be all exclaim'd against for Innovations and a Moulding of her to a nearer compliance with the See of Rome as Ludlow suggests which I shall farther take notice of in the next Paragraph and for the present only mention what Archbishop Laud told a Friend of mine when in the Tower That he endeavoured the Repair of an Old House but it had been so much neglected and run to ruin as to fall about his Ears in the Attempt However for the former part of King Iames's Reign things went smoothly on in an easy careless course without any considerable rub or disturbance the first Grumblings of Discontent arose from the Spanish Match which the King had set his Heart upon and People as much against the truth of it is our Crown had generally Married there or in France but as there had been no Occasion for such an Alliance since the Reformation so the different Perswasions now on foot as to Religion made it very difficult to accomodate that Matter The English Papists were extreamly Zealous therein beyond the bounds of Common Discretion which made the rest of the Nation suspect there could come no good from what they were so forward to promote and herein the Puritan would be sure to Lead the Van who clamour'd and made a noise as if the Pope had been as nigh our Gates as Hannibal was sometime those of Rome and ran down all as that way dispos'd who would not be as Mad and violent as themselves believe Impossibilities or fly in the face of Royal Authority And about this time it was they began that popular charge of Innovations which had the same Malicious effect upon all Orthodox Eminent Divines as that of Grievances upon Ministers of State the proof whereof must likewise depend upon Common-fame or which is worse a Common Appellation of their own fixing as to some particular School or rather Philosophical points most innocent and harmless in themselves yet so manag'd by a well-contriv'd spight as the People became possest that an Arminian was as dangerous as a Papist and as nigh an Affinity between them as there prov'd afterwards to be between Puritan and Rebel Upon this account one Mr. Mountague was first had Coram Nobis in K. Iames's last Parliament as Learned a Man and Solid a Divine as our or perhaps any other Church had but having severely Gagg'd the Predestinarian Brotherhood and conduc'd very much to the bringing K. Iames off from those Rigours they could find no better way to be reveng'd than by setting their Party in the House of Commons about his Ears which Roger Coke after so long a time revives with a fresh prosecution not considering how much both the Temper and Opinions of Men are since alter'd that the heats about those points have been very much cool'd or diverted so that he might have as well inveigh'd that Ruffs and Farthingals were not still worn for they and Calvenism went out of Fashion together none at this time of Day but a few of the more Hare-brain'd Dissenters can dream of being Engin'd up to Heaven by a Chain of Predestination whereof the Elect are so well Secur'd as the grossest Crimes cannot deprive them However their proceedings then were with something of deference to the Church remitting the whole matter to the Archbishop whom they knew more than enough prejudic'd for the Puritan and their Reprobation Doctrine and perhaps were assur'd aforehand that he resolv'd upon an Admonition which was accordingly done But then the King was his Ordinary to whom with the Convocation an Appeal lay and there the Derniere Resort rested and thither he Address'd himself in a fresh piece called Appello Caesarem which made fresh work in K. Charles's first Parliament the second Session whereof being remov'd to Oxon by reason of the Sickness in London the Commons sat in the Divinity Schools and their Speaker in or nigh the Professor's Chair whereby whether they thought themselver inspir'd or were rather possest as my Author would have it I shall not concern my self to be sure from that time forward we never find them without a Committee for Religion and no such Committee but would undertake to determine the deepest Controversies and Reform whatever they were pleas'd to call Abuses till by degrees they fell upon the Divines Sequestring and Imprisoning them by whole Centuries and so having expos'd and trampled under-foot the Doctrine Discipline and Governours of the Church they introduc'd the most Extravagant Licentiousness that ever was known in any part of the World call'd Christian. These indeed were Innovations to purpose But who introduc'd them And what would Queen Elizabeth have said thereto Mr. Rushworth gives us at large the Articles Professor Pym Exhibited against Richard Mountague Clerk which upon some search he could not find Answered as indeed What wise Man would reply to the Ipse Dixit of so many hundreds Or what Influence could a Reply have when the Conclusion was resolv'd upon without any Consideration of the Premisses However the Letter he mentions before which upon this Occasion Three Bishops writ to the Duke gives a true State of the whole matter and Iudiciously distinguish between such Opinions as are expresly