depriving the Bishops of their Vote and the Churches Birth-right And this was it which helped them in that time of need And yet not thinking this Device sufficient to fright their Lordships to a present compliance Stroud was sent up with a Message from the House of Commons to let them know That the Londoners would shortly bring a Petition with 20000 Hands to obtain that Ordinance By which stale and common Stratagem they wrought so far on some weak Spirits the rest withdrawing themselves as formerly in the case of the Earl of Strafford that in a thin and slender House not above six or seven in number it was pass'd at last The day before they pass'd the Ordinance for establishing their new Directory which in effect was nothing but a total abolition of the Common-Prayer-Book and thereby shewed unto the World how little hopes they had of settling their new Form of Worship if the foundation of it were not laid in the blood of this famous Prelate who had so stoutly stood up for it against all Novellism and Faction in the whole course of his Life â—e was certified by some Letters to Oxon. and so reported in the Mercurius Aulicus of the following week That the Lord Bruce 〈◊〉 better known by the name of the Earl of Elgin was one of the number of those few Lords which had Voted to the Sentence of his Condâ—mnation The others which concurred in that fatal Sentence being the Earls of Kent Pembroke Salisbury and Bullingbrook together with the Lord North and the Lord Gray of Wark But whatsoever may be said of the other six I have been advertised lately from a very good hand That the said Lord Bruce hath frequently disclaimed that Action and solemnly professed his detestation of the whole Proceedings as most abhorrent from his nature and contrary to his known aâ—fections as well unto his Majesties Service as the Peace and Preservation of the Church of England This Ordinance was no sooner passed but it revived many of those Discourses which had before been made on the like occasion in the Business of the Earl of Strafford For hereupon it was observed That as the predominant Party in the Vnited Provinces to bring about their ends in the death of Barnevelt subverted all those Fundamental Laws of the Belgick Liberty for maintenance whereof they took up Arms against Philip ii So the Contrivers of this Mischief had violated all the Fundamental Laws of the English Government for maintenance whereof they had pretended to take up Arms against the King It was said they a Fundamental Law of the English Government and the first Article in the Magna Charta That the Church of England shall be free and shall have all her whole Rights and Priviledges inviolable Yet to make way unto the Condemnation of this Innocent Man the Bishops must be Voted out of their Place in Parliament which most of them have held far longer in their Predecessors than any of our Noble Families in their Progenitors and if the Lords refuse to give way unto it as at first they did the People must come down to the House in multitudes and cry No Bishops no Bishâ—ps at the Parliament doors till by the terrour of their Tumults 〈◊〉 extort it from them It is a Fundamental Law of the English 〈◊〉 That no Free-man shall be taken or imprisoned without cause 〈◊〉 or be detained without being brought unto his Answer in due form of Law Yet here we see a Freeman imprisoned ten whole weeks together before any Charge was brought against him and kept in Prison three whole years more before his General Accusation was by them reduced unto Particulars and for a year almost detained close Prisoner without being brought unto his Answer as the Law requires It is a Fundamental Law of the English Government 〈…〉 be disserzâ—â— of his Freehold or Liberties but by the known Laws of the Land Yet here we see a man disseized of his Rents and Lands spoiled of his Goods deprived of his Iurisdiction devested of his Right of Patronage and all this done when he was so far from being convicted by the Laws of the Land that no particular Charge was so much as thought of It is a Fundamental Law of the English Liberty That no man shall be condemned or put to death bâ—â— by the Lawful Iudgment of his Peers or by the Law of the Land that is in the ordinary way of Legal Tryal And sure an Ordinance of both Houses without the Royal Assent is no part of the Law of England nor held an ordinary way of Tryal for the English Subject or ever reckoned to be such in former times And finally It is a Fundamental Law in the English Government That if any other cause than those recited in the Statute of King Edward iii. which is supposed to be Treason do happen before any of his Majesties Juâ—tices the Justices shall tarry without giving Iudgment till the Cause be shâ—wn and declared before the King and his Parliament whether it ought to be judged Treason or not Yet here we have a new found Treason never known before nor declared such by any of his Majesties Iustices nor ever brought to be considered of by the King and his Parliament but only Voted to be such by some of those Members which â—are at Westminster who were resolved to have it so for their private Ends. The first Example of this kind the first thaâ— ever suffered death by the shot of an Ordinance as himself very well observed in his dying Speech upon the Scaffold though purposely omitted in Hind's Printed Copy to which now he hasteneth For the passing of the Ordinance being signified to him by the then Lieutenant of the Tower he neither entertained the news with a Stâ—ical Apathy nor waâ—led his fate with weak and womanish Lamentations to which Extremes most men are carried in this case but 〈◊〉 it with so even and so smooth a Temper as shewed he neither was ashamed to live nor afraid to die The time between the Sentence and Execution he spent in Prayers and Applications to the Lord his God having obtained though not without some diâ—lâ—â—nâ—ty a Chaplain of his own to attend upon him and to assist him in the Work of his Preparation though little Preparation â—â—â—ded to receive that blow which could not but be welcome because long expected For so well was he studied in the Art of Dying especially in the last and strictest part of his Imprisonment that by continual Fastings Watchings Prayers and such like Acts of Christiaâ— Humiliation his Flesh was rarified into Spirit and the whole maâ— so fitted for Eternal Glories that he was more than half in Heaven before Death brought his bloody but Triumphant 〈◊〉 to convey him thither He that had so long been a Confessâ—â—â—ould â—ould not but think it a Release of Miseries to be made a 〈◊〉 It is Recorded of Alexander the Great That the night before his last and
CYPRIANUS ANGLICUS OR THE HISTORY OF THE Life and Death OF The most Reverend and Renowned PRELATE WILLIAM By Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of all ENGLAND and Metropolitan Chancellor of the Universities of Oxon. and Dublin and one of the Lords of the Privy Council to His late most SACRED MAJESTY King CHARLES the First Second MONARCH of Great Britain CONTAINING ALSO The Ecclesiastical History of the Three Kingdoms of ENGLAND SCOTLAND and IRELAND from His first rising till His Death By P. Heylyn D. D. and Chaplain to Charles the first and Charles the second Monarchs of Great Britain ECCLUS 44. VERS 1 3. 1. Let us now praise Famous Men and our Fathers that begat Vs. 3. Such as did bear Rule in their Kingdoms Men Renowned for their Power giving Counsel by their Vnderstanding and Declaring Prophesies LONDON Printed for A. Seile MDCLXVIII To the Honourable Sir IOHN ROBINSON Kt. and Baronet HIS MAJESTIES Lieutenant of the Tower of London SIR YOV have here before you the History of an Eminent Prelate and Patriot a Person who lived the honour and died a Martyr of the English Church and State for it was his sad Fate to be crusht betwixt Popery and Schism and having against both defended the Protestant Cause with his Pen he after chearfully proceeded to Seal that Faith with his Bloud Together with the Story of this Great Man you have likewise that of the Age he lived in especially so far as concerned the Church wherein you will find recorded many notable Agitations and Contrivances which it were pity should be lost in silence and pass away unregarded These Considerations towards a Gentleman of your worth Curiosity and loyalty are warrant enough to justifie me in this Dedication And yet I must not conceal that it belongs to you by another right that is to say the Care of recommending this VVork to the Publick was committed to a Gentleman who himself had presented it to your hand if God had not taken him away just upon the point of putting his purpose in execution So that it seems in me as well matter of Conscience as of Respect to deliver it wholly up to your Patronage and Protection since in exposing it to the world I do but perform the will of my dead Father and in addressing it to your self together with my own I also gratifie that of my deceased Friend The value of the VVork it self I do not pretend to judge of my duty and interest for the Author forbids it but for the Industry Integrity and good meaning of the Historian I dare become answerable And in truth I hope well of the rest without which I should not have made bold with Sir John Robinson's Name in the Front of it who being so nearly related both in bloud and affection to that Incomparable and Zealous Minister of God and his Prince cannot besides a Natural but upon an Honourable Impression concern himself in the glories or blemishes of this Character defective in nothing but that it could not be as ample as his worth And now having discharged my trust and duty as I could do no less so I have little more to add for my self but that I am SIR Your most humble and obedient Servant HENRY HEYLYN A Necessary INTRODUCTION To the following HISTORY BEFORE we come unto the History of this Famous Prelate it will not be amiss to see upon what Principles and Positions the Reformation of this Church did first proceed that so we may the better Judge of those Innovations which afterwards were thrust upon her and those Endeavours which were used in the latter times to bring her back again to her first Condition 1. Know therefore that King Henry viii having obtained of the Bishops and Clergie in their Convocation Anno 1530. to be acknowledged the Supream Head on Earth of the Church of England did about three years after in the 26 of his Reign confirm the said Supremacy to Himself his Heirs and Successors with all the Priviledges and Preheminencies thereunto belonging by Act of Parliament And having procured the said Bishops and Clergie in another of their Convocations held in the year 1532. to promise in verbo Sacerdotii not to assemble from thenceforth in any Convocation or Synodical Meeting but as they should be called by his Majesties Writ nor to make any Canons or Constitutions Synodal or Provincial without his Leave and Licence thereunto obtained nor finally to put the same in Execution till they were Ratified and Confirmed under the Great Seal of England Procured also an Act of Parliament to bind the Clergie to their promise Which Act called commonly The Act of the Submission of the Clergie doth bear this name in Poulton's Abridgment viz. That the Clergie in their Convocation should Enact no Constitutions without the Kings assent Anno 25. Henry viii c. 19. Which Grounds so laid he caused this Question to be debated in both Universities and all the Famous Monasteries of the Kingdom viz. An aliquid auâ—horitatis in hoc Regno Angliae Pontifici Romano de jure competat plusquam alii cuicumque Episcopo extero Which Question being concluded in the Negative and that Conclusion ratified and confirmed in the Convocation Anno 1534. there past an Act of Parliament about two years after Intituled An Act Extinguishing the Authority of the Bishops of Rome In which there was an Oath prescribed for abjuring the Popes Authority within this Realm The refusing whereof was made High-Treason Anno 28. H. viii c. 10. 2. But this Exclusion of the Pope as it did no way prejudice the Clergy in their power of making Canons Constitutions and other Synodical Acts but only brought them to a dependance upon the King for the better ordering of the same so neither did it create any diminution of the Power and Priviledges of the Arch-Bishops and Bishops in the free exercise of that Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction which anciently belonged to them For in the Act of Submission before-mentioned there passed a Clause that all former Constitutions Synodal or Provincial which were not contrary to the Word of God the Kings Prerogative Royal or the Laws and Statutes of this Realm should remain in force until they were reviewed and fitted for the use of the Church by 32 Commissioners to be nominated by the King for that end and purpose Which re-view being never made in the time of that King nor any thing done in it by K. Edw. vi though he had an Act of Parliament to the same effect the said Old Canons and Constitutions remained in force as before they were By means whereof all causes Testamentary Matrimonial and Suits for Tythes all matters of Incontinency and other notorious Crimes which gave publick Scandal all wilful absence from Divine Service Irreverence and other Misdemeanours in the Church not punishable by the Laws of the Land were still reserved unto the Ecclesiastical Courts Those Ancient Canons and Constitutions remaining also for the perpetual standing Rule
that none of them had neither perspicuity enough to see it or Zeal enough to give warning of it And therefore he must needs conceive that Religion was made use of only for a blind or Curtain to screen some dark design from the publick view which had not yet attained to so ripe a confidence as to shew it self abroad in the open light The Mystery of iniquity had long been working in this Church not so much in the Popish as the Puritan Faction Who seeing they had no more prevailed against it by their open batteries than the Roman Emperours had done on the Primitive Church by their persecutions resolved upon more secret and consequently more dangerous practises to attain their ends In order whereunto they had perpetually alarm'd this King from his first coming to the Crown with continual dangers from the Papists for which the Gun-powder-treason gave them too much ground Nor would they suffer any Session of Parliament pass from that time forward in which the dangerous practises of Priests Iesuits c. did not sound in his ears And this they did not so much because they saw any such visible increase of Popery as was by them pretended from time to time but that they thought it the best way to carry on their other projects which they were in hand with For well they knew that when the thoughts both of King and People were totally taken up with the apprehension of the dangers which were feared from the Papists the Puritan Party in the mean time might gather strength without being noted or observed But because these interposings of the Commons in the cause of Religion became to be more eagerly pursued in some following Parliaments we shall refer the further consideration of them to another time The Parliament being ended we must follow our new Bishop to his Diocess whom we will wait upon to St. Davids a poor City God wot scituate on the Promontory in Pembroke-shire by the Ancients called Ortopitae in a safe place and far enough from the Saxons whom the Welsh most feared but incommodious enough for all the rest of the Clergy to repair unto Nor did it prove so safe for the Bishop and other Inhabitants of it as had been presumed in respect of sundry other Nations who have often spoyled and defaced it For standing near the Sea it had been frequently visited and spoyled by the Danes Norwegians and other Pyrates insomuch that the Bishops were inforced to remove their dwelling to Caermarthen a fair Market Town and beautified with a goodly Collegiate Church not far from which in a Village called Aberguilly the Bishop hath his ordinary place of Residence This brought the City of St. Davids small enough before to the condition of a Village there being nothing almost remaining of it but the Church the ruines of the Bishops Palace and some Houses appertaining to the Canons of it The Church as now it stands if any of it be now left standing was the work of Bishop Peter the forty eighth Bishop of this Diocess and by him dedicated by the name of St. Andrew and St. David though now St. Andrew be left out and St David bears the name as before it did in reference to St. David who first removed the Archiepiscopal See from Caer-leon thither The place at that time by the Welsh called Menew whence the Latines borrow their Menevenses by which name these Bishops are entituled From this removal of the See which hapned in 519. the Bishops hereof were for some time the Metropolitans and for a long time the supreme Ordinaries of the Welsh or Brittish For although Archbishop Samson the twenty sixth from St. David in the year 910. or thereabouts had carried the Archiepiscopal Pall and therewithall the Archiepiscopal dignity to Dole in Bretagne by reason of an extreme Pestilence then raging amongst the Welsh yet his Successors though they lost the name reserved the power of an Archbishop Nor did the residue of the Welsh Bishops receive their Consecration from any other hand than his till the Reign of Hen. I. At what time Bernard the forty sixth Bishop of this See was forced to submit himself to the Church of Canterbury But our Bishops Journey into Wales was not so much to visit S. Davids in which Church he had been before installed by Proxie as to bestow a visitation upon his Diocess and therein to take order for the rectifying of such things as he found amiss A Diocess containing the whole Counties of Pembroke Cardigan Caermarthen Radnor and Brecknock with some small parts of Monmouth Hereford Montgâ—mery and Glamorgan Shires For managing whereof the Bishop hath under him four Archdeacons that is to say of Cardigan Caermarthen Brecknock and St. Davids distributing amongst them all the Parishes which belong to this Diocess amounting to no more in so great a quantity of ground than 308. of which 120. are accounted for Impropriations But then we are to understand this number of Parochial Churches not taking into the Account such subordinate Chappels as had been built in several Parishes for the case of the People which might very much increase the reckoning And yet he added one more to them of his own foundation and such a one as for the elegancy of the building and richness of the Furniture exceeded all the rest together Chappels he found none at his Episcopal house of Aberguilly and one he was resolved to bestow upon it proportionably to such a Family as was fit for a Bishop of St. Davids to have about him which being finished he provided it of Rich Furniture and Costly Utensils and whatsoever else was necessary or convenient for the Service of God the very Plate designed for the celebrating of the holy Supper amounting to one hundred fifty five pounds eighteen shillings four pence Insomuch that if Felix the Proconsul had been still alive he might have cried out now as he did in the time of Iulian the Apostate viz. Behold in what rich Vessels they administer to the Son of Mary But this unhapy Age hath given us Felix's enough to reckon this amongst his crimes and so they do his solemn Consecration of it performed by himself in person according to an order firmly drawn up by the most learned Bishop Andrews then whom there could not be a greater enemy to the Errours Superstitions and Corruptions of the See of Rome I know it was objected that neither Gratian nor the Roman Pontificall conceive such Consecrations necessary to a Private Chappel but then they are to be understood of such Chappels only as are meant for prayers and in propriety of speech are no more than Oratories and not of such as are intended for Preaching Ministring the Sacraments and other acts of Divine Worship as this Chappel was And this appears so plainly by the Authentick Instrument of the Dedication that no man who hath seen the same can make question of it I have laid all these things together from his
should not be bound to repair with other of their Neighbours to their Parish Churches it might create a further mischief then the present Scandal and come up close at last to formal Schism His Order had been published in all the Congregations of strangers within his Province as before is said but Executed more or less as the Minister and Church-wardens stood affected to those Congregations And therefore that the Church-wardens might more punctually proceed in doing their duty It was thought fit that certain Articles should be framed and commended to them for their future direction The Reformation being pursued in his own Diocess and the Metropolitical City first it was to be presumed that those in other places would gladly follow the Example Of laying taxes on those strangers in their several Parishes for repairing of and adorning their several Parish-Churches and providing Ornaments for the same they were in all places careful enough because their own profit was concerned in it And for their proceedings in the rest they were directed by these Orders to inquire of all such strangers as lived amongst them the names of all married persons in their Congregations as of the second descent in their several Parishes to the end that order might be taken for decent seats for them according to their Estates and qualities that they should return the names and ages of those unmarried of the second descent and whose children and servants they were to the end that the like care might be taken of their due resort to the Church there to be Catechised and Communicate according to their ages that those at sixteen years and upwards that had not already Communicated should prepare themselves to receive the blessed Sacrament in their Parish Church at the next Communion and from thence forward thrice in the year afterwards as the Canons of the Church require as they would avoid presentment to their Ordinary for their neglect therein that such as were Parents and Masters of Families of the first and second descent did thenceforth every Lords day half an hour after Evening Prayer send all such their Children and Servants as were under sixteen to their Parish Church there to be Catechised according to the Orders of the Church as they themselves upon presentment would answer the Contrary These Articles being given in the middle of April were Executed for the rest of the year more punctually then in any of those before But it held not much longer then the rest of that year The troubles which the Archbishop fell into in the year next following dissolving all his Orders and Injunctions of this kind as if never made With equal constancy he governed his Counsels in all other particulars Some informations had been given him of certain misdemeanours and corruptions in Merton Colledge of which he was the Ordinary and immediate Visitor in the Right of his See and in that Right he resolves upon a Visitation both in Head and Members To this employment he deputes his Right Trusty Friend and Assured Servant The Dean of the Arches who entring on his charge in the year foregoing 1638. made this Enquiry amongst others viz. Whither they made due Reverence by bowing towards the Altar or Communion Table when they came into the Chappel And finding by a return to this enquiry that Corbet and Cheynel two of the Fellows not only had neglected but refused to make any such Reverence he tryed all fair and plausible perswasions by himself and others to induce them too it But not prevailing either way he certified the Archbishop of his Proceedings who thereupon caused some Injunctions to be sent to the Colledge for their future Governance Amongst which I find this for one that they use due and lowly Reverence towards the Lords Table at their first entrance into the Quire Upon the coming whereof there was no more dispute about it those Reverences being made by most and constantly continued by them till the Parliament of Novem. 3. In matters which concerned the Warden it was thought fit by Lamb the Chief Commissioner to do nothing without further direction but only to acquaint the Archbishop in what State he found them who thereupon recalled the business to himself The parties to appear before him Octob. following at which time he spent three days in hearing and examining the Points in difference between Brent the Warden and such of the Fellows of the Colledge as complained against him But for determining the Cause the Warden appearing very foul as himself acknowledgeth he took time till the first of Iuly in this present year that Brent might have the better opportunities to content his Fellows for the Errors of his Government in the times precedent and give them some assurance of a Reformation for the time to come Which noble Favour notwithstanding and that he went off with no other Censure than a fair and Fatherly Admonition yet Brent unmindful of so great a moderation toward him expres'd more readiness in contributing towards his Condemnation in the time of his Trial than any of those who did most eagerly desire his Ruine The course and method of my business having brought me to Oxon I cannot depart thence without taking notice of his further Bounty and Munificence to that University He had before entertained some thoughts of clearing the great Square betwixt St. Maries and the Schools intending to have raised aâ—fair and capacious Room advanced on Pillars the upper part to serve for Convocations and Congregations which till that time were held in the Church it self the lower for a Walk or place of Conference in which Students of all sorts might confer together at their repairing to the Schools the Library or any other business which concerned the Publick But finding the Owners of those Houses not so willing to part with them as he had probably presumed he was fain to shift the Scene though he held his purpose which fell out very happily for that University For being resolved to free St. Maries Church from those Inconveniencies which the continual keeping of the Publick Convocations and Congregations must of necessity carry with it he erected a stately and most elegant Pile at the West end of the Divinity School and Publick Library The lower part whereof was fitted and accommodated for the Convocations and other Publick Meetings of that Famous Body The upper part opening into the Bodleian Library he trimmed with all the Curiosities of Art and Cost to serve as a Repository for such Learned Writings as the Piety of ensuing Times might confer upon it And that it might not be reported that he had given them nothing but an empty Box â—e furnished it with no fewer than 1276 Manuscripts in several Languages 700 whereof had been sent before at divers times when this beautiful Structure was in raising The rest were sent on Iune 28. in this present year 100 of these last being in the Hebrew Greek Arabick and Persian Tongues And that he might make some
