France for demolishing all Religious Houses and other Monuments of Superstition and Idolatry Under which name all the Cathedrals were interpreted to be contained and by that means involved in the general ruine onely the Church at Glasco did escape that storm and remained till this time undefaced in its former glory But now becomes a very great eye-sore to Andrew Melvin by whose practices and sollicitations it was agreed unto by some Zealous Magistrates that it should forthwith be demolished that the materials of it should be used for the building of some lesser Churches in that City for the ease of the people and that such Masons Quarriers and other Workmen whose service was requisite thereunto should be in readiness for that purpose at the day appointed The Arguments which he used to perswade those Magistrates to this Act of Ruine were the resorting of some people to that Church for their private Devotions the huge vastness of the Fabrick which made it incommodious in respect of hearing and especially the removing of that old Idolatrous Monument which only was kept up in despite of the Zeal and Piety of their first Reformers But the business was not carried so closely as not to come unto the knowledge of the Crafts of the City who though they were all sufficiently Zealous in the cause of Religion were not so mad as to deprive their City of so great an Ornament And they agreed so well together that when the Work-men were beginning to assemble themselves to speed the business they made a tumult took up Arms and resolutely swore that whosoever pulled down the first stone should be buried under it The Work-men upon this are discharged by the Magistrates and the people complained of to the King for the insurrections The King upon the hearing of it receives the actors in that business into his protection allows the opposition they had made and layes command upon the Ministers who had appeared most eager in the prosecution not to meddle any more in that business or any other of that nature adding withal that too many Churches in that Kingdom were destroyed already and that he would not tolerate any more abuses of such ill example 40. The King for matter of his Book had been committed to the institution of George Buchanan a most fiery and seditious Calvinist to moderate whose heats was added Mr. Peter Young father of the late Dean of Winchester a more temperate and sober man whom he very much esteemed and honoured with Knighthood and afterwards preferred to the Mastership of St. Cross in England But he received his Principles for maâ—ter of State from such of his Council as were most tender of the pubâ—lick interest of their Native Country By whom but most especially by the Earl of Morton he was so well instructed that he was able to distinguish between the Zeal of some in promoting the Reformed Religion and the madness or sollies of some others who practised to introduce their innovations under that pretence Upon which grounds of State and Prudence he gave order to the general Assembly sitting at this time not to make any alteration in the Polity of the Church as then it stood but to suffer things to continue in the state they were till the following Parliament to the end that the determinations of the three Estates might not be any ways prejudged by their conclusions But they neglecting the command look back upon the late proceedings which were held at Stirling where many of the most material points in the Book of Discipline were demurred upon And thereupon it was ordained that nothing should be altered in Form or Matter which in that Book had been concluded by themselves With which the King was so displeased that from that time he gave less countenance to the Ministers then he had done formerly And to the end that they might see what need they had of their Princes favour he suffered divers sentences to be past at the Council Table for the suspending of their Censures and Excommunications when any matter of complaint was heard against them But they go forwards howsoever confirmed and animated by a Discourse of Theodore Beza which came out this year entituled De Triplici Episcopatu In which he takes notice of three sorts of Bishops the Bishop of Divine Institution which he makes to be no other then the ordinary Minister of a particular Congregation the Bishop of humane Constitution that is to say the President or Moderator in the Church-assemblies and last of all the Devils Bishop such as were then placed in a perpetual Authority over a Diocesâ— or Province in most parts of Christendom under which last capacity they beheld their Bishops in the Kirk of Scotland And in the next Assembly held at Dundee in Iuly following it was concluded That the Office of a Bishop as it was then used and commonly taken in that Realm had neither foundation ground nor warrant in the holy Scriptures And thereupon it was decreed That all persons either called unto that Office or which should hereafter be called unto it should be required to renounce the same as an Office unto which they are not warranted by the Word of God But because some more moderate men in the next Assembly held at Glasgow did raise a scruple touching that part of the Decree in which it was affirmed That the calling of Bishops was not warranted by the Word of God it was first declared by the Assembly that they had no other meaning in that Expression then to condemn the estate of Bishops as they then stood in Scotland With which the said moderate men did not seem contented but desired that the conclusion of the matter might be respited to another time by reason of the inconvenience which might ensue They are cryed down by all the rest with great heat and violence insomuch that it was proposed by one Montgomery Minister of Stirling that some Censure might be laid on those who had spoken in defence of that corrupted estate Nay such was the extream hatred to that Sacred Function in the said Assembly at Dundee that they stayed not here They added to the former a Decree more strange inserting That they should desist and cease from Preaching ministring the Sacraments or using in any sort of Office of a Pastor in the Church of Christ till by some General Assembly they were De Novo Authorized and admitted to it no lower Censure then that of Excommunication if they did the contrary As for the Patrimony of the Church which still remained in their hands it was resolved that the next General Assembly should dispose thereof 49. There hapned at this time an unexpected Revolution in the Court of Scotland which possibly might animate them to these high presumptions It had been the great Master-piece of the Earl of Morton in the time of his Regency to fasten his dependance most specially on the Queen of England without which he saw it was impossible to preserve
found no place so open to them as the Town of Geneva and none more ready to befriend them then Calvin was whose Letters must be sent to all the Churches of the Switzers and the Neighbouring Germany for raising Contributions and Collections toward their relief which so exasperated the French King that he threatned to make War upon the Town as the fomenter of those discords which embroyled his Kingdom the Receptacle of his Rebels the Delphos as it were of that Sacred Oracle which Soveraignly directed all affairs of moment But of these things and how Beza did co-operate to the common troubles which did so miserably distract the peace of France shall be delivered more particularly in the following Book 49. As for the Town and Territory of Geneva it self it had so far submitted unto their Authority that Calvin wanted nothing of a Bishop in it but the name and title The City of Geneva had been anciently an Episcopal See consisting of many Parishes and Country Villages all subject by the Rules of the Discipline unto one Presbytery of which Calvin for the term of his life had the constant Precedency under the style of Moderator without whom nothing could done which concerned the Church And sitting as chief President in the Court or Consistory he had so great an influence on the Common-council as if he had been made perpetual Dictator also for ordering the affairs of the Common-wealth The like Authority was exercised and enjoyed by Beza also for the space of ten years or thereabouts after his decease At what time Lambertus Danaeus one of the Ministers of that City thinking himself inferiour to him in no part of Scholarship procured the Presidency in that Church to go by turns