the Peers and People in Parliament it must prove also that the Peers and People can make no Statutes without consent of the Clergy in their Convocation My reason is because such Councils in time of the Saxons were mixt Assemblies consisting as well of Laicks as Ecclesiasticks and the matters there concluded on of a mixt nature also Laws being passed as commonly in them in order to the good Governance of the Commonwealth as Canons for the regulating such things as concerned Religion And these great Councils of the Saxons being divided into two parts in the times ensuing their Clergy did their work by themselves without any Confirmation of the King or Parliament till the Submission of the Clergy to King Henry VIII And if Parliaments did succeed in the place of those great Councils it was because that anciently the Procurators of the Clergy not the Bishops only had their place in Parliament tho neither Peers nor People voted in the Convocations Which being so it is not much to be admired that the Commons repined about the disuse of the general making of Church-Laws as they did in the beginning of the Long Parliament when they voted the proceedings of the Clergy to be prejudicial and destructive to the Fundamental Liberties and Priviledges of the Subject For besides that this repining at the proceedings of any Superiour Court does not make its Acts illegal there is a new memorable passage in the Parliament of the 51. of Edw. III. which will clear this matter which in brief is this The Commons finding themselves agrieved as well with certain Constitutions made by the Clergy in their Synods as with some Laws or Ordinances which were lately passed more to the advantage of the Clergy than the common People put in a Bill to this effect viz. That no Act or Ordinance should from thenceforth be made or granted on the Petition of the said Clergy without consent of the Commons and that the said Commons should not be bound in times to come by any Constitutions made by the Clergy of this Realm for their own advantage to which the Commons of this Realm had not given consent The reason of which is this and 't is worth the marking Car eux ne veulent estre obligez anul de vos Estatuz ne ordinances faits sanz leur Assent i. e. because the Clergy did not think themselves bound as indeed they were not in those times by any Statute Act or Ordinance made without their Assent in the Court of Parliament And besides these precedents already mentioned there is another memorable Convocation in the 4th and 5th years of Philip and Mary in which the Clergy taking notice of an Act of Parliament then newly passed by which the Subjects of the Temporalty having Lands in the yearly value of five pounds and upwards were charged with finding Horse and Armor according to the proportion of their yearly Revenues and Possessions did by their sole Authority in the Convocation impose upon themselves and the rest of the Clergy of this Land the finding of a like number of Horses Armor and other necessaries for the War according to their yearly Income proportion for proportion and rate for rate as by that Statute hath been laid on the Temporal Subjects And this they did by their own sole Authority as was before said ordering the same to be levied on all such as were refractory by Sequestration Deprivation Suspension Excommunication without relating to any subsequent Confirmation by Act of Parliament which they conceived they had no need of Nor did the zeal of our learned Doctor here terminate it was like Aarons Ointment that descended from his Beard to the lowest Skirts and Fringes of his Garments For first as for the Bishops he did not only write for them when their Order flourished but he defended their Function and Honor when their power was expired For that Episcopacy might never revive in this Kingdom its enemies used all possible endeavours to render it odious to all sober and considering Christians And to do that 1. The Bishops were made the cause of the Civil War to which calumny our Doctor answers It s true the Covenanteers called it the Bishops War and gave out that it was raised only to maintain the Hierarchy The truth is Liturgy and Episcopacy were made the occasions but they were not the causes of the War Religion being but the Vizard to disguise the business which Covetousness Sacriledg and Rapine had the greatest hand in But the thing was thus The King being engaged in a War with Spain and yet deserted by those men who engaged him in it was fain to have recourse to such other ways of Assistance as were offered to him But what those ways were will be too tedious to acquaint the Reader with in this place he may better inform himself in the Observations on Master L'Estrange his History 2. Another Engine raised to demolish Episcopacy was to persuade the People that Bishops were an imperious proud sort of men or as Mr. Baxter who was resolved as well to make up the measure of his own Incivilities as of the Bishops Afflictions a Turgid persecuting sort of Prelacy as also that in respect of their Studies