in Scotland and the Archbishop of Canterbury designing to put out an Apology for vindicating the Liturgy that he had recommended to that Kirk desired our Doctor to translate it into Latine that being published with the Apology the world might be satisfied in his Majesties Piety as well as his Graces care as also that the rebellious and perverse temper of the Scots might be apparent unio all who would raise such tumults upon the recommendation of a Book that was so venerable and Orthodoxâ— Our Reverend Doctor undertook and compleated it but the distemper and troubles of those times were the occasion that the Book went no farther than the hands of that learned Martyr In Feb. 1639. Dr. Heylyn was put in Commission of the Peace for the County of Hampshire into which he was no sooner admitted but he occasioned the discovery of an horrid Murther that had been committed many years before in that Country April following he was elected Clerk of the Convocation for the College of Westminster At which time the Archbishop of Canterbury sending a Canon to that Assembly for the Suppressing the further growth of Popery and bringing Papists to Church our Reverend Doctor moved his Grace that the Canon might be enlarged for the greater satisfaction of the people as well as the protection of the Church viz. That all persons entrusted with Care of Souls should respectively use all possible Care and Diligence by open Conferences with the Parties and by Censures of the Church in inferior Courts as also by Complaints unto the Secular Powers to reduce all such to the Church of England as were misled into Popish Superstition This and much more was offered by Dr. Heylyn as may be seen more at large in his Life of the Archbishop And about the same time he drew up a Paper wherein he offered a mutual Conference by select Committees between the House of Commons and the Lower House of Convocation And this he did that the Representatives of the Clergy might give satisfaction to the Commons in point of Ceremonies and in other matters relating to the Church if the motion was accepted but if refused that they might gain the advantage of Reputation among knowing and wise persons But the unhappy Dissolution of the Parliament prevented all things of this nature The news of which was so unwelcome and amazing to Dr. Heylyn that being then busied at the Election for the School at Westminster the Pen felâ— out of his hand and it was not without some difficulty before he could recollect his thoughts in the business about which he was engaged The Convocation according to usual custom had expired the next day after the Parliament had not our Reverend man gone to Lambeth and there displayed to the Archbishop the Kings necessities and acquainted him with a precedent in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth for granting Subsidies or a Benevolence by Convocation to be taxed and levied without help of Parliament Upon which proposal the Convocation was adjourned till Wednesday May 13. on which day the Bishops met in full Convocation and a Commission was sent down to the Lower-House dated May 12 which enabled the Prelates and Clergy then Assembled to treat of and conclude upon such Canons as they conceived necessary for the good of the Church The greatest part of the Clergy very much scrupled this matter conceiving the Convocation to end with the Parliament But our Reverend Divine being well skill'd in the Records of Convocations shew'd the distinction between the Writ for calling a Parliament and that for assembling a Convocation their different Forms the independence of one upon the other as also between the Writ by which they were called to be a Convocation to make Canons and do other business He proved also that although the Commission was expired with the Parliament yet the Writ continued still in force by which they were to remain a Convocation till they were Dissolved by another Writ With this distinction he satisfied the greatest part of those who scrupled to sit after the Parliaments Dissolution But the King proved the best Casuist in the case who being acquainted with these scrupulosities called the most learned in the Laws to consult about them by whom it was determined That the Convocation being called by the Kings Writ notwithstanding the Dissolution of the Parliament was to be continued till it was Dissolved by the Kings Writ And this was subscribed by Finch Lord Keeper Littleton Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas Banks Attorney-General Whitfield c. It will be too tedious to insert into these Papers all the Debates that were in this learned Assembly most of them are to be seen in the Life of the Archbishop Suffice it to acquaint the Leader that few or none of those propositions which either concerned the Institution Power or Priviledges of Sovereign Kings or related to the Episcopal Power Doctrine or Discipline of the English Church but were either first proposed or afterward drawn up by Dr. Heylyn though he ouâ— of his great modesty and worth ascribes them to other persons It was the Clerk of the Church of Westminster who was placed on purpose by the Prolocutor to speak last in the Grand Committee for the Canon of Uniformity and to answer all such Arguments as had been brought against any of the Points proposed and were not answered to his hand It was he who made a proposition for one uniform Book of Articles to be used by all Bishops and Arch-deacons in Visitations to avoid the confusion that happened in most parts of the Church for want of it those Articles of the Bishops many times everting those of the Arch-Deacons one Bishop differing from another the Successors from the Predecessors and the same person not consistent to those Articles which himself had published by means whereof the people were much disturbed the Rules of the Church contemned for their multiplicity unknown by reason of their uncertainty and despised by reason