considerable also that as the state of the Church yet stands the Laity have the benefit by the Leases which they hold of more than five parts of all the Bishops Deans and Chapters and College Revenues in England And shall it be yet an Eye-sore to serve themselves with the rest of their own This Evidence Mr. Browne whose part it was to summ up the Evidence against me at the end of the Charge wholly omitted For what Cause he best knows The next Charge was about my Injunctions in my Visitation of Winton and Sarum for the taking down of some Houses But they were such as were upon Consecrated Ground and ought not to have been built there and yet with caution sufficient to preserve the Lessees from over-much dammage For it appears apud Acta that they were not to be pulled down till their several Leases were expired And that they were Houses not built long since but by them and that all this was to be done to the end that the Church might suffer no dammage by them And that this demolition was to be made Juxta Decreta Regni according to the Statutes of the Kingdom Therefore nothing injoyned contrary to Law Or if any thing were the Injunction took not place by the very Tenor of that which was charged Mr. Browne omitted this Charge also though he hung heavily upon the like at St. Pauls though there was satisfaction given and not here The Ninth Charge was my intended Visitation of both the Vniversities Oxford and Cambridge For my Troubles began then to be foreseen by me and I Visited them not This was urged as a thing directly against Law But this I conceive cannot be so long as it was with the King's Knowledge and by his Warrant Secondly because all Power of the King's Visitations was saved in the Warrant and that with consent of all parts Thirdly because nothing in this was surreptitiously gotten from the King all being done at a most full Council-Table and great Councel at Law heard on both sides Fourthly because it did there appear that three of my Predecessors did actually Visit the Vniversities and that Jure Ecclesiae suae Metropoliticae Fifthly no Immunity pleaded why the Arch-Bishop should not Visit for the instance against Cardinal Poole is nothing For he attempted to Visit not only by the Right of his See but by his power Legatin from the Pope whereas the University Charters are Express that such power of Visitation cannot be granted per Bullas Papales And yet now 't is charged against me that I challenged this by Papal Power Mr. Browne wholly neglected this Charge also which making such a shew I think he would not have done had he found it well grounded The Tenth Charge was my Visitation of Merton College in Oxford The Witness Sir Nathaniel Brent the Warden of the College and principally concerned in that business He said First that no Visitation held so long But if he consult his own Office he may find one much longer held and continued at All-Souls College by my worthy Predecessor Arch-Bishop Whitgift Secondly he urged that I should say I would be Warden for Seven Years If I did so say there was much need I should make it good Thirdly That one Mr. Rich. Nevil Fellow of that College lay abroad in an Ale-House that a Wench was got with Child in that House and he accused of it and that this was complained of to me and Sir Nath. Brent accused for Conspiring with the Ale-Wife against Nevil I am not here to accuse the one or defend the other But the Case is this This Cause between them was publick and came to Hearing in the Vice-Chancellor's Court Witnesses Examined Mr. Nevil acquitted and the Ale-Wife punished In all this I had no Hand Then in my Visitation it was again complained of to me I liked not the business but forbare to do any thing in it because it had been Legally Censured upon the place This part of the Charge Mr. Browne urged against me in the House of Commons and I gave it the same Answer Lastly when I sate to hear the main Business of that College Sir Nathaniel Brent was beholding to me that he continued Warden For in Arch-Bishop Warham's time a Predecessor of his was expelled for less than was proved against him And I found that true which one of my Visitors had formerly told me namely That Sir Nathaniel Brent had so carried himself in that College as that if he were guilty of the like he would lay his Key under the Door and be gone rather than come to Answer it Yet I did not think it fit to proceed so rigidly But while I was going to open some of the Particulars against him Mr. Nicolas cut me off and told the Lords this was to scandalize their Witnesses So I forbare Then followed the last Charge of this day concerning a Book of Dr Bastwick's for which he was Censured in the High-Commission The Witnesses in this Charge were three Mr. Burton a Mortal Enemy of mine and so he hath shewed himself Mrs. Bastwick a Woman and a Wife and well Tutoured For she had a Paper and all written which she had to say though I saw it not till 't was too late And Mr. Hunscot a Man that comes in to serve all turns against me since the Sentence passed against the Printers for Thou shalt commit Adultery In the Particulars of this Charge 't is first said That this Book was written Contra Episcopos Latiales But how cunningly so-ever this was pretended 't is more than manifest it was purposely written and divulged against the Bishops and Church of England Secondly that I said that Christian Bishops were before Christian Kings So Burton and Mrs. Bastwick And with due Reverence to all Kingly Authority be it spoken who can doubt but that there were many Christian Bishops before any King was Christian Thirdly Mr. Burton says that I applied those words in the Psalm whom thou may'st make Princes in all Lands to the Bishops For this if I did err in it many of the Fathers of the Church mis-led me who Interpret that place so And if I be mistaken 't is no Treason But I shall ever follow their Comments before Mr. Burton's Fourthly Mrs. Bastwick says that I then said no Bishop and no King If I did say so I Learned it of a Wise and Experienced Author King James who spake it out and plainly in the Conference at Hampton-Court And I hope it cannot be Treason in me to repeat it Fifthly Mrs. Bastwick complained that I committed her Husband close Prisoner Not I but the High-Commission not close Prisoner to his Chamber but to the Prison not to go abroad with his Keeper Which is all the close Imprisonment which I ever knew that Court use Lastly the pinch of this Charge is that I said I received my Jurisdiction
he hath made stay of that they may be reduced into Years for the good of that See which abundantly needs it My Lord Bishop of Winchester Certifies that there is all Peace and Order in his Diocess and that himself and his Clergy have duly Obeyed your Majesty's Instructions But he Informs that in the Parish of Avington in Hampshire one Vnguyon an Esquire is Presented for a new Recusant as also Three others whereof Two are in Southwark These Three Bishops for their several Diocesses respectively make return that all Obedience is yielded to every of your Majesty's Instructions The late Bishop of St Davids now of Hereford hath in his time of Residence taken a great deal of pains in that See and hath caused Two to be questioned in the High Commission and Suspended one Roberts a Lecturer for Inconformity Three or four others which were Suspended he hath released upon hope given of their Obedience to the Church and hath absolutely deprived Two for their exceeding Scandalous Life He complains much and surely with cause enough that there are few Ministers in those poor and remote places that are able to Preach and Instruct the People My Lord the Bishop informs that that County is very full of Impropriations which makes the Ministers poor and their Poverty makes them fall upon Popular and Factious courses I doubt this is too true but it is a Mischief hard to cure in this Kingdom yet I have taken all the care I can and shall continue so to do From the rest of the Bishops of my Province I have received no Certificat this Year viz. Covent and Litchfield Worcester Bangor So I humbly submit this my Certificat W. CANT The Arch-Bishop's Accounts of his Province to the King for the Year 1636. May it please your Sacred Majesty ACcording to your Royal Commands expressed in your late Instructions for the good of the Church I do here most humbly present my Yearly Account for my Diocess and Province of Canterbury for this last Year ending at Christmass 1636. And First for my own Diocess I have every Year acquainted your Majesty and so must do now that there are still about Ashford and Egerton divers Brownists and other Separatists But they are so very mean and poor People that we know not what to do with them They are said to be the Disciples of one Turner and Fennar who were long since apprehended and imprisoned by Order of your Majesty's High Commission Court But how this part came to be so infected with such a Humour of Separation I know not unless it were by too much connivence at their first beginning Neither do I see any Remedy like to be unless some of their chief Seducers be driven to Abjure the Kingdom which must be 〈◊〉 by the Judges at the Common Law but is not in our power I have received Information from my Officers that the Walloons and other Strangers in my Diocess especially at Canterbury do come orderly to their Parish Churches and there receive the Sacraments and Marry c. according to my Injunctions with that limitation which your Majesty allowed There have been heretofore many in Canterbury that were not conformable to Church Discipline and would not kneel at the Communion but they are all now very Conformable as I hear expresly by my Officers and that there is no falling away of any to Recusancy There hath been a Custom that some Ministers thereabouts have under divers pretences lived for the most part at Canterbury and gone seldom to their Benefices which hath given a double Scandal both by their absence from their several Cures and by keeping too much Company and that not in the best manner I have seen this remedied in all save only one Man and if he do not presently Conform I have taken order for his Suspension In the Diocess of London I find that my Lord the Bishop there now by your Majesty's Grace and Favour Lord High Treasurer of England hath very carefully observed those Instructions which belong to his own Person And for the Diocess his Lordship Informs me of three great Misdemeanours The one committed by Dr Cornelius Burges who in a Latin Sermon before the Clergy of London uttered divers insolent passages against the Bishops and Government of the Church and refused to give his Lordship a Copy of the Sermon so there was a necessity of calling him into the High Commission Court which is done The second Misdemeanour is of one Mr Wharton a Minister in Essex who in a Sermon at Chelmesford uttered many