they were no way fit for Government or to be Barons in Parliament Unto which the Doctor answers with an old story of a Nobleman in K. Henry VIII's time who told Mr. Pace one of the Kings Secretaries in contempt of Learning That it was enough for Noblemens Sons to Wind their Horn and carry their Hawk fair and leave Learning to the study of mean men To whom Mr. Pace replied Then you and other Noblemen must be content that your Children may wind their Horns and keep their Hawks whilst the Children of mean men do manage matters of State And certainly there can be no reason why men that have been versed in Books studied in Histories and thereby made acquainted with the chiefest Occurrences of most States and Kingdoms should not be thought as fit to manage the Affairs of State as those who spend their time in Hawking or Hunting if not in worse Employments For that a Superinduction of Holy Orders should prove a Supersedeas to all civil prudence is such a wild extravagant fancy as no man of Judgment can allow of And as for the Clergies Pride and Covetousness he thus tells their Accuser How sad their Condition is and under what impossibilities of giving content unto the people For if they keep close and privately and live any thing below their Fortunes the People then cry out O the base sordidness of the Clergy But if according to their means or in any outward lustre then on the other side Oh the pride of the Clergy But tell me Mr. Baxter if you can in what the Turgidness or high swelling pride of the Prelates did appear most visibly Was it in the bravery of their Apparel or in the train of their Attendance or in their Lordly
and the penalties thereunto annexed might be wholly abrogated and annulled But the most remarkable Effort of his zeal for the Church after the Kings Restauration was the Application made by him to the great Minister of State in those days that there might be a Convocation called with the Parliament What good effects were produced by his endeavours in that particular let the Reader judg when he has perused the following Letter with which the Reverend Doctor saluted that powerful Statesman Right Honorable and my very good Lord I Cannot tell how welcome or unwelcome this Address may prove in regard of the greatness of the Cause and the low condition of the Party who negotiates in it But I am apt enough to persuade my self that the honest zeal which moves me to it not only will excuse but endear the boldness There is my Lord a general Speech but a more general Fear withal amongst some of the Clergy that there will be no Convocation called with the following Parliament which if it should be so resolved on cannot but raise sad thoughts in the hearts of those who wish the peace and happiness of our English Sion But being the Bishops are excluded from their Votes in Parliament there is no other way to keep up their Honor and Esteem in the eyes of the people but the retaining of their places in the Convocation Nor have the lower Clergy any other means to shew their duty to the King and keep that little freedom which is left unto them then by assembling in such Meetings where they may exercise the Power of a Convocation in granting Subsidies to his Majesty tho in nothing else And should that Power be taken from them according to the constant but unprecedented practice of the late Long Parliament and that they must be taxed and rated with the rest of the Subjects without their liking and consent I cannot see what will become of the first Article of Magna Charta so solemnly so frequently confirmed in Parliament or what can possibly be left unto them of either of the Rights or Liberties belonging to an English Subject I know 't is conceived by some that the distrust which his Majesty hath in some of the Clergy and the Diffidence which the Clergy have of one another is looked on as the principal cause of the Innovation For I must needs behold it as an Innovation that any Parliament should be called without a meeting of the Clergy at the same time with it The first year of King Edward VI. Qu. Mary and Qu. Elizabeth were times of greater diffidence and distraction than this present Conjuncture And yet no Parliament was called in the beginning of their several Reigns without the company and attendance of the Convocation tho the intendments of the State aimed then at greater alterations in the face of the Church than are now pretended or desired And to say the truth there was no â—anger to be feared from a Convocation tho the times were ticklish and unsettled and the Clergy was divided into Sides and Factions as the case then stood and so stands with us at this present time For since the Clergy in their Coâ—vocations are in no Authothority to propound treat or conclude any thing more than the passing of a Bill of Subsides for his Majesties use until they are impowred by the Kings Commission the King may tie them up for what time he pleases and give them nothing but the opportunity of entertaining one another with the news of the day But if it be objected that the Commission