well affected to Monarchy in general as well as the Memory of those two Princes are yet prone to suspect they might have some Inclinations that way and for their Satisfaction more especially it is I give them and my self this Trouble To shew therefore how little Ground there was or is for this Suspicion King Iames call'd Parliaments as often as any Prince ever did and courted them as much perhaps more than was requisite considering the Temper they were of And so did his Son at first as Ludlow owns 'T is true he call'd some in the first Years of his Reign But then makes this malicious Reflection The People soon perceiv'd he did it rather to empty their Purses than redress their Grievances The Truth of it is there was such a Spirit of Innovation and Faction got abroad such groundless Suspicions and Distrusts every where not only whisper'd but openly proclaim'd throughout the Nation as 't is equally unaccountable how Men should have the Confidence to forge such gross Untruths and the People suffer themselves to be so absurdly impos'd upon Altho as to this latter nothing can seem incredible to such as observ'd what a Fright the whole Nation was abus'd into the other Day as if between two and three thousand Irish for that was their utmost Number could fire all their Habitations and cut all their Throats Yet by such Artifices as these altogether as groundless and improbable the People were kept up in a continual Ferment so foolishly prejudic'd and so freakishly peevish as no Reason could be heard nor Truth prevail upon them whereunto both the foremention'd Kings were too forward to appeal and too condescending in giving an Account of themselves and Actions by frequent Proclamations Declarations c. considering they had to do with the most petulant malicious Generation ever any Age or Climate produc'd As to the present Charge of affecting Arbitrary Power I cannot but remark in the first place the different Method these two Kings are suppos'd to propound in order to bring about the same King Iames by Fraud King Charles by Force As to the former whatever King-Craft he pretended to every discerning Eye hath all along discovered him to be the most open easie Prince this Nation ever had studied nothing but his People's Peace and therein his own Quiet the Enjoyment of himself Such a bold I may say desperate Undertaking must have a Prince that is active daring and resolute of a subtile Head and hollow Heart understanding all the Arts of Dissimulation and Wheadle so as to fool the People out of their Mony and therewith maintain an Army to support his Usurpation with many such like bad Qualities as opposite to Iames's Temper and Genius as one Pole to the other For to speak freely he laboured under the contrary Extream wanted Courage to exert his just Rights stoop'd Majesty too low would expostulate and reason where he ought to have commanded which blind Side the Faction in his several Parliaments once finding out grew wresty thereupon would neither lead nor drive but their own Pace and Way What I remark in the second Place is the Inducement our Author assigns of King Charles's attempting the same by Violence the nearer View of a Despotick Power in his Iourny to France and Spain What will not a Republican's Rebel Spite catch hold of His Iourny was not in but thorough France which he consummated in ten or twelve Days and riding Post had great Opportunities of being taken with Glittering Shews and Imaginary Pleasures c. And his Business in Spain was of another Nature and took up so much Time as he had little Leisure to make Observations and less Reason to be enamour'd with any thing there observ'd to be sure upon Enquiry he could not but find that the several Courts or Councils there have as great a Restraint upon the Crown as our Parliaments have here though they are a sober wise Nation and seldom or never found to extend their Privileges beyond Right and Reason I shall not reflect upon the Prudence and Policy of that Design only observe it was hard for a young Amorous Prince to attend the tedious Delays of old Statesmen wherewith having been so long kept in Suspence this Adventure was thought the only Expedient for a final Issue Desperate enough which notwithstanding he manag'd so dexterously as to weather all Difficulties and come off with Honour and Safety contrary to the Expectation of the whole World I cannot forbear to mention the Account Rushworth gives of his Deportment there The Prince for his part had gain'd an universal Love and was reported by all to be a truly noble discreet well deserving Prince His grave Comportment suited with the very Genius of that Nation and he carryed it from the first to the last with the greatest Affability Gravity Constancy and at his Farewel with unparallell'd Bounty Yet this excellent Prince we murder'd and forc'd his Sons to travel for Security of their Lives and if during that Royal Exile they depended chiefly upon Papists for their Subsistence and observ'd how a Neighbour Prince weathering the like Storm from his three Estates as their Father met with for all Rebellions do not prosper as in England took the Government solely into his own Hand I say if upon these Obligations and Observations they return'd home less affected to the Protestant Religion and our Old Establishments of civil Government than could be wish'd Who can we blame but our selves Upon the Prince's Return home and making a Report to his Father what slippery Statesmen the Spaniards were especially as to his Sister 's Concerns King Iames at the earnest Request of the Parliament brake off that Match who engaging him in a War for Recovery of the Palatinate promis'd all the Assistance could be desired which was soon after by his Father's Death devolv'd upon King Charles and a Parliament thereupon summon'd de novo whom he bespake with all Affection and Tenderness imaginable acquainting them how The Eyes of all Europe were upon that his first Attempt and what a Blemish it would be to sustain a Foyl Hereupon a Supply was voted which serv'd the present turn and that was all For in the next Session which was at Oxon that unquiet Spirit which had been so troublesome most part of his Father's Reign began to let him see what little Hope there was of better Terms from them Immediately those old Cavils of Grievances evil Counsellers and what not were brought upon the Carpet and of these the first insisted upon was the Increase of Recusants the Growth of Popery which was presented in a Petition shewing the principal Causes of their Increase and properest Remedies to suppress them whereunto his Majesty gave an Answer so full and satisfactory that all undesigning Members were abundantly satisfied therewith and resolv'd to acquiesce therein and fell immediately upon a Supply which the adverse Party unable to oppose seemingly comply'd likewise but with a Back Blow
Council were generally Members in one House or other and as well able to acquaint them with the true State and Interest of the whole Nation as any particular Member of that private Burrough he Represented and were credited accordingly which produc'd an exact Concord and Harmony between every Part of the Constitution On the contrary when the Members divide and jar one with another when all the King advise with must be suspected for Enemies to the Publick tho no such thing can be prov'd and he upbraided for consulting or imploying them and that by such as affect their Places or design to abridge his just Power what an Ocean of Mischiefs must this toss us in What but a Shipwrack can be expected at last As indeed it happen'd 'T is a pretty Remark and Simile of Sir W. T. who tells us he had observ'd All set Quarrels with the Age and pretences to Reform it by their own Models to end commonly like the pains of a Man in a little Boat who tuggs at a Rope that is fast to a Ship it looks as if he resolv'd to draw the Ship to him but the Truth and his meaning is to draw himself to the Ship where he gets in when he can and does like the rest of the Crew when he is there But this would not do in King Charle's Time there was not Room enough to hold all that pull'd to come in at leastwise Provision to support them when there For however Ludlow upbraids the poor King with the Profuseness of his Court the standing Revenue of the Crown was about 400000 l. per Annum too little by far to supply his great and urgent Occasions Would they have given him Mony plentifully some new Places might have been made or other Ways and Means found to gratify their Kindness but as they knew the King's Honor and Integrity would not Stoop to such indirect Courses so 't is probable 't was considered on the other side this would put them upon a worse extream instead of giving nothing they must give more than all Nevertheless some were taken in Sir Thomas Wentworth Mr. Noy and a while after Sir Dudly Diggs who had their several Posts assign'd them and behav'd themselves with great Honor and Resolution there which so incenc'd the rest as they became more implacable than ever plotted all Ways imaginable to seize upon the Vessel which at length having obtain'd they first threw the King and his whole Crew overboard and then sunk it All which the Good Man was advis'd of long before for in the heat of their Prosecution against the Duke there was a Letter put into his Hands ab Ignoto whereof Mr. Rushworth gives only a sneaking Abridgment like a partial Somewhat as he is for the whole deserv'd to have been Transmitted as well as any one thing in all his Volumes however 't is at large in the Cabala giving him an Account of their several Parties and dangerous Designs that King Iames had given too much way to their popular Speeches and Parliamentary Harangues which since the time of Henry the VI. were never suffer'd as being the certain Symptoms of subsequent Rebellions Civil Wars and Dethroning of our Kings Amongst others he tells him the Lawyers in general fomented these Heats for that as Sir Edward Coke could not but often express our Kings have upholden the Power of their Prerogatives and the Rights of the Clergy whereby their comings in have been abated And therefore the Lawyers are fit ever in Parliaments to second any Complaints against both Church and King and all his Servants with their Cases Antiquities Records Statutes Presidents and Stories But they cannot or will not call to Mind that never any Noble Man in Favour with his Sovereign was question'd in Parliament except by the King's leave in Case of Treason or unless it were in the Nonage and Tumultuous Times of Richard II. Henry VI. or Edward the VI. which happen'd both to the Destruction of King and Kingdom And that not to exceed our own and Fathers memories in King Henry VIII's Time Wolsie's exorbitant Power and Pride and Cromwell's Contempt of the Nobility and Laws were not yet permitted to be discus'd in Parliament though they were most odious and grievous to all the Kingdom And that Leicester's undeserved Favour and Faults Hatton's Insufficiency and Rawleigh's Insolence far exceeded what yet hath been tho most falsly objected against the Duke Yet no Lawyer durst abet nor any else begin any Invectives against them in Parliament This is clear Matter of Fact an impartial Account both of the Distemper and its true Original Cause I wish he could as easily have prescribed the Cure but it was now too late to remove what was so deeply rooted and become habitual King Iames might easily have prevented its rising to so high a Crisis had he observ'd that one Maxim of the Precedent Reign kept up his Prerogative and those other Arcana Imperij which were his Peculiar with as much Majesty and Resolution as Queen Elizabeth did who found this Pragmatical Spirit at work in her Time But so observ'd and kept it down as had the same Course been continued no Danger could have accrew'd thereby To ascribe any thing of Divinity to Princes above other Mortals will I am sure at this time of Day be censured for a gross piece of Pedantry yet really there are several Inducements would go a great way to perswade that this happy Queen was so far inspir'd as to see further into the Thoughts and Designs of Men than any or all about her especially that these busy Reformers affected a Parity in the State as well as Church design'd not only the Mytre but the Crown to be under their Check and Control which made her on all Occasions exert so briskly in defence of her Prerogative and other just Rights Insomuch as Roger Coke owns there were three things she was impatient of having debated in Parliament The Succession of the Crown after her Death Her Marriage and attempting any Alterations in the Church from its Establishment in the first Year of her Reign For the last of these I have had occasion already to mention how Morris burnt his Fingers by meddling therewith and the Iournal gives the like Account about the former how one Wentworth and some others were sent to the Tower for concerning themselves with the Succession but whereas Roger Coke saith they were soon discharg'd is one of his own Maggots and a shameful perhaps willful Blunder since the Iournal would have inform'd him that the House becoming humble Sutors to her Majesty for the release of such Members as were under restraint It was answered by the Privy-Counsellors then Members of the House That her Majesty had committed them for Causes best known to her self and that to press her Highness with this Suit would but hinder those whose Good it sought That the House must not call the Queen to an Account for what she did of her
