of Christ are inabled to govern well to speak and exhort and rebuke with all Authority to loose such as are Penitent to commit others unto the Lord's Prison until their amendment or to bind them over unto the Judgment of the Great Day if they shall persist in their wilfulness and obstinacy By the other Princes have an imperious power assigned by God unto them for the defence of such as do well and executing revenge and wrath upon such as do evil whether by death or banishment or confiscation of goods or imprisonment according to the quality of the offence When St. Peter that had the Keys committed unto him made bold to draw the Sword he was commanded to put it up as a weapon that he had no authority to meddle withal And on the other side when Uzziah the King would venture upon the execution of the Priest's Office it was said unto him It pertaineth not unto thee Uzziah to burn incense unto the Lord but to the Priests the Sons of Aaron that are Consecrated to burn incense Let this therefore be our second Conclusion That the power of the Sword and of the Keys are two distinct Ordinances of God and that the Prince hath no more Authority to enter upon the execution of any part of the Priest's Function than the Priest hath to intrude upon any part of the Office of the Prince In the third place we are to observe That the power of the Civil Sword the supreme managing whereof belongeth to the King alone is not to be restrained unto Temporal Causes only but is by Gods Ordinance to be extended likewise unto all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Things and Causes That as the spiritual Rulers of the Church do exercise their kind of Government in bringing men unto obedience not of the duties of the first Table alone which concerneth Piety and the Religious Service which man is bound to perform unto his Creator but also of the second which respecteth moral honesty and the Offices that man doth owe unto man so the Civil Magistrate is to use his Authority also in redressing the abuses committed against the first Table as well as against the second that is to say as well in punishing of an Heretick or an Idolater or a Blasphemer as of a Thief or a Murtherer or a Traytor and in providing by all good means that such as live under his Government may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all piety and honesty And howsoever by this means we make both Prince and Priest to be in their several places Custodes utriusque Tabulae Keepers of both God's Tables yet do we not hereby any way confound both of their Offices together For though the matter wherein their Government is exercised may be the same yet is the form and manner of governing therein always different the one reaching to the outward man only the other to the inward the one binding or loosing the Soul the other laying hold on the Body and the things belonging thereunto the one having special reference to the Judgment of the World to come the other respecting the present retaining or losing of some of the comforts of this life That there is such a Civil Government as this in Causes Spiritual or Ecclesiastical no man of judgment can deny For must not Heresie for example be acknowledged to be a cause meerly Spiritual or Ecclesiastical And yet by what power is an Heretick put to death The Officers of the Church have no Authority to take away the life of any man it must be done therefore per brachium saeculare and consequently it must be yielded without contradiction that the temporal Magistrate doth exercise therein a part of his Civil Government in punishing a Crime that is of its own nature Spiritual or Ecclesiastical But here it will be said the words of the Oath being general That the King is the only Supreme Governor of this Realm and of all other his Highness's Dominions and Countries How may it appear that the power of the Civil Sword only is meant by that Government and that the power of the Keys is not comprehended therein I answer First That where a Civil Magistrate is affirmed to be the Governor of his own Dominions and Countries by common intendment this must needs be understood of a Civil Government and may in no reason be extended to that which is meerly of another kind Secondly I say That where an ambiguity is conceived to be in any part of an Oath it ought to be taken according to the understanding of him for whose satisfaction the Oath was ministred Now in this case it hath been sufficiently declared by publick Authority That no other thing is meant by the Government here mentioned but that of the Civil Sword only For in the Book of Articles agreed upon by the Arch-Bishops and Bishops and the whole Clergy in the Convocation holden at London Anno 1562. thus we read Where we attribute to the Queen's Majesty the chief Government by which Titles we understand the minds of some slanderous folks to be offended we give not to our Princes the ministring either of God's Word or of the Sacraments the which thing the Injuctions also lately set forth by Elizabeth our Queen do most plainly testifie but that only Prerogative which we see to have been given always to all Godly Princes in holy Scriptures by God himself that is That they should rule all Estates and Degrees committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal and restrain with the Civil Sword the stubborn and evil doers If it be here objected that the Authority of the Convocation is not a sufficient ground for the exposition of that which was enacted in Parliament I answer That these Articles stand confirmed not only by the Royal assent of the Prince for the establishing of whose Supremacy the Oath was framed but also by a special Act of Parliament which is to be found among the Statutes in