now on foot for altering and explaining certain passages in the Publick Liturgy that either pass instead of a Convocation or else is thought to be neither competable nor consistent with it I hope far better in the one and must profess that I can see no reason in the other For first I hope that the selecting of some few Bishops and other learned men of the lower Clergy to debate on certain Points contained in the Common-Prayer-Book is not intended for a Representation of the Church of England which is a Body more diffused and cannot legally stand bound by their Acts and Counsets And if this Conference be for no other purpose but only to prepare matter for a Convocation as some say it is not why may not such a Conference and Convocation be held both at once For neither the selecting of some learned men out of both the Orders for the composing and reviewing of the two Liturgies digested in the Reign of King Edward VI. proved any hindrance in the calling of those Convocations which were held both in the second and third and in the fifth and sixth of the said Kings Reign Nor was it found that the holding of a Convocation together with the first Parliament under Queen Elizabeth proved any hindrance to that Conference or Disputation which was designed between the Bishops and some learned men of the opposite parties All which considered I do most humbly beg your Lordship to put his Majesty in mind of sending out his Maâ—dates to the two Archâ— Bishops for summoning a Convocation according to the usual Form in their several Provinces that this poor Church may be held with some degree of Veneration both at home and abroad And in the next place I do no less humbly beseech your Lordship to excuse this freedom which nothing but my zeal for Gods glory and my affection to this Church could have forced from me I know how ill this present office does become me and how much fitter it had been for such as shine in a more eminent Sphere in the holy Hiâ—rarchy to have tendered these Particulars to consideration Which since they either have not done or that no visible effect hath appeared thereof I could not chuse but cast my poor Mite into the Treasury which if it may conduce to the Churches good I shall have my wish and howsoever shall be satisfied in point of Conscience that I have not failed of doing my duty to this Church according to the light of my understanding and then what happens unto me shall not be material And thus again most humbly craving pardon for this presumption I kiss your Lordships hands and subscribe my self My Lord Your Lordships most humble Servant to be commanded Peter Heylyn Having thus surveyed the most important Occurrences of Dr. Heylyn's Life I doubt not but every judicious and impartial Reader will be convinced at once of his vast Abilities and Acquirements in the large Circle of Learning and Sciences of his immovable Integrity in the Protestant Religion and of his indefatigable Industry and Service to the just Interests both of the Crown and Mitre For tho I will not say as St. Paul does of his Son Timothy that there was no man like-minded yet no one had more hearty and unbiassed affections no man did more naturally care for this Church and Kingdom than Dr. Heylyn and at that time too when he expected nothing for his
King by whose Special Command he undertook it in a less space of time than four months and had a second Edition within three months after and notwithstanding the polemical Debates upon that Argument there was never any one yet that had the courage to return an Answer to that History And whoever peruses it with serious and unprejudiced thoughts will find that its Author principally designed to withdraw his Country-men from a Iudaical Observation of the Lords day i. e. from Dedicaâ—ing the whole of that time to the services and offices of Religion and refusing to engage in any business which our own or our Neighbors Conveniences or Necessities might exact from us And when all that our voluminous Writers have said upon this Argument is summ'd up together there are none of them but will subscribe to the truth of these two Propositions 1. That worldly cares and bodily Recreations tend very much to discompose and rarifie menâ— spirits and to fill them full of froth and worldliness of gaiety and wantonness so that they cannot fix their thoughts upon Christian Duties with any serious or continued Attention 2. That 't is impossible for the minds of the generality of Christians who are not used to Contemplation to be for a whole Lords day or the greatest part of it intent upon Religious Exercises And besides if all Refreshments and Recreations were absolutely unlawful upon that day poor Servants and the laborious part of mankind would be highly prejudiced for whose benefit the Sabbath was first instituted and appointed No sooner had the Doctor perfected this History but the Dean of Peterborough engages him to answer the Bishop of Lincloln's Letter to the Vicar of Grantham He received it upon Good-Friday and by Thursday night following discovered the Sophistry Mistakes and Falshoods of it and yet did not for all that intermit any of the publick Religious Exercises of the holy Feast of Easter It was approved by the King by him given to the Bishop of London to be Licensed and Published under the Title of A Coal from the Altar In less time then aâ— twelve-month the Bishop of Lincoln writ an Answer to it entituled The Holy Table Name and Thing but pretended it was writ long before by a Minister in Lincolnshire against Dr. Cole a Divine in the days of Queen Mary Our Reverend Doctor received a Massage from his Majesty to return a Reply to it and not in the least to spare the Author April 1. 