unfit and some scurrilous things But for this he hath been Convented and received a Canonical Admonition And upon his sorrow and submission any farther Censure is forborn The third Misdemeanour which my Lord complains of is the late spreading and dispersing of some Factious and Malicious Pamphlets against the Bishops and Government of the Church of England And my Lord farther Certifies that he hath reasonable ground to perswade him that those Libellous Pamphlets have been Contrived or Abetted and dispersed by some of the Clergy of his Diocess and therefore desires me to use the Authority of the High Commission for the further discovery of this Notorious practice to prevent the Mischiefs which will otherwise ensue upon the Government of the Church This God willing I shall see performed But if the High Commission shall not have Power enough because one of those Libels contains Seditious Matter in it and that which is very little 〈◊〉 of Treason if any thing at all then I humbly crave leave to add this to my Lord Treasurer's Motion and humbly to desire that your Majesty will call it into a higher Court if you find Cause since I see no likelyhood but that these Troubles in the Church if they be permitted will break out into some Sedition in the Common-wealth My Visitation is yet depending for this Diocess and by reason of the Sickness I could not with safety hold it nor think it fit to gather so much People together but God willing I shall perform that Duty so soon as conveniently I may and then Certifie your Majesty at the next return what shall come under mine own view In this Diocess I find by my Lord's Report from his Officers that there are divers Recusants in several parts of the Country and that some of them have been seduced away from the Church of England within these two or three Years For all things else I receive no complaint thence save only of three or four Ministers that are negligent in Catechising and observe it not at all or but in the Lent only But I shall call upon the Bishop to see this remedied and to be as vigilant as he can against any farther increase of Recusants From Bath and Wells I have received a very good and happy Certificat both that all your Majesty's Instructions have been exactly performed throughout that whole Diocess And
ready made That which was mine is here confessed to be but Interlinings and Marginals and Corrections and at most some Additions And they would be found a very small Some were the Original Book seen And yet it must be Evident that no Hand but mine did this by my Magisterial way of Prescribing in an Interlining or a Marginal Excellent Evidence Secondly they have another great Evidence of this But because that is so nervous and strong I will be bold to reduce it to some Form that it may appear the clearer though it be against my self There was they say a new Copy of these Canons all written with S. Andrews own Hand and according to the former Castigations and Directions sent to have the King's Warrant to it which was obtained Therefore these Interlinings and Marginals c. were done by no other than Canterbury Most Excellent Evidence and clear as Mid-Night The plain Truth is contrary to all this Evidence For by the same Command of His Majesty the Reverend Bishop of London was joyned with me in all the view and Consideration which I had either upon the Book of Canons or upon the Service-Book after So it is utterly untrue that these Interlinings or Marginals or Corrections or call them what you will were done by no other than Canterbury For my Lord of London's both Head and Hand were as deep in them as mine And this I avow for well known Truth both to the King and those Scottish Bishops which were then imployed and this notwithstanding all the Evidences of a Magisterial way and a New Copy And yet this General Charge pursues me yet farther and says The Kings Warrant was obtained as is said to these Canons but with an Addition of some other Canons and a Page of New Corrections according to which the Book of Canons thus Composed was Published in Print The inspection of the Books Instructions and his Letters of Joy for the success of the Work and of other Letters from the Prelate of London and the Lord Sterling to the same purpose all which we are ready to exhibit will put the Matter out of all debate Yet more ado about nothing Yet more noise of Proof to put that out of all debate which need never enter into any For if no more be intended than that I had a view of the Book of Canons and did make some Interlinings and Marginals and the like I have freely acknowledged it and by whose Command I did it and who was joyned with me in the Work So there will need no Proof of this either by my Letters or the Prelate of Londons or the Lord Sterlings Yet let them be exhibited if you please But if it be intended as 't is laid that this was done by no other than Canterbury then I utterly deny it and no Proof here named or any other shall ever be able to make it good As for the Addition of some other Canons and Pages of New Corrections according to which the Book of Canons is said to be Composed and Published Truly to the utmost of my Memory I know of none such but that the Copy written by my Lord of S. Andrews own Hand and sent up as is before mentioned was the very Copy which was Warranted by His Majesty and Published without any further Alteration But if any further Alteration were it was by the same Authority and with the same Consent And for my Letters of Joy for the Success of the Work let them be exhibited when you please I will never deny that Joy while I live that I conceived of the Church of Scotland's coming nearer both in the Canons and the Liturgy to the Church of England But our gross unthankfulness both to our God and King and our other many and great Sins have hindred this great Blessing And I pray God that the loss of this which was now almost effected do not in short time prove one of the greatest Mischiefs which ever befel this Kingdom and that too This is the General Charge about the Canons Now follow the Particulars Beside this General Charge there be some things more special worthy to be adverted unto for discovering his Spirit First the Fourth Canon of Cap 8. For as much as no Reformation in Doctrine or Discipline can be made perfect at once in any Church Therefore it shall and may be Lawful for the Kirk of Scotland at any time to make Remonstrances to His Majesty or his Successours c. Because this Canon holds the Door open to more Innovations he writes to the Prelate of Ross his Prime Agent in all this Work of his great Gladness that this Canon did stand behind the Curtain And his great desire that this Canon might be Printed fully as one that was to be most useful Now come the Particulars worthy to be adverted unto for the discovery of my Spirit And the first is taken out of the Fourth Canon of Cap. 8. The Charge is that this Canon holds the Door open to more Innovations First I conceive this Accusation is vain For that Canon restrains all Power from private Men Clergy or Laye nay from Bishops in a Synod or otherwise to alter any thing in Doctrine or Discipline without Authority from His Majesty or his Successours Now all Innovations come from private assumption of Authority not from Authority it self For in Civil Affairs when the King and the State upon Emergent Occasions shall abrogate some Old Laws and make other New that cannot be counted an Innovation And in Church-Affairs every Synod that hath sate in all times and all places of Christendom have with leave of Superiour Authority declared some Points of Doctrine condemned other-some Altered some Ceremonials made new Constitutions for better assisting the Government And none of these have ever been accounted Innovations the Foundations of Religion still remaining firm and unmoved Nay under favour I conceive it most necessary that thus it ought to be And therefore this Canon is far from holding a Door open for more Innovations since it shuts it upon all and leaves no Power to alter any thing but by making a Remonstrance to the Supream Authority that in a Church-way approbation may be given when there is Cause And therefore if I did write to the Prelate of Ross that this Canon might be Printed fully as one that was to be most useful I writ no more then than I believe now For certainly it is a Canon that in a well-governed Church may be of great use And the more because in Truth it is but Declaratory of that Power which a National Church hath with leave and approbation of the Supream Power to alter and change any alterable thing pertaining to Doctrine or Discipline in the Church And as for that Phrase said to be in my Letter that this Canon did stand behind the Curtain it was thus occasioned My Lord the Bishop of Ross writ unto me from the Arch-Bishop of S. Andrews that no words might
be made of this Canon what their Reason was they best know I returned Answer belike in this sort That the Canon stood behind the Curtain and would not be throughly understood by every Man yet advised the Printing in regard of the necessary use of it For let this Canon be in force and right use made of it and a National Church may ride safe by God's Ordinary Blessing through any Storm which without this Latitude it can never do The next Charge is in 2. The Title prefixed to these Canons by our Prelates For there 't is thus Canons agreed on to be proponed to the several Synods of the Kirk of Scotland And is thus changed by Canterbury Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical c. Ordained to be observed by the Clergy He will not have Canons to come from the Authority of Synods but from the Power of Prelates or from the Kings Prerogative I perceive they mean to sift narrowly when the Title cannot scape But truly in this Charge I am to seek which is greater in my Accusers their Ignorance or their Malice Their Ignorance in the Charge or their Malice in the Inference upon it The Title was Canons agreed upon to be proponed to the Synods of the Kirk of Scotland And this was very fit to express the Prelates intendment which for ought I know was to propose them so But this Book which was brought to me was to be Printed And then that Title could not stand with any Congruity of Sense For no Church uses to Print Canons which are to be proponed to their Synods but such as have been proposed and agreed on Nor did this altering of the Title in any the least thing hinder those worthy Prelates from Communicating them with their Synods before they Printed them And therefore the Inference must needs be extream full of Malice to force from hence that I would not have Canons come from the Authority of Synods but from the Power of Prelates or the King's Prerogative Whereas most manifest it is that the fitting of this Title for the Press doth neither give any Power to Prelates nor add to the King's Prerogative more than is his due nor doth it detract any thing from the Authority of Synods For I hope the Bishops had no purpose but to Ordain them in Synod to be observed by the Clergy c. and Approved and Published by the King's Consent and Authority After this comes 3. The formidable Canon Cap. 1. 