many of his Majesties Subjects to forsake the Kingdom 12. That he had endeavoured to cause discord between the Church of England and other Reformed Churches and to that end had suppressed and abrogated the Priviledges and Immunities which had been by his Majesty and his Royal Ancestors granted to the Dutch and French Churches in this Kingdom 13. That he had endeavoured to stir up War between his Majesties Kingdoms of England and Scotland and to that end had laboured to introduce into the Kingdom of Scotland divers Innovations both in Religion and Government for their refusing whereof he first advised his Majesty to subdue them by force of Arms and afterwards to break the Pacification made between the Kingdoms forcing the Clergie to contribute toward the Maintenance of the War 14. And finally That to preserve himself from being questioned for these and oâ—her his traiterous courses he had laboured to divert the ancient course of Parliamentary Proceedings and by false and malicious slanders to â—â—cease his Majesty against Parliaments This was the substance of the Charge to which afterwards they added other which were more Particulars when they found themselves ready for his Tryal Anno 1644. and there we shall hear further of them I note here only by the way That one of those which had been added to make up the Tale and create a greater hatred of him as selling Iustice taking 〈◊〉 c. for which never any Man of Place and Power was more cleary innocent was found so far unfit for a Prosecution that it was suppressed An excellent Evidence of his Integrity and Uprightness in such a long-continued course of Power and Favour But Sorrows seldom come alone The Danger first and afterwards the questioning of so great a Prelate left the Church open to the Assaults of a potent Faction and the poor Clergy destitute of a constant Patron The first Assault against the Church was made at St. Margarets Church in Westminster on a day of Publick Humiliation November 17. the same on which the Bishop of Lincoln was â—â—â—eâ—tated with such Triumph in the Abby-Church At what time the Minister Officiating the Second Service at the Communion-Table according to the ancient Custom was unexpectedly interrupted by the naming and singing of a Psalm to the great amazement of all sober and well-minded men And at the Meeting of some Anabaptists to the number of 80. at a House in Southwark it was preached That the Statute 35 Eliz. for restraining the Queens Majesties Subjects in their due Obedience was no good Law because made by Bishops striking at once both at the Liturgie and Government of the Church by Law established The Bishops left out of the Committee for Examinations in the business of the Earl of Strafford and in all other Committees by the fraud and artifice of the Clerk of the Parliament not named in such proportion to the Temporal Peers as had been accustomed The same Clerk at the Reading of such Bills as came into that House turned his back toward them in disdain that they might not distinctly hear what he read as if their consenting or dissenting to the point in question had been judged unnecessary And to prepare the way the better for their Declination Pennington attended by some hundreds of the Raskal Rabble presents a Petition to the Commons in the name of the City of London subscribed by 15000 hands of several qualities most of them indigent in Estate and of known disaffections to the present Goverment In which Petition it was prayed That the Government of Bishops might be abolished That Rites and Ceremonies might be press'd no longer upon the consciences of the weak and that many other things at which they found themselves grieved might be also abrogated After which followed many bitter Speeches made against them by the Lord Faulkland Bagshaw White and others in the House of Commons by the Lords Say and Brook in the House of Peers by Brook alone in a Printed Pamphlet in which he reproacheth them as born of the Dregs of the People the names of the Lords Spiritual being despitefully left out of all Bills which passed this Session to shew how insignificant they were in an Act of Parliament And all this seconded by many Petitions of like nature in the name of many whole Counties and Populous Cities and in their names presented to the Houses of Parliament though the said Petitions for the most part were never either seen or heard of by the greatest and most considerable number of those in whose names they were subscribed Which coming to his Majesties knowledge he called both Houses unto Whitehall Ianuary 25. Where he informed them of the Distractions that were then occasioned through the connivence of the Parliament there being some men who more maliciously than ignorantly would put no difference between Reformation and Alâ—eration of Government from whence it came that Divine Service was irreverently interrupted and Petitions in an indirect way procured and presented That he was willing to concur with them for reforming all Innovations both in Church and Commonwealth and for reducing all things to the same condition in which they stood in the best and happiest times of Queen Elizabeth That he could not but take notice of many Petitions given in the name of divers Counties against the established Government of the Church and of the great threatnings against the Bishops That they will make them to be but Cyphers or at least their Voices to be taken away That if upon serious debate they could shâ—w him that the Bishops had some Temporal Authority not so necessary for the Government of the Church and upholding Episcopal Jurisdiction he would not be unwilling to desire them to lay it down And finally If they had encroached too much upon the Temporality he was content that all Abuses of that kind should be redressed and that he would go with them so far and no further And to say truth it concerned the King to look about him when his own Regal Power not that of the Bishops only was so openly strook at it being Preached by the said Anabaptists but the Week before That he could not make a good Law because not PERFECTLY REGENERATE and was only to 〈◊〉 in Civil Matters But all this little edified with such of the Lords and Commons as had the carrying on of the Plot against Episcopacy they â—ound the temper of the King and having got him on the Anvile they resolved to hammer him As an Expedient to the Work it was sound necessary to question and disgrace all those who either had been active in advancing those Publick Orders which were now branded by the name of Innovations or otherwise industrious in his Majesties Service some to be sacrificed to the pleasure of particular Persons others to satisfie the fury or discontentments of the People generally Of the first sort were Pocklington and Bray both Doctors in Divinity the first of late made Chaplain in Ordinary to the King the
by which the proceedings in those Courts were to be regulated and directed so as it doth appear most clearly that it was not the purpose of that King either to diminish the Authority or to interrupt the Succession of Bishops which had continued in this Church from the first Plantation of the Gospel to that very time but only to discharge them from depending on the Popes of Rome or owing any thing at all to their Bulls and Faculties which had been so chargeable to themselves and exhausted so great a part of the Treasure of the Kingdom from one year to another 3. Upon this ground he past an Act of Parliament in the 25. year of his Reign for the Electing and Consecrating of Archbishops and Bishops In which it was Enacted that on the Vacancy of every Bishoprick within his Realm his Majesty should issue out his Writ of Conge d' eslire to the Dean and Chapter of the Church so Vacant thereby enabling them to proceed to the Election of another Bishop that the Election being returned by the Dean and Chapter and ratified by the Royal Assent his Majesty should issue out his Writ to the Metropolitan of the Province to proceed unto the Confirmation of the Party Elected and that if the Party so Confirmed had not before been Consecrated Bishop of some other Church that then the Metropolitan taking to himself two other Bishops at the least should proceed unto the Consecration in such form and manner as was then practised by the Church so that as to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Consecration there was no alteration made at all Those which were Consecrated after the passing of this Statute were generally acknowledged for true and lawful Bishops by the Papists themselves or otherwise Dr. Thomas Thurlby Bishop of Westminster had never been admitted to have been one of those who assisted at the Consecrating of Cardinal Pool when he was made Arch-Bishop of Canterbury on the death of Cranmer All which recited Statutes with every thing depending on them being abrogated by Act of Parliament in the time of Queen Mary were revived in the first Year of Queen Elizabeth and so still continue But so it was not with another alteration made in the form of exercising their jurisdiction by King Edw. 6. In the first Parliament of whose Reign it was enacted that all process out of the Ecclesiastical Courts should from thence forth be issued in the Kings Name only and under the Kings Seal of Arms contrary to the usage of the former times Which Statute being repealed by Queen Mary and not revived by Queen Elizabeth the Bishops and their subordinate Ministers have ever since exercised all manner of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in their own Names and under the distinct Seals of their several Offices 4. In Doctrinals and forms of Worship there was no alteration made in the Reign of K. Hen. 8. though there were many preparations and previous dispositions to it the edge of Ecclesiastical Affairs being somewhat blunted and the people indulged a greater Liberty in consulting with the Holy Scriptures and reading many Books of Evangelical Piety then they had been formerly which having left the way more open to Arch-Bishop Cranmer and divers other learned and Religious Prelates in K. Edwards time seconded by the Lord Protector and other great ones of the Court who had their ends apart by themselves they proceeded carefully and vigorously to a Reformation In the managing of which great business they took the Scripture for their ground according to the general explication of the ancient Fathers the practise of the Primitive times for their Rule and Pattern as it was expressed to them in approved Authors No regard had to Luther or Calvin in the procedure of their work but only to the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles Christ Iesus being the Corner-stone of that excellent Structure Melancthons coming was expected Regiis Literis in Angliam vocatus as he affirms in an Epistle to Camerarius but he came not over And Calvin made an offer of his service to Arch-Bishop Cranmer Si quis mei usus esset if any use might be made of him to promote the work but the Arch-Bishop knew the man and refused the other so that it cannot be affirmed that the Reformation of this Church was either Lutheran or Calvinian in its first original And yet it cannot be denied but that the first Reformers of it did look with more respectful eyes upon the Doctrinals Government and Forms of Worship in the Lutheran Churches then upon those of Calvins platform because the Lutherans in their Doctrines Government and Forms of Worship approach't more near the Primitive Patterns than the other did and working according to this rule they retain'd many of those ancient Rites and Ceremonies which had been practised and almost all the Holy Dayes or Annual Feasts which had been generally observed in the Church of Rome Nothing that was Apostolick or accounted Primitive did fare the worse for being Popish I mean for having been made use of in times of Popery it being none of their designs to create a new Church but reform the old Such Superstitions and Corruptions as had been contracted in that Church by long tract of time being pared away that which was good and commendable did remain as formerly It was not their intent to dig up a foundation of such precious stones because some superstructures of Straw and Stubble had been raised upon it A moderation much applauded by King Iames in the Conference at Hampton-Court whose golden Aphorisme it was That no Church ought further to separate it self from the Church of Rome either in Doctrine or Ceremony then she had departed from her self when she was in her flourishing and best estate p. 77. 5. The succession of Bishops continued as it did before but fitted in the form and manner of their Consecrations according to the Rules laid down with the fourth Council of Carthage celebrated Anno 407. or thereabouts and generally received in all the Provinces of the Western Church as appears by the Book of Consecrating Arch-Bishops and Bishops c. Approved first by the Book of Articles and confirmed in Parliament Anno 5.6 Edw. VI. as afterwards justified by the Articles of Religion agreed upon in Convocation in Queen Elizabeths time Anno 1562. And by an Act of Parliament in the 8th Year of her Reign accounted of as part of our Publick Liturgies And by that book it will appear that Bishops were then looked upon as a distinct Order of themselves and not as a different degree only amongst the rest of the Presbyters For in the Preface to that Book it is said expresly That it is evident to all men diligently reading Holy Scripture and Ancient Authors that from the Apostles time there have been these Orders of Ministers in the Church of Christ Bishops Priests and Deacons Not long after which it followeth thus viz. And therefore to the intent these Orders should be continued
processerint did in the ministration of the Sacraments bestir themselves in a white Vesture so he advers Pelag Lib. 2. with which compare St. Chrysostom in his 83 Homily on St. Matthews Gospel for the Eastern Churches And hereunto the Cope was added in some principal Churches especially in the Celebration of the Blessed Eucharist Both which appear most evidently by the first Liturgy of K. Edw. 6. compared with one of the last clauses of the Act of Parliament 1 Eliz. c. 2. in which it is provided that such ornaments of the Church and of the Ministers shall be retained and be in use as were in the Church of England by Authority of Parliament in the second year of the Reign of King Edw. vi But this Vestur◠having been discontinued I know not by what fatal negligence many years together it pleased the Bishops and Clergy in the Convocation Anno 1603. to pass a Canon to this purpose viz. That in Cathedral and Collegiate Churches the Holy Communion shall be administred upon principal Feast dayes sometimes by the Bishops c. and that the principal Minister using a decent Cope c. Canon 24. 9. In that part of Divine Service which concerns the offering of the peoples Prayers to Almighty God it was required of the Priest or Presbyter first that in all the dayes and times appointed he used the Prayers prescribed in the publick Liturgy according to the Act of Parliament 1 Eliz. c. 2. and many subsequent Canons and Constitutions made in that behalf Secondly That he conformed himself to those Rites and Ceremonies which were prescribed in that Book and unto such as should be afterwards ordained by the Queens Majesty with the advice of her Commissioners appointed and authorized under the great Seal of England for causes Ecclesiastical or of the Metropolitan of this Realm as may be most for the advancement of Gods Glory the edifying of his Church and the due reverence of Christs Holy Mysteries and Sacraments And thirdly and more particularly That in his reading of the Prayers and Psalms he turn his face toward the East and toward the People in the reading of the Lessons or Chapters as appears plainly by the Rubrick which directs him thus That after the reading of the Psalms the Priest shall read two Lessons distinctly that the people may hear the Priest that reads the two Lessons standing and turning himself so as he may best be heard of all such as be present The Psalms or Hymns to be indifferently said or sung at the will of the Minister but the Hymns for the most part sung with Organs and sometimes with other Musical Instruments both in the Royal Chappels and Cathedral Churches Fourthly That he makes use of no other Prayers in the Congregation and therefore neither before nor after Sermon then those which are prescribed in the said Book of Common Prayer it being specially provided in the Act aforesaid that no Priest nor Minister shall use any other Rite Ceremony Order Form or manner of Celebrating the Lords Supper openly or privately or Mattens Evening Song Administration of the Sacraments or other open Prayers that is to say such Prayers as are meant for others to come unto or hear either in common Churches or private Chappels c. then is mentioned or set forth in the same Book Fifthly That all Priests and Deacons shall be bound to say daily the Morning and Evening Prayer either privately or openly except they be lett by Preaching studying of Divinity or some other urgent cause And sixthly That the Curate that ministreth in every Parish Church or Chappel being at home and not being otherwise reasonably letted shall say the same in the Parish Church or Chappel where he ministreth and shall toll a Bell thereto at convenient time before he begin that such as ar◠disposed may come to hear Gods Word and pray with him so as in some cases it may be said of the Priest as the Father doth of Christ that he is Os ipsum per quod loquimur The very mouth by which we speak unto our Father which is in Heaven And though it be intended in the Act of Parliament and exprest in the Articles of Religion that the Prayers are to be made in such a tongue as may be understood of the common people yet it is not meant as is declared in the Preface to the Book it self but that when men say Morning and Evening Prayers privately they may say the same in any language that they themselves understand Nor was it meant but that the Morning and Evening Service might be used in the Colledges and Halls of either University in the Latine tongue where all may be supposed to understand it as appears clearly by the constant and continual practise of Christ-Church in Oxon in which the first Morning Prayers commonly read about six of the Clock were in Latine the Morning and Evening Service with the Psalms of David being printed in Latine by themselves for that end and purpose 10. As for the Preaching of the Word that belongs properly and originally as the performance of all other Divine Offices did of old to the Bishops themselves as being the ordinary Pastors of the several and respective Diocesses and to the Priests no otherwise then by deputation as Curates and substitutes to the Bishops as may be proved out of the Instrument of their Institution For when a Clerk is to be admitted into any Benefice he puts himself upon his knees and the Bishop laying one Hand upon his Head and having the Instrument in the other repeats these words viz. Te N. N. ad Rectoriam de N. Ritè Canonicè instituimus curam regimen animarum Parochianorum ibidem tibi in Domino committentes committimus per presentes that is to say that he doth institute him into the said Benefice according to the Laws and Canons committing to him by these presents the care and Government of the Souls of all the Parishioners therein And therefore it concerns the Bishop not to Licence any man to Preach to the Congregation of whose good affections to the Publick abilities in Learning sobriety of Life and Conversation and conformity to the Government Discipline and form of Worship here by Law established he hath not very good assurance For though the Priest or Presbyter by his Ordination hath Authority to preach the word of God in the Congregation yet it is with this clause of Limitation If he shall be so appointed that is to say sufficiently Licenced thereunto and not otherwise And none were Licenced heretofore as was expresly ordered in the injunctons of Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth but either by the Bishop of the Diocess who is to answer by the Law for every Minister he admits into the same for that Diocess only or by the Metropolitan of the Province for that Province alone or finally by either of the Universities upon the well performing of some publick exercise over all the Kingdom Considering therefore
reject the sense of the Iesuites Arminians and all others wherein they differ from us Which Declaration of the Commons as it gave great animation to those of the Calvinian Party who entertained it with the like ardency of affection as those of Ephesus did the Image of DIANA which fell down from heaven so gave it great matter of discourse to most knowing men The Points were intricate and weighty such as in all Ages of the Church had exercised the wits of the greatest Scholars Those which had taken on them to declare for truth that which they took to be the sense and meaning of the Articles in those intricate Points were at the best no other than a company of Lay Persons met together on another occasion who though they might probably be supposed for the wisest men could not in reason be relied on as the greatest Clerks And therefore it must needs be looked on as a kind of Prodigie that men unqualified and no way authorized for any such purpose should take upon them to determine in such weighty matters as were more proper for a National or Provincial Council But being it proceeded from the House of Commons whose power began to grow more formidable every day than other no body durst adventure a Reply unto it till Laud himselâ— by whose procurement his Majesties Declaration had been published laying aside the Dignity of his Place and Person thought fit to make some Scholia's or short notes upon it Which not being published at that time in Print for ought I have either heard or seen but found in the rifling of his Study amongst the rest of his Papers I shall present unto the Reader in these following words And first saith he the Publick Acts of the Church in matters of Doctrine are Canons and Acts of Councils as well for expounding as determining The Acts of the High Commission are not in this sense Publick Acts of the Church nor the meeting of a few or more Bishops Extra Concilium unless they be by lawful Authority called to that work and their decision approved by the Church Secondly The currant Exposition of Writers is a strong probable argument De sensu Canonis Ecclesiae vel Articuli yet but probable The currant Exposition of the Fathers themselves have sometimes missed Sensum Ecclesiae Thirdly Will you reject all sense of Jesuite or Arminian May not some be true May not some be agreeable to our Writers and yet in a way that is stronger than ours to confirm the Article Fourthly Is there by this Act any Interpretation made or declared of the Articles or not If none to what end the Act If a sense or interpretation be declared what Authority have Lay-men to make it For interpretation of an Article belongs to them only that have power to make it Fifthly It is manifest there is a sense declared by the House of Commons the Act saies it We avow the Article and in that sense and all other that agree not with us in the aforesaid sense we reject these and these go about misinterpretation of a sense Ergo there is a Declaration of a sense yea but it is not a new sense declared by them but they avow the old sense declared by the Church the publick Authentick Acts of the Churcâ— c. yea but if there be no such publick Authentick Acts of the Church then here is a sense of their own declared under the pretexts of it Sixthly It seems against the Kings Declaration 1. That say We shall take the general meaning of the Articles This Act restrains them to consent of Writers 2. That says The Articles shall not be drawn aside any way but that we shall take it in the literal and Grammatical sense This Act ties us to consent of Writers which may and perhaps do go against the literal sense for here is no exception so we shall be perplexed and our consent required to things contrary Seventhly All consent in all Ages as far as I have observed to an Article or Canon is to it self as it is laid down in the body of it and if it bear more senses then one it is lawful for any man to chuse what sense his judgment directs him to so that it be a sense secundum Analogiam fidei and that he hold it peaceably without distracting the Church and this till the Church that made the Article determine a sense And the wisdom of the Church hath been in all Ages or in most to require consent to Articles in General as much as may be because that is the way of unity and the Church in high points requiring assent to particulars hath been rent as De Transubstantiatione c. It is reported of Alphonso King of Castile Sirnamed the Wise that he used many times to say never the worse for so saying That if he had stood at God Almighties Elbow when he made the world he would have put him in mind of some things which had been forgotten or otherwise might have been better ordered than they were And give me leave to say with as little wisdom though with no such blasphemy that if I had stood at his Lordships Elbow when he made these Scholia's I would have put him in mind of returning an answer to that Clause of the said Declaration in which it is affirmed That the Articles of Religion were established in Parliament in the thirteenth of Queen Elizabeth But I would fain know of them whether the Parliament they speak of or any other since or before that time did take upon them to confirm Articles of Religion agreed on by the Clergy in their Convocations or that they appointed any Committee for Religion to examine the Orthodoxie of those Articles and make report unto the House All which was done in that Parliament was this and on this occasion Some Ministers of the Church so stifly wedded to their old Mumsimus of the Mass and some as furiously prosecuting their new Sumpsimus of inconformity it was thought fit that between those contending parties the Doctrine of the Church should be kept inviolate And thereupon it was Enacted That every person under the degree of a Bishop which did or should pretend to be a Priest or Minister of Gods holy Word and Sacraments in the Church of England should before Christmass next following in the presence of his Diocesan Bishop testifie his assent and subscribe to the said Articles of the year 1562. Secondly That after such subscribing before the Bishop he should on some Sunday in the Forenoon in the Church or Chappel where he served in time of Divine Service read openly the said Articles on pain of being deprived of all his Ecclesiastical Promotions as if he were then naturally dead Thirdly That if any Ecclesiastical person should maintain any Doctrine contrary to any of the said Articles and being Convented before his Bishop c. and should persist therein it should be just cause to deprive such person of his Ecclesiastical