that he and others might be capable of their courses in it By which means the Genevians being freed from those powerful Riders would never suffer themselves to be bridled as they had been formerly For thereupon it was concluded by a Decree of the Senate that the Presbytery should have no power to convent any man before them till the Warrant was first signed by one of the Syndicks Besides which curb as the Elders are named by the lesser Council and confirmed by the greater the Ministers advice being first had in the nomination so do they take an Oath at their admission to keep the Ecclesiastical Ordinances of the Civil Magistrate In which respect their Consistory doth not challenge an exorbitant and unlimited power as the Commissioners of Christ as they did afterwards in Scotland but as Commissioners of the State or Signiory by which they are restrained in the exercise of that Jurisdiction which otherwise they might and would have challenged by their first institution and seemed at first a yoke too insupportable for the necks of the people In reference to their Neighbouring Princes their City was so advantageously seaâ—ed that even their Popish Neighbours were more ready to support and aid them then suffer the Town to fall into the power of the Duke of Savoy And then it is not to be doubted but such States and Kingdoms as were Zealous in the Reformation did liberally contribute their assistance to them The conâ—â—uence of so many of the French as had retired thither in the heat of the Civil Wars had brought a miserable Plague upon them by which their numbers were so lessened and their strength so weakned that the Duke of Savoy took the oppornity to lay Siege unto it In which distress they supplicate by Letters to all their Friends or such as they conceived might wish well unto them in the cause of Religion and amongst others to some Bishops and Noble-men of the Church of England Anno 1582. But Beza having writ to Traverse a most Zealous Puritan to negotiate in it the business sped the worse for the Agents sake no great supply being sent unto them at that time But afterwards when they were distressed by the Savoyard Anno 1589 they were relieved with thirteen thousand Crowns from England twenty four thousand Crowns from the State of Venice from France and Florence with intelligence of the enemies purposes onely the Scots though otherwise most zealous in advancing the Discipline approved themselves to be true Scots or false Brethren to them For having raised great sums of mony under pretence of sending seasonable relief to their friends in Geneva the most part of it was assigned over to the Earl of Bothwel then being in Rebellion against their King and having many ways endeavoured to surprise his person and in fine to take away his life But this prank was not play'd until some years after and therefore falls beyond the time of my design which was and is to draw down the successes of the Presbyterians in their several Countries till the year 1585 and then to take them all together as they related unto England or were co-incident with the Actions and Affairs thereof But we must make our way by France as lying nearest to the practices of the Mother-City though Scotland at a greater distance first took fire upon it and England was as soon attempted as the French themselves The end of the first Book AERIVS REDIVIVVS OR The History Of the PRESBYTERIANS LIB II. Containing The manifold Seditions Conspiracies and Insurrections in the Realm of France their Libelling against the State and the Wars there raised by their procurement from the year 1559 to 1585. 1. THe Realm of France having long suffered under the corruptions of the Church of Rome was one of the first Western Kingdoms which openly declared against those abuses Beringarius in the Neighbouring Italy had formerly opposed the Gross and Carnal Doctrines of the Papists in the point of the Sacrament Whose opinions passing into France from one hand to another were at last publickly maintained by Peter Waldo one of the Citizens of Lyons who added thereunto many bitter invectives against the Supremacy of the Pope the Adoration of Images the Invocation of Saints and the Doctrine of Purgatory His Followers from the place of his Habitation were at first called in contempt The poor men of Lyons as afterwards from the name of their Leader they were by the Latines called Waldenses by the French Les Vandoise But Lyons proving no safe place for them they retired into the more desert parts of Languedock and spreading on the banks of the River Alby obtained the name of Albigenses in the Latine Writers and of Les Albigeoise in the French supported by Raymond the Fourth Earl of Tholouse they became so insolent that they murthered Trincanel their Viscount in the City Beziers and dasht out the teeth of their Bishop having taken Sanctuary in St. Magdalens Church one of the Churches of that City For which high outrages and many others of like nature which ensued upon them they were warred upon by Lewis the Ninth of France Sirnamed the Saint and many Noble adventurers who sacrificed many of them in the self-same Church wherein they had spilt the
rest and with the rest released upon the Peace made between France and England at the delivering up of Bulloigne from whence he past over into England where he was first made Preacher at Barwick next at New-castle afterwards to some Church of London and finally in some other places of the South so that removing like our late Itinerants from one Church to another as he could meet with entertainment he kept himself within that Sanctuary till the death of King Edward and then betook himself to Geneva for his private Studies From hence he published his desperate Doctrine of Predestination which he makes not onely to be an impulsive to but the compulsive cause of mens sins and mens wickednesses From hence he published his trayterous and seditious Pamphlet entituled The first blast of the Trumpet in which he writes most bitterly amongst other things against the Regiment of Women aiming therein particularly at the two Mâ—ries Queens of Scotland Queen Mary of England and Mary Qâ—eâ—n Dowager of Hungary Governess of the Low-Countries for Charles the Fifth and finally from hence he published another of the like nature entituled An Admonition to Christians In which he makes the Emperour Charles to be worlâ— then Nero and Mary Queen of England nothing better then Iesabel According to which good beginning he calls her in his History but not published hence that Idolatrous and Mischievous Mary of the Spaniards bloud a cruel persecutrix of Gods people as the Acts of her unhappy Reign did sufficiently witness In which he comes as close to Calvin as could be desired 5. By this means he grew great with Calvin and the most leading men of the Consistorians who looked upon him as a proper Engine to advance their purposes But long he had not stayed amongst them when he received an invitation from some Friends of his of the same temper and affections as it after proved to take charge of the Church of Frankfort to which some learned men and others of the English Nation had retired themselves in the Reign of Queen Mary which call he first communicated unto Calvin by whose encouragement and perswasion he accepted of it and by his coming rather multiplyed then appeased the quarrels which he found amongst them But siding with the inconformable party and knowing so much of Calvins minde touching the Liturgie and Rites of the Church of England he would by no means be perswaded to officiate by it and for that cause was forced by Dr. Cox and others of the Learned men who remained there to forsake the place as hath been shewn at large in another place Outed at Frankfort he returns again to his Friends at Geneva and being furnished with instructions for his future carriage in the cause of his Ministry he prepares for his journey into Scotland passeth to Dieppe form thence to England and at last came a welcome man to his Native Country which he found miserably divided into sides and factions Mary their Infant Queen had been transported into France at six years of age the Regency taken from Iames Earl of Arran given to Mary of â—orraign the Queens Mother not well obeyed by many of the Nâ—bility and great men of the Country but openly opposed and reviled by those who seemed to be inclinable to the Reformation To these men Knox applyed himself with all caâ—e and cunning preaching from place to place and from house to