the resolv'd Doctrines of the Church and such as are fit only for the Schools and left at liberty for Learned Men to abound in their own Sense so they keep themselves peaceable and distract not the Church This Letter Mr. Rushworth might have given at large as well as the Articles but for a bad reason best known to himself omitted it nevertheless we have it in the Cabala to be sure the few foremention'd words carry great Soundness and Judgment in them and must be acknowledg'd the only expedient could be fix'd upon either to Silence the Controversy or let them Brawl it out in its proper place 'T is a pleasant conceit of Mr. Osborn who tells his Son The Clergy have work enough cut out till Doomesday to resolve which is least sutable to the Divine Essence to have bound the hands of Men or left them at liberty yet hereby a constraint must needs be put upon us or our Maker Now this Gordian Knot which all our Clergy never could nor ever will be able to Untie our many Alexanders in the House resolve to Cut asunder by one Simple Vote yet this Weapon of theirs however very Keen had but a thin Edge and was turn'd before it got thorough so that it remains still indissoluble whether we drive or whether we are driven as I find the Question stated by one of our Comoedians so well that few of the Schools come up to it An unseen hand may determine our freest Actions and the deepest laid designs move Retrogade when we think the quite contrary But that the Almighty Sovereign the Author and Disposer of All things should Damn Men before he makes them Create many Millions of Beings with design to Reprobate them into Eternal Misery and found one main part of
that he should any wise give the least Ear to Insinuations of that kind And a nearer Compliance with the Church of Rome is Nonsense for as they will not set the least Step give up one title in order to an accommodation so will they admit none into their Communion without swallowing the whole Digest of their Trent Determinations which the Iudicious Author of that History expressly declares and most passionately complains of That what was desir'd and procur'd by Godly Men to reunite the Church which began to be divided hath so establish'd the Schism and made the Parties so obstinate that the Discords are become irreconcilable And whatever his Ignorance or Malice suggests the Church of England is a greater Eye-sore to those of Rome than any other in the World and not to mention our King of whom there was no hopes whatever some tatled and so they knew would have ventur'd aye and promoted the Ruin of the Queen however of their Communion and all her Posterity rather than it should have been continued in that Uniform Splendour Decency and Order his pious Care had so thoroughly Establish'd The Spaniards having the Prince in their hands impos'd very severe Articles on behalf of the English Recusants which amongst other things might be considered in breaking off that Match when we came to Treat with France upon the same Subject though Rushworth tells us the Articles were not much short of those with Spain yet what he mentions and he is constantly found to mention the worst on the best side are very much short of the former requiring no more than that such Recusants as had been committed since the breach with Spain should be set at liberty and that there should not be so strict an Inquisition after them for the future All which considering the Circumstances of Protestancy in Foreign Parts was neither an Unreasonable Demand on their side nor an Unpolitick Concession on ours and what the Violent Party both within doors and without quarrell'd at only for quarrelling sake Had indeed the Popish Party no other Abettor but the Pope his Bruta Fulmina might have been easily repell'd but when the greatest Princes in Christendom call themselves Catholicks and will be zealously engag'd in the concerns of his Emissaries the mutual Correspondence between these Potentates Popish and Protestant doth frequently introduce a petimusque damusque vicissim mutual returns of Kindnesses and equal Indulgence of Pardons insomuch as Cromwell no sooner entred into Foreign Alliances but he was forc'd to comply therein and the World to this day cannot tell what was transacted between Sir Kenelm Digby and himself upon that account So likewise at present they are the only Party amongst us back'd with Foreign Friends and it would cause very severe Sollicitations perhaps Remonstrances too should the Laws in that Case provided be put in vigorous Execution Although the Scale on the Protestants side is now so drawn up as there is very little prospect things standing as they do they should ever be brought even but on the contrary no little danger that the Disjointed Interest among them abroad and Unreasonable Separations amongst us at home may once more Enslave us to that Universal Supremacy which otherwise all their Arts and Emissaries could never have brought about Nevertheless this little favour then obtain'd was not free from Abuse by the too forward Zeal of their Priests and some other Priest-ridden Persons who having got