1637. And he obeyed the Royal Command in the space of seven weeks presenting it ready Printed to the King the 20th of May following and called it Antidotum Lincolniense And although the Bishops Book was from the dissatisfaction of the times the subject-matter of the Book it self and the Religious esteem of the Author who was held in high Veneration looked upon to be unanswerable and sold for no less than 4 s. yet upon the coming out of the answer it was brought to less than one But before this he answered Burtons Seditious Sermon being thereunto also appointed by the King which Book although he dispatch'd in a fortnight yet it was not published till Iune 26. 1637. being kept in readiness till the Execution of the Star-Chamber Sentence upon the Triumviri that so people might be satisfied as well in the greatness of the Crimes as the necessity and justice of the punishment inflicted upon those Offenders In Iuly 1637. the Bishop of Lincoln was Censured in the Star-Chamber for tampering with Witnesses in the Kings Cause being suspended à Beneficio Officio and sent to the Tower where he continued three years and did not in all that space of time hear either Sermon or Publick Prayers Not long after this Dr. Heylyn was chosen Treasurer for the Church of Westminster and continued in that Office all the while of the Bishops Imprisonment and Suspension And he made use of the power with which that place invested him to the best advantage of that Foundation For first he reguâ—ated the Disorders of the Iury by exacting the Sconces or Perdition-money and dividing it amongst those that were most diligent and devout Then he proceeded to repair the Timber-work of the great West Isle which was ready to fall down caused the new Arch over the Preaching-place to be new Valuted and the Roof thereof to be raised to the same heighth with the rest of the Church the Charge whereof amounted to 434 l. 18 s. 10 d. and lastly made the South-side of the lower West-Isle to be new Timbred Boarded and Leaded being fallen into great decay Thrice he assisted in the Election at Westminster-School and every time had an opportunity of bringing in a Scholar into that Royal Foundation for two of which he was never spoke unto and for his kindness unto all three he never had the value of one pint of Wine nor any thing of less moment Whilst he continued Treasurer the Parsonage of Islip became vacant by the Death of Dr. King unto which he was presented by the Chapter But he deferr'd receiving Institution by reason of its great distance from Alresford being advised to exchange it for some other that was more near and convenient After many offers he at last exchanged with Mr. Atkinson of St. Iohns College in Oxon for South-Warnborough which was eight miles distant from his other Living and the perpetual Patronage of which Archbishop Laud had bestowed upon that fore-mentioned Society But that Gentleman enjoyed Islip but a few weeks and those of his College conceiving themselves prejudiced by the change our Doctor was so generous as to obtain for one of the Fellows a second Presentation to Islip for which he never received so much as the least civil Acknowledgment But he had other things to afflict his spirit at that time his whole Family being visited with a contagious Fever and no person in it except one Servant but were all sick at one and the same time The Doctor did as narrowly escape death as St. Paul and his Companions did Shipwrack when they went to Rome The Fever had so seized upon his spirits that after the abatement of its Paroxisms he had many dull and sleepless nights and returning upon him with greater violence a twelve-month after he was reduced to so extreme a weakness that all his Friends together with himself supposed him fallen into a deep Consumption And yet even at this time his mind was not idle or unactive For now it was that he first meditated of a project of Writing a History of the Church of England since the Reformation And no sooner had he recovered some measure and degrees of strength but he prepared materials for it and upon his return to London obtained the freedom of Sir Robert Cotton's Library and by the recommendation of Archbishop Laud had liberty granted him to carry home some of the Books leaving 200 l. apiece as a pawn behind him About this time it was that the Commotions began to be hot
