in their severall families And if they finde among them any refractory and contentious persons which will not be reconciled to make a report of it to the Consistory IV. 4. They shall assemble in the Consistory with the Ministers which Consistory shall be holden if it may be every Sunday or any other day convenient to handle causes of the Church And those of them which are elected to go unto the Colloquies and Synods with the Ministers shall not fail to goe at the day appointed CHAP. VII Of the â—eacons Article I. 1. THe Deacons shall be appointed in the Church to gather the benevolence of the people and to distribute it according to the necessities of the poor by the directions of the Consistory II. 2. They shall gather these benevolences after Sermons faithfully endevouring the good and welfare of the poor and if need require they shall go unto the houses of those men which are more charitably enclined to collect their bounties III. 3. They shall distribute nothing without direction from the Consistory but in case of urgent necessity IV. 4. The almes shall be principally distributed unto those of the faithfull which are naturall Inhabitants and if there be a surplusage they may dispose it to the relief of strangers V. 5. For the avoiding of suspicion the Deacons shall keep a register both of their Receipts and their disbursements and shall cast up his accouncs in the presence of the Minister and one of the Elders VI. 6. The Deacons shall give up their accounts every Communion day after the evening Sermon in the presence of the Ministers the Elders and as many of the people as will be assistant who therefore shall have warning to be there VII 7. They shall take order that the poor may be relieved without begging and shall take care that young men fit for labour be set unto some occupation of which they shall give notice to the officers of Justice that so no person be permitted to go begging from door to door VIII 8. They shall provide for those of the poor which are sick or in prison to comfort and assist them in their necessity IX 9. The shall be assistant in the Consistory with the Ministers and Elders there to propose unto them the necessities of the poor and to receive their directions as also in the election of other Deacons X. 10. There ought to be Deacons in every Parish unlesse the Elders will take upon them the charge of collecting the almes and distributing thereof amongst the poor The Liturgie of the Church wherein there is contained the preaching of the Gospell the administration of the Sacraments the Laws of Marriage the Visitation of the Sick and somewhat also of Buriall CHAP. VIII Of the Preaching of the Gospell Article I. 1. THe people shall be assembled twice every Sunday in the Church to hear the Preaching of the Gospell and to be assistant at the publick prayers They shall also meet together once or twice a week on those dayes which shall be thought most convenient for the severall Parishes the Master of every houshold bringing with him those of his family II. 2. The people being assembled before Sermon there shall be read a Chapter out of the Canonicall books of Scripture only and not of the Apocrypha and it shall be read by one which beareth office in the Church or at the least by one of honest conversation III. 3. During the prayer every one shall be upon his knees with his head uncovered Also during the singing of the Psalmes the administration of the Sacraments and whilest the Minister is reading of his text every one shall be uncovered and shall attentively observe all that is done and said IV. 4. The Ministers every Sunday after dinner shall Catechize and shall choose some text of Scripture sutable to that section which they are to handle and shall read in the beginning of that exercise the said text as the foundation of the Doctrine contained in that Section V. 5. The Church shall be locked immediately after Sermon and the publick prayers to avoid superstition and the benches shall be orderly disposed that every one may hear the voice of the Preacher VI. 6. The Churches being dedicated to Gods service shall not be imployed to prophane uses and therefore intreaty shall be made to the Magistrate that no Civill Courts be there holden CHAP. IX Of Baptisme Article I. 1. THe Sacrament of Baptisme shall be administred in the Church after the Preaching of the Word and before the Benediction II. 2. The Parents of the Infants if they are not in some journey shall be near the Infant together with the Sureties to present it unto God and shall joyntly promise to instruct it according as they are obliged III. 3. No man shall be admitted to be a Surety in holy Baptisme which hath not formerly received the Communion or which is not fit to receive it and doth promise so to do upon the next conveniency whereof he shall bring an attestation if he be a stranger IV. 4. They which intend to bring an Infant unto holy Baptisme shall give competent warning unto the Minister V. 5. The Minister shall not admit of such names as were used in the time of Paganism the names of Idols the names attributed to God in Scripture or names of office as Angell Baptist Apostle VI. 6. In every Parish there shall be kept a Register of such as are Baptized their Fathers Mothers Sureties and the day of it as also of Marriages and Funerals which shall be carefully preserved CHAP. X. Of the Lords Supper Article I. 1. THe holy Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ shall be celebrated four times a year viz. at Easter or the first Sunday of Aprill the first Sunday of July the first Sunday of October and the first Sunday of January and that after the Sermon in which expresse mention shall be made of the businesse then in hand or at least a touch of it in the end II. 2. The manner of it shall be this The Table shall be set in some convenient place near the Pulpit the people shall communicate in order and that sitting as is most conformable to the first institution or else standing as is accustomed in some places the men first and afterwards the women none shall depart the place untill after Thanksgiving and the Benediction III. 3. They which intend to be communicants shall first be catechized by the Minister that so they may be able to render a reason of their faith They ought also to understand the Lords Prayer the Articles of their belief the Ten Commandements or at the least the substance of them They shall also abjure the Pope the Masse and all superstition and Idolatry IV. 4. No man shall be admitted to the Lords Supper which is not of the years of discretion and which hath not a good testimony of his life and conversation and which will not promise to submit himself unto the Discipline V. 5.