of Queen Elizabeth who though she indulg'd Liberty of Speech to her Members yet if any dar'd to open or so much as quetch against her Prerogative or fall upon any Debates which did not properly come within their Sphere she never spar'd to express the height of her Resentment whereof take this single Instance One Morris a Member of Parliament and Chancellor of the Dutchy offer'd a Bill ready drawn for Retrenching the Ecclesiastical Courts into much narrower Bounds with several such like Alterations wherewith his busy Head was pregnant Of this the Queen having present Notice sends for Coke then Speaker of the House of Commons afterwards Lord Chief Iustice and a violent Beautifeu in these three Parliaments of King Charles by whom she order'd this Message to the House viz. That it was wholly in her Power to Call to Determine to Assent or Dissent to any thing done in Parliament that the calling of this was only that the Majesty of God might be the more Religiously observ'd by compelling with some sharpe Laws such as neglect that Service and that the Safety of her Majesty's Person and the Realm might be provided for that it was not meant they should meddle with Matters of State or Causes Ecclesiastical that she wondered any should attempt a thing so contrary to her Commandment and that she was highly offended at it And finally that it was her pleasure no Bill touching any Matters of State or for Reformation of Matters Ecclesiastical should be there Exhibited On the delivery of which Morris is said to have been seiz'd on in the House by a Sergeant at Arms however seiz'd upon he was and committed Prisoner kept for some Years in Tutbury Castle discharg'd from his Office in the Dutchy and disabled from any Practice in his Prosession as a Common Lawyer What would Ludlow have done had he been a Member in those happy Times Here at home either Tutbury or Tyburn would have been his Fate and if got abroad 't is a question whether Swisserland it self could have secur'd him from the long Arm of that great Virago CHAP. IV. Not any just Ground for Complaint of Grievances NEither had they better Authority for the several Grievances they made such a Noise about hunting after them with all the Earnestness imaginable receiving none so kindly as those who brought them Information of fresh Game though generally it proved a Brake-bush instead of a Hare That Disparity printed in Sir Henry Wotton's Remains between the Elizabeth's time and the Duke of Buckingham was sometime after discovered to be the first Essay of a Younger but much abler Pen the Person who writ it making as great a Figure during all the Troubles of Charles the I. and II. as any whatsoever and upon the Restauration was advanc'd according to his great Merits and Sufferings This Ingenious little Piece to make good the Disparity undertaken observes how great an Advantage the Earl had from the Temper of the Age and easy Good Natur'd disposition all People were then in 'T was saith he an ingenious uninquisitive Time when all the Passions and Affections of the People were lapp'd up in such an innocent and humble Obedience that there was never the least Contestations nor Capitulations with the Queen nor though she frequently consulted with her Subjects any further Reasons urg'd of her Actions than her own Will When there were any Grievances they but Reverendly convey'd them to her Notice and left the Time and Order of the rest to her Princely Discretion Once they were more importunate and formal in pursuing the Complaints of the Purveyors for Provision which without doubt was a crying and an heavy Oppression The Queen sent them Word they all thought themselves wise enough to reform the Misdemeanors of their own Families and whisht they had so good an Opinion of her as to trust her with her Servants too I do not find that the Secretary who delivered this Message received any Reproach or Check or that they proceeded any further in the Inquisition On the other side that of the Duke of Buckingham's Favour with King Iames and Charles the I. He tells us was a busy querulous froward Time so much degenerated from the Purity of the former that the People under pretences of Reformation with some Petulant Discourses of Liberty which their great Impostors scattered amongst them like false Glasses to multiply their Fears began Abditos Principis Sensus quid occultius parat exquirere extended their enquiries even to the Chamber and private Actions of the King himself forgetting that Truth of the Poet Nusquam libertas gratior extat quam sub Rege pio 'T was strange to see how Men afflicted themselves to find out Calamities and Mischiefs whilst they borrowed the Name of some great Persons to scandalize the State they lived in A general disorder throughout the whole Body of the Commonwealth nay the Vital Parts perishing the Laws violated by the Judges Religion prophan'd by the Prelates Heresies crept into the Church and countenanced All which they themselves must rectify without being beholden to the King or consulting the Clergy And give me leave to add proving there was any Truth in those Allegations they made such a Noise about Thus far that Great Man who hints likewise at the most probable Causes which might produce that Frenzy this World of ours was then got into As 1 st The heat of young Heads who are ever more forward to reform others than themselves 2 dly The Disappointments some of longer standings met with in reference to their own Advancement But more especially in the 3 d. place The Revolution of Time which had made them unconcern'd in the Loyal Fears that govern'd sixty Years since and the Nation too happy in that Spirit and Condition Unless more sensible of it and thankful for it From which stupid Humour it was that such as cry'd Fire most with the same Breath blew the Coals and would never give over till they had set all in a Flame One of these Grievous Cries was Tunnage and Poundage about which we have already mention'd his Majesty's just Resentments but withall his too great Condescention in hopes to give them Satisfaction So far beneath our self to use his own Words As we are confident never any of our Predecessors did the like nor was the like ever required or expected from them Notwithstanding which they continued their Proceedings and as the King goes on We endured long with much patience both these and sundry other strange and exorbitant Incroachments and Usurpations such as were never before attempted in that House Roger Coke is also very hot upon this Scent and gives a History thereof out of his Grandfather's Institutes so far as to serve his turn yet withall is forc'd to own that they had been continued to all the Kings and Queens since Edward the 4 th so that passing an Act was only Matter of Form for if Prescription long continued Custom be Common Law
be all exclaim'd against for Innovations and a Moulding of her to a nearer compliance with the See of Rome as Ludlow suggests which I shall farther take notice of in the next Paragraph and for the present only mention what Archbishop Laud told a Friend of mine when in the Tower That he endeavoured the Repair of an Old House but it had been so much neglected and run to ruin as to fall about his Ears in the Attempt However for the former part of King Iames's Reign things went smoothly on in an easy careless course without any considerable rub or disturbance the first Grumblings of Discontent arose from the Spanish Match which the King had set his Heart upon and People as much against the truth of it is our Crown had generally Married there or in France but as there had been no Occasion for such an Alliance since the Reformation so the different Perswasions now on foot as to Religion made it very difficult to accomodate that Matter The English Papists were extreamly Zealous therein beyond the bounds of Common Discretion which made the rest of the Nation suspect there could come no good from what they were so forward to promote and herein the Puritan would be sure to Lead the Van who clamour'd and made a noise as if the Pope had been as nigh our Gates as Hannibal was sometime those of Rome and ran down all as that way dispos'd who would not be as Mad and violent as themselves believe Impossibilities or fly in the face of Royal Authority And about this time it was they began that popular charge of Innovations which had the same Malicious effect upon all Orthodox Eminent Divines as that of Grievances upon Ministers of State the proof whereof must likewise depend upon Common-fame or which is worse a Common Appellation of their own fixing as to some particular School or rather Philosophical points most innocent and harmless in themselves yet so manag'd by a well-contriv'd spight as the People became possest that an Arminian was as dangerous as a Papist and as nigh an Affinity between them as there prov'd afterwards to be between Puritan and Rebel Upon this account one Mr. Mountague was first had Coram Nobis in K. Iames's last Parliament as Learned a Man and Solid a Divine as our or perhaps any other Church had but having severely Gagg'd the Predestinarian Brotherhood and conduc'd very much to the bringing K. Iames off from those Rigours they could find no better way to be reveng'd than by setting their Party in the House of Commons about his Ears which Roger Coke after so long a time revives with a fresh prosecution not considering how much both the Temper and Opinions of Men are since alter'd that the heats about those points have been very much cool'd or diverted so that he might have as well inveigh'd that Ruffs and Farthingals were not still worn for they and Calvenism went out of Fashion together none at this time of Day but a few of the more Hare-brain'd Dissenters can dream of being Engin'd up to Heaven by a Chain of Predestination whereof the Elect are so well Secur'd as the grossest Crimes cannot deprive them However their proceedings then were with something of deference to the Church remitting the whole matter to the Archbishop whom they knew more than enough prejudic'd for the Puritan and their Reprobation Doctrine and perhaps were assur'd aforehand that he resolv'd upon an Admonition which was accordingly done But then the King was his Ordinary to whom with the Convocation an Appeal lay and there the Derniere Resort rested and thither he Address'd himself in a fresh piece called Appello Caesarem which made fresh work in K. Charles's first Parliament the second Session whereof being remov'd to Oxon by reason of the Sickness in London the Commons sat in the Divinity Schools and their Speaker in or nigh the Professor's Chair whereby whether they thought themselver inspir'd or were rather possest as my Author would have it I shall not concern my self to be sure from that time forward we never find them without a Committee for Religion and no such Committee but would undertake to determine the deepest Controversies and Reform whatever they were pleas'd to call Abuses till by degrees