house as opportunity was given him In which he gathered many Churches and set up many Congregations as if he had been the Apâ—stle-General of the Kirk of Scotland in all points holding a conformity unto Calvins Platform even to the singing of Davids Psalms in the English Meter the onely Musick he allowed of in Gods publick Service From Villages and private Houses he ventured into some of the great Towns and more eminent Cities and at the last appeared in Edenborough it self preaching in all and ministring the Communion in many places as he saw occasion This was sufficient to have raised a greater storm against him then he could have been able to indure but he must make it worse by a new provocation For at the perswasion of the Earl of Glencarne and some others of his principal followers he writes a long Letter to the Queen Regent in which he earnestly perswades her to give ear to the Word of God according as it was then preached by himself and others which Letter being communicated by the Queen to the Archbishop of Glasco and dispersed in several Copies by Knox himself gave such a hot Alarm to the Bishops and Clergy that he was cited to appear in Blackfryars Church in Edenborough on the 15 of May and though upon advertisement that he came accompanied with so great a train that it could not be safe for them to proceed against him he was not troubled at that time yet he perceived that having made the Queen his enemy he could not hope to remain longer in that Kingdom but first or last he must needs fall in their hands 6. But so it happened that when he was in the midst of these perplexities he received a Letter from the Schismatical English which repaired to Geneva when they had lost all hope of putting down the English Liturgie in the Church of Frankfort by which he was invited to return to his former charge this Letter he communicated to his principal Friends resolves to entertain the offer and prepares all things for his journey And to say truth it was but time that he should set forwards for the danger followed him so close that within few days after his departure he was condemned for not appearing and burnt in his Effigies at the Cross in Edenborough But first he walks his round visits all his Churches takes a more solemn farewel of his especial Friends and having left sufficient instructions with them for carrying on the Reformation in despite of Authority in the latter end of Iuly he sets sail for France His party was by this time grown strong and numerous resolved to follow such directions as he left behind him To which encouraged by the preaching of one Willock whom Knox had more especially recommended to them in the time of his absence they stole away the Images out of most of their Churches and were so venturous as to take down the great Image of St. Gyles in the chief Church of Edenborough which they drowned first in the Northlake and burnt it afterwards But this was but a Prologue to the following Comedy The Festival of St. Gyles draws near in which the Image of that Saint was to be carryed through the chief Streets of Edenborough in a solemn Procession attended by all the Priests Fryars and other Religious persons about that City another Image is borrowed from the Gray-Fryars to supply the place and for the honour of the day the Queen Regent her self was pleased to make one in the Pageant But no sooner was she retired to her private repose when a
very pleasing news to those of the Congregation who thought it more expedient to their Affairs that the Queen should not Marry at all or at least not Marry any other Husband but such as should be recommended to her by the Queen of England on whom their safety did depend In which regard they are resolved to oppose this Match though otherwise they were assured that it would make the Queen grow less in reputation both at home and abroad to Marry with one of her own subjects of what blood soever 51. And now comes Knox to play his prize who more desired that the Earl of Leicester as one of his own Faction should espouse the Queen then the Earl desired it for himself If she will Marry at all let her make choice of one of the true Religion for other Husband she should never have if he could help it And to this end he lays about him in a Sermon preached before the Parliament at which the Nobility and Estates were then assembled And having roved sufficiently as his custom was at last he tells them in plain terms desiring them to note the day and take witness of it That whensover the Nobility of Scotland who profess the Lord Iesus should consent that an Infidel and all Papists are Infidels saith he should be head to their Soveraign they did so far as in them lyes banish Christ Iesus from this Realm yea and bring Gods judgements upon the Country a plague upon themselves and do small comfort to her self For which being questioned by the Queen in a private conference he did not onely stand unto it without the least qualifying or retracting of those harsh expressions but must intitle them to God as if they had been the immediate Inspirations of the holy Ghost for in his Dialogue with the Queen he affirmed expresly that out of the preaching place few had occasion to be any way oâ—fended with him but there that is to say in the Church or Pulpit he was not Master of himself but must obey him that commands him to speak plain and flatter no flesh upon the face of the Earth This insolent carriage of the man put the Queen into passion insomuch that one of her Pages as Knox himself reports the story could hardly finde Handkerchiefs enough to dry her eyes with which the proud fellow shewed himself no further touched then if he had seen the like fears from any one of his own Boys on a just correction 52. Most men of moderate spirits seemed much offended at the former passage when they heard it from him in the Pulpit more when they heard of the affliction it had given the Queen But it prevailed so far on the generality of the Congregation that presently it became a matter of Dispute amongst them Whether the Queen might chuse to her self an Husband or whether it were more fitting that the Estates of the Land should appoint one for her Some sober men affirmed in earnest that the Queen was not to be barred that liberty which was granted to the meanest Subject But the Chief leading-men of the Congregation had their own ends in it for which they must pretend the safety of the Common-wealth By whom it was affirmed as plainly that in the Heir unto a Crown the case was different because said they such Heirs in assuming an Husband to themselves did withal appoint a King to be over the Nation And therefore that it was more fit that the whole people should chuse a Husband to one Woman then one Woman to elect a King to Rule over the whole people Others that had the same designe and were possibly of the same opinion concerning the imposing of a Husband on her by the States of the Realm disguised their purpose by pretending another Reason to break off this Marriage The Queen and the young Noble-man were too near of Kindred to be conjoyned in Marriage by the Laws of the Church her Father and his Mother being born of the same Venter as our Lawyers phrase it But for this blow the Queen did easily provide a Buckler and dispatched one of her Ministers to the Court of Rome for a Dispensation The other was not so well warded but that it fell heavy at the last and plunged her into all those miseries which ensued upon it 53. But notwithstanding these obstructions the Match went forwards in the Court chiefly sollicited by one David Risio born in Piedmont who coming into Scotland in the company of an Ambassador from the Duke of Savoy was there detained by the Queen first in the place of a Musician afterwards imployed in writing Letters to her Friends in France By which he came to be acquainted with most of her secrets and as her Secretary for the French Tongue to have a great hand in the managing of all Forreign transactions This brought him into great envy with the Scots proud in themselves and not easie to be kept in fair terms when they had no cause unto the contrary But the preferring of this stranger was considered by them as a wrong to their Nation as if not able to afford a sufficient man to perform that Office to which the Educating of so many of them in the Court of France had made them no less fit and able then this Mungrel Italian To all this Risio was no stranger and therefore was to cast about how to save himself and to preserve