3. threatning no less than Excommunication against all such Persons whatsoever shall open their Mouths against any of these Books proceeded not from our Prelates nor is to be found in Copies sent from them but is a Thunderbolt forged in Canterbury's own Fire First whether this Canon be to be found in the Copies sent from your Prelates or not I cannot tell but sure it was in the Copy brought to me or else my Memory forsakes me very strangely Secondly after all this Noise made of a Formidable Canon because no less is threatned than Excommunication I would fain know what the Church can do less upon Contempt of her Canons Liturgy and Ordinations than to Excommunicate the Offenders or what Church in any Age laid less upon a Crime so great Thirdly suppose this Thunderbolt as 't is called were forged in Canterbury's Fire yet that Fire was not outragious For this Canon contains as much as the 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Canons of the Church of England made in the beginning of the gracious Reign of King James And yet to every one of those Canons there is an Excommunication in Facto affixed for every one of these Crimes single Whereas this Canon shoots this one Thunderbolt but once against them all And this I would my Accusers should know that if no more Thunderbolts had been forged in their Fire than have been in mine nor State nor Church would have Flamed as of late they have done 4 Our Prelates in divers Places witness their dislike of Papists A Minister shall be deposed if he shall Rushw. be found negligent to convert Papists Cap. 8. 15. The Adoration of the Bread is a Superstition to be condemned Cap. 6. 6. They call the Absoluteness of Baptism an Errour of Popery Cap. 6. 2. But in Canterbury's Edition the Name of Papists and Popery are not so much as mentioned Here 's a great general Accusation offered to be made good by three Particulars The general is that in the Copy of the Canons which their Prelates sent there 's a dislike of Papists But none in the Edition as it was alter'd by me Now this is utterly untrue for it is manifest cap. 1. 1. There is express care taken for the King's Majesty's Jurisdiction over the Estate Ecclesiastical and abolishing all Foreign Power repugnant to it And again in the same Canon That no Foreign Power hath in his Majesty's Dominions any Establishment by the Law of God And this with an Addition That the Exclusion of all such Power is just And Cap. 2. 9. 't is Ordained that every Ecclesiastical Person shall take the Oath of Supremacy And Cap. 10. 3. All Readers in any Colledge or Schools shall take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy And sure I think 't is no great matter whether Papists or Popery be Named so long as the Canons go so directly against them This for the General Now for the three Particulars And first That which was in Cap. 8. 15. That a Minister shall be deposed if he be found negligent to convert Papists I did think fit to leave out upon these two Grounds The one that the Word Negligent is too general an Expression and of too large an extent to lay a Minister open to Deposition And if Church-Governours to whom the execution of the Canons is committed should forget Christian Moderation as they may Pati humana a very worthy Minister might sometimes be undone for a very little Negligence for Negligence is Negligence be it never so little Besides I have learned out of the Canons of the Church of England that even gross Negligence in a matter as great as this is is punished but with Suspension for three Months The other Ground why I omitted this clause is Because I do not think the Church of Scotland or any other particular Church is so blessed in her Priests as that every of her Ministers is for Learning and Judgment and Temper Able and Fit to convert Papists And therefore I did think then and do think yet that it is not so easie a work or to be made so common but that it is and may be much fitter for some able selected Men to undertake And if any Man think God's Gifts in him to be neglected as Men are apt to overvalue themselves let them try their Gifts and labour their Conversion in God's Name But let not the Church by a Canon set every Man on work lest their Weak or Indiscreet Performance hurt the Cause and blemish the Church The
Tyrannical Government contrary to Law I could not endeavour this my knowledge and judgment going ever against an Arbitrary Government in comparison of that which is settled by Law I learned so much long ago out of Aristotle and his Reasons are too good to be gone against And ever since I had the honour to sit at the Council Table I kept my self as much to the Law as I could and followed the Judgment of those great Lawyers which then sat at the Board And upon all References which came from His Majesty if I were one I left those freely to the Law who were not willing to have their business ended any other way And this the Lord Keeper the Lord Privy Seal and the Councel Learned which attended their Clients Causes can plentifully witness I did never advise His Majesty that he might at his own Will and Pleasure levy Money of his Subjects without their Consent in Parliament Nor do I remember that ever I affirmed any such thing as is Charged in the Article But I do believe that I may have said something to this effect following That howsoever it stands by the Law of God for a King in the just and necessary defence of himself and his Kingdom to levy Money of his Subjects yet where a particular National Law doth intervene in any Kingdom and is settled by mutual consent between the King and his People there Moneys ought to be Levied by and according to that Law And by God's Law and the same Law of the Land I humbly conceive the Subjects so met in Parliament ought to supply their Prince when there is just and necessary cause And if an Absolute necessity do happen by Invasion or otherwise which gives no time for Counsel or Law such a Necessity but no pretended one is above all Law And I have heard the greatest Lawyers in this Kingdom confess that in times of such a Necessity The King 's Legal Prerogative is as great as this And since here is of late such a noise made about the Subversion of the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom and Mens Lives called this way in question 't is very requisite that these Fundamental Laws were known to all Men That so they may see the danger before they run upon it Whereas now the Common Laws of England have no Text at all In so much that many who would think themselves wronged if they were not accounted good Lawyers cannot in many points assure a Man what the Law is And by this means the Judges have liberty to retain more in Scrinio Pectoris than is fitting and which comes a little too near that Arbitrary Government so much and so justly found fault with Whereas there is no Kingdom that I know that hath a setled Government but it hath also a Text or a Corpus Juris of the Laws written save England So here shall be as great a punishment as is any where for the breach of the Laws and no Text of them for a Man's direction And under favour I think it were a work worthy a Parliament to Command some prime Lawyers to draw up a Body of the Common Law and then have it carefully Examined by all the Judges of the Realm and thoroughly weighed by both Houses and then have this Book Declared and Confirmed by an Act of Parliament as containing the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom And then let any Man go to Subvert them at his Peril 2. He hath for the better accomplishment of that his Trayterous Design advised and procured divers Sermons and other Discourses to be Preached Printed and Published in which the Authority of Parliaments and the force of the Laws of this Kingdom are denied and an Absolute and Vnlimited Power over the Persons and Estates of his Majesties Subjects is maintained and defended not only in the King but also in himself and other Bishops above and against the Law And he hath been a great Protector Favourer and Promoter of the Publishers of such false and pernicious Opinions I have neither advised nor procured the Preaching Printing or Publishing of any Sermons or other Discourses in which the Authority of Parliaments and the force of the Laws of this Kingdom are denied and an Absolute and Unlimited Power over the Persons and Estates of his Majesty's Subjects maintained and defended Nay I have been so far from this that I have since I came into place made stay of divers Books purposely written to maintain an Absolute Power in the Kingdom and have not suffered them to be Printed as was earnestly desired And were it fit to bring other Mens Names in question and expose their Persons to danger I have some of those Tracts by me at this present And as I have not maintained this Power in the King's Majesty so much less have I defended this or any other Power against Law either in my self or other Bishops or any other Person whatsoever Nor have I been a Protector Favourer or Promoter of any the Publishers of such false and pernicious Opinions knowing them to be such Men. 3. He hath by Letters Messages Threats Promises and divers other ways to Judges and other Ministers of Justice interrupted and perverted and at other times by the means aforesaid hath indeavoured to interrupt and pervert the course of Justice in his Majesty's Courts at Westminster and other Courts to the Subversion of the Laws of this Kingdom whereby sundry of his Majesty's Subjects have been stopped in their Just Suits and deprived of their Lawful Rights and subjected to his Tyrannical Will to their utter Ruin and Destruction I have neither by Letters Messages Threats nor Promises nor by any other Means endeavoured to interrupt or pervert the course of Justice in his Majesty's Judges or other Ministers of Justice either to the Subversion of the Law or the stopping of the Subjects in their Just Suits Much less to the ruin or destruction of any one which God forbid I should ever be guilty of The most that ever I have done in this kind is this When some poor Clergy-Men which have been held in long Suits some Seven Nine Twelve Years and one for Nineteen Years together have come and besought me with Tears and have scarce had convenient Clothing about them to come and make their address I have sometimes underwritten their Petitions to those Reverend Judges in whose Courts their Suits were and have fairly desired Expedition for them But I did never desire by any Letter or Subscription or Message any thing for any of them but that which was according to the Law and Justice of the Realm And in this particular I do refer my self to the Testimony of the Reverend Judges of the Common Law 4. That the said Arch-Bishop hath Traiterously and Corruptly sold Justice to those that have had Causes depending before him by Colour of his Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction as Arch-Bishop High-Commissioner Referree or otherwise and hath taken unlawful Gifts and Bribes of his
