to such an Occasion And therefore if the Matter and Form of the Book be well considered there will appear great reason to believe that these were meer Pretences to cover some other Design and that the true Design of the Book was only or principally to assert That an Absolute Irresistible and Unaccountable Monarchy without consent of the People is Jure Divine Gods Ordinance Originally descending from him and depending upon him and that all others are degenerate Forms of Government and to assert a like Jus Divinum for their own Ecclesiastical Government and withall to prejudice vilifie and decry all Claim of any Right in the Government or of Liberties by the People with the reproachful Terms and under the Notion of Factious Popularity which are plainly known to have been the Kings own Sentiments by whose special License and Authority they did sit and consult And this is so plain and visible in the Book that the Learned Dr. Sherlock makes no Scruple to speak it out plainly that The princpal Design of it is to assert the Irresistible Authority of Sovereign Princes which was as much of it as his Subject led him to speak of otherwise I doubt not but had he had occasion he could and would have said as much of the other part of the Design viz. the Ecclesiastical Government And if this was indeed the Design it was in my apprehension especially as it was managed in that clandestine and covert way and with such a Form of Authority not only unjust but vile and dishonourable unbefitting the Majesty of a King or the dignity of a Convocation of Clergy-men and a great abuse of Religion to prostitute the Reputation of so venerable Authority to abuse People out of their Right nay to enchant them as it were to venture their Lives and Fortunes against their own Right and Interest as it did by degrees at last make them do besides many other Mischiefs it hath produced and principally upon the Authors as is very usual by the Just Judgments of the Righteous God But all this I will endeavour to make plain and manifest as briefly as I can in the several Particulars following 1. That King James 1. notwithstanding his many Professions and solemn Protestations to govern according to Law did from the very beginning of his Reign study and employ all his King-craft to make himself Absolute and get all into his own Power This is so well known that I need only mention some of his Artifices and Attempts to that purpose with References to Evidences and Testimonies thereof As 1. Upon the Parliament it self 1. To restrain the Freedom of Elections of Knights and Burgesses and the Returns of Members for divers Corporations as may be perceived by his Proclamation 1 Jan. 1 Jac. 2. To draw the Determination of such Elections into the Chancery before an Officer of his own as may be seen in the Case of Sir Fr. Goodwyn 1 Jac. lately published in Lex Parliamentaria 3. To restrain their Freedom of Debates which was complained of in Parliament with the two preceding 1 Jac. and afterward occasioned that Remonstrance 24. May 8 Jac. and at last produced that free and generous Protestation concerning their Rights in print in Wilson p. 188. and Rushworth p. 53. To which others might be added which made the Parliament tell him that in the first Parliament of his Reign the Priviledges of their House and therein the Liberties and Stability of the whole Kingdom had been more universally and dangerously impugned than ever since the beginning of Parliaments c. V. Journal An. 1. 2. To make his Proclamations pass for Laws or Edicts as they have since done in France of which he published no less than Seventy in the first Year of his Reign and many every year after till they were printed all together in a Volume in the form of Acts of Parliament and Books were written for their Authority and that the Parliament took notice and complained of it And then he began to cover it as well as he could by another Proclamation 24 Sept. 8 Jac. 3. To impose Taxes without consent of Parliament as appears by the Remonstrance 24 May 1610. printed with a learned and necessary Argument concerning that matter and the Benevolence notwithstanding extorted Anno 1614. v. Wilson p. 78. 4. To set up Extrajudicial Opinions of Judges for Laws vide the Apol. 1. Jac. and to impose upon the Judges to give Judgments in favour of Prerogative contrary to the Laws and their own Oaths as may be seen in Franklins Annals Anno 1616. 14 Jac. which compared with that noble Case of Cavendish in Anderson 1 Rep. 152. in the Queens time the different behaviour of them two and their Judges will appear very remarkable 5. To tune the Pulpits as some pretend that Queen Elizabeth used to phrase it and set the Clergy on work by Preaching Writing and Discourses to promote his Designs by pretence of Scripture and Religion and to make good by colour of Divinity what could not be done by Law and seek Principles for a chosen Conclusion which is the matter now in hand And therefore The Second particular is That there was at that time a Party of the Clergy who besides a Court Faction struck in joyned and held a secret Correspondence with him for the promoting of these matters This might be observed in divers Instances precedent to his first Parliament but the Complaints of the House of Commons the very first Sessions of some of the Higher Clergy writing a Book against them even the Parliament sitting and the Inferiour Clergy