wrong Notions are generally entertained of the Constitution of our Church as being for the most part taken from the Writings of some Puritanical Divines among us For this Reason the Arch-Bishop earnestly desired which desire is thrice in this Work expressed that it might be carefully and exactly Translated into Latin and Printed that he might thereby appeal to the Judgment of the Learned in all parts of Christendom To this end himself had procured the Liturgy which he had composed for the Church of Scotland to be turned into Latin that it might be Published with it To the end saith he that the Book may be extant and come to the view of the Christian World and their Judgment of it be known I have caused it to be exactly Translated into Latin and if right be done me it shall be Printed with this History This Latin Translation of the Scotch Liturgy as also the English Original Copy of the first draught of it are now in my Hands and shall one or both of them be hereafter God willing published in the Collection of Memorials It should seem that when the Arch-Bishop designed a Latin Edition of his History he despaired that the generality of this Nation then miserably distemper'd in Matter of Religion would ever so far regain the use of their Wits as to be able to pass an impartial Judgment upon his Cause But God be thanked the Church for which he suffered and which was ruined with him was in a short time after beyond hope Re-established and therewith Sobriety returning into the minds of Men no place is now so fit for the publication of this History as our own Island and no Language more proper for it than our own which is the Original wherein it was wrote It should seem that what was already wrote of this History in May 1643. when Prynne searched the Arch-Bishop's Chamber in the Tower and seized his Papers found there escaped his ravenous Hands Whether after the Arch-Bishop's death and the completion of it the Copy of it came into his hands I cannot certainly affirm the Reason of my uncertainty I shall relate presently but do believe that it did Which if it did I suppose he having got notice of it seized it by Vertue of an Order of the House of Commons March 4. 1644 5. empowering him to send for all Writings c. relating to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury his Trial. To proceed all the Arch-Bishop's Papers taken from him by Prynne either out of his Study at Lambeth soon after his Commitment or out of his Chamber and Pockets in the Tower or seized after his Martyrdom remained in Prynne's hands until his Death When Arch-Bishop Sheldon well knowing that the Papers of his Predecessor Arch-Bishop Laud had been unjustly seized and detained by him procured an Order of the King and Council deputing Sir William Dugdale and some others to view his Study and taking thence all the Books and Papers formerly belonging to Arch-Bishop Laud to deliver them into his hands This was accordingly done and the Books and Papers being seized brought to Arch-Bishop Sheldon although very much diminished in number and embezeled since they had come into Prynne's hands For he seems either to have Printed many of them from the Originals to save the labour of transcribing them or to have burned them or otherwise employed them to common uses when once Printed So that very few of those Papers which Prynne had published in the several Pamphlets and Books before named came into Arch-Bishop Sheldon's hands And not a few even of those which had not been Published were found wanting Particularly the Papers of Arch-Bishop Laud concerning the Conversion of his Godson Mr. William Chillingworth which the Arch-Bishop saith were taken away from him by Mr. Prynne and being by him produced at the Committee for drawing up his Charge were there Examined Whether the Copy of this History was seized at this time in Mr. Prynne's Study or came to Arch-Bishop Sheldon by other means I cannot certainly affirm But this I am assured of that Arch-Bishop Sheldon having about this time got into his Hands the Copy of this History and having now gained also the other Papers of Arch-Bishop Laud sent for the truly Reverend and Learned Dr. William Sancroft then Dean of St. Pauls and delivered both to him ordering him to Publish the History with such Papers as were necessary to it with all convenient speed This Dr. Sancroft willingly undertook but upon Reading of the History found the Copy to be so very vitious that it would not be sit to be Published till the Original might be recovered whereby the defects of it might be supplied and corrected Hereupon they set themselves to search after the Original which at last they found in St. John's Colledge in Oxford having been deposited there as I suppose by Dr. Richard Baily formerly President of that Colledge and Executor to the Author After this was done a new scruple was started concerning the Language wherein it should be Published Arch-Bishop Sheldon was desirous it might be Translated into and Published in Latin in complyance with the Desire and Intention of the Author The Dean of St. Pauls on the other side was of Opinion that it would be more useful to the Publick and serviceable to the Memory of the Author to Publish it in English This difference of Opinion protracted the Edition of it from time to time until at last Arch-Bishop Sheldon continuing resolved in his Opinion the Dean yielded to his Authority and only desiring that some Learned Civilian might be joyned with him who might render the Forms of Pleading in apt Latin Expressions prepared himself for the undertaking But in the interim Arch-Bishop Sheldon dying the Dean was most deservedly chosen to succeed him in the Arch-Bishoprick Whereby being involved in constant Publick Business both of Church and State he was forced to lay aside his design of publishing this History yet not without hopes of finding at some time or other opportunity to perform it for which Reason he devolved not the care of it upon any other but kept it by him and in the mean time endeavoured to get into his Hands all other Papers relating to Arch-Bishop Laud or his Cause But in vain did he hope to find so much leisure while the Administration of the chief Office in the Church took up his whole care and thoughts What he could not then do he hoped to accomplish after his Retirement into Suffolk in August 1691. Yet neither then did he set about it until the middle of the Year 1693. when opening his Papers he began to collate the Copy with the Original to divide the History into Chapters to examine the Citations to write down several Directions and Memoranda's for his own use in preparing the Edition to Note what places deserved to be amended or considered to write several Observations on the 〈◊〉 to draw up a Catalogue of the Memorials to be added as an Appendix to the
hated it perhaps it might have been better with me for worldly safety than now it is But it can no way become a Christian Bishop to halt with God Lastly If I had any purpose to blast the True Religion Established in the Church of England and to introduce Popery sure I took a very wrong way to it For my Lords I have stayed as many that were going to Rome and reduced as many that were already gone as I believe any Bishop or other Minister in this Kingdom hath done and some of them Men of great Abilities and some of them Persons of great Place And is this the way my Lords to introduce Popery I beseech your Lordships consider it well For surely if I had blemished the True Protestant Religion I could not have setled such Men in it And if I had purposed to introduce Popery I would never have reduced such Men from it And though it please the Author of the Popish Royal Favourite to say That scarce one of the swaying Lord Prelats is able to say that ever he Converted one Papist to our Religion yet how void of Charity this Speech of his is and how full of Falshood shall appear by the number of those Persons whom by Gods Blessing upon my Labours I have setled in the True Protestant Religion Established in England And with your Lordships leave I shall Name them that you may see both their Number and their Condition though I cannot set them down in that order of time in which I either Converted or Setled them 1. And first Hen Birk-head of Trinity Coll. in Oxford was seduced by a Jesuit and brought up to London to be conveyed beyond the Seas His Friends complained to me I had the happiness to find him out and the blessing from God to settle his Conscience So he returned to Oxford and there continued 2. 3. Two Daughters of Sir Rich Lechford in Surrey were sent to Sea to be carried to a Nunnery I heard of it and caused them to be brought back before they were got out of the Thames I setled their Consciences and both of them sent me great thanks since I was a Prisoner in the Tower 4. 5. Two Scholars of St John's Coll. in Cambridge Topping and Ashton had slipped away from the College and here at London had got the French Embassadour's Pass I have the Pass to shew I found means to get them to me and I thank God setled both their Minds sent them back to their College Afterwards hearing of Topping's Wants I allowed him Means till I procured him a Fellowship And he is at this time a very hopeful Young Man as most of his time in that University a Minister and Chaplain in House at this Present to the Right Honourable the Earl of Westmerland 6. 7. 8. Sir William Web my Kinsman and two of his Daughters and the better to secure them in Religion I was at the Charge their Father being utterly decayed to Marry them to two Religious Protestants and they both continued very constant And his Eldest Son I took from him placed him with a careful Divine maintained him divers Years and then setled him with a Gentleman of Good Worth 10. 11. The next in my remembrance was the Lord Maio of Ireland who with another Gentleman whose name I cannot recal was brought to me to Fulham by Mr. Jefford a Servant of his Majesty's and well known to divers of your Lordships 12. The Right Honourable the Lord Duke of Buckingham was almost lost from the Church of England between the continual cunning Labours of Fisher the Jesuit and the Perswasions of the Lady his Mother After some Miscarriages King James of ever Blessed Memory Commanded me to that Service I had God's Blessing upon me so far as to settle my Lord Duke to his Death And I brought the Lady his Mother to the Church again but she was not so happy as to continue with us 14. The Lady Marchioness Hamilton was much solicited by some Priests and much troubled in Mind about it My Lord spake with me of it and though at that present I was so overlaid with Business that I could not as I much desired wait upon that Honourable Person my self yet I told my Lord I would send one to his Lordship that should diligently attend that Service and that I would give him the best direction I could And this I did and God be thanked she dyed very quietly and very Religiously and a good Protestant And my Lord Marquess told me he had acknowledged this Service of mine to an Honourable Lord whom I now see present 15. Mr. Chillingworth's Learning and Abilities are sufficiently known to all your Lordships He was gone and setled at Dowaye My Letters brought him back and he Lived and Dyed a Defender of the Church of England And that this is so your Lordships cannot but know For Mr. Pryn took away my Letters and all the Papers which concerned him and they were Examined at the Committee 16. 17. Mr. Digby was a Priest and Mr. James Gentleman a School-master in a Recusant's House This latter was brought to me by a Minister as far as I remember in Buckinghamshire I converted both of them and they remain setled 18. Dr. Hart a Civilian Son to a Neighbour of mine at Fulham He was so far gone that he had written part of his Motives which wrought as he said that Change in him I got sight of them shewed him wherein he was deceived had God's Blessing to settle his Conscience and then caused an able Divine to Answer his Motives and give him the Copy 19. There were beside these Mr. Christopher Seburne a Gentleman of an Ancient Family in Hereford-shire and Sir William Spencer of Yarnton in Oxfordshire The Sons and Heirs of Mr. Wintchome and Mr. Williscot whom I sent with their Friends good liking to Wadham-College in Oxford and I received a Certificate Anno 1638. of their continuing in conformity to the Church of England Nor did ever any of these relapse again to Rome but only the Old Countess of Buckingham and Sir William Spencer that ever I heard of And if any of your Lordships doubt of the Truth of any of these Particulars I am able and ready to bring full proof of them all And by this time I hope it appears that one of the swaying Prelats of the time is able to say he hath Converted one Papist to the Protestant Religion And let any Clergy Man of England come forth and give a better account of his Zeal to this present Church And now my Lords with my most humble Thanks for your Lordships favour and patience in hearing me I shall cease to be farther troublesom for the present not doubting but I shall be able to Answer whatever shall be particularly objected against me After I had ended this Speech I was commanded to withdraw As I went from
I wrought cunningly to introduce that Religion by Inches And that they Prayed for me First my Lords the Opinion of Enemies is no Proof at all that I am such as they think me And secondly this is a Notable and no unusual piece of Cunning for an Enemy to destroy by commending For this was the ready way and I doubt not but it hath been Practised to raise a Jealousie against me at home thereby either to work the Ruin of my Person or utterly to weaken and disable me from doing harm to them or good for the Church of England Besides if the Commendation of Enemies may in this kind go for Proof it shall be in the power of two or three Practising Jesuits to destroy any Bishop or other Church-Man of England when they please At last he told a Story of one Father John a Benedictin that he asked him how Church-Livings were disposed in England and whether I had not the disposing of those which were in the King's Gift And concluded that he was not out of hope to see England reduced to Rome Why my Lords this is not Father John's hope alone for there is no Roman-Catholick but hath some hope alive in him to see this day And were it not for that hope there would not have been so many some desperate all dangerous Practices upon this Kingdom to Effect it both in Queen Elizabeth's time and since But if this I know not what Father John hope so what is that to me 3. The third Witness was Mr. Anthony Mildmaye A Man not thought on for a Witness till I called for his Brother Sir Henry But now he comes laden with his Brother's Language He says just as Sir Henry did before that there were two Factions in Rome the Jesuits and they abhorred me but the other the Secular Priests they wished me well as he was informed First this is so one and the same Testimony that any Man that will may see that either he informed his Brother or his Brother him Secondly here 's nothing affirmed for it is but as he was informed And he doth not tell you by whom It may be my Lords it was by his Brother Then he says This was to make my self Great and tells a Tale of Father Fitton as much to the purpose as that which Mr. Challoner told of Father John But whatsoever either of these Fathers said it was but their own Opinion of me or Hearsay neither of which can prove me guilty of any thing Thus much Mr. Anthony made a shift to say by Five of the Clock at Afternoon when I came to make my Answer And this as I have sufficient Cause to think only to help to shoar up his Brother's Testimony But in the Morning when he should have come as his Brother did he was by Nine in the Morning so Drunk that he was not able to come to the Bar nor to speak Common Sense had he been brought thither Nobile par Fratrum The Second Charge was the Consecration of two Churches in London St Catharin Cree-Church and St Giles in the Fields The Witnesses two 1. The first Witness was one Mr Willingham And he says 〈◊〉 I came to these Churches in a Pompous manner But all the Pomp that he mentions is that Sir Henry Martin Dr Duck and some other of the Arches attended me as they usually do their Diocesans in such Solemnities He says he did curiously observe what was done thinking it would one Day be called to an Account as now it is So this Man himself being Judge looked upon that Work with Malevolent Eye and God preserve him from being a malitious Witness He says That at my approach to the Church Door was read Lift up your Heads O ye Gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting Doors and the King of Glory shall come in Psal 24. And this was urged over and over as a jeer upon my Person But this Place of Scripture hath been anciently used in Consecrations And it relates not to the Bishop but to God Almighty the true King of Glory who at the Dedication enters by his Servant to take Possession of the House then to be made his He says that I kneeled down at my coming in and after used many Bowings and Cringings For my kneeling down at my entranee to begin with Prayer and after to proceed with Reverence I did but my Duty in that let him scoffingly call it Cringing or Ducking or what he please He says farther That at the beginning I took up Dust and threw it in the Air and after used divers Curses And here Mr Pryn put Mr Nicolas in mind to add that Spargere Cinerem is in the Form of Consecration used in the Pontifical And Mr Brown in his summary Account of my Charge laid the very Consecration of these Churches as a Crime upon me and insisted on this particular But here my answer to all was the same That this Witness had need look well to his Oath for there was no throwing up of Dust no Curses used throughout the whole Action Nor did I follow the Pontifical but a Copy of Learned and Reverend Bishop Andrews by which he Consecrated divers Churches in his time and that this is so I have the Copy by me to Witness and offered them to shew it Nor can this howsoever savour any way of Treason No said Mr Brown but the Treason is To seek by these Ceremonies to overthrow the Religion Established Nor was that ever sought by me And God of his Mercy Preserve the true Protestant Religion amongst us till the Consecration of Churches and Reverence in the Church can overthrow it and then I doubt not but by God's Blessing it shall continue safe to the Worlds End He says also That I did pronounce the Place Holy I did so And that was in the Solemn Act it self of the Consecration according to the usual Form in that behalf And no Man will deny but that there is a Derivative and a Relative Holiness in Places as well as in Vessels and other Things Dedicated to the Honour and Service of God Nor is any thing more common in the Old Testament and 't is express in the New both for Place and Things 1 Cor 9. Then it was urged at the Bar That a Prayer which I used was like one that is in the Pontifical So in the Missal are many Prayers like to the Collects used in our English Liturgy so like that some are the very same Translated only into English and yet these confirmed by Law And for that of Psal. 95. Venite Procidamus c. then also excepted against that hath been of very ancient use in the Liturgies of the Church From which Rejecimus Paleam numquid Grana We have separated the Chaff shall we cast away the Corn too If it come to that let us take heed we fall not upon the Devil 's Winnowing who labours to beat down the Corn 't is not the Chaff