an Inch would take an Ell drive on in a strange kind of Unthinking Bigottry without the least regard to their Friends Foes or indeed themselves A fault which Dissenters on every side could never forbear running into as appear'd not long since by that furious Cureer both of Papists and Fanaticks when the Reins were thrown Loose upon their Necks by a Dispensing Power Neither doth it appear that they made any considerable progress in gaining Converts more than before some they always prevail'd upon amongst which there might be a few well-meaning Persons who had a real Regard for Piety and Religion and seeing such Disputes about it wish'd for some Infallible Guide to determine them in the Right in which Melancholy Humour they were easily Wheadled into a Belief that an Old Man in a Chair at Rome was plac'd there for that purpose Although the generality of their Proselytes were such loose vitious Livers as brought little Reputation to whatever Profession they joyn'd in Communion with and 't is to be feared went over on purpose for too easy an Absolution As I know a Lady who having Sacrific'd her Reputation took the foremention'd Course and ever after express'd a great deal of Contempt for the Church of England because there was no Admission of Venial Sins Archbishop Laud when at that Barbarous Trial of his by an Ordinance of Parliament he was charg'd with an Endeavour to Advance and bring in Popery made it appear that the two or three Priests he had Corresponded withall was for the good of the Church as Bancroft and others his Predecessors had done before and then gave an account of what Persons by Name he had brought over to or retain'd in the Church of England who for Quality and perhaps Number might Vye with all the contrary Party had prevail'd upon during that time he Sat at the Helm of Church Affairs Afterwards indeed when the War broke out several Persons who had been impos'd upon by their fair Pretences discovering when too late that their Faith was Faction and Religion Rebellion would have no more to do with such Protestants and so ran over to the Roman Extream which had a more plentiful Harvest during those Confusions than ever before in this Nation And really it hath cost me many a Melancholy Reflection what after all their Railing that truly great Man Archbishop Laud too Prophetically Boded on the Scaffold that however he was Charg'd as the Pharisaical Iews did our Saviour with a Venient Romani the many Rents and Divisions Sects and Factions they caus'd and promoted was as likely to bring them upon us as the Crucifying our Saviour did upon the others The Defence likewise opens very loud upon the French Match and Articles thereof Pag. 3. yet at present charges no more than what I have already mention'd out of Rushworth He directs indeed to them at large farther on in his Book but none to be found 't is probable upon exacter View they fell short of the Mischief design'd and were omitted upon that account One thing I admire since they delight so much in Falshoods none of these Libellers have hit upon what is reported in several French Historians that there was an Article for all the Children both Male and Female to be at the Queen's Disposal as well to the Religious as Civil part of their Education till they were Twelve or Thirteen years old There is seldom any Bargain driven between private Persons but more is demanded than they knew would be granted and without doubt the Agents
Disciples of Loyaela or Calvinists who indeed set up both about the same time Although I hope they have since wish'd the Prize had been fought upon any other Stage than our Island The last thing I shall insist upon under this Topick is his Majesty's Answer to the Pope's Letter whilst Prince of Wales and in Spain pen'd with so much Judgment Discretion and true Sense of Religion as nothing could be more properly Adapted to that Critical Conjuncture and hazardous Circumstances he was then under so inoffensively turning those Haughty Assumptions of that pretended Sovereign High-Priest as he Terms himself to a Zealous regard for the truly Catholick Church and a sincere endeavour to Cement those Divisions and Schisms tacitly suppos'd to arise from him and because this most clearly appears to be the express Intent of the Letter those Sons of Perversion the two Pamphlet Libellers are not content to alter Rushworth's Translation to a Sense the Latin will by no means bear but add whole Sentences whereof there is not one Syllable in either I shall give an instance or two of both kinds The little Spiteful piece which would have him neither Saint nor Martyr affirms That he tells the Pope I shall never be so affected to any thing in the World as to endeavour An Alliance with a Prince that hath the same apprehension of the true Religion with my self And then as if the Devil ought him a shame immediately adds Mr. Rushworth hath it in these Words Your Holiness's Conjecture of our Desire to Contract a Marriage and Alliance with a Catholick Family and Princess is agreeable both to your Wisdom and Charity for we should never desire so vehemently to be