pertaining to true Religion c. Neither is it to be thought that there is any certain times or definite number of dayes prescribed in Holy Scripture but the appointment both of the time and also of the number of dayes is left by the Authority of Gods Word unto the Liberty of Christs Church to be determined and assigned orderly in every Countrey by the discretion of the Rulers and Ministers thereof as they shall judge most expedient to the setting forth of Gods Glory and the edification of their people Now for the number and particularities of those dayes which were required to be kept holy to the Lord they are thus specified and enumerated in the Common-Prayer-Book confirmed by Parliament in that year These to be kept Holy Dayes and no other that is to say all Sundayes in the Year the Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord and Saviour the Feast of the Epiphany c. Which specification and enumeration is made also in the aforesaid Statute 17. As for the observation of those dayes there was no difference made between them by the first Reformers the same Divine Offices prescribed for both the diligent attendance of the people required in both the penalties upon such as wilfully and frequently did absent themselves were the same for both and finally the works of necessary labour no more restrained upon the one then upon the other For first it is declared in the foresaid Homily that Christian People are not tyed so streightly to observe and keep the other Ceremonies of the Sabbath day as were the Iews as touching the forbearing of the work and labour in time of great necessity c. Secondly and more particularly in the Statute before-mentioned we finde it thus viz. That it shall be lawful for every Husband-man Fisher-man and to all and every other person or persons of what Estate Degree or Condition he or they be upon the Holy Dayes aforesaid of which the Lords Day is there reckoned for one in Harvest or at any other times in the Year when necessity shall so require to Labour Ride Fish or Work any kinde of Work at their own will and pleasure Thirdly It is ordered in the Injunctions of the said King Edw. vi that it shall be lawful for the people in time of Harvest to labour upon Holy and Festival Dayes and save that thing which God hath sent and that scrupulosity to abstain from working on those dayes doth grievously offend God Fourthly We finde the like in the Injunctions of Queen Elizabeth published with the advice of her Council Anno 1559. Being the first year of her Reign viz. That all persons Vicars Curates shall teach and declare unto their Parishioners that they may with a safe and quiet conscience after Common-Prayer in the time of Harvest labour upon the Holy and Festival Dayes and save that thing which God hath sent And if for any scrupulosity or grudge of Conscience men shall superstitiously abstain from working on those dayes that then they should grievously offend and displease God And as for the practice of the Court it was ordered by the said King Edward That the Lords of the Council should upon Sunday attend the publick affairs of the Realm and dispatch answers to Letters for the good order of the State and make full dispatches of all things concluded in the Week before Provided that they be present at Common-Prayers and that on every Sunday night the Kings Secretary should deliver him a memorial of such things as were to be debated in the Privy Council the week ensuing Which course of meeting in the Council on Sunday in the afternoon hath been continued in the Court from the time of the said King Edward the vi to the death of King Charles without dislike or interruption If then the Country people in some times and cases were permitted to employ themselves in bodily labour on the Sundayes and other Holy Dayes and if the Lords of the Council did meet together on those dayes to consult about affairs of State as we see they did there is no question to be made but that all man-like exercises all lawful Recreations and honest Pastimes were allowed of also 18. As for the duties of the people in those times and places it was expected at their hands that due and lowly reverence should be made at their first entrance into the Church the place on which they stood being by Consecration made Holy Ground and the business which they came about being holy business For this there was no Rule nor Rubrick made by the first Reformers and it was not necessary that there should the practice of Gods people in that kinde being so universal Vi Catholicae consuetudinis by vertue of a general and continual usage that there was no need of any Canon to enjoyn them to it Nothing more frequent in the Writings of the ancient Fathers then Adoration toward the East which drew the Primitive Christians into some suspicion of being Worshippers of the Sun Inde suspicio quod innotuerit nos versus orientis regionem praecari as Tertullian hath it And though this pious custom began to be disused and was almost discontinued yet there remains some footsteps of it to this very day For first It was observed by the Knights of the most noble Order of the Garter who I am sure hate nothing more then Superstitious Vanities at their approaches toward the Altar in all the Solemnities of that Order Secondly In the Offerings or Oblations made by the Vice-Chancellor the Proctors and all Proceeders in the Arts and Faculties at the Act at Oxon. And thirdly By most Countrey Women who in the time of my first remembrance and a long time after made their obeysance toward the East before they betook themselves to their Seats though it was then taken or mistaken rather for a Courtesie made unto the Minister revived more generally in these latter times especially amongst the Clergy by the Learned and Reverend Bishop Andrews a man as much verst in Primitive Antiquity and as abhorrent from any thing which was meerly Popish as the greatest Precisian in the Pack Which point I finde exceedingly well applyed and prest in the Speech made by this Arch-Bishop at the Censure of Dr. Bastwick Mr. Burton on Iune 26. 1637. Who speaking to such of the Lords as were Knights of the Garter he accosts them thus And you saith he my Honourable Lords of the Garter in your great solemnities you do reverence and to Almighty God I doubt not but yet it is versus Altare toward the Altar c. And this your reverence you do when you enter the Chappel and when you approach nearer to offer c. And Idolatry it is not to worship God toward his Holy Table for if it had been Idolatry I presume Queen Elizabeth and King Iames would not have practised it no not in this great Solemnity And being not Idolatry but true Divine Worship you will I hope give a poor Priest