execution there being intended an English Pontifical which was to contain the Form and Manner of the Coronation of King Charles I. and to serve as a standing Rule to succeeding Ages on the like occasions Another Form to be observed by all Archbishops and Bishops for consecrating Churches Church-yards and Chappels And a third for reconciling such Penitents as either had done open Pennance or had revolted from the Faith of Christ to the Law of Mahomet Which three together with the Form of Confirmation and that of ordering Bishops Priests and Deacons which were then in force were to make up the whole Body of the Book intended But the troubles of the times increasing it was thought expedient to defer the prosecution of it till a fitter conjuncture And yet notwithstanding all the storms that were then rising this excellent person went through the Book of Articles the compiling of which gave no obstruction to him from attending the service of the Committee upon all occasions And for the better Authorizing of the Articles he placed before every one of them in the Margin the Canon Rubrick Law Injunction or other Authentick Evidence upon which they were grounded Which being finished were by him openly read in the House and by the House approved and passed without any alteration only that exegatical or explanatory clause in the fourth Article of the fourth Chapter touching the reading of the Communion-Service at the Lords Table was desired by some to be omitted which was done accordingly Finally it was Dr. Heylyn who proposed a Canon for enjoyning the said Book to be only used in Parochial Visitations for the better settling of Uniformity in the outward Government and Administration of the Church and for preventing of such just Grievances as might be laid upon the Church-Wardens and other sworn men by any impertinent inconvenient or illegal Enquiries in the Articles for Ecclesiastical Visitations Neither were these the only Fruits of his labours and travels in this business there being six Subsidies granted to the King and the Bishops and Clergy in Convocation upon the 20th of May received his Majesties Letters Sealed with his Royal Signet and attested by his Sign Manual which required and authorized them to proceed in making Synodical Constitutions for levying of those Subsidies which had been before granted And this was easily done there being nothing to be altered but the changing of the name of Subsidy into that of Benevolence Friday May 29. the Canons were formally subscribed unto by the Bishops and Clergy no one dissenting except the Bishop of Glocester who died in the Communion of the Roman Church and was all that part of his life in which he revolted from the Church of England a dear Favourite and Servant of Oliver Cromwel unto whom he dedicated some of his Books for which he was voted worthy of Suspension by the Convocation and was accordingly Suspended by the Archbishop of Canterbury Which being done the Convocation was dissolved Proceed we now from the Active to the more Passive part of Dr. Heyly's life For the Long Parliament the Churches as well as the Kings Scourge began to sit at Westminster and a general Rumor was spread both in City and Country that our Doctor being conscious to himself of many Crimes durst not stand the brunt of their displeasure and therefore had made use of his heels as his best weapons of defence being run away out of a fear and foresight of an approaching storm When these rumors were raised he was at his Parsonage of Alresford from whence he hastened with all conveniâ—nt speed confuting the Calumny by shewing himself the very next day after his coming to London in his Gown and Tippet in Westminster-Hall And upon a Vote passed in the House of Lords that no Bishop should be of the Committee for the Preparatory Examinations in the Cause of the Earl of Strafford under colour that they were excluded from acting in it by some antient Canons as in cause of Blood our learned Divine did thereupon draw up a brief Discourse entituled De jure Paritatis Episcoporum now inserted in the Re-printed Volume of his Works which he presented unto many of the Bishops to assert all their Rights of Peerage and this of being of that Committee among the rest which either by Law or antient custom did belong unto them The Parliament began their Session Novemb. 3. 1640. and upon the 9th of December following upon the Complaint of Mr. Pryn our Doctor was called before the Committee of the Courts of Justice who accosted him with that fierce fury that no one could have withstood the Torrent but one whose Soul was fortified with Innocence equal to his Courage The Crime objected against him was that he had been a subservient Instrument under the Archbishop of Canterbury all the sufferings of Mr. Pryn having read the Histriomastix out of which he had furnished the Lords of the Council and many other persons with matter to proceed against its Author But our Doctor made a bold and just Defence for himself telling his Accusers That the Task was imposed upon him by Royal Authority which he would readily prove if they would have