joyn'd in a strict and indissoluble Bond with any Mortal whatsoever whose Religion we hated which last Words where the Falsification lies runs thus in Latin Cujus Odio Religionem prosequeremur and if there be not a vast difference between Hating a Religion and being of the same Apprehension with him who professes that Religion nay which is more owning it for a true Religion because I do not hate it let the World judge Hatred is altogether inconsistent with Christian Principles which whosoever will Live up to must Hate nothing but Sin and the Author of it although I can scarce forbear it to this Author too and since our Saviour enjoyns us to do good to them that hate us to speak them Civilly when they do the same to us and let them see we can really Act what perhaps they but Hypocritically pretend is so agreeable to all the Rules of Religion Reason and Good Manners as they must lay claim to none of them who cavil thereat With the like Ingenuity he proceeds on to the next Sentence but forbears Rushworth's Translation where the King declaring his great Moderation continues the same Term and assures him how far he should be Ab omni Opere quod odium testari possit ullum adversus Religionem Catholicam Romanam which is rendred I have been always very far from incouraging Novelties or to be a Partisan of any Faction against the Catholick Apostolick Roman Religion How comes Odium to include Novelties and Factions at leastwise that the King should declare he would not encourage them against the Roman Church When his next Words gives a secret intimation how they came Originally from thence and therefore setting all such Sinister Suspicions aside he earnestly desires That as we all Confess one Individual Trinity and one Christ Crucified 't is Mr. Rushworth's Translation we may unanimously grow up in one Faith and in Order to the Accomplishment of so good a Work he Piously adds Labores omnes atque vigilias Regnorum etiam atque vitae pericula parvi pendimus which this base Fellow thus renders We will expose Life and Estate in the Exaltation of the Roman Chair The other Pamphlet which I take to be Alter idem at leastwise from the same Club of Calves Heads gives the same perverse Translation and forc'd Sense thoroughout the whole Letter and to Crown the Villany adds a whole Sentence at the end which was never known before nor could with any Coherence be brought in now for after those Common-place Compliments which come in Course at the end of such Epistles Omnia prospera felicitatem aeternam comprecamur This Fanatick Forger continues After so many Labours and Fatigues which your Holiness has undergone for the Propagation and Preservation of the Holy True Church We have had Volumes writ of Roman Forgeries and very tart Reflections upon Iesuitical Equivocations with too much Truth indeed more than is consistent with Religion or Humanity it self yet it must be acknowledg'd these our Pseudo-Protestants have out-thrown them several Bars length without the Wit of an Equivocation or any thing else which the most Frontless impudence can alledge to Palliate or Excuse the matter I presume these furious Zealots would have the Prince return'd in Answer to the Pope That he was Anti-christ Whore of Babylon Man of Sin c. and for that reason he defy'd him and all his works I will not resolve whether this is proper or not in the Common Cant of that Brotherhood but wish with all my Heart all that use or approve it were forc'd into Spain and oblig'd to Preach the same Doctrine there doubtless it might conduce much to the Peace of our Nation and perhaps somewhat to bringing down the price of Corn. And to show how Natural it is for the Malicious Diabolical Spirit of all this Party to blast our Kings and their Memories with too great a Respect to the Pope and his Interest I shall give here an account of their great Rushworth's unworthy dealing with King Iames who in the close of his Collections relating to that Reign sets down the Transcript of a Letter written from him to Pope Clement with the Instructions given to Mr. Drummond who was sent with the same to Rome Now Mr. Rushworth cannot but be so well acquainted with the History and Transactions of those times especially Archbishop Spotswood as to know that Cardinal Bellarmine having publish'd an Answer to King Iames's Apology charg'd him therein with Inconstancy Objecting a Letter he had sent to Clement VIII whilst in Scotland in which he had recommended to his Holiness the Bishop of Vaison for obtaining the Dignity of a Cardinal that so he might be the more able to advance his Affairs in the Court of Rome This Treatise coming to the King's Hand he presently conceiv'd he had been abus'd by his Secretary which he remembred had mov'd on a time for such a Letter in short for I shall refer the Reader to the passage at large in Archbishop Spotswood the Secretary was seiz'd examin'd and confess'd 't was all a Forgery of his own and Cousin Drummond's designing that his Majesty was most falsly and wrongfully charg'd therewith and that he could never move him to consent thereto Whereupon the Secretary was Sentenced not