the Deanry of Worcester to the end that he might have some trusty friend to be near his Majesty whensoever he was forced by sickness or any other necessary occasion to absent himself So that Windebanke having the Kings ear on one side and the Clerke of the Closet on the other he might presume to have his tale well told between them and that his Majesty should not easily be possessed with any thing to his disadvantage To find another sit man for Winton must be his chief business whom it concerned to plant such a Bishop in that See as might be pliant and subservient unto his desires The Bishop of Winton by his place is Visitor of five considerable Colledges in the University of Oxon. that is to say Magdalens New Colledge Corpus Christi St. Iohns and Trinity by which means he is able to draw a great party after him and such as might much curb the power of the Chancellor if they should cross with one another Therefore to make sure work at Oxford he thought it most conducible to his peace and power to prefer Curle from Bath and Wells to the See of Winton which being accordingly effected Pierce is removed from Peterborough to the Church of Wells upon the like consideration as Wright about the same time was translated to Lichfield There was a rich Parsonage called Castor which belonged to his Patronage as Bishop of Peterborough about three or four miles from that small City designed whensoever it fell void to serve for a perpetual commendam to the Bishops of it And falling void it was so ordered by the care of our Bishop of London that Pierce should wave the preferment of a friend unto it and take it for the present unto himself leaving it afterwards to his Successors For his Reward therein he was preferred to Bath and Wells and Peterborough procured by Laud for his old Friend and Fellow-Servant Doctor Augustine Lyndsell for whom he formerly had obtained the Deanry of Litchfeild And to say truth the man deserved it being a very solid Divine and a learned Linguist to whom the Christian World remains indebted for Theophylact's Comment on the Epistles and the Catena upon Iob published by him in Greek and Latin His Majesties Printers at or about this time had committed a scandalous mistake in our English Bibles by leaving out the word Not in the Seventh Commandment His Majesty being made acquainted with it by the Bishop of London Order was given for calling the Printers into the High-Commission where upon Evidence of the Fact the whole Impression was called in and the Printers deeply fined as they justly merited With some part of this Fine Laud causeth a fair Greek Character to be provided for publishing such Manuscripts as Time and Industry should make ready for the Publick view of which sort were the Catena and Theophylact set out by Lyndsell This mentioning of the High-Commission conducts me toward the Star-Chamber where we shall find a Censure passed on Sherfeild the Recorder of Sarum wherein our Bishop was as active as in that before which because it drew upon him some clamour and such a clamour as not only followed him to his death but hath been since continued in sundry Pamphlets I shall lay down the occasion of it and the true Reasons of his Earnestness and Zeal in that prosecution This Sherfeild being Recorder of Sarum as before is said was one of the Parishioners of the Parish Church of St. Edmonds in one of the Windows whereof the Story of the Creation was express'd in old painted Glass in which there was a Representation of God the Father in the shape of an Old Man after which form the Painters of those Elder Times did most commonly draw him This Window which had continued in the Church without any offence from the first setting of it up till the year 1629. or thereabouts became a great eyesore to this man whom nothing would content but the defacing of those Pictures in such a way as might best please his own humour and affront Authority Davenant at that time was Bishop of Sarum and lived for the most part in his Palace there a man of known disaffections to the Church of Rome and all the Superstitious Vanities and Corruptions of it Had he been made acquainted with it there is no question to be made but that he either would have gratified the man in causing the said window to be taken down in a peaceable way or else have given him such good Reasons to the contrary as might have qualified the peccancy of the present Humour But Sherfeild being the Recorder and thinking he had the Law in his â—ands as well as he had it in his head must go another way to work and bring the Business to be agitated in a Parish Vestry which Bastard Elderships began to grow so much in use in most Corporate Towns that countenance and connivence in short time would have made them Legitimate The Elders of the Vestry being as willing to embrace the business as he was to commend it to them enabled him at the next Church-Session in the Month of Ianuary 1629. to ease his Conscience of that burthen by taking down the offensive Window and setting up another of plain white Glass in the place therereof And yet this gave him no content unless he might shew a more than ordinary Zeal in defacing those Images which he was ordered to take down and did accordingly deface them beating down the Pictures with his Staff in such a violent and scandalous way as was disrelished by most moderate men of his own Perswasion The noise of so foul a misdemeanour growing lowder and lowder it came at last unto the Court whereupon an Information was exhibited against him in the Star-Chamber by the Kings Atturney not ripened for a Hearing till the latter end of this present year and then brought to Sentence The Affront done to the Diocesan and the erecting of a new Eldership in despite of Authority had been crime sufficient to bring him under the Censure of the High-Commission But taking power unto himself of Reforming what he thought amiss in the face of the Church and proceeding to the execution of it in a way so dangerous so full of ill example to the rest of the Zealots made him more properly subject to the Court of Star-Chamber and to as heavy a Censure there as that Court could legally inflict for the like Disorders For what Security could be hoped for in Church or State if every man should be a Sherfeild and without asking leave of the Prince or Prelate proceed to such a Reformation as best pleased his Phansie If suffered to go on in defacing Windows they would be spirited in short time to pull down Churches there being commonly no stop in such Tumultuary Reformations till every man be wearied in his own confusions And somewhat there was also in it which was looked upon as a great discouragement to the moderate Papists from
Noble Houses which made them the more insolent and uncontrollable That the Pope had erected an University in Dublin to confront his Majesties Colledge there and breed up the Youth of the Kingdom to his Devotion one Harris being Dean thereof who had dispersed a Scandalous Pamphlet against the Lord Primates Sermon preach'd at Wansteed one of the best Pieces that ever came from him Anno 1629. That since the Dissolving of their new Frieries in the City of Dublin they had Erected them in the Country and had brought the People to such a sottish negligence that they cared not to learn the Commandments as God spake and left them but flocked in Multitudes to the hearing of such Superstitious Doctrines as some of their own Priests were ashamed of That a Synodical Meeting of their Clergy had been held lately at Drogheda in the Province of Vlster in which it was decreed That it was not lawful to take the Oath of Allegiance And therefore That in such a conjuncture of Affairs to think that the bridle of the Army might be taken away must be the thought not of a Brain-sick but of a Brainless man which whosoever did endeavour not only would oppose his Majesties Service but expose his own neck to the Skeanes of those Irish cut-throats All which he humbly refers to his Lordships seasonable Care and Consideration Upon this Information the Deputy obtains his Majesties leave to hold a Parliament in that Kingdom which he managed with such notable dexterity that he made himself Master of a Power sufficient to suppress the Insolencies of the Papists and yet exceedingly prevailed upon their Affections From which time forwards the Popish Recusants in that Kingdom were kept in stricter duty and held closer to loyal Obedience for fear of irritating so severe a Magistrate than ever they had been by any of his Predecessors This Parliament brought with it a Convocation as a thing of course and in that somewhat must be done to check the spreading of Calvinism in all parts of that Church The Articles of Religion agreed upon in Convocation Anno 1615. were so contrived by Vsher the now Lord Primate That all the Sabbatarian and Calvinian Rigours were declared therein to be the Doctrines of that Church Most grievous Torments immediately in his Soul affirmed to be endured by Christ which Calvin makes to be the same with his descent into Hell The abstenencies from eating Flesh upon certain days declared not to be Religious Fasts but to be grounded only upon Politick Ends and Considerations All Ministers adjudged to be Lawfully called who are called unto the Work of the Ministry by those that have Publick Authority given them in the Church but whether they be Bishops or not it makes no matter so that he be Authorized unto it by their several Churches The Sacerdotal Power of Absolution made declarative only and consequently quite subverted No Power ascribed unto the Church in Ordaining Canons or censuring any of those who either carelesly or maliciously do infringe the same the Pope made Antichrist according to the like Determination of the French Hugonots made at Gappe in Dolphine And finally such a silence concerning the Consecration of Archbishops and Bishops expresly justified and avowed in the English Book as if there were not a different Order from the Common Presbyters All which being Vsher's own Opinions were dispersed in several places of these Articles for the Church of Ireland approved of in that Convocation and finally confirmed by the Lord Deputy Chichester in the Name of King Iames. By means whereof these two great mischiefs did ensue First A great matter of division which it caused to the Priests and Papists of the Realm that in three Kingdoms under the Obedience of one Sovereign Prince there should be three distinct and contrary Professions and yet pretending every one to the same Religion And secondly Whensoever the Points were agitated here in England against the Sabbatarian and Calvinian Rigours the Disputants were forthwith choaked by the Authority of these Articles and the infallible Judgment of King Iames who confirmed the same If therefore the Archbishop meant to have Peace in England the Church of Ireland must be won to desert those Articles and receive ours in England in the place thereof This to effect it was not thought expedient by such as had the managing of that design to propose any abrogation or repealing of the former Articles which had so many Friends and Patrons in that Convocation that it was moved severally both in the House of the Bishops and in that of the Clergy to have them ratified and confirmed in the present Meeting And questionless it had been carried in that way if it had not seasonably been diverted by telling the Promoters of it That those Articles had already received as much Authority as that Church could give them and that by seeking to procure any such Confirmation they would weaken the Original Power by which they stood This blow being thus handsomly broken their next work was to move the Primate That for the avoiding of such scandal which was given the Papists and to declare the Unity in Judgment and Affections between the Churches a Canon might be passed in approbation of the Articles of the Church of England To this the Prelate being gained the Canon was drawn up and presented to him and being by him propounded was accordingly passed one only man dissenting when it came to the Vote who had pierced deeper into the bottom of the Project than the others did It was desired also by Bramhall not long before the Lord Deputies Chaplain but then Bishop of Derrie That the whole Body of Canons made in the year 1603. might be admitted in that Church But the Primate was ever so afraid of bowing at the Name of IESVS and some other Reverences required in them which he neither practised nor approved that he would by no means hearken to it which bred some heats between him and Bramhall ending at last in this Temperament That some select Canons should be taken out of that Book and intermingled with some others of their own composing But for the Canon which approved and received the Articles of the Church of England it was this that followeth viz. Of the Agreement of the Church of England and Ireland in the Profession of the same Christian Faith FOr the manifestation of our Agreement with the Church of England in the Confession of the same Christian Faith and Doctrine of the Sacraments We do receive and approve the Book of Articles of Religion agreed upon by the Archbishops and Bishops and the whole Clergie in whole Convocation holden at London Anno Dom. 1562. for the avoiding of diversities of Opinions and for the establishing of Consent touching true Religion And therefore if any hereafter shall affirm That any of those Articles are in any part Superstitious and Erroneous or such as he may not with a good Conscience Subscribe unto Let him be Excommunicated
was not very decent and the Raile before it worse that the Organs were old and naught and that the Copes and Vestments were imbezeled and none remained From Norwich That the Hangings of the Choires were old and the Copes fair but wanted mending From Glocester That there wanted Copes and that many things were grown amiss since he left that Deanry From Lichfield That the Furniture of the Altar was very mean care therefore to be taken in it for more costly Ornaments The like account from other places which drew on by degrees such Reformation in Cathedral Churches that they recovered once again their ancient splendour and served for an example to the Parish Churches which related to them Nor did the Archbishop stand alone in point of judgment as to these particulars He had therein the testimony and assent of two such Bishops then which there could be none more averse from Popery or any thing that tended to it A difference hapning between the Minister and Church-wardens in a Parish of Wilts about the placing of the Table which the Minister desired to transpose to the end of the Chancell and the Church-wardens to keep it as it stood before the business was referred to Davenant then Bishop of Salisbury who on a full consideration of the matter declared in favour of the Incumbent and by a Decree under his Episcopal Seal settled the Table in the place where the Altar stood as the Minister desired to have it In which Decree there are these two passages to be observed First That by the Injunction of Queen Elizabeth and by Canon 32 under King James the Communion-Tables should ordinarily be set and stand with the side to the East Wall of the Chancel And secondly That it is ignorance to think that the standing of the holy Table in that place doth relish of Popery This for the placing of the Table And then as for the bowing and adoring toward it we have this Authority from the Pen of Morton then Bishop of Durham in a Book by him written of the Romish Sacrifice The like difference saith he may be discerned between their manner of Reverence in bowing towards the Altar for adoration of the Eucharist only and ours in bowing as well when there is no Eucharist on the Table as when there is which is not to the Table of the Lord but to the Lord of the Table to testifie the Communion of all the faithful Communicants therewith even as the people of God did in adoring him before the Arke his footstoole Psalm 99. And here we also may observe that though Davenant made not his Decree till the seventeenth of May 1637. when the business of the Table had been settled in most parts of the Kingdom yet Mortons book came out this year Anno 1635. at the first breaking out of those oppositions which were made against it Yet did not the Archbishop think he had done sufficiently if he should leave the case to be ruled only by Injunctions and Decrees unless he added vigour to them by his own example When he was Bishop of S. Davids he built a new Chappel to his House of Aberguilly and furnished both the Chappel and the Altar in it with Hangings Palls Fronts Plate and other Utensils to a very great value According unto which beginning he continued till the end of his Race When he came first to Lambeth-house where he found the Chappel lye so nastily as his own words are the Windows so defaced and all things in it so disordered that he was much ashamed to see it and could not resort unto it without disdain the Images in the Windows being broken in many places and most deformedly patcht up with ordinary Glass he caused to be repaired and beautified according to their former Figure his Glasiers Bill amounting to no less than 148 li. 7 s. 6 d. With like care but with far less Charges he repaired the ruined Windows in the Chappel of his house in Croyden where he spent the greatest part of his Summers and whither he retired at other times for his ease and privacy And as for the Communion Table which he found standing in the middle of the Chappel a very sorry one in it self he ordered it to be removed to some other Room and caused a new one to be made placed where the Altar sometimes stood shadowed over-head with a very fair Frieze and fenced with a decent and costly Raile the guilding of the one and the curious workmanship of the other together with the Table it self amounting to 33 pounds and upwards Copes Altar-cloaths Plate and other necessaries which belonged to the adorning of it he had been Master of before in his other Chappels and therefore was it the less charge in compleating this He put himself to some cost also in repairing and beautifying the Organs which he found very much out of tune and made great use of them in the celebrating of Divine Service on Sundaies and Holidaies when his leisure could permit him to be present at it some Gentlemen of his Majesties Chappel assisting many times to make up the Consort when the solemnity required it According unto which example of their Lord and Chancellor the principal Colledges in Oxon. beautified their Chappels transposed their Tables fenced them with Railes and furnished them with Hangings Palls Plate and all other necessaries Yet neither his own Example nor the Authority of the said two Bishops nor practice of the Deans and Chapters in so many Churches or the Governours of those principal Colledges so stopt the mouths of divers railing Rabshakehs of the Puritan Faction as not to spit their venome and reproaches on them Witness for all that scurrilous passage of H. B. in his seditious Sermon called For God and the King How then saith he will our new Masters our Innovators make good the bringing in of these things afresh into Cathedrals and forcing all petty Churches to conform thereunto Would the Prelates thus make the Mother Cathedrals thus by themselves made and adopted Romes daughters their Concubines whereon to beget a new bastard Generation of sacrificing idolatrous Mass-Priests throughout the Land which our good Laws and all our learned and pious Divines have proclaimed illegitimate So he More of this foul stuff might be found elsewhere but that I hate the raking in such dirty puddles The business of the Table going on in so good a way that of the Declaration about Lawful Sports seemed to be at a stand Such Ministers as had readily obeyed the Mandates and published the several Orders of the secular Judges in their several Churches did obstinately refuse the publishing of this Declaration when required to do it by their Bishops and that they might not be thought to stand out against them without some good ground they alledged some reasons for themselves which when they came to be examined had no reason in them First they alledged That there was no express order in the Declaration that the
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