himself was fain to call both Houses before him within two daies after there to Explain or rather to Retract so harsh a Title calling them afterwards by the name of his Subjects of Scotland as he used to do which gave the Commons such a sense of their Power and of his Compliance that they resolved to husband both to their best advantage and not so easily to part with their Friends of Scotland as his Majesty first hoped they would The differences might have been agreed at York or Rippon if the Commissioners of the Scots had been as forward as the English but the Scots so delayed them as his Majesty noted in that Speech that it was not possible to end it there The Scots had other work to do besides their own and must be kept in pay at the charge of the English till they had brought his Majesty into such a condition that it was not safe for him to deny them any thing which they had the confidence to require Such a beginning had this long and unhappy Parliament unhappy to the King and to all that loved his Power or Person most men who looked on his Affairs with the eye of Judgment presaging that this thrifâ—y omission of the Publick Pomp in the present Conjunctures would prove as inauspicious to him as the like neglect had done at his Coronation and that this Parliament which began without solemnity would prove a Parliament of sorrows unto him and his With little better Fortune did the Convocation take beginning at S. Pauls Church on the morrow after handselled at their first meeting by the sad news of the Decease of Dr. Neile Archbishop of York which had been brought unto the Town the day before A man he was who had past through all Degrees and Orders in the Church of England and thereby made acquainted with the conveniencies or distresses incident to all conditions He had served the Church as Schoolmaster Curate Vicar Parson Master of the Savoy Dean of Westminster Clerk of the Closet to both Kings successively Bishop of Rochester Lichfield Lincoln Durham and Winchester and finally Archbishop of York in which place he died Many good Offices he had done to the Church and Church-men in his attendance at the Court crossing the Scots in most of their suits their Ecclesiastical Preferments which greedily and ambitiously they hunted after and thereby drawing on himself the general hatred not only of the Scots but Scotizing English But of this Prelate we have spoke so much upon other occasions that we may save the labour of any further addition than that he died as full of years as he was of honours an affectionate Subject to his Prince an indulgent Father to his Clergy a bountiful Patron to his Chaplains and a true friend to all which relied upon him more fortunate in the time of his death than the course of his life in being prevented by that blessed opportunity from seeing those calamities which afterwards fell upon the King the Church and all that wish well to either of them which must have been more grievous to him than a thousand deaths But this bad news retarded not the Convocation from proceeding forwards the Prelates and Clergy attending the Archbishop from the Chapter-house into the Choire where they heard the Sermon Preached at that time by Bargrave then Dean of Canterbury which done the Clergy settled to the choice of a Prolocutor electing the same man who had before discharged the Place with so much dexterity Adjourned to Westminster and Protestation made by the Sub-Dean and Prebends according to the usual custome the Prolocutor was presented to the Archbishop and Bishops in the Chappel of King Henry vii at what time the Archbishop in an eloquent but sad Oration bemoaned the infelicities which he saw hanging over the Church advising every one there present to perform their Duties and not to be wanting to themselves or the cause of Religion as far forth as they were concerned in their several places Nothing more done of any moment in this Convocation but that a motion was made by Warmistre one of the Clerks for the Diocess of Worcester to this effect viz. That they should endeavour according to the Levitical Laws to cover the Pit which they had opened and to prevent their Adversaries intention by condemning such offensive Canons as were made in the last Convocation He had before offered at many things in that Convocation but such was his ill-luck that the Vote was for the most part passed before he spake nor had he better fortune in his motion now than his offers then the Members of that House not being willing to condemn themselves till they were accused So that not having any other way to obtain his purpose he caused a long Speech which he had made upon this occasion to be put in Print bitter enough against some Canons and Proceedings in the former Session but such as could not save him from a Sequestration when the rest of the Clergy were brought under the same condition Whilst these things were acting on the Stage of Westminster the Earl of Strafford was not Idle in acting his part at York amongst the Souldiers whose affections he had gained so far that he was generally beheld with esteem and veneration He had before sufficient proof how strongly the Scots aimed at his destruction expressed in their Remonstrance and the Intentions of their Army as they called the Pamphlet but more especially by the refusal of the Scots Commissioners to hold the Treaty at York and the reasons given for their refusal for in a Paper of theirs presented on October 8. They had insisted on the danger apprehended by them in going to York and casting themselves and others who might be joyned with them into the hands of an Army commanded by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland against whom as a chief Incendiary according to their demands which was the subject of the Treaty it self they resolved to proceed They complained also in that Paper That in the Parliament of Ireland he had proceeded against them as Traitors and Rebels That he honoured them in his common talk with no better Titles That his Commission was to destroy them And that by all means and by all occasions he had hindred all Propositions tending to a Pacification for fear himself might be excluded from the benefit of it He was not without a strong presumption that the Scots were animated unto these Demands and incouraged to invade the Kingdom by some of those which were of greatest Prevalency in both Houses of Parliament And lying so near the Scots in the head of his Army he had not only gained assurance as he conceived in many particulars to confirm it but that there was a Confederacy made between the Heads of the Covenanters and some of the leading Members of both Houses his most Capital Enemies to subject the Government of the Church and innovate in that of the Civil State which Intelligence being digested
he was chosen to be one of the four Dr. Andrews Bishop of Chichester Dr. Barlow Bishop of Rochester and Dr. King then Dean of Christchurch and not long after Bishop of London were the other three who were appointed to Preach before his Majesty at Hampton-court in the Month of September 1606. for the Reductions of the two Melvins and other Presbyterian Scots to a right understanding of the Church of England In the performance oâ— which Service he took for his Text those words of the Apostle Let every soul c. Rom. 13.1 In canvasing whereof he fell upon the Point of the Kings Supremacy in Causes Ecclesiastical which he handled as the most Reverend Archbishop Spotwood who was present at the Sermon hath informed us of him both learnedly and soundly to the satisfaction of all the hearers but that the Scottish Ministers seemed very much grieved to hear the Pope and the Presbytery so often equalled in their opposition to Sovereign Princes Hist. of the Church of Scotland Lib. VII pag. 497. And though the other three with the like abilities and elocution had discharged their parts yet gained they nothing on the Scots who were resolved like the deaf Adder in the Psalmist not to give ear unto the Charmers charmed they never so wisely But whatsoever they lost in the opinion of that proud and refractory Generation they gained exceedingly on the King and great Preferments for themselves Bishop Andrews being not long after removed to the See of Ely Bishop Barlow unto that of Lincoln Dr. King preferred to the See of London and Dr. Buckridge to that of Rochester where he continued till the year 1627. when by the power and favour of this his present Pupill then Bishop of Bath and Wells he was translated to the rich Bishoprick of Ely in which See he died Of this man I have spoken the more at large that finding the temper of the Tutor we may the better judge of those ingredients which went to the making up of the Scholar Having spent about a year in his Colledge there was raised such a good report of him in the Town of Reading that partly by his own proficiencies and partly by the good esteem which was had of his Father he was nominated by the Mayor and others of that Corporation unto a Scholars place in that House according to the Constitutions of Sir Tho. White the Honourable and sole Founder of it who though he had designed the Merchant-Taylors School in London for the Chief Seminary of his Colledge yet being a man of a more publick Spirit than to confine himself to any one place he allowed two Fellowships to the City of Coventry and as many to Bristol two also to the Town of Reading and one to Tunbridg Admitted a Scholar of the House on this nomination at the end of three years according to the Custom of that Colledge he was made one of the Fellows taking his Academical Degrees according to that custom also by which custom those of that Society are kept longer from taking their degrees in the Arts but are permitted to take their Degrees in Divinity much sooner than in other Houses so that although he proceeded not Master of Arts till the Month of Iuly 1599. yet at the end of five years only he took the Degree of Batchelour in Divinity without longer stay during which interval he was first made Deacon and afterwards was put into the Order of Priesthood by Dr. Young then Bishop of Rochester the See of Oxon. being vacant in which vacancy it had continued for the space of 11. years that is to say from the death of Bishop Vnderhill An. 1592. till the Consecration of Dr. Bridges on the twelfth of February An. 1603. The Patrimony of that Church being in the mean time much dilapidated and made a prey for the most part to the Earl of Essex to whom it proved as miserably fatal as the Gold of Tholouse did of old to the Soldiers of Caepio And now being fallen upon his Studies in Divinity in the exercise whereof he met with some affronts and oppositions it will be necessary to take a short view of the then present Estate of that University that so we may the better discern the Reasons of those affronts and oppositions under which he suffered Know then that Mr. Lawrence Humphrey one of the Fellows of Magdalen Colledge being deprived of his Fellowship there in Queen Maries time betook himself to the City of Zurich a City of chiefest note amongst the Switzers remarkable for the Preachings and Death of Zuinglius from whence and from the Correspondence which he had at Geneva he brought back with him at his returning into England on Queen Maries death so much of the Calvinian both in Doctrine and in Discipline that the best that could be said of him by one who commonly speaks favourably of all that Party is that he was a moderate and conscientious Non-conformist Immediately on his return he was by Queen Elizabeth made President of Magdalen Colledge and found to be the fittest man as certainly he was a man of very good parts and the Master of a pure Latin Style for governing the Divinity Chair as her Majesties Professor in that Faculty in which he continued till the year 1596. and for a great part of that time was Vice-chancellor also By which advantages he did not only stock his Colledge with such a generation of Non-conformists as could not be wormed out in many years after his decease but sowed in the Divinity Schools such seeds of Calvinism and laboured to create in the younger Students such a strong hate against the Papists as if nothing but Divine Truths were to be found in the one and nothing but Abominations to be seen in the other And though Doctor Iohn Holland Rector of Exceter Colledge who succeeded Humphries in the Chair came to it better principled than his Predecessor yet did he suffer himself to be borne away by the violent current of the times contrary in some cases to his own opinion And yet as zealous as Doctor Humphries shewed himself against the Papists insomuch as he got the title of a Papisto Mastyx he was not thought though seconded by the Lady Margarets Professor for that University to make the distance wide enough betwixt the Churches A new Lecture therefore must be founded by Sir Francis Walsingham Principal Secretary of Estate a man of Great Abilities in the Schools of Policy an extreme hater of the Popes and Church of Rome and no less favourable unto those of the Puritan Faction The designe was to make the Religion of the Church of Rome more odious and the differences betwixt them and the Protestants to appear more irreconcileable than before they did And that he might not fail of his purpose in it the Reading of this Lecture was committed to Doctor Iohn Reynolds President of Corpus Christi Colledge a man of infinite Reading and as vast a Memory who
Peterburrough Doctor Iohn Cosen Prebend of Durham and Dean of Peterburrough after Iackson Doctor Benjamin Lany Master of Queens Colledge in Cambridge and Dean of Rochester Doctor Robert Newell his half Brother Prebend of Westminster and Durham and Archdeacon of Buckingham Doctor Gabriel Clarke Prebend and Archdeacon of Durham Doctor Eliazer Duncum one of the Prebends of Durham also Mr. Barlow a right solid man but not possessed of any Dignity in the Church to my best remembrance and some others of good note whose Names and Titles I cannot presently call to minde In the beginning of the Reign of King Iames by the power and mediation of Archbishop Bancroft he was made Clerk of the Closet to that King that standing continually at his Elbow he might be ready to perform good offices to the Church and Churchmen Aud he discharged his trust so well that though he lost the love of some of the Courtiers who were too visibly enclined to the Puritan Faction yet he gained the favour of his Master by whom he was preferred to the Deanry of Westminster and afterwards successively to the Bishopricks of Rochester Litchfield Lincoln and Durham one of the richest in the Kingdom which shews that there was in him something more than ordinary which made that King so bountiful and gracious to him Nor staid he there but by the Power and Favour of this his Chaplain he was promoted in the Reign of King Charles to the See of Winton and finally exalted to the Metropolitan See of York where at last he died about the latter end of October 1640. None of his Chaplains received so much into his Counsels as Doctor Laud to which degree he was admitted in the year 1608. whom he found both an active and a trusty Servant as afterwards a most constant and faithful friend upon all occasions The first Ecclesiastical Preferment which fell unto him was the Vicaridge of Stamford in Northamptonshire But having put himself into the Service of Bishop Neile he was by him preferred into the Rectory of Cuckstone in Kent toward the latter end of May 1610. On the acceptance thereof he gave over his Fellowship in October following that so he might more fully apply himself to the service of his Lord and Patron But Cuckstone proving an unhealthy place he exchanged it for another called Norton a Benefice of less value but scituate in a better and more healthy Air His Patron in the mean time being translated to the See of Litchfield on the end of September whose Fortunes he was resolved to follow till God should please to provide otherwise for him For first the Bishop before his going off from the Deanry of Westminster which he held in commendam with his Bishoprick of Rochester obtained for him of King Iames to whom not otherwise known but by his Recommendation the Reversion of a Prebend in that Church which though it fell not to him until ten years after yet it fell at last and thereby neighbour'd him to the Court And on the other side his good Friend and Tutor Doctor Buckridge being nominated Successor unto Neile in the See of Rochester laid a good ground for his Succession in the Presidentship of St. Iohn's Colledge thereby to render him considerable in the University But this was both suspected and feared by Abbot who being consecrated Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield on the third of December 1609. and from thence removed to London in the end of Ianuary next ensuing resolved to hinder the design with all care and diligence So natural a thing it is to hate the man whom we have wronged to keep him down whom we have any cause to fear when we have him under To which end he made great Complaints against him to Thomas Lord Elsmer Lord Chancellor of England many years before and newly then made Chancellor of that University on the death of the Lord Archbishop Bancroft insinuating to him That he was at the least a Papist in heart and cordially addicted unto Popery That he kept company with none but profest and suspected Papists and That if he were suffered to have any place of Government in the Vniversity it would undoubtedly turn to the great Detriment of Religion and Dishonour of his Lordship The Chancellor hereupon makes his Address unto the King informing him of all which had been told him concerning Laud which was like to have destroy'd his hopes as to that design notwithstanding his petition to the King to believe otherwise of him if Bishop Neile his constant and unmovable Friend had not acquainted his Majesty with the Abilities of the man and the old grudge which Abbot had conceived against him This Bar being thus removed the design for the Presidentship went on in the obtaining whereof he found a greater difficulty than he had expected Rawlinson once a Fellow of the same House and afterwards Principal of St. Edmonds Hall appearing a Competitor for it Each of them having prepared his Party the Fellows proceeded to an Election May 10. Anno 1611. The Scrutiny being made and the Election at the point to be declared one of the Fellows of Rawlinson's Party seeing which way the business was like to go snatch'd up the Paper and tore it suddenly in pieces The Nomination being thus unhappily frustrated an Appeal was made unto King Iames who spent three hours in giving Audience to both parties and upon full consideration of the Proofs and Allegations on either side notwithstanding all the former practices and prejudices to encline him otherwise he gave Sentence in behalf of Laud which hapning on the 29th of August being the day of the beheading of St. Iohn Baptist by whose Name that Colledge was entituled by the Founder of it hath given an occasion unto some to look upon it as an Omen or Prognostication that this new Head should suffer death by being beheaded as the other did The King having thus passed Judgment for him he was thereupon sworn and admitted President and being so sworn and admitted he could not for example sake but inflict some punishment on the party who had torn the Scrutiny But knowing him for a man of hopeful Parts industrious in his Studies and of a Courage not to be disliked he not only released him from the Censure under which he lay but took him into special Favour trusted him in all his weighty businesses made him his Chaplain and preferred him from one good Benefice to another married him to his Brothers Daughter and finally promoted him to the very Presidentship which had been the first cause of that breach and one of the best Deanries of the Kingdom To such others of the Fellows as had opposed him in his Election to that place he always shewed a fair and equal countenance hoping to gain them by degrees But if he found any of them to be untractable not easily to be gained by favours he would finde some handsom way or other to remove them out of the Colledge that others
alledged yet it was generally conceived that as the Book fared the worse for the Authors sake so the Author did not speed the better for his Patron the Archbishops sake betwixt whom and Doctor Iames Montague then Bishop of Winchester there had been some differences which the rest of the Court Bishops were apt enough to make some use of to his disadvantage But having thus fallen upon the burning of this Book I shall speak something of it here because of some particulars in it which may conduce unto our Story in the times succeeding This Doctor Mocket being Chaplain to Archbishop Abbot and Warden of All Souls Colledged in Oxon. had publish'd in the Latin tongue the Liturgie of the Church of England the Publick Catechisms the 39. Articles the Book of Ordination of Bishops Priests and Deacons and many Doctrinal Points extracted out of the Book of Homilies together with Bishop Iewel 's Apology Mr. Noel's Chatechism and his own Book De Politia c. A Collection which the good man published in a pious zeal for gaining Honour to this Church amongst Forrein Nations But then this Zeal of his was accompanied with so little Knowledge in the Constitution of this Church or so much biassed toward those of Calvin's Plat-form that it was thought fit not only to call it in but to expiate the Errors of it in a publick Flame For first his Extracts out of the Book of Homilies were conceived to be rather framed according to his own Judgment which enclin'd him toward the Calvinian Doctrines as his Patron did than squared according to the Rules and Dictates of the Church of England And possible enough it is that some just offence might be taken at him for making the Fasting-days appointed in the Liturgie of the Church of England to be commanded and observed ob Politicas solum Rationes for politick Considerations only as insinuated p. 308. whereas those Fasting-days were appointed in the first Liturgy of King Edward vj. Anno 1549. with reference only to the Primitive Institution of those several Fasts when no such Politick Considerations were so much as thought on But that which I conceive to have been the true cause why the Book was burned was that in publishing the 20th Article concerning the Authority of the Church he totally left out the first Clause of it viz. Habet Ecclesia Ritus sive Ceremonias statuendi jus in Controverfiis Fidei Authoritatem By means whereof the Article was apparently falsified the Churches Authority disavowed and consequently a wide gap opened to dispute her Power in all her Canons and Determinations of what sort soever I note this here because of the Relation which it hath to some following passages in the year 1637. when we shall finde Laud charged by those of the Puritan Faction for adding this omitted Clause to the rest of that Article In the next year 1618. we finde not a little done at home but much more abroad the Puritan Faction being discountenanced here and the Calvinists encouraged there The Sabbatarian Doctrines by the diligence of Archbishop Whitgift and the severity of Justice Popham had been crush'd at their first starting out and afterwards not daring to implore the Countenance of Authority they got footing again in divers places by the cunning of the Puritan Faction the ignorant confidence of some of their Lecturers and the misguided zeal of some publick Ministers of Justice And they prevailed so far at last that the Annual Festivals being turned into days of Labour and the Lords day wholly taken up in Religious Duties there was no time left for lawful Recreations amongst the People Which being made known unto King Iames as he passed thorow Lancashire the last Summer he gave some present Order in it for the ease and comfort of his good Subjects in that County and that it might not serve only for the present but the times to come he published his Royal Declaration to the same effect bearing date at Greenwich May 24. of this present year In which Declaration there are three things to be observed viz. the Motives the Liberties and the Restrictions First for the Motives which induced that King to this Declaration they were chiefly four 1. The general Complaints of all sorts of People as he passed thorow Lancashire of the Restraint of those innocent and lawful Pastimes on that day which by the Rigors of some Preachers and Ministers of Justice had been laid upon them 2. The hindrance of the Conversion of many Papists who by this means were made to think that the Protestant Religion was inconsistent with all harmless and modest Recreations 3. That by debarring them from all man-like Exercises on those days on which only they were freed from their daily Labours they were made unactive unable and unfit for Warriors if either himself or any of his Successors should have such occasion to employ them 4. That men being hindred from these open Pastimes betook themselves to Tipling-houses and there abused themselves with Drunkenness and censured in their Cups his Majesties Proceedings both in Church and State Next for the Liberties which were indulged upon that day his Majesty declares his Pleasure That after Divine Service being ended his good People should not be discouraged or letted from any lawful Recreations such as Dancing either Men or Women Archery for Men Leaping Vaulting or any other such harmless Recreations not from having of May-games Whitsun-Ales and Morris-dances and the setting up of May-poles and other sports therewith used and that Women shall have leave to carry Rushes to the Church for the decoring of it according to their old Custom with this Proviso notwithstanding That under the general term of Lawful Recreations he intended neither Bear-baiting nor Bull-baiting Interludes nor at all times in the meaner sort of People prohibited Bowling And last of all for the Restrictions they were these that follow 1. That these Pastimes should be no impediment or let to the publick Duties of that day 2. That no Recusant should be capable of the benefit of them 3. Not such as were not diligently present at the time of all Divine Offices which the day required And 4. That the benefit thereof should redound to none but such as kept themselves in their own Parishes Such was the substance of his Majesties Declaration about Lawful Sports which raised great clamour at the present but greater when revived in the Reign of King Charles at what time we shall finde Laud charged for the Re-publishing of it so much the greater by how much the more the Sabbatarian Doctrines had prevailed amongst us This being done for the discountenancing of the Calvinian Faction here at home we must next see what was done abroad on the same account that which was done abroad in relation to it being of great concernment to this Church and therefore necessary to be known in reference to the person of whom I write The Bishops and conformable Clergy of Scotland had