and finally containing but one half of the work which is here presen 〈…〉 Faults and infirmities I have too many of mine own Nam vitiis nemo sine nascitur as we know who said and therefore would not charge my self with those imperfections those frequent errors and mistakes which the audaciousnesse of other men may obtrude upon me which having signified to the Reader for the detecting of this imposture and mine own discharge I recommend the following work to his favourable censure and both of us to the mercies of the Supreme Judge Lacies Court in Abingdon April 17. 1656. Books lately printed and reprinted for Henry Seile DOctor Heylyn's Cosmography in fol. Twenty Sermons of Dr. Sanderson's ad Aulam c. never till now published Dr Heylyn's Comment on the Apostles Creed in fol. Bishop Andrewes holy Devotions the 4 Edition in 12. Martiall in 12. for the use of West minster School John Willis his Art of Stenography or Short writing by spelling Characters in 8. the 14 Edition together with the School master to the said Art SYLLABUS CAPITUM OR The Contents of the Chapters NORMANDIE OR THE FIRST BOOK The Entrance THe beginning of our Journey The nature of the Sea A farewell to England CHAP. I. NORMANDY in generall the Name and bounds of it The condition of the Antient Normans and of the present Ortelius character of them examined In what they resemble the Inhabitants of Norfolk The commodities of it and the Government pag. 4. CHAP. II. Dieppe the Town strength and importance of it The policy of Henry IV. not seconded by his Son The custome of the English Kings in placing Governours in their Forts The breaden God there and strength of the Religion Our passage from Dieppe to Roven The Norman Innes Women and Manners The importunity of servants in hosteries The sawcie familiarity of the attendants Ad pileum vocare what it was amongst the Romans Jus pileorum in the Universities of England c. p. 9. CHAP. III. ROVEN a neat City how seated and built the strength of is St. Katharines mount The Church of Nostre dame c. The indecorum of the Papists in the severall and unsutable pictures of the Virgin The little Chappell of the Capuchins in Boulogne The House of Parliament The precedency of the President and the Governor The Legend of St. Romain and the priviledge thence arising The language and religion of the Rhothomagenses or people of Roven p. 19. CHAP. IV. Our journey between Roven and Pontoyse The holy man of St. Clare and the Pilgrims thither My sore eyes Mante Pontoyse Normandy justly taken from King John The end of this Booke p. 26. FRANCE specially so called OR THE SECOND BOOK CHAP. I. France in what sense so called The bouuds of it All old Gallia not possessed by the French Countries follow the name of the most predominant Nation The condition of the present French not different from that of the old Gaules That the heavens have a constant power upon the same Climate though the Inhabitants are changed The quality of the French in private at the Church and at the table Their language complements discourse c. p. 33. CHAP. II. The French Women their persons prating and conditions The immodesty of the French Ladies Kissing not in use among them and the sinister opinion conceived of the free use of it in England The innocence and harmelesnesse of it amongst us The impostures of French Pandars in London with the scandall thence arising The peccancy of an old English Doctor More of the French Women Their Marriages and lives after wedlock c. An Elogie to the English Ladies p. 41. CHAP. III. France described The valley of Montmorancie and the Dukes of it Mont-martre Burials in former times not permitted within the wals The pros cuting of this discourse by manner of a journall intermitted for a time The Iown and Church of St. Denis The Legend of him and his head Of Dagobert and the Leper The reliques to be seen there Martyrs how esteemed in St. Augustine ' s time The Sepulchres of the French Kings and the treasury there The Kings house of Madrit The Qeen Mothers house at Ruall and fine devices in it St. Germains en lay another of the Kings houses The curious painting in it Gorramburie Window the Garden belonging to it and the excellency of the Water-works Boys St. Vincent de Vicennes and the Castle called Bisester p. 50. CHAP. IV. Paris the names and antiquity of it The situation and greatnesse The chief strength and Fortifications about it The streets and buildings King James his laudable care in beautyfying London King Henry the fourths intent to fortifie the Town Why not actuated The Artifices and wealth of the Parisians The bravery of the Citizens described under the person of a Barber p. 64. CHAP. V. Paris divided into four parts Of the Fauxburgs in generall Of the Pest-house The Fauxburg and Abbey of St. Germain The Queen Mothers house there Her purpose never to reside in it The Provost of Merchants and his authority The Armes of the Town The Town-house The Grand Chastellet The Arcenall The place Royall c. The Vicounty of Paris And the Provosts seven daughters p. 73. CHAP. VI. The University of Paris and Founders of it Of the Colledges in general Marriage when permitted to the Rectors of them The small maintenance allowed the Scholars in the Universities of France The great Colledge at Tholoza Of the Colledge of the Sorbonne in particular that and the House of Parliament the chief Bulwarks of the French liberty Of the Polity and Government of the University The Rector and his precedency the disordered life of the Scholars there being An Apologie for Oxford and Cambridge The priviledges of the Scholars their degrees c. p. 80. CHAP. VII The City of Paris seated in the place of old Lutetia The Bridges which joyn it to the Town and University King Henry's Statua Alexander ' s injurious policy The Church and revenues of Nostre Dame The Holy water there The original making and virtue of it The Lamp before the Altar The heathenishnesse of both customes Paris best seen from the top of this Church the great Bell there never rung but in time of Thunder the baptizing of Bels the grand Hospital and decency of it The place Daulphin The holy Chappel and Reliques there What the Antients thought of Reliques The Exchange The little Chastelet A transition to the Parlament p. 90. CHAP. VIII The Parliament of France when begun of whom it consisteth The digniiy and esteem of it abroad made sedentarie at Paris appropriated to the long robe The Palais by whom built and converted to seats of Justice The seven Chambers of Parliament The great Chamber The number and dignity of the Presidents The Duke of Biron afraid of them The Kings seat in it The sitting of the Grand Signeur in the Divano The authority of this Court in causes of all kinds and ever
Their love to Parity as well in the State as in the Church 4 The covering of the head a sign of liberty 5 The right hand of fellowship 6 Agenda what it is in the notion of the Church The intrusion of the Eldership into Domestical affairs 7 Millets case 8 The brothren superstitious in giving names to children 9 Ambling Communions 10 The holy Discipline made a third note of the Church 11 Marriage at certain times prohibited by the Discipline 12 Dead bodies anciently not interred in Cities 13 The Baptism of Bels. 14 The brethren under pretence of scandal usurp upon the civil Courts 15 The Discipline incroacheth on our Church by stealth 16 A caution to the Prelates p. 364. CHAP. VI. 1 King James how affected to this Platform 2 He confirms the Discipline in both Islands 3 And for what reasons 4 Sir John Peyton sent Governour into Jarsey 5 His Articles against the Ministers there 6 And the proceedings thereupon 7 The distracted estate of the Church and Ministery in that Island 8 They refer themselves unto the King 9 The Inhabitants of Jarsey petition for the English Discipline 10 A reference of both parties to the Councell 11 The restitution of the Dean 12 The Interim of Germany what it was 13 The Interim of Jarsey 14 The exceptions of the Ministery against the Book of Common prayer 15 The establishment of the new Canons 378. CHAP. VII The Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiasticall for the Church Discipline of Jarsey together with the Kings Letters Patents for the authorising of the same p. 390. CHAP. VIII 1 For what cause it pleased his Majesty to begin with Jarsey 2 A representation of such motives whereon the like may be effected in the Isle of Guernzey 3 The indignity done by a Minister hereof to the Church of England 4 The calling of the Ministers in some reformed Churches how defensible 5 The circumstances both of time and persons how ready for an alteration 6 The grievances of the Ministery against the Magistrates 7 Propesals of such means as may be fittest in the managing of this design 8 The submission of the Author and the work unto his Lordship The conclusion of the whole Our return to England p. 412. ERRATA Besides the errors of the Copy the Reader is of course to look for some from the Presse which the hast made for preventing the false impressions bath more increased then any negligence of the Workman which the Reader is desired to amend in this manner following PAge 4. l. 27. r. Le Main p. 5. l. 23. r. locorum p. 7 l. 15. r. qui. p. 10. l. 22. r. the predecessor to the same Henry p. 11. l. 17. del in p. 13. l. 18. r. pace ibid. l. 35. 