his words and mistakes his meaning wresting the most Orthodox and innocent truths to his wicked ends and putting his own corrupt Gloss and sense upon them And which is yet most strange of all with an unparalelled impudence he dedicates it to his Sacred Majesty calling upon him To send out his Royal Edict for the taking down of all Altars which where ever they stand are by him said to stand in open defiance of Christ Another for calling in the Book for Sports on the Lords day A third for calling in his Declaration before the Articles of Religion A fourth for calling in of all Orders for the Restraint of Preaching A fifth for restoring to their place and Ministry all those who out of Conscience of their duty to God had by the Prelates been thrust out of all for refusing to read the said Book And finally for releasing and setting at liberty the three poor banished prisoners the loud cry of whose oppressions might otherwise provoke the thunderbolt of Divine Revenge to blast the beauty of his State Now as he laboured by these means to preserve the Church of England from the growth of Popery so he took care for preventing the subversion of it by the spreading of the Socinian Heresies He had before took care for suppressing all Books of that nature which had been imported into England out of other Countries and had received thanks for it from the Pen of a Jesuit But Burton chargeth it upon him among his Crimes reproaching him for suppressing those books for no other reason but because they magnified the Authority of the holy Scriptures and by the late Decree for Printing of which more anon he had took such order that no Eggs of that pestiferous Brood should be laid in England or if they were should ever peep out of the Shell or appear in sight There had been published a Discourse called Disquisitio Brevis in which some of the principal Socinian Tenents were cunningly inserted pretending them for the best Expedients to appease some Controversies betwixt us and Rome The Book ascribed in common Speech to Hales of Eaton a man of infinite reading and no less ingenuity free of Discourse and as communicative of his knowledge as the Coelestial Bodies of their light and influences There past also up and down a Discourse of Schism not Printed but transmitted from hand to hand in written Copies like the Bishop of Lincolns Letter to the Vicar of Grantham intended chiefly for the encouragement of some of our great Masters of Wit and Reason to despise the Authority of the Church Which being dispersed about this time gave the Archbishop occasion to send for him to Lambeth in hope that he might gain the man whose abilities he was well acquainted with when he lived in Oxon. An excellent Grecian in those daies and one whom Savil made great use of in his Greek Edition of St. Chrysostoms Works About nine of the Clock in the Morning he came to know his Graces pleasure who took him along with him into his Garden commanding that none of his Servants should come at him upon any occasion There they continued in discourse till the Bell rang to Prayers and after Prayers were ended till the Dinner was ready and after that too till the coming in of the Lord Conway and some other Persons or honour put a necessity upon some of his Servants to give him notice how the time had passed away So in they came high coloured and almost panting for want of breath enough to shew that there had been some heats between them not then fully cooled It was my chance to be there that day either to know his Graces pleasure or to render an account of some former commands but I know not which and I found Hales very glad to see me in that place as being himself a meer stranger to it and unknown to all He told me afterwards That he found the Archbishop whom he knew before for a nimble Disputant to be as well versed in books as business That he had been ferretted by him from one hole to another till there was none left to afford him any further shelter That he was now resolved to be Orthodox and to declare himself a true Son of the Church of England both for Doctrine and Discipline That to this end he had obtained leave to call himself his Graces Chaplain that naming him in his Publick Prayers for his Lord and Patron the greater notice might be taken of the Alteration Thus was Hales gained unto the Church and gained a good preferment in it promoted not long after by the Archbishops Commendation to be Prebend of Windsor and to hold the same by special dispensation with his place in Eaton Nor was the Archbishop less intent upon all Advantages for keeping down the Genevian Party and hindring them from Printing and Publishing any thing which might disturb the Churches Peace or corrupt her Doctrine To this end he procured a Decree to be pass'd in the Star-Chamber on Iuly 1. Anno 1637. to Regulate the Trade of Printing and prevent all Abuses of that Excellent Art to the disturbance of the Church By which Decree it had been Ordered That the Master-Printers from thenceforth should be reduced to a certain number and that if any other should secretly or openly pursue that Trade he should be set in the Pillory or whipped through the Streets and suffer such other Punishment as that Court should inflict upon him That none of the said Master-Printers should from thenceforth Print any Book or Books of Divinity Law Physick Philosophy or Poetry till the said Books together with the Titles Epistles Prefaces Tables or Commendatory Verses shall be lawfully Licenced either by the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Bishop of London for the time being or by some of their Chaplains or by the Chancellors or Vice-Chancellors of either of the two Vniversities upon pain of loosing the Exercise of his Art and being proceeded against in the Star-Chamber or the High-Commission Court respectively That no Person or Persons do hereafter Re-print or cause to be Re-printed any Book or Books whatsoever though formerly Printed with Licence without being reviewed and a new Licence obtained for the Re-printing thereof That every Merchant Bookseller or other Person who shall Import any Printed Books from beyond the Seas shall present a true Catalogue of them to the said Archbishop or Bishop for the time being before they be delivered or exposed to Sale upon pain of suffering such Punishment as by either of the said two Courts respectively shall be thought fit That none of the said Merchants Booksellers or others shall upon pain of the like Punishment deliver any of the Books so Imported till the Chaplains of the said Archbishop or Bishop for the time being or some other Learned Man by them appointed together with the Master and Wardens of the Company of Stationers or one of them shall take a view of the same with Power to seize
same Month he gives Order for a General Assembly to be held at Glasco on November 21. next following in which he could not but be sure that after so many previous Condescensions on his part they would be able to do whatsoever they listed in defiance of him For before the Assembly was Indicted the Covenanters had so laid the Plot that none but those of their own Party should have Suffrage in it as afterwards by several Orders from their Tables they directed that no Chaplain nor Chapter-man nor any who have not subscribed the Covenant should be chosen to it not suffering the Archbishops or Bishops to sit as Moderators in their Presbyteries where the Elections were to pass and citing them to appear as Criminal Persons at the said Assembly by means of which Exclusions and Prelimitations the greatest part of the Assembly did consist of such as either were irregularly chosen by the over-ruling Voices of Lay-Elders which were thrust upon them or else not capable of being Elected some of them being under the Censures of the Kirk of Scotland others under the Censures of the Church of Ireland and some not having taken the Oath of Supremacy required by the Laws of the Land Upon which just and weighty Reasons as also the Admission of the Schismatical Clergy to sit as Judges over their Bishops the intrusion of so many Lay-Elders contrary to the Constitution of former General Assemblies the countenancing of a scandalous Libel against their Function and Persons and the prejudging of their Cause in their several Presbyteries by excluding them from having any Vote in the said Assembly when they were not present to interpose or speak any thing in their own behalf the Archbishops and Bishops in the name of themselves and all which did adhere unto them prepared their Declinator or Protestation against the said General Assembly and all the Acts and Conclusions of it as being void and null in Law to all intents and purposes whatsoever The day being come Hamilton marcheth to the place appointed for the Session in the equipage of a High-Commissioner the Sword and Seal being carried before him the Lords of the Council and all the Officers of State attending on him like a King indeed The reading of his Commission the putting in and rejecting of the Declinator the chusing of Henderson to be Moderator of the Assembly the constituting of the Members of it and some Debates touching the Votes and Suffrages challenged by Hamilton for such as were Assessors to him took up all the time between their first Meeting and their Dissolution which was by Proclamation solemnly declared on the twenty ninth of the same Month having â—ate only eight days by the Kings Authority For notwithstanding the said Dissolution the Members of the said Assembly continued and kept their Session and therein passed many Acts for the utter overthrow of the Polity and Government of the Church the infringing of his Majesties Prerogative Royal and violating the Authority of Parliaments For they not only Excommunicated the Bishops and their Adherents but condemned the very Function it self to be Antichristian and utterly to be abolished out of the Church notwithstanding that several Parliaments had confirmed the same The like Censure they also past on the Service Book and Canons with the five Articles of Perth though the two first received the Stamp of Royal Authority and the five last were confirmed in Parliament also They condemned in one breath all the Arminian Tenents in case of Predestination without examining the Arguments on which they were built and declared all men subject to Excommunication and other Censures of the Church who should refuse to yield obedience to all their unlawful Actings and Determinations And though his Majesty by the same Proclamation had commanded all his faithful Subjects not to yield any obedience to their Acts and Ordinances and bound himself in the Word of a King to defend them in it yet those of the Assembly were resolved to maintain their Authority For notwithstanding his Majesties late Declaration and Commands not only the Bishops and Clergy but also as many of the Layty as had refused to subscribe to the Acts thereof were deprived of their Offices and Preferments banished their Country and forced to fly into England oâ— other places the King not being able to protect them from the power and malice of their Adversaries For having lost the opportunity of suppressing them in their first Insurrection in the year precedent aâ—d afterwards of reducing them by force of Arms in the year next following he was forced to shuffle up such a Pacification in the Parliaments of both Kingdoms Anno 1641. as left his Party dâ—â—â—â—tute of all protection but what they found in England by his Majesties Favour in providing the Clergy of some small Benefices for their present subsistance which possibly might amount to more than formerly they enjoyed in their own Country And yet the Covenanters did not play all parts in this Assembly the King and his Commissioner had one part to act which was the presenting of a Declaration containing the sum and substance of all his Majesties gracious Condescensions exprest in the several Proclamations before remembred and a Command to have it registred in the Acts and Records thereof But upon what considerations and reasons of State his Majesty might be moved to commit that Paper to be registred amongst the Acts of Assembly is beyond my reach 〈◊〉 â—â—ough many times the wisest Princes have sent out Proclamations of Grace for redress of Grievances and pardoning of fore-past o 〈…〉 yet were those Proclamations and Acts of Grace beheld no otherwise than as temporary and occasional Remedies for the present mischiefs not to be drawn into Example and much less put upon Record for the times cusuing his Majesties Condescensions had been large enough and too much to the prejudice of his Crown and Dignity without this Enrolment Nor wants it somewhat of a â—iddle that at such time as Hamilton tendred the Paper of his Majâ—stiâ—s â—racious Concessions for discharging of the Service Book c. to be enrolled amongst the Acts of the Assembly he both declared and protested that his so doing should be no acknowledgment of the lawfulness and validity of that Convention which was instantly to be dissolved or that his Majestie should give order to have those Acts of Grace and Favour enrolled in the Records of the Assembly to stand full and sure to all his good Subjects for their assurance of and in the true Religion which Assembly at the same time â—e declared to be illegal and all the Acts thereof to be null and void I must confess I am not Oedipus enough for so dark a Sphinx and must therefore leave this depth of State-craft to more able heads Only I cannot chuse but note how little his Majesty got by those Condescensions the stubborn and rebellious Scots being so far unsatisfied with these Acts of Grace that they not only forced all
Lords as double in number to the Bishops But whatsoever his fears were they were soon removed that Meeting being scattered about the middle of May upon the bringing in of a Bill against Deans and Chapters which so divided the Convenors both in their persons and affections that they never after met together Concerning which we are to know that not only most of the Lords of the Lower House and many Lower-House Lords in the Upper House resolving to pull up Episcopacy by the very roots thought it convenient to begin with lopping the Branches as laying no pretence to Divine Institution The voting of which Bill exceedingly amazed all those of the Prelatical Clergy as knowing at what Root it struck though none seemed presently concerned in it but such as had some benefit or subsistance in those foundations To still the great noise which was raised about it the Commons seemed not unwilling that some of the Cathedral Clergy should advocate for the continuance of those Capitular Bodies and others of the contrary Party to present their Reasons for their Dissolution The time appointed being come Hacket Archdeacon of Bedford and one of the Prebends of St. Pauls pleaded both learnedly and stoutly in behalf of those Churches and Burges of Watford who not long before brought down his Myrmidons to cry for Justice against Strafford to the Parliament doors was all for down with them down with them to the very ground But though they differed in their Doctrine yet they agreed well enough in their applications Burges declaring it unlawful as well as Hacket that the Revenues of those Churches should otherwise be imployed than to pious uses This seemed to put the business to a stand for the present time but Canterbury knowing with what case it might be resumed advised the drawing of a Petition to both Houses of Parliament in the name of the University of Oxon. which had a great stock going in the Ship of the Church not only for the preservation of the Episcopal Government but of those Foundations as being both the Encouragements and Rewards of Learning In which Petâ—tion having spoken in few words of the Antiquity and Succession of Bishops from the Apostles themselves they insist more at large upon such Suggestions as might best justifie and endear the cause of Cathedral Churches which being the most material of all those motives which were laid before them to that purpose we shall â—â—re subjoyn And we become further suiters saith that Vniversity for the continuance of the Pious Foundations of Cathedral Churches with their Lands and Revenues As Dedicate to the Service and Honour of God soon after the Plantation of Christianity in the English Nation As thought fit and usefully to be preserved for that end when the Nursâ—â—â—â— of Superstition were demolished and so continued in the last and 〈◊〉 times since the Blessed Reformation under King Edward the sixth Queen Elizabeth and King James Princes Renowned through the world for their Piety and Wisdom As approved and confirmed by the Law◠〈◊〉 this Land Ancient and Modern As the Principal and outwâ—rd 〈◊〉 and encouragements of all Students especially in Diviâ—â—â—â— and the fâ—ttest Reward of some deep and Eminent Scholars As 〈…〉 in all Ages many Godly and Learned men 〈…〉 strongly asserted the truth of the Religion we Profess 〈◊〉 the many fierce oppositions of our Adversaries of Rome As 〈…〉 a competent Portion in an Ingenious way to many younger brothers of good Parentage who devote themselves to the Ministery of the Gospel As the only means of subsistance to a multitude of Officers and other Ministers who with their families depend upon them and are wholly maintained by them As the main Authors or upholders of 〈…〉 Schools Hospitals High-ways Bridges and other Pious works 〈◊〉 special causes of much Profit and advantages to those Cities where 〈◊〉 are situate Not only by Relieving the Poor and keeping conve 〈◊〉 Hâ—â—pitality but by occasioning a frequent Resort of strangers 〈◊〉 other parts to the great benefit of all trades-men and inhabi 〈◊〉 in those places As the goodly Monuments of our Predecessors 〈◊〉 and present Honour of this Kingdom in the Eye of Foreign Na 〈◊〉 As the Chief support of many thousand families of the Layety who enjoy fair Estates under them in a free way As yielding a con 〈◊〉 and ample Revenue to the Crown And as by which many of the 〈…〉 Proâ—essors in our Vniversities are maintained The subver 〈…〉 whereof must as we conceive not only be attended 〈…〉 consequences as will redound to the Scandal of many well 〈…〉 our Religion but open the mouths of our Adversaries and if 〈…〉 against us and as likely in time to draw after it harder condi 〈…〉 in a considerable part of the Layety and Vniversal cheapness 〈…〉 upon the Clergy a lamentable drooping and defection of 〈…〉 knowledge in the Vniversities which is easie to firesee but will be hard to Remedy The like petition came from Cambridge as much concerned in this â—â—mmon cause as their sister of Oxon. But neither of them could 〈◊〉 so far as take off the edge of the ax which had been thus 〈◊〉 at the Root of the tree though it did blunt it at the present 〈◊〉 they which had the managing of the Design finding that the 〈◊〉 Churches were two strongly Cemented to be demolished at an Instant considered seasonably for themselves that the furthest way about did many times prove the nearest way to the journeys end A Bill was therefore passed in the House of Commons and sent up to the Lords by which it was to be Enacted if their Vote had carried it First that the Bishops should have no Voices in Parliament Secondly that they should not be Commissioners for the Peace or Judges in any Temporal Courts And that they should not fit in the Star-chamber nor be Privy Counsellors Which Bill being Voted part by part The two last parts were passed by a general consent not above one or two dissenting But the first branch was carried in the Negative by such an Unison consent in the Lords then present that if the Bishops had not Voted in defence of themselves the Temporal Lords alone who appeared for them had carried it by sixteen Voices The point being still upon debate those Lords which had shewed themselves against the Bishops resolved to put it to the Fortune of another day protesting that the Former manner of Voting the said Bill by Branches was both Vnparliamentary and Illegal and therefore that the Bill was either wholly to be passed or ejected wholly which being condescended to the whole Bill was utterly cast out of the House by so many voices that the Bishops might have spared their own till another time And though according to the Rules of all former Parliaments that a Bill which had been once cast out of the House should never be prest again the same Session yet this Bill found a way to it within few moneths after and almost
Of the Form of Consecration observed but not prescribed since the Reformation What kinde of Images they are which were prohibited by the Queens Injunctions The Articles of the Regal Visitation and What is to be said in answer to such passages as are found against them in the Book of Homilies The Lords Day built upon the same foundation with the other Holy dayes according to the Book of Homilies and The Act of Parliament 5.6 of EDW. vi What works of labour were permitted on the Lords Day and the other Holy dayes by the Book of Homilies The Statute 5. and 6. of EDW. vi The Injunctions of King EDW. vi and Of Queen ELIZ. Practised accordingly in the Court from that time to this Reverence required of the people at their first entrance in to the Church According to the practice of the Primitive times and The example of the Knights of the Garter c. and That example well enforced by Archbishop LAUD p. 47. Kneeling and standing when required The reverence to be used at the name of Iesus continued by Injunct 52. and Afterwards renewed by the Canon of the year 1603. with The Reasons for it The moderate proceedings of the first Reformers In reference to the Pope and The Church of ROME Observed and applauded by K. JAMES The Power of the Church asserted in the twentieth Article In the 34th reduced to practice and Of the power ascribed in Sacred Matters to the Kings of ENGLAND The Sacrament of the Lords Supper called frequently The Sacrament of the Altar as viz. by the Act of Parliament by Bishop RIDLEY Bishop LA TIMER and Some other Martyrs The Lords Table ordered to be placed where the Altar stood by the Injunctions of Q. ELIZ 1559. The Book of Orders 1561 and Advertis of the year 1565. and At the same the second Service to be said on the Sundayes and Holy Dayes The Lords Supper frequently called a Sacrifice by The Ancient Fathers By many Learned men amongst our selves Some of our godly Martyrs also and In what respect A Real Presence proved by The publick Liturgy By Bishop RIDLEY By Mr. Alex. Nowel and By Bishop BILSON The same confirmed â—y the words of the Catechism As also by the testimony of Bishop ANDREWS Bishop Morton The Article of Christs descent made figurative by Calvin and The Lord Primate but Justified to be Local By the Articles of the Church of ENGLAND The words of Mâ— Alexander Nowel and The works of Learned Bishop Bilson The necessity of Baptisme maintained by the first â—eformâ—râ— Justified in the Conference at Hampton-Court and Not gain said by any alteration in the publick Rubrick and Of the efficacy ascribed unto it by the Church Justification how divided betwixt Faith and Works In what respects ascribed to Faith by the Church of ENGL. and In what to Works Of the efficacy of good Works and The Reward belonging to them and Of the Doctrine of the Church of ENGLAND in that particular The great Divisions in the Church touching Predestination The stating of the point by the Church of ENGLAND Illustrated by the story of Agilmond and Lamistus Kings of Lombardy Predestinatination how defined The definition explicated The explication justified by the ancient Fathers By Bishop LATIMER and The last clause of the 17th Article The Church why silent in the point of Reprobation The absolute Decree unknown to Bishop HOOPER By Bishop LATIMER and By King Iames. Universal Redemption maintained by the Book of Articles Many plain passages in the Publick Liturgy And the testimony of our ancient Martyrs The freedom of the Will too much advanced by the 〈◊〉 Decryed as much by Luther and The Contra Remonstrants The temper of St. Augustiâ— in it Approved and imitated in the Articles of the Church of ENGL. and Her Publick Liturgie The Churches Doctrine vindicated and explained by Bishop Hoopâ—â— and by Bishop Latimer as also by the Lutheran Churches and St. Augustine himself The Churches Doctrine in the point of Falling away Made clear by some expressions of Bishop Hâ—oper Of Bishop Latimer and The Conference at Hampton Court The harmony and consent in Judgment between Bishop Hooper and Bishop Ridley and Between Bishop Ridley and Archbishop Cranmer The judgment of Archbishop Craâ—â—â—â— in the point disputed The authority ascriâ—ed to the Works of Erasmus by our first Reformers The Points which still remain in difference betwixt the Churches How far with in the possibility of Reconcilement And in what points they joyn together against the Anabaptists and Sectaries Liberty of Opinion left in other Points by the first Reformers 〈◊〉 Their discretion in so doing Approved and commended by King Iames. Anno Dom. 1573. (a) Brev. 1. Lord Brook p. 3. (b) Brev. 1. Lord Brook p. 3. Camld Rens p. 273. last Edit 1589. (d) 〈◊〉 scribendo quam concionaâ—do veâ—â—â—â—tem Evâ—ngâ—â—icam haud sigâ—â—â—er saâ—agiâ— pâ—opugâ—are Godwin Catal. â—pisc 584. (e) Hist. of Scot. lib. 7. p. 497. 1590. 1593. 1599. (f) Full. Hist. lib. 9. p. 234. (g) Cant. Dâ—me p. 469. (h) Hâ—oker Prefâ—ce (i) 〈…〉 quia 〈…〉 in communes errores Ludo. Vives in Aug. de Civit Dei Nisi quod ex illa ipsa doctrina catholici Patres vetâ—res Episcopi câ—llâ—gâ—râ—nt (k) Lib. Can. cap. De conâ—â—â—at p. 19. 1602. 1603. 1604. 1606. L. Decad. 3. 〈◊〉 Cant. Dome p. 409. (m) Injuria contumelici R. E. Clericorum exâ—gitatus in Montani partes transit B Rhen. in Tertull. (n) Câ—llâ—ct of Speeches p. 5 (o) 〈◊〉 n. Mat. 19.9 9 Bre. p. 4. p. 6. 1608. 1610. 1611. (p) Conf. at Hamp p. 85. Hist. of K. Charles by H. L. p 31. 1611. (z) Iohn 21. v. 3 6. 1614. (s) Church Hist. l. 10 p 59. t 〈…〉 Gâ—dw in Continuat 1617. Hist. Scotl. l. 7. p. 531. Nâ—m p. 534. 1618. Hist. 〈◊〉 Scot. â—â—l 5â—0 (b) 1620. Anno Dom. 1621. 1622. (g) Vide quà m praetiolâ—s vaâ—is administrant Mariae Fâ—lâ—â— Socrat. Hist. Eccl. lib. 3. (h) Cant. Dâ—â—â— p. 504 Et tani ad Sacramenta quam Sacramentalia tum Coenae Dominicae tum etiam Baptismatis Sacri in â—andem ministrantur c. Hidden wâ—rks of dâ—rk p. 47 Iâ— p. 25. (m) Hidden works p. 34. Cant. Dâ—â—m p. 276. Hiâ—d Works c. 34. Brev. p. 3. (p) Breviate p. 14. (q) 〈◊〉 p. 47. Sâ—alâ— 530. (r) Digby â—â— Calvert Iul. 25. (s) to Colverâ— Dec. 28. to K. James Octob. 24. Hâ—dd Works p. 6â— Act of Parl. A. 11 Jac. 21. c. 34. (s) D. Whites Preface to his Reply c. (t) Epist. dediâ—at to tâ—e King 16â—7 (e) Epist. dedicatâ— to Appello Caesâ— (a) Hidden 〈◊〉 p. 73. (b) Ib. p. 69. 1625. Breviate p. 6. Breviâ—te p. 6. 〈◊〉 p. 156. (a) Eâ—â— Regia p. 12. Iâ—id p 15. Cant Doom 69. Hist. K. Ch. 20. 〈…〉 Collect 〈…〉 Eâ—act Collâ—â—t of Edw. Huâ—â— 290. Sâ—r. 3. p. 102 Pag. 104. P. 107. P. 109. 1626. Cabal Breviâ—te p. 7. Pa. 8. Hist. King Charles p. 50. Ch. Hist. lib. 2.