have step'd into it of whom he knew too much to venture that great charge and trust of the Church of England to his Care and Government the dangerous Consequences whereof he was able to foretell without the Spirit of Prophecy Nor was this conjecture of his without very good grounds Williams declaring in his said Letter to the Marquis That his Majesty had promised him upon the relinquishing of the Seal one of the best places in this Church And what place could be more agreable to his affection than the Chair of Canterbury Nor was this unfortunate Prelate less befriended in this desperate plunge by Sir Edward Coke a man of most profound Learning in the Laws of this Land who being ask'd the Question Whether a Bishop might lawfully hunt in his own or in any other Park in which point lay the greatest pinch of the present difficulty returned this Answer thereunto viz. That by the Law a Bishop at his death was to leave his Pack of Dogs by the French called Marte de Chiens in some old Records to be disposed of by the King at his Will and Pleasure And if the King was to have the Dogs when the Bishop died there is no question to be made but that the Bishop might make use of them when he was alive By reason of this intercurrence the new Elected Bishops could not receive the Episcopal Character till November following on the eleventh day of which Month the Lord Keeper Williams was Consecrated Bishop of Lincoln in the Chappel of King Henry by vertue of a Commission under the Broad Seal directed to certain other Bishops according to the Statute of King Henry viij And on the Sunday following by vertue of a like Commission directed to the Bishops of London Worcester Chichester Ely Landaff and Oxon. Doctor Laud Lord Elect of St. Davids Doctor Davenant Lord Elect of Salisbury and Doctor Cary Lord Elect of Exceter received Episcopal Consecration in the Chappel of London-House The next day after he took his place amongst the Bishops in the House of Peers the Parliament having been re-assembled some few days before But there was little for them to do as the case then stood The Commons were so far from gratifying the King with fresh Supplies who before had gratified them in the destruction of such Ministers as were neer unto him that they entertained him with Petitions and Remonstrances touching the danger threatned to our Religion by the growth of Popery in which they were so far transported beyond their bounds as to propose unto the King the taking of the Sword into his Hands against the Spaniard and the Marrying of his dear Son the Prince to a Lady of the Reformed Religion Of this the King had speedy notice and in a Letter sent to Sir Thomas Richardson then Speaker of the House of Commons he lets them know how sensible he was of their incroachments how bold they had made themselves with the King of Spain forbidding them to deal hereafter in Affairs of State or meddle with the Marriage of his Son the Prince concluding That if any such Petition or Remonstrance should be brought unto him he would neither vouchsafe the Answering or the Reading of it The Commons startled with this Letter and thinking to have made a benefit of the Kings Necessities cry out against it as a violation of their Ancient Priviledges and on the nineteenth day of December then next ensuing drew up the following Protestation and caused it to be entred on Record in their Journal Books viz. The PROTESTATION of the COMMONS THe Commons now Assembled being justly occasioned thereunto concerning sundry Liberties Franchises and Priviledges of Parliament amongst others here mentioned do make this Protestation here following That the Liberties Franchises Priviledges and Iurisdictions of Parliaments are the ancient and undoubted Birthright and Inheritance of the Subjects of England and the maintenance and making of Laws and redresses of Mischiefs and Grievances which daily happen within this Realm are proper Subjects and matter of Debate in Parliament and that in the handling or proceeding of those businesses every Member of the House of Parliament hath and of right ought to have freedom of Speech to Propound Treat Reason and bring to conclusion the same and that the Commons in Parliament have like freedom and liberty to Treat of those Matters in such Order as to their Iudgments shall seem fittest and that every Member of the said House hath like freedom from all Impeachments Imprisonment and Molestation other than by Censure of the House it self for or concerning any Speaking Reasoning or Declaring of any Matter or Matters touching the Parliament or Parliament business and that if any of the said Members be complained of or questioned for any thing done or said in Parliament the same is to be shewed to the King by the Advice and Assent of all the Commons assembled in Parliament before the King give credence to any private Information More was the King startled at the news of this Protestation whereof he had Intelligence before it came unto the Vote than the Commons were upon the Reading of his Majesties Letters He saw his Prerogative invaded his Paternal Right disputed a popular State growing up in the midst of a Monarchy and at the present a great Faction formed against him which if not speedily suppressed might prove unresistable Way he found none to extricate himself out of these troubles but to proceed vigorously in the Treaty for the Match with Spain which he conceived to be the only expedient to compose all Differences and recover the Patrimony of his Children For should he break off with that King and declare for a present War against him as had been desired he was to cast himself entirely on the Love of his People of whose Affections and Designs their present Actions gave just cause to be distrustful He therefore first gives Order on the nineteenth of December being the very day on which the Protestation was Voted at Westminster to Adjourn the Parliament to the 8th of February under pretence that the Members might retire into the Country for keeping Hospitality and entertaining their Neighbours in the Christmas Holydays according to the laudable Custom of the English Nation But having thus dismissed them to their several Countries without noise or trouble it was not his intent or purpose that they should come together again at the time appointed according to which Resolution he Disolves the Parliament and by his Proclamation bearing date the ninth of Ianuary discharges the Members of both Houses from any further attendance The Dissolving of this Parliament and the Transactions in the same administred much variety of Discourse in all parts of the Kingdom It was observed by some That his Majesty had broken one of the strongest Ligaments of the Regal Power by delivering up his Servants and Ministers into the hands of his People in Parliament which was a thing not used by any of his Predecessors That neither
dies though his Munificence survive him It was then Midlent-Sunday and the Court-Sermon at Whitehall according to the ancient Custom in the after-noon At what time the sad News passing through London began to be rumored in the Court as Laud was going into the Pulpit to preach before the Lords of the Council the Officers of the Houshold and the rest of that great Concourse of all sorts of People which usually repaired thither at those Solemn Sermons Before he was come to the middle of it the certainty of the Kings death more generally known amongst them the confusion which he saw in the faces of all the Company his own griefs and the dolorous complaints made by the Duke of Buckingham occasioned him to leave the Pulpit and to bestow his pains and comforts where there was more need He did not think as I believe few wise men do that the carrying on of one particular Sermon was such a necessary part of Gods business as is not to be intermitted upon any occasion nor was this ever charged upon him amongst his crimes The sense of this great loss being somewhat abated he was requested by the Duke to draw up some Remembrances of the Life Reign and Government of the King Deceased which he accordingly performed and presented to him But they are but Remembrances or Memorials only like the first lines of a design or Picture which being polished and perfected by a skilâ—ul Workman might have presented us with the true and lively Pourtraiture of that gracious Prince But who will undertake to finish what Laud began I must therefore leave the deceased King to those Memorials and those Memorials to be found in his Breviate p. 5. But there was another Pourtraiture provided for that King before his Funeral His Body being brought from Theobalds unto Sommerset-house where a Royal and Magnificent Hearse was erected for him visited and resorted to by infinite multitudes of people for some Weeks together From Sommerset-house his Body was carried in great State on Saturday the seventh of May to St. Peters Church in Westminster where it was solemnly interred The Funeral Sermon preached by the Lord Keeper Williams and printed not long after by the name of Great Britains Solomon which afterwards administred the occasion of some discourse which otherwise might have been spared Thus is Iames dead and buried but the King survives his only Son Prince Charles being immediately proclaimed King of Great Britain France and Ireland first at the Court Gates by Sir Edward Zouch Knight Marshal most solemnly the next day at London and afterwards by degrees in all the Cities and Market Towns of the Kingdom At his first entrance on the Crown he found himself ingaged in a war with the K. of Spain the mightiest Monarch of the West for which he was to raise great Forces both by Sea and Land He was also at the Point of Marriage with the Daughter of France and some proportionable preparations must be made for that Nor was King Iames to be interred without a solemn and magnificent Funeral answerable in the full height to so great a Prince All which must needs exact great Sums of money and money was not to be had without the help of a Parliament which he therefore gave order to be called in the usual manner But in the middest of these many and great preparations he forgets not the great business of the Church He had observed the multitudinousness of his Fathers Chaplains and the disorder of their waitings which puts him on a Resolution of reducing them to a lesser number and limiting them to a more certain time of attendance than before they were He knew well also what an influence the Court had alwaies on the Country by consequence how much it did concern him in his future Government that his Officers and Servants should be rightly principled according to the Doctrine Government and Forms of Worship established in the Church of England And therefore that he might be served with Orthodox and Regular men Laud is commanded to prepare a Catalogue of the most eminent Divines and to distinguish them by the two Letters of O and P. according to their several perswasions and affections And that being done he is directed by the Duke and the Kings appointment to have recourse to the most learned Bishop Andrews to know of him what he thought fitting to be done in the Cause of Religion Especially in reference to the five Articles condemned not long since in the Synod at Dort and to report his answer with convenient speed A Convocation was of course to accompany the ensuing Parliament And it was fit not only that the Prelates should resolve before-hand what Points they meant to treat on when they were assembled but that his Majesty also might have time to consider of them These seasonable cares being thus passed over he hastens both his own marriage and his Fathers Funeral The first he sollemnized by Proxie in the Church of Nostre Dame in Paris on Sunday the first of May according to the Style of England The news whereof being brought to the Court on the Wednesday following was celebrated in the Streets of London the Liberties and out-parts of it with more than ordinary Expressions of Joy and Gladness The Proxie made to Claud. de Lorain Duke of Chevereux one of the younger Sons of the Duke of Guise from which House his Majesty derived himself by his great Grand-Mother Mary of Lorain Wife of Iames the Fifth The Funeral he attended in his own Person as the principal Mourner Which though it were contrary to the Custome of his Predecessors yet he chose rather to express his Piety in attending the dead Body of his Father to the Funeral Pile than to stand upon any such old niceties and points of State This was the third Funeral which he had attended as the principal Mourner which gave some occasion to presage that he would prove a man of sorrows and that his end would carry some proportion to those mournful beginnings The Intervall before the coming of his Queen he spent in looking to his Navy and drawing his Land Forces together for that Summers service But hearing that his Queen was advancing toward him he went to Canterbury and rested there on Trinity Sunday the twelfth of Iune That night he heard the news of her safe arrival at the Port of Dover whom he welcomed the next morning into England with the most chearful signs of a true aâ—fection From thence he brought her unto Canterbury and from thence by easie Stages to Gravesend where entring in their Royal Barge attended by infinite companies of all sorts of People and entertained by a continual peal of Ordnance all the way they passed he brought her safely and contentedly unto his Palace at Westminster The Lords and Ladies of the Court having presented to her the acknowledgement of their humble duties such Bishops as were about the Town as most of them were in regard of
in sundry parts of this Kingdom And therefore he did not only require that none of them might have any manner of Covert Protection Countenance or connivence from them or any of the rest as they tendred his Royal Commandment in that behalf but that all possible diligence be used as well to unmask the false shadows and pretences of those who may possibly be won to Conformity letting all men know That he could not think well of any that having Place and Authority in the Church do permit such persons to pass with impunity much less if they give them any countenance to the emboldening them or their adherents On the receiving of these Letters Abbot transmits the Copies of them to his several Suffragans and to our Bishop of St. Davids amongst the rest requiring him to conform therein to his Majesties Pleasure and to see the same executed in all parts of his Diocess On the receipt whereof the Bishop commands his Chancellor Arch-Deacons and other Ecclesiastical Officers within his Diocess of St. Davids That all possible care be taken of such as are any way backward in Points of Religion and more especially of known and professed Recusants that they may be carefully presented and Proceedings had against them to Excommunication according to form and order of Law and that there be a true List and Catalogue of all such as have been presented and proceeded against sent to him yearly after Easter by him to be presented to the Archbishop of Canterbury as had been required No Command given unto his Chancellor and other Officers to look into the Practises and Proceedings of the Puritan Faction for which I am able to give no reason but that he had received no such Direction and Command from Archbishop Abbot whose Letter pointed him no further it is no hard matter to say why than to the searching out presenting and Excommunicating the Popish Recusants And in what he commanded he was obeyed by his Chancellor returning to him in Iune following the names of such Recusants as lived within the Counties of Caermarthen and Pembroke the chief parts of his Diocess The Kings Coronation now draws on for which Solemnity he had appointed the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin better known by the name of Candlemas day The Coronations of King Edward vi and Queen Elizabeth had been performed according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Roman Pontificals That at the Coronation of King Iames had been drawn in haste and wanted many things which might have been considered of in a time of leasure His Majesty therefore issueth a Commission to the Archbishop of Canterbury and certain other Bishops whereof Laud was one to consider of the Form and Order of the Coronation and to accomodate the same more punctually to the present Rules and Orders of the Church of England On the fourth of Ianuary the Commissioners first met to consult about it and having compared tâ—e Form observed in the Coronation of King Iames with the publick Rituals it was agreed upon amongst them to make some Alterations in it and Additions to it The Alteration in it was that the Unction was to be performed in forma Crucis after the manner of a Cross which was accordingly done by Abbot when he officiated as Archbishop of Canterbury in the Coronation The Additions in the Form consisted chiefly in one Prayer or Request to him in the behalf of the Clergy and the clause of another Prayer for him to Almighty God the last of which was thought to have ascribed too much Power to the King the first to themselves especially by the advancing of the Bishops and Clergy above the Laity The Prayer or Request which was made to him followed after the Vnction and was this viz. Stand and hold fast from henceforth the Place to which you have been Heir by the Succession of your Forefathers being now delivered to you by the Authority of Almighty God and by the hands of us and all the Bishops and Servants of God And as you see the Clergy to come neerer to the Altar than others so remember that in place convenient you give them greater honour that the Mediator of God and Man may establish you in the Kingly Throne to be the Mediator between the Clergy and the Laity that you may Reign for ever with Iesus Christ the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who with the Father and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth for ever Amen The Clause of that Prayer which was made for him had been intermitted since the time of King Henry vi and was this that followeth viz. Let him obtain favour for the People like Aaron in the Tabernacle Elisha in the Waters Zacharias in the Temple Give him Peters Key of Discipline and Pauls Doctrine Which Clause had been omitted in times of Popery as intimating more Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to be given to our Kings than the Popes allowed of and for the same reason was now quarrell'd at by the Puritan Faction It was objected commonly in the time of his fall That in digesting the form of the Coronation he altered the Coronation Oath making it more advantageous to the King and less beneficial to the People than it had been formerly from which calumny his Majesty cleared both himself and the Bishop when they were both involved by common Speech in the guilt thereof For the clearer manifestation of which truth I will first set down the Oath it self as it was taken by the King and then the Kings Defence for his taking of it Now the Oath is this The Form of the CORONATION-OATH SIR says the Archbishop Will you grant keep and by your Oath confirm to your People of ENGLAND the Laws and Customs to them granted by the Kings of ENGLAND your Lawful and Religious Predecessors and namely the Laws Customs and Franchises granted to the Clergy by the Glorious King St. Edward your Predecessor according to the Laws of God the true Profession of the Gospel established in this Kingdom and agreeable to the Prerogative of the Kings thereof and the Ancient Customs of this Land The King Answers I grant and promise to keep them Archbishop Sir Will you keep Peace and Godly Agreement entirely according to your Power bâ—th to God the Holy Church the Clergie and the People Rex I will keep it Archbishop Sir Will you to your Power cause Iustice Law and Discretion in Mercy and Truth to be executed in all your â—udgments Rex I will Archbishop Sir Will you grant to hold and grant to keep the Laws and rightful Customs which the Commâ—nalâ—y of this your Kingdom have and will you deâ—end and uphold them to the honour of God so much as in you lieth Rex I grant and promise so to do Then one of the Bishops reads this Admonition to the King before the People with a loud voice Our Lord and King we beseech you to pardon and to grant and to preserve unto us and
Queries raised about him that is to say First Whether the King had not lost the Regality of the Narrow Seas since the Duke became Admiral Secondly Whether his not going as Admirall in this last Fleet was not the cause of the ill success Thirdly Whether the Kings Revenue hath not been impaired through his immense liberality Fourthly Whether he hath not ingrossed all Offices and preferred his Kindred to unfit places Fifthly Whether he hath not made sale of places of Judicature Sixthly Whether the Recusants have not dependance on his Mother and Father in Law For this days work Coke was severely reprehended by his Father who could not be perswaded to look upon him for a long while after But Turner having none whom he stood in fear of escaped not only without a private reprehension but without any publick Censure His Majesty thereupon complained by Weston to the House of Commons who were so far from censuring the offence that they seemed rather willing to protect the Offendors And yet this was not all the affront they had done him neither For seeming well satisfied with his Majesties gracious Answer to their Petition against Recusants which they received from him at Oxon in the former Parliament they now resolved to see what execution had been done upon it And to that end they appoint a Committee for Religion and that Committee substitutes a Sub-Committee which Sub-Committee were impowered to search the Signet Office concerning such indulgencies as had been granted to the Papists since the end of that Parliament and to examine the Letters of the Secretaries of State leaving his Majesty nothing free from their discovery as to that particular A point which never was presumed on in preceding times And which seemed worst of all in the present conjuncture they had voted him three Subsidies and three fifteens but voted them with such a clog that they should not pass into a Bill till their Grievances were both heard and answered Which Grievances what they were both in weight and number as it was not known unto themselves so did his Majesty look upon it not only as a thing dilatory in it self but as a baffle put on him and his proceedings These indignities coming thus upon the neck of one another he caused the Lords and Commons to come before him at White Hall March 29. 1626. where first he signified unto them by the mouth of the Lord Keeper how sensible he was of those affronts which were put upon him touching upon every one of them in particular and aggravating each of them in their several kinds letting them also know That as he loved his people so he regarded his honour and that if he were sensible of his Subjects Grievances of his own he was sensible much more The Keeper also had Command to tell them in his Majesties Name That the Duke had acted nothing of Publick Employment without his Majesties Special Warrant That he had discharged his Trust with abundant both Care and Fidelity That since his Return from Spain he had been sedulous in promoting the Service and Contentment of the Commons House And therefore That it was his express Command That they desist from such Vnparliamentary Proceedings and resign the Reformation of what was amiss to his Majesties Care Wisdom and Iustice. Which Speech being ended his Majesty saith as followeth I must withal put you in mind of Times past you may remember my Father moved by your Counsel and won by your Perswasions brake the Treaties In these Perswasions I was your Instrument towards him and I was glad to be instrumental in any thing which might please the whole Body of this Realm Nor was there any in greater favour with you than this man whom you so traduce And now when you find me so sure intangled in War as I have no honourable and safe Retreat you make my Necessity your Priviledge and set what rate you please upon your Supplies A Practise not very obliging unto Kings Mr. Coke told you It was better to die by a Foreign Enemy than to be destroyed at home Indeed I think it more honourable for a King to be invaded and almost destroyed by a Foreign Enemy than to be despised at home But all this did not edifie with the House of Commons So little were they moved with the Eloquence of the one and the smart Expressions of the other that both their own Members remained uncensured and the Prosecution of the Duke was followed with more violence then before it was But for all this his Majesty and the Duke might thank themselves His Majesty had power in his own hands to have righted himself according to the practice of Queen Elizabeth and others of his Majesties Royal Predecessors in the times foregoing But by complaining in this manner to the House of Commons he chose rather to follow the Example of King Iames who in like manner had complained of one Piggot for some seditious words by him spoken in the House of Commons Anno 1607. and with like success He that divests himself of a natural and original Power to right the injuries which are done him in hope to find redress from others especially from such as are parcel guilty of the Wrong may put up all his gettings in a Seamstress Thimble and yet never fill it All that which both Kings effected by it was but the weakning of their own Power and the increasing of the others who had now put themselves upon this Resolution not to suffer any one of their Members to be questioned till themselves had considered of his Crimes By which means they kept themselves close together and emboldened one another to stand it out against the King to the very last And of this Maxime as they made use in this present Parliament in the Case of Coke Turner Diggs and Eliot which 2 last had been imprisoned by the Kings Command so was it more violently and pertinaciously insisted on in the Case of the Five Members impeach'd of High Treason by the Kings Atturney Ianuary 14. 1641. the miserable effects whereof we finde two sensibly And as for their prosecuting of the Duke the Commons might very well pretend that they had and should do nothing in it for which as well his Majesty as the Duke himself had not given encouragement They had both joined together against Cranfeild the late Lord Treasurer and to revenge themselves on him had turned him over to the power and malice of his Enemies in the House of Commons The Commons had served their turns on Cranfeild and will now serve their own turns on the Duke himself let the King do the best he could to preserve him from them So unsafe a thing it is for Princes to deliver any of their Servants into the hands of their People and putting a Power out of themselves which they cannot call back again when it most concerns them At the same time the Earl of Bristol being charged with Treason by the Duke exhibited