〈…〉 yred p. 19. l 26. r. Evenlode p. 31 l. 8. r. fourth p. 39. l. 25. p. 108. l. 9 r. interview p. 49. l. 3. r. then ibid l. 4. r. as at ibid. l. 9. r. her own thoughts p. 52. l. 1. r. Cumrye p. 60 l. 28. r. En lar ibid. l. 35 r. Troyes p. 69 l. 26. del now p. 95. l. 17. r born p. 96. l. 19 r. abolished p. 99. l. 20. r. Treasurirer p. 100. l. 1. r. visible p. 121. l. 12. r. Chastres p. 123 l 1 r. as much hugged ibid. l. 26. r. I shall hereafter shew you p. 125. l. 27. r. Beu p. 127. l. 14. r. Angerville p. 132. l. 12. r. Angiers p. 138 l. 9. r. his p. 139. l. 15. r. antient times ibid. l. 20. r quam disfumigamibus p. 140. l. 22. r. Belbâ—s p. 147. l. 2. r. meriâ— p. 150. l. 27. r. many p. 153. l. 6. r. mouths ibid. l. 31. r. forme p. 158 l. 9 r. trumped p. 162. l. 12. r. Les D guieres p. 163. l. 20 r. Bevie ibid. l. â—3 r. Troyes p. 167. l. 27. r. Ancre p. 170. l. 18. r. adeo ibid. l. 19. r. fidei p. 175. l. 9. r. mossing p. 185 l. 27. del do ibid. 36. r ner p. 190. l. 3. del my ibid. l. 33. r. Bookes p. 199. l. 20. r. horrour p. 206. l. 8. r Franâ— p. 208. l. 1. r. 60000. p. 211. l. 14. del each 〈◊〉 p. 213 l 8. to these words abeady mentioned add and Madam Gabriele the most breed of all p. 220 l. ult r. Aix p. 222. l. 38. r. no other p. 223. l 7. l. 32. r. investi 〈…〉 ibid. l. 18. r. Henry IV. ibid. l. 34. r. Henry I p 225. l. 10. r. sanctio ibid. l. 23. r. 〈…〉 e. p. 230. l 19. r. fair p. 231 l. 1. r. to come ibid. l. 6 r. greatest action p. 235. l. 〈◊〉 del into p. 242. l 4 r. Le Chastres p. 244 l. 33. r. Systematicall p 248. l. 27. r. 〈◊〉 p. 261. l. 24 del foâ— p. 271. l. 13. r. birudo p 272. l. ult r. Vitrâ—y p. 274. l. r. 〈…〉 tal p. 288 l. 28. r. Peitor p. 298. l. 5. 302. l. 16. r. Armie p. 304 l. 33 r. Summa 〈…〉 p. 306 l. 20. r. manner p. 312. l. 8 del a Crosse engraled O. p. 314. l. 5 r. Viconte p. 320. l 8. r. painset ibid. l. 2. r. honor p. 323. l. 34. r. once p 325. l. 7. r. fact p. 330. l. 36. r. Birtilier p. 337. l. 11. r titulary ibid. l 17 r. Painset p. 354. l ult 〈◊〉 them they p. 368 l 35. r. propounded p. 374 l 10 r. tactum p. 381. l. 14. r. va 〈…〉 p. 384. l. 3 l. 3â— p. 386 l. 15. Misseâ—vâ— p 385. l. 17 r. Olivier ibid. l. 34. r. St. Martins p 387. l 32. r. interea p. 393 l. 9. r. cure p 401. l. ult r. rols p. 417 l. 11. del hath p 415 l. 3. r. ceremoniall ibid. l. 25. r. besaid unto him ibid. l. 38. r. Bishop p. 417. l 8. r clamors p. 422. l. 13. r. change p. 423. l 3. r. sic ibid. l. 24. r. pool THE RELATION Of the FIRST JOURNEY CONTAINING A SURVEY of the STATE OF FRANCE TAKING IN The Description of the principal Provinces and chief Cities of it The Temper Humors and Affections of the people generally And an exact account of the Publick Government in reference to the Court the Church and the Civill State By PET. HEYLYN London Printed 1656. A SURVEY OF THE STATE of FRANCE NORMANDY OR THE FIRST BOOK The Entrance The beginning of our Journey The nature of the Sea A farewell to England ON Tuesday the 28 of June just at the time when England had received the chief beauty of France and the French had seen the choise beauties of England we went to Sea in a Bark of Dover The Port we aimed at Dieppe in Normandy The hour three in the afternoon The winde faire and high able had it continued in that point to have given us a wastage as speedy as our longings Two hours before night it came about to the Westward and the tide also not befriending us our passage became tedious and troublesome
of Robin Goodfellow do never after hear any noise in the night but they straight imagine that it is he which maketh it or like the women of the villages neer Oxford who having heard the tragicall story of a duck or an hen killed and carried to the University no sooner misse one of their chickens but instantly they cry out upon the Scholars On the same false ground also hearing that the English whilest they had possessions in this Countrey were great builders they bestow on them without any more adoe the foundation and perfecting of most of the Churches and Castles in the Countrey Thus are our Ancestors said to have built the Churches of Roven Amiens Bayon c. as also the Castles of Bois St. Vincennes the Bastile the two little forts on the river side by the Louure that of St. Germans and amongst many others this of Mont l'Hierrie where we now are and all alike as for this Castle it was built during the reign of K. Robert anno 1015. by one of his servants named Thibald long before the English had any possessions in this Continent It was razed by Lewis the Grosse as being a harbourer of rebels in former times and by that means as a strong bridle in the mouth of Paris nothing now standing of it save an high Tower which is seen a great distance round about and serveth for a land mark Two leagues from Mont l'Hierrie is the Town of Castres seated in the farthest angle of France where it confineth to La Beause A Town of an ordinary size somewhat bigger then for a Market and lesse then would beseem a City a wall it hath and a ditch but neither serviceable further then to resist the enemy at one gate whilest the people run away by the other nothing else remarkable in it but the habit of the Church which was mourning for such is the fashion of France that when any of the Nobles are buried the Church which enâ—ombeth them is painted black within and without for the breadth of a yard or thereabouts and their Coats of Armes drawn on it To go to the charges of hanging it round with cloth is not for their profits besides this counterfeit sorrow feareth no theef and dareth out-brave a tempest he for whom the Church of Castres was thus apparelled had been Lord of the Town by name as I remember Mr. St. Benoist his Armes were Argent three Cressants Or a Mullet of the same but whether this Mullet were part of the Coat or a mark only of difference I could not learn The like Funeral Churches I saw also at Tostes in Normandie and in a village of Picardie whose name I minde not Nec operae pretium And now we are passed the confines of France a poor river which for the narrowness of it you would think to be a ditch parting it from the Province of La Beause La Beause hath on the North Normandie on the East the Isle of France on the South Nivernois and Berry and on the West the Countreys of Toureine and Lemaine It lyeth in the 22 and 23 degree of Longitude and 48 and 49 of Latitude taking wholly up the breadth of the two former and but parts only of each of the later if you measure it with the best advantage for length you will finde it to extend from la ferte Bernard in the North-west corner of it to Gyan in the South east which according to the proportion of degrees amounteth to 60 miles English and somewhat better for breadth it is much after the same reckoning The antient inhabitants of this Province and the reason of the name I could not learn amongst the people neither can I finde any certainty of it in my books with whom I have consulted If I may be bold to go by conjecture I should think this Countrey to have been the seat of the Bellocasst a people of Gaule Celtick mentioned by Caesar in his Commentaries Certain it is that in or neer this tract they were seated and in likelihood in this Province the names ancient and modern being not much different in sense though in sound for the Francks called that which in Latine is Pulcher or Bellus by the name of Bel in the Masâ—uculine Gender Ben they pronounce it and Beau if it were Feminine so that the name of Bello cassi is but varied into that of Beause besides that Province which the Roman writers stile Bellovaci the French now call Beauvais wher 's Bello isalso turned into Beau. Add to this that the Latine writers do term this Countrey Belsia where the antient Bello is still preserv'd and my conjecture may be pardoned if not approved As for those which have removed this people into Normandie and found them in the City of Baieux I appeal to any understanding man whether their peremptory sentence or my submisse opinion be the more allowable Haec si tibi vera videntur Dede manus â—ausi falsa est accingere contra The same night we came to Estampes a Town situate in a very plentiful and fruitful soyl and watred with a river of the same name stored with the best crevices It seemeth to have been a town of principall importance there being five wals and gates in a length one before another so that it appeareth to be rather a continuation of many towns together then simply one The streets are of a large breadth the building for substance are stone and for fashion as the rest of France It containeth in it five Churches whereof the principal which is a Colledge of Chanoins is that of Nostre dame built by King Robert who is said also to have founded the Castle which now can scarsely be visited in its ruines Without the town they have a fine green medow daintily seated within the circlings of the water into which they use to follow their recreations At my being there the sport was dancing an exercise much used by the French who do naturally affect it And it seemeth this natural inclination is so strong and deep rooted that neither age nor the absence of a smiling fortune can prevail against it For on this dancing green there assembled not only youth and Gentry but age also and beggery Old wives which could not put foot to ground without a Crutch in the streets had here taught their feet to hoble you would have thought by the cleanly conveyance of their bodies that they had been troubled with the Sciatica and yet so eager in the sport as if their dancing daies should never be done Some there were so ragged that a swift Galliard would almost have shaked them into nakedness and they also most violent to have their carkasses directed in a measure To have attempted the staying of them at home or the perswading of them to work when they had heard the Fiddle had been a task too unwieldy for Hercules In this mixture of age and condition did we observe them at their pastime the rags being so