and reverently used and esteemed in the Church of England it is requisite that no man not being at this present Bishop Priest or Deacon shall execute any of them except he be Called Tryed and Examined according to the form hereafter following But because perhaps it will be said that the Preface is no part of the Book which stands approved by the Articles of the Church and established by the Laws of the Land let us next look into the Body of the Book it self where in the Form of Consecrating of Arch-Bishops or Bishops we finde a Prayer in these words viz. Almighty God giver of all good things who hast appointed divers Orders of Ministers in thy Church Mercifully behold this thy Servant now called to the Work and Ministry of a Bishop and replenish him so with the truth of Doctrine and Innocency of Life that both by word and deed he may faithfully serve thee in this Office c. Here we have three Orders of Ministers Bishops Priests and Deacons the Bishop differing as much in Order from the Priest as the Priest differs in Order from the Deacon which might be further made apparent in the different Forms used in Ordering of the Priests and Deacons and the form prescribed for the Consecration of an Arch-Bishop or Bishop were not this sufficient 6. But though the Presbyters or Priests were both in Order and Degree beneath the Bishops and consequently not enabled to exercise any publick Jurisdiction in Foro judicii in the Courts of Judicature yet they retained their native and original power in Foro Conscientiae in the Court of Conscience by hearing the confession of a sorrowful and afflicted Penitent and giving him the comfort of Absolution a power conferred upon them in their Ordination in the Form whereof it is prescribed that the Bishop and the assisting Presbyters shall lay their Hands upon the Head of the Party who is to be Ordained Priest the Bishop only saying these words viz. Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins thou doest forgive they are forgiven and whose sins thou doest retain they are retained In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen Which words had been impertinently and unsignificantly used if the Priest received nor thereby power to absolve a sinner upon the sense of his sincere and true repentance manifested in Confession or in any other way whatsoever And this appears yet further by the direction of the Church in point of Practice For first it is advised in the end of the second Exhortation before the receiving of the Communion that if any of the people cannot otherwise quiet his own Conscience he should repair unto his Curate or some other discreet and learned Minister of Gods Word and open his grief that he may receive such Ghostly counsel and advice and comforts as his Conscience may be relieved and that by the Ministry of Gods Word he may receive comfort and the benefit of Absolution to the quieting of his Conscience and avoiding all scruple and doubtfulness Agreeable whereunto is that memorable saying of St. Augustine viz. Qui confiteri vult ut inveniat gratiam quâ—erat sacerdotem Secondly It is prescribed in the Visitation of the Sick That the Sick person shall make a special Confession if he feel his Conscience troubled with any weighty matter and that the Priest shall thereupon Absolve him in this manner following Our Lord Jesus Christ who hath left power to his Church to Absolve all Sinners which truly repent and believe in him of his great Mercy forgive thee thy Offences and by his Authority committed to me I Absolve thee from all thy Sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen Which form of Absolution is plainly Authoritative and not Declarative only such as that is which follows the General Confession in the beginning of the Morning and Evening Prayer as some men would have it 7. Now that the Penitent as well in the time of Health as in extremity of Sickness may pour his Sins into the Bosom of the Priest with the more security it is especially provided by the 113 Canon of the Year 1603. That if any man Confess his secret and hidden sins to the Minister for the unburthening of his Conscience and to receive spiritual Consolation and ease of Minde from him we do not any way binde the said Minister by this our Constitution but do streightly charge and admonish him that he do not at any time reveal and make known to any person whatsoever any Crime or Offence so committed to his secresie except they be such Crimes as by the Laws of this Realm his own Life may be called in question for concealing the same under the pain of Irregularity And by incurring the condition of Irregularity the party offending doth not only forfeit all the Ecclesiastical Preferments which he hath at the present but renders himself uncapable of receiving any other for the time to come Confession made upon such security will be as saving to the Fame of the Penitent as the Absolution to his Soul In which respect it was neither untruly nor unfitly said by a learned Writer Dominus sequitur servum c. Heaven saith he waits and expects the Priests Sentence here on Earth for the Priest sits Judge on Earth the Lord follows the Servant and what the Servant bindes or looseth here on Earth Clave non errante that the Lord confirms in Heaven 8. The like Authority is vested in the Priest or Presbyter at his Ordination for officiating the Divine Service of the Church offering the Peoples Prayers to God Preaching the Word and Ministring the Holy Sacraments in the Congregation Which Offices though they may be performed by the Bishops as well as the Presbyters yet they perform them not as Bishops but as Presbyters only And this appears plainly by the Form of their Ordination in which it is prescribed that the Bishops putting the Bible into their hands shall pronounce these words Take thou authority to preach the Word and Minister the Holy Sacraments in the Congregation where thou shalt be so appointed In the officiating of which Acts of Gods Divine Service the Priest or Presbyter is enjoyned to wear a Surplice of white Linnen Cloath to testifie the purity of Doctrine and innocency of Life and Conversation which ought to be in one of that Holy Profession And this St. Ierome tells us in the general Religionem Divinam alterum habitum habere in ministerio alterum in usu vitaque communi that is to say that in the Act of Ministration they used a different habit from what they use to wear at ordinary times and what this different habit was he tells us more particularly in his reply against Pelagius who it seems dislik't it and askt him what offence he thought it could be to God that Bishops Priests and Deacons or those of any inferiour Order in Administratione sacrificiorum candida veste
offend The Restitution of which godly Discipline though they much desired yet finding that the times were not like to bear it they contented themselves with prescribing a form of Commination to be observed upon that day containing a recital of Gods Curses thundered out against impenitent Sinners to be publickly read out of the Pulpit by the Priest or Presbyter subjoyning thereunto one of the Penitential Psalms with certain Prayers which had been used in the Formularies of the times foregoing and then proceeding to the Epistle and Gospel with the rest of the Communion Service appointed for the first day of Lent in the publick Liturgy As for the other sort of Penance there was not any thing more frequent in the practice of the Church and the dispensation of the Keyes then the imposing of it by the Bishops and their Officers upon Adulterers Fornicators and such as otherwise have given scandal by their irregular course of life or by their obstinate inconformity to the Rites and Ceremonies here by Law establisht upon performance of which Penance in the face of the Church or in the way of Commutation for the use of the poor they were to have the benefit of Absolution and consequently be restored to the peace and bosom of the Church And though there be no form prescribed in our Liturgy for the reconciling of a Penitent after the performance of his Penance which I have many times wondered at yet so much care was taken in the Convocation of the year 1640. that no Absolution should be given but by the Bishop himself in person or by some other in Holy Orders having Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction or by some grave Minister being a Master of Arts at the least and Beneficed within the Diocess to be appointed by the Bishop the same to be performed in the open Consistory or some Church or Chappel the Penitent humbly craving and taking it upon his knees Can. 13. Which was as much as could be done in that point of time 14. Such being the duty of the Priest we shall next look upon the place and times in which they are to be performed the place of publick Worship they call generally according to the style of the ancient Fathers by the name of the Church For consecrating or setting apart whereof to Religious uses I finde so great authority in the Primitive times as will sufficiently free it from the guilt of Popery Witness the testimony which Pope Pius gives of his Sister Eutorepia in an Epistle to Iustus Viennensis Anno 158. or thereabouts for setting apart her own House for the use and service of the Church Witness the testimony which Metaphrastes gives of Felix the first touching his Consecrating of the house of Cicilia about the year 272. And that which Damasus gives unto Marcellinus who succeeded Felix for consecrating the house of Lucinia for Religious uses witness the famous consecration of the Temple of the Holy Martyrs in Ierusalem founded by Constantine the Great at which almost all the Bishops in the Eastern parts were summoned and called together by the Emperors Writ and finally not to descend to the following times witness the 89th Sermon of St. Ambrose entituled De Dedicatione Basilicae Preached at the Dedication of a Church built by Vitalianus and Majanus and the invitation of Paulinus another Bishop of that Age made by Sulpitius Severus his especial Friend Ad Basilicam quae pro rexerat in nomine Domini consummabitur dedicandum to be present at the Dedication of a Church of his foundation which Dedications as they were solemnized with Feastings for entertainment of the company which resorted to them so were those Feasts perpetuated in succeeding Ages by an annual Repetition or Remembrance of them such annual Dedication-Feasts being called in England Wakes or Revels and in some places only Feasts according the style and phrase of their several Countries I must confess that there occurs no form of such Consecration in our English Liturgies those times were more inclinable to the pulling down of old Churches then building of new witness the demolition of so many Hospitals Chanteries and Free Chappels in the unfortunate minority of King Edward vi But when the times were better settled and that new Churches began to be erected and the old ones to be repaired some Bishops made a Form of Consecrating to be used by themselves on such occasions And others followed a Form composed by Bishop Andrews a man as much averse as any from the Corruptions and Superstitions of the Church of Rome But if the Convocation of the Year 1640. had not been so precipitated to a speedy conclusion by the tumults of unruly people it is probable if not certain that a Canon had been passed for digesting an uniform order of such Consecrations as there was made a body of Visitation-Articles for the publick use of all that exercised Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction which every Bishop and Arch-Deacon had before fashioned for themselves 15. Next to the Consecration of Churches follows in course the necessary repair and adorning of them not only required by several Canons and Injunctions of Queen Elizabeths time the Canons of the Year 1603. and some Rubricks in the Book of Common-Prayer but also by some Homilies which were made of purpose to excite the people thereunto that is to say the Homilies of the right use of the Church for repairing and keeping clean the Church and of the time and place of Prayer The question is whether the use of painted Images on the Walls or Windows were tolerated or forbidden by the Rule of the Reformation They which conceive them to have been forbidden by the Rules of the Church alledge for defence of their opinion the Queens injunction published in the first year of her Reign Anno 1559. the Articles of the Regal Visitation following thereupon and the main scope of the three Homilies against the peril of Idolatry In the first of which it was ordered first That to the intent that all Superstition and Hypocrisie crept into divers mens hearts might vanish away no Ecclesiastical persons should set forth or extol the Dignity of any Images Reliques or Miracles but declaring the abuse of the same they shall teach that all goodness health and grace ought to be both asked and looked for only of God as the very author and giver of the same and of none other Num. 2. And secondly That they shall take away utterly extinct and destroy all Shrines coverings of Shrines all Tables Candlesticks Trindals and Rolls of Wax Pictures Paintings and all other Monuments of fained Miracles Pilgrimages Idolatry and Superstition so that there remain no memory of the same in Walls Glass-Windows or elsewhere within their Churches and Houses preserving and repairing nevertheless both the Walls and Glass-Windows and that they should exhort all their Parishioners to do the like within their several Houses Num. 23. For which last there follows afterwards a more special Injunction Numb 35. According whereunto this Article was
framed to the Visitation viz. Whither in all Churches and Chappels all Images Shrines Tables Candlesticks Trindals and Rolls of Wax Pictures Paintings and other Monuments of feigned and false Miracles Pilgrimages Idolatry and Superstition were removed abolished and destroyed Numb 2. But these objections carried their own answers in them it being manifest by the words both of the Articles and Injunctions that it never was the meaning of the Queen her Councel or Commissioners to condemn abolish or deface all Images either of Christ himself or of any of the Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors and other godly Fathers in the Church of Christ the abuse whereof is ordered to be reformed by the first Injunction but only to remove such Pictures of false and feigned Miracles as had no truth of being or existence in Nature and therefore were the more abused to Superstition and Idolatry in the times of Popery In answer to such passages as are alledged out the said Homilies it is replyed first that is confessed in the beginning of the last of the said three Homilies that Images in Churches are not simply forbidden by the New Testament Hom. Fol. 39. And therefore no offence committed against the Gospel if they be used only for History Example and stirring up of pure Devotion in the souls of men in which respect called not unfitly by Pope Gregory The Lay-mans Books Secondly The Compilers of those Homilies were the more earnest in point of removing or excluding Images the better to wean the People from the sin of Idolatry in which they had been trained up from their very infancy and were not otherwise to be weaned from it then by taking away the occasions of it And thirdly All that vehemence is used against them not as intollerable in themselves but as they might be made in those broken and unsettled times an occasion of falling before men could be fully instructed in the right use of them as appears plainly by these passages viz. Our Images also have been and be and if they be publickly suffered in Churches and Chappels ever will be also worshipped and so Idolatry committed to them p. 13. So hard it is and indeed impossible any long time to have Images publickly in Churches and Temples without Idolatry fol. 33. And finally by the passage which before we touched at where after much vehemency not only against Idolatry and Worshipping of Images but also against Idols and Images themselves the heats thereof are qualified by this expression viz I mean alwayes thus herein in that we be stirred and provoked by them to worship them and not as though they were simply forbidden by the New Testament without such occasion and danger ibid. fol. 39. And thereupon it is first alledged by those of contrary judgment that all such as lived in times of Popery being long since dead and the people of this last age sufficiently instructed in the unlawfulness of worshipping such painted Images they may be lawfully used in Churches without fear of Idolatry which seems to have been the main inducement for their first defacing Secondly Many of the Eastern Churches which notwithstanding do abominate the Superstitions of the Church of Rome retained the use of painted Images though they reject those which were cut and carved Thirdly That Images are still used in the Lutheran Churches upon which our first Reformers had a special eye and that Luther much reproved Carolostadius for taking them out of such Churches where before they had been suffered to stand letting him know Ex mentibus hominum potius removendas that the worship of Images was rather to be taken out of mens mindes by diligent and painful preaching then the Images themselves to be so rashly and unadvisedly cast out of the Churches That painted Images were not only retained in the Chappels of the Queen and of many great men of the Realm in most of the Cathedral Churches and in some private Churches and Chappels also without any defacing witness the curious painted Glass in the Cathedral Church of Canterbury the Parish Church of Faireford in the County of Glocester and the Chappel of the Holy Ghost near Basingstoke but a rich and massy Crucifix was kept for many years together on the Table or Altar of the Chappel Royal in Whitehal as appears by Saunders and Du Chesne till it was broke in pieces by Pach the Queens Fool when no wiser man could be got to do it upon the secret instigation of Sir Francis Knollis and finally it appears by the Queens Injunctions that the Priests being commanded not to extol the dignity of any Images Relicks c. and the people diligently to teach that all Goodness Health and Grace ought to be asked and looked for only at the hands of God whereby all Superstition might be taken out of their hearts the Images might lawfully remain as well in publick Churches as in private Houses as they had done formerly 16. As for the times of publick Worship we must behold them in their Institution and their Observation And first as for their Institution it is agreed on of all hands that the Annual Feasts Saints Dayes or Holy Dayes as now commonly called do stand on no other ground then the Authority of the Church which at first ordained them some in one age and some in another till they grow unto so great a number that it was thought fit by King Henry viii and afterwards by King Edward vi to abolish such of them as might best be spared Nor stands the Sunday or Lords Day according to the Doctrine of the Church of England on any other ground then the rest of the Holy dayes for in the Homily touching the time and place of Prayer it is thus doctrinally resolved viz. As concerning the time in which God hath appointed his people to assemble together solemnly it doth appear by the fourth Commandment c. Which Example and Commandment of God the godly Christian people began to follow after the Ascension of our Lord Christ and began to chuse them a standing day in the week to come together in yet not the seventh day which the Jews kept but the Lords day the day of the Lords Resurrection the day after the seventh day which is the first day of the week c. This makes the matter clear enough and yet the Statute 5 and 6 of Edw. vi in which all the Prelates did concur with the other Estates makes it clearer then the Homily doth Forasmuch saith the Statute as men be not at all times so mindeful to laud and praise God so ready to resort to hear Gods holy Word and come to the holy Communion c. as their bounden duty doth require therefore to call men to remembrance of their duty and to help their infirmities it hath been wholesomely provided that there should be some certain dayes and times appointed wherein Christians should cease from all kindes of labour and apply themselves only and wholly unto the aforesaid holy works properly
