answer That his Charge is true and that after he had received 100 l. Composition the Cry of the Prophanation brought him into the High-Commission It was thus The Skulls of Dead-Men perhaps better than himself were tumbled out of their Graves into his Draught and part of the Foundation of the
opened it so wide in the other when we moved to defend our selves and our Proceedings Where I humbly desire this Passage of the Law may be considered In the Case of depraving the Common-Prayer Book so much Scorned and Vilified at this Day and for not coming to Church The Words of the Law are For due Execution hereof the Queens most Excellent Majesty the Lords Temporal and all the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled do in God's Name earnestly require and Charge all the Arch-Bishops and Bishops and other Ordinaries that they shall endeavour to the uttermost of their Knowledge that the due and true Execution hereof may be had throughout their Diocesses and Charges as they will answer before God c. Now if I do not this here 's an apparent Breach of the Law And if I do it against this common and great Depraver of this Book then the Judge who by this Law should assist me Cries O the Bishop and this Answer I gave Mr. Browne when he Summ'd his Charge against me The Fifth Charge of this Day was Mr. John Ward 's Case in a Suit about Symony in the High Commission He says for he also is in his own Cause That upon a pretence of a Lapse by Symony I procured a Presentation from the King to the Church of Dinnington His Majesty trusted me with the Titles which did accrew to him in that kind and because Symony had been so rife Commanded me to be careful I might not betray this Trust and therefore the Symony being offer'd to be proved I procured his Majesties Presentation for Tryal of the Title And this I conceive was no Offence Though this be that which he calls the heaviness of my Hand upon him He farther says That I sent to the Bishop of Norwich to admit the King's Clerk the Church being void 7. Junij 1638. Nor do I yet see my Lords what Crime it is in me trusted especially as before to send to the Bishop to admit when the Church is void Many Lay Patrons do that upon Allegation of Symony before Proof And Mr. Bland produced as a Witness also says that the Lord Goring prevailed with the Lord Bishop of Norwich not to admit And I hope an Arch-Bishop and trusted therein by his Majesty may as lawfully write to the Ordinary for Admission of the King's Clerk as any lay-Lay-Lord may write against it But Mr. Ward says nothing to this of the Lord Goring but adds That Sir John Rowse prevented this Admission by a Ne admittas Junij 12. And that thereupon I said it was to no purpose for us to sit there if after a long Tryal and Judgment given all might be stopped If I did say so I think it is a manifest Truth that I spake For it were far better not to have Symony tryed at all in Ecclesiastical Courts than after a long Tryal to have it called off into Westminster-Hall to the double Charge and trouble of the Subject But if the Law will have it otherwise we cannot help that Nor is this Expression of mine any Violation of the Law Then he says a Letter was directed from the Court of the High Commission to the Judges to revoke the Ne admittas and that I was forward to have the Letter sent How forward soever I was yet it is confessed the Letter was sent by the Court not by me And let the Letter be produced it shall therein appear that it was not to revoke the Ne Admittas but to desire the Judges to consider whether it were not fit to be revoked considering the Church was not void till Junij 14. And it hath been usual in that Court to Write or send some of their Body to the Temporal Judges where they conceive there hath been a Misinformation or a mistake in the Cause the Judges being still free to judge according to Law both for the one and the other And here he confesses the Writ of Ne admittas was revoked by three Judges and therefore I think Legally But here he hopes he hath found me in a Contradiction For when I writ to the Bishop of Norwich Junij 7. 1638. I there said the Church was void whereas this Letter to the Judges says it was not void till Junij 14. But here is no Contradiction at all For after the Tryal past and the Symony proved the Church is void to so much as the Bishop's giving of Institution and so I writ Junij 7. But till the Sentence was pronounced in open Court and Read the Church was not void as touching those Legalities which as I humbly conceive do not till then take place in Westminster-Hall And the Reading of the Sentence was not till Junij 14. However if I were mistaken in my own private Letter to the Bishop yet that was better thought on in the Letter from the High Commission to the Judges He says lastly That upon a Quare Impedit after taken forth it was found that the King had no Right Why my Lords if different Courts judge differently of Symony I hope that shall not be imputed to me In the Court where I sate I judged according to my Conscience and the Law and the Proof as it appeared to me And for Dr. Ryve's his Letter which he says was sent to the Cursitor to stop the Ne admittas Let Dr. Ryves answer it The Witness himself confesses that Dr. Ryves says the Command to the Cursitor was from the Lord Keeper not from me And here ends the Treason against Mr. Ward and till now I did not think any could have been committed against a Minister Then follow'd the Case of Ferdinando Adams his Excommunication and the Suits which followed it As it will appear in the Witnesses following which were four 1. The first was Mr Hen. Dade the Commissary then before whom the Cause began And he confesses He did Excommunicate Adams for not blotting out a Sentence of Scripture which the said Adams had caused to be written upon the Church-Wall as in many Churches Sentences of 〈◊〉 are written But he tells your Lordships too that this Sentence was My House shall be called the House of Prayer but ye have made it a Den of Thieves The Commissary's Court was kept as usually it is at or toward the West-end of the Church And just over the Court Adams had written this Sentence upon the Wall meerly to put a scorn and a scandal though I hope an unjust one upon that Court He was commanded to blot it out He would not because it was Scripture as if a Man might not Revile and Slander nay speak Treason too if he will be so wicked and all in Scripture-Phrase Witness that lewd Speech lately utter'd To your Tents O Israel c. Upon this he was Excommunicated and I cannot but think he well deserved it For the Suit which followed against Mr. Dade in the Star-Chamber the Motion that Mr. Attorney would leave him to the common Prosecutor
stands now Established and as by right it ought to stand nor yet ever to subject it to the Usurpations and Superstitions of the See of Rome And all these things I do plainly and sincerely acknowledge and Swear according to the plain and common Sense and Understanding of the same Words without any Equivocation or Mental Evasion or secret Reservation whatsoever And this I do heartily willingly and truly upon the Faith of a Christian So help me God in Jesus Christ. Which Oath the said Arch-Bishop himself did take and caused divers other Ministers of the Church to take the same upon pain of Suspension and Deprivation of their Livings and other severe Penalties and did also cause Godfrey then Bishop of Gloucester to be committed to Prison for refusing to Subscribe to the said Canons and to take the said Oath and afterward the said Bishop submitting himself to take the said Oath he was set at Liberty On Thursday April 4. I was again brought to the House made a sufficient scorn and gazing-stock to the People and after I had waited some hours was sent back by Reason of other Business unheard But Order'd to appear again Munday April 8. Then I appeared again and was used by the basest of the People as before I did not appear any day but it cost me six or seven Pound I grew into want This made my Councel and other Friends to perswade me the next time I had admittance to speak to move the Lords again for some necessary Allowance notwithstanding my former Petition had been rejected This Advice I meant to have followed that day But after some Hours Attendance I was sent back again unheard and Order'd to come again on Thursday April 11. This day I did not come to the House a Warrant being sent to the Tower which stayed me till Tuesday April 16. CAP. XXIX The Seventh Day of my Hearing THen I appeared and as I remember here Mr. Maynard left off save that now and then he interposed both in the Reply and otherwise and Mr. Nicolas a Man of another Temper undertook the managing of the Evidence And the first Charge was concerning the late Canons which he said were against Law to sit the Parliament being Dissolved No my Lords nothing against Law that I know For we were called to Sit in Convocation by a different Writ from that which called us as Bishops to the Parliament And we could not rise till his Majesty sent us another Writ to discharge us and this is well known to the Judges and the other Lawyers here present So we continued sitting though the Parliament rose Nor was this sitting continued by any Advice or Desire of mine For I humbly desired a Writ to dissolve us But the best Councel then present both of Judges and other Lawyers assured the King we might Legally sit And here is a Copy attested under their Hands Then he urged out of my Diary at May 29. 1640. That I acknowledged there were Seventeen Canons made which I did hope would be useful to the Church 'T is true my Lords I did hope so And had I not hoped it I would never have passed my Consent unto them And when I writ this there was nothing done or said against them And if by any Inadvertency or Humane Frailty any thing Erroneous or Unfit have slipped into those Canons I humbly beseech your Lordships to remember it is an Article of the Church of England that General Councils may Err and therefore this National Synod may mistake And that since if any Error be it is not Wilful it may be rectified and in Charity passed by For the Bishop of Gloucester's refusing to Subscribe the Canons and take the Oath Which is here said by the Council but no Proof offered The Truth is this He first pretended to avoid his Subscription that we could not sit the Parliament risen He was Satisfied in this by the Judges Hands Then he pretended the Oath But that which stuck in his Stomach was the Canon about the suppressing of the growth of Popery For coming over to me to Lambeth about that Business he told me he would be torn with Wild Horses before he would Subscribe that Canon I gave him the best Advice I could but his Carriage was such when he came into the Convocation that I was forced to charge him openly with it and he as freely acknowledged it As there is plentiful Proof of Bishops and other Divines then present And for his Lordship's being after put to take the Oath which was also urged it was thus I took my self bound to accquaint his Majesty with this Proceeding of my Lord of Gloucester's and did so But all that was after done about his Commitment first and his Release after when he had taken the Oath was done openly at a full Council-Table and his Majesty present and can no way be charged upon me as my Act. For it was my Duty to let his Majesty know it to prevent farther Danger then also discovered But I am here to defend my self not to accuse any Man else Next he urged that I had Interlined the Original Copy of the Canons with my own Hand But this is clearly a mistake if not a wilful one For perusing the Place I find the Interlining is not in my Hand but my Hand is to it as I humbly conceive it was fit it should And the Words are in the Ratification of the Canons and therefore were necessarily to be in the Original howsoever slipped in the writing of them As for the Oath so bitterly spoken of at the Bar and in the Articles either it was made according to Law or else we were wholly mis-led by President and that such as was never excepted against For in the Canons made in King James his Time there was an Oath made against Symonie and an Oath for Church-Wardens and an Oath about Licences for Marriages and an Oath for Judges in Ecclesiastical Courts And some of these Oaths as dangerous as this is acounted to be And all these established by no other Authority than these late were And yet neither those Canons nor those Oaths were ever declared Illegal by any ensuing Parliament nor the Makers of them accused of any Crime much less of Treason So that we had in this Synod unblamed President for what we did as touching our Power of doing it But after all this he said he would pass these things by that is when he had made them as Odious as he could and would Charge nothing upon me but the Votes of both Houses namely That these Canons contain Matters contrary to the King's Prerogative to the Fundamental Laws of the Realm to the Rights of Parliaments to the Propriety and Liberty of the Subject and Matters tending to Sedition and of dangerous Consequence So these Votes of the Honourable Houses made so long after and therefore cannot well be an Evidence against the
see it Flourish in another Hundred Years 't is that which I cannot hope for now He says there was a Reference to the Councel on both sides and that under that Reference the Business dyed And if it dyed then what makes it here before the Resurrection Yea but says Mr. Nicolas here 's Agitation about the submitting of the Sword which is the Emblem of Temporal Power But neither to Foreign nor Home Power but only to God and that in the place and at the performance of his Holy Worship At which time and place Christian Kings submit themselves and therefore cannot stand upon the Emblems of their Power Nor would the Lords of the Council have made either Order or Reference had there been any thing of danger or against Law in this kind of submitting Mr. Yorke was produced as another Witness but said just the same with Marsh and so the same Answer served him Then followed a Charge about the Charter of York to be renewed and that I did labour to have the Arch-Bishop of York his Chancellor and some of the Residentiaries named in it to be Justices of Peace within the City To prove this Alderman Hoyle is produced Who says There was an Order of the Council about this but cannot say that I procured it So far then this Proof reaches not me For the Bishop his Chancellor and some of the Residentiaries to be Justices of Peace within the City If I were of this Opinion as then advised I am sure there 's no Treason in it and I believe no Crime And under your Lordships Favour I could not but think it would have made much Peace and done much Good in all the Cities of England where Cathedrals are Lastly he says There was a Debauched Man committed about breach of the Sabbath and being casually smother'd I should say they deserved to be Hanged that Killed him Concerning this Man he lost his Life that 's confessed His Debauchery what it was is not proved And were he never so disorderly I am sure he was not without Legal Tryal to be shut up into a House and smother'd That is against both Law and Conscience And the Officers then in being had reason to smother the Business as much as they could And it may be deserved somewhat if not that which this Alderman says I said to his best Remembrance For so and with no more certainty he expressed it This I am sure I said That if the Bishop 〈◊〉 any of the Church had been then in their Charter the Poor Man's Life had not been lost The Fourth Charge was just of the same Nature concerning the Charge of Shrewsbury For this there were produced two Witnesses Mr. Lee and Mr. Mackworth But they make up but one between them For Mr. Lee could say nothing but what he acknowledges he heard from Mr. Mackworth And Mr. Mackworth says first That the Schoolmaster 's Business was referred to other Lords and my self That 's no Crime and to my knowledge that has been a troublesom business for these Thirty Years He says I caused that there should go a Quo Warranto against the Town This is but as Mr. Owen informed him so no proof Beside 't is no Crime being a Referee if I gave legal Reason for it Nor is it any Crime that the Bishop and his Chancellor should be Justices within the Town As is aforesaid in the Case of York Considering especially that then many Clergy-Men bare that Office in divers Counties of England He adds that an Old Alderman gave Fifty Pound to St. Pauls But out of what Consideration I know not nor doth he speak And if every Alderman in the Town would have given me as much to that use I would have taken it and thanked them for it Then he says There was an Order from all the Lords Referees for setling all things about their Charter So by his own Confession the whole Business was transacted publickly and by Persons of great Honour and nothing charged upon my Particular If Mr. Owen sent me in a Butt of Sack and after put it upon the Town Account for so he also says Mr. Owen did ill in both but I knew of neither And this the Councel in their Reply said they urged not in that kind Lastly the Charter it self was Read to both Points of the Bishops and his Chancellors being Justices of Peace within the Town and the not bearing up of the Sword To both which I have answer'd already And I hope your Lordships cannot think his Majesty would have passed such a Charter Or that his Learned Councel durst have put it to him had this thing been such a Crime as 't is here made The next Charge was out of my Diary at March 5 1635. The words are William Juxon Lord Bishop of London made Lord High Treasurer of England No Church-Man had it since H 7 time I pray God bless him to carry it so that the Church may have Honour and the King and the State Service and Contentment by it And now if the Church will not hold up themselves under God I can do no more I can see no Treason in this nor Crime neither And though that which I did to help on this Business was very little yet Aim I had none in it but the Service of the King and the Good of the Church And I am confident it would have been both had not such troublesom Times followed as did Then they instanced in the Case of Mr. Newcomen But that Cause being handled before they did only refer the Lords to their Notes And so did I to my former Answers Then followed the Case of Thorn and Middleton which were Fined in the High Commission about some Clergy-Mens Business Thorne being Constable The Witnesses in this Case are Three 1. The first is Huntford if I took his Name right And for the Censure of these Men he confesses it was in and by the High Commission and so no Act of mine as I have often pleaded But then he says that I there spake these words That no Man of their Rank should meddle with Men in Holy Orders First he is in this part of the Charge single and neither of the other Witnesses comes in to him Secondly I humbly desire the Proceedings of the High Commission may be seen which are taken out of our hands For so far as I can remember any thing of this Cause the Minister Mr. Lewis had hard measure And perhaps thereupon I might say that Men of their Rank should not in such sort meddle with Men in Holy Orders But to tax the proceedings of a violent busie Constable was not to exempt the Clergy from Civil Magistracy Upon this he falls just upon the same words and says that I utter'd them about their offering to turn out a Corrector from the Printing-House This Corrector was a Minister and a well deserving Man The Trust of the Press was referred to the High-Commission Court And
there present p. 28 32 35 42. Nay more this proceeding tam in locis Exemptis quam non Exemptis is allowed to the Governours of the Church in the Exercise of their Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by Act of Parliament in Queen Elizabeth's Time which would never have been allowed had it then been thought such a dangerous Business as 't is now made against me 2. The Second Clause was Power to Censure by Fine and Imprisonment This also I shewed in the old Commission Fol. 37. and is as I conceive in plain pursuance of the Act of Parliament upon which the High-Commission is grounded For the King says there Fol. 13. And so 't is in the new That he grants this Power by Vertue of his Supream Authority and Prerogative Royal and of the said Act. Nay farther 't is added in this latter Commission and by our Authority Ecclesiastical which is not expressed in the former And sure I would never have caused Authority Ecclesiastical to be added had I any Plot as 't is urged either to exalt the Clergy above the Laity or to usurp Papal Power which all Men know is far enough from ascribing Ecclesiastical Authority to the King And as for Fine and Imprisonment if that Power be not according to Law why was it first admitted and after continued in all former Commissions 3. The Third Clause was the Non Obstante which he said was against all Law and of such a boundless Extent as was never found in Commission or other Grant in England And he here desired the Lords that he might read it which he did with great Assurance of a Triumph But after all this Noise which Mr. Nicolas had made I shewed the same Non Obstante in the Old Commission 〈◊〉 62. Word for Word which I humbly desired might be read and compared It was so The Lords looked strangely upon it Mr. Nicolas was so startled that he had not Patience to stay till his Reply which he saw impossible to be made but interrupted me and had the Face to say in that Honourable Assembly that I need not stand upon that for he did but name that without much regarding it And yet at the giving of the Charge he insisted principally upon that Clause and in higher and louder Terms than are before expressed Had such an Advantage been found against me I should have been accounted extreamly Negligent if I compared not the Commissions together or Extreamly Impudent if I did 4. The Fourth Exception was That by this Commission I took greater Power than ever any Court had because both Temporal and Ecclesiastical First whatsoever Power the High-Commission had was not taken by them till given by his Majesty and that according to Use and Statue for ought hath been yet declared Secondly they have not Power of Life or Limb therefore not so great Power as other Courts have Thirdly they may have more various Power in some respects but that cannot make it greater As for the Expression in which 't is said I took this Power that is put most unworthily and unjustly too to derive the Envy as much as he could upon my Person only For he could not hold from comparing me to Pope Boniface 8. and saying that I took on me the Power of both Swords But this was only ad Faciendum Populum For he knows well enough that to take both the Swords as the Pope takes them is to challenge them Originally as due to him and his Place Not to take both as under the Prince and given by his Authority and so not I alone but all the Commissioners take theirs 5. Fifthly To prove that this vast Commission as it was called was put in execution Mr. Burton is produced He says that when he was called into the High-Commission he appealed to the King and pleaded his Appeal and that thereupon I and the Bishop of London Writ to the King to have him submit to the Court He confesses he was dismissed upon his Appeal till his Majesty's Pleasure was farther known And it was our Duty considering what a Breach this would make upon the Jurisdiction of the Court to inform his Majesty of it and we did so The King declared that he should submit to the Court as is confessed by himself Then he says because he would not submit to the Court he was Censured notwithstanding his Appeal And he well deserved it that would not be ruled by his Majesty to whom he had appealed And the Commission had Power to do what they did Besides himself confesses all this was done by the High-Commission not by me Nor doth he urge any Threat Promise or Solicitation of mine any way to particularize the Act upon me and farther he is single and in his own Cause Then followed the last Charge of this Day which was the Patent granted for the Fines in the High-Commission for Finishing the West End of St Pauls cryed out upon as Illegal and Extorted from the King and such as took all Power from him for the space of the Ten Years for which time it was granted This is the Fourth time that St Pauls is struck at My Lords let it come as often as it will my Project and Endeavour in that Work was Honest and Honourable to both Church and Kingdom of England No Man in all this Search and Pursuit hath been able to charge me with the turning of any one Penny or Pennyworth to other use than was limited to me I took a great deal of Care and Pains about the Work and cannot repent of any thing I did in that Service but of Humane Frailty And whereas 't is said this Patent was extorted from his Majesty as there is no Proof offered for it so is there no truth in it For his Majesty's Piety was so forward that nothing needed to be extorted from him Thus went I on Bonâ Fide and took the Prime Direction of the Kingdom for drawing the Patent The Lord Keeper Coventry Mr. Noy and Sir Henry Martin And therefore if any thing be found against Law in it it cannot be imputed to me who took all the care I could to have it beyond exception And I marvel what security any Man shall have that adventures upon any great and publick Work in this Kingdom if such Councel cannot be trusted for drawing up of his Warrant And whereas it was said this Patent for the Ten Years space took away both Justice and Mercy from the King That 's nothing so For whatever the Words be to enable me the better for that Work yet these being inseparable from him may be used by him notwithstanding this or any other Patent And if these be inseparable as 't is granted they are no inseparable thing can be taken away or if it be taken 't is void in Law and the King is where he was in the Exercise of his Right both for Justice and Mercy And so I answered Mr. Brown's summary Charge against me and as for that
which he farther urged concerning S. Gregory's Church Mr. Jingo Jones and others were trusted with that whole Business and were Censured for it in this present Parliament In all which Examination no part of the Charge fell on me And because here are so many things urged about Free-Chappels Lay-Fees Patents Appeals and the like I humbly desire a Salvo may be entred for me and that my Councel may be heard for matter of Law if any Doubt stick with your Lordships This Day ended I did according to my Resolution formerly taken move the Lords for Means considering my Charge in coming and how oft I had Attended and was not Heard Their Lordships considered of my Motion and sent me out Word I should Petition them I did humbly Petition their Lordships May 6. My Petition was presently sent down to the House of Commons that so by both Houses it might be recommended to the Committee for Sequestrations But upon a Speech in the House of Commons that it was fit to see what would become of me before they troubled themselves with thinking of Means for me my Petition was cast aside CAP. XXXI AT my Parting from the House I was ordered to appear again on Thursday May 9. But then fairly put off by an Order sent to the Lieutenant of the Tower to Munday May 13. so the Scorn and Charge of that Day was scaped But then I appeared according to this Order and had Scorn plenty for what I escaped the Day before And after long attendance was dismissed again unheard and had Thursday May 16. assigned unto me That Day held and proceeded thus The Ninth Day of my Hearing The First Charge of this Day was about a Reversion of the Town-Clerks Office of Shrewsbury to one Mr. Lee which he desired might be inserted into the new Charter First Mr. Lee is single here and in his own Case Secondly it appears by his own confession out of the Mouth of Mr. Barnard that there was a Reference of this Business to those Lords to whom Shrewsbury Charter was Referred For he says that Mr. Barnard told him his Business was stayed and he thought by me but did not know whether the Lord-Keeper's Hand were not in it So it seems by himself this was done by the Lords Referees and not by me Thirdly I did not then think nor do now that the Reversion of a Place to be sold for three Hundred Pound as he confesses that was was fit to be put into a Town Charter But yet neither I nor the Lord Keeper did any thing in that stop but what we acquainted his Majesty with and had his Approbation of And whereas he says that he acquainted the Right Honourable the Earl of Dorset with the stay that was made and That thereupon his Lordship should say Have we Two Kings I cannot believe that Honourable Lord would so say unless he were much abused by Mr. Lee's Information Both in regard of his Love to me And in regard it could not proceed from a Man of so great a Judgment as that Lord is For I beseech your Lordships consider may not Lords to whom a business is Referred give his Majesty good Reason to alter his Mind in some particulars which they have Debated and not he And may not this be done without any one of them taking on him to be a Second King The Second Charge was laid on me by Sir Arthur Haselrigg which should have come in the Day before as Mr. Nicolas said but that Sir Arthur was absent in the necessary service of the State Sir Arthur being single and in his own Case says That Sir John Lambe presented a Blind Parson to a Living of his If Sir John did that or any unworthy thing else AEtatem habet let him answer for himself He says farther That this Living is an Impropriation and so a Lay-Fee by Law and that when he told me so much I made him this answer That if I Lived no Man should Name or stand upon his Lay-Fee I conceive my Lords here 's a great mistake in the main For I have been Credibly informed and do believe that Benefice is Presentative and so no Lay-Fee And then there 's no Fault to present unto it so the Clerk be fit Secondly there is a main mistake in my Words which I remember well and where it was that I spake them My Words under this Gentleman's Favour and your Lordships were these and no other That I had good Information that the Benefice was Presentative and that if I lived I hoped to order it so that no Man should make a Presentative Benefice a Lay-Fee there were too many of them already Thirdly if I did speak the Words as they are Charged if they come within that Statute of Six Months so often mentioned to that I refer my Self Whatsoever the Bird at this time of the Year Sings as Mr. Nicolas was pleased to put it upon me And truly my Lords I could easily return all his Bitterness upon himself could it befit my Person my present Condition or my Calling The Third Charge was about the refusing of a Pardon which Mrs Bastwick said she produced in the High-Commission Court some Nine or Ten Years since And she adds that I should then say it should not serve his turn But this was no rejecting of the Pardon for she confesses I said I would move his Majesty about it So that if it did not serve his turn it was from the King himself upon Motion made and Reason given not from any Power assumed by the High-Commission or my self And the Act whatever it were was the Act of the whole Court not mine As for the Words if mine I give the same Answer as before notwithstanding Mr. Nicolas his Bird. The Fourth Charge was That whereas there was a Proclamation to be Printed about the Pacification with the Scots it was suddenly stopped and an Order after for burning of the Pacification First Mr. Hunscot is single in this Charge Secondly whatsoever was done in this was by Order of Council And himself names an Order which could not come from me Thirdly he Charges me with nothing but that I sent word the Proclamation was to be stayed Which if I did I did it by Command Howsoever this concerns the Scottish business and therefore to the Act of Oblivion I refer my self With this that I see by this Testimony Mr. Hunscourt for I took his Name uncertainly hath not yet forgotten Thou shalt commit Adultery So desirous he is to catch me at the Press The Fifth Charge was about a Benefice in North-Hamptonshire in the Case of Mr Fautrye and Mr Johnson and Dr Beal's succeeding them In which broken business for such it was First that business all along was acted by the High-Commission not by me Secondly that though in the Case of Simony the Benefice be lost Ipso Facto yet that must be proved before the Incumbent can be thrust out and
think my Lord Arch-Bishop hath done no Good Work in all his Life but these Men will object it as a Crime against him before they have done With this Charge about the Statutes it was let fall and I well know why It was to heat a Noble Person then present That I procured my self to be chosen Chancellour of that Vniversity If I had so done it might have been a great Ambition in me but surely no Treason But my Lords I have Proof great store might I be enabled to fetch it from Oxford that I was so far from endeavouring to procure this Honour to my self as that I laboured by my Letters for another And 't is well known that when they had chosen me I went instantly to his Majesty so soon as ever I heard it and humbly besought him that I might refuse it as well foreseeing the Envy that would follow me for it and it did plentifully every way But this for some Reasons his Majesty would not suffer me to do Then were objected against me divers Particulars contained in those Statutes As First the making of new Oaths The Charters of the Vniversity are not new and they gave Power to make Statutes for themselves and they have ever been upon Oath The next Illegality is That Men are tied to obey the Proctors in Singing the Litany This is Ancient and in use long before ever I came to the Vniversity and it is according to the Liturgy of the Church of England established by Law Thirdly The Statute of Bannition from the Vniversity But there is nothing more ancient in the Vniversity Statutes than this Fourthly That nothing should be propased in Convocation but what was consented unto among the Heads of Colleges first which was said to be against the Liberty of the Students The young Masters of Arts void of Experience were grown so tumultuous that no Peace could be kept in the Vniversity till my worthy Predecessor the Right Honourable William Earl of Pembroke setled this Order among them As he did also upon the same Grounds settle the present way of the choice of their Proctors In both which I did but follow and confirm for so much as lay in me the Good and Peaceable Grounds which he had laid in those two Businesses And Mr. Brown who in the summing up of my Charge urged this against me mainly mistook in two things The one was that he said this Inhibition of Proposals was in Congregations Whereas it was only in Convocations where more weighty Businesses are handled The other was that this stay of Proposals was made till I might be first acquainted with them No it was but till the Heads of Colleges had met and considered of them for avoiding of tumultuary Proceedings And when my Honourable Predecessor made that Order it was highly commended every where and is it now degenerated into a Crime because it is made up into a Statute Fifthly That some things are referred to Arbitrary Penalties And that some things are so referred is usual in that Vniversity and many Colleges have a particular Statute for it Nor is this any more Power than Ordinary School-Masters have which have not a Statute-Law for every Punishment they use in Schools And in divers things the old known Statute is that the Vice-Chancellour shall proceed Grosso Modo that is without the regular Forms of Law for the more speedy ending of Differences among the Scholars Sixthly That the Statute made by me against Conventicles is very strict But for these that Statute is express De Illicitis Conventiculis and I hope such as are unlawful may be both forbid and punished Besides it is according to the Charter of Richard the Second to that Vniversity The Seventh was the Power of Discommoning But this also hath ever been in Power and in Usage in that Vniversity as is commonly known to all Oxford-Men And no longer since than King James his time Bishop King then Vice-Chancellor Discommuned Three or Four Towns-Men together Next That Students were bound to go to Prison upon the Vice-Chancellors or Proctors Command This also was Ancient and long before my coming to the Vniversity And your Lordships may be sure the Delegacy appointed by themselves would not have admitted it had it not been Ancient and Usual Lastly about the stay of granting Graces unless there were Testimony from the Bishop of the Diocess This was for no Graces but of such as Live not Resident in the Vniversity and so they could not judge of their Manners and Conversation And for their Conformity to the Church of England none as I conceive can be a fitter Witness than the Bishop of the Diocess in which they resided And my Lords for all these thus drawn up by some of their own Body I obtained of his Majesty his Broad Seal for Confirmation And therefore no one thing in them is by any Assumption of Papal Power as 't is urged but by the King's Power only Then followed the Seventh Charge about the Statutes of some Cathedral Churches First my Lords for this I did it by Letters-Patents from the King bearing Date Mar. 31. Decimo Caroli and is extant upon Record And all that was done was Per Juris Remedia and so nothing intended against Law nor done that I know They had extream need of Statutes for all lay loose for want of confirmation and Men did what they listed And I could not but observe it for I was Dean of Gloucester where I found it so In seeking to remedy this I had nothing but my Labour for my Pains and now this Accusation to Boot The Particulars urged are That I had Ordered that nothing should be done in these Statutes Me inconsulto And I had great Reason for it For since I was principally trusted in that work by his Majesty the King if any Complaint were made would expect the account from me And how could I give it if other Men might do all and I not be so much as consulted before they passed 2. That I made a Statute against letting Leases into three Lives But first my Lords the Statute which makes it lawful to let Leases for One and Twenty Years or three Lives hath this limitation in it that they shall not let for any more Years than are limited by the said Colleges or Churches Now in Winchester Church and some other the old local Statute is most plain that they shall let no Lease into Lives Let the Dean and Prebendaries Answer their own Acts and their Consciences as they can And in those Statutes which I did not find pregnant to that purpose I did not make the Statute absolute but left them free to renew all such Leases as were Anciently in Lives before And this give me leave to say to your Lordships without offence If but a few more Leases be granted into Lives no Bishop nor Cathedral Church shall be able to subsist And this is
