it was not easie to Transcribe them insomuch that few of the Presbyters themselves could tell which of them were authentical which not So unsafely and uncertainly kept that they knew not where to address themselves for consulting with them That by reducing those numerous Act and those not known unto themselves to such a paucity of Canons published and exposed to the publick view no man should be insnared by ignorance or have just reason to complain of their multiplicity And finally That not one in all that Kingdom did either live under the Obedience of the Acts of those General Assemblies or did know what they were or where to find them Upon which grounds the Book of Canons being drawn up and presented to him he gave a Warrant under his Hand to the Archbishop of Canterbury requiring him together with the Bishop of London to peruse the same to see that they were well fitted to the Church-Government and as near as conveniently might be to the Canons of the Church oâ— England giving them and either of them full power to alter any thing in the said Canons as they found most fitting Which being done as he commanded and the Book made ready for the Press he pass'd his Royal Confirmation of it under the Great Seal oâ— the Kingdom in this manner following CHARLES REX WE 〈◊〉 of Our Royal Care for the Maintenance of the present Estate and Government of the Church of Scotland have diligently and with great content considered all the Canons and Constitutions after following and finding the same such as We are perswaded will be profitable not only to our whole Clergy but to the whole Church of that our Kingdom if so they be well observed Have for Vs Our Heirs and Lawful Successors of Our especial Grace certain Knowledâ—â— â—nd meer â—otion given and by these presents do give Our 〈◊〉 Assâ—â—t â—nto all the said Canons Orders and Constitutions 〈◊〉 all and every thing in them contained as they are afterwards set 〈◊〉 And further We do not only by Our Prerogative Royal and Supreme 〈◊〉 in Causes Ecclesiastical Ratifie and Confirm by these Our Letters Patâ—nts the said Canons Orders and Constitutions â—nd all â—nd every thing in them contained But likewise We command by 〈◊〉 â—uthority Royal and by these Letters Patents the same to be diligently observed and executed by all Our Loving Subjects of that Our Kingdom both within the Province of St. Andrews and â—lascow in all points wherein they do or may concern every or any of them according to this Our Will and Pleasure hereby expressed and declared And for the better observation of them We straightly Charge and Command all Our Archbishops Bishops and all others thaâ— exercise any Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction within that Our Realm to see the same Canons Orders and Constitutions to be in all points duly observed not sparing to execute the Penalties in them severally mentioned upon any that shall willingly break or neglect to observe the same as they tender the Honour of God the Peace of the Church the Tranquility of the Kingdom and their Service and Duty to Vs their King and Sovereign Given at Our Mannor of Greenwich 23 May 1635. These Canons when they came abroad were presently quarrelled and disclaimed by the Scottish Presbyters Quarrelled in reference to the subject matter comprehended in them Disclaimed because imposed upon them without their own approbation and consent The points most quarrelled at were these 1. That whosoever should affirm That the Kings Majesty had not the same Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical that the Godly Kings had among the Jews or the Christian Emperors in the Primitive Church or impugn in any part his Royal Supremacy in Causes Ecclesiastical was to incur the Censure of Excommunication 2. The like Censure to be inflicted on those who should affirm That the Worship contained in the Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments though at the making of these Canons there was no such Book of Common Prayer recommended to them or That the Government of the Church by Archbishops and Bishops or the form of Making and Consecrating Archbishops and Bishops c. did contain any thing repugnant to the Scriptures or was corrupt superstitious or unlawful in the Service and Worship of God 3. That the Ordinations were restrained to four times in the year that is the first Weeks of March June September and December 4. That every Ecclesiastical Person at his Admission should take the Oath of Supremacy according to the form required by Parliament and the like Oath for avoiding Symonie required in the Book of Consecration 5. That every Presbyter shall either by himself or by another Person lawfully called read or cause Divine Service to be done according to the form of the Book of that Common Prayer before all Sermons and that he should Officiate by the said Book of Common Prayer in all the Offices Parts and Rubricks of it when as yet none of them had seen the said Book or Liturgie 6. That no Preacher should impugn the Doctrine delivered by another in the same Church or any neer adjoining to it without leave from the Bishop which they conceived to be the way to pin their whole Religion on the Bishops Sleeves 7. That no Presbyter should hereafter become Surety or Cautioner for any Person whosoever in Civil Bonds and Contracts under pain of Suspension 8. That whatsoever remained of the Bread and Wine prepared for the Communion should be distributed to the poorer sort which receive that day to be eaten and drunken of them before they go out of the Church 9. That Presbyters are enjoined to Minister the Sacrament of Baptism in private Houses and upon every day alike in case of infirmity and that the People were required not to receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper but upon their knees 10. That in all Sentences of Separation a Thoro Mensa there shall be a Caution inserted and given accordingly That the Persons so separated should live continently and chastly and not contract Marriage with any Person during each others life which seemed to put the innocent Party into as bad a condition as the guilty contrary to the Judgment of the Reformed Churches 11. That no private Meeting be kept by Presbyters or any other Persons whatsoever for expounding Scripture or for consulting upon matters Ecclesiastical Such matters to be handled only in the Lawful Synods held by Bishops 12. That under pain of Excommunication no Presbyter or Layman jointly or severally make Rules Orders or Constitutions in Causes Ecclesiastical or to add or detract from any Rubricks or Articles or other things now established without the Authority of the King or his Successors 13. That National or General Assemblies were to be called only by the Kings Authority That the Decrees thereof should bind as well the Absent as the Present in Matters Ecclesiastical and That it should not be lawful for the Bishops themselves in such Assemblies or otherwise to
alter any Articles Rubrick Canon Doctrinal or Disciplinary whatsoever without his Majesties leave first had and obtained 14. That no man should cover his Head in time of Divine Service except with a Cap or Night-coife in case of infirmity and that all Persons should reverently kneel when the Confession and other Prayers were read and should stand up at the saying of the Creed 15. That no Presbyter or Reader be permitted to conceive Prayers ex tempoâ—e or use any other form in the Publick Liturgie or Service than is prescribed under the pain of Deprivation from his Benefice or Cure 16. That by this Prohibition the Presbyters seemed to be dâ—barred from using their own Prayers before their Sermons by reason that in c. 3. num 13. it is required That all Presbyters and Preachers should move the People to join with them in Prayer using some few and convenient words and should always conclude with the Lords Prayer which in effect was to bind them to the form of bidding Prayer prescribed in the 55 th Canon of the Church of England 17. That no man should Teach either in Publick School or Private House but such as shall be allowed by the Archbishop of the Province or Bishop of the Diocess under their Hand and Seal and those to Licence none but such as were of good Religion and obedient to the Orders of the Church 18. That none should be admitted to read in any Colledge or School except they take first the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy 19. That nothing â—e hereafter Imprinted except the same be seen and allowed by the Visitors appointed to that purpose the Penalty thereof as in all like Cases in which no Penalty is expressed being left to the discretion of the Bishops 20. That no Publick Fast should be appointed upon Sundays as had been formerly accustomed but on the Week-days only and them to be appointed by none but His Majesty 21. That for the Ministring of the Sacrament of Baptism a Font should be prepared and placed somewhat near the entry of the Church as anciently it used to be with a Cloth of fine Linnen which shall likewise be kept all neatly 22. That a comely and decent Table for Celebrating the Holy Communion should be provided and placed at the upper end of the Chancel or Church to be covered at the times of Divine Service with a Carpet of decent Stuff and at the time of Ministration with a white Linnen Cloth And that Basons Cups or Chalices of some pure Metal shall be provided to be set upon the Communion Table and reserved to that only use 23. That such Bishops and Presbyters as shall depart this life having no Children shall leave their Goods or a great part of them to the Church and Holy Vses and that notwithstanding their having Children they should leave some Testimony of their love to the Church and advancement of Religion 24. That no Sentence of Excommunication should be pronounc'd or Absolution given by any Presbyter without the leave and approbation of the Bishop And no Presbyter should reveal or make known what had been opened to him in Confession at any time or to any Person whatsoever except the Crime be such as by the Laws of the Realm his own Life may be called in question for concealing the same 25. And finally That no Person should be received into Holy Orders nor suffered to Preach Catechise Minister the Sacraments or any other Ecclesiastical Function unless he first subscribe to be obedient to these present Canons Ratified and Approved by his Majesties Royal Warrant and Ordained to be observed by the Clergy and all others whom they concern These were the matters chiefly quarrelled in this Book of Canons visibly tending as they would make the World believe to subject that Kirk unto the Power of the King the Clergy to the command of their Bishops the whole Nation to the Discipline of a Foreign Church and all together by degrees to the Idolatries and Tyrannies of the Pope of Rome But juster cause they seemed to have for disclaiming the said Book of Canons because not made nor imposed upon them by their own approbation and consent contrary to the usage of the Church in all Times and Ages Had his Majesty imposed these Orders on them by the name of Injunctions according to the example of King Henry viii Anno 1536. of King Edward vi Anno 1547. and of Queen Elizabeth Anno 1559. he might perhaps have justified himself by that Supremacy which had been vested in him by the Laws of that Kingdom which seems to have been the Judgment of King Iames in this very case At his last being in Scotland Anno 1617. he had prepared an Article to be passed in Parliament to this effect viz. That whatsoever his Majesty should determine in the External Government of the Church with the advice of the Archbishop Bishops and a competent number of the Ministry should have the strength of a Law But understanding that a Protestation was prepared against it by some of the most Rigid Presbyterians he commanded Hay the Clerk or Register to pass by that Article as a thing no way necessary the Prerogative of his Crown giving him more Authority than was declared or desired by it But as for Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical if they concerned the whole Church they were to be advised and framed by Bishops and other Learned men assembled in a General Council and testified by the Subscription of such Bishops as were then assembled Or if they did relate only unto National Churches or particular Provinces they were to be concluded and agreed upon by the Bishops and Clergy that is to say so many of the Clergy as are chosen and impowered by all the rest for that end and purpose assembled in a National or Provincial Synod No Canons nor Constitutions Ecclesiastical to be otherwise made or if made otherwise not to bind without a voluntary and free submission of all Parties to them And though it could not be denied but that all Christian Emperours Kings and Princes reserved a Power unto themselves of Ratifying and Confirming all such Constitutions as by the Bishops and Clergy were agreed on yet still the said Canons and Constitutions were first agreed on by the Bishops and Clergy before they were tendred to the Sovereign Prince for his Ratification The Scottish Presbyters had formerly disclaimed the Kings Authority either in calling their Assemblies or confirming the Results and Acts thereof which they conceived to be good and valid of themselves without any additional power of his to add strength unto them And therefore now they must needs think themselves reduced to a very great vassalage in having a body of Canons so imposed upon them to the making whereof they were never called and to the passing whereof they had never voted But as they had broke the Rules of the Primitive Church in acting Soveraignty of themselves without requiring the Kings approbation and
those who adhered unto him to fly the Country but intercepted his Revenues seazed on all his Forts and Castles and put themselves into a Posture of open War And that they might be able to manage it with the greater credit they called home some of their Commanders out of Germany and some which served under the Pay of the States General so far prevailing with those States as to continue such Commanders in their Pay and Places as long as they remained in the Service of the Scottish Covenanters A favour which his Majesty could not get at their hands nor had he so much reason to expect it as the others had iâ— considered rightly It had been once their own case and they conceived they had good reason to maintain it in others It may deservedly be a matter of no small amazement that this poor and unprovided Nation should dare to put such baffles and affronts upon their Lawful King the King being backt by the united Forces of England and Ireland obeyed at home and rendred formidable unto all his Neighbours by a puissant Navy they must have some assurances more than ordinary which might enflame them to this height and what they were it may not be amiss to enquire into First then they had the King for their natural Country-man born in that Air preserving a good affection for them to the very laâ—t and who by giving them the Title of his Ancient and Native Kingdom as he did most commonly gave them some reason to believe that he valued them above the English They had in the next place such a strong Party of Scots about him that he could neither stir or speak scarce so much as think but they were made acquainted with it In the Bed-Chamber they had an equal number of Gentlemen and seven Grooms for one in the Presence-Chamber more than an equal number amongst the Gentlemen Ushers Quarter-Waiters c. In the Privy-Chamber besides the Carvers and Cup-bearers such disproportion of the Gentlemen belonging to it that once at a full Table of Waiters each of them having a Servant or two to attend upon him I and my man were the only English in all the Company By which the King was so obsâ—rved and betrayed withal that as far as they could find his meaning by Words by Signs and Circumstances or the silent language of a shrug it was posted presently into Scotland some of his Bed-Chamber being grown so bold and saucy that they used to Ransack his Pockets when he was in bed to transcribe such Letters as they found and send the Copies to their Countrymen in the way of intelligence A thing so well known about the Court that the Archbishop of Canterbury in one of his Letters gave him this memento that he should not trust his Pockets with it For Offices of trust and credit they wâ—re as well accomodated as with those of service Hamilton Master of the Horse who stocked the Stables with that People The Earl of Morton Captain of his Majesties Guard The Earl of Ancram Keeper of the Privy Purse The Duke of Lenox Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle Balfore Lieutenant of the Tower the Fortress of most power and command in England And Wemmys the Master Gunner of his Majesties Navy who had the issuing of the Stores and Ammunition designed unto it Look on them in the Church and we shall find so many of that Nation beneficed and preferred in all parts of this Country that their Ecclesiastical Revenues could not but amount to more then all the yearly Rents of the Kirk of Scotland and of all these scarce one in ten who did not cordially espouse and promote their Cause amongst the People They had beside no less assurance of the English Puritans than they had of their own those in Court of which there was no very small number being headed by the Earl of Holland those in the Country by his Brother the Earl of Warwick The fâ—rst being aptly called in a Letter of the Lord Conways to the Lord Archbishop The spiritual and invisible head the other The visible and temporal head of the Puritan Faction And which was more than all the rest they had the Marquiss of Hamilton for their Lord and Patron of so great power about the King such Authority in the Court of England such a powerful influence on the Council of Scotland and such a general Command over all that Nation that his pleasure amongst them past for Law and his words for Oracles all matters of Grace and Favour ascribed to him matters of harshness or distate to the King or Canterbury To speak the matter in a word he was grown King of Scots in Fact though not in Title His Majesty being looked on by them as a Cypher only in the Arithmetick of State But notwithstanding their confidence in all these Items taking in the Imprimis too they might have reckoned without their Host in the Summa Tetalis the English Nation being generally disaffected to them and passionately affecting the Kings quarrel against them The sense and apprehension of so many indignities prevailed upon the King at last to unsheath the Sword more justly in it self and more justifiably in the sight of others the Rebels having rejected all 〈◊〉 oâ—â—ers of Grace and Favour and growing the more insolent by his Condescensions So that resolved or rather forced upon the War he must bethink himself of means to go thorow with it To which end Burrows the Principal King of Arms is commanded to search into the Records of the Tower and to return an Extract of what he found relating to the War of Scotland which he presented to the Archbishop in the end of December to this effect viz. 1. That such Lords and others as had Lands and Livings upon the Borders were commanded to reside there with their Retinue and those that had Castles there were enjoined to Fortifie them 2. That the Lords of the Kingdom were Summoned by Writ to attend the Kings Army with Horse and Armour at a certain time and place according to their Service due to the King or repair to the Exchequer before that day and make Fine for their Service As also were all Widows Dowagers of such Lords as were deceased and so were all Bishops and Ecclesiastical Persons 3. That Proclamations were likewise made by Sheriffs in every County That all men holding of the King by Knights-Service or Sergeancy should come to the Kings Army or make Fines as aforesaid with a strict command That none should conceal their Service under a great Penalty 4. As also That all men having 40 l. Land per Annum should come to the Kings Army with Horse and Armour of which if any failed to come or to make Fine their Lands Tenements Goods and Chattels were distrained by the Sheriâ—f upon Summons out of the Exchequer 5. That Commissions should be issued out for Levying of Men in every County and bringing them to the Kings