also those of other places Moreover when â—idings came to Paris of the Duke of Mayens death slain before Montauban the rascall French according to their hot headed dispositions breathed out nothing but ruine to the Hugonots The Duke of Monbazon governour of the City commanded their houses and the streets to be safely guarded After when this rabble had burne down their Temple at Charenton the Court of Parliament on the day following ordained that it should be built up again in a more beautifull manner and that at the Kings charge Add to this that since the ending of the wars and the reduction of almost all their Towns we have not seen the least alteration of Religion Besides that they have been permitted to hold a Nationall Synod at Charenton for establishing the truth of their Doctrine against the errours of Arminius professour of Leidâ—n in Holland All things thus considered in their true being I connot see for what cause our late Soveraign should suffer so much censure as he then did for not giving them assistance I cannot but say that my self have too often condemned his remissenesse in that cause which upon better consideration I cannot tell how he should have dealt in Had he been a medler in it further then he was he had not so much preserved Religion as supported Rebellion besides the consequence of the example He had Subjects of his own more then enough which were subject to discontent and prone to an apostasie from their alleagiance To have assisted the disobedient French under the colour of the liberty of conscience had been only to have taught that King a way into England upon the same pretence and to have trod the path of his own hazard He had not long before denied succour to his own children when he might have given them on a better ground and for a fairer purpose and could not now in honour countenance the like action in another For that other deniall of his helping hand I much doubt how far posterity will acquit him though certainly he was a good Prince and had been an happy instrument of the peace of Christendome had not the latter part of his reign hapned in a time so full of troubles So that betwixt the quietnesse of his nature and the turbulency of his latter dayes he sell into that miserable exigent mentioned in the Historian Miserrimum est eum alicui aut natura sua excedenda est aut minuenda dignitas Add to this that the French had been first abandoned at home by their own friends of seven Generals which they had appointed for the seven circles into which they divided all France four of them never giving them incouragement The three which accepted of those unordinate Governments were the Duke of Rohan his brother M. Soubise and the Marquesse of Lafforce the four others being the Duke of Tremoville the Earl of Chastillon the Duke of Lesdisguier and the Duke of Bovillon who should have commanded in chief So that the French Protestants cannot say that he was first wanting for them but they to themselves If we demand what should move the French Protestants to this Rebellious contradiction of his Majesties commandements We must answer that it was too much happinesse Gausa hujus belli eadem quae omnium nimia foelicitas as Florus of the Civill wars between Caesar and Pompey Before the year 1620 when they fell first into the Kings disfavour they were possessed of almost 100 good Towns well fortified for their safety besides beautifull houses and ample possessions in the Villages they slept every man under his own Vine and his own Fig-tree neither fearing nor needing to fear the least disturbance with those of the Catholick party they were grown so intimate and entire by reason of their inter-marriages that a very few years would have them incorporated if not into one faith yet into one family For their better satisfaction in matters of Justice it pleased King Henry the fourth to erect a Chamber in the Court of the Parliament of Paris purposely for them It consisteth of one President and 16 Counsellours their office to take knowledge of all the Causes and Suits of them of the reformed Religion as well within the jurisdiction of the Parliament of Paris as also in Normandy and Britain till there should be a Chamber erected in either of them There were appointed also two Chambers in the Parliaments of Burdeaux and Grenoble and one at the Chastres for the Parliament of Tholoza These Chambers were called Les Chambre de l' Edict because they were established by especiall Edict at the Towns of Nantes in Britain Aprill the 8. anno 1598. In a word they lived so secure and happy that one would have thought their felicities had been immortall O faciles dare summa deos eademque tueri Difficiles And yet they are not brought so low but that they may live happily if they can be content to live obediently that which is taken from them being matter of strength only and not priviledge Let us now look upon them in their Churches which we shall finde as empty of magnificence as ceremony To talke amongst them of Common-prayers were to fright them with the second coming of the Masse and to mention Prayers at the buriall of the dead were to perswade them of a Purgatory Painted glasse in a Church window is accounted for the flag and ensigne of Antichrist and for Organs no question but they are deemed to be the Devils bagpipes Shew them a Surplice and they cry out a rag of the Whore of Babylon yet a sheet on a woman when she is in child-bed is a greater abomination then the other A strange people that could never think the masse-Masse-book sufficiently reformed till they had taken away Prayers nor that their Churches could ever be handsome untill they were ragged This foolish opposition of their first Reformers hath drawn the Protestants of these parts into a world of dislike and envie and been no small disadvantage to the fide Whereas the Church of England though it dissent as much from the Papists in point of Doctrine is yet not uncharitably thought on by the Modern Catholicks by reason it retained such an excellency of Discipline When the Liâ—urgie of our Church was translated into Latine by Dr. Morket once Warden of All-Souls Colledge in Oxford it was with great approofe and applause received here in France by those whom they call the Catholicks royall as marvelling to see such order and regular devotion in them whom they were taught to condemn for Hereticall An allowance which with some little help might have been raised higher from the practice of our Church to some points of our judgement and it is very worthy of our observation that which the Marquesse of Rhosny spake of Canterbury when he came as extraordinary Ambassadour from King Henry IV. to welcome King James into England For upon the view of our solemn Service and ceremonies he openly said unto
we have found an head and a body this body again divided into two parts the Catholick and the Protestant the head is in his own opinion and the minds of many others of a power unlimited yet the Catholick party hath strongly curbed it And of the two parts of the body we see the Papists flourishing and in triumph whilest that of the Protestant is in misery and affliction Thus is it also in the body Politick The King in his own conceit boundlesse and omnipotent is yet affronted by his Nobles which Nobles enjoy all the freedome of riches and happinesse the poor Paisants in the mean time living in drudgery and bondage For the government of the King is meerly indeed regal or to give it the true name despoticall though the Countrey be his wife and all the people are his children yet doth he neither govern as an husband or a father he accounteth of them all as of his servants and therefore commandeth them as a Master In his Edicts which he over frequenly sendeth about he never mentioneth the good will of his Subjects nor the approbation of his Councell but concludeth all of them in this forme Car tell est nostre plaisir Sic volo sic jubeo A forme of government very prone to degenerate into a tyranny if the Princes had not oftentimes strength and will to make resistance But this is not the vice of the entire and Soveraign Monarchy alone which the Greek call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the other two good formes of regiment being subject also to the same frailty Thus in the reading of Histories have we observed an Aristocracie to have been frequently corrupted into an Oligarchie and a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Common-wealth properly so called into a Democratie For as in the body naturall the purest complexions are lesse lasting but easily broken and subject to alteration so is it in the body Civill the pure and unmixt formes of Government though perfect and absolute in their kinds are yet of little continuance and very subject to change into its opposite They therefore which have written of Republicks do most applaud and commend the mixt manner of rule which is equally compounded of the Kingdome and the Politeia because in these the Kings have all the power belonging to their title without prejudice to the populacie In these there is referred to the King absolute Majesty to the Nobles convenient authority to the People an incorrupted liberty all in a just and