The first and greatest controversie between the Pope and Princes of Christendome was about the bestowing the livings of the Church and giving the investure unto Bishops the Popes had long thirsted after that authority as being a great means to advance their followers and establish their own greatnesse for which cause in divers petty Councels the receiving of any Ecclesiasticall preferment of a Lay man was enacted to be Simony But this did little edifie with such patrons as had good livings As soon as ever Hildebrande in the Catalogue of the Popes called Gregory VII came to the Throne of Rome he set himself entirely to effect this businesse as well in Germany now he was Pope as he had done in France whilest he was Legat he commandeth therefore Henry III. Emperour Ne deinceps Episcâ—patus beneficia they are Platinas own words per cupiditatem Simonaâ—cam committat aliter seusurum in-ipsum censuris Ecclesiasticis To this injustice when the Emperour would not yeeld he called a solemn Councell at the Lateran wherein the Emperour was pronounced to be Simoniacall and afterwards Excommunicated neither would this Tyrant ever leave persecuting of him till he had laid him in his grave After this there followed great strugling for this matter between the Popes and the Emperours but in the end the Popes got the victory In England here he that first beckoned about it was William Ruâ—us the controversie being whether he or Pope Urban should invest Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury Anselme would receive his investure from none but the Pope whereupon the King banished him the Realm into which he was not admitted till the Reign of Henry II. He to endeer himself with his Clergy relinquished his right to the Pope but afterwards repenting himselfe of it he revoked his grant neither did the English Kings wholly lose it till the reign of that unfortunate prince King John Edward the first again recovered it and his successors kept it The Popes having with much violence and opposition wrested into their hands this priviledge of nominating Priests and investing Bishops they spared not to lay on what taxes they pleased as on the Benefices first fruits pensions subsidies fifteenths tenths and on the Bishopricks for palles miters crosiers rings and I know not what bables By these means the Churches were so impoverished that upon complaint made to the Councell of Basil all these cheating tricks these aucupia expilandi rationes were abolished This decree was called Pragmatica functio and was confirmed in France by Charles VII anno 1438. An act of singular improvement to the Church and Kingdome of France which yearly before as the Court of Parliament manifested to Lewis XI had drained the State of a million of Crowns since which time the Kings of France have sometimes omitted the rigor of this sanction and sometimes also exacted it according as their affairs with the Pope stood for which cause it was called Froenum pontificum At last King Francis I. having conquered Millaine fell into this composition with his Holinesse namely that upon the falling of any Abbacy or Bishoprick the King should have 6 months time allowed him to present a fit man unto him whom the Pope should legally invest If the King neglected his time limited the Pope might take the benefit of the relapse and institute whom he pleased So is it also with the inferior Benefices between the Pope and the Patrons insomuch that any or every Lay-patron and Bishop together in England hath for ought I see at the least in this particular as great a spirituall Supremacy as the Pope in France Nay to proceed further and shew how meerly titular both his supremacies are as well the spirituall as the temporall you may plainly see in the case of the Jesuites which was thus In the year 1609 the Jesuites had obtained of King Henry IV. licence to read again in their Colledges of Paris but when their Letters patents came to be verified in the Court of Parliament the Rector and University opposed them on the 17 of December 1611. both parties came to have an hearing and the University got the day unlesse the Jesuites would subscribe unto these four points viz. 1. That a Councell was above the Pope 2. That the Pope had no temporall power over Kings and could not by Excommunication deprive them of their Realm and Estates 3. That Clergy men having heard of any attempt or conspiracy against the King or his Realm or any matter of treason in confession he was bound to reveal it And 4. That Clergy men were subject to the secular Prince or politick Magistrate It appeared by our former discourse what little or no power they had left the Pope over the Estates and preferments of the French By these Propositions to which the Jesuites in the end subscribed I know not with what mentall reservation it is more then evident that they have left him no command neither over their consciences nor their persons so that all things considered we may justly say of the Papall power in France what the Papists said falsly of Erasmus namely that it is Nomen sine rebus In one thing only his authority here is intire which is his immediate protection of all the orders of Fryers and also a superintendency or supreme eye over the Monks who acknowledge very small obedience if any at all to the French Bishops for though at the beginning every part and member of the Diocesse was directly under the care and command of the Bishop yet it so happened that at the building of Monasteries in the Western Church the Abbots being men of good parts and a sincere life grew much into the envie of their Diocesan For this cause as also to be more at their own command they made suit to the Pope that they might be free from that subjection Utque in tutelam divi Petri admitterentur a proposition very plausible to his Holinesse ambition which by this means might the sooner be raised to its height and therefore without difficulty granted This gap opened first the severall orders of Fryers and after even the Deans and Chapters purchased to themselves the like exemptions In this the Popes power was wonderfully strengthned as having such able and so main props to uphold his authority it being a true Maxime in State Quod qui privilegia obtinent ad eadem conservanda tenentur authoritatem concedentis tueri This continued till the Councell of Trent unquestioned Where the Bishops much complained of their want of authority and imputed all the Schismes and Vices in the Church unto this that their hands were tyed hereupon the Popes Legats thought it fit to restore their jurisdiction their Deans and Chapters At that of the Monks and Monasteries there was more sticking till at the last Sebastian Pigâ—inus one of the Popes officers found out for them this satisfaction that they should have an eye and inspection into the lives of the Monks not by any authority of their
