alter any Articles Rubrick Canon Doctrinal or Disciplinary whatsoever without his Majesties leave first had and obtained 14. That no man should cover his Head in time of Divine Service except with a Cap or Night-coife in case of infirmity and that all Persons should reverently kneel when the Confession and other Prayers were read and should stand up at the saying of the Creed 15. That no Presbyter or Reader be permitted to conceive Prayers ex tempoâ—e or use any other form in the Publick Liturgie or Service than is prescribed under the pain of Deprivation from his Benefice or Cure 16. That by this Prohibition the Presbyters seemed to be dâ—barred from using their own Prayers before their Sermons by reason that in c. 3. num 13. it is required That all Presbyters and Preachers should move the People to join with them in Prayer using some few and convenient words and should always conclude with the Lords Prayer which in effect was to bind them to the form of bidding Prayer prescribed in the 55 th Canon of the Church of England 17. That no man should Teach either in Publick School or Private House but such as shall be allowed by the Archbishop of the Province or Bishop of the Diocess under their Hand and Seal and those to Licence none but such as were of good Religion and obedient to the Orders of the Church 18. That none should be admitted to read in any Colledge or School except they take first the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy 19. That nothing â—e hereafter Imprinted except the same be seen and allowed by the Visitors appointed to that purpose the Penalty thereof as in all like Cases in which no Penalty is expressed being left to the discretion of the Bishops 20. That no Publick Fast should be appointed upon Sundays as had been formerly accustomed but on the Week-days only and them to be appointed by none but His Majesty 21. That for the Ministring of the Sacrament of Baptism a Font should be prepared and placed somewhat near the entry of the Church as anciently it used to be with a Cloth of fine Linnen which shall likewise be kept all neatly 22. That a comely and decent Table for Celebrating the Holy Communion should be provided and placed at the upper end of the Chancel or Church to be covered at the times of Divine Service with a Carpet of decent Stuff and at the time of Ministration with a white Linnen Cloth And that Basons Cups or Chalices of some pure Metal shall be provided to be set upon the Communion Table and reserved to that only use 23. That such Bishops and Presbyters as shall depart this life having no Children shall leave their Goods or a great part of them to the Church and Holy Vses and that notwithstanding their having Children they should leave some Testimony of their love to the Church and advancement of Religion 24. That no Sentence of Excommunication should be pronounc'd or Absolution given by any Presbyter without the leave and approbation of the Bishop And no Presbyter should reveal or make known what had been opened to him in Confession at any time or to any Person whatsoever except the Crime be such as by the Laws of the Realm his own Life may be called in question for concealing the same 25. And finally That no Person should be received into Holy Orders nor suffered to Preach Catechise Minister the Sacraments or any other Ecclesiastical Function unless he first subscribe to be obedient to these present Canons Ratified and Approved by his Majesties Royal Warrant and Ordained to be observed by the Clergy and all others whom they concern These were the matters chiefly quarrelled in this Book of Canons visibly tending as they would make the World believe to subject that Kirk unto the Power of the King the Clergy to the command of their Bishops the whole Nation to the Discipline of a Foreign Church and all together by degrees to the Idolatries and Tyrannies of the Pope of Rome But juster cause they seemed to have for disclaiming the said Book of Canons because not made nor imposed upon them by their own approbation and consent contrary to the usage of the Church in all Times and Ages Had his Majesty imposed these Orders on them by the name of Injunctions according to the example of King Henry viii Anno 1536. of King Edward vi Anno 1547. and of Queen Elizabeth Anno 1559. he might perhaps have justified himself by that Supremacy which had been vested in him by the Laws of that Kingdom which seems to have been the Judgment of King Iames in this very case At his last being in Scotland Anno 1617. he had prepared an Article to be passed in Parliament to this effect viz. That whatsoever his Majesty should determine in the External Government of the Church with the advice of the Archbishop Bishops and a competent number of the Ministry should have the strength of a Law But understanding that a Protestation was prepared against it by some of the most Rigid Presbyterians he commanded Hay the Clerk or Register to pass by that Article as a thing no way necessary the Prerogative