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in the Kings Name only and under the Kings Seal of Arms contrary to the usage of the former times Which Statute being repealed by Queen Mary and not revived by Queen Elizabeth the Bishops and their subordinate Ministers have ever since exercised all manner of Ecclesiastical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
Minister of the Parish should be prest to the publishing of it But then withall they should consider that the Bishops were commanded to take order for the publishing of it in their several Parishes and whom could they require to publish it in the Parish Churches but the Ministers only Bound to them by an Oath of Canonical obedience at their admission to their Cures So that the Bishops did no more than they were commanded in laying the publication of this Declaration on the back of the Ministers and the Ministers by doing less than they were commanded infringed the Oath which they had taken rendring themselves thereby obnoxious to all such Ecclesiastical Censures as the Bishops should inflict upon them It was alledged secondly That the publishing of this Declaration was a work more proper for the Constable or Tything-man or the Church-wardens at the least than it was for the Ministers But then it was to be considered that the Constable or Tything-man were Lay-officers meerly bound by the Law to execute the Warrants of the Judges and Justices but not the Mandates of the Bishops so far from being Proper Instruments in such a business that none of the Judges thought it fit to command their Service in publishing their Orders against Ales and Revels And though the Church-wardens had some relation to Church-matters and consequently to the Bishop in the way of Presentments yet was he not bound to execute any such Commands because not tyed by an Oath of Canonical obedience as the Ministers were Or were it otherwise yet doth it happen many times in Country Villages that the Church-wardens cannot read and therefore not to be imployed in publishing such Declarations which require a more knowing man than a silly Villager And last of all it was alledged that the Ministers of all others were most unfit to hold the Candle for lighting and letting in such a course of licenciousness as was indulged on the Lords day by the said Declaration But then it was to have been proved that any of the Sports allowed of in it might have been brought within the compass of such Licentiousness which neither the Word of God nor the Canons of the Christian Church nor any Statutes of the Realm had before forbidden Or had it been as they pretended that the Command was contrary to the Law of God and could not be obeyed with a saâe conscience yet this was only a pretenââ their reading of the Book being no more an argument of their approbation of any thing therein contained than when a common Crier reads a Proclamation the Contents whereof perhaps he likes not The Business being at this stand it was thought fit that the Bishops should first deal with the Refusers in a Fatherly and gentle way but adding menaces sometimes to their perswasions if they saw cause for it and that in the mean season some discourses should be writ and published to bring them to a right understanding of the truth and their several duties which burden being held of too great weight for any one to undergo and the necessity of the work requiring a quick dispatch it was held fit to divide the imployment betwixt two The Argumentative and Scholasticall part referred to the right learned Dr. White then Bishop of Ely who had given good proof of his ability in Polemical matters in several Books and Disputations against the Papists The Practical and Historical by Heylyn of Westminster who had gained some reputation for his Studies in the ancient Writers by Asserting the History of S. George maliciously impugned by those of the Calvinian Party upon all occasions Both of them being enjoyned their tasks were required to be ready for the Press against Michaelmas Term at the end whereof both books came out The Bishops under the Title of A Treatise of the Sabbath day containing a defence of the Orthodoxal Doctrine of the Church of England against Sabbatarian Novelty The other called The History of the Sabbath was divided into two Books or Parts The first whereof began with the Creation of the World and carried on the Story till the destruction of the Temple The second beginning with our Saviour Christ and his Apostles was drawn down to the year 1633. when the publishing of this Declaration was required But going different waies to work they did not both encounter the like success The Bishops Book had not been extant very long when an Answer was returned unto it by Byfield of Surrey which Answer occasioned a Reply and that Reply begat a Rejoynder To Heylyns Book there was no Answer made at all whether because unanswerable or not worth the Answering is to me unknown And though it is not to be doubted but that the Arguments of the one and the Authorities of the other prevailed with some to lay aside their former obstinacy and averseness yet did there still remain too many who stopp'd their ears like the deaf Adder in the Psalmist and would not hear the voice of the Charmers charmed they never so sweetly By which it did appear too plainly That there was some Association had and made amongst them to stand it out to the last and put some baffle or affront upon their Superiors by whose Command the reading of the Book was imposed upon them And thereupon it was resolved That the Bishops in their several Diocesses should go to work more roundly with them and either bring them to Conformity if it might be done or otherwise to proceed against them by Ecclesiastical Censures But whilst these things were acting on the Stage of England the Bishops of Scotland were as active in drawing of a Book of Canons and framing a Publick Liturgie for the use of that Church Both Undertakings warranted by the Act of a General Assembly held at Aberdeen Anno 1616. and the one brought to a good forwardness before the death of King Iames But being discontinued by the Accidents and Debates before-remembred it pleased his Majesty at the last to yield unto the importunity of the Scottish Bishops in having a Liturgie of their own differing in some things from that of the Church of England to shew the independency and self-subsistence of their Kirk but agreeing with it in the main to testifie the Conformity between the Churches Which being thus condescended to they were ordered to proceed with all speed and diligence which they did accordingly But the Canons being the shorter work were first brought to an end for the compiling whereof his Majesty gives these Reasons in his large Declaration First That he held it but exceeding necessary that there should be some Book extant to contain the Rules of the Ecclesiastical Government so that as well the Clergy as the Laity might have one certain standing Rule to regulate the Power of the one the Obedience and Practise of the other Secondly That the Acts of General Assemblies were Written only and not Printed and therefore could not come to the knowledge of many So large and voluminous that
it is affirmed That the ground of this Government by Episcopacy is so ancient and so general so uncontradicted in the first and best times that our most laborious Antiquaries can find no Nation no City no Church no Houses under any other that our first Ecclesiastical Authors tell us of That the Apostles not only allowed but founded Bishops so that the Tradition for some Books of Scripture which we receive as Canonical is both less ancient less general and less uncontradicted than that is So he when he was come again to his former temper and not yet entred nor initiated into Court preferments Nor was the point only canvased within those walls but managed in a more publick way by the Pens of some than there it had been tossed on the Tongues of others The Bishop of Exon. leads the way presenting An humble Remonstrance to the High Court of Parliament in behalf of Liturgie and Episcopacy which presently was encountred with an answer to it wâerein the Original of Liturgy and Episcopacy is pretended to be discussed c. This Answer framed by a Juncto of five Presbyterian Ministers in or about the City of London the first Letters of whose names being laid together made up the word Smectymnuus which appears only for the Author The Bishop hereunto replies in a Vindication by which name he called it which Vindication had an Answer or Rejoynder to it by the same Smectymnuus During which Interfeats of Arms and exchange of Pens a Discourse was published by Sir Thomas Ashton Knight and Baronet In the first part whereof he gives us A survey of the Inconveniences of the Presbyterian Discipline and the inconsistences thereof with the constitution of this State And in the second The original Institution Succession and Iurisdiction of the ancient and venerable order of Bishops This last part seconded within the compass of this year by the History of Episcopacy first published as the work of Theophilus Churchman and not till many years after owned by the Authors name The next year bringing forth a book of Dr. Taylors called Episcopacy asserted and the Acriomastix of Iohn Theyer c. All of them backt and the two last encouraged by many Petitions to his Majesty and both Houses of Parliament not only from the two Universities whom it most concerned but from several Counties of the Kingdom of which more hereafter I shall conclude this year with a remembrance of some change of Officers in the Court but of more in the Church Windebanke Secretary of State being questioned for releasing divers Priests and Jesuites contrary to the established Laws conveyed himself over into France and Finch Lord Keeper on some distrust which he had of his safety for acting too zealously in the Forrest-business and the ãâã of Shipmoney withdrew at the same time into Holland Pembroke Lord Chamberlain of the houshold was discharged of his Office by the King upon just displeasures before his late going into Scotland The Earl of Newcastle for the Reasons before remembred had relinquished his charge of the Princes Person and Cottington his Offices in the Exchequer and Court of Wards Neile Archbishop of York died some few daies before the beginning of the Parliament Mountague of Chichester Bancroft of Oxon. Davenant of Salisbury Potter of Carlisle and Thornborough of Worcester within few months after Nature abhorreth nothing more than Vacuity and it proved to be very agreeable to the Rules of Polity not to suâfer their preferments to lye longer in a state of Vacancy To fill these Places the Earl of Hertford about that time advanced to the Title of Marquiss was made and sworn Governour of the Prince Essex Lord Chamberlain of the Houshold Say Master of the Court of Wards and Liveries Littleton Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas preferred to the honour of Lord Keeper Faulkland made Secretary of Estate and Culpepper Chancellour of the Exchequer Which two last being Members of the House of Commons and well acquainted with such designs as were then in Project and men of good parts withall were thought worth the gaining and fastned to the Court by these great Preferments Next for the Vacancies in the Church they were supplied by preferring Williams Bishop of Lincoln to the See of York and Winiff Dean of St. Pauls to the See of Lincoln Duppa of Chichester to Salisbury and King then Dean of Rochester to succeed at Chichester Hall Bishop of Exon. translated to Norwich and Brownrigg Master of Catharine Hall in Cambridge preferred to Exon. Skinner of Bristol removed to Oxon. and Westfield Archdeacon of St. Albons advanced to Bristol the Bishoprick of Carlisle was given in Commendam to the Primate of Ireland during the troubles in that Kingdom and Worcester by the power of Hamilton conferred on Prideaux who formerly had been his Tutoâ all of them of good parts and merit and under some especial Character of esteem and favour in the eyes of the People though some of them declined afterwards from their former height Nor were there more Changes after these till the suppressing of Episcopacy by the Ordinance of the Lords and Commons bearing date October 9. anno 1646. but that Frewen Dean of Glocester and President of Magdalen Colledge in Oxon. was consecrated Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield on the death of Wright in the beginning of the year 1644. and Howel one of the Prebends of Windsor and Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty was preferred to the Bishoprick of Bristol on the death of Westfield before the end of the same year The passing of this Act forementioned put the imprisoned Bishops in some hope of a speedy deliverance though it proved not so quick as they expected For though on Munday February 14. an Order came that they might put in bail if they would that they should have their hearing on the Friday following and that some of them went out of the Tower the morrow after as appears by Breviate fol. 25. yet the Commons took it so indignly that either that Order was revoked or the Bishops had some private Advertisement to return and continue where they were The Bishops being deprived of their right of Peerage must be supposed to stand on the same ground with the rest of the People and consequently to be accountable for their Actions to the House of Commons whose Priviledges if the Peers invade they must look to hear of it as well as the poor Bishops had done before And on these terms the business stood till May 5. being just eighteen weeks from their first Imprisonment at which time without making suite to the House of Commons the Peers releast them upon baile and dismist them to their several dwellings There they continued all of them at their own disposing till the War forced them to provide themselves of safer quarters except the Bishop of Ely only who within few months after he was discharged from the Tower was seised on by a party of Souldiers at his house of Douwham and brought
and reverently used and esteemed in the Church of England it is requisite that no man not being at this present Bishop Priest or Deacon shall execute any of them except he be Called Tryed and Examined according to the form hereafter following But because perhaps it will be said that the Preface is no part of the Book which stands approved by the Articles of the Church and established by the Laws of the Land let us next look into the Body of the Book it self where in the Form of Consecrating of arch-Arch-Bishops or Bishops we finde a Prayer in these words viz. Almighty God giver of all good things who hast appointed divers Orders of Ministers in thy Church Mercifully behold this thy Servant now called to the Work and Ministry of a Bishop and replenish him so with the truth of Doctrine and Innocency of Life that both by word and deed he may faithfully serve thee in this Office c. Here we have three Orders of Ministers Bishops Priests and Deacons the Bishop differing as much in Order from the Priest as the Priest differs in Order from the Deacon which might be further made apparent in the different Forms used in Ordering of the Priests and Deacons and the form prescribed for the Consecration of an Arch-Bishop or Bishop were not this sufficient 6. But though the Presbyters or Priests were both in Order and Degree beneath the Bishops and consequently not enabled to exercise any publick Jurisdiction in Foro judicii in the Courts of Judicature yet they retained their native and original power in Foro Conscientiae in the Court of Conscience by hearing the confession of a sorrowful and afflicted Penitent and giving him the comfort of Absolution a power conferred upon them in their Ordination in the Form whereof it is prescribed that the Bishop and the assisting Presbyters shall lay their Hands upon the Head of the Party who is to be Ordained Priest the Bishop only saying these words viz. Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins thou doest forgive they are forgiven and whose sins thou doest retain they are retained In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen Which words had been impertinently and unsignificantly used if the Priest received nor thereby power to absolve a sinner upon the sense of his sincere and true repentance manifested in Confession or in any other way whatsoever And this appears yet further by the direction of the Church in point of Practice For first it is advised in the end of the second Exhortation before the receiving of the Communion that if any of the people cannot otherwise quiet his own Conscience he should repair unto his Curate or some other discreet and learned Minister of Gods Word and open his grief that he may receive such Ghostly counsel and advice and comforts as his Conscience may be relieved and that by the Ministry of Gods Word he may receive comfort and the benefit of Absolution to the quieting of his Conscience and avoiding all scruple and doubtfulness Agreeable whereunto is that memorable saying of St. Augustine viz. Qui confiteri vult ut inveniat gratiam quâerat sacerdotem Secondly It is prescribed in the Visitation of the Sick That the Sick person shall make a special Confession if he feel his Conscience troubled with any weighty matter and that the Priest shall thereupon Absolve him in this manner following Our Lord Jesus Christ who hath left power to his Church to Absolve all Sinners which truly repent and believe in him of his great Mercy forgive thee thy Offences and by his Authority committed to me I Absolve thee from all thy Sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen Which form of Absolution is plainly Authoritative and not Declarative only such as that is which follows the General Confession in the beginning of the Morning and Evening Prayer as some men would have it 7. Now that the Penitent as well in the time of Health as in extremity of Sickness may pour his Sins into the Bosom of the Priest with the more security it is especially provided by the 113 Canon of the Year 1603. That if any man Confess his secret and hidden sins to the Minister for the unburthening of his Conscience and to receive spiritual Consolation and ease of Minde from him we do not any way binde the said Minister by this our Constitution but do streightly charge and admonish him that he do not at any time reveal and make known to any person whatsoever any Crime or Offence so committed to his secresie except they be such Crimes as by the Laws of this Realm his own Life may be called in question for concealing the same under the pain of Irregularity And by incurring the condition of Irregularity the party offending doth not only forfeit all the Ecclesiastical Preferments which he hath at the present but renders himself uncapable of receiving any other for the time to come Confession made upon such security will be as saving to the Fame of the Penitent as the Absolution to his Soul In which respect it was neither untruly nor unfitly said by a learned Writer Dominus sequitur servum c. Heaven saith he waits and expects the Priests Sentence here on Earth for the Priest sits Judge on Earth the Lord follows the Servant and what the Servant bindes or looseth here on Earth Clave non errante that the Lord confirms in Heaven 8. The like Authority is vested in the Priest or Presbyter at his Ordination for officiating the Divine Service of the Church offering the Peoples Prayers to God Preaching the Word and Ministring the Holy Sacraments in the Congregation Which Offices though they may be performed by the Bishops as well as the Presbyters yet they perform them not as Bishops but as Presbyters only And this appears plainly by the Form of their Ordination in which it is prescribed that the Bishops putting the Bible into their hands shall pronounce these words Take thou authority to preach the Word and Minister the Holy Sacraments in the Congregation where thou shalt be so appointed In the officiating of which Acts of Gods Divine Service the Priest or Presbyter is enjoyned to wear a Surplice of white Linnen Cloath to testifie the purity of Doctrine and innocency of Life and Conversation which ought to be in one of that Holy Profession And this St. Ierome tells us in the general Religionem Divinam alterum habitum habere in ministerio alterum in usu vitaque communi that is to say that in the Act of Ministration they used a different habit from what they use to wear at ordinary times and what this different habit was he tells us more particularly in his reply against Pelagius who it seems dislik't it and askt him what offence he thought it could be to God that Bishops Priests and Deacons or those of any inferiour Order in Administratione sacrificiorum candida veste
that every man that could pronounce well was not found able to endite and every man that could endite not being to be trusted in a business of such weight and moment it seemed good in the Wisdom of the first Reformers to compile some good and profitable Sermons called by the name of Homilies to be read carefully and distinctly on the Sundayes and Holy dayes for the instruction of the people 11. Such course was taken for the peace and edification of the Church by the first Reformers not only in the choice of the men to whom they gave Licences to preach but in supplying the defect and want of such preaching by the Book of Homilies and they had as great a care too for the keeping the people in good stomach not cloying them with continual Preaching or Homilizing but limiting them to once a day as appears by the Rubrick after the Nicene or rather the Constantinopolitan Creed One Sermon or Homily in the mornings of Sundayes and other Holy dayes for the edification of the âlder and Catechizing by way of question and answer in the afternoon for the instruction of the younger was esteemed sufficient Lectures upon the week dayes were not raised upon this foundation but were brought in afterwards borrowed by Travers and the âest toward the latter end of Queen Elizabeths Reign from the new fashions of Geneva the Lecturer being super-added to the Parson or Vicar as the Doctor was unto the Pastor in some forreign Churches Nor were they raised so much out of care and conscience for training up the people in the wayes of Faith and Piety as to advance a Faction and to alienate the peoples mindes from the Government and Forms of Worship here by Law established For these Lecturers having no dependance upon the Bishops nor taking the Oath of Canonical Obedience to them nor subscribing to the doctrine and establisht Ceremonies made it their work to please those Patrons on whose arbitrary maintenance they were planted and consequently to carry on the Puritan interest which their Patron drove at A generation of men neither Lay nor Clergy having no place at all in the Prayers of the Church where we finde mention only of Bishops Pastors and Curates nor being taken notice of in the terms of Law as being neither Parsons nor Vicars or to speak them in the vulgar proverb neither flesh nor fish nor good red herring No creature in the world so like them as the Bats or Reremice being neither Birds nor Beasts and yet both together Had these men been looked upon in time before their numbers were increased and their power grown formidable before the people went a madding after new inventions most of the mischiefs which have thence ensued might have been prevented And had there been more reading of Homilies in which the Reader speaks the sense of the Church and not so much of Sermonizing in which the Preacher many times speaks his own factious and erronâous sense the people might have been trained up in no less knowledge but in much more obedience then they have been in these latrer times 12. As for the Sacraments which were advanced to the number of seven in the Church of Rome this Church hath brought them back to two as generally necessary to salvation Baptisme and the Holy Supper Four of the rest that is to say Marriage Orders Confirmation and the Visitation though not the Extream Vnction of the Sick being retained under the name of Sacramentals in our publick Liturgy Of which the Book of Consecrating Arch-Bishops and Bishops c. is by the Act of Parliament 8 Eliz. c. 1. affirmed to be a Supplement or Additional only added put to and annexed as the words do vary to the said Book of Common-Prayer And of these four two are reserved unto the Bishop that is to say Confirmation and the giving of Orders the other two viz. Marriage and the Visitation of the Sick being common to both alike though executed in the most part by the Presbyter only Of those reserved unto the Bishop the one is so reserved ad necessitatem operis because it cannot be done without him the other ad honorem sacerdotii as the Schools distinguish because it cannot be well done but by him Touching the first we have the general consent of all ancient Writers and the example of Coluthus who took upon him the ordaining of Presbyters contrary to the Rules of the Church and the Canons of thâ most famous Councils But when the business came to be examined his Ordinations were declared to be null and void because he was a Presbyter only and not a Bishop as is affirmed by Athanasius in Apol. 2. The other grounded on the 8th Chapter of the Acts as St Cyprian in his 73. Epistle tells us where Peter and Iohn are said to have laid hands on them in Samaria which had been before Baptized in the Name of the Lord Iesus that they might receive the Holy Ghost and that by laying on of their hands they did receive the Holy Ghost accordingly verse 16 17. Quod nunc quoque apud nos geritur c. Which is also done saith St. Cyprian and Cyprian flourisht in the middle of the third Century amongst our selves when they which be already Baptized are brought unto the Prelates of the Church Praepositis Ecclesiae offeruntur that by our Prayer and Imposition of our hands they may receive the Holy Ghost and be strengthened by the Seal of the Lord. Upon which grounds beâiââââhe great antiquity of it it was retained by the first Reformers as in the Rubrick before Confirmation in the common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book And âad it been as diligently practised by the Bishops in the declining times of this Church as it was piously and religiously retained by them it would have much conduced to their saâe standing in the Church and procured a greater veneration to their Persons also The other two viz. Marriage and the Visitation of the Sick together with the Burial of the Dead and the Churching of Women after Child-birth are left to the officiating of the Priest or Parochial Minister unless the Bishop please to take that work upon himself in some certain cases 13. But as for Penance one of the seven Sacraments in the Church of Rome we must look upon in a double capacity First As it was solemnly performed on Ashwednesday as a preparative to the approaching Feast of Easter the people humbling themselves before the Lord in Sackcloth and Ashes whence it had the name And secondly As imposed on such particular persons as lay under the censures of the Church Touching the first it is related in the beginning of the Commination that in the Primitive Church there was a godly Discipline That at the beginning of Lent such persons as were notorious sinners were put to open Penance and punished in this world that their Souls might be saved in the day of the Lord and that others admonished by their example might be the more afraid to
first and afterwards the efficacy of it And first in reference to the Necessity The first Reformers did not only allow the administration of this Sacrament in private houses but permitted it to private persons even to women also For it was ordered in the Rubrick of Private Baptism That when any great need shall compel as in extremity of weakness they which are present shall call upon God for his Grace and say the Lords Prayer if the time will suffer and then one of them shall name the Childe and dip him in the water or poure water upon him saying these words N. I Baptize thee in the name of the Father c. At which passage when King Iames seemed to be offended in the Conference at Hampton-Court because of the liberty which they gave to Women and Laicks It was answered then by Dr. Whitgift Archbishop of Canterbury That the administration of Baptisme by Women and Lay Persons was not allowed in the practice of the Church but enquired of and censured by the Bishops in their Visitations and that the words in the Book inferred no such meaning Against which when the King excepted urging and pressing the words of the Book that they could not but intend a permission and suffering of Women and private Persons to Baptize It was answered by Dr. Babington then Bishop of Worcester That indeed the words were doubtful and might be pressed to that meaning but that it seemed by the contrary practice of this Church censuring Women in this case That the Compilers of that Book did not so intend them and yet propounded them ambiguously because otherwise perhaps the Book would not have then passed in the Parliament But then stood forth the Bishop of London Dr. Bancroft and plainly said That it was not the intent of those Learned and Reverend men who framed the Book of Common-Prayer by ambiguous terms to deceive any but did indeed by those words intend a permission of private persons to Baptize in case of Necessity whereof their Letters were witnesses some parts whereof he then read and withal declared That the same was agreeable to the practice of the ancient Church as appeared by the Authority of Tertullian and of S. Ambrose on the 4th of the Ephesians who are plain in that point laying also open the absurdities and impieties of their opinions who think there is no necessity of Baptism And though at the motion of that King it was ordered that the words Lawful Minister should be put into the Rubrick First let the LAWFVL MINISTER and them that be present call upon God for his Grace c. The said LAWFVL MINISTER shall dip it into the Water c. yet was the alteration greater in sound then sense it being the opinion of many great Clerks that any man in cases of extream necessity who can pronounce the words of Baptism may pass in the account and notion of a lawful Minister So much for the necessity of Baptism And as for the efficacacy thereof it is said expresly in the 27. Article To be a sign of Regeneration or New Birth whereby as by an Instrument they that receive Baptisme rightly are grafted into the Church the promises of forgiveness of Sin and of our Adoption to be the Sons of God by the Holy Ghost are visibly signed and sealed Faith is confirmed and Grace is encreased by vertue of Prayer unto God and as expresly it is said in one of the Rubricks before Confirmation That it is certain by Gods word that Children being Baptized have all things necessary for their Salvation and be undoubtedly saved that is to say for so it must be understood in case they dye before they fall into the committing of Actual Sins 29. Touching good works and how far they conduce unto our Iustification the breach was wider at the first breakin gs out of Luther then it hath been since Luther ascribing Iustification unto Faith alone without relation unto Works and those of Rome ascribing it to good Works alone without relation unto Faith which they reckoned only amongst the preparatives unto it But when the point had been long canvased and the first heats were somewhat cooled they began to come more neer unto one another For when the Papists attributed Iustification unto Works alone they desired to be understood of such good Works as proceeded from a true and lively Faith and when the Lutherans ascribed it to Faith alone they desired to be understood of such a Faith as was productive of good Works and attended by them The Papists thereupon began to cherish the distinction between the first and second Iustification ascribing the first unto Faith only the second which the Protestants more properly called by the name of Sanctification to the works of Righteousness The Protestants on the other side distinguishing between Fides sola and solitaria between Sola Fides and Fides quae est Sola intending by that nicity that though Faith alone doth justifie a sinner in the sight of God yet that it is not such a Faith as was alone but stood accompanied with good Works And in this way the Church of England went in her Reformation declaring in the 11 Article That we are accounted righteous before God only for the Merits of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ by Faith and not for our own works or deservings Which Justification by Faith only is further declared to be a most wholesome Doctrine and very full of comfort for which we are referred to the Book of Homilies And in the Book of Homilies we shall also finde That we may well bear the name of Christian men but we lack that true Faith which belongeth thereunto For true Faith doth evermore bring forth good Works as St. Iames speaketh Shew me thy Faith by thy Works Thy Deeds and Works must be an open testimony of thy Faith otherwise thy Faith being without good Works is but the Devils faith the faith of the wicked a phantasie of Faith and not a true Christian Faith And that the people might be be trained up in the works of Righteousness it is declared in the 7th Article That no Christian man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the Commandments which are called Moral According whereunto it is ordered by the publick Liturgy that the said Commandments shall be openly read in the Congregation upon Sundayes and Holy Dayes contrary to the usage of all ancient Liturgies the people humbly praying God To have mercy upon them for their transgression of those Laws and no less humbly praying him To encline their hearts to keep the same So that though Faith must lead the way to our Iustification yet holiness of life manifested in the works of Charity and all other acts of godly living must open the way for us to the Gates of Heaven and procure our entrance at the same as is apparent by the 25. of St. Matthews Gospel from verse 34. to 41. 30. Which being so it may be well affirmed without any wrong
not engaged upon either side might succeed in their places But notwithstanding all this care the Faction still held up against him the younger fry inclining to the same side which had been taken by their Tutors But whiles these things were in agitation there hapned a great alteration in the Church of England by the death of the most Reverend Archbishop Bancroft who died on the second of November 1610. and with whom died the Vniformity of the Church of England A man he was of eminent parts and of a most undaunted spirit one who well knew his work and did it When Chaplain only to the Lord Chancellor Hatton he piec'd himself with Doctor Whitgift not long after his first coming to the See of Canterbury to whom he proved a great support in gaining the Lord Chancellor for him by whose assistance he was enabled to hold out against the over-ruling Power of the Earl of Leicester the Patron-General of the Faction In the year 1588. he Preached a Sermon at St. Paul's Cross and therein made an open Declaration of those manifold Dangers which the prevalency of that Faction would bring upon the Church and State if they might be suffered which blow he followed in a Book entituled Dangerous Positions and Proceedings published and practised within this Island of Britain under pretence of Reformation and for the Presbyterial Discipline And in that Book he made such a perfect discovery of their Plots and Practises and so anatomized them in every part that he made them odious unto those who before had been their greatest Patrons In the year 1593. he published another Treatise entituled A Survey of the Pretended holy Discipline in which he so dissected the whole Body of Calvin's Presbyterial Platform shewing the incoherencies of it in it self and the inconsistencies thereof with Monarchical Government that he took off the edge of many and those Great ones too who had not only seemed to like it but had longed for it The Plot was so laid down by Whitgift that at the same time there should come out two other Books the one written by Doctor Thomas Bilson Warden of the Colledge neer Winton for proof of the Antiquity and perpetual Government of the Church by Bishops the other by Doctor Richard Cosens a right Learned Civilian in justification of the Proceedings in the Ecclesiastical Courts By which four Books the Puritan Faction was so muzled that they were not able to bark in a long time after Nor do they want their several and just Rewards for such good performances Bilson being first made Bishop of Worcester and not long after Bishop of Winton Bancroft advanced to the See of London and Doctor Cosens Vicar-general and Dean of the Arches within few years after being consecrated Bishop of London on the eighth of May 1597. he kept such a watchfull eye over it and held so strict a hand upon it that from a receptactle and retreat of the Grandees of the Puritan party it became almost as free from Faction as any other in the Kingdom And knowing how much the Peace of this Church did depend upon it he managed a secret Corespondency with King Iames in Scotland insinuating unto him the necessity of conforming the Churches of both Kingdoms in Government and Forms of Worship and laying down a plot for restoring Episcopacy to that Kirk without noise or trouble Which counsel being advisedly followed by King Iames before his coming into England was afterwards so well pursued though not without some violent strugling of the Presbyterians of that Kingdom that on the 21. day of October in the year 1609. the designed Bishops of Glascow Brechen and Gallo-Way received Episcopal Consecration in the Chappel of London-house by the hands of Doctor George Abbot then Bishop of London Doctor Lancelot Andrews Bishop of Ely Doctor Iames Montague Bishop of Bath and Wells and Doctor Richard Neile then Bishop of Rochester Bancroft himself forbearing to lay hands upon them for the avoiding of all scruples amongst the Scots as if he pretended any Jurisdiction or Authority over them In the mean time Anno 1603. he carried a chief hand in the Conference at Hampton Court and had the sole management of the Convocation of the same year also in which he passed that excellent body of Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical to serve for a perpetual standing Rule to the Church of England Succeeding Whitgift in the See of Canterbury Anno 1604. he resolved to put the Canons into execution and press'd it with so stout a courage that few had confidence enough to stand out against him Some of them did and those he either depriv'd or silenc'd and thereby terrified the rest to an open Conformity They saw too plainly that they must not dally with his patience as they did with Whitgifts and that he was resolved to break them if they would not bow And they did wisely in so bowing for who could stand against a man of such a spirit armed with Authority having the Law on his side and the King to friend who had declared publickly in the Conference at Hampton Court That if they would not conform he would either hurry them out of the Kingdom or else do worse In the year 1608. he was chosen Chancellor at Oxon. and questionless would have set all things right in that University if Sickness and the stroke of Death had not prevented his intendments But die he must and being dead there was a Consultation amongst some of the Bishops and other Great men of the Court whom to commend unto King Iames for his Successor in that See They knew that Mountague and Abbot would be venturing at it but they had not confidence enough in either of them both of them being extremely popular and such as would ingratiate themselves with the Puritan Faction how dearly soever the Church paid for it And thereupon it was resolved to fix on Andrews for the man a man as one says very well of him of Primitive Antiquity in whom was to be found whatever is desirable in a Bishop even to admiration to whom they found the King to be well affected for taking up the Bucklers for him against Cardinal Bellarmine The Motion was no sooner made but it was embraced and they departed from the King with as good assurance as if the business had been done and Andrews fully setled in the Throne of Canterbury In confidence whereof some of them retired to their Country Houses and others lessened their accustomed diligence about the King and thereby gave an opportunity to the Earl of Dunbar a powerful Minister of State to put in for Abbot who had attended him in some Negotiations which he had with the Scots and he put in so powerfully in his behalf that at last he carried it and had the Kings Hand to the passing of the publick Instruments before the other Bishops ever heard of the Plot But when they heard of it there was no Remedy but Patience but it was
alledged yet it was generally conceived that as the Book fared the worse for the Authors sake so the Author did not speed the better for his Patron the Archbishops sake betwixt whom and Doctor Iames Montague then Bishop of Winchester there had been some differences which the rest of the Court Bishops were apt enough to make some use of to his disadvantage But having thus fallen upon the burning of this Book I shall speak something of it here because of some particulars in it which may conduce unto our Story in the times succeeding This Doctor Mocket being Chaplain to Archbishop Abbot and Warden of All Souls Colledged in Oxon. had publish'd in the Latin tongue the Liturgie of the Church of England the Publick Catechisms the 39. Articles the Book of Ordination of Bishops Priests and Deacons and many Doctrinal Points extracted out of the Book of Homilies together with Bishop Iewel 's Apology Mr. Noel's Chatechism and his own Book De Politia c. A Collection which the good man published in a pious zeal for gaining Honour to this Church amongst Forrein Nations But then this Zeal of his was accompanied with so little Knowledge in the Constitution of this Church or so much biassed toward those of Calvin's Plat-form that it was thought fit not only to call it in but to expiate the Errors of it in a publick Flame For first his Extracts out of the Book of Homilies were conceived to be rather framed according to his own Judgment which enclin'd him toward the Calvinian Doctrines as his Patron did than squared according to the Rules and Dictates of the Church of England And possible enough it is that some just offence might be taken at him for making the Fasting-days appointed in the Liturgie of the Church of England to be commanded and observed ob Politicas solum Rationes for politick Considerations only as insinuated p. 308. whereas those Fasting-days were appointed in the first Liturgy of King Edward vj. Anno 1549. with reference only to the Primitive Institution of those several Fasts when no such Politick Considerations were so much as thought on But that which I conceive to have been the true cause why the Book was burned was that in publishing the 20th Article concerning the Authority of the Church he totally left out the first Clause of it viz. Habet Ecclesia Ritus sive Ceremonias statuendi jus in Controverfiis Fidei Authoritatem By means whereof the Article was apparently falsified the Churches Authority disavowed and consequently a wide gap opened to dispute her Power in all her Canons and Determinations of what sort soever I note this here because of the Relation which it hath to some following passages in the year 1637. when we shall finde Laud charged by those of the Puritan Faction for adding this omitted Clause to the rest of that Article In the next year 1618. we finde not a little done at home but much more abroad the Puritan Faction being discountenanced here and the Calvinists encouraged there The Sabbatarian Doctrines by the diligence of Archbishop Whitgift and the severity of Justice Popham had been crush'd at their first starting out and afterwards not daring to implore the Countenance of Authority they got footing again in divers places by the cunning of the Puritan Faction the ignorant confidence of some of their Lecturers and the misguided zeal of some publick Ministers of Justice And they prevailed so far at last that the Annual Festivals being turned into days of Labour and the Lords day wholly taken up in Religious Duties there was no time left for lawful Recreations amongst the People Which being made known unto King Iames as he passed thorow Lancashire the last Summer he gave some present Order in it for the ease and comfort of his good Subjects in that County and that it might not serve only for the present but the times to come he published his Royal Declaration to the same effect bearing date at Greenwich May 24. of this present year In which Declaration there are three things to be observed viz. the Motives the Liberties and the Restrictions First for the Motives which induced that King to this Declaration they were chiefly four 1. The general Complaints of all sorts of People as he passed thorow Lancashire of the Restraint of those innocent and lawful Pastimes on that day which by the Rigors of some Preachers and Ministers of Justice had been laid upon them 2. The hindrance of the Conversion of many Papists who by this means were made to think that the Protestant Religion was inconsistent with all harmless and modest Recreations 3. That by debarring them from all man-like Exercises on those days on which only they were freed from their daily Labours they were made unactive unable and unfit for Warriors if either himself or any of his Successors should have such occasion to employ them 4. That men being hindred from these open Pastimes betook themselves to Tipling-houses and there abused themselves with Drunkenness and censured in their Cups his Majesties Proceedings both in Church and State Next for the Liberties which were indulged upon that day his Majesty declares his Pleasure That after Divine Service being ended his good People should not be discouraged or letted from any lawful Recreations such as Dancing either Men or Women Archery for Men Leaping Vaulting or any other such harmless Recreations not from having of May-games Whitsun-Ales and Morris-dances and the setting up of May-poles and other sports therewith used and that Women shall have leave to carry Rushes to the Church for the decoring of it according to their old Custom with this Proviso notwithstanding That under the general term of Lawful Recreations he intended neither Bear-baiting nor Bull-baiting Interludes nor at all times in the meaner sort of People prohibited Bowling And last of all for the Restrictions they were these that follow 1. That these Pastimes should be no impediment or let to the publick Duties of that day 2. That no Recusant should be capable of the benefit of them 3. Not such as were not diligently present at the time of all Divine Offices which the day required And 4. That the benefit thereof should redound to none but such as kept themselves in their own Parishes Such was the substance of his Majesties Declaration about Lawful Sports which raised great clamour at the present but greater when revived in the Reign of King Charles at what time we shall finde Laud charged for the Re-publishing of it so much the greater by how much the more the Sabbatarian Doctrines had prevailed amongst us This being done for the discountenancing of the Calvinian Faction here at home we must next see what was done abroad on the same account that which was done abroad in relation to it being of great concernment to this Church and therefore necessary to be known in reference to the person of whom I write The Bishops and conformable Clergy of Scotland had
