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A67908 The history of the troubles and tryal of the Most Reverend Father in God and blessed martyr, William Laud, Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury. vol. 1 wrote by himself during his imprisonment in the Tower ; to which is prefixed the diary of his own life, faithfully and entirely published from the original copy ; and subjoined, a supplement to the preceding history, the Arch-Bishop's last will, his large answer to the Lord Say's speech concerning liturgies, his annual accounts of his province delivered to the king, and some other things relating to the history. Laud, William, 1573-1645.; Wharton, Henry, 1664-1695.; Prynne, William, 1600-1669. Rome's masterpiece. 1695 (1695) Wing L586; Wing H2188; ESTC R354 691,871 692

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which we differ from them And Mr. Wakerly confesses that the Words as alter'd are That they are Persecuted for their Religion and their Religion is the Protestant Religion and so is ours And therefore I could have no intention to make the Religions different but the Opinions under the same Religion For Mr Wakerly he is a Dutchman born and how far the Testimony of an Alien may be of force by the Law I know not And a bitter Enemy to me he hath ever shewed himself since I complained to the King and the Lords that a Stranger born and bred should be so near a Secretary of State and all his Papers and Cyphers as he was known to be to Mr. Secretary Coke A thing which few States would indure And how far the Testimony of such a Canker'd Enemy should be admitted let the World judge Admitted he was 2. The Second Witness was Mr 〈◊〉 He acknowledges my improvement of the Collection and my great readiness therein which doubtless I should not have shewed had I accounted them of another Religion He says there was no Alteration but in that Clause and that implies a manifest difference But that is but in his Judgment in which I have already shewed that Wakerly is mistaken and so is he Beside he comes here as a Witness of the Fact not as a Judge of my Intentions or Thoughts He adds That if he remember well the Alteration was drawn by me But if he do not remember well what then Surely here 's no Evidence to be grounded upon Ifs. Here upon the point of Antichrist Mr. Nicolas stiled me as before and was furious till he foamed again but I saw a necessity of Patience Mr. Brown also in his Summary Ch followed this Business close But I gave it the same Answer The Fifth Charge and the last under this Article was the calling in of a Book An. 1637. shewing the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church in the Palatinat but called in only because against Arminianism The single Witness Michael Sparks He says this Book was called in but he knows not by whom nor mentions he for what But he says The Pursevants which searched for it were mine He means such as belonged to the High-Commission for other than such I had none And there was cause enough for calling in the Book without thinking of Arminianism But what is the Reason why here 's nothing urged against me about Abrogating the Immunities and Priviledges of the French and Dutch Churches which fill the Body of this Article Why I conceive there may be two Reasons of it One because there was taken by Mr. Pryn among other Papers for my Defence a Letter under Queen Elizabeth's own Hand to the Lord Pawlet Marquess of Winchester then Lord Treasurer in which she expresses her willingness that those Strangers distressed in and for point of Conscience should have Succour and free Entertainment but should conform themselves to the English Liturgy and have that Translated into their own Language And they knew I would call to have this Letter produced proved and read And had this Letter been stood unto they had never been able to do the Church of England half the harm they have since done The other was because they found by their own search against me that all which I did concerning those Churches was with this Moderation that all those of their several Congregations in London Canterbury Sandwich Norwich or elsewhere which were of the second Descent and born in England should repair to their several Parish Churches and Conform themselves to the Doctrine Discipline and Liturgy of the Church of England and not live continually in an open Separation as if they were an Israel in AEgypt to the great distraction of the Natives of this Kingdom and the assisting of that Schism which is now broke forth And as this was with great Moderation so was it with the joint Approbation of his Majesty and the Lords of his Council upon the Reasons openly given and debated And all this before I proceeded to do any thing As appears apud Acta Then they went to the Thirteenth Original Article which here follows He hath Trayterously and Wickedly endeavoured to reconcile the Church of England with the Church of Rome and for the effecting thereof hath Consorted and Confederated with divers Popish Priests and Jesuits and hath kept secret Intelligence with the Pope of Rome and by himself his Agents or Instruments Treated with such as have from thence received Authority and Instruction He hath permitted and countenanced a Popish Hierarchy or Ecclesiastical Government to be Established in this Kingdom By all which Trayterous and Malicious Practices this Church and Kingdom have been exceedingly indangered and like to fall under the Tyranny of the Roman See The Seventh Additional Article That the said Arch-Bishop at several times within these Ten Years last past at Westminster and elsewhere within this Realm contrary to the known Laws of this Land hath endeavoured to advance Popery and Superstition within the Realm And for that End and Purpose hath wittingly and willingly received harboured and relieved divers