of the inconstancy of those that made them The motion back'd by these Reasons did so well please the Prolocutor with the rest of the Clergy that they desired the Doctor in pursuit of his own project to undertake the Compiling of the said Book of Articles and to present it to the House with all convenient speed It was the same learned man who took into consideration the great Excesses and Abuses which were crept in and complained of Ecclesiastical Courts the redress and Reformation of which Grievances was brought within the compass of these seven Heads 1. Concerning Chancellors Patents and how long their virtuâ— was to continue 2. That Chancellors were not alone to censure the Clergy in sundry cases 3. That Excommunication and Absolution were not to be pronounced but by a Priest 4. Concerning Commutations and the way of disposing of them 5. Concerning Concurrent Iurisdictions 6. Concerning Licences to Marry 7. Against Vexatious Citations Some other things were proposed and designed but never put in
are so clear and convincing that they would have prevailed upon any but those that were made up all of Guts but no Bowels They are these that follow 1. The Clergy which were sequastrated in the time of the Long Parliament were charged for the most part with no other Crime than their adhaesion to the late King in the long course of his Troubles which many of them did in gratitude for Preferments received others in relation to their services and personal Duties and all as I conceive out of conscience of that Loyalty and Allegiance in which by their several Oaths and Subscriptions they were bound to him 2. Sequestration is in Law no other than a suspension à Beneficio depriving a man only of the profits not of the rights of his Incumbency nor leaving him in an incapacity in returning to those profits again upon the taking off of the Sequestration or Suspension which in the intendment of the Law is reckoned only for a temporary no perpetual punishment 3. The persons put into those Benefices have been ever since looked upon but as Curates not as Proprietaries of those Livings and in the wisdom of the Parliament were considered but as Tenants at will or quamdiu benè se gesserint at the best the power of presenting to those Livings upon the death or deprivation of the right Incumbent being left wholly to the Patron as by Law it ought which kept those Ministers for the most part Presbyterian in a continual obnoxiousness to the Commands and Will of that Parliament to which they were very useful on all occasions 4. The Bill now brought into the House for settling those new Ministers for term of life hath many things which seem worthy of consideration as carrying in it many disadvantages to parties interessed therein and something prejudicial to the publick peace For 1. It deprives the right Patron of his lawful power of nominating to those Livings descended to him from his Ancestors or purchased by his money and consequently settled on him in as strong a way as the established Laws of the Land could confirm the same 2. It destroys many a learned peaceable and Religious man without hope of remedy but serves withal for a great justification of their Innocence when for want of Crime to proceed upon and legality in their conviction the power of the legislative Sword is fain to be made use of to effect the business 3. It subverts those ends for which those men were first put into their Livings who being settled in the same for term of life by Act of Parliament and following the impetuosity of their own spirits will be apt when time and opportunity serves to let fly all their fury at the present Government as they did formerly at the other in the late Kings Reign And though it be conceiv'd by some that the Ordinance for ejecting scandalous Ministers will be curb sufficient to hold them in yet I find no such thing as turbulent and factious Preachings to be specified amongst the scandals which are therein enumerated 5. Whereas it is intended that the Minister thus deprived shall have a Fifth part of the Profits of the Living if he be not otherwise provided of some temporal means sufficient to maintain himself and Family I conceive with all submission to better Judgments that the said limitation will be occasion of much trouble to the men deprived if it doth not quite overthrow the benefit intended to them that being a sufficient means for one man which is not for another with reference to their Degrees Families and ways of Living whereas to these new-comers-in the profits of the Living will be always certainly sufficient with an Over-plus if we measure by that Standard wherewith they make others it being no unusual thing in some of that Party to tell the sequestred Clergy when they sued for their Fifths That it was sufficient for them to be suffered to live And then assuredly Populo satis est Fluviusque Ceresque It will be accounted a high degree of sufficiency if not of superfluity rather that they have wherewithal to buy themselves a morsel of Bread and a cup of cold Water And accordingly as this Reverend Person foretold so it came to pass For when the Presbyterian Intruders were settled in the Benefices of the Sequestred Clergy for term of life although the Commissioners for Rejecting of Scandalous Ministers had power to grant a Fifth part together with the Arrears thereof to the Ejected Clergy yet the Bill was clogg'd with two such circumstances as made it unuseful to some and but a little beneficial to the rest For first it was ordered that no man should receive any benefit by the Bill who had either 30 l. per ann in Real or 500 l. in Personal Estate By means whereof many who had formerly 500 l. yearly to maintain their Families were tied up to so poor a pittance as would hardly keep their Children from begging in the open Streets And 2dly There was such a power given to the Commissioners that not exceeding the Fifth part they might give to the poor