in that expectation carrying himself with such an even and steady hand that every one applauded but none envied his preferment to it insomuch as the then Lord Faulkland in a bitter Speech against the Bishops about the beginning of the Long Parliament could not chuse but give him this faire Testimony viz. That in an unexpected place and power he expressed an equal moderation and humility being neither ambitious before nor proud after either of the Crozier or White Staff The Queen about these times began to grow into a greater prevalâ—nâ—y over his Majesties Affections than formerly she had made shew of But being too wise to make any open alteration of the conduct of aâ—â—airs she thought it best to take the Archbishop into such of her Counsels as might by him be carried on to her contentment and with no dishonour to himself of which he gives this intimation in the Breviate on the thirtieth of August 1634. viz. That the Queen sent for him to Oatlands and gave him thanks for a business which she had trusted him withall promising him to be his Friend and that he should have immediate access to her when he had occasion This seconded with the like intimation given us May 18. 1635. of which he writes that having brought his account to the Queen on May 18. Whitsunday the Court then at Greenwich it was put of till the Sunday after at which time he presented it to her and received from her an assurance of all that was desired by him Panzani's coming unto London in the Christmas holydaies makes it not improbable that the facilitating of his safe and favourable reception was the great business which the Queen had committed to the Archbishops trust and for his effecting of it with the King had given him those gracious promises of access unto her which the Breviate spake of For though Panzani was sent over from the Pope on no other pretence than to prevent a Schism which was then like to be made between the Regulars and the Secular Priests to the great scandall of that Church yet under that pretence were muffled many other designs which were not fit to be discovered unto Vulgar eyes By many secret Artifices he works himself into the fauour of Cottington Windebank and other great men about the Court and at last grew to such a confidence as to move this question to some Court-Bishops viz. Whether his Majesty would permit the residing of a Catholick Bishop of the English Nation to be nominated by his Majesty and not to exercise his Function but as his Majesty should limit Upon which Proposition when those Bishops had made this Quaere to him Whether the Pope would allow of such a Bishop of his Majesties nominating as held the Oath of Allegiance lawful and should permit the taking of it by the Catholick Subjects he puts it off by pleading that he had no Commission to declare therein one way or other And thereupon he found some way to move the King for the permission of an Agent from the Pope to be addressed to the Queen for the concernments of her Religion which the King with the Advice and Consent of his Council condescended to upon condition that the Party sent should be no Priest This possibly might be the sum of that account which the Archbishop tendred to the Queen at Greenwich on the Whitsontide after Panzani's coming which as it seems was only to make way for Con of whom more hereafter though for the better colour of doing somewhat else that might bring him hither he composed the Rupture between the Seculars and the Regulars above-mentioned I cannot tell whether I have hit right or not upon these particulars But sure I am that he resolved to serve the Queen no further in her desires than might consist both with the honour and safety of the Church of England which as it was his greatest charge so did he lay out the chief parts of his cares and thoughts upon it And yet he was not so unmindful of the Foreign Churches as not to do them all good offices when it came in his way especially when the Doctrine or Discipline of the Church of England was not concerned in the same For in the year 1634. having received Letters from the Queen of Bohemia with whom he held a constant course of Correspondence about the furtherance of a Collection for the exiled Ministers of the Palatinate he moved the King so effectually in it that his Majesty granted his Letters Patents for the said Collection to be made in all parts of the Kingdom which Letters Patents being sealed and brought unto him for his further Direction in prosecution of the same he found a passage in it which gave him no small cause of offence and was this that followeth viz. Whose cases are the more to be deplored for that this extremity is fallen upon them for their sincerity and constancy in the true Religion which we together with them professed and which we are all bound in conscience to maintain to the utmost of our powers whereas these Religious and Godly persons being involved amongst other their Country-men might have enjoyed their Estates and Fortunes if with other backsliders in the times of Trial they would have submitted themselves to the Antichristian Yoke and have renounced or dissembled the Profession of the true Religion Upon the reading of which passage he observed two things First That the Religion of the Palatine Churches was declared to be the same with ours And secondly That the Doctrine and Government of the Church of Rome is called an Antichristian Yoke neither of which could be approved of in the same terms in which they were presented to him For first he was not to be told that by the Religion of those Churches all the Calvinian Rigors in the point of Predestination and the rest depending thereupon were received as Orthodox that they maintain a Parity of Ministers directly contrary both to the Doctrine and Government of the Church of England and that Pareus Profesâ—or of Divinity in the University of Heydelberg who was not to be thought to have delivered his own sense only in that point ascribes a power to inferiour Magistrates to curb the power controule the persons and resist the Authority of Soveraign Princes for which his Comment on the Romans had been publickly burnt by the appointment of King Iames as before is said Which as it plainly proves that the Religion of those Churches is not altogether the same with that of ours so he conceived it very unsafe that his Majesty should declare under the Great Seal of England that both himself and all his Subjects were bound in conscience to maintain the Religion of those Churches with their utmost power And as unto the other point he lookt upon it as a great Controversie not only between some Protestant Divines and the Church of Rome but between the Protestant Divines themselves hitherto not determined in any Council nor