so much patience as to allow him time for that purpose Great hopes they had to squeeze something out of him concerning his being engaged in it by the Archbishop but he was too wary to be ensnared by any of their Artifices and being faithful to his Friend and Patron was kept four days under Examination suffering for the two first the brutish Rage of the People more perhaps than St. Paul did at Ephesus for that blessed man did not adventure himself amongst those Savages But our poor Doctor was tossed up and down by the fury of an ungovern'd multitude and railed at as he passed through them by their leud and ungoverned tongues But God who sets bounds to the Waves of the proud Ocean rebuked their rage and rescued him from their malice But alas what civility can be expected from the ill-bred Rabble unto Clergy-men when they themselves like the Eagle in the Greek Apologue wound one another with Arrows feathered with their own Plumes For four days after he had received order to appear before the Committee he preach'd his turn in the Abbey at Westminster and in the midst of his Sermon was insufferably affronted by the Bishop of Lincoln who knocking the Pulpit with his Staff cried out aloud No more of that Point No more of that Point Peter This happened to the poor man in very ill circumstances for it occasioned new clamours and animated his enemies to proceed on with greater violence against him But notwithstanding all their united malice he held out bravely sending the whole passage of his Sermon as he designed to Preach it both to his Friends at Court and Enemies in Parliament and taking Sir Robert Filmore with some other Gentlemen that were his Auditors out of the Church along with him to his House where he immediately sealed
Port or lofty looks or in all or in none Admitting the most and worst you can of these particulars would you have men that shine in a higher Orb move in a lower Sphere than that in which God has placed them Or being rank'd in Order and Degree about you would you not have them keep that distance which belongs to their Places Or because you affect a Parity in the Church would you have all men brought to the same Level with your self without admitting Sub and Supra in the Scale of Government If they were your Fathers in God why did not you look upon them with such reverence as becomes Children If your Superiors in the Lord why did not you yield them that subjection which was due unto them If fix'd in Place and Power above you by the Laws of the Land only and no more than so why did not you give obedience to those Laws under which you lived and by which you were to be directed Take heed I beseech you Mr. Baxter that more Spiritual Pride be not found in that heart of yours than ever you found worldly and external Pride in any of my Lords the â—â—â—hops and that you do not trample on them with greater insolence Calco platonis Fastum sed majori Fastu as you know who said in these unfortunate days of their Calamity than ever they expressed toward any in the time of their Glory Were it my case as it is yours I would not for ten thousand worlds depart this life before I had obtained their pardon and given satisfaction to the world for these horrible Scandals 3. As for those persons that were heartily affected with Episcopacy and dissatisfied with the extinction of an Order so sacred and venerable there was this way found out to quiet their diâ—contents viz. to persuade them that Bishops and Presbyters were of equivolent importance and comprehended under the same name in the Holy Scriptures But grant says this their Champion that they be so who that pretends to Logick can dispute so lamely as from a Community of names to infer an Identity or Sameness in the thing so named Kings are called Gods in Holy Scripture and God does frequently call himself by the name of King yet if a man should thence infer that from this Community of names there arises an Identity or Sameness between God and the King he might worthily be condemned for so great a Blasphemer St. Peter calls our Saviour Christ by the name of Bishop and himself a Presbyter or Priest or an Elder as we unhandsomly read it yet were it a sorry piece of Logick to conclude from hence that there is no distinction between an Apostle and an Elder the Prince of the Apostles and a simple Presbyter or between Christ the Supreme Pastor of his Church and every ordinary Bishop Lastly take it for granted that Bishops have an Identity or Sameness in Name Office Ordination and Qualification with Presbyters it will not follow convertibly that Presbyters have the like Identity or Sameness of Qualification Ordination Name and Office which the Bishop hath My reason is because a Bishop being first Regularly and Canonically to be made a Priest before he take the Order and Degree of a Bishop hath in him all the Qualifications the Ordination Name and Office which a Presbyter has and something further superadded as well in point of Order and Iurisdiction which every Presbyter hath not So that altho every Bishop be a Priest or