pertaining to true Religion c. Neither is it to be thought that there is any certain times or definite number of dayes prescribed in Holy Scripture but the appointment both of the time and also of the number of dayes is left by the Authority of Gods Word unto the Liberty of Christs Church to be determined and assigned orderly in every Countrey by the discretion of the Rulers and Ministers thereof as they shall judge most expedient to the setting forth of Gods Glory and the edification of their people Now for the number and particularities of those dayes which were required to be kept holy to the Lord they are thus specified and enumerated in the Common-Prayer-Book confirmed by Parliament in that year These to be kept Holy Dayes and no other that is to say all Sundayes in the Year the Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord and Saviour the Feast of the Epiphany c. Which specification and enumeration is made also in the aforesaid Statute 17. As for the observation of those dayes there was no difference made between them by the first Reformers the same Divine Offices prescribed for both the diligent attendance of the people required in both the penalties upon such as wilfully and frequently did absent themselves were the same for both and finally the works of necessary labour no more restrained upon the one then upon the other For first it is declared in the foresaid Homily that Christian People are not tyed so streightly to observe and keep the other Ceremonies of the Sabbath day as were the Iews as touching the forbearing of the work and labour in time of great necessity c. Secondly and more particularly in the Statute before-mentioned we finde it thus viz. That it shall be lawful for every Husband-man Fisher-man and to all and every other person or persons of what Estate Degree or Condition he or they be upon the Holy Dayes aforesaid of which the Lords Day is there reckoned for one in Harvest or at any other times in the Year when necessity shall so require to Labour Ride Fish or Work any kinde of Work at their own will and pleasure Thirdly It is ordered in the Injunctions of the said King Edw. vi that it shall be lawful for the people in time of Harvest to labour upon Holy and Festival Dayes and save that thing which God hath sent and that scrupulosity to abstain from working on those dayes doth grievously offend God Fourthly We finde the like in the Injunctions of Queen Elizabeth published with the advice of her Council Anno 1559. Being the first year of her Reign viz. That all persons Vicars Curates shall teach and declare unto their Parishioners that they may with a safe and quiet conscience after Common-Prayer in the time of Harvest labour upon the Holy and Festival Dayes and save that thing which God hath sent And if for any scrupulosity or grudge of Conscience men shall superstitiously abstain from working on those dayes that then they should grievously offend and displease God And as for the practice of the Court it was ordered by the said King Edward That the Lords of the Council should upon Sunday attend the publick affairs of the Realm and dispatch answers to Letters for the good order of the State and make full dispatches of all things concluded in the Week before Provided that they be present at Common-Prayers and that on every Sunday night the Kings Secretary should deliver him a memorial of such things as were to be debated in the Privy Council the week ensuing Which course of meeting in the Council on Sunday in the afternoon hath been continued in the Court from the time of the said King Edward the vi to the death of King Charles without dislike or interruption If then the Country people in some times and cases were permitted to employ themselves in bodily labour on the Sundayes and other Holy Dayes and if the Lords of the Council did meet together on those dayes to consult about affairs of State as we see they did there is no question to be made but that all man-like exercises all lawful Recreations and honest Pastimes were allowed of also 18. As for the duties of the people in those times and places it was expected at their hands that due and lowly reverence should be made at their first entrance into the Church the place on which they stood being by Consecration made Holy Ground and the business which they came about being holy business For this there was no Rule nor Rubrick made by the first Reformers and it was not necessary that there should the practice of Gods people in that kinde being so universal Vi Catholicae consuetudinis by vertue of a general and continual usage that there was no need of any Canon to enjoyn them to it Nothing more frequent in the Writings of the ancient Fathers then Adoration toward the East which drew the Primitive Christians into some suspicion of being Worshippers of the Sun Inde suspicio quod innotuerit nos versus orientis regionem praecari as Tertullian hath it And though this pious custom began to be disused and was almost discontinued yet there remains some footsteps of it to this very day For first It was observed by the Knights of the most noble Order of the Garter who I am sure hate nothing more then Superstitious Vanities at their approaches toward the Altar in all the Solemnities of that Order Secondly In the Offerings or Oblations made by the Vice-Chancellor the Proctors and all Proceeders in the Arts and Faculties at the Act at Oxon. And thirdly By most Countrey Women who in the time of my first remembrance and a long time after made their obeysance toward the East before they betook themselves to their Seats though it was then taken or mistaken rather for a Courtesie made unto the Minister revived more generally in these latter times especially amongst the Clergy by the Learned and Reverend Bishop Andrews a man as much verst in Primitive Antiquity and as abhorrent from any thing which was meerly Popish as the greatest Precisian in the Pack Which point I finde exceedingly well applyed and prest in the Speech made by this Arch-Bishop at the Censure of Dr. Bastwick Mr. Burton on Iune 26. 1637. Who speaking to such of the Lords as were Knights of the Garter he accosts them thus And you saith he my Honourable Lords of the Garter in your great solemnities you do reverence and to Almighty God I doubt not but yet it is versus Altare toward the Altar c. And this your reverence you do when you enter the Chappel and when you approach nearer to offer c. And Idolatry it is not to worship God toward his Holy Table for if it had been Idolatry I presume Queen Elizabeth and King Iames would not have practised it no not in this great Solemnity And being not Idolatry but true Divine Worship you will I hope give a poor Priest
leave to Worship God as your selves do For if it be Gods Worship I ought to do it as well as you and if it be Idolatry you ought not to do it more then I. 19. This duty being performed at their first entrance into the Church it was next required by the Rubrick that they should reverently kneel at the reading of the publick Prayers and in the receiving of the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper that they should stand up at the reading of the Apostles Creed and consequently at the Athanasian and Nicene also which are as Commentaries on that Text as also at the frequent Repetitions of the Gloria Patri which is an Abridgement of the same And in the next place it was required by the Queens Injunctions That whensoever the Name of Iesus shall be in any Lesson Sermon or otherwise in the Church pronounced that due reverence be made of all persons young and old with lowness of courtesie and uncovering the heads of the mankinde as thereunto doth necessarily belong and heretofore hath been accustomed In which it is to be observed that though this Injunction was published in the first year of the Queen yet then this bowing at the Name of Iesus was lookt on as an ancient custom not only used in Queen Maries Reign but also in King Edwards time and in those before And in this case and in that before and in all others of that nature it is a good and certain rule that all such Rites as had been practised in the Church of Rome and not abolisht nor disclaimed by any Doctrine Law or Canon of the first Reformers were to continue in the same state in which they found them But this commendable custom together with all other outward reverence in Gods publick Service being every day more and more discontinued as the Puritan Faction got ground amongst us it seemed good to the Prelates and Clergy assembled in Convocation Anno 1603. to revive the same with some enlargement as to the uncovering of the Head in all the acts and parts of publick worship For thus we have it in the 18. Canon of that year viz. No man shall cover his head in the Church or Chappel in time of Divine Service except he have some Infirmity in which case let him wear a night Cap or Coife And likewise when the Name of Iesus shall be mentioned due and lowly reverence shall be done by all persons present as it hath been accustomed testifying by this outward Ceremony and Gesture their inward Humility Christian Resolution and due acknowledgement that the Lord Iesus Christ the true and eternal Son of God is the only Saviour of the world in whom alone all Graces Mercies and Promises of Gods love to mankinde for this life and the life to come are wholly comprised In which Canon we have not only the Doctrine that bowing is to be used to the Name of Iesus but the uses also and not alone the custom but the reasons of it both grounded on that Text of Scripture Phil. 2.10 that at the Name of IESVS every knee should bow according to such expositions as were made thereof by St. Ambrose and others of the ancient Writers 20. In matters which were meerly doctrinal and not practical also so the first Reformers carried on the work with the same equal temper as they did those which were either mixt or meerly practical And first beginning with the Pope having discharged themselves from the Supremacy which in the times foregoing he had exercised over them in this Kingdom I finde no Declaration in any publick Monument or Records of the Church of England that the Pope was Antichrist whatsoever some of them might say in their private Writings some hard expressions there are of him in the Book of Homilies but none more hard then those in the publick Litany first published by King Hen. viii at his going to Bolongue and afterwards retained in both Liturgies of King Edward vi In which the people were to pray for their deliverance from the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and his detestable enormities c. This was conceived to be as indeed it was a very great scandal and offence to all those in the Realm of England who were well affected to the Church of Rome and therefore in the Liturgy of Queen Elizabeth it was quite left out the better to allure them to the Divine Service of the Church as at first it did And for the Church of Rome it self they beheld it with no other eyes then as a Member of the visible Church which had for many hundred years maintained the Fundamentals of the Christian Faith though both unsound in Doctrine and corrupt in Manners Just as a man distempered in his Brain Diseased in all the parts of his Body and languishing under many putrified Sores doth still retain the being of a natural man as long as he hath sense and motion and in his lucid intervals some use of Reason They tell us in the 19. Article that the Church of Rome hath erred not only in their living and manner of Ceremonies but in matters of Faith But then they lookt upon her as a Member of the Visible Church as well as those of Ierusalem Antioch and Alexandria which are there affirmed to have erred also Erre then she might and erre she did indeed too grosly and yet might notwithstanding serve as a conduit-pipe to convey to us many of those Primitive Truths and many of those godly Rites and Ceremonies which she had superstitiously defiled In which last place it was a very pious rule that in the Reformation of a Church abuses being taken away the primitive Institution should be left remaining Tollatur abusus maneat usus as the saying is and in the first as piously observed by King Iames in the Conference at Hampton-Court that in all Reformations he would not have any such departure from the Papists in all things that because we in some points agree with them therefore we should be accounted to be in an error Let us then see how near the first Reformers did and might come unto the Papists and yet not joyn with them in their Errors to the betraying of the Truth 21. The Pope they deprived of that unlimitted Supremacy and the Church of Rome of that exorbitant power which they formerly challenged over them yet did they neither think it fit to leave the Church without her lawful and just Authority nor saâ—e to put her out of the protection of the Supream Governour Touching the first it was resolved in the 20. Article That the Church hath power not only to decree Rites and Ceremonies but also in Controversies of Faith as the English Ecclesia habet Ritus Ceremonias Statuendi jus in fidei controversiis Authoritatem as it is in the Latine And so it stands in the Original Acts of the Convocation Anno 1562. and publisht in the self same words both in Latine and English Afterwards in the year
1571. by the power and prevalency of some of the Genevian Faction the Articles were reprinted and this Clause left out But the times bettering and the Governors of the Church taking just notice of the danger which lay lurking under that omission there was care taken that the said clause should be restored unto its place in all following impressions of that Book as it hath ever since continued Nor was this part of the Article a matter of speculation only and not reducible to practice or if reducible to practice not fit to be enforced upon such as gain-said the same For in the 34. Article it is thus declared That whosoever through his private judgement willingly and purposely doth openly break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church which be not repugnant unto the word of God and be ordained and approved by common Authority ought to be rebuked openly that others may fear to do the like as he that offendeth against the common order of the Church and hurteth the the Authority of the Magistrate and woundeth the Consciences of the weak Brethren More power then this as the See of Rome did never challenge so less then this was not reserved unto it self by the Church of England And as for the Authority of the Church in controversies of Faith the very Articles by which they declared that power seconded by the rest of the points which are there determined is a sufficient Argument that they used and exercised that power which was there declared And because some objection had been made both by the Papists and those of the Genevian party that a Papal power was granted as at first to King Henry viii under the name of Supream Head so afterwards to Queen Elizabeth and her Successors it was thought expedient by the Church to stop that clamour at the first and thereupon it was declared in the Convocation of the Prelates and Clergy who make the representative Body of the Church of England in the 37. Article of the year 1562. That whereas they had attributed to the Queens Majesty the chief Government of all the Estates of this Realm whether Ecclesiastical or Civil in all cases they did not give unto their Princes the ministring either of Gods Word or of the Sacraments but that only Prerogative which was known to have been given alwayes to all godly Princes in Holy Scripture by God himself that is to say that they should rule all Estates and Degrees committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal and restrain with the Civil Sword the stubborn and evil doers Less Power then this as good Subjects could not give unto their King so more then this hath there not been exercised or desired by the Kings of England Such power as was by God vouchsafed to the godly Kings and Princes in Holy Scripture may serve abundantly to satisfie even the unlimited desires of the mightiest Monarch were they as boundless as the Popes 22. Next to the point of the Supremacy esteemed the Principal Article of Religion in the Church of Rome primus praecipuus Romanensis fidei Articulus as is affirmed in the History of the Council of Trent the most material differences betwixt them and us relate to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and the natural efficacy of good works in which the differences betwixt them and the first Reformers seem to be at the greatest though even in those they came as near to them as might stand with Piety The Sacrament of the Lords Supper they called the Sacrament of the Altar as appears plainly by the Statute 1 Edward vi entituled An Act against such as speak unreverently against the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ commonly called the Sacrament of the ALTAR For which consult the Body of the Act it self Or secondly by Bishop Ridley one of the chief Compilers of the Common-Prayer-Book who doth not only call it the Sacrament of the Altar affirming thus that in the Sacrament of the Altar is the natural Body and Blood of Christ c. But in his Reply to an Argument of the Bishop of Lincoln's taken out of St. Cyril he doth resolve it thus viz. The word Altar in the Scripture signifieth as well the Altar whereon the Jews were wont to oder their Burnt Sacrifice as the Table of the Lords Supper and that St. Cyril meaneth by this word Altar not the Iewish Altar but the Table of the Lord c. Acts and Mon. part 3. p. 492. and 497. Thirdly By Bishop Latimer his fellow Martyr who plainly grants That the Lords Table may be called an Altar and that the Doctors called it so in many places though there be no propitiatory Sacrifice but only Christ part 2. p. 85. Fourthly By the several affirmations of Iohn Lambert and Iohn Philpot two Learned and Religious men whereof the one suffered death for Religion under Henry viii the other in the fiery time of Queen Mary This Sacrament being called by both the Sacrament of the Altar in their several times for which consult the Acts and Monuments commonly called the Book of Martyrs And that this Sacrament might the longer preserve that name and the Lords Supper be administred with the more solemnity it was ordained in the Injunctions of Queen Elizabeth no Altar should be taken down but by the over-sight of the Curate of the Church and the Church-Wardens or one of them at least and that the Holy Table in every Church be decently made and set up in the place where the Altar stood and there commonly covered as thereto belongeth It is besides declared in the Book of Orders Anno 1561. published about two years after the said Injunction That in the place where the Steps were the Communion Table should stand and that there shall be fixed on the Wall over the Communion Board the Tables of Gods Precepts imprinted for the same purpose The like occurs in the Advertisements published by the Metropolitan and others the High Commissioners 1565. In which it is ordered That the Parish shall provide a decent Table standing on a frame for the Communion Table which they shall decently cover with a Carpet of Silk or other decent covering and with a white Linâ—en Cloath in the time of the administration and shall set the Ten Commandments upon the East-Wall over the said Table All which being laid together amounts to this that the Communion-Table was to stand above the steps and under the Commandments therefore all along the Wall on which the Ten Commandments were appointed to be placed which was directly where the Altar had stood before Now that the Holy Table in what posture soever it be plac't should not be thought unuseful at all other times but only at the time of the Ministration it was appointed by the Church in its first Reformation that the Communion-Service commonly called the Second Service upon all Sundayes and Holy-dayes should be read only at the Holy Table For first in the last
to Faith that good Works are necessary to salvation and not so only but that they are efficienter necessaria as was maintained publickly in the Schools of Cambridge though it was much carpt at by some men that did not rightly and distinctly understand the term And secondly It may be said without any wrong to the Free Grace and Merits of Almighty God that a reward is due for the Works of Righteousness proceeding from a lively Faith in a man regenerate not that the Church ascribeth any merit to the works of man which may deserve eternal life either ex congruo or condigno as the School-men phrase it for Deus non coronat in nobis merita nostra sed dona sua as the Father hath it No reward is due unto good Works ratione operis in reference to the work it self but ratione pacti acceptationis though Bellarmine be otherwise minded in respect of Gods merciful acceptance and his most gracious promise to reward the same It was his grace and goodness only which moved him to encourage our imperfect and weak obedience with the promise of eternal life yet having made the promise he became our debtor Non aliquid debendo sed omnia promittendo Deus se facit debitorem as St. Augustine tells us And most agreeable it is to his heavenly justice not to be wanting to his promise Such a Reward as this for the works of Righteousness as the Scriptures frequently do mention both in the Old Testament and New Gen. 47. Psalm 19.11 Mat. 5.12 and 10.41 42. Mark 9.41 Apoc. 22.11 so is the same defended in the Church of England And this appears first by the Athanasian Creed incorporated into the body of our publick Liturgy as a part thereof In the close of which it is affirmed That at Christs coming unto Judgemenr all men shall rise again with their bodies and give an account of their own works that they which have done good shall go into life everlasting and they that have done evil into everlasting fire And secondly It appears as plainly by the Collect for the 25. Sunday after Trinity where the Church called on the Lord To stir up the wills of his faithful people that they plenteously bringing forth the fruits of good works may of him be plenteously rewarded through Iesus Christ In which we have not only a reward for the fruit of good works but a plentiful reward into the bargain according to the quality of the work it self and the acceptableness of the person in the sight of God 31. Next look we on the Doctrine of Predestination and the points depending thereupon which have given matter of division to the Christian Church in all times and ages dividing between the general current of the Fathers till St. Augustines time and the learned men which followed him and his authority between the Iesuites and Franciscans on the one side and the Dominicans on the other in the Church of Rome between the moderate and rigid Lutherans in the Church Protestant between the Remonstrants and the Contra-Remonstrants in the Schools of Calvin and finally between the Sublapsarians and the Supra-Lapsarians amongst the Contra-Remonstrants themselves Of these the Sublapsarian Calvinists for of the dotages of the other I shall take no notice the Rigid Lutherans and the Dominican Friars pretend St. Augustine for their Patron and on the other side the Remonstrants commonly nick-named Arminians The Moderate or Melancthonian Lutherans together with the Iesuites and Franciscans appeal unto the general current of the ancient Fathers who lived and flourished ante mota certamina Pelagiana before the starting up of the Pelagian Controversies And to this general current of the ancient Fathers the Church of England most enclines teaching according to their Doctrine that God from all eternity intending to demonstrate his power and goodness designed the Creation of the World the making of man after his own Image and leaving him so made in a perfect liberty to do or not to do what he was commanded and that fore-knowing also from all eternity that man abusing this liberty would plunge himself and his posterity into a gulph of miseries he graciously resolved to provide them such a Saviour who should redeem them from their sins to elect all those to life eternal who by true Faith laid hold upon him leaving the rest in the same state in which he found them for their incredulity It is reported of Agilmond the second King of the Lombards that riding by a Fish-Pond he saw seven young Children sprawling in it whom their unnatural Mothers as Paulus Diaconus conceived had thrown into it not long before Amazed whereat he put his Hunting Spear amongst them and stirred them gently up and down which one of them laying hold of was drawn to Land called Lamistus from the word Lama which in the Language of that people signifies a Fish-Pond trained up in that Kings Court and finally made his Successor in the Kingdom Granting that Agilmond being fore-warned in a Vision that he should finde such Children sprawling for life in the midst of that Pond might thereupon take a resolution within himself to put his Hunting Spear amongst them and that which of them soever should lay hold upon it should be gently drawn out of the water adopted for his Son and made Heir of all his Kingdom no humane Story could afford us the like parallel case to Gods proceeding in the great work of Predestination to eternal life according to the Doctrine of the Church of England 32. Now that such was the Doctrine of the first Reformers may be made evident by the Definition of Predestination Predestination unto life saith the 17. Article is the everlasting purpose of God whereby before the foundations of the world were laid he hath constantly declared by his Council secret to us to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankinde and to bring them by Christ to everlasting Salvation In which Definition there are these things to be observed First That Predestination doth pre-suppose a curse or a state of Damnation in which all mankinde was presented to the sight of God Secondly That it is an act of his from everlasting because from everlasting he foresaw that misery into which wretched man would fall Thirdly That he founded it and resolved for it in the Man and Mediator Christ Jesus both for the purpose and performance Fourthly That it was of some special ones alone Elect called forth and reserved in Christ and not generally extended unto all mankinde Fifthly That being thus elected in Christ they shall be brought by Christ to everlasting salvation And sixthly That this Council is secret unto us for though there be revealed to us some hopeful signes of our Election and Predestination unto life yet the certainty thereof is a secret hidden in God and in this life unknown to us Nothing obscure in this Definition but these words Whom he hath chosen in Christ