that Power and Reputation which he had acquired Which to effect he laboured by all means to promote the Match that the young Lord being obliged unto him for so great a benefit might stand the faster to him against all Court-factions whensoever they should rise against him And that it might appear to be his work onely Ledington the chief Secretary is dispatched for England partly to gain the Queens consent unto the Marriage and partly to excuse the Earl of Lenox and his Son for not returning to the Court as she had commanded In the mean time he carries on the business with all care and diligence to the end that the Match might be made up before his return Which haste he made for these two Reason first lest the dissenting of that Queen whose influence he knew to be very great on the Kingdom of Scotland might either beat it off or at least retard it the second that the young Lord Darnley for so they called him might have the greater obligation to him for effecting the business then if it had been done by that Queens consent 54. To make all sure as sure at least as humane Wisdom could project it a Convention of the Estates is called in May and the business of the Marriage is propounded to them To which some yeilded absolutely without any condition others upon condition that Religion might be kept indempnified onely the Lord Vehiltry one who adher'd to Knox in his greatest difficulties maintained the Negative affirming openly that he would never admit a King of the Popish Religion Encouraged
run on till they came to the end of the Race of which in general King Iames hath given us this description in a Declaration of his published not long after the surprising of his person by the Earl of Gowry 15â—2 where we finde it thus The Bishops having imbraced the Gospel it was at first agreed even by the Brethren with the consent of Regent that the Bishops estate should be maintained and authorized This endured for sundry years but then there was no remedy the Calling it self of Bishops was at least become Antichristian and down they must of necessity whereupon they commanded the Bishops by their own Authority to leave their Offices and Iurisdiction They decreed in their Assemblies That Bishops should have no vote in Parliament and that done they desired of the King that such Commissioners as they should send to the Parliament and Council might from thenceforth be authorized in the Bishops places for the Estate They also directed their Commissioners to the Kings Majesty commanding him and the Council under pain of the Censures of the Church Excommunication they meant to appoint no Bishops in time to come because they the Brethren had concluded that State to be unlawful And that it might appear to those of the suffering party that they had not acted all these things without better Authority then what they had given unto themselves they dispatched their Letters unto Beza who had succeeded at Geneva in the Chair of Calvin from whence they were encouraged and perswaded to go on in that course and never re-admit that plague he means thereby the Bishops to have place in that Church although it might flatter them with a shew of retaining unity 17. But all this was not done at once though laid here together to shew how answerable their proceedings were to their first beginnings To cool which heats and put some Water in their Wine the Queen by practising on her Keepers escapes the Prison and puts her self into Hamilton Castle to which not onely the dependants of that powerful Family but many great Lords and divers others did with great cheerfulness repair unto her with their several followers Earl Murray was at Stirling when this news came to him and it concerned him to bestir himself with all celerity before the Queens power was grown too great to be disputed He therefore calls together such of his Friends and their adherents as were near unto him and with them gives battail to the Queen who in this little time had got together a small Army of four thousand men The honour of the day attends the Regent who with the loss of one man onely bought an easie Victory which might have proved more bloudy to the conquered Army for they lost but three hundred in the fight it he had not commanded back his Souldiers from the execution The Queen was placed upon a Hill to behold the battail But when she saw the issue of it she posted with all speed to the Port of Kerbright took Ship for England and landed most unfortunately as it after proved at Wirckington in the County of Cumberland From thence she dispatched her Letters to Queen Elizabeth full of Complaints and passionate bewailings of her wretched fortune desires admittance to her presence and that she might be taken into her protection sending withal a Ring which that Queen had given her to be an everlasting token of that love and amity which was to be maintained between them But she soon found how miserably she had deceived her self in her Expectations Murray was grown too strong for her in the Court of England and others which regarded little what became of him were glad of her misfortunes in relation to their own security which could not better be consulted then by keeping a good Guard upon her now they had her there And so instead of sending for her to the Court the Queen gives order by Sir Francis Knollis whom she sent of purpose to remove the distressed Lady to Carlisle as the safer place until the equity of her cause might be fully known She hath now took possession of the Realm which she had laid claim to but shall pay dearly for the purchase the Crown whereof shall come at last to her Posterity though it did not fall upon her person 18. Now that the equity of her cause might be understood the Regent is required by Letters from the Court of England to desist from any further prosecution of the vanquished party till that Queen were perfectly informed in all particulars touching these Affairs Which notwithstanding he thought fit to make use of his Fortune summoned a Parliament in which some few of each sort noble and ignoble were proscribed for the present by the terrour whereof many of the rest submitted and they which would not were reduced by force of Arms. Elizabeth not well pleased with these proceedings requires that some Commissioners might be sent from Scotland to render an account to her or to her Commissioners of the severity and hard dealing which they had shewed unto their Queen And hereunto he was necessitated to conform as the case then stood The French being totally made against him the Spaniards more displeased then they and no help 〈◊〉 be had from any but the English onely At York Commissioners attend from each part in the end of September From Queen Elizabeth Thomas Duke of Norfolk Thomas Earl of Sussex and Sir Ralph Sadlier Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster For the unfortunate Queen of Scots Iohn Lesly Bishop of Ross the Lords Levington Boyd c. And for the Infant King besides the Regent himself there appeared the Earl of Morton the Lord Lindsay and certain others After such protestations made on both sides as seemed expedient for preserving the Authority of the several Crowns an Oath is took by the Commissioners to proceed in the business according to the Rules of Justice and Equity The Commissioners from the Infant-King present a Declaration of their proceedings in the former troubles to which an answer is returned by those of the other side Elizabeth desiring to be better satisfied in some particulars requires the Commissioners of both sides some of them at the least to repair unto her where after much sending and proving as the saying is there was nothing done which might redound unto the benefit of the Queen of Scots 19. For whilst these matters were in agitation in the Court of England Letters of hers were intercepted written by her to those which continued of her party in the Realm of Scotland In which Letters she complained that the Queen of England had not kept promise with her but yet desired them to be of good heart because she was assured of aid by some other means and hoped to be with them in a short time Which Letters being first sent to Murray and by him shewed to Queen Elizabeth prevailed so much for his advantage that he was not onely dismissed with favour but waited