Presbyter yet every Presbyter is not a Bishop To make this clear by an example in the Civil Government When Sir Robert Cecil Knight and principal Secretary of State was made first Earl of Salisbury and then Lord Treasurer continuing Knight and Secretary as he was before it might be said that he had an Identity or Sameness in Name Office Order and Qualification with Sir Iohn Herbert the other Secretary yet this could not be said reciprocally of Sir Iohn Herbert because there was something superadded to Sir Robert Cecil viz. the Dignity of an Earl and the Office of Lord Treasurer which the other had not So true is that of Lactantius Adeo argumenta ex absurdo petita ineptos habent exitus It is ordinary for Arguments built upon weak grounds to have worse Conclusions And a better Instance cannot be given of this than in the Retortion that Mr. Selden made to one in the House of Commons who disputed against the Divine Right of Episcopacy His argument was this 1. That Bishops are Iure Divino is of Question 2. That Archbishops are not Iure Divino is out of Question 3. That Ministers are Iure Divino there is no Question Now if Bishops which are questioned whether Iure Divino shall Suspend Ministers which are Iure Divino I leave it to you Mr. Speaker Which Mr. Selden whether with greater Wit or Scorn is hard to say thus retorted on him 1. That the Convocation is Iure Divino is a Question 2. That Parliaments are not Iure Divino is out of Question 3. That Religion is Iure Divino is no Question Now Mr. Speaker that the Convocation which is questioned whether Iure Divino and Parliaments which out of Question are not Iure Divino should meddle with Religion which questionless is Iure Divino I leave to you Mr. Speaker There are some other Points relating to Episcopacy which Dr. Heylyn has long time since cleared and determined And if some of our pretending States-men had considered and read what was written upon those Subjects their time and pains would have been more profitably spent to the honor and security of this Church and Kingdom than in raising doubts and scruples which had long before been so clearly stated and resolved For 1. As for Bishops sitting in Parliament to Vote in Causes of Blood and Death this the Doctor evinced not only in the Tract entituled De Iure paritatis Episcoporum but in his Observations upon Mr. L'Estrange's History where he says that altho the ancient Canons disable Bishops from Sentencing any man to Death yet they do not from being Aâ—sistants in such cases from taking Examinations hearing Depositions of Witnesses or giving Counsel in such matters as they saw occasion The Bishops sitting as Peers in the English Parliament were never excluded from the Earl of Strafford's Trial from any such Assistances as by their Gravity and Learning and other Abilities they were enabled to give in any dark and difficult business tho of Blood and Death which were brought before them 2. With the like solid reasoning the Doctor has evinced the Bishops to be one of the Three Estates For not to mention what he says upon this Argument in his Stumbling-Block of Disobedience That they have their Vote in Parliament as a Third Estate not in capacity of Temporal Barons altho they are so as Mr. Selden evinces and an Act of Parliament Stat. 25. Edw. III. will evidently appear from these following Reasons For
first the Clergy in all other Christian Kingdoms of these North-West Parts make the Third Estate that is to say in the German Empire as appears by Thuanus the Historian lib. 2. In France as is affirmed by Paulus Aemilius lib. 9. In Spain as testifieth Bodinus de Republ lib. 3. For which also consult the general History of Spain as in point of practice lib. 9 10 11 14. In Hungary as witnesseth Bonfinius Decl. 2. lib. 1. In Poland as is verified by Thuanus also l. 56. In Denmark as Pontanus tells us in Historia rerum Danicarum l. 7. The Swedes observing anciently the same Form and Order of Government as was used by the Danes The like we find in Cambden for the Realm of Scotland in which anciently the Lords Spiritual viz. Bishops Abbots and Priors made the Third Estate And certainly it was very strange if the Bishops and other Prelates in the Realm of England being a great and powerful Body should move in a lower Sphere in England than they do elsewhere But 2dly Not to stand only upon probable inferences we find first in History touching the Reign and Acts of Henry V. That when his Funerals were ended the Three Estates of the Realm of England did assemble together and declared his Son King Henry VI. being an Infant of eight Months old to be their Sovereign Lord as his Heir and Successor And if the Lords Spiritual did not then make the Third Estate I would fain know who did Secondly The Petition tendred to Richard Duke of Glocester to accept the Crown occurring in the Parliament Rolls runs in the name of the Three Estates of the Realm that is to say the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons thereof Thirdly In the said Parliament of the said Rich. Crowned King it is