agrees as he said with my Judgment For that in a Paper of Bishop Harsnett's there is a Marginal Note in my Hand that Salvo Jure Coronae is understood in the Oaths of a King But first there 's a great deal of difference between Jus Regis Praerogativa between the Right and Inheritance of the King and his Prerogative though never so Legal And with Submission and until I shall be convinced herein I must believe that no King can Swear himself out of his Native Right Secondly If this were and still be an Error in my Judgment that 's no Argument at all to prove Malice in my Will That because that is my Judgment for Jus Regis therefore I must thrust Praerogativam Regis which is not my Judgment into a Publick Oath which I had no Power to alter These were all the Proofs which Mr. Maynard at first and Mr. Brown at last brought against me in this Particular And they are all but Conjectural and the Conjectures weak But that I did not alter this Oath by adding the Prerogative the Proofs I shall bring are Pregnant and some of them Necessary They are these 1. My Predecessor was one of the Grand Committee for these Ceremonies That was proved by his Servants to the Lords Now his known Love to the Publick was such as that he would never have suffered me or any other to make such an Alteration Nor would he have concealed such a Crime in me loving me so well as he did 2. Secondly 'T is Notoriously known that he Crowned the King and Administred the Oath which was avowed also before the Lords by his Ancient Servants And it cannot be rationally conceived he would ever have Administred such an alter'd Oath to his Majesty 3. Thirdly 'T is expressed in my Diary at Januar. 31. 1625. And that must be good Evidence for me having been so often produced against me that divers great Lords were in this Committee for the Ceremonies and did that Day sit in Council upon them And can it be thought they would not so much as compare the Books Or that comparing of them they would indure an Oath with such an Alteration to be Tender'd to the King Especially since 't is before confessed that One Copy of King James his Coronation had this Alteration in it and the other had it not 4. Fourthly 'T is expressed in my Diary and made use of against me at Januar. 23. 1625. That this Book urged against me did agree per Omnia cum Libro Regali in all things with the King's Book brought out of the Exchequer And if the Book that I then had and is now insisted upon did agree with that Book which came out of the Exchequer and that in all things how is it possible I should make this Alteration 5. Fifthly with much Labour I got the Books to be compared in the Lords House That of King James his Coronation and this of King Charles And they were found to agree in all things to a Syllable Therefore 't is impossible this should be added by me And this I conceive cuts off all Conjectural Proofs to the contrary Lastly In the Printed Book of the Votes of this present Parliament it is acknowledged that the Oath given to King James and King Charles was the same The same Therefore unaltered And this Passage of that Book I then shewed the Lords in my Defence To this Mr. Maynard then replyed That the Votes there mentioned were upon the Word Elegerit and the doubt whether it should be hath chosen or shall chuse I might not then Answer to the Reply but the Answer is plain For be the occasion which led on the Votes what it will as long as the Oath is acknowledged the same 't is manifest it could not be altered by me And I doubt not but these Reasons will give this Honourable House Satisfaction that I added not this Particular of the Prerogative to the Oath Mr. Brown in his last Reply passed over the other Arguments I know not how But against this he took Exception He brought the Book with him and Read the Passage And said as far as I remember that the Votes had Relation to the Word Chuse and not to this Alteration Which is in Effect the same which Mr. Maynard urged before I might not Reply by the Course of the Court but I have again considered of that Passage and find it plain Thus First they say They have considered of all the Alterations in the Form of this Oath which they can find Therefore of this Alteration also if any such were Then they say Excepting that Oath which was taken by his Majesty and his Father King James There it is confessed that the Oath taken by them was one and the same called there That Oath which was taken by both Where falls the Exception then For 't is said Excepting that Oath c. why it follows Excepting that the Word Chuse is wholly left out as well hath Chosen as will Chuse Which is a most manifest and evident Confession that the Oath of King James and King Charles was the same in all things to the very leaving out of the Word Chuse Therefore it was the same Oath all along No difference at all For Exceptio firmat Regulam in non Exceptis and here 's no Exception at all of this Clause of the Prerogative Therefore the Oath of both the Kings was the same in that or else the Votes would have been sure to mention it Where it may be observed too that Serjeant Wilde though he knew these Votes and was present both at the Debate and the Voting and so must know that the Word Chuse was omitted in both the Oaths yet at the first he Charged it eagerly upon me that I had left this Clause of Chusing out of King Charles his Oath and added the other God forgive him But the World may see by this and some other Passages with what Art my Life was sought for And yet before I quite leave this Oath I may say 't is not altogether improbable that this Clause And agreeing to the Prerogative of the King 's thereof was added to the Oath in Edward 6. or Queen Elizabeth's time And hath no Relation at all to the Laws of this Kingdom absolutely mentioned before in the beginning of this Oath But only to the Words The Profession of the Gospel Established in this Kingdom And then immediately follows And agreeing to the Prerogative of the Kings thereof By which the King Swears to maintain his Prerogative according to God's Law and the Gospel Established against all foreign Claims and Jurisdictions whatsoever And if this be the meaning he that made the Alteration whoever it were for I did it not deserves Thanks for it and not the Reward of a Traytor Now to return to the Day The Fourth Charge went on with the Ceremonies still But Mr. Serjeant was very nimble For he leaped from the Coronation at Westminster
Articles Which follow in haec Verba The Eighth Article 8. That for the better advancing of his Trayterous Purpose and Design he did abuse the great Power and Trust his Majesty reposed in him and did intrude upon the Places of divers great Officers and upon the Right of other his Majesty's Subjects whereby he did procure to himself the Nomination of sundry Persons to Ecclesiastical Dignities Promotions and Benefices belonging to his Majesty and divers of the Nobility Clergy and others and hath taken upon him the commendation of Chaplains to the King by which means he hath preferred to his Majesty's Service and to other great Promotions in the Church such as have been Popishly affected or otherwise Vnsound and Corrupt both in Doctrine and Manners The Ninth Article 9. He hath for the same Trayterous and Wicked intent chosen and imployed such Men to be his Chaplains whom he knew to be Notoriously disaffected to the Reformed Religion grosty addicted to Popish Superstition and Erroneous and Vnsound both in Judgment and Practice and to them or some of them he hath committed the Licensing of Books to be Printed by which means divers False and Superstitious Books have been Published to the great Scandal of Religion and to the 〈◊〉 of many of his Majesty's Subjects The Fourteenth Day of my Hearing At the ending of the former days Charge I was put off to this day which held The First Charge was concerning Mr. Damport's leaving his Benefice in London and going into Holland 1. The First Witness for this was Quaterman a bitter Enemy of mine God forgive him He speaks as if he had fled from his Ministry here for fear of me But the Second Witness Mr. Dukeswell says that he went away upon a Warrant that came to Summon him into the High Commission The Truth is my Lords and 't is well known and to some of his best Friends that I preserved him once before and my Lord Veer came and gave me Thanks for it If after this he fell into danger again Majus Peccatum habet I cannot preserve Men that will continue in dangerous courses He says farther and in this the other Witness agrees with him That when I heard he was gone into New-England I should say my Arm should reach him there The Words I remember not But for the thing I cannot think it fit that any Plantation should secure any Offender against the Church of England And therefore if I did say my Arm should reach him or them so offending I know no Crime in it so long as my Arm reached no Man but by the Law 2. The Second Witness Mr. Dukeswell adds nothing to this but that he says Sir Maurice Abbot kept him in before For which Testimony I thank him For by this it appears that Mr. Damport was a dangerous Factious Man and so accounted in my Predecessor's Time and it seems Prosecuted then too that his Brother Sir Maurice Abbot was fain being then a Parishioner of his to labour hard to keep him in The Second Charge was concerning Nathaniel Wickens a Servant of Mr. Pryns 1. The First Witness in this Cause was William Wickens Father to Nathaniel He says his Son was Nine Weeks in divers Prisons and for no Cause but for that he was Mr. Pryn's Servant But it appears apud Acta that there were many Articles of great Misdemeanour against him And afterwards himself adds That he knew no Cause but his refusing to take the Oath Ex Officio Why but if he knew that then he knew another Cause beside his being Mr. Pryn's Servant Unless he will say all Mr. Pryn's Servants refuse that Oath and all that refuse that Oath are Mr. Pryn's Servants As for the Sentence which was laid upon him and the Imprisonment that was the Act of the High-Commission not mine Then he says That my Hand was first in the Warrant for his Commitment And so it was to be of course 2. The Second Witness was Sarah Wayman She says that he refused to take the Oath Therefore he was not committed for being Mr. Pryn's Servant She says that for refusing the Oath he was threatned he should be taken pro Confesso And that when one of the Doctors replyed that could not be done by the Order of the Court I should say I would have an Order by the next Court Day 'T is manifest in the Course of that Court that any Man may be taken pro Confesso that will not take the Oath and answer Yet seeing how that party of Men prevailed and that one Doctors doubting might breed more Difference to the great Scandal and Weakning of that Court I publickly acquainted his Majesty and the Lords with it Who were all of Opinion that if such Refusers might not be taken pro Confesso the whole Power of the Court was shaken And hereupon his Majesty sent his Letter under his Signet to command us to uphold the Power of the Court and to proceed She says farther that he desired the sight of his Articles which was denyed him It was the constant and known Course of that Court that he might not see the Articles till he had taken the Oath which he refused to do 3. The Third Witness was one Flower He agrees about the business of taking him pro Confesso But that 's answerd He adds that there was nothing laid to his Charge and yet confesses that Wickens desired to see the Articles that were against him This is a pretty Oath There were Articles against him which he desired to see and yet there was nothing laid to his Charge 4. Then was produced his Majesty's Letter sent unto us And herein the King requires us by his Supream Power Ecclesiastical to proceed c. We had been in a fine case had we disobeyed this Command Besides my Lords I pray mark it we are enjoyned to proceed by the King 's Supream Power Ecclesiastical and yet it is here urged against me that this was done to bring in Popery An Excellent new way of bringing in Popery by the King's Supremacy Yea but they say I should not have procured this Letter Why I hope I may by all Lawful ways preserve the Honour and just Power of the Court in which I sat And 't is expressed in the Letter that no 〈◊〉 was done than was agreeable to the Laws and Customs of the Realm And 't is known that both an Oath and a taking pro Confesso in point of refusal are used both in the Star-Chamber and in the Chancery 5. The last Witness was Mr. Pryn who says That his Man was not suffered to come to him during his Soarness when his ears were Cropped This Favour should have been asked of the Court of Star-Chamber not of me And yet here is no Proof that I denyed him this but the bare Report of him whom he says he employed Nor do I remember any Man's coming to me about it The Third Charge followed it was concerning stopping of Book
from the Press both Old and New and expunging some things out of them 1. The first Instance was about the English Bibles with the Geneva Notes The Bibles with those Notes were tolerated indeed both in Queen Elizabeths and King James his Time but allowed by Authority in neither And King James said plainly That he thought the Geneva Translation was the worst and many of the Notes very Partial Vntrue Seditious and savouring too much of Dangerous and Traiterous Conceits And gave Instance This passage I then read to the Lords And withal told them that now of late these Notes were more commonly used to ill purposes than formerly and that that was the Cause why the High-Commission was more careful and strict against them than before Here Michael Sparks the Elder came in as Witness and said he was called into the High Commission about these Books But he confesses it was not only for them He says the restraint of those Bibles was for the Notes But he adds as he supposes And his Supposal is no Proof Besides he might have added here also that the restraint was not for the Notes only For by the numerous coming over of Bibles both with and without Notes from Amsterdam there was a great and a just fear conceived that by little and little Printing would quite be carried out of the Kingdom For the Books which came thence were better Print better Bound better Paper and for all the Charges of bringing sold better Cheap And would any Man Buy a worse Bible Dearer that might have a better more Cheap And to preserve Printing here at home as well as the Notes was the Cause of stricter looking to those Bibles And this appears by a Letter of Sir William Boswell's his Majesty's Agent in the Low Countreys the Letter written to me and now produced against me But makes for me as I conceive For therein he sends me word of two Impressions of the Bible in English one with Notes and the other without And desires me to take care to regulate this business at home What should I do Should I sleep upon such Advertisements as these and from such a hand Especially since he sends word also that Dr. Amyes was then Printing of a Book wholly against the Church of England So my Care was against all underminings both at home and abroad of the Established Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England for which I am now like to suffer And I pray God that point of Arminianism Libertas Prophetandi do not more Mischief in short time than is expressible by me 2. The Second Instance was about the New Decree of the 〈◊〉 concerning Printing Four Articles of this Decree were read namely the 1 2 18 24. What these are may be seen in the Deecree And as I think that whole Decree made Anno 1637. useful and necessary So under your Lordships Favour I think those Four Articles as necessary as any Mr. Waly and Mr. Downes two Stationers Witnesses in this Particular say That they desired some Mitigation of the Decree and that Judge Bramston said he could not do it without me I saw my Lord Chief Justice Bramston here in the Court but the other Day why was not he examined but these Men only who oppose all Regulating of the Press that opposes their Profit And sure that grave Judge meant he could not do it alone without the consent of the Court. Or if he would have me Consulted it was out of his Judicious Care for the Peace of this Church almost Pressed to Death by the Liberty of Printing The Chief Grievance they Expressed against the new Licensing of Books was only for matter of Charges But that is provided for in the Eighteenth Article And Mr. Downes takes a fine Oath which was that he makes no doubt but that all was done by my Direction and yet adds that he cannot say it So he swears that which himself confesses he cannot say And manifest it is in the Preface that this Decree was Printed by Order of the Court and so by their Command sent to the Stationers Hall And the end of it was to suppress Seditious Schismatical and Mutinous Books as appears in the First Article 3. The Third Instance was That I used my Power to suppress Books in Holland This was drawn out of a Letter which John le Mare one of the Prime Preachers in Amsterdam writ to me expressing therein that since the Proclamation made by the States no Man durst meddle with Printing any Seditious Libels against either the State or Church of England Where 's the Fault For this Gentleman did a very good Office to this Kingdom and Church in procuring that Proclamation For till this was done every discontented Spirit could Print what he pleased at Amsterdam against either And if he had any Direction from me about it which is not proved I neither am nor can be sorry for it And the Fear which kept Men in from Printing proceeded from the Proclamation of the States not from any Power of mine 4. The Fourth Instance was in the Book of Martyrs But that was but named to Credit a base Business an Almanack made by one Mr. Genebrand In which he had left out all the Saints Apostles and all and put in those which are named in Mr. Fox And yet not all them neither for he had left out the Solemn Days which are in Fox as Feb. 2. Feb. 25. Mar. 25. And Cranmer Translated to Mar. 23. In this Particular Mr. Genebrand Brother to this Almanack-maker witnesseth that the Queen sent to me about this New Almanack If her Majesty did send to me about it as 't is probable she would disdain the Book is that any Crime in me Could I prevent her Majestys sending who could not know so much as that she would send He says his Brother was acquitted in the High-Commission but charged by me that he made a Faction in the Court If I did say so surely my Lords I saw some practising by him in this new-found way He says the Papists bought up a great number of these Almanacks and burnt them It seems he could not hinder that nor I neither unless it shall not be Lawful for a Papist to buy an Almanack For when he hath bought him he may burn him if he please But since the Book of Martyrs was named I shall tell your Lordships how careful I was of it It is well known how easily Abridgments by their Brevity and their Cheapness in short time work out the Authors themselves Mr. Young the Printer laboured me earnestly and often for an Abridgment of the Book of Martyrs But I still withstood it as my Secretary here present can Testifie upon these two Grounds The one lest it should bring the large Book it self into disuse And the other lest if any Material thing should be left out that should have been charged as done of purpose by me as now I see it is in other Books
And I humbly pray your Lordships cast your Eyes upon the Frontispiece of the Book of Martyrs Printed An 1642. since this Parliament began and when I was safe enough from having any Hand in the Business and there you shall see as dangerous Pictures as have been charged upon me or any my Chappel Windows Upon Occasion of Mr. Genebrand's Calendar Mr. Pryn took occasion to tell the Lords that I had made Notes upon the Calendar in the Missal I desired they might be read It was thought too tedious They were nothing but some Additions of my own reading to the Occurrences on some Days And because the Calendar in the Missal was open and large I thought fit to Write them there 5. The Fifth Instance is in Dr. Pocklinton his Censure of ....... and of Flaccius Illyricus And that this Book was Licensed by my Chaplain Dr. Bray And he was Censured in this Honourable House for that and like slips of his Then it was inferred at the Bar That it must be taken as my Act if it were done by my Chaplain But Inferences are no sworn Proof And I conceive no Man can by Law be punished criminally for his Servants Fact Unless there be Proof that he had a hand in it Then it was urged but without any Proof too that Dr. Pocklinton was preferred by me To which I shall answer when Proof is made And if I had 't is far enough from Treason 6. The next Instance was about the calling in of Thomas Beacons Disputation of the Mass. The Witness Mr. Pryn. He says the Book was Licensed and that a Papist thereupon said doth my Lord of Canterbury License such Books That I was informed of these Words and the Book called in the next Day First Mr. Pryn is single in this part of the Testimony for the Words Secondly if any Papist did say so it was not in my Power to stop his Mouth and they which License Books must indure many and various Censures as the Readers of them stand affected Thirdly if any Papist did so speak I have reason to think it was to do me a Mischief as much as in him lay Fourthly this is a very bold Oath For he swears that I was Informed of these Words He was not present to hear it and then he can have it but by Hearsay and no Religion teaches him to swear that for Truth which he doth but hear Lastly the Book was called in because it was slipt out contrary to the late Decree for Printing Yea but Mr. Pryn Swears and so doth Michael Sparks the other Witness that the Book was sent to the Printer before the Decree But first Sparks his Oath is uncertain for he says Mr. Pryn sent him the Book before the Decree and then by and by after says it was about that time Now the Book is somwhat large so that it might be sent him before the Decree and yet not be Printed till after and that a good space too And Secondly Mr. Pryn himself confesses the Book was sent when the Decree was in agitation 7. The Seventh Instance was about Arminianism as maintained by me against the Declarations of both Houses of Parliament and of King James concerning Vorstius and Bertius First I have nothing to do to defend Arminianism no Man having yet charged me with the abetting any point of it Secondly King James his Declaration is very Learned But under Favour he puts a great deal of difference between Vorstius and Bertius And his Majesty's Opinion is clear with the Article of the Church of England and so Expressed by himself And to which I ever Consented And the Passage in the Conference at Hampton-Court was then read to the Lords and yet for the Peace of Christendom and the strengthning of the Reformed Religion I do heartily wish these Differences were not pursued with such Heat and Animosity in regard that all the Lutheran Protestants are of the very same Opinions or with very little difference from those which are now called Arminianism And here comes in Michael Sparks who says He was called into the High-Commission about a Book of Bishop Carletons I cannot punctually remember all Particulars so long since But he confesses the Business was in the High-Commission And so not singly chargable against me Besides he is single in this Business He says he was Eleven Years in the High-Commission and never Sentenced This is more than I know But if it be so he had better luck than some Honester Men. For a bitterer Enemy to his power the Church-Government never had He was Mr. Pryn's Printer He says I was a Dean then and he thinks of Hereford I was never Dean of Hereford But howsoever this is a dangerous Oath let him think of it He Swears that I was a Dean then and a High-Commissioner or else what had I to do in the Business Now it is well known I was never a High-Commissioner till I had been a Bishop some Years For the Book it self Sparks says nothing what was the Argument of it But so far as I remember it was expresly against the King's Declaration And so I Answer'd Mr. Brown when he summed up the Evidence against me in the House of Commons And though in his Reply he seemed to deny this yet I remember no Proof he brought for it 8. The last Instance was pregnant and brought forth many Particulars As First Dr Featly's Parallels against Bishop Mountague But this was Still-born at least it says nothing of me Secondly Mr. Pryn's Perpetuity and against Dr Cosens both burnt But he doth not say absolutely burnt but as he is informed and he may be informed amiss And howsoever he says it was done by the High-Commission not by me Thirdly some Sheets of Dr. Succliff's Book Prohibited the Press at Oxford I hope Oxford is able to give an Account for it self And whereas it was here said at the Bar They hoped I would shew some repressing of the contrary part I would satisfie their Hopes abundantly could I bring Witnesses from Oxford how even and steddy a Hand I carried to both parts Fourthly Mr. Burton questioned about his Book called The seven Vials But himself confesses that upon Sir Henry Martin's Information that as that Cause was laid the High-Commission had no power in it he was dismissed Fifthly That about his Book Intituled Babel no Bethel he was questioned at a Court out of Term. This was very usual whensoever the Court was full of Business to hold one Court-day out of Term. This is Warranted by the Commission And warning of it was always publickly given the Court-day before that all whom it concerned might take notice of it and provide themselves Sixthly he says he was there railed at by Bishop Harsnet 'T is more than I know that Bishop Harsnet railed at him but if he did I hope I am not brought hither to Answer all Mens faults Seventhly he says he claimed the Petition of
all the Proof here made mentions him only by whom the Kings Pleasure is signified not him that procures the Preferment So the Docket in this Case no Proof at all The Fifth Charge was a Paper Intituled Considerations for the Church Three Exceptions against them The Observation of the King's Declaration Art 3. The Lecturers Art 5. And the High-Commission and Prohibitions Art 10 11. The Paper I desired might be all Read Nothing in them against either Law or Religion And for Lecturers a better care taken and with more Ease to the People and more Peace to the Church by a Combination of Conformable Neighbouring Ministers in their turns and not by some one Humorous Man who too often mis-leads the People Secondly my Copy of Considerations came from Arch-Bishop Harsnet in which was some sour Expression concerning Emanuel and Sidney Colleges in Cambridge which the King in his Wisdom thought fit to leave out The King's Instructions upon these Considerations are under Mr. Baker's Hand who was Secretary to my Predecessor And they were sent to me to make Exceptions to them if I knew any in regard of the Ministers of London whereof I was then Bishop And by this that they were thus sent unto me by my Predecessor 't is manifest that this account from the several Dioceses to the Arch-Bishop and from him to his Majesty once a Year was begun before my time Howsoever if it had not I should have been glad of the Honour of it had it begun in mine For I humbly conceive there cannot be a better or a safer way to preserve Truth and Peace in the Church than that once a Year every Bishop should give an account of all greater Occurrences in the Church to his Metropolitan and he to the King Without which the King who is the Supream is like to be a great Stranger to all Church Proceedings The Sixth Charge was about Dr Sibthorp's Sermon that my Predecessor opposed the Printing of it and that I opposed him to Affront the Parliament Nothing so my Lords Nothing done by me to oppose or affront the One or the Other This Sermon came forth when the Loan was not yet settled in Parliament The Lords and the Judges and the Bishops were some for some against it And if my Judgment were Erroneous in that Point it was mis-led by Lords of great Honour and Experience and by Judges of great knowledge in the Law But I did nothing to affront any 'T is said that I inserted into the Sermon that the People may not refuse any Tax that is not unjustly laid I conceive nothing is justly laid in that kind but according to Law Gods and Mans. And I dare not say the People may refuse any thing so laid For Jus Regis the Right of a King which is urged against me too I never went farther than the Scriptures lead me Nor did I ever think that Jus Regis mentioned 1 Sam 8 is meant of the Ordinary and just Right of Kings but of that Power which such as Saul would be would assume unto themselves and make it right by Power Then they say I expunged some things out of it As first The Sabbath and put instead of it the Lords Day What 's my Offence Sabbath is the Jews Word and the Lords-Day the Christians Secondly about Evil Counseilors to be used as Haman The Passage as there Expressed was very Scandalous and without just Cause upon the Lords of the Council And they might justly have thought I had wanted Discretion should I have left it in Thirdly that I expunged this that Popery is against the first and the second Commandment If I did it it was because it is much doubted by Learned Men whether any thing in Popery is against the first Commandment or denies the Unity of the God-head And Mr. Perkins who Charges very home against Popery lays not the Breach of the first Commandment upon them And when I gave Mr. Brown this Answer In his last Reply he asked why I left out both Why I did it because its being against the second is common and obvious and I did not think it worthy the standing in such a Sermon when it could not be made good against the first But they demanded why I should make any Animadversions at all upon the Sermon It was thus The Sermon being presented to his Majesty and the Argument not common he committed the Care of Printing it to Bishop Mountain the Bishop of London and four other of which I was one And this was the Reason of the Animadversions now called mine As also of the Answer to my Predecessors Exceptions now Charged also and called mine But it was the Joint Answer of the Committee And so is that other Particular also In which the whole Business is left to the Learned in the Laws For though the Animadversions be in my Hand yet they were done at and by the Committee only I being puny Bishop was put to write them in my Hand The Seventh Charge was Dr Manwaring's Business and Preferment It was handled before only resumed here to make a Noise and so passed it over The Eighth Charge was concerning some Alterations in the Prayers made for the Fifth of November and in the Book for the Fast which was Published An 1636. And the Prayers on Coronation Day 1. First for the Fast-Book The Prayer mentioned was altered as is Expressed but it was by him that had the Ordering of that Book to the Press not by me Yet I cannot but approve the Reason given for it and that without any the least approbation of Merit For the Abuse of Fasting by thinking it Meritorious is the thing left out whereas in this Age and Kingdom when and where set Fastings of the Church are cryed down there can be little fear of that Erroneous Opinion of placing any Merit in Fasting 2 Secondly for the Prayers Published for the Fifth of November and Coronation Day The Alterations were made either by the King himself or some about him when I was not in Court And the Books sent me with a Command for the Printing as there altered I made stay till I might wait upon his Majesty I found him resolved upon the alterations nor in my judgment could I justly except against them His Majesty then gave Warrant to the Books themselves with the alterations in them and so by his Warrant I commanded the Printing And I then shewed both the Books to the Lords who Viewed them and acknowledged his Ma jesty ' Hand with which not his Name only but the whole Warrant was written And here I humbly desired three things might be observed and I still desire it First with what Conscience this passage out of my Speech in the Star Chamber was urged against me for so it was and fiercely by Mr. Nicolas to prove that I had altered the Oath at the King's Coronation because the Prayers appointed for the Anniversary of the Coronation were