Rubrick before the beginning of that Service it is ordered that the Priest standing at the Holy Table shall say the Lords Prayer with the Collect following c. And it is ordered in the first Rubrick after the Communion That on the Holy Dayes if there be no Communion shall be said all that is appointed at the Communion until the end of the Homily concluding with the general Prayer for Christs Church Militant here on earth and one or more of the Collects before rehearsed as occasion shall serve No place appointed for the reading of the second Service but only at the Altar or Communion Table 24. Here then we have the Wood the Altar sed ubi est victima holocausti as Isaac said unto his Father But where is the Lamb for the burnt-offering Gen. 22.7 Assuredly if the Priest and Altar be so near the Lamb for the Burnt-Offering cannot be far off even the most blessed Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world as the Scripture styles him whose Passion we finde commemorated in the Sacrament called therefore the Sacrament of the Altar as before is said called for the same reason by St. Augustine in his Enchiridion Sacrificium Altaris the Sacrifice of the Altar by the English Liturgy in the Prayer next after the participation the Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving Sacrificium laudis by Chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the remembrance of a Sacrifice by many Learned Writers amongst our selves a commemorative Sacrifice For thus saith Bishop Andrews in his answer to Cardinal Bellarmine c. 8. Tollite de Missa Transubstantiationem vestram nec di◠nobiscum lis erit de Sacrificio c. Take from the Mass your Transubstantiation and we will have no difference with you about the Sacrifice And the King grants he means the learned Prince King Iames the name of a Sacrifice to have been frequent with the Fathers Which Sacrifice he sometimes calls Commemorationem Sacrificii and sometimes Sacrificium Commemorativum A Commemorative Sacrifice The like we finde in Bishop Morton who in his Book of the Roman Sacrifice l. 6. c. 5. called the Eucharist a representative and commemorative Sacrifice in as plain terms as can be spoken But what need any thing have been said for the proof hereof when the most Reverend Archbishop Cranmer one and the chief of the Compilers of the publick Liturgy and one who suffered death for opposing the Sacrifice of the Mass distinguisheth most plainly between the Sacrifice propitiatory made by Christ himself only and the Sacrifice commemorative and gratulatory made by Priests and People for which consult his Defence against Bishop Gardiner lib. 5. p. 439. And finally the testimony of Iohn Lambert who suffered for his Conscience in the time of King Henry viii whose words are these Christ saith he being offered up once for all in his own proper person is yet said to be offered up not only every year at Easter but also every day in the Celebration of the Sacrament because his Oblations once for all made it thereby represented Act. Mon. p. 2.35 So uniform is the consent of our Liturgy our Martyrs and our Learned Writers in the name of Sacrifice so that we may behold the Eucharist or the Lords Supper First as it is a Sacrifice or the Commemoration of that Sacrifice offered unto God by which both we and the whole Church do obtain remission of our Sins and all other benefits of Christs Passion And secondly As it is a Sacrament participated by men by which we hope that being made partakers of that Holy Communion we may be fulfilled with his Grace and heavenly Benediction Both which occur in the next Prayer after the Communion Look on it as a Sacrifice and then the Lords Board not improperly may be called an Altar as it is properly called the Table in respect of the Sacrament 25. With the like uniform consent we finde the Doctrine of a Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper to be maintained and taught in the first Constitution of this Church and this is first concluded from the words of Distribution retained in the first Liturgy of King Edward vi and formerly prescribed in the ancient Missals viz. The Body and Blood of our Lord Iesus Christ which was given for thee preserve thy Body and Soul unto life everlasting The Blood of our Lord Iesus Christ which was shed for thee c. Which words being thought by some precise and scrupulous persons to encline too much toward Transubstantiation and therefore not unfit to justifie a Real Presence were quite omitted in the second Liturgy of that King the words of Participation Take and eat this c. Take and drink this c. being used in the place thereof Which alteration notwithstanding it is affirmed by Bishop Ridley one of the principal Compilers of these two Books that in the Sacrament of the Altar is the natural Body and Blood of Christ. And if there be the Natural Body there must needs be a Real Presence in his opinion When this last Liturgy was reviewed by the command of Queen Elizabeth Anno 1558. the former clause was super-added to the other which put the business into the same state and condition in which we finde it at the first And when by the Articles of Religion agreed upon in Convocation Anno 1562. the Sacrifice of the Mass was declared to be a pernicious Imposture a blasphemous Figment and that Transubstantiation was declared to be repugnant to the plain words of Holy Scripture to overthrow the Nature of a Sacrament and to have given occasion to many Superstitions yet still the Doctrine of a Real Presence was maintained as formerly Alexander Nowel Dean of St. Pauls was chosen Prolocutor for that Convocation and therefore as like to know the true intent and meaning of the Church of England in every point which was there concluded as any other whatsoever and yet he thought it no contradiction to any of them to maintain and teach a Real Presence For in his Catechism publickly allowed of in all the Grammar Schools of this Realm he first propounds this question viz. Coelestis pars ab omni sensu externo longe disjuncta quaenam est c. that is to say What is the Heavenly or Spiritual part of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper which no sense is able to discover To which the party Catechized returns this answer Corpus Sanguis Christi quae fidelibus in coena dominica praebentur ab illis accipiuntur comeduntur bibuntur coelesti tantum spirituali modo verè tamen atque reipsa That is to say the heavenly or spiritual part is the Body and Blood of Christ which are given to the faithful in the Lords Supper and are taken eaten and drank by them which though it be only in an heavenly and spiritual manner yet are they both given and taken truly and really or in very deed Conform to which we have in brief the