obedient subjects The Kings escape was made in the end of Iune and in December following he calls a Convention of the Estates in which the subject of his Proclamation was approved and verified the fact declared to be Crimen laesae Majestatis or Treason in the highest degree For which as some were executed and others fled so divers of the Ministers that had been dealers in that matter pretending they were persecuted had retired into England For notwithstanding his Majesties great clemency in pardoning the Conspirators on such easie conditions they preferred rather the pursuing of their wicked purposes then the enjoying of a peaceable and quiet life For whether it were that they presumed on supplies from England of which they had received no inâ—â—obable hopes as afterwards was confessed by the Earl of Gowry or that they built upon the Kirk-Faction to come in to aid them as the General Assembly had required they begin in all places to prepare for some new Commotion but being deceived in all their hopes and expectations they were confined to several Prisons before the Convention of Estates and after it upon a further discovery of their preparations and intentions compelled to quit the Kingdome and betake themselves for their protection unto several Nations Onely the Earl of Gowry staid behind the rest and he paid well for it For being suspected to be hammering some new design he was took Prisoner at Dundee in the April following 1584 thence brought to Edenborough and there condemned and executed as he had deserved In the mean time the Kirk-men were as troublesome as the Lay-Conspirators Dury so often mentioned in a Sermon at Edenborough had justified the fact at Ruthen for which being cited to appear before the Lords of the Council he stood in maintainance of that which he had delivered but afterwards submitting himself unto the King on more sober thoughts he was kept upon his good â—ehaviour without further punishment But Andrew Melvin was a man of another metal who being commanded to attend their Lordships for the like offence declined the judgement of the King and Council as having no cognizance of the cause To make which good he broached this Presbyterian Doctrine That whatsoever was spoken in the Pulpit ought first to be tryed by the Presbyterie and that neither the King nor Council were to meddle with it though the same were treasonable till the Presbyterie had first taken notice of it But finding that the King and Council did resolve to proceed and had entred upon Examination of some Witnesses which were brought against him he told the King whether with greater Confidence or Impudence is hard to say That he preached the Laws both of God and man For which undutiful Expression he was commanded Prisoner to the Castle of Blackness Instead whereof he takes Sanctuary in the Town of Berwick where he remained till way was made for his return the Pulpits in the mean time sounding nothing but that the Light of the Countrey for Learning and Piety was forced for safety of his life to forsake the Kingdom In which Exile he was followed within few moneths after by Palvart Sub-Dean of Glasgow Galloway and Carmichiel two inferior Ministers who being warned to tender their appearance to the King and Council and not appearing at the time were thereupon pronounced Rebels and fled after the other Nor was the General Assembly held at Edenborough of a better temper then these Preachers were in which the Declaration made at the last Convention of Estates was stoutly crossed and encountred The King with the advice of his Estates had resolved the Fact of surprizing His Majesties person to be treasonable But the Brethren in the said Assembly did not onely authorize and avow the same but also esteeming their own judgement to be the Soveraign judgement of the Realm did ordain all them to be excommunicated that would subscribe unto their opinion 61. The King perceiving that there was no other way to deal with these men then to husband the present opportunity to his best advantage resolved to proceed against them in such a way as might disable them from committing the like insolencies for the time to come The chief Incendiaries had been forced to quit the Kingdom or otherwise deserted it of their own accords the better to escape the punishment which their crimes had merited The great Lords on whose strength they had most presumed were either under the like exile in the neighbouring Countries or else so weakned and disanimated that they durst not stir So that the King being clearly Master of the Field his Counsellors in good heart and generally the Lords and Commons in good terms of obedience it was thought fit to call a Parliament and therein to enact such Laws by which the honour of Religion the personal safety of the King the peace and happiness of the Kingdom and the prosperity of the Church might be made secure In which Parliament it was enacted amongst others things the better to encounter the proceedings of the Kirk and most Zealous Kirkmen That none of his Highness Subjects in time coming should presume to take upon them by word or writing to justifie the late treasonable attempt at Ruthen or to keep in register or store any Books approving the same in any sort And in regard the Kirk had so abused his Majesties goodness by which their Presbyterial Sessions the general Assemblies and other meetings of the Kirk were rather connived at then allowed an Act was made to regulate and restrain them for the times ensuing for by that Act it was ordained That from thenceforth none should presume or take upon them to Convocate Convene or assemble themselves together for holding of Councils Conventions or Assemblies to treat consult or determine in any matters of Estate Civil or Ecclesiastical excepting the ordinary judgements without the Kings special commandment 62. In the next place the Kings lawful Authority in causes Ecclesiastical so often before impugned was approved and confirmed and it was made treason for any man to refuse to answer before the King though it were concerning any matter which was Ecclesiastical The third Estate of Parliament that is the Bishops were restored to the ancient dignity and it was made treason for any man after that time to procure the innovation or diminution of the Power and Authority of any of the three Estates And for as much as through the wicked licentious publick and private Speeches and untrue calumnies of divers his Highness subjects I speak the very words of the Act to the disdain contempt and reproach of his Majesty his Council and proceedings stirring up his Highness subjects thereby to misliking sedition unquietness to cast off their due oâ—edience to his Majesty Therefore it is ordained that none of his subjects shall presume or take upon them privately or publickly in Sermons Declamations oâ— familiar Conferences to utter any false scandalous and untrue Speeches to the disdain reproach and contempt of
distinctly assure him upon their Credits That by the Laws of the Realm he was bound to take the Oath required for making a true answer unto the Interrogatories which were to be propounded to him To which he made no other Answer but that he could find no such thing in the Law of God and so continuing in his obstinacy was committed also But the Commissioners having spent some time in preparing the matter and thinking the cognizance thereof more fitter for the Star-Chamber referred both the Persons and the Cause to the care of that Court. In which an Information was preferred against them by the Queen's Attorney for setting forth and putting in practise without warrant and authority a new form of Common-Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments together with the Presbyterial Discipline not allowed by Law Upon the news whereof the Brethren enter into consultation as well about some course to be presently taken for relief of the Prisoners as for the putting of their Discipline into further practise What the result was may be gathered from a Letter of Wiggingtons one of the hottest heads amongst them in which he thus writes to Porter of Lancaster viz. Mr. Cartwright is in the Fleet for refusing the Oath as I hear and Mr. Knewstubs is sent for and sundry worthy Ministers are disquieted who have been spared long So that we look for some bickering ere long and then a Battel which cannot long endure 5. But before any thing could be done upon either side in order to the proceedings of the Coâ—rt or the release of the Prisoners there brake out such a dangerous Treason as took up all the thoughts of the Lords of the Council and the Brethren too The Brethren had so fixed their Fancies on the Holy Discipline and entertained such