to that which should be his Quiet the Grave 7. The Seventh was Arch-Bishop Neile a Man well known to be as true to and as stout for the Church of England established by Law as any Man that came to Preferment in it Nor could his great Enemy Mr. Smart say any thing now against him but a Hearsay from one Dr. Moor of Winchester And I cannot but profess it grieves me much to hear so many Honest and Worthy Men so used when the Grave hath shut up their Mouths from answering for themselves 8. The next was Dr Cosin to be Dean of Peterborough I named Four of his Majesty's Chaplains to him as he had Commanded me And the King pitched upon Dr. Cosens in regard all the Means he then had lay in and about Duresm and was then in the Scots Hands so that he had nothing but Forty Pound a Year by his Headship in Peter-House to maintain himself his Wife and Children 9. The Ninth was Dr. Potter a known Arminian to the Deanery of Worcester What Proof of this Nothing but the Docket And what of the Crime Nothing but Dr. Featly's Testimony who says no more but this That Dr. Potter was at first against Arminianism that 's Absolute But afterwards he defended it as he hath heard there 's a Hearsay 10. The Tenth was Dr Baker 11. The Eleventh Dr Weeks Both very Honest and Able Men but Preferred by their own Lord the Lord Bishop of London 12. The Twelfth was Dr Bray He had been my Chaplain above Ten Years in my House I found him a very Able and an Honest Man and had reason to Prefer him to be able to Live well and I did so Here is nothing objected against him but his Expungings and not Expungings of some Books which if he were Living I well hope he would be able to give good Account for 13. The Thirteenth Dr Heylin He is known to be a Learned and an Able Man but for his Preferment both to be his Majesty's Chaplain and for that which he got in that Service he owes it under God to the Memory of the Earl of Danby who took care of him in the University 14. After these they named some whom they said I preferred to be the King's Chaplains The Witness here Mr. Oldsworth the Lord Chamberlain's Secretary He says the Power and Practice of naming Chaplains was in the Lord Chamberlain for these 25. Years And I say 't is so still for ought I know He says that in all things concerning which the Lord Chamberlain's Warrant went in this Form These are to will and require you c. that there his Lordship did it without consulting the King and that the Warrant for Chaplains run all in this Form First this is more than I know or ever heard of till now Secondly be it so yet 't is hard to deny the King to hear Men Preach before they be sworn his Chaplains if his Majesty desire it since it argues a great care in the King especially in such a Factious time as began to overlay this Church Thirdly he confesses that he knows not who put the King upon this way but believes that I did it He is single and his belief only is no Evidence And whosoever gave the King that Advice deserved very well both of his Majesty and the Church of England That none might be put about him in that Service but such as himself should approve of But that which troubled this Witness was another thing He had not Money for every one that was made Chaplain nor Money to get them a Month to wait in nor Money to change their Month if it were inconvenient for their other Occasions nor Money for sparing their Attendance when they pleased In which and other things I would he had been as careful of his Lord's Honour as I have been in all things For 't is well known in Court I observed his Lordship as much as any Man The Men which are instanced in are Dr Heylin But he was preferred to that Service by my Lord the Earl of Danby Then Dr. Potter But the Lord Keeper Coventry was his means Dr. Cosens was preferred by Bishop Neile whose Chaplain he had been many Years and he moved the Lord Chamberlain for it Dr Lawrence was my Lord Chamberlain's own Chaplain and preferred by himself and in all likelyhood by Mr. Oldsworth's means For he was Fellow of Magdalen College in Oxford as Mr. Oldsworth himself was and he once to my Knowledge had a great Opinion of him Dr. Haywood indeed was my Chaplain but I preferred him not to his Majesty till he had Preached divers times in Court with great Approbation nor then but with my Lord Chamberlain's Love and Liking As for Dr. Pocklington I know not who recommended him nor is there any Proof offered that I did it 15. Then they proceeded to my own Chaplains They name Four of them First Dr. Weeks But he was never in my House never medled with the Licensing of any Books till he was gone from me to the Bishop of London So he is charged with no Fault so long as he was mine The Second Dr Haywood But he is charged with nothing but Sales which was a most desperate Plot against him as is before shewed The Third was Dr. Martin Against him came Mr. Pryn for his Arminian Sermon at S. Pauls Cross. But that 's answered before And Mr. Walker who said he proposed Arminian Questions to divers Ministers Belike such as were to be examined by him But he adds as these Ministers told him So 't is but a Hear-say And say he did propose such Questions may it not be fit enough to try how able they were to answer them The Fourth was Dr. Bray Against him Dr. Featly was again produced for that which he had expunged out of his Sermons But when I saw this so often inculcated to make a noise I humbly desired of the Lords that I might ask Dr. Featly one Question Upon leave granted I asked him Whether nothing were of late expunged out of a Book of his written against a Priest and desired him to speak upon the Oath he had taken He answered roundly that divers passages against the Anabaptists and some in defence of the Liturgy of the Church of England were expunged I asked by whom He said by Mr. Rouse and the Committee or by Mr. Rouse or the Committee Be it which it will I observed to the Lords that Mr. Rouse and the Committee might expunge Passages against the Anabaptists nay for the Liturgy established by Law but my Chaplains may not expunge any thing against the Papists though perhaps mistaken From thence they fell upon Men whom they said I had preferred to Benefices They named but Two Dr Heylin was one again whom I preferred not The other was Dr Jackson the late President of Corpus Christi College in Oxford Dr Featly being produced said Dr Jackson was a known Arminian If so to him 't is well The Man
is Dead and cannot answer for himself Thus far I can for him without medling with any his Opinions He was very Honest and very Learned and at those Years he was of might deserve more than a Poor Benefice 16. Here Mr Pryn came in again and Testified very boldly that I gave many Benefices which were in the Gift of the Master of the Wards And all Preferments only to such Men as were for Ceremonies Popery and Arminianism For the First of these two the Business was thus There arose a Difference between the then Lord Keeper Coventry and the Lord Cottington then Master of the Wards about the disposing of those Benefices It grew somewhat high and came to Hearing by the King himself His Majesty upon Hearing gave the right of Sealing to the Lord Keeper but for the time till more might appear reserved the Giving to himself that he might have some of those lesser Preferments to bestow on such Ministers as attended upon his Navy then at Sea I never gave any one of these Benefices in my Life And that this Story is of Truth the Lord Cottington is yet living and can Witness it And this very Answer I gave to Mr. Brown who in summing up the Charge laid this also upon me and without mentioning what Answer I gave to it For the Second that I preferred none but such Men. 'T is known I preferred Bishop Hall to Exeter Dr. Potter to Carlile Dr. Cook to Bristol first and then to Hereford That I gave Dr. Westfield the Archdeaconry of S. Albans that I was Dr. Fells means for Christ-Church and Dr. Higgs his for the Deanery of Litchfield that I setled Dr. Downing at Hackney and Mr. Herrick at Manchester when the Broad Seal formerly given him was questioned That I gave two of my own Benefices to Mr. Palmer and Mr. Taylor two of the now Synod an Hospital to Dr Jackson of Canterbury and a Benefice to his Son in Law at his Suit I could not Name all these upon the sudden yet some I did and no one of them guilty of this Charge in the least Mr. Brown in his Summary said I could name but one or two And when in my Answer made in the House of Commons I specified more among which Mr Palmer was one Mr. Brown said in his Reply that Mr Palmer had indeed his Benesice of my giving so himself told him but it was at the Entreaty of a great Noble-Man Say it were Mr. Palmer was then a stranger to me Some body must speak and assure me of his Wants and Worth or I cannot give But if upon this I give it freely is it worth no thanks from him because a Noble-Man spake to me Let Mr. Palmer rank this Gratitude among his other Vertues 17. From hence they stepped over into Ireland and objected my preferring of Dr Chappel to be Master of the College at Dublin Here the first Witness is Mr. Walker He says that all his Scholars were Arminians This is a great sign but not full Proof He says that Dr. Chappel was at First fierce against them but afterward changed his Mind Dr. Featly said the like of Dr. Potter Some say Arminius himself was at first Zealous against those Opinions but studying hard to confute them changed his own Mind Take heed Mr. Walker do not Study these Points too hard For my own part Dr. Chappel was a Cambridge Man altogether unknown to me save that I received from thence great Testimony of his Abilities and fitness for Government which that College then extreamly wanted And no Man ever complained to me that he favoured Arminianism The other Witness was Dr. Hoyle a Fellow of the College in Dublin He says that the Doctor did maintain in that College Justification by Works and in Christ-Church Arminianism In this he is single But if it be true why did not the Lord Primate of Armagh Punish him for he says he knew it That he opposed some things in the Synod And it may be there was just Cause for it Lastly he says the late Lord Deputy liked not the Irish Articles but gave them an Honourable Burial as he says the Lord Primate himself confessed I am a stranger to all this nor doth Dr. Hoyle charge any thing against me but says that they which did this were supposed to have some Friend in England And surely their Carriage was very ill if they had none 18. Then were Letters read of my Lord Primate's to me in which is Testified my Care of the Patrimony of that Church And then a Paper of Instructions given by me to the Lord Deputy at his first going into that Kingdom For the First though it be thrust in here among matters of Religion yet I pray your Lordships to consider 't is about the Patrimony of that Church only And I thank them heartily for producing it For in this Letter is a full confession of my Lord Primate's that the motion of getting the Impropriations from his Majesty formerly objected against me proceeded from him as I then pleaded And the Letter was read For the Second my Lord Deputy a little before his first going into Ireland asked me what Service I would command him for the Church there I humbly thanked him as I had reason and told him I would bethink my self and give him my Thoughts in Writing These are they which are called Instructions They are only for the good of that poor Church as your Lordships have heard them This was all and herein my Lord shewed his Honour and I did but my Duty Though I very well understand why this Paper is produced against me After this they proceeded to the Eleventh Original Article which follows in haec Verba 11. He in his own Person and his Suffragans Visitors Surrogates Chancellors or other Officers by his Command have caused divers Learned Pious and Orthodox Preachers of God's Word to be Silenced Suspended Deprived Degraded Excommunicated or otherwise Grieved and Vexed without any just and lawful Cause whereby and by divers other means he hath hindred the Preaching of God's Word caused divers of his Majesty's Loyal Subjects to forsake the Kingdom and Increased and Cherished Ignorance and Prophaneness among the People that so he might the better facilitate the way to the effecting of his own Wicked and Traiterous Design of Altering and Corrupting the true Religion here Established 1. The First Instance to make good this Article was a Repetition of some Lecturers before-named But when they thought they had made Noise enough they referred the Lords to their Notes and so did I to my former Answers 2. The Second Instance was out of some Articles of Bishop Mountague and Bishop Wrenn and their Account given to me Bishop Wrenn Art 16 Speaks of the Afternoon Sermons being turned into Catechising And Art 5 of his Account I take it that no Lecture in his Diocess after c. It was made plain to the Lords that this was spoken of some single and factious
which we differ from them And Mr. Wakerly confesses that the Words as alter'd are That they are Persecuted for their Religion and their Religion is the Protestant Religion and so is ours And therefore I could have no intention to make the Religions different but the Opinions under the same Religion For Mr Wakerly he is a Dutchman born and how far the Testimony of an Alien may be of force by the Law I know not And a bitter Enemy to me he hath ever shewed himself since I complained to the King and the Lords that a Stranger born and bred should be so near a Secretary of State and all his Papers and Cyphers as he was known to be to Mr. Secretary Coke A thing which few States would indure And how far the Testimony of such a Canker'd Enemy should be admitted let the World judge Admitted he was 2. The Second Witness was Mr 〈◊〉 He acknowledges my improvement of the Collection and my great readiness therein which doubtless I should not have shewed had I accounted them of another Religion He says there was no Alteration but in that Clause and that implies a manifest difference But that is but in his Judgment in which I have already shewed that Wakerly is mistaken and so is he Beside he comes here as a Witness of the Fact not as a Judge of my Intentions or Thoughts He adds That if he remember well the Alteration was drawn by me But if he do not remember well what then Surely here 's no Evidence to be grounded upon Ifs. Here upon the point of Antichrist Mr. Nicolas stiled me as before and was furious till he foamed again but I saw a necessity of Patience Mr. Brown also in his Summary Ch followed this Business close But I gave it the same Answer The Fifth Charge and the last under this Article was the calling in of a Book An. 1637. shewing the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church in the Palatinat but called in only because against Arminianism The single Witness Michael Sparks He says this Book was called in but he knows not by whom nor mentions he for what But he says The Pursevants which searched for it were mine He means such as belonged to the High-Commission for other than such I had none And there was cause enough for calling in the Book without thinking of Arminianism But what is the Reason why here 's nothing urged against me about Abrogating the Immunities and Priviledges of the French and Dutch Churches which fill the Body of this Article Why I conceive there may be two Reasons of it One because there was taken by Mr. Pryn among other Papers for my Defence a Letter under Queen Elizabeth's own Hand to the Lord Pawlet Marquess of Winchester then Lord Treasurer in which she expresses her willingness that those Strangers distressed in and for point of Conscience should have Succour and free Entertainment but should conform themselves to the English Liturgy and have that Translated into their own Language And they knew I would call to have this Letter produced proved and read And had this Letter been stood unto they had never been able to do the Church of England half the harm they have since done The other was because they found by their own search against me that all which I did concerning those Churches was with this Moderation that all those of their several Congregations in London Canterbury Sandwich Norwich or elsewhere which were of the second Descent and born in England should repair to their several Parish Churches and Conform themselves to the Doctrine Discipline and Liturgy of the Church of England and not live continually in an open Separation as if they were an Israel in AEgypt to the great distraction of the Natives of this Kingdom and the assisting of that Schism which is now broke forth And as this was with great Moderation so was it with the joint Approbation of his Majesty and the Lords of his Council upon the Reasons openly given and debated And all this before I proceeded to do any thing As appears apud Acta Then they went to the Thirteenth Original Article which here follows He hath Trayterously and Wickedly endeavoured to reconcile the Church of England with the Church of Rome and for the effecting thereof hath Consorted and Confederated with divers Popish Priests and Jesuits and hath kept secret Intelligence with the Pope of Rome and by himself his Agents or Instruments Treated with such as have from thence received Authority and Instruction He hath permitted and countenanced a Popish Hierarchy or Ecclesiastical Government to be Established in this Kingdom By all which Trayterous and Malicious Practices this Church and Kingdom have been exceedingly indangered and like to fall under the Tyranny of the Roman See The Seventh Additional Article That the said Arch-Bishop at several times within these Ten Years last past at Westminster and elsewhere within this Realm contrary to the known Laws of this Land hath endeavoured to advance Popery and Superstition within the Realm And for that End and Purpose hath wittingly and willingly received harboured and relieved divers Popish Priests and Jesuits namely one called Sancta Clara alias Damport a dangerous Person and Franciscan Friar who having written a Popish and Seditious Book Intituled Deus Natura Gratia wherein the Thirty nine Articles of the Church of England established by Act of Parliament were much Traduced and Scandalized the said Arch-Bishop had divers Conferences with him while he was in writing the said Book and did also provide Maintenance and Entertainment for one Monsieur S. Giles a Popish Priest at Oxford knowing him to be a Popish Priest The First Charge they say was to be laid as a Foundation and it was That I was generally reputed a Papist in Heart both in Oxford and since I came thence 1. The first Witness for this was Dr. Featly He says There was such an Opinion of me Thirty Years since there But he says he never heard any Popish Opinion maintained by me So here 's nothing of Knowledge And if I should say that above Thirty Years ago there was an Opinion that Dr. Featly then in Oxford was a Puritan this could make no Proof against him nor can his saying that I was reputed a Papist make any Proof against me He says farther That one Mr. Russel who had been bred in S. John's College told him in Paris That I maintained some Catholick Opinions First Mr. Nicolas would have it that this Mr. Russel was my Scholar But that the whole College can witness it is not so nor had he ever any relation to me in the least Degree After his Father's Death he left the College and went beyond Sea where the Weak Man for such he was lost his Religion Secondly Dr. Featly says expresly that Mr. Russel said I was no Papist which for the Countenance of his own Change he would never have said had he thought me one Thirdly if he did say
that I maintained some Catholick Opinions yet he named none by which there might be Tryal and Judgment whether they were such or no in the Sense he meant them Lastly Mr. Perkins in his Reformed Catholick sets down divers Opinions in which they of Rome and we agree Shall he be a Papist for this Or shall not that which is Lawful for him be as Lawful for me 2. The Second Witness was one Harris He says that Mr. Ireland who was some time Student of Christ-Church in Oxford and after School-Master at Westminster told him that I would leave the Church of England This is a bare Report from Mr. Ireland with whom I never had any Acquaintance nor was scarce in his Company twice in all my Life Nor is it in my Power to hinder what Mr. Ireland will say or Mr. Harris from him He says That one that called himself Leander came over on purpose to make this Reconciliation If he did which is more than I know or believe I think he would hardly make such a one as Harris is reported to be acquainted with it But howsoever if he did come with that purpose was it in my Power to hinder his coming And here is no Proof offered that I did help on his Purpose or so much as know of it He says he often Petitioned me for Relief but had none It may be I well knew he deserved none And your Lordships know that by Law I might not afford him any Had I given him any I should now have heard it with both Ears For I am informed he is a Priest and Condemned in a Praemunire and was let out of Prison on purpose to be a Witness against me And having set that which is aforesaid under his Hand is now slipped away and gone Who got him out of Prison for this good purpose I know not but fure somewhat there is in it for your Lordships see his Testimony is now read but he appears not 3. The Third Witness was Sir Nathaniel Brent now absent but came in the next Day He says I was esteemed Popishly Affected in Oxford and he gave Three Instances very carefully to prove it The First was That in the Divinity School there I maintained the Necessity of Baptism I did so and my Predecessor Arch-Bishop Abbot was then Vice-Chancellor and present and approved my Opinion and my Grace passed for my Degree to be Batchellour of Divinity without any one Man's Opposition He says That Mr. Dale of Merton College then shewed him all my Supposition taken out of Bellarmin This is a bold and a dangerous Oath He might Swear that Mr. Dale shewed him in Bellarmin that which he said was my Supposition But that he shewed him all my Supposition there is a strange Oath for a Man of Learning and Law to make and in such a Presence Besides I have my Supposition which I then made yet by me and if my Tenet of that Question be the same with Bellarmin's or that there be any Line taken out of him but what I cite for my own advantage against him I will utterly forfeit my Reputation of any Learning to your Lordships His Second Instance was That I was acquainted with one Mr Brown Fellow of Corpus Christi College in Oxford who was suspected to be a Papist and after his Death proved to be one by a Book that was found in his Study proving that a Man might be a Roman-Catholick and yet go to Church and Conform in England I was acquainted with this Man he was a very good Scholar and an Honest man and a good Protestant for ought I know For the Tract found after his Death among his Papers that 's no Proof For Scholars get all the Papers they can especially such as belong to their own Profession And the more strange the Opininions are the more do they labour to get them Nor is it any Proof that the Tract was of his making because written in his own Hand as 't is urged For the Argument being so foul and dangerous it could not be safe for him nor any way fit to commit it to any other to write for him Nor is there any Proof that I knew he had such a Tract by him neither indeed did I. The Opinion is very base and unworthy and was first broached by the Jesuit Azorius and it seems some of his Fellows had inlarged him and made this Tract out of his Principles His Third Instance was That I Petitioned King James in this Business I was complained of to King James by a great Person That I had inward Acquaintance with this Man Hereupon my waiting Month being June and not long after the Complaint made I took Occasion in my first Sermon to confute this Opinion and then Petitioned his Majesty that it might be examined that such an Imputation might not lie upon me His Majesty referred it to the Lords Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Bishops of London Winchester and Duresm where after full examination I was Acquitted The Second Charge was that the same Opinion was held of me beyond the Seas That I was a cunning Promoter of the Roman Cause And here the Witnesses are the same which were produced before Mr. Challoner who told over his old Tale again of I know not what Plot he heard from a Jesuit Nothing but Hearsay at the best And it savours like an Almanack de Post Facto or rather of somwhat else which I will spare to name because he is upon his Oath The other Witness is Mr. Anthony Mildmay who also tells over his Old Tale of his Father Fitton But he was out of the way again and appeared not till the next Day with Sir Nathaniel Brent So here 's a Repetition again of the same Witnesses and the same things to multiply the Noise Only Noble Sir Henry Mildmay appeared not the Second time but whether it were because he had enough at his first appearance or whether his Face was scratched then as since Men say it was I cannot tell The Third Charge was That I had a damnable Plot to reconcile the Church of England with the Church of Rome If to reconcile them with the maintenance of Idolatry it were a damnable Plot indeed But if Christian Truth and Peace might meet and unite together all Christendom over were that a Sin too Were I able to Plot and effect such a Reconciliation I would think my self most Happy whatever I suffered for it But how is this damnable Plot proved Pope Gregory writ a Letter to his Nuncio in Spain and a Letter also to King Charles which Letter is Printed Copies of these Letters were found in my Study Could I hinder the Pope from writing to whom he pleased Shall not I get Copies of any Letters I can to see what practising is abroad for private Interest Shall it be Lawful for all my Predecessors to get and keep Copies of such Letters by them and shall it be Unlawful for me only And here
I produced Mr. Dobson an ancient Servant to my Predecessors who witnessed that Arch-Bishop Bancroft had store of them and kept them all his Time Nor do I know how this Charge can fall upon me For there is no one Word in any of the Letters produced that Reflects upon me or any Plot of mine Nor indeed had I ever any such to Reflect upon The Fourth Charge is That I had a Hand in the Plot for sending the King when he was Prince into Spain to be perverted in his Religion They follow their Proof of this out of my Diary And they begin with my Friendship with the Lord Duke of Buckingham who waited on the Prince in this Journey And first they urged my Diary at June 9. 1622. where I mention that there were then Particulars which are not for Paper But the Words which lead these in were his entrance upon a near Respect to me the particular Expressions whereof were not for Paper Nor Word nor Thought of either Plot or Popery Then they urged June 15. 1622. where 't is said that I became C. that is Confessor to the Lord Duke First if my Lord Duke would Honour me so much as to make me his Confessor as I know no Sin in it so is it abundantly Proof that the Passages before mentioned were not for Paper Should I venture them so there 's never a Person of Honour present but would think me most unworthy of that Trust. Next they pressed June 13. 1623. where I confess that I received Letters from my Lord Duke out of Spain I did so and I then held it great Honour to me and do so still But then and long before it was known to all Men whither he was gone and with whom Nay it was commonly known to all Men of Quality hereabout within three or four Days And till it was so commonly known I knew it not Yea but then they inforced out of Feb. 17. 1622 3. That the Prince and the Marquess of Buckingham set forward very Secretly for Spain And Feb. 21. that I writ to his Lordship into Spain 'T is true they went away that Day and very secretly but I neither did nor could set it down till afterwards that I came to know it And then so soon as I came to know it which was about the 21th I did write To these was Cunningly how Honestly let all the World Judge pieced a Passage out of a Letter of mine to Bishop Hall But that Letter was read at my humble motion to the Lords and the Date of it was in 1634. So many Years after this Business of Spain And the Passage mentioned was only about King James his manner of defending the Pope to be Antichrist and how he salved it while the Prince was in Spain But King James related it after Nor could any Words of that Letter be drawn to the King 's going thither much less to any knowledge I had of it The Fifth Charge was concerning his Majesty's Match with France And here again they urge my Diary at Mar. 11. 1625. That the Duke of Buckingham was then and there employed And at May 19. and 29. that I then writ Letters to him First my Lords I hold it my great Honour that my Lord Duke would write to me and give me leave to write to him Secondly I have committed some Error in these Letters or none If none why are they Charged If any why are they not produced that I may see what it is and answer it The Sixth Charge was That I was an Instrument of the Queens This they endeavoured to prove by my Diary in Three Places First at Aug. 30. 1634. Vpon occasion of some Service done she was graciously pleased to give me leave to have immediate Access unto her when I had Occasion This is true and I most humbly Thanked her Majesty for it For I very well knew what belonged to Addresses at Second Hand in Court But what Crime is in this that the Queen was pleased to give me Access unto her when I had Occasion Here 's no Word of Religion Secondly at May 18. 1635. Where 't is said that I gave her Majesty an account of some thing committed to me If her Majesty sent or spake to me to do any thing as it seems she did shall I want so much Duty as to give her an Account of it So belike I must be unmannerly with her Majesty or lye open to no less than a Charge of high Treason Thirdly at April 3. 1639. 'T is made a great matter that I should then dispatch a great business for the Queen which I understood she would not move for her self And that for this her Majesty gave me great Thanks Mr. Nicolas his Inference upon this was that they conceive wherefore But his Conceit makes no Evidence He must not only conceive but prove wherefore before it can work any thing against me As for Religion as there is no Word of it in my Diary so neither was it at this time thought on Her Majesty would therein have moved for her self But it seems it must be a Crime if I be but Civil and Dutiful towards the Queen though it be but thrice mentioned in so many Years The Seventh Charge was that I forbad Ministers Praying for the Queens Conversion and punished others The First Witness Mr. Ratcliff says that Sir Nath. Brent gave it in Charge at Bow Church in my Visitation The more to blame he if so he did Yea but he says it was by my Command delivered unto him by Sir John Lambe Was it so How doth Mr. Ratcliff know that He doth not express He was not present when I spake with Sir John Lambe And if Sir Nath. Brent told him of it 't is but Hearsay And Sir Nath. having been so ready a Witness against me why is he not examined to this Particular And as for the Paper which was shewed it appears plainly there that it was no Paper of Instructions sent to my Visitors by me but of particular Informations to me Of which one was that the Queen was prayed for in a very Factious and Scandalous Way And this appeared when that Paper was read And this I referred to my Visitors as I not only might but ought Not forbidding the Prayers but the Scandalous manner of them The Second Witness was Mr. Pryn. Who says That one Mr. Jones was punished for praying for the Queen He was punished in the High-Commission for scandalous Abusing the Queen under a Form of Praying for her and for divers other Articles that were against him And this Answer I gave to Mr. Brown who forgot not this in summing up my Charge The Eighth Charge was That I punished Men for Praying to preserve the Prince No God forbid The High-Commission Book was shewed and that there in the Year 1634. one Mr. Howe was Censured for it I got this Act of the High-Commission to be read to the Lords His Prayer went
thus That God would preserve the Prince in the true Religion of which there was cause to fear Could this Prayer have any other Operation upon the People than to make them think his Majesty was careless in the Education of the Prince especially in point of Religion And this was so Grievous and Graceless a Scandal cast upon a Religious King as nothing could be greater Upon the matter it was the shew of a Prayer for the Prince but was indeed to destroy the King in the Hearts of his People And had I not there consented to his Punishment I had deserved to be punished my self Mr. Brown when he repeated the Summ of the Evidence laid this Charge upon me but spake not one Word to my Remembrance of this Answer given to it The Ninth Charge That I did Extol Queen Mary's Days The Proof for it was taken out of the Preface to the Statutes of the Vniversity of Oxford I took a great deal of pains about those Statutes and might justly have expected Thanks for it not such an Accusation But as for the Preface it was made and Printed at Oxford I medled not with it I could trust the University with little if not with the making of a Preface If they have done any thing amiss in it let them answer it The Passage was about certain Offers made to amend those Confused Old Statutes both in Ed. 6. and Queen Mary's Days but no Effect came of the pains then taken Recruduit Labor says the Preface So that this I can answer for them There 's not a Word spoken of Religion but of Manners only and that as much in relation to the Times of Princes following as Hers. For the Words to my remembrance are Interim optandâ Temporum Foelicitate c. And that Interim cannot be restrained to Queen Mary's Days only but must include the whole Interim or middle distance of Time to that present in which I setled the Body of their Statutes that is all Queen Elizabeth's and King James his Days which I think no Man can deny was Optanda Temporum Foelicitas Here Mr. Nicolas confessed there was no down-right Proof against me That was his Phrase But he added that was not to be expected in such a Work of Darkness Then he produced a Paper found in my Study Printed at Rome So were divers of my Books Printed there What of this They may Print what they will at Rome I cannot hinder it And I may have and keep whatever they Print no Law forbidding it Then he shewed a Letter sent unto me from Mr. Graves The Gentleman is at this present Fellow of Merton College in Oxford a great Traveller and a Man of great Worth As far as I remember his Letter came to me from Alexandria It was fit to be sent and kindly received as by me it was I desired it might be read Then were mentioned Sir William Boswell's Letters and the Papers sent by Andreas ab Habernfeld about a great Plot to destroy the King and Religion and that I concealed these Papers I might have been amazed at the Impudence of this Charge above all the rest Diaboli Impudentia the Devils Impudence and no less as S. Augustin speaks in another Case Did I conceal these Papers First the same Day that I received them I sent them by an Express to his Majesty I had a speedy Answer from his Majesty and that I returned with equal speed to his Majesty's Agent Sir William Boswell as I was commanded And this Mr. Pryn and Mr. Nicolas knew For Mr. Pryn took all these Letters and Papers from me when he searched me at the Tower and out of them made his Book called Rome's Masterpiece Excepting the Slanders which he hath Jugled in of his own So soon as his Majesty came home I humbly besought him that he would be pleased to appoint a time and call some Lords to him to hear and examine the Business and this Examination continued till I was Committed What was after done I cannot account for Besides my Lords it appears by those Paprs that my Life was sought for because I would not give way to the Change of Religion and Mr. Pryn himself hath Printed this and yet now Mr. Nicolas from his Testimony presses these Papers against me But the King and the Lords and both Secretaries of State then present can witness that I took all the Care and Pains above-mentioned to have it sifted to the Bottom Notwithstanding all this Mr. Nicolas falls upon this Plot again upon the next Day of my Hearing as if nothing had been said unto it And was so shameless as to say that I followed this Business so long as I thought the Plot was against the Puritans But so soon as I found it was against the Papists I kept it secret till Mr. Pryn discovered it in his search of my Papers Where First there 's no one Word in all the Papers to make me or any Man think the Puritans were concerned in it And Secondly I did not sleep upon the Receipt of these Papers till I had sent them to his Majesty But I had reason to keep the Papers as safe as I could considering how much they justifie me against these foul Calumnies put upon me Then followed the Charge of Sancta Clara's Book alias Monsieur St Giles So they expressed it and I must follow the way they lead me First then they Charge that I had often Conference with him while he was writing his Book Intituled Deus Natura Gratia No he never came to me till he was ready to Print that Book Then some Friends of his brought him to me His Suit then was That he might Print that Book here Upon Speech with him I found the Scope of his Book to be such as that the Church of England would have little Cause to thank him for it And so absolutely denyed it Nor did he ever come more at me after this but twice or thrice at most when he made great Friends to me that he might Print another Book to prove that Bishops are by Divine Right My Answer then was that I did not like the way which the Church of Rome went in the Case of Episcopacy And howsoever that I would never give way that any such Book should be Printed here from the Pen of a Romanist and that the Bishops of England were able to defend their own Cause and Calling without calling in Aid from Rome and would in due time Maintenance he never had any from me nor did I then know him to be a Priest Nor was there any Proof so much as offered in contrary to any of this 2. Secondly they did specially except against a Passage in the Licenser and another at the end of the Book The Book was Printed at Lions where I could not hinder the Printing either of the whole or any part This might have been something had I Licensed it here But that I constantly denyed 3. Thirdly