was my Complaint general that my Papers were Seized but that the Papers prepared for my Defence were taken from me and not restored when I needed them and Petitioned for them He said my Third Complaint was That many of the Witnesses produced against me were Separatists I did indeed complain of this and I had abundant Cause so to do For there was scarce an active Separatist in England but some way or other his Influence was into this Business against me And whereas the Gentleman said the Witnesses were some Aldermen and some Gentlemen and Men of Quality That 's nothing for both Gentlemen and Aldermen and Men of all Conditions the more 's the pity as the Times now go are Separatists from the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England Established by Law And I would to God some of my Judges were not My Fourth Complaint he said was of the excessive Number of the Witnesses And he added that if I would not have so many Witnesses I should not have given occasion for it by Committing so many Crimes But First whether I have committed so many Crimes as are urged against me is yet in Question And Secondly 't is one thing to give Cause and another thing to give Occasion For an Occasion may be taken when 't is pretended as given And so I hope it will be found in my Case But the thing here mistaken is That these are all said to be Legal Witnesses whereas almost all of them have at some time or other been before me as their Judge either at Star-Chamber or Council-Table or High-Commission or as Referee And then I humbly desire it may be considered First how impossible it is for a Judge to please all Men. Secondly how improbable it is that Witnesses displeased should be indifferent in their Testimony And Thirdly how hard it is to convince a Man by such interessed Witnesses now upon the matter becoming Judges of him that Judged them And as S. Augustin speaks Quomodo potest how is it possible for one that is Contentious and Evil to speak well of his Judge From these Generals the Gentleman passed to the Particulars of the Charge and he caused the 7 8 9 10 11. Original Articles and the 7. Additional to be read That done he divided the Charge into two main Heads The one an Endeavour in me to subvert the Laws of the Kingdom And the other a like Endeavour to alter the true Protestant Religion into Popery The Evidence given in the Lords House began at the Laws and ended in Religion but this Gentleman in his Summ both there and here began with Religion and ended with the Laws The Charge concerning Religion he said would bear two Parts the Ceremonial and the Substantial part of Religion 1 And he professed he would begin at the Ceremonial where having First charged in general the Statute of the 3 and 4 of Ed. 6. 6. 10. for the destruction of Images he gave these particular Instances following to shew my Intention to alter Religion 1. The setting up of Coloured Glass with Pictures in the Windows of my Chappel the Communion-Table Altar-wise Candlesticks thereon with Reverence and Bowings 2. A Bible in my Study with the Five Wounds of Christ wrought upon the Cover in Needle-Work 3. Three Pictures in my Gallery The Ecce Homo the Four Latin Fathers and the History S John 10. of the True Shepherd entring in by the Door and the Thief by the Window 4. The Crucifix hung up in the Chappel at White-Hall on Good-Friday And what happened there upon Dr Brown's coming in and doing Reverence 5. The Copes and Bowings used in Cathedral Churches since my time 6. The Ceremonies used at his Majesty's Coronation 7. The Abuses in the Universities especially Oxford 1. The Titles given me from thence 2. Divers Particulars in the new Statutes 3. Images countenanced there by me in divers Chappels 4. The Picture of the Virgin Mary at S Mary's Church-Door 5. Nothing to be done without me in Congregations 8. The Ceremonies in some Parish-Churches and some punished for neglect of them Instances in some of Beckinton some of Lewis and in Mr Chancy of Ware 9. That I preferred no Men but such as were active for the Ceremonies 10. Passages expunged out of Books if contrary to these Courses as that in Dr. Featly's Sermons concerning Images 11. Bibles with Pictures in them 12. The severe Punishment of Mr. Workman of Gloucester only for a Sermon against Images 13. Words spoken to take Bishop Jewell's Works and the Book of Martyrs out of some parish-Parish-Churches 14. The Consecration of cree-Cree-Church and S. Giles in the Fields In all which as I humbly conceive here 's nothing especially my Answers being taken to them that can co-operate to any alteration of Religion Nor is there any Treason were all that is urged true 2 From hence Mr. Speaker this worthy Gentleman passed over from the Ceremonies to those things which he said concerned the Substance of Religion In which the Particulars which he Charged were these 1. A doubtfulness if not a denyal of the Pope's being Antichrist 2. Dislike of the Name the Idol of Rome 3. The alteration of some passages in the Publick Prayers appointed for Novemb. 5. and the Coronation Day 4. The Antichristian Yoak left out of the Brief for the Palatinat with an expression as if we and those Reformed Churches were not of the same Religion 5. That Men were punished for Praying for the Queen and the Prince 6. That the Church of Rome is a true Church 7. That the Communion-Table or Altar is the Chief Place For there 's Hoc est Corpus meum 8. Restraint of all Books against Popery Instances in a Book of Bishop Carleton's One tendred by Sir Edward Hungerford Dr. Clarke's Sermons Dr. Jones None called in but Sales That I my self did expunge some Passages out of a Sermon of Dr. Sibthorp's Popish Books seized re-delivered to the Owners That for these I must answer for my Chaplains since John Arch-Bishop of York was fined for his Commissary's Act against the Bishop of Durham who having a Patent could not so easily be put out of his Place as I might change my Chaplains 9. Three Ministers in my Diocess suspended for not reading the Book of Recreations on the Lord's Day 10. The Feoffment for buying in of Impropriations overthrown to the hindrance of Preaching and Scandal to Religion 11. Incroachment upon the Lord Chamberlain for naming of Chaplains to the King and upon the Master of the Wards for giving of Benefices 12 Familiarity with Priests and Jesuits S. Clara and Monsieur S. Giles 13. The Testimonies of Mr. Challonor Sir Henry Mildmay and his Brother Mr. Anthony what Opinion was held of me beyond the Seas for my cunning introducing of Popery 14. That an Offer was made unto me to be a Cardinal And thus far this Gentleman proceeded in points of Religion But because there hath passed divers things done at
such Proceeding in this Case The very Parties that tendred this Cap presuming some good Inclination in him to accept it and to the Romish Church which he maintains to be a True Church wherein Men are and may be saved And the Second Proffer following so soon at the Heels of the First intimates That the First was in such sort entertained by him as rather encouraged than discouraged the Party to make the Second And his Second Consultation with the King concerning it insinuates That the King rather enclined to than against it or at leastwise left it arbitrary to him to accept or reject it as he best liked As for his Severity in prosecuting Papists it appears by his Epistle to the King before his Conference with the Jesuit Fisher where he useth these Speeches of his Carriage towards them God forbid that I should perswade a Persecution in any kind or practise it in the least against Priests and Jesuits For to my remembrance I have not given him or his so much as cross Language Therefore he is no great Enemy to them The Second thing which may seem strange to others is this That the Pope's Legat and Jesuits should ever hate or conspire his Death unless he were an utter Enemy to all Popery Papists and the Church of Rome which admits an easie Answer The Truth is the Bishop being very pragmatical and wilful in his Courses could not well brook pragmatical peremptory Jesuits who in Popish Kingdoms are in perpetual Enmity with all other Orders and they with them they having been oft banished out of France and other Realms by the Sorbonists Dominicans and other Orders no Protestants writing so bitterly against these Popish Orders as themselves do one against the other yea the Priests and Jesuits in England were lately at great Variance and persecuted one another with much Violence This is no good Argument then that the Arch-Bishop held no Correspondence with Priests and other Orders and bare no good Affection to the Church of Rome in whose Superstitious Ceremonies he outstripped many Priests themselves What Correspondency he held with Franciscus de Sancta Clara with other Priests and Dr Smith Bishop of Calcedon whom the Jesuits persecuted and got Excommunicated though of their own Church and Religion is at large discovered in a Book entituled The English Pope and by the Scottish Common-Prayer Book found in the Arch-Bishop's Chamber with all those Alterations wherein it differs from the English written with his own Hand some of which smell very strongly of Popery As namely his blotting out of these Words at the Delivery of the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee and feed on him in thy Heart by Faith with Thanksgiving Take and drink this in remembrance that Christ's Blood was shed for thee c. and leaving only this former Clause the better to justifie and imply a Corporal Presence of Christ in the Sacrament The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which was shed for thee preserve thy Body and Soul unto everlasting Life And this Popish Rubrick written with his own Hand The Presbyter during the time of Consecration shall stand AT THE MIDDLE OF THE ALTAR where he may with more Ease and Decency USE BOTH HIS HANDS than he can do if he stand at the North-end With other Particulars of this kind Moreover in his Book of Private Devotions written with his own Hand he hath after the Romish Form reduced all his Prayers to Canonical Hours And in the Memorials of his Life written with his own Hand there are these suspicious Passages among others besides the Offer of the Cardinal's Cap Anno 1631. Jun. 21. 26. My nearer Acquaintance began to settle with Dr. S. God bless us in it Junii 25. Dr. S. with me at Fulham cum Ma. c. meant of Dr. Smith the Popish Bishop of Calcedon as is conceived Jun. 25. Mr. Fr. Windebank my old Friend was Sworn Secretary of State which Place I OBTAINED FOR HIM of my Gracious Master King Charles What an Arch-Papist and Conspirator he was the Plot relates and his Flight into France for releasing Papists and Jesuits out of Prison and from Executions by his own Warrants and imprisoning those Officers who apprehended them confirms About this time Dr Theodore Price Sub-dean of Westminster a Man very intimate with the Arch-Bishop and recommended specially to the King by him to be a Welch Bishop in Opposition to the Earl of Pembrook and his Chaplain Griffith Williams soon after died a Reconciled Papist and received Extream Vnction from a Priest Noscitur ex comite August 30. 1634. he hath this Memorial Saturday at Oatlands the Queen sent for me and gave me Thanks for a Business with which she trusted me her Promise then that she would be my Friend and that I should have immediate Address to her when I had occasion All which considered together with his Chaplains Licensing divers Popish Books with their expunging most Passages against Popery out of Books brought to the Press with other Particulars commonly known will give a true Character of his Temper that he is another Cassander or middle Man between an Absolute Papist and a real Protestant who will far sooner hug a Popish Priest in his Bosom than take a Puritan by the Little Finger An absolute Papist in all matters of Ceremony Pomp and external Worship in which he was over-zealous even to an open 〈◊〉 Persecution of all Conscientious Ministers who made Scruple of them if not half an one at least in Doctrinal Tenets How far he was guilty of a Conditional Voting the breaking up the last Parliament before this was called and for what end it was summoned this other Memorial under his own Hand will attest Decemb 5. 1639. Thursday the King declared his Resolution for a Parliament in case of the Scottish Rebellion The first Movers to it were my Lord Deputy of Ireland my Lord Marquess Hamilton and my self And A RESOLUTION VOTED AT THE BOARD TO AS-SIST THE KING IN EXTRAORDINARY WAYS IF THE PARLIAMENT SHOULD PROVE PEEVISH AND REFUSE c. But of him sufficient till his Charge now in preparation shall come in Observations on and from the Relation of this PLOT FRom the Relation of the former Plot by so good a Hand our own Three Realms and all Foreign Protestant States may receive full Satisfaction First That there hath been a most cunning strong execrable Conspiracy long since contrived at Rome and for divers Years together most vigorously pursued in England with all Industry Policy Subtilty Engines by many active potent Confederates of all sorts all Sexes to undermine the Protestant Religion re-establish Popery and alter the very Frame of Civil Government in all the King's Dominions wherein a most dangerous visible Progress hath
Time to write it again out of my scribled Copy but I dare trust the Secresie in which I have bound him To others I am silent and shall so continue till the thing open it self and I shall do it out of Reasons very like to those which you give why your self would not divulge it here In the last place you promise your self That the Condition you are in will not hinder me from continuing to be the Best Friend you have To this I can say no more than that I could never arrogate to my self to be your Best Friend but a poor yet respective Friend of yours I have been ever since I knew you And it is not your Change that can change me who never yet left but where I was first forsaken and not always there So praying for God's Blessing upon you and in that Way which He knows most necessary for you I rest Lambeth March 27 1636. Your very Loving Friend To serve you in Domino I have writ this Letter freely I shall look upon all the Trust that ever you mean to carry with me that you shew it not nor deliver any Copy to any Man Nor will I look for any Answer to the Quaeries I have herein made If they do you any good I am glad if not yet I have satisfied my self But leisure I have none to write such Letters nor will I entertain a Quarrel in this wrangling Age and now my Strength is past For all things of moment in this Letter I have pregnant places in the Council of Trent Thomas Bellarmin Stapleton Valentia c. But I did not mean to make a Volume of a Letter Endorsed thus with the Archbishop's own Hand March 27 1636. A Copy of my Answer to Sir Ken Digby's Letters in which he gives me an account of his Return to the Ro Communion The Testimony of the Reverend Mr Jonathan Whiston concerning the Opinion had of the Archbishop at Rome and with what Joy the News of his Death and Suffering was there received I Do remember that being Chaplain to the Honourable Sir Lionel Tolmach Baronet about the Year 1666. I heard him relate to some Person of Quality how that in his younger days he was at Rome and well acquainted with a certain Abbot which Abbot asked him Whether he had heard any News from England He answered No. The Abbot replied I will tell you then some Archbishop Laud is Beheaded Sir Lionel answered You are sorry for that I presume The Abbot replied again That they had more cause to rejoice that the Greatest Enemy of the Church of Rome in England was cut off and the Greatest CHAMPION of the Church of England silenced Or in Words to that purpose In witness whereof I have hereunto set my Hand this 28th Day of September 1694. Jona Whiston Vicar of Bethersden in Kent The Testimony of the Learned and Worthy John Evelyn Esq Fellow of the Royal Society concerning the same Matter I Was at Rome in the Company of divers of the English Fathers when the News of the Arch-Bishop's Suffering and a Copy of his Sermon made upon the Scaffold came thither They read the Sermon and commented upon it with no small Satisfaction and Contempt and looked upon him as one that was a great Enemy to them and stood in their Way whilst one of the blackest Crimes imputed to him was his being Popishly affected John Evelyn FINIS BOOKS Printed for RICHARD CHISWELL SCriptorum 〈◊〉 Historia Literaria a Christo nate usque ad seculum xiv facili 〈◊〉 Digesta Qua de Vita illorum ac Rebus Gestis de Secta Dogmatibus 〈◊〉 Style de Scriptis Genuinis Dubiis Suppositiis Ineditis Deper ditis Fragmentis Deque Variis Operum Editionibus perspicue Agitur Accedunt Scriptores Gentiles Christianae Religionis 〈◊〉 Cujusvis Seculi Breviarum Inseruntur suis Locis Veterum 〈◊〉 Opuscula Fragmenta tum Graeca tum Latina hactenus inedita Premissa denique 〈◊〉 quibus plurima ad Antiquitatis Ecclesiasticae Studium spectantia Traduntur Opus indicibus necessariis Instructum Authore Gulielmo Cave SS Theol. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Windesoriensi Accedit Hen. Whartoni Appendix ab ineunte Secula xiv ad Annum usque MDX VII 〈◊〉 Disquisitiones Criticae de Variis per Diversa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bibliorum Editionibus Quibus Accedunt Castigationes Theologi Cujusdam Parisiensis ad Opusculum Is Vossii de Sybillinis Oraculis Ejusdem responsionem ad Objectiones nuperae Critica Sacra 4to Censura Celebriorum Authorum sive tractatus in quo Varia Virorum 〈◊〉 de Claris. Cuiusque Seculi Scriptoribus Judicia traduntur Unde Facilimo 〈◊〉 Lector 〈◊〉 queat quid in singulis quibusque istorum Authorum Maxime Memorabile sit qucnam in pretio apud Eruditos 〈◊〉 Habiti Fuerunt Opera Thomae Pope-Blunt Baroneti Fol V Cl Gulielmi Camdeni Illustrium 〈◊〉 ad G. Camdenum Epistolae cum Appendice Varii Argumenti Accesserunt Annalium Regni Regis Jacobi 〈◊〉 Apparatus 〈◊〉 de Antiquitate Dignitate Officio Comitis Marescali Angliae Premittitur G. Camdeni Vita Scriptore Thoma Smitho S T D Ecclesiae Anglicanae Presbytero 4to Jacobi Usserii Armachani Archiepiscopi Historia Degmatica Controversiae inter Orthodoxos 〈◊〉 de Scripturis Sacris Vernaculis nunc primum Edita Accesserunt ejusdem Dissertationes duae de Pseudo-Dionysii seriptis de 〈◊〉 ad Laodiceos antehac 〈◊〉 Descripsit Digessit notis atque auctario Locupletavit Henricus Wharton A M Rev in Christo Pat ac 〈◊〉 Archiepisc Cantuariensi a sacris Domesticis 4to 1690. Anglia 〈◊〉 sive Gollectio Historiarum Antiquitus Scriptarum de Archiepiscopis 〈◊〉 Angliae a Prima Fidei Christianae susceptione ad Annum 1540. in duobus Voluminibus per Henricum Whartonum Fol. 1691 Some Remarks upon the Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of 〈◊〉 By Peter Allix D D Treasurer of Sarum 4to his Remarks upon the Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of the Albigenses 4to Dr Burnet's now Lord Bishop of Sarum Vindication of the Ordinations of the Church of England 4to History of the Rights of Princes in disposing of Ecclesiastical Benefices and Church Lands 〈◊〉 8vo Life of William Bedel D D Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland together with the Copies of certain Letters which passed between Spain and England in matter of Religion concerning the general Motives to the Roman Obedience Between Mr James 〈◊〉 a late Pensioner of the Holy Inquisition in Sevil and the said William Bedel 8vo Some Passages of the Life and Death of John late Earl of Rochester 8vo A Collection of Tracts and Discourses from 1678 to Christmas 1689 inclusive In 2 Volumes 4to Examination of the Letter writ by the late Assembly-General of the Clergy of France to the 〈◊〉 inviting them to return to their Communion together with the Methods proposed by them for their Conviction 8vo Pastorall Letter to the Clergv of his Diocess concerning the