Popish Priests and Jesuits namely one called Sancta Clara alias Damport a dangerous Person and Franciscan Friar who having written a Popish and Seditious Book Intituled Deus Natura Gratia wherein the Thirty nine Articles of the Church of England established by Act of Parliament were much Traduced and Scandalized the said Arch-Bishop had divers Conferences with him while he was in writing the said Book and did also provide Maintenance and Entertainment for one Monsieur S. Giles a Popish Priest at Oxford knowing him to be a Popish Priest The First Charge they say was to be laid as a Foundation and it was That I was generally reputed a Papist in Heart both in Oxford and since I came thence 1. The first Witness for this was Dr. Featly He says There was such an Opinion of me Thirty Years since there But he says he never heard any Popish Opinion maintained by me So here 's nothing of Knowledge And if I should say that above Thirty Years ago there was an Opinion that Dr. Featly then in Oxford was a Puritan this could make no Proof against him nor can his saying that I was reputed a Papist make any Proof against me He says farther That one Mr. Russel who had been bred in S. John's College told him in Paris That I maintained some Catholick Opinions First Mr. Nicolas would have it that this Mr. Russel was my Scholar But that the whole College can witness it is not so nor had he ever any relation to me in the least Degree After his Father's Death he left the College and went beyond Sea where the Weak Man for such he was lost his Religion Secondly Dr. Featly says expresly that Mr. Russel said I was no Papist which for the Countenance of his own Change he would never have said had he thought me one Thirdly if he did say
apply this term unto are the Brownists as they call them by another Name and they know their Tenents The truth is they differ with us in no Fundamental Point of Doctrine or saving Truth I know Here then my Lord is 〈◊〉 to say that all that he hath hitherto said is so far from making him the greatest Separatist in England that it cannot argue him to be any at all For my part I would to God it were so But let 's examine whether it be so or not First then this I humbly conceive is certain That he whoever he be that will not Communicate in Publick Prayers with a National Church which serves God as she ought is a Separatist But the Church of England as it stands established by Law serves God as she ought Therefore my Lord by his general absenting himself from her Communion in Prayers is a Separatist And this is by his own confession For he says a little before and that expresly that this is a Separation which every Man must make that will keep himself pure from other Mens Sins And I cannot doubt but his Lordship hath made that which he says he must make All that can be said for my Lord herein is this First That my Lord Charges the Church of England with Corruptions in the Worship of God and such Corruptions as he must Separate from her But is it sufficient for a Separation for a particular Man barely to say there are such Corruptions in the Liturgy when he doth neither prove them to be such nor so much as name them what they are Surely no. And I think these Gnats which his Lordship strains at may be swallowed without any Offence to God or Man So far are they from being a just Cause of Separation Therefore for all this my Lord is a Separatist Yea but my Lord charges upon the Church of England that she injoyns her Liturgy upon all Men by a certain Number of Men usurping Authority to themselves and imposing this Injunction under the name of the Church I have made answer already to this Power of the Church to compose a set Form for publick Service and I hope made it manifest that this Authority is not usurped And then that can be no just Cause of a Separation Nay I must doubt whether if such Authority were usurped by some Church-Men in any National Church the injoyning of the Service after it is made supposing always that it contain no Idolatry or Fundamental Error be for the Injunction alone a sufficient Warrant to my Lord or any other to Separate Therefore my Lord 's forsaking the publick Service of the Church upon no better Grounds than these makes him a Separatist by his own Confession without any Man calling him so As for his Lordship's being the greatest Separatist in England I have at the beginning of this Tract clearly related to the uttermost of my Memory what and upon what occasion I spake of his Lordship in this kind But whether I said it or not my Lord for ought I see will hardly escape being so For he is the greatest Separatist from the Church that absents himself with most will and least cause And this if I mistake not is my Lord's Case for he separates with most will that says Men must and ought to Separate And upon least Cause because as yet he hath Named none at all but Corruptions in general which any Man may say and the Injunction of a set Form which is no cause Therefore for ought I yet see it may truly be said of his Lordship that he is the greatest Separatist in England Especially if you add to this how busie and active his Lordship is and for many Years hath been to promote this Cause of Separation And I have some very good grounds to think that his Lordship hath been and is the great Cause and enlarger of all the Separation that now is in Church Affairs And of all the Disobedience thereby bred or cherished against Soveraign Power Next my Lord appeals to my Lords the Bishops and tells them that they know that they whom they usually apply this Name Separatist unto are the Brownists as they call them by another Name I know not all things which the rest of my Learned Brethren the Bishops know Yet I think both they and I know this that the Name Separatist is a common Name to all Hereticks or Schismaticks that separate for their Opinions