as forward in it as any other that their Contributions mounted higher than was expected The Benevolence of the Diocess of Norwich only aâ—ounting to 2016 l. 16 s. 5 d. The Archdâ—acorry of Winchester only to the sum of 1305 l. 5 s. 8 d. And though we may not conclude of all the rest by the greatness of thâ—se yet may it be very safely said that they did all exceeding bountifully in their several proportions with reference to the extent of their Diocesses and the ability of their Estates Nor were the Judges of the several Benches of the Courts at Westminster and the great Officers under them Protonotaries Secondaries and the like deficient in expressing their good aâ—â—ections to this general cause in which the safety of the Realm was as much concerned as his Majesties honour And for the Doctors of the Laws Chancellors Commissaries Officials and other Officers belonging to the Ecclesiastical Courts they were spurred on to follow the example of the Secular Judges as having a more particular concernment in it by a Letter sent from the Archbishop to the Dean of the Arches on February 11. and by him communicated to the rest By which Free-will offerings on the one side some commanded duties on the other and the well-husbanding of his Majesties Revenue by the Lord Treasurer Iuxon he was put into such a good condition that he was able both to raise and maintain an Army with no charge to the Common Subject but only a little Coat and Conduct money at their first setting out These preparations were sufficient to give notice of a War approaching without any further denouncing of it by a publick Herald and yet there was another accident which seemed as much to fore-signifie it as those preparations Mary de Medices the Widow of King Henry iâ— of France and Mother to the Queens of England and Spain arrived at Harwich on October 19. and on the last of the same was with great State conducted through the Streets of London to his Majesties Palace of St. Iames. A Lady which for many years had not lived out of the smell of Powder and a guard of Muskets at her door embroyled in wars and troubles when she lived in France and drew them after her into Flanders where they have ever since continued So that most men were able to presage a Tempest as Mariâ—eâ—s by the appearing of some Fish or the flying of some Birds about their ships can foresee a storm His Majesty had took great care to prevent her comming knowing â—ull well how chargeable a guest she would prove to him and how unwelcome to the Subject To which end â—eswel was commanded to use all his wits for perswading her to stay in Holland whither she had retired from Flanders in the year precedent But she was wedded to her will and possibly had received such invitations from her Daughter here that nothing but everlasting foul weather at Sea and a perpetual cross-wind could have kept her there All things provided for the War his Majesty thought sit to satisfie his good Subjects of both Kingdoms not only of the Justice which appeared in this Action but in the unavoydable necessity which enforced him to it To which end he acquaints them by his Proclamation of the 20 of February How traiterously some of the Scottish Nation had practiced to pervert his Loyal Subjects of this Realm by scattering abroad their Libellous and Seditious Pamphlets mingling themselves at their publick meetings and reproaching both his Person and Government That he had never any intention to alter their Religion or Laws but had condescended unto more for defence thereof than they had reason to expect That they had rejected the Band and Covenant which themselves had prest upon the people because it was commended to them by his Authority and having made a Covenant against God and him and made such Hostile preparations as if he were their sworn Enemy and not their King That many of them were men of broken Fortunes who because they could not well be worse hoped by engaging in this War to make themselves better That they had assumed unto themselves the power of the Press one of the chief markes of the Regal Authority prohibiting to Print what he commanded and commanding to Print what he prohibited and dismiâ—â—ng the Printer whom he had established in that Kingdom That they had raised Arms blockt up and besieged his Castles laid Impositions and Taxes upon his people threatned such as continued under Loyalty with force and violence That they had contemned the Authority of the Council Table and set up Tables of their own from which they send their Edâ—cts throughout all parts of the Kingdom contrary to the Laws therein established pretending in the mean time that the Laws were violated by himself That the question was not now whether the Service-Book should be received or not or whether Episcopacy should continue or not but whether he were King or not That many of them had denied the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance for which some of them had been committed as inconsistent and incompatible with their holy Covenant That being brought under a necessity of taking Arms he had been traduced in some of their writings for committing the Arms he had then raised into the hands of professed Papists a thing not only dishonourable to himself and the said noble persons but false and odious in it self That some of power in the Hierarchy had been defamed for being the cause of his taking Arms to invade that Kingdom who on the contrary had been only Counsellors of peace and the chief perswaders as much as in them lay of the undeserved moderation wherewith he had hitherto proceeded toward so great Offenders That he had no intent by commending the Service-Book unto them to innovate any thing at all in their Religion but only to create a conformity between the Churches of both Kingdoms and not to infringe any of their Liberties which were according to the Laws That therefore he required all his loving Subjects not to receive any more of the said seditious Pamphlets but to deliver such of them as they had received into the hands of the next Justice of the Peace by him to be sent to one of his Majesties principal Secretaries And finally That this his Proclamation and Declaration be read in time of Divine Service in every Church within the Kingdom that all his People to the meanest might see the notorious carriages of these men and likewise the Justice and Mercy of all his proceedings And now his Majesty is for Action beginning his Journey towards the North March 27. being the Anniversary day of his Inauguration His Army was advanced before the best for quality of the Persons compleatness of Arms number of serviceable Horse and necessary Provision of all sorts that ever waited on a King of England to a War with Scotland Most of the Nobility attended on him in their Persons and such as were to be
by which the proceedings in those Courts were to be regulated and directed so as it doth appear most clearly that it was not the purpose of that King either to diminish the Authority or to interrupt the Succession of Bishops which had continued in this Church from the first Plantation of the Gospel to that very time but only to discharge them from depending on the Popes of Rome or owing any thing at all to their Bulls and Faculties which had been so chargeable to themselves and exhausted so great a part of the Treasure of the Kingdom from one year to another 3. Upon this ground he past an Act of Parliament in the 25. year of his Reign for the Electing and Consecrating of Archbishops and Bishops In which it was Enacted that on the Vacancy of every Bishoprick within his Realm his Majesty should issue out his Writ of Conge d' eslire to the Dean and Chapter of the Church so Vacant thereby enabling them to proceed to the Election of another Bishop that the Election being returned by the Dean and Chapter and ratified by the Royal Assent his Majesty should issue out his Writ to the Metropolitan of the Province to proceed unto the Confirmation of the Party Elected and that if the Party so Confirmed had not before been Consecrated Bishop of some other Church that then the Metropolitan taking to himself two other Bishops at the least should proceed unto the Consecration in such form and manner as was then practised by the Church so that as to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Consecration there was no alteration made at all Those which were Consecrated after the passing of this Statute were generally acknowledged for true and lawful Bishops by the Papists themselves or otherwise Dr. Thomas Thurlby Bishop of Westminster had never been admitted to have been one of those who assisted at the Consecrating of Cardinal Pool when he was made Arch-Bishop of Canterbury on the death of Cranmer All which recited Statutes with every thing depending on them being abrogated by Act of Parliament in the time of Queen Mary were revived in the first Year of Queen Elizabeth and so still continue But so it was not with another alteration made in the form of exercising their jurisdiction by King Edw. 6. In the first Parliament of whose Reign it was enacted that all process out of the Ecclesiastical Courts should from thence forth be issued in the Kings Name only and under the Kings Seal of Arms contrary to the usage of the former times Which Statute being repealed by Queen Mary and not revived by Queen Elizabeth the Bishops and their subordinate Ministers have ever since exercised all manner of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in their own Names and under the distinct Seals of their several Offices 4. In Doctrinals and forms of Worship there was no alteration made in the Reign of K. Hen. 8. though there were many preparations and previous dispositions to it the edge of Ecclesiastical Affairs being somewhat blunted and the people indulged a greater Liberty in consulting with the Holy Scriptures and reading many Books of Evangelical Piety then they had been formerly which having left the way more open to Arch-Bishop Cranmer and divers other learned and Religious Prelates in K. Edwards time seconded by the Lord Protector and other great ones of the Court who had their ends apart by themselves they proceeded carefully and vigorously to a Reformation In the managing of which great business they took the Scripture for their ground according to the general explication of the ancient Fathers the practise of the Primitive times for their Rule and Pattern as it was expressed to them in approved Authors No regard had to Luther or Calvin in the procedure of their work but only to the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles Christ Iesus being the Corner-stone of that excellent Structure Melancthons coming was expected Regiis Literis in Angliam vocatus as he affirms in an Epistle to Camerarius but he came not over And Calvin made an offer of his service to Arch-Bishop Cranmer Si quis mei usus esset if any use might be made of him to promote the work but the Arch-Bishop knew the man and refused the other so that it cannot be affirmed that the Reformation of this Church was either Lutheran or Calvinian in its first original And yet it cannot be denied but that the first Reformers of it did look with more respectful eyes upon the Doctrinals Government and Forms of Worship in the Lutheran Churches then upon those of Calvins platform because the Lutherans in their Doctrines Government and Forms of Worship approach't more near the Primitive Patterns than the other did and working according to this rule they retain'd many of those ancient Rites and Ceremonies which had been practised and almost all the Holy Dayes or Annual Feasts which had been generally observed in the Church of Rome Nothing that was Apostolick or accounted Primitive did fare the worse for being Popish I mean for having been made use of in times of Popery it being none of their designs to create a new Church but reform the old Such Superstitions and Corruptions as had been contracted in that Church by long tract of time being pared away that which was good and commendable did remain as formerly It was not their intent to dig up a foundation of such precious stones because some superstructures of Straw and Stubble had been raised upon it A moderation much applauded by King Iames in the Conference at Hampton-Court whose golden Aphorisme it was That no Church ought further to separate it self from the Church of Rome either in Doctrine or Ceremony then she had departed from her self when she was in her flourishing and best estate p. 77. 5. The succession of Bishops continued as it did before but fitted in the form and manner of their Consecrations according to the Rules laid down with the fourth Council of Carthage celebrated Anno 407. or thereabouts and generally received in all the Provinces of the Western Church as appears by the Book of Consecrating Arch-Bishops and Bishops c. Approved first by the Book of Articles and confirmed in Parliament Anno 5.6 Edw. VI. as afterwards justified by the Articles of Religion agreed upon in Convocation in Queen Elizabeths time Anno 1562. And by an Act of Parliament in the 8th Year of her Reign accounted of as part of our Publick Liturgies And by that book it will appear that Bishops were then looked upon as a distinct Order of themselves and not as a different degree only amongst the rest of the Presbyters For in the Preface to that Book it is said expresly That it is evident to all men diligently reading Holy Scripture and Ancient Authors that from the Apostles time there have been these Orders of Ministers in the Church of Christ Bishops Priests and Deacons Not long after which it followeth thus viz. And therefore to the intent these Orders should be continued
as Barwick and from thence visiting the West parts of Scotland came at last to Edenburgh where he soon found that he might have saved himself a great part of his care and taken such of his Chaplains with him as came next to hand the Presbyterian Scots not being to be gained by Reason as he had supposed For he was scarce setled in that City when the Presbyters conceiving that his coming was upon design to work an Uniformity between the Churches of both Kingdoms set up one Struthers to preach against it who laid so lustily about him in the chief Church of Edenburgh that he not only condemned the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England but prayed God to save Scotland from the same Laud and the rest of the Chaplains who had heard the Sermon acquainted his Majesty with those passages but there was no remedy The Scots were Scots and resolved to go their own way whatsoever came of it For though the Archbishop of St. Andrews had forewarned them that they should not irritate his Majesty whom they should finde a gracious Prince and one that would hear Reason and give way unto it yet this prevailed nothing with them they were resolved neither to give Reason to him nor take any from him but only to gain time by delays and artifices For they knew well that his Majesty had no resolution to stay long amongst them and that when he was gone they might do what they listed And therefore when his Majesty in a Speech made to them at St. Andrews had told them That it was a Power belonging to all Christian Princes to order matters in the Church and that he would never regard what they approved or disapproved except they brought him a Reason which he could not answer all that they did was to require a little time of Consultation which being granted they returned with this Resolution That if his Majesty would grant them a free Assembly they would therein satisfie his Majesty in all the Points he had propounded Patrick Galloway one of the chiefest amongst them passing his word for the performance But when the King was gone and the day of the Assembly come those promises vanished in the smoak so that the King gained nothing by that chargeable Journey but the neglect of his Commands and a contempt of his Authority His Majesty therefore took a better course than to put the point to Argument and Disputation which was to beat them by the Belly and to withdraw those Augmentations which he had formerly allowed them out of his Exchâ—quer Which Pill so wrought upon this indigent and obstinate People that the next year in an Assembly held at Perth they pass'd an Act for admitting the five Articles for which his Majesty had been courting them for two years together But whatsoever the King lost by the Journey I am sure the Bishop of Lincoln got well by it For Iames the Bishop of Durham dying during the Kings abode in Scotland his Majesty bestowed upon him that wealthy Bishoprick one of the wealthiest in Revenues but Absolutely the greatest in Power and Priviledges Into this Bishoprick being canonically confirmed on the ninth of October he presently set himself on work to repair the Palaces and Houses belonging to it which he had found in great decay but he so adorned and beautified them