they fell upon the Divines Sequestring and Imprisoning them by whole Centuries and so having expos'd and trampled under-foot the Doctrine Discipline and Governours of the Church they introduc'd the most Extravagant Licentiousness that ever was known in any part of the World call'd Christian. These indeed were Innovations to purpose But who introduc'd them And what would Queen Elizabeth have said thereto Mr. Rushworth gives us at large the Articles Professor Pym Exhibited against Richard Mountague Clerk which upon some search he could not find Answered as indeed What wise Man would reply to the Ipse Dixit of so many hundreds Or what Influence could a Reply have when the Conclusion was resolv'd upon without any Consideration of the Premisses However the Letter he mentions before which upon this Occasion Three Bishops writ to the Duke gives a true State of the whole matter and Iudiciously distinguish between such Opinions as are expresly the resolv'd Doctrines of the Church and such as are fit only for the Schools and left at liberty for Learned Men to abound in their own Sense so they keep themselves peaceable and distract not the Church This Letter Mr. Rushworth might have given at large as well as the Articles but for a bad reason best known to himself omitted it nevertheless we have it in the Cabala to be sure the few foremention'd words carry great Soundness and Judgment in them and must be acknowledg'd the only expedient could be fix'd upon either to Silence the Controversy or let them Brawl it out in its proper place 'T is a pleasant conceit of Mr. Osborn who tells his Son The Clergy have work enough cut out till Doomesday to resolve which is least sutable to the Divine Essence to have bound the hands of Men or left them at liberty yet hereby a constraint must needs be put upon us or our Maker Now this Gordian Knot which all our Clergy never could nor ever will be able to Untie our many Alexanders in the House resolve to Cut asunder by one Simple Vote yet this Weapon of theirs however very Keen had but a thin Edge and was turn'd before it got thorough so that it remains still indissoluble whether we drive or whether we are driven as I find the Question stated by one of our Comoedians so well that few of the Schools come up to it An unseen hand may determine our freest Actions and the deepest laid designs move Retrogade when we think the quite contrary But that the Almighty Sovereign the Author and Disposer of All things should Damn Men before he makes them Create many Millions of Beings with design to Reprobate them into Eternal Misery and found one main part of
the Sequel acknowledge that when he lost his Ears they might in Law and Iustice have taken away his life In the mean while what a Vexation must it be to a Good and Wise King that when he had call'd a Parliament to Assist him according to the National Constitution in a War undertaken by their inducement they diverted themselves in debating such School Points as belong'd properly to our Universities Exercise as afterwards they fell upon some Innocent Ceremonies which had been all along practis'd in the Catholick Church and enjoyn'd by ours ever since the Reformation Dangerous Innovations these Was ever so great a Cry made about so little Wooll CHAP. VII No Design of Introducing Popery THE Growth of Popery and Countenance shown to Papists was another pestilent Allegation and did never the less Mischief tho' false and groundless for First it is not true that the little Favour now shown them was solely upon account of the Matches in Treaty with Spain and France nor Secondly had it been Unusual with Q. Elizabeth to discharge Priests after some short time of Confinement For those violent Bigots were as numerous and busy in her Reign Compass'd Sea and Land to gain Proselytes and prevail'd upon too many weak and unstable Minds to become so However 't was a known Maxim of hers That no Man's Conscience should be forc'd or punished unless it did overflow into Overt and express Acts and become matter of Faction in which Causes the Sovereign Prince ought to punish the Practice though coloured with the pretence of Conscience and Religion A larger account whereof may be seen in that Eminent Letter of Secretary Walsingham to Monsieur Critoy and what distinction there was ever made between such as were Papists in Conscience and those in Faction and Singularity who set their Wits continually a-work to disturb the Publick Peace and undermine the Government Besides there was at this time and had been several years before most violent Oppositions and Quarrels between the Regulars and Seculars here in England more especially the Iesuits whom the foremention'd Secretary calls Seditious Priests of a New Erection whereas many of the former had taken the Oath of Allegiance and some written to Iustify it desiring only to live according to the Rites of the Roman Church without any regard to the Court that so magnify'd Idol of the Popes Universal Supremacy and All-disposing Usurpation Now by fomenting these Differences and shewing some kindness to the more Moderate Party Archbishop Bancroft more especially however branded by the Faction for a Papist and some other Ministers of State got so clear an insight into all their Iesuitical Intriegues as to out-do them at their own Weapon and render their many designs Abortive And his Successor Abbot herein was forc'd to take the same Measures 't is pity he did not so in every thing else for when in Charles's second Parliament some busy Overdoes gave Information to the House and upon search discovered that there were several Priests in the Prison call'd the Clink who liv'd with great Ease and Liberty had the Free Exercise of their Religion with Altars Pictures and other Trinkets the fore-mention'd Archbishop writ to the Attorney General on their behalf and told him Upon more curious enquiry that Information would be found to come Originally from the Iesuits for they do nothing but put Tricks upon those poor Men who do live more miserable lives than if they were in the Inquisition By taking the Oath of Allegiance and writing in defence of it they have so displeas'd the Pope that if by any cunning they could catch them they are sure to be burnt or strangled for it and once there was a Plot to have taken Preston as he passed the Thames and to have Ship'd him into a bigger Vessel and so have transported him to Flanders there to have made a Martyr of him In respect of these things K. James always gave his protection to Preston and Warrington as may be easily shew'd Canon is an old man well affected to the Cause but medleth not with any Factions or Seditions c. So vast a difference there is between taking things at a general View upon the first rebound of vulgar report and enquiring more narrowly into the secret Transactions the Reasons of State upon which the Wellfare of all Governments and consequently of every private Individual depends And since we are upon Reason of State that will come in here upon a more unhappy consideration as to this Affair the Protestant Interest especially in France was at a much lower Ebb than formerly they had engag'd we are not here to resolve how justly in those several pretences the Princes of the Blood set up and so upheld a mutual Interest whereas now the former being worn out or reconcil'd it was an Impar Congressus on the Hugonot's side to maintain by the Sword those Concessions it had formerly procur'd them or otherwise prevent those many Artifices both the Court of France and Rome were daily improving to their Ruin insomuch as the then K. Lewis XIII was known publickly to declare That as his two Predecessors Henry III. Fear'd them Henry IV. Lov'd them so he did neither And though the Spanist Match made the Cry yet upon this consideration more especially it was that in Iames's time upon mature deliberation in Council the Execution of some Penal Statutes which had already pass'd in Sentence upon several Popish Recusants was suspended for that the Protestants in France Germany and elsewhere lay under very bad Circumstances and had no other Intercessor for their Liberty c. but the King of England who was importun'd on the other side to show the like favour to those of the Romish Persuasion in his Dominions Nay some English Iesuits at Paris printed a Book representing how hardly their party were us'd here instigating that King to the utmost Severity by way of Retaliation so that had they and the Parliament been comply'd with what a havock would have been made all Europe over of Papists here and Protestants every where alse There is a Letter in the Cabala from Lord Keeper Williams to the Viscount Anan a Scotch Peer I presume upon this Subject which fully clears the King and justifies the proceedure by true Reason of State The Malice of the Faction gave out indeed that the Favour look'd forward and amounted even to a Tolleration which the Keeper styles a dull but withall a Devilish Misconstruction Yet the same prejudices were not only continu'd but improv'd against K. Charles by reason he Married a Daughter of France who was not wanting saith Ludlow on her part to press him upon all occasions to pursue the design of enlarging his Power not omitting to solicite him also to mould the Church of England to a nearer compliance with the See of Rome Pag. 2. For the former as he had no such design before so 't is as little probable she should press him now or
to say King Iames was very angry with Laud upon that account whereas there was no one thing he was more desirous to see accomplish'd but the Parliament Palatinate and Spanish match with some other uneasinesses to his declining Age made the prosecution thereof to be laid aside the remaining part of his Reign 5. King Charles likewise had the same uneasiness upon him the first four years of his Reign which having weather'd as well as Circumstances would admit fell to prosecute his Fathers pious intentions of a Liturgy in Scotland and therefore 't is abominably false like himself and Party in Roger Coke to say Laud had not been two months Archbishop but he advised the King to make a Reformation in the Church of Scotland whereas the Prelates of that Kingdom had been at work upon it seral years before 't is probable ever since Iames's incouragement at the Assembly of Perth This is certain 1629 four years before Laud's advance to Canterbury he was visited by a Scotch Bishop and told him it was his Majest'ys Pleasure that he should receive Instructions from some Bishops in Scotland concering a Liturgy for that Church c. Laud reply'd if his Majesty would have a Liturgy it were best to have the English but the Scotch Prelates were of a contrary opinion that their Countrymen would be better satisfied with one drawn up by their own Clergy and that resolution after some debates pro and con prevailing His Majesty commanded Laud to give them his best assistance who thereupon set himself seriously to the work having the King's Warrant for all he did And herein appears his Majesty's great Judgment in the choice as well as the Prudence of the Bishop's in procuring his assistance who as he was a most profound Divine so without doubt the exactest Ritualist these or any other Protestant Church ever had And this likewise resolves friend Roger's doubly Detection of the King 's telling Marquiss Hamilton the Archbishop was the only Englishman he entrusted with the Ecclesiastical Affairs of Scotland I wish there had been no other Brotherly assistance between the two Nations than that of these good Prelates the Covenant was carryed on in another manner 6. 