sakes either from the Catholick or from any particular Orthodox Church And if my Lord himself who it seems is well acquainted with them or any of my Lords the Bishops do know that this Name is usually applyed to the Brownists be it so That I am sure is not material unless it be for that which my Lord closes this passage withal Namely that my Lords the Bishops know the Tenents of the Brownists and that the truth is they differ from us in no Fundamental Point of Doctrine or Saving Truth that his Lordship knows I doubt not but my Lords the Bishops know the Tenents of the Brownists so far forth at least as they be Tenents and not varied from and so far as they are their General Tenents to which all or most of them agree And so far as they are plain and univocal Tenents and not such as shall equivocate with the very Faith it self But such Tenents of the Brownists as these are it may be all my Lords the Bishops know not Now if the Truth be as my Lord says it is for ought he knows that the Brownists differ from us in no Fundamental Point of Doctrine or saving Truth Then out of all doubt Majus peccatum habent their Sin and my Lord 's too is the greater that they will so Uncharitably and with so great Heat and setled Violence and to the great scandal of Religion first separate themselves from and now labour utterly to overthrow that Church which by my Lord 's own Confession here differs not from them in any Fundamental Point of Doctrine or saving Truth For sure if they differ not from us we differ not from them But this is only Argumentum ad Hominem and is sufficient to convince this Lord I think in his own way But I doubt the Truth is quite another thing Namely that the Church of England is very Orthodox and that the Brownists or Separatists call them as you will do Separate upon false and unchristian Opinions And that besides Matters of Opinion and breach of Charity they do differ from us in some Fundamental Points of Doctrine and saving Truth My Lord a little before tells us of Corruptions in the Liturgy of the Church but names none And should I charge the Brownists with difference from the Church in Fundamental Points of Doctrine and yet name none I should run into the same fault for which I there taxed my Lord I shall therefore give some Instances of some of their Opinions and then leave the indifferent Reader to judge whether
he hath made stay of that they may be reduced into Years for the good of that See which abundantly needs it My Lord Bishop of Winchester Certifies that there is all Peace and Order in his Diocess and that himself and his Clergy have duly Obeyed your Majesty's Instructions But he Informs that in the Parish of Avington in Hampshire one Vnguyon an Esquire is Presented for a new Recusant as also Three others whereof Two are in Southwark These Three Bishops for their several Diocesses respectively make return that all Obedience is yielded to every of your Majesty's Instructions The late Bishop of St Davids now of Hereford hath in his time of Residence taken a great deal of pains in that See and hath caused Two to be questioned in the High Commission and Suspended one Roberts a Lecturer for Inconformity Three or four others which were Suspended he hath released upon hope given of their Obedience to the Church and hath absolutely deprived Two for their exceeding Scandalous Life He complains much and surely with cause enough that there are few Ministers in those poor and remote places that are able to Preach and Instruct the People My Lord the Bishop informs that that County is very full of Impropriations which makes the Ministers poor and their Poverty makes them fall upon Popular and Factious courses I doubt this is too true but it is a Mischief hard to cure in this Kingdom yet I have taken all the care I can and shall continue so to do From the rest of the Bishops of my Province I have received no Certificat this Year viz. Covent and Litchfield Worcester Bangor So I humbly submit this my Certificat W. CANT The Arch-Bishop's Accounts of his Province to the King for the Year 1636. May it please your Sacred Majesty ACcording to your Royal Commands expressed in your late Instructions for the good of the Church I do here most humbly present my Yearly Account for my Diocess and Province of Canterbury for this last Year ending at Christmass 1636. And First for my own Diocess I have every Year acquainted your Majesty and so must do now that there are still about Ashford and Egerton divers Brownists and other Separatists But they are so very mean and poor People that we know not what to do with them They are said to be the Disciples of one Turner and Fennar who were long since apprehended and imprisoned by Order of your Majesty's High Commission Court But how this part came to be so infected with such a Humour of Separation I know not unless it were by too much connivence at their first beginning Neither do I see any Remedy like to be unless some of their chief Seducers be driven to Abjure the Kingdom which must be 〈◊〉 by the Judges at the Common Law but is not in our power I have received Information from my Officers that the Walloons and other Strangers in my Diocess especially at Canterbury do come orderly to their Parish Churches and there receive the Sacraments and Marry c. according to my Injunctions with that limitation which your Majesty allowed There have been heretofore many in Canterbury that were not conformable to Church Discipline and would not kneel at the Communion but they are all now very Conformable as I hear expresly by my Officers and that there is no falling away of any to Recusancy There hath been a Custom that some Ministers thereabouts have under divers pretences lived for the most part at Canterbury and gone seldom to their Benefices which hath given a double Scandal both by their absence from their several Cures