of his Crown giving him more Authority than was declared or desired by it But as for Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical if they concerned the whole Church they were to be advised and framed by Bishops and other Learned men assembled in a General Council and testified by the Subscription of such Bishops as were then assembled Or if they did relate only unto National Churches or particular Provinces they were to be concluded and agreed upon by the Bishops and Clergy that is to say so many of the Clergy as are chosen and impowered by all the rest for that end and purpose assembled in a National or Provincial Synod No Canons nor Constitutions Ecclesiastical to be otherwise made or if made otherwise not to bind without a voluntary and free submission of all Parties to them And though it could not be denied but that all Christian Emperours Kings and Princes reserved a Power unto themselves of Ratifying and Confirming all such Constitutions as by the Bishops and Clergy were agreed on yet still the said Canons and Constitutions were first agreed on by the Bishops and Clergy before they were tendred to the Sovereign Prince for his Ratification The Scottish Presbyters had formerly disclaimed the Kings Authority either in calling their Assemblies or confirming the Results and Acts thereof which they conceived to be good and valid of themselves without any additional power of his to add strength unto them And therefore now they must needs think themselves reduced to a very great vassalage in having a body of Canons so imposed upon them to the making whereof they were never called and to the passing whereof they had never voted But as they had broke the Rules of the Primitive Church in acting Soveraignty of themselves without requiring the Kings approbation and
rents they not only suffer but make in the Coat of Christ What is it Is Christ only thought fit to wear a torn Garment Or can we think that the Spirit of Vnity which is one with Christ will not depart to seek warmer cloathing Or if he be not gone already why is there not Vnity which is where ere he is Or if he be but yet gone from other parts of Christendom in any case for the passion and in the bowels of Iesus Christ I beg it let us make stay of him here in our parts c. Which Sermon being all of the same piece so well pleased the Hearers that his Majesty gave command to have it Printed How well it edified with the Commons when they came to read it and what thanks he received from them for it we shall clearly see before we come to the end of this present Session The Sermon being ended his Majesty set forwards to the House of Peers where sitting in his Royal Throne and causing the Commons then assembled to come before him he signified in few words That no man as he conceived could be so ignorant of the Common necessity as to expostulate the cause of this Meeting and not to think Supply to be the end of it That as this necessity was the product and consequent of their Advice he means in reference to his first ingaging in the War with Spain so the true Religion the Laws and Liberties of this State and just Defence of his Friends and Allies being so considerably concerned would be he hoped Arguments enough to perswade Supply That he had taken the most ancient speedy and best way for Supply by calling them together in which if they should not do their duties in answering the quality of his occasions he must then take some other course for the saving of that which the folly of some particular men might hazard to lose That notwithstanding the distractions of the last Meeting he came thither with no small confidence of good success assuring them that he would forget and forgive whatsoever was past and hoping that they would follow that sacred Advice lately inculcated To maintain the VNITY of the Spirit in the bond of Peace Which being said the Lord Keeper took his turn to speak as the Custom is in which Speech he chiefly laboured to lay before them the formidable Power of the House of Austria the mighty Preparations made by the King of Spain the Distractions at the present in the Netherlands the Dangers threatned by the French King to those of the Reformed Religion in his Dominions and the necessity which lay upon the King to provide for the support thereof as well as for the Peace and Preservation of his own Estate concluding with severall reasons to invite them to assist his Majesty with a bountiful and quick supply according to the exigency of his affairs But all this little ediâ—ied with the House of Commons or rather with the prevailing Party in it which comes all to one For so it happens commonly in all great Councils that some few leading Members either by their diligence or cunning out-wit the rest and form a party strong enough by casting a mist before their eyes or other subtle Artifices to effect their purpose And so it fared in this last Parliament with the House of Commons which though it contained amongst the rest as dutiful Subjects as any