enjoyned with an c. was several Years after that is in Forty and shall then be consider'd as a full Testimony what little Nothings they would catch at to Augment the Quarrel And I likewise defy him and all his Party to make appear where one single Holy-day tho he says many was Introduc'd and requir'd to be observ'd with all possible Solemnity but this however False was a necessary Antithesis to that grand Charge which follows At the same time that they were encourag'd to profane the Lords Day by a Book commonly call'd The Book of Sports Printed and Publish'd by the King 's especial Command This Book of Sports is a large Volum which the Defence by the help of a Big Character makes Four Pages in Quarto being Two Declarations one of this King the other of his Father and whoever look into them which not one of Ten thousand that rail at them hath ever done consider the Liberty there given the Restraints laid down and reasons of both must acknowledge all contain'd therein to proceed from a truly Christian dispotion and absolutely necessary in reference to that Superstitious Iudaising Humour the Puritan Party were then running the whole Nation into and there was no way to stop but by examining what Premises they had for such Conclusions what Authority for turning back to those Weak and Beggarly Elements Be again in Bondage to Moses Observe Days c. which all Expositors relate to the Jewish Sabbath and not rather Stand fast in that Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us Free Here therefore whether with their leave or without I shall presume to enquire First how this Iudaising Spirit came to possess so many of the Brotherhood amongst us Secondly Represent how inconsistent it is with the Nature of Christian Religion and Universal Practice of the truly Christian Church so that Thirdly what both the Kings enjoyn'd was Agreeable to their Title of Defending that Truly Catholick Apostolick Doctrine For what is First to be considered it was for some time to my surprise that the Puritan party who in all other Things so violently oppos'd Iohn Calvin's Reformation to that of our Church should notwithstanding wholly recede from him in the Doctrine and Observation of the Lord's-day for when our Author was at Geneva and that they say was his first City of Refuge he could not but observe how the Elder Men Bowl'd the Younger exercis'd their Arms or us'd some other Innocent Recreations after the Publick Duties of the Day were over with as much freedom as our Kings allow in their Declarations for all which Calvin gives very good Reasons in his Institutes and most severely reflects upon all those Sabbatarian Zealots we are now discoursing of as three times worse than Iews Qui crassâ carnalique Iudaismi Superstitione ter Iudaeos Superant But upon second Thoughts 't was easy to resolve that their respect to Calvin must always give way when an opportunity serves of prejudicing our Church which they set themselves in all things to contradict and herein had a Vile prospect of prevailing upon the People for a wide Breach so that however the Calvinist quatenus Calvinist hath no more regard for the Fourth Commandment than the Fifth or the Romanists for the Second yet by starting this Notion of a Divine Ordinance founded solely upon the Morality thereof as strictly Obliging us as the Iews they got an Occasion from thence to cavil at and run down all the other Fasts and Festivals of the Church as mere Human Inventions though most of them Apostolical and the rest in the Ages immediately succeeding and that without ever considering that by the same Authority our Christian Sabbath was Translated from the Last to the First Day of the Week and therefore by keeping so strictly to their Mosaical Mumpsimus they ought all to comply with what their Disciple Brabourne propounded and go back to the Saturday Sabbath to the Observance whereof he gain'd a Party and writ a Book in its Justification and tho the High Commission brought him to a Retractation wherein 't is said he persever'd yet many of his Followers continued their Fopperies a long time after and perhaps to this very Day I am sure in the Year 65 there was a small English Congregation of them at Roterdam where a Physician of some Eminency especially in Female concerns was Master of the Synagogue and under no little Perplexity at that time for as much as there came in or started up amongst them some New Lights who declared besides their Observation of the Iewish Sabbath there was one thing farther wanting to Perfection and that was Circumcision whereunto some of the young strong body'd Fellows submitted but the Old Members would be no such Abrahams and moreover by their Interest in the Magistrates prevail'd to have those others sent a further Pilgrimage This I have cursorily mention'd to show how easy it is from some plausible Pretences and Superstitious pervertings of Holy Scripture for Men to glide gently on and sink into the Abyss of Iudaism recommend their Sanctity by no other Performances than the Superficial rigours of Pharisaical Ostentation for none but Men under such