and by keeping too much Company and that not in the best manner I have seen this remedied in all save only one Man and if he do not presently Conform I have taken order for his Suspension In the Diocess of London I find that my Lord the Bishop there now by your Majesty's Grace and Favour Lord High Treasurer of England hath very carefully observed those Instructions which belong to his own Person And for the Diocess his Lordship Informs me of three great Misdemeanours The one committed by Dr Cornelius Burges who in a Latin Sermon before the Clergy of London uttered divers insolent passages against the Bishops and Government of the Church and refused to give his Lordship a Copy of the Sermon so there was a necessity of calling him into the High Commission Court which is done The second Misdemeanour is of one Mr Wharton a Minister in Essex who in a Sermon at Chelmesford uttered many unfit and some scurrilous things But for this he hath been Convented and received a Canonical Admonition And upon his sorrow and submission any farther Censure is forborn The third Misdemeanour which my Lord complains of is the late spreading and dispersing of some Factious and Malicious Pamphlets against the Bishops and Government of the Church of England And my Lord farther Certifies that he hath reasonable ground to perswade him that those Libellous Pamphlets have been Contrived or Abetted and dispersed by some of the Clergy of his Diocess and therefore desires me to use the Authority of the High Commission for the further discovery of this Notorious practice to prevent the Mischiefs which will otherwise ensue upon the Government of the Church This God willing I shall see performed But if the High Commission shall not have Power enough because one of those Libels contains Seditious Matter in it and that which is very little 〈◊〉 of Treason if any thing at all then I humbly crave leave to add this to my Lord Treasurer's Motion and humbly to desire that your Majesty will call it into a higher Court if you find Cause since I see no likelyhood but that these Troubles in the Church if they be permitted will break out into some Sedition in the Common-wealth My Visitation is yet depending for this Diocess and by reason of the Sickness I could not with safety hold it nor think it fit to gather so much People together but God willing I shall perform that Duty so soon as conveniently I may and then Certifie your Majesty at the next return what shall come under mine own view In this Diocess I find by my Lord's Report from his Officers that there are divers Recusants in several parts of the Country and that some of them have been seduced away from the Church of England within these two or three Years For all things else I receive no complaint thence save only of three or four Ministers that are negligent in Catechising and observe it not at all or but in the Lent only But I shall call upon the Bishop to see this remedied and to be as vigilant as he can against any farther increase of Recusants From Bath and Wells I have received a very good and happy Certificat both that all your Majesty's Instructions have been exactly performed throughout that whole Diocess And
ready made That which was mine is here confessed to be but Interlinings and Marginals and Corrections and at most some Additions And they would be found a very small Some were the Original Book seen And yet it must be Evident that no Hand but mine did this by my Magisterial way of Prescribing in an Interlining or a Marginal Excellent Evidence Secondly they have another great Evidence of this But because that is so nervous and strong I will be bold to reduce it to some Form that it may appear the clearer though it be against my self There was they say a new Copy of these Canons all written with S. Andrews own Hand and according to the former Castigations and Directions sent to have the King's Warrant to it which was obtained Therefore these Interlinings and Marginals c. were done by no other than Canterbury Most Excellent Evidence and clear as Mid-Night The plain Truth is contrary to all this Evidence For by the same Command of His Majesty the Reverend Bishop of London was joyned with me in all the view and Consideration which I had either upon the Book of Canons or upon the Service-Book after So it is utterly untrue that these Interlinings or Marginals or Corrections or call them what you will were done by no other than Canterbury For my Lord of London's both Head and Hand were as deep in them as mine And this I avow for well known Truth both to the King and those Scottish Bishops which were then imployed and this notwithstanding all the Evidences of a Magisterial way and a New Copy And yet this General Charge pursues me yet farther and says The Kings Warrant was obtained as is said to these Canons but with an Addition of some other Canons and a Page of New Corrections according to which the Book of Canons thus Composed was Published in Print The inspection of the Books Instructions and his Letters of Joy for the success of the Work and of other Letters from the Prelate of London and the Lord Sterling to the same purpose all which we are ready to exhibit will put the Matter out of all debate Yet more ado about nothing Yet more noise of Proof to put that out of all debate which need never enter into any For if no more be intended than that I had a view of the Book of Canons and did make some Interlinings and Marginals and the like I have freely acknowledged it and by whose Command I did it and who was joyned with me in the Work So there will need no Proof of this either by my Letters or the Prelate of Londons or the Lord Sterlings Yet let them be exhibited if you please But if it be intended as 't is laid that this was done by no other than Canterbury then I utterly deny it and no Proof here named or any other shall ever