neighbours of the Church of Scotland men very indifferent both for the time and for the place For the time Nuâ—â—um tempus tam sacrum quod ejus celebratione polluatur and â—or the place immo in praetorâ—o vel quovis loco publico c. extra sacra publicum conventum totius ecclesiae So they that made the Altare Damascenum p. 872. 865. 866. Chap. 14. 1. The Corps shall not be carried â—r interred within the Church Which prohibition whether it hath more in it of the Jew or of the Gentile is not easie to determine Amongst the Jewes it was not lawful for the Priest to be present at a Funeral or for the dead corps to be interred within the camp and on the other side it was by law in Athens and in Rome forbidden either to burn their dead or to bury them within their Cities In urbe nesipelito neve uâ—ito saith the Law of the 12 Tables nor do I see for what cause this generation should prohibit the dead bodies entrance into the Church and to permit it in the Church-yards If for the avoiding of superstition it is well known that not the Church only but the Church-yards are also consecrated The reason why they will not bury in the Church is only their desire and love of parity the Church will hardly be capacious enough to bury all and since by death and nature all are equall why should that honour be vouchsafed unto the rich and not unto the poor Out of this love of parity it is that in the next article they have forbidden Funeral Sermons wherein the Dutch Synods and those men most perfectly concur as appeareth in that collection cap. 11. 5. For if such Sermons be permitted the common people will be forsooth aggrieved and think themselves neglected Ditiores enim hoc officio cobonestabuntur neglect is pauperibus Chap. 14. 2. Nor any prayers nor sound of bell The last for love of parity but this for fear of superstition For prayers at the burial of the dead may possibly be mistook for prayers for the dead and so the world may dream perhaps of Purgatory Thesilencing of bels is somewhat juster because that musick hath been superstitiously and foolishly imployed in former times and in this very case at Funerals It is well known with what variety of ceremonies they were baptized and consecrated as in the Church of Rome they still are by the Bishops Whereby the people did conceive a power inherent in them not only for the scattering of tempests in which cases they are also rung amongst them but for the repulsing of the Devil and his Ministers Blessings which are intreared of the Lord for them as appeareth by one of those many prayers prescribed in that form of consecration by the Roman Pontifical viz. ut per factum illorum procul pellantur omnes insidiae inimici fragor grandinum procella turbinum c. Whilest therefore the people was superstitious in the use of bels the restraint of them was allowable but being now a matter only of solemnity it argueth no little superstition to restrain them Chap. 16. 6. Without encroaching on the civil jurisdiction And well indeed it were if this clause were intended to be observed for in the 17. chap. and 8. art it is decreed that the correction of crimes and scandals appertaineth unto the Consistory What store of grist the word Crime will bring unto their mils I leave unto your Lordship to interpret sure I am that by this of seandal they draw almost all causes within their cognizance A matter testified by his late most excellent Majesty in a Remonstrance to the Parliament viz. that the Puritan Ministers in Scotland had brought all causes within their jurisdiction saying that it was the Churches office to judge of scandal and there could be no kinde of fault or crime committed but there was a scandal in it either against God the King or their neighbour Two instances of this that counterfeit Eusebius Philadelphus in his late Pamphlet against my Lord of St. Andrewes doth freely give us Earl Huntley upon a private quarrel had inhumanely killed the Earl of Murray For this offence his Majesty upon a great suit was content to grant his-pardon Ecclesiae tamen Huntileum jussit sub dirorum poenis ecclesiae satisfacere but yet the Church in relation to the scandall commanded him under the pain of Excommunication to do penance Not long after the said Earl Huntly and others of the Romish faction had enterprised against the peace and safety of the Kingdome The King resolved to pardon them for this also Ecclesia autem excommunication is censura pronuntiavit but the Church pronounced against them the dreadful sentence of Anathema so little use is there of the civil Magistrate when once the Church pretends a scandal Chap. 17. 9. And shall adjure the parties in the Name of God And shall adjure i. e. They shall provoke them or induce them to confession by using or interposing of the Name of God for thus adjuration is defined to us by Aquinas Secunda secundae qu. 9. in Axiom Adjurare nihil aliud est saith he nisi creaturam aliquam divini nominis out alterius cujuspiam sacrae rei interpositione ad agendum aliquid impellere the parties and those not such as give in the informations for that is done in private by the Elders but such of whose ill same intelligence is given unto the Consistory If so then would I fain demand of the contrivers with what reason they so much exclaim against the oath ex officio judicis used by our Prelates in their Chancellaries since they themselves allow it in their Consistories But thus of old as it is in Horace de Arte. Cacilio Plautoq dedit Romanus ademptum Virgiâ—o Varioque Conclus They are adjudged to be immutable And no marvail if as the brethren and their Beza think it be so essential to the Church that no Church can possibly subsist without it if so essential that we may as warrantably deny the written Word as these inventions But certainly what ever these think of it the founder of this plat-form thought not so when thus he was perswaded that the ordering of the Church of God for as much as concernes the form of it was leâ—t to the discretion of the Ministers For thus himself in his Epistle ad Neocomenâ—es dated 1544. viz. Substantiam disciplinae ecclesiae exprimit disertis verbis Scriptura forma autem ejus exercendae quoniam a Domino praescripta non est a ministris constitui debet pro aedificatione Thus he and how dâ—re they controll him Will they also dare to teach their Master Thus have I brought to end those Annotations which I counted most convenient for to expresse their meaning in some few passages of this new plat-form and to exemplifie their proceedings A larger Commentary on this Text had been unnecessary considering both of what I write and unto whom Only I
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
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
by their blind and infatuated people what would they have said or rather what would they not have said Questionlesse the least they could do were to take up the complaint of Vigilantins the Papists reckon him for an Heretick saying Quid necesse est tanto honore non solum honorare sed etiam adorare illud nescio quid quod in vasculo transferendo colis Presently without the Chappell is the Burse La Gallerie des Merchands a rank of shops in shew but not in substance like to those in the Exchange in London It reacheth from the Chappell unto the great hall of Parliament and is the common through-fare between them On the bottome of the staires and round about the severall houses consecrated to the execution of Justice are sundry shops of the same nature meanly furnished if compared with ours yet I perswade my self the richest of this kind in Paris I should now go and take a view of the Parliament house but I will step a little out of the way to see the Place Daulphin and the little Chastelet this last serveth now only as the Gaole or Common-prison belonging to the Court of the Provost of Merchants and it deserveth no other imployment It is seated at the end of the Bridge called Petit Pont and was built by Hugh Aubriot once Provost of this Town to represse the fury and insolencies of the Scholars whose rudenesse and misdemeanors can no wayes be better bridled Omnes eos qui nomen ipsum Academiae vel