Corpus nostrum est subjectum quo recipitur Many weak Collections and Inferences are made by these Men out of this part of the Communion of the Bodily Presence of Christ but not one Evidence is or can be shewed As for Sectaries I have none nor none can have in this Point For no Men can be Sectaries or Followers of me in that which I never held or maintained And 't is well known I have maintained the contrary and perhaps as strongly as any my Opposits and upon Grounds more agreeable to the Doctrine of the Primitive Church Among these Sectaries which they will needs call mine they say there are which teach them that Christ is received in the Sacrament Corporaliter both Objectivè Subjectivé For this Opinion be it whose it will I for my part do utterly condemn it as grosly Superstitious And for the Person that affirms it they should have done well to name him and the place where he delivers this Opinion Had this been done it had been fair And I would then have clearly acknowledged what Relation if any the Person had to me and more fully have spoken to the Opinion it self when I might have seen the full scope together of all that he delivered But I doubt there is some ill Cause or other why this Author is not named by them Yet the Charge goes on 4. The Book of England abolishes all that may import the Oblation of †an unbloody Sacrifice but here we have besides the preparatory Oblation of the Elements which is neither to be found in the Book of England now nor in King Edward's Book of old The Oblation of the Body and the Blood of Christ which Bellarmin calls Sacrificium Laudis quia Deus per illud magnoperè laudatur This also agrees well with their late Doctrine First I think no Man doubts but that there is and ought to be offered up to God at the Consecration and Reception of this Sacrament Sacrificium Laudis the Sacrifice of Praise And that this ought to be expressed in the Liturgy for the Instruction of the People And these Words We entirely desire thy Fatherly Goodness Mercifully to accept this our Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving c. are both in the Book of England and in that which was prepared for Scotland And if Bellarmin do call the Oblation of the Body and the Blood of Christ a Sacrifice of Praise sure he doth well in it for so it is if Bellarmin mean no more by the Oblation of the Body and the Blood of Christ than a Commemoration and a Representation of that great Sacrifice offered up by Christ himself As Bishop Jewel very Learnedly and fully acknowledges But if Bellarmin go farther than this and by the Oblation of the Body and the Blood of Christ mean that the Priest Offers up that which Christ himself did and not a Commemoration of it only he is Erroneous in that and can never make it good But what Bellarmin's Opinion and Meaning is when he calls it Sacrificium Laudis a Sacrifice of Praise I cannot tell till they be pleased to cite the place that I may see and consider of it In the mean time there is as little said in the Liturgy for Scotland which may import an Oblation of an unbloody Sacrifice as is in the Book of England As for the Oblation of the Elements that 's fit and proper And I am sorry for my part that it is not in the Book of England But they say farther We are ready when it shall be judged convenient and we shall be desired to discover much more of Matters in this kind as Grounds laid for Missa Sicca or the Half Mass for Private Mass without the People of Communicating in one kind of the Consumption by the Priest and Consummation of the Sacrifice of receiving the Sacrament in the Mouth and not in the Hand c. Here 's a Conclusion of this Charge against me concerning the Service-Book And these charitable Men which have sought no less than my Life now say they are ready when it shall be convenient and that they shall be desired to deliver much more in this kind Sure the time can never be more convenient for them than now when any thing they will say shall be believed even against apparent Evidence or most full Proof to the contrary And I do desire them that notwithstanding this is Hora vestra Potestas Tenebrarum their most convenient time that they will discover any thing which they have more to say But the Truth is here 's nothing in this threatned Heap but Cunning and Malice For they would seem to reckon up many things but divers of them are little different as Missa Sicca and Communicating in one kind And neither these nor any of the rest offered with any Proof nor indeed are they able to prove that any Grounds are laid for any one of them in that Service-Book And for my own part I have expressed my self as fully against these particulars as any Protestant that hath Written Yet they say Our Supplications were many against these Books But Canterbury procured them to be Answered with Horrible Proclamations We were constrained to use the Remedy of Protestation But for our Protestations and other Lawful Means which were used for our Deliverance Canterbury procured us to be declared Rebells and Traytors to all the Parish-Kirks of England where we were seeking to possess our Religion in Peace against those Devices and Novations Canterbury kindles War against us In all these it is known that he was although not thes ole yet the principal Agent and Adviser Their Supplications against these Books of the Canons and the Service were many indeed But how well qualified the matter duly considered I leave to them who shall take the pains to look into them And howsoever most untrue it is that I caused them to be answered with Horrible Proclamations Nor were they constrained by any thing that I know but their own wilfulness to use the Churlish Remedy of Protestation against their Sovereigns Lawful Power in Lawful Things They add that for their Protestations and other Lawful Means which they used for their Deliverance Canterbury procured them to be proclaimed Rebels Now truly I know no other Lawful means that they used but taking up of Arms professedly against the King And I for my part do not conceive that Lawful for Subjects to do in any Cause of Religion or otherwise and this I am sure was the Ancient Christian Doctrine And yet when they had taken up Arms I did not procure them to be declarered Rebels and Traytors The Proclamation for that went out by Common Advise of the Lords of the Council and their carriage at that time deserv'd it plentifully let them paint over that Action how they can And let the World and future Ages judge whether to take Arms against their Sovereign were a Christian and an orderly seeking to
Peace of both Kingdoms which must be little less than a Miracle if he do As for my Hand that it was at the Warrant of Restraint of the Commissioners sent from the Parliament c. This also is but a meer clamour to bring me into further hatred which hath been their aim all along For why else is my Hand picked out alone whereas the Hands of all for ought I know that were then present at the Committee were subscribed to that Warrant And yet it seems no Hand hath troubled them but mine And for these Commissioners seeking the Peace of the Kingdom I will not offer to enter upon their Thoughts what they sought but leave it to future times that will discover the success of things and by it open the aim of the Agents how they sought the Peace of these Kingdoms But yet they go on For when we had say they by our Declarations Remonstrances and Representations manifested the Truth of our Intentions and Lawfulness of our Actions to all the good Subjects of the Kingdom of England when the late Parliament would not be moved to assist or enter into a War against us maintaining our Religion and our Liberties Canterbury did not only advise the breaking up of that High and Honourable Court to the great grief and hazard of the Kingdom but which is without Example did sit still in the Convocation and make Canons and Constitutions against us and our Just and Necessary defence They did indeed offer by many Pamphlets Printed and sent into England to manifest the Truth of their Intentions which was to join close with their Party here and come and gain some good Booty in England And this end they have obtained But the lawfulness of their Actions they neither have nor can make good to any Impartial and Judicious Reader of them And whereas they say they have made the lawfulness of them manifest to all the good Subjects of the Kingdom of England you must know that they are only such English as joyn with them in their Plot or at least in Affection to Religion And 't is easie to make any thing that fits their Humour and comes from their Associats manifest enough But God forbid these should be all the good Subjects of England which it may too justly be feared are none of them And yet it cannot be denied but that England hath at this day much too many of these good Subjects They add further that the late Parliament would not assist nor enter into a War against them I believe that is true and I leave the Parliament to give their own Reasons why they would not But I am sure that which follows is most untrue That I gave Advice for the breaking of it up as appears by that which I have formerly set down and will not repeat And I shall ever wish from my Heart that the Kingdom may never be hazarded more than it hath been by my Counsels and then by God's Blessing it shall be a happier Kingdom than the youngest now alive are like to see it if things go on in the Track they now are Next they say that without all Example I sat still in Convocation though the Parliament were risen Without Example What is that to them if it were so But the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury have sate in Convocation and made Canons too when no Parliament hath been sitting as is most manifest by the Records of that See Yea but there is no Example of it since the Reformation Be it so Nor is it for all that forbidden in the Statute of the submission of the Clergy 25 H. 8. so they sit by the King 's Writ And yet here I was so careful as that I caused the great Lawyers of the Kingdom to be consulted abaut it and followed their Judgments as is before expressed And for the Canons which were made they were not against them One branch indeed of the first Canon is against Subjects bearing Arms against their King offensive or defensive under any pretence whatsoever But this as it is the Antient Doctrine which the Church of Christ hath ever Taught in all times and places So is it not against them at all unless they against Christian Religion and Natural All giance bear Arms against their King But if they do or have done so the Canon that was not made against them hits them full And in this Case let them pretend what they list their Defence can neither be Just nor Necessary Yea but they say farther that I Ordained under all highest pains That hereafter the Clergy shall Preach four times in the Year such Doctrine as is contrary not only to our Proceedings but to the Doctrine of other Reformed Kirks to the Judgment of all sound Divines and Politicks and tending to the utter Slavery and Ruine of all States and Kingdoms and to the dishonour of Kings and Monarchs This goes high indeed if it were as full in proof as 't is loud in expression But here is not one shew of Proof added either from Reason or Authority Divine or Humane more than their bare word And therefore I must answer it in the same Key First then 't is true that in the Preface of the first Canon every Minister is injoyned under a Penalty to Publish to his People the Exposition of Regal Power contained in that Canon and this once every quarter of a Year So then if the Doctrine contained in that Canon be true and it was approved for Truth by the whole National Synod of England then all this high Charge falls low enough Besides it will concern them to consider well what their Proceedings have been For as for this Canon it is according to the Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Church And they surely were both Pious and Sound Divines that lived in it and I for my part shall hold no Man a Sound Divine that runs contrary to it Now that the Primitive Christians were of Opinion that Subjects ought not to take Arms against their Kings Offensive or Defensive upon any pretence whatsoever which are the words in our Canon which they are so angry with no not for or under pretence of Religion see the Proofs in the Margin For in the most bitter Times of Persecution for the very highest points of Religion whatever Miseries they indured they still contained themselves within the bounds of their Obedience And that too not out of any want of Power but will to hurt And if the Doctrine of other Reformed Churches be contrary to this they shall do well to shew it and then I 'll give such farther Answer as is fit But if the Canon be contrary to the Judgment of sound Politiques I know not which they call sound For if they mean such as are of their Feather I think their Judgments are alike Sound that is neither And if they mean Learned and well experienced Politiques I believe they will be able to shew none of
their Opinion unless they be such as have been bred up either in their Faction or in the Opposite at Rome For Bodin is clear That Arms may not be taken up against the Prince be he never so Impious and Wicked And instances in Saul and Nebuchadnezzar And Grotius doth not only say as much as Bodin but Censures them which hold the contrary to be Men which serve Time and Place more than Truth Nor is it any whit more Lawful for Inferiour Magistrates to make this resistance against the King than it is for private Men. And this is universally true where the Princes are free and have not undertaken the Government under that or the like Condition or being free seek with a Hostile Mind to ruine their People which is scarce possible And a great Civilian tells us that he is properly a Rebel that resists the Emperor or his Officers in things belonging to the State of the Empire Some Cases he lays down indeed in which the pleasure of a Prince may not be obeyed but none in which his Power is to be resisted Nor is it any marvel that Christians do disallow the taking up of Arms against the Prince since even the soundest Politicks among the Heathen have declared so likewise Aristotle was of this Opinion that if the Magistrate strike yet he is not to be struck again And Seneca that Men are to bear the unjust as well as the just Commands of Princes And Tacitus that good Emperours are to be desired but whatever they be to be born with And Plutarch that it is not Lawful to offer any Violence to the Person of the King And Cicero That no Force is to be offered either to a Man's Parent or to his Country And therefore in his Judgment not to the Prince who is Pater Patriae the Father of his Country And the truth is where-ever the contrary Opinion is maintained the Prince can never be safe nor the Government setled But so soon as a Faction can get a fit Head and gather sufficient strength all is torn in pieces and the Prince lost for no considerable Errour or perhaps none at all For a strong Party once Heated can as easily make Faults as find them either in Church or Common-wealth And make the King say as Zedekiah sometimes did to his potent Nobles Behold Jeremiah is in your Hands for the King is not he that can do any thing against you Jerem. 38. But whereas they say it is a Doctrine that tends to the utter Slavery and ruin of all States and Kingdoms That will appear most untrue by the very Letter of the Canon it self which gives way to no Tyranny but expresses only the true Power of a King given by God and to be exercised according to God's Law and the several Laws of Kingdoms respectively And I hope there will ever be a real difference found in Christian Kingdoms between the Doctrine that tends to Slavery and Ruine and that which forbids taking up of Arms against their Sovereign which is all that this Canon doth And in the mean time I pray God this not Doctrine only but Practice also of taking up Arms against the Lord 's Anointed under meer pretence of Religion do not in a shorter time than is fear'd bring all to Confusion where-ever 't is Practised For howsoever it bears a shew of Liberty yet this way of maintaining it is not only dishonourable to Kings but the ready way to make them study ways of Force and to use Power when-ever they get it to abridge the Liberties of such over-daring Subjects And in all times it hath sown the Seeds of Civil Combustions which have ended in Slavery and Ruine of flourishing Kingdoms And I pray God these do not end so in this But they go on And as if this had not been sufficient he procures six Subsidies to be lifted of the Clergy under pain of Deprivation to all who should refuse The giving of the King Subsidies is no new thing The Clergy have bin ever willing to the uttermost of their Power But what I and my Brethren of the Clergy did at this time therein is before set down And I hold it not fit to lengthen this Tract with the needless Repetition of any thing And which is yet more and above which Malice it self cannot ascend by his means a Prayer is framed Printed and sent through all the Parishes of England to be said in all Churches in time of Divine Service next after the Prayer for the Queen and Royal Progeny against our Nation by Name as Trayterous Subjects having cast off all Obedience to our Anointed Sovereign and coming in a Rebellious manner to Invade England that shame may cover our Faces as Enemies to God and the King We are now come to the last part of their Charge and that 's the Prayer which was made and sent to be used in all Churches when the Scots came into England But this Prayer was made not by my means or procurement but by his Majesties special Command to me to see it done And it hath bin ever usual in England upon great and urgent occasions to have one or more Prayers made by some Bishop or Bishops nearest hand to fit the Present business And this may appear by divers Forms and Prayers so made and publickly used in all times since the Reformation And since this Prayer was made by his Majesties own Command I am sorry they should say of it that Malice it self cannot ascend above it Though I perswade my self they thought to hit me not him in this Speech Now what I pray is that above which Malice it self cannot ascend Why first it is That they were called in that Prayer trayterous Subjects which had cast off all Obedience to their Anointed Sovereign Why but Truth spake this not Malice For Trayterous Subjects they were then if ever a King had any And the Kings Proclamation called them so before that Prayer came forth And what Title soever it is fit to give them now since his Majesty hath bin graciously pleased to treat with them and pass by their Offence that 's another thing but as the case stood then they had shaken off all Obedience and were as they were then called Trayterous Subjects And I had a special Charge from the King not to spare that Name Secondly They except against this that 't is there said that they came in a Rebellious manner to Invade this Kingdom And that is most true too for whereas they said they came in a peaceable manner to deliver their Petitions to the King for the Liberty of their Religion and Laws Is it a peaceable way to come two or three and twenty Thousand Men strong and Armed to deliver a Petition Let the whole World judge whether this were not a Rebellious Invasion Thirdly They say 't is desir'd in the Prayer that God would with shame cover the Faces