be able to make it good As for the Addition of some other Canons and Pages of New Corrections according to which the Book of Canons is said to be Composed and Published Truly to the utmost of my Memory I know of none such but that the Copy written by my Lord of S. Andrews own Hand and sent up as is before mentioned was the very Copy which was Warranted by His Majesty and Published without any further Alteration But if any further Alteration were it was by the same Authority and with the same Consent And for my Letters of Joy for the Success of the Work let them be exhibited when you please I will never deny that Joy while I live that I conceived of the Church of Scotland's coming nearer both in the Canons and the Liturgy to the Church of England But our gross unthankfulness both to our God and King and our other many and great Sins have hindred this great Blessing And I pray God that the loss of this which was now almost effected do not in short time prove one of the greatest Mischiefs which ever befel this Kingdom and that too This is the General Charge about the Canons Now follow the Particulars Beside this General Charge there be some things more special worthy to be adverted unto for discovering his Spirit First the Fourth Canon of Cap 8. For as much as no Reformation in Doctrine or Discipline can be made perfect at once in any Church Therefore it shall and may be Lawful for the Kirk of Scotland at any time to make Remonstrances to His Majesty or his Successours c. Because this Canon holds the Door open to more Innovations he writes to the Prelate of Ross his Prime Agent in all this Work of his great Gladness that this Canon did stand behind the Curtain And his great desire that this Canon might be Printed fully as one that was to be most useful Now come the Particulars worthy to be adverted unto for the discovery of my Spirit And the first is taken out of the Fourth Canon of Cap. 8. The Charge is that this Canon holds the Door open to more Innovations First I conceive this Accusation is vain For that Canon restrains all Power from private Men Clergy or Laye nay from Bishops in a Synod or otherwise to alter any thing in Doctrine or Discipline without Authority from His Majesty or his Successours Now all Innovations come from private assumption of Authority not from Authority it self For in Civil Affairs when the King and the State upon Emergent Occasions shall abrogate some Old Laws and make other New that cannot be counted an Innovation And in Church-Affairs every Synod that hath sate in all times and all places of Christendom have with leave of Superiour Authority declared some Points of Doctrine condemned other-some Altered some Ceremonials made new Constitutions for better assisting the Government And none of these have ever been accounted Innovations the Foundations of Religion still remaining firm and unmoved Nay under favour I conceive it most necessary that thus it ought to be And therefore this Canon is far from holding a Door open for more Innovations since it shuts it upon all and leaves no Power to alter any thing but by making a Remonstrance to the Supream Authority that in a Church-way approbation may be given when there is Cause And therefore if I did write to the Prelate of Ross that this Canon might be Printed fully as one that was to be most useful I writ no more then than I believe now For certainly it is a Canon that in a well-governed Church may be of great use And the more because in Truth it is but Declaratory of that Power which a National Church hath with leave and approbation of the Supream Power to alter and change any alterable thing pertaining to Doctrine or Discipline in the Church And as for that Phrase said to be in my Letter that this Canon did stand behind the Curtain it was thus occasioned My Lord the Bishop of Ross writ unto me from the Arch-Bishop of S. Andrews that no words might
which comes next An Evil therefore which hath issued not so much from the Personal Disposition of the Prelates themselves as from the innate Quality and Nature of their Office and Prelatical Hierarchy which did bring forth the Pope in Ancient times and never ceaseth till it bring forth Popish Doctrine and Worship where it is once rooted and the Principles thereof fomented and constantly followed They tell us here that this Conformity with Rome is an Evil that issues not so much from the Personal Disposition of the Prelates themselves as from the innate Quality and Nature of their Office Conformity with Rome in any Error or Superstition is doubtless an Evil but that it issues from the Nature of a Bishop's Office cannot be For that Office is to Preach Christ and to govern the Church of Christ according to his Laws If any Bishop break this 't is his Personal Error and most unnatural to his Office to which if he adhere he can neither teach nor practise Superstition Therefore certainly what Error soever comes is from his Person not his Office And 't is great Ignorance to call this Evil an innate Quality of the Office when the Office is a thing of Institution not of Nature and therefore cannot possibly have any innate Quality in it But since they will needs have it thus let us invert it a little and see how it will fit them against their King more than it can fit the Bishops for the Pope For if we should say as perhaps we may too truly that the dangerous Positions which too many of the Presbyterian Faction publickly maintain and in Print proceed not so much from the Personal Disposition of the Presbyterians themselves as from the innate Quality and Nature of their Presbyteries and their Antimonarchical Party I believe it would trouble them to shape a good Answer to it unless they will admit of that which I before have given But then if they do this they Charge themselves with falshood in that which they lay upon the Bishops Office Next