rents they not only suffer but make in the Coat of Christ What is it Is Christ only thought fit to wear a torn Garment Or can we think that the Spirit of Vnity which is one with Christ will not depart to seek warmer cloathing Or if he be not gone already why is there not Vnity which is where ere he is Or if he be but yet gone from other parts of Christendom in any case for the passion and in the bowels of Iesus Christ I beg it let us make stay of him here in our parts c. Which Sermon being all of the same piece so well pleased the Hearers that his Majesty gave command to have it Printed How well it edified with the Commons when they came to read it and what thanks he received from them for it we shall clearly see before we come to the end of this present Session The Sermon being ended his Majesty set forwards to the House of Peers where sitting in his Royal Throne and causing the Commons then assembled to come before him he signified in few words That no man as he conceived could be so ignorant of the Common necessity as to expostulate the cause of this Meeting and not to think Supply to be the end of it That as this necessity was the product and consequent of their Advice he means in reference to his first ingaging in the War with Spain so the true Religion the Laws and Liberties of this State and just Defence of his Friends and Allies being so considerably concerned would be he hoped Arguments enough to perswade Supply That he had taken the most ancient speedy and best way for Supply by calling them together in which if they should not do their duties in answering the quality of his occasions he must then take some other course for the saving of that which the folly of some particular men might hazard to lose That notwithstanding the distractions of the last Meeting he came thither with no small confidence of good success assuring them that he would forget and forgive whatsoever was past and hoping that they would follow that sacred Advice lately inculcated To maintain the VNITY of the Spirit in the bond of Peace Which being said the Lord Keeper took his turn to speak as the Custom is in which Speech he chiefly laboured to lay before them the formidable Power of the House of Austria the mighty Preparations made by the King of Spain the Distractions at the present in the Netherlands the Dangers threatned by the French King to those of the Reformed Religion in his Dominions and the necessity which lay upon the King to provide for the support thereof as well as for the Peace and Preservation of his own Estate concluding with severall reasons to invite them to assist his Majesty with a bountiful and quick supply according to the exigency of his affairs But all this little ediâ—ied with the House of Commons or rather with the prevailing Party in it which comes all to one For so it happens commonly in all great Councils that some few leading Members either by their diligence or cunning out-wit the rest and form a party strong enough by casting a mist before their eyes or other subtle Artifices to effect their purpose And so it fared in this last Parliament with the House of Commons which though it contained amongst the rest as dutiful Subjects as any were in the world in his Majesties own acknowledgment of them yet being governed by some men which had their interesses apart from the Crown they are put upon a resolution of doing their own business first and the Kings at leisure And their own business it must be to secure the plots and practises of the Puritan Faction by turning all mens eyes upon such dangers as were to be feared from the Papists and in the next place to make such provision for themselves that it should not be within the power of the Royal Prerogative to lay any restraint upon their persons No sooner had they obtained their Faâ—t without which nothing could be done but they moved the Lords to joyn with them in a Petition for the suppresâ—ing of Popery which they conceived to make the Wall of Separation betwixt God and them to which they found their Lordships willing to consent and his Majesty no less willing to satisfie them in all parts thereof than they could desire For calling both houses before him on the fourth of April He told them he liked well of their beginning with Religion and hoped their Consultations would succeed the happier That he was as careful of Religion and should be as forward in it as they could desire That he liked well of the Petition and would make use of those and all other means for the maintenance and propagation of that true Religion wherein he had lived and by the grace of God was resolved to dye And finally That for the particulars they should receive a more full answer hereafter as they shortly did Which said he put them in remembrance That if Provisions were not speedily made he should not be able to put a ship to sea this year But though his Majesty gave so full and satisfactory an answer to every particular branch of the said Petition that Sir Benjamin Ruddiard moved the House to tender their humble thanks to his Majesty for it yet to the close of his Majesties Speech touching the speedy making of provisions for that Summers Service they returned no answer They must first know whether they had any thing to give or not whether they are to be accounted as Slaves or Freemen to which two doubts the late imprisonment of their Members for not paying the Loan required of them gave them ground enough These weighty Questions being started their own property and Liberty must first be setled before they could be perswaded to move a foot toward his Majesties supplies Five Subsidies they had voted for him but it passed no further than the Vote For seeing that there was to be a trust on the one side or the other it was resolved that the honour of it should be theirs The agitating of which Points with those which depended thereupon took up so much time that before the Lords could be brought to joyn with the Commons and both together could obtain their desires of the King there was spent as far as to the seventh of Iune and it was ten daies after before they had prepared the Bill of Subsidies for the Kings Assent Nothing in all this business did so trouble his Majesty as their insisting on this point That in no case whatsoever though it never so nearly concerned matters of State and Government he of his Privy Council should have power to commit any man to prison without shewing the cause and that cause to be allowed or disallowed as his Majesties Judges should think fit on the Habeas Corpus of which his Majesty well observed in a Letter by him written
conjure down these unruly Spirits which otherwise would not be confined within their Circle Mady the Lecturer of Christ-Church near Newgate must needs fly out upon the Point of Election and the motives to it For this contempt he is called before the Bishop of London and on some further misbehaviour prohibited from preaching any more within that Diocess Burges who afterwards pulled down the Cross in St. Pauls Church-yard must needs add scorn to his contempt telling his Auditors that if their Minister preached Popery or Arminianism they might change their dwellings and not trouble the peace and order of their Church For which about the same time he is questioned also White and some others in that Diocess suspended by this Bishop on the same occasion From the City pass we to the Court Where toward the end of the same Month we find Davenant Bishop of Sarum preaching a Lent Sermon before the King and therein falling upon some of those prohibited points even before his face for which the King being much offended as he had good reason he caused him to be called before the Lords of his Council The cause is managed against him by Archbishop Harsnet Laud all the while walking by in silence who gravely laid before him as well the Kings Piety in setting forth the said Declaration as the greatness of his the said Davenants offence in making so little reckoning of it Davenant at first endeavoureth many defences to make good his Action but at last wisely casts himself upon this submission he tells the Lords in answer to one of Harsnets objections That he was sorry he did no sooner understand his Majesties intention which if he had done before he would have taken some other matter to treat of which might have given none offence and that for the time to come he would conform himself as readily as any other to his Majesties Command Arundel Earl Marshal bids him hold to that as his safest plea and that he should proceed to no further defence a bad cause not being made the better by two much handling To this counsel he conforms himself And being afterwards admitted to the kiss of his Majesties hand which his attendance might deserve though his Sermon did not his Majesty declared to him his Resolution That he would not have this high Point meddled withal or debated either the one way or the other because it was too high for the Peoples understanding and that other Points which concerned Reformation and Newness of life were more needful and profitable I hope the lower Clergy will not say hereafter as some did of old That Laws are like the Spiders Cobwebs which suffer the great flies to break through and lay hold only upon those of the smaller size From the Court let us go to Oxon. where we find the next year beginning in a manner with a Sermon preached at St. Maries Church by one Hill of Heart-hall May 24. point blank enough against his Majesties Declaration and more than bitter enough against those of different perswasion from him whom he charged with handling Scriptures worse than poor Christians were by the Turk at Tunis enforcing them to the vassallage of the foulest errours not without some reflection on the Higher Powers by whom they were mischieved into honour For which indiscretion being convented before the Vice-Chancellor and Heads of Houses but not without the Chancellors privity he confessed his fault and craved pardon for the same which he obtained on his submission made in the Convocation the sixteenth of Iuly following But worse it fared not long after with Ford of Magdalen Hall Hodges of Exeter Colledge and Thorne of Baliol who in their several Sermons had not only committed the like error but charged their Renovation of some ancient order in the Church to be no other than plain Innovation Questioned for this by Smith then Warden of Wadham Colledge and Vice-Chancellor of that University they appeal from him to the Convocation The Proctors having unadvisedly received the Appeal were at the point to have named Delegates when Smith appealed to the King But they took their aim amiss when they shot this bolt For both his Majesty and the Chancellor were alike concerned in it the King to justifie his Declaration the other to preserve his own power and dignity neither of which could have been done but by defending Smith in his lawful acting On the twenty third of August all Parties interessed in the Cause appeared before the King at Woodstock who after a full hearing of both sides it was ordered thus That the three Delinquents should be expelled the University Doughty and Bruch the two Proctors should be deprived of their places Prideaux and Wilkinson this last then Principle of Magdalen Hall being checked for stickling so much in it and glad they were that they escaped without further censure But they shewed not the same mercy which they found for Rainsford of Wadham Colledge preached at St. Maries in August following in defence of Vniversal Grace and Mans Election unto life from Faith foreseen No man more forward than Prideaux to appeach him of it on whose complaint and prosecution he was sentenced to a publick acknowledgment of his offence in a form prescribed which was as much as had been done in the case of Hill So that the Rigid Calvinians can pretend no just ground for that so great Calumnie that none but they were censured from preaching those prohibited Doctrines those of the Arminian Party as they commonly called them going off unpunished From Oxon. cross we into Ireland where we shall see Lauds care as great for preserving the Kings Authority and the Churches peace as it was in England Vsher the Lord Primate of that Church had published a Book this same year in the Latine Tongue called The History of Gotteschalchus for which he was after much extolled by Twist of Newbury as professed a Calvinian as himself in a Letter of his dated May 29. 1640. For having first commended him for his great learning and various reading manifested in his Book De Primodiis Britannicarum Ecclesiarum he magnifies next his singular wisdom for taking an occasion to insert therein the History of the Pelagian Heresie coming so opportunely in his way and then he addeth that his History of Gotteschalchus was a piece of the like nature and came forth most seasonable so much the more because it seemed to give some check to a Book written by Vossius a right Learned man which had been much cried up by the Remonstrants Downham then Bishop of Derry had somewhat before that published a Discourse about Perseverance wherein some Passages were found directly thwarting his Majesties most pious purpose in the said Declaration But Vshâ—r's Book being writ in Latin gave the less offence Nor seemed it fit to put any publick disgrace on a man to whom the Government of the whole National Church had been committed by King Iames of most Blessed Memory By questioning
about it Maxwell applying himself to Laud then Bishop of London from whom he received this positive Answer That if his Majesty would have a Liturgie setled there different from what they had already it was best to take the English Liturgie without any variation from it that so the same Service-Book might pass through all his Majesties Dominions Maxwell replying That the Scottish Bishops would be better pleased to have a Liturgie of their own but such as should come near the English both in Form and Matter the Cause was brought before the King who on a serious consideration of all Particulars concurred in Judgment for the English And on these terms it stood till this present year Laud standing hard for admitting the English Liturgie without alteration the Scottish Bishops pleading on the other side That a Liturgie made by themselves and in some things different from the English Service would best please their Countrymen whom they found very jealous of the least dependence on the Church of England But because Letters writtten in the time of Action are commonly conceived to carry more truth in them than Relations made upon the post-fact for particular ends take here this short Remembrance in one of his Letters to the Earl of Traquaire dated September 11. 1637. where we find this Passage And since saith he I hear from others That some exception is taken because there is more in that Liturgie in some few particulars than is in the Liturgie of England Why did they not admit the Liturgie of England without more ado But by their refusal of that and the dislike of this 't is more than manifest they would have neither and perhaps none at all were they left to themselves But besides this there was another Invitation which wrought much upon him in order to the present Journey At his first coming to the Crown the great Engagements then upon him want of Supply from England and small help from Scotland forced him to have recourse to such other ways of assistances as were offered to him of which this was one In the Minority of King Iames the Lands of all Cathedral Churches and Religious Houses which had been setled on the Crown by Act of Parliament were shared amongst the Lords and great men of that Kingdom by the connivence of the Earl of Murrey and some other of the Regents to make them sure unto that side And they being thus possessed of the same Lands with the Regalities and Tythes belonging to those Ecclesiastical Corporations Lorded it with Pride and Insolence enough in their several Territories holding the Clergy to small Stipends and the poor Peasant under a miserable Vassalage and subjection to them not suffering them to carry away their nine parts till the Lord had carried off his Tenth which many times was neglected out of pride and malice those Tyrants not caring to lose their Tythe so that the poor mans Crop might be left unto spoil and hazard King Iames had once a purpose to revoke those Grants but growing into years and troubles he left the following of that Project to his Son and Successor Having but little help from thence to maintain his Wars by the Advice of some of the Council of that Kingdom he was put upon a course of resuming those Lands Tythes and Regalities into his own hand to which the present Occupants could pretend no other Title than the unjust Usurpation of their Predecessors This to effect he resolves upon an Act of Revocation Commissionating for that purpose the Earl of Annandale and the Lord Maxwell afterwards Earl of Niddisdale to hold a Parliament in Scotland for Contribution of Money and Ships against the Duynkirkers and arming Maxwell also with some secret Instructions for passing the said Act of Revocation if he found it feasible Being on the way as far as Barwick Maxwell was there informed That his chief errand being made known had put all at Edenborough into Tumult That a rich Coach which he had sent before to Dalkeith was cut in pieces the poor Horses killed the People seeming only sorry that they could not do so much to the Lord himself Things being brought unto this stand the King was put to a necessity of some second Counsels amongst which none seemed more plausible and expedient to him than that of Mr. Archibald Achison who from a puisne Judge in Ireland was made his Majesties Procurator or Solicitor-General in the Kingdom of Scotland who having told his Majesty That such as were Estated in the Lands in question had served themselves so well by the bare naming of an Act of Revocation as to possess the People whom they found apt to be inflamed on such Suggestions That the true intendment of that Act was to revoke all former Laws for suppressing of Popery and settling the Reformed Religion in the Kirk of Scotland And therefore That it would be unsafe for his Majesty to proceed that way Next he advised That instead of such a General Revocation as the Act imported a Commission should be issued out under the Great Seal of that Kingdom for taking the Surrendries of all such Superiorities and Tythes within the Kingdom at his Majesties Pleasure And that such as should refuse to submit unto it should be Impleaded one by one to begin first with those whom he thought least able to stand out or else most willing to conform to his Majesties Pleasure Assuring him That having the Laws upon his side the Courts of Iustice must and would pass Iudgment for him The King resolved upon this course sends home the Gentleman not only with Thanks and Knighthood which he had most worthily deserved but with Instructions and Power to proceed therein and he proceeded in it so effectually to the Kings Advantage that some of the impleaded Parties being cast in the Suit and the rest seeing that though they could raise the People against the King they could not raise them against the LaWs it was thought the best and safest way to compound the business Hereupon in the year 1630. Commissioners are sent to the Court of England and amongst others the Learned and right Noble Lord of Marcheston from whose mouth I had this whole Relation who after a long Treaty with the King did at last agree That the said Commission should proceed as formerly and That all such Superiorities and Tythes as had been or should be surrendred should be re-granted by the King on these Conditions First That all such as held Hereditary Sheriffdoms or had the Power of Life and Death over such as lived within their Iurisdiction should quit those Royalties to the King Secondly That they should make unto their Tenants in their several Lands some permanent Estates either for their Lives or one and twenty years or some such like Term that so the Tenants might be encouraged to Build and Plant and improve the Patrimony of that Kingdom Thirdly That some Provisions should be made for augmenting the Stipends of the
the Ministers there might by degrees prepare the People to such impressions of Conformity as his Majesty by the Council and Consent of the rest of the Bishops should graciously be pleased to imprint upon them But such ill luck his Majesty had with that stubborn Nation that this was look'd upon also as a general Grievance and must be thought to aim at no other end than Tyranny and Popery and what else they pleased We have almost done our work in Scotland and yet hear nothing all this while of the Bishop of London not that he did not go the Journey but that there was little to be done at his being there but to see and be seen And yet it was a Journey which brought him some access of Honour and gave him opportunity of making himself known to those of best Quality of that Kingdom He had been in Scotland with King Iames but then he waited only as a private Chaplain He is now looked upon as the third Bishop of England in Place and the greatest in Power a Counsellor of State and the Kings great Favorite He entred Scotland as a Privy-Counsellor of England only but returned thence as a Counsellor for that Kingdom also to which Office he was sworn on the fifteenth of Iune Nor did he shew himself less able in that Church than in the Council-Chamber being appointed by his Majesty to Preach before him on the last of that Month in which some question may be made how he pleased the Scots although it be out of question that he pleased the King The greatest part of the following Iuly was spent in visiting the Country and taking a view of the chief Cities and most remarkable Parts and Places of it Which having seen he made a Posting Journey to the Queen at Greenwich whither he came on Saturday the twentieth of Iuly crossing the Water at Blackwall and looking towards London from no nearer distance But in this Act he laid aside the Majesty of his Predecessors especially of Queen Elizabeth of Famous Memory of whom it was observed That she did very seldom end any of her Summer Progresses but she would wheel about to some end of London to make her passage to Whitehall thorow some part of the City not only requiring the Lord Mayor and Aldermen in their Scarlet Robes and Chains of Gold to come forth to meet her but the several Companies of the City to attend solemnly in their Formalities as she went along By means whereof she did not only preserve that Majesty which did belong to a Queen of England but kept the Citizens and consequently all the Subjects in a reverent Estimation and Opinion of her She used the like Arts also in keeping up the Majesty of the Crown and Service of the City in the Reception and bringing in of Foreign Embassadors who if they came to London by Water were met at Gravesend by the Lord Mayor the Aldermen and Companies in their several Barges and in that Solemn manner conducted unto such Stairs by the Water side as were nearest to the Lodgings provided for them But if they were to come by Land they were met in the like sort at Shooters-Hill by the Mayor and Aldermen and thence conducted to their Lodgings the Companies waiting in the Streets in their several Habits The like she used also in celebrating the Obsequies of all Christian Kings whether Popish or Protestant with whom she was in Correspondence performed in such a Solemn and Magnificent manner that it preserved her in the estimation of all Foreign Princes though differing in Religion from her besides the great contentment which the People took in those Royal Pomps Some other Arts she had of preserving Majesty and keeping distance with her People yet was so popular withal when she saw her time that never Majesty and Popularity were so matched together But these being laid aside by King Iames who brooked neither of them and not resumed by King Charles who loved them not much more than his Father did there followed first a neglect of their Persons which Majesty would have made more Sacred and afterwards a mislike of their Government which a little Popularity would have made more grateful Laud having no such cause of hastning homewards returned not to his House at Fulham till the twenty sixth of the same Month But he came time enough to hear the news of Abbot's Sickness and within few days after of his Death which hapned on Sunday morning the fourth of August and was presently signified to the King being â—hen at Greenwich A man he was that had tasted both of good and ill Fortune in extremes affirmed by the Church Historian for I shall only speak him in the words of others to be a grave man in his Conversation and unblameable in his Life but said withal to have been carried with non amavit gentem nostram forsaking the Birds of his own feather to fly with others and generally favouring the Laity above the Clergie in all Cases which were brought before him Conceived by one of our State Historians to be too facil and yielding in the exercising of his Function by whom it also affirmed That his extraordinary remisness in not exacting strict Conformity to the prescribed Orders of the Church in point of Ceremony seemed to resolve those legal Determinations to their first Principle of Indifferency and to lead in such an habit of Inconformity as the future reduction of those tender-conscienc'd men to long discontinued Obedience was interpreted an Innovation By the first Character we find what made him acceptable amongst the Gentry by the last what made him grateful to the Puritan in favour of which men he took so little care of the great Trust committed to him and gave them so many opportunities of increasing both in Power and Numbers that to stop tâ—em in their full career it was found necessary to suspend him from his Metropolitical Jurisdiction as before was noted It is reported That as Prince Henry his Majesty then Duke of Yorke Archbishop Abbot with many of the Nobility were waiting in the Privy Chamber for the coming out of King Iames the Prince to put a jest on the Duke his Brother took the Archbishops Square Cap out of his hands and put it on his Brothers head telling him that if he continued a good Boy and followed his Book he would one day make him Archbishop of Canterbury Which the Child took in such disdain that he threw the Cap upon the ground and trampled it under his feet not being without much difficulty and some force taken off from that eagerness This though first it was not otherwise beheld than as an Act of Childish Passion yet when his Brother Prince Henry died and that he was Heir apparent to the Crown it was taken up by many zealous Church-men for some ill presage unto the Hierarchy of Bishops the overthrow whereof by his Act and Power did seem to be fore-signified by it But as