inveighing against them in Pulpits yea publishing Protestations tending to the Impeachment of their most ancient and undoubted Rights as may be seen in the Journal is sufficient evidence of it self and yet will receive farther Confirmation from what follows The third is That this Work was an Arcanum Imperii and managed and transacted in a secret mysterious and disguised manner between them This we may see plainly by what They pretend to be Their chief Purpose and He to be His Reason of calling them together that they did agree in this that each Party did use Colours and Pretences but as it usually falls out in secret Conspiracies that all Circumstances are not provided for so in this their Disagreement in the Particular discovers that both were but Pretence This may further be perceived by the Kings Letter to good Dr. Abbot published in the Observator For why should he write of that matter to Good Dr. Abbot rather than to Trusty Dr. Bancroft who was President of the Upper House of Convocation for the Province of Canterbury or to Thornborough Bishop of Bristoll who was one of that Convocation and besides was thought sit to be made President for the Province of York or to Learned Dr. Overall who was the person employed to draw up the Book and was besides Prolocutor of the Lower House Nay why was it written at all Had the King
no Conference with any of them Was not Archbishop Bancroft a Privy Councellor And was none of these able to declare the Kings pleasure to the Convocation And why should his Orders mentioned in that Letter to a Convocation of the Clergy be sent by his Solicitor and he be again employed in that business to them Must our Solicitor instruct our Bishops and Clergy in matters of Divinity or must the Bishops and Clergy determine matters of Law and Right and Civil Government according to the Kings pleasure by the Information of his Solicitor What other probable Reason can be conceived for all this but that there being an Arcanum Imperii to be managed with great Policy and Secrecy under another Pretence they who were the principal Confidents and Agents for promoting the Secret must not appear openly at all concerned in it but because some body must be employed for the King good Dr. Abbot whom no body would suspect to be privy to any such Intreagues and the Solicitor a Man of another profession must be put upon some service which might disguise the matter and help to prevent suspicion of the true Design And this to me is a great Confirmation that it was all Trick and Intreague between the King and some leading Men in the Convocation for the purpose aforesaid But the while I cannot but pity that Good Man and divers other such of that Convocation who if they did not consent to those things in the Convocation are abused by Bancroft or Thornborough or Overal or if they did were not less abused being drawn into a matter the bottom of which they did not understand by a vile Conspiracy and mischievous Faction which hath hitherto been the Bane of the Church of England and of the State too and will henceforward be the shame of that Convocation to after Ages And from hence we may also perceive the true Reason why so notable a Work of this Convocation hath been so great a Secret in our History and so little taken notice of for above fourscore years till of late made publick and that which may also serve for a further Confirmation of this matter Some indeed have concluded from the Letter to Dr. Abbot that it was because the King was displeased with them viz. for a passage there mentioned and though the words mentioned in the Letter are not literally the same as in the printed Convocation Book yet in Charity they could scarce believe any Alterations made in the Cannons before they were printed But by the Letter we understand that the King was not so displeased but that he promised to send them his Orders about it by Mr. Solicitor and bids them till then meddle no more with it And the Publisher of the Book informs us that there were several Amendments made by the Upper House of Convocation and that the Book was printed according to them And the Sabscriptions of the Archbishop of Canterbury and of the Bishop of Bristoll President of the Convocation of York to the first Book shew that the Work did afterward go on was finished and passed not only that Convocation but that of the Province of York also And further than that did they go even to adde two Books more to it So that there was no such displeasure of the King against it nor could that be the reason why those Canons were never ratified in Parliament or stamped with the Kings Authority But the most probable Reason consonant to the Nature of the thing and to the Methods which were used is either That it was never intended to be published lest it should be confuted and so the Design spoil'd or censured in Parliament and so turned against them but be kept as a Secret For so its Authority would be no less Venerable nor would its Effects be less powerfull upon some prime leading men who might influence others Or That it was thought fit first to try how some such Notions vented by private men would pass or escape before the Venerable Authority of such a Work should be exposed to Censure And accordingly soon after were divers Books with passages in them to the same purpose published of which notice was taken in Parliament and among the rest one by Blackwell a Secular Priest