equall proportion Every one of these is like the Empire of Rome as it was moderated by Nerva Qui res olâ—m dissociabiles miscuerat principatum libertatem wherein the Soveraignty of one endamaged not the freedome of all A rare mixture of Government and such at this time is the Kingdome of England a Kingdome of a perfect and happy composition wherein the King hath his full Prerogative the Nobles all due respects and the People amongst other blessings perfect in this that they are masters of their own purposes and have a strong hand in the making of their own Laws On the otherside in the Regall government of France the Subject frameth his life meerly as the Kings variable Edicts shall please to enjoyn him is ravished of his money as the Kings taske-masters think fit and suffereth many other oppressions which in their proper place shall be specified This Aristole in the third book of his Politicks calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the command of a Master and defineth it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such an Empire by which a Prince may command and do whatsoever shall seem good in his own eyes One of the Prerogatives Royall of the French Kings For though the Court of Parliament doth seem to challenge a perusall of his Edicts before they passe for Laws yet is that but a meer formality It is the cartelâ—â—est nostre plaifir which maketh them currant which it seemeth these Princes learned of the Roman Emperors Justinian in the book of Institutions maketh five grounds of the Civill Laws viz. Lex he meaneth the law of the 12 Tables Plebiscita Senatusconsulta Predentum Responsa Principum placita to this last he addeth this generall strength Quod principi plaeuerit legis â—abet valorem the very foundation of the French Kings powerfulnesse True it is that the Courts of Parliament do use to demur sometimes upon his Patents and Decrees and to petition him for a reversall of them but their answer commonly is Stat pro ratione voluntas He knoweth his own power and granteth his Letters patents for new Offices and Monopolies abundantly If a monied man can make a friend in Court he may have an office found for him of six pence upon every Sword made in France a Livre upon the selling of every head of Cattell a brace of Sols for every paire of boots and the like It is the only study of some men to finde out such devices of enriching themselves and undoing the people The Patent for Innes granted to St. Giles Moâ—â—pesson was just one of the French offices As for Monopolies they are here so common that the Subject taketh no notice of it not a scurvey petty book being Printed but it hath its priviledge affixed Ad imprimendum solum These being granted by the King are carryed to the Parliament by them formally perused and finally verified after which they are in force and virtue against all opposition It is said in France that Mr. Luynes had obtained a Patent of the King for a quart d' escu to be paid unto him upon the Christning of every child thoughout all the Kingdome A very unjust and unconscionable extortion Had he lived to have presented it to the Court I much doubt of their deniall though the only cause of bringing before them such Patents is onely intended that they should discusse the justice and convenience of them As the Parliament hath a formality of power left in them of verifying the Kings Edicts his grants of Offices and Monopolics So hath the Chamber of Accounts a superficiall survey also of his gifts and expences For his expences they are thought to be as great now as ever by reason of the severall retinues of himself his Mother his Queen and the Monseiur neither are his gifts lessened The late Wars which he managed against the Protestants cost him deer he being fain to bind unto him most of his Princes by money and pensions As the expenses of the King are brought unto this Court to be examined so are also the Gifts and Pensions by him granted to be ratified The titulary power given unto this Chamber is to cut off all those of the Kings grants which have no good ground and foundation the officers being solemnly at the least formally sworn not to suffer any thing to passe them to the detriment of the Kingdome whatsoever Letters of command thay have to the contrary But this Oath they oftentimes dispense with To this Court also belongeth
means he is within two or three years brought again to equall poverty with the rest A strange course and much different from that of England where the Gentry take a delight in having their Tenants thrive under them and hold it no crime in any that hold of them to be wealthy On the other side those of France can abide no body to gain or grow rich upon their farmes and therefore thus upon occasions rack their poor Tenants In which they are like the Tyrant Procrustes who laying hands upon all he met cast them upon his bed if they were shorter then it he racked their joynts till he had made them even to it if they were longer he cut as much of their bodies from them as did hang over so keeping all that fell into his power in an equality All the French Lords are like that Tyrant How much this course doth depresse the military power of this Kingdome is apparent by the true principles of war and the examples of other Countries For it hath been held by the generall opinion of the best judgements in matters of war that the main Buttresse and Pillar of an Army is the foot or as the Martialists term it the Infantery Now to make a good Infantery it requireth that men be brought up not in a slavish and needy fashion of life but in some free and liberall manner Therefore it is well observed by the Vicounâ— St. Albans in his History of Henry VII that if a State run most to Nobles and Gentry and that the Husbandmen be but as their meer drudges or else simply Cottagers that that State may have a good Cavallery but never good stable bands of foot Like to Coppice woods in which if you let them grow too thick in the stadles they run to bushes or bryers and have little clean under-wood Neither is this in France only but in Italy also and some other parts abroad in so much that they are enforced to imploy mercenary Souldiers for their battalions of foot whereby it cometh to passe that in those Countries they have much people and few men On this consideration King Henry VII one of the wisest of our Princes took a course so cunning and wholesome for the increase of the military power of his Realm that though it be much lesse in territory yet it should have infinitely more Souldiers of its native forces then its neighbour Nations For in the fourth year of his Reign there passed an Act of Parliament pretensively against the depopulation of Villages and decay of tillage but purposedly to inable his subjects for the wars The Act was That all houses of husbandry which had been used with twenty acres of ground and upwards should be maintained and kept up for together with a competent proportion of Land to be used and occupied with them c. By this means the houses being kept up did of necessity enforce a dweller and that dweller because of the proportion of Land not to be a begger but a man of some substance able to keep Hinds and Servants and to set the plough a going An order which did wonderfully concerne the might and manhood of the Kingdome these Farmes being sufficient to maintaine an able body out of penury and by consequence to prepare them for service and encourage them to higher honours for Haud facile emergent quorum virtutibus obstat Res angusta domi As the Poet hath it But this Ordinance is not thought of such use in France where all the hopes of their Armies consist in the Cavallery or the horse which perhaps is the cause why our Ancestors have won so many battailes upon them As for the French foot they are quite out of all reputation and are accounted to be the basest and unworthyest company in the world Besides should the French people be enfranchised as it were from the tyranny of their Lords and estated in freeholds and other tenures after the manner of England it would much trouble the Councell of France to find out a new way of raising his revenues which are now meerly sucked out of the bloud and sweat of the Subject Antiently the Kings of France had rich and plentifull demeans such as was sufficient to maintain their greatnesse and Majesty without being burdensome unto the Countrey Pride in matters of sumptuousnesse and the tedious Civill wars which have lasted in this Countrey almost ever since the death of Henry II. have been the occasion that most of the Crown lands have been sold and morgaged in so much that the people are now become the Demaine and the Subject only is the Revenue of the Crown By the sweat of their browes is the Court sed and the Souldier paid and by their labours are the Princes maintained in idlenesse What impositions soever it pleaseth the King to put upon them it is almost a point of treason not only to deny but to question Apud illos vere regnatur nefasque quantum regi liceat dubitare as one of them The Kings hand lyeth hard upon them and hath almost thrust them into an Egyptian bondage the poor Paisant being constrained to make up dayly his full tale of bricks and yet have no straw allowed them Upon a sight of the miseries and poverties of this people Sir John Fortescue Chancellour of England in his book intituled De Laudibus legum Angliae concludeth them to be unfit men for Jurors or Judges should the custome of the Countrey admit of such tryals For having proved there unto the Prince he was son to Henry VI. that the manner of tryall according to the Common Law by 12 Jurates was more commendable then the practise of the Civill or Emperiall Lawes by the deposition only of two witnesses or the forced confession of the persons arrained the Prince seemed to marvell Cur ed lex Angliae quae tam fiugi optabilis est non sit toti mundo communis To this he maketh answer by shewing the â—ree condition of the English Subjects who alone are used at these indictments men of a fair and large estate such as dwell nigh the place of the deed committed men that are of ingenuous education such as scorn to be suborned or corrupted and afraid of infamie Then he sheweth how in other places all things are contrary the Husbandman an absolute begger easie to be bribed by reason of his poverty the Gentlemen living far asunder and so taking no notice of the fact the Paisant also neither fearing infamie nor the losse of goods if he be found faulty because he hath them not In the end he concludeth thus Ne mireris igitur princeps si lex per quam in Anglia veritas inquiritur alias non pervagetur nationes ipsae namque ut Anglia nequerunt facere sufficientes consimilesque Juratas The last part of the latine savoureth somewhat of the Lawyer the word Juratas being put there to signifie a Jury To go over all those impositions which this miserable people