assured that even with my whole heart God is my witness in the Bowels of Christ I love you in truth and for truths sake which abideth in us and I am perswaded by the Grace of God shall abide in us for evermore Acts and Mon. in Edw. vi fol. 1366. Now as Bishop Ridley thus declares himself to be of the same Judgement with Bishop Hooper so Cranmer the Archbishop doth declare himself to be of the same Judgement with Bishop Ridley for being charged in his examination with thinking otherwise in the point of the Sacrament then he had done about seven or eight years before he answereth That he then believed otherwise than he did at that present and that he did so till the Lord of London Dr. Ridley did confer with him and by sundry perswasions and Authorities of other Doctors drew him quite from his opinion with whom he now agreed ibid fol. 1702. Which words though spoken only in relation to such points about the Sacrament of the Altar concerning which he was then examined by the Popes Commissioners yet do they signifie withal that he relyed very much on Ridleys Judgement and that they were as like to be accorded in all other matters of Religion as they were in that And though Cranmer exercised his Pen for the most part against the Papists yet in his Book against Steven Gardiner Concerning the Sacrament of Christs Body and Blood first published in the year 1551. he thus delivereth his opinion in the present Controversies For speaking of the Sacrifice which was made by Christ he lets us know That he took unto himself not only their sins that many years before were dead and put their trust in him but also all the sins of those that until his coming again should truly believe his Gospel so that now we may look for no other Priest nor Sacrifice to take away our sins but only him and his Sacrifice that as he dying once was offered for all so as much as pertained unto him he took all mens sins unto himself fol. 372. Which is as much as could be looked for from a man who did not purposely apply himself to the points in question Finally it were worth the learning to know why the Paraphrases of Erasmus a man of a known difference in Judgement from Calvins Doctrines in these points should be translated into English by the care of our Prelates and being so translated should be commended both by King Edward vi and Queen ELizabeth to the diligent reading of their Subjects of all conditions which certainly they had not done if they had not been thereunto perswaded by those Bishops and other learned men about them who had a principal hand in â—he Reformation which clearly shews how much as well the Priest as the people were to ascribe unto the Judgement of that learned man and consequently how little unto that of Calvin in the present Controversies 39. So near this Church comes up unto the Church of Rome in Government forms of Worship and some points of Controversie And some there are in which they totally disagreed and stood in opposition unto one another viz. In the Articles touching the sufficiency of the Scripture Iustification the merit of good Works Works done before Iustification Works of Supererogation the Fallibility or Infallibility of the Church of Rome the Authority of General Councils Purgatory Adoration of Images Invocation of Saints the Celebrating of Divine Service in the vulgar tongues the nature and number of the Sacraments Transubstantiation the Communion in both kindes the Sacrifice of the Mass the single life of Priests the power of National Churches in ordaining Ceremonies and of the Civil Magistrate in matters of Ecclesiastical nature In many of which it might be found no difficult matter to atone the differences whensoever it shall please God to commit the managing of them to moderate and prudent men who prefer truth before opinion and peace before the prevalency of their several parties But whether it be so in all is a harder question and will remain a question to the end of the world unless all parties lay aside their private interest and conscienciously resolve to yield as much to one another as may stand with Piety And then what reason can there be why the breaches in the walls of Ierusalem should not be made up and being made up why Ierusalem should not be restored to its former Honour of being a City at unity within it self The hopes of which may be the greater because there are so many points so far forth as they stand comprised in the Book of Articles in which the first Reformers were so far from being at any difference with the Church of Rome that they did rather joyn with them in opposing the common enemy Familists Libertines Anti-Trinitarians Anabaptists and other Hereticks of that age who seemed to dig at the foundation of the Christian Faith and aim at the subversion of humane Society Of which sort are the Articles of the Holy Trinity the Incarnation of the Son of God the Divinity of the Holy Ghost of the Old Testament of the three Creeds of Original Sin of the Authority of the Church of ministring in the Congregation of hindring the effect of the Sacraments by unworthy Ministers of Infant Baptism and the Traditions of the Church of the Consecration of Bishops and Ministers of the Authority of the Civil Magistrate in making Wars and punishing Malefactors with Temporal Death of the community of Goods and the exacting of an Oath to finde out the truth Of most of which it may be said in St. Augustines language His qui contra dicit aut a Christi fide alie nus est aut est Hereticus that he who shall deny to give his assent unto them is either an alien from the Faith or at least an Heretick 40. And then there are some other things which are not comprehended in those Articles in which though there were differences between them in point of Judgement yet the Reformers thought not fit to determine of them positively upon either side but left them to the liberty of opinion to be disputed Pro and Con amongst learned men according as their understandings fancy or affections should dispose them to it some points there are of Phylological and others of Scholastical Divinity in which there is Libertas opinandi a liberty of opinion left unto us de quibus sentire quâ—e velis quae sentias loqui liceat in the words of Tacitus In thâ—se and such as these St. Paul himself seems to leave a latitude when he gives way Vt quilibet Abundet in suo sensu Rom. 14.5 that is to say Let every man abound in his own sense as the Rhemists read it especially If he be fully perswaded in his own minde touching the truth of what he writes as our last Translation Which liberty as some have taken in closing with the Papists in some particulars which are not contrary to the Faith and
Protestant Religion here by Law established than to be so perswaded of him he had not else preferred him to the service of Bishop Neile or recommended him to the Colledge as the fittest man to succeed him in the Presidents place when he himself was at the point of his preferment to the See of Rochester So also had the whole Body of the University when they conferred upon him his Degrees in Divinity which certainly they had never done if either they had believed him to have been a Papist or at the least so Popishly affected as the Faction made him Neither could he have taken those Degrees had it been so with him without a most perfidious dissimulation before God and Man because in taking those Degrees he must both take the Oath of Supremacy and subscribe to the three Articles contained in the 36 Canon of the year 1603. In the first of which he was to have abjured the Popes Authority and in the next to have declared his approbation of the Doctrine Government and Forms of Worship established in the Church of England Which may sufficiently serve to over-balance the Depositions of Sir Nath. Brent and Doctor Featly the first of which deposed at his Tryal That whilst the Archbishop remained in Oxon he was generally reputed to be Popishly affected the other Not only that the Archbishop was generally reported to be Popish when he lived in Oxon but that both he and others conceived so of him But both these men were Abbot's Creatures and had received their Offices and Preferments from him I need say no more For had he either been a Papist or so strongly biassed on that side what should have hindred him from making an open Declaration of it or stop him from a reconciliation with the Church of Rome His Fellowship was not so considerable but that he might presume of a larger Maintenance beyond the Seas Nor was he of such common parts but that he might have looked for a better welcom and far more civil usage there than he found at home Preferments in the Church he had none at the present nor any strong presumptions of it for the time to come which might be a temptation to him to continue here against the clear light of his Understanding And this may be a further Argument not only of his unfeigned sincerity but of his constancy and stedfastness in the Religion here established that he kept his station that notwithstanding all those clamours under which he suffered he was resolved to ride out the storm and neither to desert the Barque in which he sailed nor run her upon any of the Roman Shores In this of a far better Temper than Tertullian was though as much provok'd of whom it is reported by Beatus Rhenamus That at first he only seemed to favour Montanus or at the least not to be displeased with his proceedings But afterwards being continually tormented by the tongues and pens of the Roman Clergy he fell off from the obedience of the Church and became at last a downright Montanist All which together make it plain that it was not his design to desert the Church but to preserve her rather from being deserted to vindicate her by degrees from those Innovations which by long tract of time and the cunning practises of some men had been thrust upon her And being once resolved on this the blustring winds which so raged against him did rather fix him at the root than either shake his resolution or force him to desist from his purpose in it And therefore it was well resolved by Sir Edw. Dering though his greatest enemy That he was always one and the same man that beginning with him at Oxon. and so going on to Canterbury he was unmoved and unchanged that he never complied with the times but kept his own stand until the times came up to him as they after did Such was the man and such the purpose of the man whom his good friends in Oxon. out of pure zeal no doubt we must take it so had declared a Papist During these Agitations and Concussions in the Vniversity there hapned an accident at Wansteed in the County of Essex which made as great a noise as his being a Papist but such a noise as might have freed him from that Accusation if considered rightly In the year 1605. he had been made Chaplain to Charles Lord Mountjoy Earl of Devonshire a man in great favour with King Iames for his fortunate Victory at Kinsale in Ireland by which he reduced that Realm to the obedience of this Crown broke the whole Forces of the Rebells and brought the Earl of Tir-owen a Prisoner into England with him For which great Services he was by King Iames made Lord Lieutenant of that Kingdom and one of the Lords of his Privy Council created Earl of Devonshire and one of the Knights of the most Noble Order of the Garter This Gentleman being a younger Brother of William Lord Mountjoy and known only by the name of Sir Charles Blunt while his Brother lived had bore a strong and dear affection to the Lady Penelope Daughter of Walter Earl of Essex a Lady in whom lodged all attractive Graces of Beauty Wit and sweetness of Behaviour which might render her the absolute Mistress of all Eyes and Hearts And she so far reciprocated with him in the like affection being a compleat and gallant man that some assurances past between them of a future Marriage But her friends looking on him as a younger Brother considerable only in his depending at the Court chose rather to dispose her in Marriage to Robert Lord Rich a man of an independent Fortune and a known Estate but otherwise of an uncourtly disposition unsociable austere and of no very agreeable conversation to her Against this Blunt had nothing to plead in Bar the promises which passed between them being made in private no Witnesses to attest unto it and therefore not amounting to a pre-Contract in due form of Law But long she had not lived in the Bed of Rich when the old flames of her affection unto Blunt began again to kindle in her and if the Sonet in the Arcadia A Neighbour mine not long ago there was c. be not too generally misconstrued she made her Husband the sole instrument to acquaint him with it But whether it were so or not certain it is that having first had their private meetings they afterwards converst more openly and familiarly with one another than might stand with honour unto either especially when by the death of his elder Brother the Title of Lord Mountjoy and the Estate remaining to it had accrued unto him As if the alteration of his Fortune could either lessen the offence or suppress the fame Finding her at his coming back from the Wars of Ireland to be free from Rich legally freed by a Divorce and not a voluntary separation only a toro mensa as they call it he thought himself obliged
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
their own distaste or smoothing up of those idle fancies which in this blessed time of so long a Peace doth boil in the brains of an unadvised People That many of their Sermons were full of rude and undecent railings not only against the Doctrines but even against the persons of Papists and Puritans And finally that the People never being instructed in the Catechism and fundamental Grounds of Religion for all these aiery novellisms which they received from such Preachers were but like new Table-books ready to be filled up either with the Manuals and Catechisms of the Popish Priests or the Papers and Pamphlets of Anabaptists Brownists and other Puritans His Majesty thereupon taking the Premises into his Princely Consideration which had been represented to him by sundry grave and reverend Prelates of this Church thought it expedient to cause some certain Limitations and Cautions concerning Preachers and Preaching to be carefully digested and drawn up in Writing Which done so done as Laud appears to have a hand in the doing of it and being very well approved by the King he caused them to be directed to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York by them to be communicated to the Bishops of their several Provinces and by those Bishops to be put in execution in their several Diocesses Which Directions bearing date of the fourth of August 1622. being the 20th year of his Majesties Reign I have thought convenient to subjoin and are these that follow viz. I. That no Preacher under the Degree and Calling of a Bishop or Dean of a Cathedral or Collegiate Church and they upon the Kings days only and set Festivals do take occasion by the Expounding of any Text of Scripture whatsoever to fall into any set course or common place otherwise than by opening the coherence and division of his Text which shall not be comprehended and warranted in essence substance effect or natural inference within some one of the Articles of Religion set forth 1562. or in some one of the Homilies set forth by Authority in the Church of England not only for a help of non-preaching but withal as a pattern as it were for the Preaching Ministers and for their further instruction for the performance thereof that they forthwith read over and peruse diligently the said Book of Articles and the two Books of Homilies II. That no Parson Vicar Curate or Lecturer shall Preach any Sermon or Collation hereafter upon Sundays and Holy-days in the Afternoons in any Cathedral or Parish Church throughout this Kingdom but upon some part of the Catechism or some Text taken â—ut of the Creed or Commandments or the Lords Prayer Funeral Sermons only excepted and that those Preachers be most encouraged and approved of who spend their Afternoons Exercise in the Examination of Children in their Catechisms which is the most ancient and laudable Custom of Teaching in the Church of England III. That no Preacher of what Title soever under the degree of a Bishop or Dean at the least do from henceforth presume to Preach in any popular Auditory the deep Points of Predestination Election Reprobation or of the universality efficacity resistibility or irresistibility of Gods Grace but rather leave those Themes to be handled by Learned Men and that modestly and moderately by Vse and Application rather than by way of positive Doctrine as being fitter for Schools and Vniversities than for simple Auditories IV. That no Preacher of what Title or Denomination soever shall presume from henceforth in any Auditory within this Kingdom to declare limit or bound out by way of positive Doctrine in any Lecture or Sermon the Power Prerogative Iurisdiction Authority or Duty of Sovereign Princes or therein meddle with matters of State and reference between Princes and People than as they are instructed in the Homily of Obedience and in the rest of the Homilies and Articles of Religion set forth as before is mentioned by Publick Authority but rather confine themselves wholly to these two Heads of Faith and Good Life which are all the subject of the ancient Sermons and Homilies V. That no Preacher of what Title or Denomination soever shall causelesly and without any invitation from the Text fall into any bitter Invectives and undecent railing Speeches against the Papists or Puritans but wisely and gravely when they are occasioned thereunto by the Text of Scripture free both the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England from the aspersions of either adversary especially when the Auditory is suspected to be tainted with the one or the other infection VI. Lastly That the Archbishops and Bishops of the Kingdom whom his Majesty hath good cause to blame for their former remisseness be more wary and choice in Licencing of Preachers and Verbal Grants made to any Chancellor Officiall or Commissary to pass Licence in this Kingdom And that all the Lecturers throughout the Kingdom a new body severed from the ancient Clergy of England as being neither Parson Vicar or Curate be licensed henceforward in the Court of Faculties only upon recommendation of the party from the Bishop of the Diocess under his hand and seal with a Fiat from the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury and a confirmation under the Great Seal of England and that such as transgress any of his directions be suspended by the Bishop of the Diocess or in his default by the Lord Archbishop of that Province Ab officio beneficio for a year and a day untill his Majesty by the advice of the next Convocation prescribe for some further punishment No sooner were these Instructions published but strange it was to hear the several descants and discourses which were made upon them How much they were misreported amongst the People and misinterpreted in themselves those very men who saw no just reason to condemn the Action being howsoever sure to misconstrue the end For though they were so discreetly ordered that no good and godly man could otherwise than acknowledge that they tended very much to Edification Yet such Interpretations were put upon them as neither could consist with his Majesties meaning nor the true sense of the Expressions therein used By some it was given out that those Instructions did tend to the restraint of Preaching at the lest as to some necessary and material points by others that they did abate the number of Sermons by which the People were to be instructed in the Christian Faith by all the Preachers of that Party that they did but open a gap for Ignorance and Superstition to break in by degrees upon the People Which coming to his Majesties Ears it brought him under the necessity of making an Apology for himself and his actions in it And to this end having summed up the reasons which induced him to it he required the Archbishop of Canterbury to communicate them to his Brother of York by both to be imparted to their several Suffragans the inferiour Clergy and to all others whosoever whom it might concern which notwithstanding it