whom if I mistake not Bancroft kept in his House or protected and another written by John Cowel Doctor of Law and dedicated to the Archbishop Bancroft who as he there saith at his coming to him from the University first put him upon those Studies and was suspected as he confessed in Parliament to have a Finger in the Book And upon this the Commons first and afterward both Houses fell very warmly till the King seeing what they were like to do to save his Champion from more severe Censure and to pacifie the Parliament takes upon himself to suppress it by a Proclamation on purpose And a Proclamation indeed came out but such as sufficiently shews the Kings Disposition and Tenderness in the Case And this was a sufficient Experiment to shew then what was like to become of the Convocation Book should it be offered to the Parliament authorized by the King or so much as appear in publick And this may be the reason why it was so long before any compleat Treatise upon those Principles ever appeared For that if done by any considerable Person might not only have provoked the Censure of the Parliament but have exposed them to Examination and Discussion of able Lawyers and other Learned men both at Home and abroad for all Nations are concerned in it and that K. James and some others of that Party had reason enough to suspect they would not bear And therefore we meet with little of them till Sir Ro. Filmer's Patriarcha was published after his Death upon the perswasion of Dr. Heylin and after K. Charles 2. his Restoration at a very seasonable time for such stuff So that this was sufficient reason why so extraordinary a Work as this which concerns all the Governments of the World and could not escape the Censures of all besides the Effect it might have in the Parliament and the whole Nation should be no less carefully kept secret than we find it to have been though that be very strange to produce its Effect like some Spell or Magical Operation unperceived as I shall further explain it when I have dispatched one particular more And that is 4. That this Secret this Work of Darkness was a Work also of Dishonesty a Hidden Work of Dishonesty and a Mystery of Iniquity I might adde and of kin to the great Mystery of Iniquity And to dispatch this I shall pass by lesser matters and apply my self only to the Two main Pillars upon which all their pretended Irresistible Power of all Soveraign Princes depend which if I do but remove from under their Structure all their work must fall to the Ground These two Pillars or Principles of their Regal Power are the one Patriarchal derived from the
his so easie access to the Crown of England And it no less filled the Hearts of others with Hopes and Expectations some of Honours some of Places and Estates and some of both which his Prodigality of both yet more inlarged and Emulation raised to the highest degree These Emulations were partly National between the Scotch and English and partly among the English themselves and those of two sorts such as at the Court sought Preferment in the State and such as sought either Preferment in the Church or Favour in Church matters So that he was addressed to and courted by all Parties for his Favour in an extraordinary manner and by most in the usual methods of Courtship viz. Magnifying his Wisdom and his State and Power beyond Truth and Modesty insinuating into him all the Prejudice that might be against those who were looked upon as Rivals and recommending their own specious Services by misrepresenting the Modesty of others for want of affection And so gross notorious and impudent were the Acts of this Courtship as provoked the House of Commons in the very first Parliament to make a Declaration of their Grief to find his Majesty to the extream prejudice of his Subjects of England so greatly wronged by Misinformation and among other things concerning the Rights and Liberties of his Subjects of England and the Priviledges of Parliament which they there assert but belong not to this place to be here recited Among the Competitors for his Favour were many serious religious people who sought his Favour only for the Reformation of some things in the Church which were thought not so throughly reformed as was to be wished And for that purpose prepared a Petition which was subscribed by many hundred hands They had encouraged themselves upon the Favour the King had formerly shewed them in writing to the Queen on their behalf and they had had an Agent with him immediately upon the Queens death to whom without doubt he gave a fair and smooth Answer But some of the Bishops were not behind hand with them in Scotland and soon outwent them in the Success of their Courtship and his Favour after he came into England He had conceived a Prejudice against a Scotch Presbytery before This Bancroft and some other hot men took advantage of both to heighten the prejudice against all who desired any thing of a Reformation here and to insinuate themselves into his Favour And when he found himself received and securely settled in the Throne beyond his Expectation he soon discover'd his Inclinations and more particularly in his Proclamation 24 Oct. 1603. Concerning such as seek Reformation in Church matters Which stopp'd the Petition for some time and in the Conference at Hampton-Court 14 Jan. which whether appointed at the instance of any others or at the Kings own pleasure is uncertain but