Sequestred Clergy as much and as little as they pleased under that proportion And the Doctor instances in one of his certain knowledg who for an Arrear of 12 years out of a Benefice Rented formerly for 250 l per ann obtained but 3 l. 6 s. 8 d. the first Intruder being then alive and possessed of the Benefice and no more than 20 Marks per ann for his future subsistence which is but a Nineteenth part instead of a Fifth Not long after which Oppressions the Intruders themselves were in as imminent danger to be devested of all their maintenance as the Loyal Clergy who had suffered the utmost extremity of Cruelty and Injustice For Tithes being represented as a Publick Grievance in the Rump-Parliament the Gentry were in a fair way to be deprived of their Impropriations and the Presbyterians themselves of their Patrimony And although our Reverend Doctor paid Tithes himself and therefore had no Obligations to appear in the defence of them for private Ends or Interests yet for the upholding of the common Christianity and some kind of standing Ministry in the Nation he endeavoured in a modest and rational way the undeceiving of the people in that particular For whereas it was objected 1. That the maintenance allowed the Clergy was too great for their Calling He shewed that never any Clergy in the Church of God hath been or is maintained with less charge to the Subject than the Established Clergy of the Church of England 2. Whereas it was objected that their Maintenance was made up out of the Tenth part of each mans estate He demonstrated That there is no man in the Realm of England who pays any thing of his own toward the Maintenance of his Parish-Minister but his Easter-Offerings 3. Whereas it is suggested That the changing of this way by the payment of Tithes into Stipends wouâ—d be more grateful to
practicable in any well-governed Commonwealth unless it be in the old Vtopia the new Atlantis or the last discovered Oceana For how can men possibly live in peace as Brethren where there is no Law to limit their desires or direct their actions Take away Law and every man will be a Law unto himself and do whatsoever seems best in his own eyes without controul then Lust will be a Law for one Fellony for another Perjury shall be held no Crime nor shall any Treason or Rebellion receive their punishments for where there is no Law there can be no Transgression and where there is no Transgression there can be no punishment punishments being only due for the breach of Laws Thus is it also in the Worship of God which by the Hedg of Ceremonies is preserved from lying open to all prophaneness and by Set-Forms be they as indifferent as they will is kept from breaking out into open confusion St. Paul tells us that God is the God of Order not of Confusion in the Churches If therefore we desire to avoid Confusion let us keep some Order and if we would keep Order we must have some Forms it being impossible that men should live in peace as Brethren in the house of God where we do not find both David has told us in the Psalms that Ierusalem is like a City which is at Vnity with it self And in Ierusalem there were not only solemn Sacrifices Set-Forms of Blessing and some significant Ceremonies prescribed by God but Musical Instruments and Singers and Linnen Vestures for those Singers and certain Hymns and several Times and Places for them ordained by David Had every Ward in that City and every Street in that Ward and every Family in that Street and perhaps every Person in that Family used his own way in Worshiping the Lord his God Ierusalem could not long have kept the name of a City much less the honor of being that City which was at Vnity in it self When therefore the Apostle gives us this good counsel that we endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace he seems to intimate that there can be no Vnity where there is no Peace and that Peace cannot be preserved without some Bond. If you destroy all Ceremonies and subvert all Forms you must break the Bond and if the Bond be broken you must break the Peace and if you break the Peace what becomes of the Vnity So that it is but the dream of a dry Summer as the saying is to think that without Law or Forms or Ceremonies men may live peaceably together as becomes Brethren though they profess one Faith acknowledg one Lord receive one Baptism and be Sons of one Father which is in Heaven Having thus surveyed some particulars pertaining to the Doctrine and Ceremonies of the Church proeced we next to take a short view of some things delivered by this right learned man concerning the Convocation which in ancient times was part of the Parliament there being a Clause in every Letter of Summons by which the Bishops were required to attend in Parliament that they should warn the Clergy of their respective Dioceses some in their Persons and others by their Procurators to attend there also But this has beâ—n so long unpractis'â— that we find no foot-steps of it since the Parliaments in the time of King Richard the Second It is true indeed that in the 8th year of Henry VI. there passed a Statute by which it was enacted That all the Clergy which should be called thenceforth to the Convocation by the Kings Writ together with their Servants and Families should for ever after fully use and enjoy such liberty and immunity in coming tarrying and returning as the Great men and Commonalty of the Realm of England called or to be called to the Kings Parliament have used or ought to have or enjoy Which though it makes the Convocation equal to the Parliament as to the freedom of their Persons yet cannot it from hence be reckoned or reputed for a part thereof And as it is now no part of the Parliament so neither has it any necessary dependence upon that Honourable Council and Assembly either in the Calling or Dissolving of it or in the Confirmation or Authorizing of the Acts thereof but only in the King himself and not upon the Kings