their own distaste or smoothing up of those idle fancies which in this blessed time of so long a Peace doth boil in the brains of an unadvised People That many of their Sermons were full of rude and undecent railings not only against the Doctrines but even against the persons of Papists and Puritans And finally that the People never being instructed in the Catechism and fundamental Grounds of Religion for all these aiery novellisms which they received from such Preachers were but like new Table-books ready to be filled up either with the Manuals and Catechisms of the Popish Priests or the Papers and Pamphlets of Anabaptists Brownists and other Puritans His Majesty thereupon taking the Premises into his Princely Consideration which had been represented to him by sundry grave and reverend Prelates of this Church thought it expedient to cause some certain Limitations and Cautions concerning Preachers and Preaching to be carefully digested and drawn up in Writing Which done so done as Laud appears to have a hand in the doing of it and being very well approved by the King he caused them to be directed to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York by them to be communicated to the Bishops of their several Provinces and by those Bishops to be put in execution in their several Diocesses Which Directions bearing date of the fourth of August 1622. being the 20th year of his Majesties Reign I have thought convenient to subjoin and are these that follow viz. I. That no Preacher under the Degree and Calling of a Bishop or Dean of a Cathedral or Collegiate Church and they upon the Kings days only and set Festivals do take occasion by the Expounding of any Text of Scripture whatsoever to fall into any set course or common place otherwise than by opening the coherence and division of his Text which shall not be comprehended and warranted in essence substance effect or natural inference within some one of the Articles of Religion set forth 1562. or in some one of the Homilies set forth by Authority in the Church of England not only for a help of non-preaching but withal as a pattern as it were for the Preaching Ministers and for their further instruction for the performance thereof that they forthwith read over and peruse diligently the said Book of Articles and the two Books of Homilies II. That no Parson Vicar Curate or Lecturer shall Preach any Sermon or Collation hereafter upon Sundays and Holy-days in the Afternoons in any Cathedral or Parish Church throughout this Kingdom but upon some part of the Catechism or some Text taken â—ut of the Creed or Commandments or the Lords Prayer Funeral Sermons only excepted and that those Preachers be most encouraged and approved of who spend their Afternoons Exercise in the Examination of Children in their Catechisms which is the most ancient and laudable Custom of Teaching in the Church of England III. That no Preacher of what Title soever under the degree of a Bishop or Dean at the least do from henceforth presume to Preach in any popular Auditory the deep Points of Predestination Election Reprobation or of the universality efficacity resistibility or irresistibility of Gods Grace but rather leave those Themes to be handled by Learned Men and that modestly and moderately by Vse and Application rather than by way of positive Doctrine as being fitter for Schools and Vniversities than for simple Auditories IV. That no Preacher of what Title or Denomination soever shall presume from henceforth in any Auditory within this Kingdom to declare limit or bound out by way of positive Doctrine in any Lecture or Sermon the Power Prerogative Iurisdiction Authority or Duty of Sovereign Princes or therein meddle with matters of State and reference between Princes and People than as they are instructed in the Homily of Obedience and in the rest of the Homilies and Articles of Religion set forth as before is mentioned by Publick Authority but rather confine themselves wholly to these two Heads of Faith and Good Life which are all the subject of the ancient Sermons and Homilies V. That no Preacher of what Title or Denomination soever shall causelesly and without any invitation from the Text fall into any bitter Invectives and undecent railing Speeches against the Papists or Puritans but wisely and gravely when they are occasioned thereunto by the Text of Scripture free both the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England from the aspersions of either adversary especially when the Auditory is suspected to be tainted with the one or the other infection VI. Lastly That the Archbishops and Bishops of the Kingdom whom his Majesty hath good cause to blame for their former remisseness be more wary and choice in Licencing of Preachers and Verbal Grants made to any Chancellor Officiall or Commissary to pass Licence in this Kingdom And that all the Lecturers throughout the Kingdom a new body severed from the ancient Clergy of England as being neither Parson Vicar or Curate be licensed henceforward in the Court of Faculties only upon recommendation of the party from the Bishop of the Diocess under his hand and seal with a Fiat from the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury and a confirmation under the Great Seal of England and that such as transgress any of his directions be suspended by the Bishop of the Diocess or in his default by the Lord Archbishop of that Province Ab officio beneficio for a year and a day untill his Majesty by the advice of the next Convocation prescribe for some further punishment No sooner were these Instructions published but strange it was to hear the several descants and discourses which were made upon them How much they were misreported amongst the People and misinterpreted in themselves those very men who saw no just reason to condemn the Action being howsoever sure to misconstrue the end For though they were so discreetly ordered that no good and godly man could otherwise than acknowledge that they tended very much to Edification Yet such Interpretations were put upon them as neither could consist with his Majesties meaning nor the true sense of the Expressions therein used By some it was given out that those Instructions did tend to the restraint of Preaching at the lest as to some necessary and material points by others that they did abate the number of Sermons by which the People were to be instructed in the Christian Faith by all the Preachers of that Party that they did but open a gap for Ignorance and Superstition to break in by degrees upon the People Which coming to his Majesties Ears it brought him under the necessity of making an Apology for himself and his actions in it And to this end having summed up the reasons which induced him to it he required the Archbishop of Canterbury to communicate them to his Brother of York by both to be imparted to their several Suffragans the inferiour Clergy and to all others whosoever whom it might concern which notwithstanding it