'T is likewise abominably false that the High Commission was erected by his procurement or in his time although to render things the more invidious it is generally reported so by all the spiteful Crew whereas would they have consulted a Brother Libeller he could have given them better information the Libel is term'd Altare Damascenum Printed 1623 who tells us Ad Anglicani Tribunalis exemplar formatum est aliud in Scotia Anno 1616 c. whether then Establish'd or only reviv'd by King Iames I will not dispute but that such a Court there was all their Histories agree so that 't is a gross mistake in Roger Coke and no man of common sense would be guilty of it to say in this year 1635 there was a great contrivance between Arch-Bishop Laud and the Bishops in Scotland how to erect an High Commission Court by the Kings Authority There are few men so bold and dareing as though they have no Regard for truth yet nevertheless will keep a Reserve upon Reputation who fears not to do ill yet fears the name c. and realy it will be hard to find so many impudent brazenfac'd Falsehoods and Forgeries pack'd together upon any one subject whatsoever as my several pretended Authors have against this excellent Prince and his Ministers had they kept themselves to the Politicks the duty of every Historian they might have found too much matter for spiteful Wits to Carp at want of Resolution in prosecuting what was prudently design'd too much kindness to such as did not deserve it and consequently too much confidence in trusting and imploying them although as to what we are now discoursing of the Liturgy there was no defect of this kind especially on the English side for Archbishop Laud writ to his Brother of St. Andrew's that whether the English or any other was resolv'd upon they should proceed circumspectly because his Majesty had no intendment to do any thing but what was according to Honour and Iustice and the Laws of that Kingdom all which doubtless there was great regrad to the only question is as to the unseasonableness of the enterprise whether such as were continually upon the Spot might not have better discovered the temper of the People what strong prejudices they were possest withal with the several Interests and Humor 's then on foot as likewise seen further into the double dealing of such Great ones who flatter'd his Majesty in his pious intentions yet at the same time under-hand fomented the Religious Rebellion and when time serv'd headed them I thought my self oblig'd to give this brief account of Church Affairs in Scotland together with the Rise and Progress of that Liturgy the Causa Patens of their Rebellion and a very laudable one doubtless that it might the more clearly appear how basely partial false and malicious Ludlow is as to whatever he relates on that Subject for after his constant introduction of what great design 's were in hand for advancing Prerogative and Popery he adds Before any further progress should be made therein here it was thought expedient that the pulse of Scotland should be felt and they perswaded or compell'd to the like conformity To this end a form of Publick Prayer was sent to Scotland more nearly approaching the Roman Office than that us'd in England p. 6 7. To Prerogative and Popery we have already spoken which is only brought in here by way of flourish and aggravation as the main end to which all the rest were to be subservient whereas that being false what a crazy Structure are these fellows like to raise That it must certainly fall is infallible the mischief of it is 't will fall about other mens ears besides their own The charge now on foot is that they design'd to perswade or compell Uniformity a dangerous design this if it were so at the first Establishment of our Church by Queen Elizabeth and her Parliament for there we find the Liturgy was reviv'd according to that of Ed. the VI. with Articles Constitutions and Canons ay and a High-Commission erected de Novo with an Act of Uniformity too to compel such as would not be perswaded and under these excellent Constitutions our Church and State continued for more than fourscore years the Glory and Envy of the Good and Bad all Christendom thorough But then our dear Neighbours the Scots giving a helping-hand to their weak Brethren here did not design to relieve but alter this compulsion instead of Liturgy and Canons would have the Covenant and Directory the little finger whereof is heavier not only than the Loins but whole Body of our Church However they could only succeed negatively pull down what had been Establish'd the Nation were grown too much Libertines to admit of any restraint
irritated as to Dissolve them whereat they were so far from being concerned as to stand in defiance thereof and indeed it seem'd to put them into their proper Post now it was right down opposition Treason all over and having none to curb them could the more confidently proceed to condemn all the Assemblies had been for 40 years before as prelimited and not Free Episcopacy to be sure must be declar'd unlawful with the like fate to the Service-Book Canons High-Commission and Articles of Perth They appointed the Covenant to be taken by all under Excommunication and then proceeded to the Process of the Bishop's notwithstanding their Declinator wherein being both Iudges and Parties they could not fail to carry all according to their Arbitrary Factious Wills Thus with three or four peremptory Votes they totally Abolished so far as power without Right can go whatever the Wisdom Prudence and Piety of Two Kings with all the sensible good men of the Nation had been for Fifty or Threescore years Establishing From this motly Assembly Ludlow proceeds and tells us That being inform'd the King was preparing an Army to compell them to obedience they agreed upon the raising some Forces to defend themselves And could they expect otherwise after such an ungrateful aswell as undutifull procedure yet notwithstanding they were always afore-hand with the King conscious of what they deserv'd provided accordingly Levy'd Forces impos'd Taxes block'd up his Majesty's Castles rais'd Fortifications c. whilst with specious pretences and Protestations they kept him in suspence though at last he could not but see into and thorough such Villanous Hypocrisies and betake himself to the Ratio Ultima Regum for which however Ludlow would have it a Bellum Episcopale the Clergy's War he had the greatest provocation upon the Civil the Temporal account that ever any Prince met withall indeed they were both intermixed and both superlatively Base take some of them as followeth 1. He could not endure that the Usurpations of an Ecclesiastical Assembly should abolish Acts of Parliament which strikes at the Foundation of Monarchy and indeed all other Government 2. To secure the three Estates of Parliament that one of them might not be destroy'd without his and the Parliaments consent 3. To punish such as have impos'd Taxes raised Forts Levied men and Arms c. all which by the Laws of the Kingdom are Acts of High Treason and Rebellion 4. To repress the Insolent Protestations of his Subjects against himself his Council Iudges Laws the constant practise of the Covenanters 5. To punish the ringleaders of Rebellion who have abused his Subjects by imposing upon them a Covenant and mutual Bond of Defence against his Majesties Person and without his consent contrary to the Laws of the Kingdom 6. To punish such as under the name of Tables or a Committee of the General Assembly shall presume to sit without his consent to order Affairs of Church and State refusing when questioned the Authority of his Majesty Council or Iudges and appealing to a General Assembly Blasphemously calling it Christ's own immediate Council and claiming a Sovereign Independency from King Council Iudges and Parliament These are some of the Reasons his Majesty himself gives for that unwilling War these furious Zealots forc'd him upon That the Clergy of England were not wanting to promote the New-Levies as Ludlow saith is true but That they were the principal Authors and Fomentors of the Troubles is absolutely False as likewise That what the Nobility and Gentry did was rather out of complement than affection to the design there was a party indeed whom the Scotch had Bit and made as Mad as themselves but all men of sound Prinples and sober judgments foresaw that the neighbour Kingdom being on Fire if good care were not taken to quench it ours might shortly catch the Flame and both be consumed together contributed with all the alacrity and satisfaction imaginable neither had there ever appear'd upon those Borders a braver Army or more resolutely bent to beat the Scotch into better manners whatever Arts were us'd to affright and intimidate them for those of that Nation in his own Family did him more mischief than the whole Covenanters Army by betraying his Counsels misrepresenting their strength and more especially letting him know how averse his Majesty was to come to the extremity otherwise his Army wanted neither power nor will at one single blow to have decided that dispute which afterward cost so many and to very little purpose 't is said that when the old Arch-bishop of St. Andrews who knew his Country-men aswell perhaps better than most others came to take his leave of his King at his setting forward to the North desired leave to give his Majesty three Advertisments before his going First that he would suffer none of the Scotch Nation to remain in his Army assuring him that they would never fight against their Country-men but rather hazard the whole by their Tergiversation The Second was That he should make a Catalogue of all his Counsellors Officers of Household and Domestick Servants expunging every one of the Scotch Nation beginning with the Bishop himself by which means he could not be accused of Partiality when a person who had served him and his Father above Sixty Years so Faithfully appear'd in the Front A third was that be must not think to win upon them by condescentions the sweetness of his disposition or Acts of Grace but resolve to reduce them to their duty by such ways of Power as God had put into his hands Thus far that wise experienced Person and his Majesty not following such wholesome advice I take to be the Origin of all his following Troubles and Ruine for the Scotch taking him now to be in good earnest and knowing how ill provided they were to make opposition having not above 3000 compleat Arms amongst them whatever flourishes those false Lowns their Countrymen made both in Court and Camp thought it requisite to divert that approaching danger they had so justly drawn upon themselves and hereupon addressed themselves to the Earl of Essex whom the King had sent before from York to take possession of Berwick to him they complained of some of their own Countrymen who had provoked the King against them protesting still their own Innocency Loyalty to the King and Affection to the English requesting him to procure a Pacification by any means whatsoever which should be thought expedient on both sides the like Address they made to the Earl of Arundel General c. Earl of Holland Lieftenant General of the Horse in whom they had a more than ordinary confidence as knowing how well that whole Family was affected to their Covenant cause and therefore not only justified themselves in their former proceedings but requested his assistance to promote their desires in a Petition tendred to his Majesty's hands By these and such-like sly Addresses his Majesty's good nature was too easily wrought upon to comply and