sitting in the Court of Parliament but in his Palace or Court-Royal where ever it be And this appears both by the Statute made in the 26th of Henry VIII and the constant practice ever since Indeed since the 25th year of Henry VIII no Convocation is to assemble but as it is Convocated and Convened by the Kings Writ for in the Year 1532. the Clergy made their Acknowledgment and Submission in their Convocation to that mighty and great Monarch which Submission passed into a Statute the very next year following But this does not hinder but that their Acts and Constitutions ratified by Royal Assent are of force to bind the Subject to submit and conform to them For before the Statute of Proemunire and the Act for Submission Convocations made Canons that were binding altho none other than Synodical Authority did confirm the same And certainly they must have the same power when the Kings Authority signified in his Royal Assent is added to them They also gave away the money of the Clergy by whom they were chosen even as the Commons in Parliament gave the money of the Cities Towns and Countries for which they served For in chusing the Clerks for Convocation there is an Instrument drawn up and sealed by the Clergy in which they bind themselves to the Arch-Deacons of their several Dioceses upon the pain of forfeiting all their Lands and Goods Se ratum gratum acceptum habere quicquid Dicti Procuratores sui dixerint fecerint vel constituerint i. e. to allow stand and perform whatsoever their said Clerks shall say do or condescend unto on their behalf Nor is this a speculative Authority only and not reducible unto practice but precedented in Queen Elizabeths time For in the year 1585. the Convocation having given one Subsidy confirmed by Parliament and finding that they had not done sufficiently for the Queens occasions did after add a Benevolence or Aid of two shillings in the pound to be levied upon all the Clergy and to be levied by such Synodical Acts and Constitutions as they digested for that purpose without having any recourse to the Parliament for it But against these things it was objected in the Long Parliament of King Charles I That the Clergy had no power to make Canons without common consent in Parliament because in the Saxon times Laws and Constitutions Ecclesiastical had the Confirmation of Peers and sometimes of the people unto which great Councils our Parliaments do succeed Which argumeut says our Reverend Doctor if it be of force to prove that the Clergy can make no Canons without consent of
first the Clergy in all other Christian Kingdoms of these North-West Parts make the Third Estate that is to say in the German Empire as appears by Thuanus the Historian lib. 2. In France as is affirmed by Paulus Aemilius lib. 9. In Spain as testifieth Bodinus de Republ lib. 3. For which also consult the general History of Spain as in point of practice lib. 9 10 11 14. In Hungary as witnesseth Bonfinius Decl. 2. lib. 1. In Poland as is verified by Thuanus also l. 56. In Denmark as Pontanus tells us in Historia rerum Danicarum l. 7. The Swedes observing anciently the same Form and Order of Government as was used by the Danes The like we find in Cambden for the Realm of Scotland in which anciently the Lords Spiritual viz. Bishops Abbots and Priors made the Third Estate And certainly it was very strange if the Bishops and other Prelates in the Realm of England being a great and powerful Body should move in a lower Sphere in England than they do elsewhere But 2dly Not to stand only upon probable inferences we find first in History touching the Reign and Acts of Henry V. That when his Funerals were ended the Three Estates of the Realm of England did assemble together and declared his Son King Henry VI. being an Infant of eight Months old to be their Sovereign Lord as his Heir and Successor And if the Lords Spiritual did not then make the Third Estate I would fain know who did Secondly The Petition tendred to Richard Duke of Glocester to accept the Crown occurring in the Parliament Rolls runs in the name of the Three Estates of the Realm that is to say the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons thereof Thirdly In the said Parliament of the said Rich. Crowned King it is said expresly That at the request and by the consent of the Three Estates of this Realm that is to say the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of this Land Assembled in this present Parliament and by Authority of the same it be Pronounced Decreed and Declared That our Sovereign Lord the King was and is the very and undoubted King of this Realm of England c. Fourthly It is acknowledged in the Statute of 1. Eliz. c. 3. where the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in that Parliament Assembled being said expresly and in terminis to represent the Three Estates of this Realm of England did recognize the Queens Majesty to be their true lawful and undoubted Sovereign Liege Lady and Queen Add unto these the Testimony of Sir Edward Cooke tho a private person who in his Book of the Iurisdiction of Courts published by Order of the Long Parliament c. 1. doth expresly say That the Parliament consists of the Head and the Body that the Head is the King that the Body is the Three Estates viz. the Lords Spiritual Temporal and the Commons In which words we have not only the Opinion and Testimony of that learned Lawyer but the Authority of the Long Parliament also tho against it self I hope the perusal of these things will be no less acceptable to the sober Reader than the transcribing of them has been unto my self which I have done to the end as well of informing my Country-men about the Rights of the Crown and Privileges of the Church and Clergy as to shew that Dr. Heylyn had a zeal according unto knowledg and was not less zealous for knowledge-sake And the Doctor having thus stood up in the defence of Monarchy and Hierarchy both in their prosperous and