hereof being given to Laud he considered of the sad effects and consequents which might follow on it communicating those his fears to some other Bishops By whom it was thought fit that Mountagues case and not his only but the case of the Church it self should be commended to the care and power of the Duke of of Buckingham According unto which Advice and Resolution three of them framed and signed the ensuing Letter But before this Letter was delivered Mountague had taken so much care of himself as to prepare his way by a Letter of his own bearing date Iuly 29. In which Letter he first laid open the state of his case desiring that by his Majesties Power he might be absolutely freed from those who had neither any Authority over his person as being one of his Majesties Servants nor over his Book as being commanded by his Father and authorized by himself Which being said he makes this resolute declaration That if he could not really and throughly answer whatsoever was or could be imputed to him in any of his Books he would no further desire favour and protection of his Majesty or his Grace but willingly would be left unto the power of his Enemies Which Letter being sent before to prepare the way this of the said three Bishops followed within four daies after May it please your Grace WE are bold to be Suitors to you in the behalf of the Church of England and a poor Member of it Mr. Mountague at this time not a little distressed We are not strangers to his person but it is the Cause which we are bound to be tender of The cause we conceive under correction of better Iudgment concerns the Church of England nearly for that Church when it was reformed from the superstitious opinions broached or maintained by the Church of Rome refused the apparent and dangerous Errors and would not be too busie with every particular School-Point The Cause why she held this mederation was because she could not be able to preserve any unity among Christians if men were forced to subscribe to curious particulars disputed in Schools Now may it please your Grace the opinions which at this time trouble many men in the late Book of Mr. Mountague are some of them such as are expresly the resolved Doctrine of the Church of England and those he is bound to maintain Some of them are such as are fit only for Schools and to be left at more liberty for learned men to abound in their own sense so they keep themselves peaceable and distract not the Church And therefore to make any Man subscribe to School-opinions may justly seem hard in the Church of Christ and was one great fault of the Council of Trent And to affright them from those opinions in which they have as they are bound subscribed to the Church as it is worse in it self so may it be the Mother of greater danger May it please your Grace farther to consider That when the Clergie submitted themselves in the time of Henry the Eighth the submission was so made that if any difference Doctrinal or other fell in the Church the King and the Bishops were to be Iudges of it in the National Synod or Convâ—cation the King first giving leave under his Broad Seal to handle the Points in difference But the Church never submitted to aâ—y other Iudge neither indeed can she though she would And we humbly desire your Grace to consider and then to move his most Gracious Majesty if you shall think fit what dangerous consequences may follow upâ—n it For first if any other Iudge be allowed in matter of Doctrine we shall depart from the Ordinance of Christ and the continual Course and Practice of the Church Secondly If the Church be once brought down beneath her self we cannot but fear what may be the next stroke at it Thirdly It will some way touch the honour of his Majesties dear Father and our most Dread Soveraign of glorious and ever blessed memory King James who saw and approved all the opinions of this Book And he in his rare Wisdom and Iudgment would never have allowed them if they had crossed with truth and the Church of England Fourthly We must be bold to say that we cannot conceive what use there can be of Civil Government in the Commonwealth or of Preaching or External Ministry in the Church if such fatall opinions as some which are opposite and contrary to these delivered by Mr. Mountague are shall be publikely taught and maintained Fifthly We are certain that all or most of the contrary opinions were treated of at Lambeth and ready to be published but then Queen Elizabeth of famous memory upon notice given how little they agreed with the Practice of Piety and obedience to all Government caused them to be suppressed and so they have continued ever since till of late some of them have received countenance at the Synod of Dort Now this was a Synod of that Nation and can be of no Authority in any other National Church till it be received there by publick Authority And our hope is That the Church of England will be well advised and more than once over before she admit a foraign Synod especially of such a Church as condemneth her Discipline and manner of Government to say no more And further we are bold to commend to yâ—ur graces Wisdom this one particular His Majesty as we have been informed hath already taken this business into his own care and most worthily referred it in a right course tâ— Church consideration And we well hoped that without further trouble to the State or breach of unity in the Church it might so have been well and orderly composed as we still pray it may These things considered we have little to say for Mr. Mountagues person only thus much we know He is a very good Scholar and a right honest man A man every way able to do God his Majesty and the Church of England great service We fear he may receive discouragement and which is far worse we have some cause to doubt this may breed a great backwardness in able men to write in defence of the Church of England against either home or foraign Adversaries if they shall see him sink in Fortunes Reputation or health upon occasion of his Book And this we most humbly submit to your Graces Iudgment and care of the Churches peace and welfare So commending your Grace to the Protection of Almighty God We shall ever rest at Your Graces Service Io. Rossens Io. Oxâ—n Guil. Meneven August 2. 1625. After this no more news of Montague in the present Parliament Adjourned by his Majesty on the eleventh of Iuly by reason of the Plague to Oxâ—n there to be reassembled on the first of August Which time being come his Majesty puts them again in mind of his pressing occasions acquaints them with the necessity of setting out the Fleet then ready for Service That the eyes 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
towards it Him therefore he sequestreth from his Metropolitical Jurisdiction confines him to his house at Ford in Kent and by his Commission bearing date the ninth day of October 1627. transfers the exercise of that Jurisdiction to Mountaine Bishop of London Neile Bishop of Durham Buckeridge Bishop of Rochester Houson Bishop of Oxon and Laud Bishop of Bath and Wells To whom or any two or more of them he gives authority to execute and perform all and every those Acts matters and things any way touching or concerning the Power Jurisdiction or Authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury in causes or matters Ecclesiastical as amply fully and effectually to all intents and purposes as the said Archbishop himself might have done And this his Majesty did to this end and purpose that the Archiepiscopal Jurisdiction being committed to such hands as were no favourers of that Faction there might some stop be given to that violent current which then began to bear all before it Nor did his Majesty fail of the end desired For though Abbot on good reasons of State was restored unto his Jurisdiction toward the latter end of the year next following Yet by this breathing time as short as it was the Church recovered strength again And the disgrace put upon the man did so disanimate and deject the opposite Party that the Ballance began visibly to turn on the Churches side During the time that this Commission was in force some Beneficed persons in the Country who in themselves were well affected to ancient orders and now in more assurance of Protections than before they were adventured on removing the Communion Table from the middle of the Church or Chancel and setting it according to the pattern of the Mother Churches where the Altar formerly had stood Amongst the rest one Titly Vicar of Grantham a â—oted Town upon the Road in the County of Lincoln having observed the situation of the holy Table as well in his Diocesans Chappel as in the Cathedral mother Church transposed the Table from the middest of the Chancel in his Parish Church and placed it Altar-wise at the East end of it Complaint hereof being made by some of that Town to the Bishop of Lincoln he presently takes hold of the opportunity to discourage the work not because he disliked it in point of judgment for then his judgment and his practice must have crost each other but because Titly had Relation to the Bishop of Durham And for the Bishop of Durham he had no good thoughts partly because he kept his stand in the Court out of which himself had been ejected and partly by reason of the intimacy betwixt him and Laud whom he looked on as his open and professed enemy And then how was it possible that he should approve of Titly or his action either conceiving that it might be done by their or one of their appointments or at the least in hope of better preferment from them Hereupon he betakes himself unto his Books and frames a Popular Discourse against placing the Communion Table Altar-wise digests it in the Form of a Letter to the Vicar of Grantham but sends it unto some Divines of the Lecture there by them to be dispersed and scattered over all the Country But of this Letter more hereafter when we shall find it taken up for a Buckler against Authority and laid in Bar against the proceedings of the Church and the Rules of it when such transposing of the Table became more general not alone practised but prescribed But the noise of this Letter not flying very far at the first hindred not the removing of the Table in the Parish Church of St. Nicholas in the Burrough of Abingdon the occasion this One Blucknall dwelling in that Parish bestowed upon it amongst other Legacies an annual Pension to be paid unto the Curate thereof for reading duly prayer in the said Church according to the Form prescribed in the English Liturgie For the establishing of which Gifts and Legacies to the proper use and uses intended by him a Commission was issued out of the High Court of Chancery according to the Statute 43 Eliz. Directed amongst others to Sir Ed. Clark Knight Sam. Fell Doctor in Divinity George Purefez and Richard Organ Esquires who by their joynt consent made this Order following viz. And that the Table given by Mr. Blucknall should not by the multitude of People coming to Service or otherwise by sitting or writing upon it or by any other unreverent usage be prophaned spoyled or hurt We do order and decree that the said Table shall continually stand at the upper end of the Chancell upon which a Carpet by him given should be laid where it shall continually stand close to the upper Skreen there being of old within that Skreen a kind of Vestry for keeping the Plate Books and Vestments which belong to the Church and there to be covered with the Carpet aforesaid and in no place else Which Order together with many others for settling and disposing the said Gifts and Legacies were made at Abingdon on the twenty fifth of April 1628. and afterwards confirmed under the Great Seal of England This being the only Table as I conceive whose posture in that place is ratified by Decree in Chancery Now as some private Beneficed persons during the Suspension of the said Archbishop did thus adventure on the one side so divers Commissaries Officials Surrogates and other Ecclesiastical Officers began to carry a more hard hand on the Puritan Party their great Friend and Patron being thus discountenanced than they had done formerly Amongst these none more active than Lamb Sibthorp Allen and Burden according to their Power and Places the three last having some relation to Lamb as Lamb had to the Episcopal Court at Peterborough and thereby a neer neighbourhood to the Bishop of Lincoln then keeping in his House at Buckden in the County of Huntingdon at whose Table being entertained as they had been many times before they found there Morison Chancellor to that Bishop and Prigeion one of the Officers of the Court at Lincoln Their Discourse growing hot against the Puritans the Bishop advised them to take off their heavy hand from them informing them That his Majesty hereafter intended to use them with more mildness as a considerable Party having great influence on the Parliament without whose concurrence the King could not comfortably supply his Necessities To which he added That his Majesty had communicated this unto him by his own mouth with his Resolutions hereafter of more gentleness to men of that Opinion Which words though unadvisedly spoken yet were not thought when first spoken by him to be of such a dangerous and malignant nature as to create to him all that charge and trouble which afterwards beâ—el him upon that occasion For some years after a breach being made betwixt him and Lamb about the Officials place of Leicester which the Bishop had designed to another person Lamb complains of him to some
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
and suppressing Downham's Book he might be made as sensible of his Error in writing the aforesaid History as if his own had been made subject to the like condemnation His Majesty therefore gives him Order by Letters bearing date at Woodstock August 24. the next day after the said Sentence of Thorn Hodges c. to call in Bishop Downham's Book who thereupon sent out Warrants and caused all the Books that were unsent into England to be seised on But so long it was before the King had notice of it and so long after that before his Letters came to the Lord Primates hands which was not till the fifteenth of October following that almost all the Copies were dispersed in England and Ireland before the coming out of the Prohibition And for preventing of the like for the time to come a Command is laid on Beadle Bishop of Killmore which sheweth that Vsher was not thought fit to be trusted in it to have an eye unto the Press and to take care that nothing hereafter should be published contrary to his Majesties said Directions So Beadle in his Letter to the Bishop of London dated November 8. 1631. Which care being taken for the Peace of that Church and nothing else presented to us on that side of the Sea to detain us any longer there we will hoise Sail again for England where we finde more Work More Work indeed and far the greatest not only of this present year but the greatest of this Bishops Life A Work before in project but in project only None had the Courage or the Power to carry it on so far as he He could not rest under the shade of those vast Ruines of St. Paul's Church his own Cathedral without continual thought and some hopes withal of repairing those deformities in it which by long time had been contracted Of the first Founding of this Church by Ethelbert King of Kent the first Christian King and the sixth Monarch of the Saxons and the Enlargement of the same by Erkenwald the fourth Bishop of it we have spoke already And now we are to know That their old Fabrick being much wasted by Fire in the time of the Conqueror Mauritius then Bishop of London Anne 1083. began the Foundation of that most magnificent Pile now standing viz. all the Body of the Church with the South and North cross Isles Toward which Work he made use of a great part of the Materials of the old Palatine Castle standing in the same place where the Covent of the Black-Friars was after built great part whereof had perished by the same Fire also But the Foundations which this worthy Bishop had laid being sutable to his mind were so vast as the Historian observes That though he prosecuted the Work twenty years he left the performing thereof to the care of Posterity amongst which none more transcendently aâ—fected to this business than his next Successor Richard Beaumis who bestowed the whole Revenue of his Bishoprick upon it supporting himself and his Family by other means And after him some other Bishops succeeding between them that Richard who was Treasurer to King Henry ii being made Bishop of London in the first year of King Richard bestowed great Sums of Money in the Reparation of this Church and the Episcopal Houses which belonged unto it But all this Charge was principally laid out on the main Body of the Church and the Crossed Isles thereof the Choire not holding Proportion with so vast a Structure So that resolving to make it fairer and more capacious than before they began with the Steeple which was finished in Anno 1221. 5 Hen. 3 In which year the Dedication of it was celebrated with great magnificence the King himself Otho the Popes Legate Edmond Archbishop of Canterbury Roger sirnamed Niger then Bishop of London a chief Advancer of the Work with five other Bishops besides infinite multitudes of the Nobility Gentry Citizens and others of the Common People from all parts of the Land being present at it Nor is it to be thought that the Charges of that stately and magnificent Structure was supported by the Bishops only or issued out of such Revenues as belonged unto the Dean and Chapter but that the Clergy and People generally both of England and Ireland contributed largely to the Work the People of those Times out of their Devotion to Gods Service being easily incited to further all Works of this nature as occasion offered And this appears by the sundry Letters of several Bishops of both Nations to the Clergy under their Jurisdiction for recommendation of that business to their particular Congregations many of which are extant still upon Record Nor were the People stirred on only by the sollicitation of their Priests or the exhortatory Letters of their several Prelates but by the grants of such Indulgences and relaxation from their several and respective Penances which in those Letters were extended unto all sorts of People who with a chearful heart and liberal hand did promote the Service By means whereof some men contributed Materials others sent in Money and many Masons Carpenters and other Artificers who were to labour in the Work bestowed their pains and toil upon it for less consideration and reward than in other Buildings Besides which Henry de Lacy Earl of Lincoln is said to have been a principal Benefactor to that part of it which was then called the New-Work in a Chappel whereof dedicated to St. Dunstan we find his body to be interred And so was Ralph de Baldock also both while he was Dean and when he was Bishop of this Church whose Body was also buried in another part of the New-Work called Our Ladies Chappel But this vast Pile the Work of so long time and so many Ages was on the fourth of Iune Anno 1561. in danger to be suddenly consumed by a violent Fire beginning in the Steeple and occasioned by the negligence of a Plummer who left his pan of coals unquench'd at his going to dinner A Fire so violent that in the space of few hours it consumed not only the Steeple where it first began but did spread it self to the upper Roof of the Church and Isles totally burning all the Rafters and whatsoever else was of combustible nature The Queen knew well as well as any that the Revenues of that Church were so dilapidated that neither the Bishops themselves nor the Dean and Chapters were able to repair the least part of those Ruines which the Fire had made And thereupon out of a deep apprehension of that lamentable Accident forthwith directed her Letters to the Lord Mayor of London requiring him to make some speedy Order for its repair and to further the Work gave out of her Purse 1000 Marks in Gold as also a Warrant for 1000 Load of Timber to be taken out of her Woods and elsewhere Nor were the Citizens slack herein for having given a large Benevolence they added three whole Fifteens to be speedily
County of Kent situate about seven miles from the Sea and neighboured by a little River capable only of small boats and consequently of no great use for the wealth and trading of the place It was made an Archiepiscopal See at the first planting of the Gospel amongst the English Augustine the Monk who first preacht the one being the first Archbishop of the other For though that Dignity was by Pope Gregory the Great designed for London yet Augustine the Monk whom he sent hither on that Errand having received this City in gift from the King resolved to six himself upon it without going further Merlin had prophesied as much if those Prophesies be of any credit signifying that the Metropolitan dignity which was then at London should in the following times be transferred to Canterbury Ethelbert then King of Kent having thus given away the Regal City retires himself unto Reculver where he built his Palace for himself and his Successors in that Kingdom leaving his former Royal Seat to be the Archiepiscopal Palace for the Archbishops of Canterbury The Cathedral having been a Church before in the Britains time was by the said Archbishop Augustine repaired Consecrated and Dedicated to the name of Christ which it still retains though for a long time together it was called St Thomas in honour of Thomas Becket one of the Archbishops hereof who was murthered in it The present Fabrick was begun by Archbishop Lanfranck and William Corboyle and by degrees made perfect by their Successors Take Canterbury as the Seat of the Metropolitan it hath under it twenty one Suffragan Bishops of which seventeen are in England and four in Wales But take it as the Seat of a Diocesan and it containeth only some part of Kent to the number of 257 Parishes the residue being in the Diocess of Rochester together with some few particular Parishes dispersed here and there in several Diocesses it being an ancient priviledge of this See that wheresoever the Archbishops had their Mannors or Advousons the place forthwith became exempt from the Ordinary and was reputed of the Diocess of Canterbury The other Priviledges of this See are that the Archbishop is accounted Primate and Metropolitan of ALL England and is the first Peer of the Realm having precedency of all Dukes not being of the Royal bloud and all the great Officers of the State He hath the Title of Grace afforded him in common speech and writes himself Divina Providentia where other Bishops only use Divina Permissione The Coronation of the King hath anciently belonged unto him It being also formerly resolved that wheresoever the Court was the King and Queen were the proper and Domestical Parishioners of the Archbishop of Canterbury It also did belong unto him in former times to take unto himself the Offerings made at the holy Altar by the King and Queen wheresoever the Court was if he were present at the same and to appoint the Lent Preachers but these time hath altered and the King otherwise disposed of Abroad in General Councils he had place at the Popes Right foot At home this Royal Priviledge That those which held Lands of him were liable for Wardship to him and to compound with him for the same though they held other Lands in chief of our Lord the King And for the more increase of his power and honour it was Enacted 25 Hen. viii and 21. That all Licences and Dispensations not repugnant to the Law of God which heretofore were sued for in the Court of Rome should be hereafter granted by the Archbishop of Canterbury and his Successors As also in the 1 Eliz. and 2. That by the Advice of the Metropolitan or Ecclesiastical Commissioners the Queens Majesty might ordain and publish such Rites and Ceremonies as may be most for the Advancement of Gods glory the Edifying of his Church and the due Reverence of Christs holy Sacraments To this high dignity Laud succeedeth on the death of Abbot nominated unto it by the King on the sixth of August the Election returned and presented to his Majesty from the Dean and Chapter on the twenty fifth of the same and the translation fully perfected on the nineteenth of September then next following on which day he kept a solemn and magnificent Feast at his house in Lambeth his State being set out in the great Chamber of that house and all persons standing bare before it after the accustomed manner his Steward Treasurer and Comptroller attending with their white staves in their several Offices Thus have we brought him to his height and from that height we may take as good a prospect into the Church under his direction as the advantage of the place can present unto us And if we look into the Church as it stood under his direction we shall find the Prelates generally more intent upon the work committed to them more earnest to reduce this Church to the ancient Orders than in former times the Clergy more obedient to the Commands of their Ordinaries joyning together to advance the work of Vniformity recommended to them the Liturgie more punctually executed in all the parts and offices of it the Word more diligently preacht the Sacraments more reverendly administred than in some scores of years before the people more conformable to those Reverend Gestures in the House of God which though prescribed before were but little practised more cost laid out upon the beautifying and adorning of Parochial Churches in furnishing and repairing Parsonage houses than at or in all the times since the Reformation the Clergy grown to such esteem for parts and power that the Gentry thought none of their Daughters to be better disposed of than such as they had lodged in the Arms of a Church-man and the Nobility grown so well affected to the State of the Church that some of them designed their younger Sons to the Order of Priesthood to make them capable of rising in the same Ascendent Next if we look into the Doctrine we shall find her to be no less glorious within than beautified and adorned to the outward eye the Doctrines of it publickly avowed and taught in the literal and Grammatical sense according to the true intent and meaning of the first Reformers the Dictates and Authorities of private men which before had carried all before them subjected to the sense of the Church and the Church hearkening to no other voice than that of their great Shepherd speaking to them in his holy Scriptures all bitternesses of spirit so composed and qualified on every side that the advancement of the great work of Unity and Uniformity between the parties went forwards like the building of Solomons Temple without the noise of Axe or Hammer If you will take her Character from the mouth of a Protestant he will give it thus He that desires to pourtray England saith he in her full structure of external glory let him behold the Church shining in transcendent Empyreal brightness and purity