their fears in that were groundless so their conjectures were no better grounded than their fears there never being a greater Patron of the Episcopal order than he lived and died but whether there might not be some presage in it in reference to the Archbishops person the diminution of his Dignity and fall of his Power may be best judged by this suspension and the consequents which followed on it And though he lived not long under the disgrace yet in the interval of time he saw so much of his Authority devolved on Laud that he grew more and more discontented and was ready in a manner to have made himself the head of the Puritan Faction It is related by a late Writer That towards his death he was not only discontented himself but that his house was the Rendezvouz of all the Malecontents in Church and State that he turned Midnight to Noonday-by constant keeping of Candles lighted in his Chamber and Study as also that such Visitants as repaired unto him called themselves Nicodemites because of their secret coming to him by night I know how much that Author hath been mistaken in other things but I see nothing in this which may not be consistent with the truth of History Certain I am his Chaplains were successively declared Calvinians his Secretary a professed Patron of the Puritan Faction his doors continually open to the Chiefs of that party and such as stickled in that cause and amongst others to him by whose Suggestion if we may take his own report the Historical Narration was called in for the great danger which it threatned to the grounds of Calvinism For his compliance with the Gentry against the Clergie this reason is alledged from his own mouth That he was so severe to the Clergy on purpose to rescue them from the severity of others and to prevent the punishment of them by lay Iudges to their greater shames which leaves the poor Clergy under a greater obloquy than any which their enemies had laid upon them But the truer reason of it was that having never been Parson Vicar nor Curate he was altogether ignorant of those afflictions which the Clergy do too often suffer by the pride of some and the Avarice of others of their Country Neighbours and consequently shewed the least compassion towards them when any of them had the hard fortune to be brought before him And for his compliance with the Puritans against the Church this reason is alledged by others viz. That he shewed the greater favour to them to keep the ballance even betwixt them and the Papists as Laud was thought to be indulgent to the Papists the better to keep down the pride and prevalency of the Puritan Faction But the truer reason of it was That he had been alwaies inclinable to them from his first beginnings insomuch that when he went Chaplain into Scotland with the Earl of Dunbar imployed by King Iames in some negotiation about that Church he was upon the point of betraying the cause if Hodgskins afterwards one of the Residentiaries of York who went Chaplain with him had not preacquainted the Earl with his tergiversation And as he laboured to be Popular upon both accounts so he endeavoured a more particular correspondence with the Gentry of Kent but most especially of his own Diocess It had been formerly the custom of his Predecessors to spend the greaâ—est part of the long vacations in the Palace of Canterbury met at the first entrance into the Diocess with a body of five hundred horse conducting them to Canterbury with great love and duty feasting the Gentry relieving the poor City entertaining their Tenants and by them liberally furnished on the other side with all sorts of provisions Abbot affected not this way and therefore never bestowed any such visit upon his Diocess but when he was confined to his house at Ford by the Kings appointment and yet resolved upon a course which carried some equivalence with it towards his design For once or twice in every year and sometimes oftner at the end of the term he would cause enquiry to be made in Westminster Hall the common Rendezvouz in St. Pauls Church and the Royal Exchange for all such Gentlemen of his Diocess as lodged in and about the City of London dispersing several Tickets from one to another by which they were invited to a general entertainment at his house in Lambeth the next day after the end of the present term where he feasted them with great bounty and familiarity A course as acceptable to the Kentish Gentry as if he had kept open Hospitality in his Palace at Canterbury because it saved them both the trouble of attending on him and the charge of sending Presents to him both which had been expected if he had spent any part of the year amongst them But this he discontinued also for three or four years or more before his death fearing as his affairs then stood that it might render him obnoxious to some misconstructions which he was willing to avoid To bring his Story to an end I shall say no more but that he had his Birth at Guilford the chief Town of Surrey and the best part of his breeding in Baliol Colledge in Oxon. whereof he was Fellow and from thence preferred to be Master of Vniversity Colledge and Dean of Winton Other preferments he had none till he came to Lichfield of which he was consecrated Bishop on the third of December Anno 1609. from thence translated unto London within few Months after and within twelve Months after that to the See of Canterbury Marks of his Benefaction we find none in places of his Breeding and Preferments but a fair Hospital well built and liberally endowed in the place of his Birth To which the woful man retired in the first extremity of those afflictions which his misfortune at Bramzill had drawn upon him and to this place he designed his body whensoever it should please God to translate him out of the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant which hapned on the fourth of August as before was said The End of the First Part. CYPRIANUS ANGLICUS OR THE HISTORY OF THE Life and Death OF The most Reverend and Renowned PRELATE WILLIAM By Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of all ENGLAND and Metropolitan Chancellor of the Universities of Oxon. and Dublin and one of the Lords of the Privy Council to His late most SACRED MAJESTY King CHARLES Second MONARCH of Great-Brittain PART II. Carrying on the History from his Nomination to the Metropolitical See of Canterbury August 6. 1633. to the day of his Death and Burial Jan. 10. 1644. LONDON Printed by E. Cotes for A. Seile 1668. THE LIFE OF The most Reverend FATHER in GOD WILLIAM Lord Archbishop of Canterbury LIB IV. Extending from his being made Archbishop of Canterbury to the end of the Parliament and Convocation Anno 1640. CANTERBVRY was anciently the principal City of the Kingdom and afterwards of the
consent of their several Churches they prepared these several Answers To the first it was answered That they had that Liturgie which all the Churches of the French Tongue both in France and in the United Provinces of the States have had since the blessed Reformation and which their Churches refuged here have had this sixty or seventy years or more That the English Liturgie was Translated into French but that they used it not and that they knew not whether it were Translated in Dutch or not To the second it was answered That the greatest part of the Heads of the Families were not born here but about a third part because that the greatest part of the old ones were Strangers born and many others are newly come since a few years But to the third they desired to be excused from making any Answer at all foreseeing as it was pretended a dissipation of their Churches in reference to the maintainance of their Ministry and relief of their poor if such Conformity should be pressed which they endeavoured to avoid by all means imaginable But before these Answers were returned it was thought fit to consult with the Coetus as they style it of the French and Dutch Churches in London who were concerned as much as they and who by reason of their wealth and number governed all the rest by whom they were advised to suppress those Answers and to present their Declinator fixing themselves upon their Priviledges and challenging the Exemption granted them by King Edward vi confirmed by several Acts of Council in the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth King Iames and his Sacred Majesty This Declinator no way satisfied his Grace of Canterbury He knew none better That Acts of Council were not like the Laws of the Medes and Persians but might be changed and varied as occasion served That the Letters Patents granted by King Edward vi to the first Congregation of Strangers under Iohn A Lasco by which they were Licenced to use their own Forms both of Worship and Government without any disturbance were vacated by the departure of the said Congregation in the time of Queen Mary and that the French and Dutch Churches now in England could pretend no succession unto that in the time of King Edward vi And therefore as soon as Brent returned from his Visitation of which we shall hear more anon and had a while reposed himself after that long Journey he was dispatched to Canterbury with these Injunctions viz. 1. That all the Natives of the Dutch and Walloon Congregations in his Graces Diocess are to repair to their several Parish Churches where they inhabite to hear Divine Service and Sermons and perform all Duties and Payments required in that behalf And 2. That all the Ministers and all other of the same Walloon or French Congregations which are Aliens born shall have and use the Liturgie used in the English Churches as the same is or may be faithfully Translated into French or Dutch These two Injunctions being given on the nineteenth of December with time for conforming thereunto till the first of March were presently communicated by the Kentish to the London Churches and by those of London to the rest in the Province of Canterbury requiring them to send their Deputies to consult together with them in this Common Danger There were at that time ten Churches of Strangers in this Province that is to say two in London two in Norwich and one apiece in Canterbury Sandwich Maidstone Southampton Colchester and Yarmouth who were to send their sufficient Deputies consisting of Ministers and Lay-Elders to make this Synod But because the time might be elapsed before these Deputies from so many Places could meet together and resolve upon any Conclusion it was determined by the Coetus that those of Kent whom it most immediately concerned should address themselves to the Archbishop and desire his favour for the enjoying of their Priviledges as in former times whose Propositions being heard and their Reasons pondered he answered That it was his purpose to make a General Visitation of all his Province and that he would begin at home That he did nothing but what had been communicated to the King and resolved by the Council That neither the Letters Patents of King Edward vi nor any Reasons by them alledged should hinder him from proceeding in the said Injunctions That their Churches were nests and occasions of Schism which he would prevent in Kent as well as he could That it were better there were no Foreign Churches nor Strangers in England than to have them thereby to give occasion of prejudice or danger to the Church-Government of it That they endeavoured to make themselves a State in a State and had vaunted That they feared not his Injunctions but That he hoped the King would maintain him in it as long as he Governed by the Canons That the dissipation of their Churches and maintenance of two or three Ministers was not to be laid in the same Balance with the Peace and Happiness of the Church of England That their ignorance in the English Tongue ought not to be used for a pretence for their not going to their Parish Churches considering that it was an affected Ignorance and they might avoid it when they would And finally That he was resolved to have his Injunctions put in execution and that they should conform to them at their peril by the time appointed Finding no hope of Good this way they expect the Sitting of the Synod on the fifth of February to which the Deputies made a Report of their ill Successes and thereupon it was resolved That a Petition in the name of all the Foreign Churches should be presented unto the King which way they found as unsuccessful as the other was For his Majesty having read the Petition delivered it to the Earl of Pembroke commanding him to give it to one of the Secretaries And though Pembroke either out of love to the Cause or hate to the Archbishops Person chose rather to deliver it to Cooke than Windebank yet neither Cooke himself nor Weckerly his chief Clerk a Walloon by birth who had very much espoused the Quarrel could do any thing in it The next course was to back that Petition with a Remonstrance containing the chief Reasons which they had to urge in their own behalf and that Remonstrance to be put into his Majesties hands by the Duke of Soubize a Prince of great Descent in France and a chief stickler in the Wars of the Hugonots against their King In which Reasons when they came to be examined more particularly there was nothing found material but what had formerly been observed and answered except it were the fear of a Persecution to be raised in France when it should there be known how much the French Churches in this Kingdom had been discountenanced and distressed And this they after aggravated by some fresh Intelligence which they had from thence by which they were advertised of some words of
it was not easie to Transcribe them insomuch that few of the Presbyters themselves could tell which of them were authentical which not So unsafely and uncertainly kept that they knew not where to address themselves for consulting with them That by reducing those numerous Act and those not known unto themselves to such a paucity of Canons published and exposed to the publick view no man should be insnared by ignorance or have just reason to complain of their multiplicity And finally That not one in all that Kingdom did either live under the Obedience of the Acts of those General Assemblies or did know what they were or where to find them Upon which grounds the Book of Canons being drawn up and presented to him he gave a Warrant under his Hand to the Archbishop of Canterbury requiring him together with the Bishop of London to peruse the same to see that they were well fitted to the Church-Government and as near as conveniently might be to the Canons of the Church oâ— England giving them and either of them full power to alter any thing in the said Canons as they found most fitting Which being done as he commanded and the Book made ready for the Press he pass'd his Royal Confirmation of it under the Great Seal oâ— the Kingdom in this manner following CHARLES REX WE 〈◊〉 of Our Royal Care for the Maintenance of the present Estate and Government of the Church of Scotland have diligently and with great content considered all the Canons and Constitutions after following and finding the same such as We are perswaded will be profitable not only to our whole Clergy but to the whole Church of that our Kingdom if so they be well observed Have for Vs Our Heirs and Lawful Successors of Our especial Grace certain Knowledâ—â— â—nd meer â—otion given and by these presents do give Our 〈◊〉 Assâ—â—t â—nto all the said Canons Orders and Constitutions 〈◊〉 all and every thing in them contained as they are afterwards set 〈◊〉 And further We do not only by Our Prerogative Royal and Supreme 〈◊〉 in Causes Ecclesiastical Ratifie and Confirm by these Our Letters Patâ—nts the said Canons Orders and Constitutions â—nd all â—nd every thing in them contained But likewise We command by 〈◊〉 â—uthority Royal and by these Letters Patents the same to be diligently observed and executed by all Our Loving Subjects of that Our Kingdom both within the Province of St. Andrews and â—lascow in all points wherein they do or may concern every or any of them according to this Our Will and Pleasure hereby expressed and declared And for the better observation of them We straightly Charge and Command all Our Archbishops Bishops and all others thaâ— exercise any Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction within that Our Realm to see the same Canons Orders and Constitutions to be in all points duly observed not sparing to execute the Penalties in them severally mentioned upon any that shall willingly break or neglect to observe the same as they tender the Honour of God the Peace of the Church the Tranquility of the Kingdom and their Service and Duty to Vs their King and Sovereign Given at Our Mannor of Greenwich 23 May 1635. These Canons when they came abroad were presently quarrelled and disclaimed by the Scottish Presbyters Quarrelled in reference to the subject matter comprehended in them Disclaimed because imposed upon them without their own approbation and consent The points most quarrelled at were these 1. That whosoever should affirm That the Kings Majesty had not the same Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical that the Godly Kings had among the Jews or the Christian Emperors in the Primitive Church or impugn in any part his Royal Supremacy in Causes Ecclesiastical was to incur the Censure of Excommunication 2. The like Censure to be inflicted on those who should affirm That the Worship contained in the Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments though at the making of these Canons there was no such Book of Common Prayer recommended to them or That the Government of the Church by Archbishops and Bishops or the form of Making and Consecrating Archbishops and Bishops c. did contain any thing repugnant to the Scriptures or was corrupt superstitious or unlawful in the Service and Worship of God 3. That the Ordinations were restrained to four times in the year that is the first Weeks of March June September and December 4. That every Ecclesiastical Person at his Admission should take the Oath of Supremacy according to the form required by Parliament and the like Oath for avoiding Symonie required in the Book of Consecration 5. That every Presbyter shall either by himself or by another Person lawfully called read or cause Divine Service to be done according to the form of the Book of that Common Prayer before all Sermons and that he should Officiate by the said Book of Common Prayer in all the Offices Parts and Rubricks of it when as yet none of them had seen the said Book or Liturgie 6. That no Preacher should impugn the Doctrine delivered by another in the same Church or any neer adjoining to it without leave from the Bishop which they conceived to be the way to pin their whole Religion on the Bishops Sleeves 7. That no Presbyter should hereafter become Surety or Cautioner for any Person whosoever in Civil Bonds and Contracts under pain of Suspension 8. That whatsoever remained of the Bread and Wine prepared for the Communion should be distributed to the poorer sort which receive that day to be eaten and drunken of them before they go out of the Church 9. That Presbyters are enjoined to Minister the Sacrament of Baptism in private Houses and upon every day alike in case of infirmity and that the People were required not to receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper but upon their knees 10. That in all Sentences of Separation a Thoro Mensa there shall be a Caution inserted and given accordingly That the Persons so separated should live continently and chastly and not contract Marriage with any Person during each others life which seemed to put the innocent Party into as bad a condition as the guilty contrary to the Judgment of the Reformed Churches 11. That no private Meeting be kept by Presbyters or any other Persons whatsoever for expounding Scripture or for consulting upon matters Ecclesiastical Such matters to be handled only in the Lawful Synods held by Bishops 12. That under pain of Excommunication no Presbyter or Layman jointly or severally make Rules Orders or Constitutions in Causes Ecclesiastical or to add or detract from any Rubricks or Articles or other things now established without the Authority of the King or his Successors 13. That National or General Assemblies were to be called only by the Kings Authority That the Decrees thereof should bind as well the Absent as the Present in Matters Ecclesiastical and That it should not be lawful for the Bishops themselves in such Assemblies or otherwise to