adverse condition when the black Cloud was dispelled and a fair Sun-shine began to dawn upon these harrassed and oppressed Islands by the Return of his Sacred Majesty this excellent man having in his mind Tullies Resolution Defendi Rempub. Adolescens non deseram Senex thought it unbecoming him to desert the Church in any of its pressing needs and therefore when the door of Hope began to open he busied his active and searching mind in finding out several expedients for the restoring and securing of its Power and Privileges in future Ages against the attempts of Factious and Sacrilegious men And the first thing that he engaged in was to draw up several Papers and tender them to those Persons in Authrority who in the days of Anarchy and Oppression had given the most signal Testimonies of their Affection to the Church In which Papers he first shewed what Alterations Explanations c. were made in the Publick Liturgy in the Reigns of King Edward VI. Queen Elizabeth and King Iames that so those who were intrusted with so sacred a Depositum might be the better enabled to proceed in the Alteration and enlargement of it as they afterward did and as it now stands by Law Established in this Church Secondly Whereas in the first year of King Edward VI. it was enacted that all Arch-Bishops Bishops c. should make their Processes Writings and Instruments in the Kings name and not under their own Names which Act was afterward extended unto Ordinations as appears by the Form of a Testimonial extant in Sanders's Seditious Book De Schismate Anglicano and whereas the Act was repealed in the last year of Queen Mary and did stand so repealed all the Reign of Queen Elizabeth but was by the activity of some and the incogitancy of others revived again in the first year of King Iames but lay dorment all the Reign of that Prince and during the first ten years of King Charles I. after which it was endeavoured to be set on foot by some disturbers of the Publick Peace upon which the King having it under the hand of his Judges that the proceedings of the Arch-Bishops Bishops c. were not contrary to the Laws of the Land inserted their Judgment about it in a Proclamation for indemnifying the Bishops and the satisfying of his loving Subjects in that Point therefore Dr. Heylyn considering that what the Judges did was extrajudicial and that the Kings Proclamation expired at his Death solicited the concerns of the Church in this Affair viz. that the Act so pasâ—ed as before is said in the first of King Iames might be repealed that so the Bishops might proceed as formerly in the exercise of their Jurisdiction without fear or danger Thirdly Whereas in the 16. year of Charles I. there passed an Act that no Arch-Bishop Bishop c. should minister any Corporal Oath unto any Church-Warden Sideman or any other person whatsoever with many other things whereby the whole Episcopal Jurisdiction was subverted except Canonical Obedience only and all proceedings in Courts Ecclesiastical in Causes Matrimonial Testamentory c. were weakened and all Episcopal Visitations were made void as to the ordinary Punishments of Heresie Schism Non-conformity Incest Adultery and other Crimes of Ecclesiastical Cognizance therefore Dr. Heylyn stated the Case and in a Petition drawn up by him prayed that for the restoring of the Episcopal Jurisdiction the Clauses of that Act
and the penalties thereunto annexed might be wholly abrogated and annulled But the most remarkable Effort of his zeal for the Church after the Kings Restauration was the Application made by him to the great Minister of State in those days that there might be a Convocation called with the Parliament What good effects were produced by his endeavours in that particular let the Reader judg when he has perused the following Letter with which the Reverend Doctor saluted that powerful Statesman Right Honorable and my very good Lord I Cannot tell how welcome or unwelcome this Address may prove in regard of the greatness of the Cause and the low condition of the Party who negotiates in it But I am apt enough to persuade my self that the honest zeal which moves me to it not only will excuse but endear the boldness There is my Lord a general Speech but a more general Fear withal amongst some of the Clergy that there will be no Convocation called with the following Parliament which if it should be so resolved on cannot but raise sad thoughts in the hearts of those who wish the peace and happiness of our English Sion But being the Bishops are excluded from their Votes in Parliament there is no other way to keep up their Honor and Esteem in the eyes of the people but the retaining of their places in the Convocation Nor have the lower Clergy any other means to shew their duty to the King and keep that little freedom which is left unto them then by assembling in such Meetings where they may exercise the Power of a Convocation in granting Subsidies to his Majesty tho in nothing else And should that Power be taken from them according to the constant but unprecedented practice of the late Long Parliament and that they must be taxed and rated with the rest of the Subjects without their liking and consent I cannot see what will become of the first Article of Magna Charta so solemnly so frequently confirmed in Parliament or what can possibly be left unto them of either of the Rights or Liberties belonging to an English Subject I know 't is conceived by some that the distrust which his Majesty hath in some of the Clergy and the Diffidence which the Clergy have of one another is looked on as the principal cause of the Innovation For I must needs behold it as an Innovation that any Parliament should be called without a meeting of the Clergy at the same time with it The first year of King Edward VI. Qu. Mary and Qu. Elizabeth were times of greater diffidence and distraction than this present Conjuncture And yet no Parliament was called in the beginning of their