the thirteenth year of Queen Elizabeth chap. 12. Seeing therefore the makers of the Law have full Authority to expound the Law and they have sufficiently manifested That by the supreme Government given to the Prince they understand that kind of Government only which is exercised with the Civil Sword I conclude that nothing can be more plain than this That without all scruple of Conscience the King's Majesty may be acknowledged in this sense to be the only Supreme Governor of all his Highness's Dominions and Countries as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical things or causes as Temporal And so have I cleared the first main branch of the Oath I come now unto the Second which is propounded Negatively That no foreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Preheminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm The foreigner that challengeth this Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Jurisdiction over us
labours I rest Your very loving and thankful Friend Edward Browncker From Wadham Colledge Septemb. 11. 1620. LETTER XLI A Letter from the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop-elect of Meath to the most Reverend Dr. Hampton Arch-Bishop of Armagh My very good Lord I Received yesterday your Grace's Letter whereby I understand how unadvisedly the Bishop of Clogher entred into contestation with your Lordship for the exercise of his Jurisdiction and laboured to turn your particular favour toward me to his own advantage whereat I was not a little grieved It was far from my meaning ever to oppose either your Archiepiscopal right or the duties of your Register for the time present much less for the time to come The difference betwixt the Registers is by their mutual consent referred to the determination of my L. Chancellor before whom let them plead their own Cause I mean not to intermeddle with it The exercising of the Jurisdiction hitherto cannot be justified by taking out a Commission now from your Lordship But seeing what hath been done herein cannot now be undone I will thus far shew my respect unto your Metropolitical Authority that whensoever the matter shall be called in question I will profess that what I have done in the exercising of the Jurisdiction I have done it by your special Licence without which I would not have meddled with it And for the time to come I have given order to my Commissary that he shall proceed no farther but presently surcease from dealing any way in the Jurisdiction that no occasion may be left whereby it might be thought that I stood upon any right of mine own to the derogation of any point of your Archiepiscopal Authority And thus much for my self As for my Lord of Clogher howsoever I be none of his Council yet the respect and duty which I owe unto you as unto my Father forceth me to wish That your Grace would seriously deliberate of this business before you bring it unto a publick Tryal For then I fear the matter will be determined not by Theological Argumentations of the power of the Keys but by the power of the King's Prerogative in Causes Ecclesiastical and the Laws of the Land If my Lord of Clogher's Council told him that he might challenge the exercising of his Jurisdiction as an incident to that which he had already received from the King It is certain that in his Letters Patents the Bishoprick is granted unto him Una cum omnibus Juribus Jurisdictionibus Prerogativis Preeminentiis Allocationibus Commoditatibus Privilegiis tam spiritualibus quà m temporalibus with a Mandamus directed Universis singulis Archiepiscopis Episcopis Decanis Archidiaconis Officialibus Commissariis Rectoribus Vicariis Presbyteris aliis personis Ecclesiasticis quibuscunque quatenus ipsum Episcopum ejus Officiarios tam spirituales quà m temporales Episcopatum proedictum habere percipere gubernare gaudere disponere permittant And howsoever if the matter were to be disputed in the Schools he peradventure might obtain the victory who did defend That Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical doth issue from the Keys not from the Sword Yet I doubt me when the case cometh to be argued in the King's Court he will have the advantage that hath the Sword on his side and standeth to maintain the King's Prerogative Again by the Statute of 2 Eliz. whereby Congedelires are taken away he that hath the King's Letters Patents for a Bishoprick is put in the same state as if he were Canonically both Elected and Confirmed Now howsoever by the Law a Bishop barely elected can do little or nothing yet the Canonists do clearly resolve that he who is both Elected and Confirmed may exercise all things that appertain to Jurisdiction although he may not meddle with matters of Ordination until he receive his Consecration Lastly I would intreat your Lordship to consider when the See of Armagh becometh void as sometimes it hath been for two or three years together in whom doth the exercise of the Archiepiscopal Jurisdiction remain Doth it not in the Dean and Chapter of Armagh If a Dean then who is but simplex Presbyter without receiving Commission from any other Bishop is by the custom of the Land capable in this case of Episcopal Jurisdiction What should make him that is elected and confirmed a Bishop to be uncapable of the same I speak now only of the Law and ancient Customs of the Realm by which I take it this matter if it come to question must be tryed All which I humbly submit unto your Graces grave consideration protesting notwithstanding for mine own particular that I will not only for the time to come cease to exercise the Jurisdiction of the proceeding further wherein I see no great necessity before my Consecration but also willingly herein submit my self unto any