wrote to the same effect and so the matter was composed with some moderation Thus Dr. Heylin And many more Non-conformities the Dr. complains of too long to rehearse The fourth Remark is the History of Non-conformity in Q. Elizabeth's Reign who had bravely repulsed Temptations of turning Papist in Q. Mary's time with saying My Soul is the Lord's and as to my Faith as I cannot change it so neither will I dissemble it This good Queen finding all the Land lay fallow and over-grown with the Brambles of her Sister's Popery was forced to this Resolve Not to reform all at once but by little and little This slow progress therein brought up and introduced a Medley of Calvinists as Dr. Heylin styles the Non-conformists at that time in his Hist of Reform p 115. saying Those Ministers that had been banish'd in the Reign of Q. Mary and had followed beyond Sea the Platform of Geneva returned so disaffected to Episcopal Government and to the Rites and Ceremonies here by Law established as not long after filled the Church as he expresseth it with sad Disorders On which account he saith we find the Queen's Professor at Oxford to pass among the Non-conformists though somewhat more moderate than the rest and Cartwright at Cambridge he doth not call him Doctor nor so much as Master Cartwright who proved saith he an unextinguishable Fire brand to the Church of England beside him there was Whittington the chief Ring-leader of the Frankford Schismaticks preferred to the Deanry of Durham and from thence encouraging Knox and Goodman in setting up Presbytery in the Kirk of Scotland and Sampson was advanced to the Deanry of Christ's-Church but turned out again for an incorrigible Nonconformist as likewise Hardiman one of the first twelve Prebends of the Church of Westminster who was soon after deprived for throwing down the Altar and defacing the Vestments of the Church c. The fifth Remark Dr. Heylin proceeds in his Complaints pag. 124. saying The Queen having setled Ecclesiastick Affairs the same Settlement of the Church of England might have longer continued had not her Order been Confounded by some Factious Spirits as he calls them who having had their Wills at Frankfort or otherwise Ruling the Presbytery when they were at Geneva thought to have carry'd all before them with the like facility when they were in England And again pag. 131 132. Some friends they had about the Queen and Calvin was Resolved to make use of all his Power both with the Queen and with Cecill as appears by his Letters to both to Advance their Ends and he was seconded by Peter Martyr who thought his Interest in England to be greater than Calvin's though his Name was not so eminent in other places but the Queen had fixed her self to keep up some outward Splendour of a Church c. No sooner those Schismaticks of Frankfort saw Episcopacy setled and the Liturgy impos'd c. but they Revive the quarrels raised in King Edward's time c. Grindal the new Bishop of London was known to have a great Respect for Calvin and they two by the help of their friends they had about the Queen got liberty for a French Church as John Alasco had in King Edward's time But what was this saith he but setting up Presbytery to confront Episcopacy and a Common-wealth in the midst of a Monarchy or as the phrase is now Imperium in Imperio Calvin gives Grindal thanks for this favour upon which many French and Dutch repaired into England planted themselves in Sea-Towns as well as in London openly professing the Reformed Religion Again pag. 144 he goes on saying Now nothing would satisfie our Non-conformists at Home being thus encourag'd with that liberty thus procured for those abroad but the Nakedness and Simplicity of the Zuinglian Churches the new fashions taken up at Frankfort and the Presbyteries at Geneva and they drove on so fast upon it that they took down the Steps where the Altar stood and brought the Table into the midst of the Church in some places they laid aside God fathers and God-mothers in Baptism and Lent they look'd upon as Superstition and Festival days c. This Faction saith he pag. 154 could not touch Episcopacy nor Liturgy because established by Law but Caps Tippets Rochets Lawn-sleeves and Surplices c all having no better foundation than Supersritious Custom or some old Popish Canon c. they Assaulted And when the book of the Thirty-nine Articles was publish'd they boggl'd at the Twentieth about the Authority of the Church and at the Thirty-sixth about the Consecration of Arch-bishops c. the book of Homilies they call'd beggarly Rudiments and other things not consisting with their Independency The Doctor proceeds Of this factions Number none so much Remarkable as Father John Fox the Martyrologist c. it was thought by the Conformists that the Opinion which was had of his Parts and Piety might much Advance Conformity if the Heads of the Church could cause him to come over to them and subscribe the Thirty-nine Articles hereupon he was Summon'd for his Subscription He appear'd before the Bishop with his New-Testament in Greek holding it in his hand he said Unto this