his part having been 13 years a Minister he never used it Totos ego tredecem annos quibus functus sum Ministerio sive in Sacramentis iis quae extant in agenda nunquam usus sum and this he speaks as he conceives it to his commendation Where by the way Agenda it is a word of the latter times is to be understood for a set form in the performance of those ministerial duties quae statis temporibus agenda sunt as mine Author hath it In the Capitular of Charles the great we have mention of this word Agenda in divers places once for all let that suffice in the 6 book Can. 234. viz. Si quiis Presbyter in consultâ— Episcopo Agendam in quolibet loco voluerint celebrare ipse honori suo contrarius extitit Chap. 8. 5. The Churches shall be locked immediately after Sermon The pretence is as it followeth in the next words to avoid superstition but having nothing in their Churches to provoke superstition the caution is unnecessary So destitute are they all both of ornament and beauty The true cause is that those of that party are offended with the antient custome of stepping aside into the Temples and their powring out the soul in private prayer unto God because for sooth it may imply that there is some secret vertue in those places more then in rooms of ordinary use which they are peremptory not to give them Chap. 9. 1. After the preaching of the word And there are two reasons why the Sacrament of Baptism should be long delayed the one because they falsly think that without the preaching of the word there is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the other to take away the opinion of the necessity of holy Baptism and the administration of it in private houses in case of such necessity In this strictnesse very resolute and not to be bended with perswasions scarce with power As our being in the Isle of Gueâ—â—ay the Ministers presented unto his Lordship a catalogue of grievances against the civill Magistrate And this among the rest that they had entermedled with the administration of the Sacraments This certainly was novum orimen O. Caesar ante hoc tempâ—â— inauditum but upon examination it proved only to be thus A poor man of the Vale had a childe born unto him weak and â—ickly not like to live till the publick exercise whereupon he defires Millet the Incumbent there that he would Baptize it but after two or three denials made the poor man complained unto the Bailiffe by whom the Minister was commanded to do his duty This was all crimine ab unâ— disce omnes Chap. 9. 5. Names used in Paganism Nor mean they here such names as occur in Poets as Hector Hercules c. though names of this sort occurre frequently in S. Pauls Epistles but even such names as formerly have been in use amongst our ancestors as Richard Edmund William and the like But concerning this behold a story wherein our great contriver Snape was a chief party as I finde in the book called Dangerous positions c. verified upon the oath of one of the brotherhood Hodkinson of Northampton having a childe to be baptized repaired to Snape to do it for him and he consented to the motion but with promise that he should give it some name allowed in Scripture The childe being brought and that holy action so far forwards that they were come to the naming of the childe they named it Richard which was the name of the Infants Grandfather by the Mothers side Upon this a stop was made nor would he be perswaded to baptize the childe unlesse the name of it were altered which when the Godfather refused to do he forsook the place and the childe was carried back unchristned To this purpose but not in the same words the whole history But if the name of Richard be so Paganish what then shall we conceive of these The Lord is near More-tryall Joy-again Free-gift From-above and others of that stamp are they also extant in the Scripture Chap. 10. 2. And that sitting c. or standing c In this our Synodists more moderate then those of the Netherlands who have licensed it to be administred unto men even when they are walking For thus Angelocrator in his Epitome of the Dutch Synods cap. 13. art 8. viz. Liberum est stando sedendo vel eundo coenam celebrare non autem geniculando and the reason questionlesse the same in both ob 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 periculum for fear of bread-worship I had before heard sometimes of ambling Communions but till I met with that Epitome I could not slumble on the meaning A strange and stubborn generation and stiffer in the hams then any Elephant such as will neither bow the knee to the Name of Jesus nor kneel to him in his Sacraments Chap. 10. 4. which will not promise to submit himself unto the Discipline A thing before injoyned in the subscription to it upon all such as take upon them any publick office in the Church but here exacted in the submission to it of all such as desire to be Communicants The reason is because about that time it seemed good unto the brethren to make the holy Discipline as essential to the being of a Church as the preaching of the word and administration of the Sacraments and so essential that no Church could possibly subsist without it For thus Beza in his Epistle unto Cixxe Anno 1572 Magnum est Dei munus quod unam religionem puâ—am 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doctrinae viz retinendae vinculum in Scotiam intulistis Sicobsecro obtestor haec duo simul retinete ut uno amisso alterum diu permanere non posse semper memineritis So he Epist 79. According unto which Doctrine Mr. Dela-Marshe in his new Catechism which lately by the authority of the Colloquie he imposed upon the Churches in the Isle of Guâ—inzy hath joyned this holy Discipline as a chief note together with the others Chap. 12. 9. That it be no longer solemnized upon the Sunday Wherein so scarcely did the same Spirit rule them both the Dutch Synodists have shewed themselves more moderate then these contrivers they having licensed marriage on all daies equally except such as are destinate to the Lords Supper and to solemn fasts Quovis die matrimonia confermari celebrari poterunt modo concio ad populum habeatur exceptis c 〈…〉 diebus jejunio sacratis Cap. ult art 8. By both of them it is agreed that marriage be celebrated on such daies only on which there is a Sermon and if the Sermon be any thing to the purpose I am content they should expect it Only I needs must note with what little reason these men and their abettors have so often quarrelled our Church for the restraint of marriage at some certain seasons whereas they think it fit at some times to restrain it in their own Well fare therefore our
as I conjecture propound it farther to him then by way of due respect as little hoping that he should bend himself for their relief whom they so often had accused to be the cause of all this trouble At last they are resolved to cast themselves upon the grace and savour of the King and for that cause addressed themselves and their desires unto the Earl of Salisbury a man at that time of special credit with the King being also Lord High Treasurer and chief Secretary This their addresse as he took in special good regard so did he also seem to advise them for the best his counsel that they should joyn unto them those of Guernzey in the perusing of their Discipline and the correcting of such things most stomacked by the Civil Magistrates and after both together to refer themselves unto his Majesty A counsel not to be despised in the appearance but yet as certainly he was of a fine and subtil wit of exceeding cunning For by this means the businesse not yet ripe and the King scarce master of his purposes in Scotland he gains time farther to consider of the main and by ingaging those of Guernzey in the cause they also had been subject to the same conclusion But subtil as he was he found no art to protract the fatal and inevitable blow of death for whilest his Clients busily pursued this project in reviewing of their platform he yeelded up himself unto the grave March 24. anno 1612. upon report whereof they layed by the prosecution of that businesse referring of it to the mercy of some better