they tell you that this Prelatical Hierarchy did bring forth the Pope in Ancient times But truly I think they are thus far deceived The Hierarchy cannot be said to bring forth the chief parts of it self Now the Patriarchs of which the Bishop of Rome was one if not Prime in Order were the Principal parts of the Hierarchy Therefore the Hierarchy cannot well be said to bring them forth But suppose it be so that the Pope were brought forth by the Bishops what fault is there in it For the Pope was good both Nomine Re in name and in being as they were at first For thirty of them together were Martyrs for Christ And the Church of Rome was famous for her Faith over the World in the very Apostles times Rom. 1. And if either the Popes or that Church have degenerated since that is a Personal Crime and not to be imputed to the Office And therefore these Men do very ill or very ignorantly to affirm that this Office of Episcopacy never ceases till it bring forth Popish Doctrine and Worship For in all the time of these thirty Popes there was no Doctrine brought forth which may justly be accounted Superstitious or called Popery For the last of those thirty died in the Year 309. ..... And they cannot be ignorant that Bishop Jewell on the behalf of the Church of England challenged the Current of the Fathers for full Six Hundred Years to be for it against Rome in very many and main Points of Popery And therefore I may well say there was no Popery in the World when the Thirtieth Pope died Well if this Evil do not arise from the Hierarchy yet it doth From the Antipathy and Inconsistence of the two Forms of the Ecclesiastical Government which they conceived and not without Cause one Island joyned also under one Head and Monarch was not able to bear The one being the same in all the Parts and Powers which it was in the time of Popery and still is in the Roman Kirk The other being the Form of Government received maintained and practised by all the Reformed Kirks wherein by their own Testimonies and Confessions the Kirk of Scotland had amongst them no small Eminency Sure these Men have forgotten themselves For they tell us immediatly before that this Evil of bringing forth Popish Doctrine and Worship proceeds from the very Office of a Bishop And now they add and from the Antipathy of these two Forms of Church Government Doth the Bishops Office produce Popery And doth the Antipathy between the Presbytery and Episcopacy produce Popery too So then belike in these Men's Judgments both Bishops and they which oppose Bishops produce Popery And if that be true Popery must needs increase that is produced on all sides An Evil then there is though perhaps not this which issues from that Antipathy and Inconsistence of these two Forms of Ecclesiastical Government which they say we Prelates of England conceived and not without Cause one Island joyned also under one Head and Monarch was not able to bear And that Evil was as I conceive the continual Jarrs and Oppositions which would daily arise among His Majesties Subjects of both Kingdoms concerning these different Forms of Government And these would bring forth such Heart-burnings and Divisions among the People that the King might never be secure at home nor presume upon united Forces against a Foreign Enemy And this is Evil enough to any Monarch of two divided Kingdoms especially lying so near in one Island Now if the Bishops of England did conceive thus and as our Adversaries here confess not without Cause Then certainly by their own Confession the Prelates of England had Reason to use all just endeavours to remove and take away this Inconsistence that the Form of the Ecclesiastical Government might be one in one Island and under one Monarch that so Faction and Schism might cease which else when they get Opportunity find a way to rent the Peace of Kingdoms if not Kingdoms themselves And this Island God of his Mercy preserve it is at this time in great hazard to undergo the fatality of it in a great measure The next is a manifest untruth For though there be as is said an Inconsistence between the Governments which makes one Island under one King unable to bear both in the different parts of the Island or at least unsafe while it bears them Yet neither is Episcopacy in all the Parts and Powers of it that which it was in time of Popery and still is in the Roman Church And this is most manifest to any Man that will but look upon what Power the Prelates had before and what they have since the Statute of the Submission of the Clergy in Hen. 8. time Beside all those Statutes which have since been made in divers Particulars to weaken their Power Nor is the other Form of Government received
from thence where he had made his Party He says farther that some few of the Citizens of Gloucester were called into the High-Commission for an Annuity of Twenty Pound a Year allowed Mr. Workman out of the Town-Stock For the thing it self it was a Gross Abuse and Scorn put upon that Court that when they had Censured a Schismatical Lecturer for such he was there proved the Towns-Men should make him an allowance of Twenty Pound a Year A thing as I humbly conceive not fit to be indured in any settled Government And whereas Clamour is made that some few of the Citizens were called to an account for it that 's as strange on the other side For where there are many Offenders the Noise would be too great to call all And yet here 's Noise enough made for calling a few Here it was replyed by Mr. Maynard That this was done by that Corporation and yet a few singled out to Answer and that therefore I might be singled out to Answer for things done in the High-Commission But under Favour this Learned and Worthy Gentleman is mistaken For here the Mayor and Magistrates of Gloucester did that which was no way warrantable by their Charter in which Case they may be accountable