great men about the Court for revealing the Kings Secrets committed to his trust and privacy contrary to the Oath taken by him as a Privy Counsellor The Bishop was conceived to live at too great a height to be too popular withal and thereby to promote the Puritan Interest against the Counsels of the Court This Information was laid hold on as a means to humble him to make him sensible of his own duty and the Kings displeasure and a Command is given to Noy then newly made his Majesties Atturney-General to file a Bill and prosecute against him in the Star-Chamber upon this delinquency Though the Bishop about two or three years since had lost the Seal yet he was thought to have taken the Purse along with him reputed rich and one that had good Friends in the Court about the King which made him take the less regard of this prosecution By the Advice of his Counsel he first demurred unto the Bill and afterwards put in a strong Plea against it both which were over-ruled by Chief Justice Richardson to whom by Order of the Court they had been referred Which artifices and delays though they gained much time yet could he not thereby take off the edge of the Atturney grown so much sharper toward him by those tricks in Law And in this state we shall finde the business about ten years hence when it came to a Sentence having laid so much of it here together because the occasion of the Suit was given much about this time About the same time also came out a Book entituled A Collection of Private Devotions or the Hours of Prayer composed by Cozens one of the Prebends of Durham at the Request and for the Satisfaâction as it was then generally believed of the Countess of Denbigh the only Sister of the Duke and then supposed to be unsetled in the Religion here established if not warping from it A Book which had in it much good matter but not well pleasing in the form said in the Title page to be framed agreeably to a Book of Private Prayers Authorized by Queen Elizabeth Anno 1560. After the Kalendar it began with a Specification of the Apostles Creed in Twelve Articles the Lords Prayer in Seven Petitions the Ten Commandements with the Duties enjoined and the Sins prohibited by them The Precepts of Charity The Precepts of the Church The Seven Sacraments The Three Theological Virtues The Three kinds of Good Works The Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost The Twelve Fruits of the Holy Ghost The Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy The Eight Beatitudes Seven deadly Sins and their contrary Vertues and the Quatuor novissima After which some Prefaces and Introductions intervening followed the Forms of Prayer for the first third sixth and ninth Hours as also for the Vespers and Compline known here in former Times by the vulgar name of Canonical Hours Then came the Litany The Seven Penitential Psalms Preparatory Prayers for Recâiving the Holy Communion Prayers to be used in time of Sickness and of the near approach of Death besides many others The Book approved by Mountain then Bishop of London and by him Licenced for the Press with the Subscription of his own hand to it Which notwithstanding it startled many at the first though otherwise very moderate and sober men who looked upon it as a Preparatory to usher in the Superstitions of the Church of Rome The Title gave offence to some by reason of the correspondence which it held with the Popish Horaries but the Frontispiece a great deal more on the top whereof was found the Name of IESVS figured in three Capital Letters IHS with a Cross upon them incircled with the Sun supported by two Angels with two devout Women praying toward it It was not long before it was encountred by Prynne and Burton of whom we shall have occasion to speak more hereafter Prynn's Book for of the other there was but little notice taken was Printed by the name of A Brief Survey and Censure of Cozens his Cozening Devotions Anno 1628. In which he chargeth it for being framed in general according to the Horaries and Primers of the Church of Rome but more particularly to be directly moulded framed and contrived according to Our Ladies Primer or Office Printed in Latin at Antwerp 1593. and afterwards in Latin and English Anno 1604. Next he objects That the Book of Latin Prayers published by Queen Elizabeth 1560. was called Orarium not Horarium sive Libellus Precationum that is to say A Book of Prayers That in that Book there was mention of no other hours of Prayer than first third and ninth and that in the second and third Editions of the same Book published in the years 1564. and 1573. there occurred no such distribution into hours at all which said he reproacheth all the Specifications before-remembred by the name of Popish trash and trumpery stollen out of Popish Primers and Catechisms not mentioned in any Protestant Writers and then proceeds to the canvasing of every Office and the Prefaces belonging to them which with the like infallible Spirit he condemns of Popery But for all this violent opposition and the great clamors made against it the Book grew up into esteem and justified it self without any Advocate insomuch that many of those who first startled at in regard of the Title found in the body of it so much Piety such regular Forms of Divine Worship such necessary Consolations in special Exigencies that they reserved it by them as a Jewel of great Price and value But of this Author and his Book the following Parliament to whom Prynne dedicates his Answer will take further notice But before that Parliament begins we must take notice of some Changes then in agitation amongst the Governours of the Church His Majesty in the Iune foregoing had acquainted Laud with his intent of nominating him to the See of London in the place of Mountain whom he looked on as a man unactive and addicted to voluptuousness and one that loved his ease too well to disturbe himself in the concerments of the Church He also looked upon that City as the Retreat and Receptacle of the Grandees of the Puritan Faction the influence which it had by reason of its Wealth and Trading on all parts of the Kingdom and that upon the Correspondence and Conformity thereof the welfare of the whole depended No better way to make them an example of Obedience to the rest of the Subjects then by placing over them a Bishop of such Parts and Power as they should either be unable to withstand or afraid to offend In order unto this design it was thought expedient to translate Neile whose accommodations Laud much studied to the See of Winchester then vacant by the death of Andrews and to remove Mountain unto Durham in the place of Neile But the putting of this design into execution did require some time Such Officers of State as had the management of the Kings
not the name of the other when it came to his turn The Ships being come and staying for a change of wind the like curtesie was desired of Pennington Admiral of that little Fleet for the present Service Pennington told them that he had no Chaplain that there was in the Ship one Dr. Ambrose his Friend and Kinsman who had borne him company in that Voyage and that he doubted not but that he would readily hearken to them if they made the motion The motion being made and granted Ambrose attends his Admiral to the place of Exercise where he took up his stand very near the Pulpit The Congregation being filled and the Psalm half done a Deacon is sent to put him in mind of going into the Pulpit of whom he desires to be accommodated with a Bible and a Common-Prayer Book The Deacon offered him a Bible but told him that they had no such thing as a Common-Prayer Book and that the Common Prayers were not used amongst them Why then said Ambrose the best is that I have one of my own which being presently taken out of his pocket he began with the Sentences and invitation and was scarce entred into the Confession when all the Church was in an uprore The Elders thereupon in a great amaze sent back the Deacon to desire him to go into the Pulpit and not to trouble them with that which they were not used to Ambrose replied That if they were an English Church they were obliged to serve God by the English Liturgie and that if they would have no Prayers they should have no Sermon and so proceeded on with the rest of the Liturgy which Message being delivered to the Elders the Deacon was sent back the third time requiring him to desist from that unnecessary Service On the receiving of which Message he puts the book into his pocket and goes out of the Church the two Embassadours following him and the Admiral them to the great honour of himself and the confusion of Iohnson from whose mouth I received the story and the other Chaplain being thus shewed their errour in not doing the like That our Bishop was ever made acquainted by the said Iohnson with this passage I am not able to say but whether he were or not he had too much ground for what he did in offering to their Lordships his considerations for regulating Divine Service in that and all other Factories Imployments and Commands of the English Nation That is to say First That the Colonels of the English Regiments in the Low-Countries should entertain no Minister as Preacher to their Regiments but such as should conform in all things to the Church of England to be commended to them by their Lordships the Advice of the Archbishop of Canterbury and York being taken in it Secondly That the Company of Merchants there residing or in any other parts shall admit no Minister as Preacher to them but such as are so qualified and so commended as aâoresaid Thirdly That if any Minister hath gotten himself by indirect means to be so commended and should be afterwards found to be unconformable and should not conform himself within three months upon warning giving him by the said Colonels or Deputy Governour of the Factors under whom he liveth he shall be dismist from his imployment and a more orderly man recommended to it Fourthly That every Minister or Chaplain in any Factory or Regiment whether of English or Scots shall read the Common Prayers Administer the Sacraments Catechise the Children and perform all other publick Ministerial duties according to the Rules or Rubricks of the English Liturgie and not otherwise Fifthly That if any Minister or Preacher being the Kings born Subject should with any bitter words or writings in Print or otherwise defame the Church of England by Law established notice thereof is to be given to the Ambassador there and by him to this State by whom the party so offending should be commanded over again to answer for his said offences the like to be done also in derogating from the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church and in Preaching Writing or Printing any thing prejudicial to the Temporal State and Government of the Realm of England Sixthly That no Colonel or Deputy Governour should permit their Minister or Preacher in the case of sickness or necessary absence to bring in any to preach or officiate for him but such an one for whose conformity he would be accountable Seventhly That no Deputy Governours should be sent to Delfe or any other place of Residence for the English Merchants but one that being conformable to the Church of England both in Doctrine and Discipline would take care also that such as be under him shall perform all Church duties before expressed that the party so designed shall be presented to their Lordships by the Merchant Adventurers giving assurance of his fitness and sufficiency for that charge and that some of the chief of the Merchants be sent for to the board and made acquainted with this order Eightly That as often as the said Merchants shall renew their Patents a clause for the due observation of these Instructions or so many of them at the least as should seem necessary to their Lordships to be inserted in the same Ninthly That all his Majesties Agents there from time to time have these Instructions given them in Charge and that once a year they be required to give the Board an account of the Progress of the business that further order might be taken if occasion be Tenthly That the English Ministers in Holland being his Majesties born Subjects be not suffered to hold any Classical meetings but howsoever not to assume the power of Ordination from which if they should not be restrained there would be a perpetual Seminary for breeding up men in Schism and Faction to the disturbance of this Kingdom In reference to the French and Dutch Churches here in England he proceeded in another method first representing the occasion of their settling here their several abuses of that Favour together with the manifold dangers and inconveniencies which might thence arise and next advising such agreeable remedies as he thought most proper for the cure And first he represented to them the great piety of this State in giving liberty to those Nations to enjoy the freedom of their own Religion at London and elsewhere in this Kingdom when being under persecution in their own Countries they could not enjoy the same at home Secondly That it was not the meaning of this State then or at any other time since that the first Generation being worn out their Children and Childrens Children being naturally born Subjects of this Realm should still remain divided from the rest of the Church which must needs alienate them from the State and make them apt to any innovation which may sort better with their humour Thirdly That they still keep themselves as a distinct body of themselves marrying only in their own Tribe with one
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 ãâã 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 Knowledââ ând meer âotion given and by these presents do give Our ãâã Assâât ânto all the said Canons Orders and Constitutions ãâã all and every thing in them contained as they are afterwards set ãâã And further We do not only by Our Prerogative Royal and Supreme ãâã in Causes Ecclesiastical Ratifie and Confirm by these Our Letters Patânts the said Canons Orders and Constitutions ând all ând every thing in them contained But likewise We command by ãâã âuthority 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 âlascow 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 tempoâe 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 dâbarred 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 âe 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
Canonry in Christ-Church to be annexed for ever to the Orators place whose yearly Pension till that time was but twenty Nobles Injoyed first by Dr. William Strode admitted thereunto on the first of Iuly Anno 1638. and after his decease by Dr. Henry Hammond Anno 1644. Such were the benefits which the University received from him in this present year And that he might both do himself and the University some honour in the eye of the Kingdom he invites the King the Queen the Prince Elector and his Brother to an Academical entertainment on the twenty ninth day of August then next following being the Anniversary day on which the Presidentship of St. Iohns Colledge was adjudged to him by King Iames. The time being come and the University put into a posture for that Royal visit their Majesties were first received with an eloquent Speech as he passed by the house being directly in his way betwixt Woodstock and Christ-Church not without great honour to the Colledge that the Lord Archbishop the Lord Treasurer the Chancellor the Vice-Chancellor and one of the Proctors should be at that time of the same foundation At Christ-Church his Majesty was entertained with another Oration by Strode the University Oratour the University presenting his Majesty with a fair and costly pair of Gloves as their custome was the Queen with a fair English Bible the Prince Elector with Hookers Books of Ecclesiastical Politie his Brother Rupert with Caesars Commentaries in English illustrated by the learned Explanations and Discourses of Sir Clement Edmonds His Majesty was lodged in christ-Christ-Church in the great Hall whereof one of the goodliest in the World he was entertained together with the Queen the two Princes and the rest of the Court with an English Comedy but such as had more of the Philosopher than the Poet in it called Passions Calmed or the settling of the Floating Islands On the morrow morning being Tuesday he began with a Sermon preacht before him in that Cathedral on these words of St. Luke viz. Blessed is the King that cometh in the name of the Lord peace in heaven and glory in the highest Luk. 19.38 The Sermon being ended the Archbishop as Chancellor of the University calls a Convocation in which he admits the Prince Elector his Brother Prince Rupert and many of the chief Nobility to the degree of Masters of Art and that being done attends the King and Queen to St. Iohns Colledge Where in the new Gallery of his own building he entertains the King and Queen the two Princes with all the Lords and Ladies of the Court at a stately and magnificent Dinner the King and Queen sitting at one Table at the South end of the Room the two Princes with the Lords and Ladies at a long Table reaching almost from one end to the other at which all the Gallantry and beauties of the Kingdom seemed to meet Nor did he make Provision only for those two Tables but every Office in the Court had their several diets disposed of in convenient places for their reception with great variety of Achates not only sufficient for contentment but for admiration After dinner he entertains his principal Guests with a pleasant Comedy presented in the publick Hall and that being done attends them back again to Christ-Church where they were feasted after Supper with another Comedy called The Royal Slave the Enterludes represented with as much variety of Scenes and motions as the great wit of Inigo Iones Surveyor General of his Majesties Works and excellently well skilled in setting out a Court Masque to the best advantage could extend unto It was the day of St. Felix as himself observeth and all things went happily On Wednesday the next morning the Court removed his Majesty going that same night to Winchester and the Archbishop the same day entertaining all the Heads of Houses at a solemn Feast order being given at his departure that the three Comedies should be acted again for the content and satisfaction of the University in the same manner as before but only with the Alteration of the Prologues and Epilogues But to return unto the publick On the same day in which the new Statutes were received at Oxon. he procured a Supplement to be added to the old Statutes of Cathedral and Collegiate Churches touching the letting of their Lands Some Informations had been given that the Deans and Prebends of those Churches had enricht themselves their Wives and Children by taking great Fines for turning leases of twenty one years into leases for lives leaving their Successors destitute of that growing means which otherwise might come in to help them This was the outside of the business but the chief motive to it was that the Gentry and Yeomanry and some of the Nobility also holding Lands of those Churches might have a greater respect to the Church and Church-men when they must depend upon them from time to time for renewing of their said Estates at the end of every ten or twelve years at the most For though it be a like lawful by the Law of the Land 13 Eliz. c. 20. to make Leases of three lives or one and twenty years at the pleasure of the Dean and Chapter yet the difference is so great between them that once a Tenant to my knowledge after a Lease for three lives had continued 29 years in being chose rather to give a Fine for the change of one life than to take a new Lease of 21 years without paying any thing All which his Majesty taking into his Princely consideration he caused Letters under his Royal Signature to be sent to all the Deans and Chapters of this Kingdom respectively Calling and commanding them upon pain of his utmost displeasure that they presumed not to let any Lease belonging to their Church into lives which was not in lives already and further that when any fair opportunity was offered if any such be they fail not to reduce such as are in lives into years requiring further that those his Majesties said Letters should be exemplified in the register-Register-books of the said Churches and preâerved in the Registries of the Bishops of their several Diocess to the end that the said Bishop might take notice of their doing therein and give his Majesty and his Successors notice thereof if any presumed to disobey And in regard that some of the Deans of the said Cathedrals were a Corporation of themselves and held their Lands distinct from the rest of their Chapters a clause was added to those Letters to preserve those Lands for the benefit of their Successors as formerly in his Majesties Instructions for ordering and disposing the Lands of Bishops on the like occasions His Majesty therefore first declares That he had taken order by his late Instructions that no Bishop should let any Lease after they had been named to a better Bishoprick but had not therein named the Deans as he therein intended And therefore secondly that no Dean should presume from thenceforth
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
but slight of substance counterfeit stuff most of it and wrought with so much fraud and falshood that there is hardly one true stitch in all that work from the very beginning to the end Hardly one testimony or authority in the whole Discourse which is any way material to the point in hand but is as true and truly cited as that the book it self was writ long ago in answer unto D. Coale of Queen Maries daies The King he tacitely upbraides with the unfortunacies of his Reign by Deaths and Plagues the Governours of the Church with carrying all things by strong hand rather by Canon-shot than by Canon Law The Bishop of Norwich he compares as before was noted to a Wren mounted on the feathers of an Eagle and fall upon his Adversary with as foule a mouth as Burton doth upon the Prelates the Parable betwixt him and Burton being very well fitted as appears by the Preface to the Ministers of Lincoln Diocess in the Answer to him Obliquely and upon the by he hath some glancings against bowing at the name of Iesus Adoring toward the East and Praying according to the Canon and makes the transposing of the Table to the place where the Altar stood to be an Introduction for ushering in the whole body or Popery Which Eleusinian Doctrine for so he calleth it though these new Reformers for fear of so many Laws and Canons dare not apparently profess yet saith he they prepare and lay grounds for it that the out-works of Religion being taken in they may in time have a bout with the Fort it self To these two Books his Majesty thought fit that some present Answer should be made appointing the same hand for both which had writ the History of the Sabbath The one being absolutely destructive of the uniformity in placing the Communion Table which was then in hand The other labouring to create a general hatred unto all the Bishops branding their persons blasting their Counsels and decrying the Function And hard it was to say whether of the two would have proved more mischievous if they were not seasonably prevented The Answer unto Burton was first commanded and prepared That to the Lincoln Minister though afterwards enjoyned was the first that was published This of the two the subtler and more curious piece exceedingly cried up when it first came out the disaffection of the times and subject matter of the Book and the Religious estimation which was had of the Author concurring altogether to advance the Reputation of it to the very highest sold for four shillings at the first when conceived unanswerable but within one month after the coming out of the Answer which was upon the twentieth of May brought to less than one The Answer published by the name of Antidotum Lincolniense with reference to the Licencer and Author of the Holy Table The publishing of the other was delayed upon this occasion A Resolution had been taken by command of his Majesty to proceed against the Triumvirate of Libellers as one fitly calls them to a publick Censure which was like to make much noise amongst the ignorant People It was thought fit by the Prudent Council of Queen Elizabeth upon the execution of some Priests and Jesuits that an Apology should be published by the name of Iustitia Britannica to vindicate the publick Justice of the State from such aspersions as by the Tongues and Pens of malicious persons should be laid upon it And on the like prudential grounds it was thought expedient that an answer should be made to the book which seemed most material and being so made should be kept in readiness till the execution of the Sentence to the end that the people might be satisfied as well in the greatness of the Crimes as the necessity and justice of the Punishment inflicted upon one of the Principals by whom a judgment might be made of all the rest But the Censure being deferred from Easter until Midsummer Term the Answer lay dormant all the while at Lambeth in the hands of the Licencer and was then published by the name of A briefe and moderate Answer to the seditious and scandalous challenges of H. B. c. Two other Books were also published about that time the one about the name and situation of the Communion Table which was called Altare Christianum writ by one Pâcklington then beneficed in Bedfordshire and seconded by a Chappel Determination of the well studied Ioseph Mede The other against Burton by name published by Dow of Basell in Sussex under the Title of Innovations unjustly charged c. And so much for the Pen Combates managed on both sides in the present Controversies But whilst these things were in agitation there hapned toward the end of this year such an Alteration in the Court as began to make no less noise than the rest before It had been an ancient custome in the Court of England to have three Sermons every week in the time of Lent Two of them preached on Wednesdaies and Fridaies the third in the open preaching place near the Council Chamber on Sundaies in the Afternoon And so it continued till King Iames came to this Crown Who having upon Tuesday the fifth of August escapt the hands and treasons of the Earl of Gowrie took up a pious resolution not only of keeping the Anniversary of that day for a publick Festival in all his Dominions but of having a Sermon and other divine Offices every Tuesday throughout the year This custome he began in Scotland and brought it with him into the Court of England and thereupon translated one of the Lent Sermons from Wednesday to Tuesday This Innovation in the Court where before there were no Sermons out of Lent but on Sundaies only came in short time to have a very strong Influence upon the Country giving example and defence to such Lectures and Sermons on the working daies as frequently were appointed and continued in most Corporations and many other Market Towns in all parts of the Kingdom In which respect it was upon the point of being laid aside at the Court on the death of that King in reference to whose particular concernments it was taken up and therefore his Successor not obliged to the observation But then withall it was considered that the new King had married with a Lady of the Roman Religion that he was ingaged in a War with Spain which could not be carried on without help from the Parliament wherein the Puritan Party had appeared to be very powerful The discontinuing of that Sermon in this conjuncture might have been looked on in the King as the want of zeal toward the preaching of the Gospel and a strong tendency in him to the Religion of the Church of Rome and a betraying of the Court to Ignorance and Superstition by depriving them of such necessary means of their Instruction Upon these grounds it stood as before it did as well in the holy time of Lent as in other Weeks
This being a matter easily to be proved they were required to make up their number according to their first Foundation by King Henry vi But against this the Fellows pleaded That out of an hatred to their Founder a great part of their Lands had been taken from them by King Edward iv conferred by him upon the Abby of Westminster and the Church of Windsor and by them enjoyed until this day and that they hoped his Grace would not tye them to maintain the whole number of their Fellows with little more than half their Lands To which so reasonable a desire upon full proof made of the Suggestion his Grace did readily consent and left them in the same state in which he found them The noise of these Proceedings in England in the Iune and Iuly of this year being quickly posted to the Scots became a principal Incentive of those Combustions which not long after inflamed that Kingdom For it could be no hard matter for the Presbyterians there to possess the People with the sense of the like smart Sufferings by the Pride and Tyranny of their Bishops if they permitted them to grow great and powerful and did not cast about in time to prevent the mischief And to exasperate them the more the Superstitions of the Liturgie now at the point of being put in execution were presented to them which if once settled amongst them as was then intended would in short time reduce them under the Obedience of the Church of Rome They could not but confess That many things which were found fault with in the English Liturgie were in this altered unto the better the name of Priest so odious unto them of the Puritan Faction changed to that of Presbyter no fewer than sixty Chapters or thereabouts taken out of the Apocrypha appointed to be read by the Church in the English Book reduced to two and those two to be read only on the Feast of All-Saints The new Translation Authorised by King Iames being used in the Psalms Epistles Gospels Hymns and Sentences instead of the old Translation so much complained of in their Books and Conferences But what was this compared with those Superstitions those horrible Corruptions and Idolatries now ready to be thrust upon them in which this Liturgy as much exceeded that of England as that of England had departed from the simplicity and purity of the holier Churches Now therefore somewhat must be done to oppose the entrance of the Popish superstitious Service-Book either now or never But the Presbyterian Ministers who had gone thus far did not alone bring fewel to feed this flame to which some men of all degrees and qualities did contribute with them The Lords and Gentry of the Realm who feared nothing so much as the Commission of surrendries above mentioned laid hold on this occasion also and they being seconded by some male-contented Spirits of that Nation who had not found the King to be as prodigal of his bounties to them as his Father had been before endeavoured to possess them with Fears and Jealousies that Scotland was to be reduced to the Form of a Province and governed by a Deputy or Lord Lieutenant as Ireland was The like done also by some Lords of secret Counsel who before had governed as they listed and thought their power diminished and their persons under some neglect by the placing of a Lord President over them to direct in Chief So that the People generally being fooled into this opinion that both their Christian and Civil Liberty was in no small danger became capable of any impression which the Presbyterian Faction could imprint upon them nor did they want incouragements from the Faction in England to whom the Publication of the Book for Sports the transposing of the holy Table the suppressing of so many Lecturers and Afternoon Sermons and the inhibiting of Preaching Writing Printing in defence of Calvinism were as distasteful and offensive as the new Liturgie with all the supposed superstitions of it was to those of Scotland This Combination made and the ground thus laid it is no wonder if the people brake out into those distempers which soon after followed Sunday the 23 of Iuly was the day appointed for the first reading of the New Liturgy in all the Churches of that Kingdom and how it sped at Edenborough which was to be exemplary to all the rest shall be told by another who hath done it to my hand already Iuly 23. being Sunday the Dean of Edenborough began to read the Book in St. Giles his Church the chief of that City but he had no sooner entred on it than the inferiour multitude began in a tumultuous manner to fill the Church with uprore whereupon the Bishop of Edenborough stept into the Pulpit and hoping to appease them by minding them of the Sanctity of the place they were the more enraged throwing at him Cudgels Stools and what was in the way of Fury unto the very endangering of his life Upon this the Archbishop of St. Andrews Lord Chancellor was enforced to call down from the Gallery the Provost Bailiffs and other Magistrates of the City to their assistance who with much ado at length thrust the unruly Rabble out of the Church and made fast the doors This done the Dean proceeded in reading the Book the multitude in the mean while rapping at the doors pelting the Windows with stones and endeavouring what in them lay to disturb the Sacred Exercise but notwithstanding all this clamour the Service was ended but not the peoples rage who waiting the Bishops retiring to his Lodging so assaulted him as had he not been rescued by a strong hand he had probably perisht by their violence Nor was S. Giles his Church thus only pestered and profaned but in other Churches also though not in so high a measure the peoples disorders were agreeable The Morning thus past the Lord Chancellor and Council assembled to prevent the like darings in the Afternoon which they so effected as the Liturgy was read without any disturbance Only the Bishop of Edenborough was in his return to his Lodging rudely treated by the people the Earl of Roxboroughs Coach in which he passed serving for no protection to him though Roxborough himself was highly favoured of the People and not without some cause suspected to have had a hand in the Commotions of that day The business having thus miscarried in Edenborough stood at a stand in all other Churches of that Kingdom and therefore it will not be amiss to enquire in this place into the causes and occasions of it it seeming very strange to all knowing and discerning men that the Child that had so long lain in the Womb perfectly formed and now made ready for the birth should not have strength enough to be delivered Amongst which causes if disposed into ranke and order that which appears first is the confidence which Canterbury had in the Earl of Traquaire whom he had raised from the condition of a
care as in the other And to that end he was not pleased that the Pope should be any longer stigmatized by the name of Antichrist and gave a strict Charge unto his Chaplains That all exasperating Passages which edifie nothing should be expunged out of such Books as by them were to be Licenced to the Press and that no Doctrines of that Church should be writ against but such as seemed to be inconsistent with the establish'd Doctrine of the Church of England Upon which ground it was that Baker Chaplain to the Bishop of London refused to Licence the Reprinting of a Book about the Gunpowder-Treason saying to him that brought the Book That we were not so angry with the Papists now as we were about twenty years since and that there was no need of any such Books to exasperate them there being now an endeavour to win them to us by fairness and mildness And on the same ground Bray Chaplain to the Archbishop refused the Licencing of another called The Advice of a Son unless he might expunge some unpleasing Expressions affirming That those Passages would offend the Papists whom we were now in a fair way of winning and therefore must not use any harsh Phrases against them The Chaplains not to be condemned for their honest care and much less their Lords though I find it very heavily charged as a Crime in all In the English Litany set out by King Henry viii and continued in both Liturgies of King Edward vi there was this Clause against the Pope viz. From the Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable Enormities Good Lord c. Which being considered as a means to affright those of the Romish Party from coming diligently to our Churches was prudently expunged by those who had the Revising of the Liturgie in the first year of the Queen In imitation of whose Piety and Christian Care it was thought fit by the Archbishop to change some Phrases which were found in the Books of Prayer appointed âor the Fifth of November The first was this Root out the Babylonish and Antichristian Seât which say of Jerusalem Down with it c. Which he changed only unto this Root out the Babylonish or Antichristian Sect of them which say c. The second was Cut off those Workers of Iniquity whose Religion is Rebellion and whose Faith is Faction which he changed no otherwise than thus Cut off those Workers of Iniquity who turn Religion into Rebellion c. The Alterations were but small but the clamour great which was raised about it The Puritans complaining That the Prayers so altered were intended to reflect on ãâã seemed to be conscious to themselves of turning Religion into Rebellion and saying of Jerusalem like the old Babylonish Sect Down with it down with it to the ground But he had better reason for it than they had against it For if the first Reformers were so careful of giving no offence to the Romish Party as to expunge a Passage out of the Publick Liturgie when the Queen was a Protestant much greater reason had the Archbishop to correct those Passages in a formal Prayer not confirmed by Law when the Queen was one of that Religion Nothing in this or any of the rest before which tends to the bringing in of Popery the prejudice of the true Protestant Religion or the suppressing of the Gospel Had his Designs tended to the Advancing of Popery he neither would have took such pains to confute their Doctrines nor they have entertained such secret practices to destroy his Person of which more hereafter Had he directed his endeavours to suppress the Protestants he would not have given so much countenance to Dury a Scot who entertained him with some hopes of working an Accord betwixt the Lutheran and Calvinian Churches In which Service as he wasted a great deal of time to little purpose so he received as much Encouragement from Canterbury as he had reason to expect Welcome at all times to his Table and speaking honourably of him upon all occasions till the Times were changed when either finding the impossibility of his Undertaking or wanting a Supply of that Oyl which maintained his Lamp he proved as true a Scot as the rest of that Nation laying the blame of his miscarriage in it on the want of Encouragement and speaking disgracefully of the man which had given him most Had he intended any prejudice to the Reformed Religion Reformed according to the Doctrine of Calvin and the Genevian Forms both of Worship and Government he would not have so cordially advanced the General Collection for the Palatine Churches or provided so heartily for the Rochellers and their Religion touching which last we find this Clause in a Prayer of his for the Duke of Buckingham when he went Commander of his Majesties Forces for the Isle of Rhe viz. Bless my dear Lord the Duke that is gone Admiral with them that Wisdom may attend all his Counsels and Courage and Success all his Enterprises That by his and their means thou wilt be pleased to bring Safety to this Kingdom Strength and Comfort to Religion Victory and Reputation to our Country Had he projected any such thing as the suppressing of the Gospel he would not have shewed himself so industrious in preventing Socinianism from poysoning those of riper years in turning afternoon Sermons into Catechising for the instruction of Children in prohibiting all Assemblies of Anabaptists Familists and other Sectaries which oppose the Common Principles of the Christian Faith For that his silencing of the Arminian Controversies should be a means to suppress the Gospel or his favouring of those Opinions designed for a back-door to bring in Popery no wise man can think The Points in Controversie between the Calvinists and Arminians in the Reformed Churches of Calvin's Plat-form are agitated no less fiercely by the Dominicans on the one side the Iesuits and Franciscans on the other side in the Church of Rome the Calvinists holding with the Dominicans as the Arminians do with the Iesuit and Franciscan Friars And therefore why any such compliance with the Dominicans the principal Sticklers and Promoters in the Inquisition should not be looked on as a Back-door to bring in Popery as well as a Compliance in the same Points with the other two Orders is beyond my reach With which I shut up my Discourse touching the Counsels and Designs which were then on foot and conclude this year The next begins with a Parliament and Convocation the one Assembled on the thirteenth the other on the fourteenth of April In Calling Parliaments the King directs his Writs or Letters severally to the Peers and Prelates requiring them to attend in Parliament to be holden by the Advice of his Privy Council at a certain Time and Place appointed and there to give their Counsel in some great and weighty Affairs touching himself the safety of the Realm and the defence of the Church of England A Clause being
processerint did in the ministration of the Sacraments bestir themselves in a white Vesture so he advers Pelag Lib. 2. with which compare St. Chrysostom in his 83 Homily on St. Matthews Gospel for the Eastern Churches And hereunto the Cope was added in some principal Churches especially in the Celebration of the Blessed Eucharist Both which appear most evidently by the first Liturgy of K. Edw. 6. compared with one of the last clauses of the Act of Parliament 1 Eliz. c. 2. in which it is provided that such ornaments of the Church and of the Ministers shall be retained and be in use as were in the Church of England by Authority of Parliament in the second year of the Reign of King Edw. vi But this Vesturâ having been discontinued I know not by what fatal negligence many years together it pleased the Bishops and Clergy in the Convocation Anno 1603. to pass a Canon to this purpose viz. That in Cathedral and Collegiate Churches the Holy Communion shall be administred upon principal Feast dayes sometimes by the Bishops c. and that the principal Minister using a decent Cope c. Canon 24. 9. In that part of Divine Service which concerns the offering of the peoples Prayers to Almighty God it was required of the Priest or Presbyter first that in all the dayes and times appointed he used the Prayers prescribed in the publick Liturgy according to the Act of Parliament 1 Eliz. c. 2. and many subsequent Canons and Constitutions made in that behalf Secondly That he conformed himself to those Rites and Ceremonies which were prescribed in that Book and unto such as should be afterwards ordained by the Queens Majesty with the advice of her Commissioners appointed and authorized under the great Seal of England for causes Ecclesiastical or of the Metropolitan of this Realm as may be most for the advancement of Gods Glory the edifying of his Church and the due reverence of Christs Holy Mysteries and Sacraments And thirdly and more particularly That in his reading of the Prayers and Psalms he turn his face toward the East and toward the People in the reading of the Lessons or Chapters as appears plainly by the Rubrick which directs him thus That after the reading of the Psalms the Priest shall read two Lessons distinctly that the people may hear the Priest that reads the two Lessons standing and turning himself so as he may best be heard of all such as be present The Psalms or Hymns to be indifferently said or sung at the will of the Minister but the Hymns for the most part sung with Organs and sometimes with other Musical Instruments both in the Royal Chappels and Cathedral Churches Fourthly That he makes use of no other Prayers in the Congregation and therefore neither before nor after Sermon then those which are prescribed in the said Book of Common Prayer it being specially provided in the Act aforesaid that no Priest nor Minister shall use any other Rite Ceremony Order Form or manner of Celebrating the Lords Supper openly or privately or Mattens Evening Song Administration of the Sacraments or other open Prayers that is to say such Prayers as are meant for others to come unto or hear either in common Churches or private Chappels c. then is mentioned or set forth in the same Book Fifthly That all Priests and Deacons shall be bound to say daily the Morning and Evening Prayer either privately or openly except they be lett by Preaching studying of Divinity or some other urgent cause And sixthly That the Curate that ministreth in every Parish Church or Chappel being at home and not being otherwise reasonably letted shall say the same in the Parish Church or Chappel where he ministreth and shall toll a Bell thereto at convenient time before he begin that such as arâ disposed may come to hear Gods Word and pray with him so as in some cases it may be said of the Priest as the Father doth of Christ that he is Os ipsum per quod loquimur The very mouth by which we speak unto our Father which is in Heaven And though it be intended in the Act of Parliament and exprest in the Articles of Religion that the Prayers are to be made in such a tongue as may be understood of the common people yet it is not meant as is declared in the Preface to the Book it self but that when men say Morning and Evening Prayers privately they may say the same in any language that they themselves understand Nor was it meant but that the Morning and Evening Service might be used in the Colledges and Halls of either University in the Latine tongue where all may be supposed to understand it as appears clearly by the constant and continual practise of Christ-Church in Oxon in which the first Morning Prayers commonly read about six of the Clock were in Latine the Morning and Evening Service with the Psalms of David being printed in Latine by themselves for that end and purpose 10. As for the Preaching of the Word that belongs properly and originally as the performance of all other Divine Offices did of old to the Bishops themselves as being the ordinary Pastors of the several and respective Diocesses and to the Priests no otherwise then by deputation as Curates and substitutes to the Bishops as may be proved out of the Instrument of their Institution For when a Clerk is to be admitted into any Benefice he puts himself upon his knees and the Bishop laying one Hand upon his Head and having the Instrument in the other repeats these words viz. Te N. N. ad Rectoriam de N. Ritè Canonicè instituimus curam regimen animarum Parochianorum ibidem tibi in Domino committentes committimus per presentes that is to say that he doth institute him into the said Benefice according to the Laws and Canons committing to him by these presents the care and Government of the Souls of all the Parishioners therein And therefore it concerns the Bishop not to Licence any man to Preach to the Congregation of whose good affections to the Publick abilities in Learning sobriety of Life and Conversation and conformity to the Government Discipline and form of Worship here by Law established he hath not very good assurance For though the Priest or Presbyter by his Ordination hath Authority to preach the word of God in the Congregation yet it is with this clause of Limitation If he shall be so appointed that is to say sufficiently Licenced thereunto and not otherwise And none were Licenced heretofore as was expresly ordered in the injunctons of Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth but either by the Bishop of the Diocess who is to answer by the Law for every Minister he admits into the same for that Diocess only or by the Metropolitan of the Province for that Province alone or finally by either of the Universities upon the well performing of some publick exercise over all the Kingdom Considering therefore