course that your Lordship shall be further pleased to prescribe unto me There is at this time in Dublin neither Civilian nor Register with whom I might advise touching the matter of the Dilapidation My Lord Chancellor offered to grant if I pleased a Commission out of the Chancery for the inquiry hereof But I considered with my self that this business was more proper for the Archiepiscopal Court whereof I remembred that famous President of William Wickham Bishop of Winchester who sued the Executors of his Predecessor in the Court of William Witlesey Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and recovered against him 127 afros 1556 boves 3876 mutones 4717 oves matrices 3521 agnos 1662 libras cum 10 solidis pro reparatione Aedificiorum ad ruinas vergentium as in the Register of the said Witlesey is yet to be seen I will cause Mr. Ford to draw up my Libel in the best manner he can and then expect the issuing of the Commission with all convenient expedition For it behoveth me that the inquiry of the Dilapidations be returned before I go in hand with the reparation and that I must do very shortly though upon mine own charges unless I will see the house fall quite down the next Winter I humbly thank your Grace for your remembrance of me in the matter Armagh For howsoever I conceive very little hope that I shall ever enjoy that Deanry yet am I nothing the less beholding unto you for your care of me for which and for all the rest of your honourable favours I must always remain Your Graces in all Duty to be Commanded James Usher Dublin July 11. 1621. LETTER XLII A Letter from the most Reverend Dr. Hampton Arch-Bishop of Armagh to the Right Reverend James Usher Bishop of Meath Salutem in Christo. I Thank your Lordship for your care and respect of me as likewise your counsel that I should be well advised ere I brought the matter of Jurisdiction into publick Tryal I truly have not cause to complain but if the Bishop of Clogher or any other think themselves wronged that I give not way to the exercise of his Jurisdiction until he be
forma P. 14. l. 1. r. tristissimam l. 20. f. ex r. l. 35. r. quassatas l. 37. ocellus P. 16. l. 5. r. audacia l. 18. r. tentatas ADVERTISEMENT LEtter 3. was from an imperfect Copy of the Bishops The Marginal Note p. 4 and 417. and so often after is Bishop Ushers The Letters mentioned p. 511. l. ult are in the Appendix p. 7 and 9. Letter 229. should be placed after Letter 230. and Letter 232. should be before Letter 226. Letter 247. should be placed at p. 510. and the Letters p. 599 c. should be placed about An. 1615. when U. A. B. was Bishop of Meath The skilful Reader will perceive that often 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are confounded as p. 359 c. and we must be forced to remit the Hebrew Letters to his Correction the faults being too many to be here inserted The Book being printed at different Presses there is a mis-paging page 92. to which succeeds pag. 301. but without any defect in the Book William Juxon Bishop of London and Lord High Treasurer in a Letter Anno 1639. 1 Tim. 3. 15 16. Vide ejus Praefat. ad Britanno-Machiam c. * Which was the Title he intended to give these Collections Dr. Heylin 's Respondet Petrus St. Augustine's Confession lib. 6. cap. 3. a 1 Pet. 2. 13 14. b Joh. 20. 23. c 1 Tim. 5. 17. d Tit. 2. 15. e Matth. 16. 19. 18. 18. f Rom. 13. 4. g Ezra 7. 26. h Mat. 26. 52. i 2 Chron. 26. 18. k 1 Tim. 2. 2. * As on the other side that a Spiritual or Ecclesiastical government is exercised in causes Civil or Temporal For is not Excommunication a main part of Ecclesiastical government and Forest laws a special branch of causes Temporal yet we see in Sententiâ lat â super chartas anno 12. R. H. 3. that the Bishops of England pronounce a solemn sentence of Excommunication against the-infringers of the liberties contained in Chartâ de Forestâ l Mark 16. 15. m Act. 1. 25 26. Matth. 22. 21. Mal. 3. 8. See Mr. Davis's Letter from Aleppo where the MSS. are specified Vid. Marm. Arundel Edit Lond. Praefat in Bibl. Polyglot * Vide Respondet Petrus Sect. IX Ibid. Sect. XII * In the Life of Arch-Bishop Laud. Blondellus 2 Cor. 11. * See His Majesty's Message sent by Capt. Titus 1648. And Whitlock's Mem. p. 337. See his Majesty's Message by Major Cromwal 21. Nov. 1648. See his Message by Sir Peter Killigrew in Whitlock's Mem. p. 339. P. 141. Edit Magut 1648. Ib. pag. 138. Pag. 166. Ro. 13. 1 2. * Mr. James Tyrrel †Before the late Edition of the Body of Divinity Col. 3. 12. †Drawn by Mr. Lilly after Knighted Eccles. 11. 7. Jam. 3. 17. Dr. Heylin 's Respondet Petrus Not. ad Mat. 6. Observat. in Willeram pag. 248. Praefat in Caedâ—â— Pag. 14. Ib. Sect. 7. Resp. Pet. Sect. 10. The Lord Primat's Judgment * He adds the word real which is not in the Latin vid. Dr Burnet 's Hist. of the Reformation Part 2. p. 405. Answer to the Jesuits Challenge See the places cited at large in the Book p. 118. P. 127. P. 128. P. 135 Lev. 13. P. 136. Bellarmin de Poenitent lib. 3. cap. 2. sect ult P. 137. P. 119. P. 123. That all the antient forms of Absolution in the Greek Church were till of late only declarative or optative and always in the 3d not first person See Dr. Smith 's learned Account of the Gr. Church p. 180 181. Respon Petrus Sect. 10. § 7. P. 287 288. P. 341. P. 342. P. 343. P. 345 346. P. 310. * Vid. Jobi Ludolfi lib. 311. c. 5. 