be challenged And when it was answered That there could be no reason to engage in such Disputations where no Moderator could be had The King replied That Charles should moderate between them and the opposite party At which when one of them seemed to smile upon the other the King proceeded and assured them that Charles should manage a point in Controversie with the best studied Divine of them all and that he had trained up George so far as to hold the Conclusion though he had not yet made him able to prove the Premises By which it seems that his Majesty conceived no such fear on the Princes part as that he could be practised or disputed out of his Religion and that he had no such fear of Buckingham neither but that he would be able to stand his ground notwithstanding any Arguments which were brought to move him And he that is so far confirmed as to stand his ground will never yield himself though he may be vanquished It was not then to be believed that me so principled and instructed as not to be forced out of their Religion should take such pains to be perverted or seduced upon worldly policies as well against their Science as against their Conscience Had they gone thither on that Errand what could have hindred them from putting the design in execution having in Spain sit opportunity to effect it at home the Kings Authority to confirm and Countenance it and the whole power of his Catholick Majesty which was offered more than once or twice to justifie and defend the misrule against all the world That they brought back the same Religion which they carried with them is a strong Argument to any man of Sense and Reason that they went not into Spain of purpose to betray it there Let us next look upon the proofs which are offered to us for Laud being privy to this journey whereof his being of Council to â—ervert the Prince and draw him to the Church of Rome there is no proof offered For first I find it charged that he wrote a Letter unto Buckingham on the fifth day after his departure and maintained a constant Correspondence with him when he was in Spain And secondly That he was privy to some Speeches which his Majesty had used to the Prince at his going hence His Majesty in some of his printed Books had maintained that the Pope was Antichrist and now he feared that this might be alledged against him in the Court of Rome to hinder the Popes Dispensation and obstruct the Marriage For the removal of which bar he commands the Prince to signifie if occasion were to all whom it might concern That his Majesty had writ nothing in that Point concludingly but by way of Argument That Laud was present at this Conference betwixt his Majesty and the Prince hath no proof at all He might be made acquainted with it on the post-fact when the Prince returned and yet because he was made acquainted with this passage though upon the post-fact it must be hence concluded as a matter certain That he was one of the Cabinet Council and privy to the Princes going into Spain and secondly as a matter probable That he suggested this distinction unto King James to please the Pope and promote the Match As little strength there is in the second proof touching his Writing to the Marquis on the fifth day after his departure But then it was not till the fifth before which time the Princes Journey into Spain was made the general Discourse of all Companies the ordinary Subject of all Tongues and Pens communicated by word of mouth by Letters and by what means not Nor can those following Letters which he received from Buckingham when he was in Spain convince him of being privy to that Journey when it was in project and design there being many others also who both received and dispatched Letters frequently from that very same person so far from being of the Council as to that particular that they were not of the Court at all So ordinary is the fate of such sorry Arguments to conclude nothing at all or that which is nothing to the purpose But what need more be said to confute this Calumny on which I have so long insisted than the great Care which was immediately taken by the King and his Bishops to maintain the Reputation of the Church of England in the Court of Spain No sooner had his Majesty notice that the Prince was come in safety to the Court of that King but order presently was taken for Officers of all Qualities and Servants of all sorts to be sent unto him that so he might appear in Publick with the greater lustre Nor was it the least part of his Royal Care to accommodate him with two such Chaplains as should be able to defend the Doctrine of this Church against all Opponents And that there might appear a face of the Church of England in the outward Forms of Worship also his Majesty was pleased by the Advice of the Bishops then about him of which Laud was one to give the said Chaplains Maw and Wren these Instructions following dated at Newmarket March 10. I. That there be one convenient Room appointed for Prayer the said Room to be employed during their abode to no other use II. That it be decently adorned Chappel-wise with an Altar Fonts Palls Linnen Coverings Demy-Carpet four Surplices Candlesticks Tapers Chalices Pattens a fine Towel for the Prince other Towels for the Houshold a Traverse of Waters for the Communion a Bason and Flaggons two Copes III. That Prayers be duly kept twice a day That all reverence be used by every one present being uncovered kneeling at due times standing up at the Creeds and Gospel bowing at the Name of JESUS IV. That the Communion be celebrated in due form with an Oblation of every Communicant and admixing Water with the Wine the Communion to be as often used as it shall please the Prince to set down smooth Wafers to be used for the Bread V. That in the Sermons there be no Polemical Preachings to inveigh against them or to confute them but only to confirm the Doctrine and Tenets of the Church of England by all positive Arguments either in Fundamental or Moral Points and especially to apply themselves in Moral Lessons to Preach Christ Jesus Crucified VI. That they give no occasions or rashly entertain any of Conference or Dispute for fear of dishonour to the Prince if upon any offence taken he should be required to send away any one of them but if the Lord Embassador or Mr. Secretary wish them to hear any that desire some information then they may safely do it VII That they carry the Articles of our Religion in many Copies the Books of Common Prayer in several Languages store of English Service-Books the Kings own Works in English and Latin Such were his Majesties Instructions to the said two Chaplains and being such they do concludingly demonstrate