offend The Restitution of which godly Discipline though they much desired yet finding that the times were not like to bear it they contented themselves with prescribing a form of Commination to be observed upon that day containing a recital of Gods Curses thundered out against impenitent Sinners to be publickly read out of the Pulpit by the Priest or Presbyter subjoyning thereunto one of the Penitential Psalms with certain Prayers which had been used in the Formularies of the times foregoing and then proceeding to the Epistle and Gospel with the rest of the Communion Service appointed for the first day of Lent in the publick Liturgy As for the other sort of Penance there was not any thing more frequent in the practice of the Church and the dispensation of the Keyes then the imposing of it by the Bishops and their Officers upon Adulterers Fornicators and such as otherwise have given scandal by their irregular course of life or by their obstinate inconformity to the Rites and Ceremonies here by Law establisht upon performance of which Penance in the face of the Church or in the way of Commutation for the use of the poor they were to have the benefit of Absolution and consequently be restored to the peace and bosom of the Church And though there be no form prescribed in our Liturgy for the reconciling of a Penitent after the performance of his Penance which I have many times wondered at yet so much care was taken in the Convocation of the year 1640. that no Absolution should be given but by the Bishop himself in person or by some other in Holy Orders having Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction or by some grave Minister being a Master of Arts at the least and Beneficed within the Diocess to be appointed by the Bishop the same to be performed in the open Consistory or some Church or Chappel the Penitent humbly craving and taking it upon his knees Can. 13. Which was as much as could be done in that point of time 14. Such being the duty of the Priest we shall next look upon the place and times in which they are to be performed the place of publick Worship they call generally according to the style of the ancient Fathers by the name of the Church For consecrating or setting apart whereof to Religious uses I finde so great authority in the Primitive times as will sufficiently free it from the guilt of Popery Witness the testimony which Pope Pius gives of his Sister Eutorepia in an Epistle to Iustus Viennensis Anno 158. or thereabouts for setting apart her own House for the use and service of the Church Witness the testimony which Metaphrastes gives of Felix the first touching his Consecrating of the house of Cicilia about the year 272. And that which Damasus gives unto Marcellinus who succeeded Felix for consecrating the house of Lucinia for Religious uses witness the famous consecration of the Temple of the Holy Martyrs in Ierusalem founded by Constantine the Great at which almost all the Bishops in the Eastern parts were summoned and called together by the Emperors Writ and finally not to descend to the following times witness the 89th Sermon of St. Ambrose entituled De Dedicatione Basilicae Preached at the Dedication of a Church built by Vitalianus and Majanus and the invitation of Paulinus another Bishop of that Age made by Sulpitius Severus his especial Friend Ad Basilicam quae pro rexerat in nomine Domini consummabitur dedicandum to be present at the Dedication of a Church of his foundation which Dedications as they were solemnized with Feastings for entertainment of the company which resorted to them so were those Feasts perpetuated in succeeding Ages by an annual Repetition or Remembrance of them such annual Dedication-Feasts being called in England Wakes or Revels and in some places only Feasts according the style and phrase of their several Countries I must confess that there occurs no form of such Consecration in our English Liturgies those times were more inclinable to the pulling down of old Churches then building of new witness the demolition of so many Hospitals Chanteries and Free Chappels in the unfortunate minority of King Edward vi But when the times were better settled and that new Churches began to be erected and the old ones to be repaired some Bishops made a Form of Consecrating to be used by themselves on such occasions And others followed a Form composed by Bishop Andrews a man as much averse as any from the Corruptions and Superstitions of the Church of Rome But if the Convocation of the Year 1640. had not been so precipitated to a speedy conclusion by the tumults of unruly people it is probable if not certain that a Canon had been passed for digesting an uniform order of such Consecrations as there was made a body of Visitation-Articles for the publick use of all that exercised Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction which every Bishop and Arch-Deacon had before fashioned for themselves 15. Next to the Consecration of Churches follows in course the necessary repair and adorning of them not only required by several Canons and Injunctions of Queen Elizabeths time the Canons of the Year 1603. and some Rubricks in the Book of Common-Prayer but also by some Homilies which were made of purpose to excite the people thereunto that is to say the Homilies of the right use of the Church for repairing and keeping clean the Church and of the time and place of Prayer The question is whether the use of painted Images on the Walls or Windows were tolerated or forbidden by the Rule of the Reformation They which conceive them to have been forbidden by the Rules of the Church alledge for defence of their opinion the Queens injunction published in the first year of her Reign Anno 1559. the Articles of the Regal Visitation following thereupon and the main scope of the three Homilies against the peril of Idolatry In the first of which it was ordered first That to the intent that all Superstition and Hypocrisie crept into divers mens hearts might vanish away no Ecclesiastical persons should set forth or extol the Dignity of any Images Reliques or Miracles but declaring the abuse of the same they shall teach that all goodness health and grace ought to be both asked and looked for only of God as the very author and giver of the same and of none other Num. 2. And secondly That they shall take away utterly extinct and destroy all Shrines coverings of Shrines all Tables Candlesticks Trindals and Rolls of Wax Pictures Paintings and all other Monuments of fained Miracles Pilgrimages Idolatry and Superstition so that there remain no memory of the same in Walls Glass-Windows or elsewhere within their Churches and Houses preserving and repairing nevertheless both the Walls and Glass-Windows and that they should exhort all their Parishioners to do the like within their several Houses Num. 23. For which last there follows afterwards a more special Injunction Numb 35. According whereunto this Article was
1571. by the power and prevalency of some of the Genevian Faction the Articles were reprinted and this Clause left out But the times bettering and the Governors of the Church taking just notice of the danger which lay lurking under that omission there was care taken that the said clause should be restored unto its place in all following impressions of that Book as it hath ever since continued Nor was this part of the Article a matter of speculation only and not reducible to practice or if reducible to practice not fit to be enforced upon such as gain-said the same For in the 34. Article it is thus declared That whosoever through his private judgement willingly and purposely doth openly break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church which be not repugnant unto the word of God and be ordained and approved by common Authority ought to be rebuked openly that others may fear to do the like as he that offendeth against the common order of the Church and hurteth the the Authority of the Magistrate and woundeth the Consciences of the weak Brethren More power then this as the See of Rome did never challenge so less then this was not reserved unto it self by the Church of England And as for the Authority of the Church in controversies of Faith the very Articles by which they declared that power seconded by the rest of the points which are there determined is a sufficient Argument that they used and exercised that power which was there declared And because some objection had been made both by the Papists and those of the Genevian party that a Papal power was granted as at first to King Henry viii under the name of Supream Head so afterwards to Queen Elizabeth and her Successors it was thought expedient by the Church to stop that clamour at the first and thereupon it was declared in the Convocation of the Prelates and Clergy who make the representative Body of the Church of England in the 37. Article of the year 1562. That whereas they had attributed to the Queens Majesty the chief Government of all the Estates of this Realm whether Ecclesiastical or Civil in all cases they did not give unto their Princes the ministring either of Gods Word or of the Sacraments but that only Prerogative which was known to have been given alwayes to all godly Princes in Holy Scripture by God himself that is to say that they should rule all Estates and Degrees committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal and restrain with the Civil Sword the stubborn and evil doers Less Power then this as good Subjects could not give unto their King so more then this hath there not been exercised or desired by the Kings of England Such power as was by God vouchsafed to the godly Kings and Princes in Holy Scripture may serve abundantly to satisfie even the unlimited desires of the mightiest Monarch were they as boundless as the Popes 22. Next to the point of the Supremacy esteemed the Principal Article of Religion in the Church of Rome primus praecipuus Romanensis fidei Articulus as is affirmed in the History of the Council of Trent the most material differences betwixt them and us relate to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and the natural efficacy of good works in which the differences betwixt them and the first Reformers seem to be at the greatest though even in those they came as near to them as might stand with Piety The Sacrament of the Lords Supper they called the Sacrament of the Altar as appears plainly by the Statute 1 Edward vi entituled An Act against such as speak unreverently against the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ commonly called the Sacrament of the ALTAR For which consult the Body of the Act it self Or secondly by Bishop Ridley one of the chief Compilers of the Common-Prayer-Book who doth not only call it the Sacrament of the Altar affirming thus that in the Sacrament of the Altar is the natural Body and Blood of Christ c. But in his Reply to an Argument of the Bishop of Lincoln's taken out of St. Cyril he doth resolve it thus viz. The word Altar in the Scripture signifieth as well the Altar whereon the Jews were wont to oder their Burnt Sacrifice as the Table of the Lords Supper and that St. Cyril meaneth by this word Altar not the Iewish Altar but the Table of the Lord c. Acts and Mon. part 3. p. 492. and 497. Thirdly By Bishop Latimer his fellow Martyr who plainly grants That the Lords Table may be called an Altar and that the Doctors called it so in many places though there be no propitiatory Sacrifice but only Christ part 2. p. 85. Fourthly By the several affirmations of Iohn Lambert and Iohn Philpot two Learned and Religious men whereof the one suffered death for Religion under Henry viii the other in the fiery time of Queen Mary This Sacrament being called by both the Sacrament of the Altar in their several times for which consult the Acts and Monuments commonly called the Book of Martyrs And that this Sacrament might the longer preserve that name and the Lords Supper be administred with the more solemnity it was ordained in the Injunctions of Queen Elizabeth no Altar should be taken down but by the over-sight of the Curate of the Church and the Church-Wardens or one of them at least and that the Holy Table in every Church be decently made and set up in the place where the Altar stood and there commonly covered as thereto belongeth It is besides declared in the Book of Orders Anno 1561. published about two years after the said Injunction That in the place where the Steps were the Communion Table should stand and that there shall be fixed on the Wall over the Communion Board the Tables of Gods Precepts imprinted for the same purpose The like occurs in the Advertisements published by the Metropolitan and others the High Commissioners 1565. In which it is ordered That the Parish shall provide a decent Table standing on a frame for the Communion Table which they shall decently cover with a Carpet of Silk or other decent covering and with a white Linâen Cloath in the time of the administration and shall set the Ten Commandments upon the East-Wall over the said Table All which being laid together amounts to this that the Communion-Table was to stand above the steps and under the Commandments therefore all along the Wall on which the Ten Commandments were appointed to be placed which was directly where the Altar had stood before Now that the Holy Table in what posture soever it be plac't should not be thought unuseful at all other times but only at the time of the Ministration it was appointed by the Church in its first Reformation that the Communion-Service commonly called the Second Service upon all Sundayes and Holy-dayes should be read only at the Holy Table For first in the last
Suffrage of the Right Learned Bishop Bilson who lived the greatest part of his time with the said Mr. Nowel by whom we are told in his Book of True Subject c. p. 779. And he tells it with a God forbid that we deny not That the Flesh and Blood of Christ are truly present and truly received of the faithful at the Lords Table 26. A clear explication of which Doctrine was made in the beginning of the Reign of King Iames by whose appointment with the consent of the Metropolitan some of the Bishops and other learned men of the Clergy it was ordered in the Conference at Hampton Court that the Doctrine of the Sacraments should be added to the Authorized Catechism of the Church where before it was not in which addition to the Catechism it is said expresly That the Body and Blood of Christ are verily and indeed taken of the Faithful in the Lords Supper Verily and indeed saith the English Book Vere reipsa or Vere realiter saith the Latine Translations by which the Church doth teach us to understand that Christ is truly and really present though after a spiritual manner in that Blessed Sacrament And that this was the Churches meaning will be made apparent by the Testimony of some of the most learned men which have written since two of which I shall here produce that out of the mouths of two such Witnesses the truth hereof may be established The first of these shall be the most eminent Bishop Andrews a contemporary of the said Bishop Bilson who in his answer unto Cardinal Bellarmine thus declares himself Presentiam credimus non minus quam vos veram deinde presentiae nil temere definimus We acknowledge saith he a presence as true and real as you do but we determine nothing rashly of the manner of it The second shall be Bishop Morton as great an enemy to the Errors and Superstitions of the Church of Rome as any that ever wrote against it who could not but be sixty years of age at the death of Bishop Andrews and he affirms expresly That the question betwixt us and the Papists is not concerning a Real Presence which the Protestants as their own Jesuites witness do also profess Fortunatus a Protestant holding that Christ is in the Sacrament most Really Verissime Realissime as his words are By which it seems it is agreed on on both sides that is to say the Church of England and the Church of Rome that there is a true and real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist the disagreement being only in the modus presentiae 27. The like Dispute is also raised de modo descensus touching the manner and extent of Christs Descending into Hell which the Papists will have to be only partial and to extend no farther then to the upper Region of that infernal Habitation called by them commonly Limbus Patrum The Calvinists will have it to be only figurative no descent at all and they are sub-divided into three opinions Calvin himself interprets it of our Saviours Sufferings on the Cross in which he underwent all those torments even to Desperation which the damned do endure in Hell Many of the Calvinian party understand nothing by Christs Descent into Hell but his Descending into the Grave and then his descending into Hell will be the same with his being buried Which Tautology in such a short summary of the Christian Faith cannot be easily admitted And therefore the late Lord Primate of Ireland not liking either of their opinions will finde a new way by himself in which I cannot say what leaders he had but I am sure he hath had many followers And he by Christs descending into Hell will haue nothing else to be understood but his continuing in the State of Separation between the Body and the Soul his remaining under the power of death during the time that he lay buried in the Grave which is no more in effect though it differ somewhat in the terms then to say he dyed and was buried and rose not again till the third day as the Creed instructs us and then we are but where we were with the other Calvinists But on the contrary the Church of England doth maintain a Local Descent that is to say That the Soul of Christ at such time as his Body lay in the Grave did Locally Descend into the neathermost parts in which the Devil and his Angels are reserved in everlasting Chains of Darkness unto the Judgment of the great and terrible Day And this appears to be the meaning of the first Reformers by giving this Article a distinct place by its self both in the Book of Articles published in the time of King Edward vi Anno 1552. and in the Book agreed upon in the Convocation of the 5. of Queen Elizabeth 1564. in both which it is said expresly in the self-same words viz. As Christ dyed for us and was buried so also is it to be believed that he went down into Hell which is either to be understood of a Local Descent or else we are tyed to believe nothing by it but what explicitely or implicitely is comprehended in the former Article in which there is particular mention of Christs Sufferings Crucifying Death and Burial Now that this is the Churches meaning cannot be better manifested then in the words of Mr. Alexander Nowel before-mentioned who for the reasons before remembred cannot in reason be supposed to be ignorant of the true sense and meaning of the Church in that particular and he accordingly in his Catechism publickly allowed of with reference to a Local Descent doth declare it thus viz. Vt Christus corpore in terrae viscera ita anima corpore separata ad inferos descendit c. that is As Christ descended in his Body into the bowels of the earth so in his Soul separated from that Body he descended also into Hell by means whereof the power and efficacy of his Death was not made known only to the dead but to the Devils themselves insomuch that both the souls of the unbelievers did sensibly perceive that condemnation which was most justly due to them for their incredulity and Satan himself the Prince of Devils did as plainly see that his tyranny and all the powers of darkness were opprest ruined and destroyed Which Doctrine when it began to be decryed and the Calvinian Gloss to get ground upon it was learnedly asserted by Dr. Thomas Bilson then Bishop of Winchester in his Book entituled A Survey of Christs Sufferings in which he hath amassed together whatsoever the Fathers Greek and Latine or any of the ancient Writers have affirmed of this Article with all the points and branches which depend upon it 28. The Sufferings of Christ represented in the Blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper with some of the effects thereof by his descending into Hell being thus dispatched we shall next look into that of Baptisme in which we shall consider the necessity
understood no otherwise then as it is before laid down appears by this Gloss of Bishop Hooper on that Text of St. Iohn viz. No man cometh to me except my Father draw him chap. 6.44 Many saith he understand the words in a wrong sense as if God required no more in a reasonable man than in a dead post and marke not the words which follow Every man that heareth and learneth of my Father cometh to me God draweth with his word and the Holy Ghost but mans duty is to hear and learn that is to say to receive the grace offered consent to the promise and not repugn the God that calleth The like occurs in Bishop Latimers Sermon on the Sunday commonly called Septuagesima in which we find That seeing the preaching of the Gospel is universal it appeareth that God would have all mankinde saved and that the fault is not in him if they be damned for it is written thus Deus vult omnes homines salvos fieri God would have all men be saved but we are so wicked of our selves that we refuse the same and will not take notice when it is offered to us It cannot be denyed but that the same Doctrine is maintained by the Arminians as they call them and that it is the very same with that of the Church of Rome as appears by the Council of Trent cap. De fructu justificationis merito bonorum operum Can. 3.4 But then it must be granted also that it is the Doctrine of the Melanctonian Divines or Moderate Lutherans as was confessed by Andreas vega one of the chief sticklers in the Council of Trent who on the agitating of the point did confess ingenuously that there was no difference betwixt the Lutherans and that Church touching that particular And then it must be granted also that it was the Doctrine of St. Augustine according to that divine saying of his Sine gratia Dei praeveniente ut volimus subsequente ne frustra volimus ad pietatis opera nil valemus so that if the Church of England must be Arminian and the Arminians must be Papist because they agree together in this particular the Melanctonian Divines among the Protestants yea and St. Augustine himself must be Papist also 37. Such being the freedom of the will in laying or not laying hold upon those means which are offered by Almighty God for our Salvation ãâã cannot be denyed but that there is a freedom also of the will in standing unto Grace received or departing from it Certain I am that it is so resolved by the Church of England in the 16th Article for Confession in which it is declared That after we have received the Holy Ghost we may depart from Grace given and fall into sin and by the grace of God we may arise again and amend our lives which is the very same with that of the 14th Article in King Edward's Book of the year 1557. where plainly the Church teacheth a possibility of falling or departing from the grace of the Holy Ghost which is given unto us and that our rising again and the amending of our lives upon such a rising is a matter of contingency only and no way necessary on Gods part to assure us of Conform to which we finde Bishop Hooper thus discoursing in the said Preface to his exposition of the Ten Commandments The cause of Rejection or Damnation saith he is sin in man which will not hear neither receive the promise of the Gospel or else after he hath received it by accustomed doing of ill falleth either into a contempt of the Gospel and will not study to live thereafter or else hateth the Gospel because it condemneth his ungodly life And we finde Bishop Latimer discoursing thus in his eighth Sermon in Lincolnshire Those persons saith he that be not come yet to Christ or if they were come to Christ be fallen again from him and so lost their Iustification as there be many of us when we fall willingly into sin against Conscience we lose the favour of God our Salvation and finally the Holy Ghost And before c. 6. thus But you will say saith he How shall I know that I am in the Book of Life How shall I try my self to be the Elect of God to everlasting life I answer First We may know that we may be one time in the Book and another time come out again as it appeareth by David who was written in the Book of Life but when he sinned he at that time was out of the Book of the favour of God until he repented and was sorry for his faults so that we may be in the Book one time and afterwards when we forget God and his Word and do wickedly we come out of the Book that is out of Christ who is the Book Which makes the point so clear and evident on the Churches part that when it was moved by Doctor Reynolds at Hampton-Court that the words Nec tolaliter nec finaliter might be added into the Clause of that Article the motion was generally rejected and the Article left standing in the same terms in which it then stood By which we may the better judge of some strange expressions amongst the most Rigid sort of the Contra-Remonstrants especially of that of Roger Dontelock by whom it is affirmed that if it were possible for any one man to commit all the sins over again which have been acted in the world it would neither frustrate his Election nor alienate him from the love and favour of Almighty God for which consult the Appendix to the Presseor Declaratio Sententiae Remonstrantium Printed at Leyden Anno 1616. 38. Such is the Doctrine of this Church and such the Judgement of those Reverend Bishops and right godly Martyrs in the Predestinarian Controversies before remembred And though I have insisted on those two alone yet in theirs I include the Judgement of Cranmer Ridley and the rest of those learned men who laboured in the great work of the Reformation Some difference there had been betwixt Cranmer and Ridley on the one side and Hooper only on the other in matter of Ceremony in which Hooper at the last submitted to the other two But in all the Doctrinal truths of their Religion there was a full consent between them which appears plainly in this passage of a Letter sent from Ridley to Hooper when they were both prisoners for the same cause though in several places But now my dear Brother saith he for as much as I understand by your works which I have but superâicially seen that we throughly agree and wholly consent together in those things which are the grounds and substantial points of our Religion against which the world so rageth in these our dayes Howsoever in times past in certain by-matters and circumstances of Religion your Wisdom and my simplicity I grant have a little jarred each of us following the aboundance of his own sense and Iudgement Now I say be you
assured that even with my whole heart God is my witness in the Bowels of Christ I love you in truth and for truths sake which abideth in us and I am perswaded by the Grace of God shall abide in us for evermore Acts and Mon. in Edw. vi fol. 1366. Now as Bishop Ridley thus declares himself to be of the same Judgement with Bishop Hooper so Cranmer the Archbishop doth declare himself to be of the same Judgement with Bishop Ridley for being charged in his examination with thinking otherwise in the point of the Sacrament then he had done about seven or eight years before he answereth That he then believed otherwise than he did at that present and that he did so till the Lord of London Dr. Ridley did confer with him and by sundry perswasions and Authorities of other Doctors drew him quite from his opinion with whom he now agreed ibid fol. 1702. Which words though spoken only in relation to such points about the Sacrament of the Altar concerning which he was then examined by the Popes Commissioners yet do they signifie withal that he relyed very much on Ridleys Judgement and that they were as like to be accorded in all other matters of Religion as they were in that And though Cranmer exercised his Pen for the most part against the Papists yet in his Book against Steven Gardiner Concerning the Sacrament of Christs Body and Blood first published in the year 1551. he thus delivereth his opinion in the present Controversies For speaking of the Sacrifice which was made by Christ he lets us know That he took unto himself not only their sins that many years before were dead and put their trust in him but also all the sins of those that until his coming again should truly believe his Gospel so that now we may look for no other Priest nor Sacrifice to take away our sins but only him and his Sacrifice that as he dying once was offered for all so as much as pertained unto him he took all mens sins unto himself fol. 372. Which is as much as could be looked for from a man who did not purposely apply himself to the points in question Finally it were worth the learning to know why the Paraphrases of Erasmus a man of a known difference in Judgement from Calvins Doctrines in these points should be translated into English by the care of our Prelates and being so translated should be commended both by King Edward vi and Queen ELizabeth to the diligent reading of their Subjects of all conditions which certainly they had not done if they had not been thereunto perswaded by those Bishops and other learned men about them who had a principal hand in âhe Reformation which clearly shews how much as well the Priest as the people were to ascribe unto the Judgement of that learned man and consequently how little unto that of Calvin in the present Controversies 39. So near this Church comes up unto the Church of Rome in Government forms of Worship and some points of Controversie And some there are in which they totally disagreed and stood in opposition unto one another viz. In the Articles touching the sufficiency of the Scripture Iustification the merit of good Works Works done before Iustification Works of Supererogation the Fallibility or Infallibility of the Church of Rome the Authority of General Councils Purgatory Adoration of Images Invocation of Saints the Celebrating of Divine Service in the vulgar tongues the nature and number of the Sacraments Transubstantiation the Communion in both kindes the Sacrifice of the Mass the single life of Priests the power of National Churches in ordaining Ceremonies and of the Civil Magistrate in matters of Ecclesiastical nature In many of which it might be found no difficult matter to atone the differences whensoever it shall please God to commit the managing of them to moderate and prudent men who prefer truth before opinion and peace before the prevalency of their several parties But whether it be so in all is a harder question and will remain a question to the end of the world unless all parties lay aside their private interest and conscienciously resolve to yield as much to one another as may stand with Piety And then what reason can there be why the breaches in the walls of Ierusalem should not be made up and being made up why Ierusalem should not be restored to its former Honour of being a City at unity within it self The hopes of which may be the greater because there are so many points so far forth as they stand comprised in the Book of Articles in which the first Reformers were so far from being at any difference with the Church of Rome that they did rather joyn with them in opposing the common enemy Familists Libertines Anti-Trinitarians Anabaptists and other Hereticks of that age who seemed to dig at the foundation of the Christian Faith and aim at the subversion of humane Society Of which sort are the Articles of the Holy Trinity the Incarnation of the Son of God the Divinity of the Holy Ghost of the Old Testament of the three Creeds of Original Sin of the Authority of the Church of ministring in the Congregation of hindring the effect of the Sacraments by unworthy Ministers of Infant Baptism and the Traditions of the Church of the Consecration of Bishops and Ministers of the Authority of the Civil Magistrate in making Wars and punishing Malefactors with Temporal Death of the community of Goods and the exacting of an Oath to finde out the truth Of most of which it may be said in St. Augustines language His qui contra dicit aut a Christi fide alie nus est aut est Hereticus that he who shall deny to give his assent unto them is either an alien from the Faith or at least an Heretick 40. And then there are some other things which are not comprehended in those Articles in which though there were differences between them in point of Judgement yet the Reformers thought not fit to determine of them positively upon either side but left them to the liberty of opinion to be disputed Pro and Con amongst learned men according as their understandings fancy or affections should dispose them to it some points there are of Phylological and others of Scholastical Divinity in which there is Libertas opinandi a liberty of opinion left unto us de quibus sentire quâe velis quae sentias loqui liceat in the words of Tacitus In thâse and such as these St. Paul himself seems to leave a latitude when he gives way Vt quilibet Abundet in suo sensu Rom. 14.5 that is to say Let every man abound in his own sense as the Rhemists read it especially If he be fully perswaded in his own minde touching the truth of what he writes as our last Translation Which liberty as some have taken in closing with the Papists in some particulars which are not contrary to the Faith and
having lived sometimes in one of our English Seminaries beyond the Seas declared himself as profest a Papist and as eager in the pursuit of that way as any other whatsoever But being regained unto this Church by his Brother William who lost himself in the encounter he thought he could not sufficiently express his detestation of the errors and corruptions in the Church of Rome but by running to the other extream and making himself considerable amongst the Puritans On which account as he became very gracious to Sir Francis Walsingham so was he quickly made the Spiritual Head of the Puritan Faction in which capacity he managed their business for them in the Conference at Hampton Court Anno 1603. where he appeared the principal if not only Speaker the other three that is to say Spark Chadderton and Knewstubs serving no otherwise than as Mutes and Cyphers to make up the mess. By the power and practices of these men the disposition of those times and the long continuance of the Earl of Leicester the principal Patron of that Faction in the place of Chancellor the face of that University was so much altered that there was little to be seen in it of the Church of England according to the Principles and Positions upon which it was at first Reformed All the Calvinian Rigors in matters of Predestination and the Points depending thereupon received as the Established Doctrines of the Church of England the necessity of the one Sacrament the eminent dignity of the other and the powerful efficacy of both unto mans salvation not only disputed but denyed the Article of Christs local descent into hell so positively asserted in two Convocations Anno 1552. and 1562. at first corrupted with false Glosses afterwards openly contradicted and at last totally disclaimed because repugnant to the Fancies of some Forreign Divines though they at odds amongst themselves in the meaning of it Episcopacy maintained by halves not as a distinct Order from that of the Presbyters but only a degree above them or perhaps not that for fear of giving scandal to the Churches of Calvins Platform the Church of Rome inveighed against as the Whore of Babylon or the Mother of Abominations the Pope as publickly maintained to be Antichrist or the Man of Sin and that as positively and magisterially as if it had been one of the chief Articles of the Christian Faith and then for fear of having any good thoughts for either the visibility of the Church must be no otherwise maintained than by looking for it in the scattered Conventicles of the Berengarians in Italy the Albigenses in France the Huffites in Bohemia and the Wickliffists among our selves Nor was there any greater care taken for the Forms and Orders of this Church than there had been for points of Doctrine the Surplice so disused in officiating the Divine Service of the Church and the Divine Service of the Church so slubbered over in most of the Colledges that the Prelates and Clergy assembled in Convocation Anno 1603. were necessitated to frame two Canons that is to say Can. 16 17. to bring them back again to the ancient practise particularly the bowing at the Name of IESVS commanded by the Injunctions of Queen Elizabeth Anno 1559. and used in most Churches of the Kingdom so much neglected and decryed that Airy Provost of Queens Colledge writ a Tract against it the Habits of the Priests by which they were to be distinguished from other men not only by the Queens Injunctions but also by some following Canons made in Convocation so much despised and laid aside that Doctor Reynolds had the confidence to appear in the Conference at Hampton Court in his Turky Gown and therefore may be thought to have worn no other in the University And in a word the Books of Calvin made the Rule by which all men were to square their Writings his only word like the ipse dixit of Pythagoras admitted for the sole Canon to which they were to frame and conform their Judgments and in comparison of whom the Ancient Fathers of the Church men of Renown and the Glories of their several Times must be held contemptible and to offend against this Canon or to break this Rule esteemed a more unpardonable Crime than to violate the Apostles Canons or dispute the Doctrines and Determinations of any of the four first general Councels so as it might have proved more safe for any man in such a general deviation from the Rules and Dictates of this Church to have been look'd upon as an Heathen or Publican than an Anti-Calvinist But Laud was of a stronger Metal than to give up himself so tamely and being forged and hammered on a better Anvil would not be wrought on by the times or captivate his Understanding to the Names of Men how great soever they appeared in the eyes of others Nor would he run precipitately into common Opinions for common Opinions many times are but common Errors as Calderinus is reported to have gone to Mass because he would not break company with the rest of his friends His Studies in Divinity he had founded on the Holy Scriptures according to the Glosses and Interpretations of the ancient Fathers for doing which he had the countenance and direction of a Canon made in Convocation Anno 1571. by which it was appointed That in interpreting the Scriptures they were to raise no other Doctrines from them than what had been collected thence from the ancient Fathers and other godly Bishops of the Primitive times And laying to this Line the establish'd Doctrines and Determinations of the Church of England it was no hard matter to him to discern how much the Church had deviated from her self or most men rather from the Church in those latter times how palpably the Articles had been wrested from the Literal and Gramatical sence to fit them to the sence of particular persons how a different construction had been put upon them from that which was the true and genuine meaning of the men that framed them and the Authority which confirmed them and finally that it would be a work of much glory but of much more merit to bring her back again to her native Principles But then withal it was as easie to discern how desperate an attempt it must needs appear for a single man unseconded and not well befriended to oppose himself against an Army how vain a thing to strive against so strong a stream and cross the current of the times that the disease by long neglect was grown so natural and habitual that more mischief might be feared from the Medicine than from the Malady that he must needs expose himself to many Censures and Reproaches and possibly to some danger also by the undertaking But these last considerations being weighed in the Scale of the Sanctuary appeared so light that he was resolved to try his fortune in the work and to leave the issue thereof unto God by whom Paul's planting
and Apollo's watering do receive increase For being thus resolved upon the point it was not long before he had an opportunity to set it forwards He had before attained unto an high esteem for Arts and Oratory and was conceived to have made so good a proficiency in the Studies of Divinity also that in the year 1602. he was admitted to read the Lecture of Mrs. May's Foundation with the general liking of that Colledge With the like general consent and approbation he was chosen out of all the rest of that Society to be a Candidate for the Proctorship in the University into which Office he was chosen on the fourth of May 1603. which was as soon as he was capable of it by the University Statutes which Office he discharged with great applause as to himself and general satisfaction unto others Doctor George Abbot Master of Vniversity Colledge who afterwards attained to the See of Canterbury was at that time Vice-chancellor of the University whom with the rest of the Doctors and Heads of Houses he accompanied to Woodstock Manor to present themselves and tender their most humble service to the most Mighty Prince King Iames succeeding on the 24th of March before to the Crown of England And in this year it was but whether in reading of the Lecture of Mrs. May's Foundation or some other Chappel Exercise I am not able to say he maintained the constant and perpetual visibility of the Church of Christ derived from the Apostles to the Church of Rome continued in that Church as in others of the East and South till the Reformation Dr. Abbot Master of Vniversity Colledg and Vice-chancellor was of a different opinion and could not finde any such visibility of the Christian Church but by tracing it as well as he could from the Berengarians to the Albigenses from the Albigenses to the Wickliffists from the Wickliffists unto the Hussites and from the Hussites unto Luther and Calvin for proof whereof we may consult a Book of his entituled The Visibility of the Church published in those busie Times when this impertinent Question viz. Where Was your Church before Luther was as impertinently insisted on by the Priests and Jesuites This being his opinion also when he lived in Oxon he thought it a great derogation to his Parts and Credit that any man should dare to maintain the contrary and thereupon conceived a strong grudge against him which no tract of time could either abolish or diminish In the next year viz. 1604. he peformed his Exercise for Batchelor of Divinity in which he maintained these two Points First The necessity of Baptism Secondly That there could be no true Church without Diocesan Bishops For which last he was shrewdly ratled by Doctor Holland above-mentioned as one that did endeavour to cast a bone of Discord betwixt the Church of England and the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas and for the first it was objected That he had taken the greatest part of his Supposition out of Bellarmines Works as if the Doctrine of the Incarnation of the Son of God or any necessary Truths were to be renounced because they are defended by that Learned Cardinal But misfortunes seldom come alone if at the least it may be counted a misfortune to be reproach'd for standing up in defence of truth For not long after viz. Anno 1606. he was questioned by Dr. Airy being Vice-chancellor for that year for a Sermon preached in St. Maries Church on the 26th of October as containing in it sundry scandalous and Popish passages the good man taking all things to be matter of Popery which were not held forth unto him in Calvins Institutes conceiving that there was as much Idolatry in bowing at the Name of IESVS as in worshipping the brasen Serpent and as undoubtedly believing that Antichrist was begotten on the Whore of Babylon as that Pharez and Zara were begotten on the body of Tamar Which advantage being taken by Doctor Abbot he so violently persecuted the poor man and so openly branded him for a Papist or at least very Popishly enclined that it was almost made an Heresie as I have heard from his own mouth for any one to be seen in his company and a misprision of Heresie to give him a civil Salutation as he walked the Streets But there will one day come a time when Doctor Abbot may be made more sensible of these Oppressions when he shall see this poor despised man standing upon the higher ground and more above him in respect of Power than beneath in Place So unsafe a thing it is for them that be in Authority to abuse their Power and carry matters on to the last extremities as if they had Fortune in a string and could be sure to lead her with them whithersoever they went This scandal being raised at Oxon it was not long before it flew to Cambridge also at what time Mr. Ioseph Hall who died Bishop of Norwich about the year 1657. was exercising his Pen in the way of Epistles in one of which inscribed to Mr. W. L. the two first Letters of his Name it was generally supposed that he aimed at him and was this that followeth I would saith he I knew where to finde you then I could tell how to take direct aims whereas now I must pore and conjecture To day you are in the Tents of the Romanists to morrow in ours the next day between both against both Our Adversaries think you ours we theirs your Conscience findes you with both and neither I flatter you not This of yours is the worst of all tempers Heat and Cold have their uses Lukewarmness is good for nothing but to trouble the stomack Those that are spiritually hot find acceptation those that are stark cold have a lesser reckoning the mean between both is so much worse as it comes neerer to good and attains it not How long will you halt in this indifferency Resolve one way and know at last what you do hold what you should Cast off either your wings or your teeth and loathing this Bat-like Nature be either a Bird or a Beast To die wavering and uncertain your self will grant fearful If you must settle when begin you If you must begin why not now It is dangerous deferring that whose want is deadly and whose opportunity is doubtful God cryeth with Iehu Who is on my side who Look at last out of your window to him and in a resolute courage cast down the Iezebel that hath bewitched you Is there any impediment which delay will abate Is there any which a just answer cannot remove If you had rather waver who can settle you But if you love not inconstancy tell us why you stagger Be plain or else you will never be firm c. But notwithstanding these false bruits and this smart Epistle Doctor Buckridge who had been his Tutor and from whom he received his Principles had better assurance of his unfeigned sincerity in the true
above mentioned to the Bishop of Lincoln and in that Letter he desired his Lordship having first moved that the High Commission would be pleased to take some speedy order in it to let him have his lawful assistance to the end that so long as he did nothing but what was established and practised in the Church of England he might not be brought into contempt by turbulent Spirits at his first entrance on that place and so be disinabled to do that good service which he owed to the Church of Christ withall propounding to his Lordship that if it stood with his good liking his Majesty might be made acquainted with the first success of his endeavors for reforming such things as he found most amiss in that Church c. Whilst these things were thus agitated in the Reformation of the Church of Glocester there were other Actings in the Court touching the Reformation of some things in the Vniversity of Oxon. Laud had before informed the Bishop of Lincoln concerning the course usage which he had from Dr. Abbot as before was said Which being represented to his Majesty it was withall insinuated to him what dangers would proceed by the training up of young Students in the Grounds of Calvinism if some directions were not issued from his Majesty for the course of their studies that there was no readier way to advance the Presbyterial Government in this Kingdom than by suffering young Scholars to be seasoned with Calvinian Doctrines that it was very hard to say whether of the two either the Puritan or the Papist were more destructive of Monarchical Government and finally that for want of subscription to the three Articles contained in the 36. Canon not only Lecturers but divers other Preachers in and about the University positively maintained such points of Doctrine as were not maintained or allowed by the Church of England Which matter his Majesty having taken into consideration by the advice of such Bishops and others of the Clergy as were then about him upon the eighteenth of Ianuary he dispatcht these Directions following to the Vice Chancellor the Heads of Colledges and Halls the two Professors and the two Proctors of the University to be carefully and speedily put in execution JAMES REX 1. That it was his Majesties pleasure that he would have all that take any degree in Schools to subscribe to the three Articles in the 36th Canon 2. That no Preacher be allowed to preach in the Town but such as are every way conformable both by subscription and every other way 3. That all Students do resort to the Sermons in St. Maries and be restrained from going to any other Church in the time of St. Maries Sermons and that provision be made that the Sermons in St. Maries be diligently made and performed both before-noon and afternoon 4. That the ordinary Divinity Act be constantly kept with three Replicants 5. That there be a greater Restraint of Schollars haunting Town-houses especially in the night 6. That all Scholars both at the Chappels and at the Schools keep their Scholastical Habits 7. That young Students in Divinity be directed to study such books as be most agreeable in Doctrine and Discipline to the Church of England and encited to bestow their times in the Fathers and Councils School-men Histories and Controversies and not to insist too long upon Compendiums and Abreviatures making them the Grounds of their study in Divinity 8. That no man either in Pulpit or Schools be suffered to maintain Dogmatically any point of Doctrine that is not allowed by the Church of England 9. That Mr. Vice-Chancellor and the two Professors or two of the Heads of Houses do at such time as his Majesty resorts into those parts wait upon his Majesty and give his Majesty a just account how these his Majesties Instructions are observed 10. Let no man presume of what condition or degree soever not to yield his obedience to these his Majesty Directions lest he incur such censures as the Statutes of this Vniversity may justly inflict upon such transgressors This was the first step toward the suppressing of that Reputation which Calvin and his Writings had attained unto in that University and a good step it might have been if Dr Goodwin Dean of Christ Church who was then Vice-Chancellor had not been Father-in-law to Prideaux or rather if Prideaux himself had approved the Articles or that Dr. Benfield of Corpus Christi the other Professor for Divinity a grave but sedentary man had been active in it But howsoever being published though it went no farther it gave such a general Alarm to the Puritan Faction that the terrour of it could not be forgotten in 20. years after Certain I am that in the year 1636. it was charged by H. Burton of Fryday-street for an Innovation one of the many Innovations introduced by Laud and others of the Prelatical party to subvert Religion But leaving them to the folly of their own affrightments let us look back unto the King who being confident that he had left the University in a ready way for coming to an Vnity in matters of Doctrine prepared for his Journey into Scotland with a like confidence of effecting an Vniformity in Forms of Worship A matter of consequence and weight and therefore to be managed by able Ministers such as knew how to winde and turn the Presbyterians of that Kingdom if matters should proceed to a Disputation The known Abilities of Laud mark'd him out for one which though it were like to bring a great Charge upon him yet he preferred the Reputation before the Charge and chearfully embrac'd the Service Nor was it more welcom unto him than grateful to the Bishop of Lincoln assured thereby not only of a trusty Friend but of a sociable Companion for that tedious Journey His Majesty having filled up the List of his Attendants on the 14th day of March began his Journey accompanied by the Queen and Prince as far as Theobalds and from thence went forward with his Train before appointed By the way he called in at the City of Lincoln where it is not to be doubted but that the Bishop gave him as magnificent an Entertainment as the Place and Country would afford And from this place it was that he dated his Instructions of the 14th of April to the Lord Iohn Digby then going Embassador into Spain to Treat upon and Conclude a Marriage between Prince Charles and the Infanta Maria the Second Daughter of that King one of which Articles was to this effect That the Espousals being made in Spain according to the Order of the Councel of Trent the Marriage should be solemnized in England where there should be such a Solemnization as by the Laws of this Realm should make the Marriage valid and take away all scruple touching the Legitimation of the Issue Which temperament seems to me to have very much in it of Laud's hand and spirit In the beginning of May 1617. his Majesty was come as far