of his and the King's Enemies Out of doubt this Petition proceeds from Devotion not from Malice And if the Scots when they Invaded England upon a Treacherous Plot and Conjuncture with the like Faction here that so both might have their Ends against the King and the Church were not God's Enemies and the Kings the Prayer meddles not with them If they were as for my part I must believe if I judge by their Actions they deserve all that can be prayed against them so long as they continue in that Disobedience And yet the Prayer was not as 't is said against their Nation by Name No God forbid their Nation hath I doubt not very many devout Servants to God and Loyal Subjects to their King But it was aginst that prevailing Faction among them which in that great Rebellious Action became Enemies both to God and the King Now follows the Conclusion Whosoever will Impartially Examin what hath proceeded from himself in these two Books of Canons and Common Prayer what Doctrine hath bin Published and Printed these Years past in England by his Disciples and Emissaries What gross Popery in the most material Points we have found and are ready to shew in the Posthume Writings of the Prelates of Edinburgh and Dunblaine his own Creatures his nearest Familiars and most willing Instruments to advance his Counsels and Projects shall perceive that his Intentions were deep and large against all the Reformed Kirks and Reformation of Religion which in his Majesties Dominions was Panting and had by this time rendred up the Ghost if God had not in a wonderful way of Mercy prevented us The Conclusion is like the rest much said in it and nothing proved Where first I desire no favour but an Impartial Examination of a Discreet Pious and Judicious Reader of all things done by me in the one Book or the other Next for the Doctrine which hath been Printed these Years past though little or none hath been Published by any Disciple or Emissary of mine I perswade my self the Intelligent and Impartial Reader will find it to be as sound and Orthodox as any that hath been Printed in any so many Years since the Reformation And if they whom I was necessarily to trust in that Business have slipped any thing they are subject to answer the Laws in that behalf Thirdly what gross Popery they have found in the Posthume Writings of the Prelates of Edinburgh and Dunblaine I know not This I know 't is an Easie but a base thing to abuse the Dead who cannot answer for themselves And they which are so over-bold with the Living may easily and justly enough be suspected not to hold over-fair quarter with the Grave But whereas it is said that these worthy Men for such they were were my Creatures my nearest Familiars my willing Instruments and the like This I do here avow for truth I was a meer Stranger to Dr. Forbys late Prelate of Edinburgh The first time that ever I saw him was when I attended as a Chaplain in Ordinary upon King James of blessed Memory in the Year 1617. At which time I heard him Preach very learnedly before his Majesty After that time I never saw him till I attended his Majesty that now is as Dean of his Chappel into Scotland in the Year 1633. In the mean time I had contracted no Friendship no Letters had passed between us Then he Preached again very Learnedly and his Majesty resolved to make him Bishop of Edinburgh which was done accordingly and to my Remembrance he lived not above a Year after or very little more And this was all the near Familiarity that was between him and me With the Bp. of Dunblaine Dr. Wedderborne I confess I had more and longer Acquaintance for he lived some Years in England and was recommended unto me as a Man that had very good parts and Learning in him He lived long with Mr. Isaac Casaubon who was not like to teach him any Popery and who certainly would not have retained him so long or so near unto him had he not found him a deserver After I came acquainted with him I wished him very well for his worth sake and did what I could for him to enable him to live But sure if my Intentions were so deep as they are after said to be he could be no fit Instrument for me he being a meer Scholar and a Book-Man and as unfit for as unacquainted with such Counsels and Projects as these Men would make me Author of And if my Intentions were so deep out of doubt I had Brains enough to make a wiser Choice of Instruments to advance them This for the Men. But for the Matter if any posthume Papers of theirs be other than they ought their Credit must answer for them to the World as their Conscience hath already done to God And for my own part I protest I do not nor ever did know of any such Papers which they had or left behind nor do I believe they left any behind them but such as were worthy their Learning and Integrity But my Intentions they say were deep and large against all the Reformed Kirks Surely the deeper the worse if they were so ill But as I cannot be so vain to assume to my self any such depth So I humbly thank God for it I am free from all such wickedness The worst thought I had of any Reformed Church in Christendom was to wish it like the Church of England and so much better as it should please God to make it And the deepest intention I had concerning all or any of them was how they might not only be wished but made so As for the Reformation of Religion in his Majesties Dominions which they say was panting and had given up the Ghost if God had not in a wonderful way of Mercy prevented them First this is under Favour most untrue and a base and most undeserved Scandal put upon his Majesty's Government Secondly I shall take leave to Prophesy that unless after all this Tumbling the People can be 〈◊〉 that all stand for matters of Religion both Doctrine and Discipline and that rather with addition to the Churches Power than detracting from it as they then did when these Men say the Reformation was pantting and giving up the Ghost I much doubt that neither they nor their Childrens Children after shall see such Happy Days again for all things as these were which they so unthankfully to God and their King murmured against and as these Men yet snarl at And for the Spirit which prevented them in this Action in such a wonderful way of Mercy if ever they awake out of this Lethargy for better it is not they will then see whence he is and whither he tends They add to this That if the Pope himself had been in his place he could not have been more Popish nor could he more Zealously have Negotiated for Rome against the Reformed Kirks to
to lay hold of that Opportunity to be rid of the Scots But so good and so quick was the Intelligence from some of the Lords that the House of Commons was risen before the Messengers from the Lords could get thither and so the Conference was not only prevented but things so ordered that the Scots stayed in England till the middle of August following at a marvellous great Charge to the Kingdom and with what Wrong and Dishonour to King and Kingdom let Posterity Judge Before the Death of the Earl of Strafford the Libels came out thick and very Malitious against him And all this to whet the Malice that was against him and make the People more greedy for his Death But no sooner was he gone into his Rest but the Libellers which during that time reviled him fell on me and no question but to the same end And the Libels and Ballads against me were frequently spread through the City and sung up and down the Streets And I thank God for it they were as full of Falshood as Gall. Besides they made base Pictures of me putting me into a Cage and fastning me to a Post by a Chain at my Shoulder and the like And divers of these Libels made Men sport in Taverns and Alehouses where too many were as Drunk with Malice as with the Liquor they sucked in Against which my only Comfort was that I was fallen but into the same Case with the Prophet David Psal. 69. For they that sat in the Gate spake against me and I was the Song of the Drunkards About this time I fell into a Tertian Ague which was Comfortless in a Prison But I humbly Praise God for it after seven or eight Fits he restored me to my Health the only Comfort which I have under him in this time of my Affliction CAP. X. UPon Wednesday June 23. I acquainted His Majesty by my Lord of London that now I had answered all Complaints come against me concerning the Vniversity of Oxford I thought it requisite for me to Resign the Chancellorship of that place And I gave His Majesty such Reasons as he approved for my so doing And the truth is I suffered much by the Clamours of the Earl of Pembroke who thought it long till he had that place which he had long gaped for And after the Cloud was once spread over me spared me in no Company though I had in all the time of my Prosperity observed him in Court more than ever he had deserved of me And I had reason notwithstanding all his causless Heat to keep the place till I had justified my self against the Towns-Mens Petition to the Lords wherein they Charged me with no less than Treason for setting out a Proclamation about Regulating the Market in my own Name But I made it appear to the Lords that I did no more therein than the Earl of Leicester in Queen Elizabeth's time or the Earl of Dorset in King James his time did before me when they were Chancellors of that Vniversity And I was able to shew the Lords and did so the Copies of both their several Proclamations in Print in their own Names And farther I made appear by the Vniversity Records that the Chancellors for the time being had frequently done it ever since the time of King Edward 3 And that the Lord Mayor of London and other Mayors having the Clark-ship of the Market as the Chancellors of Oxford have and not the Mayor do it daily So this great and most Malicious Complaint of the City of Oxford vanished when they and some body else for them had shewed their Teeth but could not bite But having ended this Business and my Vice-Chancellor whom I was not willing to Expose to anothers hand had finished his Year and that according to Duty I had given His Majesty an Account of the Business I pursued my Resolution And upon Friday June the 25th I sent down my Resignation of the Chancellorship of Oxford to be Published in Convocation which was done accordingly and the Earl of Pembroke had his desires and was chosen into it God bless the Vniversity there-while and grant they may never have need of me now unable to help them On Tuesday August 10. His Majesty rode away Post into Scotland the Parliaments Sitting in both Kingdoms and the Armies not yet dissolved There was great Scanning about this Journey And the House of Commons sent some Commissioners thither as the Scots had some here Among the Scotch Commissioners the Prime Man was the Earl of Róthes who also was one of the greatest and most Zealous Leaders of the Scottish Rebellion under the pretence of Religion and a deadly Enemy to the Earl of Strafford and was heard to say more than once they would have his Head And they had it But much about this time Rothes his Zeal was so hot among the Ladies and the Citizens Wives that he fell very foully into the Pox And divers of his Friends as they told me themselves going to visit him were not admitted to see him and at last he was conveyed from London to Richmond by his Aunt the Lady Roxborough where he dyed But this base and dishonourable End of his in Rottenness they concealed as much as they could What the King did in Scotland hath no Relation for ought I yet hear to this poor Story of mine And the Parliament here made a Recess Aug. ... till Octob. ..... leaving a considerable Committee Sitting to prepare Business against the House met again During this Recess there was all silence concerning me And as is conceived upon this Ground Because before the Recess the Committee appointed for that Business failed in some Proofs which they well hoped should have reached me home in Matters of Religion and thereupon have done little since And the Libels since that time have neither been so frequent nor so Malicious against me God quiet this Storm though I praise God I know not why it was raised so high against me On Thursday September 23 1641. Mr Adam Torless my Ancient Loving and Faithful Servant and then my Steward after he had served me full Forty and Two Years dyed to my great both loss and grief For all my Accounts since my Commitment were in his Hands and had he not been a very Honest and Careful Man I must have suffered much more than I did yet I suffered enough besides the loss of his Person who was now become almost the only Comfort of my Affliction and my Age. So true it is that Afflictions seldom come single CAP. XI DUring the Recess of the Parliament Sir Hen Martyn dyed and I made Dr Merricke Judge of the Prerogative Dr Duck missing his hopes of this Office by his own absence and default and finding me under this thick Cloud hoped to have wrested this Office out of my Hands and his to whom I had given it This was one of the basest and most ungrateful parts that
how such a Carriage as this through the whole Course of my Life in private and publick can stand with an Intention nay a Practice to overthrow the Law and to introduce an Arbitrary Government which my Soul hath always hated I cannot yet see And 't is now many Years since I learned of my great Master In humanis Aristotle Periculosum esse that it is a very dangerous thing to trust to the Will of the Judge rather than the written Law And all Kingdoms and Commonwealths have followed his Judgment ever since and the School-Disputes have not dissented from it Nay more I have ever been of Opinion that Humane Laws bind the Conscience and have accordingly made Conscience of observing them And this Doctrine I have constantly Preached as occasion hath been offered me And how is it possible I should seek to overthrow those Laws which I held my self bound in Conscience to keep and observe Especially since an endeavour to overthrow Law is a far greater Crime than to break or disobey any particular Law whatsoever all Particulars being swept away in that General And my Lords that this is my Judgment both of Parliaments and Laws I beseech your Lordships that I may read a short Passage in my Book against Fisher the Jesuit which was Printed and Published to the World before these Troubles fell on me and before I could so much as suspect this Charge could come against me and therefore could not be purposely written to serve any Turn I had leave and did read it but for Brevities sake refer the Reader to the Book it self As for Religion I was born and bred up in and under the Church of England as it yet stands Established by Law I have by God's Blessing and the Favour of my Prince grown up in it to the Years which are now upon me and to the Place of Preferment which I yet bear And in this Church by the Grace and Goodness of God I resolve to Dye I have ever since I understood ought in Divinity kept one constant Tenor in this my Profession without variation or shifting from one Opinion to another for any worldly Ends And if my Conscience would have suffered me to shift Tenets in Religion with Time and Occasion I could easily have slid through all the difficulties which have pressed upon me in this kind But of all Diseases I have ever hated a Palsie in Religion well knowing that too often a Dead-Palsie ends that Difease in the fearful forgetfulness of God and his Judgments Ever since I came in Place I laboured nothing more than that the External Publick Worship of God too much slighted in most parts of this Kingdom might be preserved and that with as much Decency and Uniformity as might be being still of Opinion that Vnity cannot long continue in the Church where Vniformity is shut out at the Church-Door And I evidently saw that the Publick neglect of God's Service in the outward Face of it and the nasty lying of many Places Dedicated to that Service had almost cast a Damp upon the true and inward Worship of God which while we live in the Body needs External helps and all little enough to keep it in any vigour And this I did to the uttermost of my Knowledge according both to Law and Canon and with the consent and liking of the People Nor did any Command Issue out from me against the one or without the other that I know of Farther my Lords give me leave I beseech you to tell you this also That I have as little Acquaintance with Recusants of any sort as I believe any Man of Place in England hath And for my Kindred no one of them was ever a Recusant but Sir William Webb Grandchild to my Uncle Sir William Webb sometimes Lord Mayor of London and him with some of his Children I reduced back again to the Church of England as is well known and I as able to prove One thing more I humbly desire may be thought on 't is this I I am fallen into a great deal of Obloquy in Matter of Religion and that so far as that 't is charged in the Articles That I have endeavoured to advance and bring in Popery Perhaps my Lords I am not ignorant what Party of Men have raised this Scandal upon me nor for what End nor perhaps by whom set on But howsoever I would fain have a good Reason given me if my Conscience lead me that way and that with my Conscience I could Subscribe to the Church of Rome what should have kept me here before my Imprisonment to indure the Libels and the Slanders and the base usage in all kinds which have been put upon me and these to end in this Question for my Life I say I would fain know a good Reason of this For first My Lords Is it because of any Pledges I have in the World to sway me against my Conscience No sure For I have nor Wife nor Children to cry out upon me to stay with them and if I had I hope the Call of my Conscience should be heard above them Or Secondly Is it because I was loth to leave the Honour and the Profit of the Place I was risen unto Surely no For I desire your Lordships and all the World else should know I do much scorn Honour and Profit both the one and the other in comparison of my Conscience Besides it cannot be imagined by any Reasonable Man but that if I could have complyed with Rome I should not have wanted either Honour or Profit And suppose I could not have so much of either as here I had yet sure would my Conscience have served me that way less of either with my Conscience would have prevailed with me more than greater against my Conscience Or Thirdly Is it because I lived here at ease and was loth to venture the loss of that Not so neither For whatsoever the World may be pleased to think of me I have 〈◊〉 very painful Life and such as I could have been very well content to change had I well known how And had my Conscience led me that way I am sure I might have lived at far more ease and either have avoided the barbarous Libellings and other bitter and grievous Scorns which I have here indured or at the least been out of the hearing of them Nay my Lords I am as Innocent in this business of Religion as free from all Practice or so much as thought of Practice for any alteration to Popery or any way blemishing the True Protestant Religion Established in the Church of England as I was when my Mother first bare me into the World And let nothing be spoken against me but Truth and I do here Challenge whatsoever is between Heaven and Hell to say their worst against me in point of my Religion In which by God's Grace I have ever hated Dissimulation and had I not