alter any Articles Rubrick Canon Doctrinal or Disciplinary whatsoever without his Majesties leave first had and obtained 14. That no man should cover his Head in time of Divine Service except with a Cap or Night-coife in case of infirmity and that all Persons should reverently kneel when the Confession and other Prayers were read and should stand up at the saying of the Creed 15. That no Presbyter or Reader be permitted to conceive Prayers ex tempoâ—e or use any other form in the Publick Liturgie or Service than is prescribed under the pain of Deprivation from his Benefice or Cure 16. That by this Prohibition the Presbyters seemed to be dâ—barred from using their own Prayers before their Sermons by reason that in c. 3. num 13. it is required That all Presbyters and Preachers should move the People to join with them in Prayer using some few and convenient words and should always conclude with the Lords Prayer which in effect was to bind them to the form of bidding Prayer prescribed in the 55 th Canon of the Church of England 17. That no man should Teach either in Publick School or Private House but such as shall be allowed by the Archbishop of the Province or Bishop of the Diocess under their Hand and Seal and those to Licence none but such as were of good Religion and obedient to the Orders of the Church 18. That none should be admitted to read in any Colledge or School except they take first the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy 19. That nothing â—e hereafter Imprinted except the same be seen and allowed by the Visitors appointed to that purpose the Penalty thereof as in all like Cases in which no Penalty is expressed being left to the discretion of the Bishops 20. That no Publick Fast should be appointed upon Sundays as had been formerly accustomed but on the Week-days only and them to be appointed by none but His Majesty 21. That for the Ministring of the Sacrament of Baptism a Font should be prepared and placed somewhat near the entry of the Church as anciently it used to be with a Cloth of fine Linnen which shall likewise be kept all neatly 22. That a comely and decent Table for Celebrating the Holy Communion should be provided and placed at the upper end of the Chancel or Church to be covered at the times of Divine Service with a Carpet of decent Stuff and at the time of Ministration with a white Linnen Cloth And that Basons Cups or Chalices of some pure Metal shall be provided to be set upon the Communion Table and reserved to that only use 23. That such Bishops and Presbyters as shall depart this life having no Children shall leave their Goods or a great part of them to the Church and Holy Vses and that notwithstanding their having Children they should leave some Testimony of their love to the Church and advancement of Religion 24. That no Sentence of Excommunication should be pronounc'd or Absolution given by any Presbyter without the leave and approbation of the Bishop And no Presbyter should reveal or make known what had been opened to him in Confession at any time or to any Person whatsoever except the Crime be such as by the Laws of the Realm his own Life may be called in question for concealing the same 25. And finally That no Person should be received into Holy Orders nor suffered to Preach Catechise Minister the Sacraments or any other Ecclesiastical Function unless he first subscribe to be obedient to these present Canons Ratified and Approved by his Majesties Royal Warrant and Ordained to be observed by the Clergy and all others whom they concern These were the matters chiefly quarrelled in this Book of Canons visibly tending as they would make the World believe to subject that Kirk unto the Power of the King the Clergy to the command of their Bishops the whole Nation to the Discipline of a Foreign Church and all together by degrees to the Idolatries and Tyrannies of the Pope of Rome But juster cause they seemed to have for disclaiming the said Book of Canons because not made nor imposed upon them by their own approbation and consent contrary to the usage of the Church in all Times and Ages Had his Majesty imposed these Orders on them by the name of Injunctions according to the example of King Henry viii Anno 1536. of King Edward vi Anno 1547. and of Queen Elizabeth Anno 1559. he might perhaps have justified himself by that Supremacy which had been vested in him by the Laws of that Kingdom which seems to have been the Judgment of King Iames in this very case At his last being in Scotland Anno 1617. he had prepared an Article to be passed in Parliament to this effect viz. That whatsoever his Majesty should determine in the External Government of the Church with the advice of the Archbishop Bishops and a competent number of the Ministry should have the strength of a Law But understanding that a Protestation was prepared against it by some of the most Rigid Presbyterians he commanded Hay the Clerk or Register to pass by that Article as a thing no way necessary the Prerogative of his Crown giving him more Authority than was declared or desired by it But as for Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical if they concerned the whole Church they were to be advised and framed by Bishops and other Learned men assembled in a General Council and testified by the Subscription of such Bishops as were then assembled Or if they did relate only unto National Churches or particular Provinces they were to be concluded and agreed upon by the Bishops and Clergy that is to say so many of the Clergy as are chosen and impowered by all the rest for that end and purpose assembled in a National or Provincial Synod No Canons nor Constitutions Ecclesiastical to be otherwise made or if made otherwise not to bind without a voluntary and free submission of all Parties to them And though it could not be denied but that all Christian Emperours Kings and Princes reserved a Power unto themselves of Ratifying and Confirming all such Constitutions as by the Bishops and Clergy were agreed on yet still the said Canons and Constitutions were first agreed on by the Bishops and Clergy before they were tendred to the Sovereign Prince for his Ratification The Scottish Presbyters had formerly disclaimed the Kings Authority either in calling their Assemblies or confirming the Results and Acts thereof which they conceived to be good and valid of themselves without any additional power of his to add strength unto them And therefore now they must needs think themselves reduced to a very great vassalage in having a body of Canons so imposed upon them to the making whereof they were never called and to the passing whereof they had never voted But as they had broke the Rules of the Primitive Church in acting Soveraignty of themselves without requiring the Kings approbation and
Church of St. Matthews in Friday Street took for his Text those words in the Proverbs viz. My Son fear thâ—n the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change Chap. 24.22 In this Sermon if I may wrong the Word so far as to give it to so lewd a Libel he railes most bitterly against the Bishops accuseth them of Innovating both in Doctrine and Worship impeacheth them of exercising a Jurisdiction contrary to the Laws of the Land 1 Edw. 6. c. 2. and for falsifying the Records of the Church by adding the first clause to the twentieth Article arraigneth them for oppressing the Kings Liege people contrary unto Law and Justice exciting the people to rise up against them magnifying those disobedient Spirits who hitherto have stood out in defiance of them and seems content in case the Bishops lives might be called in question to run the hazard of his own For this being taken and imprisoned by a warrant from the High Commission he makes his appeal unto the King justifies it by an Apology and seconds that by an Address to the Nobility In which last he requires all sorts of people Noblemen Judges Courtiers and those of the inferiour sort to stand up stoutly for the Gospel against the Bishops And finally Prints all together with an Epistle Dedicatory to the King himself to the end that if his Majesty should vouchsafe the reading of it he might be brought into an ill opinion of the Bishops and their proceedings in the Church Whose actions tend only as he telleth us to corrupt the Kings good peoples hearts by casting into them fears and jealousies and sinister opinions toward the King as if he were the prime cause of all those Grievances which in his name they oppress the Kings good Subjects withall Thus also in another place These Factors of Antichrist saith he practice to divide Kings from their Subjects and Subjects from their Kings that so between both they may fairly erect Antichrists Throne again For that indeed that is to say the new building of Bable the setting up again of the throne of Antichrist the bringing in of Popery to subvert the Gospell is made to be the chief design of the Prelates and Prelatical party to which all innovations usurpations and more dangerous practices which are unjustly charged upon them served only as preparatives and subservient helps Such being the matter in the Libell let us next look upon the Ornaments and dressings thereof consisting most especially in those infamous Attributes which he ascribes unto the Bishops For Fathers he calls them Step-fathers for Pillars Caterpillars their houses haunted and their Episcopal Chairs poysoned by the Spirit that bears rule in the air They are saith he the Limbs of the Beast even of Antichrist taking his very courses to bear and beat down the hearing of the Word of God whereby men might be saved p. 12. Their fear is more toward an Altar of their own invention towards an Image or Crucifix toward the sound and syllables of Iesus then toward the Lord Christ p. 15. He gives then the reproachful Titles of Miscreants p. 28. The trains and wiles of the Dragons doglike flattering taile p. 30. New Babel builders p. 32. Blind Watchmen dumb dogs thieves and robbers of Souls False Prophets ravening Wolves p. 48. Factors for Antichrist p. 75. Antichristian Mushrumps And that it might be known what they chiefly aimed at we shall hear him say that they cannot be quiet till res novas moliendo they set up Popery again in her full Equipage p. 95. Tooth and naile for setting up Popery again p. 96. Trampling under feet Christs Kingdom that they may set up Antichrists Throne again p. 99. According to the Spirit of Rome which breaths in them by which they are so strongly biassed to wheel about to their Roman Mistress p. 108. The Prelates consederate with the Priests and Jesuites for rearing up of that Religion p. 140. Calling them upon that account in his Apology Iesuited Polipragmaticks and Sons of Belial Having thus lustily laid about him against all in general he descends to some particulars of most note and eminence Reviling White of Ely with railing and perverting in fighting against the truth which he makes to be his principal quality p. 127. and Mountague of Chichester for a tried Champion of Rome and the devoted Votary to his Queen of Heaven p. 126. And so proceeding to the Archbishop for of Wren he had spoke enough before he tells us of him That he used to set his foot on the Kings Laws as the Pope did on the Emperors neck p. 54. That with his right hand he was able to sweep down the third part of the Stars in heaven p. 121. And that he had a Papal infallibility of Spirit whereby as by a divine Oracle all Questions in Religion are finally determined p. 132. These are the principal flowers of Rhetorick which grew in the Garden of H. B. sufficient questionless to shew how sweet a Champion he was like to prove of the Church and Gospel And yet this was not all the mischief which the Church suffered at that time for presently on the neck of these came out another entituled The holy Table name and thing intended purposely for an Answer to the Coal from the Altar but cunningly pretended by him to be written long ago by a Minister in Lincolnshire against Dr. Coale a judicious Divine in Queen Maries daies Printed for the Diocess of Lincoln by the Bishop whereof under the name of Iohn Lincoln Dean of Westminster it was authorized for the Press In managing whereof the point in Controversie was principally about the placing of the Holy Table according to the practice of the Primitive Church and the received Rules of the Church of England at the first Reformation of it In prosecution of which point he makes himself an Adversary of his he know not whom and then he useth him he cares not how mangling the Authors words whom we would confute that so he might be sure of the easier conquest and practising on those Authors whom he was to use that they may serve his turn the better to procure the victory Of the composure of the whole we may take this Character from him who made the Answer to it viz. That he that conjectured of the house by the trim or dress would think it very richly furnished the Walls whereof that is the Margin richly set out with Antick hangings and whatsoever costly workmanship all nations of these times may be thought to brag of and every part adorned with flourishes and pretty pastimes the gay devices of the Painter Nor is there any want at all of Ornaments or Vtensils to set out the same such especially as may serve for ostentation though of little use many a fine and subtle Carpet not a few idle couches for the credulous Reader and every where a pillow for a Puritans elbow all very pleasing to the eye
a base and Libellous Answer without the name of any Author Place or Printer or any Bookseller according to the unusual Custom where and of whom it might be bought I shall not trouble my self any more about it than by a Transcript of the Title which was this that followeth viz. DIVINE and POLITICK OBSERVATIONS newly translated out of the Dutch Language wherein they were lately divulged upon some lines in the Speech of the Archbishop of Canterbury pronounced in the STAR-CHAMBER the fourteenth of June 1637. VERY expedient for preventing all prejudice which as well through ignorance as through malice and flattery may be incident to the judgment which men make thereby either of his Graces power over the Church and with the King or of the Equity Iustice and Wisdom of his ENDS in his said Speech and of the reasons used by him for attaining to his said ENDS And though he took great care and pains concerning that supposed additional clause to the 20th Article so much as might satisfie any man not extremely partial yet find I a late Writer so unsatisfied in it that he leaves it to the State-Arithmeticians to decide the Controversie whether the Bishops were more faulty in the addition than the opposites in their substraction of it One other Charge there was and a great one too which I find not touched at in this Speech and that is that the Prelates neither had nor sought to have the Kings Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England for their keeping Courts and Visitations c. but did all in their own Names and under their own Seals contrary to the Law in that behalf Concerning which we are to know that by a Statute made in the first year of King Edward the Sixth it was Enacted That all Summons Citations and other Process Ecclesiastical in all Suites and causes of Instance and all causes of Correction and all causes of Bastardy or Bigamy or De jure Patronatus Probates of Testaments and Commissions of Administrations of persons deceased be made in the name and with the Style of the King as it is in Writs Original or Iudicial at the Common Law c. As also that no matter of person or persons who hath the Exercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction use any other Seal of Jurisdiction but wherein his Majesties Arms be engraven c. on pain of incurring his Majesties indignation and suffering imprisonment at his will and pleasure Which Statute and every branch thereof being repealed by Queen Mary and not revived by Queen Elizabeth in all her Reign the Bishops of her time were safe enough from any danger on that side But in the first Parliament of King Iames there passed an Act for continuing and reviving of divers Statutes and for repealing of some others 1 Iac. c. 25. Into the Body whereof a Clause was cunningly conveyed his Majesties Council learned not considering or fraudulently conniving at it for the repealing of that Statute of the Reign of Queen Mary by which King Edwards stood repealed of which no notice being taken for some while by those whom it chiefly did concern it was now discovered and made use of as a Rod to affright the Prelates from exercising their Jurisdiction over obstinate and incorrigible Non-conformists as formerly they had been accustomed For remedy whereof and for encouraging the Bishops to perform their duties iâ— was declared by the Judges with an unanimous consent and so delivered by the Lords Chief Justices in the Star-Chamber the fourteenth of May in this present year That the said Act of Repeal 1 of Queen Mary did still stand in force as unto that particular Statute by them so much pressed This was sufficient for the present but the Archbishop would not trust to it for the time to come and thereupon in in his Epistle to the King before remembred He humbly desired his Majesty in the Churches name That it might be resolved by all the Reverend Judges of England and then published by his Majesty that the Bishops keeping of their Courts and issuing Processes in their own names and the like exceptions formerly taken and now renued were not against the Laws of this Realm that so the Church Governours might go on chearfully in their duty and the peoples minds be quieted by this assurance that neither their Law nor their Liberty as Subjects was thereby infringed A motion favourably heard and graciously granted his Majesty issuing out his Royal Proclamation on the eighteenth day oâ— August then next following For declaring that the proceedings of his Ecclesiastical Câ—urts and Ministers were according to Law The Tenour of which Proclamation or Declaration was as followeth By the King WHereas in some of the Libellous Books and Pamphlets lately published the most Reverend Fathers in God the Lord Archbishops and Bishops of the Realm are said to have usurped upon his Majesties Prerogative Royal and to have proceeded in the High Commission and other Ecclesiastical Courts contrary to the Laws and Statutes of the Realm It was Ordered by his Majesties High Court of Star-Chamber the twelfth of June last that the Opinion of the two Lords Chief Justices the Lord Chief Baron and the rest of the Judges and Barons should be had and certified in these particulars viz. whether Processes may not issue out of the Ecclesiastical Courts in the names of the Bishops Whether a Patent under the Great Seal be necessary for the keeping of the Ecclesiastical Courts and enabling Citations Suspensions Excommunications and other Censures of the Church And whether the Citations ought to be in the Kings Name and under his Seal of Arms and the like for Institutions and Inductions to Benefices and correction of Ecclesiastical offences And whether Bishops Archdeacons and other Ecclesiastical persons may or ought to keep any Visitation at any time unless they have express Commission or Patent under the great Seal of England to do it and that as his Majesty Visitors only and in his name and right alone Whereupon his Majesties said Judges having taken the same into their sâ—rious consideration did unanimously agree and concur in opinion and the first day of Iuly last certified under their hands as followeth That Processes may issue out of Ecclesiastical Courts in the name of the Bihops and that a Patent under the Great Seal is not necessary for the keeping of the said Ecclesiastical Courts or for the enabling of Citations Suspensions Excommunications and other Censures of the Church And that it is not necessary that Summons Citations or other Processes Ecclesiastical in the said Courts or Institutions and Inductions to benefices or correction of Ecclesiastical offences by Censure in those Courts be in the Kings name or with the Style of the King or with the Kings Seal or the Seals of the Office have in them the Kings Arms And that the Statute 1 Edw. 6. c. 2. which enacted the contrary is not now in force And that the Archbishops Bishops Archdeacons and other Ecclesiastical
had been grown so high and so strongly backed that Justice could not safely have been done upon them a way might have been found to have cooled the Fever without loss of Blood by bringing the whole Corporation under the danger of a forfeiture of their Lands and Liberties in a Legal way which course proved so successful unto King IAMES on the like occasion Anno 1597. Or finally supposing that the Cause admitted not such a long delay if then his Majesty had but sent a Squadron of the Royal Navy which he had at Sea to block up their Haven he had soon brought the Edenburghers unto his devotion and consequently kept all the rest of the Kingdom in a safe Obedience This was the way to keep them under and of this course the People of the City were more afraid than of any other Somewhat they are to do which might make his Majesty hope better of them than they had deserved and nothing they could do which might better please him than to express their chearfulness in admitting the Liturgie To this end they addressed their Letters to the Archbishop of Canterbury as more concerned in this Affair than any other of the Lords which were neer his Majesty expressing in the same their great dislike of the late Tumult for their Innocency therein they refer themselves to his Majesties Council in that Kingdom declaring further their concurrence with the Bishops which remained in the City and the Ministry of the same for settling the Service-Book and offering Means above their Power to such as should undertake the Reading of it and finally desiring his Grace to make known to his Majesty how ready they were at all points to advance the Service which they promised to accept as an accumulation of his Graces Favours unto them and their City And that this Letter of theirs which bears date the nineteenth of August might bear the greater credit with him they did not only seem industrious for the apprehending of some and the inquiring after others of the Principal Actors but bound themselves by an Obligatory Act of the Common-Council both for the Indempnity and Maintenance of such as should read the Book the Ministers of Edenborough refusing to do their parts in it without such Encouragements But the danger was no sooner over by the coming home of the Fleet but they Petitioned the Lords of the Council to put them into the same condition with the rest of the Subjects and that the Service-Book should be no further pressed on them than it had been in all the other parts of the Kingdom To which they were encouraged by a general confluence of all sorts of People such most especially as had most shewn their disaffection to the work in hand For the Harvest was no sooner in and the People at more leisure than before to pursue that Quarrel but the City swarmed with throngs of People from all parts even to a formidable number which moved the Lords to publish two Proclamations on the seventeenth of October The first commanding all of them to repair to their Dwellings except such as should shew sufficient reason for their stay and continuance there The second for Adjourning the Sessions from Edenborough to the Town of Linlithgow But this served rather like the powring on of Oyl to encrease the Flame than of Water to quench it For the next day the Bishop of Galloway being to Sit with the Lord Chief Justice upon some especial Business in the Council-House he was pursued all along the Street with bitter Railings to the very Door and being drawn in from the rage of the People they immediately beset the House demanding the delivery of him and threatning his destruction The Earl of Traquair being advertised of the Bishops danger who formerly had been his Tutor came to his Relief and with much ado forced an Entrance thorow the Press But being got in he was in no better plight than the Bishop the Clamour still encreasing more and more and encompassing the Council-House with terrible Menaces Hereupon the Provost and City-Council was called to raise the Siege but they returned answer That their condition was the same for they were surrounded with the like Multitude who had enforced them for fear of their Lives to sign a Paper importing First That they should adhere to them in opposition to the Service-Book Secondly To restore to their Places Ramsey and Rollock two Silenced Ministers and one Henderson a Silenced Reader No better Answer being returned the Lord Treasurer with the Earl of Wigton went in Person to the Town-Council-House where they found the heat of the fury somewhat abated because the Magistrates had signed the Paper and returned with some hope that the Magistrates would calm the Disorders about the Council-House so as the Bishop might be preserved But they no sooner presented themselves to the Great Street than they were most boysterously assaulted the Throng being so furious as they pulled down the Lord Treasurer took away his Hat Cloack and White Staff and so haled him to the Council-House The Lords seeing themselves in so great danger at length pitch upon the best expedient for their safety and sent to some of the Noblemen and Gentry who were disaffected to the Service-Book to come to their Aid These Lords and Gentlemen came as was desired and offered both their Persons and Power to protect them which the Lords and the Council-House readily embraced and so were quietly guarded to Holy-Rood-House and the Bishop to his Lodging The Lords of the Council not thinking themselves to be secure published a Proclamation the same day in the afternoon for repressing such Disorders for the time to come But they found slender Obedience yielded to it Commissioners being sent unto them from the Citizens in an insolent manner for demanding the Restitution of their Ministers to their Place and Function and performing all such Matters as had been agreed on at the Pacification These Riots and Seditions might have served sufficiently in another Reign to have drawn a present War upon them before they were provided in the least degree to make any resistance But the Edenburghers knew well enough what they were to do what Friends they had about the King and what a Party they had got among the Lords of his Council which Governed the Affairs of that Kingdom And they were apt enough to hope by the unpunishing of the first Tumult on Iuly 23. That the King might rather have patience enough to bear such Indignities than Resolution to revenge them so that he came at last to that perplexity which a good Author speaks of That he must either out-go his Nature or fore-go his Authority For instead of using his just Power to correct their Insolencies he courts them with his Gracious Proclamation of the seventh of December in which he lets them know How unwilling he was that his Loyal and Faithful Subjects should be possessed with groundless and unnecessary doubts and fears touching