of the said pretended Canons enjoyned to be taken by all the Clergy and many of the Laity of this Kingdom I Composed no Book of Canons The whole Convocation did it with unanimous Consent So either I must be free or that whole Body must be guilty of High-Treason For in that Crime all are Principals that are guilty Accessory there is none Neither did I publish or put in Execution those Canons or any of them but by Lawful Authority And I do humbly conceive and verily believe there is nothing in those Canons contrary either to the King's Prerogative the Fundamental Laws of the Realm the Rights of Paliament the Propriety and Liberty of the Subjects or any matter tending to Sedition or of dangerous consequence or to the establishment of any vast or unlawful Power in my self and my Sucessors Neither was there any Canon in that Convocation surreptitiously passed by any practice of mine or without due Consideration and Debate Neither was there any thing in that Convocation but what was voted first and subscribed after without fear or compulsion in any kind And I am verily perswaded there never sate any Synod in Christendom wherein the Votes passed with more freedom or less practice than they did in this And for the Oath injoyned in the sixth Canon as it was never made to confirm any unlawful or exorbitant Power over his Majesty's Subjects so I do humbly conceive that it is no Wicked or Ungodly Oath in any respect And I hope I am able to make it good in any learned Assembly in Christendom that this Oath and all those Canons then made and here before recited and every Branch in them are Just and Orthodox and Moderate and most necessary for the present Condition of the Church of England how unwelcom soever to the present Distemper 6. He hath traiterously assumed to himself a Papal and Tyrannical Power both in Ecclesiastical and Temporal Matters over his Majesty's Subjects in this Realm of England and other places to the Disinherison of the Crown Dishonour of his Majesty and Derogation of his Supreme Authority in Ecclesiastical Matters And the said Arch-Bishop claims the King 's Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction as incident to his Episcopal and Archiepiscopal Office in this Kingdom and doth deny the same to be derived from the Crown of England which he hath accordingly exercised to the high contempt of his Royal Majesty and to the destruction of divers of the King's Liege-People in their Persons and Estates I have not assumed Papal or Tyrannicl Power in matters Ecclesiastical or Temporal to the least Disinherison Dishonour or Derogation of his Majesty's Supream Authority in matters Ecclesiastical or Temporal I never claimed the King's Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction as incident to my Episcopal or Archiepiscopal Office in this Kingdom Nor did I ever deny that the exercise of my Jurisdiction was derived from the Crown of England But that which I have said and do still say concerning my Office and Calling is this That my Order as a Bishop and my Power of Jurisdiction is by Divine Apostolical Right and unalterable for ought I know in the Church of Christ. But all the Power I or any other Bishop hath to exercise any the least Power either of Order or Jurisdiction within this Realm of England is derived wholly from the Crown And I conceive it were Treasonable to derive it from any other Power Foreign or Domestick And for the Exercise of this Power under his Majesty I have not used it to the Contempt but to the great Advantage of his Royal Person and to the Preservation not the Destruction of his People Both which appear already by the great Distractions Fears and Troubles which all Men are in since my Restraint and which for ought I yet see are like to increase if God be not exceeding Merciful above our Deserts 7. That he hath traiterously endeavoured to alter and subvert God's true Religion by Law established in this Realm and instead thereof to set up Popish Superstition and Idolatry and to that end hath declared and maintained in Speeches and Printed Books divers Popish Doctrines and Opinions contrary to the Articles of Religion established by Law He hath urged and injoyned divers Popish and Superstitious Ceremonies without any warrant of Law and hath cruelly persecuted those who have opposed the same by Corporal Punishment and Imprisonment and most unjustly vexed others who refused to conform thereto by Ecclesiastical Censures of Excommunication Suspension Deprivation and Degradation contrary to the Law of the Kingdom I never endeavoured to alter or subvert God's true Religion established by Law in this Kingdom or to bring in Romish Superstition Neither have I declared maintained or Printed any Popish Doctrine or Opinion contrary to the Articles of Religion established or any one of them either to the end mentioned in this Article or any other I have neither urged nor injoyned any Popish or Superstitious Ceremonies without warrant of Law nor have I cruelly persecuted any Opposers of them But all that I laboured for in this particular was that the external Worship of God in this Church might be kept up in Uniformity and Decency and in some Beauty of Holiness And this the rather because first I found that with the Contempt of the Outward Worship of God the Inward fell away apace and Profaneness began boldly to shew it self And secondly because I could speak with no conscientious Persons almost that were wavering in Religion but the great motive which wrought upon them to disaffect or think meanly of the Church of England was that the external Worship of God was so lost in the Church as they conceived it and the Churches themselves and all things in them suffered to lye in such a base and slovenly Fashion in most places of the Kingdom These and no other Considerations moved me to take so much care as I did of it which was with a single Eye and most free from any Romish Superstition in any thing As for Ceremonies all that I injoyned were according to Law And if any were Superstitious I injoyned them not As for those which are so called by some Men they are no Innovations but Restaurations of the ancient approved Ceremonies in and from the beginning of the Reformation and setled either by Law or Custom till the Faction of such as now openly and avowedly separate from the Church of England did oppose them and cry them down And for the Censures which I put upon any I presume they will to all indifferent Men which will Understandingly and Patiently hear the Cause appear to be Just Moderate and according to Law 8. That for the better advancing of his Traiterous Purpose and Designs he did abuse the great Power and Trust his Majesty reposed in him and did intrude upon the Places of divers great Officers and upon the Right of divers his Majesty's Subjects whereby he did procure to himself the Nomination of sundry
by his Majesty in the presence of a Secretary of State and commanded to speak my Judgment and my Conscience And I did so And declared clearly against any Bishops of the Roman Party his coming into the Kingdom to reside or exercise any Jurisdiction here And I gave then for my Reason the very self-same which is since Published by the 〈◊〉 of Commons in their Remonstrance A different and inconsistent Church within a Church which ever brought hazard upon the State And in this Judgment I persisted and never permitted much less countenanced any Popish Hierarchy to settle in this Kingdom but hindred it by all the 〈◊〉 and means I could 11. He in his own Person and his Suffragans Visitors Surrogats Chancellors or other Officers by his Command have caused divers Learned Pious and Orthodox Preachers of Gods Word to be Silenced Suspended Deprived Degraded Excommunicated or otherwise grieved and vexed without any just and lawful Cause whereby and by divers other Means he hath hindred the Preaching of God's Word caused divers of his Majesty's Loyal Subjects to forsake the Kingdom and increased and cherished Ignorance and Prophaneness amongst the People That so he might the better facilitate the way to the effecting of his own Wicked and Trayterous Designs of altering and corrupting the True Religion here Established I have neither by my self nor by my Command to my Officers Silenced Suspended Deprived Degraded or Excommunicated any Learned Pious and Orthodox Preachers nor any other but upon Just Cause Proved in Court and according to Law And I think it will appear that as few be the Cause never so Just have been Suspended or Deprived in my Diocess as in any Diocess in England Nor have I by these Suspensions hindred the Preaching of Gods Word but of Schism and Sedition as now appears plainly by the Sermons frequently made in London since the time of Liberty given and taken since this Parliament first began Nor have I caused any of his Majesty's Subjects to forsake the Kingdom but they forsook it of themselves being Separatists from the Church of England as is more than manifest to any Man that will but consider what kind of Persons went to New-England And whereas in their late Remonstrance they say The high Commission grew to such excess of Sharpness and Severity as was not much less than the Romish Inquisition and yet in many Cases by the arch-Arch-Bishops Power was made much more heavy being assisted and strengthned by Authority of the Council-Table I was much troubled at it that such an Imputation from so great a Body should be fastned on me And therefore first I considered that my Predecessors were all or most of them strengthned with the same Authority of the Council-Table that I was And therefore if I did use that Authority to worse ends or in a worse manner than they did I was the more to blame Therefore to satisfie my self and others in this particular I did in the next place cause a diligent search to be made in the Acts of that Court which can deceive no Man what Suspensions Deprivations or other Punishments had past in the Seven Years of my Time before my Commitment Then I compared them with every of the Three Seven Years of my immediate Predecessor for so long he sat and somewhat over and was in great esteem with the House of Commons all his Time and I find more by Three Suspended Deprived or Degraded in every Seven Years of his Time than in the Seven Years of my Time so cryed out upon as you see for Sharpness and Severity even to the equasling of that Commission almost to the Romish Inquisition So safe a thing