serio vel joco nominossent haeereticos pronunciavit saith Platina of Pope Paul the II. I dare say it of this wildernesse that whosoever will account it as an Academy is an Heretick to Learning and Civility The Place Daulphin is a beautifull heap of building situate nigh unto the new Bridge It was built at the encouragement of Henry IV. and entituled according to the title of his Son The houses are all of brick high built uniforme and indeed such as deserve and would exact a longer description were not the Parliament now ready to sit and my self sommoned to make my appearance CHAP. VIII The Parliament of France when begun of whom it consisted The dignity 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 over the affaires of the King This Court the main pillar of the Liberty of France La Tournelle and the Judges of it The five Chambers of Enquestes severally instituted and by whom In what cause it is decisive The forme of admitting Advocates into the Courts of Parliament The Chancellour of France and his Authority The two Courts of Requests and Masters of them The vain envy of the English Clergy against the Lawyers THe Court of Parliament was at the first instituted by Charles Martell Grandfather to Charlemaine at such time as he was Maire of the Palace unto the lasse and rechlesse Kings of France In the beginnings of the French Empire their Kings did justice to their people in person afterwards banishing themselves from all the affaires of State that burden was cast upon the shoulders of their Maiors an office much of a nature with the Pâ—aefecti praetorio in the Roman Empire When this office was bestowed upon the said Charles Martell he partly weary of the trouble partly intent about a businesse of an higher nature which was the estating the Crown in his own posterity but principally to endeer himself to the common people ordained this Court of Parliament anno 720. It consisted in the beginning of 12 Peers the Prelates and noble men of the best fashion together with some of the principallest of the Kings houshold Other Courts have been called the Parliaments with an addition of place as of Paris at Roven c. this only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Parliament It handled as well causes of estate as those of private persons For hither did the Ambassadors of neighbour Princes repaire to have their audience and dispatch and hither were the Articles agreed on in the nationall Synods of France sent to be confirmed and verified here did the subjects tender in their homages and Oaths of fidelity to the King and here were the appeals heard of all such as had complained against the Comites at that time the Governours and Judges in their severall Counties Being furnished thus with the prime and choycest Nobles of the Land it grew into great estimation abroad in the world insomuch that the Kings of Sicilie Cyprus Scotland Bohemia Portugall and Navarre have thought it no disparagement unto them to sit in it and which is more when Frederick II. had spent so much time in quarrels with Pope Innocent IV. he submitted himself and the rightnesse of his cause to be examined by this Noble Court of Parliament At the first institution of this Court it had no setled place of residence being sometimes kept at Tholoza sometimes at Aix la Chappelle sometimes in other places according as the Kings pleasure and ease of the people did require During its time of peregrination it was called Ambulatoire following for the most part the Kings Court as the lower sphaeres do the motion of the primum mobile but Philip le bel he began his reign anno 1286 being to take a journey into Flanders and to stay there a long space of time for the setling of his affaires in that Countrey took order that this Court of Parliament should stay behind at Paris where ever since it hath continued Now began it to be called Sedentaire or setled and also peua peu by little and little to lose much of its lustre For the chief Princes and Nobles of the Kings retinue not able to live out of the aire of the Court withdrew themselves from the troubles of it by which means at last it came to be appropriated to them of the Long robe as they term them both Bishops and Lawyers In the year 1463. the Prelates also were removed by the command of Lewis XI an utter enemy to the great ones of his Kingdome only the Bishop of Paris and Abbot of St. Denis being permitted their place in it since which time the Professors of the civill law have had all the sway in it Et cedunt arma togae as Tully The place in which this Sedentarie Court of Parliament is now kept is called the Palace being built by Philip le bel and intended to be his mansion or dwelling house He began it in the first year of his reign anno 1286. and afterwards assigned a part of it to his Judges of the Parliament it being not totally and absolutely quitted unto them till the dayes of King Lewis XII In this
the French Subjects are beholding to the English by whose good example they got the ease of a Sedentarie Court our Law courts also removing with the King till the year 1224. when by a Statute in the Magna Charta it was appointed to be fixt and a part of the Kings Palace in Westminster allotted for that purpose Within the verge of this Palais are contained the seven Chambers of the Parliament that called La grande Chambre five Chambers of Inquisition Des Enquestes and one other called La Tournelle There are moreover the Chambers des aides des accomptes de l' edict des monnoyes and one called La Chambre Royall of all which we shall have occasion to speak in their proper places these not concerning the common government of the people but only of the Kings revenues Of these seven Chambers of Parliament La grande Chambre is most famous and at the building of this house by Philip le bel was intended for the Kings bed It is no such beautifull piece as the French make it that of Roven being far beyond it although indeed it much excell the fairest room of Justice in all Westminster so that it standeth in a middle rank between them and almost in the same proportions as Virgil betwixt Homer and Ovid. Quantum Virgilius magno concessit Homero Tantum ego Virgilio Naso poeta meo It consisteth of seven Presidents 22 Counsellours the Kings Atturney and as many Advocates and Proctours as the Court will please to give admission to The Advocates have no setled studies within the Palais but at the Barre but the Procureurs or Attorneys have their severall pews in the great Hall which is without this Grande Chambre in such manner as I have before described at Roven a large building it is fair and high roofed not long since ruined by a casualty of fire and not yet fully finished The names of the Presidents are Mr. Verdun the first President or by way of excellencie Le President the second man of the Long robe in France 2. Mr. Sequer lately dead and likely to have his son succeed him as well in his Office as in his Lands 3. Mr. Leiger 4. Mr. Dosambe 5. Mr. Sevin 6. Mr. Baillure And 7. Mr. Meisme None of these neither Presidents nor Counsellors can go out of Paris when the Lawes are open without leave of the Court it was ordained so by Lewis XII anno 1499. and that with good judgement Sentences being given with greater awe and businesses managed with greater majesty when the Bench is full and it seemeth indeed that they carry with them great terror for the Duke of Biron a man of as uncontrouled spirit as any in France being called to answer for himself in this Court protested