in a very short space that they that saw them could not think that they were the same Three thousand pounds he is affirmed by Bishop Godwin to have disbursed only upon this account having laid out before no less than a thousand Marks on the Episcopal Houses of the See of Lincoln besides a good round Sum on the House of Bromley the Habitation and Retreat of the Bishops of Rochester But that which gave him most content was his Palace of Durham-house in the Strand not only because it afforded him convenient Room for his own Retinue but because it was large enough to allow sufficient Quarters for Buckridge Bishop of Rochester and Laud Dean of Glocester which he enjoyed when he was Bishop of St. Davids also some other Quarters were reserved for his old servant Doctor Linsell and others for such Learned men of his Acquaintance as came from time to time to attend upon him insomuch as it passed commonly by the name of Durham Colledge A man of such a strange composition that whether he were of a larger and more publick Soul or of a more uncourtly Conversation it were hard to say But to return again to Laud Finding his Majesty resolved to pass thorow Lancashire and other Counties of the North-west of England in his way to London he obtained leave to go directly unto Oxon. and on the second of August was inducted into the Rectory of Ibstock in the County of Leicester a Rectory belonging to the Patronage of the Bishop of Rochester of whom he had it in exchange for his Kentish Benefices At his return unto the Colledge he was joyfully welcomed by his Friends and chearfully received after so long an absence by the greatest part of that Society But that which seemed most agreeable to him at his coming home was the good News he heard from Glocester how all things had been quieted there and that there was no fear or danger of any further opposition to be made against him for the Rabble being terrified by the severe proceedings of Alderman Iones and more affrighted at the noise of being brought into the Court of High-Commission began to grow more sensible of the error which they had committed the â—ury of their first heats being abated and Reason beginning by degrees as it is ordinary in such cases to take place of Passion Nothing else memorable in this year as in relation to his Story but some misfortunes which befel the Archbishop his perpetual enemy the greatest whereof though perhaps not took most to heart was the death of his Brother the Bishop of Salisbury which produced great sorrow to his Friends the rather in regard of the manner and occasion of it For after his advancement to the See of Sarum being then neer sixty years of Age he married the Widdow of one Doctor Cheynell a Physician who had been one of his Contemporaries in Baliol Colledge the news whereof being presented with some circumstances to his disadvantage to his Brother the Archbishop of Canterbury he received from him such a sharp and bitter Letter so full of Reproaches and Revilings that not being able to bear the burthen of so great an insolency he presently took thought upon it and as presently died leaving this life on the second of March the year almost expiring with him The Archbishop had been off the hooks ever since the affront as he conceived was put upon him in burning his Chaplain Doctor Mockett's Book entituled De Politia Ecclesiae Anglicanae which had given no small Reputation to the Church of England beyond the Seas for which severity though many just Reasons were
pass'd two Acts in the Assembly held at Aberdeen Anno 1616. the one for making one Uniform Order or Form of Worship to be prepared by some Bishops and other Learned men amongst them by them to be presented to the King and being by the King approved to be by him commended to the use of that Kirk The other for consulting the Registry of their formeâ— Assemblys and extracting out of them such Canons as being ratified by the stamp of Royal Authority might pass for currant in the same To speed this business and strike the Iron whilst it was hot his Majesty made that chargeable Journey into Scotland which before we spake of with an intent to press them personally to the receiving of some few of the English Ceremonies which had been offered to the consideration of the late Assembly the better to advance his hopes of introducing by degrees the Liturgy of the Church of England Which Ceremonies being reduced to five Articles and propounded to them at his being there found such success and put the King upon such Councels as have been formerly declared But what he could not compass in the year foregoing he obtained in this those Articles being passed in an Assembly held at Perth in the Month of August and are these that follow 1. That for the more reverend Receiving of the Holy Communion the same should be celebrated to the People thereafter kneeling and not sitting as had been the Custom since the Reformation of Religion 2. If any good Christian visited with sickness which was taken to be deadly should desire to receive the Communion at home in his house the same should not be denied to him lawful warning being given to the Minister the night before and three or four of good Religion and Conversation being present to Communicate with him 3. That in case of necessity tried and known to the Minister it should be lawful to Administer Baptism in private Houses the same being always Ministred after the form in which it should have been in the Congregation A publick Declaration of it to be made the next Sunday after 4. That the days of the Birth Passion Resurrection and Ascension of our Saviour Christ and of the coming down of the Holy Ghost in regard of those inestimable Benefits which the Church of God had received on them should be publickly Solemnized in the Congregation the Ministers making choice of fit Texts of Scripture agreeable to the Occasions for their several Sermons 5. That the Minister in every Parish having Catechized all Children above eight years of age according to the short Catechism used in the Church and taught them to repeat by heart the Lords Prayer the Creed and the Ten Commandments should present them to their Bishops in their Visitations by them to be blessed with Prayers for the increase of Grace and continuance of Gods heavenly Gifts upon them And this indeed was a great step to the work of Uniformity so much desired which had it been pursued as vigorously by the Bishops of Scotland as by the King it had been piously begun the Service which was sent into that Kirk almost twenty years afteâ— had been better welcom'd by the Scots and drawn less danger upon Laud who was then Archbishop for his pious Actings in the same But on the other side the condemning of the five Arminian Articles as they commonly called them at the Synod of Dort was altogether as much unpleasing as the others had been grateful to him for well he saw the great dangers which might thence ensue to the Church of England whose Doctrines were openly confronted and her Discipline secretly undermined by the Decisions and Determinations of that Synodical Assembly In which regard it will not be unnecessary to make a brief Relation of those stirs and differences which hapned in the Belgick Churches from the time that Doctor Iacob van Harmine was made one of the Divinity Professors in the University of Leyden Concerning which we are first to know That at the Alteration of Religion in those Provinces the French who were most active in it brought with them Calvin's Platform both for Doctrine and Discipline as commonly the one makes way to bring in the other according unto which the Belgick Confession was drawn up in the year 1567. Which notwithstanding such of their Ministers as better liked the Melancthonian Doctrines in the points of Predestination Grace Free-will c. than they did the other spared not to publish their Opinions as they saw occasion as well before as after the establishing of the said Confession and did it without check or censure Amongst which we may first reckon Anastasius Veluanus in a Book of his entituled Odegus Laicorum or the Lay-mans Guide published in the year 1554. and much commended by Henricus Antonides the Divinity Reader in the University of Franeker after whom followed in the same Opinions Iohannes Isbrandi who openly profess'd himself an Anti-Calvinian Clemens Martini who took his Principles from Hardinbergius one of the first Reformers of the Church of Embden Gellius Sueranus in West-Friesland who looked upon those of the other Perswasion as Innovators in that Church Holmanus the Divinity Reader in Leyden Cornelius Menardi a man of good esteem amongst them and generally all the Ministers successively in the Province of Vtrecht some of which had maintained these Doctrines before the birth of Iacob van Harmine better known in these later times by the name of Arminius and all of them before such time as any publick notice had been taken of him by which it seems that these Doctrines were of a long standing and had took deep rooting in these Churches though they had not gained such a large and general spreading over them as they after did For in the year 1603. the Learned Iunius one of the Professors for Divinity in the University of Leyden being then deceased the Curators or Overseers of that University made choice of this Van Harmine the Pastor as they phrase it of the Church of Amsterdam to succeed in his place But the Inhabitants of that Town amongst whom he had served in the Ministry for the space of 15. years and moâ—â— were so affected to the man that they would by no means yield unto his departure till over-ruled by the intreaties of some and the power of others A matter very unpleasing to the Rigid Calvinians informing against him to the State for several Heterodoxies repugnant to the received Doctrine of those Churches Arminius for six years before had by exchange of Letters betwixt him and Iunius maintained the Melancthonian Doctrines in those points of Controversie before remembred which Papers being dispersed abroad in several Copies but not published till after his death and then published by the name of Amica Collatio c. gave the Calvinians some fair Colour for their information But the business being heard at the Hague he was acquitted by his Judges dispatch'd for Leyden and there confirmed in his place
be challenged And when it was answered That there could be no reason to engage in such Disputations where no Moderator could be had The King replied That Charles should moderate between them and the opposite party At which when one of them seemed to smile upon the other the King proceeded and assured them that Charles should manage a point in Controversie with the best studied Divine of them all and that he had trained up George so far as to hold the Conclusion though he had not yet made him able to prove the Premises By which it seems that his Majesty conceived no such fear on the Princes part as that he could be practised or disputed out of his Religion and that he had no such fear of Buckingham neither but that he would be able to stand his ground notwithstanding any Arguments which were brought to move him And he that is so far confirmed as to stand his ground will never yield himself though he may be vanquished It was not then to be believed that me so principled and instructed as not to be forced out of their Religion should take such pains to be perverted or seduced upon worldly policies as well against their Science as against their Conscience Had they gone thither on that Errand what could have hindred them from putting the design in execution having in Spain sit opportunity to effect it at home the Kings Authority to confirm and Countenance it and the whole power of his Catholick Majesty which was offered more than once or twice to justifie and defend the misrule against all the world That they brought back the same Religion which they carried with them is a strong Argument to any man of Sense and Reason that they went not into Spain of purpose to betray it there Let us next look upon the proofs which are offered to us for Laud being privy to this journey whereof his being of Council to â—ervert the Prince and draw him to the Church of Rome there is no proof offered For first I find it charged that he wrote a Letter unto Buckingham on the fifth day after his departure and maintained a constant Correspondence with him when he was in Spain And secondly That he was privy to some Speeches which his Majesty had used to the Prince at his going hence His Majesty in some of his printed Books had maintained that the Pope was Antichrist and now he feared that this might be alledged against him in the Court of Rome to hinder the Popes Dispensation and obstruct the Marriage For the removal of which bar he commands the Prince to signifie if occasion were to all whom it might concern That his Majesty had writ nothing in that Point concludingly but by way of Argument That Laud was present at this Conference betwixt his Majesty and the Prince hath no proof at all He might be made acquainted with it on the post-fact when the Prince returned and yet because he was made acquainted with this passage though upon the post-fact it must be hence concluded as a matter certain That he was one of the Cabinet Council and privy to the Princes going into Spain and secondly as a matter probable That he suggested this distinction unto King James to please the Pope and promote the Match As little strength there is in the second proof touching his Writing to the Marquis on the fifth day after his departure But then it was not till the fifth before which time the Princes Journey into Spain was made the general Discourse of all Companies the ordinary Subject of all Tongues and Pens communicated by word of mouth by Letters and by what means not Nor can those following Letters which he received from Buckingham when he was in Spain convince him of being privy to that Journey when it was in project and design there being many others also who both received and dispatched Letters frequently from that very same person so far from being of the Council as to that particular that they were not of the Court at all So ordinary is the fate of such sorry Arguments to conclude nothing at all or that which is nothing to the purpose But what need more be said to confute this Calumny on which I have so long insisted than the great Care which was immediately taken by the King and his Bishops to maintain the Reputation of the Church of England in the Court of Spain No sooner had his Majesty notice that the Prince was come in safety to the Court of that King but order presently was taken for Officers of all Qualities and Servants of all sorts to be sent unto him that so he might appear in Publick with the greater lustre Nor was it the least part of his Royal Care to accommodate him with two such Chaplains as should be able to defend the Doctrine of this Church against all Opponents And that there might appear a face of the Church of England in the outward Forms of Worship also his Majesty was pleased by the Advice of the Bishops then about him of which Laud was one to give the said Chaplains Maw and Wren these Instructions following dated at Newmarket March 10. I. That there be one convenient Room appointed for Prayer the said Room to be employed during their abode to no other use II. That it be decently adorned Chappel-wise with an Altar Fonts Palls Linnen Coverings Demy-Carpet four Surplices Candlesticks Tapers Chalices Pattens a fine Towel for the Prince other Towels for the Houshold a Traverse of Waters for the Communion a Bason and Flaggons two Copes III. That Prayers be duly kept twice a day That all reverence be used by every one present being uncovered kneeling at due times standing up at the Creeds and Gospel bowing at the Name of JESUS IV. That the Communion be celebrated in due form with an Oblation of every Communicant and admixing Water with the Wine the Communion to be as often used as it shall please the Prince to set down smooth Wafers to be used for the Bread V. That in the Sermons there be no Polemical Preachings to inveigh against them or to confute them but only to confirm the Doctrine and Tenets of the Church of England by all positive Arguments either in Fundamental or Moral Points and especially to apply themselves in Moral Lessons to Preach Christ Jesus Crucified VI. That they give no occasions or rashly entertain any of Conference or Dispute for fear of dishonour to the Prince if upon any offence taken he should be required to send away any one of them but if the Lord Embassador or Mr. Secretary wish them to hear any that desire some information then they may safely do it VII That they carry the Articles of our Religion in many Copies the Books of Common Prayer in several Languages store of English Service-Books the Kings own Works in English and Latin Such were his Majesties Instructions to the said two Chaplains and being such they do concludingly demonstrate