several Reigns without the company and attendance of the Convocation tho the intendments of the State aimed then at greater alterations in the face of the Church than are now pretended or desired And to say the truth there was no â—anger to be feared from a Convocation tho the times were ticklish and unsettled and the Clergy was divided into Sides and Factions as the case then stood and so stands with us at this present time For since the Clergy in their Coâ—vocations are in no Authothority to propound treat or conclude any thing more than the passing of a Bill of Subsides for his Majesties use until they are impowred by the Kings Commission the King may tie them up for what time he pleases and give them nothing but the opportunity of entertaining one another with the news of the day But if it be objected that the Commission now on foot for altering and explaining certain passages in the Publick Liturgy that either pass instead of a Convocation or else is thought to be neither competable nor consistent with it I hope far better in the one and must profess that I can see no reason in the other For first I hope that the selecting of some few Bishops and other learned men of the lower Clergy to debate on certain Points contained in the Common-Prayer-Book is not intended for a Representation of the Church of England which is a Body more diffused and cannot legally stand bound by their Acts and Counsets And if this Conference be for no other purpose but only to prepare matter for a Convocation as some say it is not why may not such a Conference and Convocation be held both at once For neither the selecting of some learned men out of both the Orders for the composing and reviewing of the two Liturgies digested in the Reign of King Edward VI. proved any hindrance in the calling of those Convocations which were held both in the second and third and in the fifth and sixth of the said Kings Reign Nor was it found that the holding of a Convocation together with the first Parliament under Queen Elizabeth proved any hindrance to that Conference or Disputation which was designed between the Bishops and some learned men of the opposite parties All which considered I do most humbly beg your Lordship to put his Majesty in mind of sending out his Maâ—dates to the two Archâ— Bishops for summoning a Convocation according to the usual Form in their several Provinces that this poor Church may be held with some degree of Veneration both at home and abroad And in the next place I do no less humbly beseech your Lordship to excuse this freedom which nothing but my zeal for Gods glory and my affection to this Church could have forced from me I know how ill this present office does become me and how much fitter it had been for such as shine in a more eminent Sphere in the holy Hiâ—rarchy to have tendered these Particulars to consideration Which since they either have not done or that no visible effect hath appeared thereof I could not chuse but cast my poor Mite into the Treasury which if it may conduce to the Churches good I shall have my wish and howsoever shall be satisfied in point of Conscience that I have not failed of doing my duty to this Church according to the light of my understanding and then what happens unto me shall not be material And thus again most humbly craving pardon for this presumption I kiss your Lordships hands and subscribe my self My Lord Your Lordships most humble Servant to be commanded Peter Heylyn Having thus surveyed the most important Occurrences of Dr. Heylyn's Life I doubt not but every judicious and impartial Reader will be convinced at once of his vast Abilities and Acquirements in the large Circle of Learning and Sciences of his immovable Integrity in the Protestant Religion and of his indefatigable Industry and Service to the just Interests both of the Crown and Mitre For tho I will not say as St. Paul does of his Son Timothy that there was no man like-minded yet no one had more hearty and unbiassed affections no man did more naturally care for this Church and Kingdom than Dr. Heylyn and at that time too when he expected nothing for his
THE LIFE Of the Learned and Reverend Dr. Peter Heylyn CHAPLAIN to Charles I. and Charles II. MONARCHS of GREAT BRITAIN Written by GEORGE VERNON Rector of Bourton on the Water in Glocestershire Majorum gloria posteris lumen est neque mala eorum in occulto patitur Sal. Bell. Jug Illum quidem nulla oratio ex animi sententia laedere potest quippe vera necesse est vera praedicet falsam vita moresque illius superant ibid. LONDON Printed for C. Harper at the Flower-de-luce over against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1682. To the Worthy and my ever Honored Friends HENRY HEYLYN of Minster-Lovel Esq Nephew AND HENRY HEYLYN Gentleman Son to Dr. Heylyn I Know no persons in the Nation that have a more unquestionable right unto these Papers than you who have not only running in your Veins the Blood but which is more material abiding in your minds the Endowments of the Great Man whose Life is now perfected and exposed to publick view In which it must be acknowledged there is sufficient matter for an useful History And either of you might have named the man who had been more able to have undertaken the Writing of it than my self it being a very bold attempt for any one to give an account of the Actions and Sufferings of Dr. Heylyn beside Dr. Heylyn or at least such an one who inherits his Natural if not his Acquired Accomplishments and to whom an equal if not a double portion of his Spirit is imparted However 't is no small satisfaction to me that I have in this Composure obey'd your Commands and in some measure answered your expectations in doing right to the memory of your very learned Ancestor if your Friendship and Affection did not put a veil upon your Judgments when you first read what I now again offer to your perusal There is little doubt but in the publication of these Papers the