strange devices to promote the same beyond the warrant of God's Word and the Rule of Law that at the last God gave them up to strong delusions and suffered them to be transported by their own ill spirits to most dangerous downfalls One Coppinger a Gentleman of a very good Family had been so wrought upon by some of the chief Factors to the Presbyterians that he became a great admirer of their Zeal and Piety and being acquainted with one Arthington a Lay Genevian but very zealous in the Cause he adviseth with him of some means for the good of the Prisoners But upon long deliberation they could think of no course at all unless it would please God by some extraordinary Calling to stir up some zealous Brethren to effect their desires and if God pleased to take that way why might not one or both of them be chosen as fit Instruments in so great a service than whom they knew of none more able and of few more zealous On these Preparatories they betake themselves to Prayer and Fasting hold a strict Fast together on the 15 th of December and then began to â—ind themselves extraordinarily exercised as appears by their Letters writ to Lancaster in whose House they held it Immediately upon this Fact Coppinger takes a journey into Kent and fancies by the way that he was admitted to a familiar Conference with God himself that he received from Him many strange Directions to be followed by him whensoever God should please to use his service for the good of His Church and more particularly that he was shewed a way to bring the Queen to repentance and to cause all the Nobles to do the like out of hand or else to prove them to be Traytors to Almighty God Another Fast is held by him and Arthington at his coming back in which he finds himself more strongly stirred to a matter of some great importance than he was before of which he gives notice unto Gibson in Scotland by his Letter of the last of December and afterward to Wiggington above-mentioned by them to be communicated to the rest of the Brethren Another Fast follows upon this at which Wiggington and some others did vouchsafe their presence who had before confirmed them in the fancy of some such extraordinary Calling as he seemed to drive at With the intention of this last Cartwright and other of the Prisoners were made acquainted before-hand to the intent that by the benefit of their secret prayers the Action might be crowned with an End more glorious And the same night Coppinger finds himself in Heaven exceedingly astonished at the Majesty of Almighty God but very much comforted by the Vision and every day more and more encouraged to some great Work which he communicates at several times and by several Letters to Cartwright Travers Clark c. amongst the Preachers and from the Lay-Brethren unto Lancaster and Sir Peter Wentworth 6. And now we must make room for another Actor a greater Zealot than the other and one that was to rob them of the glory of their Dreams and Dotages Hacket an inconsiderable Fellow both for Parts and Fortune pretends to a more near Familiarity with Almighty God than either of the other durst aspire to A Wretch of such a desperate Malice that bearing an old grudg to one that had been his School-Master he bit off his Nose And when the poor man humbly prayed him to let him have it again to the end it might be sowed on before it was cold he most barbarously chewed it with his teeth and so swallowed it down After this having wasted that small Estate which he had by his Wife he becomes a Proselyte pretends at first to more than ordinary zeal for a Reformation and afterwards to extraordinary Revelations for the compassing of it This brings him into the acquaintance of some zealous Ministers who were then furiously driving on for the Holy Discipline but none more than Wiggington before remembred who brings him presently to Coppinger at such time as the poor man was raised to the height of his Follies Hacket had profited so well in the School of Hypocrisie that by his counterfeit-holiness his fervent and continual praying ex tempore fasting upon the Lord's Days making frequent brags of his Conflicts with Satan and pretending to many personal Conferences with the Lord Himself that he became of great esteem with the rest of the Brethren insomuch that some of them did not stick to say not only that he was one of God's beloved but greater in His Favour than Moses or Iohn the Baptist. And he himself made shew That he was a Prophet sent to foretell God's Judgments where His Mercies were neglected prophesying That there should be no more Popes and that England this present Year should be afflicted with Famine Warr and Pestilence unless the Lord's Discipline and Reformation were forthwith admitted These men being both governed by the same ill spirit were mutually over-joyed at this new acquaintance and forthwith entred into counsel for freeing Cartwright Snape and the rest of the Ministers not only from the several Prisons in which they lay but from the danger of their Censure in the
which had been brought in behalf of the Queen So that the strugling on both sides much confirmed the Power which they endeavoured to destroy the Power of that Commission being better fortified both by Law and Argument than it had been formerly For by the over-ruling of Cawdrey's Case in confirmation of the Sentence which was past against him and the great pains which Parsons took to so little purpose the Power of that Commission was so well established in the Courts of Judicature that it was afterwards never troubled with the like Disputes The Guides of the Faction therefore are resolved on another course To strike directly at the Root to question the Episcopal Power and the Queen's Authority the Jurisdiction of their Courts the exacting of the Oath called the Oath Ex Officio and their other proceedings in the same And to this purpose it was published in Print by some of their Lawyers or by their directions at the least That men were heavily oppressed in the Ecclesiastical Courts against the Laws of the Realm That the Queen could neither delegate that Authority which was vested in it nor the Commissioners to exercise the same by her delegation That the said Courts could not compel the taking of the Oath called the Oath Ex Officio since no man could be bound in Reason to accuse himself That the said Oath did either draw men into wilful Perjury to the destruction of their souls or to be guilty in a manner of their own condemnation to the loss both of their Fame and Fortunes And finally That the ordinary Episcopal Courts were not to meddle in any Causes whatsoever but only Testamentary and Matrimonial by consequence not in matter of Tythes all Mis-behaviours in the Church or punishing of Incontinency or Fornication Adultery Incest or any the like grievous or enormous Crimes but on the contrary it was affirmed by the Professors of the Civil Laws That to impugn the Authority which had been vested in the Queen by Act of Parliament was nothing in effect but a plain Invasion of the Royal Prerogative the opening of a way to the violation of the Oath of Allegiance and consequently to undermine the whole Frame of the present Government It was proved also That the ordinary Episcopal Courts had kept themselves within their bounds that they might lawfully deal in all such Causes as were then handled in those Courts that their proceedings in the same by the Oath Ex Officio was neither against Conscience Reason nor the Laws of the Land and therefore that the Clamours on the other side were unjust and scandalous In which as many both Divines and Civilians deserved exceeding well both of the Queen and the Church so none more eminently than Dr. Richard Cosins Dean of the Arches in a Learned and Laborious Treatise by him writ and published called An Apology for Proceedings in Courts Ecclesiastical c. Printed in the year 1593. 