that those scarlet roabs did more amaze him then all the red cassocks of Spain At the left hand of this Grande Chambre or Golden Chambre as they call it is a Throne or seat Royall reserved for the King when he shall please to come and see the administration of Justice amongst his people at common times it is naked and plain but when the King is expected it is clothed with blew-purple Velvet femied with flowers de lys on each side of it are two formes or benches where the Peers of both habits both Ecclesiasticall and Secular use to sit and accompany the King But this is little to the ease or benefit of the Subject and as little availeable to try the integrity of the Judges his presence being alwayes foreknown and so accordingly they prepared Far better then is it in the Grande Signeur where the Divano or Councell of the Turkish affairs holden by the Bassas is hard by his bed-chamber which looketh into it the window which giveth him this entervenue is perpetually hidden with a curtain on the side of the partition which is towards the Divano so that the Bassas and other Judges cannot at any time assure themselves that the Emperor is not listning to their sentences an action in which nothing is Turkish or Mahometan The authority of this Court extendeth it self unto all causes within the jurisdiction of it not being meerly ecclesiasticall It is a law unto it self following no rule written in their sentences but judging according to equity and conscience In matters criminall of greater consequence the processe is here immediately examined without any preparation of it by the inferior Courts as at the arraignment of the Duke of Biron and divers times also in matters personall But their power is most eminent in disposing the affaires of State and of the Kingdome For such prerogatives have the French Kings given hereunto that they can neither denounce War nor conclude Peace without the consent a formall one at the least of this Chamber An alienation of the Lands of the Crown is not any whit valid unlesse confirmed by this Court neither are his Edicts in force till they are here verified nor his Letters Patents for the creating of a Peer till they are here allowed of Most of these I confesse are little more then matters of form the Kings power and pleasure being become boundlesse yet sufficient to shew the body of authority which they once had and the shadow of it which they still keep yet of late they have got into their disposing one priviledge belonging formerly to the Conventus ordinum or the Assembly of three Estates which is the conferring of the regency or protection of their King during his minority That the Assembly of the three Estates formerly had this priviledge is evident by their stories Thus we finde them to have made Queen Blanche Regent of the Realm during the nonage of her son St. Lewis 1227. That they declared Philip de Valois successor to the Crown in case that the widow of Charles le bel was not delivered of a son 1357. As also Philip of Burgogne during the Lunacy of Charles VI. 1394. with divers other On the other side we have a late example of the power of the Parliament of Paris in this very case For the same day that Henry IV. was slain by Ravilliao the Parliament met and after a short consultation declared Mary de Medices Mother to the King Regent in France for the government of the State during the minority of her son with all power and authority Such are the words of the Instrument Dated the 14 of May 1610. It cannot be said but that this Court deserveth not only this but also any other indulgence whereof any one member of the Common-wealth is capable So watchfull are they over the health of the State and so tenderly do they take the least danger threatned to the liberty of that Kingdom that they may not unjustly be called patres patriae In the year 1614. they seized upon a discourse written by Suarez a Jesuite Entituled Adversus Anglicanae sectae errores wherein the Popes temporall power over Kings and Princes is averred which they sentenced to be burnt in the Palace-yard by
this Church notwithstanding is likely now to su 〈…〉 their madnesse King Henry the 4. began the repairing of it and his Son Lewis hath since continued so that the quire is now quite finished and the workmen are in hand with the rest What should move the Hugonots to this execution I cannot say unlesse it were a hate which they bare unto the name and perhaps that not unlikely We read how the Romans having expelled their Kings banished also Collatinus their Consul a man in whom they could finde no fault but this that his surname was Tarquin tantum ob nomen genus regium saith Florus afterwards quam invisum regis nomen is very frequent in the stories of those times Amongst those which had been of the conspiracy against Julius Caesar there was one named Cinna a name so odious amongst the people that meeting by chance with one of Caesar's chief friends and hearing that his name was Cinna they presently murthered him in the place for which cause one Casca which was also the name of one of the Conspirators published a writing of his name and pedegree shewing therein that he neither was the traytor nor any kin to him The reason of his action Dion giveth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quod Cinua nominis causa occideretur With a like hate it may be were the French Protestants possessed against the name of the Crosse for they not only ruined this temple but beat down also all those little crossets betwixt Mont Martre and St. Denis though now King Lewis hath caused them to be re-edified And what troubles the French party here in England have raised because of that harmlesse ceremony of the crosse Notius est quam ut stilo egeat and therefore I omit it This Church is the seat of a Bishop who acknowledgeth the Archbishop of Sens for his Metropolitan The present Bishop is named Franciscus d' Aubespine said to be a worthy Scholar and a sound Polititian though he were never graduated further then the arts Of his revenue I could learn nothing but of his priviledge this namely that at the first entrance of every new Bishop into this Church he hath the liberty of setting free any of the prisoners of the Gaole though their crime be never so mortall For the original of this indulgence we are beholding to St. Aignan once Bishop here and who defended the City against Auila the Harme At his first entrance into the town saith the story after he was invested Bishop he besought Agrippinus the Governour that for his sake he would let loose all his prisoners ut omnes quos pro variis criminibus poenalis carcer detinebat inclusos in sui introitus gratiam redderet absolutos when the Governour had heard his request he denied it and presently a stone falleth upon his head no man knew from whence wounded and terrified with this the Governor granteth his desire recovereth her health and ever since the custome hath continued For the truth of this story I intend to be no Champion for I hold it ridiculous and savouring too much of the Legend but this I am certain of that every new Bishop maketh a very solemn and majestick entry into the City and at his entry releaseth a prisoner Let us follow the Bishop into his Church and there we shall finde him entertained with an high Masse the ceremonies whereof are very pretty and absurd To go over them all would require a volume I will therefore mention those only wherein they differ from other Masses and they are two the one fantastical the other