were in the world in his Majesties own acknowledgment of them yet being governed by some men which had their interesses apart from the Crown they are put upon a resolution of doing their own business first and the Kings at leisure And their own business it must be to secure the plots and practises of the Puritan Faction by turning all mens eyes upon such dangers as were to be feared from the Papists and in the next place to make such provision for themselves that it should not be within the power of the Royal Prerogative to lay any restraint upon their persons No sooner had they obtained their Faâ—t without which nothing could be done but they moved the Lords to joyn with them in a Petition for the suppresâ—ing of Popery which they conceived to make the Wall of Separation betwixt God and them to which they found their Lordships willing to consent and his Majesty no less willing to satisfie them in all parts thereof than they could desire For calling both houses before him on the fourth of April He told them he liked well of their beginning with Religion and hoped their Consultations would succeed the happier That he was as careful of Religion and should be as forward in it as they could desire That he liked well of the Petition and would make use of those and all other means for the maintenance and propagation of that true Religion wherein he had lived and by the grace of God was resolved to dye And finally That for the particulars they should receive a more full answer hereafter as they shortly did Which said he put them in remembrance That if Provisions were not speedily made he should not be able to put a ship to sea this year But though his Majesty gave so full and satisfactory an answer to every particular branch of the said Petition that Sir Benjamin Ruddiard moved the House to tender their humble thanks to his Majesty for it yet to the close of his Majesties Speech touching the speedy making of provisions for that Summers Service they returned no answer They must first know whether they had any thing to give or not whether they are to be accounted as Slaves or Freemen to which two doubts the late imprisonment of their Members for not paying the Loan required of them gave them ground enough These weighty Questions being started their own property and Liberty must first be setled before they could be perswaded to move a foot toward his Majesties supplies Five Subsidies they had voted for him but it passed no further than the Vote For seeing that there was to be a trust on the one side or the other it was resolved that the honour of it should be theirs The agitating of which Points with those which depended thereupon took up so much time that before the Lords could be brought to joyn with the Commons and both together could obtain their desires of the King there was spent as far as to the seventh of Iune and it was ten daies after before they had prepared the Bill of Subsidies for the Kings Assent Nothing in all this business did so trouble his Majesty as their insisting on this point That in no case whatsoever though it never so nearly concerned matters of State and Government he of his Privy Council should have power to commit any man to prison without shewing the cause and that cause to be allowed or disallowed as his Majesties Judges should think fit on the Habeas Corpus of which his Majesty well observed in a Letter by him written
it was presented to his Majesty together with the Bill of Subsidies on the seventeenth of Iune At the receiving thereof his Majesty was pleased to use these words That on his Answer to their Petition of Right he expected no such Declaration from them which containeth divers points of state touching the Church and Common-wealth that he conceived they did believe he understood them better than themselves But that since the reading thereof he perceived they understood those things less than he imagined and that notwithstanding he would take them into such consideration as they deserved Nor was it long after his Majesties receiving of this Remonstrance but that they were drawing up another to take away his right to Tonnage and Poundage Which coming to his Majesties knowledge he resolved to be beforehand with them and dissolve the Parliament which was done accordingly Iune 26. At the dissolving whereof his Majesty gave this further censure on the said Remonstrance viz. That the acceptableness thereof unto him every man might judge and that he would not call in question the merit of it because he was sure no wise man could justifie it And possibly it had escaped without any further censure if the Commons for the ostentation of their Zeal and Piety had not caused it to be Printed and dispersed abroad with which his Majesty being acquainted he commanded it to be called in by Proclamation as tending to the defamation of his Person and Government But no sooner was the Parliament ended but he gave order unto Laud whom he â—ound to be much concerned in it to return an answer thereunto