said expresly That at the request and by the consent of the Three Estates of this Realm that is to say the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of this Land Assembled in this present Parliament and by Authority of the same it be Pronounced Decreed and Declared That our Sovereign Lord the King was and is the very and undoubted King of this Realm of England c. Fourthly It is acknowledged in the Statute of 1. Eliz. c. 3. where the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in that Parliament Assembled being said expresly and in terminis to represent the Three Estates of this Realm of England did recognize the Queens Majesty to be their true lawful and undoubted Sovereign Liege Lady and Queen Add unto these the Testimony of Sir Edward Cooke tho a private person who in his Book of the Iurisdiction of Courts published by Order of the Long Parliament c. 1. doth expresly say That the Parliament consists of the Head and the Body that the Head is the King that the Body is the Three Estates viz. the Lords Spiritual Temporal and the Commons In which words we have not only the Opinion and Testimony of that learned Lawyer but the Authority of the Long Parliament also tho against it self I hope the perusal of these things will be no less acceptable to the sober Reader than the transcribing of them has been unto my self which I have done to the end as well of informing my Country-men about the Rights of the Crown and Privileges of the Church and Clergy as to shew that Dr. Heylyn had a zeal according unto knowledg and was not less zealous for knowledge-sake And the Doctor having thus stood up in the defence of Monarchy and Hierarchy both in their prosperous and adverse condition when the black Cloud was dispelled and a fair Sun-shine began to dawn upon these harrassed and oppressed Islands by the Return of his Sacred Majesty this excellent man having in his mind Tullies Resolution Defendi Rempub. Adolescens non deseram Senex thought it unbecoming him to desert the Church in any of its pressing needs and therefore when the door of Hope began to open he busied his active and searching mind in finding out several expedients for the restoring and securing of its Power and Privileges in future Ages against the attempts of Factious and Sacrilegious men And the first thing that he engaged in was to draw up several Papers and tender them to those Persons in Authrority who in the days of Anarchy and Oppression had given the most signal Testimonies of their Affection to the Church In which Papers he first shewed what Alterations Explanations c. were made in the Publick Liturgy in the Reigns of King Edward VI. Queen Elizabeth and King Iames that so those who were intrusted with so sacred a Depositum might be the better enabled to proceed in the Alteration and enlargement of it as they afterward did and as it now stands by Law Established in this Church Secondly Whereas in the first year of King Edward VI. it was enacted that all Arch-Bishops Bishops c. should make their Processes Writings and Instruments in the Kings name and not under their own Names which Act was afterward extended unto Ordinations as appears by the Form of a Testimonial extant in Sanders's Seditious Book De Schismate Anglicano and whereas the Act was repealed in the last year of Queen Mary and did stand so repealed all the Reign of Queen Elizabeth but was by the activity of some and the incogitancy of others revived again in the first year of King Iames but lay dorment all the Reign of that Prince and during the first ten years of King Charles I. after which it was endeavoured to be set on foot by some disturbers of the Publick Peace upon which the King having it under the hand of his Judges that the proceedings of the Arch-Bishops Bishops c. were not contrary to the Laws of the Land inserted their Judgment about it in a Proclamation for indemnifying the Bishops and the satisfying of his loving Subjects in that Point therefore Dr. Heylyn considering that what the Judges did was extrajudicial and that the Kings Proclamation expired at his Death solicited the concerns of the Church in this Affair viz. that the Act so pasâ—ed as before is said in the first of King Iames might be repealed that so the Bishops might proceed as formerly in the exercise of their Jurisdiction without fear or danger Thirdly Whereas in the 16. year of Charles I. there passed an Act that no Arch-Bishop Bishop c. should minister any Corporal Oath unto any Church-Warden Sideman or any other person whatsoever with many other things whereby the whole Episcopal Jurisdiction was subverted except Canonical Obedience only and all proceedings in Courts Ecclesiastical in Causes Matrimonial Testamentory c. were weakened and all Episcopal Visitations were made void as to the ordinary Punishments of Heresie Schism Non-conformity Incest Adultery and other Crimes of Ecclesiastical Cognizance therefore Dr. Heylyn stated the Case and in a Petition drawn up by him prayed that for the restoring of the Episcopal Jurisdiction the Clauses of that Act