heathenish For as soon as the priest at the altar hath read a certain lesson but what his voice was not audible enough to tell me out marcheth the Dean or in his absence the senior Canon out of the Church Before him two or three torches and a long crosse silvered over after him all those of the Church and lastly the lay people both men and women so that there is none left to keep possession but the Priest and the Altar and such strangers as come thither for curiosity they go out at one door and having first circuited the quire and afterwards the body of the Church they return to their places and the Priest proceedeth I have seen many a dumb shew in a play just like it This only is the difference that here we had no interpreter nor Chorus afforded us to shew us the mysterie of this silent gesticulation The other addition which I observed here at the Masse though I have since been told that it is ordinary at high Masses in the Cathedral Churches was the censing of the people which was performed in this manner Whilest the Priest was busie at the Altar there entred into the quire at a side door two boyes in their Surplices bearing wax-tapers in their hands and immediately after them the foresaid fellow with the Crosse in the rere there came two of the Priests in their copes and other stately vestiments between both a young lad with the incense-pot made full of holes to let out the sume which he swingeth on all sides of him with a chain to which it was fastned having thus marched through the Church and censed the people he ascendeth unto the Altar and there censeth the crosse the relicks the bread the wine the chalice the images and I know not what not A custome very much used amongst the Heathen Omnibus viris factae sunt statuse ad eas thus cerei saith Tully and Jane tibi primam thura merumque fero saith Ovid in his de Fastis So have we in Martiall Te primum piathura rogent and the like in divers other writers of antient At what time it crept into the Churches of the Christians I cannot tell Sure I am it was not used in the primitive times nor in the third age after our Saviour save only in their burials Sciant Sabaei saith Tertullian who at that time lived pluris cariores merces suas Christianis sepeliendis profligari quam fumigantibus Arnobius also in the 7 book adversus gentes disclaimeth the use of it and yet the Councell of Trent in the 22. Session defineth it to be as boldly ex Apostolica institutione traditione as if the Apostles themselves had told them so I know they had rather seem to derive it from the 30 chap. and 7. vers of Exodus and so Bishop Durand is of opinion in his Rationale divinorum but this will not help them Aaron there is commanded only to burn incense on the Altar and not to cense men and images crosses and relicks c. as the Papists do So that will they nill they they must be counted followers of the Heathen though I envie them not the honour of being Jewes From the history and view of the Church proceed we to that of the Town where nothing occurreth more memorable then the great siege laid before it by the English A siege of great
is layed upon them of obedience be the imployment never so dangerous And certainly this Nation doth most strictly obey the rules of their order of any whatsoever not excepting the Capouchins nor the Carthusians This I am witnesse to that whereas the Divinity Lecture is to end at the tilling of a Bell one of the Society in the Colledge of Clermont reading about the fall of the Angels ended his Lecture with these words Denique in quibuseunque for then was the warning given and he durst not so far trespasse upon his rule as to speak out his sentence But it is not the fate of these Jesuits to have great persons only and Universities only to oppose their fortunes they have also the most accomplisht malice that either the secular Priests or Fryers amongst whom they live can fasten upon them Some envie them for the greatnesse of their possessions some because of the excellency of their learning some hate them for their power some for the shrewdnesse of their brains all together making good that saying of Paterculus that Semper eminentis fortune comes est invidia True indeed it is that the Jesuits have in a manner deserved all this clamor and stomach by their own insolencies for they have not only drawn into their own hands all the principall affairs of Court and state but upon occasions cast all the scorn and contempt they can upon those of the other Orders The Janizaries of the Turke never more neglectfully speak of the Asapi then those doe of the rest of the Clergy A great crime in those men who desire to be accounted such excellent Masters of their own affections Neither is the affection born to them abroad greater then that at home amongst those I mean of the opposite party who being so often troubled and crumped by them have little cause to afford them a liking and much lesse a welcome Upon this reason they were not sent into England with the Queen although at first they were destinate to that service It was well known how odious that name was amongst us and what little countenance the Court or Countrey would have afforded them They therefore who had the Governance of that businesse sent hither in their places the Oratorians or the Fratres congregationis Oratorii a race of men never as yet offensive to the English further then the generall defence of the Romish cause and so lesse subject to envie and exception They were first instituted by Philip Nerius not long after the Jesuits and advanced and dignified by Pope Sixtus V. principally to this end that by their incessant Sermons to the people of the lives of Saints and other Ecclesiasticall Antiquities they might get a new reputation and so divert a little the torrent of the peoples affections from the Jesuites Baronius that great and excellent Historian and Bozius that deadly enemie to the Soveraignity of Princes were of the first foundation of this Order I have now done with Orleans and the Jesuits and must prepare for my return to Paris Which journey I begun the 23 of July and ended the day following We went back the same way that we came though we were not so fortunate as to enjoy the same company we came in for in stead of the good and acceptable society of one of the French Nobles some Gentlemen of Germany and two Fryers of the Order of St. Austin we had the perpetuall vexation of four tradesmen of Paris two filles de joye and an old woman the Artizans so slovenly attired and greasie in their apparell that a most modest apprehension could have conceived no better of them then that they had been newly raked out of the scullery One of them by an Inkehorne that hung at his girdle would have made us believe that he had been a Notarie but by the thread of his discourse we found out that he was a Sumner so full of ribaldrie was it and so rankly did it favour of the French bawdie-courts The rest of them talked according to their skill concerning the price of commodities and who was the most likely man of all the City to be made one of the next years Eschevins Of the two wenches one so extreamly impudent that even any immodest ear would have abhorred her language and of such a shamelesse deportment that her very behaviour would have frighted lust out of the most incontinent man living Since I first knew mankinde and the world I never observed so much impudence in the generall as I did then in her particular and I hope shall never be so miserable as to suffer two dayes