very name of Dr. Heylyn will raise the Blood and exasperate the Passions of some quarrelsom and unquiet spirits who like Ghosts and Goblins fight with those that are dead as well as affright others that are living But whatever hard censures or harder names the Writer of these Papers meets with 't is no more than he expects from those who are such enemies unto peace that notwithstanding all their pleadings for it yet their souls are so connaturaliz'd to turbulency and contention that rather than have no enemy they will fall out and fight with their own shadows And who can expect but that the peace and quiet of private men should be ruffled and discomposed by those whose business it is to embroil a whole Nation And yet these persons must by all means be accounted the only True Protestants A name tho it imports little in it of the positive part of Christianity it being only a rejecting or protesting against the abominable Errors and Superstitions of the Roman Church yet 't is too honorable a Title to be bestowed upon many that boast of it It was in April 1529. when Reformed Christianity obtained the glorious name of Protestantism which in a short time spread it self not only over the German Empire but most of the European Nations And here in England especially it prevailed over Popish Darkness and Superstitions by Peaceableness Meekness Modesty Humility Mercifulness and by teaching men to be studious of doing good and averse to vice and doing evil What right then have those to it who are Turbulent Contentious Malicious Proud Merciless Wrathful c Why should those be celebrated for zealous Protestants who question the Being and blaspheme the name of God Who deny the only Lord that bought them Who renounce all the Offices and Institutions of Christianity and whose lives are a direct contradiction to all Moral as well as Evangelical Virtues In a word why should the Independents with some other Sects now reassume this Renowned Title when in the days of ihe late Vsurper they absolutely renounced it calling those who would not list themselves as members in their Schismatical Assemblies Queen Besses Protestants The words of the devout Salvian are with a little variation applicable unto these Professors In vobis patitur Christus opprobrium in vobis patitur lex Protestantium maledictum The name of Protestancy which heretofore commanded veneration from ingenuous tho professed enemies is now prophaned and blasphemed through these persons and stinks amongst Papists and Infidels either of which Sects do as much deserve the name of Catholicks as some do that of Protestants When 't is bestowed on them 't is only Titular and a meer nick-name They are Pseudo-Protestants as Papists are Pseudo-Catholicks Neither is it material what way of Religion is embraced by them whether True or False Christian or Pagan Protestant or Popish any or none or all God be praised notwithstanding the great declensions of true Goodness amongst us we have many persons of Eminency and Honor in the Nation who are not carried away from their Loyalty to their Prince and Love to the Church by any popular Artifices of those Zealots who lie in wait to deceive unstable and less discerning minds Amongst whom I heartily rejoyce that both you are in the number and I shall pray to God ever to continue you in that holy Fellowship and to preserve you from the evil of this world whilst you remain in it as also to reward you for the many charitable and friendly Offices which you have expressed and conferr'd upon Gentlemen Your most devoted and for ever faithful Servant George Vernon TO THE READER HAD it not been for the indiscretion of some persons and the forwardness and ostentation of others no one had been put to the trouble of reading or expence of buying a second Impression of Dr. Heylyn's Life this very Account of it having been writ on purpose to be printed with that learned Volume of his works that has been lately collected and exposed to publick Light wherein the Reader may reap the benefit of being satisfied in various Points both Theological and Political As 1. In the way and manner of the Reformation of the Church of England and that both against the Papists who tell us we had too little of the Pope and too much of the Parliament and against the Genevizers who affirm that we had too little of the People and too much of the Prince therein 2. In the sacred Offices of the publick Liturgy wherein is presented to the Reader a History of Liturgies from the Patriarchs Jews Gentiles and Christians as also an Account of the Dedication of Churches and the Anniversary Feasts occasioned thereby 3. In the Churches Patrimony and the Right of the Clergy to receive Tithes from the People 4. In her Government wherein both from the sacred Scriptures and Ancient Fathers is evinced by way of Historical Narration and matter of Fact cannot be so easily evaded as bare Logical Argumentation the Imparity of Ministers in the Christian Church the Foundation of
learned man And it would be a generous act and highly conducive to the honor of Mr. Noy's memory as well as the Kings and Churches interest if such Treasures were communicated to the benefit of all his Majesties Subjects which are now only useful to some single persons Neither was this all the trouble that Dr. Heylyn met with at this â—ime For some enemies then living added to the sorrow and disturbance that he had for his departed Friend The grievances which the Collegiate Church of Westminster suffered under the Government of Iohn Lord Bishop of Lincoln then Commendatory-Dean thereof became so intolerable that our Doctor was constrained for the common safety of that Foundation to draw up certain Articles no less than 36. against his Lordship by way of charge which he communicated to Dr. Thomas Wilson Dr. Gabriel Moore and Dr. Ludovicus Wemmys Prebendaries of the said Church who embarqu'd themselves in the same bottom with him and resolved to make complaint by way of Petition which was drawn up and presented to the King by all four together in the Withdrawing-Chamber at Whitehal March 31. 