it is for a Man 〈◊〉 Imbarque himself into a Potent Faction and so hard for any other Man be he never so intire to withstand its Violence 12. He hath 〈◊〉 endeavoured to cause Division and Discord between the Church of England and other Reformed Churches And to that end hath Suppressed and Abrogated the Priviledges and Immunities which have been by his Majesty and his Royal Ancestors granted to the French and Dutch Churches in this Kingdom And divers other ways hath expressed his Malice and Disaffiction to these Churches that so by such Disunion the Papists might have more advantage for the Overthrow and Extripation of both I never endeavoured to set Division between the Church of England and other Reformed Churches And if I had so done it had been a very Unchristian and unworthy Act but yet no Treason as I conceive And for the Priviledges and Immunities granted by his Majesty and his Royal Progenitors to the French and Dutch Churches in this Kingdom I did not seek to Suppress or Abrogate any of them which kept Conform to their first Toleration here much less did I labour by any Disunion betwixt them and us to advantage the Papists to the overthrow of both But this I found that they did not use their Priviledges with that Gratitude and Fairness to his Majesty the State and Church of England as they ought to have done And hereupon I acquainted his Majesty and the Lords in full and open Council with what I conceived concerning that business As Namely 1. That their living as they did and standing so strictly to their own Discipline wrought upon the Party in England which were addicted to them and made them more averse than otherwise they would have been to the present Government of the Church of England 2. That by this means they lived in England as if they were a kind of God's Israel in Egypt to the great Dishonour of the Church of England to which at first they fled for Shelter against Persecution And in that time of their Danger the Church of England was in their Esteem not only a true but a glorious Church But by this Favour which that Church received it grew up and incroached upon us till it became a Church within a Church and a kind of State within a State And this I ever held dangerous how small beginning soever it had And that upon two main Reasons The one because I find the Wisdom of God against it For he says plainly to his prime People One Law and especially for Divine Worship shall be to him that is home-born and to the Stranger that Sojourns among you Exod. 12. And the other because I find the Wisdom of this State against it For this Parliament in their Remonstrance give the self-same Reason against the Papists but must hold good against all Sects that labour to make strong and inlarge themselves The Words are these Another State moulded within this State independent in Government contrary in Interest and Affection 〈◊〉 corrupting the Ignorant or Negligent Professors of our Religion and closely Vniting and Combining themselves against such as are sound in this posture waiting for an Opportunity c. And the Words are as true of the one Faction as the other and
a poor Evasion was this Were there no other Lawyers for him because Mr. Solicitor was for me The Truth is all that ever I did in this Business was not only with the Knowledge but by the Advice of my Councel which were Mr. Solicitor Littleton and Mr. Herbert At last this Gentleman submitted himself and the Cause and if as he says Dr. Eden perswaded him to it that 's nothing to me As for the Fine I referred the moderation of it wholly to my Councel They pitched upon Sixteen Hundred Pounds and gave such Days of Payment as that a good part is yet unpaid And this Summ was little above one Years Rent For the Parsonage is known to be well worth Thirteen Hundred Pound a Year if not more And after the Business was setled my Lord Wimbleton came to me and gave me great Thanks for preserving this Gentleman being as he said his Kinsman whom he confessed it was in my Power to ruin For the raising of the Rent Sixty Pounds it was to add Means to the several Curats to the Chappels of Ease And I had no Reason to suffer Sir Ralph Ashton to go away with so much Profit and leave the Curats both upon my Conscience and my Purse And for his Fine to St Pauls I gave him all the Ease I could But since his Son will force it from me he was accused of Adultery with divers Women and confessed all And whither that Fine went and by what Authority I have already shewed And thus much more my Lords at Mr. Bridgman's Intreaty I turned this Lease into Lives again without Fine But since I have this Reward for it I wish with all my Heart I had not done it For I am confident in such a Case of Right your Lordships would have left me to the Law and more I wou'd not have asked And I think this though intreated into it was my greatest Error in the Business 6. The last Instance was about the conversion of some Money to St. Pauls out of Administrations By Name Two Thousand Pounds taken out of Wimark's Estate and Five Hundred out of Mr. Gray's First whatsoever was done in this kind I have the Broad-Seal to Warrant it And for Mr. Wimark's Estate all was done according to Law and all care taken for his Kindred And if I had not stired in the Business Four Men all Strangers to his Kindred would have made themselves by a broken Will Executors and swept all away from the Kindred Secondly for Mr. Gray's Estate after as Odious an expression of it as could be made and as void of Truth as need to be the Proceedings were confessed to be Orderly and Legal and the Charge deserted Then there was a fling at Sir Charles Caesar's getting of the Mastership of the Rolls for Money and that I was his means for it And so it was thence inferred That I sold Places of Judicature or helped to sell them For this they produced a Paper under my Hand But when they had thrown all the Dirt they could upon me they say they did only shew what Probabilities they had for it and what Reason they had to lay it in the end of the Fourth Original Article and so deserted it And well they might For I never had more Hand in this Business than that when he came to me about it I told him plainly as things then stood that Place was not like to go without more Money than I thought any Wise Man would give for it Nor doth the Paper mentioned say any more but that I informed the Lord Treasurer what had passed between us CAP. XXVIII THis day ended I was Ordered to appear again April 4. 1644. And received a Note from the Committee under Serjeant Wild's Hand dated April 1. That they meant to proceed next upon the Fifth and Sixth Original Articles and upon the Ninth Additional which follow in haec verba The Fifth Original He hath Trayterously caused a Book of Canons to be Composed and Published and those Canons to be put in Execution without any lawful Warrant and Authority in that behalf in which pretended Canons many Matters are contained contrary to the King's Prerogative to the Fundamental Laws and Statutes of this Realm to the Right of Parliament to the Propriety and Liberty of the Subjects and Matters tending to Sedition and of dangerous Consequence and to the Establishment of a vast unlawful and presumptus Power in himself and his Successors Many of the which Canons by the practice of the said Arch-Bishop were surreptitiously passed in the late Convocation without due consideration and debate others by fear and compulsion were Subscribed unto by the Prelats and Clerks there assembled which had never been Voted and Passed in the Convocation as they ought to have been And the said Arch-Bishop hath contrived and endeavoured to assure and confirm the Vnlawful and Exorbitant Power which he hath Vsurped and Exercised over his Majesty's Subjects by a Wicked and Vngodly Oath in one of the said pretended Canons injoyned to be taken by all the Clergy and many of the Layety of this Kingdom The Sixth Original He hath Trayterously assumed to himself a Papal and Tyrannical Power both in Ecclesiastical and Temporal Matters over his Majesty's Subjects in this Realm of England and in other places to the Disherison of the Crown Dishonour of his Majesty and Derogation of his Supream Authority in Ecclesiastical Matters And the said Arch-Bishop claims the King 's Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction as incident to his Episcopal and Archiepiscopal Office in this Kingdom and doth deny the same to be derived from the Crown of England which he hath accordingly exercised to the high contempt of his Royal Majesty and to the destruction of divers of the King's Liege People in their Persons and Estates The Ninth Additional Article That in or about the Month of May 1641. presently after the dissolution of the last Parliament the said Arch-Bishop for the ends and purposes aforesaid caused a Synod or Convocation of the Clergy to be held for the several Provinces of Canterbury and York wherein were made and established by his Means and procurement divers Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical contrary to the Laws of this Realm the Rights and Priviledges of Parliament and Liberty and Property of the Subject tending also to Sedition and of dangerous Consequence And amongst other things the said Arch-Bishop caused a most Dangerous and Illegal Oath to be therein made and contrived the Tenor whereof followeth in these words That I A. B. do Swear that I do approve the Doctrine and Discipline or Government Established in the Church of England as containing all things necessary to Salvation And that I will not endeavour by my self or any other directly or indirectly to bring in any Popish Doctrine contrary to that which is so Established Nor will I ever give my consent to alter the Government of this Church by Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans and Arch-Deacons c. as it