22. But notwithstanding the Legality of these Proceedings the punishing of some Ring-leaders of the Puritan Faction and the Imprisonment of others a Book comes out under the name of A Petition to Her Majesty The scope and drift whereof was this That the Ecclesiastical Government of the Church of England was to be changed That the Eldership or Presbyterial Discipline was to be established as being the Government which was used in the Primitive Church and commanded to be used in all Ages That the Disciplinarian Faction hath not offended against the Statute 23 Eliz. cap. 2. And That Iohn Vdal was unjustly condemned upon it That the Consistorial Patrons are unjustly slandered with desire of Innovation and their Doctrine with Disorder and Disloyalty And this being said the Author of the Pamphlet makes it his chief business by certain Questions and Articles therein propounded to bring the whole Ecclesiastical State into envy and hatred This gave the Queen a full assurance of the restless Spirit wherewith the Faction was possessed and that no quiet was to be expected from them till they were utterly supprest To which end She gives Order for a Parliament to begin in February for the Enacting of some Laws to restrain those Insolencies with which the Patience of the State had been so long exercised The Puritans on the other side are not out of hope to make some good use of it for themselves presuming more upon the strength of their Party by reason of the Pragmaticalness of some Lawyers in the House of Commons than they had any just ground for as it after proved To which end they prepared some Bills sufficiently destructive of the Royal Interest the Jurisdiction of the Bishops and the whole Form of their Proceedings in their several Courts With which the Queen being made acquainted before their meeting or otherwise suspecting by their former practises what they meant to do She thought it best to strangle those Conceptions in the very Womb. And to that purpose She gave Order for the signification of Her Pleasure to the Lords and Commons at the very first opening of the Parliament That they should not pass beyond their bounds That they should keep themselves to the redressing of such Popular Grievances as were complained of to them in their several Countreys but that they should leave all Matters of State to Her self and the Council and all Matters which concerned the Church unto Her and Her Bishops 23. Which Declaration notwithstanding the Factors for the Puritans are resolved to try their Fortune and to encroach upon the Queen and the Church at once The Queen was always sensible of the Inconveniences which might arise upon the nominating of the next Successor and knew particularly how much the Needle of the Puritans Compass pointed toward the North Which made Her more tender in that Point than She had been formerly But Mr. Peter Wentworth whom before we spake of a great Zealot in behalf of the Holy Discipline had brought one Bromley to his lure and they together deliver a Petition to the Lord Keeper Puckering desiring that the Lords would joyn with them of the Lower-House and become Suppliants to the Queen for entailing of the Succession of the Crown according to a Bill which they had prepared At this the Queen was much displeased as being directly contrary to her strict Command and charged the Lords of the Council to call the said Gentlemen before them and to proceed against them for their disobedience Upon which signification of Her Majesty's Pleasure Sir Thomas Hennage then Vice-Chamberlain and one of the Lords of the Privy-Council convents the Parties reprehends them for their Misdemeanor commands them to forbear the Parliament and not to go out of their several Lodgings until further Order Being afterwards called before the Lord Treasurer Burleigh the Lord Buckhurst and the said Sir Thomas Wentworth is sent unto the Tower Bromley committed unto the Fleet and with him Welsh and Stevens two other Members of that House were committed also as being privy to the Projects of
wave the Declinatour or if they would declare at the least That it was not a general but a particular Declinatour used in the case of Mr. Blake as being in a case of Slander and therefore appertaining to the Church's Cognizance But these proud men either upon some confidence of another Bothwell or else presuming that the King was not of a Spirit to hold out against them or otherwise infatuated to their own destruction resolved That both their Pulpits and their Preachers too should be exempted totally from the King's Authority In which brave humour they return this Answer to his Proposition That they resolved to stand to their Declinatour unless the King would pass from the Summons and remitting the pursuit to the Ecclesiastical Judg That no Minister should be charged for his Preaching at least before the meeting of the next general Assembly which should be in their Power to call as they saw occasion Which Answer so displeased the King that he charged the Commissioners of the Kirk to depart the Town and by a new Summons citeth Blake to appear on the last of November This fills the Pulpit with Invectives against the King and that too on the day of the Princess's Christning at what time many Noble men were called to Edenborough to attend that Solemnity With whose consent it was declared at Blake's next appearance That the Crimes and Accusations charged in the Bill were Treasonable and Seditious and that his Majesty his Council and all other Judges substitute by his Authority were competent Judges in all matters either Criminal or Civil as well to Ministers as to other Subjects Yet still the King was willing to give over the Chase makes them another gracious Offer treats privately with some Chiefs amongst them and seems contented to revoke his two Proclamations if Blake would only come before the Lords of the Council and there acknowledg his offence against the Queen But when this would not be accepted the Court proceeds unto the Examination of Witnesses And upon proof of all the Articles objected Sentence was given against him to this effect That he should be confined beyond the North water enter into Ward within six days and there remain till his Majesty's pleasure should be further signified Some Overtures were made after this for an Accommodation But the King not being able to gain any reason from them sends their Commissioners out of the Town and presently commands That Twenty four of the most Seditious persons in Edenborough should forsake the City hoping to find the rest more cool and tractable when these Incendiaries were dismissed 23. The Preachers of the City notwithstanding take fire up on it and the next day excite the Noble-men assembled at the Sermon upon Sunday the fifteenth of December to joyn with them in a Petition to the King To preserve Religion Which being presented in a rude and disorderly manner the King demands by what Authoririty they durst convene together without his leave We dare do more than this said the Lord of Lindsey and will not suffer our Religion to be overthrown Which said he returns unto the Church stirrs up the people to a tumult and makes himself the Head of a Factious Rabble who crying out The Sword of the Lord and Gideon thronged in great numbers to the place in which the King had locked himself for his greater safety the doors whereof they questionless had forced open and done some out-rage to his Person if a few honest men had not stopt their Fury The Lord-Provost of the City notwithstanding he was then sick and kept his Bed applied his best endeavours to appease the Tumult and with some difficulty brought the people to lay down their Arms which gave the King an opportunity to retire to his Palace where with great fear he passed over all the rest of that day The next morning he removes with his Court and Council to the Town of Lintithgoe and from thence publisheth a Proclamation to this effect viz. That the Lords of the Session the Sheriffs Commissioners and Justices with their several Members and Deputies should remove themselves forth of the Town of Edenborough and be in readiness to go to any such place as should be appointed and that all Noble-men and Barons should return unto their Houses and not presume to convene in that or in any other place without License under pain of his Majesty's Displeasure The Preachers on the contrary are resolved to keep up the Cause to call their Friends together and unite their Party and were upon the point of Excommunicating certain Lords of the Council if some more sober than the rest had not held their hands 24. In which confusion of Affairs they indict a Fast For a preparatory whereunto a Sermon is preached by one Welch in the chief Church of that City Who taking for his Theam the Epistle sent to the Angel oâ— the Church of Ephesus did pitifully rail against the King saying That he was possessed with a Devil and that one Devil being put out seven worse were entred in the place and that the Subjects might lawfully rise and take the Sword out of his hands Which last he confirmed by the Example of a Father that falling into a Phrensie