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 Exchâquer 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 âury 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
their own distaste or smoothing up of those idle fancies which in this blessed time of so long a Peace doth boil in the brains of an unadvised People That many of their Sermons were full of rude and undecent railings not only against the Doctrines but even against the persons of Papists and Puritans And finally that the People never being instructed in the Catechism and fundamental Grounds of Religion for all these aiery novellisms which they received from such Preachers were but like new table-Table-books ready to be filled up either with the Manuals and Catechisms of the Popish Priests or the Papers and Pamphlets of Anabaptists Brownists and other Puritans His Majesty thereupon taking the Premises into his Princely Consideration which had been represented to him by sundry grave and reverend Prelates of this Church thought it expedient to cause some certain Limitations and Cautions concerning Preachers and Preaching to be carefully digested and drawn up in Writing Which done so done as Laud appears to have a hand in the doing of it and being very well approved by the King he caused them to be directed to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York by them to be communicated to the Bishops of their several Provinces and by those Bishops to be put in execution in their several Diocesses Which Directions bearing date of the fourth of August 1622. being the 20th year of his Majesties Reign I have thought convenient to subjoin and are these that follow viz. I. That no Preacher under the Degree and Calling of a Bishop or Dean of a Cathedral or Collegiate Church and they upon the Kings days only and set Festivals do take occasion by the Expounding of any Text of Scripture whatsoever to fall into any set course or common place otherwise than by opening the coherence and division of his Text which shall not be comprehended and warranted in essence substance effect or natural inference within some one of the Articles of Religion set forth 1562. or in some one of the Homilies set forth by Authority in the Church of England not only for a help of non-preaching but withal as a pattern as it were for the Preaching Ministers and for their further instruction for the performance thereof that they forthwith read over and peruse diligently the said Book of Articles and the two Books of Homilies II. That no Parson Vicar Curate or Lecturer shall Preach any Sermon or Collation hereafter upon Sundays and Holy-days in the Afternoons in any Cathedral or Parish Church throughout this Kingdom but upon some part of the Catechism or some Text taken âut of the Creed or Commandments or the Lords Prayer Funeral Sermons only excepted and that those Preachers be most encouraged and approved of who spend their Afternoons Exercise in the Examination of Children in their Catechisms which is the most ancient and laudable Custom of Teaching in the Church of England III. That no Preacher of what Title soever under the degree of a Bishop or Dean at the least do from henceforth presume to Preach in any popular Auditory the deep Points of Predestination Election Reprobation or of the universality efficacity resistibility or irresistibility of Gods Grace but rather leave those Themes to be handled by Learned Men and that modestly and moderately by Vse and Application rather than by way of positive Doctrine as being fitter for Schools and Vniversities than for simple Auditories IV. That no Preacher of what Title or Denomination soever shall presume from henceforth in any Auditory within this Kingdom to declare limit or bound out by way of positive Doctrine in any Lecture or Sermon the Power Prerogative Iurisdiction Authority or Duty of Sovereign Princes or therein meddle with matters of State and reference between Princes and People than as they are instructed in the Homily of Obedience and in the rest of the Homilies and Articles of Religion set forth as before is mentioned by Publick Authority but rather confine themselves wholly to these two Heads of Faith and Good Life which are all the subject of the ancient Sermons and Homilies V. That no Preacher of what Title or Denomination soever shall causelesly and without any invitation from the Text fall into any bitter Invectives and undecent railing Speeches against the Papists or Puritans but wisely and gravely when they are occasioned thereunto by the Text of Scripture free both the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England from the aspersions of either adversary especially when the Auditory is suspected to be tainted with the one or the other infection VI. Lastly That the Archbishops and Bishops of the Kingdom whom his Majesty hath good cause to blame for their former remisseness be more wary and choice in Licencing of Preachers and Verbal Grants made to any Chancellor Officiall or Commissary to pass Licence in this Kingdom And that all the Lecturers throughout the Kingdom a new body severed from the ancient Clergy of England as being neither Parson Vicar or Curate be licensed henceforward in the Court of Faculties only upon recommendation of the party from the Bishop of the Diocess under his hand and seal with a Fiat from the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury and a confirmation under the Great Seal of England and that such as transgress any of his directions be suspended by the Bishop of the Diocess or in his default by the Lord Archbishop of that Province Ab officio beneficio for a year and a day untill his Majesty by the advice of the next Convocation prescribe for some further punishment No sooner were these Instructions published but strange it was to hear the several descants and discourses which were made upon them How much they were misreported amongst the People and misinterpreted in themselves those very men who saw no just reason to condemn the Action being howsoever sure to misconstrue the end For though they were so discreetly ordered that no good and godly man could otherwise than acknowledge that they tended very much to Edification Yet such Interpretations were put upon them as neither could consist with his Majesties meaning nor the true sense of the Expressions therein used By some it was given out that those Instructions did tend to the restraint of Preaching at the lest as to some necessary and material points by others that they did abate the number of Sermons by which the People were to be instructed in the Christian Faith by all the Preachers of that Party that they did but open a gap for Ignorance and Superstition to break in by degrees upon the People Which coming to his Majesties Ears it brought him under the necessity of making an Apology for himself and his actions in it And to this end having summed up the reasons which induced him to it he required the Archbishop of Canterbury to communicate them to his Brother of York by both to be imparted to their several Suffragans the inferiour Clergy and to all others whosoever whom it might concern which notwithstanding it
That there was no design in the King or Prince or in any of the Court or Court-Bishops of what name soever to alter the Religion here by Law established or that the Prince was posted into Spain of purpose that he might be perverted or debauched from it But the best is that he which gave the Wound hath made the Plaister and such a Plaister as may assuredly heal the Sore without troubling any other Chyrurgeon It is affirmed by him who published the Breviate of our Bishops Life That he was not only privy to this Journey of the Prince and Buckingham into Spain but that the Journey was purposely plotted to pervert him in his Religion and reconcile him to Rome And this he makes apparent by the following Prayer found amongst others in the Bishops Manual of Devotions than which there can be nothing more repugnant to the Propositions âor proof of which it is so luckily produced Now the said Prayer ãâã thus verbatim viz. O Most merciful God and gracious Father the Prince hath put himself to a great Adventure I humbly beseech thee make clear the way before him give thine Angels charge over him be with him thy self in Mercy Power and Protection in every step of his Iourney in every moment of his Time in every Consultation and Address for Action till thou bring him back with Safety Honour and Contentment to do thee service in this place Bless his most truly and faithful Servant the Lord Duke of Buckingham that he may be diligent in Service provident in Business wise and happy in Counsel for the honour of thy Name the good of the Church the preservation of the Prince the contentment of the King the satisfaction of the State Preserve him I humbly beseech thee from all Envy that attends him and bless him that his eyes may see the Prince safely delivered to the King and State and after it to live long in happiness to do thee and them service through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen And with this Prayer so plainly destructive of the purpose for which it was published I shut up the Transactions of this present year We will begin the next with the dismission of the Archbishop of Spalato a man defamed by the Italians at his coming hither and as much reproached by the English at his going hence His name was Marcus Antonius de Dominis Archbishop of Spalato in Fact and Primate of Dalmatia in Title Such anciently and of right those Archbishops were till the Bishop of Venice being made a Patriarch by Pope Eugenius the Fourth Anno 1450. assumed that Title to himself together with a Superintendency over all the Churches of that Country as subordinate to him He had been long conversant with the Fathers and Ancient Councils By this Light he discerned the Darkness of the Church of Rome and the blind Title which the Popes had for their Supremacy Inclining to the Protestant Religion he began to fear that his own Country would prove too hot for him at the last and therefore after he had sate in the See of Spalato about fourteen years he quitted his Preferments there and betook himself for Sanctuary to the Church of England Anno 1616. Extremely honoured at his first coming by all sorts of people entertained in both Universities with solemn Speeches presented complemented feasted by the great Lords about the Court the Bishops and some principal Persons about the City Happy was he that could be honoured with his Company and satisfied with beholding his comely presence though they understood not his Discourses Commended by King Iames at first for a constant Sojourner and Guest to Archbishop Abbot in whose Chappel at Lambeth he assisted at the Consecration of some English Bishops Made afterwards by the King the Master of the Savoy and Dean of Windsor and by himself made Rector of West-Illesby in the County of Berks A Revenue not so great as to bring him under the suspicion of coming hither out of Covetousness for the sake of filthy Lucre nor so contemptible but that he might have lived plentifully and contentedly on it During his stay here he published his learned and elaborate Book entituled De Republica Ecclesiastica never yet answered by the Papists and perhaps unanswerable He had given great trouble to the Pope by his defection from that Church and no small countenance to the Doctrine of the Protestant Churches by his coming over unto ours The foundring of so great a Pillar seemed to prognosticate that the Fabrick of that Church was not like to stand And yet he gave greater blows to them by his Pen than by the defection of his person the wound so given being conceived to be incurable In these respects those of that Church bestirred themselves to disgrace his person devising many other causes by which he might be moved or forced to forsake those parts wherein he durst no longer tarry but finding little credit given to their libellous Pamphlets they began to work upon him by more secret practises insinuating That he had neither that Respect nor those Advancements which might encourage him to stay That the new Pope Gregory the Fifteenth was his special Friend That he might chuse his own Preferments and make his own Conditions if he would return And on the other side they cunningly wrought him out of credit with King Iames by the Arts of Gundamore Embassadour at that time from the King of Spain and lessened his esteem amongst the Clergy by some other Artifices So that the poor man being in a manner lost on both sides was forced to a necessity of swallowing that accursed bait by which he was hooked over to his own destruction For having sollicited King Iames by several Letters the last of them bearing date on the third of February to licence his departure home he was by the King disdainfully turned over to the High-Commission or rather to a special Commission directed to Archbishop Abbot the Lord Keeper Lincoln the Bishops of London Durham and Winchester with certain of the Lords of the Privy Council These Lords assembling at Lambeth on the 30th of March and having first heard all his Excuses and Defences commanded him to depart the Realm within twenty days or otherwise to expect such punishment as by the Laws of the Land might be laid upon him for holding Intelligence by Letters Messages c. with the Popes of Rome To this Sentence he sorrowfully submitted protesting openly That he would never speak reproachfully of the Church of England the Articles whereof he acknowledged to be sound and profitable and none of them to be Heretical as appears by a Book entituled SPALATO's Shiftings in Religion published as it was conceived by Laud's especial Friend the Lord Bishop of Durham How well or rather how ill he performed this promise and what became of him after his return to Rome is not now my business The man is banished out of England and my History leads me next into Spain not Italy The
it were an error Thus soundly ratled he departs and acquaints the Duke with the success for fear some ill offices might be otherwise done him to the King and Prince So miserable was the case of the poorer Clergy in living under such an High Priest who though he was subject to the same infirmity was altogether insensible of those heavy pressures which were laid upon them It being his Felicity but their unhappiness that he was never Parson Vicar nor Curate and therefore the less careful or compassionate of their hard condition Before the rising of this Parliament which was on the twenty ninth of May came out a book of Dr. Whites entituled A Reply to Iesuite Fishers Answer to certain Questions propounded by his most Gracious Majesty King IAMES The occasion this His Majesty being present at the second Conference betwixt White and Fisher beforementioned observed in his deep Judgment how cunning and subtle the Jesuite was in eluding such Arguments as were brought against him and of how little strength in particular questions he was when he came to the confirmation of his own Tenets And thereupon it pleased him to have nine Questions of Controversie propounded to the Jesuite that he might in writing manifest the Grounds and Arguments whereupon the Popish Faith in those Points were builded Now the nine Points were these that follow 1. Praying to Images 2. Prayings and Oblations to the blessed Virgin Mary 3. Worshipping and Invocation of Saints and Angels 4. The Lyturgie and private Prayers for the Ignorant in an unknown tongue 5. Repetition of Pater-nosters Aves and Creeds especially affixing a kind of merit to the number of them 6. The Doctrine of Transubstantiation 7. Communion under one kind and the abetting of it by Concomitancy 8. Works of Supererogation especially with reference to the treasure of the Church 9. The opinion of Deposing Kings and giving away their Kingdoms by Papal power whether directly or indirectly To these nine Questions the Jesuite returned a close and well-wrought Answer the unraveling whereof was by the King committed to this Dr. White for his encouragement and reward made one of his Majesties Chaplains in Ordinary and Dean of Carlile This book being finished at the Press about the beginning of April and forthwith published to others was very welcom to most moderate and learned men the rather in regard that the third of those Conferences which was that between Laud and Fisher was subjoyned to it Concerning which the Reader may please to call to mind that this Conference had been digested and read over to the King in the Christmas Holidaies as before is said But why it staid so long before it was published why published in the name of R. B. Mr. Richard Bayly afterwards President of St. Iohn Colledgs and Dean of Sarisbury being at that time one of his Chaplains and not in his own and finally why it came not out not as a distinct book of it self but as an Appendix unto Whites himself is better able to tell us than any other and he tells it thus The cause saith he why the discourse upon this Conference staid so long before it could endure to be pressed It was neither my Idleness nor my unwillingness to right both my self and the cause against the Iesuite which occasioned this delay For I had then most Honourable Witnesses and have some yet living that this discourse was finished long before I could perswade my self to let it come into publick view And this was caused partly by reason there was about the same time three Conferences held with Fisher of which this was the third and could not therefore conveniently come abroad into the world till the two former were ready to lead the way which till now they were not And this is in part the reason also why this Tract crept into the end of a larger work For since that work contained in a manner the substance of all that passed in the two former Conferences and that this third in divers points concurred with them and depended on them I could not think it Substantive enough to stand alone But besides this affinity between the Conferences I was willing to have it pass as silently as it might at the end of another work and so perhaps little to be looked after because I could not hold it worthy nor can I yet of that great duty and service which I owe to my dear mother tââ Church of England As for the Reasons why it was published iâ the name of R. B. Chaplain to the Bishop rather than his own it neither was his own desire though the Breviate telleth us that it was nor for fear of being ingaged thereby against his friends the Papists as is there affirmed His Reasons whatever they were were proposed by others and approved by Authority by which it was thought fit that it should be set out in his Chaplains name and not his own To which he readily submitted But of this Conference we shall speak further when we come to the defence and engagements of it Anno 1637. The seasonable publishing of these two Books did much conduce to the advancement of his Majesties Service The Commons at that time had been hammering a sharp Remonstrance against the Papists as if there were no enemies of the Religion here established to be feared but they In the Preface to which Petition they took notice of so many dangers threatned both to the Church and State by the power and practises of the Papist as if the King had took no care to preserve the one or suppress the other Which Petition being brought to the House of Lords was there so abbreviated that the Preamble was quite left out and the many branches of it reduced to two particulars First That all Laws and Statutes formerly made against Jesuites Seminary Priests and other Popish Recusants might from thenceforth be put into execution Secondly That he would engage himself by his Royal Word that upon no occasion of Marriage or Treaty or other request in that behalf c. he would slaken the execution of the Laws against them Which Petition being presented to his Majesty by a Committee of both Houses on the tenth of April after some deliberation he returned this Answer to it viz. That the Laws against Iesuites and Popish Recusants should be put into due execution from thenceforth c. And it appeared by the coming out of these said two Books within few daies after that as his Majesty had granted them their desires in causing the said Laws against Priests and Jesuites to be duly executed so he had taken special care not only to preserve Religion in her Purity by confuting the most material Doctrines of the Church of Rome but to preserve his people also from being seduced by the practises of the Priests and Jesuites Which notwithstanding the Commons remaining still unsatisfied betook themselves to the framing of another Petition in which it was desired that all such
book he found that besides some few Doctrines which properly and truly did belong to the Church of England there were crouded into it all Points of Calvinism such Heterodoxies and out-landish Fancies as the Church of England never owned And therefore in his Answer to that Popish Gagger he severed or discriminated the opinions of particular men from the Authorized Doctrines of this Church leaving the one to be maintained by their private Fautors and only defending and maintaining the other And certainly had he not been a man of a mighty Spirit and one that easily could contemn the cry and clamours which were raised against him for so doing he could not but have sunk remedilesly under the burden of disgrace and the fears of Ruine which that performance drew upon him This Book came out about the latter end of December and coming out made such a general amazement amongst those of the Calvinian Party that they began to fear the sad consequents of it The opening of this secret was of such importance that if the Author and his Book were not speedily crushed they must no longer shroud their private opinions under the name of the received Doctrine of the Church of England excluded from that Sanctuary they could find no place of strength and saâety in which they should not be exposed to assaults and dangers And that the Author and the Book might be crusht together it was thought fit that Yates and Ward two of the Lecturers or Preachers in Ipswich should gather out of his Book some especial Points tending to Popery and Arminianism as they conceived to be presented to the Censure of the following Parliament Having got a Copy of the Information intended to be made against him he flies for refuge to King Iames now grown more moderate and since the death of Mountague the late Bishop of Winton into a better liking of those opinions which he had laboured to condemn at the Synod of Dort His Majesty knew the man and his great abilities and was well pleased with his performance against the History of Tithes where he had beaten the then thought matchless Selden at his own weapon and shewed himself the greater Philologer of the two Upon which ground he looked upon him as the fittest man to encounter Baronius against whom the right learned Casanbon had some preparatory velitations before his death but made no further progress in it Mountague flying to King Iames as before is said had presently his discharge or quietus est as to his Majesties good opinion both of him and the book it self And more than so his Majesty took notice that the Information was divulged and the Clamor violent and therefore gave him leave to make an Appeal from the said Defamers unto his own mosâ Sacred Cognizance in publick and to represent his just defence against their slanders and false surmises unto the world And that the queaziness of the times might the better brook it he gave express order unto Dr. White then Dean of Carlile cried up when Lecturer of St. Pauls for the stoutesâ Champion of this Church against those of Rome for the authorizing and publishing thereof which was done accordingly This Book he entituled by the name of APPELLO CAESAREM or a just APPEAL from two unjust INFORMERS But the King dying before it was finished at the Press it was presented to King Charles in the first entrance of his Reign and there we shall be sure to hear further of it In the mean time it may not be unnecessary to enquire what the said Informers Yates and Ward might and did mean by Popery and Arminianism with which two crimes they charged the Answer to the Gagger And first we find upon due search That by Popery they understood all such Points of Doctrine as being determined by this Church hold some correspondence and agreement with the Doctrines of the Church of Rome or being not determined by this Church are left at liberty for every man to please himself in his own opinion how hear soever he may come to such compliance Of the first sort they reckoned for points of Popery The Doctrine of the Perpetual Visibility of the Church of Christ The Local Descent of Christ into Hell The Lawfulness of Images Signing with the Sign of the Cross Confession and Sacerdotal Absolution The Real Presence The Reward of Good Works The Sacrament of Orders quarrelling even with very words Sacrifice Altar and the like All which upon a perfect Examination will be found to be the genuine Doctrines and to speak nothing but the Language of the Church of England as we have punctually discovered in our Introduction Amongst the last I reckon the Disputes concerning Evangelical Counsels Antichrist and Limbus Patrum of which the Church of Englând hath determined nothing and therefore the Appellant was left at liberty to follow his own Judgment and to chuse what guides he pleased to direct his Judgment in those particular Debates Yet such was the temper of those Times that whosoever held any of the Points aforesaid or any other controverted with the Church of Rome contrary to the sense of Calvin must presently be accused of Popery He that adhered unto the Tendries of the Ancient Fathers in such particulars as the Church was pleased to leave undetermined or bound himself in matters publickly resolved on to vindicate this Church to her genuine Tenents was presently made Subject to all those Clamors and Reproaches which the Tongues and Pens of that Predominating Faction could either raise upon him or asperse him with Laud had found good experience of it when he lived in Oxon. and so had Houson and Corbet too as before was noted But none of them were able to break through those difficulties till Mountague took the Work in hand who being well back'd and having the Ice somewhat broke before him waded with confidence and courage through the middest of those Waters which otherwise might have overwhelmed the most tried Adventurer In the next place it will be no hard work to finde what they meant by Arminianism under which name they comprehend the Melancthonian Doctrine of Predestination The Vniversal Redemption of Mankind by the Death of Christ The cooperation of the Will of Man with the Grace of God and The Possibility of falling from Grace received All which appear by plain and evident proofs in our said Introduction to have been the true original and native Doctrines of this Church at her first Reformation But Calvinism had so overspread the face of this Church by Humphries long sitting in the Chair at Oxon. and the discountenancing of Peter Baro at Cambridge that the natural Doctrines and Determinations of it were either so forgotten that they were not known or else so overpowred that none durst undertake to own them And so it stood till thâ breaking out of the Predestinarian Quarrels in the Belgick Churches between Arminius and his Followers on the one side and the Rigid Calvinians on the other
the Parliament and Convocation were admitted to the kiss of her hand whom she most graciously received For on the Saturday before being Iune the eighteenth the Parliament had took beginning Which fell out not unseasonably that the French Lords might see with what Royal Magnificence he was attended by the Prelates Peers and other Officers of State besides his own Domestick Servants to the Parliament House At their first meeting he put them in mind of the War in which they had engaged his Father and of the promise they had made to stand to him in it with their lives and fortunes That both his Land and Sea Forces were now in readiness to set forwards And That there wanted nothing but a present supply of money to quicken and expedite the affaire That the eyes of all Christendom were fixt upon him And that if he should miscarry in his first attempt it would blemish all the honour of his future actions And therefore That they should endeavour to deliver him out of that War in which they had incumbred he hoped it would never be said that they had betrayed him In answer whereunto the Commons past a Bill of two Subsidies only so short of that excessive charge which the maintenance of so great a Fleet and Army required at their hands that being distributed amongst the Officers Souldiers and Mariners it would scarce have served for Advance-money to send them going Which notwithstanding he very graciously accepted of it taking it as an earnest of their good affections in reference to the greater Sums which were to follow In order whereunto he audited his account unto them as well for such moneys as had remained undisbursed of the former aides as for the defraying of such further Charges as his present Fleet consisting of 120 Sail and a considerable Land Army must needs lay upon him The particulars of which account stood thus viz. 32000 pounds for securing of Ireland 47000 pounds for strengthning the Forts 37000 pounds for the repair of the Navy 99000 pounds upon the four English Regiments in the States Country 62000 pounds laid out for Count Mansfield Totall 287000 pounds Besides which he sent in a demand of 200000 pounds and upwards upon the Navy 48000 pounds upon the Ordnance 45000 pounds in Charges of the Land men 20000 pounds a month to Count Mansfield and 46000 pounds to bring down the King of Denmarke the totall of which latter Sum amounts to 339000 pounds Both Sums make no less than 626000 pounds to which the Grant of two Subsidies holds but small proportion But the Commons had other game to follow Their Grievances must first be heard A List whereof they had presented to King IAMES toward the end of the former Parliament of which the greatest part were still unredressed To these his Majesty vouchsafed a very gracious and for the most part a full and satisfactory Answer Amongst which Grievances a sober and discreet man would not think to find that the building of all houses in London and the parts adjoyning in one uniform way with a face of brick toward the streets should be passed for one then which there could not be a greater ornament to that City or a greater honour to his Majesties Government And to that his Majesty returned this Answer That there had much good come by such a reformation of Building in his Fathers time and therefore that he was resolved to go on with the work Which Resolution so much tending to the glory of the English Nation and no objection being ready for his other Answers the matter of Grievances could no longer be insisted on especially in such a time when the concernments of the State his Majesties honour and all the motives which induced them to ingage him in this present War ought in all reason to precede their Grievances had they been greater than they were But then they had some Religious Grievances which required a more speedy redress than any which concerned them in their Civil Interesses The Lords day was pretended to be much profaned by unlawful pastimes and People frequently resorted out of their own Parishes to feast in Revels Of this a remedy is desired by Act of Parliament Had any such Bill been offered in King Iames his time it would have found a sorry welcome but this King being under a necessity of compliance with them resolved to grant them their desires in that Particular to the end that they might grant his also in the aide required when that obstruction was removed The Sabbatarians took the benefit of this opportunity for the obtaining of this grant the first that ever they obtained by all their struglings which of what consequence it was we shall see hereafter But then the Doctrine of the Church was more in danger than ever In former Parliaments they were afraid of the Papists only But now there was as much danger to be feared from Arminianism as before from Popery An Information had been made by Yales and Ward as before is said against some passages in Mountagues Answer to the Romish Gagger and he had agravated his offence by justifying all his Popish and Arminian Tenents in a book newly published called Appello Caesarem It could not be denied but that this book was Licenced by Dr. White then Dean of Carlile by whom it was affirmed to be agreeable to the Publick Faith Doctrine and Discipline established in the Church of England But White they said was now turned black and what is the Established Doctrine of the Church of England compared with Calvins Doctrine in his Institutions What Trifles are the Articles of Religion agreed on by the Bishops and Clergy in two several Synods held in London compared with the determinations of the Synod of Dort which Mountague that bold man had despised and vilified This was a matter which became the care of the House of Commons and Mountague is cited to appear before them on the seventh of Iuly Being brought unto the Bar the Speaker declared to him the pleasure of the House which was that they would refer his Censure to the next meeting and that in the interim he should stand committed to the Serjeants Ward and entred baile for his appearance to the value of two thousand pound His Majesty had present notice of this occurrence And being very sensible of this new incroachment he thereupon caused intimation to be made unto them that he was not pleased with their proceedings against Mountague being one of his Chaplains adding withall that he conceived his Servants to be as capable of protection from all imprisonments and arrests as any of the Servants of the Knights and Burgesses It was not long before Laud found an opportunity to give Mountague notice of his Majesties great care of him and affection to him Which must needs be a Soveraign Cordial to the man notwithstanding that the Commons were so stiff in their Rigors toward him that his bail-bond of 2000 pound did remain uncancelled Notice
hereof being given to Laud he considered of the sad effects and consequents which might follow on it communicating those his fears to some other Bishops By whom it was thought fit that Mountagues case and not his only but the case of the Church it self should be commended to the care and power of the Duke of of Buckingham According unto which Advice and Resolution three of them framed and signed the ensuing Letter But before this Letter was delivered Mountague had taken so much care of himself as to prepare his way by a Letter of his own bearing date Iuly 29. In which Letter he first laid open the state of his case desiring that by his Majesties Power he might be absolutely freed from those who had neither any Authority over his person as being one of his Majesties Servants nor over his Book as being commanded by his Father and authorized by himself Which being said he makes this resolute declaration That if he could not really and throughly answer whatsoever was or could be imputed to him in any of his Books he would no further desire favour and protection of his Majesty or his Grace but willingly would be left unto the power of his Enemies Which Letter being sent before to prepare the way this of the said three Bishops followed within four daies after May it please your Grace WE are bold to be Suitors to you in the behalf of the Church of England and a poor Member of it Mr. Mountague at this time not a little distressed We are not strangers to his person but it is the Cause which we are bound to be tender of The cause we conceive under correction of better Iudgment concerns the Church of England nearly for that Church when it was reformed from the superstitious opinions broached or maintained by the Church of Rome refused the apparent and dangerous Errors and would not be too busie with every particular School-Point The Cause why she held this mederation was because she could not be able to preserve any unity among Christians if men were forced to subscribe to curious particulars disputed in Schools Now may it please your Grace the opinions which at this time trouble many men in the late Book of Mr. Mountague are some of them such as are expresly the resolved Doctrine of the Church of England and those he is bound to maintain Some of them are such as are fit only for Schools and to be left at more liberty for learned men to abound in their own sense so they keep themselves peaceable and distract not the Church And therefore to make any Man subscribe to School-opinions may justly seem hard in the Church of Christ and was one great fault of the Council of Trent And to affright them from those opinions in which they have as they are bound subscribed to the Church as it is worse in it self so may it be the Mother of greater danger May it please your Grace farther to consider That when the Clergie submitted themselves in the time of Henry the Eighth the submission was so made that if any difference Doctrinal or other fell in the Church the King and the Bishops were to be Iudges of it in the National Synod or Convâcation the King first giving leave under his Broad Seal to handle the Points in difference But the Church never submitted to aây other Iudge neither indeed can she though she would And we humbly desire your Grace to consider and then to move his most Gracious Majesty if you shall think fit what dangerous consequences may follow upân it For first if any other Iudge be allowed in matter of Doctrine we shall depart from the Ordinance of Christ and the continual Course and Practice of the Church Secondly If the Church be once brought down beneath her self we cannot but fear what may be the next stroke at it Thirdly It will some way touch the honour of his Majesties dear Father and our most Dread Soveraign of glorious and ever blessed memory King James who saw and approved all the opinions of this Book And he in his rare Wisdom and Iudgment would never have allowed them if they had crossed with truth and the Church of England Fourthly We must be bold to say that we cannot conceive what use there can be of Civil Government in the Commonwealth or of Preaching or External Ministry in the Church if such fatall opinions as some which are opposite and contrary to these delivered by Mr. Mountague are shall be publikely taught and maintained Fifthly We are certain that all or most of the contrary opinions were treated of at Lambeth and ready to be published but then Queen Elizabeth of famous memory upon notice given how little they agreed with the Practice of Piety and obedience to all Government caused them to be suppressed and so they have continued ever since till of late some of them have received countenance at the Synod of Dort Now this was a Synod of that Nation and can be of no Authority in any other National Church till it be received there by publick Authority And our hope is That the Church of England will be well advised and more than once over before she admit a foraign Synod especially of such a Church as condemneth her Discipline and manner of Government to say no more And further we are bold to commend to yâur graces Wisdom this one particular His Majesty as we have been informed hath already taken this business into his own care and most worthily referred it in a right course tâ Church consideration And we well hoped that without further trouble to the State or breach of unity in the Church it might so have been well and orderly composed as we still pray it may These things considered we have little to say for Mr. Mountagues person only thus much we know He is a very good Scholar and a right honest man A man every way able to do God his Majesty and the Church of England great service We fear he may receive discouragement and which is far worse we have some cause to doubt this may breed a great backwardness in able men to write in defence of the Church of England against either home or foraign Adversaries if they shall see him sink in Fortunes Reputation or health upon occasion of his Book And this we most humbly submit to your Graces Iudgment and care of the Churches peace and welfare So commending your Grace to the Protection of Almighty God We shall ever rest at Your Graces Service Io. Rossens Io. Oxân Guil. Meneven August 2. 1625. After this no more news of Montague in the present Parliament Adjourned by his Majesty on the eleventh of Iuly by reason of the Plague to Oxân there to be reassembled on the first of August Which time being come his Majesty puts them again in mind of his pressing occasions acquaints them with the necessity of setting out the Fleet then ready for Service That the eyes of
with the sins of the State But then he will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel Gen. 49. Nay scatter Iacob and Israel it self for them Which said in general he descended to a more particular application putting his Auditory in mind of those words of Tacitus That nothing gave the Romans powerful enemies though they were more advantage against the ancient Britains than this Quod Factionibus studiis trahebantur That they were broken into Factions and would not so much as take counsel and advice together And they smarted for it But I pray what is the difference for men not to meet in counsel and to fall to pieces when they meet If the first were our Fore-fathers errour God of his mercy grant this second be not ours And for the Church that is as the City too just so Doctrine and Discipline are the Walls and the Towers of it But be the one never so true and the other never so perfect they come both short of Preservation if that body be not at unity in it self The Church take it Catholick cannot stand well if it be not compacted together into an holy unity with Faith and Charity And as the whole Church is in regard of the affairs of Christendom so is each particular Church in the Nation and Kingdom in which it sojourns If it be not at unity in it self it doth but invite Malice which is ready to do hurt without any invitation and it ever lies with an open side to the devil and all his batteries So both Church and State then happy and never till then when they are at unity within themselves and one with another Well both State and Church owe much to Vnity and therefore very little to them that break the peace of either Father forgive them they know not what they do But if unity be so necessary how may it be preserved in both How I will tell you Would you keep the State in Vnity In any case take heed of breaking the peace of the Church The peace of the State depends much upon it For divide Christ in the minds of men or divide the minds of men about their hopes of Salvation in Christ and tell me what unity there will be Let this suffice so far as the Church is an ingredient into the unity of the State But what other things are concurring to the unity of it the State it self knows better than I can teach This was good Doctrine out of doubt The Preacher had done his part in it but the hearers did not the Parliament not making such use of it as they should have done At such time as the former Parliament was adjourned to Oxon the Divinity School was prepared for the House of Commons and a Chair made for the Speaker in or near the place in which his Majesties Professor for Divinity did usually read his publick Lectures and moderate in all publick Disputations And this first put them into conceit that the determining of all Points and Controversies in Religion did belong to them As Vibius Rufus in the Story having married Tullies Widow and bought Caesars Chair conceived that he was then in a way to gain the Eloquence of the one and the power of the other For after that we find no Parliament without a Committee for Religion and no Committee for Religion but what did think it self sufficiently instructed to manage the greatest Controversies of Divinity which were brought before them And so it was particularly with the present Parliament The Commons had scarce setled themselves in their own House but Mountague must be called to a new account for the Popery and Arminianism affirmed to have been maintained by him in his books In which Books if he had defended any thing contrary to the established Doctrine of the Church of England the Convocation of the two was the fitter Judge And certainly it might have hapned ill unto him the King not being willing to engage too far in those Emergences as the case then stood if the Commons had not been diverted in pursuit of the Duke of Buckingham which being a more noble game they laid this aside having done nothing in it but raised a great desire in several Members of both Houses to give themselves some satisfaction in those doubtful Points To which end a Conference was procured by the Earl of Warwick to be held at York House between Buckeridge Bishop of Rochester and White Dean of Carlile on the one side Morton then of Lichfield and Preston then of Lincolns-Inn of whom more hereafter on the other The Duke of Buckingham the Earl of Pembroke many other Lords and many other persons of inferiour quality being present at it To this Conference which was holden on the eleventh of this February another was added the next week on the seventeenth In which Mountague acted his own part in the place of Buckeridge the Concourse being as great both for the quality and number of the persons as had been at the former And the success was equal also The Friends and Fautors of each side giving the victory to those as commonly it happens in such cases whose cause they favoured After this we hear no more of Mountague but the passing of some Votes against him in the April following which âeats being over he was kept cold till the following Parliament And then he shall be called for In the mean time the King perceiving that the Commons had took no notice of his own occasions gave order to Sir Richard Weston then Chancellour of his Exchequer to mind them of it by whom he represented to them the return of the last years Fleet and the want of Money to satisfie the Mariners and Souldiers for their Arrâars That he had prepared a new Fleet of forty Sail ready to set forth which could not stir without a present supply of money And that without the like supply not only his Armies which were quartered upon the Coasts would disband or mutiny but that the Forces sent for Ireland would be apt to rebell and therefore he desired to know without more adoe what present supply he must depend upon from them that accordingly he might shape his course These Propositions being made Clem. Coke a younger Son of Sir Edward Coke who had successively been Chief Justice of either Bench obstructs the Answer by this rash and unhandsome expression That it was better to dye by a Forreign Enemy than to be destroyed at home Which general words were by one Turner a Doctor of Physick and then a Member of that House restrained and applied more particularly to the Duke of Buckingham The Commons well remembred at what Point they were cut off in the former Parliament and carefully watcht all advantages to resume it in this They had begun a great clamour against him on the first of March for staying a French Ship called the St. Peter of Newhaven and Turner now incites them to a higher distemper by six