all or some But in the High-Commission we medled with no Cause not Cognoscible there or if by Misinformation we did we were sure of a Prohibition to stop us And medling with nothing but things proper to them I conceive still no one Man can be singled out to suffer for that which was done by all And this may serve to Answer Mr. Brown also who in his last Reply upon me when I might not Answer made use of it 2. The Second Witness was Mr. Purye of 〈◊〉 He says that Mr. Brewster and Mr. Guies the Town-Clark were called to the Council-Table about this Annuity and that I 〈◊〉 it might be 〈◊〉 Examined at the High-Commission If this were true I know no Offence in it to desire that such an Affront to Government might be more thoroughly Examined than the Lords had leisure to do But the Witness doth not give this in Evidence For he says no more than that he heard so from Mr. Brewster And his Hear-say is no Conviction He says farther that the High-Commission called upon this Business of the Annuity as informed that the Twenty Pound given to Mr. Workman was taken out of the Moneys for the Poor And this I must still think was a good and a sufficient ground justly to call them in question He says also That these Men were Fined because that which they did was against Authority So by their own Witness it appears that they were not Fined simply for allowing Means to Mr. Workman but for doing it in opposition to Authority Lastly he says they were Fined Ten Pound apiece and that presently taken off again So here was no such great Persecution as is made in the Cause And for the Cancelling of this Deed of the Annuity it was done by themselves as Mr. Langlye Witnesses After these two Witnesses heard the Sentence of the High-Commission-Court was read which I could not have come at had not they produced it And by that it appeared evidently that Mr Workman was Censured as well for other things as for his Sermon about Images in Churches As first he said so many Paces in Dancing were so many to Hell This was hard if he meant the Measures in the Inns of Court at Christmas and he excepted none Then he said and was no way able to prove it that Drunkards so they were Conformable were preferred Which was a great and a notorious Slander upon the Governours of the Church and upon Orderly and Conformable Men. Then he said that Election of Ministers was in the People And this is directly against the Laws of England in the Right of all Patrons Then constantly in his Prayer before his Sermon he Prayed for the States and the King of Sweden before his Majesty which was the Garb of that time among that Party of Men. Then that one of his common Themes of Preaching to the People was against the Government of the Church And then that Images in Churches were 〈◊〉 better than Stews in the Commonwealth which at the best is a very unsavoury Comparison But here it was replyed That Images were Idols and so called in the Homilies and that therefore the Comparison might hold Yea but in the second Homily against the Peril of Idolatry Images or Pictures in Glass or Hangings are expresly and truly said not to be Idols till they be Worshipped And therefore Mr. Workman should not have compared their setting up to Stews till he could have proved them Worshipped And in all this were the Act good or bad in the Censuring of him it was the Act of the High-Commission not mine After this followed the Fifth Charge which was Mr Sherfeild's Case his Sentence in the Star-Chamber for defacing of a Church-Window in or near Salisbury The Witnesses produced were Two The First was Mr Carill He said that Mr Sherfeild defaced this Window because there was an Image in it conceived to be the Picture of God the Father But first this comes not home For many a Picture may be conceived to be of God the Father which yet is not nor was ever made for it And then suppose it were so yet Mr Sherfeild in a setled Government of a State ought not to have done it but by Command of Authority He says that in my Speech there in the Court I justified the having of the Picture of God the Father as he remembers out of Dan. 7. 22. This as he remembers came well in For I never justified the making or having that Picture For Calvin's Rule that we may picture that which may be seen is grounded upon the Negative that no Picture may be made of that which was never never can be seen And to ground this Negative is the Command given by Moses Deut. 4. Take good heed to your selves For what That you make not to your selves this Picture Why For that you saw no manner of similitude in the day that the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire Out of the midst of the fire and yet he still reserved himself in thick darkness Exod. 20. So no Picture of him because no similitude ever seen And this Rule having ever possessed me wholly I could not justifie the having of it I said indeed that some Men in later Superstitious Times were so foolish as to Picture God the Father by occasion of that place in Daniel but for my self I ever rejected it Nor can that place bear any shew of it For Daniel says there that the Ancient of days came But in what shape or similitude he came no Man Living can tell And he is called the Ancient of days from his Eternity not as if he appeared like an Old Man The Text hath no Warrant at all