1634. And a Commission was issued out thereupon to the Archbishops of Centerbury and York the Earl of Manchester Lord Privy-Seal Earl of Portland Lord high Treasurer the Lord Bishop of London Lord Cottington and the two Secretaries of State viz. Sir Iohn Coke and Sir Francis Windebank authorizing them to hold a Visitation of the Church of Westminster to examine particular charges made against Iohn Lord Bishop of Lincoln and to redress such Grievances and Pressures as the Prebendaries of the said Church suffered by his Mis-government The Articles were returned to Dr. Heylyn to be put in Latine and the Commission bore date April 20. But the whole thing lay dormant till December 1635. at which time the Bishop began again to rage in his Province of Westminster dispossessing the Prebendaries of their Seats neglecting to call the Chapter to pass accounts conferring Orders in the said Church within the space of a month permitting a Benefice in the gift of the said Church and lying within his Diocess to be lapsed unto himself with many other Grievances which caused the forementioned Prebendaries to present a second Petition to his Majesty Humbly beseeching him to take the ruinous and desperate estate of the said Church into his Princely consideration as 't is worded in the Petition it self Upon which the former Commission was revived and delivered to the Lords whom it did concern and a Citation fixed upon the Church-doors of Westminster accordingly Upon Ianuary 25. they were warned by the Sub-Dean to meet the Bishop in Ierusalem-Chamber where amongst other matters his Lordship desired to know what those things were that were amiss that so he might presently redress them To whom Dr. Heylyn replied That seeing they had put the business into his Majesties hands it would ill become them to take it out of his into their own Ian. 27. both parties met before the Lords in the Inner Star-Chamber where the Commission was tendred and accepted and the whole business put into a methodical course each following Monday being appointed for the day of hearing till the whole was concluded Feb. 1. The Commissioners with the Plaintiffs and Defendant met in the Council-Chamber at Whitehal where it was ordered that the Plaintiffs should be called by the name of Prebendaries-Supplicant That they should be admitted upon Oath as Witnesses That they should have a sight of all Registers Records Books of Accounts c. That the first business that they should proceed in should be that of the Seat because that made the breach or difference more visible and offensive to the world than those matters that were more private and domestick and finally that the Prebendaries-Supplicant should have an Advocate who should plead their Cause defend their Rights and represent their Grievances And the person that they unanimously made choice of was Dr. Peter Heylyn Feb. 8. the Dean put in his Plea about the Seat or great Pew under Richard the II. and the Advocate being appointed by the Prebendaries-Supplicant to speak in the defence of their common Interest in the Seat now controverted and of which the Bishop of Lincoln had most disgracefully dispoâ—sessed them he made choice to represent to the Lord Commissioners 1. Their Original Right 2. Their Derivative Right and lastly their Possessory Right Their Original Right he proved from the Charter of their Foundation from Queen Elizabeth their Foundress who declared by Act of Parliament made in the first year of her Reign the Abbey of St. Peter in Westminster fell into her hands and that being seized thereof and of all the Lands thereunto belonging she did by her Letters Patents erect the said dissolved Abbey into a Collegiate Church consisting of a Dean and twelve Prebendaries and that the said Dean and Prebendaries should be both in re nomine unum corpus corporatum one only Body Politick that they should have a perpetual Succession a Common Seal and that they should Call Plead and be Impleaded by the name of the Dean and Chapter of the Collegiate Church of St. Peter in Westminster So that by this Donation the Dean hath no propriety in the said Church his own Stall excepted but is joynt-Owner with the Prebendaries of the Site and Soil Nor did the Queen bestow upon them the Church alone but bestowed it joyntly upon them una cum omnibus antiquis privilegiis libertatibus ac liberis consuetudinibus and those to be enjoyned in as full a manner as ever tho Abbot and Convent did before enjoy the same By which it appears that all the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the Church of Westminster is vested joyntly in the Dean and Chapter and not in the Dean alone For as the Dean and Chapter are one Body so they make one Ordinary and as one Ordinary have a common and joynt Power to dispose of Seats Their Derivative Right he proved from their Original Right For the Queen giving the Dean and Prebendaries with their Successors all Rights Possessions Privileges and Immunities they need only to prove their Succession in the Church of St. Peter and then whatever Right was in their Predecessors Original must be on them derived As for their Possessory Right he desired their Lordships pardon if he should fail in the proof of it For the Book of the Chapter-Acts was missing which was very necessary in order to it And although one offered to take his Oath that the Bishop of Lincoln never saw it yet the Oath was so desperate that either the person who offered to take it had an hand in making away the Book or else that he durst swear whatever the Bishop of Lincoln said or asserted But being deprived of that Evidence he proceeded to Testimony where he did not make use of such Witnesses as were summoned by the Dean viz. Colâ—ege-Servants and Tenants who were obnoxious to him but indifferent men that were no way