conjure down these unruly Spirits which otherwise would not be confined within their Circle Mady the Lecturer of Christ-Church near Newgate must needs fly out upon the Point of Election and the motives to it For this contempt he is called before the Bishop of London and on some further misbehaviour prohibited from preaching any more within that Diocess Burges who afterwards pulled down the Cross in St. Pauls Church-yard must needs add scorn to his contempt telling his Auditors that if their Minister preached Popery or Arminianism they might change their dwellings and not trouble the peace and order of their Church For which about the same time he is questioned also White and some others in that Diocess suspended by this Bishop on the same occasion From the City pass we to the Court Where toward the end of the same Month we find Davenant Bishop of Sarum preaching a Lent Sermon before the King and therein falling upon some of those prohibited points even before his face for which the King being much offended as he had good reason he caused him to be called before the Lords of his Council The cause is managed against him by Archbishop Harsnet Laud all the while walking by in silence who gravely laid before him as well the Kings Piety in setting forth the said Declaration as the greatness of his the said Davenants offence in making so little reckoning of it Davenant at first endeavoureth many defences to make good his Action but at last wisely casts himself upon this submission he tells the Lords in answer to one of Harsnets objections That he was sorry he did no sooner understand his Majesties intention which if he had done before he would have taken some other matter to treat of which might have given none offence and that for the time to come he would conform himself as readily as any other to his Majesties Command Arundel Earl Marshal bids him hold to that as his safest plea and that he should proceed to no further defence a bad cause not being made the better by two much handling To this counsel he conforms himself And being afterwards admitted to the kiss of his Majesties hand which his attendance might deserve though his Sermon did not his Majesty declared to him his Resolution That he would not have this high Point meddled withal or debated either the one way or the other because it was too high for the Peoples understanding and that other Points which concerned Reformation and Newness of life were more needful and profitable I hope the lower Clergy will not say hereafter as some did of old That Laws are like the Spiders Cobwebs which suffer the great flies to break through and lay hold only upon those of the smaller size From the Court let us go to Oxon. where we find the next year beginning in a manner with a Sermon preached at St. Maries Church by one Hill of Heart-hall May 24. point blank enough against his Majesties Declaration and more than bitter enough against those of different perswasion from him whom he charged with handling Scriptures worse than poor Christians were by the Turk at Tunis enforcing them to the vassallage of the foulest errours not without some reflection on the Higher Powers by whom they were mischieved into honour For which indiscretion being convented before the Vice-Chancellor and Heads of Houses but not without the Chancellors privity he confessed his fault and craved pardon for the same which he obtained on his submission made in the Convocation the sixteenth of Iuly following But worse it fared not long after with Ford of Magdalen Hall Hodges of Exeter Colledge and Thorne of Baliol who in their several Sermons had not only committed the like error but charged their Renovation of some ancient order in the Church to be no other than plain Innovation Questioned for this by Smith then Warden of Wadham Colledge and Vice-Chancellor of that University they appeal from him to the Convocation The Proctors having unadvisedly received the Appeal were at the point to have named Delegates when Smith appealed to the King But they took their aim amiss when they shot this bolt For both his Majesty and the Chancellor were alike concerned in it the King to justifie his Declaration the other to preserve his own power and dignity neither of which could have been done but by defending Smith in his lawful acting On the twenty third of August all Parties interessed in the Cause appeared before the King at Woodstock who after a full hearing of both sides it was ordered thus That the three Delinquents should be expelled the University Doughty and Bruch the two Proctors should be deprived of their places Prideaux and Wilkinson this last then Principle of Magdalen Hall being checked for stickling so much in it and glad they were that they escaped without further censure But they shewed not the same mercy which they found for Rainsford of Wadham Colledge preached at St. Maries in August following in defence of Vniversal Grace and Mans Election unto life from Faith foreseen No man more forward than Prideaux to appeach him of it on whose complaint and prosecution he was sentenced to a publick acknowledgment of his offence in a form prescribed which was as much as had been done in the case of Hill So that the Rigid Calvinians can pretend no just ground for that so great Calumnie that none but they were censured from preaching those prohibited Doctrines those of the Arminian Party as they commonly called them going off unpunished From Oxon. cross we into Ireland where we shall see Lauds care as great for preserving the Kings Authority and the Churches peace as it was in England Vsher the Lord Primate of that Church had published a Book this same year in the Latine Tongue called The History of Gotteschalchus for which he was after much extolled by Twist of Newbury as professed a Calvinian as himself in a Letter of his dated May 29. 1640. For having first commended him for his great learning and various reading manifested in his Book De Primodiis Britannicarum Ecclesiarum he magnifies next his singular wisdom for taking an occasion to insert therein the History of the Pelagian Heresie coming so opportunely in his way and then he addeth that his History of Gotteschalchus was a piece of the like nature and came forth most seasonable so much the more because it seemed to give some check to a Book written by Vossius a right Learned man which had been much cried up by the Remonstrants Downham then Bishop of Derry had somewhat before that published a Discourse about Perseverance wherein some Passages were found directly thwarting his Majesties most pious purpose in the said Declaration But Vshâ—r's Book being writ in Latin gave the less offence Nor seemed it fit to put any publick disgrace on a man to whom the Government of the whole National Church had been committed by King Iames of most Blessed Memory By questioning
the Deanry of Worcester to the end that he might have some trusty friend to be near his Majesty whensoever he was forced by sickness or any other necessary occasion to absent himself So that Windebanke having the Kings ear on one side and the Clerke of the Closet on the other he might presume to have his tale well told between them and that his Majesty should not easily be possessed with any thing to his disadvantage To find another sit man for Winton must be his chief business whom it concerned to plant such a Bishop in that See as might be pliant and subservient unto his desires The Bishop of Winton by his place is Visitor of five considerable Colledges in the University of Oxon. that is to say Magdalens New Colledge Corpus Christi St. Iohns and Trinity by which means he is able to draw a great party after him and such as might much curb the power of the Chancellor if they should cross with one another Therefore to make sure work at Oxford he thought it most conducible to his peace and power to prefer Curle from Bath and Wells to the See of Winton which being accordingly effected Pierce is removed from Peterborough to the Church of Wells upon the like consideration as Wright about the same time was translated to Lichfield There was a rich Parsonage called Castor which belonged to his Patronage as Bishop of Peterborough about three or four miles from that small City designed whensoever it fell void to serve for a perpetual commendam to the Bishops of it And falling void it was so ordered by the care of our Bishop of London that Pierce should wave the preferment of a friend unto it and take it for the present unto himself leaving it afterwards to his Successors For his Reward therein he was preferred to Bath and Wells and Peterborough procured by Laud for his old Friend and Fellow-Servant Doctor Augustine Lyndsell for whom he formerly had obtained the Deanry of Litchfeild And to say truth the man deserved it being a very solid Divine and a learned Linguist to whom the Christian World remains indebted for Theophylact's Comment on the Epistles and the Catena upon Iob published by him in Greek and Latin His Majesties Printers at or about this time had committed a scandalous mistake in our English Bibles by leaving out the word Not in the Seventh Commandment His Majesty being made acquainted with it by the Bishop of London Order was given for calling the Printers into the High-Commission where upon Evidence of the Fact the whole Impression was called in and the Printers deeply fined as they justly merited With some part of this Fine Laud causeth a fair Greek Character to be provided for publishing such Manuscripts as Time and Industry should make ready for the Publick view of which sort were the Catena and Theophylact set out by Lyndsell This mentioning of the High-Commission conducts me toward the Star-Chamber where we shall find a Censure passed on Sherfeild the Recorder of Sarum wherein our Bishop was as active as in that before which because it drew upon him some clamour and such a clamour as not only followed him to his death but hath been since continued in sundry Pamphlets I shall lay down the occasion of it and the true Reasons of his Earnestness and Zeal in that prosecution This Sherfeild being Recorder of Sarum as before is said was one of the Parishioners of the Parish Church of St. Edmonds in one of the Windows whereof the Story of the Creation was express'd in old painted Glass in which there was a Representation of God the Father in the shape of an Old Man after which form the Painters of those Elder Times did most commonly draw him This Window which had continued in the Church without any offence from the first setting of it up till the year 1629. or thereabouts became a great eyesore to this man whom nothing would content but the defacing of those Pictures in such a way as might best please his own humour and affront Authority Davenant at that time was Bishop of Sarum and lived for the most part in his Palace there a man of known disaffections to the Church of Rome and all the Superstitious Vanities and Corruptions of it Had he been made acquainted with it there is no question to be made but that he either would have gratified the man in causing the said window to be taken down in a peaceable way or else have given him such good Reasons to the contrary as might have qualified the peccancy of the present Humour But Sherfeild being the Recorder and thinking he had the Law in his â—ands as well as he had it in his head must go another way to work and bring the Business to be agitated in a Parish Vestry which Bastard Elderships began to grow so much in use in most Corporate Towns that countenance and connivence in short time would have made them Legitimate The Elders of the Vestry being as willing to embrace the business as he was to commend it to them enabled him at the next Church-Session in the Month of Ianuary 1629. to ease his Conscience of that burthen by taking down the offensive Window and setting up another of plain white Glass in the place therereof And yet this gave him no content unless he might shew a more than ordinary Zeal in defacing those Images which he was ordered to take down and did accordingly deface them beating down the Pictures with his Staff in such a violent and scandalous way as was disrelished by most moderate men of his own Perswasion The noise of so foul a misdemeanour growing lowder and lowder it came at last unto the Court whereupon an Information was exhibited against him in the Star-Chamber by the Kings Atturney not ripened for a Hearing till the latter end of this present year and then brought to Sentence The Affront done to the Diocesan and the erecting of a new Eldership in despite of Authority had been crime sufficient to bring him under the Censure of the High-Commission But taking power unto himself of Reforming what he thought amiss in the face of the Church and proceeding to the execution of it in a way so dangerous so full of ill example to the rest of the Zealots made him more properly subject to the Court of Star-Chamber and to as heavy a Censure there as that Court could legally inflict for the like Disorders For what Security could be hoped for in Church or State if every man should be a Sherfeild and without asking leave of the Prince or Prelate proceed to such a Reformation as best pleased his Phansie If suffered to go on in defacing Windows they would be spirited in short time to pull down Churches there being commonly no stop in such Tumultuary Reformations till every man be wearied in his own confusions And somewhat there was also in it which was looked upon as a great discouragement to the moderate Papists from
thinking favourably of our Churches or resorting to them and to some moderate Protestants also in beautifying and adorning Churches after such a manner as without giving just offence might draw the greater Estimation to those sacred Places In which respect Laud did not only aggravate the Crime as much as he could in reference to the dangerous Consequences which might follow on it but shewed how far the use of painted Images in the way of Ornament and Remembrance might be retained in the Church not justifying the painting of God the Father in the shape of an Old Man as he was commonly misreported but only laying down the Reason which induced some Painters to that Representation which they grounded on Daniel 7.9 where God the Father is not only called the Ancient of Days to signifie his Eternity before all time which was so much insisted on by the Earl of Dorset but described after the similitude of an Old Man the hair of whose head was like the pure wooll In fine though Sherfeild found some Friends yet they were but few the major part concurring in this Sentence on him that is to say to be fined a thousand pounds to the King deprived of his Recordership bound to his good behaviour for the time to come as also to make a publick Acknowledgment of his Offence not only in the Parish Church of St. Edmonds where it was committed but in the Cathedral Church it self that the Bishop in contempt of whose Authority he had plaid this Pageant might have Reparation This Censure being past on Sherfeild on the eighth of February Order is given to Noy the Atturney-General to make preparation for another but of greater consequence We shew'd before how busie Prynne had made himself in some present Controversies and with what insolence he carried himself from the High-Commission Prepared with confidence and success for a further Calamity he publishes a small Pamphlet called Lame GILES his Halting An Appendix against Bowing at the Name of IESVS a larger Book called Anti-Arminianism and notably bestirs himself in discovering a mistake an Imposture it must needs be called in the Historical Narration published 1631. against which he never lest exclaiming till he had procured Archbishop Abbot with whom he was grown very gracious to call it in But not contented with that Triumph he prepares another Pageant for us in the end of Michaelmas Term this year known by the name of Histrio-Mastyx in which he seemed to breath nothing but Disgrace to the Nation Infamy to the Church Reproaches to the Court Dishonour to the Queen and some things which were thought to be tending to the destruction of his Majesties Person Neither the Hospitality of the Gentry in the time of Christmas nor the Musick in Cathedrals and the Chappels Royal nor the Pomps and Gallantries of the Court nor the Queens harmless Recreations nor the Kings solacing himself sometimes in Masques and Dances could escape the venom of his Pen expressed for the most part in such bitter Language and frequently interlaced with such dangerous Aggravations and Insinuations that it was not possible for the Author to escape uncensured This Book being brought before the Lords of the Council toward the end of Ianuary and found too tedious for their Lordships to be troubled with it it pleased his Majesty to give order that the Book should be committed to the Reading of one of the Prebends of Westminster with command to draw out of it and digest such particular Passages as tended to the danger or dishonour of the King or State On the finishing and return of which Collection Prynne is committed to the Tower on Sunday being Candlemas day and on the morrow after the Collector received a further Order to review his Notes and deduct out of them such Logical Inferences and Conclusions as might and did naturally arise on those dangerous Premises One Copy of the same to be leâ—t for the Lords of the Council and another with Noy the Atturney-General and the rest of his Majesties Council-Learned in the Laws of this Realm which Papers gave such satisfaction to the one and such help to the other that when the Cause was brought to hearing in the Star-Chamber they repeated his Instructions only as Prynne himself informed against him to the House of Commons What was done further in this business we shall see hereafter This business being put into a course our Bishop offereth some Considerations to the Lords of the Council concerning the Dishonour done to the Church of England by the wilful negligence of some Chaplains and other Ministers both in our Factories and Regiments beyond the Seas together with the Inconveniencies which redounded to it from the French and Dutch Congregations settled in many places amongst our selves He had long teemed with this Design but was not willing to be his own Midwife when it came to the Birth and therefore it was so contrived that Windebank should make the Proposition at the Council-Table and put the Business on so far that the Bishop might be moved by the whole Board to consider of the several Points in that weighty Business who being thus warranted to the execution of his own desires presented two Memorials to their Lordships at the end of this year March 22. The one relating to the Factories and Regiments beyond the Seas the other to the French and Dutch Plantations in London Kent Norfolk Yorkshire Hampshire and the Isle of Axhelme He had observed not without great indignation how Tenacious the French and Dutch Churches were of their own received Forms both in Worship and Government as on the other side how ignoble and degenerous the English had shown themselves in neglecting the Divine Service of this Church in their several Factories where they were licenced to make use of it by the Power and Countenance of that State in which they Traded The Earl of Leicester being sent this year to negotiate some Affairs with the King of Denmark and Anstrother ready to come from the Court of the Emperour they were appointed by his Majesty to meet at Hamborough there to expect the coming of Pennington with some Ships to conduct them home The English driving a great Trade in that Town were by the Magistrates thereof indulged all the Priviledges of an English Church but they retained nothing of a Church of England governing themselves wholly by Calvin's Plat-form which they had taken up in England The two Embassadors being met but the Ships not come the Elders of the Church humbly desired their Lordships to do them so much honour in the eyes of the People as to vouchsafe their presence at the English Church and that their Lordships Chaplains might be ordered to Exercise in the Congregation This Motion being chearfully embraced by both the Earl of Leicester's Chaplain first mounts the Pulpit and after a short Psalm according to the Genevian fashion betakes himself unto his Sermon The like was done by Iohnson Anstrothers Chaplain for I remember