here stepped in Mr. Pryn and said This was according to the Form in Missali Parvo But 't is well known I borrowed nothing thence All that I used was according to the Copy of the late Reverend Bishop of Winchester Bishop Andrews which I have by me to be seen and which himself used all his Time Then from my Chappel he went to my Study And there the Second Charge was That I had a Bible with the Five Wounds of Christ fair upon the Cover of it This was curiously wrought in Needle-Work The Bible was so sent me by a Lady and she a Protestant I was loth to deface the Work but the Bible I kept in my Study from any Man's Hand or Eye that might take Offence at it Mr. Brown touched upon this and my Answer was the same saving that I mentioned not the Lady Secondly That I had in my Study a Missal and divers other Books belonging to the Roman Liturgy My Lords 't is true I had many but I had more of the Greek Liturgies than the Roman And I had as many of both as I could get And I would know how we shall answer their Errors if we may not have their Books I had Liturgies all I could get both Ancient and Modern I had also the Alcoarn in divers Copies If this be an Argument why do they not accuse me to be a Turk Thirdly to this Charge was added my Private Prayer Book which Mr. Pryn had taken from me in his Search Where first I observed That the Secrets between God and my Soul were brought to be divulged in open Court Nihil Gravius dicam But see whether it can be parallel'd in Hetheanism But what Popery was found in these Prayers Why first they said my Prayers were in Canonical Hours Hora Sexta Hora Nona c. I injoyned my self several hours of Prayer That I hope is no Sin And if some of them were Church-Hours that 's no Sin neither Seven Times a Day will I praise thee was the Prophet David's long before any Canonical Hours And among Christians they were in use before Popery got any Head God grant this may be my greatest Sin Secondly The Prayer which I made at the Consecration of the Chappel at Hammersmith I desired that might be read or any other No Offence found Thirdly the Word Prostratus in my Private Devotions before I came to the Eucharist If I did so to God what 's that to any Man But I pray in all this curious Search and Mr. Pryn here and all along spared no pains why were no Prayers to the B. Virgin and the Saints found if I were so swallowed up in Popery From my Study he went on to my Gallery The Serjeant would find out Popery ere he had done Thence I was Charged with three Pictures The First of them was a Fair Picture of the Four Fathers of the Western Church S Ambrose S Jerom S Augustine and S Gregory It was as Lawful to have this Picture as the Picture of any other Men. Yea but there was a Dove pictured over them and that stood for the Holy-Ghost That 's more than any Witness did or durst depose The Second was the Ecce Homo as Pilate brought Christ forth and shewed him to the Jews This Picture is Common and I yet know no hurt of it so it be not Worshipped And that I detest as much as any Man and have written as much against it as any Protestant hath And it was then read in part And for both these Pictures I answered farther out of Calvin That it is Lawful to make and have the Picture of any things Quorum sint Capaces Oculi which may be seen Now the Dove was visible and seen S. John 1. That 's for the first Picture And for the Second the Ecce Homo why did Pilat say Ecce but that the Jews might and did see him St. Joh. 19. So both Pictures lawful by the Rule laid down by Calvin Mr. Brown Charged against both these Pictures very warmly And when I had Answer'd as before in his Reply he fell upon my Answer and said it was in the Homilies but either he quoted not the place or I else slipped it That every Picture of Christ was a Lye because whole Christ cannot be Pictured But by this Argument it is unlawful to Picture any Man for the whole Man cannot be Pictured Who ever drew a Picture of the Soul And yet who so simple as to say the Picture of a Man is a Lye Besides the Ecce Homo is a Picture of the Humanity of Christ only which may as lawfully be drawn as any other Man And it may be I may give farther Answer when I see the place in the Homilies The Third Picture found in my Gallery I marvel why it was produced For it relates to that of our Saviour St. John 10. Where he says that the Shepherd enters into the Sheepfold by the door but they which climb up to enter another way are Thieves and Robbers And in that Picture the Pope and the Fryars are climbing up to get in at the Windows So 't is as directly against Popery as can be Besides it was Witnessed before the Lords by Mr. Walter Dobson an Ancient Servant both to Arch-Bishop Bancroft and Abbot that both the Ecce Homo and this Picture were in the Gallery when he came first to Lambeth-House which was about Forty Years since So it was not brought thither by me to countenance Popery And I hope your Lordships do not think me such a Fool if I had an intention to alter Religion I would hang the Profession of it openly in my Gallery thereby to bring present danger upon my self and destroy the work which themselves say I intended cunningly And if there be any Error in having and keeping such Pictures yet that is no sufficient proof that I had any intention to alter the Religion Established which I desire may be taken notice of once for all From my Gallery the Serjeant crossed the Water to White-Hall and sure in haste for at that time he took no leave of Captain Guest or his Wife before he left Lambeth At the Court he met Sir Henry Mildmay This Knight being produced by him against me says That in my time Bowings were constantly used in the Chappel there But first Dr. Featly told your Lordships there was nothingin my Chappel but as it was in use at White-Hall So all the Popery I could bring was there before And Secondly if bowing to God in his own House be not amiss as how it should I yet know not then there can be no fault in the constant doing of it Quod semel fecisse bonum est non potest malum esse si frequentèr fiat So St. Jerome Teaches Thirdly I am very sorry that any Reverence to God in his House and in the time of his Worship
I produced Mr. Dobson an ancient Servant to my Predecessors who witnessed that Arch-Bishop Bancroft had store of them and kept them all his Time Nor do I know how this Charge can fall upon me For there is no one Word in any of the Letters produced that Reflects upon me or any Plot of mine Nor indeed had I ever any such to Reflect upon The Fourth Charge is That I had a Hand in the Plot for sending the King when he was Prince into Spain to be perverted in his Religion They follow their Proof of this out of my Diary And they begin with my Friendship with the Lord Duke of Buckingham who waited on the Prince in this Journey And first they urged my Diary at June 9. 1622. where I mention that there were then Particulars which are not for Paper But the Words which lead these in were his entrance upon a near Respect to me the particular Expressions whereof were not for Paper Nor Word nor Thought of either Plot or Popery Then they urged June 15. 1622. where 't is said that I became C. that is Confessor to the Lord Duke First if my Lord Duke would Honour me so much as to make me his Confessor as I know no Sin in it so is it abundantly Proof that the Passages before mentioned were not for Paper Should I venture them so there 's never a Person of Honour present but would think me most unworthy of that Trust. Next they pressed June 13. 1623. where I confess that I received Letters from my Lord Duke out of Spain I did so and I then held it great Honour to me and do so still But then and long before it was known to all Men whither he was gone and with whom Nay it was commonly known to all Men of Quality hereabout within three or four Days And till it was so commonly known I knew it not Yea but then they inforced out of Feb. 17. 1622 3. That the Prince and the Marquess of Buckingham set forward very Secretly for Spain And Feb. 21. that I writ to his Lordship into Spain 'T is true they went away that Day and very secretly but I neither did nor could set it down till afterwards that I came to know it And then so soon as I came to know it which was about the 21th I did write To these was Cunningly how Honestly let all the World Judge pieced a Passage out of a Letter of mine to Bishop Hall But that Letter was read at my humble motion to the Lords and the Date of it was in 1634. So many Years after this Business of Spain And the Passage mentioned was only about King James his manner of defending the Pope to be Antichrist and how he salved it while the Prince was in Spain But King James related it after Nor could any Words of that Letter be drawn to the King 's going thither much less to any knowledge I had of it The Fifth Charge was concerning his Majesty's Match with France And here again they urge my Diary at Mar. 11. 1625. That the Duke of Buckingham was then and there employed And at May 19. and 29. that I then writ Letters to him First my Lords I hold it my great Honour that my Lord Duke would write to me and give me leave to write to him Secondly I have committed some Error in these Letters or none If none why are they Charged If any why are they not produced that I may see what it is and answer it The Sixth Charge was That I was an Instrument of the Queens This they endeavoured to prove by my Diary in Three Places First at Aug. 30. 1634. Vpon occasion of some Service done she was graciously pleased to give me leave to have immediate Access unto her when I had Occasion This is true and I most humbly Thanked her Majesty for it For I very well knew what belonged to Addresses at Second Hand in Court But what Crime is in this that the Queen was pleased to give me Access unto her when I had Occasion Here 's no Word of Religion Secondly at May 18. 1635. Where 't is said that I gave her Majesty an account of some thing committed to me If her Majesty sent or spake to me to do any thing as it seems she did shall I want so much Duty as to give her an Account of it So belike I must be unmannerly with her Majesty or lye open to no less than a Charge of high Treason Thirdly at April 3. 1639. 'T is made a great matter that I should then dispatch a great business for the Queen which I understood she would not move for her self And that for this her Majesty gave me great Thanks Mr. Nicolas his Inference upon this was that they conceive wherefore But his Conceit makes no Evidence He must not only conceive but prove wherefore before it can work any thing against me As for Religion as there is no Word of it in my Diary so neither was it at this time thought on Her Majesty would therein have moved for her self But it seems it must be a Crime if I be but Civil and Dutiful towards the Queen though it be but thrice mentioned in so many Years The Seventh Charge was that I forbad Ministers Praying for the Queens Conversion and punished others The First Witness Mr. Ratcliff says that Sir Nath. Brent gave it in Charge at Bow Church in my Visitation The more to blame he if so he did Yea but he says it was by my Command delivered unto him by Sir John Lambe Was it so How doth Mr. Ratcliff know that He doth not express He was not present when I spake with Sir John Lambe And if Sir Nath. Brent told him of it 't is but Hearsay And Sir Nath. having been so ready a Witness against me why is he not examined to this Particular And as for the Paper which was shewed it appears plainly there that it was no Paper of Instructions sent to my Visitors by me but of particular Informations to me Of which one was that the Queen was prayed for in a very Factious and Scandalous Way And this appeared when that Paper was read And this I referred to my Visitors as I not only might but ought Not forbidding the Prayers but the Scandalous manner of them The Second Witness was Mr. Pryn. Who says That one Mr. Jones was punished for praying for the Queen He was punished in the High-Commission for scandalous Abusing the Queen under a Form of Praying for her and for divers other Articles that were against him And this Answer I gave to Mr. Brown who forgot not this in summing up my Charge The Eighth Charge was That I punished Men for Praying to preserve the Prince No God forbid The High-Commission Book was shewed and that there in the Year 1634. one Mr. Howe was Censured for it I got this Act of the High-Commission to be read to the Lords His Prayer went
thus That God would preserve the Prince in the true Religion of which there was cause to fear Could this Prayer have any other Operation upon the People than to make them think his Majesty was careless in the Education of the Prince especially in point of Religion And this was so Grievous and Graceless a Scandal cast upon a Religious King as nothing could be greater Upon the matter it was the shew of a Prayer for the Prince but was indeed to destroy the King in the Hearts of his People And had I not there consented to his Punishment I had deserved to be punished my self Mr. Brown when he repeated the Summ of the Evidence laid this Charge upon me but spake not one Word to my Remembrance of this Answer given to it The Ninth Charge That I did Extol Queen Mary's Days The Proof for it was taken out of the Preface to the Statutes of the Vniversity of Oxford I took a great deal of pains about those Statutes and might justly have expected Thanks for it not such an Accusation But as for the Preface it was made and Printed at Oxford I medled not with it I could trust the University with little if not with the making of a Preface If they have done any thing amiss in it let them answer it The Passage was about certain Offers made to amend those Confused Old Statutes both in Ed. 6. and Queen Mary's Days but no Effect came of the pains then taken Recruduit Labor says the Preface So that this I can answer for them There 's not a Word spoken of Religion but of Manners only and that as much in relation to the Times of Princes following as Hers. For the Words to my remembrance are Interim optandâ Temporum Foelicitate c. And that Interim cannot be restrained to Queen Mary's Days only but must include the whole Interim or middle distance of Time to that present in which I setled the Body of their Statutes that is all Queen Elizabeth's and King James his Days which I think no Man can deny was Optanda Temporum Foelicitas Here Mr. Nicolas confessed there was no down-right Proof against me That was his Phrase But he added that was not to be expected in such a Work of Darkness Then he produced a Paper found in my Study Printed at Rome So were divers of my Books Printed there What of this They may Print what they will at Rome I cannot hinder it And I may have and keep whatever they Print no Law forbidding it Then he shewed a Letter sent unto me from Mr. Graves The Gentleman is at this present Fellow of Merton College in Oxford a great Traveller and a Man of great Worth As far as I remember his Letter came to me from Alexandria It was fit to be sent and kindly received as by me it was I desired it might be read Then were mentioned Sir William Boswell's Letters and the Papers sent by Andreas ab Habernfeld about a great Plot to destroy the King and Religion and that I concealed these Papers I might have been amazed at the Impudence of this Charge above all the rest Diaboli Impudentia the Devils Impudence and no less as S. Augustin speaks in another Case Did I conceal these Papers First the same Day that I received them I sent them by an Express to his Majesty I had a speedy Answer from his Majesty and that I returned with equal speed to his Majesty's Agent Sir William Boswell as I was commanded And this Mr. Pryn and Mr. Nicolas knew For Mr. Pryn took all these Letters and Papers from me when he searched me at the Tower and out of them made his Book called Rome's Masterpiece Excepting the Slanders which he hath Jugled in of his own So soon as his Majesty came home I humbly besought him that he would be pleased to appoint a time and call some Lords to him to hear and examine the Business and this Examination continued till I was Committed What was after done I cannot account for Besides my Lords it appears by those Paprs that my Life was sought for because I would not give way to the Change of Religion and Mr. Pryn himself hath Printed this and yet now Mr. Nicolas from his Testimony presses these Papers against me But the King and the Lords and both Secretaries of State then present can witness that I took all the Care and Pains above-mentioned to have it sifted to the Bottom Notwithstanding all this Mr. Nicolas falls upon this Plot again upon the next Day of my Hearing as if nothing had been said unto it And was so shameless as to say that I followed this Business so long as I thought the Plot was against the Puritans But so soon as I found it was against the Papists I kept it secret till Mr. Pryn discovered it in his search of my Papers Where First there 's no one Word in all the Papers to make me or any Man think the Puritans were concerned in it And Secondly I did not sleep upon the Receipt of these Papers till I had sent them to his Majesty But I had reason to keep the Papers as safe as I could considering how much they justifie me against these foul Calumnies put upon me Then followed the Charge of Sancta Clara's Book alias Monsieur St Giles So they expressed it and I must follow the way they lead me First then they Charge that I had often Conference with him while he was writing his Book Intituled Deus Natura Gratia No he never came to me till he was ready to Print that Book Then some Friends of his brought him to me His Suit then was That he might Print that Book here Upon Speech with him I found the Scope of his Book to be such as that the Church of England would have little Cause to thank him for it And so absolutely denyed it Nor did he ever come more at me after this but twice or thrice at most when he made great Friends to me that he might Print another Book to prove that Bishops are by Divine Right My Answer then was that I did not like the way which the Church of Rome went in the Case of Episcopacy And howsoever that I would never give way that any such Book should be Printed here from the Pen of a Romanist and that the Bishops of England were able to defend their own Cause and Calling without calling in Aid from Rome and would in due time Maintenance he never had any from me nor did I then know him to be a Priest Nor was there any Proof so much as offered in contrary to any of this 2. Secondly they did specially except against a Passage in the Licenser and another at the end of the Book The Book was Printed at Lions where I could not hinder the Printing either of the whole or any part This might have been something had I Licensed it here But that I constantly denyed 3. Thirdly