which he who knew no better Sacrifice than obedience did very chearfully perform which Answer for so much as concerns Religion the Preamble and Conclusion being laid aside we shall here subjoyn And first saith he that Remonstrance begins at Religion and fears of innovation in it Innovation by Popery but we would have our Subjects of all sorts to call to mind what difficulties and dangers we endured not many years since for Religions sake That we are the same still and our holy Religion is as pretious to us as it is or can be to any of them and we will no more admit innovation therein than they that think they have done well in fearing it so much It is true that all effects expected have not followed upon the Petitions delivered at Oxon but we are in least fault for that for supply being not afforded us disenabled us to execute all that was desired and caused the stay of those legal proceedings which have helped to swell up this Remonstrance Yet let all the Counties of England be examined and London with the Suburbs with them neither is there such a noted increase of Papists nor such cause of fear as is made nor hath any amounted to such an odious tolerating as is charged upon it nor near any such For that Commission so much complained of both the matter and intent of it are utterly mistaken for it doth not dispence with any penalty or any course to be taken with any Papists for the exercise of their Religion no nor with the Pecuniary Mulets or non-conformity to ours it was advised for the encrease of our profits and the returning of that into our Purse which abuse or connivency of inferiour Ministers might perhaps divert another way if that or any other shall be abused in the execution we will be ready to punish upon any just complaint The next fear is the dayly growth and spreading of the Arminian Faction called a cunning way to bring in Popery but we hold this Charge as great a wrong to our Self and Government as the former For our People must not be taught by a Parliament Remonstrance or any other way that we are so ignorant of Truth or so careless of the profession of it that any opinion or faction or whatever it be called should thrust it self so far and so fast into our Kingdom without our knowledge of it this is a meer dream of them that wake and would make our loyal and loving People think we sleep the while In this Charge there is great wrong done to two eminent Prelates that attend our Person for they are accused without producing any the least shew or shadow of Proof against them and should they or any other attempt Innovation of Religion either by that open or any cunning way we should quickly take other Order with them and not stay for your Remonstrance To keep on this our people are made believe That there is a restraint of Books Orthodoxal but we are sure since the late Parliament began some whom the Remonstrance calls Orthodox have assumed unto themselves an unsufferable Liberty in Printing Our Proclamation commanded a Restraint on both sides till the Passions of men might subside and calm and had this been obeyed as it ought we had not now been tossed in this Tempest And for the distressing and discountenancing of Good Preachers we know there is none if they be as they are called Good But our People shall never want that Spiritual Comfort which is due unto them and for the Preferments which we bestow we have so made it our great Care to give them as Rewards of Desert and Pains but as the Preferments are ours so will we be judge of the Desert Our self and not be taught by a Remonstrance For Ireland we think in case of Religion it is not worse than Queen Elizabeth left it and for other Affairs it is as good as we found it nay perhaps better and we take it as a great disparagement to our Government that it should be voiced That new Monasteries Nunneries and other Superstitious Houses are Erected and Replenished in Dublin and other great Towns of that our Kingdom For we assure our self our Deputy and Council there will not suffer God and our Government so to be dishonoured but we should have some account of it from them and we may not endure to have our good People thus misled with Shews There is likewise somewhat considerable in the time when these Practises to undermine true Religion in our Kingdoms are set on foot The Remonstrance tells us it is now when Religion is opposed by open force in all Parts But we must tell our People There is no undermining Practice at home against it if they practice not against it that seem most to labour for it for while Religion seems to be contended for in such a Factious way which cannot be Gods way the heat of that doth often melt away the Purity which it labours earnestly but perhaps not wisely to preserve And for Gods Iudgments which we and our People have felt and have cause to fear we shall prevent them best by a true Religious Remonstrance of the amendment of our Lives c. This and the rest of the Answer to the said Remonstrance is all what I find acted by Laud in reference to the present Parliament For That he should