attribute to a Belief and full Perswasion of the Iustice of the Undertaking whereas I cry Careat successibus opto Nevertheless it shall be acknowledged that this little Success turn'd infinitely to their advantage for having got possession of Newcastle where the King had a Magazine they extended their Quarters as far as Durham with a corner of Yorkshire after miserably harassing all places where they came those four Counties of Northumberland Cumberland Westmorland and Durham with the forementioned corner of Yorkshire far from the largest or richest in England were Sess'd at a Contribution of 850 l. per Diem which I fancy was more than Cromwell could make of their whole Kingdom when he by the Just Judgment of Heaven had brought them into the same circumstances nay which is more made an absolute Conquest And this I presume is the foundation of Ludlow's blunder which hath something of approach to truth but he abhors to come close up to it that upon the King 's calling his great Council at York they advis'd a Cessation of Arms and to Summon a Parliament which to the great trouble of the Clergy and other Incendiaries for they must be flung at he promis'd to do assuring the Scots of the payment of twenty thousand pounds a month to maintain their Army till the pleasure of the Parliament should be known p. 11. How careful is this Good man of the Parliaments pleasure and free of the Kings condescention whereas impartially speaking they had carv'd themselves the forementioned Contribution and moreover seiz'd the total of all Estates belonging to Papists Prelates Incendiaries c. in brief of all the Loyal honest Gentlemen throughout that District of their new Usurpation Afterwards indeed when the Treaty was at Rippon the English Commissioners requir'd their demands as to the Subsistence of their Army whereto they modestly return'd answer 40000 l. per. mensem should content them for the present and for their losses they would afterward give a particular estimate This so much alarm'd the Commissioners and other Lords when the demand was sent to the King at York that one noble Peer made a motion to Fortifie that City and imploy that 40000 l. to maintain his Majesty's Army rather than an Enemy's hereupon the Scotch came down to 30000 l. which they own'd to be less than the 850 l. per. diem considering they had the time past the benefit of Custome a Provision of Coals and Proportion of Forage In the end it was agreed That with a Provision of Coals and Forage they should be satisfy'd and take no more than the 850 l. per diem of the four forementioned Counties under which abominable slavery those poor people continued a whole twelvemonth for the King having by unwearied importunity been forc'd upon a Parliament and remitted the whole management of these their Dear Brethrens concerns to them they so dextrously improv'd the advantage as to keep them here at the Nations expence till they had got the same unreasonable concessions from him as the others had done made him Sacrifice his Friends debase his Prerogative and by Enacting an indissoluable Session gave them an opportunity of playing the like game without any thing more of their assistance Now then 't was thought high time to dismiss them but the greatest matter was to bring that about turpius ejicitur quam non admittitur c. they paid themselves at coming in but we must pay even for that again before they would set one step back and withall at so unreasonable arate according to their demands as all the Gold in England tho' never more plenty would not make a Bridge to carry them over Tweed To give a short Specimen there being several Demands agreed to by Treaty at Rippon wherein the Scotch were to have satisfaction the Sixth was That they desire from the Iustice and kindness of England Reparation concerning the losses which the Kingdom of Scotland hath sustain'd and the vast charges they have been put unto by reason of the late troubles According to which Article they were required now upon departure to bring in a full Account of their Charges which they enlarged to the full Sum of Five hundred and Fourteen thousand One hundred and Twenty Eight pound nine shillings c. abating the odd pence out of kindness whereto was added for what losses their Nation the Nobility and Gentry had sustain'd Two hundred and Twenty One thousand pounds and the neglect of their Fortunes Two hundred and twenty thousand pounds besides the 850 l. per. diem exhausted from the Northern Counties with other the most inexpressible Insolencies and Exactions ever any people groan'd under A surprising Sum but cunning Chapmen know that a high demand at first will oblige any Purchaser for shame to bid somewhat like a Gentleman and accordingly it happened here the whole matter being adjusted for that lusty Sum of 300000 l. part whereof was paid down and the rest secur'd by the Publick Faith of the two Houses and more punctually discharged than any here borrowed upon that Credit If any be farther Inquisitive as to the Total of the whole Expence I find a Report made in the House of Lords that amounted to one Million one hundred Thousand pounds the most chargeable remedy this Nation to that day was ever acquainted with and prov'd much worse than any Disease we then labour'd under besides that itch of Rebellion we from them contracted which hath cost a hundred times more than they carry'd off and for ought I see may be doubled before we attain a perfect cure Well now they are gone and the King followed them which Ludlow tells us the Parliament endeavour'd to disswade him from or at least to defer to a fitter opportunity he refused to hearken to them under pretence that the Affairs of that Kingdom necessarily required his presence but in truth his great business was to leave no means unattempted to take off that Nation from their Adherence to the parliament of England p. 17. 'T is probable he might hope so to be sure the Parliament feared it and had reason so to do if it had been possible to oblige such a Generation of men for he gratified them in every demand confirm'd all their Rebellious Innovations into Legal Constitutions advanc'd the leading Covenanters into the highest Places of Honour and Profit amongst whom their General Lesly was made an Earl whereupon with Hands lift up to Heaven he wished they might rot if ever he acted more against so gude a King Yet this very man within two years after led a Scotch Army to the Parliaments assistance and by the reputation of their name and number rather than any considerable Action gave such a diversion to that gude Kings Forces as nothing conduced more to his ruin And when no longer able to keep the Field he betook himself to those his Native Subjects for Protection How barbarously they use and how basely they sold him need not be here
and Conscience the two last were not kept for he was pressed to settle Religion as they desir'd wherewith his Conscience was not satisfy'd Next his Subjects had not free access to him but Proclamations were issued out forbidding them to come to him neither was the Ceremony due to him as King suffer'd to be paid him at his entry to New-Castle And lastly his Servants were not suffer'd to wait on him And his Majesty attested Montrevil if those Conditions were not made to him who confidently affirm'd it in all their Presence and that he had the Authentick Assurances in French The Commissioners retired to think of an Answer but when they return'd they desired his Majesty would put Montrevil to it to declare what those Assurances were and who gave them but this was not done Next they said they would not treat with the King in his Presence nor admit the Interposition of any Foreign Agent between them and their Native Prince And the Commissioners of the Army resolv'd that no suspected Person should be suffer'd to wait on the King with which his Majesty was highly displeas'd and for some Days would not eat in Publick but only in his Chamber This last Passage I have from an unexceptionable Authority whose Affection to his Native Country could give Place to nothing but Truth and therefore he seems to palliate the Matter a little on their behalf that Montrevil did not declare what the Assurances were nor who gave them which yet seems not to be his Fault for that they fully resolv'd against his Presence and Interposition for the future in any such like Affairs And upon the same account he declares further on it did not appear what Grounds Montrevil had for giving the King those Assurances and must be very slight and only from single Persons not any Iunto or Iudicatory Such a secret Transaction could not be done with all the Formalities of a Solemn Treaty yet doubtless Montrevil had his Assurances from Levens with most of the other General Officers and Scotch Commissioners then before Newark which was a considerable Iunto and I humbly conceive Iudicatories have little to do in concerns of that Nature But it had been all one though never so exactly drawn up and would have been as little observ'd as the first Pacification or last promise of never drawing Sword against him more But my particular Business is to trace Ludlow who tells us The Commissioners of Parliament joyning with those who were before with the King endeavour'd to perswade him to agree to the Propositions of the Parliament but he disliking several Things in them and most of all the abolition of Episcopacy to which Interest he continu'd obstinately stedfast refused his consent upon private Encouragement from some of the Scots and English to expect more easy Terms or to be received without any at all p. 183 The Encouragement he mentions is only a Flam of his own the Scots kept too strict a Guard upon him to have any but his Enemies to converse with nay which is worse they oblig'd him to discharge all his Friends then in Arms not only here in England but Montross in Scotland and Ormond in Ireland Neither was the Abolition of Episcopacy the main Obstacle although it was hard when he alone by himself had so shamefully bafled their great Champion Henderson upon that Subject to be so violently press'd from a Truth they could so little disprove But setting aside this Fellow's Spite who would needs make this the chief obstacle the King in his brisk Answer to the whole body of their Propositions from Newcastle August 1. 46. tells them They were such as did import the greatest Alterations in Government both in Church and Kingdom yet these were positively sent for his Majesty's Concurrence without allowing the Commissioners to give Reasons for their Demands or the hearing the King's Reasons against them which occasion'd his smart Reply upon their saying They had no Power to treat that saving the Honour of the Business an honest Trumpeter might have done as much To these Propositions Ludlow tells us the Scots Commissioners especially Lord Lowdon press'd the King very earnestly to comply telling him that though they were higher in some Particulars than they could wish yet if he continu'd to reject them he must not expect to be received in Scotland whither they must return and deliver him up to the Parliament in England But whatever they or the English said made no impression c. p. 184. The Truth of it is after all the Scotch Rodomantades Lowdon's in particular how much it was against the Laws of Nature Nations and Hospitality to Deliver and betray those that had fled to any for Succour their Brethren at Westminster knew how much there was of Iudas amongst them and having reduc'd their demand of a Million to 400000 l. agreed upon the Payment of one Moyety and the Publick Faith for the other to have the King Deliver'd to them who good Man laments that his Price should be so much above his Saviours And to clear himself from the base Reflections they made upon his Steady well grounded Resolves he declares what they call Obstinacy I know God accounts honest Constancy from which Reason and Religion as well as Honour forbid me to recede For you must know the Scots whilst in their Hands not only permitted but encourag'd the most Rigid of their Kirkmen to bait him at an impudent Rate as well from the Pulpit as otherwise as positively denouncing him damn'd for refusing the Covenant as 't is to be fear'd might fall to their lot for forcing it In the next Paragraph p. 186. Ludlow Commenceth a Quarrel with all the World both at Home and abroad for upon the French Embassador's coming over to endeavour a Reconciliation between King and Parliament he tells you how it was rejected they resolving to determin it themselves without the interposition of any an infallible sign of a just Cause where no body but themselves must Iudge having experienc'd that most of the Neighbouring States especially the Monarchical were at the bottom their Enemies That they were not their Friends was certain but that they should be so little their Enemies was a great Shame that so many Crown'd Heads should stand by and see a Brother Monarch Dethron'd and Murther'd at so barbarous a rate was a Sign that which is call'd Antient Honour was at a very low Ebb and the Sacro-Sancta Mrjestas left destitute of all Appeal but to the King of Kings who for ought we know may be still making Inquisition for that Blood this Son of Belial so much thirsted after and never at rest till poured forth and therefore henceforward 't is his sole Business to enveigh against all that would not go along with him and his Crew in that horrid Perpetration first he falls upon the Parliament for their frequent Overtures of Peace made to the King though he had not a Sword left wherewith to oppose them p. 187.