Archbishop knew full well how small a Progress he should make in his Reformation for reducing the French and Dutch to a Communion with the Church of England and the Church of England to it self if London were not brought to some Conformity Which City having a strong influence on all parts of the Kingdom was generally looked on as the Compass by which the lesser Towns and Corporations were to steer their Course the practice of it being pleaded upon all occasions for Vestries Lectures and some other Innovations in the State of the Church And to this nothing more concurred than that the Beneficed Clergy being but meanly provided for were forced to undertake some Lectures or otherwise to connive at many things contrary to their own Judgment and the Rules of the Church in hope that gaining the good will thereby of the Chief of their Parishes they might be gratified by them with Entertainments Presents and some other helps to mend their Maintenance The Lecturers in the mean time as being Creatures of the People and depending wholly on the Purse of the wealthier Citizens not only overtopped them in point of Power and Reputation but generally of Profit and Revenue also Not that these Lecturers were maintained so much by the Zeal and Bounty of their Patrons as by a general Fraud which for many years last past had been put upon the Regular Clergy by the diminishing of whose just Dues in Tythes and Offerings such Lecturers and Trencher-Chaplains had been fed and cherished For the better understanding whereof we are to know That in the year 1228. Roger Niger Bishop of London ordained by a Synodical Constitution That the Citizens should pay of every pounds Rent by the year of all Houses Shops c. the Sum of 3 s. 5 d. as time out of mind had formerly been paid Which 3 s. 5 d. did arise from the Offerings upon every Sunday and thirty of the principal Holydays in the same year after the Rate of one halspeny for every twenty shillings Rent of their Houses Shops c. This Order of Roger Niger remaining in force till the year 1397. and the Câ—â—â—gy being kept to such Rates for the Rents of Houses as at the first making of the same it was decreed by Thomas Arundell then Bishop of Canterbury That as the Rent increased so the Offerings or Tythes should increase also That the said Order should be read in every Parish-Church four times in the year and a Curse laid upon all those who should not obey it Confirmed by Pope Innocent vii and Nicholas v. with a Proviso That the said Oblations should be paid according to the true yearly value of the Shops and Houses It so remained until the twenty fifth year of Henry viii at what time many of the former Holydays being abrogated by the Kings Authority the yearly Profit of the Clergy found a great abatement the greater in regard of the variances which arose betwixt them and their Parishioners about the payment of their Dues the People taking the advantage of some Disorders which the Clergy at that present had been brought unto by acknowledging the King for the Supream Head of the Church of England Upon this variance a Complaint is made unto the King who refers the whole matter to Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury Audley Lord Chancellor Gardiner Bishop of Winton Cromwell Chief Secretary of Estate Fitz-Iames and Norwich Chief Justices of the several Benches by whom it was concluded That from thenceforth 2 s. 9 d. only should be paid out of every pound for the Rents of Houses Shops c. And to this Order the Citizens did not only consent as they had good reason but bound themselves by an Act of Common Council to perform the same the said Decree confirmed by Act of Parliament in the twenty seventh and afterwards in the thirty seventh of that King with a power given to the Lord Mayor to commit to Prison every person whatsoever who should not pay his Tythes and Dues according to that Proportion But contrary to the true intent and meaning of the said Decrees and the several Acts of Parliament which confirmed the same the covetous and unconscionable Landlords who had the Fee-simple or some long Leases at the least of such shops and houses devised many base and fraudulent waies to put a cheat upon the Law and abuse the Clergie reserving some small sum in the name of a Rent and covenanting for other greater Sums to be paid quarterly or half yearly in the name of Fines Annuities Pensions Incomes Interest money c. Finding these Payments so conditioned and agreed upon to be too visible a cheat some were so wise as to take their Fines in gross when they sealed their Leases some inconsiderable Rent being charged upon them others so cunning as to have two Leases on foot at the same time one at a low contemptible Rent to gull the Incumbent of his dues the other with a Rent four or five times as great to keep down the Tenant and some by a more cleanly kind of conveyance reserving a small Rent as others did caused their Tenants to enter into several bonds for the payment of so much money yearly with reference to the term which they had in their Leases By which Devises and deceits the house-Rents were reduced to so low a value that some Aldermen who do not use to dwell in Sheds and Cottages could be charged with no more than twenty shillings for a whole years Tythe the Rent reserved amounts after that proportion but to seven pounds yearly The Clergie by the Alteration of Religion had lost those great advantages which had before accrued unto them by Obits Mortuaries Obventions to the Shrines and Images of some special Saints Church Lands and personal Tythes according to mens honest gain which last was thought to have amounted to more than the Tythe of houses Being deprived of the one and abused in the other they were forced in the sixteenth of King Iames Anno 1618. to have recourse to the Court of Exchequer by the Barons whereof it was declared that according to the true intent of the said Acts the Inhabitants of London and the Liberties thereof ought to pay the Tythe of their houses shops c. after the rate of two shillings nine pence in the pound proportionable to the true yearly value of the Rent thereof In order whereunto it was then ordered by the Court that a Shed which had been built and made a convenient dwelling house should pay twenty four shillings nine pence yearly in the name of a Tythe as was afterwards awarded by Sir Henry Yelverton upon a reference made unto him that one Rawlins who paid forty shillings yearly to his Landlord in the name of a Rent and twelve pound by the name of a fine should from thenceforth pay his Tythe to the Incumbent of the Parish in which he dwelt after the rate of fourteen pound yearly This and the like Arbitrements about that time
it is to be supposed that the Bishop could receive small thanks for his disobedience In Essex the business met with a greater difficulty Aylet Official there under the Chancellor of London had caused many of the Communion Tables within the verge of his Jurisdiction to be transposed and railed in and the People to come up and kneel and receive at the Rail Opposed at first in some of the greater Towns because they found it otherwise in the Churches of London whose example they conceived might be a sufficient warrant for them in that particular But much more were they moved to stand out against him upon sight of one of the Articles for the Metropolitical Visitation by which they conceived that they had leave to remove their Table at the time of Celebration and place it as it might be most convenient for the Parishioners to come about it and receive the Sacrament Aylet complains of this to Lamb finding himself thereby under an imputation of crossing the Article delivered by his Graces Visitors and following after his own Inventions without any Authority For remedy whereof and to save all that he had done from returning back again to the same estate in which he found it he desires to know his Graces Pleasure and Lambs Directions More constantly and with better fortune is the business carried on by Pierce in his Diocess of Bath and Wells No sooner had his Majesty signified his Pleasure in the Case of St. Gregories but he issueth out a Commission to some of his Clergy to inquire into the State of all the Parish Churches within that Diocess and on the return of their Account gives Order for the rectifying of such things as they found amiss especially in the posture of the Holy Table And that it might be seen that his Commands were not only countenanced by Power but backed by Reason he prepares certain Motives and Considerations to perswade Conformity as viz. 1. That it was Ordered by the Queens Injunctions That the Communion Table should stand where the Altar did 2. That there should be some difference between the placing of the Lords Table in the Church and the placing of a Mans Table in his House 3. That it was not fit the People should sit above Gods Table or be above the Priest when he Consecrateth 4. That when the Communion Table stands thus the Chancel would be the fairer and so there would be more room for the Communicants 5. That the Table standing thus the face of the Minister would be better seen and his voice more audibly and distinctly heard than if it stood upon a Level in the midst of the Chancel And 6. That it was expedient that the Daughters should be like their Mother and that the Parochial Churches should conform themselves in that particular to their own Cathedrals But that which seemed to be the most popular Argument to perswade Obedience was the avoiding of those Prophanations which formerly the Holy Table had been subject to For should it be permitted to stand as before it did Church-wardens would keep their Accounts on it Parishioners would dispatch the Parish business at it School-Masters will teach their Boys to Write upon it The Boys will lay their Hats Sachels and Books upon it Many will sit and lean irreverently against it in Sermon time The Dogs would piss upon it and defile it and Glasiers would knock it full of Nail-holes By which means he prevailed so far that of 469 Parishes which were in that Diocess 140 had conformed to his Order in it before the end of the Christmas Holy-days in this present year Anno 1635. without any great reluctancy in Priest or People The first strong Opposition which he found in the business came from a great and populous Parish called Beckington where Hewish Incumbent of the place was willing of himself to have obeyed his Directions in it but the Church-wardens of the Parish were determined otherwise For this being sent for by the Bishop he gave them Order by word of mouth to remove the Table to the East end of the Chancel and to place a decent Rail before it Which they refusing to perform were cited to appear in the Bishops Court before Duck the Chancellor of that Diocess on the ninth of Iune by whom they were commanded to remove such Seats as were above the Communion Table to obey the Bishops former Directions and to return a Certificate of all that they had done therein by the sixth of October then next following and for default thereof were on the same day Excommunicated by the Bishop in person But the Church-wardens being rich well-backed and disaffected to the Service appealed from their Diocesan to the Dean of the Arches at whose request upon some hope given of their Conformity they were absolved for a Month and admonish'd to submit to that which had been enjoined them Continuing in their obstinacy he Excommunicates them again and they again appeal to the Dean of the Arches where finding â—o Relief they presented a Petition to the Archbishop with no less than a hundred hands unto it and afterwards to the King himself but with like success Pierce had done nothing in that case but what he had been warranted to do by their Authority and therefore was by their Authority to be countenanced in it There is an ancient Priviledge belonging to the Church of England That he who standeth obstinately Excommunicated for forty days upon Certificate thereof into the Court of Chancery shall be attached with a Writ De excommunicato capiendo directed to the Sheriff for his Apprehension by him to be committed to Prison without Bail or Mainprise as our Lawyers call it till he confâ—rm himself and seek Absolution By virtue of this Writ these obstinate persons were laid up in the Common Gaol after they had remained Excommunicate above a twelvemonth which shews with how great patience they had been forborn And then at last perceiving what ill counsel they had followed and into what perplexities they had cast themselves they made their submission to their Bishop by whom they were enjoined to do Penance for their Contempt and obstinate standing out against the Sentence of the Court in a form prescribed The Penance to be done in the great Church of Bath their own Parish Church at Beckington and in the Parish Church of Frome-Selwood the next Market-Town adjoining to it and thereupon the Parties to be Absolved Which Opposition thus suppressed prepared the People in most other places of that Diocess for a more ready conformity than otherwise the Diocesan might have found amongst them So true is that of the Historian That the Resistancies of the Subject being once suppressed add strength to that Authority which they sought to crush How he behaved himself in reference to his Majesties Instructions we shall see hereafter when he is brought upon the stage on that occasion and we shall see hereafter also how much or how little was done in order to the purpose
after his being named to a Bishoprick or a better Deanry to renew any Lease either into lives or years His Majesty having well observed that at such times of remove many men care not what or how they let their Estates to the prejudice of the Church and their Successors Which Letters bear date at Greenwich in the twelfth year of his Reign Iune 27. Nor was he less careful to preserve the Parochial Clergy from being oppressed by their neighbours in rates and taxes than he had been in maintaining the Estates of Capitular bodies for the greater honour of those bodies at the present time and the benefit of Succession for the time to come During the Remiss Government of King Iames his Majesties late embroylments with France and Spain and his entanglements at home the Hollanders had invaded the Regality of the Narrow Seas and questioned the property of his Dominion in the same not only growing to such an height of insolency as to dispute their striking Sail in passing by any of his Majesties Ships but publishing a Discourse in Latine called Mare Liberum in defence thereof These affronts occasioned Noy the Atturney Generall to put his Majesty in mind of setting out a strong power of Ships for the recovery of his Rights against all pretenders And the better to enable him for it adviseth him to set on foot the old Naval Aide required of the Subject by his Predecessors He was a man extremely well versed in old Records with which consulting frequently in the course of his studies he had excerpted and laid by many notes and precedents for the Kings levying of such Navil Aide upon the Subjects by his own Authority whensoever the preservation and safety of the Kingdom did require it of them which Notes and Precedents he had taken as they came in his way in small pieces of Paper most of them no bigger than ones hand he kept in the Coffin of a Pye which had been sent him by his Mother and kept there till the mouldiness and corruptibleness of it had perished many of his Papers And by these Notes it did appear that many times in the same years wherein the Kings had received Subsidies by way of Parliament they levied this Naval Aide by their own sole power For if as he discoursed it to me at his house near Brentford the King wanted money either to support his own expences or for the enlarging of his Dominions in Foreign Conquests or otherwise to advance his honour in the eye of the World good reason he should be beholden for it to the love of his People But if the Kingdom was in danger and that the safety of the Subject was concerned in the business he might and did raise such sums of money as he thought expedient for the preventing of the danger and providing for the publick safety of him and his Subjects According to which precedents he prepares a Writ by which his Majesty commandeth the Maritime Counties to provide a certain number of Ships for defence of the Kingdom prescribing to each Ship its several burden the number of Mariners and great Pieces of Ordnance with Victuals Arms and Ammunition thereunto proportioned The Subject not daring at the first to dispute the Command collected money for the Service according to the several rates imposed on them in their several Counties but dealt so unmercifully with the Clergy in the levying of it that they laid upon them generally the fifth or sixth part of the sum imposed The Ice thus broken and his Majesty finding that provision not sufficient to effect his purpose issued out his Writs in the next year after anno 1635. into all the Counties of the Kingdom for preparing of a Royal Fleet to be in readiness against the beginning of this year in which the Clergy were as like to suffer as before they did By the best was that they had not only a gracious Patron but a very powerful Mediatour Upon whose humble desire his Majesty was pleased to direct his Letters to all the Sheriffs in England respectively requiring them that no Tax should be laid upon any Clergy-man possest of a Parsonage above the tenth part of the Land-rate of their several Parishes and that consideration should be had of the poor Vicars in their several Parishes according to their small revenue compared with the Abilities of the Parishioners amongst whom they lived The whole Sum levied by this Tax amounted to 236000 li. or there abouts which comes not to 20000 li. a month and being instead of all other payments seemed to be no such heavy burthen as it was generally made by the Popular Party many of which quarrelled and and refused it But his Majesty was two just a Prince to exact any thing by power when he had neither Law nor Reason to make it good And therefore as he had the opinion of all his Judges subscribed by their hands for justifying the Legality of this Naval Tax amongst the Subjects so he thought fit to publish some defence of his Dominion Right and Soveraignty in the Narrow Seas for the satisfaction of his Neighbours Iohn Selden of the Inner Temple a name that stands in need of no titles of honour had written a Discourse in the time of King Iames which in answer to that of Grotius called Mare Liberum 〈◊〉 intituled by the name of Mare Clausum But stomacking the submission and acknowledgment which he was forced to make in the High Commission for publishing his book of Tythes and sensible of the smart which he had found from the Pens of Tillesly Montague and Nettles in their Answers to him he did not only suppress the â—ook which he had written in the Kings defence but carried an evil eye to the Court and Church for a long time after But being a man of great parts and eminent in the retired walks of Learning he was worth the gaining which Canterbury takes upon him and at last efâ—ecteth By his perswasion he not only perfected but published that laborious piece which he dedicated to his Majesty whose cause he pleaded By whom it was so well approved that he sent it by Sir William Beecher one of the Clerks of his Council to the Barons of the Exchequer in open Court by them to be laid up as a most inestimable Jewel amongst the choice Records which concerned the Crowns In this book which came out this year he first asserts the Soveraignty or Dominion of the Brittish Seas to the Crown of England And that being cleared he proved by constant and continual practice that the Kings of England used to levy money from the Subjects without help of Parliament for the providing of Ships and other necessaries to maintain the Soveraignty which did of right belong unto them This he brought down unto the times of King Henry the Second and might have brought it nearer to his own times had he been so pleased and thereby paved a plain way to the payment of Ship-money as