entred into for his Appearance should be delivered up unto him Lastly that the said R. C. should for such his Mis-information and Abuse stand committed Prisoner to the Fleet. XVIII A Passage out of a Sermon Preached by Dr. Heylin at Oxford 1630. against the Feoffment for buying in Impropriations referred to in the preceding History Life of Arch-Bishop Laud pag. 199. Planting also many Pensionary Lecturers in so many places where it need not and upon days of common Labour will at the best bringing forth of Fruit appear to be a Tare indeed though now no Wheat be counted Tares c. We proceed a little on further in the proposal of some things to be considered The Corporation of Feoffees for buying in of Impropriations to the Church doth it not seem in the appearance to be an excellent piece of Wheat A Noble and Gracious point of Piety Is not this Templum Domini Templum Domini But blessed God that Men should thus draw near unto thee with their Mouths and yet be far from thee in their Hearts For what are those intrusted in the managing of this great Business Are they not the most of them the most Active and the best Affected Men in the whole Cause and Magna Partium Momenta chief Patrons of the Faction And what are those whom they prefer Are they not most of them such as must be serviceable to their dangerous Innovations And will they not in time have more Preferments to bestow and therefore more Dependencies than all the Prelates in the Kingdom c. yet all this while we sleep and slumber and fold our Hands in Sloth and see perhaps but dare not note it XIX A Passage out of the Statute of the 27th of Elizabeth against Jesuits and Seminary Priests referred to in the preceding History 27 Eliz. cap. 2. sect 3. And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that it shall not be Lawful to or for any Jesuit Seminary Priest or other such Priest Deacon or Religious Ecclesiastical Person whatsoever being born within this Realm or any other Her Highness Dominions and heretofore since the said Feast of the Nativity of St. John Baptist in the First Year of Her Majesty's Reign made ordained or professed or hereafter to be made ordained or professed by any Authority or Jurisdiction derived challenged or pretended from the See of Rome by or of what Name Title or Degree so-ever the same shall be called or known to come into be or remain in any part of this Realm or any other Her Highness Dominions after the end of the same forty days other than in such special Cases and upon such special Occasions only and for such time only as is expressed in this Act and if he do then every such Offence shall be taken and adjudged to be High Treason and every Person so offending shall for his Offence be adjudged a Traytor and shall suffer lose and forfeit as in Case of High Treason And every Person which after the end of the same forty days and after such time of departure as is before limited and appointed shall wittingly and willingly receive relieve comfort aid or maintain any such Jesuit Seminary Priest or other Priest Deacon or Religious or Ecclesiastical Person as is aforesaid being at Liberty or out of hold knowing him to be a Jesuit Seminary Priest or other such Priest Deacon or Religious or Ecclesiastical Person as is aforesaid shall also for such Offence be adjudged a Felon without Benefit of Clergy and suffer Death lose and forfeit as in Case of one Attainted of Felony XX. A Passage out of Sir Edward Coke's Institutes being his Judgment upon the said Statute referred to in the preceding History Lib. 3. cap. 37. The Cause of making this Statute of 27 Eliz. against Jesuits and Seminary Priests and their Receivers you may read at large lib. 5. fol. 38 39. in the Case De Jure Regis Ecclesiastico Sir Edward Coke's Words in the place referred to by himself are here subjoined And albeit many of Her Subjects after the said Bull of Pius Quintus adhering to the Pope did renounce their former Obedience to the Queen in respect of that Bull yet all this time no Law was either made or attempted against them for their Recusancy c. Then Jesuits and Romish Priests were sent over who in secret Corners whispered and infused into the Hearts of many of the Unlearned Subjects of this Realm that the Pope had Power to Excommunicate and Depose Kings and Princes that he had Excommunicated the late Queen Deprived Her of Her Kingdom and discharged all Her Subjects of their Oaths Duties and Allegiance to Her And thereupon Campian Sherwin and many other Romish Priests were Apprehended c. But all this time there was no Act of Parliament made either against Recusants or Jesuits or Priests c. But after these Jesuits and Romish Priests coming daily into and swarming within this Realm instilling still this Poison into the Subjects Hearts that by Reason of the said Bull of Pius Quintus Her Majesty was Excommunicated Deprived of Her Kingdom c. In the 27th Year of her Reign by Authority of Parliament Her Majesty made it Treason for any Jesuit or Romish Priest being Her Natural Born Subject and made a Romish Priest or Jesuit since the beginning of Her Reign to come into any of her Dominions Intending thereby to keep them out of the same to the end that they should not infect any other Subjects with such Treasonable and Damnable Persuasions and Practices as are aforesaid Which without Controversie were High Treason by the Ancient and Common Laws of England Neither would ever Magnanimous King of England sithence the first Establishment of this Monarchy have suffered any especially being his own Natural Born Subjects to live that persuaded his Subjects that he was no Lawful King and practised with them to withdraw them from their Allegiance c. XXI A Passage out of Bishop Montague's Origines 〈◊〉 referred to in the preceding History Tom. 1. par 2. pag. 464. Sanctè credimus accuratè tuemur defendimus hoc ipsum Officium munus in Ecclesiâ sive Apostolicum seu 〈◊〉 adeò esse de necessitate salutis ordinariâ ut sine altero alterum esse nequeat Non est Sacerdotium nisi in Ecclesiâ non est Ecclesia sine Sacerdotio Illud autem intelligo per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Episcopalem Ordinariam Neque enim admittendam censemus extraordinariam aliquam seu Vocationem seu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nisi miraculosam Oportet omnino miraculis agant suam confirment functionem signo aliquo qui non ab Episcopis derivata ab Apostolis per Successionem Institutione in Ecclesiam inducuntur sed vel orti à sese vel nescio unde intrusi sese ingerunt Nam quod praetendunt ordinariam Vocationem retinendam adhibendam eique adhaerescendum nisi in casu 〈◊〉 absurdum est suppositioni innititur
rage so horribly And as for this Lord God forgive him and I do and I hope this Church will Amen In Turri Lond Dec. 3. 1641. S. S. Trinitati sit Laus Gloria in AEternum Arch-Bishop LAUD's ANNUAL ACCOUNTS OF HIS PROVINCE PRESENTED TO THE KING IN The beginning of every Year With the KING 's Apostills or Marginal Notes Transcribed and Published from the Originals Together with the KING's INSTRUCTIONS TO THE Arch-Bishops Abbot and Laud Upon which These ACCOUNTS were formed AND The last Account of Arch-Bishop Abbot to the King concerning his Province LONDON Printed for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the Rose and Crown in St Paul's Church-Yard M DC XCV INSTRUCTIONS Sent from the King to Arch-Bishop Abbot in the Year 1629. Carolus Rex INstructions for the most Reverend Father in God our right Trusty and right intirely well beloved Councellor George Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury concerning certain Articles to be observed and put in execution by the several Bishops in his Province I That the Lords the Bishops be commanded to their several Sees to keep Residence excepting those which are in necessary Attendance at Court II That none of them Reside upon his Land or Lease that he hath Purchased no ron his Commendam if he should have any but in one of the Episcopal Houses if he have any And that he waste not the Woods where any are left III That they give charge in their Triennial Visitations and all other convenient times both by themselves and the Arch-Deacons that the Declaration for the setling all Questions in difference be chiefly observed by all Parties IV That there be a special care taken by them all that the Ordinations be Solemn and not of unworthy Persons V That they take great care concerning the Lecturers in these special Directions following 1 That in all Parishes the Afternoon Sermons may be turned into Catechizing by Questions and Answers when and wheresoever there is no great cause apparent to break this ancient and profitable Order 2 That every Bishop Ordain in his Diocess that every Lecturer do read Divine Service according to the Liturgy Printed by Authority in his Surplice and Hood before the Lecture 3 That where a Lecture is set up in a Market-Town it may be read by a company of Grave and Orthodox Divines near adjoyning and in the same Diocess and that they Preach in Gowns and not in Cloaks as too many do use 4 That if a Corporation maintain a single Lecturer he be not suffered to Preach till he profess his willingness to take upon him a Living with cure of Souls within that Corporation and that he actually take such Benefice or Cure as soon as it shall be fairly procured for him VI That the Bishops do countenance and encourage the Grave and Orthodox Divines of their Clergy and that they use means by some of their Clergy that they may have knowledge how both Lecturers and Preachers behave themselves in their Sermons within their Diocess That so they may take Order for any abuse accordingly VII That the Bishops suffer none but Noblemen and Men qualified by Learning to have any Private Chaplain in his House VIII That they take special Care that Divine Service be duly frequented as well for Prayers and Catechizing as for Sermons And take particular note of all such as absent themselves as Recusants or otherwise IX That every Bishop that by our Grace Favour and good Opinion of his Service shall be nominated by us to another Bishoprick shall from that Day of Nomination not presume to make any Lease for Three Lives or One and Twenty Years or concurrent Lease or any way make any Estate or cut any Woods or Timber but meerly receive the Rents due and so quit the place For we think it an hateful thing that any Man leaving the Bishoprick should almost undo the Successor And if any Man shall presume to break this Order we will refuse him at our Royal Assent and keep him at the Place which he had so abused X We Command you to give us an Account every Year the Second Day of January of the performance of these our Commands Dorchester Arch-Bishop Abbot's Account of his Province for the Year 1632. sent to the King May it it Please your most Excellent Majesty THE Year is at an end redit Orbis in Orbem moritura ruit perituri Machina Mundi But the Account of the Church Affairs for the last Year must not be forgotten To speak generally unto the Articles heretosore propounded by your Majesty it is enough to say that the Bishops for ought it appeareth unto me have lived at home and in their Episcopal-Houses Saving only my Lord of St. Davids who by his Wives Sickness but especially by a Law Suit which concerneth him for all that he hath as he informeth was constrained to keep here But now that vexatious Suit being ended he promiseth to repair home and there to reside that there shall be no just Occasion of Complaint against him Of Arminian Points there is no dispute And Ordinations of Ministers for ought that I can learn are Canonically observed The Rules for Lecturers are strictly kept Care is had that Divine Service is Religiously read and frequented saving by certain Separatists about London who for their Persons are contemptible but fit to be punished for their wilful Obstinacy which we do with Moderation Yet yielding them Means to confer with Learned Men which we hope will prevail with some of them And so it may be said of the rest of the Articles that I find no noted Transgression of them There is not in the Church of England left any inconformable Minister which appeareth And yet the Lord Bishops of London and Lincoln have been forced to deprive Two or Three whom no time can Tame nor Instruction conquer according to the rule Immedicabile Vulnus Ense recidendum est There was one Burges a Physician who opened his Mouth wide against the repairing of St Pauls Church but he hath been so castigated that as I trust very few others will be encouraged to walk in his ways and to Blaspheme so Holy a Work There hath been these Two last Years past mention made of Papists frequenting Holy-Well or St. Winifred's Well in Wales and the Bishop of St Asaph doth not forget to touch it again in these Words There hath been there all this Summer more than ordinary concourse of People and more bold and open practice of Superstition Where it is not to be forgotten that at that Well a great part of the Powder Treason was hatched And therefore my humble Opinion is that serious Letters should be directed from your Majesty or Privy Council to the Lord President of Wales and his Fellow Commissioners that at Summer next some course should be taken for the repressing of this Confluence being indeed no better than a Pilgrimage The Lady Wotton in Kent hath set up a bold Epitaph upon her Lord's Tomb and