Chamber-Fellow in Oxford when we were Boys together I am sure he was then no Priest and he was but a Boy when he left the College He confesses that I gave Order to observe who and how many resorted to Embassadours Houses and Signior Conn's and says he thought I could prove it But I believe he would never have confessed it but that he knew I could prove it And thereupon I shewed the Lords many Papers certifying me what Numbers were found resorting to each place respectively And Thomas Mayo's Hand to many of those Papers He says he took one Peter Wilford and brought him to me to Whitehall while Sir Jo. Lambe was with me But he confesses withal that Wilford then shewed Mr. Secretary Windebank's Warrant to Discharge him And then what could I do to him Nay I have some Cause to think he would never have apprehended him had he not known he had that Warrant Lastly he says that once at the Star-Chamber I told him he was too quick and nimble for me And I hope it is no Treason if I did say so Nor could I mean he was too quick in apprehending Priests for I found both him and his Fellows after Crosse's Death slow enough at that But if I said so it was because I could not tell how to trust his Shifting and his Wyliness 4. The Fourth Witness was Elizabeth Graye Wife to another Messenger And this is a very fine Witness For first she says Her Husband was committed by my Means And then with a Breath she says She doth not know by whom he was committed but she thinks by Secretary Windebank and me But since she doth not know but think only I hope her Thinking can be no Evidence She says that she delivered me a Petition and that I flung it away saying I would not meddle with any Priest-catching Knave The Witness single and I doubt doating and the Words far from Treason 5. The Fifth Witness was John Cooke a Messenger too and one that for his Misdemeanour had stood in the Pillory This I urged against him as unfit to witness against me My Witness that saw him in the Pillory was so threatned that he sent me word he durst not come I may not say from whom this Threatning came But the thing was so true that Cooke himself confessed it but excused the Cause And his Testimony received He told how Fisher the Jesuit was taken by Graye That when he was brought to the Council-Table Secretary Cooke and I went to the King to know his Pleasure about him That we brought back word from his Majesty to the Lords that he should be Banished All this while here 's no hurt done Then he says that notwithstanding this Order of his Majesty Graye and he met Fisher at Liberty by a Warrant from Secretary Windebank That hereupon Graye repaired to Secretary Cooke and to me and that Dell told him I would not meddle with it My Secretary must answer this I remember it not But if Mr. Dell received any such Answer from me that I would not meddle with it there were two apparent Reasons for it One that I would not meddle with it alone his Majesty's Order being to all the Lords The other that Fisher was the Man I had written against and Men would have been apt to say that when I could not answer I sought means to destroy So I no way fit alone at least to meddle with him of all Men. He says that Graye was committed to the Fleet for Railing on me in my own House Yet he confesses that he was not committed by me And I presume your Lordships will think there was Cause of his Commitment if he did Rail upon me And 't is confessed by Mr. Pryn though he had then received no Answer from my self that he said he saw now how the Game went and hoped e're long to see better Days c. He says that Smith alias Fludd desired Sir Kenelm Digbye as he was going to Lambeth to tell me that he could not Dine with me that Day but desired his Business might be remembred No such Man ever Dined at my Table to my knowledge And if any Priest would say so to Sir Kenelm how could I possibly hinder it And Sir Kenelm when this Cooke was Examined was a Prisoner in Winchester-House why was not he Examined to sift out this Truth If Truth be in it 6. The Sixth Witness was John Thresher a Messenger too He says that he took Mors and Goodwin two Priests and that Secretary Windebank took away his Warrant and dismissed them saying he would speak with me about it And that when he came to me I was angry with him about the Warrant Mr. Secretary Windebank will I hope be able to answer for his own Actions Why he dismiss'd the Priests I know not But he had great Reason to take away his Warrant And I a greater Reason to be angry with him for it For no Warrant can issue from the High-Commission Court but under three of their Hands at least Now Thresher having gotten my Hand to the Warrant never goes for more Hands but proceeds in his Office upon this unwarrantable Warrant Had not I Reason to be offended at this He says that at the same time I said that Graye was an ill-tongued Fellow and that if he kept him Company I should not regard him I had good Cause to say this and more considering how Graye had us'd me And I believe no Arch-Bishop would have born his Words Lastly he says that by a Warrant from me he Arrested Sir Toby Matthewe and that the Earl of Strafford stayed him from going to Prison saying he should answer it before the Lords Here by the Witness himself it appears that I did my Duty And Sir Toby did appear before the Lords as was assumed he should In the mean time I was complained of to the Queen And a great Lady who perhaps made the Complaint stood by and made her self Merry to hear me chid The Queen was pleased to send to the Lords and Sir Toby was released Where my Fault was in all this I do not yet see 7. The last of these famous Witnesses was Goldsmith Who says nothing but that one Day before the High-Commission Court began I forewarned the Messengers of that Court of Graye in regard he was openly spoken against at the Council-Table Which all things considered I had great Reason to do He says likewise that then Graye's Wife tender'd me a Petition which I rejected saying I would meddle with no Priest-catching Knaves I think his Carriage deserv'd no better of me than to reject his Petition But as for the Words I cannot own them let the Goldsmith look to it that he have not Forged them And I would very willingly know whether when the Apostle required that an Accusation should not be received against an Elder but under two or three Witnesses 1 Tim. 5. he had any meaning they should be such as
these The Ninth Charge was about the ordering of Popish Books that were seized and the disposing of them The sole Witness here is John Egerton He says These Books were delivered to Mr. Mattershead Register to the High-Commission And I say so too it was the constant Course of the High-Commission to send them thither and have them kept in that Office till there was a sufficient number of them and then to burn them Yea but he adds that Mattershead told him they were re-delivered to the Owners This is but a Report and Mattershead is dead who should make it good And though this be but a single Witness and of a dead Man's Report yet Mr. Browne thought fit to Summ it up with the rest But surely if any Books were redelivered to the Owners it was so ordered by the High-Commission in regard the Books were not found dangerous From me Mattershead had never any such Command Lastly he says he met Sir Toby Matthew twice at Lambeth But he confesses he never saw him with me and then me it cannot concern The Tenth Charge was concerning the Priests in Newgate the Witnesses are Mr. Deuxel and Francis Newton They both agree and they say that the Priests there had the best Chambers and Liberty to go abroad without Keepers I hope these Men do not mean to make the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Keeper of Newgate If any Man gave them this Liberty he is to be blamed for it not I who never knew it till now Nor do either of these Witnesses say that they called on me for remedy or ever did so much as acquaint me with it And they say this was Twelve Years since and I had been Arch-Bishop but Seven Years when I was Committed The Eleventh Charge was about words in my Epistle Dedicatory before my Book against Mr. Fisher. The Words these For to my remembrance I have not given him or his so much as course Language So the Charge is because I have not given ill Words And here Mr. Nicolas fell foul upon me again for taking such care that the Whore of Babylon may have nothing but good Words c. But First my Lords I have always thought and do still that ill Language is no Proof against an Adversary All the good it can do is it may bring Scorn upon the Author and work hardness of Heart in the Adversary whom he doth or should labour to Convert And this I learned of two eminent Fathers in the Church Gregory Nazienzen and S. Augustin The First would not use it no not against the Arrians who as he saith made open War against the Deity of Christ. Nor would the other against the same Adversaries The one accounts it Ignorance though a Fashion taken up by many and the other loss of time And here I desired the Lords that I might read what immediately followed this Passage which was granted And there as their Lordships did so may the Reader see if he please that though my Words were not uncivil yet in the Matter I favoured neither him nor his And to avoid Tediousness thither I refer the Reader With this that sometimes Men apt enough to accuse me can plead for this Moderation in their own Cases and tell each other that Christ will not own bitterness in maintaining any way though consonant to his Word And another finds just Fault both with Papists and Martin Marr-Prelat for this reproachful Language And yet it must be a Crime in me not to use it The Last Charge was the Commitment of one Ann Hussy to the Sheriff of London The Business was this She sent one Philip Bambridge to tell me of I know not what Plot against the King nor I think she neither Bambridge came to White-Hall toward the Evening and could make nothing of this dangerous Plot. Yet because it pretended so high I sent him presently to Mr Secretary Windebank I being the next Morning to go out of Town The Business was called to the Council-Table When I came back I was present there Bambridge produced Ann Hussy but she could make nothing appear She says I thought she was out of her Wits Not so my Lords but I did not think she was well in them nor do I yet And whereas she complains of her Imprisonment it was her own desire she might be committed to the Sheriff and Mr. Hearn my Councel here present was assigned by the Lords to take her Examination Therefore if any Particular in this Charge stick with your Lordships I humbly desire Mr. Hearn may supply my want of Memory But it passed over as well it might Here this Day ended and I was ordered to attend again July 29. CAP. XLII The Twentieth and the Last Day of my Hearing THis Day I appeared again and they proceeded upon the Fourteenth Original Article which Follows in these Words Art 14. That to preserve himself from being questioned for these and other his Traiterous Courses he hath laboured to subvert the Rights of Parliaments and the ancient Course of Parliamentary Proceedings and by false and malicious Slanders to incense his Majesty against Parliaments By which Words Councels and Actions he hath Traiterously and contrary to his Allegiance laboured to alienate the Hearts of the King's Liege People from his Majesty to set a Division between them and to ruine and destroy his Majesty's Kingdoms For which they do Impeach him of High-Treason against our Soveraign Lord the King his Crown and Dignity The First Charge of this Day was Prefaced with a Note out of my Diary at May 8. 1626. That the Duke of Buckingham was that Day impeached to the Lords by the House of Commons And at May 25. The difference arising in the House of Peers about the Earl of Arundel's Commitment to the Tower without a Cause declared No use made of these but that I then Bishop of S. Davids took notice of these things Then the Charge followed and the First of it was That I then being of the Lords House and so to be one of the Duke's Judges made a Speech for him and Corrected his Speech in some particulars and of a Judge made my self an Advocate Which Mr. Nicolas said was a great Offence I saw not these Papers and therefore can say nothing what is or is not under my Hand But to the thing it self I say first that if in that Speech any particular Fault had been found impeaching any Right or Power of Parliament that I must have answered but none is charged but only the bare making of one Speech and the mending of another And this is a very poor Argument of any Enmity against Parliaments Secondly seeing no Fault is charged upon me in particular it was but the Office of a poor Friend to a great one to whom being so much bound as I was I could not refuse so much Service being intreated to it And Thirdly I do humbly conceive that so long as there
traduce no Man's Justice First because they depend upon an If If the Parliament-Man there mentioned told me Truth that such a Resolution was taken And Secondly because it can be no Justice in any Men be the Sentence never so moderate in it self to take up a Resolution what Sentence shall pass before Answer given or Charge put in For else a Man may be punished first and tryed after which is contrary to all Rules of Justice And therefore if such a Resolution were taken as I believe not I might well say that which followed after Then was produced a Paper concerning the Subsidies or Aids which had been given in divers Parliaments in which it is said at the beginning of it that Magna Charta had an obscure Birth and was Fostered by an Ill Nurse I believe that no Man that knows Mr. Nicolas thinks that he spakes softly upon this No he spake loud enough What Laws would I spare that spake thus of Magna Charta First here is no Proof offered that this Paper is my Collection but only that it is in my Hand By which Argument as is said before I may be made the Author of any thing And so may any Scholar that is able and willing to inform himself Secondly the main Draught of that Paper is not in my Hand though some Notes upon it be Thirdly there are Littleton and other Lawyers quoted in that Paper Authors which I never read Nor is this now any disgrace to Magna Charta that it had an obscure Birth For say the Difficulties of the times brought it obscurely forth that 's no blemish to the Credit and Honour to which it hath for many Ages attained Not only their Laws but the greatest Empires that have been in the World some of them have had obscure beginnings Witness the Roman Empire Fourthly what if our Stories agree upon it that it had an obscure Birth and a worse Nurse What if some Law Books which Mr. Nicolas never read and those of good account use almost the same Words of Magna Charta which are in that Paper Shall the same Words be History and Law in them and Treason in me And somewhat certainly there is in it that Mr. Brown when he gave his Summary Charge against me First to the Lords and after in the House of Commons quite omitted this Particular Sure I believe he found nothing was in the Paper but known Truth and so passed it over else he would never have denyed a Vindicaton to Magna Charta After all this Mr. Nicolas concludes with a Dream which he says was mine The Dream he says was that I should come to greater Preferment in the Church and Power in the State than any Man of my Birth and Calling had done before me but that in the end I should be Hanged First my Lords if I had had any such Dream 't is no Proof of any thing against me Dreams are not in the Power of him that hath them but in the unruliness of the Phansie which in broken sleeps wanders which way it pleases and shapes what it pleaseth But this Dream is brought in as the Fall of my Picture was to make me a Scorn to your Lordships and the People And to try whether any thing will yet at last break my Patience This Dream is Reported here according to Mr. Pryn's Edition of my Diary somewhat different from that which Mr. Pryn Printed in a former Book of his but the beginning and the end agree From Mr. Pryn Culmer hath taken and Printed it And Mr. Pryn confessed before the Lords that one Mr. Badger an Attorney at Law a Kinsman of mine told it him The Truth my Lords is this This Badger Married a near Kinswoman of mine he was a notorious Separatist and so nearer in Affection to Mr. Pryn than to me in Alliance This Man came one day to me to Lambeth and told me privately which was more Manners than usually the Bold Man had that he heard I had such a Dream when I was Young in Oxford I protested to him there was no such thing and that some Malicious Fellow or other had set him on work to come and Abuse me to my Face He seemed satisfied but going to Visit Mr. Pryn then in the Tower he told it him and Mr. Pryn without further Proof Prints it in the next Book he set out When I saw it in Print and found that some in Court took notice of it I resolved to acquaint his Majesty how I was used and meeting with the Earl of Pembroke then Lord Chamberlain and my great Friend as he pretended the King being not then come forth of his Chamber I told his Lordship how I was used and when the King came forth I told it him also But the Earl of Pembroke then present in the House and called up by them for a Witness forgetting the Circumstances but remembring the thing took it upon his Honour that I said nothing of Mr. Pryn's Printing it but that I told him absolutely I had this Dream Now God forgive his Lordship I was much troubled in my self to hear him take it upon his Dishonour for so it was and yet unwilling knowing his Violence to contest with him in that place and in my Condition and observing what Spleen he hath lately shewed against me I stood a little still to gather up my self When Mr. Nicolas before I could make any reply fell on with great earnestness and told the Lords that the forepart of my Dream was found true to the great hurt both of Church and State and that he hoped they would now make good the latter That I might be Hanged To which I Answer'd That I had not forgotten our Saviour's Prediction St. John 16. That in the World we should be sure to meet with affliction Nor his Prayer Father forgive these Men for they know not what they do St. Luke 23. No nor is that out of my Memory which St. Paul speaks 1 Cor. 4. De Humano Die But for the Publick with this I shall conclude God of his Infinite Mercy Bless the King and his People with Love and Peace and Piety and Plenty which is the worst I ever wished or endeavoured whatsoever it shall please God shall become of me to whose Blessed Will and Pleasure in all Humility I submit my self And here ended this last day of my Tryal But before I went from the Bar I made three Motions to the Lords The one That I might have a day to make a Recapitulation of this long and various Charge or of the chief Heads of it that it might appear in a Body together The other That after this my Councel might have a day to speak to all Points of Law incident to my Cause The third That they would be pleased to remember that I had pleaded the Act of Oblivion to the Thirteenth Original Article Mr. Nicolas said they would acquaint their House with it And the Lords
were brought up against me My very Pockets searched and my Diary nay my very Prayer-Book taken from me and after used against me And that in some Cases not to prove but to make a Charge Yet I am thus far glad even for this sad Accident For by my Diary your Lordships have seen the Passages of my Life And by my Prayer-Book the greatest Secrets between God and my Soul So that you may be sure you have me at the very bottom Yet blessed be God no Disloyalty is found in the one no Popery in the other 3 That all Books of Council-Table Star-Chamber High-Commission Signet-Office my own Registeries and the Registeries of Oxford and Cambridge have been most exquisitely searched for matter against me and kept from me and my use and so affording me no help towards my Defence 4. I humbly desire your Lordships to remember in the Fourth Place That the things wherein I took great Pains and all for the Publick Good and Honour of this Kingdom and Church without any the least Eye to my own Particular nay with my own great and large Expences have been objected against me as Crimes As namely the Repair of S. Pauls and the Setling of the Statutes of the Vniversity of Oxford 1 For S. Pauls not the Repair it self they say no for very shame they dare not say that though that be it which Galls the Faction but the Demolishing of the Houses which stood about it Yea but without taking down of these Houses it was not possible to come at the Church to repair it which is a known Truth And they were taken down by Commission under the Broad Seal And the Tenants had Valuable Consideration for their several Interests according to the number of their Years remaining And according to the Judgment of Commissioners named for that purpose and named by his Majesty and the Lords not by me Nor did I ever so much as sit with them about this Business And if the Commission it self were any way Illegal as they urge it is that must reflect upon them whose Office was to Draw and Seal it not on me who understood not the Legality or Illegality of such Commissions nor did I desire that any one circumstance against Law should be put into it nor is any such thing so much as offered in Proof against me And because it was pressed that these Houses could not be pulled down but by Order of Parliament and not by the King's Commission alone I did here first read in part and afterwards according to a Salvo granted me deliver into the Court Three Records two in Ed. 1. Time and one in Ed. 3. Time in which are these Words Authoritate nostra Regali prout opus fuerit cessantibus quibuscunque Appellationum Reclamationum diffugiis Juris Scripti aut Patriae strepitu procedatis Nova AEdificia quae c. amoveri divelli penitus faciatis c. And a little after Quousque per nos cum deliberatione avisamento nostri Consilii super hoc aliter fuerit Ordinatum c. Here 's no staying for a Parliament here 's no Recompence given here 's Barring of all Appeal nay all remedy of Law though written And all this by the King 's own Authority with the Advice of his Council And is a far more moderate way taken by me yet under the same Authority and for the removal of far greater Abuses and for a more noble End become Treason 2 As for the Statutes of Oxford the Circumstances charged against me are many and therefore I craved leave to refer my self to what I had already answered therein 5. Fifthly Many of the Witnesses brought against me in this Business are more than suspected Sectaries and Separatists from the Church which by my place I was to punish and that exasperated them against me whereas by Law no Schismatick ought to be received against his Bishop And many of these are Witnesses in their own Causes and pre-examined before they come in Court At which pre-examination I was not present nor any for me to cross-interrogate Nay many Causes which took up divers Days of Hearing in Star-Chamber High-Commission and at Council-Table are now upon the sudden easily overthrown by the Depositions of the Parties themselves And upon what Law this is grounded I humbly submit to your Lordships And such as these are the Causes of Mr. Pryn Mr. Burton Mr. Wilson Alderman Chambers Mr. Vassal Mr. Waker Mr. Huntly Mr. Foxlye and many other Where I humbly represent also how impossible it is for any Man that sits as a Judge to give an account of all the several Motives which directed his Conscience in so divers Causes and so many Years past as these have been and where so many Witnesses have been Examined as have been here produced against me My Lords above a Hundred and Fifty Witnesses and some of them Three Four Six Times over and Mr. Pryn I know not how often Whereas the Civil Law says expresly that the Judges should moderate things so that no Man should be oppressed by the multitude of Witnesses which is a kind of Proof too that they which so do distrust the truth and goodness of their Cause Besides my Lords in all matters which came before me I have done nothing to the uttermost of my Understanding but what might conduce to the Peace and Welfare of this Kingdom and the maintenance of the Doctrine and Discipline of this Church established by Law and under which God hath blessed this State with so great Peace and Plenty as other Neighbouring Nations have looked upon with Admiration And what Miserie 's the overthrow of it which God in Mercy forbid may produce he alone knows 6. Sixthly my Lords there have been many and different Charges laid upon me about Words But many of them if spoken were only passionate and hasty And such upon what occasion soever drawn from me and I have had all manner of Provocations put upon me may among humane Errours be pardoned unto me if so it please your Lordships But for such as may seem to be of a higher Nature as those witnessed by Sir Henry Vane the Elder I gave my Answer again now fully to the Lords but shall not need to repeat it here 7. Then my Lords for my Actions not only my own but other Mens have been heavily Charged against me in many Particulars and that Criminally and I hope your Lordships will think Illegally As Secretary Windebank's Bishop Montague's my Chaplains Dr. Heilyn's Dr. Cosens Dr. Pocklinton's Dr. Dove's Mr. Shelford's and divers others And many of these Charges look back into many Years past Whereas the Act made this present Parliament takes no notice of nor punishes any Man for any thing done and past at the Council-Table Sar-Chamber or High-Commission much less doth it make any thing Treason And out of this Act I am no way Excepted Besides as I have often Pleaded all Acts done in in the Star-Chamber
short of Treasons the application to those Generals cannot make them Treasons We shall only single out Two Particulars and in those be very brief in that most which hath been said to the former Generals is appliable to them inasmuch as none of them is declared to be a Treason by the Statute of 25 Ed. 3. or by any other Law enacted 1. The first of these in the 10th Original Article viz. That he hath Traiterously endeavoured to reconcile the Church of England with the Church of Rome Which if it be any Treason must be a Treason within the Statute of 5 Jac. Cap. 4. whereby is provided That if any Man shall put in practice to Reconcile any of his Majesty's Subjects to the Pope or See of Rome the same is enacted to be Treason which we conceive clearly is none of this Charge 1. First For that here only is Charged an Endeavour there a Putting in Practice 2. Here a Reconciling of the Church of England with the Church of Rome there a Reconciling some of his Majesty's Subjects to the See of Rome And a Reconciling with may as well be a Reducing of that of Rome to England as England to Rome The Second in the 7th additional Article for wittingly and willingly Receiving and Harbouring divers Popish Priests and Jesuits namely Sancta Clara and Monsieur St. Gyles Which Offence as to the Harbouring Priests and Jesuits born within his Majesty's Dominions by the Statute of 27 Eliz. Cap. 2. is made Felony not Treason and extends only to Priests English born which these are not charged to be My Lords We have now gone through those Articles wherein we conceive the Treasons Charged were intended and have endeavoured to make it appear That none of the Matters in any of the Articles Charged are Treason within the Letter of any Law And if not so then they cannot by Inference or Parity of Reason be heightned to a Treason It is true the Crimes as they are laid in the Charge are great and many Yet if the Laws of this Realm which have distinguished Crimes and accordingly given them several Names and inflicted Punishments raise none of these to a Treason That we humbly conceive will be worthy of your Lordships Consideration in this Case and that their Number cannot make them exceed their Nature And if they be but Crimes and Misdemeanours apart below Treason or Felony they cannot make a Treason by putting them together Otherwise the Statute of 25 Ed. 3. which we have so much insisted upon had been fruitless and vain if after all that exactness any Number of Misdemeanours in themselves no Treason should by complication produce a Treason and yet no mention made of it in that Law much less any Determination thereby that any Number or what Number and of what Nature of Crimes below Treason should make a Treason It is true my Lords That by the Statute of 25 Ed. 3. there is a Clause in these Words It is accorded That if any other Case supposed Treason which is not therein specified doth happen before any Justices the Justices shall tarry without any going to Judgment of the Treason until the Cause be shewed and declared before the King and his Parliament Whether it ought to be judged Treason or Felony And that hereby might seem to be inferred That there should be some other Treasons than are mentioned in that Law which may be declared in Parliament But my Lords we shall observe 1. If such Declaration look only forward then the Law making it Treason preceeds the Offence and is no more than an Enacting Law If it look backward to the Offence past then it appears by the very Clause it self of 25 Edw. 3. it should be at the least a Felony at the Common Law and that a Crime or Crimes below a Felony were never intended to be by this Law to be declared or to be heightned to a Treason And we find not any Crime declared Treason with a Retrospect unless it were a Felony before And in the late Case of the Earl of Strafford Attainted by Bill there is a Treason within this Law charged and declared by the Bill of his Attainder to have been proved 2. Secondly We are not now in case of a Declaration of a Treason but before your Lordships only upon an Impeachment and in such case we humbly conceive the Law already established as it hath been so it will be the Rule Thus my Lords we have gone through that Part which belongs to us directed us by your Lordships viz. Whether in all or any the Articles exhibited before your Lordships there is contained any Treason by any established Law of this Kingdom without medling at all with the Facts or Proof made of them which together with our weak Endeavours we humbly submit to your Lordships great Judgment And for any Authorities cited by us are ready if so Commanded to produce them Here this Day ended and I had a few Days rest But on Tuesday October 22. being a Day made Solemn for Humiliation my Chamber at the Tower was searched again for Letters and Papers But nothing found After this there went up and down all about London and the Suburbs a Petition for the bringing of Delinquents to Justice and some Preachers exhorted the People to be zealous in it telling them it was for the Glory of God and the Good of the Church By this means they got many Hands of Men which little thought what they went about In this Petition none were named but my self and the Bishop of Ely so their Drift was known to none but their own Party and was undoubtedly set on foot to do me mischief Whose Design this was God knows but I have cause to suspect Mr. Pryn's Hand in it This barbarous way of the Peoples clamouring upon great Courts of Justice as if they knew not how to govern themselves and the Causes brought before them is a most unchristian Course and not to be endured in any well-governed State This Petition with a Multitude of Hands to it was delivered to the House of Commons on Munday Octob. 28. Concerning which I shall observe this That neither the Lord Mayor nor the Sheriffs made any stop of this Illegal and Blood-thirsty Course though it were publickly known and the People exhorted to set Hands to it in the Parish-Churches What this and such-like Courses as these may bring upon this City God alone knows whom I humbly pray to shew it Mercy CAP. XLV THis Day being All-hallan-day a Warrant came to the Lieutenant from the House of Commons to bring me to their Barr to hear the Evidence formerly summed up and given against me in the Lords House I knew no Law nor Custom for this for though our Votes by a late Act of Parliament be taken away yet our Baronies are not And so long as we remain Barons we belong to the Lords House and