might be taken by the Children and Servants of the Family and tyed hand and foot from doing violence Which brings into my mind an usual saying of that King to this effect viz. That for the twelve last years of his living in Scotland he used to pray upon his knees before every Sermon That he might hear nothing from the Preacher which might justly grieve him and that the case was so well altered when he was in England that he was used to pray that he might profit by what he heard But all exorbitancy of Power is of short continuance especially if abused to Pride and Arrogance The madness of the Presbyterians was now come to the height and therefore in the course of Nature was to have a fall and this the King resolves to give them or to lose his Crown He had before been so afflicted with continual Baffles that he was many times upon the point of leaving Scotland putting himself into the Seignury of Venice and living there in the capacity of a Gentleman so they call the Patricians of that Noble City And questionless he had put that purpose in execution if the hopes of coming one day to the Crown of England had not been some temptation to him to ride out the storm But now a Sword is put into his hands by the Preachers themselves wherewith he is enabled to cut the Gordian-knot of their Plots and Practises which he was not able to untye For not contented to have raised the former Tumults they keep the Noble-men together invite the people to their aid and write their Letters to the Lord of Hamilton to repair unto them and make himself the Head of their Association A Copy of which Letter being showed unto the King by that
in the Liturgy should be expunged and others altered to the worse That Decency and Reverence in officiating God's publick Service should be brought within the compass of Innovations That Doctrinal Calvinism should be entertained in all parts of the Church and all their Sabbath-Speculations though contrary to Calvin's Judgment super-added to it But before any thing could be concluded in those weighty matters the Commons set their Bill on foot against Root and Branch for putting down all Bishops and Cathedral Churches which put a period to that Meeting without doing any thing And though the Bill upon a full debate thereon amongst the Peers was cast out of that House and was not by the course of Parliaments to be offered again yet contrary to all former Custom it was prest from one time to another till in the end they gained the point which they so much aimed at Hereupon followed some Petitions from the Universities in favour of Cathedral and Collegiate Churches without which Learning must be destitute of its chief encouragements and some Petitions from whole Counties in behalf of Episcopacy without which there was like to be no preservative against Sects and Heresies But nothing was more memorable than the inter-pleadings in the House of Commons between Dr. Iohn Hâ—cket one of the Prebendaries of St. Pauls and Arch-Deacon of Bedford and Dr. Cornelius Burges a right doubty Disputant but better skilled in drawing down his Myrmidons than in mustering Arguments the issue of whose Plea was this That though Cathedrals were unnecessary and the Quire-men scandalous yet that their Lands could not be alienated unto private persons without guilt of Sacriledg 9. But little did this edifie with the Leading-part in the House of Commons who were resolved to practise on the Church by little and little and at the last to play at sweep-stake and take all together First therefore they began with taking down the Starr-Chamber and the High Commission without which Courts the Subjects could not easily be kept in order nor the Church from Faction And in the Act for taking down the Court of the High Commission a clause is cunningly inserted which plainly took away all Coercive Power which had been vested in the Bishops and their Under-Officers disabling them from imposing any pain or penalty and consequently from inflicting all Church-Censures on notorious sinners Their Jurisdiction being thus gone it was not likely that their Lands should stay long behind though in good manners it was thought convenient to strip them first from having any place or suffrage in the House of Peers And when they once were rendred useless to the Church and State the Lands would follow of themselves without any great trouble And that they might attain the end which they so much aimed at Burges draws down his Myrmidons to the Doors of he Parliament and teacheth them to cry No Bishops No Bishops with their wonted violence By which confused Rabble some indignities and affronts are very frequently put upon them either in keeping them off from landing if they came by water or offer violence to their persons if they came by Land Which multiplied Injuries gave such just cause of fear and trouble that they withdrew themselves from the House of Peers but sent withall a Protestation to preserve their Rights In which it was declared That all Acts made or to be made in the time of their absence considering their absenâ—e was inforced not voluntary should be reputed void and null to all intents and purposes in the Law whatsoever This Protestation being tendred in the House of Peers communicated to the House of Commons and the supposed offence extreamly aggravated by the Lord Keeper Littleton the Bishops are impeached of Treason nine of them sent Prisoners to the Tower and two committed to the custody of the Gentleman-Usher 10. And there we leave them for a while to look into the Fortunes of the publick Liturgy not like to stand when both the Scots and English Presbyterians did conspire against it The Fame whereof had either caused it totally to be laid aside or performed by halfs in all the Counties where the Scots were of strength and power and not much better executed in some Churches of London wherein that Faction did as much predominate as if it had been under the protection of a Scottish Army But the first great interruption which was made at the officiating of the publick Liturgy was made upon a Day of Humiliation when all the Members of the House of Commons were assembled together at St. Margaret's in Westminster At what time as the Priest began the second Service at the Holy Table some of the Puritans or Presbyterians began a Psalm and were therein followed by the rest in so loud a Tune that the Minister was thereby forced to desist from his duty and leave the Preacher to perform the rest of that day's Solemnity This gave encouragement enough to the rest of that Party to set as little by the Liturgy in the Countrey as they did in the City especially in all such usages and rights thereof as they were pleased to bring within the compass of Innovations But they were more encouraged to it by an Order of the Lower-House bearing date on the 8 th of September Anno 1641. By which all Church-Wardens were required in their several Parishes to remove the Holy Table from the East-end of the Chancel to any other part of the Church to take away the Ralis before it and not to suffer any Tapers Candlesticks or Basons to be placed upon it It was required also by the same That there should be no bowing at the Name of Jesus nor adoration toward the East nor any reverence used in men's approaches to the Holy Table And by the same all Dancing and other lawful Recreations were prohibited on their Lord's-day-Sabbath after the duties of the Day and Catechising turned into After-noon-Sermons directly contrary to His Majesty's Declarations and Instructions given in that behalf And though the Lords refused to join with them in that Vote and sent them back unto an Order of the 16 th of Ianuary by which they had confirmed and enjoined the use of the Liturgy yet Pym commands the Order to be put in execution by a Warrant under his own hand only and that too during the Recess when almost all the Lords and Commons had retired themselves to their several dwellings 11. Hereupon followed such an alteration in all Churches and Chappels that the Church-Wardens pulled down more in a Week or two than all the Bishops and Clergy had been able to raise in two Weeks of years And hereupon there followed such irreverences ni God's publick Service and such a discontinuance of it in too many places that His Majesty was compelled to give new life to it by His Proclamation of the tenth of December and taking order in the same for punishing all the wilful Contemners and Disburbers of it But this Proclamation being published in that point