in that expectation carrying himself with such an even and steady hand that every one applauded but none envied his preferment to it insomuch as the then Lord Faulkland in a bitter Speech against the Bishops about the beginning of the Long Parliament could not chuse but give him this faire Testimony viz. That in an unexpected place and power he expressed an equal moderation and humility being neither ambitious before nor proud after either of the Crozier or White Staff The Queen about these times began to grow into a greater prevalâ—nâ—y over his Majesties Affections than formerly she had made shew of But being too wise to make any open alteration of the conduct of aâ—â—airs she thought it best to take the Archbishop into such of her Counsels as might by him be carried on to her contentment and with no dishonour to himself of which he gives this intimation in the Breviate on the thirtieth of August 1634. viz. That the Queen sent for him to Oatlands and gave him thanks for a business which she had trusted him withall promising him to be his Friend and that he should have immediate access to her when he had occasion This seconded with the like intimation given us May 18. 1635. of which he writes that having brought his account to the Queen on May 18. Whitsunday the Court then at Greenwich it was put of till the Sunday after at which time he presented it to her and received from her an assurance of all that was desired by him Panzani's coming unto London in the Christmas holydaies makes it not improbable that the facilitating of his safe and favourable reception was the great business which the Queen had committed to the Archbishops trust and for his effecting of it with the King had given him those gracious promises of access unto her which the Breviate spake of For though Panzani was sent over from the Pope on no other pretence than to prevent a Schism which was then like to be made between the Regulars and the Secular Priests to the great scandall of that Church yet under that pretence were muffled many other designs which were not fit to be discovered unto Vulgar eyes By many secret Artifices he works himself into the fauour of Cottington Windebank and other great men about the Court and at last grew to such a confidence as to move this question to some Court-Bishops viz. Whether his Majesty would permit the residing of a Catholick Bishop of the English Nation to be nominated by his Majesty and not to exercise his Function but as his Majesty should limit Upon which Proposition when those Bishops had made this Quaere to him Whether the Pope would allow of such a Bishop of his Majesties nominating as held the Oath of Allegiance lawful and should permit the taking of it by the Catholick Subjects he puts it off by pleading that he had no Commission to declare therein one way or other And thereupon he found some way to move the King for the permission of an Agent from the Pope to be addressed to the Queen for the concernments of her Religion which the King with the Advice and Consent of his Council condescended to upon condition that the Party sent should be no Priest This possibly might be the sum of that account which the Archbishop tendred to the Queen at Greenwich on the Whitsontide after Panzani's coming which as it seems was only to make way for Con of whom more hereafter though for the better colour of doing somewhat else that might bring him hither he composed the Rupture between the Seculars and the Regulars above-mentioned I cannot tell whether I have hit right or not upon these particulars But sure I am that he resolved to serve the Queen no further in her desires than might consist both with the honour and safety of the Church of England which as it was his greatest charge so did he lay out the chief parts of his cares and thoughts upon it And yet he was not so unmindful of the Foreign Churches as not to do them all good offices when it came in his way especially when the Doctrine or Discipline of the Church of England was not concerned in the same For in the year 1634. having received Letters from the Queen of Bohemia with whom he held a constant course of Correspondence about the furtherance of a Collection for the exiled Ministers of the Palatinate he moved the King so effectually in it that his Majesty granted his Letters Patents for the said Collection to be made in all parts of the Kingdom which Letters Patents being sealed and brought unto him for his further Direction in prosecution of the same he found a passage in it which gave him no small cause of offence and was this that followeth viz. Whose cases are the more to be deplored for that this extremity is fallen upon them for their sincerity and constancy in the true Religion which we together with them professed and which we are all bound in conscience to maintain to the utmost of our powers whereas these Religious and Godly persons being involved amongst other their Country-men