gives an account to Wederbourne by his Letters of the twentieth of April being the morrow after his Majesty had Signed the said Memorial It seems that Wederbourne had given our Archbishop notice of some defects which he had found in the Book of Consecration of Archbishops Bishops c. as it was then used amongst the Scots viz. 1. That the Order of Deacons was made but a Lay-Office at the best as by that Book might be understood And 2. That in the Admission to the Priesthood the very essential Words of conferring Orders were left out With which the King being made acquainted he gave command to the Archbishop to make known unto them That he would have them either to admit the English Book or else to rectifie their own in those two great oversights After which taking the whole business of that Church into his consideration it pleased him to direct his Further Instructions to the Archbishops and Bishops of it bearing date on the eighteenth of October following In which he requires them to take care That the Proclamation to be made for Authorising the Service-Book should not derogate in any thing from his Royal Prerogative 2. That in their Kalendar they should keep such Catholick Saints as were in the English such of the Saints as were most peculiar to that Kingdom especially those which were of the Royal Blood and some of the most holy Bishops being added to them but that in no case St. George and St. Patrick be omitted 3. That in their Book of Ordination in giving Orders to Presbyters they should keep the words of the English Book without change Receive the Holy Ghost c. 4. That they should insert among the Lessons ordinarily to be read in the Service out of the Book of Wisdom the first second third fourth fifth and sixth Chapters and out of the Book of Ecclesiasticus the first second fifth eighth thirty fifth and forty ninth Chapters 5. That every Bishop within his Family twice a day cause the Service to be read and that all Archbishops and Bishops make all Universities and Colledges within their Diocesies to use daily twice a day the Service 6. That the Preface to the Book of Common Prayer Signed by his Majesties Hand and the Proclamation for Authorising the same should be Printed and inserted in the Book of Common-Prayer According to which Instructions and the Corrections above-mentioned this Liturgie at the last after it had been twenty years in consideration was fully finished and concluded and being thus finished and concluded was Ratified and Confirmed by his Majesties Royal Edict as followeth viz. CHARLES By the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To Our Lovits Messengers Our Sheriffs in that part conjunctly and severally specially constitute Greeting Forasmuch as We ever since Our entry to the Imperial Crown of this Our ancient Kingdom of Scotland especially since Our late being here in the same have divers times recommended to the Archbishops and Bishops there the publishing of a Publick Form of Service in the Worship of God which We would have uniformly observed therein and the same being now condescended unto Although We doubt not but all our Subjects both Clergie and others will receive the said Publick Form of Service yet thinking it necessary to make Our Pleasure known touching the Authority thereof Our Will is and We straightly command That incontinent these Our Letters seen you pass and in Our Name and Authority command and charge all our Subjects both Ecclesiastical and Civil by open Proclamation at the Market-Crosses of the Head Burroughs of this Our Kingdom and other Places needful to conform themselves to the said Publick Form of Worship which is the only Form which We having taken the Counsel of Our Clergie think fit to be used in Gods Publick Worship in this Our Kingdom Commanding also all Archbishops and Bishops and other Presbyters and Church-men to take a special care that the same be duly obeyed and observed and the Contraveners condignly censured and punished and to have special care that every Parish betwixt this and Pasche next procure unto themselves two at the least of the said Books of Common-Prayer for the use of the Parish The which to do We commit to you conjunctly and severally Our full Power by these Our Letters Patents delivering the same to be by you duly executed and endorsed again to be delivered to the Bearer Given under Our Signet at Edenborough 20 December in the Twelfth year of Our Reign 1636. Such was the form of Passing and Confirming the Scottish Liturgie never presented to that Kirk nor tendred to the Approbation of any General Assembly as in the Restitution of Episcopal Government and Introduction of the five Articles of Perth had been done before And this is that at which the Scottish Presbyters did seem to be most offended sufficiently displeased with any Liturgie at all but more in having such an one as either was so near the English or so different from it Which fault if any fault it were is rather to to be charged upon the Scottish than the English Prelates For when the way of introducing it was in agitation our Archbishop ever advised them as well in his Majesties presence as elsewhere To look carefully to it and to be sure to do nothing in it but what should be agreeable to the Laws of the Kingdom and not to fail of taking the Advice of the Lords of the Council and governing themselves according to it But as it seems those Bishops durst not trust their Clergy or venture the reception or refusal of it to the Vote of a General Assembly from which they could not promise themselves any good success So that the Case seems to be much like that of King Edward vi when the first Liturgie was Composed by some few of the Bishops and other Learned men not above thirteen in number especially thereto Authorised Or unto that of Queen Elizabeth when the second Liturgie of that King was fitted and corrected by her appointment Neither of which durst trust their Clergy but acted Sovereignly therein of their own Authority not venturing either of the said Books to their Convocations but only giving them the strength of an Act of Parliament and then the Point in issue will be briefly this viz. Whether the King consulting with a lesser part of the Bishops and Clergie and having their consent therein may conclude any thing in the way of a Reformation the residue and greatest part not advised withal nor yielding their consent in a formal way Now for my Answer that it may be built upon the surer grounds it is to be considered 1. Whether the Reformation be in corruption of Manners or abuses in Government Whether in matters Practical or in points of Doctrine 2. It in matters Practical Whether such Practice have the Character of Antiquity Vniversality and Consent imprinted on it or that it be the Practice
of particular Churches and of some Times only And 3. It in Points of Doctrine Whether such Points have been determined oâ— before in a General Council or in Particular Councils universally received and countenanced or are to be defined de novo on emergent Controversies And these Distinctions being thus laid I shall Answer briefly 1. If the things to be reformed be either Corruptions in Manners or neglect of Publick Duties to Almighty God Abuses either in Government or the Parties governing the King may do it of himself by his sole Authority The Clergy are beholden to him if he takes any of them along with him when he goes about it And if the Times should be so bad that either the whole body of the Clergy or any though the greatest part thereof should oppose him in it he may go forwards notwithstanding punishing such as shall gainsay him in so good a Work and compelling others And this I look on as a Power annexed to the Regal Diadem and so inseparably annexed that Kings could be no longer Kings iâ— it were denied them And on the other side if the Reformation be in Points oâ— Doctrine and in such Points of Doctrine as have not been before defined or not defined in form and manner as before laid down the King only with a few of his Bishops and Learned Clergy though never so well studied in the Point disputed can do nothing in it That belongs only to the whole body of the Clergy in their Convocation rightly called and constituted whose Acts being Ratified by the King bind not alone the rest of the Clergy in whose name they Voted but all the residue of the Subjects of what sort soever who are to acquiesce in their Resolutions But if the thing to be Reformed be a matter practical we are to look into the usage of the Primitive Times And if the Practice prove to have been both ancient and universally received over all the Church though intermitted for a Time and by Time corrupted the King consulting with so many of his Bishops and others of his most able Clergy as he thinks â—it to call unto him and having their Consent and Direction in it may in the case of intermission revive such Practice and in the case of corruption and degeneration restore it to its Primitive and Original Lustre Now that there should be Liturgies for the use of the Church And that those Liturgies should be Celebrated in a Language understood by the People That in those Liturgies there should be some prescribed Forms for Giving the Communion in both Kinds for Baptizing Infants for the reverent Celebration of Marriage performing the 〈◊〉 Office to the Sick and the decent Burial of the Dead as also for set Fasts and appointed Festivals hath been a thing of Primitive and General Practice in the best times of the Church And being such though intermitted and corrupted as before is said the King advising with his Bishops and other Church-men though not in a Synodical way may cause the same to be revised and revived and having fitted them to Edification and encrease of Piety either commend them to the Church by his sole Authority or else impose them on the People under certain Penalties by his Power in Parliament The Kingdom of Heaven said the Reverend Isidore of Sevil doth many times receive increase from these Earthly Kingdoms in nothing more than by regulating and well ordering of Gods Publick Worship Add hereunto what was before alledged for passing the Canons in the same way and then we have the sum of that which was and probably might have been pleaded in defence hereof The prosecution of this Liturgie on the one side and the exaction of those Publick Orders on the other kindled such fires in the breasts of some of the Puritan Faction that presently they brake out into open Flames For first the Scots scattered abroad a virulent and seditioâ—s Libel in the year 1634. wherein the King was not only charged with altering the Government of that Kingdom but traduced for very strong inclinations to the Religion of the Church of Rome The chief Abettor whereof for the Author was not to be found was the Lord Balmerino for which he was Legally convicted and condemned of Treason but pardoned by the Kings great Goodness and by that Pardon kept alive for the mischiefs following And as the English had Scotized in all their Practises by railing threatning and stirring up of Sedition for bringing in the Genevian Discipline in Queen Elizabeths Time so they resolve to follow their Example now Bastwick a Doctor of Physick the second part of Leighton first leads the Dance beginning with a Pestilent Pamphlet called Flagellum Episcoporum Latialium maliciously venomous against the Bishops their Function Actions and Proceedings But this not being likely to do much hurt amongst the People because writ in Latine he seconds it with another which he called his Litany in the English Tongue A Piece so silly and contemptible that nothing but the Sin and Malice which appeared in every line thereof could possibly have preserved it from being ridiculous Prynne follows next and publisheth two Books at once or one immediately on the other one of these called The Quench-Coal in answer unto that called A Coal from the Altar against placing the Communion-Table Altar-wise The other named The Vnbishoping of Timothy and Titus against the Apostolical Institution of Diocesan Bishops But that which was entituled to him by the name of a Libel was The News from Ipswich intended chiefly against Wren then Bishop of Norwich who had taken up his dwelling in that Town as before is said but falling as scandalously foul on the Archbishop himself and some of the other Bishops also and such as acted under them in the present Service For there he descants very trimly as he conceived on the Archbishop himself with his Arch-Piety Arch-Charity Arch-Agent for the Devil that Beelzebub himself had been Archbishop and the like to those a most triumphant Arch indeed to adorn his victories With like reproach he falls on the Bishops generally calling them Luciferian Lord Bishops execrable Traitors devouring Wolves with many other odious names not fit to be used by a Christian and more particularly on Wren telling us That in all Queen Maries times no such havock was made in so short a time of the faithful Ministers of God in any part nay in the whole Land than had been made in his Diocess And then he adds with equal Charity and Truth That Corbet Chancellor to this Bishop had threatned one or two godly Ministers with pistolling and hanging and I know not what because they had refused to read his Majesties Declaration about lawful Sports More of this dish I could have carved but that this may serve sufficiently for a taste of the whole But the great Master-piece of mischief was set out by Burton so often mentioned before who preaching on the fifth of November in his own Parish
first Innovation touching the suppressing of Sermons during the time of the late Fast in infected places contrary to the Orders in former times he answered First That after-Ages might without offence learn to avoid any visible inconvenience observed in the former And secondly That the suppressing of those Sermons was no Act of the Bishops but a Command proceeding on a full debate from the Lords of the Council the better to avoid the spreading of the Contagion And thirdly That as Sermons on the Fast-days had been used of late they were so far from humbling men in the sight of God that they were fitter for other operations as the raising of Sedition amongst the People of which there could not be a clearer instance than in that of Burton To the second That by appointing the Weekly Fasts to be on Wednesdays and those Fasts to be kept without any Sermons there was a plot for suppressing all Wednesday Lectures for ever after It was answered That Wednesday was the usual day for such Publick Fasts That it was named by the Lord Keeper no great Friend to Popery and that those men had lived to see the Fast ended and the Wednesday Lectures still continued To the third That the Prayer for Seasonable Weather was left out of the last Book and that the leaving of it out was one cause of the Shipwracks and Tempestuous Weather which followed after He answered generally first That all Fast-Books are made by the command of the King who alone had Power to call such Fasts and that the Archbishops and Bishops who had the ordering of those Books had also Power under the King of putting in and leaving out of those Books whatsoever they think fit for the present occasion Secondly as to this particular That when the Fast-Book was made the Weather was very Seasonable and the Harvest in and that it was not the Custom of the Church to pray for seasonable Weather when they had it but when it was wanting Thirdly That it was very boldly done to ascribe the cause of those Tempests to the leaving out of that Prayer which God had never revealed unto them and they could not otherwise know but by Revelation To the fourth touching a Clause omitted in the first Collect in which Thanks had been given to God for delivering us from Popish Superstition He answered That though our Fore-fathers had been delivered from such Superstitions yet God be blessed that for our parts we were never in them and therefore could not properly be said to have been delivered To the fifth touching the leaving out of a passage in one of the Orders for the Fast concerning the abuse thereof in relation to Merit he answered That it was left out because in this Age and Kingdom there was little opinion of Merit by Fasting insomuch that all Fasts were contemned and scorned both at Lent and all other set times except such as some humerous men called for of themselves to promote their ends The sixth Innovation charged upon them was the leaving of the Lady Elizabeth and her Children out of one of the Collects And the seventh That out of the same Collect the words Father of thine Elect and of their Seed was expunged also To which it was answered That the said Collect was not in the Common-Prayer-Book confirmed by Law neither King Edward vi nor Queen Elizabeth having any Children Secondly That it was added to the Book at the coming in of King Iames who brought a Princely Issue with him and left out again in the beginning of the Reign of King Charles who at that time and for four years after had