Arrogant Infatuations could presume to affirm and that Publickly in the Pulpit as my Author declares it was at a Market Town in Oxfordshire That to do any servile Work or Business on the Lord's day was as great a Sin as to kill a Man or commit Adultery Another in Somersetshire That to throw a Bowl on the Lord's day was as great a Sin as to kill a Man A third in Norfolk That to make a Feast or dress a Wedding Dinner on the Lord's Day was as great a Sin as for a Father to take a Knife and cut his Child's Throat A fourth in Suffolk That to Ring more Bells than one on the Lord's Day was as great a Sin as to commit Murder of all which Particulars Mr. Rogers in the Preface to his Treatise upon the Thirty Nine Articles assures us from certain Informations and Knowledge being present when the last was conven'd before his Ordnary for the same And moreover with great Satisfaction declares that by his means these Sabbatarian Errors and Impieties were first brought to Light and discovered to the State and this Good ensued thereupon That all Books which contain'd the above-mention'd and many more such fearful and heretical Assertions were call'd in and forbidden any more to be Printed and made Common Archbishop Whitgift by his Letters and Visitation did the one Anno 1599. and Sir Iohn Popham Lord Chief Iustice did the other Anno 1600. at Bury in Suffolk Yet neither could this nor several other prudent Courses both Ecclesiastical and Civil either satisfy the Scruples or restrain the Follies of those Men who had embrac'd these New Sabbath Doctrines but that they still went forward to advance that Business and made it part of the Common-Cause no Book being publish'd by them either as to Moral Piety or Systematical
Divinity wherein the Sabbath was not press'd upon the Consciences of God's People with as much Violence as formerly with Authority upon the Iews and from the same Obligations To give one Instance of many how Prevalent this Humour was Mr. Breerwood a very learned and judicious Person Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College had the Charge of an Orphan his Brother's Son whom he plac'd Apprentice in London where he continued two Years with much Satisfaction both to himself and Master but then grew very uneasy and earnest to be discharg'd the Reason whereof after some fained Excuses his Uncle discovered to be for that his Master on the Lord's Day had sent him forth sometimes on Arrands as to bid Guests fetch Wine give his Horse Provender or such like light Business all which one Mr. Byfield a popular Preacher at Chester when lately there had inform'd him to be a Sin a Trangression of God's Commandment touching the Sabbath and that he was not bound to yield nay that he sin'd against God in yielding Obedience to his Master's Commands this produc'd a learned Letter from the Uncle to Mr. Byfield which is since Printed with an Answer and Reply wherein the whole Question is exactly Stated upon what different Obligations the Iews and Christians observ'd their different Days that theirs amongst other Rites as St. Paul terms it Col. 2. 17. Was but a Shadow of things to come whereof the Body was in Christ or as he express'd himself farther on Only a Tenure for term of Life namely that of the Ceremonial Law which Life ended in the death of our Saviour and the Lord's day succeeded thereupon As it was not known or practis'd before Moses so it ceased to oblige after Christ being one of the Shadows which the Evangelical Light dispell'd one of the Burthens which this Law of Liberty takes off From whence it follows according to what I propounded 2 dly That these Sabbatarian Speculations are inconsistent with the Nature and Practice of Christian Religion for the Priesthood being chang'd there is made also of necessity a change of the Law as the Apostle tells us different ends of Institution and different ways of Observation the Iews were more especially enjoyn'd a Corporal Rest in Commemoration of their Temporal Deliverance the Christians main regard must be Spiritual after the Power of an endless Life and therefore what the Evangelical Prophet Isaiah declares as to the Sabbath Isa. 56. 2. Blessed is the Man that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it and keepeth his Hand from doing any evil hath by all the Fathers and from them most of the Moderns been understood by way of Prediction as to Gospel Times what at leastwise they ought to be St. Ierom is most express Alioquin si haec tantum prohibentur in Sabbato ergo in aliis sex diebus tribuitur nobis libert as delinquendi for otherwise if those things therein remembred are prohibited only on the Sabbaths then were it Lawful for us on the other Days to follow our own Sinful Courses speak our own idle Words and pursue our own Voluptuous Pleasures which were most Foolish to imagin And St. Augustine makes the 4th Commandment so far as it concerns us Christians to be no more than Requies cordis tranquilitas mentis quam facit bona Conscientia the quiet of the Heart and peace of Mind proceeding from a good Conscience and therefore it hath been well resolv'd by