Right of that Dukedom to the Crown of England Iersey the bigger of the two more populous and of richer soil but of no great Trading Guernsey the lesser the more barren but nourishing a wealthier People Masters of many stout Barques and managing a rich Trade with the neighbouring Nations Attempted often by the French since they seised on Normandy but always with repulse and loss the People being very affectionate to the English Government under which they enjoy very ample Priviledges which from the French they could not hope for As parts of Normandy they were subject in Ecclesiastical Matters to the Bishops of Constance in that Dukedom and so continued till the Reformation of Religion here in England and were then added to the Diocess and Jurisdiction of the Bishops of Winchester But the Genevian Discipline being more agreeable to such Preachers as came to them from France they obtained the Exercise thereof in the eighth year of Queen Elizabeth Anno 1565. The whole Government distinguished into two Classes or Colonies that of Iersey of it self being one and that of Guernsey with the Islands of Sark and Alderney making up the other both Classes meeting in a Synod every second or third year according to the Order of their Book of Discipline digested by Snape and Cartwright the two great Ring-leaders of that Faction here in England in a Synod held at Guernsey Iune 28. 1576. And this manner they continued till the time of King Iames when the Churches in the Isle of Iersey falling into some disorder and being under an immediate Governour who was no great Friend to Calvin's Plat-form they were necessitated for avoiding of a greater mischief to cast themselves into the Arms of the Church of England The principal Ecclesiastical Officer whilst they were under the Bishops of Constance had the Title of Dean for each Island one the several Powers both of the Chancellor and Archdeacon being united in his Person This Office is restored again his Jurisdiction marked out his Fees appointed his Revenue settled but made accountable for his Administration to the Bishops of Winchester The English Liturgie is Translated also into French to be read in their Churches Instructions first and afterwards a Body of Canons framed for Regulating both the Ministers and People in their several Duties those Canons bearing date the last of Iune in the one and twentieth year of that King For the confirming of this Island in their Conformity to the Government and Forms of Worship there established and the reducing of the others to the like condition it was resolved That the Metropolitical Visitation should be held in each of them at the next opening of the Spring And that it might be carried on with the greater assurance the Archbishop had designed a Person for his Principal Visitor who had spent some time in either Island and was well acquainted with the Bayliffs Ministers and men of special note amongst them But the Affairs of Scotland growing from bad to worse this Counsel was discontinued for the present and at last laid by for all together But these Islands were not out of his mind though they were out of sight his care extending further than his Visitation The Islanders did use to breed such of their Sons as they designed for the Ministry either at Saumur or Geneva from whence they returned well seasoned with the Leaven of Calvinism No better way to purge that old Leaven out of the Islands than to allure the people to send their Children to Oxon or Cambridge nor any better expedient to effect the same than to provide some preferments for them in our Universities It hapned that while he was intent on these Considerations that one Hubbard the Heir of Sir Miles Hubbard Citizen and Alderman of London departed this Life to whom upon an inquisition taken after his death in due form of Law no Heir was found which could lay claim to his Estate Which falling to the Crown in such an unexpected manner and being a fair Estate withal it was no hard matter for the Archbishop to perswade his Majesty to bestow some small part thereof upon pious uses To which his Majesty consenting there was so much allotted out of it as for the present served sufficiently to endow three Fellowships for the perpetual Education of so many of the Natives of Guernsey and Iersey not without some probable â—ope of doubling the number as the old Leases of it â—â—ould expire These Fellowships to be founded in Exeter Iesus and Pembroke Colledges that being disperst in several Houses there might be an increase both of Fellows and Revenues of the said foundations By means whereof he did both piously and prudently provide for those Islands and the advancement of Conformity amongst them in the times to come For what could else ensue upon it but that the breeding of some Scholars out of those Islands in that University where they might throughly acquaint themselves with the Doctrine Government and Forms of Worship establisht in the Church of England they might afterwards at their return to their native Countries reduce the Natives by degrees to conform unto it which doubtless in a short time would have done the work with as much honour to the King and content to himself as satisfaction to those People It is not to be thought that the Papists were all this while asleep and that neither the disquiets in England nor the tumults in Scotland were husbanded to the best advantage of the Catholick Cause Panzani as before is said had laid the foundation of an Agency or constant correspondence between the Queens Court and the Popes and having so done left the pursuit of the design to Con a Scot by birth but of a very busie and pragmatical head Arriving in England about the middle of Summer Anno 1636. he brought with him many pretended reliques of Saints Medals and Pieces of Gold with the Popes Picture stamped on them to be distributed amongst those of that Party but principally amongst the Ladies of the Court and Country to whom he made the greatest part of his applications He found the King and Queen at Holdenby House and by the Queen was very graciously entertained and took up his chief Lodgings in a house near the new Exchange As soon as the Court was returned to Whitehall he applied himself diligently to his work practising upon some of the principal Lords and making himself very plausible with the King himself who hoped he might make some use of him in the Court of Rome for facilitating the restitution of the Prince Elector And finding that the Kings Councils were much directed by the Archbishop of Canterbury he used his best endeavours to be brought into his acquaintance But Canterbury neither liked the man nor the Message which he came about and therefore kept himself at a distance neither admitting him to Complement nor Communication Howsoever by the Kings Connivence and the Queens Indulgence the Popish Faction gathered not only strength
to whom they had written in like manner his Majesty might be pleased to hear them at large and grant such things as they had desired which they conceived to tend to his Majesties great Glory to put an end to all the present Questions to their mutual rejoycing and to make the blessed Instruments of so good a work to be thankfully remembred to Posterity In their letter to the Earl of Holland of the seventh of Iune they express more confidence as being more assured of him then of any other not only justifying themselves in their former proceedings but requesting his assistance to promote their desires in a petition tendred to his Majesty hands descending by degrees to this particular That by a meeting in some convenient place and of some prime and well affected men to the Reformed Religion and the Common Peace all matters might be so well amended and with such expedition that their evils through further delays might not prove incurable These preparations being made they found an easier business of it then they had any reason to expect or hope to bring his Majesty to meet them in the middle way who was so tender of their case that he was more ready to accept their supplication then they were to offer it It was not his intent to fight them as I have heard from a person of great trust and honour but only by the terrour of so great an Army to draw the Scots to do him reason And this I am the more apt to credit because when a Noble and well experienced Commander offered him then being in Camp near Berwick that with two thousand horse which the King might very well have spared he would so waste and spoil their Countrey that the Scots should creep upon their bellies to implore his mercy he would by no means hearken to the proposition And having no purpose of out-going Muster and Ostentation it is no wonder if he did not only willingly give way to the presenting of their Petition and cheerfully embraced all Overtures tending to a Pacification but make choice also of such persons to Negotiate in it who were more like to take such terms as they could get then to fight it out Commissioners being on both sides appointed they came at last to this conclusion on the seventeenth of Iune viz. First That his Majesty should confirm whatsoever his Commissioner have already granted in his Majesties name and that from thenceforth all matters Ecclesiastical should be determined by the Assemblies of the Kirk and all matters Civil by the Parliament and to that end a General Assembly to be Indicted on the sixth of August and a Parliament on the twentieth of the same Moneth in which Parliament an Act of Oblivion was to pass for the common peace and satisfaction of all parties that the Scots upon the publication of the accord should within fourty eight hours disband all their Forces discharge all pretended Tables and Conventicles restore unto the King all his Castles Forts and Ammunition of all sorts the like Restitution to be made to all his good Subjects of their Liberties Lands Houses Goods and Means whatsoever taken and detained from them since the late pretended General Assembly held at Glasco that thereupon his Majesty should presently recal his Fleet and retire his Land Forces and cause Restitution to be made of all persons of their Ships and Goods Detained and Arrested since the first of February But as for the proceedings of the Assembly of Glasco as his Majesty could not allow them with Honour on the one side so neither do I find that they were condemned or that the Scots were bound to abandon the conclusions of it so that it seems to have been left in the same condition as to all the Acts Determinations and Results there in which it stood before his Majesties taking Arms Which as it was the chief ground of the Quarrel so the King doing nothing in Order to the Abrogating of it and the conclusions therein made when he was in the head of a powerful Army he could not give himself much hopes that the Scots could yield to any such Abrogation when he had no such Army to compel obedience And this appeared immediately on his Majesties signing the Agreement and the discharging of his Forces upon the same For the Declaration of this accord was no sooner published but the Covenanters produced a Protestation First of adhering to their late General Assembly at Glasco as a full and free Assembly of their Kirk and to all the proceedings there especially the sentences of Deprivation and Excommunication of the sometimes pretended Bishops of that Kingdom And secondly of adhering to their Solemn Covenant and Declaration of the Assembly whereby the office of Bishop is abjured Thirdly that the pretended Archbishops and Bishops that usurp the title and office abjured by the Kirk and be contemners of the sentences of Kirk have been malicious Incendiaries of his Majesty against this Kingdom by their wicked calamnies and that if they return to this Kingdom they be esteemed and used as accursed and they delivered up to the Devil and cast off from Christ his body as Ethnicks and Publicans And fourthly that all the entertainers of the Excommucated Bishops should be orderly proceeded against with Excommunication conform to the Acts and Constitutions of this Kirk And this they did as well to justifie their proceeding in the said Assembly as to terrifie and affright the Bishops from presenting themselves as members of Assembly and Parliament at the next Conventions Which done they dispersed abroad a scandalous Paper pretending to contain the heads of the late Agreement but drawn so advantageously for themselves so disagreeably to the true intention of his Majesty that he could do no less in honour then call it in and cause it to be publickly burnt by the hand of the Hangman And being conscious to themselves how much his Majesty must be incensed with these Indignities they continued their meetings and Consultations as before they did maintained their Fortifications at Leith the Port Town to Edenborough disquieted molested and frighted all of different inclinations and kept their Officers and Commanders in continual pay to have them in a Readiness on the next occasion With which disorders his Majesty being made acquainted he sent for some of the Chiefs of them to come to him to Berwick but was refused in his Commands under pretence that there was some intention to entrap them at their coming thither and that his Majesty might be staved off from being present at the next Assembly in Edenborough as he had both promised and resolved they commit a riotous assault on the Earls of Kinnoul and Traquaire Chief Justice Elphinsten and Sir Iames Hamilton all Privy Counsellors of that Kingdom These they pulled violently out of their Coach on a suspicion that some Bishops were disguised amongst them but really that the King might have some cause to suspect that there could be no safety
in every Quarter of the year at Morning Prayer And it was added by the Canons that if any Parson Vicar Curate or Preacher should Voluntarily or carelesly neglect his duty in publishing the said Explications and Conclusions according to the Order above prescribed he should be suspended by his Ordinary till his Reformation That all Bishops Priests and Ministers should Teach Preach and Exhort their People to Obey Honour and Serve their King and that they presume not to speak of his Majesties Power any other way then in the Canon is expressed with reference to Excommunication and a Suspension of two years for the first Offence and Deprivation for the second to be inflicted by his Majesties Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical upon all Persons whatsoever which in any Sermon Lecture Determination or Disputation should maintain any point of Doctrine contrary to the said Propositions and Explications In reference to the preservation of the Episcopal power an Oath was dâ—awn up in the Upper and sent down to the Lower House of Convocation by them to be debated approved and ratified upon Approbation Which Oath was required to be taken by all Archbishops Bishops Priests and Deacons before the second day of November then next following to be tendered in the presence of a publike Notary to all Priests and Deacons by the Bishop in person or his Chancellour or some grave Divines named and appointed by the Bishop under his Episcopal Seat In the first words of the Oath aâ— it came from the Lords it was expressed in these words that every man should Swear to the Doctrine and Discipline established in Church of England And this occasioned some dispute concerning the extent of the word Discipline whither it comprehended the Episcopal Government and the publick Forms of Divine Worship or was to be restrained only to the use of the Keys as it was practiced in Ecclesiastical Courts Some would have had the words run thus I. A. B. do swear that I approve the Doctrines Discipline or Government established c. But against this it was objected First that the Government of the Church was sufficiently provided for by the following clause in which there was an especial Enumeratâ—â—â— of all Offices impowred in the Government of the Church and that it was incongruous to make that Discipline and Government to be the same and that Government should be said to contain all things or any thing which was necessary to Salvation And they that thus objected would have had it pass in these words viz. I approve the Doctrine Discipline and Forms of Worship established in the Church of England as containing all things necessary unto Salvation Which though it seemed more plausible and intelligible then the other was yet being put unto the vote it was carried for Discipline or â—â—â—â—rnment under pretence of not clogging the Oath with things unnecessary and such as might be made capable of a variation According to which Vote the Canon was drawn up with this title viz. An Oath injoyned for the preventing of all Innovations in Doctrine and Government and the Oath it self injoyned in this form following that is to say I. A. B. Do swear that I do Approve the Doctrine and Discipline or Government Established in the Church of England as containing all things necessary to salvation And that I will not endeavour by my self or any other directly or indirectly to bring in any Pâ—pish Doctrine contrary to that which is so established Nor will I ever give my consent to alter the Government of this Church by Archbishops Bishops Deans and Archdeacons c. As it stands now established and as by Right it ought to stand nor yet ever to subject it to the usurpations and Superstitions of the See of Rome And all these things I do plainly and seriously acknowledge and swear according to the plain and Common sense and understanding of the same words without any Equivocation or mental evasion or secret reservation whatsoever And this I do heartily willingly and truly upon the faith of a Christian So help me God in Jesus Christ. The Oath being past the Canon was drawn up by the former hand according to such Instructions as were sent along with it By which it was required that all Masters of Art the Sons of Noblemen only excepted all Bachelors or Doctors in Divinity Law or Physick all that are licenced to practice Physick all Registers â—â—ctuaries and Procters all School-masters all such as being natives oâ— Naturalized do come to be incorporated into the Universities here having taken any Degree in any Foreign University should be bound to take the said Oath the same Oath to be Administred to all such of the persons abovenamed residing in any University by the Governors of their several Houses and by the Bishop Respectively to all which should from thenceforth be admitted to holy Orders or receive any Institution Collation or Licence for the serving of any cure with several Penalties to all beneficed Parsons and all such as were then in any Ecclesiastical dignity for their Refusal of the same that is to say a suspension ab officio for the first Refusal à beneficio officio for the second and Deprivation for the tâ—ird a Moneths deliberation being granted betwixt each Refusal These two great matters being thus concluded A message is delivered by the Prolocutor from the house of Bishops by which the Clergy were desired to consider of the best expedient for inducing an Uniformity in the Church about the situation of the Lords Table the Receiving of the blessed Sacrament and the due Revenue to be used in the house of God and to prepare a Caâ—â—â— to that purpose if they found it necessary On the Receiving of 〈◊〉 message a grand Committee was selected out of the Ablest men oâ— the House to take that great and weighty business into consideration and to Report unto the House whatsoever they should do therein that it might pass or be rejected as the House thought fit The Committee consisted of 27. the Prolocutor being reckoned into the number their meeting to be held the same afternoon in the Chappel of King Hen. 7. Where being met and sitting about the table provided for the use of the Bishops the points were seriously debated every man speaking his opinion in them when it came to his turn without interruption beginning with the Prolocutor and so proceeding from man to man till it concluded with the Clerk for the Church of Westminster So placed of purpose that he might answer all such arguments as had been brought against any of the points proposed and were not answered to his hand The Prolocutor having taken the summe of every mans Judgement declared that the far Major part had appeared for placing the Lords Table where the Altar stood the drawing neer unto it to receive the Sacrament and the making of due Reverences at the entring into the Church and going out of it and thereupon put it to the question whether they
and unprinted Scribbles and glad they were to find such an excellent Advantage as the discovering of an c. in the Body of it did unhappily give them This voiced abroad to be the greatest Mystery of Iniquity which these last Ages had produced containing in it so much of the Depths of Satan that as no man could see the bottom of the Iniquity so neither they that made the Oath nor they that were to take it undeâ—stood the Mystery But unto this it hath been answered as 〈◊〉 the fact That in all the Canons which were made before this bâ—ing five in number there was a particular enumeration of all the persons vested with any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction that is to say Archbishops Bishops Deans Archdeacons Deans and Chapters and other persons having peculiar or exempt Jurisdiction which having been repeated distinctly or particularly in such of the Canons as were first made was in the first drawing of their Oath for avoiding of a Tautologie so often iterated cut off with this c. with an intention nevertheless to make the Enumeration perfect and consequently to expunge this unlucky c. before it came to be Engrossed But the King being weary of the Charge and Clamour which the keeping of a Guard on the Convocation did expose him to did hasten them to a Conclusion by so many Messages brought by Vane and others that in the haste this unlucky c. was forgotten and so committed to the Press accordingly It hath been secondly answered as in point of Reason That the c. as it stands in that part of the Oath is so restrained and limited by the following words viz. as it stands now established that there can be no danger of any Mystery of Iniquity in it So that in the Construction of this Text the c. as it now remains is a meer impertinency For being left in it signifieth nothing in regard of the Restriction following and being left out the sense is currant and compleat without it Which all those witty Gentlemen who so often spoke and others of less wit and quality which so frequently writ against this Oath could not chuse but see but that they were not willing to see any thing which might make against them The Paramount Objection being thus refell'd the rest which have been made against it will be easily satisfied It hath been charged by some That the exacting of an Oath not to consent to the Alteration of the Government of the Church by Archbishops Bishops Deans Archdeacons c. is an affront to the fundamental Rules of Civil Politie To which it hath been answered That it is indeed an affront to Government not to submit or yield Obedience unto Civil Sanctions when made and legally established But it is no affront not to give consent to any such Establishments while they are in Treaty for then the liberty of assenting or dissenting of Yea or Nay would be taken away from every Member in the Houses of Parliament and every Man must give consent to every Bill which is offered to him But besides this there were but few of the Convocation whose consent was likely to be asked when any change of Church-Government should be set on foot so that their dissenting or assenting was not much material but only so far as by their readiness of consenting to such Innovations in the Publick Government they might encourage others to proceed against it Here then is no affront to Government much less to the Fundamentals of it the Oath not binding any man not to yield Obedience but not to give consent to such Alteration As for the last Objection That he who takes the Oath declares therein That he takes it willingly being constrained so to do under grievous Penalties This as it comes last is the least considerable for if this were a Crime in the Convocation it was such a Crime as the High Court of Parliament hath been guilty of in drawing up the Oath of Allegiance in the third year of King Iames in which the Party is to swear That he makes that Recognition not only heartily and truly but also willingly and yet the taking of that Oath is imposed on all the Subjects under several Penalties if any of them shall refuse it And yet these Quarrels at the Oath the Unparliamentary Levying of the said Benevolence and the pretended Illegality of their very Sitting after the Parliament expired were but the out-sides of the business but only colours and disguises to conceal the chief cause of their displeasure from the publick view Somewhat there was which galled them more than all these together that is to say the Propositions for asserting the Regal Power making it absolute and independent with reference both to Pope and People to the great discontent and trouble of the Popular Party since better known by the name of Commonwealths-men Which since the English were not confident enough to speak out at first we must take their meaning from the Scots who in the Articles exhibited against our Archbishop by their Commissioners have expresly charged him with this Crime viz. That he made Canons and Constitutions against them their just and necessary defence Ordaining under all highest Pain That hereafter the Clergy should Preach four times in the year such Doctrine as was contrary not only to their Proceedings but to the Doctrine and Proceedings of other Reformed Kirks to the Judgment of all sound Divines and Politicks as tending to the utter slavery and ruining of all Estates and Kingdoms and to the dishonour of Kings and Monarchs This the true cause of those high Displeasures conceived by some prevailing Members of the House of Commons and openly declared by their Words and Actions branding those innocent Canons for a tendency to Faction and Sedition which they most laboured to suppress condemning all that Voted to them in great sums of Money and afterwards destroying them one by one as they came in their way Compared with this neither the Benevolence nor the Oath nor any thing else before objected was esteemed considerable though all were joyned together to amuze the People and make them fearful of some Plot not only to subvert Religion but their Civil Rights But the best is that howsoever some few men for their private ends reproached these Canons as before his Sacred Majesty the Lords of his most Honourable Privy-Council the Reverend Judges and the Great Lawyers of the Council-Learned conceived otherwise of them in the hearing of all which they were publickly read by the Archbishops procurement before they were tendred to the Clergy to be subscribed and by all which they were approved not without thanks to the Archbishop from the King himself for his pains therein And certainly it had been strange that they should pass the Approbation of the Judges and Learned Lawyers had they contained any thing against the Fundamental Laws of the Land the Property of the Subject and the Rights of Parliaments or been approved by the Lords