no Issue neither Thirdly That as the Lady Elizabeth and her Children were put into the Collect when the King had no Issue of his own so when the King had Issue of his own there was as much reason to leave them out Fourthly For the leaving out of that Clause Father of thine Elect c. it was done by his Predecessor and that the leaving out of the Lady Elizabeth and her Issue was done by the Command of the King The eighth Innovation charged upon them was bowing at the Name of IESVS and altering to that end the words in the Epistle on the Sunday next before Easter by changing IN the Name of Iesus to AT the Name of Iesus And it was answered unto this That bowing at the Name of IESVS was no Innovation made by the Prelates of this Age but required by the Injunction of Queen Elizabeth in the very first beginning of the Reformation And secondly Though it be IN the Name of Iesus in the old Editions of the Liturgie yet it is AT the Name of Iesus in the Translation of Geneva Printed in the year 1567. and in the New Translation Authorised by King Iames. The ninth relates to the Alteration of two Passages in the Form of Prayer set forth by Act of Parliament for the Fifth of November in which Form it is thus expressed Root out the Babylonish Sect which say of Jerusalem Down with it c. And in the other place Cut off those Workers of Iniquity whose RELIGION is REBELLION Which are thus altered in the Books which came out last viz. Root out that Babylonish and Antichristian Sect of them which say c. And in the other Cut off those workers of Iniquity who turn RELIGION into REBELLION c. To which it was replied That the Book of Prayer appointed for the Fifth of November was neither made set forth or commanded to be read by Act of Parliament but only made and appointed to be read by the Kings Authority Secondly That being made and appointed to be read by no other Authority than the Kings the King might alter in it what he thought convenient and that he had the Kings hand for those Alterations What Reasons there might be to move his Majesty to it we may enquire into hereafter on another occasion To the tenth for the leaving out the Prayer for the Navy he answered that the King had then no Fleet at Sea nor any known enemy to assault as he had when that Prayer was first put in and that howsoever if there had been any design to bring in Popery to which these Innovations must be made subserviâ—nt they should rather have kept in that Prayer than have left it out Concerning the Communion Table there were three Innovations urged the placing of it Altarwise reading the second Service at it and bowing towards or before it For answer to the first It was proved to have been no Innovation in regard of Practice because it had so stood in his Majesties Chappels and divers Cathedrals of this Kingdom since the first Reformation Which posture if it be decent and convenient for the Service of God either in the Kings Chappels or Cathedrals it may be used also in other Churches but if it served to bring in Popery it was not to be used in them Nor was it any Innovation in regard of Law
had been grown so high and so strongly backed that Justice could not safely have been done upon them a way might have been found to have cooled the Fever without loss of Blood by bringing the whole Corporation under the danger of a forfeiture of their Lands and Liberties in a Legal way which course proved so successful unto King IAMES on the like occasion Anno 1597. Or finally supposing that the Cause admitted not such a long delay if then his Majesty had but sent a Squadron of the Royal Navy which he had at Sea to block up their Haven he had soon brought the Edenburghers unto his devotion and consequently kept all the rest of the Kingdom in a safe Obedience This was the way to keep them under and of this course the People of the City were more afraid than of any other Somewhat they are to do which might make his Majesty hope better of them than they had deserved and nothing they could do which might better please him than to express their chearfulness in admitting the Liturgie To this end they addressed their Letters to the Archbishop of Canterbury as more concerned in this Affair than any other of the Lords which were neer his Majesty expressing in the same their great dislike of the late Tumult for their Innocency therein they refer themselves to his Majesties Council in that Kingdom declaring further their concurrence with the Bishops which remained in the City and the Ministry of the same for settling the Service-Book and offering Means above their Power to such as should undertake the Reading of it and finally desiring his Grace to make known to his Majesty how ready they were at all points to advance the Service which they promised to accept as an accumulation of his Graces Favours unto them and their City And that this Letter of theirs which bears date the nineteenth of August might bear the greater credit with him they did not only seem industrious for the apprehending of some and the inquiring after others of the Principal Actors but bound themselves by an Obligatory Act of the Common-Council both for the Indempnity and Maintenance of such as should read the Book the Ministers of Edenborough refusing to do their parts in it without such Encouragements But the danger was no sooner over by the coming home of the Fleet but they Petitioned the Lords of the Council to put them into the same condition with the rest of the Subjects and that the Service-Book should be no further pressed on them than it had been in all the other parts of the Kingdom To which they were encouraged by a general confluence of all sorts of People such most especially as had most shewn their disaffection to the work in hand For the Harvest was no sooner in and the People at more leisure than before to pursue that Quarrel but the City swarmed with throngs of People from all parts even to a formidable number which moved the Lords to publish two Proclamations on the seventeenth of October The first commanding all of them to repair to their Dwellings except such as should shew sufficient reason for their stay and continuance there The second for Adjourning the Sessions from Edenborough to the Town of Linlithgow But this served rather like the powring on of Oyl to encrease the Flame than of Water to quench it For the next day the Bishop of Galloway being to Sit with the Lord Chief Justice upon some especial Business in the Council-House he was pursued all along the Street with bitter Railings to the very Door and being drawn in from the rage of the People they immediately beset the House demanding the delivery of him and threatning his destruction The Earl of Traquair being advertised of the Bishops danger who formerly had been his Tutor came to his Relief and with much ado forced an Entrance thorow the Press But being got in he was in no better plight than the Bishop the Clamour still encreasing more and more and encompassing the Council-House with terrible Menaces Hereupon the Provost and City-Council was called to raise the Siege but they returned answer That their condition was the same for they were surrounded with the like Multitude who had enforced them for fear of their Lives to sign a Paper importing First That they should adhere to them in opposition to the Service-Book Secondly To restore to their Places Ramsey and Rollock two Silenced Ministers and one Henderson a Silenced Reader No better Answer being returned the Lord Treasurer with the Earl of Wigton went in Person to the Town-Council-House where they found the heat of the fury somewhat abated because the Magistrates had signed the Paper and returned with some hope that the Magistrates would calm the Disorders about the Council-House so as the Bishop might be preserved But they no sooner presented themselves to the Great Street than they were most boysterously assaulted the Throng being so furious as they pulled down the Lord Treasurer took away his Hat Cloack and White Staff and so haled him to the Council-House The Lords seeing themselves in so great danger at length pitch upon the best expedient for their safety and sent to some of the Noblemen and Gentry who were disaffected to the Service-Book to come to their Aid These Lords and Gentlemen came as was desired and offered both their Persons and Power to protect them which the Lords and the Council-House readily embraced and so were quietly guarded to Holy-Rood-House and the Bishop to his Lodging The Lords of the Council not thinking themselves to be secure published a Proclamation the same day in the afternoon for repressing such Disorders for the time to come But they found slender Obedience yielded to it Commissioners being sent unto them from the Citizens in an insolent manner for demanding the Restitution of their Ministers to their Place and Function and performing all such Matters as had been agreed on at the Pacification These Riots and Seditions might have served sufficiently in another Reign to have drawn a present War upon them before they were provided in the least degree to make any resistance But the Edenburghers knew well enough what they were to do what Friends they had about the King and what a Party they had got among the Lords of his Council which Governed the Affairs of that Kingdom And they were apt enough to hope by the unpunishing of the first Tumult on Iuly 23. That the King might rather have patience enough to bear such Indignities than Resolution to revenge them so that he came at last to that perplexity which a good Author speaks of That he must either out-go his Nature or fore-go his Authority For instead of using his just Power to correct their Insolencies he courts them with his Gracious Proclamation of the seventh of December in which he lets them know How unwilling he was that his Loyal and Faithful Subjects should be possessed with groundless and unnecessary doubts and fears touching
same Month he gives Order for a General Assembly to be held at Glasco on November 21. next following in which he could not but be sure that after so many previous Condescensions on his part they would be able to do whatsoever they listed in defiance of him For before the Assembly was Indicted the Covenanters had so laid the Plot that none but those of their own Party should have Suffrage in it as afterwards by several Orders from their Tables they directed that no Chaplain nor Chapter-man nor any who have not subscribed the Covenant should be chosen to it not suffering the Archbishops or Bishops to sit as Moderators in their Presbyteries where the Elections were to pass and citing them to appear as Criminal Persons at the said Assembly by means of which Exclusions and Prelimitations the greatest part of the Assembly did consist of such as either were irregularly chosen by the over-ruling Voices of Lay-Elders which were thrust upon them or else not capable of being Elected some of them being under the Censures of the Kirk of Scotland others under the Censures of the Church of Ireland and some not having taken the Oath of Supremacy required by the Laws of the Land Upon which just and weighty Reasons as also the Admission of the Schismatical Clergy to sit as Judges over their Bishops the intrusion of so many Lay-Elders contrary to the Constitution of former General Assemblies the countenancing of a scandalous Libel against their Function and Persons and the prejudging of their Cause in their several Presbyteries by excluding them from having any Vote in the said Assembly when they were not present to interpose or speak any thing in their own behalf the Archbishops and Bishops in the name of themselves and all which did adhere unto them prepared their Declinator or Protestation against the said General Assembly and all the Acts and Conclusions of it as being void and null in Law to all intents and purposes whatsoever The day being come Hamilton marcheth to the place appointed for the Session in the equipage of a High-Commissioner the Sword and Seal being carried before him the Lords of the Council and all the Officers of State attending on him like a King indeed The reading of his Commission the putting in and rejecting of the Declinator the chusing of Henderson to be Moderator of the Assembly the constituting of the Members of it and some Debates touching the Votes and Suffrages challenged by Hamilton for such as were Assessors to him took up all the time between their first Meeting and their Dissolution which was by Proclamation solemnly declared on the twenty ninth of the same Month having â—ate only eight days by the Kings Authority For notwithstanding the said Dissolution the Members of the said Assembly continued and kept their Session and therein passed many Acts for the utter overthrow of the Polity and Government of the Church the infringing of his Majesties Prerogative Royal and violating the Authority of Parliaments For they not only Excommunicated the Bishops and their Adherents but condemned the very Function it self to be Antichristian and utterly to be abolished out of the Church notwithstanding that several Parliaments had confirmed the same The like Censure they also past on the Service Book and Canons with the five Articles of Perth though the two first received the Stamp of Royal Authority and the five last were confirmed in Parliament also They condemned in one breath all the Arminian Tenents in case of Predestination without examining the Arguments on which they were built and declared all men subject to Excommunication and other Censures of the Church who should refuse to yield obedience to all their unlawful Actings and Determinations And though his Majesty by the same Proclamation had commanded all his faithful Subjects not to yield any obedience to their Acts and Ordinances and bound himself in the Word of a King to defend them in it yet those of the Assembly were resolved to maintain their Authority For notwithstanding his Majesties late Declaration and Commands not only the Bishops and Clergy but also as many of the Layty as had refused to subscribe to the Acts thereof were deprived of their Offices and Preferments banished their Country and forced to fly into England oâ— other places the King not being able to protect them from the power and malice of their Adversaries For having lost the opportunity of suppressing them in their first Insurrection in the year precedent aâ—d afterwards of reducing them by force of Arms in the year next following he was forced to shuffle up such a Pacification in the Parliaments of both Kingdoms Anno 1641. as left his Party dâ—â—â—â—tute of all protection but what they found in England by his Majesties Favour in providing the Clergy of some small Benefices for their present subsistance which possibly might amount to more than formerly they enjoyed in their own Country And yet the Covenanters did not play all parts in this Assembly the King and his Commissioner had one part to act which was the presenting of a Declaration containing the sum and substance of all his Majesties gracious Condescensions exprest in the several Proclamations before remembred and a Command to have it registred in the Acts and Records thereof But upon what considerations and reasons of State his Majesty might be moved to commit that Paper to be registred amongst the Acts of Assembly is beyond my reach 〈◊〉 â—â—ough many times the wisest Princes have sent out Proclamations of Grace for redress of Grievances and pardoning of fore-past o 〈…〉 yet were those Proclamations and Acts of Grace beheld no otherwise than as temporary and occasional Remedies for the present mischiefs not to be drawn into Example and much less put upon Record for the times cusuing his Majesties Condescensions had been large enough and too much to the prejudice of his Crown and Dignity without this Enrolment Nor wants it somewhat of a â—iddle that at such time as Hamilton tendred the Paper of his Majâ—stiâ—s â—racious Concessions for discharging of the Service Book c. to be enrolled amongst the Acts of the Assembly he both declared and protested that his so doing should be no acknowledgment of the lawfulness and validity of that Convention which was instantly to be dissolved or that his Majestie should give order to have those Acts of Grace and Favour enrolled in the Records of the Assembly to stand full and sure to all his good Subjects for their assurance of and in the true Religion which Assembly at the same time â—e declared to be illegal and all the Acts thereof to be null and void I must confess I am not Oedipus enough for so dark a Sphinx and must therefore leave this depth of State-craft to more able heads Only I cannot chuse but note how little his Majesty got by those Condescensions the stubborn and rebellious Scots being so far unsatisfied with these Acts of Grace that they not only forced all