might have enjoyed their Estates and Fortunes if with other backsliders in the times of Trial they would have submitted themselves to the Antichristian Yoke and have renounced or dissembled the Profession of the true Religion Upon the reading of which passage he observed two things First That the Religion of the Palatine Churches was declared to be the same with ours And secondly That the Doctrine and Government of the Church of Rome is called an Antichristian Yoke neither of which could be approved of in the same terms in which they were presented to him For first he was not to be told that by the Religion of those Churches all the Calvinian Rigors in the point of Predestination and the rest depending thereupon were received as Orthodox that they maintain a Parity of Ministers directly contrary both to the Doctrine and Government of the Church of England and that Pareus Profesâ—or of Divinity in the University of Heydelberg who was not to be thought to have delivered his own sense only in that point ascribes a power to inferiour Magistrates to curb the power controule the persons and resist the Authority of Soveraign Princes for which his Comment on the Romans had been publickly burnt by the appointment of King Iames as before is said Which as it plainly proves that the Religion of those Churches is not altogether the same with that of ours so he conceived it very unsafe that his Majesty should declare under the Great Seal of England that both himself and all his Subjects were bound in conscience to maintain the Religion of those Churches with their utmost power And as unto the other point he lookt upon it as a great Controversie not only between some Protestant Divines and the Church of Rome but between the Protestant Divines themselves hitherto not determined in any Council nor
his words and mistakes his meaning wresting the most Orthodox and innocent truths to his wicked ends and putting his own corrupt Gloss and sense upon them And which is yet most strange of all with an unparalelled impudence he dedicates it to his Sacred Majesty calling upon him To send out his Royal Edict for the taking down of all Altars which where ever they stand are by him said to stand in open defiance of Christ Another for calling in the Book for Sports on the Lords day A third for calling in his Declaration before the Articles of Religion A fourth for calling in of all Orders for the Restraint of Preaching A fifth for restoring to their place and Ministry all those who out of Conscience of their duty to God had by the Prelates been thrust out of all for refusing to read the said Book And finally for releasing and setting at liberty the three poor banished prisoners the loud cry of whose oppressions might otherwise provoke the thunderbolt of Divine Revenge to blast the beauty of his State Now as he laboured by these means to preserve the Church of England from the growth of Popery so he took care for preventing the subversion of it by the spreading of the Socinian Heresies He had before took care for suppressing all Books of that nature which had been imported into England out of other Countries and had received thanks for it from the Pen of a Jesuit But Burton chargeth it upon him among his Crimes reproaching him for suppressing those books for no other reason but because they magnified the Authority of the holy Scriptures and by the late Decree for Printing of which more anon he had took such order that no Eggs of that pestiferous Brood should be laid in England or if they were should ever peep out of the Shell or appear in sight There had been published a Discourse called Disquisitio Brevis in which some of the principal Socinian Tenents were cunningly inserted pretending them for the best Expedients to appease some Controversies betwixt us and Rome The Book ascribed in common Speech to Hales of Eaton a man of infinite reading and no less ingenuity free of Discourse and as communicative of his knowledge as the Coelestial Bodies of their light and influences There past also up and down a Discourse of Schism not Printed but transmitted from hand to hand in written Copies like the Bishop of Lincolns Letter to the Vicar of Grantham intended chiefly for the encouragement of some of our great Masters of Wit and Reason to despise the Authority of the Church Which being dispersed about this time gave the Archbishop occasion to send for him to Lambeth in hope that he might gain the man whose abilities he was well acquainted with when he lived in Oxon. An excellent Grecian in those daies and one whom Savil made great use of in his Greek Edition of St. Chrysostoms Works About nine of the Clock in the Morning he came to know his Graces pleasure who took him along with him into his Garden commanding that none of his Servants should come at him upon any occasion There they continued in discourse till the Bell rang to Prayers and after Prayers were ended till the Dinner was ready and after that too till the coming in of the Lord Conway and some