to the Sacred Ashes of the best Man and most abused Prince that ever sat upon a Throne May not the Great God who Iudgeth right upon defect of all Earthly Powers in doing Iustice to injur'd Innocence and oppressed Virtue be hereby provok'd to Arise and Defend his own Cause Remember the Rebukes his Servants have whereby their Enemies take occasion to blaspheme his Name and slander the Footsteps of his Anointed A JUST DEFENCE OF THE Royal Martyr CHARLES I. PART I. CHAP. I. The Commonwealth Party could never agree upon any one Model OUR Author begins his Memoirs with the Ruin of his Cause the Roasting of the Rump which doubtless was a great disappointment very much to his prejudice and therefore in reference to his own dear Self we will grant he had Reason to complain That having seen our Cause betray'd and the most solemn Promises that could be made to the Asserters of it openly Violated I departed from my Native Country c. Now because this Cause of his is so much magnified throughout both his Volumes as the only Means of securing the Liberty Safety and publick Interest of the People whereas the Office of a King was Burdensom and Dangerous the House of Peers useless upon which account both ought to be Abolished and the Government settled in the way of a Common-wealth the two first Votes they made after their Execrable Parricide it will I hope be thought no improper digression to examin the Rise of this excellent Model how it came first in Power How it behav'd it self whilst so and what became of it in the end In order whereunto we must know that the Violent and Numerous Faction in that fatal long Parliament of Forty were all of one piece so long as the King was able to bear up and most implacable against all such Loyal Faithful Members as adher'd unto him some of which they turn'd out of the House and forc'd many others to withdraw as well for the security of their Persons as in Obedience to their Consciences which oblig'd them to stand by their injur'd Prince so that in Ianuary 43 the King assembled at Oxon a greater Number of Lords and Commons then sat at Westminster although the latter supply'd themselves with a sort of Cattle call'd Recruiters from such Corporations and Burroughs as were within their Quarters where they might be sure of confiding Men who would not fail to carry on the Work as they had begun But divine Vengeance designing further to scourge us with our own Rod though it gave Success to their rebellious Arms yet withal so divided them amongst themselves as they that expected most had least of the Spoil whilst the Bear and the Wolf the Presbyterian and Independent contended one cunning Fox ran off with the Prey for as soon as the Royal Cause was vanquish'd those two Iunto's fell into implacable Enmities in the House and because the Independent was smallest in Number they supply'd that Defect by the Army which had been so modell'd by Cromwell as to be all of their own Leven and undertook their Quarrel so effectually as to bring a Charge against eleven of the most leading Members on the other Side who thereupon were forc'd to absent themselves some of them for their better Security beyond the Seas But this Purge would not do there must be a stronger Dose to remove the tough Presbyterian Humour which was accordingly prescrib'd for the other Iunto finding themselves still out-voted ran away to the Army and carry'd their Speaker with them making a sad Complaint that their elder Brethren of the other Faction were obstinate and refractory and would not let them have their Wills in going thorough-stitch to the Ruin of King and Kingdom at leastwise would not let it go their own Way and therefore begg'd their Assistance in the Accomplishment of so good a Work whereupon they strait-way march'd up to Westminster fill'd both the Palace Yards with Soldiers and set double Files through the Hall up to the Doors of both Houses looking scornfully upon the Members which had sat in the Absence of their Speaker and threatned to pull them forth by the Ears if they did not give speedy Satisfaction so that at present they carried all before them However the Army or rather their Managers Cromwell and Ireton seem'd herein to mis-time their Design the whole Nation was allarm'd at these extravagant Proceedings that the King should be so barbarously confin'd the Parliament forc'd now they seem'd somewhat dispos'd to an Accommodation and all things controll'd by the Arbitrary Licentiousness of a Military Rabble even to a Vote of no more Addresses to the King Which first proceeded from their Motion without Doors to their Creatures within this made several Counties petition and then rise in Arms some who had been Commanders for the Parliament in Wales endeavoured to retrieve their Country from those Mischiefs their Mistakes had brought upon it And Scotland actually declaring against their Brethren's Abuse of the King provided an Army to invade them This made our Men of the Sword postpone for the present their State-Reformation and fall to their proper Calling Fairfax undertook such loyal Gentlemen and Parties in Kent and Essex as had engag'd to free their Country from an Army of Mamaluks and shut them up in Colchester whilst Cromwell's veterane Forces found a ready Conquest of the Welsh and the Scotch under such ill Conduct as if they came on purpose to acquaint him how easie it was for a Man of Resolution and good Management to subdue and enslave their Nation In the mean time whilst this kind of second War was on foot the whole Kingdom besides those concern'd in the foremention'd Engagements began to reflect what a miserable Condition they had brought themselves into The City petition the Parliament for a personal Treaty with the King they accordingly vote in their secluded Members repeal that of no Addresses and agree to a Treaty at the Isle of Wight which nevertheless met with so many Obstacles and Delays from the adverse Iunto as the Army had finish'd their Business before the Treaty could be brought to a Conclusion and were so incens'd thereat as they came up in a Rage to London took Quarters at and about Whitehall fell the second Time to reform the House whereof they actually seiz'd and committed 41 Members denyed Entrance to above 160 more besides about 40 or 50 who voluntarily withdrew to avoid their Violence so that the whole was now reduc'd to between 40 or 50 such profligate Wretches both as to Life and Principle that they would stick at no Villany the Bashaws their Masters thought fit to put upon them And this is the true Origin of what is commonly call'd the Rump of the long Parliament the End whereof is so much condol'd by our Author although it might as properly have been call'd the Excrement to be sure their Actions will make our Nation stink in the Nostrils of all good Men to
the End of the World We are next to enquire how this Fag End of a Parliament behav'd it self having got the Power into their Hands or rather were the Substitutes the Properties of the Army for that is their truest Character And here to let the Nation see their Business should not be done by Halves they began with these Resolves 1. That the People under God are the Original of all just Power 2. That the Commons of England assembled in Parliament being chosen by and representing the People have the supream Authority of this Nation 3. That whatsoever is enacted and declared for Law by the Commons hath the Force of a Law 4. That all the People of this Nation are included thereby although the Consent of the King and House of Peers be not had thereto 5. That to raise Arms against the People's Representatives is high Treason 6. That the King himself took Arms against the Parliament and upon that account is guilty of the Blood shed through the Civil War and that he ought to expiate the Crime with his own Blood Whose Tryal they fell to immediately and with an unparallel Impudence founded their Dominion in the Blood of the Lord 's Anointed and their Liege Sovereign whereas granting their Position of the People's Right to be true as it is abominably false there was not the tenth Part of the Commons at the making that cursed Ordinance nor would one in a thousand of the People have assented thereunto and this the Lady Fairfax told them at the Tryal from an adjoyning Scaffold Had that Tool her Husband shewn the like Courage it might have turn'd to Account but Men that have a long time habituated themselves in Mischief God seldom permits to be Instruments of any Good To be sure as this cursed Fact rendred the Rump most infamous to all Degrees thoroughout the Nation so the Grandees of the Army after they had traiterously serv'd their turn paid them as little Respect and thought they were too contemptible a Body to manage so great a Trust to which purpose the Agitators as soon as they had first purg'd the House declared it was requisite to have a more equal Representative and accordingly printed a Model which they called The Agreement of the People and so continued frequently harping upon the same String and pressing to have it taken into Consideration which forc'd them upon what our Author declares Page 313. And now the Parliament being desirous to let the People see that they design'd not to perpetuate themselves after they should be able to make a compleat Settlement of Affairs and provide for the Security of the Nation c. Resolv'd that the House would upon every Wednesday Morning turn themselves into a grand Committee to debate concerning the Manner of assembling and Power of future successive Parliaments the Number of Persons to serve for each County that the Nation might be more equally represented c. And thus they continued two or three Years and would have till Doomsday according to their own Vote since they resolv'd not to rise till a compleat Settlement of Affairs and the Nation 's Security provided for But Cromwell was resolv'd they should not stay till then yet having a different Design from all his Fellow Rebels kept them in till that was ripe in Order whereunto Ireland must be first brought into perfect Subjection And then the Scotch gave him an Opportunity of retaliating their many Outrages Invasions and such like Covenant Kindnesses which he did to purpose And having gain'd the Crowning Victory as he term'd it at Worcester thought it then a fit Time to pull off his Vizard and send that Pack of Rascals as he call'd them at a Nobleman's Table a Grazing the Account whereof as our Author gives it from the 447th Pag. forward is very pleasant and shews that though they were every one profoundly practised in those Hellish Arts of Treachery and Dissimulation yet Cromwell infinitely outdid them all They were but petty Devils in Comparison with him that true Lucifer incarnate But what our Author saith of their being supported by the Affections of the People Pag. 459 because acting for their Interest is so gross so palpable a Lye as sure he could not believe his Memoirs should be printed till every Man then living was dead Next the Restauration I never knew any thing more grateful the whole Kingdom thorough than their Dismission it was the only popular Act wherein Cromwell oblig'd all Parties and made his Usurpation more tolerable by ridding us of the most contemptible Set of Men that ever sat at the Helm of any Government But 't is the common Cant of our Commonwealth Coxcombs