Circle of Order which without apparent danger both to Church and State may not be broken his Majesty will proceed against them with that severity as upon due consideration had of their Offences and Contempts they and every one of them should deserve c. Such was the tenor of his Majesties Proclamation of Iune 14. And the effect thereof was this The House of Commons in pursuance of their Quarrel against Mountague's Books had referred the consideration of it to their Committee for Religion from whom Pym brought a Report on the eighteenth of April concerning some Arminian and Popish Tenents comprized in them It was thereupon Voted in that House 1. That he had disturbed the Peace of the Church by publishing Doctrines contrary to the Articles of the Church of England and the Book of Homilies 2. That there are divers Passages in his Book especially against those he calleth Puritans apt to move Sedition betwixt the King and his Subjects and between Subject and Subject 3. That the whole frame and scope of his Books is to discourage the well affected in Religion from the true Religion established in the Church and to incline them and as much as in him lay to reconcile them to POPERY This gave great animation to the opposite Party who thought it a high point of Wisdom to assault the man whom they perceived to have been smitten with this terrible Thunder-bolt and not to lose the opportunity of a Parliament-time when the Press is open to all comers for publishing their Books against him Some of them we have named already besides which there appeared so many in the List against him viz. Goad âeatly Ward Wotton Prynne and Burton that the Encounter seemed to be betwixt a whole Army and a single Person Laud and some of those Bishops on the other side incouraged by his Majesties Proclamation endeavoured to suppress those Books which seemed to have been published in defiance of it some of them being called in some stopped at the Press some Printers questioned for Printing as the Authors were for writing such prohibited Pamphlets Burton and Prynne amongst the rest were called into the High-Commission and at the point to have been censured when a Prohibition comes from Westmânster-Hall to stay the Proceedings in that Court contrary to his Majesties Will and Pleasure expressed so clearly and distinctly in the said Proclamation Which Prohibition they tendred to the Court in so rude a manner that Laud was like to have laid them by the heels for their labour From henceforth we must look for nothing from both these hot-spurs but desire of revenge a violent opposition against all Persons whatsoever who did not look the same way with them and whatsoever else an ill-governed Zeal could excite them too And now being fallen upon these men it may not be amiss to say something of them in this place considering how much they exercised the patience of the Church and State in the Times succeeding Burton had been a Servant in the Closet to his Sacred Majesty when he was Prince of Wales and being once in the Ascendent presumed that he should culminate before his time He took it very ill that he was not sent as one of the Chaplains into Spain when the Prince was there but worse that Laud then Bishop of St. Davids should execute the Office of Clerk of the Closet at such time as Bishop Neil was sick and he be looked on no otherwise than as an underling still Vexed with that Indignity as he then conceived it he puts a scandalous Paper into the hands of the King for which and for some other Insolencies and factious carriage he was commanded by him to depart the Court into which being never able to set foot again he breathed nothing but rage and malice against his Majesty the Bishops and all that were in place above him and so continued till the last it being the custom of all those whom the Court casts out to labour by all means they can to out-cast the Court Prynne lived sometimes a Commoner of Oriall Colledge and afterwards entred himself a Student in Lincolns-Inn where he became a great follower of Preston then the Lecturer there Some parts of Learning he brought with him which afterwards he improved by continual Study and being found to be of an enterprising nature hot-spirited and eager in pursuit of any thing which was put into him he was looked upon by Preston as the fittest person to venture upon such Exploits which a more sober and considerate man durst not have appeared in Being once put into the road it was not possible to get him out of it again by threats or punishments till growing weary of himself when he had no Enemy in a manner to encounter with he began to look up at the last and setled on more moderate and quiet courses becoming in the end a happy Instrument of Peace both to Church and State And now I am fallen on Preston also I shall add something of him too as being a man which made much noise in the World about this time A man he was beyond all question of a shrewd Wit and deep Comprehensions an excellent Master in the Art of Insinuation and one who for a long time sate at the Helm and steared the Course of his Party as one well observeth Toward the latter end of the Reign of King Iames he was brought into the Court by the Duke of Buckingham in hope to gain a Party by him There he was gazed on for a time like a new Court-Meteâr and having flashed and blazed a little went out again and was forgotten in case he did not leave as most Meteors do an ill smell behind him Much was he cried up by his Followers in the University City and all places else as if he might have chosen his own Mitre and had been as likely a man as any to have been trusted with the Great Seal in the place of Williams but he was not principled for the Court nor the Court for him For long he had not been in that School of Policy but he found other men as wise and cunning as himself and that he could not govern there with such an absolute Omni-regency as he had done in the Families of private Gentlemen in most parts of the Kingdom Nor was it long before the Duke began to have some suspicion of him as one not to be trusted in his Majesties Service when it seemed any way to cross with the Puritan Interest which he drove on with so much openness in the Court as was not proper for a man of so famed a cunning But that which lost him at the last was a Letter by him written to a great Peer of the Realm in which he spake disadvantageously enough if not reproachfully of the Court and signified withal how little hope there was of doing any good in that place for the advancement of the Cause Which Letter or a Copy of it being unluckily
towards it Him therefore he sequestreth from his Metropolitical Jurisdiction confines him to his house at Ford in Kent and by his Commission bearing date the ninth day of October 1627. transfers the exercise of that Jurisdiction to Mountaine Bishop of London Neile Bishop of Durham Buckeridge Bishop of Rochester Houson Bishop of Oxon and Laud Bishop of Bath and Wells To whom or any two or more of them he gives authority to execute and perform all and every those Acts matters and things any way touching or concerning the Power Jurisdiction or Authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury in causes or matters Ecclesiastical as amply fully and effectually to all intents and purposes as the said Archbishop himself might have done And this his Majesty did to this end and purpose that the Archiepiscopal Jurisdiction being committed to such hands as were no favourers of that Faction there might some stop be given to that violent current which then began to bear all before it Nor did his Majesty fail of the end desired For though Abbot on good reasons of State was restored unto his Jurisdiction toward the latter end of the year next following Yet by this breathing time as short as it was the Church recovered strength again And the disgrace put upon the man did so disanimate and deject the opposite Party that the Ballance began visibly to turn on the Churches side During the time that this Commission was in force some Beneficed persons in the Country who in themselves were well affected to ancient orders and now in more assurance of Protections than before they were adventured on removing the Communion Table from the middle of the Church or Chancel and setting it according to the pattern of the Mother Churches where the Altar formerly had stood Amongst the rest one Titly Vicar of Grantham a âoted Town upon the Road in the County of Lincoln having observed the situation of the holy Table as well in his Diocesans Chappel as in the Cathedral mother Church transposed the Table from the middest of the Chancel in his Parish Church and placed it Altar-wise at the East end of it Complaint hereof being made by some of that Town to the Bishop of Lincoln he presently takes hold of the opportunity to discourage the work not because he disliked it in point of judgment for then his judgment and his practice must have crost each other but because Titly had Relation to the Bishop of Durham And for the Bishop of Durham he had no good thoughts partly because he kept his stand in the Court out of which himself had been ejected and partly by reason of the intimacy betwixt him and Laud whom he looked on as his open and professed enemy And then how was it possible that he should approve of Titly or his action either conceiving that it might be done by their or one of their appointments or at the least in hope of better preferment from them Hereupon he betakes himself unto his Books and frames a Popular Discourse against placing the Communion Table Altar-wise digests it in the Form of a Letter to the Vicar of Grantham but sends it unto some Divines of the Lecture there by them to be dispersed and scattered over all the Country But of this Letter more hereafter when we shall find it taken up for a Buckler against Authority and laid in Bar against the proceedings of the Church and the Rules of it when such transposing of the Table became more general not alone practised but prescribed But the noise of this Letter not flying very far at the first hindred not the removing of the Table in the Parish Church of St. Nicholas in the Burrough of Abingdon the occasion this One Blucknall dwelling in that Parish bestowed upon it amongst other Legacies an annual Pension to be paid unto the Curate thereof for reading duly prayer in the said Church according to the Form prescribed in the English Liturgie For the establishing of which Gifts and Legacies to the proper use and uses intended by him a Commission was issued out of the High Court of Chancery according to the Statute 43 Eliz. Directed amongst others to Sir Ed. Clark Knight Sam. Fell Doctor in Divinity George Purefez and Richard Organ Esquires who by their joynt consent made this Order following viz. And that the Table given by Mr. Blucknall should not by the multitude of People coming to Service or otherwise by sitting or writing upon it or by any other unreverent usage be prophaned spoyled or hurt We do order and decree that the said Table shall continually stand at the upper end of the Chancell upon which a Carpet by him given should be laid where it shall continually stand close to the upper Skreen there being of old within that Skreen a kind of Vestry for keeping the Plate Books and Vestments which belong to the Church and there to be covered with the Carpet aforesaid and in no place else Which Order together with many others for settling and disposing the said Gifts and Legacies were made at Abingdon on the twenty fifth of April 1628. and afterwards confirmed under the Great Seal of England This being the only Table as I conceive whose posture in that place is ratified by Decree in Chancery Now as some private Beneficed persons during the Suspension of the said Archbishop did thus adventure on the one side so divers Commissaries Officials Surrogates and other Ecclesiastical Officers began to carry a more hard hand on the Puritan Party their great Friend and Patron being thus discountenanced than they had done formerly Amongst these none more active than Lamb Sibthorp Allen and Burden according to their Power and Places the three last having some relation to Lamb as Lamb had to the Episcopal Court at Peterborough and thereby a neer neighbourhood to the Bishop of Lincoln then keeping in his House at Buckden in the County of Huntingdon at whose Table being entertained as they had been many times before they found there Morison Chancellor to that Bishop and Prigeion one of the Officers of the Court at Lincoln Their Discourse growing hot against the Puritans the Bishop advised them to take off their heavy hand from them informing them That his Majesty hereafter intended to use them with more mildness as a considerable Party having great influence on the Parliament without whose concurrence the King could not comfortably supply his Necessities To which he added That his Majesty had communicated this unto him by his own mouth with his Resolutions hereafter of more gentleness to men of that Opinion Which words though unadvisedly spoken yet were not thought when first spoken by him to be of such a dangerous and malignant nature as to create to him all that charge and trouble which afterwards beâel him upon that occasion For some years after a breach being made betwixt him and Lamb about the Officials place of Leicester which the Bishop had designed to another person Lamb complains of him to some
other Bishops assisting at it And it is possible enough That if he had not made such haste as he did he might have had a worse rub in it than he had before Scarce was the Consecration finished when news came to Croyden of the unfortunate death of the Duke of Buckingham murthered the day before at Portsmouth by one Iohn Felton a Lieutenant who thought himself neglected in the course of his Service The Duke had wholly set his heart on the Relief of Rochel then block'd up by the French both by Sea and Land in hope thereby to redeem the Honour he had lost at the Isle of Rhe and to ingratiate himself with the People of England On the twelfth of August he set forwards from Portsmouth neer which the Navy lay at Anchor and where he had appointed the Rendezvouz for his Land-Forces to assemble and meet together The interval of time betwixt that and his death he spent in putting all things into Readiness that he was almost at the point of going on Board when Feliân cut him off in the middest of his Glories The wretch in such a general confusion might have saved himself if either curiosity in attending the issue or some consternation in his countenance upon the horror of the Fact had not betrayed him to a present discovery Taken upon suspicion and questioned about the Murder he made no scruple to avow it as a meritorious Act of which he had more cause to glory than to be ashamed And being afterwards more cunningly handled by one of his Majesties Chaplains sent to him from the Court of purpose to work him to it he confessed plainly and resolvedly That he had no other motive to commit that Murder but the late Remonstrance in which the Duke had been accused for being the Cause of all the Grievances and Mischiefs in the Common-wealth This news was brouâât unto the King as he was at the Publick Morning-Prayers in âis Presence-Chamber the Court being then at Southwick not far from Portsmouth which he received with such a stedfast Countenance so unmoved a Paâience that âe withdrew not from the place till the Prayers were ended It is not to be doubted but that his Majesty was much afflicted in the loss of so dear a Servant in whose bosom he had lodged so much of his Counsels and to whose Conduct he had so fully recommended the Great Concernments of the Kingdom But such was the constancy of his Temper and the known evenness of his Spirit that in the middest of all those sorrows he neither neglected his Affairs abroad nor his Friends at home For notwithstanding this sad accident the Fleet set forwards under the Command of the Earl of Lindsey whose coming within sight of Rochel was welcom'd by those in the Town with all the outward expressions of Hope and Joy But his desires to do them Service were without Success For when he came he found the Haven so strongly barred that though he gallantly attempted to force his way and give Relief to the Besieged yet finding nothing but impossibility in the Undertaking he discharged his Ordnance against the Enemy and went off with safety Which being perceived by those of the Town who had placed their last hopes in this Attempt they presently set open their Gates casting themselves upon the Mercy of their Natural Prince whose Government and Authority they had for so many years before both opposed and sleighted And on the other side being well assured of that infinite anguish and disconsolation which Laud his now most trusty Servant must needs suffer under by the most barbarous Assassination of so dear a Friend he dispatch'd Elphiston his Cup-bearer with a gracious Message to comfort him in those disquiets of his Soul and on the neck of that a Letter of his own hand-writing to the same effect He looks upon him now as his Principal Minister well practised in the Course of his Business of whose fidelity to his Person and perspicacity of Judgment in Affairs of State he had found such good proof And therefore at the first time that Laud could find himself in a condition to attend upon him he used many gracious Speeches to him not only to wipe off the Remembrance of that sad Misfortune but to put him into such a Power by which he might be able to protect himself against all his Enemies He was before but an inferiour Minister in the Ship of State and had the trimming of the Sails the super-inspection of the Bulgings and Leakings of it Now he is called unto the Helm and steers the Course thereof by his sage Directions Having obtained this heighth of Power he casts his eye back on his Majesties Proclamation of the fourteenth of Iune Anno 1626. Of which though he had made good use in suppressing some of those Books which seemed to foment the present Controversies yet he soon found as well by his own Observation as by Intelligence from others That no such general notice had been taken of it as was first expected For being only published in Market-Towns and perhaps very few of them the Puritan Ministers in the Country did not conceive themselves obliged to take notice of it And much less could it come to the ears of Students in Universities for whose restraint from medling either by Preaching or Writing in the Points prohibited it might seem most necessary He knew that by the Laws of the Land all Ministers were to read the Book of Articles audibly and distinctly in the hearing of their Parishioners when they first entred on their Cures and that by the Canons of the Church all that took Orders or Degrees were publickly to subscribe unto them A Declaration to the same effect before those Articles must needs give such a general signification of his Majesties pleasure that no body could from thenceforth pretend ignorance of it which must needs render his transgression the more inexcusable Upon which prudent considerations he moved his Majesty that the Book of Articles might be reprinted and such a Declaration placed before them as might preserve them from such misconstructions as had of late been put upon them and keep them to their native literal and Grammatical sense His Majesty approved the Counsel as both pious and profitable and presently gave order that all things should be done according as he had advised A Declaration of great influence in the course of our Story and therefore here to be subjoyned in its proper place By the King BEing by Gods Ordinance according to Our just Title Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governour of the Church within these Our Dominions We hold it most agreeable to Our Kingly Office and Our own Religious Zeal to conserve and maintain the Church committed to Our charge in the Unity of true Religion and in the bond of Peace and not to suffer unnecessary Disputations Alterations and Questions to be raised which may nourish Faction both in the Church and Common-wealth We have therefore upon
Foreign Title exercised all manner of Episcopal Jurisdiction in the Church of England And on the other side Archbishop Abbot a great Confident of the Popular Party in the House of Commons is sent for to the Court about Christmas and from out of his Barge received by the Archbishop of York and the Earl of Dorset by them accompanied to the King who giving him his Hand to kiss enjoined him not to fail the Council-Table twice a week And so far all was well beyond all exception but whether it were so in the two next also hath been much disputed Barnaby Potter Provost of Queens Colledge in Oxon. a thorow-pac'd Calvinian but otherwise his ancient Servant is preferr'd to the Bishoprick of Carlisle then vacant by the Translation of White to the See of Mountague's Book named Appello Caesarem must be called in also not in regard of any false Doctrine contained in it but for being the first cause of those Disputes and Differences which have since much troubled the quiet of the Church His Majesty hoping That the occasion being taken away men would no longer trouble themselves with such unnecessary Disputations Whether his Majesty did well in doing no more if the Book contained any false Doctrine in it or in doing so much if it were done only to please the Parliament I take not upon me to determine But certainly it never falleth out well with Christian Princes when they make Religion bend to Policy or think to gain their ends on men by doing such things as they are not plainly guided to by the Light of Conscience And so it hapned to his Majesty at this present time those two last Actions being looked on only as Tricks of King-craft done only out of a design for getting him more love in the hearts of his People than before he had Against the calling in of Mountague's Book it was objected commonly to his disadvantage That it was not done till three years after it came out till it had been questioned in three several Parliaments till all the Copies of it were dispersed and sold and then too That it was called in without any Censure either of the Author or his Doctrines That the Author had been punished with a very good Bishoprick and the Book seemingly discountenanced to no other end but to divert those of contrary perswasion from Writing or Acting any thing against it in the following Parliament And as for Potter what could he have done less in common gratitude than to prefer him to a Bishoprick for so many years Service as Potter in his time had done him both as Prince and King So true is that of the wise Historian When Princes once are in discredit with their Subjects as well their good Actions as their bad are all accounted Grievances For notwithstanding all these preparatory actions the Commons were resolved to begin at the same Point where before they ended The Parliament had been Prorogued as they were hammering a Remonstrance against Tonnage and Poundage which animated Chambers Rouls and some other Mercâants to refuse the payment for which refusal some of their Goods was seised by Order from the Lord Treasurer Weston and some of them committed Prisoners by the Kings Command These matters so possessed their thoughts that a week was passed before they could resume their old care of Religion or think of Petitioning his Majesty for a Publick Fast but at last they fell upon them both To their Petition for a Fast not tendred to his Majesty till the thirtieth of Ianuary he returned this Answer the next day viz. That this Custom of Fasts at every Session was but lately begun That he was not so fully satisfied of the necessity of it at this time That notwithstanding for the avoiding of Questions and Jealousies he was pleased to grant them their Request with this Proviso That it should not hereafter be brought into President but on great occasions And finally That as for the form and times thereof he would advise with his Bishops and then return unto both Houses a particular Answer But so long it was before that Answer came unto them and so perverse were they in crossing with his Majesties Counsels that the Parliament was almost ended before the Fast was kept in London and Westminster and dissolved many days before it was to have been kept in the rest of the Kingdom And for Religion they insisted on it with such importunity that his Majesty could no longer dissemble his taking notice of it as a meer artifice and diversion to stave him off from being gratified in the Grant of Tonnage and Poundage which he so often press'd them to And thereupon he lets them know That he understood the cause of their delay in his business to be Religion of the preservation whereof none of them should have greater care than himself and that either it must be an Argument he wanted Power to preserve it which he thought no body would affirm or at the least That he was very ill counselled if it were in so much danger as they had reported This notwithstanding they proceed in their former way His Majesty had granted several Pardons to Mountague Cosens Manwaâring and Sibthârp before-mentioned These Pardons must be questioned and the men summoned to appear And Information is preferred by Iones against Mountague's Confirmation in the See of Chichester which after many disputes is referred to a Select Committee Complaint is made against Neile Bishop of Winton for for saying to some Divines of his Diocess That they must not Preach against Papists now as they had done formerly Marshall and Moor two Doctors in Divinity but such as had received some displeasures from him are brought in to prove it Upon him also it was charged That the Pardons of Mountague and Cosens were of his procuring Insomuch that Eliot pronounced positively That all the Dangers which they feared were contracted in the person of that Bishop and thereupon desired That a Motion might be made to his Majesty to leave him to the Iustice of that House Many Reports come flowing in to the Committee for Religion of turning Tables into Altars adoring towards or before them and standing up at the Gospels and the Gloria Patri which must be also taken into consideration The Articles of Lambeth are declared to be the Doctrines of this Church and all that did oppose them to be called in question Walker delivered a Petition from the Booksellers and Printers in complaint of the Restraint of Books written against Popery and Arminianism and the contrary allowed of by the only means of the Bishop of London and That divers of them had been Pursevanted for Printing of Orthodox Books and That the Licencing of Books was only to be restrained to the said Bishop and his Chaplains Hereupon followed a Debate amongst them about the Licencing of Books which having taken up some time was referred to the Committee also as the other was By these Embraceries the Committee
against the like Instructions in the time of King Iames and the late Declaration published by the King reigning For what less could be aimed at in them than suppressing the Divine Ordinance of Preaching or at the least a dreadful diminution of the number of Sermons And what could follow thereupon but negligence in the Priests ignorance in the People Popery and Superstition in the mean time gaining ground on both Spending the afternoons in teaching the Catechism was a work fitter for a Pedagogue than a preaching Minister who rather were ordained to provide strong meats for men than milk for babes and yet such was the strictness of the said Instructions in looking to the observance of the late Declaration that they were not suffered to set strong meats before the people though men of ripe years and somewhat more than children in their understandings Preaching must be restrained hereafter to Gods Will revealed to Faith in Christ and Moral duties toward God and men but as for his secret Will and Purpose in the unfathomable depths of Predestination those must be kept sealed up under lock and key and none but the Arminians have the opening of them And yet the grief had been the less if Lecturers had been left to their former liberty and not tied up to Gown and Surplice or fettered with Parochial cures and consequently with Subscriptions and Canonical Oaths badges of Antichrist and professed enemies to the pure Freedom of the Gospel Where might a man repair with comfort to hear Gods Word preached in truth and simplicity the Sacraments administred in their original nakedness to hear Christ speaking in his Prophets and the Prophets speaking to the People if this world went on But notwithstanding these secret Murmurs on the one side and the open Clamours of the other Laud was resolved to do his duty who summoning all the Ministers and Lecturers about the City of London to appear before him made a solemn Speech in which he pressed the necessity of his Majesties said Instructions for the good of the Church and of their chearful obedience to them He directed Letters also to every Archdeacon in his Diocess requiring them to see them published to all the Clergy and to give him an exact account at the end of their Visitations how they were observed especially insisting on the third Instruction For keeping the Kings Declaration that so the differences and disputes in those prohibited points might be laid aside The like care taken also by the rest of the Bishops but slackning by degrees when the heat was over and possibly in short time after they had not been looked into at all if Abbot had continued longer in the See of Canterbury or that his Majesty had not enjoyned the Bishops to give him an exact account of their proceedings in the said particulars not once for all but Annually once in every year on the second of Ianuary Which care being taken for the peace and happiness of the Church of England we will lay hold upon this opportunity for crossing over into Ireland and taking a short view of the state of Religion in that Country which from henceforth shall be lookt into more than hath been formerly Concerning which we are to know that when the Reformation was advanced in the Church of England the first care was to let the people have the Bible the publick Liturgie and certain godly Homilies in the English tongue as appeareth by the Statutes 2 3. Edw. vi 5 6. Edw. vi and 1 Eliz. Secondly The like care was taken of the Welch For whose Instruction it was further ordered partly by the Queen and partly by Act of Parliament in the fifth of her Reign that as well the Bible as the Common-Prayer Book should be Translated Printed and Published in that Language one Book of each sort to be provided for every several Church at the Charge of the Parish Which being Printed at the first in the large Church-Volume was afterwards reduced to a more portable bulk for Domestical uses by the cost and charge of Rowland Heylyn Citizen and Alderman of London about the beginning of the Reign of this King But for Ireland no such care was taken The Acts of the Supremacy and of the Consecrations of Archbishops and Bishops were received there as before in England the English Liturgie imposed on them by order from hence and confirmed by Parliament in that Kingdom Which notwithstanding not only the Kernes or natural wild Irish but many of the better sort of the Nation either remain in their old barbarous ignorance or else adhere unto the Pope or finally to their own superstitious fancies as in former times And to say truth it is no wonder that they should there being no care taken to instruct them in the Protestant Religion either by translating the Bible or the English Liturgy into their own Language as was done in Wales but forcing them to come to the English Service which they understood no more than they did the Mass. By means whereof the Irish are not only kept in continual ignorance as to the Doctrine and Devotions of the Church of England but those of Rome are furnished with an excellent argument for having the Service of the Church in a Language which the Common people understand not And though somewhat may be pleaded in excuse thereof during the unquietness of that Kingdom under Queen Elizabeth who had the least part of it in her possession yet no sufficient plea can be made in defence of it for the time succeeding when the whole Country was reduced and every part thereof lay open to the course of Justice So that I cannot look upon it without great amazâmânt that none of the Bishops of that Church should take care herein or recommend the miserable condition of that people to tâe Court of England Now as Popery continued by this means in the Realm of Ireland so Calvinism was as strongly rooted in that part thereof which professed the Doctrine and Religion of the Church of England And touching this we are to know also that the Calvinian Doctrines being propagated in both Universities by such Divines as lived in exile in Queen Maries time one Peter Baroe a Frenchman obtained to be the Lady Margarets Professor in the Divinity Scâools at Cambridge This man approving better the Melancthonian Doctriââ of Predestination than that of Calvin publickly taught it in tâose Schools and gained in short time very many followers Whitaker was at that time her Majesties Professor for Divinity there and Perkins at the same time was of no small note both Calvinists in these points of Doctrine and both of them supralapsarians also Betwixt these men and Baroe there grew some disputes which afterwards begat some heats and those heats brake out at last into open Factions Hereupon Whitaker Perkins Chaderton and others of the same opinion thought it expedient to effect that by power which they were not able to obtain by Argument And to that end
Preoccupate the most Reverend Archbishop Whitgift with most sad complaints touching the Rupture made by Baroe in that Vniversity For remedy whereof the Archbishop calls unto him Fletcher the Lord Elect of London Vaughan the Lord Elect of Bangor Tyndal Dean of Ely and such Divines as came from Cambridge who meeting at his house in Lambeth on the twenty sixth day of November Anno 1595. did then and there conclude upon certain Articles for regulating disputations in those points of Controversie Which Articles being nine in number are these that follow I. God from all eternity hath predestinated certain men unto life certain men he hath reprobated II. The moving or efficient cause of Predestination unto life is not the foresight of Faith or of perseverance or of God-works or of any thing that is in the person predestinated but only the good will and pleasure of God III. There is predetermined a certain number of the Predestinate which can either be augmented or diminished IV. Those who are not predestinated to salvation shall be necessarily damned for their sins V. A true living and justifying faith and the Spirit of God justifying is not extinguished falleth not away it vanisheth not away in the Act either finally or totally VI. A man truly faithful that is such a one who is enduced with a justifying Faith is certain with the full assurance of faith of the remission of his sins and of his everlasting salvation by Christ. VII Saving grace is not given is not granted is not communicated to all men by which they may be saved if they will VIII No man can come unto Christ unless it shall be given unto him and unless the Father shall draw him and all men are not drawn by the Father that they may come to the Son IX It is not in the will or power of every one to be saved These Articles being brought to Cambridge so discouraged Baroe that when the ordinary time of his publick readings was expired he forsook that place and not many years after died in London His Funerall being attended by order from Bishop Bancroft by most of the Eminent Divines about that City which shews that both the Bishop and the most eminent Divines of London were either inclinable to his opinions or not so averse from them as not to give a solemn attendance at the time of his Funeral The news of which proceedings being brought to the Queen she was excâedingly offended conceiving it a deep intrenchment upon her Prerogative that any such Declaration should be made in matter of Religion without her Authority Once was she at a point to have them all indited of a Praemunire but the high esteem she had of Whitgift whom she commonly called her black husband reprieved all the rest from the danger of it Howsoever such a strict course was taken for suppressing the said Articles that a Copy of them was not to be found in Cambridge for a long time aâter though after the Queens death they began to peep abroad again and became more publick Nor was King Iames better conceited of them than Queen Elizabeth was for when it was moved by Dr Reynolds at Hampton Court that the nine Orthodoxal Assertions as he pleased to call them which were concluded on at Lambeth might be admitted into the confession of the Church of England the King so much disliked the motion that it was presently rejected without more ado But that which the Calvinians could not get in England they effected at the last in Ireland where the true and genuine Doctrines of the Church of England had been less looked after than at home For in the year 1615. a Parliament and Convocation being holden in Dublin it was resolved on by the Archbishop Bishops and the rest of the Clergy then assembled that a Book of Articles should be framed to be the Publick Confession of that Church for succeeding times the drawing up whereof was committed to Doctor Iames Vsher afterwards Archbishop of Armagh and Lord Primate of Ireland a Rigid Calvinist but otherwise the ablest Scholar of that Nation And he accordingly fashioning the Doctrine for that Church by his own Conceptions inserted into the said Book of Articles the nine Conclusions made at Lambeth to be the standing Rule as he thought and hoped of that Church for ever And yet they did not stay there neither The Sabbatarian Doctrines had been broached by Bownd in the same year wherein the nine Articles had been made at Lambeth Which being opposed by Archbishop Whitgift and never admitted in this Church were by the cunning of that Faction and the zeal or diligence of this man incorporated into the Body of the Articles for the Church of Ireland in which it is declared for a Doctrinal Point That the first day of the Week which is the Lords-day is wholly to be dedicated to the Service of God and therefore we are Bound therein to rest from our common and daily Business and to bestow that leisure upon holy Exercises both Publick and Private And because he concluded in himself that the Pope was Antichrist that also must be made an Article of this Confession in which we find it in these words viz. The Bishop of Rome is so far from being the Supream Head of the Vniversal Church that his Works and Doctrines do plainly discover him to be the Man of Sin foretold in the Holy Scripture whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of his mouth and abolish with the brightness of his coming And hereunto That the Plantation of the Scots in Vlster unhappily projected in the time of King Iames brought in so much Puritanism such a contempt of Bishops such a neglect of the Publick Liturgie and other Divine Offices of this Church that there was nothing less to be found amongst them than the Doctrine Government and Forms of Worship established in the Church of England The Papists in the mean time encreasing more and more grew at the last to so great a confidence by the clashings here in England betwixt the King and his Parliaments that they gave themselves great hope of a Toleration And possibly enough they might have obtained somewhat like it if the Irish Bishops had not joined together in a Protestation to the contrary and caused it to be published in the Pulpit by the Bishop of Derry with infinite Acclamations of the Protestant Hearers Howsoever the lost hopes had so far emboldened them that they set up some Religious Houses even in Dublin it self shewed themselves openly in their Friars Habits and publickly affronted not only the Mayor but the Archbishop of that City This coming to his Majesties knowledge he caused his pleasure to be signified to the Lords of his Council That Order should be taken there That the House where the said Seminary Friars appeared in their Habits and wherein the Reverend Archbishop and the Mayor of Dublin received their first Affront be speedily demolished and be the Mark of Terrour to
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 Vshâr'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
Monument of the City of London the Imperial Seat of this his Realm and moreover That the Commissions issued out by his Royal Father as heretofore had been observed were slackned by reason of his death but he resolving to go on therewith effectually declared as followeth viz. 1. That all Money brought in for Repair thereof should be paid into the Chamber of London 2. That William Laud then Bishop of London offered to allow 100. l. per Annum out of the Revenues of that Bishoprick during his continuance therein 3. That a register-Register-Book should be made of all Subscriptions for Contributions thereunto as had been done in King James his time 4. That the Iudges of the Prerogative Court and all Officials throughout the several Bishopricks in England and Wales upon the Decease of any Person Intestate should be excited to remember this Church out of what was proper to be given to pious uses And lastly That Commissions should be issued throughout the whole Kingdom Which Commissions were executed in the Country with care and diligence and seconded so strongly by the power and sollicitation of this pious Prelate that the money came flowing in apace so much being raised by Legacies by money given to pious uses and other free and voluntary Contributions before the issuing out of those Commissions as enabled the grand Commissioners to begin the work Insomuch that on the sixteenth of December Anno 1632. they found that there had been brought into the Chamber of London the Sum of 5416 li. 13 s. 6 d. And in April next ensuing the Work was begun The houses adjoyning to and near the Church being compounded for and plucked down a great part of the Church-yard paled in for Masons to work in and an order given to Inigo Iones Surveyor general of his Majesties Works on the twenty sixth of Iune next following to prepare Scaffolding for the same Which Preparations being made the first stone of this new Work was solemnly laid by our Bishop himself the second by Sir Francis Windebanke his Majesties principal Secretary of State and the third by Sir Henry Martin Knight then Judge of the Prerogative Court and the fourth by the said Inigo Iones chief Surveyor of that Fabrick each of them giving money liberally amongst the Workmen the better to encourage them to proceed therein with all honest speed The Quire or Chancel being first finished the work was carried on to the North part of the Cross Isle and so unâo the Western part or main body of the Cross Isle and so unto the Western part or main body of the Church This worthy Prelate continuing the Piety of his endeavours towards the compleating of this stately and Magnificent Structure as well when he was Archbishop of Canterbury to which dignity he was promoted in September following as when he was Bishop of London and was more nearly concerned in the affairs of that Church And though it be affirmed by a late Historian that many had no fancy to the work because he promoted it yet on the contrary it is known that had not he promoted it there were not many would have had the fancy to a work of that nature Some men in hope of favour and preferment from him others to hold fair quarter with him and not a few for fear of incurring his displeasure contributing more largely to it than they had done otherwise if otherwise they had contributed at all Certain I am that the Regular Clergy were so forward in it that being called together by their several Ordinaries few of them gave so little as a single tenth many a double Subsidy most in the middle betwixt both to be paid in three four or five years as the work continued Which joyned together amounting to a liberal sum not reckoning in the Deans and Chapters whom it more nearly did concern to support that Fabrick than those of the Parochial Clergy And yet it cannot be denied but that it met with many rubs and mighty enemies The Puritan Ministers and their Adherents inveighed against it as the repairing and adorning of a Rotten Relique insinuating to the people as they found occasion that it was more agreeable to the Rules of Piety to demolish such old Monuments of Superstition and Idolatry than to keep them standing For remedy whereof order was given to such as preached at St. Pauls Cross and other publick places both in City and Country to represent unto their hearers all those several motives which might not only serve to justifie but endear the work nor wanted there some zealous Patriots or such as were desirous to be so accounted on the other side who gave it out to be a cheat a mear Court device to procure money for the King without help of Parliaments which project if it might succeed the King said they would grow too absolute and take unto himself an Arbitrary form of Government the People for want of Parliaments being left remediless which false report coming to his Majesties ears he was compelled to make this Declaration of himself in all such following Commissions as were dispatched into the Country that he had not only commanded That the work of Reparation should begin but had caused an entrance to be made into it and that he was constantly resolved to follow it till it was brought to perfection whereof he required the Commissioners to satisfie all his loving Subjects of the clearness of his Royal Intention therein and to assure them in his Name that all rumours and imaginations as of diverting the money to any other purpose was but the fancies of men either grosly malevolent or causelesly jealous and distrustful The Subject being thus assured the Clergy active and the Nobility giving good example unto all the rest the work was so followed by the care of this powerful Prelate that before the year 1640. the whole body of it was finished and the Tower or Steeple Scaffolded to the very top with an intent to take it down to the very Arches and raise it to a more stately height than it had at the present with four great Pinacles at each Corner one the Arches being thought unable to support the burthen of such a Steeple as before was fired And though the publick Contribution which was brought into the Chamber of London amounted to the Sum of 101330 li. 4 s. 8 d. yet there was something more done in it by the Munificence of the King and the bounty of the private Subject His Majesty to gâve life to the Work had sent in first and last 10295 li. 5 s. 6 d. toward the said Sum with part whereof he caused a stately Portico to be erected at the West end of the Church raised on Corinthian Pillars where he placed the Statues of his Royal Father King Iames and himself for a lasting memorial of this their advancement of so glorious a work Which Portico was intended to be an Ambulatory for such as by usual walking in the body of the Church