19. Hist. Aethiop * Qui mihi ad sedem Armachanam translato anno 1625. in Midensi Episcopatu successit anno 1650. mortem obiit * Of these Fulgentius Ferrandus seemeth to be one in Dionysius his Days for he never citeth those Canons * Unless in the 5th Canon of the fifth Council of Carthage of which we may further inquire * There are more * Also of the Councils Antioch Laodicen Constantinopolit Ephes. Chalcedon * In Codice Moguntino are 14. * Edit Colon. An. 1551. †Edit Venet. An. 1585. But so in Notitia Episc. Galliae propetiâ—â—m * Hec praesatio extat in Edit per Crab. p. 328. * From Turrian vid. Epist. Pontif Arabic Nomo-Canonum * Another Collector Canon Caroli M. Temporib in 3 Tom. rerum Alamannicarum Goldasti XII Vid. Summam Gratian Cod. 37. qu. 1. c. 9. 10. ex Codice Canâ—num Bernardinus de Biâ—sto in Marcul part 12. Ser. 2. de Coronatione Mariae Lit. V. 1 Aera Dhilkarnain est 2 x apud Albategnium viz. 2 Potiùs 9. 3 Quod caput est arae Dhilk. 4 Quod caput est Hegirae * i. e. aequabiles †complito ‖ 287. Crus pag. 35. * 1205 anni die 297. in anno aequabili ineunte verò an 1206. qui hic intelligitur ut ex collatione Eclipsis luminaris liquet †Vagis non fixis ‖ For though it did well agree with the observation of the Aequinoctial yet it cannot with the first Lunar Eclipse which was in the same year 1194. †i. e. Jul. esse diem 365 sed Alkept non diffâ—rt à Juliano quod etiam provâ—tur ex aerâ Philippicâ in Historiâ mescella * Aegyptiae †i. e. Julian * Why of the Flight rather than of the Ostracism which he principally relates in that place †Thucydides tamen in Attica clà m humatum dicit reserente Attico apud Cic. in Brut. ‖ But that was anno 40. Olymp. 75. according to Diodorus * But he saith that he was made Admiral Archonte Demotione though Plutarch doth make him Admiral before that Pag. 96. * Upon Eusebius's Chronicle 1800 Of the other side * He stiles him Gildas Sapiens also as Bishop Usher noted in the margin M S S. Vid. Abb. c. Qualiter tit de electo electi potestate c. Avaritiae in 6. Gregor Tholosan in Syntagm utriusque Juris alios passim * Tom. 5. Biblioth Patr. Part 1. p. 171. Edit Colon. Your Lordship may by private Instructions and his discretion free your self of this fear Mat. 4. 19. Prov. 11. 30. Mat. 13. 48. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark 7. 11. * M. Tract Fund 1. c. 3. §. 9 †M. Tr. Fund 2. c. 10. §. 4. ‖ M. Tr. Fund c. 9. §. 1. * M. Tr. Repent c. 5. §. 1 2 3 4 c. †M. Tr. Repent c. 8. §. 7. c. 9. §. 2. 1 John 5. 20. * M. Tr. Repent cap. 7. §. 6. Luke 3. 27. John 6. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Cor. 1. 22. * M. Tr. Repent cap. 3. §. 3. I would then wast hot or cold but seeing thou art lukewarm I will spuâ— thee out of my mouth
God bless you and whatever you undertake so I rest Your Lordship's most Affectionate Friend Ol. Grandisone Dublin 3 Feb. 1620. But before his going over and while Bishop Elect a Parliament was Convened at Westminster and began Feb. 1 st 1620. and I find this passage among some of his Memorandums of that time viz. I was appointed by the Lower House of Parliament to preach at St. Margarets Westminster Feb. 7. the Prebends claimed the priviledge of the Church and their exemption from Episcopal Jurisdiction for many hundred years and offered their own Service Whereupon the House being displeased appointed the place to be at the Temple I was chosen a second time And Secretary Calvert by the appointment of the House spake to the King that the choice of their Preacher might stand The King said It was very well done Feb. 13 th being Shrove-Tuesday I dined at Court and betwixt 4 and 5 I kiss'd the King's hand and had conference with him touching my Sermon He said I had charge of an unruly Flock to look unto the next Sunday He asked me how I thought it could stand with true Divinity that so many hundred should be tyed upon so short warning to receive the Communion upon a day all could not be in Charity after so late contentions in the House Many must needs come without Preparation and eat their own Condemnation That himself required all his whole Houshold to receive the Communion but not all the same day unless at Easter when the whole Lent was a time of Preparation He bad me to tell them I hoped they were all prepared but wished they might be better To exhort them to Unity and Concord To love God first and then their Prince and Country To look to the urgent necessities of the Times and the miserable state of Christendom with Bis dat qui citò dat Feb. 10 th The first Sunday in Lent I preached at St. Margarets to them And Feb. 27 th the House sent Sir James Perrot and Mr. Drake to give me thanks and to desire me to print the Sermon which was done accordingly the Text being upon the first of the Cor. 10. 17. For we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread This Sermon was printed by the desire of the House and with one more preached before the King at Wansted Jan. 20. 1624. upon Eph. 4. 13. concerning the unity of the Catholick Faith were all the Sermons I can find to have been published by his allowance But the Lord Bishop Elect returning some time after into Ireland was there Consecrated by Dr. Hampton then Lord Primate assisted with some other of the Bishops and being thus advanced to the Episcopal Degree his Province and Imployment might be altered but not his mind nor humble temper of Spirit Neither did he cease to turn as many as he could from Darkness to Light from Sin and Satan to Christ by his Preaching Writing and Exemplary Life observing that which St. Augustine said of St. Ambrose Et eum quidem in populo verbum veritatis recte tractantem omni die Dominico audiebam Magis Magisque mihi confirmabat c. That he handled the Word of God unto the People every Lord's Day About this time some violent Papists of Quality happened to be censured in the Castle-Chamber at Dublin for refusing to take the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance upon this occasion the State ordered the Bishop of Meath on the day of the Sentence to make a Speech to them as well to inform their Consciences