times This comfort yet they found in their addresse unto the Court that things at home were carried on in a more fair and quiet course but long they would not suffer themselves to enjoy that happinesse The Parish of S. Peters being void Messerny was presented to it by the Governour one that had spent his time in Oxenford and had received the Orders of the Priesthood from the Right Reverend Doctor Bridges then Bishop of that Diocesse A matter so infinitely stomacked by the Colloquie that they would by no means yeeld to his admission not so much because of his presentation from the Governor as of his ordination from the Bishop For now they thought Annibalem ad portas that Popery began again to creep upon them and therefore they resolved to fight it out tanquam de summa rerum as if the whole cause of Religion were in danger Messerny howsoever enjoyed the profits of the living and a new complaint was made against them to the Councel In which complaint there also was intelligence given unto their Lordships that the inhabitants generally of the Isle were discontented with the Disciplineâ— and guidance of the Church and that the most of them would easily admit the form of English Government that some of them did desire it The matter thus grown ready for an issue and his Majesty desirous to bring all things to the most peaceable and quiet end both parties were commanded to attend at Court the Governor and secular states to prosecute their suit and make good their intelligence the Ministers to answer the complaints and tender their proposals Hereupon the Governor and those of the laity delegated to the Court Marret the Attorney and Messervy the new Parson of St. Peters by whom the people sent a formal Petition to his Majesty signed by many of their hands and to this purpose viz. that he would be pleased to establish in their Island the book of Common-prayers and to settle there among them some Ecclesiastical Officer with Episcopal jurisdiction On the other side there were deputed for the Ministers Mr. Bandinell the now Dean Oliveis the now Subâ—dean Effart the Curate of St. Saviours and De la place then Curate of St. Maries To whom this also was specially given in charge that with all industry they should oppose whatsoever innovation as they called it might be proposed unto them and resolutely bear up for the present Discipline Immediately upon their appearance at the Court both parties by his Majesty were referred to the Councel and by them again to my Lord Archbishop of Canterbury the Lord Zouche and Sir John Herbert then principal Secretary Before them the cause was privately argued by the Deputies of both parties and the desires of the Governor and of the people constantly impugned by the Ministers But as it alwaies hapneth that there is no confederacy so well joyned but one member of it may be severed from the rest and thereby the whole practise overthrown so was it also in this businesse For those which there sollicited some private businesse of the Governors had finely wrought upon the weaknesse or ambition of De la place bearing him in hand that if the Government of the Church were altered and the office of the Dean restored he was for certain resolved upon to be the man Being fashioned into this hope he speedily betrayed the counsels of his fellowes and furnished their opponents at all their enterviews with such intelligence as might make most for their advantage At last the Ministers not well agreeing in their own demands and having little to say in the defence of their proper cause whereto their answers were not provided beforehand my Lord of Canterbury at the Councel-table thus declared unto them the pleasure of the King and Councell viz. that for the speedy redresse of their disorders it was reputed most convenient to establish among them the authority and office of the Dean that the book of Common-prayer being again printed in the French should be received into their Churches but the Ministers not tyed to the strict observance of it in all particulars that Messerny should be admitted to his benefice and that so they might return unto their charges This said they were commanded to depart and to signifie to those from whom the came they full scope of his Majesties resolution and so they did But being somewhat backward in obeying this decree the Councel intimated to them by Sir Phil. de Carteret their Agent for the Estates of the Island that the Ministers from among themselves should make choice of three learned and grave persons whose names they should return unto the board out of which his Majesty would resolve on one to be their Dean A proposition which found among them little entertainment Not so much out of dislike unto the dignity for they were most of them well contented with the change but because every one of them conceived hopefully of himself to be the man and all of them could not be elected they were not willing to prejudice their own hopes by the naming of another In the mean time Mr. David Bandâ—â—ell then Curate of St. Maries either having or pretending some businesse unto London was recommended by the Governor as a man most fit to sustain that place and dignity And being also approved by my Lord of Canterbury aâ— certainly he is a man of good
that his admission unto the said office should together with the Ministers of this our Island consider of such Canons and Constitutions as might be fitly accomodated to the circumstances of time and place and persons whom they concern and that the same should be put in good order and intimated by the Governour Bailiffe and Jurates of that our Island that they might offer to us and our Councell such acceptions and give such reformations touching the same as they should think good And whereas the said Dean and Ministers did conceive certain Canons and presented the same unto us on the one part and on the other part the said Bailiffe and Jurates excepting against the same did send and depute Sir Philip de Carteret Knight Jeshuah de Carteret and Philip de Carteret Esquires three of the Jurates and Justices of our said Isle all which parties appeared before our right trusty and well beloved Counsellers the most reverend father in God the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury the Right reverend father in God the Lord Bishop of Lincolne Lord Keeper of the Geat Seal of England and the Right reverend father in God the said Lord Bishop of Winton to whom we granted commission to examine the same who have have accordingly heard the said parties at large read and examined corrected and amended the said Canons and have now made report unto us under their hands that by a mutuall consent of the said Deputies and Dean of our Island they have reduced the said Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiasticall into such order as in their judgements may well stand with the estate of that Island Know ye therefore that we out of our Princely care of the quiet and peaceable government of all our Dominions especialy affecting the peace of the Church and the establishment of true Religion and Ecclesiasticall discipline in one uniforme order and course throughout all our Realms and Dominions so happily united under us as their Supreme Governor on earth in all causes as well Ecclesiasticall as Civill Having taken consideration of the said Canons and Constitutions thus drawn as aforesaid do by these deputies ratifie confirme and approve thereof And farther we out of our Princely power and regall authority do by these Patents signed and sealed with our royall Signet for us our heirs and successors will with our royall hand and command that these Canons and Constitutions hereafter following shall from henceforth in all points be duly observed in our said Isle for the perpetuall government of the said Isle in causes Ecclesiasticall unlesse the same or some part or parts thereof upon further experience and tryall thereof by the mutuall consent of the Lord Bishop of Winton for the time being the Governour Bailiffs and Jurates of the said Isle and of the Dean and Ministers and other our Officers in the said Isle for the time being representing the body of our said Isle and by the royall authority of us our heirs and successors shall receive any additions or alterations as time and occasion shall justly require And therefore we do farther will and command the said Right reverend father in God Lancelot now Lord Bishop of Winton that he do forthwith by his Commission under his Episcopall seal as Ordinary of the place give authority unto the said now Dean to exercise Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction in our said Isle according to the said Canons and Constitutions thus made and established as followeth Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiasticall treated agreed on and established for the Isle of Jarsey CHAP. I. Of the Kings Supremacy and of the Church Article I. 1. AS our duty to the Kings most excellent Majesty requireth it is first ordained That the Dean and Ministers having care of souls shall to the utmost of their power knowledge and learning purely and sincerely without any backwardnesse or dissimulation teach publish and declare as often as they may and as occasion shall present it self that all strange usurped and forain power for as much as it hath no gound by the law of God is wholly as for just and good causes taken away and abolished and that therefore no manner of obedience or subjection within any of his Majesties Realms and