into the Form of an Impeachment he intended to present to the House of Peers as soon as he had taken his place amongst them and to that end prepared for his last Journey to London from whence he never was to return alive Calling together some of his especial Friends and many of the chief Officers and Commanders which remained in the Army he made them acquainted with his purpose of going to Westminster to attend the Parliament leaving to them the Charge of his Majesties Forces and the preserving of those parts from the spoyl of the Enemy An Enterprise from which he was disswaded by most of his Friends alledging that he could not chuse but know that the Scots and Scotizing English had most infallibly resolved on his destruction and that innocency was no Armour of Proof against the fiery Darts of malicious Power That seeing such a storm hang over his head rather keep himself in the English Army being under his Command which he had gained upon exceedingly by his noble carriage or pass over into Ireland where the Army rested wholly at his Devotion or transport himself to some Foreign Kingdom till fairer weather here in reference to his own safety and the publick peace should invite him home That it was no betraying of his innocency to decline a Trial where Partiality held the Scales and Self-ends backt with Power and made blind with Prejudice were like to over-ballance Justice That if Sentence should be passed against him for default of appearance which was the worst that could befal him yet he would then keep his head on his shoulders until better times and in the mean season might do his Majesty as good Service in the Courts of many Foraign Princes as if he were sitting in White-hall at the Council Table Turning a deaf car to these considerations he Resolved to prosecute his design but was scarce entred into the House of Peers when followed at the heels by Pym whom it concerned as much as any who fearing or knowing his intendments impeacht him of high Treason in the name of all the Commons of England requiring their names that he might be sequestred from the House and Committed to Custody And here again it was conceived that the Earl shewed not that praesentiam animi that readiness of Courage and Resolution which formerly had conducted him through so many difficulties in giving over his design For though he lost the opportunity of striking the first blow yet he had time enough to strike the second which might have been a very great Advantage to his preservation For had he offered his impeachment and prosecuted it in the same paces and method as that was which was brought against him it is possible enough that the business on both sides might have been hushed up without hurt to either And for so doing he wanted not a fair Example in the second Parliament of this King when the Earl of Bristol being impeached of high Treason by the Kings Attorney at the instance and procurement of the Duke of Buckingham retorted presently a recrimination or impeachment against the Duke and by that means took of the edge of that great Adversary from proceeding further Nor gave it little cause of wonder unto many wise men that a person of so great Spirit and knowledge should give himself up so tamely on a general accusation only without any particular Act of Treason charged upon him or any proof offered to make good that charge not only to the loss of his Liberty as a private Person but to the forfeiture of his Priviledge as a Member of Parliament But the impeachment being made his Restraint desired and nothing by him offered to the Contrary he was committed the same day Novemb. 11. to the Custody of the Gentleman Vsher called the Black-rod and not long after to the Tower Sir George Ratcliff one of his especial confidents being presently sent for out of Ireland by a Serjeant at Arms as concriminal with him In this condition he remained till the 16th of Decemb. without any particular Charge against him Which at the last was brought into the House of Peers by the Scots and presented in their Names by Lord Paget one of the Members of that House In which they did inform against him in reference to matters which concerned Religion that in promoting the late pretended Innovations he had been as forward as Canterbury himsâ—lf and to that end had preferred his Chaplain Bramhall to the See of Derrie and Chappel to the Colledge of Dublin that he had threatned to burn the Articles of Ireland agreed upon in Convocation Anno 1615. by the hand of the Hangman and would not hearken to the Primate when he desired a Ratification of them by Act of Parliament for preventing and suppressing the said Innovations that he countenanced divers books against them and their Covenant which were Printed at Dublin and caused all Persons above the age of sixteen years to abjure the said Covenant by a solemn Oath or otherwise to be Imprisoned or to fly that Kingdom that at his last coming into England he had openly said that if ever he returned unto the Honourable Sword he would not leave any of the Scots in that Kingdom either Root or Branch and that he did advise the great Council of Peers assembled at York to send them back again in their own blood and that he might whip them out of England In further pursuance of this Charge it was prest against him in the Articles Exhibited by the House of Commons on the 16 â—h of February for so long it was before he heard any more news from them That he maintained a correspondence with the Papists of Ireland endeavoured to raise hostility between England and Scotland and had consented to the betraying of New-castle into the hands of the Scots to the end that the English being nettled by so great a loss might be more Cordially engaged in the War against them that he gave a Warrant under his hand to some Bishops in the Church of Ireland and their Chancellors and other Officers to Arrest the Bodies of such of the meaner sort as after Citation should refuse to appear before them or should refuse to undergo and perform all Lawful decrees and sentences given or issued out against them and the said persons to keep in the next Common Goal till their Submission to the said Orders and Decrees and otherwise shew some Reason to the Contrary to the Lords of the Counsel that in the Moneth of May in the year 1639. he caused a new Oath to be contrived Enforced especially upon those of the Scottish Nation in the Realm of Ireland by which the party was obliged to Renounce the Covenant and to swear that he would not Protest against any of his Majesties Royal Commands but submit himself in all obedience thereunto and had put divers grievous fines upon many of them on their Refusal of the same that he required the like Oath for the
and Dangers in the Premises Lastly Whereas these fears are not built upon Conceits but upon such Grounds and Objects as may well terrifie Men of Resolution and much Constancy they do in all Humility and Duty Protest before Your Majesty and the Peers of the Most Honourable House of Parliament against all Laws Orders Votes Resolutions and Determinations as of themselves Null and of None Effect which in their Absence since the 27th of this Instant Moneth of December 1641. have already passed As likewise that all such as shall hereafter Pass in the Most Honourable House during the time of this their Forced and Violent Absence from the said Most Honourable House not denying but if their absenting of themselves were Wilful and Voluntary that Most Honourable House might Proceed in all their Premises their Absence or this Protestation Notwithstanding And humbly beseeching Your Most Excellent Majesty to Command the Clerk of the House of Peers to Enter this their Petition and Protestation among his Records They will ever Pray God to bless c. This Petition being presented to his Majesty was by him deliâ—vered to the Lord Keeper Littleton to be Communicated the next day being the 30th of Decemb. to the House of Peers But the Lord Keeper contrary to his Majesties directions did first impâ—rt iâ— to some of the Preaching party in both Houses of Parliament and after as the plot was laid to the Peers in general Upon the â—eading whereof a conference was desired with the House oâ— Câ—mmons to whom the Lord Keeper whom they had under the Laâ—â— was pleased to signifie that this Petition and Protestation of the twelâ—e Bishops contained matters of high and dangerous consequence extending to the deep intrenching upon the Fundamental Priviledges and Being of Parliament Whereupon the said twelve Bishops were Impeached by the Commons of high Treason The Usher called Black-Rod Commanded to find them out and to bring them to the Bar in the House of Peers which by reason of their scattered and divided Lodgings could not be effected till eight of the Clock at night at what time being brought together their offence was signified unto them and an Order presently made for their commitment to the Tower whither they were all carried the next day Except the Bishops of Durham and Lichfield who found the favour the one by reason of his Eminent Learning and both of them in regard of their age and Infirmities to stand committed to the custody of the Gentleman Usher Our Archbishop had now more Neighbours then â—e desired but not more company then before it being prudently Ordered amongst themselves that none of them should bestow any visits on him for fear of giving some advantage to their common enemy as if they had been hatching some conspiracy against the Publick But they refrained not on either side from sending meâ—â—ages of Love and consolation unto one another those mutual civilities being almost every day performed betwixt the two Archbishops also though very much differing both in their Counsels and Affections in the times foregoing The Archbishop of York was now so much declined in favour tâ—at he stood in as bad terms with the Common People as the other did His picture cut in Brass attired in his Episcopal Robes with his square Cap upon his head and Bandileers about his Neck shouldering a Musket upon one of his shoulders in one hand and a Rest in the other either presaging that which followed or else relating unto that which had passed in defence of the Abbey Together with which a book was Printed in which he was Resembled to the Decoy-Duck alluding to the Decâ—yes in Lincolnshire where he had been Bishop restored to Liberty on design that he might bring more company with him at his coming back and a device Ingraven for the Front of the Book which represented the conceit and that not unhappily Certain I am that our Archbishop in the midst of those sorrows seemed much pleased with the Fancy whither out of his great Love to wit oâ— some other self-satisfaction which he found therein is beyond my knowledge These Bishops bâ—ing thus secured and no body left in a manner to solicite the Common Cause but the Bishop of Rochester the Bill against their Votes passed currantly in the House of Peers on February 6. the Citizens who before had feasted the King with such signs oâ— Affection now celebrating the Concurrence of the House against his Interest with Bâ—lls and Bonfires Nor was it long before the â—ing gave over the Cause for which he had so long contended For either terrified with the Apprehension of his own Dangers or wrought on by the importunity of some about him he signed the Bill at Canterbury on February 14. to which place he had accompanied the Queen in her way toward Holland And by that Bill it was desired to be Enacted That no Archbishop Bishop or any other Person in Holy Orders from February 15. then next following should have any Seat or Place Suffrage or Voice use or execute any Power or Authority in the Parliaments of this Realm nor should be of the Privy-Council of his Majesty his Heirs or Successors or Justices of the Peace of Oyer and Terminer or Gaol-delivery or execute any Temporal Authority by vertue of any Commission but should be wholly disabled or be uncapable to have receive use or execute any of the said Offices Places Powers Authorities and Things aforesaid The passing of which Act what specious Pretences soever were given out for it redounded little to his Majesties Benefit and far less to his Comfort For by cutting off so many of his Friends at a blow he lost his Power in the House of Peers and not long after was deprived of his Negative Voice when the great Business of the Militia came to be disputed And though he pleased himself sometimes with this perswasion of their contentedness in suffering a present diminution of their Rights and Honours for his sake and the Commonwealths yet was it no small trouble to his Conscience at other times that he had added this to the former injury in consenting to the taking away of the Coercive Power of their Jurisdiction for this we find to be one of those three things which lay heaviest on him in the time of his Solitude and Sufferings as appears by this passage in one of his Prayers viz. Was it through ignorance that I suffered innocent Blood to be spilt by a false pretended Iustice Or that I permitted a wrong way of Worship to be set up in Scotlan Or injured the Bishops in England By which we see that the Injury done unto the Bishops of England is put into the same scale with his permitting a wrong way of Worship to be set up in Scotland and the shedding of the innocent Blood of the Earl of Strafford And if this Act proved so unpleasing to the King it must needs be grievous to the Bishops themselves to none more than the
back again to the Tower where he continued till the end of the year 1659. without any Charge or Accusation produced against him But as for the Archbishop of Canterbury as he first took possession of that Fatal Lodging before any of the rest came to him so he continued there after their dismission without hope of finding his passage out of it by any other door than the door of Death which as he did not look for before it came so when it came he did not fear it He had then been fifteen months a Prisoner since his first Commitment to that place as far from being brought unto his Trial as he was at the first and is to lye there as much longer before he should hear any thing of them which might tend that way only they had some pulls at him from one time to another to keep him in remembrance of his present condition and to prepare him by degrees to his last dissolution For on October 23. in the year foregoing the House of Peers sequestred his Jurisdiction from him conferring it on Brent and others of his under-officers and ordered that he should bestow none of the Benefices within his gift without acquainting them with the name and quality of the party whom he intended to prefer leaving to them the Approbation if they saw cause for it And on October 15. this present year for so long he remained without further disturbance it was resolved upon the Question That the Fines Rents and Profits of Archbishops and Bishops should be sequestred for the use and service of the Commonwealth In which though he was no more concerned yet he was as much concerned as any other of the Episcopal Order so much the more as being sure to find less favour whensoever that Vote should be put in execution by them that made it For on the ninth of November following his house at Lambeth was forcibly possessed by a Party of Souldiers to keep it for the publick Service and 78 pounds of his Rents as forcibly taken from some of his Officers by an Order under the hands of some of the Lords upon pretence of imploying it to the maintenance of his Majesties Children But upon his Petition shortly after he had an Order for securing of his Goods and Books though he secured them rather from the power of the Souldiers than from the hands of any other on whom the Houses should bestow them when they saw time for it Upon the neck of that came another Order to bar him from having Conference with any of the other Prisoners or speaking with any other but in the presence of the Warder who was appointed to attend him and from having the Liberty of the Tower or from sending any of his Servants into the City but on occasion of providing Victuals and other necessaries Not long after the Souldiers brake open the doors of his Chappel in Lambeth house and began to make foul work with the Organs there but before any great hurt was done their Captain came and put a period to their fury On December 21. his Saddle-horse was seised on by Order from some Members in the House of Commons and on 23. Leighton the Schismatick who had before been sentenced in the Star-Chamber for his libellous and seditious Pamphlets came with an Order from that house to disposses the Souldiers of their quarters there and turn his house into a Prison His Wood and Coals seised on without any permission to make any use of them for himself On March 14. he had word brought him of a plot for sending him and Bishop Wren his fellow Prisoner to perpetual Exile in New-England and that Wells a factious Preacher which came lately thence had laid wagers of it but when the matter came in agitation in the House of Commons it appeared to be so horrible and foul a practice that it was generally rejected In the beginning of May 1643 the Windows in his Chappel were defaced and the steps torn up his Goods and Books seised on by Leighton and some others And on the sixteenth of the same month he was served with an Order of both Houses debarring him from bestowing any of his Benefices which either were or should be vacant for the time to come And on the last day of the same an Order issued from some Members of that close Committee directed unto Prynne and others to seise on all his Letters and Papers to be perused by such as should be Authorised to that end and purpose So far they had proceeded in pulling him from himself piece-meal before they were ready for his Trial or seemed to have any thoughts which might look that way They had then a greater game to play and on this occasion His Majesty at his late being in Scotland expostulated with some of the chief amongst them touching their late coming into England in an hostile manner and found that some who were now leading men in the Houses of Parliament had invited them to it and having furnished himself with some proofs for it he commanded his Atturney General to impeach some of them of High Treason that is to say the Lord Kimbolton a Member of the House of Peers Hollis Pym Hasterig Stroud and Hambden of the House of Commons But sending a Serjeant at Arms to Arrest their persons there came a countermand from the House of Commons by which the Serjeant was deferred from doing his office and the Members had the opportunity of putting themselves into the Sanctuary of the City The next day being Ianuary 4. his Majesty being no otherwise attended than with his ordinary Servants and some few Gentlemen armed no otherwise than with Swords and Courage went to the House of Commons to demand the five Members that he might proceed against them in a way of Justice but his intention was discovered and the birds flown before his coming And this was voted by the House of Commons for such an unexpiable breach of Priviledge that neither tâ—e Kings qualifying of that Action nor his desisting from the prosecution of that impeachment nor any thing that he could either say or do would give satisfaction nothing must satisfie their Iealâ—usies and secure their Fears but the putting the Tower of London into their hands together with the Command of the Royal Navy as also of the Forts Castles and the Train-bands of the Kingdom all comprehended under the name of the Militia which if his Majesty would fling after all the rest they would continue his most loyal and obedient subjects On this the King demurs a while but having shipt the Queen for Holland and got the Prince into his own power he becoms more resolute and stoutly stands on the denial But finding the Members too strong for him and London by reason of the continual tumults to be a dangerous Neighbour to him he withdraws to York that being in a place of safety he might the better find a way to compose those differences which now began to embroil
the Kingdom At Hull he had a Magazine of Arms and Ammunition provided for the late intended War against the Scots and laid up there when the occasion of that War was taken away Of this Town he intended to possess himself and to make use of his own Arms and Ammunition for his own preservation but coming before the Gates of the Town he was denied entrance by Hoâ—ham who by the appointment of the House of Commons had took charge of that place The Gentry of Yorkshire who had Peâ—â—tioned the King to secure that Magazine became hereby more firmly united to him The like had been done also by the Yeomandry and those of the inferiour sort if his proceedings had not been undermined by a Committee of four Gentlemen all the Members of the House of Commons and all of them Natives of that County sent thither purposely in a new and unprecedent way to lie as Spies upon his Counsels and as Controllers to his Actions Some Messages there were betwixt him and the Houses of Parliament concerning the atoning of these differences whilst he was at York but the nineteen Propositions sent thither to him did declare sufficiâ—â—tly that there was no peace to be expected on his part unless he had made himself a Cypher a thing of no signification in the affairs of State It was desired in the eighth of these Propositions That his Majesty would be pleased to consent to such a Reformation as should be made of the Church Government and Liturgy as both Houses of Parliament should Advise wherein they intended to have Consultation with Divines as was Expressed in their Declaration And that his Majesty would contribute his best assistance to them for the raising of a sufficient maintenance for Preaching Ministers throughout the Kingdom And that his Majesty would be pleased to give his Consent to Laws for taking away of Innovations and Superstitions and of Pluralities and against Scandalous Ministers For satisfaction whereunto he first repeats unto them so much of a former Answer returned to their Petition which accompanied the Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom as hath already been laid down in the year foregoing and after calls to their Remembrance a material clause in his Message of the 14th of February at such time as he yielded his consent to deprive the Bishops of their Votes in Parliament In which it was declared That his Majesty had Observed great and different troubles to arise in the hearts of his people concerning the Government and Liturgy of the Church and therefore that he was willing to refer the whole consideration to the Wisdom of his Parliament which he desired them to enter into speedily that the present Distractions about the same might be composed that he desired not to be pressed to any single Act on his part till the whole was so digested and settled by both Houses that his Majesty might cleerly see what was fit to be left as well as what was fit to be taken away Of which he addeth that he the more hoped for a good success to the general satisfaction of his People because they seemed in their Proposition to desire but a Reformation and not as had been daily Preached for Necessary in those many Coventicles which for the ninteen Months last past had so swarmed in this Kingdom a Destruction of the Present Discipline and Liturgy that he should most cheerfully give his best assistance for raising a sufficient maintenance for Preaching Ministers in such course as should be most for the encouragement of Piety and Learning that to the Bills they mentioned and the Consultation which they intimated as he knew nothing of the particular matters of the one though he liked the Titles of themselves so neither did he of the manner of the other but by an Informer to whom he gave little credit and wisht no man did more Common Fame he could say nothing till he saw them With which general well studied answer he dismissed that Article These Propositions and the entertaining of so many Petitions by the Houses of Parliament visibly tending to the Abolition of Episcopal Government made it appear most necessary in the Eyes of those who wisht well to it to hasten the publishing of such Petitions as had been presented to the King in behalf thereof and by his Majesty had been Ordered to be published accordingly For what could otherwise be expected but that many such Petitions should be presented to his Majesty and both Houses from several Counties in the Kingdom for the preserving of that Government under which this Church had flourished with Peace and Happiness since the Reformation Amongst which none did plead the cause with greater servency then that which was tendred in the name of the Gentry and Clergy of the Diocess of Canterbury partly out of the esteem they had to their Metropolitan and partly out of the affection which they carried to the cause it self In which Petition it was sâ—ewed That notwithstanding this Kingdom hath by the singular Providence of Almighty God for many years last past happily flourished above all other Nations in the Christian World under the Religion and Government by Law Established yet hath it been of late mâ—st miserably disâ—racted through the sinister Practices of some private persons ill affected to them both By whose means the present Government is disgraced and traduced the houses of God are profaned and in part deâ—aced the Ministers of Christ are contemned and despised the Ornaments and many Vtensils of the Church are abused the Liturgie and Book of Common Prayer depraved and neglected That absolute model of Prayer the Lords Prayer vilified the Sacraments of the Gospel in some places unduly administred in other places omitted Solemn days of Fasâ—ing observed and appointed by private Persons Marriages Illegally Solemnized Burials uncharitably performed And the very Fundamentals of Religion subverted by the Publication of a new Creed and teaching the Abrogation of the Moral Law For which purpose many offensive Sermons are daily Preached and many Impious Pamphlets Printed And in contemning of Authority many do what seemeth good in their own Eyes onely as if there were no King nor Government in this our Israel Whereby God is highly provoked his Sacred Majesty dishonoured the Peace of the Kingdom endangered the Câ—nsciences of the People disquieted the Ministry of Gods word disheartned and the Enemies of the Church imboldned in their enterprise For redress whereof May it please this great and Honourable Council speedily to Command a due observation of the Religion and Government by Law Established in such manner as may seem best to the Piety and Wisdom of his Royall Majesty aâ—d this Honourable Court Your Petitioners as they shall confidently expect a blessing from heaven upon this Church and Kingdom so shall they have this further cause to implore the Divine Assistance upon this Honourable Assembly To this Petition there subscribed no fewer then 24 Knights and Baronets Esquires and Gentlemen