Witness I laboured nothing but the Settlement of the Decent External Worship of God among us which whatever some other Men think I know was sunk very low and if in labouring this I did err in any Circumstance for in matter of Substance I am sure I did not that may be forgiven me for Humanity sake which cannot free it self from Error But that which brought all these Distractions both upon Church and State was the bringing in of the Scots and the keeping of them here at a vast charge only to serve Turns and those very base ones And to the debasing and dishonour of this whole Nation as well as the King And how far this Lord had his Hand or his Head in this Treacherous Business he best knows Sure I am his Lordship is thought one of the chief Moulders of this Leaven of the Pharisees But my Lord thinks himself safe enough so he can cry me up among the Rabble to be the Author of all And not content with this he insults farther upon me as follows Yet to magnifie his Moderation presently after the breaking of the last Parliament he told a Lord who sits now in my sight that if he had been a Violent Man he wanted no occasion to shew it For he observed that the Lord Say never came to Prayers and added that I was in his knowledge as great a Separatist as any was in England What ever it was I said was not to magnifie my Moderation Nor do I remember that ever I spake these words Yet First if any Lord will say upon his Honour that I did say these very Words I will bear him and the Peerage of the Realm that Honour as that I will submit and believe his Testimony against my own Old now and Weak Memory Next upon enquiry made by some Friends of mine I find that the Words I should speak are said to be these that if I listed to take any advantage against this Honourable Lord I had as much exception to him as to any Separatist in England These Words are neither so Bold nor so Vncivil as those in the Charge and perhaps I might speak these though I remember it not For during the last Parliament not so few as Ten or a Dozen several Lords came to me of themselves as I sat there and complained grievously of this Lord's absenting himself from the Prayers of the Church and some of them wondred he was not questioned for the Scandal he gave by it And if any of them would be so mean as to urge me to speak by speaking Broad themselves and then carry the Tale to this Noble Lord he did that who ever he were which I hope was not the Noblest of his Actions and if I did say these latter Words of this great Lord I must and do say them again and I heartily beseech God that this Sin be not laid to my Charge that I questioned him not when the Times were calmer For had I done that I had done my Duty and if I had not cured him perhaps I might have prevented so much common danger to this Church as his Lordship hath procured since that time both by his Example his Counsel and his Countenance And for the Words I doubt not but he himself will be found to have made them good before I have done examining this Speech of his Lordship In the mean time my Lord proceeds My Lords how far he hath spit this Venom of his against me I am not certain but I may well fear where it might do me greatest Prejudice I shall therefore intreat your Lordships Favour and Patience that I may give you in these things which so nearly concern me a true account of my self which I shall do with Ingenuity and Clearness and so as that if I satisfie not all Men yet I hope I shall make it appear I am not such a one as this Waspish Man was willing to make the World believe I have spit no Venom against his Lordship much less have I spit any thing far For this Report which is here called Venom is common through the Kingdom And I have already told you what divers Lords said to me during the last Parliament And that is no more than hath been avowed unto me by very many others and some of very good Quality so the spreading was to me not from me But yet my Lord fears I spread it where it might do him greatest Prejudice I know not what my Lord means by this unless it be that I should spread it to his Majesty And if that be his meaning I will tell his Lordship truth what I know therein I was present when I heard some Lords more than once tell the King that the Lord Say was a Separatist from the Church of England and would not come at her Common-Prayers And one of these Lords afterwards told me he did conceive it was a great danger to this Kingdom when Noblemen should begin to separate in Religion and that his Majesty had need look to it To this last which was spoken to me in private but I will depose the Truth of it I could not but assent And to the former I then said I had heard as much as was then told his Majesty but I was not certain of it And I doubt not but these Lords sit in his Lordship's sight as well as that Lord who told him the other of me And not in his Sight only but in his Affections also as things go now But however they carry it with him now this they said of him then Nor will I here pick a Thanks to tell this Lord what Service I did him to his Majesty when he was thought to be in danger enough though I was chidden by a Great one that stood by for my Labour I shall therefore intreat the Christian Reader 's Favour and Patience that having hitherto given him a most true and clear Account of that which my Lord charges me with and doth nearly concern me So I may proceed to the rest which I do with all Ingenuity and Truth And so as that if I satisfie not all Men yet I hope I shall make it appear that I am not such a Waspish Man as my Lord would fain render me to the World But if I have been a Wasp in any Court wherein I have had the Honour to sit yet his Lordship should not have called me so considering what a Hornet all men say he is in the Court of Wards and in other Places of Business Where he pinches so deep that discreet Men are in a doubt whether his Aim be to sting the Wards or the Court it self to Death first For no Man can believe 't is for the good of the King And if I fail in this endeavour of mine to clear my self I must desire the Courteous Reader to ascribe it not to my Cause which is very good against his Lordship but to the narrowness of my Comprehensions and my Weakness compared with his
rage so horribly And as for this Lord God forgive him and I do and I hope this Church will Amen In Turri Lond Dec. 3. 1641. S. S. Trinitati sit Laus Gloria in AEternum Arch-Bishop LAUD's ANNUAL ACCOUNTS OF HIS PROVINCE PRESENTED TO THE KING IN The beginning of every Year With the KING 's Apostills or Marginal Notes Transcribed and Published from the Originals Together with the KING's INSTRUCTIONS TO THE Arch-Bishops Abbot and Laud Upon which These ACCOUNTS were formed AND The last Account of Arch-Bishop Abbot to the King concerning his Province LONDON Printed for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the Rose and Crown in St Paul's Church-Yard M DC XCV INSTRUCTIONS Sent from the King to Arch-Bishop Abbot in the Year 1629. Carolus Rex INstructions for the most Reverend Father in God our right Trusty and right intirely well beloved Councellor George Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury concerning certain Articles to be observed and put in execution by the several Bishops in his Province I That the Lords the Bishops be commanded to their several Sees to keep Residence excepting those which are in necessary Attendance at Court II That none of them Reside upon his Land or Lease that he hath Purchased no ron his Commendam if he should have any but in one of the Episcopal Houses if he have any And that he waste not the Woods where any are left III That they give charge in their Triennial Visitations and all other convenient times both by themselves and the Arch-Deacons that the Declaration for the setling all Questions in difference be chiefly observed by all Parties IV That there be a special care taken by them all that the Ordinations be Solemn and not of unworthy Persons V That they take great care concerning the Lecturers in these special Directions following 1 That in all Parishes the Afternoon Sermons may be turned into Catechizing by Questions and Answers when and wheresoever there is no great cause apparent to break this ancient and profitable Order 2 That every Bishop Ordain in his Diocess that every Lecturer do read Divine Service according to the Liturgy Printed by Authority in his Surplice and Hood before the Lecture 3 That where a Lecture is set up in a Market-Town it may be read by a company of Grave and Orthodox Divines near adjoyning and in the same Diocess and that they Preach in Gowns and not in Cloaks as too many do use 4 That if a Corporation maintain a single Lecturer he be not suffered to Preach till he profess his willingness to take upon him a Living with cure of Souls within that Corporation and that he actually take such Benefice or Cure as soon as it shall be fairly procured for him VI That the Bishops do countenance and encourage the Grave and Orthodox Divines of their Clergy and that they use means by some of their Clergy that they may have knowledge how both Lecturers and Preachers behave themselves in their Sermons within their Diocess That so they may take Order for any abuse accordingly VII That the Bishops suffer none but Noblemen and Men qualified by Learning to have any Private Chaplain in his House VIII That they take special Care that Divine Service be duly frequented as well for Prayers and Catechizing as for Sermons And take particular note of all such as absent themselves as Recusants or otherwise IX That every Bishop that by our Grace Favour and good Opinion of his Service shall be nominated by us to another Bishoprick shall from that Day of Nomination not presume to make any Lease for Three Lives or One and Twenty Years or concurrent Lease or any way make any Estate or cut any Woods or Timber but meerly receive the Rents due and so quit the place For we think it an hateful thing that any Man leaving the Bishoprick should almost undo the Successor And if any Man shall presume to break this Order we will refuse him at our Royal Assent and keep him at the Place which he had so abused X We Command you to give us an Account every Year the Second Day of January of the performance of these our Commands Dorchester Arch-Bishop Abbot's Account of his Province for the Year 1632. sent to the King May it it Please your most Excellent Majesty THE Year is at an end redit Orbis in Orbem moritura ruit perituri Machina Mundi But the Account of the Church Affairs for the last Year must not be forgotten To speak generally unto the Articles heretosore propounded by your Majesty it is enough to say that the Bishops for ought it appeareth unto me have lived at home and in their Episcopal-Houses Saving only my Lord of St. Davids who by his Wives Sickness but especially by a Law Suit which concerneth him for all that he hath as he informeth was constrained to keep here But now that vexatious Suit being ended he promiseth to repair home and there to reside that there shall be no just Occasion of Complaint against him Of Arminian Points there is no dispute And Ordinations of Ministers for ought that I can learn are Canonically observed The Rules for Lecturers are strictly kept Care is had that Divine Service is Religiously read and frequented saving by certain Separatists about London who for their Persons are contemptible but fit to be punished for their wilful Obstinacy which we do with Moderation Yet yielding them Means to confer with Learned Men which we hope will prevail with some of them And so it may be said of the rest of the Articles that I find no noted Transgression of them There is not in the Church of England left any inconformable Minister which appeareth And yet the Lord Bishops of London and Lincoln have been forced to deprive Two or Three whom no time can Tame nor Instruction conquer according to the rule Immedicabile Vulnus Ense recidendum est There was one Burges a Physician who opened his Mouth wide against the repairing of St Pauls Church but he hath been so castigated that as I trust very few others will be encouraged to walk in his ways and to Blaspheme so Holy a Work There hath been these Two last Years past mention made of Papists frequenting Holy-Well or St. Winifred's Well in Wales and the Bishop of St Asaph doth not forget to touch it again in these Words There hath been there all this Summer more than ordinary concourse of People and more bold and open practice of Superstition Where it is not to be forgotten that at that Well a great part of the Powder Treason was hatched And therefore my humble Opinion is that serious Letters should be directed from your Majesty or Privy Council to the Lord President of Wales and his Fellow Commissioners that at Summer next some course should be taken for the repressing of this Confluence being indeed no better than a Pilgrimage The Lady Wotton in Kent hath set up a bold Epitaph upon her Lord's Tomb and
will not be perswaded to take it down We have therefore called her into the High-Commission where by excuse of Sickness she hath not yet appeared But at the next Term God willing we intend to proceed with her which is but necessary for the avoiding of Scandal in the Country These few are the most observable things whereof I can give your Majesty any reckoning And if there were any thing else worthy the reporting I should not conceal it But there being nothing more it may be the great comfort of your Majesty that in so large and diffuse a Multitude both of Men and Matters upon strict Examination there is so little exorbitancy to be found Lambeth Jan 2. 1632. Your Majesty's Humble Servant G CANT INSTRUCTIONS Sent from the King to Arch-Bishop Laud in the Year 1634. Ex Registro Laud Fol 217. Charles R. INstructions for the most Reverend Father in God our right Trusty and right entirely Beloved Counsellor William Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury concerning certain Orders to be observed and put in Execution by the several Bishops of his Province I That the Lords the Bishops respectively be commanded to their several Sees there to keep Residence excepting those who are in necessary Attendance at our Court. II That none of them Reside upon his Land or Lease that he hath Purchased nor on his Commendam if he hold any but in one of his Episcopal Houses And that he wast not the Woods where any are left III That they give Charge in their Triennial Visitations and at other convenient times both by themselves and the Arch-Deacons that our Declaration for setling all Questions in difference be strictly observed by all Parties IV That there be a special care taken by them all that their Ordinations be Solemn and not of unworthy Persons V That they likewise take great care concerning the Lecturers within their several Diocesses for whom we give the special Directions following 1 That in all Parishes the Afternoon Sermons be turned into Catechizing by Question and Answer when and wheresoever there is not some great Cause apparent to break this ancient and profitable Order 2 That every Bishop take care in his Diocess that all Lecturers do read Divine Service according to the Liturgy Printed by Authority in their Surplices and Hoods before the Lecture 3 That where a Lecture is set up in a Market-Town it may be read by a Company of Grave and Orthodox Divines near adjoyning and of the same Diocess and that they ever Preach in such seemly Habits as belong to their Degrees and not in Cloaks That if a Corporation do maintain a single Lecturer he be not suffered to Preach till he profess his willingness to take upon him a Living with Cure of Souls within that Corporation and he do actually take such Benefice or Cure so soon as it shall be fairly procured for him VI That the Bishops do countenance and encourage the Grave and Orthodox Divines of their Clergy and that they use means by some of the Clergy or others to have knowledge how both Lecturers and Preachers within their several Diocesses behave themselves in their Sermons that so they may take present Order for any abuse accordingly VII That the Bishops suffer none under Noblemen and Men qualified by Law to have or keep any Private Chaplain in his House VIII That they take special care that Divine Service be diligently frequented as well for Prayers and Catechism as Sermons and that particular notice be taken of all such as absent themselves as Recusants or otherwise IX That no Bishop whatsoever who by our Grace and good Opinion of his Service shall be nominated by us to another Bishoprick shall from the Day of that our nomination presume to make any Lease for Three Lives or One and Twenty Years or Concurrent Lease or any way renew any Estate or cut any Wood or Timber but meerly receive the Rents due and quit the Place For we think it a hateful thing that any Man's Preferment to a better Bishoprick should almost undoe the Successor And if any shall presume to break this Order we will refuse him at our Royal Assent and keep him at the Place which he hath so abused X That every Bishop give his Metropolitan a strict Account yearly of their Obedience to our late Letters prohibiting them to change any Leases from Years into Lives and that they fail not to certifie if they find that the Dean or Dean and Chapter or any Arch-Deacon or Prebendary c. within their several Diocesses have at any time broken our Commands in any particular contained in the aforesaid Letters XI That every Bishop to whom in regard of the small Revenues of his Bishoprick we either have already or shall hereafter not only give Power but Command to receive and hold as in Commendam any Lease expired or near expiring and belonging to their See or any Ecclesiastical Benefice or Benefices or other Promotion with Cure or without being in his or their own Gift by Letters given under our Signet and sent to those Bishops respectively do likewise give an Account yearly to his Metropolitan that he doth not put any of the aforenamed Benefices or other Preferment out of his Commendam to give to any Son Kinsman Friend or other upon any pretence whatsoever thereby to frustrate our gracious Intentions to those several Sees and the Succeeding Bishops therein XII That every Bishop respectively do likewise in his yearly Account to his Metropolitan give notice of any notable Alteration or other Accident within his Diocess which may any ways concern either the Doctrine or the Discipline of the Church established XIII That whereas John Bancroft Dr. in Divinity and Bishop of Oxford hath very worthily at his own proper Cost and Charges Built a House for himself and the Bishops of Oxford successively by our both leave and encouragement upon the Vicarage of Cuddesden near Oxford which Vicarage is in the Patronage and Gift of him and his Successors And whereas our farther Will and Pleasure is that the said House together with the Vicarage aforesaid shall ever be held in Commendam by the Bishops of Oxford successively That therefore the said Bishop for the time being do yearly give his particular Account of his holding both the House and Benefice aforesaid to the end that we and our Successors may upon all occasions be put in mind of keeping that House and Vicarage to the See of Oxford at all times of change when or howsoever that Bishoprick shall become void XIV Lastly we Command every Bishop respectively to give his Account in Writing to his Metropolitan of all these our Instructions or as many of them as may concern him at or before the Tenth day of December yearly And likewise that you out of them make a Brief of your whole Province and present it to us every Year by the Second day of January following that so we may see how the Church is Governed and our Commands
Obeyed And hereof in any wise fail you not Jan. 19. 1634. Comput Angl. A Memorial of the Arch-Bishop's Annual Account to the King's Majesty of his Province for the Year 1635. Ex Registro Laud fol 241. WHereas his Majesty in his late Instructions to the Lords the Bishops hath amongst other things commanded that every Bishop respectively should give an Account in Writing to his Metropolitan of all those Instructions or so many of them as may concern him at or before the Tenth day of December yearly And likewise that the Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury his Grace do make out of them a Brief of his whole Province and present it to his Sacred Majesty every year by the second day of January following My Lord Arch-Bishop in Obedience to the said Commands did present an Account in Writing to his Majesty how those Prudent and Pious Instructions for the Good and Welfare of the Church of Christ in this Kingdom have been obeyed and performed by the several Bishops within his Province of Canterbury for the Year of our Lord God 1634. Which Account by his Grace's Command is Registred amongst the other Acts of his Province by his principal Register And that in farther Obedience to the said Instructions his Grace delivered another Brief in Writing of his said Province for this present Year of our Lord God 1635. unto Sir John Cooke Knight one of the Principal Secretaries of State to be presented to his Majesty by the time aforesaid but by Reason of his the said Secretary's Sickness it is mislaid or lost and so hath not been presented to his Majesty nor any Observation by the King put upon it which loss notwithstanding the Lord Arch-Bishop commanded instead of Registring the Brief it self that this Memorial of the loss of it should be Registred Martij 14. 1635. W Cant. W. S. A. C. NOtwithstanding this Memorial the Arch-Bishop's Account for the Year 1635. is very happily come to my Hand after this manner My very Worthy Friend Sir Will. Cooke of Broom in Norfolk sent me a Letter dated Nov 6 1681. that being Executor to an Uncle of his then lately Deceased in Suffolk he found in his Study a Bundle of Original Papers of Arch-Bishop Laud which are the Annual Accounts here following from 1632. to 1639. with a Letter to me in the Words following May it please your Grace c. vide infra The Writer of this Letter Mr Thomas Raymond a very Ingenious Gentleman was as Sir Will C tells me bred up under Sir Will. Boswell Embassadour in Holland and was after Governour to the present Earl of Peterborough in his Travels And was after his Return as I have heard one of the Clerks of his Majesty's Privy Council possibly under Sir Jo Cooke Principal Secretary by which Means these Papers might come into his Hands The Originals are all Signed by the Arch-Bishop that of 1632. by G. Cant. being Abbot's last and the rest W Cant. being Arch-Bishop Lauds all which are Apostilled in the Margin with the King 's own Hand except only that of 1635. which it seems by Secretary Cook 's default never came to the King's view I found also among Arch-Bishop Laud's Papers Duplicates of the Accounts for 1634 6 7 8 and 9. with the King's Notes also Copied in the Margin And 3 of them scil the 3 last are Registred in Registr Laud f. 215. 254. 289. Mr. Raymond's Letter to my Lord Arch-Bishop Sancroft concerning the following Papers May it please your Grace THE inclosed Papers being of Ecclesiastick Concern and true and mighty Evidences of the abundant Love and Care of a Blessed King for the good of the Church as well as that of a most Pious and Learned Prelate your Grace's Predecessor I thought my self bound both in Duty and Prudence to Transmit them to your Grace as to their proper place both for use and safety And this I have endeavoured to do in the carefullest manner I could and do implore your Grace's Pardon for this intrusion beseeching most humbly Almighty God to grant your Grace multos annos in all Health and Prosperity so much conducing to the good of his Church amongst us And withdrawing my self unto my wonted Solitude do crave the great Honour to be esteemed as I am ready to approve my self Della mia povera Capanna 18 di Novembre 78. Your GRACE's Most Humble and Most Faithful Servant THO. RAYMOND Arch-Bishop Laud's Account of his Province sent to the King for the Year 1633. with the King 's Apostills in the Margin May it please Your most Sacred Majesty ACcording to Your Royal Commands I do here upon the Second of January 1633. Comput Aglic present my Accompt of both the Diocess and Province of Canterbury concerning all those Church Affairs which are contained within your Majesty's most gracious Declaration and Instructions Published out of your most Princely and Religious Care to preserve Unity in Orthodox Doctrine and Conformity to Government in this your Church of England And First for my own Diocess of Canterbury I hear of many things amiss but as yet my time hath been so short that I have had no certain knowledge of any thing fit to certifie save only that some of my Peculiars in London are Extreamly out of order For the Bishoprick of London it is certified that my Lord the now Bishop hath not received complaint against any of his Clergy since his coming to that See which was since Michaelmas last For all the former part of this First Year I must give your Majesty Accompt for my self being then Bishop there And First having heretofore after long patience and often conference proceeded against Nathaniel Ward Parson of Stondon in Essex to Excommunication and Deprivation for refusing to subscribe to the Articles established by the Canon of the Church of which I certified the last Year I have now left him still under the Censure of Excommunication I did likewise convent Mr John Beedle Rector of Barnstone in Essex for omitting some parts of Divine Service and refusing Conformity But upon his submission and promise of reformation I dismissed him with a Canonical Admonition only Since my return out of Scotland Mr John Davenport Vicar of St Stephens in Coleman-street whom I used with all Moderation and about Two Years since thought I had setled his Judgment having him then at advantage enough to have put extremity upon him but forbare it hath now resigned his Vicarage declared his Judgment against Conformity with the Church of England and is since gone as I hear to Amsterdam For Bath and Wells I find that the Lord Bishop hath in his late Visitation taken a great deal of pains to see all your Majesty's Instructions observed And particularly hath put down divers Lecturers in Market-Towns which were Beneficed Men in other Bishops Diocesses Because he found that when they had Preached Factious and Disorderly Sermons they retired into other Countries where his Jurisdiction would not reach to punish them
His Lordship hath likewise sent up a List of Romish Recusants which were presented at his last Visitation which he saith are for the most part but of mean Condition and those not many considering the greatness of the County In this Diocess the Town of Mawling and that whole Deanery were very much out of Order but the Arch-Deacon by my Lord the Bishop's Command hath setled them My Lord likewise brought Mr Throgmorton the Vicar of Mawling into the High Commission where he submitted himself and received a Canonical Admonition I likewise certifie your Majesty that the Bishop complains that the Cathedral Church suffers much for want of Glass in the Windows and that the Church-Yard lies very undecently and the Gates down and that he hath no Power to remedy these things because the Dean and Chapter refuse to be visited by him upon pretence that their Statutes are not confirmed under the Broad Seal with some other circumstances with which I shall acquaint your Majesty more at large Concerning this Diocess whereas your Majesty's Instructions require that Lecturers should turn their Afternoon Sermons into Catechizing by way of Question and Answer some Persons and Vicars make a question whether they be bound to the like Order because Lecturers only be named as they pretend But your Majesty's Expression is clear for Catechizing generally and my Lord the Bishop will presently settle this doubt There is one Mr Elms in that Diocess who being not qualified by Law keeps a School-Master in his House and useth him as a Chaplain to preach a Lecture upon Sundays in the Afternoon in the Church of Warmington But by this time if the Bishop keep his promise that abuse is Rectified The Bishop complains that the Peculiars of his Diocess wherein he hath no Power are much out of Order and I easily believe it But the Remedy will be hard because I know not in whom the Peculiars are but shall inform my self His Lordship farther certifies that he hath suppressed a Seditious Lecture at Repon and divers Monthly-Lectures with a Fast and a Moderator like that which they called Prophesying in Queen Elizabeth's Time as also the Running Lecture so called because the Lecturer went from Village to Village and at the end of the Week Proclaimed where they should have him next that his Disciples might follow They say this Lecture was ordained to Illuminate the Dark Corners of that Diocess My Lord of St Davids is now Resident in his Diocess and hath so been ever since the last Spring and professes that he will take great care hereafter to whom he gives holy Orders His Lordship certifies That he hath Suspended a Lecturer for his Inconformity and that they have but few Romish Recusants The Bishop of St Asaph returns That all is exceeding well in his Diocess save only that the Number and Boldness of some Romish Recusants increaseth much in many Places and is incouraged by the Superstitious and frequent Concourse of some of that Party to Holy-Well otherwise called St Winifreds Well Whether this Concourse be by way of Pilgrimage or no I know not but I am sure it hath long been complained of without Remedy My Lord the Bishop certifies that he hath not one Refractory Nonconformist or 〈◊〉 Minister within his Diocess and that there are but two Lecturers and that they both are Licensed Preachers My Lord the Bishop of Lincoln signifies That the Company of Mercers in London trusted with the Gift of one Mr Fishburn set up a Lecturer in Huntingdon with the allowance of Forty Pounds per An. to Preach every Saturday Morning being Market-Day and Sunday in the Afternoon with a Proviso in his Grant from them that upon any dislike they may have of him he shall at a Month or a Fortnights Warning give over the Place without any relation to Bishop or Arch-Bishop My most humble Suit to your Majesty is that no Lay Man whatsoever and least of all Companies or Corporations may under any Pretence of giving to the Church or otherwise have Power to put in or put out any Lecturer or other Minister His Lordship likewise complains of some in Bedfordshire that use to wander from their own Parish-Churches to follow Preachers Affected by themselves of which he hath caused his Officers to take special care As for the placing of the Communion-Table in Parish-Churches his Lordship professes that he takes care of it according to the Canon These two last are no part of your Majesty's Instructions yet since his Lordship hath been so careful to report them to me I take it my Duty to express that his Lordship's care to your Majesty These two Diocesses are void and I had no Certificat before the Death of the Bishops All the Bishops above mentioned which are all that have yet certified do agree that all other things in your Sacred Majesty's Instructions contained are carefully observed and particularly that of avoiding factious medling with the prohibited Questions From any of the rest of the Bishops within my Province I have not as yet received any Certificat at all namely Salisbury Norwich Worcester Oxford Bristol Winchester Chichester Glocester Exeter So I humbly submit this my Certificat W. CANT The Lord Bishop of Ely certifies that he hath had special Care of your Majesty's Instructions and that he doth not know that they are broken in his Diocess in any point Jan. 2. 1633. W. CANT The Arch-Bishop's Account of his Province to the King for the Year 1634. May it please Your most Excellent Majesty I Am at this time in Obedience to your Sacred Majesty's Commands to give you an Account how your prudent and pious Instructions for the Good and Welfare of the Church of Christ in this your Kingdom have been obeyed and performed by the several Bishops within my Province of Canterbury which with all Humility and Obedience I here present as followeth And First I represent to your Majesty That I have this Year partly by my Vicar-General and partly by the Dean of the Arches visited seven Diocesses beginning as I am bound by the Ecclesiastical Laws at my own Metropolitical Church of Canterbury and that Diocess that I might first see what was done at Home before I did curiously look abroad into other Bishops Jurisdictions And not to conceal Truth from your Majesty I found in my own Diocess especially about Ashford-side divers professed Separatists with whom I shall take the best and most present Order that I can some of them and some of Maidstone where much Inconformity hath of late Years spread being already called into the High Commission where if they be proved as guilty as they are voiced to be I shall not fail to do Justice upon them I conceive under favour that the Dutch Churches in Canterbury and Sandwich are great Nurseries of Inconformity in those Parts Your Majesty may be pleased to remember I have complained to your self
and my Lords at the Council-Board and humbly desired That they both of the French Italian and Dutch Congregations which are born Subjects may not be suffered any longer to live in such a Separation as they do from both Church and State And have according to that which I thought might best sort with your Majesty's Intentions commanded my Vicar-General when he was lately at Canterbury to begin fairly to call them to Conform with the English Church Which business I do hereby humbly beseech your Majesty to look upon with a provident Eye not here only but much more in London for the better settling of both Church and Commonwealth in that Particular And for your Majesty's Instructions I have for my own part punctually observed them The rest of the Diocesses which I visited this Year are Rochester Salisbury Bristol Bath and Wells Exeter and Lincoln For Rochester I found no eminent thing amiss but the Bishop himself fell into a Palsie and was thereby forced to go to the Bath and so to be longer absent from his Diocess than otherwise he would have been and he is now returned God be thanked much better though not perfectly well And for the Diocess I did not find in my Visitation any noted Breach upon any your Majesty's Instructions For Salisbury I found the Bishop had taken a great deal of Care about your Majesty's said Instructions and that they might be the better both known and obeyed he hath caused Copies of them to be sent to most of the Ministers in his Diocess which hath done a great deal of good And though it be not amongst your Instructions yet I am bold to signifie unto your Sacred Majesty that I find the greatest part of Wiltshire overgrown with the Humours of those Men that do not Conform and are as backward both Clergy and Laity towards the Repair of St. Paul's Church as any part of England that I have observed The Cathedral at Salisbury is much pestered with Seats and I have given Order to remove them which I hope your Majesty will approve as well as you did at York and Durham and add your Power if mine be not sufficient For Bristol I find in my Visitation that the Bishop there hath taken very good Pains and Care since his coming thither And that some Clergy-men in Dorsetshire which gave great cause of Suspicion have quit themselves in a better manner than was expected though all be not right in those Parts Concerning Bath and Wells I must needs return to your Majesty that which I would to God I could do of all the rest namely That all your Instructions are punctually observed and the Lectures as many as are in that Diocess read not by any particular factious Persons but by a Company of Learned neighbouring Ministers which are every way conformable to the Church For Exeter where according to many Complaints that had been made here above I might have expected many things out of Order I must do my Lord the Bishop this Right that for your Majesty's Instructions they have been carefully observ'd But a great Division there is between the Dean and Chapter I have twice set them at Peace yet it breaks out again And I doubt there being so many Brothers and Brothers-in-Law in that Chapter is not the least Cause of it the rest siding together for fear of Oppression I find also there hath been and is at this present a great Difference between the Dean and Chapter and the City about Burial within the Church-yard of the Cathedral I shall do my best to set Peace between them and if I cannot as I much fear it I shall be an humble Suitor to your Majesty to take it into your Princely Consideration lest it do more Prejudice to both Bodies than is yet thought of As for Lincoln it being the greatest Diocess in the Kingdom I have now reduced that under Metropolitical Visitation also and visited it this preceding Year My Visitors there found Bedfordshire for the bigness most tainted of any part of the Diocess And in particular Mr Buckley is sent to the High-Commission for Inconformity And in Leicester the Dean of the Arches Suspended one Mr Angell who hath continued a Lecturer in that great Town for these divers Years without any License at all to Preach yet took Liberty enough I doubt his Violence hath crackt his Brain and do therefore use him the more tenderly because I see the Hand of God hath overtaken him For Lincoln it self my Vicar General certifies me there are many Anabaptists in it and that their Leader is one Johnson a Baker and that in divers parts of that Diocess many both of Clergy and Laity are excessively given to Drunkenness That the Town of Boston which was a great Nursery of Inconformity is since the calling of some of the Magistrates into the High-Commission become very Orderly and setled to Obedience But the Town of Louth somewhat to blame At Kelstern dwells the wild young Gentleman Mr South concerning whom I have lately spoken and that often with your Majesty he hath committed a horrible Incest and gotten two Sisters with Child I have called him into the High-Commission against the next Term and I hope your Majesty will give me leave to make South blow West for St. Pauls At Kensworth in Hertfordshire and some other Places many gadd from their own Churches by Troops after other Ministers Which is a common fault in the South Parts of that Diocess where the People are said to be very giddy in matters of Religion The Cathedral of this Diocess is not well ordered either for Reparation or Ornaments but the Dean and Chapter to whom that Care belongs have promised speedy amendment For Eaton College within that Diocess I do not find but that the Provost Sir Henry Wotton hath carried himself very worthily The greatest things thought to be amiss in that Society are those which are referred to me by your Majesty upon the Complaint of Kings College in Cambridge to which I have no more to say till I see whether they of Eaton will decline the Reference or no. Thus far concerning the Diocesses which I have visited this Year In all which I find one great Complaint and very fit to be redressed It is the general grievance of the poor Vicars that their Stipends are scarce able to Feed and Cloath them And which is worse the Vicars in great Market-Towns where the People are very many are for the most part worst provided for But I humbly thank your Majesty some good hath of late been done for them and I shall pursue all just and fair ways to give them Relief Humbly beseeching you to give your gracious Assistance to me and them For Winchester I find my Lord Bishop there hath been very careful for all your Majesty's Instructions and that they are well observed through that Diocess save only that in two Parishes the Bishop finds some defect