of the Lawfulness of it as of the great penalties they would undergo if they persisted to refuse it Which he performed in a Learned Discourse and highly approved of by His Majesty Which was as follows A Speech delivered in the Castle-Chamber at Dublin November 22 th 1622. At the Censuring of certain Officers concerning the Lawfulness of taking and danger of refusing the Oath of Supremacy WHat the danger of the Law is for refusing this Oath hath been sufficiently opened by my Lords the Judges and the quality and quantity of that offence hath been aggravated to the full by those that have spoken after them The part which is most proper for me to deal in is the information of the Conscience touching the truth and equity of the matters contained in the Oath which I also have made choice the rather to insist upon because both the form of the Oath it self requireth herein a full resolution of the Conscience as appeareth by those words in the very beginning thereof I do utterly testifie and declare in my Conscience c. and the persons that stand here to be censured for refusing the same have alledged nothing in their own defence but only the simple plea of Ignorance That this point therefore may be cleared and all needless scruples removed out of mens minds two main branches there be of this Oath which require special consideration The one positive acknowledging the Supremacy of the Government of these Realms in all Causes whatsoever to rest in the King's Highness only The other Negative renouncing all Jurisdictions and Authorities of any foreign Prince or Prelate within his Majesties Dominions For the better understanding of the former we are in the first place to call unto our remembrance that exhortation of St. Peter Submit your selves unto every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether it be unto the King as having the preheminence or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well By this we are taught to respect the King not as the only Governour of his Dominions simply for we see there be other Governours placed under him but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as him that excelleth and hath the preheminence over the rest that is to say according to the tenure of the Oath as him that is the only Supreme Governor of his Realms Upon which ground we may safely build this conclusion That whatsoever power is incident unto the King by virtue of his place must be acknowledged to be in him Supreme there being nothing so contrary to the nature of Soveraignty as to have another superiour power to over rule it Qui Rex est Regem maxime non habeat In the second place we are to consider That God for the better setling of piety and honesty among men and the repressing of prophaneness and other vices hath established two distinct powers upon Earth The one of the Keys committed to the Church the other of the Sword committed to the Civil Magistrate That of the Keys is ordained to work upon the inner man having immediate relation to the remitting or retaining of sins That of the Sword is appointed to work upon the outward man yielding protection to the obedient and inflicting external punishment on the rebellious and disobedient By the former the spiritual Officers of the Church
loss of Shipping for within this three years it is said England hath lost of Vessels great and small 400. All things concur very untowardly against us but God Almighty hath reserved Victory to himself only We had great rejoicing every where for his Majesty's gracious and good agreement with the Parliament but some ten days ago the House of Commons having exhibited certain Remonstrances to his Highness which as it seemed touched the Duke after reading thereof his Majesty rose up and said They should be answered and instantly gave the Duke his Hand to kiss which the Parliament-men and others were much amazed at God Almighty amend what is amiss if it be his blessed Will and send Unity at Home that we may the better keep off and withstand our Enemies Abroad and continue Peace in these Kingdoms and more pertinently I pray to keep the Spaniards out of Ireland for we shall far better hold tack with them here if they should land than you can do there where too many are ready to join with them I know I can write nothing to your Lordship which is News to you yet express my Love and hearty and humble Affection to your Lordship I make bold to trouble you with a long Letter And so with my Service to Mrs Usher I take leave and rest Your Lordship 's ever truly assured to honour and serve you J. King Layfield June 30. 1628. LETTER CXXX A Letter from Sir Henry Spelman to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh May it please your Grace I Have nothing since my Letter by your Servant Mr. Sturges to trouble you with but this Bearer my Kinsman coming to see your noble Country I have requested him and therewith enjoined him to present my humble and most devoted Service to your Lordship and to bring me certain word how it standeth with you for your Health which to the good of the Common-Wealth as well as my own particular respect no Man more desireth and prayeth for For the Passages here of note I know you receive them by many Pens and therefore I will not enter into any relation of them only I wish they were better Yet amongst them I desire to present your Grace with the first printed Copy of the Petition of Parliament to his Majesty for their ancient Rights and Liberties with his gracious Answer thereto And by much instance I even in this hour obtained it from Mr. John Bill the Printer before they yet are become publick and to the laming of the Book from whence they are taken I send you also Mr. Glanvill's and Sir Henry Martyn's Speeches to the Upper House about this Matter and the Proclamation agaisnt Mr. Doctor Manwaring's Sermons But the King notwithstanding hath as it is credibly reported released him of all the censure imposed upon him by the Upper House of Parliament and this next month he is to serve in Court The Deputys Lieutenants also of the West Country are released and some of them repaired with the dignity of Baronet others of Knighthood all with Grace Mr. Bill desired me to remember him most humbly to your Lordship and to advertise you that he willingly will print your noble Work in one Volume as well in Latin as in English which with multitude of others I shall much rejoice to see Thus with all humble remembrance to your Grace I rest A Servant thereof most bound and devoted Henry Spelman Barbacan July 1. 