ex Officio And finally That no person or persons subject to the said Writ shall be Absolved by virtue of an Appeal into any Ecclesiastical Court till they have first taken in their own persons the usual Oath De parendo juri stando mandatis Ecclesiae With a Petition to his Majesty in the Name of the Synod to give command both to his Officers in Chancery and the Sheriffs of the several Counties for sending out and executing the said Writs from time to time without any Charge to the Diocesans whose Estates it would otherwise much exhaust as often as it should be desired of them Such is the substance of this Canon in laying down whereof I have been the more punctual and exact that the equal and judicious Reader may the better see what point it was which the Archbishop aimed at from the first beginning of his Power and Government as before was noted In the mean time whilst this Canon was under a Review another ready drawn was tendred to the Prolocutor by the Clerk of Westminster for the better keeping of the day of his Majesties most happy Inauguration By which it was decreed according to the Example of the most pious Emperours of the Primitive Times and our own most Godly Kings and Princes since the Reformation and the Form of Prayer already made and by his Majesties Authority Appointed to be used on the said days of Inauguration That all manner of persons within the Church of England should from thenceforth celebrate and keep the morning of the said day in coming diligently and reverently unto their Parish Church or Chappel at the time of Prayer and there continue all the while that the Prayers Preaching or other Service of the day endureth That for the better observing of the said day two of the said Books should be provided at the Charge of each several Parish by the Churchwardens of the same with an Injunction to all Bishopâ— Archdeacons and other Ordinaries to inquire into the premises at their Visitations and punish such as are delinquent as in case of such as absent themselves on the other Holydays Another Canon was brought in against Socinianism by the spreading of which damnable and cursed Heresie much mischief had already been done in the Church For the suppressing whereof it was ordained by the Synod after some explication and correction of the words and phrases That no Stationer Printer or other person should print buy sell or disperse any Book broaching or maintaining the said Abominable Doctrine or Positions upon pain of Excommunication ipso facto and of being proceeded against by his Majesties Atturney-General on a Certificate thereof to be returned by the several Ordinaries to their Metropolitan according to the late Decree of Star-Chamber against Sellers of prohibited Books That no Preacher should presume to vent any such Doctrine in any Sermon under pain of Excommunication for the first Offence and Deprivation for the second That no Student in either of the Universities nor any person in Holy Orders excepting Graduates in Divinity or such as have Episcopal or Archidiaconal Jurisdiction or Doctors of Law in Holy Orders shall be suffered to have or read any such Socinian Book or Discourse under pain if the Offender live in the University that he shall be punished according to the strictest Statutes provided there against the publishing reading and maintaining of false Doctrines or if he lived in the City or Country abroad of a Suspension for the first Oâ—fence Excommunication â—or the second and Deprivation for the third unless he should absolutely and in terminis abjure the same That if any Lay-person should be seduced unto that Opinion and be convicted of it he should be Excommunicated and not Absolved but upon due Repentance and Abjuration and that before his Metropolitan or his own Bishop at least With several Clauses for seizing and burning all such Books as should be found in any other hands than those before limited and expressed Which severe course being taken by the Convocation makes it a matter of no small wonder That Cheynell the Usufructuary of the 〈◊〉 Parsonage of Petworth should impute the Rise and Growth of 〈◊〉 in a Pamphlet not long after Printed unto many of those who had been principal Actors in suppressing of those wicked and detestable Heresies Another Canon was presented to the Prolecutâ—r by one of the Members of that Body advanced the next year to a 〈◊〉 Dignity for Restraint of Sectaries By which it was deâ—â—â—â—d That all those Proceedings and Penalties which are mentiâ—â—â—d in the Canon against Popish Recusants so far forth as may be appliable should be in full force and vigour against all Anabaptists Brownists Sâ—peratists Familists or other Sect or Sects Person or Persons whatsoever who do or shall either obstinately refuse or ordinarily not having a lawful impediment that is for the space of a Month neglect to repair to their Parish Churches or Chappels where they inhabit for the hearing of Divine Service established and receiving of the Holy Communion according to Law That the Clause in the former Canon against Books of Socinianism should also extend to the Makers Importers Printers and Publishers or Dispersers of any Book Writing or Scandalous Pamphlet devised against the Discipline and Government of the Church of England and unto the Maintainers and Abettors of any Opinion or Doctrine against the same And finally That all despisers and depravers of the Book of Common Prayer who resorted not according to Law to their Church or Chappel to joyn in the Publick Worship of God in the Congregation contenting themselves with the hearing of Sermons only should be carefully inquired after and presented to their several and respective Ordinaries The same Proceedings and Penalties mentioned in the aforesaid Canons to be used against them unless within one whole Month after they are first Denounced they shall make Acknowledgment and Reformation of their fault So far the Bishops and Clergy had proceeded in the Work recommended to them when the Parliament was most unhappily Dissolved And possibly the Convocation had expired the next day also according to the usual custom if one of the Clergy had not made the Archbishop acquainted with a Precedent in Queen Elizabeths Time for the granting a Subsidy or Benevolence by Convocation to be Taxed and Levied by Synodical Acts and Constitutions without help of the Parliament directing to the Records of Convocation where it was to be found Whereupon the Convocation was Adjourned from Wednesday till the Friday following and then till the next day after and so till Munday to the great amazement of many of the Members of it who expected to have been Dissolved when the Parliament was according to that clause in the Commission aforesaid by which it was restrained to the Time of the Parliament only Much pains was taken by some of the Company who had been studied in the Records of Convocation in shewing the difference betwixt the Writ for calling a Parliament
Observation of all Rites and Ceremonies then established or from thenceforth to be established by the Kings Authority saying that he would prosecute all Repugners of them to the very Blood The Rest of the Articles relating unto Civil matters I omit of purpose as neither being pertinent or proper to my Present History observing only in this place that for the better carrying on of their charge against him they had gained two points more necessary to be craved than fit to be granted The first was which they carried in the House of Lords by a Major Vote that no Bishop should be of that Committee for the Preparatory Examinations in the present case under colour that they were excluded from acting in it by some Ancient Canons as in Causa sangiums or the cause of blood concerning which a brief discourse entituled De jure Paritatis Episcoporum was presented to his Grace of Canterbury and some other Bishops for asserting all their Rights of Peerage and this of being of that Committe amongst the rest which either by Law or Ancient Custom did belong unto them The second was that the Lords of the Council should be examined upon Oath for anything which was said or done by the Earl of Strafford at the Council Table Which being yielded by the King though tending visibly to the Derogation of his Power and the discouragement of all such as either were or should be of his Privy Council the Archbishop was accordingly Examined on December 4th being the next day after the said Condescention Nor was it long before the like Oath was required and obtained by them against the Archbishop himself being the next man whom the Scots and their Confederates in both houses had an eye upon He knew there was some danger coming toward him by the said combination but thought not at the first it would reach so far as to touch his Life The most he looked for as he told the Author of these Collections on the second or third day after the beginning of the Parliament was to be sequestred from his Majesties Councils and confin'd to his Diocess to which he profest himself as willing as any of his Enemies were desirous of it And as it seems his Enemies at the first had no further thoughts For it appeareth by a passage in his Diary that on Thursday Decemb. 24th four Earls of Great Power in the Upper House declared unto a Parliament man that they were resolved to Sequester him only from the Kings Council and deprive him of the Archiepiscopal dignity and no more then so which though it were too much and savoured of too little Justice to be so resolved before any particular charge was brought against him yet I consider it as an Argument of their first intentions that they aimed not at his Life but at his removal In Order whereunto it was thought expedient that his Majesty should be moved to release the Bishop of Lincoln from his long imprisonment and to restore him to his place in the house of â—â—â—rs knowing full well how Active an Instrument they were sure to find him by reason of some former grudges not only against the Archbishop but the Earl of Stafford Which motion being made and granted he was conducted into the Abby Church by six of the Bishops and there officiated it being a day of Humiliation as Dean of Westminster more honoured at the first by the Lords and Commons then ever any of his Order his person looked upon as Sacred his words deemed as Oracles And be contiâ—â—â—d in tâ—is height tâ—ll having served their turn against the Archâ—isâ—op and the Lord Lieutenant he began sensibly to decline and grew at last to be generally the most hated man of all the Hierarchy Orders are also made by the House of Commons for releasing such as were Imprisoned by the Star-Chamber Council-Table or High-Commission and more particularly for the remanding of Bastwick Prynne and Burton from the several Islands to which they were before confined Upon which general Goal-delivery Burton and Prynne had so contrived it as to come together met on their way as far as Brainford by some thousands of the Puritan Faction out of London and South-wark and by them silently conducted with Bays and Rosemary in their hands to their several Houses to the intolerable affront of the Courts of Justice and his Majesties Government his Majestie conniving at the insolency or not daring to punish it Not well reposed after the toil and trouble of so long a journey Prynne joyns himself with Bagshaw before remembred and both together are admitted to a private conference with the Bishop of Lincoln in the beginning of December which boded no great good to the Church or State or any who had formerly appeared in defence of either These preparations being made the Project was carried on a main For on the 16 â—h of that month the Canons made in the late Convocation were condemned in the House of Commons as being against the Kings Prerogative the Fundamental Laws of the Realm the Liberty and Property of the Subject and containing divers other things tending to Sedition and of dangerous Consequence A Vote was also past for making Canterbury the Principal Author of the said Canons for a Committee to be nominated to enquire into all his former Actions and for preparing a Bill against all those of the said Convocation by whom these Canons were subscribed but the sorrows of that day did not end there neither For on the same a charge was laid against him in the house of Peers by the Scots Commissioners that being the day in which they had accused the Earl of Strafford for doing ill offices and being an Incendiary between the Nations And in pursuance of the plot on Fryday the 18 â—h of the same Moneth he was Impeacht by Hollis in the name of all the Commons of England of no less then Treason and thereupon without any particular charge against him he was committed to the custody of the Gentleman Usher leave only being granted him to repair to his house at Lambeth for the Collecting of such Papers as were necessary for his Justification At Maxwells house for so was the Usher of the Black-Rod called he remained ten weeks before so much as any General charge against him was brought up to the Lords During which time he gained so much on the good opinion of the Gentle-woman of the House that she reported him to some of her Gossips to be one of the goodest mâ—n and most Pious Souls but with all one of the sillest fellows to hold talk with a Lady that ever she met with in all her life On the 26 â—h of February This charge was brought up to the Lords â—y â—ane the younger consisting of fourteen General Articles which Generals he craved time to prove in particular and thereupon a Vote was passed for transmitting the Prisoner to the Tower with leave however to remain at Maxwell's till the Munday following Which day being
and Dangers in the Premises Lastly Whereas these fears are not built upon Conceits but upon such Grounds and Objects as may well terrifie Men of Resolution and much Constancy they do in all Humility and Duty Protest before Your Majesty and the Peers of the Most Honourable House of Parliament against all Laws Orders Votes Resolutions and Determinations as of themselves Null and of None Effect which in their Absence since the 27th of this Instant Moneth of December 1641. have already passed As likewise that all such as shall hereafter Pass in the Most Honourable House during the time of this their Forced and Violent Absence from the said Most Honourable House not denying but if their absenting of themselves were Wilful and Voluntary that Most Honourable House might Proceed in all their Premises their Absence or this Protestation Notwithstanding And humbly beseeching Your Most Excellent Majesty to Command the Clerk of the House of Peers to Enter this their Petition and Protestation among his Records They will ever Pray God to bless c. This Petition being presented to his Majesty was by him deliâ—vered to the Lord Keeper Littleton to be Communicated the next day being the 30th of Decemb. to the House of Peers But the Lord Keeper contrary to his Majesties directions did first impâ—rt iâ— to some of the Preaching party in both Houses of Parliament and after as the plot was laid to the Peers in general Upon the â—eading whereof a conference was desired with the House oâ— Câ—mmons to whom the Lord Keeper whom they had under the Laâ—â— was pleased to signifie that this Petition and Protestation of the twelâ—e Bishops contained matters of high and dangerous consequence extending to the deep intrenching upon the Fundamental Priviledges and Being of Parliament Whereupon the said twelve Bishops were Impeached by the Commons of high Treason The Usher called Black-Rod Commanded to find them out and to bring them to the Bar in the House of Peers which by reason of their scattered and divided Lodgings could not be effected till eight of the Clock at night at what time being brought together their offence was signified unto them and an Order presently made for their commitment to the Tower whither they were all carried the next day Except the Bishops of Durham and Lichfield who found the favour the one by reason of his Eminent Learning and both of them in regard of their age and Infirmities to stand committed to the custody of the Gentleman Usher Our Archbishop had now more Neighbours then â—e desired but not more company then before it being prudently Ordered amongst themselves that none of them should bestow any visits on him for fear of giving some advantage to their common enemy as if they had been hatching some conspiracy against the Publick But they refrained not on either side from sending meâ—â—ages of Love and consolation unto one another those mutual civilities being almost every day performed betwixt the two Archbishops also though very much differing both in their Counsels and Affections in the times foregoing The Archbishop of York was now so much declined in favour tâ—at he stood in as bad terms with the Common People as the other did His picture cut in Brass attired in his Episcopal Robes with his square Cap upon his head and Bandileers about his Neck shouldering a Musket upon one of his shoulders in one hand and a Rest in the other either presaging that which followed or else relating unto that which had passed in defence of the Abbey Together with which a book was Printed in which he was Resembled to the Decoy-Duck alluding to the Decâ—yes in Lincolnshire where he had been Bishop restored to Liberty on design that he might bring more company with him at his coming back and a device Ingraven for the Front of the Book which represented the conceit and that not unhappily Certain I am that our Archbishop in the midst of those sorrows seemed much pleased with the Fancy whither out of his great Love to wit oâ— some other self-satisfaction which he found therein is beyond my knowledge These Bishops bâ—ing thus secured and no body left in a manner to solicite the Common Cause but the Bishop of Rochester the Bill against their Votes passed currantly in the House of Peers on February 6. the Citizens who before had feasted the King with such signs oâ— Affection now celebrating the Concurrence of the House against his Interest with Bâ—lls and Bonfires Nor was it long before the â—ing gave over the Cause for which he had so long contended For either terrified with the Apprehension of his own Dangers or wrought on by the importunity of some about him he signed the Bill at Canterbury on February 14. to which place he had accompanied the Queen in her way toward Holland And by that Bill it was desired to be Enacted That no Archbishop Bishop or any other Person in Holy Orders from February 15. then next following should have any Seat or Place Suffrage or Voice use or execute any Power or Authority in the Parliaments of this Realm nor should be of the Privy-Council of his Majesty his Heirs or Successors or Justices of the Peace of Oyer and Terminer or Gaol-delivery or execute any Temporal Authority by vertue of any Commission but should be wholly disabled or be uncapable to have receive use or execute any of the said Offices Places Powers Authorities and Things aforesaid The passing of which Act what specious Pretences soever were given out for it redounded little to his Majesties Benefit and far less to his Comfort For by cutting off so many of his Friends at a blow he lost his Power in the House of Peers and not long after was deprived of his Negative Voice when the great Business of the Militia came to be disputed And though he pleased himself sometimes with this perswasion of their contentedness in suffering a present diminution of their Rights and Honours for his sake and the Commonwealths yet was it no small trouble to his Conscience at other times that he had added this to the former injury in consenting to the taking away of the Coercive Power of their Jurisdiction for this we find to be one of those three things which lay heaviest on him in the time of his Solitude and Sufferings as appears by this passage in one of his Prayers viz. Was it through ignorance that I suffered innocent Blood to be spilt by a false pretended Iustice Or that I permitted a wrong way of Worship to be set up in Scotlan Or injured the Bishops in England By which we see that the Injury done unto the Bishops of England is put into the same scale with his permitting a wrong way of Worship to be set up in Scotland and the shedding of the innocent Blood of the Earl of Strafford And if this Act proved so unpleasing to the King it must needs be grievous to the Bishops themselves to none more than the