do here upon the Second of Januay 1635. Comput Angl. present my Account both for the Diocess and Province of Canterbury concerning all those Church-Affairs which are contained in your Majesty's most gracious Instructions published out of your most Princely and Religious care to preserve Unity in Orthodox Doctrine and Conformity to Government within this your Church of England And First for my own Diocess I humbly represent to your Majesty that there are yet very many Refractory Persons to the Government of the Church of England about Maidstone and Ashford and some other Parts the Infection being spread by one Brewer and continued and increased by one Turner They have been both Censured in the High-Commission Court some Years since but the Hurt which they have done is so deeply rooted as that it is not possible to be plucked up on the suddain but I must crave time to work it off by little and little I have according to your Majesty's Commands required Obedience to my Injunctions sent to the French and Dutch Churches at Canterbury Maidstone and Sandwich And albeit they made some shew of Conformity yet I do not find they have yielded such Obedience as is required and was ordered with your Majesty's Consent and Approbation So that I fear I shall be driven to a quicker proceeding with them The Cathedral Church begins to be in very good Order And I have almost finished their Statutes which being once perfected will mutatis mutandis be a sufficient Direction for the making of the Statutes for the other Cathedrals of the new Erection which in King Henry the Eighth's Time had either none left or none Confirmed and those which are in many things not Canonical All which Statutes your Majesty hath given Power to me with others under the Broad Seal of England to alter or make new as we shall find Cause And so soon as these Statutes for the Church of Canterbury are made ready I shall humbly submit them to your Majesty for Confirmation There is one Mr Walker of St John's the Evangelist a Peculiar of mine in London who hath all his time been but a disorderly and a peevish Man and now of late hath very frowardly Preached against the Lord Bishop of Ely his Book concerning the Lord's Day set out by Authority But upon a Canonical Admonition given him to desist he hath hitherto recollected himself and I hope will be advised For the Diocess of London I find my Lord the Bishop hath been very careful for all that concerns his own Person But Three of his Arch-Deacons have made no return at all to him so that he can certifie nothing but what hath come to his knowledge without their help There have been convented in this Diocess Dr Stoughton of Aldermanbury Mr Simpson Curate and Lecturer of St Margarets New-Fishstreet Mr Andrew Moline Curate and Lecturer of St Swithin Mr John Goodwin Vicar of St Stevens Colman-street and Mr Viner Lecturer of St Laurence in the Old 〈◊〉 for Breach of the Canons of the Church in Sermons or Practice or both But because all them promised Amendment for the future and submission to the Church in all things my Lord very moderately forbore farther proceeding against them There were likewise convented Mr Sparrowhawke Curate and Lecturer at St Mary Woolchurch for Preaching against the Canon for Bowing at the Name of Jesus who because he wilfully persisted is suspended from Preaching in that Diocess As also one Mr John Wood a wild turbulent 〈◊〉 and formerly Censured in the High-Commission-Court But his Lordship forbore Mr White of Knightsbridge for that his Cause is at this present depending in the Court aforesaid Concerning the Diocess of Lincoln my Lord the Bishop returns this Information That he hath Visited the same this Year all over in Person which he conceives no Predecessor of his hath done these Hundred Years And that he finds so much good done thereby beyond that which Chancellours use to do when they go the Visitation that he is sorry he hath not done it heretofore in so many Years as he hath been Bishop He farther Certifies that he hath prevailed beyond Expectation for the Augmenting of Four or Five small Vicarages and conceives as your Majesty may be pleased to remember I have often told you upon my own Experience that it is a Work very necessary and fit to be done and most worthy of your Majesty's Royal Care and Consideration For Conformity his Lordship professeth that in that large Diocess he knows but one unconformable Man and that is one Lindhall who is in the High-Commission Court and ready for Sentence My Lord the Bishop of Bath and Wells Certifies that his Diocess is in very good Order and Obedience That there is not a single Lecture in any Town Corporate but grave Divines Preach by course and that he hath changed the Afternoon Sermons into Catechising by Question and Answer in all Parishes His Lordship farther Certifies that no Man hath been Presented unto him since his last 〈◊〉 for any Breach of the Canons of the Church or Your Majesty's Instructions and that he hath received no notice of any increase of Men Popishly affected beyond the number mentioned in his last Certificat The Bishop of this See died almost Half a Year since and had sent in no Certificat But I find by my Visitation there this present Year that the whole Diocess is much out of Order and more at Ipswich and Yarmouth than at Norwich it self But I hope my Lord that now is will take care of it and he shall want no Assistance that I can give him Mr Samuel Ward Preacher at Ipswich was Censured this last Term in the High-Commission Court for Preaching in Disgrace of the Common-Prayer-Book and other like gross Misdemeanours These Six Bishops respectively make their Answer that in their own Persons they have observed all your Majesty's Instructions and that they find all their Clergy very conformable no one of them instancing in any particular to the contrary In this Diocess the Bishop found in his Triennial Visitation the former Year two noted Schismaticks Wroth and Erbury that led away many simple People after them And finding that they willfully persisted in their Schismatical course he hath carefully preferred Articles against them in the High-Commission Court where when the Cause is ready for Hearing they shall receive according to the Merits of it Concerning this Diocess your Majesty knows that the late Bishop's Residence upon the place was necessarily hindred by his Attendance upon your Majesty's Person as Clerk of the Closet But he hath been very careful for the observance of all your Instructions and particularly for Catechizing of the Youth As also for not letting of any thing into Lives to the Prejudice of his Successor in which he hath done exceeding well And I have by your Majesty's Command laid a strict Charge upon his Successor to look to those Particular Leases which
he hath made stay of that they may be reduced into Years for the good of that See which abundantly needs it My Lord Bishop of Winchester Certifies that there is all Peace and Order in his Diocess and that himself and his Clergy have duly Obeyed your Majesty's Instructions But he Informs that in the Parish of Avington in Hampshire one Vnguyon an Esquire is Presented for a new Recusant as also Three others whereof Two are in Southwark These Three Bishops for their several Diocesses respectively make return that all Obedience is yielded to every of your Majesty's Instructions The late Bishop of St Davids now of Hereford hath in his time of Residence taken a great deal of pains in that See and hath caused Two to be questioned in the High Commission and Suspended one Roberts a Lecturer for Inconformity Three or four others which were Suspended he hath released upon hope given of their Obedience to the Church and hath absolutely deprived Two for their exceeding Scandalous Life He complains much and surely with cause enough that there are few Ministers in those poor and remote places that are able to Preach and Instruct the People My Lord the Bishop informs that that County is very full of Impropriations which makes the Ministers poor and their Poverty makes them fall upon Popular and Factious courses I doubt this is too true but it is a Mischief hard to cure in this Kingdom yet I have taken all the care I can and shall continue so to do From the rest of the Bishops of my Province I have received no Certificat this Year viz. Covent and Litchfield Worcester Bangor So I humbly submit this my Certificat W. CANT The Arch-Bishop's Accounts of his Province to the King for the Year 1636. May it please your Sacred Majesty ACcording to your Royal Commands expressed in your late Instructions for the good of the Church I do here most humbly present my Yearly Account for my Diocess and Province of Canterbury for this last Year ending at Christmass 1636. And First for my own Diocess I have every Year acquainted your Majesty and so must do now that there are still about Ashford and Egerton divers Brownists and other Separatists But they are so very mean and poor People that we know not what to do with them They are said to be the Disciples of one Turner and Fennar who were long since apprehended and imprisoned by Order of your Majesty's High Commission Court But how this part came to be so infected with such a Humour of Separation I know not unless it were by too much connivence at their first beginning Neither do I see any Remedy like to be unless some of their chief Seducers be driven to Abjure the Kingdom which must be 〈◊〉 by the Judges at the Common Law but is not in our power I have received Information from my Officers that the Walloons and other Strangers in my Diocess especially at Canterbury do come orderly to their Parish Churches and there receive the Sacraments and Marry c. according to my Injunctions with that limitation which your Majesty allowed There have been heretofore many in Canterbury that were not conformable to Church Discipline and would not kneel at the Communion but they are all now very Conformable as I hear expresly by my Officers and that there is no falling away of any to Recusancy There hath been a Custom that some Ministers thereabouts have under divers pretences lived for the most part at Canterbury and gone seldom to their Benefices which hath given a double Scandal both by their absence from their several Cures and by keeping too much Company and that not in the best manner I have seen this remedied in all save only one Man and if he do not presently Conform I have taken order for his Suspension In the Diocess of London I find that my Lord the Bishop there now by your Majesty's Grace and Favour Lord High Treasurer of England hath very carefully observed those Instructions which belong to his own Person And for the Diocess his Lordship Informs me of three great Misdemeanours The one committed by Dr Cornelius Burges who in a Latin Sermon before the Clergy of London uttered divers insolent passages against the Bishops and Government of the Church and refused to give his Lordship a Copy of the Sermon so there was a necessity of calling him into the High Commission Court which is done The second Misdemeanour is of one Mr Wharton a Minister in Essex who in a Sermon at Chelmesford uttered many unfit and some scurrilous things But for this he hath been Convented and received a Canonical Admonition And upon his sorrow and submission any farther Censure is forborn The third Misdemeanour which my Lord complains of is the late spreading and dispersing of some Factious and Malicious Pamphlets against the Bishops and Government of the Church of England And my Lord farther Certifies that he hath reasonable ground to perswade him that those Libellous Pamphlets have been Contrived or Abetted and dispersed by some of the Clergy of his Diocess and therefore desires me to use the Authority of the High Commission for the further discovery of this Notorious practice to prevent the Mischiefs which will otherwise ensue upon the Government of the Church This God willing I shall see performed But if the High Commission shall not have Power enough because one of those Libels contains Seditious Matter in it and that which is very little 〈◊〉 of Treason if any thing at all then I humbly crave leave to add this to my Lord Treasurer's Motion and humbly to desire that your Majesty will call it into a higher Court if you find Cause since I see no likelyhood but that these Troubles in the Church if they be permitted will break out into some Sedition in the Common-wealth My Visitation is yet depending for this Diocess and by reason of the Sickness I could not with safety hold it nor think it fit to gather so much People together but God willing I shall perform that Duty so soon as conveniently I may and then Certifie your Majesty at the next return what shall come under mine own view In this Diocess I find by my Lord's Report from his Officers that there are divers Recusants in several parts of the Country and that some of them have been seduced away from the Church of England within these two or three Years For all things else I receive no complaint thence save only of three or four Ministers that are negligent in Catechising and observe it not at all or but in the Lent only But I shall call upon the Bishop to see this remedied and to be as vigilant as he can against any farther increase of Recusants From Bath and Wells I have received a very good and happy Certificat both that all your Majesty's Instructions have been exactly performed throughout that whole Diocess And
that by God's Blessing and the well Ordering of Church Affairs there have been fewer Popish Recusants presented than formerly and that the number of them is much decreased And this I cannot but highly approve to your Majesty if there be not fewer presented either by the over-awing of them which should present or some Cunning in those which would not be presented For this Diocess my Lord hath given me in a very careful and punctual Account very large and in all Particulars very considerable And I shall return it to your Majesty as briefly as I can reduce it And first he hath for this Summer but by your Majesty's leave lived from both his Episcopal Houses in Ipswich partly because he was informed that that side of his Diocess did most need his presence and he found it so And partly because his Chappel at his House in Norwich was possessed by the French Congregation and so the Bishoprick left destitute But he hath given them warning to provide themselves elsewhere by Easter next His Lordship found a general defect of Catechising quite through the Diocess but hath setled it And in Norwich where there are 34 Churches there was no Sermon on the Sunday Morning save only in four but all put off to the Afternoon and so no Catechising But now he hath ordered that there shall be a Sermon every Morning and Catechising in the Afternoon in every Church For Lectures they abounded in Suffolk and many set up by private Gentlemen even without so much as the knowledge of the Ordinary and without any due observation to the Canons or the Discipline of the Church Divers of these his Lordship hath carefully regulated according to Order and especially in St. Edmonds-bury and with their very good content and Suspended no Lecturer of whom he might obtain Conformity And at Ipswich it was not unknown unto them that now Mr Ward stands Censured in the High Commission and obeys not Yet the Bishop was ready to have allowed them another if they would have sought him but they resolve to have Mr. Ward or none and that as is conceived in despight of the Censure of the Court. At Yarmouth where there was great division heretofore for many Years their Lecturer being Censured in the High Commission about two Years since went into New-England since which time there hath been no Lecture and very much peace in the Town and all Ecclesiastical Orders well observed But in Norwich one Mr Bridge rather than he would Conform hath left his Lecture and two Cures and is gone into Holland The Lecturers in the Country generally observing no Church Orders at all And yet the Bishop hath carried it with that Temper and upon their promise and his hopes of Conformity that he hath Inhibited but three in Norfolk and as many in Suffolk of which one is no Graduate and hath been a common Stage-player His Lordship craves direction what he shall do with such Scholars some in Holy Orders and some not as Knights and private Gentlemen keep in their Houses under pretence to Teach their Children As also with some Divines that are Beneficed in Towns or near but live in Gentlemens Houses For my part I think it very fit the Beneficed Men were punctually commanded to reside upon their Cures And for the rest your Majesties Instructions allow none to keep Chaplains but such as are qualified by Law All which notwithstanding I most humbly submit as the Bishop doth to your Majesty's Judgment For Recusants whereas formerly there were wont to be but two or three Presented his Lordship hath caused above forty to be Endicted in Norwich at the last Sessions and at the Assizes in Suffolk he delivered a List of such as were Presented upon the Oath of the Churchwardens to the Lord Chief Justice and his Lordship to the Grand Jury But they slighted it pretending the Bishop's Certificat to be no Evidence But the true Reason is conceived to be because he had also inserted such as had been Presented to him for Recusant Separatists as well as Recusant Romanists His Lordships Care hath been such as that though there are about One Thousand Five Hundred Clergy-Men in that Diocess and many Disorders yet there are not Thirty Excommunicated or Suspended whereof some are for Contumacy and will not yet submit some for obstinate denyal to Publish your Majesty's Declaration and some for contemning all the Orders and Rites of the Church and intruding themselves without License from the Ordinary for many Years together Last of all he found that one half of the Churches in his Diocess had not a Clerk able to Read and Answer the Minister in Divine Service by which means the People were wholly disused from joyning with the Priest and in many places from so much as saying Amen But concerning this his Lordship hath strictly enjoyned a Reformation If this Account given by my Lord of Norwich be true as I believe it is and ought to believe it till it can be disproved he hath deserved very well of the Church of England and hath been very ill rewarded for it His humble Suit to your Majesty is That you will be graciously pleased in your own good time to hear the Complaints that have been made against him that he may not be overborn by an Outcry for doing Service In the Diocess of Oxon I find all your Majesty's Instructions carefully obeyed and there is but one Lecture in the whole Diocess and that is read at Henly upon Thames by some Ministers of the Diocess conformable Men and allowed by the Bishop His Lordship hath also called upon divers Recusants but upon their being questioned they plead an Exemption from his Authority under your Majesty's Great Seal From my Lord of Ely I have received a very fair Account that his Diocess is very orderly and obedient insomuch that he hath not any thing of Note to acquaint me with My Lord in his Certificat mentions two Particulars fit for your Majesty's Knowledge The First is that one of His Clergy in Bedfordshire a Learned and Pious Man as he saith set up a Stone upon Pillars of Brick for his Communion-Table believing it to have been the Altar-Stone And because this appeared to be but a Grave-Stone and for avoiding of farther Rumours in that Country among the preciser sort his Lordship caused it to be quietly removed and the ancient Communion-Table placed in the room of it But did not farther question the Party because they found him a harmless Man and otherwise a Deserver But how deserving soever he be I must judge it a very bold part in him to attempt this without the Knowledge and Approbation of his Ordinary The Second is that there are risen some Differences in the Southern parts of his Diocess about the Ministers urging the People to receive at the Rails which his Lordship saith he hath procured to be placed about the Holy Table and the People in
some places refusing so to do Now because this is not Regulated by any Canon of the Church his Lordship is an humble Suitor that he may have Direction herein And truly I think for this Particular the People will best be won by the Decency of the Thing it self and that I suppose may be compassed in a short time But if your Majesty shall think it fit that a quicker way be held I shall humbly submit From the Lord Bishop of this Diocess I have received no Particular but in General thus That all your Majesty's Instructions are now observed there without repugnance for ought either Chancellor or any other Officer of his hath informed him My Lord the Bishop of this See certifies That your Majesty's Instructions are carefully observed and that there are only two Lecturers in the City of Worcester both very conformable and that they shall not longer continue than they are so And that the one of them preaches on Sundays in the Afternoons after Chatechizing and Service in the Parish-Churches and ending before Evening Prayers in the Cathedral I may not here forbear to acquaint your Majesty that this Sunday Lecture was ever wont to be in the Cathedral and that it is removed because the City would suffer no Prebendary to have it And Evening Prayers in their Parish-Churches must needs begin betimes and their Catechizing be short and the Prayers at the Cathedral begin very late if this Lecture can begin and end in the space between But if it can be so fitted I think the Dean and Chapter will not complain of the remove of the Lecture to a Parish-Church For these Three Diocesses my Lords the Bishops Certifie that all your Majesty's Instructions are carefully observed neither do any of them mention any thing amiss in the general either for Doctrine or Discipline Only the Bishop of Exeter hath sent me up two Copies of the late Libel Intituled News from Ipswich which were sent thither to a Stationer with Blank Covers These Five Diocesses following I have Visited this Year by my Vicar General and other Commissioners And for Hereford I find not many things amiss though the often change of the Bishop there which hath of late hapned hath done no good among them But some pretensions there are to certain Customs which I conceive were better broke than kept And I shall do my best to reform them as I have Opportunity and humbly beg your Majesty's Assistance if I want Power For St. Davids the Bishop is now there and will take the best care he can to see all things in Order But there is one Matthews the Vicar of Penmayn that preaches against the keeping of all Holy-Days with divers other as Fond or Prophane Opinions The Bishop hath inhibited him and if that do not serve I shall call him into the High-Commission Court Baronet Rudde is in this Diocess the Son of a late Bishop there who is a sober Gentleman He hath Built him a Chappel and desires the Bishop to Consecrate it But his Lordship finding one of your Majesty's Instructions to be that none should keep a Chaplain in his House but such as are qualified by Law which he conceives a Baronet is not hath hitherto forborn to Consecrate this Chappel as being to be of small use without a Chaplain and humbly craves direction herein what he shall do I humbly propose to your Majesty whether considering the Charge this Gentleman hath been at and the ill Ways which many of them there have to Church it may not be fit to Consecrate this Chappel and then that he may have a License to use the Minister of the Parish or any other lawfully in Orders Always provided that he use this Chappel but at times of some necessity not making himself or his Family strangers to the Mother-Church and that there be a Clause expressed in the License for recalling thereof upon any Abuse there committed and that this License be taken either from the Bishop under his Seal or from the Arch-Bishop of the Province For Landaff there is very little found amiss Only the Bishop complains that whereas Mr. Wroth and Mr. Erbury are in the High-Commission for their Schismatical proceedings the slow prosecution there against them makes both them persist in their By-ways and their Followers judge them Faultless But for this I humbly present to your Majesty this Answer That now the loss of two Terms by reason of the Sickness hath cast the Proceedings of that Court as well as of others behind-hand And there is no Remedy where all things else stay as well as it In the Diocess of St. Asaph there is no Complaint but the usual That there is great resort of Recusants to Holy-Well and that this Summer the Lady Falkland and her Company came as Pilgrims thither who were the more observed because they travelled on Foot and Dissembled neither their Quality nor their Errand And this Boldness of theirs is of very ill construction among your Majesty's People My humble Suit to your Majesty is That whereas I complained of this in open Council in your Majesty's presence you would now be graciously pleased that the Order then resolved on for her Confinement may be put in execution For Bangor I find that Catechising was quite out of use in those remote parts the more the Pity But the Bishop is now in hope to do much good and sees some Reformation in that particular already And I would say for this and the other Diocesses in Wales that much more good might be done there in a Church-way if they were not overborn by the Proceedings of the Court of the Marches there And this present Year in this Diocess of Bangor my Commissioners for my Metropolitical Visitation there complain unto me that the Power which belongs to my place hath been in them very much wronged and impeached by that Court And I do most humbly beseech your Majesty in your own good time to give this my Cause a Hearing if it take not a fair end without that trouble For Rochester the Bishop God comfort him is very ill of a Palsy and that I fear hath made him forget his Account Neither hath the Bishop of Glocester sent me any but why I know not And for Bristol that See is void For this Diocess I have likewise received no Account But I fear that whereas the Bishop was lately complained of to your Majesty for making Waste of the poor Woods there remaining he is not over-willing to give an Accotnt of that Particular Nor of the gross Abuse committed in the Cathedral Church by the Lady Davis who I most humbly beseech your Majesty may be so restrained as that she may have no more Power to commit such horrible Profanations And so I most humbly submit this my Yearly Account of my Province of Canterbury to your Majesty's Princely Wisdom W CANT The Arch-Bishop's Account of
his Province to the King for the Year 1637. In Dei Nomine Amen May it please Your most Gracious Majesty ACcording to your Commands in your Instructions Published for the good of the Clergy and my bounden Duty I here present my Annual Account for the Province of Canterbury for the Year last past 1637. And First to begin with mine own Diocess I must give your Majesty to understand that at and about Ashford in Kent the Separatists continue to hold their Conventicles notwithstanding the Excommunication of so many of them as have been discovered They are all of the poorer sort and very simple so that I am utterly to seek what to do with them Two or three of their principal Ringleaders Brewer Fenner and Turner have long been in Prison and it was once thought fit to proceed against them by the Statute for Abjuration But I do much doubt they are so ignorantly wilful that they will return into the Kingdom and do a great deal more hurt before they will again be taken And not long since Brewer slipt out of Prison and went to Rochester and other parts of Kent and held Conventicles and put a great many simple People especially Women into great Distempers against the Church He is taken again and was called before the High Commission where he stood silent but in such a jeering scornful manner as I scarce ever saw the like So in Prison he remains In the Churchyard of the same Town a Butcher's Slaughter-House opened to the great Annoyance of that place which I have commanded should be remedied and the Door shut up At Biddenden I have Suspended Richard Warren the School-Master for refusing the Oath of Allegiance of Canonical Obedience and to Subscribe to the Articles Besides this precise Man will read nothing but Divinity to his Scholars No not so much as the Grammar Rules unless Mars Bacchus Apollo and Pol AEdepol may be blotted out The Strangers in Canterbury do not so much resort to their Parish-Churches as formerly they did at my first giving of my Injunctions But Visiting this Year I have given a publick and strict Charge that the Delinquents be presented and punished if they do not their Duty in that behalf There is one dwelling in Addisham a Married Man called by the Name of Thomas Jordan He was formerly called Thomas Mounton because he was found in the Church Porch of Mounton in Swadling Clothes left there in all likelyhood by his Mother who was some Beggar or Strumpet It is believed he was never Christned I have therefore given Order that he shall be Christned with that Caution which is prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer where the Baptism is doubtful About Sittingborn there are more Recusants than in any other part of my Diocess And the Lady Roper Dowager is thought to be a great means of the increase of them But I have given strict charge that they be carefully presented according to Law There is still a remainder of Schismaticks in Egerton and the Parishes adjacent But they are as mean People as those about Ashford and I am as much to seek what to do with them My Lord Treasurer complains that he hath little assistance of his Archdeacons and I believe it to be true and shall therefore if your Majesty think fit cause Letters to be written to them to awake them to their Duties His Lordship likewise complains of some inconformable Men which his Chancellor hath met with in this his last Visitation but they have received such Censure as their Faults deserved or else submitted themselves Only Mr. John Knolles a Lecturer at Colchester had forborn to receive the Holy Communion for two Years since he came to be Lecturer And being enjoyned to perform that Duty within a Month he was so zealous as that he forsook Lecture and Town and all rather than he would receive the Communion I find likewise in this Account 28 Ministers Convented before the Chancellor for some Inconformities And five for excess in Drinking But there is as good Order taken with them as could be The Lectures in this Diocess continue many But there is great care taken to keep them in order I find in the Diocess of Winchester divers Recusants newly pretended But whether they be newly perverted doth not appear by my Lord the Bishops Account to me There are some five complained of for not Catechising which I shall require of the Bishop to see remedied Here my Lord the Bishop Certifies that he is very careful and sees all things done according to your Majesty's Instructions My Lord the Bishop of this Diocess dyed before the time came that he was to give up his Accounts so that I can relate nothing upon certainty but shall give the succeeding Bishop Charge to be very careful because his Predecessor lay languishing and was able to look to little for three whole Years before his Death The Account from hence is very brief But my Lord is confident that his Diocess is clean through in good Order and I will hope it is so My Lord of Peterburgh hath taken a great deal of pains and brought his Diocess into very good order Only he saith there are three Lecturers in the same one at Northampton but that is read by the Vicar of the place one at Rowel which hath Maintenance allowed and a third at Daventree maintained by the Contribution of the Town And this last I think the Bishop had need take care of This Diocess appears by my Lord's Certificate to be in marvelous good order for all things and a great Reformation hath been wrought there by his Care and Industry For Popish Recusants the number of them is there much decreased neither are any newly presented for Recusancy My Lord the Bishop of Lincoln is not as your Majesty knows in case to make any Return for his Diocess And since the Jurisdiction thereof came by his Suspension into my Hands I have neither had time nor leisure to make any great Inquiry how conformable in Doctrine or Discipline Men in those parts are Yet this I find that both in Buckinghamshire and in Bedfordshire there are many too refractory to all good Order And there are a great number of very poor and miserable Vicarages and Curatships in many parts of this large Diocess and which are almost past all cure and hope of help unless by your Majesties Grace and Favour some may be had My Lord of Norwich hath been very careful of all your Majesty's Instructions And upon the 24th of September last being then in his Diocess and giving Orders he refused to admit five well Learned and well Mannered Men because they wanted a sufficient Title according to the Canon of the Church I find that there are in this Diocess six Lectures namely at Wimondham North-walsham East-Earling Norwich Linn and Bungay But they are all performed by Conformable and Neighbouring Divines and under