will not be perswaded to take it down We have therefore called her into the High-Commission where by excuse of Sickness she hath not yet appeared But at the next Term God willing we intend to proceed with her which is but necessary for the avoiding of Scandal in the Country These few are the most observable things whereof I can give your Majesty any reckoning And if there were any thing else worthy the reporting I should not conceal it But there being nothing more it may be the great comfort of your Majesty that in so large and diffuse a Multitude both of Men and Matters upon strict Examination there is so little exorbitancy to be found Lambeth Jan 2. 1632. Your Majesty's Humble Servant G CANT INSTRUCTIONS Sent from the King to Arch-Bishop Laud in the Year 1634. Ex Registro Laud Fol 217. Charles R. INstructions for the most Reverend Father in God our right Trusty and right entirely Beloved Counsellor William Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury concerning certain Orders to be observed and put in Execution by the several Bishops of his Province I That the Lords the Bishops respectively be commanded to their several Sees there to keep Residence excepting those who are in necessary Attendance at our Court. II That none of them Reside upon his Land or Lease that he hath Purchased nor on his Commendam if he hold any but in one of his Episcopal Houses And that he wast not the Woods where any are left III That they give Charge in their Triennial Visitations and at other convenient times both by themselves and the Arch-Deacons that our Declaration for setling all Questions in difference be strictly observed by all Parties IV That there be a special care taken by them all that their Ordinations be Solemn and not of unworthy Persons V That they likewise take great care concerning the Lecturers within their several Diocesses for whom we give the special Directions following 1 That in all Parishes the Afternoon Sermons be turned into Catechizing by Question and Answer when and wheresoever there is not some great Cause apparent to break this ancient and profitable Order 2 That every Bishop take care in his Diocess that all Lecturers do read Divine Service according to the Liturgy Printed by Authority in their Surplices and Hoods before the Lecture 3 That where a Lecture is set up in a Market-Town it may be read by a Company of Grave and Orthodox Divines near adjoyning and of the same Diocess and that they ever Preach in such seemly Habits as belong to their Degrees and not in Cloaks That if a Corporation do maintain a single Lecturer he be not suffered to Preach till he profess his willingness to take upon him a Living with Cure of Souls within that Corporation and he do actually take such Benefice or Cure so soon as it shall be fairly procured for him VI That the Bishops do countenance and encourage the Grave and Orthodox Divines of their Clergy and that they use means by some of the Clergy or others to have knowledge how both Lecturers and Preachers within their several Diocesses behave themselves in their Sermons that so they may take present Order for any abuse accordingly VII That the Bishops suffer none under Noblemen and Men qualified by Law to have or keep any Private Chaplain in his House VIII That they take special care that Divine Service be diligently frequented as well for Prayers and Catechism as Sermons and that particular notice be taken of all such as absent themselves as Recusants or otherwise IX That no Bishop whatsoever who by our Grace and good Opinion of his Service shall be nominated by us to another Bishoprick shall from the Day of that our nomination presume to make any Lease for Three Lives or One and Twenty Years or Concurrent Lease or any way renew any Estate or cut any Wood or Timber but meerly receive the Rents due and quit the Place For we think it a hateful thing that any Man's Preferment to a better Bishoprick should almost undoe the Successor And if any shall presume to break this Order we will refuse him at our Royal Assent and keep him at the Place which he hath so abused X That every Bishop give his Metropolitan a strict Account yearly of their Obedience to our late Letters prohibiting them to change any Leases from Years into Lives and that they fail not to certifie if they find that the Dean or Dean and Chapter or any Arch-Deacon or Prebendary c. within their several Diocesses have at any time broken our Commands in any particular contained in the aforesaid Letters XI That every Bishop to whom in regard of the small Revenues of his Bishoprick we either have already or shall hereafter not only give Power but Command to receive and hold as in Commendam any Lease expired or near expiring and belonging to their See or any Ecclesiastical Benefice or Benefices or other Promotion with Cure or without being in his or their own Gift by Letters given under our Signet and sent to those Bishops respectively do likewise give an Account yearly to his Metropolitan that he doth not put any of the aforenamed Benefices or other Preferment out of his Commendam to give to any Son Kinsman Friend or other upon any pretence whatsoever thereby to frustrate our gracious Intentions to those several Sees and the Succeeding Bishops therein XII That every Bishop respectively do likewise in his yearly Account to his Metropolitan give notice of any notable Alteration or other Accident within his Diocess which may any ways concern either the Doctrine or the Discipline of the Church established XIII That whereas John Bancroft Dr. in Divinity and Bishop of Oxford hath very worthily at his own proper Cost and Charges Built a House for himself and the Bishops of Oxford successively by our both leave and encouragement upon the Vicarage of Cuddesden near Oxford which Vicarage is in the Patronage and Gift of him and his Successors And whereas our farther Will and Pleasure is that the said House together with the Vicarage aforesaid shall ever be held in Commendam by the Bishops of Oxford successively That therefore the said Bishop for the time being do yearly give his particular Account of his holding both the House and Benefice aforesaid to the end that we and our Successors may upon all occasions be put in mind of keeping that House and Vicarage to the See of Oxford at all times of change when or howsoever that Bishoprick shall become void XIV Lastly we Command every Bishop respectively to give his Account in Writing to his Metropolitan of all these our Instructions or as many of them as may concern him at or before the Tenth day of December yearly And likewise that you out of them make a Brief of your whole Province and present it to us every Year by the Second day of January following that so we may see how the Church is Governed and our Commands
do here upon the Second of Januay 1635. Comput Angl. present my Account both for the Diocess and Province of Canterbury concerning all those Church-Affairs which are contained in your Majesty's most gracious Instructions published out of your most Princely and Religious care to preserve Unity in Orthodox Doctrine and Conformity to Government within this your Church of England And First for my own Diocess I humbly represent to your Majesty that there are yet very many Refractory Persons to the Government of the Church of England about Maidstone and Ashford and some other Parts the Infection being spread by one Brewer and continued and increased by one Turner They have been both Censured in the High-Commission Court some Years since but the Hurt which they have done is so deeply rooted as that it is not possible to be plucked up on the suddain but I must crave time to work it off by little and little I have according to your Majesty's Commands required Obedience to my Injunctions sent to the French and Dutch Churches at Canterbury Maidstone and Sandwich And albeit they made some shew of Conformity yet I do not find they have yielded such Obedience as is required and was ordered with your Majesty's Consent and Approbation So that I fear I shall be driven to a quicker proceeding with them The Cathedral Church begins to be in very good Order And I have almost finished their Statutes which being once perfected will mutatis mutandis be a sufficient Direction for the making of the Statutes for the other Cathedrals of the new Erection which in King Henry the Eighth's Time had either none left or none Confirmed and those which are in many things not Canonical All which Statutes your Majesty hath given Power to me with others under the Broad Seal of England to alter or make new as we shall find Cause And so soon as these Statutes for the Church of Canterbury are made ready I shall humbly submit them to your Majesty for Confirmation There is one Mr Walker of St John's the Evangelist a Peculiar of mine in London who hath all his time been but a disorderly and a peevish Man and now of late hath very frowardly Preached against the Lord Bishop of Ely his Book concerning the Lord's Day set out by Authority But upon a Canonical Admonition given him to desist he hath hitherto recollected himself and I hope will be advised For the Diocess of London I find my Lord the Bishop hath been very careful for all that concerns his own Person But Three of his Arch-Deacons have made no return at all to him so that he can certifie nothing but what hath come to his knowledge without their help