They produced a Letter written to me from Venice by one Mr Middleton Chaplain there to the Right Honourable the now Earl of Denbigh his Majesty's Ambassadour Therein he writes That S Clara was Homo nequissimus and that one Monsieur S Giles was the Author of that Book That Clara and S Giles were the same Person is but Mr Middleton's Opinion Such News as he there heard some true some false he thought fit to write unto me And he being absent here 's no Proof upon Oath that they are one and the same Person And I hope a young Man's Letter from Venice or any other place signifying only such things as he hears shall not stand for good Evidence in a Case of Life And he was mainly deceived in this Particular as appears First Because what Clara is I know not But Monsieur S. Giles is a great Scholar and a Sober Man and one that gave the late L. Brooke so good Content that he allow'd him One Hundred Pound a Year during his Life Secondly Because 't is commonly known that Clara is an English man and S. Giles a French man born and bred Thirdly Because their own Article upon which they bring this Charge acknowledges them two distinct Persons Fourthly Because both Mr. Pryn and Mr. Nicolas had Monsieur S. Giles before them in Examination and could not but know him to be a French man As appears by a Warrant given to him by Mr. Pryn to secure him after his Examination Which Warrant follows in these words These are to Certifie those whom it may concern That the Committee of the House of Commons appointed to prosecute the Archbishop of Canterbury have examined and received Satisfaction from Monsieur S. Giles a Domestick Servant to the Resident of Venice and therefore he is no farther to be examined or molested concerning the same This License came to my Hands since my Answering was past so I could not then shew it Monsieur S Giles was never the Man that gave me notice of any of this not so much as that he had been Examined But my Secretary Mr Dell came to hear of it by chance and went to him and had this Copy with some labour from him and will make Oath it is a true Copy This is not the thankfullest part at ever S. Giles played considering my Carriage towards him 4. Then they charged upon Monsieur S. Giles directly That I knew him to be a Priest and yet maintained him at Oxford The Case was this Mr S Giles was in good Place about the Queen's Majesty at her first coming Here he did so good Services to this State that he lost himself in France and durst not go thither when the French were sent away All this while the Man was unknown to me till his Majesty one day at St. James's told me this and that he was a Priest and that it lay upon him in Honour to allow him some Maintenance and prescribed me a way how to order it that he might receive One Hundred Marks a Year as from him And gave me Charge if the Pension were at any time behind I should acquaint him with it After this Mr. S Giles by his Friends Petition'd his Majesty that being a Stranger he might live in Oxford to have the use of the Library there being resolved to meddle no more with the Controversies of the Time but to apply himself to Metaphysical Learning His Majesty was desirous to have him plac'd in some College to save Charges But this I most humbly deprecated because it might be dangerous to the Youth there and scandalous to his Majesty the Church and the University and dangerous to my self being Chancellor To the rest I submitted So he was left to place himself in some Town-House as he could And for this his Majesty gave me his Warrant which Mr. Pryn in his Search took from me But here follows the true Copy of it Charles Rex CAnterbury Mr S Giles by serving us and this State hath lost all his hopes in France and desires to spend his time here at his private Studies I would have you think upon some way for his Maintenance and to place him in Oxford that he may have use of that Library which he much desires And you may so order it that his Profession in Religion may do no harm And according to this direction of his Majesty I did take Order but with assurance from himself and with Spies upon him there beside the special care of the Vice-Chancellor that he should not Converse with young Students nor Exercise his Priestly Office nor do any thing against the Laws Nor did I ever hear that he failed in any of these Assumptions 5. Then they produced one Mr. Broad who testified that while S Giles lived at Oxford some Doctors came to him Doctors were able to deal well enough with him but all resort of young Scholars was forbidden He says farther that Mr S Giles should say that the Bishops of England were Cordially of his Religion but that he feared their Rigidness would spoil all First this is but a Report of his Speech Secondly why was not S Giles at his Examination asked whether he said it or no And if he did what ground he had for it At the most 't was but his Opinion of the Bishops who were never the more Cordial to Popery for his thinking so And Thirdly I doubt it appears by this time that all is overthrown or near it not by the Rigidness but by the over-remisness of some Bishops who never would believe any danger could come from the Godly as they were called 6. Lastly What 's the Reason of this great Endeavour upon nothing but News in a Letter to make S Clara and Mr. S Giles to be one and the same Man Doubtless nothing but an Hydropical Thirst after my Blood For resort of Priests to Lambeth was usual in both my last Predecessors Times Bancroft's and Abbot's And some lay in the House and had Relief This was proved to the Lords by two Ancient Servants of that House Neither of which have been done in my Time Arch-Bishop Abbot made a Warrant this Warrant was shewed to secure Mr. Preston an English Priest upon a Command of King James Why may not I a French one by the Warrant of King Charles King James justified Bishop Bancroft for doing this when he was Bishop of London and no Privy Counsellor And may not I do it being Arch-Bishop and Privy Counsellor with as much Privity of the King and the State as he did But to let these pass why should I say here was a Thirst for Blood I 'll tell you why The Statute of 27 Eliz. makes it Felony without Benefit of Clergy to Maintain or Relieve any Romish Priest Born in England or any other of her Majesty's Dominions knowing him to be such Now they had laid their Article that I had given Maintenance to one Mounsieur S. Giles a Popish Priest
Yea but some Letters were found from his Son Thomas what Entertainment be had in Foreign parts for his Father's sake But these Letters were read to the Lords and there is not one Word in them that relates to me And 't is both likely and fit the Son of a Secretary of State should be worthily used in his Travels Yea but his Son Christopher was at Rome and sent thither to Insinuate himself with the Pope So Andreas ab Habernfeld writes in the Papers which Sir William Boswell sent over to me If he did send his Son to that end then I discovered his Plot for I caused those Papers to be examined by the King and the Lords as is before related Besides in my Poor Judgment the Pope must be a very simple Man it may be Mr. Nicolas thinks him so compared with himself that a Youth of Seventeen at the most should insinuate himself to Fish any thing out of him for his Fathers Service Lastly he pressed that my Interest continued with Mr. Secretary in all these Courses of his 'T is well known in Court the old Interest did not continue between us but for old Friendships sake I will not be drawn to say more As for his releasing of any Priests he must give an account of that himself But for my self I was so careful in this Particular that I never put my Hand though Publick at Council-Table or Star-Chamber to any Release in all my time I might be named as present when such Release was made which I could not avoid but act in any I did not Nay I was so careful that I refused to set my Hand to any License to Travel lest if any Young Man should be perverted abroad in his Travels any thing might be imputed to me And this all the Clerks of the Council can Witness But I see no Wariness no Care can prevent the Envy and the Malice of the Many and the Mighty The Eighth Charge was my Correspondence with Popish Priests And for Proof of this they produced divers Witnesses 1. The First Witness was one Wadsworth one of the Common Messengers used to attach such Persons He says that Smith aliàs Fludd bragged to him that he had acquaintance with me Here 's nothing but a Bragging Report of Smith who what he is I know not So here 's no Proof He says that Four Pound was sent to himself to free him out of Prison and that Davis told him it came from me This is but a Hearsay from Davis as the former was from Smith But say my Lords if I did send him Four Pound to free him out of Prison doth he not now very thankfully reward me for it The Truth is my Lords I did send him Four Pound And the Motive that made me send it was because I heard he was a Convert from Popery to be a Protestant and that his Imprisonment was as much for that as for any thing else And this was attested to the Lords by my Servant Mr. 〈◊〉 who was one of them that moved me for him 2. The Second Witness was Francis Newton another Messenger He says that when he had taken Henry Mors a Priest he should have been carried to a private Committee that he disliked it and Complained to Mr. Secretary Cook who he says sent him to me and that when he came to Lambeth Mr. Dell told him I was in my Garden with Sir Toby Matthew My Servant Mr. Dell being appointed my Solicitor was now present in Court and denyed all this And well he might for Sir Toby was never in my Garden with me in all his Life And if Mr. Dell told him that I would not meddle in the Business as he says he did Mr. Dell must give the Account for it not I. Yet if there were a Reference of this Mors to a private Committee the hindring of that was more proper to Mr. Secretary than to me Howsoever here was no hurt done For he confesses that Mors was sent back to Newgate And if as he farther says he was discharged by Mr. Secretary Windebank that is nothing to me He says he was informed by Stukely that Smith aliàs Fludd was acquainted with me But if he were but informed so himself that 's no Proof to inform your Lordships He says that Brown a Priest was dismissed out of the High-Commission Thus it was He was called in thither for very foul Uncleanness In process of this Business he there openly confessed himself a Priest Hereupon that Court sent him to Newgate What became of him after I know not save that I know he was strictly examined by Mr. Pym and others concerning me This Newton upon what Grudge I know not calls me Rogue and all to naught in all Companies and with so much I acquainted the Lords 3. The Third Witness was Tho. Mayo a Messenger also He says that Sir Toby Matthew was accounted a Priest when he was in parts beyond the Seas and that he saw him in Coach with me and that he went over with me in my Barge First I gave in Two Exceptions against this Witness One that he was a Man of no Conscience for he had shifted his Religion from Protestant to Papist and back again three or four times Which was a thing known The other was that he kept a Brothel House at this present And that his Fellow Wadsworth knew this and called him Pimping Knave saying he kept a Brace of Wenches at this time in his House And these Words he spake of him but the Fifth of this present July in the Bull Tavern in the Palace-Yard So I thought him no fit Witness But he was heard for all this And afterwards Wadsworth meeting my Servant Mr. Snath he told him that he did say so to Mayo and wondred how I should come to hear it Being admitted and saying as he did I told the Lords that he began with a very bold Oath and like a shifter of his Religion For I had Four of my Servants there Three of which usually attended me when I went and returned from Court Mr. Dell Mr. Snath Mr. Goodwin and Mr. Dobson and they all attested the contrary and I never went but one of these at least was with me Besides he is single in this Testimony He says that he saw Sir Toby several times in my House But he confesses withal that he never saw him near me For my own part I cannot say that ever he was within my Doors But if he or others of his Quality do come to pry out any thing in my House how is it possible for me to hinder it My Porter could not see it written in their Foreheads who they were He says That one Price was often seen at my House But he doth not say he was seen with me or there with my Knowledge He says That one Leander was Reported to have been my Chamber-Fellow in Oxford First this is but a Report and so no Evidence Secondly if he were my
was nothing done against Law any Friend may privately assist another in his Difficulties And I am perswaded many Friends in either House do what they justly may when such sad Occasions happen And this Answer I gave to Mr. Brown when he Summed up my Charge in the House of Commons But Mr. Brown did not begin with this but with another here omitted by Mr. Nicolas though he had pressed it before in the Fifteenth day of my Hearing Dr. Potter writ unto me for my advice in some Passages of a Book writ by him as I remember against a Book Intituled Charity mistaken I did not think it fit to amend any thing with my own Pen but put some few things back to his Second Thoughts of which this was one That if he express himself so he will give as much Power to the Parliament in Matters of Doctrine as to the Church This Mr. Brown said took away all Authority from Parliaments in that kind But under Favour this takes away nor all nor any that is due unto them Not all for my Words are about giving so much Power Now he that would not have so much given to the one as the other doth not take away all from either Not any that is due to them For my Words not medling simply with Parliamentary Power as appears by the Comparative Words so much my Intention must needs be to have Dr. Potter so to consider of his Words as that that which is proper to the Church might not be ascribed to Parliaments And this I conceive is plain in the very Letter of the Law The Words of the Statute are Or such as shall hereafter be Ordered Judged or determined to be Heresy by the High Court of Parliament in this Realm with the Assent of the Clergy in their Convocation Where 't is manifest that the Judging and Determining Part for the Truth or Falshood of the Doctrin is in the Church For the Assent of the Church or Clergy cannot be given but in Convocation and so the Law requires it Now Assent in Convocation cannot be given but there must preceed a Debate a Judging a Voting and a Determining Therefore the Determining Power for the Truth or Falshood of the Doctrine Heresie or no Heresie is in the Church But the Judging and determining Power for binding to Obedience and for Punishment is in the Parliament with this Assent of the Clergy Therefore I humbly conceive the Parliament cannot by Law that is till this Law be first altered Determine the Truth of Doctrine without this Assent of the Church in Convocation And that such a Synod and Convocation as is Chosen and Assembled as the Laws and Customs of this Realm require To this Mr. Brown in his Reply upon me in the House of Commons said Two Things The one that this Branch of the Statute of one Eliz. was for Heresie only and the Adjudging of that but medled not with the Parliaments Power in other matters of Religion If it be for Heresie only that the Church alone shall not so Determine Heresie as to bring those grievous Punishments which the Law lays upon it upon the Neck of any Subject without Determination in Parliament then is the Church in Convocation left free also in other matters of Religion according to the First Clause in Magna Charta which establishes the Church in all her Rights And her main and constant Right when that Charter was made and confirmed was Power of Determining in matters of Doctrine and Discipline of the Church And this Right of the Clergy is not bounded or limited by any Law but this Clause of 1. Eliz. that ever I heard of The other was that if this were so that the Parliament might not meddle with Religion but with the Assent of the Clergy in Convocation we should have had no Reformation For the Bishops and the Clergy dissented First it is not as I conceive to be denyed that the King and his High Court of Parliament may make any Law what they please and by their Absolute Power may change Religion Christianity into Turcism if they please which God forbid And the Subjects whose Consciences cannot obey must flye or indure the Penalty of the Law But both King and Parliament are sub graviori Regno and must Answer God for all such abuse of Power But beside this Absolute there is a Limited Power Limited I say by Natural Justice and Equity by which no Man no Court can do more than what he can by Right And according to this Power the Church's Interest must be considered and that indifferently as well as the Parliaments To apply this to the Particular of the Reformation The Parliament in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth would not indure Popish Superstition and by Absolute Power Abolished it without any Assent of the Clergy in Convocation And then in her first Year An. 1559. She had a Visitation and set out her Injunctions to direct and order such of the Clergy as could conform their Judgments to the Reformation But then so soon as the Clergy was settled and that a Form of Doctrine was to be agreed upon to shew the difference from the Roman Superstition a Synod was called and in the Year 1562. the Articles of Religion were agreed upon and they were determined and confirmed by Parliament with the Assent of the Clergy in Convocation and that by a just and orderly Power Nor is the Absolute Power of King and Parliament any way unjust in it self but may many ways be made such by Misinformation or otherwise And this gives the King and the Parliament their full Power and yet preserves this Church in her just Right Just and acknowledged by some that loved her not over well For the Lord Brook tells us That what a Church will take for true Doctrine lies only in that Church Nay the very Heathen saw clearly the Justice of this For M. Lucullus was able to say in Tully That the Priests were Judges of Religion and the Senate of Law The Second Proof is That I made two Speeches for the King to be spoken or sent to the Parliament that then was and that they had some sour and ill Passages in them These Speeches were read to the Lords and had I now the Copies I would insert them here and make the World Judge of them First I might shuffle here and deny the making of them For no Proof is offer'd but that they are in my Hand and that is no necessary Proof For I had then many Papers by me written in my own Hand which were not my making though I transcribed them as not thinking it fit to trust them in other Hands But Secondly I did make them and I followed the Instructions which were given me as close as I could to the very Phrases and being commanded to the Service I hope it shall not now be made my Crime that I was trusted by my Soveraign Thirdly As I did never