such Conditions and Rules as my Lord their Bishop hath prescribed them Only that at Bungay is inhibited for a time at the entreaty of some of their own Company and for Misdemeanours in it As for the single Lecturers my Lord hath had a special Eye over them Your Majesties Letters requiring the Mayor Sheriffs and Aldermen c. to repair on Sundays to Divine Service and Sermons at the Cathedral in Norwich are very well observed by the most of them But Complaint is brought to the Bishop against one Thomas King who is held a factious and a dangerous Man and he frequently absents himself from the Cathedral and it is doubted that his ill Example will make others neglect their Duties Divine Service both for Prayers Catechism and Sermons is diligently frequented and that beyond what could suddainly be hoped for in such a Diocess and in the midst of the humorousness of this Age. Of those which stood under Episcopal Censure or that fled to avoid Censure there are not above three or four which have submitted themselves Yet his Lordship hath had patience notwithstanding a peremptory Citation sent out hitherto to expect them But now must proceed to Deprivation or suffer Scorn and Contempt to follow upon all his Injunctions Nevertheless herein he humbly craves direction and so do I if it please your Majesty to give it His Lordship likewise very carefully and necessarily as I conceive craves direction for these Particulars following 1. Divers Towns are depopulated no Houses left standing but the Mannor House and the Church and that turned to the Lord's Barn or worse use and no Service done in it though the Parsonages or Vicarages be presentative 2. In other Towns the Church is ruined and the Inhabitants thrust upon Neighbouring Parishes where they fill the Church and pay few or no Duties 3. At Carrowe Close by Norwich there are twelve Houses some of them fair reputed to be of no Parish and so an ordinary receptacle for Recusant Papists and other Separatists to the great prejudice of that Neighbouring City 4. At Lanwood near New-Market and in Burwell the Mother Church stands but the Roof suffered to decay within the Memory of Man and the Bells sold and the Hamlet quite slipt out of all Jurisdiction 〈◊〉 That Church was an Impropriation to the Abby of Ramsey and is now in Sir William Russell's Hands 5. The Churchyards in many places are extreamly Annoyed and Profaned especially in Corporate Towns And at St. Edmonds-Bury the Assizes are Yearly kept in a remote side of the Churchyard and a common Ale-House stands in the middle of the Yard The like abuses by Ale-Houses Back-doors and throwing out of Filth with something else not fit to be related here are found at Bungay At St. Maries ad Turrim in Ipswich at Woodbridge and at Norwich the Sign-Posts of two or three Inns stand in the Church-yard Of remedy for these Abuses the Bishop is utterly in despair unless your Majesty be pleased to take some special Order for them Because they which have these Back-doors into Church-yards or common Passages will plead Prescription and then a Prohibition will be granted against the Ecclesiastical Proceedings 6 Lastly his Lordship Certifies that divers not only Churches but Town-ships themselves are in danger of utter ruin by a breach of the Sea And there was provision made by Act of Parliament in the Seventh Year of your Majesty's Royal Father of Blessed Memory for redress of it But nothing being since done it will now cost five times as much to remedy as then it would But the Bishop is in good hope great good may yet be done if your Majesty will be graciously pleased to appear in it upon such Humble Petition as he and I shall make to Your Majesty The Bishop of this Diocess assures me that all things are in very good Order there And indeed I think the Diocess is well amended within these few Years his Lordship having been very careful both in his Visitations and otherwise This Year by reason of the return of divers that were Captives in Morocco and having been Inhabitants of those Western Parts there arose in my Lord the Bishop a Doubt how they having renounced their Saviour and become Turks might be readmitted into the Church of Christ and under what Penitential Form His Lordship at his last being in London spake with me about it and we agreed on a Form which was afterwards drawn up and approved by the Right Reverend Fathers in God my Lords the Bishops of London Ely and Norwich and is now setled by your Majesty's Appointment and I shall take care to see it Registred here and have given Charge to my Lord of Exon to see it Registred below to remain as a President for future times if there should be any more sad Examples of Apostacy from the Faith Whereas your Majesty hath lately been graciously pleased to grant the ordering of the Woods of Shotover and Stowe by Lease to the Lord Bishop of Oxford his Lordship assures me that there is a great deal of Care taken and a great deal of Charge laid out by him and his Tenant for the Preservation and well ordering of the Woods there He hath likewise been very careful concerning Recusants within that Diocess But saith that divers of them pretend and shew their Exemptions that they should not be troubled for matters concerning their Religion in any Ecclesiastical Courts which hath made his Lordship forbear till your Majesty's Pleasure be farther known For Lectures there are none in that Diocess save one at Henly upon Thames Preached by the Incumbent an orderly Man and in the Peculiars at Tame and Banbury but they are out of the Bishop's Jurisdiction My Lord Bishop of this See hath taken great care in his first Visitation and if he continue that care as I doubt not but he will he will quickly settle that Diocess into better Order But he complains of the Dean and Chapter for whose Benefit he hath lately made many good Injunctions that they will not consent that Twenty Pounds per An. ordered by their Statute for the Repairing of High-Ways may be turned to the necessary supply of their Quire in regard that 100 l. per An. is lately given by Dr. White towards the Repair of the same High-Ways But this and other things if your Majesty thinks fit I can easily alter when I come to revise their Statutes or by a Command from your Majesty in the mean time He farther complains that his Predecessor Bishop Wright now Bishop of Lichfield detains in his custody all the Writings belonging to Cromhall the Lease which your Majesty by your Royal Letters commanded should expire and return to the Bishoprick And sure if this be so it is very fit he be commanded to restore them out of Hand Lastly he complains that they of the preciser Faction do every Day endeavour to disquiet the People and that by
strange Inventions And at present they give out that the Liturgy Printed for Scotland hath in it sundry Notorious Points of Popery c. Which troubles the People and doth much harm otherwise The like is certified me from the Bishop of Exon concerning Rumours raised in those Parts My Lord Bishop of Chichester is in a Quartan-Ague besides his old Diseases of the Stone and the Gout I pray God comfort him But I do not hear from him that there is much amiss in that Diocess The Bishop of this Diocess certifies me that your Majesty's Instructions are in all things carefully observed and he hath used the utmost Diligence he can in reclaiming of Recusants and such as will not conform themselves he hath taken a strict Course to have them proceeded withal and granted Significavits against divers In this Diocess my Lord's Words are That there is nothing but common Peace and universal Conformity My Lord of Landaff hath been very careful for the setling of the Rights and Profits of this Bishoprick and God hath Blessed his Endeavours therein And for the Government he professes that in his late Visitation he hath not found one Schismatical Minister or Non-Conformist in the Diocess The Bishop of this See was Consecrated but a little before Michaelmas last and by your Majesty's leave hath not been yet in his Diocess and so for this broken part of the Year is able to give no Account My Lord the Bishop Certifies that he is less troubled with Non-Conformists since Mr Wheatly of Banbury gave over his Lecture at Stratford within that Diocess And that during this heavy Visitation at Worcester he hath caused the Lectures to cease in that Town The Bishop of this See hath not had his Health of late and is now come to Town to seek to recover the same for wich he humbly craves your Majesty's Favourable Construction But he Certifies me that all your Majesty's Instructions are duly observed within that Diocess From the Bishops of Lichfield and Glocester I have not received any Certificates And so with my Prayers for your Majesty's long Life and Happy Reign I humbly submit this my Account for the Year last past 1637. W. CANT The Arch-Bishop's Account of his Province to the King for the Year 1638. May it please your Most Sacred Majesty ACcording to my bounden Duty and your Majesty's Commands expressed in your Instructions for the good of the Clergy I here present my Account for the Year last past 1638. And First to begin with my self and my own Diocess I have been careful to obey all your Majesty's particular Instructions both for the residing upon my Houses and preserving of my Woods c. There was one Bedle a Minister of Essex came into this Diocess and at Harbledown near Canterbury the Curate there being dead Preached very disorderly three hours together at a time and got himself many ignorant followers But so soon as ever he was enquired after by my Officers he fled the Country and I purpose God willing to speak with the Chancellor of London concerning him I do not find that there is either any increase or decrease of Papists or Puritans in the Diocess But the Separatists about Ashford are very busie miserable poor and out of that bold against all Church Censure so that without some Temporal Assistance from the Judges we know not what to do And this I have often and humbly represented Yet two notorious Separatists being call'd in question are fled the Country and one of them brake Prison At Tenterden some People are somewhat refractory but the Archdeacon assures me he hath great hope to reduce them which I shall be glad of The Strangers at Canterbury do reasonably well obey my Injunctions for coming to our Churches and I shall give them all Incouragement holding it fitting to keep a moderate Hand with them In the Diocess and City of London there was like to be some distraction both among the Ministers and the People occasioned at first by some over-nice Curiosities Preached by one Mr. Goodwin Vicar of St. Stephens in Coleman-street concerning the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness in the Justification of a Sinner But the differences arising about it were timely prevented by Convention of the Parties dissenting And so God be thanked that Business is at peace There is but one noted refractory Person that stands out in that Diocess and he is now under Suspension My Lord the Bishop's Certificate informs me that there are a great many Recusants within that Diocess and that in some 〈◊〉 their Children are not brought to be Baptized in the Church which I shall require the Bishop to take special care of This Diocess being now in my Charge I do humbly certifie your Majesty that one part of Buckinghamshire and some places in Lincoln and Leicestershires are somewhat disorderly But I do not find any Man presented unto me for any wilful Refractoriness save one whom Ih ave caused to be called into the High Commission Court There are in Lincolnshire many miserable poor Vicarages and Curateships Might your Majesty's Reign be so blest as that they might in time find some relief But this is quite beyond Episcopal Power In this Diocess my Lord hath taken care of all your Majesty's Instructions and assures me that there is no Lecture in any Market Town within his Diocess except at Henley which is performed by their own Minister a discreet Man As for that which was begun by private Persons in the Chappel of your Majesty's Mannor House at Woodstocke and might have been of very dangerous both Example and Consequence the Bishop hath carefully suppressed it by your Majesty's Gracious Command upon his Petition There is no Complaint in this Diocess but only of one Mr. Ephraim Hewet of Wraxhall in Warwickshire who hath taken upon him to keep Fasts in his Parish by his own appointment and hath contemned the decent Ceremonies commanded by the Church My Lord the Bishop proceeds against him and intends either to reform or punish him In this Diocess the Bishop assures me that all things go very orderly and well saving that divers Impropriators suffer willing Ruins as he conceives in the Churches which belong unto them wherein he humbly craves both Advice and Aid that it may be remedied There was one Mr. Workeman sometimes a Lecturer at Glocester and for Inconformity in a very high degree put from that place by Sentence of the High Commission Court Since that this Man hath been received into the House of one Mr. Kyrle of Wallford and lived there without any Cure or other known Imployment The Bishop hearing of him and resolving to call him in Question if he did not Conform himself he hath suddenly left that Diocess and is gone God knows whether There were some other Complaints put up which I certified to the Bishop But his Lordship hath given me a fair
Answer and assures me that by his care and vigilancy they shall all be rectified and that out of hand My Lord informs me that in his Predecessor Bishop Whites absence he living most commonly at London being your Majesty's Almoner there was cut down and wasted above a Thousand Loads of Wood. For all other businesses they are in good condition within that Diocess saving that my Lord the Bishop humbly craves leave hereby to represent a great grievance to your Majesty which concerns the Bishoprick the Dean and Chapter and all other Clergy Men or indeed rather all your Majesty's Liege People inhabiting within the Isle of Ely In this Diocess the Bishop found out one Jeffryes who commonly Administred the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist being either not in Holy Orders at all or at least not a Priest So soon as he was discovered he slipt out of the Diocess and the Bishop thinks that he now serves in a Peculiar under the Dean and Chapter of Wells I will send thither to know the certainty and see the abuse punished if I can light upon the Person The Bishop further Certifies me that there are very many within that small Diocess who stand Excommunicate and divers of them only for not payment of Fees And again that many of these are not able to pay them I think it were not amiss that once every Year in Lent the Chancellor were commanded to take an Account of all the Excommunicats in the Diocess and to cause all to be Absolved that shall be fit for Absolution and particularly to see that no Man be suffered to continue Excommunicated where nothing but Poverty hinders the payment of Duties or other Fees The Bishop likewise informs me that Monuments even of obscure and mean Persons are grown very common in those Parts and prejudicial both to the Walls and Pillars and Liberty of Churches which the Bishop opposes as much and as fairly as he can But all is too little There were in this Diocess the last year but two Refractory Ministers known to the Bishop Mr. Wroth and Mr Erbury The former hath submitted but the other would neither submit nor satisfie his Parishioners to whom he had given publick offence so he resigned his Vicarage and hath left thereby the Diocess in peace For this Diocess the Bishop humbly craves your Majesty's Pardon for his longer stay in London than ordinary and professes his Excuse formerly made to your Majesty to be most true viz. That he was forced to it by extremity of Sickness falling upon him in those parts and forcing his change of Air. That Diocess hath been a little out of quiet this year by some Mens medling with those nice Questions which your Majesty hath forbidden should be commonly preached in the Pulpit But the Relation being somewhat imperfect I shall inform my self farther and then give your Majesty such Account as I receive In this Diocess the Bishop Certifies me two considerable things and both of them are of difficult Cure The one concerns his Bishoprick where every thing is let for Lives by his Predecessors to the very Mill that Grinds his Corn. The other concerns the Diocess in general where by Reason of the Poverty of the Place all Clergy-Men of Hope and Worth seek Preferment elsewhere And he tells me plainly some weak Scholars must be Ordained or else some Cures must be left altogether unsupplied My Lord of Glocester confesseth he hath been absent from his Diocess a good part of this Year being kept from his Dwelling-Houses by the Infection at Glocester which just Cause of Absence he humbly submits to your most gracious Majesty Concerning that Diocess the Bishop speaks not much more But the Arch-Deacon at his Visitation finding the Clergy conformable gave them this grave and fitting Admonition viz. That no Man should presume his conformity should excuse him if in the mean time his Life were Scandalous Which was very necessary for that Place and these Times And the Arch-Deacon certifies farther that there are divers which as far as they dare oppose Catechising and but for fear of losing the Livings would almost go as far as Burton and Bastwick did which is his own expression under his Hand My Lord the Bishop there complains much of the Decay of his Houses and the impoverishing of that Bishoprick by some of his Predecessors And this partly by letting of long Leases before the Statute restrained it and partly by a coarse exchange of some Lands in former times This latter cannot now be helped but for the decay of his Houses if he pursue that faculty which I granted to his immediate Predecessor he may help a great part of that decay without much charge And this God willing I shall put him in mind to do and give him the best assistance that I can by Law For the Churches in that Diocess which are very many my Lord acknowledges that they are in very decent and good order generally The only thing which he saith troubles his Diocess is that the People have been required to come up and receive at the Rail which is set before the Communion-Table and that heretofore many have been Excommunicated or Suspended for not doing so For the thing it self it is certainly the most decent and orderly way and is practised by your Majesty and by the Lords in your own Chappel and now almost every where else And upon my knowledge hath been long used in St Giles his Church without Cripplegate London with marvellous Decency and Ease and yet in that Parish there are not so few as Two Thousand Communicants more than within any Parish in Norwich Diocess And when your Majesty had the Hearing of this Business in the now Bishop of Ely's Time you highly approved it And therefore I presume you will be pleased to command that the present Bishop continue it and look carefully to it And whereas they plead that many stood suspended for it the Bishop of Ely in whose Time it was doth assure me that in above One Thousand Three Hundred Parishes there were not Thirteen either Excommunicated or Suspended for refusing of this In this Diocess the Bishop gives a fair Account to all your Majesty's Instructions so that I have cause to hope that that Diocess is in reasonable good Order Only he complains that his Predecessors have Leased out part of his House at Lichfield which puts him to very great Annoyance But he is entring into a Legal way for redress of his Abuse in which I presume your Majesty will give him all fair and just Assistance if he shall be forc'd to crave the same My Lord the Bishop came but lately to this See and hath not as yet found much amiss The Bishop of that Diocess is Dead and no other yet setled so I can have no Account from thence this Year These Four Bishops Certifie that all things are orderly and well
within their several Diocesses And so with my Prayers for your Majesty's long Life and happy Reign I humbly submit this my Account for the Year last past being 1638. January 2d 〈◊〉 W. Cant. The Arch-Bishop's Account of his Province to the King for the Year 1639. In Dei Nomine Amen May it Please your most Sacred Majesty ACcording to your Royal Commands expressed in your Instructions for the good of the Church I here most humbly Present this my Account for the Year finished now at Christmas 1639. And First to begin with my own Diocess The great thing which is amiss there and beyond my Power to remedy is the stiffness of divers Anabaptists and Separatists from the Church of England especially in and about the Parts near Ashford And I do not find either by my own Experience or by any Advice from my Officers that this is like to be remedied unless the Statute concerning Abjuration of your Kingdom or some other way by the Power of the Temporal Law or State be thought upon But how fit that may be to be done for the present especially in these broken Times I humbly submit to your Majesty's Wisdom having often complained of this before Many that were brought to good Order for receiving of the Holy Communion where the Rails stand before the Table are now of late fallen off and refuse to come up thither to receive But this God willing I shall take care of and order as well as I can and with as much speed And the same is now commonly fallen out in divers other Diocesses There was about half a Year since one that pretended himself a Minister who got many Followers in Sandwich and some Neighbouring Parishes but at last was found to have gone under three Names Enoch Swann and Grey and in as several Habits of a Minister an ordinary Lay-Man and a Royster. And this being discovered he fled the Country before any of my Officers could lay hold on him Upon this occasion I have commanded my Commissary and Arch-Deacon to give Charge in my Name to all Parsons and Vicars of my Diocess that they suffer no Man to preach in their Cures but such as for whom they will Answer as well otherwise as for the point of Conformity which I hope will prevent the like abuse hereafter In this Diocess the last Year there was some heat struck by opposite Preaching in the Pulpit between one Mr Goodwin Vicar of St Stevens in Coleman-street and some other Ministers in the City concerning the Act of Believing and the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness in the Justification of a Sinner And the Peoples Minds were much perplexed hereabouts This business was quieted by my Lord the Bishop and his Chancellour and a Promise of Forbearance made Yet now lately Mr Goodwin hath preached again in the same way and the same Perplexity is like to be caused again thereby in the City Yet my Lord the Bishop is in hopes to settle this also quietly wherein he shall have the best Assistance I can give him The Arch-Deacons in this Diocess and others are too negligent in giving their Bishops due Information of such things as are committed to their Charge Mr Joseph Simonds Rector of St Martin's Ironmonger-lane is utterly fallen from the Church of England and hath abandoned his Benefice and gone beyond the Seas and so was deprived in September last past Mr Daniel Votyer Rector of St Peter's in Westcheap hath been likewise convented for divers Inconformities and promised Reformation as Mr Simonds also did but being now called into the High Commission Order is taken for the Officiating of his Cure till it shall appear whether he will desert it or no for he also is gone beyond the Seas Mr George Seaton Rector of Bushy in the County of Hertford is charged with continual Non-residency and other Misdemeanours little beseeming a Clergy-man But of this neither my Lord nor my self can say more to your Majesty till we see what will rise in Proof against him My Lord the Bishop of this Diocess gives me a very fair Account of all things regular therein saving that the Popish Recusants which he saith are many in that Diocess do yearly increase there and that this may appear by the Bills of Presentment in his Annual Inquisitions My Lord the Bishop informs me that he hath been very careful in point of Ordination as being a Bishop near the University and to whom many resort for Holy Orders at times appointed by the Church But he complains that having refused to give Orders to Twenty or Thirty at an Ordination most of them have addressed themselves to other Bishops and of them received Orders not only without Letters Dimissory but without such Qualification as the Canon requires In this Case I would humbly advise your Majesty That my Lord the Bishop may enquire and certifie by what Bishops these Parties so refused by him were Admitted into Holy Orders that so they may be admonished to be more careful for the future and that this Abuse may not find Encouragement and increase For Popish Recusants they have been proceeded against in this Diocess according to Law saving only such of them as have pleaded and shewed your Majesty's Exemption under your Great Seal from being question'd in any Ecclesisiastical Court for matters concerning their Religion I find by the Bishop's Certificate that he hath constantly resided upon his Episcopal Houses but saith that he cannot have his Health at Eccleshall and hath therefore since resided in his Palace at Lichfield but with very little Comfort by reason of Inmates left as his Lordship saith upon the Church's Possession His Lordship adds That he hath an ancient Palace at Coventry in Lease but with reservation of the Use thereof in case the Bishop shall at any time come to live there Here he means to reside for a time if it stand with your Majesty's good liking For Popish Recusants his Lordship saith they are presented and prosecuted according to the Law This Diocess my Lord the Bishop assures me is as quiet uniform and conformable as any in the Kingdom if not more And doth avow it that all which stood out in Suffolk as well as Norfolk at his coming to that See are come in and have now legally subscribed and professed all Conformity and for ought he can learn observe it accordingly Yet his Lordship confesseth that some of the Vulgar sort in Suffolk are not conformable enough especially in coming up to Receive at the Steps of the Chancel where the Rails are set But he hopes by fair means he shall be able to work upon them in time His Lordship adds That some have Indicted a Minister because he would not come down from the Communion Table to give them the Sacrament in their Seats But this your Majesty hath been formerly acquainted with by the Minister's Petition which you were graciously pleased to command me to underwrite
In this Particular the Bishop craves to receive Direction whether he shall command them to Catechise only and not Preach because your Majesty's Instructions seem to be strict in this point I think your Majesty may be pleased to have the Ministers to preach if they will so that they do first Catechise orderly by Question and Answer and afterwards preach upon the same Heads to the People for their better understanding of those Questions Besides some Knights and Esquires keep Schoolmasters in their Houses or Scholars to converse with or dyet the Vicar where his Maintenance is little And this they say is not to keep a Chaplain which your Majesty's Instructions forbid Yet most of these read or say Service in their Houses which is the Office of a Chaplain But they read not the Prayers of the Church according to the Liturgy Established The Bishop craves direction in this also And I think it be very necessary that the Bishop proceed strictly and keep all such that they read or say no Prayers but those which are allowed and established by the Church in the Book of Common Prayers There are not observed more than Seven or Eight throughout the whole Diocess which seem refractory to the Church and they have made large professions of their Conformities which the Bishop will settle so soon as he can But this he saith he finds plainly that there are few of the Laity Factious but where the Clergy misleads them And this I doubt is too true in most parts of the Kingdom They have in this Diocess come to him very thick to receive Confirmation to the number of some Thousands There were two Lectures held this last Year the one at Wainfleet and the other at Kirton in Lindsey where some two or three of the Ministers which read the Lecture were disorderly Among the rest one Mr. Show preached very Factiously just at the time when your Majesty was at Barwicke and his Fellow Lecturers complained not of him Hereupon the Chancellor having notice of it called him in question and the business was so foul and so fully proved that the party fled the Country and is thought to be gone for New-England Some other small Exorbitances there are which the Chancellor complains of But there is hope that this Example will do some good among them In this Diocess one Mr. Coxe upon Hosea 4. 4. preached a Sermon to prove that the Church of England did not maintain the Calling of Bishops to be Jure Divino which Sermon troubled those Parts not a little My Lord the Bishop after he had had Speech with him sent him to me When he came it pleased God so to bless me that I gave him satisfaction and he went home very well contented and made a handsome Retractation voluntarily of himself and satisfied the People In the skirts of this Diocess in Shropshire there was a Conventicle St. of mean Persons laid hold on and Complaint was made to the Council of the Marches And the Lord President of Wales very Honourably gave notice of it both to the Lords and my self and they were remitted to receive such Censure as the Laws Ecclesiastical impose upon them These Bishops do all Certifie that every thing is well in their several Diocesses concerning the Particulars contained in your Majesty's Instructions and otherwise The like is Certified by the Lord Bishop of Chichester saving that of late there hath hapned some little disorder in the East parts of that Diocess about Lewis which we are taking care to settle as well as we can And for Non-Conformists he saith that Diocess is not so much troubled with Puritan Ministers as with Puritan Justices of the Peace of which latter there are store And so with my Prayers for your Majesty's long and happy Reign I humbly submit this my Account January 2. 1639. W. Cant. H. W. WHen I wrote the Preface to this first Volume I had intended to reserve what follows as well as the immediately preceding Papers viz the Arch-Bishop's Annual Accounts of his Province for the Second Volume as not believing there would be any room for them in this But the Book having now fallen much short of the number of Sheets by me at first computed I have thought fit to cause these Memorials to be here adjoyned that so this Volume might be thereby increased to a convenient Bulk I made choice of these rather than any other Papers for this purpose because they contribute very much to the more perfect knowledge of the great Transactions of those Times both in Church and State and do indeed constitute a part of the History of the Life and Actions of the Arch-Bishop and are often referred to by him in the preceding History The Original Accounts of the Arch-Bishop to the King concerning his Province Apostilled in the Margin with the King 's own Hand are now in my Custody The Accounts indeed are not wrote in the Arch-Bishop's own Hand that being not thought fair enough by himself to be presented to the King's view upon that occasion but very fairly wrote by his Secretary or some other employed by him But the Notes or Apostils added by the King to them and therewith remitted to the Arch-Bishop are wrote in the King 's own Hand which is fair enough although the Orthography be vitious a matter common to many Learned Men of that time and even to the Arch-Bishop himself which yet however I have caused to be retained as having observed that the Arch-Bishop had caused the King's Orthography to be Literally followed in those Transcripts which he ordered his Secretary and Registrary to make of them either to be kept for his own use or to be inserted in his Publick Register ROME's MASTER-PIECE OR THE Grand Conspiracy of the POPE AND HIS JESUITED INSTRUMENTS TO Extirpate the Protestant Religion Re-establish Popery Subvert Laws Liberties Peace Parliaments BY Kindling a Civil War in Scotland and all his Majesty's Realms and to Poison the King himself in case he Comply not with them in these their execrable Designs Revealed out of Conscience to Andreas ab Habernfield by an Agent sent from Rome into England by Cardinal Barbarino as an Assistant to Con the Pope's late Nuncio to prosecute this most Execrable Plot in which he persisted a principal Actor several Years who discovered it to Sir William Boswell his Majesty's Agent at the Hague 6 Sept 1640. He under an Oath of Secresie to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury among whose Papers it was casually found by Mr Prynn May 31 1643. who Communicated it to the King As the greatest Business that ever was put to him Together with The ARCH-BISHOP's NOTES The Lord both will bring to Light the hidden things of Darkness and will make manifest the Counsels of the Hearts and then shall every man have Praise of God 1 Cor IV 5. It is Ordered by the Committee of the House of Commons in Parliament concerning Printing this first