1628. LETTER CXXXI A Letter from Dr. George Hakewill to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh My very good Lord YOur Lordship 's favourable interpretation and acceptance of my poor Endeavours beyond their desert hath obliged me to improve them to the utmost in your good Lordship's Service and more especially in the good education of that going Gentleman Ja Dillâ—â— whom you weâ—â— pleased to commend as a Jewel of price to my care and trust praising God that your Lordship hath been made his Instrument to reclaim him from the Superstitions of the Romish Church and wishing we had some more frequent Examples in that kind in these cold and dangerous Time For his tuition I have placed him in Exeter Colledg with Mr. Bodley a Batchelor of Divinity and Nephew to the great Sir Thomas Bodley of whose sobâ—â—ty gravity piety and every way sufficiency I have had a long trial and were he not so near me in Blood I could easily afford him a larger Testimony He assures me that he finds his Scholar tractable and studious In that such a Disposition having met with such a Tutor to direct and instruct it I make no doubt but it will produce an effect answerable to our expectation and desire And during mine abode in the University my self shall not be wanting to help it forward the best I may Your Lordship shall do well to take order with his Friends that he may have credit for the taking up of Monies in London for the defraying his Expences for that to expect it from Ireland will be troublesome and tedious I wish I could write your Lordship any good News touching the present state of Affairs in this Kingdom but in truth except it please God to put to his extraordinary helping hand we have more reason to fear an utter downfal than to hope for a rising Thus heartily praying for your Lordship's Health and Happiness I rest Your Lordship 's unfeignedly to command Geo. Hakewill Exeter Colledg in Oxford July 16. 1628. LETTER CXXXII A Letter from Dr. Prideaux Rector of Exeter Colledg or Oxon to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh Most Reverend Father in God YOur letters 〈◊〉 the more welcome unto me in that 〈◊〉 brought news of the publishing of your Ecclesiastical 〈◊〉 so much desired In which the 〈◊〉 of 〈…〉 and 〈…〉 thing fully and in 〈…〉 see will put a period I trust to the 〈…〉 is a high favour that iâ— pleased you to make use of my 〈◊〉 for the placing of your Kinsman I shall strain 〈◊〉 best endeavours to make good your Undertakings to his Friends Young Tutors oftentimes fail their Pupils for want of Experience and Authority to say nothing of Negligence and Ignorance I have resolved therefore to make your Kinsman one of my peculiar and tutor him wholly my self which I have ever continued to some especial Friends ever since I have been Rector and Doctor He billets in my Lodgings hath three fellow Pupils which are Sons to Earls together with his Country man the Son of my Lord Caulfield all very civil studious and sit to go together I trust that God will so bless our joint Endeavours that his worthy Friends shall receive content and have cause to thank your Grace Whose Faithful Servant I remain Jo. Prideaux Oxon Aug. 27. 1628. LETTER CXXXIII A Letter from the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh to the Right Honourable My most honourable Lord THE noble respect which in a singular manner you have still born to the preservation of
were the less careful in passing it because they accounted it did rather concern my Predecessor than them I shewed the false Latin Non-sence injustice of it prejudice to them contrariety to it self and to the King 's Grant to me I shewed there were in one Period above 500 words and which passed the rest hanging in the Air without any principal Verb. I desired them to consider if the Seal hanging to it were the Bishop's Seal They acknowledged it was not Therefore with protestation that I meant no way to call in question the sufficiency of Mr. Cook or his former Acts I did judg the Patent to be void and so declared it inhibiting Mr. Cook to do any thing by virtue thereof and them to assist him therein This is the true History of this Business howsoever Mr. Cook disguises it I suspended him not absent indicta causâ It was his Commission which was present that I viewed with the Chapter and censured which if he can make good he shall have leave and time and place enough And now to accomplish my promise to relate to your Grace my purpose herein My Lord I do thus account that to any Work or Enterprize to remove Impediments is a great part of the performance And amongst all the Impediments to the Work of God amongst us there is not any one greater than the abuse of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction This is not only the Opinion of the most Godly Judicious and Learned Men that I have known but the cause of it is plain The People pierce not into the inward and true Reasons of things they are