served as appears by the Relation principally for the King to express his Favour to the Bishops and Conforming party and his Prejudice against the rest and for them to express their Respects to him as some of them did by speaking to him upon the knee viz. Whitgift and Bancroft and applauding what he said as undoubtedly spoken by the special assistance of Gods Spirit and for mutual Courtship and Indearments between them But though they were never so well assured of the Kings Favour yet were they fearful of the Parliament which had often in the Queens Time been upon Bills against Pluralities and for Reformation of other matters which though the Archbishop by the Queens means had prevailed to have stopped yet was he so concerned that he wished he might not live to see another Parliament And this disposed Them not only by way of Complement as a means to recommend themselves to the King but in good earnest for their own Interest being well assured of his Favour to magnifie the Kings Authority and set it as high as might be even without the concurrence of the Parliament and to derogate as much as they durst from their Authority And this again so much the more disposed the King to favour Them not politickly in apperance only but in good earnest as the most apt Instruments he could have for his Designs which appear by many plain instances to have been from his first coming in to set up himself by his Arts and Kingcraft above all Law and for that end to confirm and enlarge the Authority of the Bishops and Clergy which depended upon him for their Preferment as much as might be to make them the more capable to serve his turn And these are the true Principles which have produced and raised this Faction to what it is For upon these Principles were things managed by a secret Correspondence between him and some leading men of the Clergy Accordingly in the next Convocation after they had provided in the first Cannon for asserting his Supremacy according to the Law of the Land against all forreign Jurisdiction in the next Canon they set it up paramount the Law and without the Parliament to be the same Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical that the godly Kings had among the Jews and Christian Emperours in the Primitive Church and might with as much reason have asserted as much concerning his Authority in Civil matters if they durst for both depend upon the same Principles but that both he and they knew very well would never have passed without being taken notice of and question'd in Parliament And therefore there was another Project to help that out carried on with great Artifice and Secrecy in the same Convocation which at last hath appeared in print published by the late Archbishop under the Title of Bishop Overals Convocation Book though he was no Bishop in seven years after it pass'd the Convocation The chief purpose of which is pretended to be to imitate the Scriptures in setting out and describing the Dignity of our Saviour Christ by his Almighty Power and Vniversal Government of all the World as they say in the beginning But they tell us not what Occasion they had to do this in so solemn a manner The King in his Letter lately published to good Dr. Abbot who probably was not acquainted with the Intreigue tells them You know all of you as I think that my Reason of calling you together was to give your Judgments How far a Christian and a Protestant King may concur to assist his Neighbours to shake off their Obedience to their own Soveraign upon the account of Oppression Tyranny or what else you like to name it Nor does there appear any just Occasion for this For if it be well considered it was not War but a Treaty of Peace between the Hollanders and Spain which was then under consideration Nor does the Form of the Book suit with a meer Resolution of such a Doubt For it is one thing to give a Judgment or Opinion of a Case of Conscience and another to make Canons and Decrees Nor lastly is the matter of it proportionable only
and the Fraud being detected I leave the rest to every one 's own Observation And 3. This is done with the greatest Solemnity and Formality that could be in a Convocation of the Clergy in the Form of Canons and Decrees and those severally passed as upon particular Debates with a Placet eis to each and attested to have passed with one consent under the terms of Constitutions by Bancroft for the upper House of the Province of Canterbury by Overal for the lower House and by Thornborough for the Province of York whereas those Canons of that Convocation which were published passed only the Convocation of the Province of Canterbury And now to consider the Consequences of it How scandalous and impious it is to the Christian Religion and how scandalous and derogatory to the Authority of the Church of England and Convocations of our Clergy I leave to the Consideration of others Likewise how pernicious it might have been to the Civil Government of Soveraign Princes and their States by sowing the seeds of Dissention between them had this Convocation Book been published and obtained Authority or Reputation in the World But what Work it might have made in the World may be perceived by what it hath actually made in these Nations which I will briefly note in some few Observations concerning the Progress and Success of it and of this Regal Ecclesiastical Faction Whether Archbishop Whitgift had before had