more the torment and hell of her conversation In a word she was a wench born to shame all the Fryers with whom she had traficked for she would not be casta and could not be cauta and so I leave her a creature extreamly bold because extreamly faulty And yet having no good property to redeem both these and other unlovely qualities but as Sir Philip Sydney said of the Strumpet Baccha in the Arcadia a little counterfeit beauty disgraced with wandring eyes and unwayed speeches The other of the younger females for as yet I am doubtfull whether I may call any of them women was of the same profession also but not half so rampant as her companion Haec habitu casto cum non sit casta videtur as Ausonius giveth it one of the two wanton sisters By her carriage a charitable stranger would have thought her honest and to that favourable opinion had my self been inclinable if a French Monsieur had not given me her character at Orleans besides there was an odd twinkling of her eye which spoyled the composednesse of her countenance otherwise she might have passed for currant So that I may safely say of her in respect of her fellow Harlot what Tacitus doth of Pompey in reference to Caesar viz. Secretior Pompeius Caesare non melior They were both equally guilty of the sin though this last had the more cunning to dissemble it and avoid the infamie and censure due unto it And so I come to the old woman which was the last of our goodly companions A woman so old that I am not at this day fully resolved whether she were ever young or no. 'T was well I had read the Scriptures otherwise I might have been very prone to have thought her one of the first pieces of the creation and that by some mischance or other she had escaped the flood her face was for all the world like unto that of Sibylla Erythraea in an old print or that of Solomons two harlots in the painted cloth you could not at the least but have imagined her one of the Relicks of the first age after the building of Babel for her very complexion was a confusion more dreadfull then that of languages As yet I am uncertain whether the Poem of our arch-poet Spencer entituled The Ruines of time was not purposely intended on her sure I am it is
Esau said in his heart The days of mourning for my father are at band then will I slay my brother Jacob. The event of which his bloudy resolution was that Jacob was â—ain to relinquish all that he had and flie unto his Uncle This last part of the story expresseth very much of the present estate of the French Church The Papists hated the Protestants to see them thrive and increase so much amongst them This hatred moved them to a war by which they hoped to root them out altogether and this war compelled the Protestants to abandon their good Towns their strong holds and all their possessions and to flie to their friends wheresoever they could finde them And indeed the present estate of the Protestants is not much better then that of Jacob in Mesopotâ—â—ia nor much different The blessing which they expect lyeth more in the seed then the harvest For their strength it consisteth principally in their prayers to God and secondly in their obedience to their Kings Within these two fortresses if they can keep themselves they need fear none ill because they shall deserve none The only outward strengths they have left them are the two Towns of Montaban and Rochell the one deemed invincible the other threatned a speedy destruction The Duke of Espernon at my being there lay round about it and it was said that the Town was in very bad terms all the neighbouring Towns to whose opposition they much trusted having yeelded at the first fight of the Canon Rochell it is thought cannot be forced by assault nor compelled by a famine Some Protestants are glad of and hope to see the French Church restored to its former powerfulnesse by the resistance of that Town meerly I rather think that the perverse and stubborn condition of it will at last drive the young King into a fury and incite him to revenge their contradiction on their innocent friends now disarmed and disabled Then will they see at last the issue of their own peremptory resolutions and begin to believe that the Heathen Historian was of the two the better Christian when he gave us this note Non turpe est ab eo vinci quem vincere esset nefas neque 〈…〉 lli â—inhoneste etiam submitti quem fortuna super omnes exâ—ulisset This weaknesse and misery which hath now befallen the Protestants was anâ— effect I confesse of the ill-will which the other party bare them but that they bare them ill will was a fruit of their own graffing In this circumstance they were nothing like Jacob who in the hatred which his brother Esau had to him was simply passive they being active also in the birth of it And indeed that lamentable and bloudy war which sell upon them they not only endevoured not to avoid but invited during the reign of Henry IV. who would not see it and the troublesome minority of Lewis XIII who could not molest them they had made themselves masters of 99. Towns well fortifyed and enabled for a 〈◊〉 a strength too great for any one faction to keep together under a King which desires to be himself and rule his people In the opinion of this their potency they call Assemblies Parliaments as it were when and as often as they pleased There they consulted of the common affairs of Religion made new Laws of government removed and rechanged their generall officers the Kings leave all this while never so much as formally demanded Had they only been guilty of too much power that crime alone had been sufficient to have raised a war against them it not standing with the safety and honour of a King not to be the absolute commander of his own Subjects But in this their licentious calling of Assemblies they abused their power into a neglect and not dissolving them at his Majesties commandment they increased their neglect into into a disobedience The Assembly which principally occasioned the war and their ruine was that of Rochell called by the Protestants presently upon the Kings journey into Bearn This generall meeting the King prohibited by his especiall Edicts declaring all them to be guilty of treason which notwithstanding they would not â—earken to but very undutifully went on in their purposes It was said by a Gentleman of their party and one that had been imployed in many of their affairs That the fiery zeal of some who had the guiding of their consciences had thrust them into those desperate courses and I believe him Tantum relligio potuit suâ—dere malorum Being assembled they sent the King a Remonstrance of their grievances to which the Duke Lesdiguiers in a Letter to them written gave them a very fair and plausible answer wherein also he intreateth them to obey the Kings Edict and break up the Assembly Upon the receipt of this Letter those of the Assembly published a Declaration wherein they verified their meeting to be lawfull and their purpose not to dismisse themselves till their desires were granted This affront done to the King made him gather together his Forces yet at the Duke of Lesdiguiers request he allowed them 24 dayes of respite before his Armies should march towards them he offered them also very fair and reasonable conditions such also as their Deputies had solicited but far better then those which they were glad to accept when all their Towns were taken from them Profecto ineluct abilis fatorum vis cujus fortunam mutare constituit ejus corrumpit consilia It