and 't is us'd as much by our Author as any of them to give that Handful of Fools and Knaves which adher'd to them the Title of the Godly Party and all the good People of England Well now they are gone and had six Years time to fret and bite their Nails for we may guess at their Regret by the Spite and Revenge they were guilty of when got again in play which they could never do as long as Cromwell trod the Stage but when he was carried off the Army resolv'd to revenge his tricking them upon Richard who succeeded him and could think of no better Tools to effect that Work than by setting their old Iournymen the Rump about it in order whereunto they plac'd them in the Workhouse and set them to the Business which they soon dispatch'd although they had much ado to find a Number sufficient for however our Author pretends he gave Dr. Owen a List of 160 which had sate since the Year 48 they were forc'd to send for Munson and Harry Martyn out of the Goal to make up a Quorum of 40. from which time forward to their final Expiration there can be nothing more comical in any History Romance or Play than the several Transactions Caballings and Intrigues amongst them as related all along by our Author what Iealousies and Distrusts they had of one another what Plots and Counterplots Turnings out and in Quarrels Treaties and Patchings up wherein our Author tells us what pains he took and with what Moderation he proceeded to little purpose God be prais'd One thing more especially they could never get over and that was a settled well fix'd Form of Government The Army were resolv'd upon a standing Senate of their own Body I presume to over-awe the civil Representatives The Rump on the other hand thought themselves so much their Masters as to vote the Speaker General and order that all even the most supream Officers should have no Commissions but from him whereupon what passed between Sir Arthur Haslerig and Lambert pag. 677 may be thought worth relating Lambert complain'd how that Act left them at Mercy only said Sir Arthur at the Mercy of the Parliament who are your good Friends I know not reply'd the other why they should not be at our Mercy as well as we
Generation as besides their many Abettors amongst the Common People were not unprovided of some in the House of Commons which Mr. Cambden tells us the Queen took Notice of and much dislik'd their unquiet Humor greedy of Novelty and forward to root up things well Established to prevent which for the future she commanded the Severity of the Laws to be every where put in Execution And sometime after procured two New Acts one against the Papists and another against the Puritans on purpose to restrain the insolency of both Factions and by which several of them were afterwards adjudg'd to Death But such Turbulent Spirits are not so easily quell'd the same Historian continues the Complaint in a following Parliament 85. But nothing so much irritated her great Mind as their Villanous Deportment in 88. for thinking they had the Queen at an Advantage upon the Rumor of a Foreign Invasion beset her with greater Importunities than ever and play'd their Affairs with so much Confidence as if of Confederacy with the Spaniard never as Cambden goes on with the Complaint did contumacious Impudency and contumelious Malepertness advance it self more insolently giving an account what Scandalous Books they writ Belching forth such Calumnies and Reproaches therein as the Authors seem'd rather to be Scullions in a Kitchen than followers of Piety The present Course she thought fit to take with such unnatural Beautifeus was only to secure some of the most busy and chief amongst them in Wisbich Castle where many of the leading Papists were likewise secur'd But as soon as that Storm was over she resolv'd upon a more effectual Course to keep a constant Calm at home for in Feb. 92. a Parliament was call'd amongst other things to Enact such Laws as might restrain those Insolencies wherewith the Patience of the State had been so long exercis'd Wherein the Puckering's Speech to both Houses of Parliament is very Remarkable which amongst other things lets them know that they were Especially commanded by her Majesty to take heed that no ear be given nor time afforded to the wearysom Solicitations of those that commonly be called Puritans wherewithall the last Parliaments have been exceedingly importun'd which sort of Men whilst in the Giddyness of their Spirit they labor and strive to advance a new Eldership they do nothing else but disturb the good repose of the Church and Commonwealth And as the Case standeth it may be doubted whether they or the Iesuit do offer more danger or be more speedily to be redress'd with much more to the same purpose even Prophetical of the Mischiefs they have since produc'd Hereupon followed that formidable Act Tricesimo Quinto Elizabethae which was so closely hook'd into the Nostrils of this Spiritual Leviathan as though frequently endeavour'd they were never able to get it out till they had at one desperate Plunge freed themselves from all Regal Power as well as Ecclesiastical Discipline To be sure the remaining ten Years of this great Queen's Reign the swelling Humor of that haughty Faction was so taken down as they never made the least effort towards those Innovations either in Church or State which had been so uneasy to the Government before and so Fatal since In this Excellent Posture and Regular Subordination did this Prudent Princess leave an exact and practicable Model of the English Monarchy that her Successor as I observ'd before did not tread in the same steps take the same care and shew the like Courage Hinc Illae Lachrymae For coming to the Crown with a General Applause on every Side it was never considered that the brightest Sun-rise is soonest intercepted by a Cloud that Hosanna's from the Vulgar as well Great as Small naturally run into the contrary extream unless that Mercury of theirs be fix'd by such a well weigh'd Politick as knows how to temper them in both It was likewise no small Prejudice to our English Church that the King came accompanied with so great a Retinue of his own Country whose Kirk-Leven put our Puritans into a fresh Ferment made them Swell and Domineer with their usual insolence upon the least Countenance of Connivance from such as are in Power or have an Interest in the Government Upon this account I cannot but take Notice of a Passage in Hacket's Life printed before his Sermons He was born of Scotch Parents dwelling in London during the Queen's Time They were both true Protestants great Lovers of the Church of England constantly repairing to the Divine Prayers and Service thereof and would often bewail to their young Son after the coming in of their Country-men with King James the seed of Fanaticism then laid in the Scandalous neglect of the Publick Liturgy which all the Queen's time was exceedingly frequented the People then resorting as Devoutly to Prayers as they would afterwards to hear any famous Preacher about Town And his Aged Parents often observ'd to him that Religion towards God Iustice and Love amongst Neighbours gradually declin'd with the disuse of our Publick Prayers This Observation was made at first which we have since seen Fatally verify'd and cursedly Improv'd It was likewise no small prejudice to the Interest of our English Church that a Scotch Peer Top'd an Archbishop upon her no ways qualify'd with parts or principles for so great a Trust The Story stands thus Upon Bancroft's Death such as wish'd well to the Church Bishops and other great Men about Court recommended Bishop Andrews a Person every way unexceptionable to the King who approv'd so well of him as they thought their Business fix'd and neglected to press it further when the Earl of Dunbar a powerful Minister with the King saith my Author put in for his quondam Chaplain Abbot and got the King's Hand for passing the Instrument before the Matter was discover'd and then too late to prevent God grant Scotch Peers may never more recommend English Prelates Indeed the less any of them have to do with our Church the better although in this great Time of Tryal amongst them where all Religious Order is run into Enthusiasm and Madness there are several have signalis'd themselves with a Zeal truly Primitive not only to the spoyling their Goods but the loss of all their Fortunes and of some of their Lives For our New Metropolitan when in Place he fell very much short of what his own Admirers expected to be sure his Remiss Government and unexcusable Partiality towards the Puritans neglecting all those worthy Methods his two Predecessors Whitgift and Bancroft had prosecuted introduc'd those many Desolations Fractions and Schisms which the Church hath not yet and 't is a Question whether will be ever able to weather for whilst several worthy Prelates in his Time and his Successor who next came in Place endeavour'd to continue or revive such Articles Injunctions and Canons as had been fram'd in Q. Elizabeth's Time and to reduce the Church to the same Order and Regimen in which Abbot found it These forsooth must
honest Man and Loyal Subject He goes on Arbitrary Courts were erected it had been well to have mention'd one that was so all this King's Reign which since he is gon I desire his Admirers to give me Satisfaction on his behalf or otherwise him no more credit than he deserves The like Challenge I make as to the Power of those other being enlarg'd such were the High Commission Court the Star-Chamber the Court of Honour the Court of Wards the Court of Requests c. There was a mighty Clamor indeed against some of these Courts not so much for any real default in them as that they were thought too great a support to the Prerogative and Church without considering how the whole Frame of Government was so closely joyn'd and fix'd together therewith as a Dissolution in such essential Parts would reduce all the rest to Rubbish and Confusion And accordingly it fell out at those Breaches then made the several Herds of Schismaticks Libertines Atheists c. found so free an Entrance so uncontrolable a Ravage as 't is hard now to tell either where or what we are To shew in one Instance how little Ground there was for all that Noise and Fury even against the High Commission which lay under the greatest Odium Archbishop Laud caus'd the Acts of that Court to be search'd which can deceive no Man and found There had been fewer Suspensions Deprivations and other Punishments by Three during the Seven Years of his Time than in any Seven Years of his Predecessor Abbot who was notwithstanding in great Esteem with the House of Commons whilst this other was cry'd out upon for Sharpness and Severity whereupon the Good Man makes this sad but just Complaint So safe a thing it is for a Man to embark himself in a Potent Faction and so hard for any other Man be he never so intire to withstand its Violence And therefore we may presume it was not the Quantity but the Quality of the Persons proceeded against which thus highly exasperated them To have such Instruments such Engines of Sedition as Leighton and Lilbourn Pryn Burton Bastwick c. confin'd from doing farther Mischief was to stifle the whole design Rebellion could never so much as take Roote if those Seeds-men were kept from planting the Crop Yet we will suppose there might be some less