any hand in laying down the Plot or not he lived not to have any share in the Management of the Convocation That Dr. Heylin Life of Laud Anno 1610. p. 63. attributes solely to his Successor Bancroft who had before manag'd A Secret Corrrespondence with K. James in Scotland insinuating unto him the Necessity of Consorming both Kingdoms in Government and Forms of Worship and laying down a Plot for restoring Episcopacy to that Kirk without Noise or Trouble But that Faculty of laying down Plots he notes in them both and the great Intimacy there was between them And another special Qualification in Bancroft for such a Work may be observed from that Author viz. a close management of his matters without noise and forbearing upon occasion to appear in them himself I have already noted p. 27. the Complaints of that Parliament against the Higher Clergy for writing Books and the Inferiour Clergy for inveighing from the Pulpits against them and pa. 29. that Book of Dr. Cowels published not long after the passing the Convocation Book which may all reasonably be judged the Effects of this Work of the Convocation Thornborough himself had before written one for which he was questioned in Parliament And though Bancroft published none now yet he failed not to promote the Work otherways not only by close Insinuations but by open plain Assertions whereof Coke's 12. Report pa. 63. hath a considerable Instance and by encouragement of such Principles in the Court the Universities and all parts And doubtless his Project of a New Colledge at Chelsey for which he had gotten an Act of Parliament was principally designed for a Seminary of Champions for this Cause and being Chancellor of the University of Oxford he would not fail to leven and prepare many there for the purpose But Death put an end to his Progress and Project 2 Nov. 1610. But the Faction died not with him Nor was the Propagation of the Doctrine even by printed Books neglected There was one published that Year and dedicated to him by Dr. Carleton afterwards Bishop of Landaff which hath divers passages in it to that purpose and others it seems there were which occasioned new complaints in Parliament the same Year And yet so hotly was it still maintained and promoted that within few Years after was Bishop Neile who by the Power and Mediation of Bancroft was made Clerk of the Closet That standing continnally at the Kings Elbow he might be ready to perform Good Offices to the Church and Churchmen Heyl p. 60. for seditious Speeches questioned in Parliament till by many tears and a submissive behaviour he got off But he so gained the Favour of his Master that he was preferred to the Deanry of West minster afterwards successively to the Bishopricks of Rochester 1608. Lichfield 1609. Lincoln 1613. Durham 1617. by K. James and of Winchester 1628. and York 1631. by King Charles after he had been again complained of in Parliament All which Promotions gave him Opportunity to promote the Work for which he was an apt and active Agent in all parts of the Nation Such another Zealot for the Cause was Harsnet Bishop of Chichester who in Parliament time preached such a Sermon at Whitehall upon the Text Give unto Caesar c. as gave such Offence that King James was constrained to call the Lords and Commons to the Banqueting House and calm them with Good words and the Sermon was burnt but the Bishop was afterwards preferred to Norwich by K. James and after that to York by K. Charles The like was done by Dr. Roger Mainwaring Chaplain in Ordinary to the King in two Sermons before the King and Court at Whitehall and after published for which he was impeached in Parliament and charged with a wicked intention to seduce and misguide the Conscience of the King touching the Observation of the Laws c. sentenced to be imprisoned fined a 1000. li. disabled from Preferments c. and his Sermon suppressed by Proclamation declaring the Censure and Sentence just Yet was he soon after pardoned preferred to the Rectory of Stanford Rivers void by the promotion of Mountague to Chichester and had a Dispensation to hold it with that of St. Giles's in the Fields afterwads to the Deanry of Worcester and finally to the Bishoprick of St. Davids which was highly resented by the Lords so that the King commanded him not to come to the Parliament nor send any Proxy And this brings me to the Top of all the Faction who promoted it to its Perfection or rather Confusion viz. Dr. Laud against whom then Bishop of Bath and Wells Complaint was made to the Commons that he had warranted these Sermons to the Press and Mainwaring was no sooner censured but Lauds Cause was called to the Report But all further Proceedings against him at that time were soon stopped by Dissolution of the Parliament 26 June and 1. Jul. had he his Conge d'eslier for Bishop of London and soon after other Favours of which more hereafter These Sermons were preach'd in pursuance of certain Instructions drawn up by him at the Command of the King for promoting an illegal Imposition under the name of a Loan and being preached at Court upon such an Occasion by a Chaplain in Ordinary he had no doubt some special Instructions Directions or Advice in it In other places the Preachers did their parts according as they were required by the said Instructions amongst whom 〈◊〉 Beale was taken notice of and Sibthorp Dr. of Divinity and in Commission of the Peace advanc'd the Service