come he was conveyed in Maxwell's Coach without any disturbance till he came to the end of Cheapside from whence he was followed by a railing Rabble of rude and uncivil People to the very Gates of the Tower Where having taken up his Lodging and settled his small Family in convenient Rooms he diligently resorted to the Publick Chappel of that place at all times of Worship being present at the Prayers and Sermons and some 〈…〉 â—earing himselâ— uncivilly reviled and pointed at as it were by 〈…〉 Preachers sent thither of purpose to disgrace and vex 〈◊〉 All which Indignities he endured with such Christian meekâ—â—ss as rendred him one of the great Examples both of Patience and 〈◊〉 these latter Times The principal things contained in the Charge of the Scots Commissioners were these that follow viz. That he had press'd upon that 〈◊〉 many Innovations in Religion contained in the Liturgie and 〈◊〉 of Canons contrary to the Liberties and Laws thereof That he had written many Letters to Ballentine Bishop of Dumblane and Dean of the Kings Chappel in Scotland in which he required him and the 〈◊〉 of the Bishops to be present at the Divine Service in their Whites 〈◊〉 blamed the said Bishop for his negligence and slackness in it and â—â—xing him for Preaching Orthodox Doctrine against Arminianism that he had caused the said Bishop to be reprehended for commanding a Solemn Fast to be kept in his Diocess on the Lords day as if they had offended in it against Christianity it self That he gave order for the â—aking down of Stone Walls and Galleries in the Churches of Edenborougâ— to no other end but for the setting up of Altars and Adoration 〈◊〉 the East That for their Supplicating against these Novations they were encountred by him with terrible Proclamations from his Maâ—â—â—â— declared Rebels in all the Parish-Churches of England and a 〈…〉 against them by his Arts and Practices That after the Pa 〈◊〉 made at Perwick he frequently spake against it as dishonou 〈◊〉 and unfit to be kept their Covenant by him called ungodly and 〈…〉 Oaths imposed upon their Countrymen to abjure the same That 〈…〉 nâ—t in the presence of the King and their Commissioners to 〈…〉 the General Assembly held at Glasco and put his Hand un 〈…〉 for Imprisoning some of those Commissioners sent from the Parliament of Scotland for the Peace of both Nations That when the late Parliament could not be moved to assist in the War against them he had caused the same to be dissolved and continued the Con 〈◊〉 to make Canons against them and their Doctrines to be punished four times in every year That he had caused six Subsidies to 〈…〉 on the Clergy for maintaining the War and Prayer to be made 〈◊〉 all Parish-Churches That shame might cover their faces as Enemies to God and the King And finally That he was so industrious in advancing Popery in all the three Kingdoms that the Pope himself could not have been more Popish had he been in his place Such was the Charge exhibited by the Scots Commissioners in which was nothing criminal enough to deserve Imprisonment much less to threaten him with Death And as for that brought up from the House of Commons it consisted of fourteen General Articles as before was said ushered in with a short Preamble made by Pym and shut up with a larger Aggravation of the Offences comprehended in the several Articles the substance of which Articles was to this effect 1. That he had Traiterously endeavoured to subvert the Fundamental Laws of the Realm to introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government and to perswade his Majesty That he might Lawfully raise Money of the Subject without their common Consent in Parliament 2. That to this end he had caused divers Sermons to be Preached and Books to be Printed against the Authority of Parliaments and for asserting an absolute and unlimited Power over the Persons and Goods of the Subjects to be not only in the King but also in himself and the rest of the Bishops and had been a great Promoter of such by whom the said Books and Sermons had been made and published 3. That by several Messages Letters Threatnings c. he had interrupted and perverted the Course of Iustice in Westminster-Hall whereby sundry of his Majesties Subjects had been stopp'd in their just Suits and thereby made subject to his will 4. That he had traiterously and corruptly sold Iustice to such as had Causes depending before him and taken unlawful Gifts and Bribes of his Majesties Subjects and had advised and procured his Majesty to sell Places of Iudicature and other Offices 5. That he had caused a Book of Canons to be Composed and Published without lawful Authority in which were many things contained contrary to the Kings Prerogative the Fundamental Laws c. and had caused many of the same to surreptitiously passed and afterwards by fear and compulsion to be subscribed by the Prelates and Clerks there assembled notwithstanding they had never been Voted and Passed in the Convocation 6. That he hath assumed to himself a Papal and Tyrannical Power both in Eccesiastical and Temporal Matters over his Majesties Subjects in this Realm and other places to the disherison of the Crown dishonour of his Majesty and derogation of his Supreme Authority in Ecclesiastical Matters 7. That he had endeavoured to alter and subvert Gods true Religion by Law established in this Realm and instead thereof to set up Popish Superstition and Idolatry and to that end had maintained many Popish Doctrines enjoyned many Popish and Superstitious Ceremonies and cruelly vexed and persecuted such as refused to conform unto them 8. That 〈◊〉 order thereunto he had intruded into the Rights of many of his Majesties Officers and Subjects in procuring to himself the Nomination of divers Persons to Ecclesiastical Benefices and had taken upon him the commendation of Chaplains to the King promoting and commending none but such as were Popishly affected or otherwise unsound in Doctrine or corrupt in Manners 9. That to the same intent he had chosen such men to be his Chaplains whom he knew to be notoriously disaffected to the Reformed Religion and had committed unto them or some of them the Licencing of Books to be Printed whereby many false and Superstitious Books had been Published to the great scandal of Religion and the seducing of many of his Majesties Subjects 10. That he had endeavoured to reconcile the Church of England to the Church of Rome confederating to that end with divers Popish Priests and Iesuits holding Intelligence with the Pope and permitting a Popish Hierarchy or Ecclesiastical Government to be established in this Kingdom 11. That in his own Person and by others under his Command he had caused divers Godly and Orthodox Ministers of Gods Word to be Silenced Suspended and otherwise grieved without any lawful or just cause hindred the Proaching of Gods Word cherished Prophaneness and Ignorance amongst the People and compelled