another by means whereof it must needs follow that as they are now a Church within a Church so in short time they might grow to be a Common-wealth in the middest of a Kingdom Fourthly That these bodies standing thus divided from the Church and State are planted for the most part in such Haven Towns as lay fittest for France and the Low-Countries which may be a shrewd temptation to them to take such advantages to themselves or to make use thereof for others as occasion offereth Fifthly That the example is of ill consequence in Church-affairs to the Subjects of England many being confirmed by it in their stubborn waies and inconformities but in London chiefly Sixthly That neither French nor Dutch Church be longer tolerated in this Kingdom than the Subjects of this Kingdom be suffered to enjoy the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England in those several parts beyond the Seas where they have their abode The dangers and inconveniencies being thus laid down he proceeds to the Remedies And first he doth advise That the number of them in all places of the Kingdom be fully known to the end a better Judgment might be made of the way by which they are to be reduced to the rest of the Kingdom Secondly That a Command be issued to this purpose from the State it self and that it be avowedly and not perfunctorily taken in all places where they do reside and a Certificate returned of the men of most credit and wealth amongst them Thirdly That if they will continue as a distinct body both from State and Church they should pay all duties double as strangers used to do in this Realm and not be capable of such immunities as the Natives have as long as they continue so divided from them Fourthly That when it shall be thought convenient to reduce them to the same condition with the rest of the Subjects they should then be warned in an Ecclesiastical way excepting such as be new Commers to repair diligently to their Parish Churches and to conform themselves to their Prayers and Sacraments which if they should refuse to do then to proceed against them by Excommunication and so unto the Writ de Excommunicato capiendo for a terror to others Fifthly and lastly That if this course prevaile not with them a Declaration to be made by the State to this effect That if they will be as natives and take the benefit of Subjects they must conform themselves to the Laws of the Kingdom as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal That being the likeliest way to make them capable of the inconveniencies they should run unto by their refusal and perverseness Such were the considerations offered by him to the Lords of the Council for advancing the peace and honour of this Church both at home and abroad But long it will not be before we shall behold him sitting in the Chair of Canterbury acting his own counsels bringing these Conceptions to the birth and putting the design into execution of which more hereafter These matters standing in this state we must at last look toward Scotland for the receiving of which Crown his Majesty and the Court prepare the beginning of this year But besides the Pomp and Splendor of a Coronation which the people with great importunity had long prest upon him there were some other Loadstones which made the Needle of his Compass point so much to the North. Concerning which the Reader may be pleased to know that at the first Alteration of Religion in the Kirk of Scotland the Scots petitioning for aide from Queen Elizabeth to expell the French obliged themselves by the subscription of their hands to embrace the Liturgie Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England According whereunto an Ordinance was made by their Reformers that in all Parishes of that Realm the Common-Prayer should be read weekly on Sundaies and other Festival daies with the Lessons of the Old and New Testament conform to the order of the Book of Common-Prayer of the Church of England it being well known that for divers years after they had no other order for Common-Prayer but that which they received from hence But as Presbytery prevailed so the Liturgie sell the fancy of Extemporary Prayers growing up so fast in the minority of King Iames that it soon thrust all Publick Forms out of use and credit In which confused estate it stood till the coming of that King to the Crown of England where he much pleased himself with the Sobriety and Piety of the publick Liturgie This made him cast his eyes more sadly on the Kirk of Scotland where for want of some such publick Forms of Prayers the Ministers prayed so ignorantly that it was a shame to all Religion to have God spoke to in that barbarous manner and sometimes so seditiously that their Prayers were plain Libells against Authority or stuft with lies made up of all the false reports in the Kingdom For remedy whereof after he had restored and settled the Episcopal Government he procured the General Assembly of that Kirk held at Aberdeen Anno 1616. to pass an Act for Authorising some of the Bishops and divers others to compile a Publick Liturgie for the use of that Kirk which being presented unto the King and by him approved should be universally received over all the Kingdom To prepare the way unto them his Majesty gave order the next Spring after That the English Liturgie should be Officiated day by day in his Chappel-Royal in the City of Edenborough and in the year following 1618. obtained the five Articles before-mentioned as so many chief Ingredients for the Common-Prayer-Book to be passed at Perth by which Encouragements the Commissioners which were appointed to compile the Book went so luckily forwards that it was not long before they brought it to an end and sent it to King Iames by Archbishop Spotswood who not only carefully perused every Passage in it but caused it to be revised by some of the Bishops of that Kingdom which were then in England in whose Judgments he reposed especial confidence Fitted according to his mind he sent it back again to those from whose hands he received it to be by them commended to the use of the Church which undoubtedly had took effect if the Breach with Spain and the Death of that King which followed not long after had not unfortunately interrupted the Success of the business In this condition of Affairs King Charles succeeded in the Crown ingaged in a War with the King of Spain and standing upon no good terms with his People at home so that the business of the Liturgie seemed to be laid asleep if not quite extinct But in the year 1629. having agreed his differences with the Crown of France and being in a good way towards an Accommodation with the King of Spain the Scottish Bishops were again remembred of their Duty in it who dispatch'd Maxwell then one of the Preachers of Edenborough to the Court
without Mayors Bayliffs Constables and other Officers to take notice and to see observed as they tender Our displeasure And We further Will That Publication of this Our Commmand be made by Order from the Bishops thorow all the Parish Churches of their several Diocesses respectively Given at our Palace at Westminster Oct. 18. in the ninth year of Our Reign 1633. His Majesty had scarce dried his Pen when he dipt it in the Ink again upon this occasion The Parishioners of St. Gregories in St. Pauls Church-yard had bestowed much cost in beautifying and adorning their Parish Church and having prepared a decent and convenient Table for the holy Sacrament were ordered by the Dean and Chapter of St. Pauls as being Ordinaries of the place to dispose of it in such a Posture in the East end of the Chancel as anciently it had stood and did then stand in the Mother Cathedral Against this some of the Parishioners not above five in number appeal unto the Dean of the Arches and the Dean and Chapter to the King The third day of November is appointed for debating the Point in controversie before the Lords of the Council his Majesty sitting as chief Judge accompanied with Laud Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Keeper Lord Archbishop of Yorke Lord Treasurer Lord Privy Seal Lord Duke of Lenox Lord High Chamberlaine Earle Marshal Lord Chamberlaine Earle of Bridgewater Earle of Carlisle Lord Cottington Mr. Treasurer Mr. Comptroller Mr. Secretary Cooke Mr. Secretary Windebanke The cause being heard and all the Allegations on both sides exactly pondered his Majesty first declared his dislike of all Innovations and receding from ancient Constitutions grounded upon just and warrantable reasons c. And afterwards gave Sentence in behalf of the Dean and Chapter But because this Order of his Majesty in the case of St. Gregories was made the Rule by which all other Ordinaries did proceed in causing the Communion Table to be placed Altarwise in the Churches of their several and respective Diocesses I will subjoyn it here verbatim as it lies before me At Whitehall Novem. 3. 1633. This day was debated before his Majesty sitting in Council the question and difference which grew about the removing of the Communion Table in St. Gregories Church near the Cathedral Church of St. Paul from the middle of the Chancel to the upper end and there placed Altarwise in such manner as it standeth in the said Cathedral and Mother-Church as also in other Cathedrals and in his Majesties own Chappel and as is consonant to the practice of approved Antiquity which removing and placing of it in that sort was done by order of the Dean and Chapter of St. Pauls who are Ordinaries thereof as was avowed before his Majesty by Doctor King and Doctor Montfort two of the Prebends there Yet some few of the Parishioners being but five in number did complain of this act by appeal to the Court of Arches pretending that the Book of Common Prayer and the 82 Canon do give permission to place the Communion Table where it may stand with most fitness and convenience Now his Majesty having heard a particular relation made by the Counsell of both parties of all the carriage and proceedings in this cause was pleased to declare his dislike of all innovation and receding from ancient Constitutions grounded upon just and warrantable reasons especially in matters concerning Ecclesiastical Orders and Government knowing how easily men are drawn to affect Novelties and how soon weak Iudgments in such cases may be overtaken and abused And he was also pleased to observe that if those few Parishioners might have their wills the difference thereby from the foresaid Cathedral Mother-Church by which all other Churches depending thereon ought to be guided would be the more notorious and give more subject of discours and disputes that might be spared by reason of the nearness of St. Gregories standing close to the Wall thereof And likewise for so much as concerns the Liberty by the said Common Book or Canon for placing the Communion Table in any Church or Chappel with most conveniency that liberty is not so to be understood as if it were ever left to the discretion of the Parish much less to the particular fancy of any humorous person but to the judgment of the Ordinary to whose place and Function it doth properly belong to give direction in that point both for the thing it self and for the time when and how long as he may find cause Vpon which consideration his Majesty declared himself that he well approved and confirmed the Act of the said Ordinary and also gave commandment that if those few Parishioners before mentioned do proceed in their said Appeal then the Dean of the Arches who was then attending at the hearing of the cause should confirm the said Order of the aforesaid Dean and Chapter Of this last Declaration there was no great notice took at first the danger being remote the case particular and no necessity imposed of conforming to it But the other was no sooner published then it was followed and pursued with such loud outcries as either the Tongues or Pens of the Sabbatarians could raise against it Some fell directly on the King and could find out no better names for this Declaration than a Profane Edict a maintaining of his own honour and a Sacrilegious robbing of God A Toleration for prophaning the Lords day Affirming That it was impossible that a spot of so deep a dye should be emblanched though somewhat might be urged to qualifie and alleviate the blame thereof Others and those the greatest part impute the Republishing of this Declaration to the new Archbishop and make it the first remarkable thing which was done presently after he took possession of his Graceship as Burton doth pretend to wit it in his Pulpit Libell And though these Books came not out in Print till some years after yet was the clamour raised on both at the very first encreasing every day more and more as the reading of it in their Churches had been pressed upon them To stop the current of these clamours till some better course might be devised one who wisht well both to the Parties and the Cause fell on a fancy of Translating into the English Tongue a Lecture or Oration made by Dr. Prideaux at the Act in Oxon. Anno 1622. In which he solidly discoursed both of the Sabbath and Sunday according to the judgment of the ancient Fathers and the most approved Writers of the Protestant and Reformed Churches This Lecture thus translated was ushered also with a Preface In which there was proof offered in these three Propositions First That the keeping holy of one day of seven is not the moral part of the fourth Commandment Secondly That the alteration of the day is only an humane and Ecclesiastical Constitution Thirdly That still the Church hath power to change the day and to transfer it to some other Which as they are the general Tendries of the
Noble Houses which made them the more insolent and uncontrollable That the Pope had erected an University in Dublin to confront his Majesties Colledge there and breed up the Youth of the Kingdom to his Devotion one Harris being Dean thereof who had dispersed a Scandalous Pamphlet against the Lord Primates Sermon preach'd at Wansteed one of the best Pieces that ever came from him Anno 1629. That since the Dissolving of their new Frieries in the City of Dublin they had Erected them in the Country and had brought the People to such a sottish negligence that they cared not to learn the Commandments as God spake and left them but flocked in Multitudes to the hearing of such Superstitious Doctrines as some of their own Priests were ashamed of That a Synodical Meeting of their Clergy had been held lately at Drogheda in the Province of Vlster in which it was decreed That it was not lawful to take the Oath of Allegiance And therefore That in such a conjuncture of Affairs to think that the bridle of the Army might be taken away must be the thought not of a Brain-sick but of a Brainless man which whosoever did endeavour not only would oppose his Majesties Service but expose his own neck to the Skeanes of those Irish cut-throats All which he humbly refers to his Lordships seasonable Care and Consideration Upon this Information the Deputy obtains his Majesties leave to hold a Parliament in that Kingdom which he managed with such notable dexterity that he made himself Master of a Power sufficient to suppress the Insolencies of the Papists and yet exceedingly prevailed upon their Affections From which time forwards the Popish Recusants in that Kingdom were kept in stricter duty and held closer to loyal Obedience for fear of irritating so severe a Magistrate than ever they had been by any of his Predecessors This Parliament brought with it a Convocation as a thing of course and in that somewhat must be done to check the spreading of Calvinism in all parts of that Church The Articles of Religion agreed upon in Convocation Anno 1615. were so contrived by Vsher the now Lord Primate That all the Sabbatarian and Calvinian Rigours were declared therein to be the Doctrines of that Church Most grievous Torments immediately in his Soul affirmed to be endured by Christ which Calvin makes to be the same with his descent into Hell The abstenencies from eating Flesh upon certain days declared not to be Religious Fasts but to be grounded only upon Politick Ends and Considerations All Ministers adjudged to be Lawfully called who are called unto the Work of the Ministry by those that have Publick Authority given them in the Church but whether they be Bishops or not it makes no matter so that he be Authorized unto it by their several Churches The Sacerdotal Power of Absolution made declarative only and consequently quite subverted No Power ascribed unto the Church in Ordaining Canons or censuring any of those who either carelesly or maliciously do infringe the same the Pope made Antichrist according to the like Determination of the French Hugonots made at Gappe in Dolphine And finally such a silence concerning the Consecration of Archbishops and Bishops expresly justified and avowed in the English Book as if there were not a different Order from the Common Presbyters All which being Vsher's own Opinions were dispersed in several places of these Articles for the Church of Ireland approved of in that Convocation and finally confirmed by the Lord Deputy Chichester in the Name of King Iames. By means whereof these two great mischiefs did ensue First A great matter of division which it caused to the Priests and Papists of the Realm that in three Kingdoms under the Obedience of one Sovereign Prince there should be three distinct and contrary Professions and yet pretending every one to the same Religion And secondly Whensoever the Points were agitated here in England against the Sabbatarian and Calvinian Rigours the Disputants were forthwith choaked by the Authority of these Articles and the infallible Judgment of King Iames who confirmed the same If therefore the Archbishop meant to have Peace in England the Church of Ireland must be won to desert those Articles and receive ours in England in the place thereof This to effect it was not thought expedient by such as had the managing of that design to propose any abrogation or repealing of the former Articles which had so many Friends and Patrons in that Convocation that it was moved severally both in the House of the Bishops and in that of the Clergy to have them ratified and confirmed in the present Meeting And questionless it had been carried in that way if it had not seasonably been diverted by telling the Promoters of it That those Articles had already received as much Authority as that Church could give them and that by seeking to procure any such Confirmation they would weaken the Original Power by which they stood This blow being thus handsomly broken their next work was to move the Primate That for the avoiding of such scandal which was given the Papists and to declare the Unity in Judgment and Affections between the Churches a Canon might be passed in approbation of the Articles of the Church of England To this the Prelate being gained the Canon was drawn up and presented to him and being by him propounded was accordingly passed one only man dissenting when it came to the Vote who had pierced deeper into the bottom of the Project than the others did It was desired also by Bramhall not long before the Lord Deputies Chaplain but then Bishop of Derrie That the whole Body of Canons made in the year 1603. might be admitted in that Church But the Primate was ever so afraid of bowing at the Name of IESVS and some other Reverences required in them which he neither practised nor approved that he would by no means hearken to it which bred some heats between him and Bramhall ending at last in this Temperament That some select Canons should be taken out of that Book and intermingled with some others of their own composing But for the Canon which approved and received the Articles of the Church of England it was this that followeth viz. Of the Agreement of the Church of England and Ireland in the Profession of the same Christian Faith FOr the manifestation of our Agreement with the Church of England in the Confession of the same Christian Faith and Doctrine of the Sacraments We do receive and approve the Book of Articles of Religion agreed upon by the Archbishops and Bishops and the whole Clergie in whole Convocation holden at London Anno Dom. 1562. for the avoiding of diversities of Opinions and for the establishing of Consent touching true Religion And therefore if any hereafter shall affirm That any of those Articles are in any part Superstitious and Erroneous or such as he may not with a good Conscience Subscribe unto Let him be Excommunicated
and not Absolved before he make a publick Revocation of his Error Such was the Canon passed in this Convocation for the approbation and reception of the Articles of the Church of England Which Canon was no sooner passed confirmed and published but the Primate and his Party saw the danger which they had cast themselves into by their inadvertency and found too late That by receiving and approving the English Articles they had abrogated and repealed the Irish. To salve this sore it concerned them to bestir themselves with their utmost diligence and so accordingly they did For first the Primate and some Bishops of his opinions required subscription to the Articles of both Churches of all such as came to be ordained at the next Ordination But it went no further than the next for if the Papists made it a matter of Derision to have three Confessions in the three Churches of his Majesties Kingdoms How much more matter must it give them of scorn and laughter that there should be two different Confessions in the same Church and both subscribed unto but as one and the same The Primate next applies himself to the Lord Deputy beseeching him that the former Articles might receive a new Ratification by Act of Parliament for preventing all innovations in the Religion there established But he found but little comfort there the Lord Deputy threatning to cause the said Confession to be burnt by the hand of the hangman if at the least the Scots Commissioners may be believed amongst whose Articles against him I find this for one Finding no better hopes on that side of the Sea he dispatcheth his Letters of Advice to his Friends in England one to an Honourable Person amongst the rest assuring them that though by a Canon passed in that Convocation they had received and approved the Articles of England yet that the Articlers of Ireland were ever called in might well be reckoned for a fancy The like affirmed in a Certificate made by Bernard and Pullen two Members of the Lower House in this Convocation where it is said That whosoever do aver that the said Articles were abolished are grosly mistaken and have abused the said Convocation in delivering so manifest an untruth And to back this another Certificate must be gained from one who comes commended to us under the Title of a most eminent judicious and learned person who having considered of the matter Conceives that both Confessions were consistent and that the Act of the Synod was not a Revocation of the Irish Articles but an approbation of the English as agreeing with them But all this would not serve the turn or save those Articles from being brought under a Repeal by the present Canon For first it appeareth by the Canon That they did not only approve but receive the Articles of the Church of England Their approbation of them had they gone no further had been a sufficient manifestation of their agreement with the Church of England in the Confession of the same Protestant Religion But their receiving of the same doth intimate a superinducing of them upon the other and is equivalent both in Fact and Law to the Repealing of the old For otherwise St. Paul must needs be out in the Rules of Logick when he proved the Abrogating of the old Covenant by the superinduction of a new For having affirmed that God by speaking of a New Covenant had antiquated and made void the first or made the first old as our English read it he adds immediatly That that which is old decayeth and is ready to vanish away that is to say as Diodati descants on it The old being disanulled by the new there must necessarily follow the abolishment of its use and practice Nor find they any other abrogation of the Iewish Sabbath then by the superinducing of the Lords day for the day of worship By means whereof the Sabbath was lessened in authority and reputation by little and little and in short time was absolutely laid aside in the Church of Christ the fourth Commandement by which it was at first ordained being still in force So then according to these grounds the Articles of Ireland were virtually though not formally abrogated or else it must be granted that there were two Confessions in the same one Church different both in form and matter and contrary in some points unto one another which would have been so far from creating an uniformity between the Churches in the concernments of Religion that it would have raised a greater disagreement within Ireland it self than was before between the Churches of both Kingdoms And certainly the gaining of this point did much advantage the Archbishop conducing visibly to the promotion of his ends and Counsels in making the Irish Clergy subject to the two Declarations and accountable for their breaking and neglect thereof that is to say his Majesties Declaration about Lawful Sports and that prefixt before the book of Articles for appeasing Controversies Take for a farewell this acknowledgment of a late Historian speaking as well the sense of others as his own A Convocation concurrent with a Parliament was called saith he and kept at Dublin in Ireland wherein the thirty nine Articles of the Church of England were received in Ireland for all to subscribe unto It was adjudged fit seeing that Kingdom complies with England in the Civil Government it should also conform thereunto in matters of Religion And thereupon he thus concludes That in the mean time the Irish Articles concluded formerly in a Synod 1616. mistaken for 1615. wherein Arminianism was condemned in terminis terminantibus and the observation of the Lords day resolved Iure divino were utterly excluded But leaving Ireland to the care of the Lord Deputy and the Bishop of Derry who under him had the chief managing of the affairs of that Church let us see how the new Archbishop proceeds in England where he had so many plows going at once too many as it after proved to work well together For not thinking he had done enough in order to the peace and uniformity of the Church of England by taking care for it here at home his thoughts transported him with the like affection to preserve it from neglect abroad To which end he had offered some considerations to the Lords of the Council as before was said Anno 1622. relating to the regulation of Gods publick Worship amongst the English Factories and Regiments beyond the Seas and the reducing of the French and Dutch Churches settled in divers parts of this Realm unto some conformity In reference to the first he had not sate long in the Chaire of Canterbury when he procured an Order from the Lords of the Council bearing date Octob. 1. 1633. By which their English Churches and Regiments in Holland and afterwards by degrees in all other Foreign parts and plantations were required strictly to observe the English Liturgie with all the Rites and Ceremonies prescribed in it
of this Visitation by the rest of the Bishops Nor was there only care taken for rectifying such things as were found amiss in Parochial Churches but to inquire also into the State and Actions of the Mother Cathedrals by which all other Churches which depended on them were to be regulated and directed And they found work enough in many of them especially in those Wâerein there was a want of Statutes for the Common Government There are in England twenty six Cathedral or Episcopal Sees of which thirteen are reckoned of the old foundation and the other moyety of the new those of the old foundation such as anciently had been founded in Secular Canons as they still continue Of which sort are the Churches of S. Paul in London together with those of Chichester Salisbury Wells Exeter Lincoln Lichfield Hereford and the four Welsh Bishopricks in the Province of Canterbury and none but the Metropolitical See of York in the other Province all of which had their ancient Statutes and required no alteration in them except Hereford only Those of the new foundation as they commonly called them were such as had been founded on Monastick Orders which being dissolved by King Henry the Eighth he founded them a new in a Dean and Chapter of Secular Priests of which sort were the Churches of Canterbury Winchester Ely Worcester Rochester Norwich and the four new Bishopricks by him founded in the Abbeys of Oxon. Peterborough Glocester and Bristol together with those of Durham Carlisle and Chester this last of his foundation also in the other Province For each of which Churches there was made a draught of Statutes but never perfected or confirmed and therefore either kept or broken at the Deans discretion as it conduced most to his advantage from time to time which proved the unavoydable occasion of many differences between the Deans and Prebendaries of those several Churches the Deans affecting an arbitrary and absolute Government and the Prebends looking on themselves as Brethren not as Subjects to him The perfecting of these Statutes to serve as a standing Rule to both for the times succeeding took up much of his thoughts and certainly he had effected it for all those Churches in convenient time if the disturbances which hapned in Scotland first and in England afterwards had not diverted and disabled him from that performance He began first with Canterbury his own Cathedral where he found the Table placed at the East end of the Choire by the Dean and Chapter and Adoration used toward it by their appointment as was attested upon Oath by Dr. Blechinden one of the Prebends of that Church at the time of his Trial. Which having found in so good order he recommended to them the providing of Candlesticks Basons Carpet and other Furniture for the adorning of the Altar and the more solemn celebrating of the blessed Sacrament And that these things might be perpetual to succeeding Ages he composed a new body of Statutes for the Government of that Cathedral which was sent thither under the Great Seal with his own hand subscribed to every leaf In which there was this Statute amongst the rest which the Deans Prebends and Officers there were bound by Oath to observe That at their coming in and going out of the Choire and all approaches to the Altar they should by bowing toward it make due reverence to Almighty God The like he did at Winton also in this present year where he required them by Brent his Vicar General to provide four Câpes to raile in the Communion Table and place it Altarwise to bow towards it and dayly to read the Epistles and Gospels at it the said Epistles and Gospels to be read by none but such as were in holy Orders contrary to the late practice of that Church where the said Office was performed by their lay Vicars at the will and pleasure of the Dean To bind them to it for the present certain Injunctions were left with them by Brent under the Seal of his Office And that they might not fall again to their old confusions a Book of Statutes was composed also to the use of that Church for the rectifying of such disorders as had grown therein under the Government of Abbot Morton and Young the present Dean thereof a Scot by Nation and one that never rightly understood the Constitution of tâe Church of England The like Injunctions given by Brent to the Church of Chichester to provide Copes by one a year for Gods publick Service till they were sufficiently furnished with them with the like Adorations toward the Communion Table as before at Winchester The Statutes of Hereford being imperfect he caused to be cast in a new mold and sent them thither under the Broad Seal for their future Reglement to be there sworn to and observed In which it was required First That every Residentiary should officiate twice every year under the pain of paying forty shillings to be laid out on Ornaments of the Church Secondly That they should officiate on Sundaies and Holidaies in their Copes Thirdly That they should stand up at the Creeds and Gospel and Doxologies and to bow so often as the name of Jesus was mentioned and that no man should be covered in the Church Fourthly That every one should bow toward the Altar Fifthly That the Prayer afore their Sermons should be made according to the 55 Canon which as it shews to what disorders they were grown in point of practice and how they had deviated from the Rules of the Church so may it serve to verifie that old Observation That many times corrupt Manners and evill Customs do beget good Laws At Worcester Manwaring who succeeded Iuxon in that Deanry prevented Brent and acted many things of himself without any Injunction For having erected a fair Table of Marble standing on four well-fashioned Columns he covered the Wall behind the same with Hangings of Azure-coloured Stuff having a white silk Lace upon every Seam and furnished it with Palls and Fronts as he had observed in his Majesties and some Bishops Chappels and ordered the Kings Scholars being forty in number who formerly used to throng tumultuously into the Choire to go in Rank by two and two and make their due obeisances at their coming in Such Copes as belonged anciently to that Church which had been lent many times unto common Actors or otherwise Sacrilegiously profaned he caused to be burned the Silver extracted out and laid up in the Treasury toward the buying of new ones as more money ââme in In many other Churches the Deans and Prebends had been contented to put that money into their Purses which might better have been expended on some publick Ornaments And that he might proceed to a Reformation on the better grounds he took order to be furnished with a just account of their present condition what Vestments and Utensils they had and what they wanted From Lincoln it was certified That the Communion Table
positively defined by the Church of England and therefore he conceived it as unsafe as the other that such a doubtful controversie as that of the Popes being Antichrist should be determined Positively by Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England of which there was great difference even amongst the Learned and not resolved on in the Schools With these objections against that passage he acquaints his Majesty who thereupon gave order that the said Letters Patents should be cancelled and new ones to be drawn in which that clause should be corrected or expunged and that being done the said Letters Patents to be new sealed and the said Collection to proceed according to the Archbishops first desires and proposition made in that behalf But before this Collection was finished and the money returned Charles Lodowick Prince Elector Palatine eldest surviving Son of the Queen of Bohemia comes into England to bestow a visit on his Uncle and to desire his aid and counsel for the recovery of the Electoral Dignity and Estate which did of right belong unto him On the twenty second of November this present year 1635. he comes to Whitehall graciously welcomed by the King who assigned him for his quarters in the Court the Lodgings properly belonging to the Prince his Son where he continued whilst he made his abode in England except such times as he attended his Majesty in his Summers Progress Knowing how forward the Archbishop had expressed himself in doing all ready Services for the Queen his Mother and the good offices which he had done for her sake to the distressed Ministers of his Dominions on the 30 day of the same Month he crost over to Lambeth and was present with the Archbishop at the Evening Prayer then very solemnly performed and upon that day fortnight came unexpectedly upon him and did him the honour to dine with him And that he might the better endear himself to the English Nation by shewing his conformity and approbation of the Rites and Ceremonies here by Law established he did not only diligently frequent the Morning and Evening Service in his Majesties Closet but upon Christmass day received the Communion also in the Chappel Royal of Whitehall For whose accommodation at the receiving of it there was a Stool placed within the Traverse on the left hand of his Majesty on which he sate while the Remainder of the Anthem was sung and at the Reading of the Epistle with a lower Stool and a Velvet Cushion to kneel upon both in the preparatory Prayers and the Act of Receiving which he most reverently performed to the great content of all beholders During his being in the Court he published two Books in Print by the advice of the King and Council not only to declare his Wrongs but assert his Rights The first he called by the name of a PROTESTATION against all the unlawful and violent proceedings and actions against him and his Electoral Family The second called the MANIFEST concerning the right of his Succession in the Lands Dignities and Honours of which his Father had been unjustly dispossessed by the Emperour Ferdinand the Second After which Preparatory writings which served to no other effect than to justifie his own and the Kings proceedings in the eye of the world he was put upon a course for being furnished both with men and money to try his fortune in the Wars in which he wanted not the best assistance which the Archbishop could afford him by his Power and Counsels But as he laboured to advance his interess in the recovery of his Patrimony and Estates in Germany so he no less laboured to preserve the Interess of the Church of England against all dangers and disturbances which might come from thence And therefore when some busie heads at the time of the Princes being here had published the Book entituled A Declaration of the Faith and Ceremonies of the Palsgraves Churches A course was took to call it in for the same cause and on the same prudential grounds on which the Letters Patents before mentioned had been stopt and altered The Prince was welcome but the Book might better have stayed at home brought hither in Dutch and here translated into English Printed and exposed to the publick view to let the vulgar Reader see how much we wanted of the Purity and simplicity of the Palatine Churches But we must now look back on some former Counsels in bringing such refractory Ministers to a just conformity in publishing his Majesties Declaration about lawful Sports as neither arguments and perswasions could pâevaâl upon And that the Suffragan Bishops might receive the more countenance in it the Archbishop means not to look on but to act somewhat in his own Diocess which might be exemplaây to the rest some troublesome persons there were in it who publickly opposed all establisht orders neither conforming to his Majesties Instructions nor the Canons of the Church nor the Rubricks in the publick Liturgy Culmer and Player two men of the same aâââctions and such as had declared their inconformity in âormer times were prest unto the publishing of this Declaration Brent acting in it as Commissary to the Bishop of the Diocess not Vicar General to the Archbishop of the Province of Canterbury On their refusal so to do they were called into the Consistory and by him suspended Petitioning the Archbishop for a release from that suspension they were answered by him That if they knew not how to obey he knew as little how to grant He understood them to be men of Factious spirits and was resolved to bring them to a better temper or else to keep them from disturbing the publick peace And they resolving on the other side not to yield obedience continued under this suspension till the coming in of the Scottish Army not long before the beginning of the Long Parliament Anno 1640. which wanted little of four years before they could get to be released Wilson another of the same Crew was suspended about the same time also and afterwards severely sentenced in the High Commission the profits of his Living sequestred as the others were and liberal assignments made out of it for supplying the Cure In which condition he remained for the space of four years and was then released on a motion made by Dering in the House of Commons at the very opening in manner of the Long Parliament that being the occasion which was taken by them to bring the Archbishop on the Stage as they after did And though he suspended or gave order rather for suspending of no more than these yet being they were leading-men and the chief sticklers of the Faction in all his Diocess it made as much noise as the great Persecution did in Norfolk and Suffolk By one of which first County we are told in general That being promoted to this dignity he thought he was now Plenipotentiary enough and in full capacity to domineer as he listed and to let his profest enemies
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 ãâã 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 âook 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 efâecteth 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
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-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 subserviânt 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
private Laird to be a Peer of that Realm made him first Treasurer Depute Chancellor of the Exchequer we should call him in England afterwards Lord Treasurer and Privy Counsellor of that Kingdom This man he wrought himself so far into Lauds good liking when he was Bishop of London only that he looked upon him as the fittest Minister to promote the Service of that Church taking him into his nearest thoughts communicating to him all his Counsels committed to his care the conduct of the whole Affair and giving order to the Archbishops and Bishops of Scotland not to do any thing without his privity and direction But being an Hamiltonian Scot either originally such or brought over at last he treacherously betrayed the cause communicated his Instructions to the opposite Faction from one time to another and conscious of the plot for the next daies tumult withdrew himself to the Earl of Mortons house of Dalkeith to expect the issue And possible it is that by his advice the executing of the Liturgy was put off from Easter at what time the reading of it was designed by his Majesty as appears by the Proclamation of December 20. which confirmed the Book By which improvident delay he gave the Presbyterian Faction the longer time to confederate themselves against it and to possess the people with Fears and Jealousies that by admitting of that book they should lose the Purity of their Religion and be brought back unto the Superstitions and Idolatries of the Church of Rome And by this means the People were inflamed into that Sedition which probably might have been prevented by a quicker prosecution of the Cause at the time appointed there being nothing more destructive of all publick Counsels than to let them take wind amongst the People cooled by delaies and finally blown up like a strong Fortress undermined by some subtle practice And there were some miscarriages also amongst the Prelates of the Kirk in not communicating the design with the Lords of the Council and other great men of the Realm whose Countenance both in Court and Country might have sped the business Canterbury had directed the contrary in his Letters to them when the first draughts of the Liturgy were in preparation and seems not well pleased in another of his to the Archbishop of St. Andrews bearing date September 4. that his advice in it was not followed nor the whole body of the Council made acquainted with their Resolutions or their advice taken or their power called in for their assistance till it was too late It was complained of also by some of the Bishops that they were made strangers to the business who in all Reason ought to have been trusted with the knowledge of that intention which could not otherwise than by their diligence and endeavours amongst their Clergy be brought to a happy execution Nor was there any care taken to adulce the Ministers to gain them to the Cause by fair hopes and promises and thereby to take off the edge of such Leading men as had an influence on the rest as if the work were able to carry on it self or have so much Divine assistance as countervailed the want of all helps from man And which perhaps conduced as much to the destruction of the Service as all the rest a publick intimation must be made in all their Churches on the Sunday before that the Liturgie should be read on the Lords day following of purpose as it were to unite all such as were not well affected to it to disturb the same And there were some miscarriages also which may be looked on as Accessories after the Fact by which the mischief grew remediless and the malady almost incurable For first the Archbishops and Bishops most concerned in it when they saw what hapned consulted by themselves apart and sent up to the King without calling a Council or joyning the Lay Lords with them whereas all had been little enough in a business of that nature and so much opposed by such Factious persons as gathered themselves on purpose together at Edenborough to disturb the Service A particular in which the Lay Lords could not be engaged too far if they had been treated as they ought But having run upon this error they committed a worse in leaving Edenborough to it self and retiring every one to his own Diocess except those of Galloway and Dumblaine For certainly they must needs think as Canterbury writes in one of his Letters to Traquaire that the Adverse party would make use of the present time to put further difficulties upon the work and therefore that they should have been as careful to uphold it the Bishop of Ross especially whose hand had been as much in it as the most But possibly the Bishops might conceive the place to be unsecure and therefore could not stay with safety neither the Lords of the Council nor the Magistrates of the City having taken any course to bring the chief Ringleaders of the Tumult to the Bar of Justice which must needs animate all disaffected and seditious persons and almost break the hearts of those who were well enclined And such indeed was the neglect of the Civil Magistrate that we hear of no man punished scarce so much as questioned for so great a Riot as was not to be expiated but by the death or some proportionable punishment of the chief offenders Which had it been inflicted on some three or four for a terror to others it might have kept that City quiet and the whole Kingdom in obedience for the time to come to the saving of the lives of many thousands some hundreds of thousands at the least in all the three Kingdoms most miserably lost in those long and cruel Wars which ensued upon it But the Lords of Scotland were so far from looking before them that they took care only for the present and instead of executing Justice on the Malefactors suspended the Liturgie it self as the cause of the Tumult conceiving it a safer way to calm the differences than to encrease the storm by a more rigorous and strict proceeding All that they did in order to his Majesties Service or the Churches peace was the calling in of a scandalous Pamphlet entituled A dispute against the English Popish Ceremonies obtruded on the Kirk of Scotland which not being done till October 20 following rather declared their willingness to suffer the said Book to be first dispersed and set abroad then to be called in and suppressed Nor seemed the business to be much taken to heart in the Court of England from whom the Scots expected to receive Directions Nor Order given them for unsheathing the Sword of Justice to cut off such unsound and putrified Members which might have saved the whole Body from a Gangreen the drawing of some Blood in the Body Politick by the punishment of Malefactors being like letting Blood in the Body Natural which in some strong Distempers doth preserve the whole Or granting that the Tumult