book I will Subscribe and if this will not Serve take my Prebendary at Salisbury the only Preferment which I hold in the Church of England and much good may it doe you But notwithstanding this Refractory Answer saith the Doctor so much kindness was shewed to him that he both kept his Resolution and his Prebendary together This was more favour than is shewn to any Non-conformist in this our Days And to this the Doctor adds That those Genevians as he styles them for the greater Countenancing of their Non-conformity stirred up the most Eminent Divines of the French and Zuinglian or Helvetian Churches to Declare in favour of their Doings c. The sixth Remark is the Doctor tells us many long Stories too large to transcribe After his Invectives against the Puritans so called he saith for pretending to a greater Purity in God's Worship and against Geneva Notes upon 2 Chron. 8.15 16 c. and against the Sawciness of Knox and the bold Activities of Beza for upholding this Puritan Faction He comes to Cartwright against whom he exclaims for sowing his Seed of Non-conformity in Cambridge it self and so that it could never be Rooted out to this Day Who exceeded he saith in Acting more than any of the Puritan Faction He preached All the Fellows and Scholars of his Colledge out of their Surplices c. Heylin's Hist of Presbytery pag. 263. He set up a Presbyterial Church at Wandsworth by the Water side near London Novemb. 20. in the Year 1572. He introduced his Discipline into the Islands of Jersey and Gernsey and in the English Church at Middleburgh in Zealand and in the Dutch Church here in London yea he prevailed so far with the Assistance of the Earl of Leicester Lord-Treasurer Burleigh c. that a
Answered to which a Reply was made CHAP. II. THIS Chapter is a more particular History of the first Seperation from the Church of England as it was then constituted in the Reign of Q. Elizabeth by the Non-conformists of that time who were partly of the Presbyterial and partly of the Congregational Judgment which the sequel may demonstrate The first Remark is the Non-conformity of Mr. Cartwright in these following Propositions under his own hand-writing were As 1. That the Names of Arch-bishops and of Arch-deacons ought to be abolished with all their Offices and Exercises of Power 2. That the Names of the Legitimate Ministers in the Church such as are Bishops and Deacons so far as they are separated from those Functions that are simply set down in the Word of God ought to be removed and reduced to their first Apostolical Institution namely That the Deacons should serve the Tables of the Poor and the Bishops give themselves to the Word and Prayer 3. That the Government of the Church ought not to be committed to the Chancellours of Bishops or to the Officers of Archdeacons but to a fit Ministry and Presbytery of the same Church 4. That no Minister ought to be a Wanderer or running at random but every one should be fixed to his own proper place 5. No Man ought to make himself Minister of any People by a Mandamus from the Sovereign to the Electors of such to officiate c. 6. Ministers ought not to be made by the Authority and Power of Bishops onely much less in the Bishop's Study or any private place but should be chosen by the Church it self c. Concluding thus That every Man is bound by his Calling to reform those Deformities to wit Magistrates by their Power Ministers by their Preaching and People by their Prayers All jointly must promote this aforesaid Reformation These were the Crimes for which Doctor Whitgift then Vice-chancellour expelled Mr. Cartwright out of Cambridge after which K. James then King of Scotland sent for him profering to make him Professor of Divinity in the University of St. Andrews and the Archbishop of Dublin also sent for him into Ireland profering him Preferment in that Kingdom but the Earl of Leicester fixed him after his Return from Travel beyond Sea making him Master of the Hospital at Warwick at which time that pestilent piece the Rhemish Testament came forth and look'd on of such dangerous consequence that it required the ablest Pen to answer it Hereupon Sir Francis Walsingham the Queen's right-hand and eye courted Mr. Cartwright to the Undertaking sent him an Hundred pound few such gifts now a days to Non-conformists to furnish him for the Work Yea the Learned Doctors of Cambridge and the Ministers of London and Suffolk exhorted him to undertake it Notwithstanding all this Arch bishop Whitgift sent him a politive Prohibition fearing saith Dr. Fuller lest any of his Dry Blows and Distastfull Passages shot at Rome might glance at Canterbury Ch. Hist Cent. 16. pag. 171. The second Remark is I to avoid prolixity am constrained to omit the many Stories of Non-conformity form Henry the VIII's Reformation in his abolishing the Pope's Supremacy and the abolishing of Abbies c. And of that under Edward the Sixth which I have by me from Stow Dr. Heylin Sir Richard Baker c. but beg leave to insert one or two Stories out of peevish Peter Heylin saying The People might have rested in the Reformation of Edward