had been grown so high and so strongly backed that Justice could not safely have been done upon them a way might have been found to have cooled the Fever without loss of Blood by bringing the whole Corporation under the danger of a forfeiture of their Lands and Liberties in a Legal way which course proved so successful unto King IAMES on the like occasion Anno 1597. Or finally supposing that the Cause admitted not such a long delay if then his Majesty had but sent a Squadron of the Royal Navy which he had at Sea to block up their Haven he had soon brought the Edenburghers unto his devotion and consequently kept all the rest of the Kingdom in a safe Obedience This was the way to keep them under and of this course the People of the City were more afraid than of any other Somewhat they are to do which might make his Majesty hope better of them than they had deserved and nothing they could do which might better please him than to express their chearfulness in admitting the Liturgie To this end they addressed their Letters to the Archbishop of Canterbury as more concerned in this Affair than any other of the Lords which were neer his Majesty expressing in the same their great dislike of the late Tumult for their Innocency therein they refer themselves to his Majesties Council in that Kingdom declaring further their concurrence with the Bishops which remained in the City and the Ministry of the same for settling the Service-Book and offering Means above their Power to such as should undertake the Reading of it and finally desiring his Grace to make known to his Majesty how ready they were at all points to advance the Service which they promised to accept as an accumulation of his Graces Favours unto them and their City And that this Letter of theirs which bears date the nineteenth of August might bear the greater credit with him they did not only seem industrious for the apprehending of some and the inquiring after others of the Principal Actors but bound themselves by an Obligatory Act of the Common-Council both for the Indempnity and Maintenance of such as should read the Book the Ministers of Edenborough refusing to do their parts in it without such Encouragements But the danger was no sooner over by the coming home of the Fleet but they Petitioned the Lords of the Council to put them into the same condition with the rest of the Subjects and that the Service-Book should be no further pressed on them than it had been in all the other parts of the Kingdom To which they were encouraged by a general confluence of all sorts of People such most especially as had most shewn their disaffection to the work in hand For the Harvest was no sooner in and the People at more leisure than before to pursue that Quarrel but the City swarmed with throngs of People from all parts even to a formidable number which moved the Lords to publish two Proclamations on the seventeenth of October The first commanding all of them to repair to their Dwellings except such as should shew sufficient reason for their stay and continuance there The second for Adjourning the Sessions from Edenborough to the Town of Linlithgow But this served rather like the powring on of Oyl to encrease the Flame than of Water to quench it For the next day the Bishop of Galloway being to Sit with the Lord Chief Justice upon some especial Business in the Council-House he was pursued all along the Street with bitter Railings to the very Door and being drawn in from the rage of the People they immediately beset the House demanding the delivery of him and threatning his destruction The Earl of Traquair being advertised of the Bishops danger who formerly had been his Tutor came to his Relief and with much ado forced an Entrance thorow the Press But being got in he was in no better plight than the Bishop the Clamour still encreasing more and more and encompassing the Council-House with terrible Menaces Hereupon the Provost and City-Council was called to raise the Siege but they returned answer That their condition was the same for they were surrounded with the like Multitude who had enforced them for fear of their Lives to sign a Paper importing First That they should adhere to them in opposition to the Service-Book Secondly To restore to their Places Ramsey and Rollock two Silenced Ministers and one Henderson a Silenced Reader No better Answer being returned the Lord Treasurer with the Earl of Wigton went in Person to the Town-Council-House where they found the heat of the fury somewhat abated because the Magistrates had signed the Paper and returned with some hope that the Magistrates would calm the Disorders about the Council-House so as the Bishop might be preserved But they no sooner presented themselves to the Great Street than they were most boysterously assaulted the Throng being so furious as they pulled down the Lord Treasurer took away his Hat Cloack and White Staff and so haled him to the Council-House The Lords seeing themselves in so great danger at length pitch upon the best expedient for their safety and sent to some of the Noblemen and Gentry who were disaffected to the Service-Book to come to their Aid These Lords and Gentlemen came as was desired and offered both their Persons and Power to protect them which the Lords and the Council-House readily embraced and so were quietly guarded to Holy-Rood-House and the Bishop to his Lodging The Lords of the Council not thinking themselves to be secure published a Proclamation the same day in the afternoon for repressing such Disorders for the time to come But they found slender Obedience yielded to it Commissioners being sent unto them from the Citizens in an insolent manner for demanding the Restitution of their Ministers to their Place and Function and performing all such Matters as had been agreed on at the Pacification These Riots and Seditions might have served sufficiently in another Reign to have drawn a present War upon them before they were provided in the least degree to make any resistance But the Edenburghers knew well enough what they were to do what Friends they had about the King and what a Party they had got among the Lords of his Council which Governed the Affairs of that Kingdom And they were apt enough to hope by the unpunishing of the first Tumult on Iuly 23. That the King might rather have patience enough to bear such Indignities than Resolution to revenge them so that he came at last to that perplexity which a good Author speaks of That he must either out-go his Nature or fore-go his Authority For instead of using his just Power to correct their Insolencies he courts them with his Gracious Proclamation of the seventh of December in which he lets them know How unwilling he was that his Loyal and Faithful Subjects should be possessed with groundless and unnecessary doubts and fears touching