into a Jewish Superstition while we seek to shun Profaneness This Calvin hath in the mean time assured me That those Men who stand so strictly upon the Morality of the Sabbath do by a gross and carnal Sabbatization three times out-go the Superstition of the Jew Here it was inferred that there was a Combination for the doing of this in other Dioceses But no proof at all was offer'd Then Bishop Mountague's Articles and Bishop Wrenn's were Read to shew that Inquiry was made about the Reading of this Book And the Bishop of London's Articles Named but not Read But if I were in this Combination why were not my Articles Read Because no such thing appears in them and because my Articles gave so good content that while the Convocation was sitting Dr. Brownrigg and Dr. Holdsworth came to me and desired me to have my Book confirmed in Convocation to be general for all Bishops in future it was so moderate and according to Law But why then say they were other Articles thought on and a Clause that none should pass without the Approbation of the Arch-Bishop Why other were thought on because I could not in Modesty press the Confirmation of my own though solicited to it And that Clause was added till a standing Book for all Dioceses might be perfected that no Quaere in the Interim might be put to any but such as were according to Law The Sixth Charge was about Reversing of a Decree in Chancery as 't is said about Houses in Dr Walton's Parish given as was said to Superstitious Vses 1. The First Witness was Serjeant Turner He says He had a Rule in the King's Bench for a Prohibition in this Cause But by Reason of some defect what is not mentioned he confesses he could not get his Prohibition Here 's nothing that reflects upon me And if a Prohibition were moved for that could not be personally to me but to my Judge in some Spiritual 〈◊〉 where it seems this Cause depended and to which the Decree in Chancery was directed And indeed this Act which they call a Reversing was the Act and Seal of Sir Nath. Brent my Vicar General And if he violated the Lord Keeper's Decree he must Answer it But the Instrument being then produced it appeared concurrent in all things with the Decree The Words are Juxta scopum Decreti hac in parte in Curiâ 〈◊〉 factum c. 2. The Second Witness was Mr. Edwards And wherein 〈◊〉 concurs with Serjeant Turner I give him the same Answer For that which he adds that Dr. Walton did let Leases of these Houses at an undervalue and called none of the Parishioners to it If he did in this any thing contrary to Justice or the Will of the Donor or the Decree he is Living to Answer for himself me it concerns not For his Exception taken to my Grant of Confirmation I think he means and to the Words therein Omnis Omnimoda c. 'T is the Ancient Stile of such Grants for I know not how many Hundred Years no Syllable innovated or altered by me Then followed the Charge of Mr. Burton and Mr. Pryn about their Answer and their not being suffer'd to put it into the Star-Chamber Which though Mr. Pryn pressed at large before yet here it must come again to help fill the World with Clamour Yet to that which shall but seem new I shall Answer Two things are said 1. The one That they were not suffered to put in their defence Modo Forma as it was laid There was an Order made openly in Court to the Judges to Expunge Scandalous Matter And the two Chief Justices did Order the Expunging of all that which was Expunged be it more or less As appears in the Acts of that Court. 2. The other is that I procured this Expunging The Proofs that I procured it were these 1. First because Mr. Cockshot gave me an Account of the business from Mr. Attorney I had Reason to look after the business the whole Church of England being scandalized in that Bill as well as my self But this is no Proof that I either gave direction or used any solicitation to the Reverend Judges to whom it was referred 2. Secondly because I gave the Lords thanks for it It was openly in Court It was after the Expunging was agreed unto And what could I do less in such a Cause of the Church though I had not been personally concerned in it 3. Thirdly because I had a Copy of their Answer found in my Study I conceive it was not only fit but necessary for me to have one the Nature of the Cause considered But who interlined any passages in it with black Lead I know not For I ever used Ink and no black Lead all my Life These be strange Proofs that I procured any thing Then Mr. Pryn added That the Justice and Favour which was afforded Dr. Leighton was denyed unto him As far as I remember it was for the putting in of his Answer under his own Hand This if so was done by Order of the Court it was not my Act. The last Charge followed And that was taken out of the Preface to my Speech in Star-Chamber The Words are That one way of Government is not always either fit or safe when the Humors of the People are in a continual Change c. From whence they inferred I laboured to reduce all to an Arbitrary Government But I do humbly conceive no construction can force these Words against me for an Arbitrary Government For the meaning is and can be no other for sometimes a stricter and sometimes a remisser holding and ordering the Reins of Government yet both according to the same Laws by a different use and application of Mercy and Justice to Offenders And so I Answer'd to Mr. Brown who charged this against me as one of my ill Counsels to his Majesty But my Answer given is Truth For it is not said That there should not be One Law for Government but not One way in the Ordering and Execution of that Law And the Observator upon my Speech an English Author and well enough known though he pretend 't is a Translation out of Dutch though he spares nothing that may be but carped at yet to this passage he says 't is a good Maxim and wishes the King would follow it And truly for my part I Learned it of a very wise and an able Governour and he a King of England too it was of Hen. 7. of whom the Story says that in the difficulties of his Time and Cause he used both ways of Government Severity and Clemency yet both these were still within the compass of the Law He far too Wise and I never yet such a Fool as to imbrace Arbitrary Government CAP. XXXVI THis day I received a Note from the Committee that they intended to proceed next upon the remainder of the Seventh and upon the Eighth and Ninth Original