some that a Christian's Life should be one continued Sabbath he that lives every day as he ought hath little or no Obligation to observe one Day more than another but what between Idleness and Business Mankind was never Ingenious enough to be left at his own Freedom As for the Idle part God forgive them their many Extravagancies and more especially neglect of Holy Duties on the Six Days and let the severest Penalty attend their Violation of the Seventh And it were well if our Men of Business would consider how much that might be forwarded by sparing some little of their busy Time to implore God's Blessing upon their Business But to run into so gross a mistake as to think a strict Attendance upon Ordinances on the Sabbath Day may expiate for the Frauds Extortions and other Violations of the precedent Week is intollerable yet some are prone to suspect such a Delusion is not without Entertainment amongst many of the most seemingly Precise however 't is God alone and their own Consciences must judge herein it were well on the other side they would be less severe in Censuring others especially those we here plead for who are only the Drudging part of Mankind such Labourers Apprentices and other Servants as have let their other six Days time to Hire and are all that while at other Mens disposal that these after all due performance of Religious Offices should be allowed such innocent Diversions both of Body and Mind as their Inclinations tend most unto cannot but be thought reasonable and accordingly the Christian Church never interpos'd any Command to the contrary Here then come in their Majesties Declarations and more especially relate to the foremention'd Circumstances upon a prudent Consideration as King Charles saith of his Father That if these Times were taken from them the meaner sort who labour hard all the Week should have no Recreations at all to refresh their Spirits neither was there less of Prudence and Consideration in the several Limitations of this Innocent Freedom as First that no lawful Recreations be us'd as the Laws of the Kingdom and Canons of the Church prohibit for some such it seems there were as particularly Bowling to meaner sort of People 2dly That this Liberty be not taken till after Divine Service nor 3dly That any enjoy it but such as are present at the Performance thereof We may here likewise add the reasons given why the Declarations came out at those particular Times which if well weighed cannot be excepted against As first the Advantage the Papists took thereby to discourage People from coming into or continuing in our Church by perswading them that no honest Mirth or Recreations were tolerated in our Religion And this indeed gave the first occasion to King Iames who in his Progress through Lancashire received several Complaints thereof and having inform'd himself how justly gave a Check to the precise Humour of such Iustice over-does as stretched the Laws beyond their proper Intent and true Reason of the thing whereto likewise agrees what the judicious Sanderson tells us that in Lancashire more especially the Rigid froward Disposition of the Puritans oblig'd many of the Common People to continue if not turn Papists between which two Parties that County was mostly divided Another Reason given is for that this Prohibition barreth the common and meaner sort of People from using such Exercise as may make their Bodies more able for War when we or our Successors shall have occasion for as it goes on When shall the Common People
pessima If Parliaments should at any time be misguided by the Practice of a malignant Party nothing can be so dangerous because the highest Remedy being corrupted there is no sure Redress left And their knowing this and acting so vigorously to prevent those Miseries designed thereby was the Causa latens that their Blood was so much thirsted after and when spilt sadly accomplish'd what the Poet declar'd in one of their Elegies The State in Strafford dy'd the Church in Laud. For they being gone all the rest of the Kings Ministers thought it time to beg a Discharge and provide for themselves since the most unspotted Integrity could not be Proof against the Stat pro ratione of an Ordinance much less a Bill of Attainder Dr. Nalson in his Collections gives us a piece of a Manuscript left by the late Earl of Manchester the sometimes fatal Kimbolton which tells us what tricks and juglings were used amongst them to excuse such as had been exclaim'd against as most Obnoxious by resigning their Places to some leading Men of the Faction as Cottington Master of the Wards to Say and Seal c. So likewise for Monopolies which Ludlow tells us they declar'd against and expell'd the Authors out of the House p. 11. they were generally transferr'd by Bill to more deserving on their side as the Letter Office to the Earl of Warwik for three Lives and Sir Henry Mildmay was continu'd in the House though a notorious Promoter of the Monopoly of Gold and Silver Thread as also Mr. Laurence Whitaker and other Commissioners in Matters of like Nature or worse for to incourage those already come amongst