the Sixth if Calvin's pragmatical Spirit as he styles it had not interposed He first began to quarrel at some Passages in the Liturgy and afterwards never left soliciting the Lord Protector and the Universities till he had laid the first foundation of the Zuinglian Faction to which they were encouraged by the Indulgence granted to John Alasco who bringing with him a mixed multitude of Poles and Germans obtained the Privilege of a Non conformist Church for him and his people distinct from the Church of England in Government and Form of Worship This much animated saith he the Zuinglian Gospellers to practise first upon the Church and being countenanced by the Earl of Warwick then quarrelled with Episcopal Habits against Copes Tippets Surplices c. but at last fell upon the Altars which were left standing as they had been in times of Popery by the Rules of the Liturgy Then were some rude People encouraged saith he under-hand by the Grandees of the Court to beat down some Altars which made way for an Order of the Council Table to take down the rest and set up Tables in their places Hereupon the costly Coverings of the Altars together with their rich Priestly Grarments made of Cloth of Tissue Cloth of Gold and Silver or embroidered Velvet the meanest of them being made of Silk or Sattin with some decent trimming were handsomely converted to private use for Carpets Cushions Coverlids c. for the Court Lords This change saith he drew on the Alteration of the former Liturgy but almost as unpleasing to the Zuinglian Faction so he brands the Puritans of that day by this Name as the former was In which conjuncture of Affairs K. Ed. died whose death saith he I cannot reckon for an Infelicity to the Church of England for he being ill-principled in himself and easily inclined to embrace such Counsels would have put down Bishopricks also and left the Church to her natural Nakedness Dr. Heylin's Preface to his History of Reformation The third Remark is from Dr. Helyn pag. 72 75 79 c. After he had made the Lord Protector a most sacrilegious person in pulling down Churches wherewith to build his Somerset-House in the Strand c. He brings in this Story of the bringing in of Presbytery into England the Arch-bishop Cranmer sent for Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr who were more addicted to the Zuinglian than the Lutheran Doctrines the former was placed in the Doctor 's Chair at Cambridge holding correspondency with Calvin but soon died but the latter Peter Martyr in his Divinity Lectures at Oxford declared himself a Zuinglian and no fast friend to Ceremonies I add this to Dr. Heylin saying Ego cum Canonicus Oxoniae essem super-polliceis uti non auderem I while Canon of Christ's Church in Oxford durst not wear a Surplice But the Dr. proceeds in his Story how much the Zuinglian Gospellers were against the Book of Homilies c. and how Dr. Hooper being design'd Bishop of Gloucester refused to be consecrated by Archbishop Cranmer in such Habits as Bishops are required to wear by the Rules of the Church which Refusal put a stop to his Consecration but he repairing to his Patron the Earl of Warwick obtained his Letter to the Arch bishop desiring a forbearance of these Habits adding also that it was the King's desire as well as his own and requested farther that he would not charge him with any Oath burthensome to his Conscience namely the Oath of Canonical Obedience yea the King likewise
kind of high flown persecuting Conformists feared some remarkable change to be brought in by K. James's coming to the Crown who had been train'd up by the Kirk of Scotland in the Presbyterial way See Mr. Rich. Sedgwick's Life writ by Mr. Clark pag. 397. in Fol. N. B. Thus might I carry on this History of Nonconfermity both through K. James the First and K. Charles the First yea and Charle the Second and James the Second but this would make a Volume All that can be contain'd here is the History of the Infancy of it in the first Reformers CHAP. III. Remark 1st UPon K. James's Reign in the year 1605. at Hampton-Court he calls an Assembly of Divines to confer about the Liturgy and Church Government where he told them that his End of calling them together was not to make any Alteration which was not requisite seeing he found all things so well setled already but like a wise Physician he would search into the supposed Diseases and remove the occasion of Complaints whereupon the Prelates of his Privy Council were dismissed and the Monday after he calls in the complaining Doctors telling them he meant not to alter the Church Government so well setled already but to settle Vniformity and Vnity c. Dr. Reynolds the Foreman reduceth their Grievances to these four Heads First For preserving true Doctrine Secondly For placing Good Pastors Thirdly For sincere Church-Government And Fourthly For explaining some passages in the Service-Book Of this Conference c. I must refer my Reader to Mr. Fuller's Church History who according to his Name gives a fuller Account than this small Treatise is capable of Some brief touches make Remark the Second