There have been convented in this Diocess Dr Stoughton of Aldermanbury Mr Simpson Curate and Lecturer of St Margarets New-Fishstreet Mr Andrew Moline Curate and Lecturer of St Swithin Mr John Goodwin Vicar of St Stevens Colman-street and Mr Viner Lecturer of St Laurence in the Old 〈◊〉 for Breach of the Canons of the Church in Sermons or Practice or both But because all them promised Amendment for the future and submission to the Church in all things my Lord very moderately forbore farther proceeding against them There were likewise convented Mr Sparrowhawke Curate and Lecturer at St Mary Woolchurch for Preaching against the Canon for Bowing at the Name of Jesus who because he wilfully persisted is suspended from Preaching in that Diocess As also one Mr John Wood a wild turbulent 〈◊〉 and formerly Censured in the High-Commission-Court But his Lordship forbore Mr White of Knightsbridge for that his Cause is at this present depending in the Court aforesaid Concerning the Diocess of Lincoln my Lord the Bishop returns this Information That he hath Visited the same this Year all over in Person which he conceives no Predecessor of his hath done these Hundred Years And that he finds so much good done thereby beyond that which Chancellours use to do when they go the Visitation that he is sorry he hath not done it heretofore in so many Years as he hath been Bishop He farther Certifies that he hath prevailed beyond Expectation for the Augmenting of Four or Five small Vicarages and conceives as your Majesty may be pleased to remember I have often told you upon my own Experience that it is a Work very necessary and fit to be done and most worthy of your Majesty's Royal Care and Consideration For Conformity his Lordship professeth that in that large Diocess he knows but one unconformable Man and that is one Lindhall who is in the High-Commission Court and ready for Sentence My Lord the Bishop of Bath and Wells Certifies that his Diocess is in very good Order and Obedience That there is not a single Lecture in any Town Corporate but grave Divines Preach by course and that he hath changed the Afternoon Sermons into Catechising by Question and Answer in all Parishes His Lordship farther Certifies that no Man hath been Presented unto him since his last 〈◊〉 for any Breach of the Canons of the Church or Your Majesty's Instructions and that he hath received no notice of any increase of Men Popishly affected beyond the number mentioned in his last Certificat The Bishop of this See died almost Half a Year since and had sent in no Certificat But I find by my Visitation there this present Year that the whole Diocess is much out of Order and more at Ipswich and Yarmouth than at Norwich it self But I hope my Lord that now is will take care of it and he shall want no Assistance that I can give him Mr Samuel Ward Preacher at Ipswich was Censured this last Term in the High-Commission Court for Preaching in Disgrace of the Common-Prayer-Book and other like gross Misdemeanours These Six Bishops respectively make their Answer that in their own Persons they have observed all your Majesty's Instructions and that they find all their Clergy very conformable no one of them instancing in any particular to the contrary In this Diocess the Bishop found in his Triennial Visitation the former Year two noted Schismaticks Wroth and Erbury that led away many simple People after them And finding that they willfully persisted in their Schismatical course he hath carefully preferred Articles against them in the High-Commission Court where when the Cause is ready for Hearing they shall receive according to the Merits of it Concerning this Diocess your Majesty knows that the late Bishop's Residence upon the place was necessarily hindred by his Attendance upon your Majesty's Person as Clerk of the Closet But he hath been very careful for the observance of all your Instructions and particularly for Catechizing of the Youth As also for not letting of any thing into Lives to the Prejudice of his Successor in which he hath done exceeding well And I have by your Majesty's Command laid a strict Charge upon his Successor to look to those Particular Leases which
that by God's Blessing and the well Ordering of Church Affairs there have been fewer Popish Recusants presented than formerly and that the number of them is much decreased And this I cannot but highly approve to your Majesty if there be not fewer presented either by the over-awing of them which should present or some Cunning in those which would not be presented For this Diocess my Lord hath given me in a very careful and punctual Account very large and in all Particulars very considerable And I shall return it to your Majesty as briefly as I can reduce it And first he hath for this Summer but by your Majesty's leave lived from both his Episcopal Houses in Ipswich partly because he was informed that that side of his Diocess did most need his presence and he found it so And partly because his Chappel at his House in Norwich was possessed by the French Congregation and so the Bishoprick left destitute But he hath given them warning to provide themselves elsewhere by Easter next His Lordship found a general defect of Catechising quite through the Diocess but hath setled it And in Norwich where there are 34 Churches there was no Sermon on the Sunday Morning save only in four but all put off to the Afternoon and so no Catechising But now he hath ordered that there shall be a Sermon every Morning and Catechising in the Afternoon in every Church For Lectures they abounded in Suffolk and many set up by private Gentlemen even without so much as the knowledge of the Ordinary and without any due observation to the Canons or the Discipline of the Church Divers of these his Lordship hath carefully regulated according to Order and especially in St. Edmonds-bury and with their very good content and Suspended no Lecturer of whom he might obtain Conformity And at Ipswich it was not unknown unto them that now Mr Ward stands Censured in the High Commission and obeys not Yet the Bishop was ready to have allowed them another if they would have sought him but they resolve to have Mr. Ward or none and that as is conceived in despight of the Censure of the Court. At Yarmouth where there was great division heretofore for many Years their Lecturer being Censured in the High Commission about two Years since went into New-England since which time there hath been no Lecture and very much peace in the Town and all Ecclesiastical Orders well observed But in Norwich one Mr Bridge rather than he would Conform hath left his Lecture and two Cures and is gone into Holland The Lecturers in the Country generally observing no Church Orders at all And yet the Bishop hath carried it with that Temper and upon their promise and his hopes of Conformity that he hath Inhibited but three in Norfolk and as many in Suffolk of which one is no Graduate and hath been a common Stage-player His Lordship craves direction what he shall do with such Scholars some in Holy Orders and some not as Knights and private Gentlemen keep in their Houses under pretence to Teach their Children As also with some Divines that are Beneficed in Towns or near but live in Gentlemens Houses For my part I think it very fit the Beneficed Men were punctually commanded to reside upon their Cures And for the rest your Majesties Instructions allow none to keep Chaplains but such as are qualified by Law All which notwithstanding I most humbly submit as the Bishop doth to your Majesty's Judgment For Recusants whereas formerly there were wont to be but two or three Presented his Lordship hath caused above forty to be Endicted in Norwich at the last Sessions and at the Assizes in Suffolk he delivered a List of such as were Presented upon the Oath of the Churchwardens to the Lord Chief Justice and his Lordship to the Grand Jury But they slighted it pretending the Bishop's Certificat to be no Evidence But the true Reason is conceived to be because he had also inserted such as had been Presented to him for Recusant Separatists as well as Recusant Romanists His Lordships Care hath been such as that though there are about One Thousand Five Hundred Clergy-Men in that Diocess and many Disorders yet there are not Thirty Excommunicated or Suspended whereof some are for Contumacy and will not yet submit some for obstinate denyal to Publish your Majesty's Declaration and some for contemning all the Orders and Rites of the Church and intruding themselves without License from the Ordinary for many Years together Last of all he found that one half of the Churches in his Diocess had not a Clerk able to Read and Answer the Minister in Divine Service by which means the People were wholly disused from joyning with the Priest and in many places from so much as saying Amen But concerning this his Lordship hath strictly enjoyned a Reformation If this Account given by my Lord of Norwich be true as I believe it is and ought to believe it till it can be disproved he hath deserved very well of the Church of England and hath been very ill rewarded for it His humble Suit to your Majesty is That you will be graciously pleased in your own good time to hear the Complaints that have been made against him that he may not be overborn by an Outcry for doing Service In the Diocess of Oxon I find all your Majesty's Instructions carefully obeyed and there is but one Lecture in the whole Diocess and that is read at Henly upon Thames by some Ministers of the Diocess conformable Men and allowed by the Bishop His Lordship hath also called upon divers Recusants but upon their being questioned they plead an Exemption from his Authority under your Majesty's Great Seal From my Lord of Ely I have received a very fair Account that his Diocess is very orderly and obedient insomuch that he hath not any thing of Note to acquaint me with My Lord in his Certificat mentions two Particulars fit for your Majesty's Knowledge The First is that one of His Clergy in Bedfordshire a Learned and Pious Man as he saith set up a Stone upon Pillars of Brick for his Communion-Table believing it to have been the Altar-Stone And because this appeared to be but a Grave-Stone and for avoiding of farther Rumours in that Country among the preciser sort his Lordship caused it to be quietly removed and the ancient Communion-Table placed in the room of it But did not farther question the Party because they found him a harmless Man and otherwise a Deserver But how deserving soever he be I must judge it a very bold part in him to attempt this without the Knowledge and Approbation of his Ordinary The Second is that there are risen some Differences in the Southern parts of his Diocess about the Ministers urging the People to receive at the Rails which his Lordship saith he hath procured to be placed about the Holy Table and the People in