held very rightly in this people who turned a deaf eare to all good advice and were resolved it seemeth Not to hear the voice of the Charmer charmed he never so sweetly In their Assemblie therefore they make Lawes and Orders to regulate their disobedience as That no peace should be made without the consent of the generall Convocation about paying of Souldiers wages for the detaining of the Revenues of the King and Clergy and the like They also there divided France into seven circles or parts assigning over every circle severall Generals and Lieutenants and prescribed Orders how those Generals should proceed in the wars Thus we see the Kings Army leavied upon no slight ground his Regall authority was neglected his especiall Edicts violated his gracious profers slighted and his Revenues forbidden him and his 〈…〉 m divided before his face and allotted unto officers not of his own election Had the prosecution of his action been as fair as the cause was just and legall the Protestants had only deserved the infamy but hinc illae lachrymae The King so behaved himself in it that he suffered the sword to walk at randome as if his main design had been not to correct his people but to ruine them I will instance onely in that tyrannicall slaughter which he permitted at the taking of Nigrepâ—â—isse a Town of Quereu wherein indeed the Souldiers shewed the very rigour of severity which either a barbarous victor could inflict or a vanquished people suffer Nec 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 genus
Lawes refused to open it himself a private person seised the Keyes Patefacto aerario legem utilitati cedere coegit and over-ruled the Law by the advancement of the Weal publick In like manner which is I think the most and best that can be said in this behalf to promote the reformation of Religion many good men made suit to be supplyed out of the common treasury to be admitted to the preaching of the word according to the ordinary course of ordination which when it was denied them by the Questors or Prelates of those dayes they chose rather to receive it at the hands of private and inferior Priests then that the Church should be unfurnished This may be said for them which in excuse of those of Guernzey can never be alleadged whose continuall recourse unto these private keyes is done upon no other reason then a dislike of that high calling to which your Lordship is advanced which therefore you are bound if not to punish in them yet to rectifie Two other reasons yet there are which may invite your Lordship to this undertaking though not so weighty or of that importance as the former The one that the remainders of that party here at home may not be hardned in their obstinacy the other that those of Jarsey be not discouraged in their submission and conformity I have already shewn unto your Lordship that the brethren here in England never made head against the Church till the permission of plat-forme in these Islands After which with what violence they did assaile the hierarchy what clamorus they continually raised against the Prelates what superstitions and impieties they imputed to our Liturgy notius est quam ut stylo egeat is too wel known to be related If so then questionless it cannot but confirme them in their new devices to see them still permitted to this Isle Nor can they think themselves but wronged that still they are contrould and censured for the maintenance of that discipline which is by Soveraign authority allowed and licensed though in other places yet in the same dominions And on the other side your Lordship may conceive how just a cause of discontent and of repining it may be to those of Jarsey when they shall dayly hear it thundred from the Coasts of France that faintly they have sold themselves to bondage whereas the faithfull zelots in the Isle of Guernzey doe still preserve themselves in liberty Vel neâ—trum flammis ure velure duos as the Lover in Ausonius From my first rank of motives here presented to your Lordship which I may most properly call motives necessary and in respect unto the cause I come next to those of an other quality which I call motives of conveniency and in relation to the time For questionlesse the time is at this present more convenient for the accomplishment of this work then ever we may hope to see hereafter whether we consider it in reference unto our Kingdome or to the Discipline it self or to the Governour or to the people of both sorts the Clergy and the Magistrates For first there is at this instant an established peace between it and France concluded on while we were in these Islands and published immediately on our coming home which Realm only carryeth a covetous and watchfull eye upon those Islands Were it between us as it lately was nothing but wars and depredations â—he alteration then perhaps might be unsafe it being alwayes dangerous to discontent or charge that Nation upon whose loyalty we must rely Nor can I tell unto what desperate and undutifull practises the furious heat of some few Preachers may possibly excite a multitude when come the worst that can there is an enemy at hand that will subscribe to any articles But now t is peace and how long peace will hold is not easie to determine depending as it doth upon the will and pleasure of another If in the second place we look upon the Discipline it self we shall find it well prepared and ready for a change For whereas it is ordered in their Canons if I so may call them that the errours of the Consistory shall be corrected by the Colloquie those of the Colloquie by the Synod by the departure of Jarsey from them they have no way of further Synods and therefore no redresse of grivances So then either the sentence of the Colloquie must be unalterable which is expresly contrary to the platforme or else there must be granted some other jurisdiction to have power above them whereby their censures may be moderated The first of these would estate their Colloquies in a tyranny more prevalent and binding then the chair of Rome so much complained of The other openeth a way for the entrance of Episcopall authority for the admission of Appeals for the directions of their proceedings Add hereunto that at this time they have a noble Governour no friend I am assured to any of that party and such a one which gladly would resign those rights of old belonging to the Deanry when ever it shall please his Majesty to restore that dignity unto the Island A Peer so perfectly known unto your Lordship and to all the Kingdom that I need not say more of him then that which once Velleius did of Junius Blaesus Vir nescias an utilior Castris vel melior toga It were a matter of no ordinary study to determine whether he be more able in the Campe or Senate But in alterations such as these the fancy and affection of the people is principally to be attended as those whom such mutations most properly concern wherein I find all things made ready to your Lordships hand if you vouchsafe to set it forwards The Magistrates and more understanding people of the Isle offended with the severe and unsociable carriage of the Consistories especially of late since the unlimited Empire of the Colloquie hath made that government unsufferable Before they had enough to keep themselves from censure and their houses from the diligence of Consistoriall spies when yet there was an higher Court wherein there was some hope of remedy But there being none to appeal from in the Consistory but those which wil condemn them in the Colloquie they undergo the yoak with much clamour but with more stomach A stomach which estsoones they spare not to disgorge upon them as often viz. as they come within the compasse of their Courts either in way of punishment or censure On the other side the Ministers exclaime against the Magistrates as presuming too far above their latchet pretending that by them their Discipline hath been infringed their priviledges violated and their Ministery interrupted Matters that have not been repined at only in a corner but publickly presented as on the Theater and complained of to their Governours For at my Lord of Danbies being there they articled against the Magistrates for invading the Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction as viz. that they take upon them to dissolve contracts made in the presence