Right of that Dukedom to the Crown of England Iersey the bigger of the two more populous and of richer soil but of no great Trading Guernsey the lesser the more barren but nourishing a wealthier People Masters of many stout Barques and managing a rich Trade with the neighbouring Nations Attempted often by the French since they seised on Normandy but always with repulse and loss the People being very affectionate to the English Government under which they enjoy very ample Priviledges which from the French they could not hope for As parts of Normandy they were subject in Ecclesiastical Matters to the Bishops of Constance in that Dukedom and so continued till the Reformation of Religion here in England and were then added to the Diocess and Jurisdiction of the Bishops of Winchester But the Genevian Discipline being more agreeable to such Preachers as came to them from France they obtained the Exercise thereof in the eighth year of Queen Elizabeth Anno 1565. The whole Government distinguished into two Classes or Colonies that of Iersey of it self being one and that of Guernsey with the Islands of Sark and Alderney making up the other both Classes meeting in a Synod every second or third year according to the Order of their Book of Discipline digested by Snape and Cartwright the two great Ring-leaders of that Faction here in England in a Synod held at Guernsey Iune 28. 1576. And this manner they continued till the time of King Iames when the Churches in the Isle of Iersey falling into some disorder and being under an immediate Governour who was no great Friend to Calvin's Plat-form they were necessitated for avoiding of a greater mischief to cast themselves into the Arms of the Church of England The principal Ecclesiastical Officer whilst they were under the Bishops of Constance had the Title of Dean for each Island one the several Powers both of the Chancellor and Archdeacon being united in his Person This Office is restored again his Jurisdiction marked out his Fees appointed his Revenue settled but made accountable for his Administration to the Bishops of Winchester The English Liturgie is Translated also into French to be read in their Churches Instructions first and afterwards a Body of Canons framed for Regulating both the Ministers and People in their several Duties those Canons bearing date the last of Iune in the one and twentieth year of that King For the confirming of this Island in their Conformity to the Government and Forms of Worship there established and the reducing of the others to the like condition it was resolved That the Metropolitical Visitation should be held in each of them at the next opening of the Spring And that it might be carried on with the greater assurance the Archbishop had designed a Person for his Principal Visitor who had spent some time in either Island and was well acquainted with the Bayliffs Ministers and men of special note amongst them But the Affairs of Scotland growing from bad to worse this Counsel was discontinued for the present and at last laid by for all together But these Islands were not out of his mind though they were out of sight his care extending further than his Visitation The Islanders did use to breed such of their Sons as they designed for the Ministry either at Saumur or Geneva from whence they returned well seasoned with the Leaven of Calvinism No better way to purge that old Leaven out of the Islands than to allure the people to send their Children to Oxon or Cambridge nor any better expedient to effect the same than to provide some preferments for them in our Universities It hapned that while he was intent on these Considerations that one Hubbard the Heir of Sir Miles Hubbard Citizen and Alderman of London departed this Life to whom upon an inquisition taken after his death in due form of Law no Heir was found which could lay claim to his Estate Which falling to the Crown in such an unexpected manner and being a fair Estate withal it was no hard matter for the Archbishop to perswade his Majesty to bestow some small part thereof upon pious uses To which his Majesty consenting there was so much allotted out of it as for the present served sufficiently to endow three Fellowships for the perpetual Education of so many of the Natives of Guernsey and Iersey not without some probable âope of doubling the number as the old Leases of it ââould expire These Fellowships to be founded in Exeter Iesus and Pembroke Colledges that being disperst in several Houses there might be an increase both of Fellows and Revenues of the said foundations By means whereof he did both piously and prudently provide for those Islands and the advancement of Conformity amongst them in the times to come For what could else ensue upon it but that the breeding of some Scholars out of those Islands in that University where they might throughly acquaint themselves with the Doctrine Government and Forms of Worship establisht in the Church of England they might afterwards at their return to their native Countries reduce the Natives by degrees to conform unto it which doubtless in a short time would have done the work with as much honour to the King and content to himself as satisfaction to those People It is not to be thought that the Papists were all this while asleep and that neither the disquiets in England nor the tumults in Scotland were husbanded to the best advantage of the Catholick Cause Panzani as before is said had laid the foundation of an Agency or constant correspondence between the Queens Court and the Popes and having so done left the pursuit of the design to Con a Scot by birth but of a very busie and pragmatical head Arriving in England about the middle of Summer Anno 1636. he brought with him many pretended reliques of Saints Medals and Pieces of Gold with the Popes Picture stamped on them to be distributed amongst those of that Party but principally amongst the Ladies of the Court and Country to whom he made the greatest part of his applications He found the King and Queen at Holdenby House and by the Queen was very graciously entertained and took up his chief Lodgings in a house near the new Exchange As soon as the Court was returned to Whitehall he applied himself diligently to his work practising upon some of the principal Lords and making himself very plausible with the King himself who hoped he might make some use of him in the Court of Rome for facilitating the restitution of the Prince Elector And finding that the Kings Councils were much directed by the Archbishop of Canterbury he used his best endeavours to be brought into his acquaintance But Canterbury neither liked the man nor the Message which he came about and therefore kept himself at a distance neither admitting him to Complement nor Communication Howsoever by the Kings Connivence and the Queens Indulgence the Popish Faction gathered not only strength
his words and mistakes his meaning wresting the most Orthodox and innocent truths to his wicked ends and putting his own corrupt Gloss and sense upon them And which is yet most strange of all with an unparalelled impudence he dedicates it to his Sacred Majesty calling upon him To send out his Royal Edict for the taking down of all Altars which where ever they stand are by him said to stand in open defiance of Christ Another for calling in the Book for Sports on the Lords day A third for calling in his Declaration before the Articles of Religion A fourth for calling in of all Orders for the Restraint of Preaching A fifth for restoring to their place and Ministry all those who out of Conscience of their duty to God had by the Prelates been thrust out of all for refusing to read the said Book And finally for releasing and setting at liberty the three poor banished prisoners the loud cry of whose oppressions might otherwise provoke the thunderbolt of Divine Revenge to blast the beauty of his State Now as he laboured by these means to preserve the Church of England from the growth of Popery so he took care for preventing the subversion of it by the spreading of the Socinian Heresies He had before took care for suppressing all Books of that nature which had been imported into England out of other Countries and had received thanks for it from the Pen of a Jesuit But Burton chargeth it upon him among his Crimes reproaching him for suppressing those books for no other reason but because they magnified the Authority of the holy Scriptures and by the late Decree for Printing of which more anon he had took such order that no Eggs of that pestiferous Brood should be laid in England or if they were should ever peep out of the Shell or appear in sight There had been published a Discourse called Disquisitio Brevis in which some of the principal Socinian Tenents were cunningly inserted pretending them for the best Expedients to appease some Controversies betwixt us and Rome The Book ascribed in common Speech to Hales of Eaton a man of infinite reading and no less ingenuity free of Discourse and as communicative of his knowledge as the Coelestial Bodies of their light and influences There past also up and down a Discourse of Schism not Printed but transmitted from hand to hand in written Copies like the Bishop of Lincolns Letter to the Vicar of Grantham intended chiefly for the encouragement of some of our great Masters of Wit and Reason to despise the Authority of the Church Which being dispersed about this time gave the Archbishop occasion to send for him to Lambeth in hope that he might gain the man whose abilities he was well acquainted with when he lived in Oxon. An excellent Grecian in those daies and one whom Savil made great use of in his Greek Edition of St. Chrysostoms Works About nine of the Clock in the Morning he came to know his Graces pleasure who took him along with him into his Garden commanding that none of his Servants should come at him upon any occasion There they continued in discourse till the Bell rang to Prayers and after Prayers were ended till the Dinner was ready and after that too till the coming in of the Lord Conway and some other Persons or honour put a necessity upon some of his Servants to give him notice how the time had passed away So in they came high coloured and almost panting for want of breath enough to shew that there had been some heats between them not then fully cooled It was my chance to be there that day either to know his Graces pleasure or to render an account of some former commands but I know not which and I found Hales very glad to see me in that place as being himself a meer stranger to it and unknown to all He told me afterwards That he found the Archbishop whom he knew before for a nimble Disputant to be as well versed in books as business That he had been ferretted by him from one hole to another till there was none left to afford him any further shelter That he was now resolved to be Orthodox and to declare himself a true Son of the Church of England both for Doctrine and Discipline That to this end he had obtained leave to call himself his Graces Chaplain that naming him in his Publick Prayers for his Lord and Patron the greater notice might be taken of the Alteration Thus was Hales gained unto the Church and gained a good preferment in it promoted not long after by the Archbishops Commendation to be Prebend of Windsor and to hold the same by special dispensation with his place in Eaton Nor was the Archbishop less intent upon all Advantages for keeping down the Genevian Party and hindring them from Printing and Publishing any thing which might disturb the Churches Peace or corrupt her Doctrine To this end he procured a Decree to be pass'd in the Star-Chamber on Iuly 1. Anno 1637. to Regulate the Trade of Printing and prevent all Abuses of that Excellent Art to the disturbance of the Church By which Decree it had been Ordered That the Master-Printers from thenceforth should be reduced to a certain number and that if any other should secretly or openly pursue that Trade he should be set in the Pillory or whipped through the Streets and suffer such other Punishment as that Court should inflict upon him That none of the said Master-Printers should from thenceforth Print any Book or Books of Divinity Law Physick Philosophy or Poetry till the said Books together with the Titles Epistles Prefaces Tables or Commendatory Verses shall be lawfully Licenced either by the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Bishop of London for the time being or by some of their Chaplains or by the Chancellors or Vice-Chancellors of either of the two Vniversities upon pain of loosing the Exercise of his Art and being proceeded against in the Star-Chamber or the High-Commission Court respectively That no Person or Persons do hereafter Re-print or cause to be Re-printed any Book or Books whatsoever though formerly Printed with Licence without being reviewed and a new Licence obtained for the Re-printing thereof That every Merchant Bookseller or other Person who shall Import any Printed Books from beyond the Seas shall present a true Catalogue of them to the said Archbishop or Bishop for the time being before they be delivered or exposed to Sale upon pain of suffering such Punishment as by either of the said two Courts respectively shall be thought fit That none of the said Merchants Booksellers or others shall upon pain of the like Punishment deliver any of the Books so Imported till the Chaplains of the said Archbishop or Bishop for the time being or some other Learned Man by them appointed together with the Master and Wardens of the Company of Stationers or one of them shall take a view of the same with Power to seize
on all such Books which they found to be Schismatical and Offensive and bring them to the said Archbishop or Bishop or to the High-Commission Office And finally That no Merchant Bookseller c. should Print or cause to be Printed beyond the Seas any Book or Books which either totally or for the greatest part were written in the English Tongue whether the said Books have been here formerly Printed or not nor shall willingly or knowingly Import any such Books into this Kingdom upon pain of being proceeded against in either of the said two Courts respectively as before is said By means of which Decree he had so provided both at home and abroad That neither the Patience of the State should be exercised as in former times with continual Libels nor the Church troubled by unwarrantable and Out-landish Doctrines But good Laws are of no effect without execution and if he took no care for that he had lost his labour King Iames had manifested his dislike of the Genevian Bibles and the Notes upon them some of which did not only teach Disobedience to Kings and Princes but the murthering of them also if they proved Idolaters and others did not only teach the Lawfulness of breaking Faith and Promise when the keeping of it might conduce to the hurt of the Gospel but ranked Archbishops Bishops and all men in Holy Orders or Academical Degrees amongst those Locusts in the Revelation which came out of the Pit That King gave Order thereupon That the Bible of the New Translation should be printed with no Notes at all which course he also recommended to the Synod of Dort to be observed in the new Translation of the Bible into the Dutch or German Tongue which was then intended Upon this ground the Printing of those Bibles with Notes upon them had been forbidden in this Kingdom but were Printed in Holland notwithstanding and brought over hither the better to keep up the Faction and aââront Authority Some of them had before been seised in Holland by the care of Boswel the Resident at the Hague And in the beginning of this year he received Advertisement of a new Impression of the same designed for England if the terrour of this Decree did not stop their coming Because Holland and the rest of the Provinces under the Government of the States was made the Receptacle of many of our English Malecontents who there and from thence vented their own Passions and the Discourses of their Party in this Kingdom to the disturbance of the Church it concerned him to keep a careful watch over them and their Actions Of these he had Advertisement from time to time by one Iohn Le Maire and thereupon by the means of Boswell his right trusty Friend he dealt so effectually with the States-General of those Provinces that they made a Proclamation against the Printers and Spreaders of Libellous and Seditious Books against the Church and Prelates of England and tooke Order with the Magistrates of Amsterdam and Rotterdam two great Towns in Holland for apprehending and punishing of such Englishmen as had Printed any of the said Lawless and Unlicenced Pamphlets There was a time when Queen Elizabeth beheld the Pope as her greatest Enemy in reference to her Mothers Marriage her own Birth and consequently her Title to the Crown of England and many of the Books which were Printed in and about that time were full of bitterness and revilings against the Church of Rome it self and all the Divine Offices Ceremonies and Performances of it There was a time also when the Calvinian Doctrines were embraced by many for the Genuine Doctrines of this Church to the great countenancing of the Genevian Discipline and Forms of Administration And not a few of the Books then Printed and such as after were Licenced in Abbot's Time aimed principally at the Maintenance of those Opinions which the latter Times found inconsistent with the Churches Doctrines With equal diligence he endeavoured by this Decree to hinder the Reprinting of the one and the other that so the Church might rest in quiet without any trouble or molestation in her self or giving offence to any other As little Trouble could be feared from Lecturers as they now were Regulated The greatest part of those who had been Superinducted into other Mens Cures like a Doctor added to the Pastor in Calvin's Plat-form had deserted their Stations because they would not read the Common-Prayers in their Hoods and Surplices according to the Kings Instructions before remembred such as remained being either founded on a constant or certain Maintenance or seeing how little was to be gotten by a fiery and ungoverned Zeal became more pliant and conformable to the Rules of the Church Not a Lecturer of this kind found to stand out in some great Diocesses to keep up the Spirits of the Faction and create disturbances And as for Combination-Lecturers named for the most part by the Bishops and to them accountable they also were required in some places to read the second Service at the Communion-Table to go into the Pulpit at the end of the Nicene Creed to use no other form of Prayer than that of the 55th Canon after the Sermon ended to go back to the Table and there read the Service All which being to be done in their Hoods and Surplices kept off the greatest part of the rigid Calvinists from exercising their Gifts as formerly in great Market-Towns And as for the position of the Communion-Table it was no longer left to private Instructions as it was at the first when the Inquiry went no further than Whether the Lords Table was so conveniently placed that the Minister might best be seen and heard of the Congregation The more particular disposing of it being left to Inference Conjecture or some private Directions It now began to be more openly avowed in the Visitation-Articles of several Bishops and Archdeacons some of which we shall here produce as a light to the rest For thus we find it in the Articles for the Archdeaconry of Buckingham Anno 1637. Art 5. Have you a decent Table or a Frame for the Holy Communion placed at the East end of the Chancel Is it Railed in or Enclosed so as Men or Boys cannot sit upon it or throw their Hats upon it Is the said Rail and Inclosure so made with Settles and kneeling-Benches at the foot or bottom thereof as the Communicants may fitly kneel there at the Receiving of the Holy Communion The like for the Diocess of Norwich in the year before where we find it thus viz. Have you in your Church a Communion Table a Carpet of Silk c. And is the same placed conveniently so as the Minister may best be heard in his Administration and the greatest number may reverently Communicate To that end Doth it ordinarily stand up at the East end of the Chancel where the Altar in former times stood the ends thereof being placed North and South And in another Article it is
as forward in it as any other that their Contributions mounted higher than was expected The Benevolence of the Diocess of Norwich only aâounting to 2016 l. 16 s. 5 d. The Archdâacorry 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 thâse 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 aââections 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 Mariâeâs 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 âull well how chargeable a guest she would prove to him and how unwelcome to the Subject To which end âeswel 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 dismiââng 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 Edâcts 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-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
answered by my own hand and so you have it And since you are pleased so worthily and brother-like to acquaint me with the whole plot of your intended work and to yield it up to my censure and better advice so you are pleased to write I do not only thank you heartily for it but shall in the same brotherly way and with equal freedom put some few Animadversions such as occur on the sudden to your further consideration aiming at nothing but what you do the perfection of the work in which so much is concerned And first for Mr. George Graham whom Hall had signified to have renounced his Episcopal Function I leave you free to work upon his business and his ignorance as you please assuring my self that you will not depart from the gravity of your self or the cause therein Next you say in the first head That Episcopacy is an ancient holy and divine Institution It must needs be ancient and holy if divine Would it not be mâre full went it thus So ancient as that it is of Divine Institution Next you define Episcopacy by being joyned with imparity and superiority of Iurisdiction but this seems short for every Archpâesbyters or Archdeacons place is so yea and so was Mr. Henderson in his Chair at Glasco unless you will define it by a distinction of Order I draw the superiority not from the Iurisdiction which is attributed to Bishops jure positivo in their Audience of Ecclesiastical matters but from that which is intrinsical and original in the power of Excommunication Again you say in the first point That where Episcopacy hath obtained it cannot be abdicated without violation of Gods Ordinance This Proposition I conceive is inter minus habentes for never was there any Church yet where it hath not obtained The Christian Faith was neâer yet planted any where but the very first feature of a Church was by or with Episcopacy and wheresoever now Episcopacy is not suffered to be it is by such an Abdication for certainly there it was à Principio In your second head you grant that the Presbyterian government may be of use where Episcopacy may not be had First I pray you consider whither this conversion be not needless here and in it self of a dangerous consequence Next I conceive there is no place where Episcopacy may not be had if there be a Church more then in Title only Thirdly since they challenge their Presbyterian Fiction to be Christs Kingdom and Ordinance as your self expresseth and cast out Episcopacy as opposite to it we must not use any mincing terms but unmask them plainly nor shall I ever give way to hamper our selves for fear of speaking plain truth though it be against Amsterdam or Geneva and this must be sadly thought on Concerning your Postulata I shall pray you to allow me the like freedom amongst which the two first are true but as exprest two restrictive For Episcopacy is not so to be asserted unto Apostolical Institution as to bar it from looking higher and from fetching it materially and originally in the ground and Intention of it from Christ himself though perhaps the Apostles formalized it And here give me leave a little to enlarge The adversaries of Episcopacy are not only the furious Arian Hereticks out of which are now raised Prynne Bastwick and our Scottish Masters but some also of a milder and subtler allây both in the Genevian and Roman Faction And it will become the Church of England so to vindicate it against the furious Puritans as that we may not lay it open to be wounded by either of the other two more cunning and more learned adversaries Not to the Roman faction for that will be content it shall be Juris Divini mediati by far from and under the Pope that so the Government of the Church may be Monarchical in him but not Immediati which makes the Church Aristocratical in the Bishops This is the Italian Rock not the Genevan for that will not deny Episcopacy to be Juris Divini so you will take it ut suadentis vel approbantis but not imperantis for then they may take and leave as they will which is that they would be at Nay if I much forget not Beza himself is said to have acknowledged Episcopacy to be Juris Divini Imperantis so you will not take it as universaliter imperantis For then Geneva might escape citra considerationem durantis for then though they had it before yet now upon wiser thoughts they may be without it which Scotland says now and who will may say it after if this be good Divinity and then all in that time shall be Democratical I am bold to add because in your second Postulatum I find that Episcopacy is directly commanded but you go not so far as to meet with this subtilty of Beza which is the great Rock in the Lake of Geneva In your nine Postulatum that the Accession of Honourable Titles or Priviledges makes no difference in the substance of the calling You mean the titles of Archbishops Primates Metropolitans Patriarcks c. 'T is well And I presume you do so But then in any case take heed you assert it so as that the Faction lay not hold of it as if the Bishops were but the Title of Honour and the same calling with a Priest For that they all aim at c. The eleventh Postulatum is larger and I shall not Repeat it because I am sure you retein a Copy of what you write to me being the Ribbs of the work nor shall I say more to it then that it must be warily handled for fear of a saucy Answer which is more ready with them a great deal then a Learned one I presume I am pardoned already for this freedom by your submission of all to me And now I heartily pray you to send me up keeping a Copy to your self against the accidents of Carriage not the whole work together but each particular head or Postulatum as you finish it that so we here may be the better able to consider of it and the work come on faster So to Gods blessed Protection c. Such was the freedom which he used in declaring his judgement in the case and such the Authority which his reasons carried along wâth them that the Bishop of Exon found good cause to correct the oblâquity of his opinion according to the Rules of these Animadversions agreeably unto which the book was writ and published not long after under the name of Episcopacy by Divine Right c. Such care being taken to prevent all inconveniencies which might come from Scotland he casts his eye toward the Execution of his former Orders for Regulating the French and Dutch Churches here in England It had been to no purpose in him to endeavour a Conformity amongst the Scots as long as such examples of separation did continue amongst the English If the post-nati in those Churches born and bred in England
Acknowledgment to the Town of Reading in which he was born and in the Grammar-School whâreof he had received the first part of his Education he bestowed upon it about this time also a Revenue of no less than 200 l. per Annum to be thus disposed of that is to say 120 l. thereof to be parcelled out every two years for the pla ãâ¦ã Apprentices and setting up of young Beginners who had honestly served out their Times and every third year for the Marriage of five young Maidens which had lived with one Master or Mistress for seven years together 50 l. of it to be yearly added for an Augmentation to the Minister of the Parish-Church of St. Laurence in which he was born whose means before was miserably short of that which some call a Competency and having purchased the perpetual Parsonage of it he conferred it on St. Iohn's Colledge in Oxon to be a fit Preferment for any one of the Fellows of that House for the time to come 20 l. of it he alotted yearly to encrease the Stipend of the Schoolmaster there 8 l. for the yearly Entertainment of the President and Fellows of St. Iohn's Colledge whom he made his Visitors to see that all things should be carried as fairly on as by him piously intended the remaining 40 s. being added as a yearly Fee to the Town-Clerk for Registring the Names of those who should from time to time enjoy the benefit of so great a Charity Some other great Designs he had but of a far more Publick and Heroick Nature as the encreasing of the Maintenance of all the poor Vicars in England To see the Tythes of London settled between the Clergy and the City For setting up a Greek Press at Oxon. and procuring Letters and Mattrices for the same wherewith to Print and Publish all such Greek Manuscripts as were to be found in that Library For obtaining the like Grant from his Majesty for buying in all Impropriations as had been made for the Repairing of St. Pauls but not to take beginning till that Work was finished For procuring an Extract of all the Records of the Tower relating to the Church and Clergy to be written in a fair Vellom Book which had been drawn down from the 20th of Edward 1. to the 14th of Edward iv with an intent to carry on the Work till the last year of King Henry viii that so the Church might understand her own Power and Priviledges But the prosecution of this Work from the said 14th of King Edward iv and of all the rest before-mentioned which he had hammered in design were most unfortunately intermitted by the great alteration of Affairs which soon after followed I cannot tell whether Posterity will believe or not That so many great and notable Projectments could be comprehended in one Soul most of them Ripened in a manner the residue in the Bud or Blossom and some of them bringing forth the Fruits expected from them But the best is that none of his Designs were carried in so close a manner or left in so imperfect a condition as not to give some visible Remembrances as well of his Universal Comprehensions as his Zeal and Piety For notwithstanding the present Distractions which the Faction and Tumultuousness of the Scots had drawn upon him enough to have deterred a right Constantine let us look on him in the pursuit of his former purposes and we shall find him still the same The Bishop of Exeter's Book being finished and recommended by the Author to his last perusal before it went unto the Press he took the pains to read it over with care and diligence in the perusal whereof he took notice amongst other things that the strict Superstition of the Sabbatarians was but lightly touch'd at whereas he thought that some smarter Plaister to that Sore might have done no harm He observed also that he had passed by this Point viz. Whether Episcopacy be an Order or Degree as not much material whereas in the Judgment of such Learned Men as he had consulted it was the main ground of the whole Cause And therefore he desired him to weigh it well and to alter it with his own Pen as soon as might be âut that which gave him most offence was That the Title of Antichrist was positively and determinately bestowed upon the Pope Which being so contrary to the Judgment of many Learned âââtestants as well as his own he allowed not of but howsoever thought it fit to acquaint his Majesty with the Business and having so done to submit it to his Will and Preasure Concerning which he writes thus to the Bishop in his Letter of Ianuary 14. this present year viz. The last with which I durst not but acquaint his Majesty is about Antichrist which Title in three or four places you bestow up is the Pope positively and determinately whereas King James of âlessed Memory having brought strong proof in a Work of his as you well know to prove the Pope to be Antichrist yet being afterwards challenged about it he made this Answer when the King that now is went into Spain and acquainted him with it That he writ that not concludingly but by way of Argument only that the Pope and his Adherents might see there was as good and better Arguments to prove him Antichrist than for the Pope to challenge Temporal Iurisdiction over Kings The whole Passage being known to me I could not but speak with the King about it who commanded me to write unto you that you might qualifie your Expression in these Particulars and so not differ from the known Iudgment of his Pious and Learned Father This is easily done with your own Pen and the rather because all Protestants joyn not in this Opinion of Antichrist According to which good advice the Bishop of Exon. qualified some of his Expressions and deleted other to the Contentment of his Sovereign the Satisfaction of his Metropolitan and his own great Honour But whilest the Archbishop laboured to support Episcopacy on the one side some of the Puritan Party did as much endeavour to suppress it by lopping off the Branches first and afterwards by laying the Ax to the root of the Tree Bagshaw a Lawyer of some standing of the Middle Temple did first prepare the way to the ruine of it by questioning the Bishops Place and Vote in Parliament their Temporal Power and the Authority of the High-Commission For being chosen Reader by that House for the Lent Vacation he first began his Readings on February 24. selecting for the Argument of his Discoursings the Statute 25 Edw. 3. cap. 7. In prosecuting whereof he had distributed his Conceptions into ten Parts and each Part into ââââââcial Cases by which account he must have had one hundred blows at the Church in his ten days Reading His main Design was in the first place intended chiefly for the defence of such Prohibitions as formerly had been granted by the Courts in Westminster-Hall to stop the
also with higher promises that he might corrupt his sincere mind yet a fitting occasion was never offered whereby he might insinuate himself into the Lord Archbishop to whom free access was to be impetrated by the Earl and Countess of Arundel as also by Secretary Windebank all whose intercessions he neglected and did shun as it were the Plague the company or Familiarity of Con. He was also sollicited by others of no mean Rank well known to him and yet he continued unmovable And whereas some found a way to help at last by making Windebank the Internuncio betwixt him and them that only serves to make the matter rather worse than better there being a great strangeness grown betwixt him and Windebank not only before Con's coming into the Realm but before Panzani had settled any course of intelligence in the Court of England As for his favours towards those of the Catholick Party and his connivence of their Practices which is next objected as he had good reason for the one so there could be no reason to object the other He had good reason for the one viz. That by shewing favours to the Papists here they might obtain the like favours for such Protestants as lived in the Dominion of Popish Princes Upon which ground King Iames extended many favours to them in his time as opinions as that Writer makes them appears first by the Testimony of the Archbishop of Spalato declaring in the High Commission a little beâore âiââoing hence that he acknowledged the Articles of the Church to be true or profitable at the least and none of them to be Heretical It appears secondly by a Tractate of Franciscus a Sancta Clara as he calls himself in which he pâtteth such a gloss upon the 39 Articles of the Church of England as rendreth them not inconsistent with the Doctrines of the Church of Rome And iâ without prejudice to the truth the controversies might have been composed it is most probable that other Protestant Churches would have suâd by their Agents to be included in the Peace if not the Church of England had lost nothing by it as being hated by the Calvinists and not loved by the Lutherans Admitting then that such a Reconciliation was endeavoured betwixt the Agents for both Churches Let us next see what our great States-men have discoursed upon that particular upon what terms the Agreement was to have been made and how far they proceeded in it And first the book entituled the Popes Nuncio affirmed to have been written by a Venetian Ambassador at his being in England doth discourse it tâus As to a Reconciliation saith he between the Churches of England and Rome there were made some general Propositions and overtures by the Archbishops Agents they assuring that his Grace was very much disposed thereunto and that if it was not accomplisht in his life time it would prove a work of more difficulty after his death that in very truth for the last three years the Archbishop had introduced some Innovations approaching âear the Rites and Forms of Rome that the Bishop of Chichester a great Confident of his Grace the Lord Treasurer and eight other Bishops of his Graces party did most passionately desire a Reconciliation with the Church of Rome that they did day by day receed from their Ancient Tenents to accommodate with the Church of Rome that therefore the Pope on his part ought to make some steps to meet them and the Court of Romeââmit ââmit something of its Rigor in Doctrine or otherwise no accord would be The composition on both sides in so good a forwardness before Panzam leât the Kingdom that the Archbishop and and Bishop of Chichester had often said that there were but two sorts of People likely to impede and hinder the Reconciliation to wit the Puritans amongst the Protestants and the Iesuites amongst the Catholicks Let us next see the judgement and Relation of another Author in a gloss or Comment on the Former intituled the English Pope Printed at London in the same year 1643. And he will tells us that after Con had undertook the managing of the affairs matters began to grow toward some agreement The King required saith he such a dispensation from the then Pope as that his Catholick Subjects might resort to the Protestant Churches and to take the oaths of Supremacy and Fidelity and that the Popes Jurisdiction here should be declared to be but of humane Right And so far had the Pope consented that whatsoever did concern the King therein should have been really performed so far forth as other Catholick Princes usually enjoy and expect as their due and so far as the Bishops were to be Independent both from King and Pope there was no fear of breach on the Popes part So that upon the point the Pope was to content himself amongst us in England with a Priority instead of a Superiority over other Bishops and with a Primacy in stead of a Supremacy in thâse parts of Christendom which I conceive no man of Learning and Sobriety would have grudged to grant him It was also condescended to in the name of the Pope that marriage might be permitted to Priests that the Communion might be Administred sub utraque specie and that the Liturgy might be officiated in the English tongue And though the Author adds not long after that it was to be suspected That so far as the inferiour Clergy and the people were concerned the after-performance was to be leât to the Popes Discretion yet this was but his own suspicion without ground at all And to obtain a Reconciliation upon these Advantages the Archbishop had all the Reason in the world to do as he did in ordering the Lords Table to be placed where the Altar stood and making the accustomed Reverence in all approaches towards it and accesses to it in beautifying and adorning Churches and celebrating the Divine Service with all due Solemnities in taking care that all offensive and exasperating passages should be expunged out of such Books as were brought to the Press and for reducing the extravagancy of some opinions to an evener temper His Majesty had the like Reason also for tolerating Lawful Recreations on the Sundays and Holy-days The rigorous Restraint whereof made some Papists think those most especially of the vulgar sort whom it most concerned that all honest Pastime were incompetible with our Religion And if he approved Auricular Confession and shewed himself willing to introduce it into the use of the Church as both our Authors say he did it is no more then what the Liturgy Commends to the care of the Penitent though we find not the word Auricular in it or what the Canons have provided for in the point of security for such as shall be willing to confess themselves But whereas we are told by one of our Authors that the King should say he would use force to make it be received were it not for fear of Sedition
supply but in the grant thereof blasted his Majesties Expedition against the Scots whose Cause they resolved to make their own and received thanks from them for that favour in their next Remonstrance Which coming to his Majesties ears on Munday the fourth of May he called his Council together on the next Morning betimes by whose unanimous consent he dissolved the Parliament On Tuesday April 14 the Convocation assembled in the Chapter-house of the Church of St. Paul from whence they waited on his Grace and the rest of the Bishops to hear the Sermon in the Quire The Sermon preacht by Turner Residentiary of the Church His Text was taken out of Mat. 10.16 Behold I send you forth as Sheep in the midst of Wolves which he followed home unto the Purpose In the close of the Sermon he had a passage in these words or to this effect that all the Bishops held not the Reins of Church Discipline with an even hand but that some of them were too easie and remiss in the ordering thereof Whereby though they sought to gain to themselves the popular plause of meekness and mildness they occasionally cast on other Bishops more severe than themselves the unjust imputation of Rigour and Tyranny and therefore he advised them withall with equal strictness to urge an universal Conformity The Sermon ended the Clergy fell to the electing of their Prolocutor as before commanded pitching unanimously on Dr. Richard Steward Clerk of his Majesties Closet and Dean of Chichester to be presented the next day to the Archbishop and the rest of the Prelates in the Chappel of King Henry vii at Westminster to which the Synod was adjourned The next day being come after a Protestation made in writing by the Sub-Dean and Prebendaries of that Church for not acknowledging the Archbishop of Canterbury or the rest of the Bishops to have any Jurisdiction in that place and the admitting of the same for good and valid they were permitted to proceed in their Convocation The business of that day was the presenting of the Prolocutor by Sheldon Warden of All-souls his Admission by the Archbishop and Stewards unwilling readiness to discharge the Office each of them delivering their conceptions in Elegant Latine Speeches as the custome is but the Archbishops longer than both the rest Which Ceremonies being performed his Grace produced a Commission under the Great Seal by which they were enabled according to the said Statute of King Henry viii to propose treat consult and agree upon the Exposition or Alteration of any Canon then in force and upon such new Canons Orders and Constitutions as the said Bishops and Clergy of which the Lord Archbishop to be alwaies one should think âit necessary and convenient for the honour and service of Almighty God the good and quiet of the Church and the better Government thereof to be performed and kept by the said Archbishops Bishops and the rest of the Clergy in their several places as also by the Dean of the Arches and by all others having Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in the Province of Canterbury and by all other persons within this Realm so far as being Members of this Church they may be concerned Provided alwaies that no such Canons Orders or Constitutions so to be considered on as aforesaid be contrary or repugnant to the Liturgy established or the Rubricks in it or the 39 Articles or any Doctrinal Orders and Ceremonies of the Church of England already established as also that nothing should be done in execution of the same till being exhibited to his Majesty in writing to be allowed approved confirmed and ratified or otherwise disallowed annihilated and made void as he should think fit requisite and convenient and then to be allowed approved and confirmed by Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England Also the said Commission to continue and remain in force during the present Session of Parliament and to expire together with it For the procuring of this Commission as the Archbishop had good reason as well for countenancing and confirming his former Actings as for rectifying many other things which required reformation so had his Majesty as good reasons for the granting of it the grounds whereof contained in his Commission of Iune 13. for confirming all the Acts of this Convocation are to this effect He had been given to understand that many of his Subjects being misled against the Rites and Ceremonies then used in the Church of England had taken offence at the same upon an unjust supposal That they were not only contrary to Law but also introductive unto Popish Superstitions whereas it well appeared unto him upon mature deliberation that the said Rites and Ceremonies which were then so much quarrelled at were not only approved of and used by those godly and learned Divines to whom at the time of the Reformation under King Edward vi the compiling of the Book of Common-Prayer was committed divers of which suffered Martyrdom in Queen Maries daies but also again taken up by this whole Church under Queen Elizabeth Which Rites so taken up had been so duly and ordinarily practiced for a great part of her Reign within the memory of divers living as that it could not then be imagined that there would need any Rule or Law for the observation of the same nor that they could be thought to savour of Popery He found too plainly that since those times for want of an express Rule therein and by the subtle practices of some men the said Rites and Ceremonies began to fall into disuse and in place thereof other Foreign and unfitting usages by little and little to creep in But being he found withal that in the Royal Chappels and in many other Churches most of them had been ever constantly used and observed his Majesty could not but be very sensible of the inconvenience And he had cause also to conceive that the Authors and Fomenters of those Jealousies though they coloured the same with a pretence of zeal and did seem to strike only at some supposed iniquity in the said Ceremonies yet aimed at his Royal Person and would have his good Subjects think that he himself was perverted and did worship God in a superstitious way and that he did intend to bring in some alteration in the Religion here established From which how far he was and how utterly he detested the very thought thereof he had by his many Declarations and upon sundry other occasions given such assurance to the World that no man of wisdom and discretion could ever be so beguiled as to give any serious entertainment to such brainsick Jealousies And as for the weaker sort who were prone to be misled by crafty seducers he alwaies assured himself that as many of them as had loyal or but charitable hearts would from thenceforth utterly banish all such causeless fears and surmises upon those his Sacred Professions so often made as a Defender of the Christian Faith their King and Sovereign He
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 Oâfence Excommunication âor 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 ãâã Parsonage of Petworth should impute the Rise and Growth of ãâã 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 Prolecutâr by one of the Members of that Body advanced the next year to a ãâã Dignity for Restraint of Sectaries By which it was deââââd That all those Proceedings and Penalties which are mentiâââd in the Canon against Popish Recusants so far forth as may be appliable should be in full force and vigour against all Anabaptists Brownists Sâperatists 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
Commissary or if the Bishops occasions will not permit then by his Chancellor or Commissary and two grave dignified or beneficed Ministers of the Diocess to be assigned by the Bishop under his Episcopal Seal who shall hear and censure the said cause in that Consistory By the third it was ordained That no Excommunications or Absolutions should be good or valid in Law except they be pronounced either by the Bishop in person or by some other in holy Orders having Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction or by some grave Minister beneficed in the Diocess being a Master of Arts at least and appointed by the Bishop the name of the said Priest or Minister being expressed in the Instrument under the Seal of the Court And that no such Minister should pronounce any such Sentence but in open Consistory or at least in some Church or Chappel the Penitent humbly craving and taking Absolution upon his knees By the fourth it was provided That no Chancellor c. should have power to commute any Penance in whole or in part but either together with the Bishop in person or with his privity in writing That if he do it by himself he should give up a full and just account of such Commutations once every year at Michaelmas to the Bishop under pain of being suspended from his Jurisdiction for the space of a year the said Commutations to be disposed of by the Bishop and Chancellor in such charitable and pious uses as the Law requires and that Commutation to be signified to the place from whence the complaint proceeded in case the crime were publickly complained of and approved notorious For preventing those vexations and inconveniencies which formerly had been occasioned by concurrent Jurisdictions It was decreed by the fift Canon under the several penalties therein contained That no Register or Clerk should give nor Apparitor execute a Citation upon any Executor to appear in any Court or Office till ten daies after the Death of the Testator And that nevertheless it might be lawful for any Executor to prove such Wills when they think good within the said ten daies before any Ecclesiastical Judge respectively to whose Jurisdiction the same might or did appertain By the sixth it was ordained for the better preventing of any further invasions to be made on the Prerogative of the See of Canterbury and of many other inconveniencies which did thence arise no Licence of Marriage should be granted from any Ordinary in whose Jurisdiction one of the parties hath not been Commorant for the space of a month immediately before the same shall âe desired under pain of such Censure as the Archbishop should think fit to inflict And that the said Parties being commorant in the said Jurisdiction as before is said shall be made one of the Conditions of the Bond accustomably given for securing that Office And for preventing of vexatious Citations for the time to come it was required by the last Canon That no Citation should from thenceforth be issued out of any Ecclesiastical Court except it be upon Presentment but such as should be sent forth under the Hand and Seal of the Chancellor within thirty days after the fault committed the Return thereof to be made on the first or second Court-day after the serving of the same And that the Party so cited not being convinced by two Witnessâs on his denial of the Fact by his corporal Oath should be forthwith dismissed without any payment of Fees Provided Tâat this Decree extend not to any grievous Crime as Schism Incontinence Misbehaviour at the Church in the time of Divine Service obstinate Inconformity or the like Finally For preventing all unnecessary Tautologies and Repetitions of the same thing it was declared once for all That whatsoever had been declared in the former Canons concerning the Jurisdiction of the Bâshâps their Chancellors or Commissaries should be in force as far as by Law it was appliable concerning all Deans Deans and Chapters Collegiate Churches Archdeacons and all in Holy Orders having exempt or peculiar Jurisdiction and their several Officers respectively To the Proceedings of this Committee in digesting these Canons the interposing of another business gave no stop at all though it seemed to be of more weight than all the rest His Majesty on the twentieth of May directed his Letters sealed with his Royal Signet and attested by his Signe Manual to the Bishops and Clergy assembled in Convocation Requiring and thereby Authorising them to proceed in making Synodical Constitutions for Levying the six Subsidies formerly Granted This the most easie Task of all The Grant of the six Subsidies had been drawn before and there was nothing now to be altered in it but the changing of the name of Subsidy into that of Benevolence according to the Advice of the Council-Learned by whom it was resolved That no Moneys could be raised in the name of a Subsidy but by Act of Parliament And for the Synodicalâ Acts or Constitutions for the Levying of it they were made to their hands So that there was nothing left for them to do but to follow the Precedent which was laid before them out of the Record of Convocation Anno 1585. and to transcribe the same the Names and Sums being only changed without further trouble So that it was dispatched by the Committee Voted by the Clergie and sent up to the Bishops before the end of the next day Nor did the framing or compiling of the Book of Articles give any stop at all to him to wâom tâe digesting of them was committed from attending the Service of the Committee and the House upon all occasions though for the better Authorising of them he had placed in the Margin before every Article the Canon Rubrick Law Injunction or other Authentick Evidence upon which it was grounded Which being finiâhed in good time was by him openly read in the House and by the House approved and passed without alteration but that an Exegetical or Explanatory Clause in the fourth Article of the fourth Chapter touching the Reading of the Second or Communion-Service at the Lords Table was desired by some to be omitted which was done accordingly Which Articles being too many and too long to be here inserted the Reader may consult in the Printed Book first published for the Visitation of the Bishop of London and by him fitted in some points for the use of that Diocess The said Clerk brought a Canon also with him For enjoyning the said Book to be only used in all Parochial Visitations for the better settling of an Uniformity in the outward Government and Administration of the Church and for the preventing of such just Grievances which might be laid upon Churcâwardens and other sworn men by any impertinent inconvenient or illegal Inquiries in the Articles for Ecclesiastical Visitations The same to be deposited in the Records of the Archbishop of Canterbury To which a Clause was added in the House of Bishops giving a Latitude to themselves for adding