justifiable Proceedings some perhaps too harsh and severe Decrees must every Corruption or Abuse destroy the being of a Court cannot the Numbers and Trickings of our Attornys be redress'd and yet some of the Honester continu'd to follow Business Or must that Honourable Profession of the Law be laid aside because the present Tendency of Practise seems more to regard their own Support than the Peoples ease and speedy Relief Such another Set of Thorough Reformers would much endanger the shutting up of Westminster-Hall And indeed that they were going about Ludlow tells you what a quick Dispatch they had brought things to in Ireland and they were not without the like Attempts several Times here Which had it been put into the Hands of Wise and Honest Men to check and regulate what was amiss we might have said Amen to but such Root and Branch Fellows were intolerable and as they had already destroy'd the Church so were bidding fair at those Laws and Properties our Author so falsely chargeth upon the Clergy I have somewhere read that a negligent Latin Transcriber of that Parable where the Woman swept her House to find the lost Groat writ Evertit for Everrit very applicable to all our violent Undertakers who are for throwing the House out at the Windows and all Government out of the Kingdom But the Total Abolition of these Courts was not till our Grandees of 40. entred their Province and play'd Rex to purpose which is the last Preliminary Charge our Author makes for next he falls at large upon the Scotch Rebellion and so on to that in England and according to his Brutish Courage in other Undertakings is the most impudent Push he hath hitherto ventur'd at And that our Liberties might be extirpated at once and we become Tenants at Will to the King that rare Invention of Ship-Money was found out by Finch c. 'T is one thing to write a Libel another an History where what is said or done on each side ought impartially to be related and had not the former been here chiefly design'd we must have been told the King studied nothing more than the Honour of the Nation and Interest of his People wherein not being seconded by his Parliaments as they ought he was forc'd to enquire what other Legal Courses his Predecessors had taken when under like Exigencies with himself and herein the Learned Selden gave no little Light by a Book about that Time written called Mare Clausum But the Person of the greatest Authority and Abilities too to resolve any thing of Antient Customs was Attorny General Noy not Finch as Ludlow blunders who all along in the House of Commons pass'd for an Oracle whatever he declar'd to be Law was no farther disputed amongst them and can it be imagin'd he should recede so far from the Character ever given him of an indefatigable Search and morose Sincerity as to Trifle at last impose upon the King and Kingdom in so weighty a Concern without being able to make out and justify it in every Point which 't is affirm'd he did by several Presidents in some of which it appear'd That the Ship Tax had been Levyed by such Kings as in the same Year had Subsidies granted from their Parliaments for other Occasions The King therefore having so good an Authority for a Matter which in it self appeared highly reasonable must have violated all the Rules of Discretion as well as Policy in not closing therewith nay could not have answered the Discharge of that Trust reposed in him either to God or Good Men For 1 st His Coasts were not only infested with Pickeroons Turks and Dunkirk Pirates to the great Damage of Traffick But his Dominon in the Narrow Seas actually usurp'd by the Holland Fishers and the Right it self in good earnest disputed by the Learned Grotius in a Tract called Mare Liberum these were craving Occasions and Concernments not of Honour only but Safety and Interest 2 dly He had found his Parliaments so Resty and Peevish as there was no prospect of a Supply that otherwise best way without exposing himself and all his most faithful Adherents 3 dly It supposes a mighty Defect in any Government that when some inferior Parts will not act with any thing of Sense of Temper the Supreme Sovereign Power should not take the next best Way to secure it self and all other Concerns thereof 4 thly As the Learned in the Law who are the best and perhaps only competent Iudges in such Cases approv'd thereof So when question'd the Harangues made against them savour'd more of Passion and Spite than Argument and solid Reason 5
doth say of man so it is in hazzard to be verified concerning the whole Religion and service of God The time thereof may peradventure fall out to Threescore and Ten years or if strength do serve unto Fourscore what followeth is like to be small joy for them whosoever they be that behold the same Now whoever makes the Computation will find it exactly 80 years from that Regular Establishment of our Church in the first of Queen Elizabeth to the setting up their Dagon the Covenant in Thirty Eight Which Caledonian Paw as Rushworth terms it or Northern Storm attended even to Observation with bad weather and worse designs sending forth its pestilent vapours and Blasting the whole Island with the thick Mists and dark Foggs of Sedition and Disobedience to the first disturbance of our Martyr's happy Reign and the Nation 's as happy Peace it will be requisite to begin with those Commotions show how groundless and unreasonable they were when that unhappy people suffered themselves to be so cursedly possest with the witchcraft of Rebellion then and how the same Spirit seems still to engage our several Setts of Commonwealth Libellers in reviving the like confusions and to state the whole proceedure in as true a light as such Dark designs will admit take it in these following Particulars 1. The Scotch Nation by King Iames's pacifick deportment whilst there and too obliging bounty whilest her had enjoy'd with great plenty a continued peace for above forty years which none of their Records can give an account of for so long a time before though they pretend to go as far back as most other Nations now in being except China and who ever observes how frequent their Feuds have been amongst themselves and Factious oppositions against their Kings and Faithful Adherents may rather admire they should remain so long quiet than now break out into open Rebellion especially having their old Allye of France to Back and Bribe them 2. Pretence of Religion had been the Common Theme of Contention amongst them ever since the Reformation whereas in too many other places the sincere indeavours of such as design'd a Regular and Orthodox Establishment met with too many obstructions from the Sacrilegious on the one hand and the Factious on the other However the Sober Party prevailed so far as when in the Minority of King Iames a Consultation was held for setling the Polity of the Church there was great regard had to Primitive Episcopacy and several Articles agreed upon for authorizing the same all which Roger Coke is forc'd to own The Hierarchy of the Church of Scotland as they were esteemed one of the States in Parliament was not then nor after taken away he should rather have said was continu'd as Arch Bishop Spotswood tells according to a former draught where the term Superintendent was used for Bishop in imitation of some Lutheran Churches though their Office was during Life and Power Episcopal And here to show our Friend Roger's great consistency with himself I must cursorily observe that in the same Page where he owns the foremention'd Hierarchy he tells us Their Reformation was purely after the mode of Calvin and Church of Geneva Indeed there was a Mob Reformation always on foot amongst them and so will be unto the end of the world unless better care be taken and the Abetting Great ones made sensible of their infatuations not to call them worse yet this very attempt according to the Reverend Spotswood was some years after viz. 1575. In the Church saith he this year began the Innovations to break forth that to this day have kept it in continual unquietness Andrew Melvin who was lately come from Geneva hot and eager upon any thing he went about laboured with a burning desire to bring into the Church the Presbyterian Discipline of Geneva c. So that it seems in this judicious Historians opinion the Geneva model was an Innovation in the Kirk of Scotland and doubtless is no less in the Church of Christ. Iohn Knox indeed had attempted something of the same kind several years before fram'd a policy partly in imitation of the Reformed Churches in Germany partly of that he had seen at Geneva which a Temporal Lord called a Devout imagination altogether unpracticable and a Spiritual gave a severer charge but this was in their first recess from Rome when no setled Establishment was fix'd upon insomuch as the year before upon condition Queen Elizabeth would assist them in expelling the French they engaged to recieve our English Liturgy all which Buchanan owns Scoti ex servitute Gallica Anglorum auxiliis liberati eisdem Ritibus cum Anglis communibus subscripserunt Lib. 19. And as it appears from Knox's History this was really put in practice and a Constitution ordered thereupon but their turn was no sooner serv'd both their Enemies and Friends departed but they immediately fell off from what 't is probable very few intended ever to observe Neither could it be expected they should long accord to any thing from us who had so little amongst themselves what with Deposing their Prince and Opposing one another the many Contests amongst the Nobility and Factions amongst the Clergy it was several years ere they could fix upon that little Settlement aforemention'd which when agreed to the Rapine of Sacrilege and Rage of Sectaries abetting each other little good effect came thereof the sincere indeavours and serious admonitions of those few who design'd well were no more heard amongst the many intriguing clamors than a whisper in the Cyclops's Den perhaps no Nation but themselves can parallel such continu'd Distractions both in Church and State as they then abounded with and upon every occasion are still ready to fly into 3. These confusions continu'd all the Minority of King Iames with such other insolencies and affronts to his Royal Person Crown and Dignity as no Crown'd-head ever met with but there some of their Neighbours indeed have been their sordid Imitators since however as he got years he got ground too brought them to something of temper before he left that Kingdom and when fix'd here in England establish'd the Hierarchy by Primitive Ordination and retreiv'd some of it's Revenue from those greedy Harpies which oppos'd it for that very reason procur'd those commonly call'd the Five Articles of Perth to pass the General Assembly and afterward the Parliament being very well pleas'd in so nigh an approach to the Church of England which he despair'd not to carry on further as to Liturgy and Canons the only thing wanting to the perfecting the Ecclesiastical Union his heart was very much set upon for 4. At the foremention'd Assembly of Perth there was an order to have a Liturgy fram'd and Canons made for the Church of Scotland as appears by the proceedings of that Assembly pag. 40. and 68. so that it was a great mistake in Bishop Hackett or something worse in his Patron Williams who must be his informer