of the Minister and with an invocation of the name of God which in judgment of the Discipline Chap. 12. 1. are undissoluble That they had intermedled with the administration of holy Baptisme a duty meerly spirituall That they had seised upon the treasures of the Church in some places and disposed of them at their pleasure That they had caused the Ministers to be imprisoned and there detained them for a long time to their great discomfort and the hazard of their flooks And lastly that they had deprived them of the liberty of Natives in denying them their suffrages for the election of the Curates Other grievances there were but these the principall True it is that upon due examination of particulars it did appear that the Magistrates had more reason in their actions then the Ministers in their complaints But not having been accustomed to the like usage they do esteem it a thraldome so incompetent and unsupportable that I perswade my self they sooner would resolve to yeeld to any course then have their doings croft by that tribunall Sure I am when they found so small redresse for these as they conceived great oppressions they made petition to his Lordship to bethink himself on some other way for their relief and laboured to procure me to be their Mediator to his Lordship in it These circumstances also happily concurring portend in my opinion as great an alteration in this state Ecclesiasticall as the conjunction of some powerfull Planets doth sometimes upon the temporall And if your Lordship should be wanting now unto present opportunity it may be such a confluence of preparatives and helps may hardly be met withall hereafter Presuming therefore that your Lordship will not neglect the advantage offered I should next proceed unto those means which might best be used in the effecting of this work but what were this but to read a lecture of the wars to Hannibal to play a part on the Stage in the sight of Roscius For whether your Lordship shall think most fit to treat first of it with my Lord the Governour that he may make plain the way before you and facilitate the businesse or whether it may be thought most proper that some negotiate with the people and the Jurates to commence a suit in this behalf unto the Councell or whether that the Ministers themselves in this conjuncture of time oppressed as they conceive it by the Civill Magistrates encroaching on them may not with great facility be perswaded to sollicite for a change who can so well determine as your Lordship whom long experience and naturall abilities have made perfect in these arts Only let me beseech your Lordships leave to enjoy mine own folly and for a while to act my part to read my lecture though Hannibal and Roscius be in presence At such time as by the Ministers his Lordship was petitioned to resolve upon some course for their relief they made request to me to sollicite for them their desires to be a remembrancer for them to his Lordship To which I answered that I could direct them in a way which should for ever free them from that yoak which so much they feared and if they would vouchsafe to see my Chamber I would there impart it A motion not made unto the wals or lost in the proposall for down unto my Lodging they descended and there we joyned our selves in Councell The Petitioners were five in number viz. De la March Millet Perchard Picote and De la Place my self alone and not provided save in Wine and Sider for their entertainment But as Lactantius in an equall case Necesse est ut me causae bonitas facâ—at eloquentem presuming on the goodnesse of my cause but more upon their ignorance I was resolved to bid them battail Immediately upon the opening of the Counsell I was importuned my opinion whereto I freely made them answer the only course whereby they might subsist entire and free from bondage was to address themselves to his Majesty for the restitution of the Dean But this say they is Physick worse then the disease and thereupon the battails began to joyn with greater violence with violence it was and therefore as we are instructed in Philosophy of no long continuance for presently upon the first encounter their ranks were broken and their forces disunited Picote for his part protested that he had alwayes been an enemy to Lay Elders and that he could not see by what authority of Scripture they were permitted in the Churches Perchard was well enough content that the dispensing of the poor mans box might be committed unto others and that the Deacons as being a degree or step unto the Ministery might be employed about the treasures of salvation Millet stood silent all the while and as I think reserved himself to try the fortune of another day De la March and De la Place this De la Place is he who abandoned Jarsey upon his failing of the Deanship what they could not make good by reason supplied by obstinacy In my life I never knew men more willing to betray a cause or lesse able to maintain it My inference hereupon is this that if his Majesty should signifie unto them that it is his royall pleasure to admit a Dean among them or else repair unto the Court to give a reason of their refusall they sooner would forsake and quit their cause then either be resolved to agree about it or venture to defend it If I were sure to make no use of Logick till these men shal run the hazard of a disputation I would presently go and burn my Aristotle To draw unto an end for I have been too tedious to your Lordship Before I pluck off my disguise and leave the stage whereon I act I could me thinks add somewhat here about the choicing of a man most fit for this authority In which particular as I stand well affected to Perchard for a moderate and quiet man so hath he also a good repute in all the Island both for his vein of Preaching his liberall hospitality and plausible demeanor Or if your Lordship think a forainer more fit there being now the Parish of St. Saviours void and so full room for that induction I durst propose to you Olivier of Jarsey a man which I perswade my self I may say safely not inferiour unto any of both Islands in point of Scholarship and well affected to the English form of Government Add to this that already he is acquainted with the nature of the place as having executed the office of the Commissary or Subdean ever since the introduction of the charge and therefore not to seek in the managing and cariage of his jurisdiction But good God! what follies do we dayly run into when we conceive our selves to be disguised and that our actions are not noted It is therefore high time for me to unmaske my self and humbly crave your Lordships pardon that under any habit I should take upon me to