other Persons or honour put a necessity upon some of his Servants to give him notice how the time had passed away So in they came high coloured and almost panting for want of breath enough to shew that there had been some heats between them not then fully cooled It was my chance to be there that day either to know his Graces pleasure or to render an account of some former commands but I know not which and I found Hales very glad to see me in that place as being himself a meer stranger to it and unknown to all He told me afterwards That he found the Archbishop whom he knew before for a nimble Disputant to be as well versed in books as business That he had been ferretted by him from one hole to another till there was none left to afford him any further shelter That he was now resolved to be Orthodox and to declare himself a true Son of the Church of England both for Doctrine and Discipline That to this end he had obtained leave to call himself his Graces Chaplain that naming him in his Publick Prayers for his Lord and Patron the greater notice might be taken of the Alteration Thus was Hales gained unto the Church and gained a good preferment in it promoted not long after by the Archbishops Commendation to be Prebend of Windsor and to hold the same by special dispensation with his place in Eaton Nor was the Archbishop less intent upon all Advantages for keeping down the Genevian Party and hindring them from Printing and Publishing any thing which might disturb the Churches Peace or corrupt her Doctrine To this end he procured a Decree to be pass'd in the Star-Chamber on Iuly 1. Anno 1637. to Regulate the Trade of Printing and prevent all Abuses of that Excellent Art to the disturbance of the Church By which Decree it had been Ordered That the Master-Printers from thenceforth should be reduced to a certain number and that if any other should secretly or openly pursue that Trade he should be set in the Pillory or whipped through the Streets and suffer such other Punishment as that Court should inflict upon him That none of the said Master-Printers should from thenceforth Print any Book or Books of Divinity Law Physick Philosophy or Poetry till the said Books together with the Titles Epistles Prefaces Tables or Commendatory Verses shall be lawfully Licenced either by the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Bishop of London for the time being or by some of their Chaplains or by the Chancellors or Vice-Chancellors of either of the two Vniversities upon pain of loosing the Exercise of his Art and being proceeded against in the Star-Chamber or the High-Commission Court respectively That no Person or Persons do hereafter Re-print or cause to be Re-printed any Book or Books whatsoever though formerly Printed with Licence without being reviewed and a new Licence obtained for the Re-printing thereof That every Merchant Bookseller or other Person who shall Import any Printed Books from beyond the Seas shall present a true Catalogue of them to the said Archbishop or Bishop for the time being before they be delivered or exposed to Sale upon pain of suffering such Punishment as by either of the said two Courts respectively shall be thought fit That none of the said Merchants Booksellers or others shall upon pain of the like Punishment deliver any of the Books so Imported till the Chaplains of the said Archbishop or Bishop for the time being or some other Learned Man by them appointed together with the Master and Wardens of the Company of Stationers or one of them shall take a view of the same with Power to seize
these St. John Baptist had his head danced off by a lewd woman and St. Cyprian Archbishop of Carthage submitted his head to a persecuting Sword Many examples great and 〈◊〉 and they teach me patience for I hope my cause in heaven will 〈◊〉 of another dye than the colour that is put upon it here And some comfort it is to me not only that I go the way of these great men in their several Generations but also that my charge as foul as it is made 〈◊〉 like that of the Jews against St. Paul Acts 25.3 for he was accused for the Law and the Temple i. e. Religion and like that of St. Steven Acts 6.14 for breaking the Ordinances which Moses gave i. e. Law and Religion the holy place and the Temple v. 13. But you will then say Do I then compare my self with the Integrity of St. Paul and St. Steven No far be that from me I only raise a comfort to my self that these great Saints and Servants of God were laid at 〈◊〉 their time as I am now And it is memorable that St. Paul who helped on this accusation against St. Steven did after fall under the very same himself Yea but here is a great clamour that I would have brought in Popery I shall answer that more fully by and by In the mean time you knâ—w what the Pharisees said against Christ himself If we let him alone all men will believe in him ET VENIENT ROMANI and the Romans will come and take away both our Place and Nation Here was a causeless cry against Christ that the