come he was conveyed in Maxwell's Coach without any disturbance till he came to the end of Cheapside from whence he was followed by a railing Rabble of rude and uncivil People to the very Gates of the Tower Where having taken up his Lodging and settled his small Family in convenient Rooms he diligently resorted to the Publick Chappel of that place at all times of Worship being present at the Prayers and Sermons and some ãâ¦ã âearing himselâ uncivilly reviled and pointed at as it were by ãâ¦ã Preachers sent thither of purpose to disgrace and vex ãâã All which Indignities he endured with such Christian meekââss as rendred him one of the great Examples both of Patience and ãâã these latter Times The principal things contained in the Charge of the Scots Commissioners were these that follow viz. That he had press'd upon that ãâã many Innovations in Religion contained in the Liturgie and ãâã of Canons contrary to the Liberties and Laws thereof That he had written many Letters to Ballentine Bishop of Dumblane and Dean of the Kings Chappel in Scotland in which he required him and the ãâã of the Bishops to be present at the Divine Service in their Whites ãâã blamed the said Bishop for his negligence and slackness in it and ââxing him for Preaching Orthodox Doctrine against Arminianism that he had caused the said Bishop to be reprehended for commanding a Solemn Fast to be kept in his Diocess on the Lords day as if they had offended in it against Christianity it self That he gave order for the âaking down of Stone Walls and Galleries in the Churches of Edenborougâ to no other end but for the setting up of Altars and Adoration ãâã the East That for their Supplicating against these Novations they were encountred by him with terrible Proclamations from his Maââââ declared Rebels in all the Parish-Churches of England and a ãâ¦ã against them by his Arts and Practices That after the Pa ãâã made at Perwick he frequently spake against it as dishonou ãâã and unfit to be kept their Covenant by him called ungodly and ãâ¦ã Oaths imposed upon their Countrymen to abjure the same That ãâ¦ã nât in the presence of the King and their Commissioners to ãâ¦ã the General Assembly held at Glasco and put his Hand un ãâ¦ã for Imprisoning some of those Commissioners sent from the Parliament of Scotland for the Peace of both Nations That when the late Parliament could not be moved to assist in the War against them he had caused the same to be dissolved and continued the Con ãâã to make Canons against them and their Doctrines to be punished four times in every year That he had caused six Subsidies to ãâ¦ã on the Clergy for maintaining the War and Prayer to be made ãâã all Parish-Churches That shame might cover their faces as Enemies to God and the King And finally That he was so industrious in advancing Popery in all the three Kingdoms that the Pope himself could not have been more Popish had he been in his place Such was the Charge exhibited by the Scots Commissioners in which was nothing criminal enough to deserve Imprisonment much less to threaten him with Death And as for that brought up from the House of Commons it consisted of fourteen General Articles as before was said ushered in with a short Preamble made by Pym and shut up with a larger Aggravation of the Offences comprehended in the several Articles the substance of which Articles was to this effect 1. That he had Traiterously endeavoured to subvert the Fundamental Laws of the Realm to introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government and to perswade his Majesty That he might Lawfully raise Money of the Subject without their common Consent in Parliament 2. That to this end he had caused divers Sermons to be Preached and Books to be Printed against the Authority of Parliaments and for asserting an absolute and unlimited Power over the Persons and Goods of the Subjects to be not only in the King but also in himself and the rest of the Bishops and had been a great Promoter of such by whom the said Books and Sermons had been made and published 3. That by several Messages Letters Threatnings c. he had interrupted and perverted the Course of Iustice in Westminster-Hall whereby sundry of his Majesties Subjects had been stopp'd in their just Suits and thereby made subject to his will 4. That he had traiterously and corruptly sold Iustice to such as had Causes depending before him and taken unlawful Gifts and Bribes of his Majesties Subjects and had advised and procured his Majesty to sell Places of Iudicature and other Offices 5. That he had caused a Book of Canons to be Composed and Published without lawful Authority in which were many things contained contrary to the Kings Prerogative the Fundamental Laws c. and had caused many of the same to surreptitiously passed and afterwards by fear and compulsion to be subscribed by the Prelates and Clerks there assembled notwithstanding they had never been Voted and Passed in the Convocation 6. That he hath assumed to himself a Papal and Tyrannical Power both in Eccesiastical and Temporal Matters over his Majesties Subjects in this Realm and other places to the disherison of the Crown dishonour of his Majesty and derogation of his Supreme Authority in Ecclesiastical Matters 7. That he had endeavoured to alter and subvert Gods true Religion by Law established in this Realm and instead thereof to set up Popish Superstition and Idolatry and to that end had maintained many Popish Doctrines enjoyned many Popish and Superstitious Ceremonies and cruelly vexed and persecuted such as refused to conform unto them 8. That ãâã order thereunto he had intruded into the Rights of many of his Majesties Officers and Subjects in procuring to himself the Nomination of divers Persons to Ecclesiastical Benefices and had taken upon him the commendation of Chaplains to the King promoting and commending none but such as were Popishly affected or otherwise unsound in Doctrine or corrupt in Manners 9. That to the same intent he had chosen such men to be his Chaplains whom he knew to be notoriously disaffected to the Reformed Religion and had committed unto them or some of them the Licencing of Books to be Printed whereby many false and Superstitious Books had been Published to the great scandal of Religion and the seducing of many of his Majesties Subjects 10. That he had endeavoured to reconcile the Church of England to the Church of Rome confederating to that end with divers Popish Priests and Iesuits holding Intelligence with the Pope and permitting a Popish Hierarchy or Ecclesiastical Government to be established in this Kingdom 11. That in his own Person and by others under his Command he had caused divers Godly and Orthodox Ministers of Gods Word to be Silenced Suspended and otherwise grieved without any lawful or just cause hindred the Proaching of Gods Word cherished Prophaneness and Ignorance amongst the People and compelled
of the Church by whom a Sub-Committee was the same day named to prepare such matters as were to be discoursed and concluded by them the Bishop of Lincoln being in the ãâ¦ã both Which Sub-Committee being made up of the Divines above-mentioned consisted of three Bishops nine Doctors in Divinity and four of some inferiour Degree in the Universities some of them being Prelatical and some Presbyterian in point of Government but all of them Calvinians in point of Doctrine Beginning first with points of Doctrine complaint was made that the whole body of Armimanism and many particular points of Popery for so they called all which agreed not with Calvin's sense had been of late maintained in Books and Sermons and sometimes also in the Divinity Schools And then descending to matter of Discipline they discoursed of many Innovations which they conceived to have been thrust upon the Church most of them in disposing and adorning the Communion Table and the more reverent Administration of the holy Sacraments some of them positively required or at least directed by the Laws of the Land as reading the Communion Service at the Lords Table on Sundaies and Holidaies reading the Litany in the middest of the Church the Ministers turning toward the East in the Creed and Prayers and praying no otherwise before Sermons than in the words of the Canon some of them never having been disused in many Parochial Churches and retained in most Cathedrals since the Reformation as standing at the Hymns and the Gloria Patri placing the Table Altarwise and adoring toward it some being left indifferent at the choice of the Minister as the saying or singing of the Te Deum in Parochial Churches officiating the Communion and the dayly prayers in the Latine tongue in several Colledges and Halls by and amongst such as are not ignorant of that Language And others not of so great moment as to make any visible alteration in the face of the Church or sensible disturbance in the minds of the People Which therefore might have been as well forborne as practiced till confirmed by Authority or otherwise might have been borne without any such clamour as either out of ignorance or malice had been raised against them They also took into consideration some Rubricks in the Book of Common Prayer and other things which they thought sit to be rectified in it Amongst which they advised some things not to be utterly disliked viz. That the Hymns Sentences Epistles and Gospels should be reprinted according to the new Translation That the Meeter in the Psalms should be corrected and allowed of Publickly and that no Anthems should be sung in Colledges or Cathedral Churches but such as were taken out of the Scripture or the publick Liturgy That fewer Lessons might be read out of the Books called Apocryphal and the Lessons to be read distinctly exclusive of the Liberty which is given to sing them as appears by the Rubrick That the Rubrick should be cleared concerning the Ministers power for repulsing scandalous and notorious sinners from the holy Communion and that the general Confession before the Communion be ordered to be said by the Minister only the People repeating it after him That these words in the Form of Matrimony viz. With my body I thee worship may be explained and made more intelligible And that instead of binding the married Couple to receive the Communion on their Wedding day which is seldom done they may be obliged to receive it on the Sunday after or the next Communion day following That none be licenced to marry or have their Banes asked who shall not first bring a Certificate from their Minister that they are instructed in the Catechism and that it be not required that the Infant be dipt in the water as is injoyned by the Rubrick in the case of extremity Some Passages they observed impertinently and not worth the altering as the expunging of some Saints which they falsly called Legendaries out of the Kalendar The constant adding of the Doxology at the end of the Pater noster Reading of Morning and Evening Prayer dayly by the Curate if not otherwise letted The leaving out of the Benedicite and the changing of the Psalm used in the Churching of Women That those words which only workest great marvels be left out of the Prayer for the Bishops and Clergy That Grievous sins instead of Deadly sins be used in the Letany That the sanctifying of the Flood Iordan be changed into sanctifying the Element of water in the Form of Baptism That those words In sure and certain hope of Resurrection which are used at Burials may be changed to these knowing assuredly that the dead shall rise again And that the Commination should be read at the Desk and not in the Pulpit all which remaining as they did could give no offence and might have easily been changed to give some content And finally some things there were of which they desired a Reformation which seemed to have so much of the Anti-Papist that they came close to the Puritan viz. That the Vestments prescribed by the first Liturgy of King Edward vi should not be required and the rule in that case to be altered That the Alms should be gathered rather after than before the Communion These words This is my body This is my bloud not to be Printed in great Letters and that a Rubrick be inserted to declare that kneeling at the Communion is required only in relation to the Prayer of the distribution Preserve thee body and soul c. That weekly Communion every Sunday be changed to monthly in Colledges and Cathedral Churches That the Cross in Baptism be either explained or quite disused and that in the Form of Confirmation these words importing that Children baptized are undoubtedly saved be no longer used That no times of Restraint may be laid on Marriage And that the Authoritative Form of Absolution in the Visitation of the sick may be turned to a Pronouncing or declaring of it I have the longer stood on the result of these Consultations because of the different apprehensions which were had of the Consequents and Issue of them Some hoped for a great Reformation to be prepared by them and settled by the Grand Committee both in Doâââiâe and Discipline and others as much feared the affections of the men considered that Doctrinal Calvinism being once settled more alterations would be made in the Publick Liturgy than at first appeared till it was brought more near the Form of the Gallick Churches after the Platform of Geneva Certain I am that the imprisoned Archbishop had no fancy to it fearing least the Assembly of Divines in Ierusalem-Chamber so the place was called might weaken the foundations of Ierusalem in the Church of England That this Assembly on the matter might prove the National Synod of England to the great dishonour of the Church and that when their Conclusions were brought unto the great Committee the business would be over-ruled by the Temporal
point that he put himself into a Cock-boat with Stapleton and some others of his principal Friends and left his whole Army to his Majesties mercy His Horse taking the Advantage of a dark night made a shift to escape but the Commanders of the Foot came to this Capitulation with his Majesty that they should depart without their Arms which with their Cannon Baggage and Ammunition being of great Consideration were left wholly to his disposing Immediately after this success his Majesty dispatched a message from Tavestock to the two Houses of Parliament in which he laid before them the miserable Condition of the Kingdom remembring them of those many Messages which he had formerly sent unto them for an accommodation of the present differences and now desiring them to bethink themselves of some expedient by which this Issue of blood might be dried up the distraction of the Kingdom settled and the whole Nation put into an hope of Peace and Happiness To which message as to many others before they either gave no Answer or such an one as rather served to widen then close the breach falsly conceiving that all his Majesties offers of Grace and Favour proceeded either from an inability to hold out the War or from the weakness and irresolution of his Counsels But if instead of thâs Message from Tavestock his Majesty had gone on his own errand and marched directly toward London it was conceived in all probability that he might have made an end of the War secured the life of the Archbishop his most trusty Servant and put an end to those calamities which the continuance and conclusion of the War brought with it The Army of Essex being thus broken and that of Manchester not returned from the Northern Service He could not chuse but have observed in the course of that Action with what a Military Prudence Lesly had followed at the heels of the Marquis of Newcastle not stopping or diverting upon the by till he had brought his Army before York the gaining whereof as being the chief City of those parts brought in all the Rest. And certainly it hath been counted no dishonour in the greatest Souldiers to be instructed by their enemies in the feats of War But the King sitting down before Plymouth as before Glocester the last year and staying there to perfect an Association of the Western Counties he spent so much time that Essex was again in the head of his Army and being seconded by Manchester and Waller made a stand at Newbury where after a very sharp dispute the Enemy gained some of his Majesties Cannon which struck such a terrour into many of those about him that they advised him to withdraw his Person out of the danger of the Fight as he did accordingly But this he did so secretly and with so slender a Retinue that he was not mist His Army holding on the âight with a greater courage because they thought the safety of his Majesties Person did depend upon it whose departure if it had been known would questionless have created such a general dejection in the hearts of his Souldiers as would have rendred them to a cheap discomfiture But the Lost Cannon being regained and the fight continued with those of his Majesties party with greater advantage then before each Army drew of by degrees so that neither of them could find any great cause to boast of the victory This Summers Action being ended in which the Scots had done very good service to the Houses of Parliament it was thought necessary to proceed in the Tryal of the Archbishop of Canterbury which had taken up so much time already that it seemed ready for a sentence But there appeared more difficulty in it then at first was lookt for For being admitted to a Recapitulation of his whole defence before the Lords in the beginning of September it gave such a general satisfaction to all that heard it that the mustering up of all the evidence against him would not take it off To prove the first branch of the charge against him they had ript up the whole course of his Life from his first coming to Oxford till his Commitment to the Tower but could find no sufficient Proof of any design to bring in Popery or suppress the true Protestant Religion here by Law Established For want whereof they insisted upon such Reproches as were laid upon him when he lived in the University the beautifying of his Chappel Windows with Pictures and Images the Solemn Consecration of Churches and Chappels the Placing of the Communion Table Altar-wise and making Adoration in his Accesses to or Approches toward it Administring the Sacrament with some more Solemnities then in Ordinary Parochial Churches though constantly observed in his Majesties Chappels the care and diligence of his Chaplains in expunging some offensive passages out of such Books as were to be licenced for the Press and tâeir permitting of some passages to remain in others which were supposed to âavor of Popery and Arminianism because they crost the sense of Calvin the preferring of many able men to his Majesties Service and to advancements in the Church who must the Stigmatized for Papists or Arminians because they had not sworn themselves into Calvins Faction his countenancing two or three Popish Priests for no more are named of whom good use was to be made in Order to the Peace and Happiness of the Church of England as had before been done by Bancroft and others of his Predeââssors since the Reformation Such were the proofs of his designs to bring in Popery and yet his plots and purposes for suppressing tâe true Protestant Religion had less proofs then this Of which sort were His severe proceedings in the High Commission against some Factious Ministers and Seditious Lecturers the sentencing of Sherfield for defacing a Parish Church in Salisbury under colour of a Vestry-order in contempt of the Diocesan Bishop who then Lived in that City the pressing of his Majesties two Declarations the one for Lawful Sports the other for Silencing unnecessary though not unlawful Disputations His zeal in overthrowing the Corpoâation of Feoffees which had no Legal Foundation to stand upon and seemed destructive to the Peace of the Church and State in the eyes of all that pierc'd into it and finally the Piety of his endeavours for uniting the French and Dutch Congregations to the Church of England in which he did nothing without Warrant or against the Law Such were the Crimes or Treasons rather which paint him out with such an ugly countenance in the Book called Canterburies Doom as if he were the Greatest Traytor and the most Execrable Person that ever had been bred in England And he is promised to be Painted out in such Lively Colours in the following Branches of his Charge as should for ever render him as Treasonable and as Arch a Malefactor as he was in the others and in both alike that promise never being performed in the space of a Dozen
greatest Battel with Darius the Persian he fell into so âound asleep ãâã his Princes âardly could awake him when the morning came And it was likewise certified of this Great Prelate That on the Evening before his Passover the night before the dismal Combate betwixt him and Death after he had refreshed his Spirits with a moderate Supper he betook himself unto his Rest and slept very soundly till the time came in which his Servants were appointed to attend his Rising A most assured sign of a Soul prepared The fatal morning being come he first applied himself to his private Prayers and so continued till Pennington and others of their Publick Officers came to conduct him to the Scaffold which he ascended with so brave a Courage such a chearful Countenance as if he had mounted rather to behold a Triumph than be made a Sacrifice and came not there to Die but to be Translated And though some rude and uncivil People reviled him as he pass'd along with opprobrious Language as loth to let him go to the Grave in Peace yet it never discomposed his Thoughts nor disturb'd his Patience For he had profited so well in the School of Christ that when he was reviled he reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed his cause to him that judgeth righteously And as he did not fear the Frowns so neither did he covet the Applause of the Vulgar Herd and therefore rather chose to read what he had to speak unto the People than to affect the ostentation either of Memory or Wit in that dreadful Agony whether with greater Magnanimity than Prudence I can hardly say As for the matter of his Speech besides what did concern himself and his own Purgation his great care was to cleer his Majesty and the Church of England from any inclination to Popery with a perswasion of the which the Authors of the then present Miseries had abused the People and made them take up Arms against their Sovereign A faithful Servant to the last By means whereof as it is said of Samson in the Book of Iudges That the men which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life So may it be affirmed of this famous Prelate That he gave a greater blow unto the Enemies of the Church and the King at the hour of his death than he had given them in his whole life before But this you will more clearly see by the Speech it self which followeth here according to the best and most perfect Copy delivered by his own hands unto one of his Chaplains and in his name presented to the King by the Lord Iohn Bellasis at the Court in Oxon. The Speech of the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury spoken at his Death upon the Scaffold on the Tower Hill Ian. 10. 1644. Good People THis is an uncomfortable time to preach yet I shall begin with a Text of Scripture Heb. 12.2 Let us run with Patience the Race which is set before us looking unto JESUS the Author and Finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him enâdured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God I have been long in my Race and how I have looked to JESUS the Author and finisher of my faith he best knows I am now to come to the end of my Race and here I find the Cross a death of shame but the shame must be despised or no coming to the right hand of God JESUS despised the shame for me and God forbid but that I should despise the shame for him I am going apace as you see towards the Red Sea and my feet are now upon the very brinke of it anâ Argument I hope that God is bringing me into the Land of Promise for that was the way through which he led his people But before they came to it he instituted a Passeover for them a Lamb it was but it must be eaten with soure herbs I shall obey and labour to digest the soure herbs as well as the Lamb. And I shall remember it is the Lords Passeover I shall not think of the Herbs nor be angry with the hand which gathereth them but look up only to him who instituted that and governs these for men can have no more power over me than what is given them from above I am not in love with this passage through the Red Sea for I have the weakness and infirmities of flesh and bloud plentifully in me And I have prayed with my Saviour Ut transirât Calix iste that this Cup of red wine might pass from me but if not Gods will not mine be done and I shall most willing drink of this Cup as deep as he pleases and enter in this Sea yea and pass through it in the way that he shall lead me But I would have it remembred Good People That when Gâââ Servants were in this boysterous Sea and Aaron amongst them the Egyptians which persecuted them and did in a manner drive them into that Sea were drowned in the same Waters while they were in pursuit of them I know my God whom I serve is as able to deliver me from the sea of bloud as he was to deliver the three Children from the Furnace and I humbly thank my Saviour for it my Resolution is now as theirs was then They would not worship the Image the King had set up nor will I the Imaginations which the People are setting up nor will I forsake the Temple and the truth of God to follow the bleating of Jeroboams Calves in Dan and Bethel And as for this People they are at this day miserably misled God of his mercy open their ââes that they may see the right way for at this day the blind lead the blind and if they go on both will certainly fall into the ditch For my self I am and I acknowledge it in all humility a most grievous sinââ many waies by thought word and deed I cannot doubt but that ãâã hath mercy in store for me a poor Penitent as well as for other sinners I have now and upon this sad occasion ransacked every corner of my ãâã and yet I thank God I have not found among the many any ãâã sin which deserves death by any known Law of this Kingdom and yet hereby I charge nothing upon my Iudges for if they proceed upon proof by valuable witnesses I or any other innocent may be justly condemned And I thank God though the weight of my Sentence he heavy upon me I am as quiet within as ever I was in my life And though I am not only the first Archbishop but the first man that ever ãâã by an Ordinance in Parliament yet some of my Predecessors have gone this way though not by this means For Elphegus was hurried away and lost his head by the Danes and Simon Sudbury in the fury of Wat Tiler and his Fellows Before
these St. John Baptist had his head danced off by a lewd woman and St. Cyprian Archbishop of Carthage submitted his head to a persecuting Sword Many examples great and ãâã and they teach me patience for I hope my cause in heaven will ãâã of another dye than the colour that is put upon it here And some comfort it is to me not only that I go the way of these great men in their several Generations but also that my charge as foul as it is made ãâã like that of the Jews against St. Paul Acts 25.3 for he was accused for the Law and the Temple i. e. Religion and like that of St. Steven Acts 6.14 for breaking the Ordinances which Moses gave i. e. Law and Religion the holy place and the Temple v. 13. But you will then say Do I then compare my self with the Integrity of St. Paul and St. Steven No far be that from me I only raise a comfort to my self that these great Saints and Servants of God were laid at ãâã their time as I am now And it is memorable that St. Paul who helped on this accusation against St. Steven did after fall under the very same himself Yea but here is a great clamour that I would have brought in Popery I shall answer that more fully by and by In the mean time you knâw what the Pharisees said against Christ himself If we let him alone all men will believe in him ET VENIENT ROMANI and the Romans will come and take away both our Place and Nation Here was a causeless cry against Christ that the Romans would come and see how just the Iudgment was they Crucified Christ for fear least the Romans should come and his death was it which brought in the Romans upon them God punishing them with that which they most feared And I pray God this clamour of Venient Romani of which ãâ¦ã no cause help not to bring them in For the Pope never had such an harvest in England since the Reformation as he hath now upon the Sects and Divisions that are amongst us In the mean time by Honour and dishonour by good report and evil report as a Deceiver and yet true am I passing through this world 2 Cor. 6.8 Some Particulars also I think it not amiss to speak of And first This I shall be bold to speak of the King our Gracious Soveraign He hath been much traduced also for bringing in of Popery but on my conscience of which I shall give God a very present account I know him to be as free from this Charge as any man living and I hold him to be as sound a Protestant according to the Religion by Law Established as any man in this Kingdom And that he will venture his life as far and as freely for it And I think I do or should know both his affection to Religion and his grounds for it as fully as any man in England The second Particular is concerning this great and Populous City which God bless Here hath been of late a Fashion taken up to gather Hands and then go to the great Court of this Kingdom the Parliament and clamour for Iustice as if that great and wise Court before whom the Causes come which are unknown to many could not or would not do Iustice but at their Appointment A way which may endanger many an Innocent man and pluck his bloud upon their own heads and perhaps upon the Cities also and this hath been lately practiced against my self the Magistrates standing still and suffering them openly to proceed from Parish to Parish without any check God forgive the Setters of this with all my heart I beg it but many well-meaning People are caught by it In St. Stevens case when nothing else would serve they stirred up the People against him and Herod went the same way when he had killed St James yet he would not venture on St. Peter till he found how the other pleased the People But take heed of having your hands full of bloud for there is a time best known to himself when God above other sins makes Inquisition for bloud and when that Inquisition is on foot the Psalmist tells us That God remembers that 's not all He remembers and forgets not the complaint of the poor that is whose bloud is shed by oppression ver 9. Take heed of this It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God but then especially when he is making Inquisition for bloud And with my prayers to avert it I do heartily desire this City to remember the Prophesie that is expressed Jer. 26.15 The third Particular is the poor Church of England It hath flourished and been a shelter to other Neighbouring Churches when storms have driven upon them But alas now it is in a storm it self and God only knows whether or how it shall get out and which is worse thââ the storm from without it is become like an Oak cleft to shivers with wedges made out of its own body and at every cleft Prophaneness and Irreligion is entring in while as Prosper speaks in his second book De vitae contemptu cap. 4. Men that introduce profaneness are cloaked over with the name Religionis Imaginariae of Imaginary Religion for we have lost the substance and dwell too much in opinion and that Church which all the Iesuites Machinations could not ruine is fallen into danger by her own The last Particular for I am not willing to be too long is my self I was born and baptized in the Bosome of the Church of England establââhed by Law in that Profession I have ever since lived and In that I come nâw to die This is no time to dissemble with God least of all in ãâã of Religion and therefore I desire it may be remembred I âave alwaies lived in the Protestant Religion established in England and â that I come now to dye What clamours and slanders I have endured ãâ¦ã to keep an Vniformity in the external Service of God accordinâ tâ the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church all men know and I ãâã abundantly felt Now at last I am accused of High Treason in Parliament a Crime which my soul ever abhorred This Treason was charged to consist of two parts An endeavour to subvert the Laws of the Land and a like endeaâour to overthrow the true Protestant Religion established by Law Besides my Answers to the several Charges I protested my innocency in âoth Houses It was said Prisoners Protestations at the Bar must ãâ¦ã taken I can bring no witness of my heart and the inten ãâã thereof therefore I must come to my Protestation not at the Bar âut my Protestation of this hour and instant of my death in which I ãâã all men will be such charitable Christians as not to think I would ãâã and dissemble being instantly to give God an account for the truth of ãâ¦ã therefore here in the presence of God and
Of the Form of Consecration observed but not prescribed since the Reformation What kinde of Images they are which were prohibited by the Queens Injunctions The Articles of the Regal Visitation and What is to be said in answer to such passages as are found against them in the Book of Homilies The Lords Day built upon the same foundation with the other Holy dayes according to the Book of Homilies and The Act of Parliament 5.6 of EDW. vi What works of labour were permitted on the Lords Day and the other Holy dayes by the Book of Homilies The Statute 5. and 6. of EDW. vi The Injunctions of King EDW. vi and Of Queen ELIZ. Practised accordingly in the Court from that time to this Reverence required of the people at their first entrance in to the Church According to the practice of the Primitive times and The example of the Knights of the Garter c. and That example well enforced by Archbishop LAUD p. 47. Kneeling and standing when required The reverence to be used at the name of Iesus continued by Injunct 52. and Afterwards renewed by the Canon of the year 1603. with The Reasons for it The moderate proceedings of the first Reformers In reference to the Pope and The Church of ROME Observed and applauded by K. JAMES The Power of the Church asserted in the twentieth Article In the 34th reduced to practice and Of the power ascribed in Sacred Matters to the Kings of ENGLAND The Sacrament of the Lords Supper called frequently The Sacrament of the Altar as viz. by the Act of Parliament by Bishop RIDLEY Bishop LA TIMER and Some other Martyrs The Lords Table ordered to be placed where the Altar stood by the Injunctions of Q. ELIZ 1559. The Book of Orders 1561 and Advertis of the year 1565. and At the same the second Service to be said on the Sundayes and Holy Dayes The Lords Supper frequently called a Sacrifice by The Ancient Fathers By many Learned men amongst our selves Some of our godly Martyrs also and In what respect A Real Presence proved by The publick Liturgy By Bishop RIDLEY By Mr. Alex. Nowel and By Bishop BILSON The same confirmed ây the words of the Catechism As also by the testimony of Bishop ANDREWS Bishop Morton The Article of Christs descent made figurative by Calvin and The Lord Primate but Justified to be Local By the Articles of the Church of ENGLAND The words of Mâ Alexander Nowel and The works of Learned Bishop Bilson The necessity of Baptisme maintained by the first âeformârâ Justified in the Conference at Hampton-Court and Not gain said by any alteration in the publick Rubrick and Of the efficacy ascribed unto it by the Church Justification how divided betwixt Faith and Works In what respects ascribed to Faith by the Church of ENGL. and In what to Works Of the efficacy of good Works and The Reward belonging to them and Of the Doctrine of the Church of ENGLAND in that particular The great Divisions in the Church touching Predestination The stating of the point by the Church of ENGLAND Illustrated by the story of Agilmond and Lamistus Kings of Lombardy Predestinatination how defined The definition explicated The explication justified by the ancient Fathers By Bishop LATIMER and The last clause of the 17th Article The Church why silent in the point of Reprobation The absolute Decree unknown to Bishop HOOPER By Bishop LATIMER and By King Iames. Universal Redemption maintained by the Book of Articles Many plain passages in the Publick Liturgy And the testimony of our ancient Martyrs The freedom of the Will too much advanced by the ãâã Decryed as much by Luther and The Contra Remonstrants The temper of St. Augustiâ in it Approved and imitated in the Articles of the Church of ENGL. and Her Publick Liturgie The Churches Doctrine vindicated and explained by Bishop Hoopââ and by Bishop Latimer as also by the Lutheran Churches and St. Augustine himself The Churches Doctrine in the point of Falling away Made clear by some expressions of Bishop Hâoper Of Bishop Latimer and The Conference at Hampton Court The harmony and consent in Judgment between Bishop Hooper and Bishop Ridley and Between Bishop Ridley and Archbishop Cranmer The judgment of Archbishop Craââââ in the point disputed The authority ascriâed to the Works of Erasmus by our first Reformers The Points which still remain in difference betwixt the Churches How far with in the possibility of Reconcilement And in what points they joyn together against the Anabaptists and Sectaries Liberty of Opinion left in other Points by the first Reformers ãâã Their discretion in so doing Approved and commended by King Iames. Anno Dom. 1573. (a) Brev. 1. Lord Brook p. 3. (b) Brev. 1. Lord Brook p. 3. Camld Rens p. 273. last Edit 1589. (d) ãâã scribendo quam concionaâdo veââââtem Evângââicam haud sigâââer saâagiâ pâopugâare Godwin Catal. âpisc 584. (e) Hist. of Scot. lib. 7. p. 497. 1590. 1593. 1599. (f) Full. Hist. lib. 9. p. 234. (g) Cant. Dâme p. 469. (h) Hâoker Prefâce (i) ãâ¦ã quia ãâ¦ã in communes errores Ludo. Vives in Aug. de Civit Dei Nisi quod ex illa ipsa doctrina catholici Patres vetâres Episcopi câllâgârânt (k) Lib. Can. cap. De conâââat p. 19. 1602. 1603. 1604. 1606. L. Decad. 3. ãâã Cant. Dome p. 409. (m) Injuria contumelici R. E. Clericorum exâgitatus in Montani partes transit B Rhen. in Tertull. (n) Câllâct of Speeches p. 5 (o) ãâã n. Mat. 19.9 9 Bre. p. 4. p. 6. 1608. 1610. 1611. (p) Conf. at Hamp p. 85. Hist. of K. Charles by H. L. p 31. 1611. (z) Iohn 21. v. 3 6. 1614. (s) Church Hist. l. 10 p 59. t ãâ¦ã Gâdw in Continuat 1617. Hist. Scotl. l. 7. p. 531. Nâm p. 534. 1618. Hist. ãâã Scot. ââl 5â0 (b) 1620. Anno Dom. 1621. 1622. (g) Vide quà m praetiolâs vaâis administrant Mariae Fâlââ Socrat. Hist. Eccl. lib. 3. (h) Cant. Dâââ p. 504 Et tani ad Sacramenta quam Sacramentalia tum Coenae Dominicae tum etiam Baptismatis Sacri in âandem ministrantur c. Hidden wârks of dârk p. 47 Iâ p. 25. (m) Hidden works p. 34. Cant. Dââm p. 276. Hiâd Works c. 34. Brev. p. 3. (p) Breviate p. 14. (q) ãâã p. 47. Sâalâ 530. (r) Digby ââ Calvert Iul. 25. (s) to Colverâ Dec. 28. to K. James Octob. 24. Hâdd Works p. 6â Act of Parl. A. 11 Jac. 21. c. 34. (s) D. Whites Preface to his Reply c. (t) Epist. dediâat to tâe King 16â7 (e) Epist. dedicatâ to Appello Caesâ (a) Hidden ãâã p. 73. (b) Ib. p. 69. 1625. Breviate p. 6. Breviâte p. 6. ãâã p. 156. (a) Eââ Regia p. 12. Iâid p 15. Cant Doom 69. Hist. K. Ch. 20. ãâ¦ã Collect ãâ¦ã Eâact Collâât of Edw. Huââ 290. Sâr. 3. p. 102 Pag. 104. P. 107. P. 109. 1626. Cabal Breviâte p. 7. Pa. 8. Hist. King Charles p. 50. Ch. Hist. lib. 2.
persons as were either Papists or suspected to be Papists or had not received the Communion within the space of one whole year or whose Wives or any of their Servants were Recusants or suspected to be so might be removed from all Commissions of charge and trust from being Justices of the Peace or bearing any Office in the Common Wealth But this Petition was not made ready for the Lords till the twentieth of May next following and being then reported to them by the Archbishop of Canterbury they did proceed no further in it The Commons in the mean time had been wholly busied in the Prosecution of the Lord Treasurer Cranfield whom at last they brought unto his Sentence A Gentleman he was by birth but had his breeding in the City from whence by his own wit and industry he preferred himself into the Court where he was first made Master of the Wardrobe afterward Master of the Wards and finally advanced by the power and favour of the Duke one of whose Kinswomen he had married to the office of Lord Treasurer and the honour of being made the first Earl of Middlesex In this Office he had disobliged the Prince when he was in Spain by disswading and diverting those Large Supplies which were required for the maintaining of his Port in a Forraign Kingdom And he had disobliged the Duke by joyning in some secret practises to make him grow less and less in his Majesties Favour They had both served the turn of the Commons in drawing the King by their continual importunities to dissolve the Treatie And the Commons must now serve their turn in prosecuting this man to his final destruction Which they pursued so effectually that in the end he was sentenced in the House of Lords to be deprived of the Office of Lord High Treasurer of England to be fined fifty thousand Pounds and remain a Prisoner in the Tower during his Majesties will and pleasure It was moved also to degrade him from all Titles of honour but in that the Bishops stood his Friends and dasht the motion So Cranfield sell and Williams did not stand long after Laud was now brought into an higher degree of credit with the Duke of Buckingham than he was before by means whereof he came to be of great power and authority with him Insomuch that when the Duke fell sick of an Ague in the beginning of May he was extreme impatient in his Fits till Laud came to visit him by whom he was so charmed and sweetned that at first he endured his Fits with patience and by that patience did so break their heats and violences that at last they left him From this time forwards he was not used only as a Confessor but a Counsellor also imployed by him in considering and advising whether the great endowments belonging to the Hospitals founded in the dissolved house of Carthusian Monks commonly but corruptly called the Charter-House might not be inverted to the maintenance of an Army for the present Wars as well for his Majesties advantage as the case of the Subject And to this Proposition as it seems he returned a Negative for I find not that the business advanced any further He liked not any inversions or alienations of that nature lest being drawn into example the Lands of Colledges or Cathedral Churches might in like manner be imployed unto secular uses Besides he could not choose but know that a project had been set on foot about ten years before for the Entituling of the King to all Sutton's Lands which probably might have succeeded if Coke then being Lord Chief Justice and one of the Trustees for erecting the Hospital had not stood stoutly to his trust By which though he got the Kings displeasure yet amongst others he preserved the reputation of an honest man And Laud might very well conclude that he who durst oppose the King when he was in his favour would be found more intractable at this time when he was in disgrace which rendred him the less sollicitous to appear in a business not otherwise approved of by him But in another point which was more to his liking and lay within the spheare of his activity he gave him as much satisfaction as he had desired This was the giving him the heads of Doctrinal Puritanism that is to say the Heads of such Doctrines as were maintained by those of the Puritan Faction though not maintained by them as Puritans but as Calvinists only The Duke had a desire to know them and he served him in it I must needs say the name of Doctrinal Puritanism is not very ancient but whether first taken up by the Archbishop of Spalato at his being here I am not able to say Nor am I of opinion that Puritan and Calvinian are terms convertible For though all Puritans are Calvinians both in doctrine and practise yet all Calvinians are not to be counted as Puritans also whose practises many of them abhor and whose inconformities they detest though by the errour of their Education or ill direction in the Course of their Studies they may and do agree with them in some points of Doctrine But I must take the word as it stands in the Breviate and so let it go These Doctrinal heads being ten in number related to the indispânsible morality of the Lords-day-Sabbath the indiscrimination of Bishops and Presbyters the Power of Soveraign Princes in Ecclesiastical matters the Doctrine of Confession and Sacerdotal Absolution and the five Points so much disputed about Predestination and the Concomitants thereof Which last Points having been hotly agitated for twenty years last past in the Belgick Churches did now begin to exercise the Church of England upon this occasion The Priests and Jesuites having been very busie of late in gaining Proselites and sowing their erronious Doctrines had got a haunt in a Village of the County of Essex called Stanford-Rivers The Rector of that Church was Richard Montague Batchelor of Divinity Prebend of Windsor and one of the Fellows of Eaton Colledge a man exceedingly well versed in all the Learning of Greeks and Romans and as well studied in the Fathers Councils and all other ancient Monuments of the Christian Church Desirous to free his Parish from this haunt he left some Propositions at the house of one of his Neighbours which had been frequently visited with these Night-Spirits with this Declaration thereunto that if any of those which ranged that walk could convince him in any of the same he would immediately subscribe and be a Papist After long expectation instead of answering to his queries one of them leaves a short Pamphlet for him entituled A new Gag for the Old Gospell in which it was pretended that the Doctrine of the Protestants should be confuted out of the very words of their own English Bibles This book he was required to answer and found it no such knotty piece but that it might be cleft in sunder without Beetle or Wedges But in perusing of that