sensible in the Purse And that Religion that makes Men that profess it and shews them to be despisers of the World and so far from encroaching upon others in Matter of base Gain as rather to part with their own they magnify This bred the admiration of the Primitive Christians and after of the Monks Contrary Causes must needs produce contrary Effects Wherefore let us preach never so painfully and piously I say more let us live never so blamelesly our selves so long as the Officers in our Courts prey upon them they esteem us no better than Publicans and Worldlings and so much the more deservedly because we are called Spiritual Men and call our selves Reformed Christians And if the honestest and best of our own Protestants be thus scandalized what may we think of Papists such as are all in a manner that we live among The time was when I hoped the Church of Ireland was free from this Abuse at least freer than her Sister of England but I find I am deceived Whether it be that distance of place and being further out of the reach of the Scepter of Justice breeds more boldness to offend or necessarily brings more delay of redress I have been wont also in Ireland to except one Court as he doth Plato But trust me my Lord I have heard that it is said among great Personages here that My Lord Primate is a good Man but his Court is as corrupt as others some say worse And which I confess to your Grace did not a little terrify me from visiting till I might see how to do it with Fruit in that of your late Visitation they see no profit but the taking of Mony But to come to Mr. Cook of all that have exercised Jurisdiction in this Land these late Years he is the most noted Man and most cried out upon Insomuch as he hath found from the Irish the Nick-name of Pouc And albeit he came off with credit when he was questioned and justified himself by the Table of Fees as by a leaden Rule any Stone may be approved as well-hewed by that little I have met with sitice I came hither I am induced to believe it was not for lack of Matter but there was some other cause of his escaping in that Trial. By his pretended Commission and that Table of Fees he hath taken in my Predecessor's Time and seeks to take in mine for Exhibits at Visitations and his Charges there above the Bishop's Procurations for Unions Sequestrations Relaxations Certificates Licences Permutations of Penance Sentences as our Court calls them Interlocutory in Causes of Correction c. Such Fees as I cannot in my Conscience think to be just and yet he doth it in my Name and tells me I cannot call him into question for it Alas my Lord if this be the condition of a Bishop that he stands for a Cipher and only to uphold the Wrongs of other Men What do I in this Place Am I not bound by my Profession made to God in your presence and following your words To be gentle and merciful for Christ's sake to poor and needy People and such as be destitute of help Can I be excused another day with this That thus it was e're I came to this place and that it is not good to be over just Or sith I am perswaded Mr. Cook 's Patent is unjust and void am I not bound to make it so And to regulate If I may this matter of Fees and the rest of the Disorders of the Jurisdiction which his Majesty hath betrusted me withal Your Grace saith truly It is a difficult thing if not impossible to overthrow a Patent so confirmed and I know in Deliberations it is one of the most important Considerations what we may hope to effect But how can I tell till I have tried To be discouraged e're I begin is it not to consult with Flesh and Blood Verily I think so and therefore must put it to the trial and leave the success to God If I obtain the Cause the Profit shall be to this poor Nation if not I shall shew my Consent to those my Reverend Brethren that have endeavoured to redress this Enormity before me I shall have the Testimony of mine own Conscience to have sought to discharge my Duty to God and his People Yea which is the main the Work of my Ministry and my Service to this Nation shall receive furtherance howsoever rather than any hinderance thereby And if by the continuance of such Oppressions any thing fall out otherwise than well I shall have acquitted my self towards his Majesty and those that have engaged themselves for me At last I shall have the better Reason and juster Cause to resign to his Majesty the Jurisdiction which I am not permitted to manage And here I beseech your Grace to consider seriously whether it were not happy for us to be rid of this Charge which not being proper to our Calling nor possibly to be executed without Deputies as subjects us to the ill conceit of their unjust or indiscreet carriage and no way furthers our own Work Or if it shall be thought fit to carry this Load still whether we ought not to procure some way to be discharged of the envy of it and redress the abuse with the greatest strictness we can devise For my part I cannot bethink me of any course fitter for