Mr. Fuller saith that Dr. Barlow then an opposite to the Nonconformists doth not give an impartial Relation of this Conference Whereupon he wittily saith If the Israelites be forced to whet their Tools with the Philistims no wonder if the Thilistims set a sharper edge on their own and a blunter upon their enemies Weapons he was a Party and so was partial in favouring the Conformists c. But Mr. Fuller Cent 17. Book 10. pag. 21. c. Saith here was great odds only these four Reinolds Knewstubbs Spark and Chaderton called to cope with 8 Bishops 8 Deans and two Doctors beside the King and his Privy Council Nor were they called to have their Scruples satisfyed but his Pleasure propounded the King call'd them not that he might know what they could say but that they might know what he would do in the matter For tho they petition'd for a full Reformation of Church-Service Livings Ministers and Discipline and that with a Millenary Petition subscribed with about a thousand Ministers hands yet got they not the Kings Ear but he cryed to them No Bishop no King and as they dealt with my mother so would they deal with me I 'le make you conform or banish you c. But he order'd a new Translation of the Bible differing from that of Geneva charging the Translators to keep the old Ecclesiastick words as Church and not Congregation and Easter c. and not to make any marginal Notes as were in the Geneva Bibles against which he much exclaimed and more especially its Notes upon Exod. 1.19 which allows Disobedience to Kings and on 2 Chron. 15.16 saying Asa should have kill'd the Queen and not deposed her only Remark the Third Mr. Fuller says further when Dr. Reynolds wâ—… complaining against Arminian Doctrine lazy Ministers bad Goverâ—…ment of the Church and Common Prayer c. saying It was tâ—… cry of the People Such a Church c. will bring the Souls of thâ— Nation into a faint and feeble condition having no warm meet provided for them save only the cold Homilies and the starve-us-Starve-us-Book â—… Bishop Bancroft at this Hampton-Court Conference answered only with urging that old Canon Schismatici contra Episcopos non sunt audiendi Schismaticks ought not to be heard in their complaining against the Bishops and said He was beholden to the King to suffer him thus to speak against the Laturgy contrary to the Statute in the first year of Q. Elizabeth and that probably he was of the same mind with Mr. Cartwright who would conform in Ceremonie rather to the Turks than to the Papists Book 10. pag 11. Cent. 17. And the same Bishop Bancroft bade K. James remember the Speech of the French Ambassador Rognee who said That if the Reformed Church in France had kept the same Order both in Service and in Ceremonies there would have been a thousand more Protestants than there be in that Land intimating That if the Protestants there had embraced the same Service and Ceremonies with the Prelates in England which they could not do but differed from them the Popish Party in France would have been pleased with them and their Conformity would have prevenâ—ed the Parisian Massacâ—e pag. 15. The same Bishop said likewise That in a Church newly planted Preaching is most necessary but it is not so in a Church long established as ours is whereby his Design was to thrust out Sermons as unnecessary by the more necessary Service-Book pag. 15. Remark the Fourth But the Lord Chancellor said at that same Hampton Court Conference that Church-Livings at that time wanted rather Learned-men than Learned men any Church livings Many such pining for want of Places through their Nonconformity and to this Complaint he added That he wished every Learned man were supplyed with a single Coat to wit one Church-Benefice before that others be thatched on with double and treble Coats in their Pluralities c. p. 16. Mr. Knewstubb the Nonconformist at the same Conference said Put the case That the Church hath Power to add any significant Signs it may not add them where Christ hath already ordered them This derogates from the Authority of Christ as much as if any should presume to add any thing to the Great Seal of England c. These few instances I have inserted in this small Tract out of Mr. Fuller who was a famous Episcopal Divine c. Remark the Fifth Tho King James was look'd upon by the Prelates as no better than an Arrant Puritan when he came first to the Crown of England and was the first King that ever was proclaimed K. of Great Britain France and Ireland yet Cluverius testifies of him That he left the Church of England as he found it at the Death of Q. Elizabeth without any Reformation or Redress of Grievances therein insomuch that some severely enough describing his Court and Character discover much of his King craft even such as were Eye witnesses or Ear-witnesses thereof and so making good his own Motto Qui nescit dissimulare nescit Regnare He that cannot Dissemble ought not to Reign Mr. Fuller tells us That in his time Archbishop Abbot's stiffness about the Earl of Essex's Divorce c. though it was to his eternal Honour in not complying with the Bawdy Bishops yet the