Dominions is due unto any such forain power but that the Kings power within his Realms of England Scotland and Ireland and all other his Dominions and Countries is the highest power under God to whom all men as well inhabitants as born within the same do by Gods Law owe most loyalty and obedience afore and above all other power and Potentates in the earth II. 2. Whosoever shall affirme and maintain that the Kings Majesty hath not the same authority in causes Ecclesiasticall that the godly Princes had amongst the Jews and the Christian Emperours in the Church primitive or shall impeach in any manner the said Supremacy in the said causes III. IV. 3. Also whosoever shall affirme that the Church of England as it is established under the Kings Majesty is not a true and Apostolicall Church purely teaching the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles 4. Or shall impugne the Government of the said Church by Archbishops Bishops and Deans affirming it to be Antichristian shall be ipso facto Excommunicated and not restored but by the Dean sitting in his Court after his repentance and publick recantation of his errour CHAP. II. Of Divine Service Article I. 1. IT is injoyned unto all sorts of people that they submit themselves to the Divine service contained in the book of Common prayers of the Church of England And for as much as concerns the Ministers that they observe with uniformity the said Liturgie without addition or alteration and that they fuâ—ler not any Conventicle or Congregation to make a sect apart by themselves or to distract the Government Ecclesiasticall established in the Church II. 2. The Lords day shall be sanctified by the exercises of publick prayer and the hearing of Gods word Every one also shall be bounden to meet together at an hour convenient and to observe the order and decency in that case requisite being attentive to the reading or preaching of the Word kneeling on their knees during the Prayers and standing up at the Belief and shall also 〈◊〉 their consent in saying Amen And further during any part of Divine service the Church-wardens shall not suffer any interruption or impeachment to be made by the insolence and practice of any person either in the Church or Church-yard III. 3. There shall be publick exercise in every Parish on Wednesdays and Fridays in the morning by reading the Common prayers IV. 4. When any urgent occasion shall require an extraordinary Fast the Dean with the advice of his Ministers shall give notice of it to the Governour and Civill Magistrate to the end that by their authority and consent it may be generally observed for the appeasing of the wrath and indignation of the Lord by true and serious repentance CHAP. III. Of Baptism THe Sacrament of Baptism shall be
to the custome of the Country CHAP. IX Of the Collectors and Sides-men THere shall be two Collectors for the poor appointed in every Parish which also shal discharge the place of Sides-men or Assistants who shall be chosen as the Church-wardens are and shall take an oath to carry themselves well in the said office and to give an account of their Stewardship twice a year before the Minister and the Parishioners viz. at Easter and at Michaelmas CHAP. X. Of Clerks and Sextons Article I. 1. THe Clerks and Sextons of Parishes shall be chosen by the Minister and the principall of the Parish men of the age of twenty years at the least of good life and conversation able to read fairly distinctly and understandingly and to write also and fitted somewhat for the singing of the Psalmes if it may be II. 2. Their charge is by the ringing of a Bell to call the people to Divine service and the hearing of the Word at the proper and ordinary hours to keep the Church locked and clean as also the Pulpit and the seats to lay up the Books and other things belonging to the Church committed to their trust to provide water against the Christnings to make such proclamations as are enjoyned them by the Court or by the Minister And shal receive their stipend and wages by the contribution of the Parishioners be it in Corn or money according to the custome of the place CHAP. XI Of School masters Article I. 1. THere shall be a School master in every Parish chosen by the Minister Church wardens and other principall persons therein and afterwards presented unto the Dean to be licenced thereunto Nor shall it be lawfull for any one to take upon him this charge not being in this manner called unto it The Ministers shall have the charge of visiting the Schooles to exhort the Masters to their duty II. 2. They shall accustome themselves with diligence and painfulnesse to teach the children to read and to write to say their prayers and to answer in the Catechismes they shall instruct them in good manners they shall bring them unto Sermons and to Common-prayers and there see them quietly and orderly demean themselves CHAP. XII Of the Court Ecclesiasticall Article I. 1. THe Court shall be holden every Munday in the year observing the same vacations as the Courts Civill II. 2. At every Session in the beginning of it the names of the Assessors shall be inrolled the day the moneth and the year and the decrees perused III. 3. After judgment and sentence given in the main matter the costs of the parties and the wages of the officers shall be awarded by censure Ecclesiastick IV. 4. There shall be two Procters duely sworn unto the Court to the end the people may proceed formally and juridically without any confusion or surprise And the Register being also sworn shall faithfully record the sentences pronounced and give copies of the Acts to such as do require it V. 5. The Kings Atturney or in his absence the Solliciter shall be assistant in the Court from time to time in the awarding of punishment or censure upon all causes of crime and scandall VI. 6. For the serving of citation and summons the Dean shall swear the Sextons of every Parish together with an Apparitour which shall truly discharge themselves in giving copies of the originall proces and citation unto those whom it concerns or in the absence of the party to his servants In which proces and citations the causes of their appearance shall be expressed VII 7. If the party will not be found as either hiding himself or using any other collusion the citation shall be affixed in case that he have never an house on the Church door of the Parish where he dwelleth and that upon a Sunday VIII 8. If it come unto the notice of the Dean by the report of honest men that any one hath doth live notoriously scandalous he shall advertise the Minister and Church-wardens of the Parish to the end that being thus informed they may present such persons as merit to be punished or censured IX 9. Upon good notice of a crime committed by any of the Ministers the Dean after two warnings or admonitions shall proceed to the reforming of him by the advice and consent of two of his brethren even unto suspension and sequestration And in case he continue refractory the Dean by the consent of the major part of Ministers shall proceed to deprivation X. 10. No commutation shall be made in lieu of penance without great circumspection and regard had unto the quality of the persons and circumstances of the crime And the commutation shall be inrolled in the Acts of the Court to be imployed upon the poor and in pious uses whereof an account shall be given according to the Register XI 11. After the first default the non-appearance of the party again cited shall be reputed as a contempt if being after peren ptorily cited he doth not appear then shall they proceed against him by excommunication and if before the next Court day he endevour not to obtain absolution they shall proceed to the publishing of the sentence of the minor excommunication which shal be delivered to the Minister of the Parish to be read upon some solemn day and in the hearing of the greater part of the Parishioners The party still continuing in his contumacy they shall then proceed unto the major excommunication whereby he shall be excluded a sacris societate fidelium If this bring him not unto obedience and acknowledgement within the space of forty dayes then shall the Dean by his certificate authentick give notice unto the Bailiff and Justices of the said contumacy requiring their assistance to seise on him and commit him prisoner to some sure place till he be humbled and shall give surety that he will submit unto the ordinance of the Church and before that he be absolved he shall be bound to defray the costs and charges of the suit XII 12 In cases of incontinency upon presentment of the Church-wardens together with the probabilities of a common fame scandall and presumptions in this case requisite the party shall undergo the purgation upon oath or else shall be reputed as convict XIII 13. In causes of Adultery at the instance of the party the proceedings shall go on advisedly by good proofs and informations even to evidence of the crime objected and if the matter or evidence of fact be clear they may proceed to separation a thoro mensa XIV 14. He that shall offend in point of calumny and diffamation shall make acknowledgment of the injury according to the exigence of the case provided that the business be followed within the compasse of the year and that the matter of it be of Ecclesiasticall cognisance in the crimes above recited CHAP. XIII Of Appeales Article I. 1. APpeales in causes Ecclesiasticall shall be heard and determined by the reverend father in God the Bishop of Winton