all the Proof they brought for it is that it is written upon the Paper that there was an Intention to Print it but that I know not what hinder'd it But this Argument can never conclude John a Nokes knows not who hindred the Printing of a Jewish Catechism in England therefore he was displeased the Catechism was not Printed But I see every Foot can help trample him that is down Yea but they Instanced in three Particulars which they charged severally upon me The first Particular was That by this Remonstrance they sought to fill our Peoples Hearts more than our Ears A second was that they swelled to that bigness till they brake themselves But neither of these strike at any Right or Priviledge of Parliaments they only Tax some Abuses which were conceived to be in the Miscarriage of that one Parliament And both these Particulars were in my Instructions And though I have ever Honoured Parliaments and ever shall yet I cannot think them Infallible General Councils have greater Promises than they yet they may Err. And when a Parliament by what ill Accident so-ever comes to Err may not their King tell them of it Or must every Passage in his Answer be sour that pleases not And for that Remonstrance whither it tended let the World judge the Office is too dangerous for me The third Particular was the Excusing of Ireland and the growth of Popery there of which that Remonstrance An. 1628. complained This was in the Instructions too And I had Reason to think the King and his Council understood the State of Ireland for Religion and other Affairs as well as other Men. And I was the more easily led into the belief that Religion was much at one State in Ireland in Queen Elizabeth's and King James his time and now because ever since I understood any thing of those Irish Affairs I still heard the same Complaints that were now made For in all these times they had their Romish Hierarchy Submitted to their Government Payed them Tythes Came not to the Protestant Churches And Rebelled under Tyrone under pretence of Religion And I do not conceive they have gone beyond this now If they have let them Answer it who have occasioned it But to prove this great new growth of Popery there they produced first a Proclamation from the State in Ireland dated April 1. 1629. Then a Letter of the Bishop of Kilmore's to my self dated April 1. 1630. Thirdly a Complaint made to the State there An. 1633. of this growth so that I could not but know it Most true when these Informations came I could not but know it But look upon their Date and you shall find that all of them came after this Answer was made to the Remonstrance and therefore could not possibly be foreseen by me without the Gift of Prophesie Then they produced a Letter of the Earl of Straffords in which he Communicated to me Mar. 1633. that to mould the Lower House there and to rule them the better he had got them to be chosen of an equal number of Protestants and Papists And here Mr. Maynard who pressed this point of Religion hard upon me began to fall foul upon this Policy of the Earl of Strafford and himself yet brake off with this But he is gone Then he fell upon me as a Man likely to approve those ways because he desired the Letter might be communicated to me This Letter was not written to me as appears by the Charge it self For if it had no Man else needed to communicate it to me And I would fain know how I could help any of this If that Lord would write any thing to me himself or communicate any thing to another that should acquaint me with it was it in my power to hinder either of these And there were other Passages in this Letter for which I conceive his Lordship desired the Communication of that Letter to me much more than the Particular urged which could no way relate unto me And Mr. Brown in his Summ said very little if any thing to this Business of Ireland After this Mr. Nicolas who would have nothing forgotten that might help to multiply Clamour against me fell upon five Particulars which he did but name and left the Lords to their Notes Four of these Five were handled before As First the words If the Parliament prove peevish Secondly that the King might use his own Power Thirdly the violation of the Petition of Right Fourthly the Canons Fifthly that I set Spyes about the Election of Parliament-Men in Glocester-shire and for this last they produced a Letter of one Allibon to Dr. Heylin To the four first I referred the Lords to their Notes of my Answers as they did To this last that Mr. Allibon is a meer Stranger to me I know not the Man And 't is not likely I should employ a Stranger in such a Business The Letter was sent to Dr. Heylin and if there were any discovery in it of Juglings there in those Elections as too often there are and if Dr. Heylin sent me those Letters as desirous I should see what Practices are abroad what fault is there in him or me for this Then Mr. Nicolas would not omit that which he thought might disgrace and discontent me though it could no way be drawn to be any Accusation 'T was out of my Diary at Oct 27. 1640. this Parliament being then ready to begin The Passage there is That going into my upper Study to send away some Manuscripts to Oxford I found my Picture which hung there privately fallen down upon the Face and lying on the Floor I am almost every day threatned with my Ruin God grant this be no Omen of it The Accident is true and having so many Libels causelesly thrown out against me and hearing so many ways as I did that my Ruin was Plotted I had Reason to apprehend it But I apprehended it without Passion and with looking up to God that it might not be Ominous to me What is this Man Angry at Or why is this produced But though I cannot tell why this was produced yet the next was urged only to Incense your Lordships against me 'T is in my Diary again at Feb. 11. 1640. Where Mr. Nicolas says confidently I did Abuse your Lordships and Accuse you of Injustice My Lords what I said in my Diary appears not if it did appear whole and altogether I doubt not but it alone would abundantly satisfie your Lordships But that Passage is more than half burnt out as is to be seen whether of purpose by Mr. Pryn or casually I cannot tell yet the Passage as confidently made up and read to your Lordships as if nothing were wanting For the thing it self the close of my words is this So I see what Justice I may expect since here 's a Resolution taken not only before my Answer but before my Charge is brought up against me Which Words can
which it is in truth of Substance But this Word Right is not so used but it is referred more properly to perfection in Conditions And in this Sense every thing that hath a true and real Being is not by and by Right in the Conditions of it A Man that is most Dishonest and Unworthy the Name a very Thief if you will is a True Man in the Verity of his Essence as he is a Creature Endued with Reason for this none can steal from him nor he from himself but Death But he is not therefore a Right or an Upright Man And a Church that is exceeding Corrupt both in Manners and Doctrine and so a Dishonour to the Name is yet a True Church in the verity of Essence as a Church is a Company of Men which profess the Faith of Christ and are Baptized into his Name but yet it is not therefore a Right Church either in Doctrine or Manners It may be you meant cunningly to slip in this Word Right that I might at unawares grant it Orthodox But I was not so to be caught For I know well that Orthodox Christians are Keepers of Integrity so St. Augustin and Followers of right Things of which the Church of Rome at this Day is neither In this Sense then no Right that is no Orthodox Church at Rome IX Epist. Dedicat. circa med For to my remembrance I have not given him or his so much as Course Language But on the other side God forbid too that your Majesty should let both Laws and Discipline sleep for fear of the Name of Persecution and in the mean time let Mr. Fisher and his Fellows Angle in all parts of your Dominions for your Subjects If in your Grace and Goodness you will spare their Persons yet I humbly beseech you see to it That they be not suffered to lay either their Weels or Bait their Hooks or cast their Nets in every Stream lest that Tentation grow both too general and too strong I know they have many Devices to work their Ends but if they will needs be Fishing let them use none but Lawful Nets Let 's have no dissolving of Oaths of Allegiance no Deposing no Killing of Kings no blowing up of States to settle Quod Volumus That which fain they would have in the Church with many other Nets as dangerous as these For if their Profession of Religion were as good as they pretend it is if they cannot compass it by good means I am sure they ought not to attempt it by bad For if they will do evil that good may come thereof the Apostle tells me Their Damnation's just Rom. 3. 8. Now as I would humbly beseech your Majesty to keep a serious Watch upon these Fishermen which pretend S. Peter but Fish not with his Net So c. X. A Passage out of the Conference at Hampton-Court referred to in the preceding History Pag. 28. Upon the first Motion concerning falling from Grace the Bishop of London took occasion to signifie to his Majesty how very many in these days neglecting Holiness of Life presumed too much of persisting of Grace laying all their Religion upon Predestination if I shall Saved I shall be Saved which he termed a desperate Doctrine shewing it to be contrary to good Divinity and the True Doctrine of Predestination wherein we should Reason rather ascendendo than descendendo thus I Live in Obedience to God in Love with my Neighbour I follow my Vocation c. therefore I trust that God hath Elected me and Predestinated me to Salvation Not thus which is the usual course of Argument God hath Predestinated and chosen me to Life therefore though I sin never so grievously yet I shall not be damned For whom he once loveth he loveth to the End Whereupon he shewed his Majesty out of the next Article what was the Doctrine of the Church of England touching Predestination in the very last Paragraph Scil. We must receive God's Promises in such wise as they be generally set forth to us in Holy Scripture and in our doings that the Will of God is to be followed which we have expresly declared unto us in the Word of God Which part of the Article his Majesty very well approved And after he had after his manner very singularly discoursed on that place of Paul Work out your Salvation with fear and trembling he left it to be considered whether any thing were meet to be added for the clearing of the Doctor his doubt by putting in the Word often or the like as thus We may often depart from Grace But in the mean time wished that the Doctrine of Predestination might be very tenderly handled and with great discretion lest on the one side God's Omnipotency might be called in question by impeaching the Doctrine of his eternal Predestination or on the other side a desperate Presumption might be arreared by inferring the necessary certainty of standing and persisting in Grace XI A Passage out of the Arch-Bishop's Speech in Star-Chamber at the Censure of Pryn Burton and Bastwick referred to in the Preceding History Pag. 36. The Learned make but Three Religions to have been of old in the World Paganism Judaism and Christianity and now they have added a Fourth which is Turcism and is an absurd mixture of the other three Now if this ground of theirs be true as 't is generally received perhaps it will be of dangerous consequence sadly to avow that the Popish Religion is Rebellion That some Opinions of theirs teach Rebellion that 's apparently True the other would be thought on to say no more XII A Passage out of the New Statutes of the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ in Canterbury drawn by the Arch-Bishop and prescribed to that Church by the King 1636. Cap. 34. de Celebratione Divinorum Statuimus etiam ut nullus Canonicorum aliorum in Choro Ministrantium Divinorum Officiorum tempore absque Insignibus Choro Gradui convenientibus Chorum ingrediatur Singuli verò cujuscunque fuerint Gradûs aut Ordinis in ingressu Chori Divinam Majestatem devotâ mente adorantes humiliter se inclinabunt versùs Altare prout antiquis quarundam Ecclesiarum Statutis cautum novimus dein conversi Decano quoque debitam Reverentiam exhibebunt Quòd si contigerit aliquem ex quacunque causâ de loco in locum transire in Choro Reverentiam similiter in medio Chori tam versùs Altare quà m versùs stallum Decani si praesens fuerit exhibebit tum in eundo tum in redeundo toties quoties XIII A Passage out of Arch-Bishop Parker's Antiquitates Britannicae concerning Prohibitions referred to in the preceding History Pag. 326 327. edit Londin Jamque Juris Regni periti ut sui commodi Causâ Regia for a multitudine litium Infinitate replerent plerasque Causas Controversias ab Archiepiscopali Episcopali Audientiâ ad sua Judicia vocabant Ecclesiasticam Jurisdictionem decimarum
impossibilitatis Neque enim talis casus aut extit it aliquando aut contingere potest nisi fallat nos Dominus qui promisit Portae Inferorum non praevalebunt c. THE ANSWER OF THE Most Reverend Father in God William Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury TO THE SPEECH OF THE Lord Say and Seal touching the Liturgy The Speech begins thus MY Lords I have waited to find you free from greater Businesses that I might crave leave to speak of something that concerns my self And this I have the more desired since my Lord of Canterbury's last Speech who expressing his Troubles and 〈◊〉 the Misery of his Condition and of the Condition of the Church of England for he would needs join them together which I think he may as the Cause and the Effect for the Miseries of the Church have certainly risen from him he insisted much upon this That these Troubles had befallen him through the Malice of two Parties the Papists and the Sectaries and by those he said the Church was greatly afflicted MY Lords and all Christian Readers those great Businesses which my Lord speaks of are now ended and I hope as you are free from Business so you will be free from Prejudice while I also crave leave to speak something concerning my self And this I also have the more desired since I saw this Honourable Lord had put his Speech in Print which I find as much if not more against me than for himself This Speech was not put in Print till near six Months after it was Spoken and I conceive was Printed then to renew the Business and to whet the Malice of those Sectaries against me 'T is true that after I was Impeached by the House of Commons for High Treason there came no Articles up against me in full Ten Weeks after then they came up in Generals only and I was called to the House to hear them on Friday February the 26th 〈◊〉 Now by these Articles I found that there was great but I humbly praise God for it causeless Jealousie of me in point of Religion This made me labour more to clear my self from that than from any thing else objected against me as ever hating to seem other in Religion than what I truly and really am For of all Simulations or Dissimulations that is the basest when a Man for poor Temporary fading ends shall shift his Religion or his Judgment concerning it with the Time if not with the Tide As if at all times he had somewhat to seek before he would express Whereas it is most true which St. Hilary speaks in Matter of Religion Non opus est intervallo aliquo inter Cor Os There 's no need of a distance between the Heart and the Mouth as if a Man were to bethink himself of some faithless ambiguity before he would speak that which belonged to the Profession of his Faith Now if seeing my self under so great a pressure and the Church of England so hard lay'd at as then it was I did bewail the Condition of both I think I did what became me And I hope I offended no Man in joyning our Conditions together And whereas this Honourable Lord thinks that I might well joyn them as the Cause and the Effect I think so too my self but in another Sense For his Lordship says too peremptorily that the Miseries of the Church have certainly risen from me No certainly The Miseries of this Church have proceeded from the Separatists and from such as for private at least if not for worse ends have countenanced them and their strange Proceedings against the Government and Governours of the Church And this so long till they brought the Church's Condition which flourished before to be the Cause of my Condition such as it now is And I fell into this Condition by labouring by all good Means to uphold the Church of England from that Misery into which I fear it is now falling And I doubt not but God will open the Eyes of all Good Men to see clearly in time that this was the Cause which laid both me and this Church so low and not any Actions much less Practices of mine This being so if I insisted much upon this that these Troubles have befallen me through the Malice of two Parties the Papists and the Sectaries as this Honourable Lord says I did I had great Reason so to do For certainly the Church of England is greatly afflicted by them and I pray God in the end it be not torn in pieces between them That which I then said in my sudden Speech to the Lords to this Particular was as follows I am very Unfortunate in this Business between the Malignity of two Parties against me the Papist and the Separatist And shall I suffer on both sides at once Shall I be accounted a deadly Enemy to the Papist as I am reputed by them both at Home and Abroad and in the mean time accused for no less than Treason for favouring and complying with them Well If I do suffer 't is but because Truth usually lyes between two sides and is beaten on both sides as the poor Church of England is at this day by these Factions But in this and all things else and in despight of Malice Truth shall either be my Protection from Suffering or my Comfort while I suffer and by God's gracious Assistance I shall never depart from it but continue at the Apostle's Ward Nihil possum contra veritatem I can do nothing against the Truth and for it I hope God will enable me patiently to suffer any thing This or to this effect I then spake and I hope without any Offence sure I am without reflecting upon any particular Person Yet my Lord seems to think otherwise For he says How far this Man will extend this Word Sectary and whom he will comprehend under it I know not but I have some cause to fear that I may lie under some Misapprehension in respect of Matters of this nature which how far it concerns him your Lordships will perceive by what I shall say My Lord it seems knows not how far I will extend the Word Sectary Truly no farther than the Church of Christ extended it ever since Sects and Schisms broke in upon it to help dispoil it of Peace and Unity And a Sectary is he ..... The next thing which my Lord knows not is Whom I will comprehend under that Name and that his Lordship may easily know For I comprehend none under it but such as divide from the Church and either make or follow a Breach where no just cause is given by the Church or where though cause were given Ways of Division are preferr'd before Ways of Peace But that which troubles my Lord about these things which he professes he knows not is That he hath some cause to fear for so he confesses that he may lie under some Misapprehensions in respect of Matters of this nature And this I think may