to defer it till hereafter 9. That there is a ready means whereby the Villany may be discovered in one moment the chief Conspirators circumvented and the primary Members of the Conjuration apprehended in the very act 10. That very many about the King who are accounted most faithful and intimate to whom likewise the more secret things are intrusted ARE TRAYTORS TO THE KING corrupted with a foreign Pension who communicate all secrets of greater or lesser moment to a foreign Power 11. These and other most secret things which shall be necessary to be known for the security of the King may be revealed if these things shall be acceptable to the Lord Arch-Bishop 12. In the mean time if his Royal Majesty and the Lord Arch-Bishop desire to consult well to themselves they shall keep these things only superficially communicated unto them most secretly under deep silence not communicating them so much as to those whom they judge most faithful to them before they shall receive by Name in whom they may confide For else they are safe on no side Likewise they may be assured that whatsoever things are here proposed are no Figments nor Fables nor vain Dreams but such real Verities which may be demonstrated in every small Tittle For those who thrust themselves into this Business are such Men who mind no gain but the very Zeal of Christian Charity suffers them not to conceal these things Yet both from his Majesty and the Lord Arch-Bishop some small exemplar of Gratitude will be expected All these Premises have been communicated under good faith and the Sacrament of an Oath to Mr. Leger Embassadour of the King of Great Brittain at the Hague that he should not immediately trust or communicate these things to any Mortal besides the King and the Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Subscribed c. Present c. Hague Com. 6 Sept. 1640. in the stile of the place Regiae Majestati Dom. Archiepiscopo Cantuariensi insinuandum per Literas 1. REgiam Majestatem Dom. Archiepiscopum utrumque in magno discrimine vitae constitutum 2. Totam Rempublicam hoc nomine periclitari nisi properè occurratur malo 3. Turbas istas Scoticas in eum finem esse concitatas ut sub isto praetextu Rex Dominus Archiepiscopus perimeretur 4. Dari medium quo utrique hac in parte bene consuli tumultus iste cito componi possit 5. Compositis etiam turbis istis Scoticis 〈◊〉 periclitari Regem esse plarima media quibus Regi Domino Archiepiscopo machinatur exitium 6. Conspirasse certam societatem quae Regi Dom. Archiepiscopo molitur necem totiusque Regni convulsionem 7. Eandem Societatem singulis septimanis explorationis octiduae suum quemque quod nundinatus est ad Praesidem Societatis deponere in unum fasciculum conferre qui Hebdomadatim ad Directorem negotii expeditur 8. Nominari quidem posse omnes per capita dictae conspirationis conjuratos At quia alio medio innotescent differre in posterum placuit 9. Medium esse in promptu quo uno momento detegi poterit scelus Conspiratores praecipui circumveniri membraque primaria Conjurationis in ipso actu apprehendi 10. Astantes Regi plurimos qui pro fidelissimis intimis censentur quibus etiam secretiora fiduntur proditores Regis esse peregrinâ pensione corruptos qui secreta quaeque majoris vel exigui momenti ad exteram Potestatem deferunt 11. Haec alia secretissima quae scitu ad securitatem Regis erunt necessaria quòd si haec accepta Dom. Archiepiscopo fuerint revelari poterunt 12. Interim si Regia Majestas sua Dominus Archiepiscopus bene sibi consultum volunt haec superficialiter quidem tantum ipsis communicata sub profundo silentio secretissimè servabunt ne quidem iis quos sibi fidelissimos judicant communicaturi antequam de nomine acceperint quibus fidendum sit Ab nullo enim latere alias tuti sunt Sint etiam certi quicquid hic proponitur nulla figmenta nec fabulas aut inania Somnia esse sed in rei veritate it a constituta quae omnibus momentis demonstrari poterunt Qui enim se immiscent huic negotio viri honesti sunt quibus nullus quaestus in animo sed ipse Christianae Charitatis Fervor ista facere non sinit Ab utroque tamen suae Majestati tum Domino Archiepiscopo gratitudinis exemplar tale quale expectabitur Haec omnia antecedentia sub bona fide juramenti Sacramento Dom. Residenti Regis Magnae Britanniae Hagae Comitum communicata esse ne ulli mortalium praeter Regem Dom. Archiepiscopum Cantuariensem immediatè ista fideret vel communicaret Subscripta c. Proesentes c. Hagae Com. 6 Sept. 1640. St. loci Detectio c. offerenda Seren. Regiae Majestati Britanniae Dom. Archiepiscopo Cantuariensi c. 6. Sept. 1640. The Arch-Bishop of Canterbury's Letter to the King concerning the Plot With the King's directions in the Margin written with his own Hand May it please your Majesty AS great as the Secret is which comes herewith yet I chuse rather to send it in this silent covert way and I hope safe than to come thither and bring it my self First because I am no way able to make haste enough with it Secondly because should I come at this time and antedate the meeting Septemb. 24. there would be more jealousy of the Business and more enquiry after it especially if I being once there should return again befor that Day as I must if this be followed as is most fit The danger it seems is imminent and laid by God knows whom but to be executed by them which are very near about you For the great Honour which I have to be in danger with you or for you I pass not so your Sacred person and the State may be safe Now May it please your Majesty This Information is either true or there is some mistake in it If it be true the persons which make the discovery will deserve Thanks and Reward if there should be any mistake in it your Majesty can lose nothing but a little silence The Business if it be is extream foul The discovery thus by God's Providence offered seems fair I do hereby humbly beg it upon my Knees of your Majesty that you will conceal this Business from every Creature and his Name that sends this to me And I send his Letters to me to your Majesty that you may see his Sense both of the Business and the 〈◊〉 And such Instructions as you think fit to give him I beseech you let them be in your own Hand for his Warrant without imparting them to any And if your Majesty leave it to his Discretion to follow it there in the best way he can that in your own Hand will be Instruction and Warrant enough for him And if you please to return it
Time to write it again out of my scribled Copy but I dare trust the Secresie in which I have bound him To others I am silent and shall so continue till the thing open it self and I shall do it out of Reasons very like to those which you give why your self would not divulge it here In the last place you promise your self That the Condition you are in will not hinder me from continuing to be the Best Friend you have To this I can say no more than that I could never arrogate to my self to be your Best Friend but a poor yet respective Friend of yours I have been ever since I knew you And it is not your Change that can change me who never yet left but where I was first forsaken and not always there So praying for God's Blessing upon you and in that Way which He knows most necessary for you I rest Lambeth March 27 1636. Your very Loving Friend To serve you in Domino I have writ this Letter freely I shall look upon all the Trust that ever you mean to carry with me that you shew it not nor deliver any Copy to any Man Nor will I look for any Answer to the Quaeries I have herein made If they do you any good I am glad if not yet I have satisfied my self But leisure I have none to write such Letters nor will I entertain a Quarrel in this wrangling Age and now my Strength is past For all things of moment in this Letter I have pregnant places in the Council of Trent Thomas Bellarmin Stapleton Valentia c. But I did not mean to make a Volume of a Letter Endorsed thus with the Archbishop's own Hand March 27 1636. A Copy of my Answer to Sir Ken Digby's Letters in which he gives me an account of his Return to the Ro Communion The Testimony of the Reverend Mr Jonathan Whiston concerning the Opinion had of the Archbishop at Rome and with what Joy the News of his Death and Suffering was there received I Do remember that being Chaplain to the Honourable Sir Lionel Tolmach Baronet about the Year 1666. I heard him relate to some Person of Quality how that in his younger days he was at Rome and well acquainted with a certain Abbot which Abbot asked him Whether he had heard any News from England He answered No. The Abbot replied I will tell you then some Archbishop Laud is Beheaded Sir Lionel answered You are sorry for that I presume The Abbot replied again That they had more cause to rejoice that the Greatest Enemy of the Church of Rome in England was cut off and the Greatest CHAMPION of the Church of England silenced Or in Words to that purpose In witness whereof I have hereunto set my Hand this 28th Day of September 1694. Jona Whiston Vicar of Bethersden in Kent The Testimony of the Learned and Worthy John Evelyn Esq Fellow of the Royal Society concerning the same Matter I Was at Rome in the Company of divers of the English Fathers when the News of the Arch-Bishop's Suffering and a Copy of his Sermon made upon the Scaffold came thither They read the Sermon and commented upon it with no small Satisfaction and Contempt and looked upon him as one that was a great Enemy to them and stood in their Way whilst one of the blackest Crimes imputed to him was his being Popishly affected John Evelyn FINIS BOOKS Printed for RICHARD CHISWELL SCriptorum 〈◊〉 Historia Literaria a Christo nate usque ad seculum xiv facili 〈◊〉 Digesta Qua de Vita illorum ac Rebus Gestis de Secta Dogmatibus 〈◊〉 Style de Scriptis Genuinis Dubiis Suppositiis Ineditis Deper ditis Fragmentis Deque Variis Operum Editionibus perspicue Agitur Accedunt Scriptores Gentiles Christianae Religionis 〈◊〉 Cujusvis Seculi Breviarum Inseruntur suis Locis Veterum 〈◊〉 Opuscula Fragmenta tum Graeca tum Latina hactenus inedita Premissa denique 〈◊〉 quibus plurima ad Antiquitatis Ecclesiasticae Studium spectantia Traduntur Opus indicibus necessariis Instructum Authore Gulielmo Cave SS Theol. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Windesoriensi Accedit Hen. Whartoni Appendix ab ineunte Secula xiv ad Annum usque MDX VII 〈◊〉 Disquisitiones Criticae de Variis per Diversa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bibliorum Editionibus Quibus Accedunt Castigationes Theologi Cujusdam Parisiensis ad Opusculum Is Vossii de Sybillinis Oraculis Ejusdem responsionem ad Objectiones nuperae Critica Sacra 4to Censura Celebriorum Authorum sive tractatus in quo Varia Virorum 〈◊〉 de Claris. Cuiusque Seculi Scriptoribus Judicia traduntur Unde Facilimo 〈◊〉 Lector 〈◊〉 queat quid in singulis quibusque istorum Authorum Maxime Memorabile sit qucnam in pretio apud Eruditos 〈◊〉 Habiti Fuerunt Opera Thomae Pope-Blunt Baroneti Fol V Cl Gulielmi Camdeni Illustrium 〈◊〉 ad G. Camdenum Epistolae cum Appendice Varii Argumenti Accesserunt Annalium Regni Regis Jacobi 〈◊〉 Apparatus 〈◊〉 de Antiquitate Dignitate Officio Comitis Marescali Angliae Premittitur G. Camdeni Vita Scriptore Thoma Smitho S T D Ecclesiae Anglicanae Presbytero 4to Jacobi Usserii Armachani Archiepiscopi Historia Degmatica Controversiae inter Orthodoxos 〈◊〉 de Scripturis Sacris Vernaculis nunc primum Edita Accesserunt ejusdem Dissertationes duae de Pseudo-Dionysii seriptis de 〈◊〉 ad Laodiceos antehac 〈◊〉 Descripsit Digessit notis atque auctario Locupletavit Henricus Wharton A M Rev in Christo Pat ac 〈◊〉 Archiepisc Cantuariensi a sacris Domesticis 4to 1690. Anglia 〈◊〉 sive Gollectio Historiarum Antiquitus Scriptarum de Archiepiscopis 〈◊〉 Angliae a Prima Fidei Christianae susceptione ad Annum 1540. in duobus Voluminibus per Henricum Whartonum Fol. 1691 Some Remarks upon the Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of 〈◊〉 By Peter Allix D D Treasurer of Sarum 4to his Remarks upon the Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of the Albigenses 4to Dr Burnet's now Lord Bishop of Sarum Vindication of the Ordinations of the Church of England 4to History of the Rights of Princes in disposing of Ecclesiastical Benefices and Church Lands 〈◊〉 8vo Life of William Bedel D D Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland together with the Copies of certain Letters which passed between Spain and England in matter of Religion concerning the general Motives to the Roman Obedience Between Mr James 〈◊〉 a late Pensioner of the Holy Inquisition in Sevil and the said William Bedel 8vo Some Passages of the Life and Death of John late Earl of Rochester 8vo A Collection of Tracts and Discourses from 1678 to Christmas 1689 inclusive In 2 Volumes 4to Examination of the Letter writ by the late Assembly-General of the Clergy of France to the 〈◊〉 inviting them to return to their Communion together with the Methods proposed by them for their Conviction 8vo Pastorall Letter to the Clergv of his Diocess concerning the
Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy to K William and Q Mary 4to Ten several occasional Sermons since 1690. The Jesuits Memorial for the intended 〈◊〉 of Ergland under their first Popish Prince Written by Father Parsons 1596. And prepared to be proposed in the first Parliament after the Restoration of Popery for the better Establishment and Preservation of that Religion Published from the very Manuscript Copy that was presented by the Jesuits to the 〈◊〉 K James the Second and found in his Closet With an Introduction and some Animadversions by Edward Gee Chaplain to their Majesties 8vo Dr Cumberland now Lord Bishop of 〈◊〉 his Essay towards the Recovery of the Jewish Measures and Weights comprehending their 〈◊〉 by help of Antient Standards compared with ours of England useful also to state many of those of the Greeks and Romans and the Eastern Nations 8vo Dr Patrick now Lord Bishop of Ely his Parable of the Pilgrim written to a Friend the sixth Edition 4to 1681. Hearts-Ease or a Remedy against all Troubles with a consolatory Discourse particularly directed to those who have lost their Friends and Relations To which is added two Papers printed in the time of the late Plague The sixth Edition corrected 12mo 1695. Answer to a Book spread abroad by the Romish Priests 〈◊〉 The Touch 〈◊〉 of the Reformed Gospel wherein the true Doctrine of the Church of England and many Texts of the Holy Scripture are faithfully explained 1692. 8vo Nine several occasional Sermons since the Revolution 4to Exposition of the Tea Commandments 8vo A Vindication of their Majesty's Authority to fill the Sees of the deprived Bishops in a Letter 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 B 's refusal of the Bishoprick of Bath and Wells 4to A Discourse concerning the unreasonableness of a new Separation on Account of the Oaths to the present Government With an Answer to the History of Passive Obedience so far as relates to them 4to A Vindication of the said Discourse concerning the Unreasonableness of a New Separation from the Exceptions made against it in a Tract called A brief Answer to the said 〈◊〉 c. 4to 〈◊〉 Or a Discourse concerning the Earth before the Deluge wherein the Form and Properties ascribed to it in a Book intituled The Theory of the Earth are excepted against and it is made appear That the Dissolution of that Earth was not the Cause of the Universal Flood Also a New Explication of that Flood is attempted By Erasmus Warren Rector of 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 4to The Present State of Germany By a Person of Quality 8vo Memoris 〈◊〉 to the Royal Navy of England for Ten Years determined December 1688 By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 8vo 〈◊〉 of what 〈◊〉 in Christendom from the War begun 1672. to the Peace concluded 1679 8vo 〈◊〉 Historical Collections The Third Part in two Volumes Containing the Principal Matters which happened from the Meeting of the Parliament Nov 3 1640. to the end of the Year 1644. Wherein is a particular Account of the Rise and Progress of the Civil War to that Period Fol 1692. A Discourse of the Pastoral Care By Gilbert Burnet Lord Bishop of Sarum 1692 The Character of Queen Elizabeth Or A full and clear Account of her Policies and the Methods of her Government both in Church and State her Vertues and Defects Together with the Characters of her Principal Ministers of State and the greater part of the Affairs and Events that happened in her time By Edmund Bohun Esq 1693. 8vo The Letters of the Reverend Father Paul Councellor of State to the most Serene Republick of Venice and Author of the Excellent History of the Council of Trent 1693. An Impartial History of the Wars in Ireland In Two Parts From the time that Duke Schomberg landed with an Army in that Kingdom to the 23 d. of March 1691 2. when their Majesties Proclamation was published declaring the War to be ended Illustrated with Copper Sculptures describing the most important Places of Action By George Story an Eye-witness of the most remarkable Passages 4to 1693. Linguae Romanae Dictionarium 〈◊〉 Novum Or A New Dictionary in Five Alphabets 〈◊〉 English Words and Phrases before the Latin 2 Latin Classic 3 Latin Proper Names 4. Latin Barbarous 5. Law-Latin Cambridge 4to 1693. Dr John Conant's Sermons 1693. 8vo Of the Government of the Thoughts By Geo Tully 〈◊〉 of York 8vo 1694. Origo Legum Or A 〈◊〉 of the Origine of Laws and their Obliging Power as also of their great Variety and why some Laws are immutable and some not but may suffer change or cease to be or be suspended or abrogated In Seven Books By George Dawson Fol. 1694. Four Discourses delivered to the Clergy of the Diocess of Sarum 〈◊〉 I The Truth of the Christian Religion II The Divinity and the Death of Christ. III The Infallibility and Authority of the Church IV. The Obligations to continue in the Communion of the Church By Gilbert Lord Bishop of Sarum 8vo 1694. A brief Discourse concerning the Lawfulness of Worshipping God by the Common-Prayer In Answer to a Book intitused A brief Discourse of the 〈◊〉 of Common-Prayer-Worship By John Williams D D 4to 1694. A true Representation of the absurd and 〈◊〉 Principles of the Sect commonly known by the Name of the 〈◊〉 4to 1694. Memoirs of the most 〈◊〉 Thomas 〈◊〉 Archbishop of Canterbury Wherein the History of the Church and the Reformation of it during the Primacy of the said Archbishop are greatly illustrated and many singular Matters relating thereunto now first published In Three Books Collected 〈◊〉 from Records Registers Authentick Letters and other Original Manuscripts By John 〈◊〉 M. A. Fol. 1694. A Commentary on the First Book of Moses called Genesis By Simon Lord Bishop of Ely 4to 1695. Hacket's Life of Arch-Bishop Williams Par. 1. pag 64. Par. 2 pag. 115. Par. 2 pag. 65 66. 〈◊〉 2. pag. 85. Pag. 86. 115. c. Pag. 129. Pag. 131. Pag. 230. L. C. Baron Atkin's Speech to the Lord Mayor Octob 1693. pag 4 5. Epist Ded. Rushworth also promised to Publish such an exact History of the Trial of this Arch-Bishop as he had done of that of the Earl of Strafford Collect. Par. 3. vol. 2. pag. 833. but never did effect it 〈◊〉 Clause is 〈◊〉 omitted by Prynne Hence may be corrected an Error of Dr Heylin and 〈◊〉 who following him relate that Dr Laud held the Presidentship of St Johns in Commendam with the Bishoprick of St Davids All these Passages concerning his Conference with Fisher and setling the Marquess and Countess of Buckingham in Religion are omitted by Prynne * Livimus * al. 〈◊〉 * An Account of this Conference is in my hands but wrote very Partially in favour of Dr Preston and prejudice of Dr White H W These may be found in Heylin's Life of Laud. p 162. * These Words are most maliciously omitted by Prynne †Bargrave Pestis Fames * It is a very noble and fair Volum in Fol.
In a Book 〈◊〉 The Remonstrance of the Nobility 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ministers and Commons within the Kingdom of Scotland Feb. 27. 1639. p. 12. Edinburgh 9. These Papers were taken 〈◊〉 the Arch-Bishop by Pryn 1643. May. 31. and shortly after Published 〈◊〉 a Pamphlet Entituled Rome's Master-piece H. W. Ps. 31. 〈◊〉 16. Remonst die Mercurij 15. Decemb. 1641. p. 20. * Ministers Rushw. 〈◊〉 †Design Rush. Pryn. 〈◊〉 * Remonstr Die Mercurij 15. 〈◊〉 1641. p. 14. †Distinction Rushw. Disunion Pryn. Ad 〈◊〉 Exod. 12. 49. * Which †Remonst Die Mercurii 15. Decemb. 1641. p. 20. * 26. Septemb. 1635. †11. Octob. 1635. * Dat. Sept. 14. 1635. These Words are added from Pryn Rushw. Ad 13. * Maule †Feb. 8. 1641. * Proceedings of the Assembly at Perth p. 40. 68. †P. 41. †〈◊〉 * Assured Ad 14. * A forementioned Crimes Rushworth Crimes aforementioned were done and committed Pryn. †One of Rush. Pryn. | These words are added from Pryn Rushworth * Feb. 10. 1641. Feb. 26. 1640. Vide 〈◊〉 p. 202. Mar. 〈◊〉 1640. †And more Mar. 1. 1640. Mar. 12. 1640. Mar. 13. 1640. Mar. 22. 1641. Maij 1. 1641. See the King's Speech apud Rush. p. 239. Maij 9. 1641. Maij 12. 1641. It is 〈◊〉 apud Rushw. p. 267. Maij 1. 1641 Psal. 69. 12. Junij 23. 1641. * f. Hatred Junij 25. 1641. Julij 1. 1641. Aug. 10. 1641. †From 〈◊〉 9 till Octob 20 So Rushworth p 387 388. Octob. 23. 1641 * Objected Nov. 1. 1641. Nov 25. 1641. Vide Rushw. p. 429. c. Dec 30. 1641. See Rushw. p. 468. The Address of the 12 Bishops here subjoyned is not right It should be to the King Quaere W. S. A. C It was directed To the King 's most Excellent Majesty and the Lords and Peers Assembled in Parliament And was intended to have been presented in the House of Lords the King being present although it was presented in the absence of the King See Life of Arch-Bishop Williams par 2. pag. 178. H W. It is also extant in Rushworth p. 466. In Heylin's Life of Laud p. 490. In Hacket's 〈◊〉 of Williams p. 178. * up Rushw. †debatable Rushw. | Rushw. * Lords and Peers Rushw. †their duties Rushw. * and the maintenance thereof Rush. †move them to adhere Rushw. * can find Rushw. †these particulars Rushw. * humbly Rushw. †that Rushw. * or Rushw. †until Rushw. * good Rushw. †that Rushw. * Laws Orders Votes Rushw. Rushw. * House Rush. †the Rushw. * this their Rushw. †violent Rushw. * Honourable Rushw. †or this their Rushw. †Amongst his Rushw. Jan. 4. 1641. Jan. 20. 1641. Feb. 6. 1641. Vide Rushw. par 3. vol. 1. p. 276. 〈◊〉 280 281 282. 396 397. 553. He saith it was Passed by the King 〈◊〉 Munday Febr. 14. Feb. 10. 1641. Feb. 11. 1641. Feb. 14. 1641. It may be found intire in 〈◊〉 p. 554. Feb. 16. 1641. See 〈◊〉 p. p. 555. Febr. 17. Febr. 19. Feb. 19. 1641. Feb. 20. 1641. Mar. 4. 1641. Mar. 6. 1641. Feb. 5. 1627. Mar. 3. 1641. * Prudence Mar. 19. 1641. Mar. 21. 1641. Mar. 23. 1641. Mar. 24. 1641. Mar. 31. 1642. April 1. 1642. Apr. 13. 1642. Apr. 20. 1642. Apr. 25. 1642. 〈◊〉 3. 1642. 〈◊〉 16. 1642. Maij 15. 1642. * 〈◊〉 Aug. 19. 1642. Sept. 1. 1642. Sept. 9. 1642. Sept. 10. 1642. Octob. 15. * It was so then though now 〈◊〉 Octob. 24. Octob. 27. †f. Person Octob. 28. Novemb. 2. Novemb. 9. Novemb. 16. Novemb. 22. Novemb. 24. Decem. 7. 1642. Decemb. 8. Decemb. 19. Decemb. 23. Jan. 5. 1642. Jan. 26. Feb. 3. 1642. Feb. 14. Mar. 2. 1642. Mar. 24. 1642. * for Culmer Mar. 28. 〈◊〉 April 11. April 13. April 14. April 21. April 24. May 1. May 2. May 9. 1643. May 16. May 17. The Ordinance may be found at large in Rushw. par 3. vol. 2. p. 〈◊〉 May 20. May 26. May 23. May 31. The Warrant may be found in Pryn's Breviat of the Life of the Arch-Bishop p. 28. Junij 10. 1643. It may be found also in Rushw. par 3. vol. 〈◊〉 p. 330. * of Canterbury Rushw. †be Susp Rush. * his Rushw. †his Rushw. * Et Sequestrationis Rush. 〈◊〉 11. 1643. Junij 12. Julij 1. Cicero L. 1. Tuscul. Qu. Julij 12. Aug. 3. Aug. 5. 1643. Aug. 6. Aug. 7. Aug. 8. Aug. 9. Aug. 10. Aug. 11. Aug. 15. Aug. 19. Aug. 20. * Low-Laighton Aug. 27. September 11. September 25. Octob. 3. Octob. 24. See the Articles and Order of the Lords made thereupon apud Rushworth par 3. vol. 2. p. 817 820. apud Pr. p. 38 41. The A. B's 〈◊〉 may be found in Rushpag 820. Pryn p. 41. Hern and Chute were assigned by Order of the Lords Octob. 24. Hales added by their Order Octob. 28. See both Orders apud Rushworth p. 821. Pryn p. 41 42. Gerrard added by their Order Jan. 16. See this Order also ibid. p. 825 46. The first Order apud Heylin's Life of Laud p. 513. Octob. 27. Octob 28. 1643. See the Order of the Lords apud Rushw. p. 821. Pryn p. 42. Octob 31. The Petition may be found apud Rushw. p. 821. Pryn p. 42. See the Order of the Lords Ibid. p. 822. 42. Novemb. 6. Novemb. 7. Novemb. 8. Novemb. 13. See the Order apud Rushw. p. 822. Vide Rushworth p. 822 Pryn p. 43. This Answer is otherwise worded in Pryn's Compl. Hist. p. 43. who took it I suppose from the Parliament Records W. S. A. C. It is thus worded All advantages of Exception to the said Articles of Impeachment to this Defendant saved and reserved this Defendant humbly saith that he is Not Guilty of all or any the Matters by the said Impeachment Charged in such manner and form 〈◊〉 the same are by the said Articles of Impeachment Charged See the Order 〈◊〉 Rushw. p. 822. Pryn p. 43. * were Dec. 8. 1643. Decemb. 13. Decemb. 18. Decemb. 〈◊〉 Jan. 3. 1643. See the Order apud Rushw. p. 823. Pryn p. 43. Januar. 6. The Petition may be found apud Rushw. p. 823. And the Order of the Lords p. 824. Both apud Pryn p. 44. Januar. 7. * For so those Puritans stiled and accounted the Sunday H. W. Januar. 8. Januar. 16. Vide the Order apud Rushw. p. 824. Pryn p. 45. Mr. Maynard was then chief Manager for the Commons See his Speech made then to the Lords apud Rushw. p 824 Pryn p. 45. See the Order apud Rushw. p. 825. Pryn p. 46 47. Jan. 22. 1643 See the Arch-Bishop's Petition made herein Jan. 19. apud Rushw. p. 825. Pryn. p. 46. This Answer was put in Jan. 22. being short and in general Pleading Not Guilty and making only a short particular Plea to the 13 th Article The said Answer may be found in Rush. p. 826. Pryn p. 47. I have Transcribed it from
after came another Ordinance requiring me by vertue of the said Ordinance to give Chartham to Mr. Corbet This Order was not brought to me till Friday May 26. Then it was brought unto me by Mr. Corbet himself and Sir John Corbet a Parliament Man came with him Now upon the Tuesday before I had sent an humble Petition to the Lords for Maintenance The Prayer of which Petition was as follows Humbly prayeth that your Lordships will take his sad condition into your Honourable Consideration that somewhat may be allowed him out of his Estate to supply the Necessities of life assuring himself that in Honour and Justice you will not suffer him either to beg or starve And your Petitioner shall ever pray c. The Answer which this Petition had in the Lords House was Let him give Chartham as is Ordered and then We will consider of Maintenance So my Petition was sent down to the House of Commons To the last forenamed Order I gave my former Answer and humbly Petitioned the Lords accordingly May 27. following So they departed and as they went down the Hill together Sir John was over-heard to say to Mr. Corbet thus The Archbishop hath Petitioned the Lords for Maintenance and they have sent his Petition to the Commons And since he will not give you the Benefice I 'll warrant you he shall have no Maintenance And so accordingly my Petition was rejected in the House of Commons CAP. XVIII THis was Wednesday the last of May It was the Fast-Day A Search came betimes in the Morning into the Tower upon all the Prisoners for Letters and other Papers But I have some Reasons to think the Search had a special aim at me First because following me thus close about Chartham as they did I conceive they 〈◊〉 desirous to see whether I had any such Letter from the King as I pretended If I had not they had advantage against me for my Falshood if I had they meant to see what Secret passed from his Majesty to me Secondly because I had lately Petitioned for Maintenance and by this Search they might see what I had by me And he that searched my Chamber told me upon occasion that he was to take all Papers which might discover Delinquents Estates Thirdly because all other Prisoners had their Papers re-delivered them before the Searchers went from the Tower except some few Verses of Sir Edward Hern's But mine were carried to the Committee yet with promise that I should have them again within two or three Days Fourthly because as Layton was put into Lambeth-House so my implacable Enemy Mr. Pryn was picked out as a Man whose Malice might be trusted to make the search upon me And he did it exactly The manner of the Search upon me was thus Mr. Pryn came into the Tower with other Searchers so soon as the Gates were open Other Men went to other Prisoners he made haste to my Lodging Commanded the Warder to open my Doors left two Musketeers Centinels below that no Man might go in or out and one at the Stair-head with three other which had their Muskets ready Cocked he came into my Chamber and found me in Bed as were also my Servants in theirs I presently thought upon my Blessed Saviour when Judas led in the Swords and Staves about him Mr. Pryn seeing me safe in Bed falls first to my Pockets to rifle them and by that time my two Servants came running in half ready I demanded the sight of his Warrant he shewed it me and therein was Expressed that he should search my Pockets The Warrant came from the Close Committee and the Hands that were to it were these E. Manchester W. Saye and Seale Wharton H. Vane Gilbert Gerard and John Pim. Did they remember when they gave this Warrant how odious it was to Parliaments and 〈◊〉 of themselves to have the Pockets of Men searched When my Pockets had been sufficiently ransacked I rose and got my Cloaths about me and so half ready with my Gown upon my Shoulders he held me in the search till past Nine of the Clock in the Morning He took from me Twenty and One Bundles of Papers which I had prepared for my Defence the two Letters before named which came to me from his Gracious Majesty about Chartham and my other Benefices the Scottish Service-Book with such Directions as accompanied it a little Book or Diary containing all the Occurrences of my Life and my Book of Private Devotions both these last written through with my own Hand Nor could I get him to leave this last but he must needs see what passed between God and me A thing I think scarce ever offer'd to any Christian. The last place which he rifled was a Trunk which stood by my Bed-side In that he found nothing but about Forty Pound in Money for my necessary Expences which he meddled not with and a Bundle of some Gloves This Bundle he was so careful to open as that he caused each Glove to be looked into upon this I tender'd him one pair of the Gloves which he refusing I told him he might take them and fear no Bribe for he had already done me all the Mischief he could and I asked no Favour of him So he thanked me took the Gloves bound up my Papers left two Centinels at my Door which were not dismissed till the next Day Noon and went his way I was somewhat troubled to see my self used in this manner but knew no help but in God and the Patience which he had given me And how his Gracious Providence over me and his Goodness to me wrought upon all this I shall in the End discover and will magnisie however it succeed with me CAP. XIX UPon my last Answer to the House concerning Chartham there came out an Ordinance against me to take all my Temporalities into the Parliament's hands that so they might give not only Chartham but all things else which fell into my Gift And because it is an Ordinance of a great Power and Extent I shall set it down as it was Printed and Published Junij 10. being Saturday Whereas by an Ordinance of the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament of the 17. of May 1643. the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury is required from time to time until his Tryal to Collate such fit Persons unto any Ecclesiastical Preferment in his Patronage as shall by both Houses be Nominated unto him and in pursuance of the said Ordinance another Ordinance of the Lords and Commons past the 20th of the same Month requiring the said Arch-Bishop to Collate upon Ed. Corbet Fellow of Merton Colledge in the University of Oxford the Rectory of Chartham in the County of Kent void by the Death of Dr. Bargrave the last Incumbent and whereas the said Arch-Bishop refuseth Obedience to the said Ordinance It is therefore Ordered and be it so Ordained by the Lords and Commons in Parliament that all the Temporalities
of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury be hereby Sequestred by and unto the Parliament And William Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Suspended ab Officio Beneficio omni omnimodâ Jurisdictione Archiepiscopali until he be either Convicted or Acquitted of High Treason for which he stands now Accused and whatsoever Livings Dignities or Ecclesiastical Promotions in the said Arch-Bishop's Gift or Collation are or hereafter shall be void shall henceforth be Instituted and Inducted unto by the Arch-Bishop's Vicar General or any other having Authority in this behalf upon the Nomination and Recommendation of both Houses of Parliament during the time of the Suspension and Seque stration aforesaid And upon this Ordinance it is Ordered and be it so Ordained by the Lords and Commons in Parliament that the said Ed. Corbet be and is hereby Nominated and Recommended forthwith upon sight hereof to be Admitted Instituted and Inducted by the Vicar General aforesaid or any other having Authority in this behalf into the said Rectory of Chartham Ratione suspensionis Domini Gulielmi Archiepiscopi Cantuariensis Temporalium Archiepiscopatûs in Manibus Supremae Curiae Parliamenti jam existentium the same belonging unto their Gift And it is hereby farther Ordained by the Lords and Commons in Parliament that during the Suspension and Sequestration aforesaid the Jurisdiction of the said Arch-Bishop shall be Executed and Exercised by his Vicar General and other his inferiour Judges and Officers as formerly the same hath been This Ordinance was laid as a great Punishment upon me But I humbly thank both Houses for it as for the greatest Benefit they have bestowed on me since my Troubles especially since the Sequestration of my Jurisdiction Novemb. 2. 1641. For it appears before in this History how ever since that time I have been troubled for every Benefice which hath fallen in my Gift disinabled to prefer any Friend or Chaplain of my own were he never so worthy And which is worse by much forced to admit such Men how unworthy so-ever as were by them Nominated to me or else fall under a Contempt of their Ordinances and such Arbitrary Punishment as they shall thereupon load me with Whereas now I am freed both from the Trouble and the Sin of admitting unworthy Persons into the Church-Service and leave them to the Business and the Account for it On Sunday Junij 11. One came and Preached at the Tower his Name I could not learn In his Sermon after he had liberally railed on me he told the Auditory that Mr. Pryn had found a Book in my Pocket which would discover great things This to inflame the People against me Et si non satis insanirent suâ sponte instigare This is Zealous Preaching God forgive their Malice An Ordinance passed on Munday Junij 12. that the Synod of Divines formerly Named by both Houses not chosen by the Clergy should begin to sit on the first of July following And they did begin to sit that day Dr. Twiss in the Chair and he made the Latin Sermon The Names of these Synodical Men are to be seen in the Ordinance Printed Junij 12. Where any Man that will may see a great if not the greater part of them Brownists or Independents or New-England-Ministers if not worse or at the best refractory Persons to the Doctrine or Discipline or both of the Church of England Established by Law and now brought together to Reform it An excellent Conclave But I pray God that befal not them which Tully observes fell upon Epicurus Si quae corrigere voluit deteriora fecit He made every thing worse that he went about to mend I shall for my part never deny but that the Liturgy of the Church of England may be made better but I am sure withal it may easily be made worse And howsoever it would become this Synod well to remember that there is a Convocation of the English Prelates and Clergy lawfully Chosen and Summoned and by no Supream or Legal Authority as yet dissolved And can there be two National Synods at one time but that one must be irregular Belike we shall fall to it in the Donatists way They set up Altare contra Altare in Africk and these will set up Synodum contra Synodum in England And this without God's Infinite Mercy will bring forth a Schism fierce enough to rent and tear Religion out of this Kingdom Which God for the Merits and Mercies of Christ forbid A Committee of the House of Commons sent Mr. Dobson my Controwler to me to the Tower to require me to send them word under my Hand what Originals I had of the Articles of Religion Established 1562 1571. This was on Wednesday July 12. And I returned by him the same day this Answer in Writing with my Name to it The Original Articles of 1571. I could never find in my Paper-Study at Lambeth or any where else And whether any Copy of them were ever left there I cannot tell The Original Articles of 1562. with many Hands to them I did see and peruse there But whether the Bishops Hands were to them or not I cannot remember This Answer satisfied them but what their Aim was I cannot tell unless they meant to make a search about the two first Lines in the twentieth Article concerning the Power of the Church in these words The Church hath Power to decree Rites or Ceremonies and Authority in Controversies of Faith Which words are left out in divers printed Copies of the Articles and are not in the one and twentieth Article of Edw. 6. nor in the Latin Copy of the Articles 1571. But in the Original Articles of 1562. the words are plain and manifest without any Interlining at all If this were their Aim 't is probable we shall see somewhat by what their Synod shall do concerning that Article On Tuesday August 3. my Servant Mr. Edw. Lenthrop came to me and told me that the day before he met with Sir K. Digbye who had the leave to go out of Prison by the Suit of the French Queen and to Travel into France But before he took his Journey he was to come before a Committee and there he said he had been It seems it was some Committee about my Business for he told Mr. Lenthrop and wished him to tell it me that the Committee took special notice of his Acquaintance with me and Examined him strictly concerning me and my Religion whether he did not know that I was offer'd to be made a Cardinal and many other such like things That he Answer'd them That he knew nothing of any Cardinal-ship offer'd me And for my Religion he had Reason to think I was truly and really as I professed my self for I had laboured with him against his return to the Church of Rome Which is true and I have some of my Papers yet to shew But he farther sent me word that their Malice was great against me though he