their Religion and therefore was pleased to declare That as he abhorreth all Superstitions of Popery so he would be most careful that nothing should be allowed within his Dominions but that which should most tend to the Advancement of the true Religion as it was presently professed within his Ancient Kingdom of Scotland and that nothing was nor should be done therein against the laudable Laws of that his Native Kingdom The Rioters perceived by this Proclamation that the King was more afraid than hurt And seeing him begin to shrink they resolved to put so many fears upon him one after another as in the end might fashion him to their desires First therefore they began with a new Petition not of a rude Multitude but of Noblemen Barons Ministers Burgesses and Commons the very Flower of the whole Nation against the Liturgie and Canons This Petition being sent to the Courts could do no less and it did no more than produce another Proclamation in Reply to the Substance of it some Menaces being intermingled but sweetned in the close to give them the better relish His Majesty first lets them know the Piety of his Intent in appointing the Liturgie assuring them That he had no other end in it than the maintenance of the true Religion there already professed and the beating down of all Superstition That nothing passed in the said Book but what was seen and approved by himself before the same was either divulged or printed and that he was assured That the Book it self would be a very ready means to preserve the Religion there professed of which he doubted not to give them satisfaction in his own time Which said he lets them know That such as had Assembled for subscribing the said Petition had made themselves liable to his highest Censures both in Life and Fortune That notwithstanding he was pleased to dispence with the errour upon a confidence that it proceeded rather from a preposterous Zeal than a disaffection to Sovereignty on condition that they retired themselves upon notice hereof as became good and dutiful Subjects He interdicted also the like Concourse as had been lately made at Edenborough upon pain of Treason commanding that none of them should repair to Sterling to which the Term was then Adjourned or any other place of Counsel and Session without Warrant from the Lords of the Council and that all such of what sort soever not being Lords of the Council or Session which were not Inhabitants of the Town should within six hours after publication thereof depart the same except they were so Licenced and Warranted as before is said under pain of Treason And finally he concludes with this That he would not shut his ears against any Petition upon this or any other Subject which they should hereafter tender to him provided that the matter and form thereof be not prejudicial to his Regal Authority Had his Majesty followed at the heels of this Proclamation with a powerful Army according to the Custom of his Predecessors Kings of England it might have done some good upon them But Proclamations of Grace and Favour if not backed by Arms are but like Cannons charged with Powder without Ball or Bullet making more noise than execution and serve for nothing in effect but to make the Rebel insolent and the Prince contemptible as it proved in this For on the very day and immediately after the reading of it it was encountered with a Protestation published by the Earl of Hume the Lord Lindsey and others justifying themselves in their Proceedings disclaiming all his Majesties Offers of Grace and Pardon and positively declaring their Resolution to go on as they had begun till they had brought the business to the end intended And in pursuance hereof they erected a new Form of Government amongst themselves despotical enough in respect of those who adhered unto them and unaccountable to his Majesty for their Acts and Orders This Government consisted of four Tables for the four Orders of the State that is to say the Noblemen Barons Burgesses and Ministers each Order consulting at his own Table of such things as were necessary for the carrying on of the Design which being reduced into Form were offered debated and concluded at the General Table consisting of a choice number of Commissioners out of all the rest And that this new Government might be looked on with the greater reverence they fixed themselves in Edenborough the Regal City leaving the Lords of Council and Session to make merry at Sterling where they had little else to do than to follow their Pleasures The Tables were no sooner formed but they resolved upon renewing of the Ancient Confession of that Kirk with a Band thereunto subjoined but fitted and accommodated to the present occasion which had been signed by King Iames on the 28th of Ianuary Anno 1580. after their Account and generally subscribed by all the Nation And by this Band they entred Covenant for Maintenance of their Religion then professed and his Majesties Person but aiming at the destruction of both as appeareth both by the Band it self and their Gloss upon it For by the one they had bound themselues to defend each other against all Persons whatsoever the King himself not being excepted and by the other they declared That under the general Names of Popery Heresie and Superstition which were there expressed they had abjured and required all others so to do not only the Liturgie and Canons lately recommended to them but the Episcopal Government and the five Articles of Perth though confirmed by Parliament And to this Covenant in this sense they required an Oath of all the Subjects which was as great an Usurpation of the Regal Power as they could take upon themselves for confirming their own Authority and the Peoples Obedience in any Project whatsoever which should afterwards issue from those Tables In this Estate we leave the Scots and return to England where we shall find all things in a better condition at least as to the outward appearance whatsoever secret workings were in agitation amongst the Grandees and chief Leaders of the Puritan Faction Little or no noise raised about the publishing of the Book for Sports or silencing the Calvinian Doctrines according to his Majesties Declaration before the Articles No clamour touching the transposing of the Holy Table which went on leisurely in most places vigorously in many and in some stood still The Metropolitical Visitation and the Care of the Bishops had settled these Particulars in so good a way that mens Passions began to calm and their Thoughts to come to some repose when the Commands had been more seriously considered of than at first they were And now the Visitation having been carried into all parts of the Realm of England and Dominion of Wales his Grace began to cast his eye upon the Islands of Guernsey and Iersey two Islands lying on the Coast of Normandy to the Dukedom whereof they once belonged and in the