been lately made Secondly That to effect this Trayterous Design they have not only secretly erected some Monasteries of Monks Nuns in and about London but sent over hither whole Regiments of most active subtile Jesuits incorporated into a particular new Society whereof the Pope himself is Head and Cardinal Barbarino his Vicar which Society was first discovered and some of them apprehended in their private College at Clerkenwel together with their Books of Account Reliques and Massing Trinkets about the beginning of the Second Parliament of this King yet such Power Favour Friends they had then acquired that their Persons were speedily and most indirectly released out of Newgate without any Prosecution to prevent the Parliament's Proceedings against them Since which this conjured Society increasing in Strength and Number secretly replanted themselves in Queenstreet and Long-Acre and their Purses are now so strong their Hopes so elevated their Designs so ripened as they have there purchased and founded a new magnificent College of their own for their Habitation near the fairest Buildings of Nobles Knights and Gentlemen the more commodiously to seduce them Thirdly That these Jesuits and Conspirators hold weekly constant uninterrupted Intelligence with the Pope and Romish Cardinals and have many Spies or Intelligencers of all sorts about the King Court City Noblemen Ladies Gentlemen and in all Quarters of the Kingdom to promote this their Damnable Plot. Fourthly That the Pope for divers late Years hath had a known avowed Legat Con by Name openly residing even in London near the Court of purpose to reduce the King and his Kingdoms to the Obedience of the Church of Rome and the Queen at least another Leger at Rome trading with the Pope to facilitate the Design to wit one Hamilton a Scot who receives a large Pension out of the Exchequer granted to another Protestant of that Name who payeth it over unto him to palliate the business from the People's knowledge by which means there hath been a constant allowed Negotiation held between Rome and England without any open interruption Fifthly That the Pope's Legat came over into England to effect this Project and kept his Residence here in London for the better Prosecution thereof by the King 's own Privity and Consent And whereas by the ancient Law and Custom of the Realm yet in force even in Times of Popery no Legat whatsoever coming from Rome ought to cross the Seas or land in England or any the King's Dominions without the King's Petition Calling and Request and before he had taken a Solemn Oath or Protestation to bring and attempt nothing in Word or Deed to the Prejudice of the Rights Priviledges Laws and Customs of the King and Realm This Legat for ought appears was here admitted without any such cautionary Oath which would have crossed the chief End of his Legation to prejudice all of them and our Religion too Yea whereas by the Statutes of the Realm it is made no less than High Treason for any Priests Jesuits or others receiving Orders or Authority from the Pope of Rome to set footing in England or any the King's Dominions to seduce any of his Subjects to Popery And no Popish Recusant much less then Priests Jesuits and Legats ought to remain within Ten Miles of the City of London nor come into the King's or Prince's Courts the better to avoid such traiterous and most dangerous Conspiracies Treasons and Attempts as are daily devised and practised by them against the King and Commonweal Yet notwithstanding this Pope's Legat and his Confederates have not only kept Residence for divers Years in or near London and the Court and enjoyed free Liberty without Disturbance or any Prosecution of the Laws against them to seduce his Majesty's Nobles Courtiers Servants Subjects every where to their Grief and Prejudice but likewise have had familiar Access to and Conference with the King himself under the very Name and Authority of the Pope's Legat by all Arts Policies and Arguments to pervert and draw him with his three Kingdoms into a new Subjection to the See of Rome as Cardinal 〈◊〉 the last Pope's Legat extant in England before this in Queen Mary's Reign reconciled her and the Realm to Rome to their intolerable Prejudice An Act so inconsistent with the Laws of the Realm with his Majesty's many ancient and late Remonstrances Oaths Protestations to maintain the Protestant Religion without giving way to any back-sliding to Popery in such sort as it was maintained and professed in the purest Times of Queen Elizabeth c. as may well amaze the World which ever looks more at real Actions than verbal Protestations Sixthly That the Popish Party and Conspirators have lately usurped a Sovereign Power not only above the Laws and Magistrates of the Realm which take no hold of Papists but by the Parliament's late Care against them here but even over the King himself who either cannot or dares not for fear perchance of Poysoning or other Assassination oppose or banish these horrid Conspirators from his Dominions and Court but hath a long time permitted them to prosecute this Plot without any publick Opposition or Dislike by whose Powerful Authority and Mediation all may easily divine Alas What will become of the poor Sheep when the Shepherd himself not only neglects to chase and keep out these Romish Wolves but permits them free Access into and Harbour in the Sheepfold to assault if not devour not only his Flock but Person too Either St. John was much mistaken in the Character of a good Shepherd and in prescribing this Injunction against such Seducers If there come any unto you and bring not this Doctrine receive him not into your House neither bid him God speed for he that biddeth him God speed is Partaker of his evil Deeds And the Fathers and Canonists deceived in this Maxim Qui non prohibet malum quod potest jubet Or else the Premises cannot be tolerated or defended by any who profess themselves Enemies or Opposites to the Pope Priests or Church of Rome Seventhly That these Conspirators are so potent as to remove from Court and Publick Offices all such as dare strenuously oppose their Plots as the Example of Secretary Cook with other Officers lately removed in Ireland evidence and plant others of their own Party and Confederacy both in his Majesty's Court Privy Council Closet Bed-chamber if not Bed and about the Prince to corrupt them And how those who are thus environed with so many industrious potent Seducers of all sorts who have so many Snares to entrap so many Enticements to withdraw them both in their Beds Bed-Chambers Closets Councils Courts where-ever they go or come should possibly continue long untainted unseduced without an omnipotent Protection of which none can be assured who permits or connives at such dangerous Temptations is a thing scarce credible in Divine or Humane Reason if Adam's Solomon's and others Apostacies by such means be duly pondered
the King and his People And I have ever been of Opinion and I shall Live and Dye in it That there can be no true and setled Happiness in this or any other Kingdom but by a fair and Legal as well as Natural Agreement between the King and his People and that according to the Course of England this Agreement is in a great proportion founded upon Parliaments Now Parliaments as I humbly conceive can never better preserve their own Rights than by a free and honourable way to keep up the Greatness and Power of their King that so he may be the better able against all Forreign Practices to keep up the Honour as well as the Safety of the Nation both which usually stand or fall together And if any particular Mens Miscarriages have distempered any Parliaments and caused or occasioned a Breach I have upon the Grounds before laid been as sorry as any Man for it but never contributed any thing to it And I hope it is not Criminal to think that Parliaments may sometimes in some things by Misinformation or otherwise be mistaken as well as other Courts This in conclusion I clearly think Parliaments are the best preservers of the Ancient Laws and Rights of this Kingdom But this I think too that Corruptio optimi est Pessima that no Corruption is so bad so foul so dangerous as that which is of the best And therefore if Parliaments should at any time be misguided by practice of a 〈◊〉 Party nothing then so dangerous as such a 〈◊〉 because the highest Remedy being Corrupted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sure Redress left at all And we had a lamentable 〈◊〉 of such a Parliament 〈◊〉 Hen. 4. was set up For that 〈◊〉 was the Cause of 〈◊〉 the Civil Wars and that great 〈◊〉 of Blood which followed soon after in this Kingdom God make us mindful and careful to prevent the like The said Commons do farther aver that the said William Arch-Bishop of Canterbury during the time in which the Treasons and Offences afore-named were Committed hath been a Bishop or Arch-Bishop in this Realm of England one of the King's Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Matters and of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council And that he hath taken an Oath for his Faithful discharge of the said Office of Counsellor and hath likewise taken the Oath of Supremacy and Allegiance And the said Commons by Protestation saving to themselves the Liberty of Exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Accusation or Impeachment against the said Arch-Bishop and also of replying to the Answers that the said Arch-Bishop shall make unto the said Articles or to any of them and of offering farther Proof also of the Premises or any of them or of any other Impeachment or Accusation that shall be exhibited by them as the Case shall according to the Course of Parliaments require do pray that the said Arch-Bishop may be put to answer to all and every the Premises and that such Proceedings Examinations Tryal and Judgment may be upon every of them had and used as is agreeable to Law and Justice This is the Conclusion of these general Articles then put up against me and is added only for Form and so requires no Answer from me But in the Close they of the House of Commons make two Petitions to the Lords and both were granted as 't is fit they should The one is That they may add farther Accusations or farther Proof of this as the Course of Parliaments require And I refuse no such either Accusation or Proof so the due Course of Parliaments be kept The other is That there may be such Proceedings Examinations Tryal and Judgment as is agreeable to Law and Justice And such Proceedings my Innocency can never decline But whether the Proceedings hitherto against me be according to the Antient Proceedings in Parliament or to Law and Justice I leave Posterity to judge Since they which here seem so earnestly to call for Examinations Tryal and Judgment have not to this Day proceeded to any Tryal nay have not so much as brought up any particular Charge against me it being almost a full Year since they brought up this general Charge and called for Examinations and Tryal and yet have kept me in Prison all this while to the great Weakning of my Aged Body and Waste of my poor Fortunes And how much longer they mean to keep me there God knows Whereas all that I do desire is a Just and Fair Tryal with such an Issue better or worse as it shall 〈◊〉 God to give CAP. VIII WHen these Articles had been Read unto me in the Upper House and I had spoken to the Lords in a general Answer to them what I thought fit as is before expressed I humbly desired of the Lords this being upon Friday Feb. 26. that my going to the Tower might be put off till the Monday after that so I might have time to be the better fitted for my Lodging This I humbly thank their Lordships was granted I returned to Mr. Maxwell's Custody and that Afternoon sent my Steward to Sir William Balfore then Lieutenant that a Lodging might be had for me with as much convenience as might be On Munday March 1. Mr. Maxwell carried me in his Coach to the Tower St. George's Feast having been formerly put off was to begin that Evening By this means Mr. Maxwell whose Office tied him to attendance upon that Solemnity could not possibly go with me to the Tower at Evening as I desired Therefore Noon when the Citizens were at Dinner was chosen as the next fittest time for Privateness All was well till I passed through Newgate Shambles and entred into Cheapside There some one Prentice first Hallowed out more and followed the Coach the Number still increasing as they went till by that time I came to the Exchange the shouting was exceeding great And so they followed me with Clamour and Revilings even beyond Barbarity it self not giving over till the Coach was entred in at the Tower-Gate Mr. Maxwell out of his Love and Care was extreamly troubled at it but I bless God for it my Patience was not moved I looked upon a higher Cause than the Tongues of Shimei and his Children The same Day there was a Committee for Religion named in the Upper House of Parliament Ten Earls Ten Bishops and Ten Barons So the Lay Votes will be double to the Clergy that they may carry what they will for Truth This Committee professes to meddle with Doctrine as well as Ceremonies and to that end will call some Divines to them to consider of and prepare Business This appears by a Letter sent by Dr. Williams then Lord Bishop of Lincoln now Lord Arch-Bishop of York to some Divines which were named to attend this Service The Copy of the Letter follows WIth my best Wishes unto you in Christ Jesus I am Commanded by the Lords of the Committee for Innovations in Matters of
Religion to let you know that their said Lordships have assigned and appointed you to attend on them as Assistant in that Committee And to let you know in general that their Lordships do intend to examine all Innovations in Doctrine or Discipline introduced into the Church without Law since the Reformation and if their Lordships shall in their Judgments find it behoveful for the good of the Church and State to Examine after that the degrees and perfection of the Reformation it self Which I am directed to intimate unto you that you may prepare your Thoughts Studies and Meditations accordingly Expecting their Lordships pleasure for the particular points as they shall arise and giving you to understand that their Lordships next sitting is upon Friday next in the Afternoon I recommend you to God's protection being Your very loving Friend and Brother Jo. Lincoln West Coll. 12 Martij 1640. To my very loving Friends and Brethren Dr. Brownrig Mr. Shute Dr. Featly Mr. Calamy Dr. Hacket Mr. White Dr. Westfield Mr. Marshal Dr. Burges What use will be made of this Committee for the present I shall expect but what it shall produce in future I dare not prophesie But it may be it will prove in time superiour to the National Synods of England And what that may work in this Church and State God knows I setled my self in my Lodging in the Tower where I yet am and pass my weary time as well as I can On Saturday Mar. 13. Divers Lords dined with the Lord Herbert Son to the Earl of Worcester at his new House by Fox-Hall in Lambeth As they came back after Dinner three young Lords were in a Boat together and St. Paul's Church was in their Eye Hereupon one of them said he was sorry for my Commitment if it were but for the building of St. Pauls which would go but slowly on there-while The Lord Brook who was one of the three replyed I hope one of us shall live to see no one stone left upon another of that building This was told and avowed by one of the Lords present And when I heard it I said now the Lord forbid and bless his poor Church in this Kingdom CAP. IX ON Munday Mar. 22. the Earl of Strafford's Tryal began in Westminster-Hall And it continued with some few Intermissions till the end of April The Earl got all the time a great deal of Reputation by his Patient yet Stout and clear Answers and changed many Understanding Mens Minds concerning him Insomuch that the great Lawyers of his Council affirmed there openly That there was no Treason appearing to them by any Law Upon this the House of Commons who were all the while present in a Body left the Hall and instead of leaving the whole Cause to the Judgment of the Lords in the ordinary Way of Parliaments betook themselves to their Legislative Power and so passed a Bill of Attainder against him and having none made a Law to take away his Life This Bill was denyed by two or three and fifty as able Men as any in the House of Commons But the Faction grew so hot that all their Names were Pasted up at the Exchange under the Title of Straffordians thereby to increase the Hatred of the People both against him and them and the Libels multiplyed This Bill went on with great haste and earnestness which the King observing and loth to lose so great and good a Servant his Majesty came into the House of Lords and there upon Saturday Maii 1. Declared unto both Houses how carefully he had heard and observed all the Charge against the Earl of Strafford for he was present at every Days Hearing and found that his Fault whatever it were could not amount to Treason And added That if they meant to proceed by Bill it must pass by him and that he could not in his Conscience find him guilty nor would ever wrong his Honour or his Conscience so far as to pass such a Bill or to that Effect But advised them to proceed by way of Misdemeanour and he would concur with them in any Sentence This displeased mightily and I verily think it hastened the Earl's Death And indeed to what end should the King come voluntarily to say this and there unless he would have abode by it whatever came And it had been far more Regal to reject the Bill when it had been brought to him his Conscience standing so as his Majesty openly professed it did than to make this Honourable Preface and let the Bill pass after The House of Commons and some Lords too it seems eagerly bent against the Earl of Strafford seeing by this the King 's bent grew more sharp and pursued the Bill the more violently In so much that within two or three Days after some Citizens of London and Prentices came down in Multitudes to the Parliament called there for Justice and pretended all Trade was stopp'd till Justice was done upon the Earl of Strafford Who brought on the People to this way I would not tell you if I did certainly know but wise Men see that plain enough without telling These People press upon the Lords in a way unknown in the English Government yea or in any setled Government in Christendom In conclusion they are taught to threaten the King and his Court in a strange Manner if they may not have speedy Justice The Bill comes up to the Lords when the House was none of the fullest but what made so many absent I know not and there it past And upon Sunday May 9. the King was so laid at and so frighted with these Bugbears that if Justice were not done and the Bill Passed for the Earl of Strafford's Execution the Multitude would come the Next Day and pull down White-Hall and God knows what might become of the King himself that these fears prevailing his Majesty gave way and the Bill passed and that Night late Sir Dudly Carlton one of the Clerks of the Council was sent to the Tower to give the Earl warning that he must prepare to Dye the Wednesday Morning following The Earl of Strafford received the Message of Death with great Courage yet Sweetness as Sir Dudly himself after told me On Munday Morning the Earl sent for the Lord Primate of Armagh to come to him He came and the same Day visited me and gave me very high Testimony of the Earl's Sufficiency and Resolution And among the rest this That he never knew any Lay-man in all his Life that so well and fully understood Matters of Divinity as the Earl did and that his Resolutions were as firm and as good In this Interim before the Day of his Death he made by his Friends two Suits to his Majesty The one that he might Dye privately within the Tower the other That his Death might be Respited till the Saturday that he might have a little more time to settle his Estate His Majesty sent these Requests to the Houses