them and bring in others they laid down this Politick Maxim That what disservice any one had done formerly his present Actions bringing Benefit to their Common-wealth he ought not now to be question'd He goes on to tell you how they proceeded to take away the Star-chamber High-commission Court Court of Honour with some others p. 13. The former of these was the antientest Court in England but being a support of the Prerogative must down and the other because of the Church I have already mention'd how much better it had been to have corrected the Abuses and for the present shall only observe that had they been ten times greater than they were it was no redress to take them away and substitute an ordinance of the House in room thereof yet that it was come to at so impudent an Arbitrary rate as no King of England or indeed in Europe ever assumed half that Power he that is most exclaim'd at now upon that account doth nothing like it the Grand Seignior was the only precedent they could propound As to the High Commission I shall only add that Mr. Hobbs in a little Pamphlet he writ since the Restauration of Heresy endeavours to vindicate his Leviathan from that Charge by Reason the High Commission at the restless Clamours of the Presbyterians was then abolish'd the only Court wherein such Points could be consider'd he did not think of a Convocation neither is it much thought of by others but doubtless all the Heresies Factions Schisms which have so miserably torn both Church and State arose from the suppressing that Court For that other the Court of Honour Gentlemen formerly had as much regard for their Bearing as any other property and would be as much concern'd if invaded but going about to Dethrone the sole Fountain of Honour their King 't was their Curse rather than Choice to lay all things in Common the Lord and Lacquey Gentleman and Groom upon the same Level which soon after they found more experimentally true than ever was expected and might have justly taken up the Prophet's Lamentation Servants have got the Dominion over us and there is none to deliver us out of their Hand What I most condole is that we lost the Thing as well as the Court true Honor fell to so low an Ebb as it hath very seldom stowd since should I say as much of Truth Iustice and Common Honesty 't were easier to inveigh against than disprove me Upon a summary View of these through-paic'd Reformers whole Proceedings who our Author tells us were resolv'd to correct the Abuses introduc'd the preoedent Years I cannot but reflect upon a Simile which occur'd the other Day in a Republican Pamphlet to the best of my Memory one of those about A Standing Army where that Truth could not pass without the Alloy of several Falshoods in reference to this and some other Reigns however the Metaphor is very proper comparing Government to a Watch or any such like piece of Clock-work where a disorder in any one Wheel obstructs the regular Course if not the whole Motion But then what can we say when not only several Wheels are taken out but the Spring it 's self is set aside every conceited Commonwealth Man and Clumsy-fisted Clown having liberty to tamper with and thumb it at Pleasure yet this impartially speaking hath been our Condition most an end ever since These rude Artists fell to work For what Hudebrass saith of Religion is altogether as true of Government One would think it was intended For nothing else butto be mended Were it not for shame of the Quibble I would add they design'd perhaps to make a Pendulum of it by which means it hath hung tottering ever since What he next entertains us withal is a Protestation agreed upon by the Lords and Commons to maintain the Power and Priviledges of Parliaments the Right and Liberty of the People c. p. 13. taking no notice of the precedent part to Defend the Protestant Religion express'd in the Doctrine of the Church of England c. and according to the Duty of Allegiance Maintain and Defend his Majesty's Royal Person Honour and Estate all which Ludlow omits and it was very ingenuously done for he knew it never intended In the mean while they acted above board as to the Discipline of the Church whereof they took no notice designing forthwith to set it aside for this Protestation was but a Prologue to the Scotch Covenant notwithstanding several Good Men both Clergy and Lay were driven by the Strength of that Popular Current to Subscribe it at a most unthinking rate What comes next is one of the best improv'd Lies in the whole Libel of a treacherous Design set on foot not without the King's Participation as appear'd under the King 's own Hand to bring up the English Army and by Force to Dissolve the Parliament the Plunder of London being promis'd to the Officers and Soldiers as a reward for that Service this was confess'd by the Lord Goring Mr. Percy and others The Scots Army was also try'd c. p. 15. This is his Story Let us now see Truth The chief Officers in the English Army were a Set of Worthy Loyal Gentlemen both of Sense and Honour and consequently could not but take notice how partial the Commons were to the Scots