Cook 's Patent to be void and so judicially declâ—â—ing it I wish you would not be too forward in standing upon that Point To 〈◊〉 in a judicial manner of the validity or invalidity of a Patent in no office of the Ecclesiastical but of the Civil Magistrate and for the one to 〈…〉 the Judiciture of that which appertaineth to another you know draweth near to a 〈…〉 Complaints I know will be made against my Court and your Court and every Court wherein Vice shall be punished and that not by Delinquents alone but also by their Landlords be they Protestants or others who in this Country 〈◊〉 not how their Tenants live so they pay them their Rents I learned of old in Aeschylus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and if they 〈…〉 the like Authority will be ready to receive such Accusations against their Brethren every one will judg that there is less cause why they should be pitied when they are served so themselves The way to help this is not to take away the Jurisdiction from the Chancellors and to put it into the Bishops hands alone All Bishops are not like my Lord of Kilmore I know a Bishop in this Land who exerciseth the Jurisdiction himself and I dare boldly say that there is more Unjustice and Oppression to be found in him alone than in all the Chancellors in the whole Kingdom put together and though I do not justify the taking of Fees without good ground yet I may truly say of a great part of mine own and of many other Bishops Diocesses that if Men stood not more in fear of the Fees of the Court than of standing in a white Sheet we should have here among us another Sodom and Gomorrah Your course of taking pains in keeping Courts your self I will commend so that you condemn not them that think they have reason why they should do otherwise As for my self mecum habito and am not ignorant quam sit mihi curta supellex My Chancellor is better skilled in the Law than I am and far better able to manage Matters of that kind Suam quisque norit artem runneth still in my mind and how easy a matter it is for a Bishop that is ignorant in the Law to do wrong unto others and run himself into a Premunire and where Wrong is done I know Right may more easily be had against a Chancellor than against a Bishop If my Chancellor doth Wrong the Star-Chamber lieth open where I will be the Man that will cast the first Stone at him my self as I did for the removing and censuring of him whom I found at my first coming into the Diocess of Meath And as for my late visiting of your Diocesses your Lordship need not a whit be terrified therewith It is not to be expected that an Arch-bishop passing through a whole Province upon a suddain should be able to perform that which a Bishop may do by leasure in his every years Visitation Neither may the Arch-bishop meddle with the Reformation of any thing but what is presented If any such Presentation were made and reformation of the Abuse neglected there is cause to complain of the Visitation But as for the taking of Mony your Lordship will find that when you come next to visit your self there will be great odds betwixt the Sum that ought to be paid unto you and that which was delivered unto me and yet if your Clergy can get but half so much for their Mony from you as they did from me they may say you were the best Bishop that ever came among them When the Clergy of the Diocess of Ardagh was betrayed into the hands of their Adversaries à quibius minime omnium oportuorat and like to be so overborn that many of them could scarce have a bit of Bread lest them to put in their Mouths I stood then in the Gap and opposed my self for them against the whole Country and stayed that Plague In the other Diocess of Kilmore when complaint was made against the Clergy by that Knave whom they say your Lordship did absolve I took him in hand and if the Clergy had not failed in the prosecution would have bound him fast enough without asking any question for Conscience-â—ake whether he were of our Communion or no. And whereas they held their Means as it were by courtesy from the State I took the pains my self to make up the Table of all their Tithes and Duties and at this very instant am working in England to have it firmly established unto them by his Majesty's Authority And yet the Sums of Meâ—â—y which they paid me were not so great but that I could make a shift to spend it in defraying the Charges of the very Journey I am a Fool I know in this commending or defending rather my self but consider who constrained me The Writings which you sent me I had long before from the same hand which sent them unto you I should be glad to hear your judgment of them and would be glad also to go on in further answering of the remain of your Letter but that I am quite tired and what I have written I fear will not be so pleasing unto you What resteth I partly refer to Mr. Dean's Relation and partly to our Conference when we shall next meet where many things may be more fitly delivered by word of mouth than committed to a Letter In the mean time I commend you to the Blessing of our good God and ever rest Your most assured loving Friend and Brother notwithstanding any unkind Passages which may have slip'd from me in this Letter Ja. Armachanus Drogheda Feb. 23. 1629. LETTER CXLIV A Letter from the Right Reverend William Laud Bishop of London to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh My very good Lord I Thank your Grace heartily for your Letters especially for the Preface of this your last It is true my Lord God hath restor'd me even from Death it self for I think no Man was farther gone and scap'd And your Grace doth very Christian-like put me in mind that God having renewed my Lease I should pay him an Income of some Service to his Church which I hope in the strength of his Grace I shall ever be willing and sometime able to perform I have not yet recovered the great Weakness into which my Sickness cast me but I hope when the Spring is come forward my strength will encrease and enable me to Service In the mean time my Lord as weak as I have been I have begun to pay my Fine but what the Sum comes to God knows is very little Your Table of the Tithes of Ulster and the Business concerning the Impropriations are both past and concerning both I leave my self to Mr. Hygat's Report As touching the Deanery of Armagh I am glad to hear that any place of Preferment in that Kingdom hath so good means of subsistence without Tithes But I must needs acquaint your Grace that neither my Lord