Romans would come and see how just the Iudgment was they Crucified Christ for fear least the Romans should come and his death was it which brought in the Romans upon them God punishing them with that which they most feared And I pray God this clamour of Venient Romani of which 〈…〉 no cause help not to bring them in For the Pope never had such an harvest in England since the Reformation as he hath now upon the Sects and Divisions that are amongst us In the mean time by Honour and dishonour by good report and evil report as a Deceiver and yet true am I passing through this world 2 Cor. 6.8 Some Particulars also I think it not amiss to speak of And first This I shall be bold to speak of the King our Gracious Soveraign He hath been much traduced also for bringing in of Popery but on my conscience of which I shall give God a very present account I know him to be as free from this Charge as any man living and I hold him to be as sound a Protestant according to the Religion by Law Established as any man in this Kingdom And that he will venture his life as far and as freely for it And I think I do or should know both his affection to Religion and his grounds for it as fully as any man in England The second Particular is concerning this great and Populous City which God bless Here hath been of late a Fashion taken up to gather Hands and then go to the great Court of this Kingdom the Parliament and clamour for Iustice as if that great and wise Court before whom the Causes come which are unknown to many could not or would not do Iustice but at their Appointment A way which may endanger many an Innocent man and pluck his bloud upon their own heads and perhaps upon the Cities also and this hath been lately practiced against my self the Magistrates standing still and suffering them openly to proceed from Parish to Parish without any check God forgive the Setters of this with all my heart I beg it but many well-meaning People are caught by it In St. Stevens case when nothing else would serve they stirred up the People against him and Herod went the same way when he had killed St James yet he would not venture on St. Peter till he found how the other pleased the People But take heed of having your hands full of bloud for there is a time best known to himself when God above other sins makes Inquisition for bloud and when that Inquisition is on foot the Psalmist tells us That God remembers that 's not all He remembers and forgets not the complaint of the poor that is whose bloud is shed by oppression ver 9. Take heed of this It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God but then especially when he is making Inquisition for bloud And with my prayers to avert it I do heartily desire this City to remember the Prophesie that is expressed Jer. 26.15 The third Particular is the poor Church of England It hath flourished and been a shelter to other Neighbouring Churches when storms have driven upon them But alas now it is in a storm it self and God only knows whether or how it shall get out and which is worse thâ—â— the storm from without it is become like an Oak cleft to shivers with wedges made out of its own body and at every cleft Prophaneness and Irreligion is entring in while as Prosper speaks in his second book De vitae contemptu cap. 4. Men that introduce profaneness are cloaked over with the name Religionis Imaginariae of Imaginary Religion for we have lost the substance and dwell too much in opinion and that Church which all the Iesuites Machinations could not ruine is fallen into danger by her own The last Particular for I am not willing to be too long is my self I was born and baptized in the Bosome of the Church of England establâ—â—hed by Law in that Profession I have ever since lived and In that I come nâ—w to die This is no time to dissemble with God least of all in 〈◊〉 of Religion and therefore I desire it may be remembred I â—ave alwaies lived in the Protestant Religion established in England and â— that I come now to dye What clamours and slanders I have endured 〈…〉 to keep an Vniformity in the external Service of God accordinâ— tâ— the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church all men know and I 〈◊〉 abundantly felt Now at last I am accused of High Treason in Parliament a Crime which my soul ever abhorred This Treason was charged to consist of two parts An endeavour to subvert the Laws of the Land and a like endeaâ—our to overthrow the true Protestant Religion established by Law Besides my Answers to the several Charges I protested my innocency in â—oth Houses It was said Prisoners Protestations at the Bar must 〈…〉 taken I can bring no witness of my heart and the inten 〈◊〉 thereof therefore I must come to my Protestation not at the Bar â—ut my Protestation of this hour and instant of my death in which I 〈◊〉 all men will be such charitable Christians as not to think I would 〈◊〉 and dissemble being instantly to give God an account for the truth of 〈…〉 therefore here in the presence of God and