of Evangelical Truths Her Religious Performances her holy Offices ordered and regulated agreeable to the strict expedient of such Sacred Actions Her Discipline Model sutable to the Apostolick Form The set and suit of her whole Tribe renowned â—or Piety and Learning are all those in so super-eminent a degree that no Church on this side of the Apostolick can or could compare with her in any one All Arts and Sciences highly honoured and consequently their Academies to flourish To which last part of the Character let me add thus much That the Universities never had such a flourishing time for number of Students civility of Conversation and eminence in all parts of Learning as when the influences of his Power and Government did direct their Studies If you will take her Character from the Pen of a Iesuit you shall find him speaking amongst many falshoods these undoubted Truths viz. That the Professors of it they especially of greatest Worth Learning and Authority love Temper and Moderation That the Doctrines are altered in many things as for example the Pope not Antichrist Pictures Free-will Predestination Vniversal Grace Inherent Righteousness the preferring of Charity before Knowledge the Merit or Reward rather of good Works the 39 Articles seeming patient if not ambitious also of some Catholick sense That their Churches begin to look with a new face their Walls to speak a new Language and some of their Divines to teach That the Church hath Authority in determining Controversies of Faith and interpreting the Scriptures That men in talk and writing use willingly the once fearful names of Priests and Altars and are now put in mind That for Exposition of Scripture they are by Canon bound to follow the Fathers So far the Iesuit may be thought to speak nothing but truth but had he tarried there he had been no Iesuit And therefore to preserve the Credit of his Order he must fly out further and tell us this viz. That Protestantism waxeth weary of it self That we are at this time more unresolved where to fasten than in the infancy of our Church That our Doctrine is altered in many things for which our Progenitors forsook the then visible Church of Christ amongst which he reckons Limbus Patrum Prayer for the Dead Iustification not by Faith alone The possibility of keeping Gods Commandments and the accounting of Calvinism to be Heresie at the least if not also Treason Which Points the Iesuit cannot prove to have been positively maintained by any one Divine in the Church of England and yet those foolish men began to phancy such a misconstruction of that Ingenuity and Moderation which they found in some Professors of our Religion whom they affirmed to be of greatest Worth Learning and Authority as to conceive that we were coming towards an Agreement with them even in those Superstitions and Idolatries which made the first Wall of Separation between the Churches Upon which hope as weak and foolish as it was the late Archbishop of Canterbury was no sooner dead but one of their Party came to Laud whom they looked upon as his Successor seriously tendred him the offer of a Cardinals Cap and avowed Ability to perform it to whom he presently returned this Answer That somewhat dwelt within him which would not suffer him to accept the Offer till Rome were otherwise than it was And this being said he went immediately to his Majesty acquainting him both with the Man and with his Message together with the Answer which he made unto it The like he also did when the same Offer was reinforced a fornight after upon which second Refusal the Tempter left him and that not only for that time but for ever after But to proceed To welcom him to his new great Charge he received Letters from his Majesty dated upon the very day of his Confirmation upon this occasion It had been ordered by the ancient Canons of the Church That none should be admitted Deacon or Priest who had not first some certain place where he might use his Function And it was ordered by the Canons of the year 1603. in pursuance of the said old Canons That no person should be admitted into Sacred Orders except he shall at that time exhibit to the Bishop of whom he desireth Imposition of Hands a Presentation of himself to some Ecclesiastical Preferment then void in that Diocess or shall bring unto the said Bishop a true and undoubted Certificate That either he is provided of some Church within the said Diocess where he may attend the Cure of Souls or of some Ministers Place vacant either in the Cathedral Church of that Diocess or of some other Collegiat Church therein also scituate where he may execute his Ministry or that he is a Fellow or in right as a Fellow or to be a Conduct or Chaplain in some Colledge in either of the Universities or except he be a Master of Arts of five years standing that liveth in either of them at his own charge And hereunto was added this Commination That if any Bishop shall admit any person into the Ministry that hath none of these Titles as is aforesaid then he shall keep and maintain him with all things necessary till he do prefer him to some Ecclesiastical Living and on his refusal so to do he shall be suspended by the Archbishop being assisted with another Bishop from giving of Orders by the space of a year Which severe Canon notwithstanding some Bishops of the poorer Sâ—â—s for their private benefit admitted many men promisâ—uously to Holy Orders so far from having any Title that they had no Merit By means whereof the Church was filled with indigent Clerks which either thrust themselves into Gentlemens Houses to teach their Children and sometimes to officiate Divine Service at the Tables end or otherwise to undertake some Stipendary Lecture wheresoever they could find entertainment to the great fomenting of Faction in the State the Danger of Schism in the Church and ruine of both It had been formerly ordered by his Majesties Instructions of the year 1629. That no private Gentleman not qualified by Law should keep any Chaplain in his House Which though it were somewhat strictly inquired into at the first yet not a few of them retained their Chaplains as before For remedy whereof for the time to come it was thought fit to tie the Bishops from giving Orders unto any which were not qualified according to the foresaid Canon which was conceived to be the only probable means of diminishing the number both of such petit Lecturers and such Trencher-Chaplains the English Gentry not being then come to such wild extremities as to believe that any man might exercise the Priests Office in ministring the Sacraments Praying Preaching c. which was not lawfully Ordained by some Bishop or other Now his Majesties Letter to this purpose was as followeth CHARLES REX MOst Reverend Father in God Right Trusty and Right Entirely-beloved Counsellor We greet you well There
and not Absolved before he make a publick Revocation of his Error Such was the Canon passed in this Convocation for the approbation and reception of the Articles of the Church of England Which Canon was no sooner passed confirmed and published but the Primate and his Party saw the danger which they had cast themselves into by their inadvertency and found too late That by receiving and approving the English Articles they had abrogated and repealed the Irish. To salve this sore it concerned them to bestir themselves with their utmost diligence and so accordingly they did For first the Primate and some Bishops of his opinions required subscription to the Articles of both Churches of all such as came to be ordained at the next Ordination But it went no further than the next for if the Papists made it a matter of Derision to have three Confessions in the three Churches of his Majesties Kingdoms How much more matter must it give them of scorn and laughter that there should be two different Confessions in the same Church and both subscribed unto but as one and the same The Primate next applies himself to the Lord Deputy beseeching him that the former Articles might receive a new Ratification by Act of Parliament for preventing all innovations in the Religion there established But he found but little comfort there the Lord Deputy threatning to cause the said Confession to be burnt by the hand of the hangman if at the least the Scots Commissioners may be believed amongst whose Articles against him I find this for one Finding no better hopes on that side of the Sea he dispatcheth his Letters of Advice to his Friends in England one to an Honourable Person amongst the rest assuring them that though by a Canon passed in that Convocation they had received and approved the Articles of England yet that the Articlers of Ireland were ever called in might well be reckoned for a fancy The like affirmed in a Certificate made by Bernard and Pullen two Members of the Lower House in this Convocation where it is said That whosoever do aver that the said Articles were abolished are grosly mistaken and have abused the said Convocation in delivering so manifest an untruth And to back this another Certificate must be gained from one who comes commended to us under the Title of a most eminent judicious and learned person who having considered of the matter Conceives that both Confessions were consistent and that the Act of the Synod was not a Revocation of the Irish Articles but an approbation of the English as agreeing with them But all this would not serve the turn or save those Articles from being brought under a Repeal by the present Canon For first it appeareth by the Canon That they did not only approve but receive the Articles of the Church of England Their approbation of them had they gone no further had been a sufficient manifestation of their agreement with the Church of England in the Confession of the same Protestant Religion But their receiving of the same doth intimate a superinducing of them upon the other and is equivalent both in Fact and Law to the Repealing of the old For otherwise St. Paul must needs be out in the Rules of Logick when he proved the Abrogating of the old Covenant by the superinduction of a new For having affirmed that God by speaking of a New Covenant had antiquated and made void the first or made the first old as our English read it he adds immediatly That that which is old decayeth and is ready to vanish away that is to say as Diodati descants on it The old being disanulled by the new there must necessarily follow the abolishment of its use and practice Nor find they any other abrogation of the Iewish Sabbath then by the superinducing of the Lords day for the day of worship By means whereof the Sabbath was lessened in authority and reputation by little and little and in short time was absolutely laid aside in the Church of Christ the fourth Commandement by which it was at first ordained being still in force So then according to these grounds the Articles of Ireland were virtually though not formally abrogated or else it must be granted that there were two Confessions in the same one Church different both in form and matter and contrary in some points unto one another which would have been so far from creating an uniformity between the Churches in the concernments of Religion that it would have raised a greater disagreement within Ireland it self than was before between the Churches of both Kingdoms And certainly the gaining of this point did much advantage the Archbishop conducing visibly to the promotion of his ends and Counsels in making the Irish Clergy subject to the two Declarations and accountable for their breaking and neglect thereof that is to say his Majesties Declaration about Lawful Sports and that prefixt before the book of Articles for appeasing Controversies Take for a farewell this acknowledgment of a late Historian speaking as well the sense of others as his own A Convocation concurrent with a Parliament was called saith he and kept at Dublin in Ireland wherein the thirty nine Articles of the Church of England were received in Ireland for all to subscribe unto It was adjudged fit seeing that Kingdom complies with England in the Civil Government it should also conform thereunto in matters of Religion And thereupon he thus concludes That in the mean time the Irish Articles concluded formerly in a Synod 1616. mistaken for 1615. wherein Arminianism was condemned in terminis terminantibus and the observation of the Lords day resolved Iure divino were utterly excluded But leaving Ireland to the care of the Lord Deputy and the Bishop of Derry who under him had the chief managing of the affairs of that Church let us see how the new Archbishop proceeds in England where he had so many plows going at once too many as it after proved to work well together For not thinking he had done enough in order to the peace and uniformity of the Church of England by taking care for it here at home his thoughts transported him with the like affection to preserve it from neglect abroad To which end he had offered some considerations to the Lords of the Council as before was said Anno 1622. relating to the regulation of Gods publick Worship amongst the English Factories and Regiments beyond the Seas and the reducing of the French and Dutch Churches settled in divers parts of this Realm unto some conformity In reference to the first he had not sate long in the Chaire of Canterbury when he procured an Order from the Lords of the Council bearing date Octob. 1. 1633. By which their English Churches and Regiments in Holland and afterwards by degrees in all other Foreign parts and plantations were required strictly to observe the English Liturgie with all the Rites and Ceremonies prescribed in it
Which Order contained the sum and substance of those considerations which he had offered to the Board touching that particular With which the Merchant Adventurers being made acquainted with joynt consent they made choice of one Beaumont reputed for a learned sober and conformable man to be Preacher to their Factory residing at Delf Forbes a Scot by birth who formerly had been Preacher to the Society being either dead or other wise departed to avoid conformity And that this man might be received with the better welcome a Letter is sent with him to the Deputy Governour subscribed by the Archbishop himself in which he signifieth both to him and the rest in his Majesties name That they were to receive him with all decent and courteous usage fitting his person and calling allowing him the ancient Pension which formerly had been paid to his Predecessors Which said in reference to the man he lets them know that it was his Majesties express command that both he the Deputy and all and every other Merchant that is or shall be residing in those parts beyond the Seas do conform themselves to the Doctrine and Discipline settled in the Church of England and that they Frequent the Common-Prayer with all Religious duty and reverence at all times required as well as they do Sermons and that out of their company they should yearly about Easter as the Canons prescribe name two Church-Wardens and two Sides-men which may look to the Orders of the Church and give an account according to their office It was also required that these present Letters should be registred and kept by them that they which come after might take notice what care his Majesty had taken for the well ordering of the said Company in Church affairs and that a Copy of the same should be delivered to the said Beaumont and to every Successor of his respectively that he and they might know what his Majesty expected of them and be the more inexcusable if they disobey it With this Dispatch bearing date the seventeenth of Iune this present year 1634. away goes Beaumont into Holland taking with him these Instructions for his own proceedings that is to say That he should punctually keep and observe all the Orders of the Church of England as they are prescribed in the Canons and the Rubricks of the Liturgie and that if any person of that Company shall shew himself refractory to that Ordinance of his Majesty he should certifie the name of any such offender and his offence to the Lord Bishop of London for the time being who was to take order and give remedy accordingly Which Order and Instructions given to Beaumont in private were incorporated also in the Letter least otherwise he might be thought to act any thing in it without good Authority And he accordingly proceeded with such honest zeal and was so punctual in observing his Majesties pleasure and commands that for a reward of his good service he was preferred unto a Prebends place in the Church of Canterbury though by the unhappy change of times it brought more reputation than advantage with it And now at last we have the face of an English Church in Holland responsal to the Bishops of London for the time being as a part of their Diocess directly and immediately subject to their Jurisdiction The like course also was prescribed for our Factories in Hamborough and those further off that is to say in Turky in the Moguls Dominions the Indian Islands the Plantations in Virginia the Barbadoes and all other places where the English had any standing Residence in the way of trade The like done also for regulating the Divine Service in the Families of all Ambassadours residing in the Courts of Foreign Princes for his Majesties Service as also in the English Regiments serving under the States The superinspection of which last was referred to Boswel his Majesties Resident at the Hague and his Successors in that place as he and all the rest of the Embassadors in what place soever were to be ordered by the care of the Lords of the Council and they to be accountable therein to his Sacred Majesty as the Supream Ordinary The English Agents and Embassadours in the Courts of Foreign Princes had not been formerly so regardful of the honour of the Church of England as they might have been in designing a set Room for religious uses and keeping up the Vestments Rites and Ceremonies prescribed by Law in performance of them It was now hoped that there would be a Church of England in all Courts of Christendom in the chief Cities of the Turk and other great Mahometan Princes in all our Factories and Plantations in every known Part of the world by which it might be rendred as diffused and Catholick as the Church of Rome In reference to the regulating of the French and Dutch Churches here amongst our selves he conceived himself in a capacity of putting his own Counsels in execution either as Bishop of the Diocess or Archbishop of the Province of Canterbury He had considered of the dangers which those Foreign Churches drew on this by standing divided and dismembred from the rest of the body and of the countenance and encouragement which was given to the Puritan Faction in the promoting of Schism There was no Traverse to be made to this Dilemma but either they were or were not of the same Religion with the Church of England If they were not of the same Religion why should they being strangers borne in other Countries or descending from them expect more Liberty of Conscience than the Papists had being all Natives and descending from English Parents If of the same why should they not submit to the Government and Forms of Worship being the outward acts and exercises of the Religion here by Law established It was now as when they first fled into this Land from the Fire and Faggot from which their own Countries having felt no Persecution for forty or fifty years last past were at this time freed And therfore if they did not like the Terms of their staying here they might return from whence they came in peace and safety with thanks to God and the good English Nation for the long and comfortable Entertainment they had found amongst them Upon these grounds and such Considerations as had before been offered to the Lords of the Council before he had sate a whole year in the Chair of Canterbury he caused these three Articles to be tendred to the French Congregation in that City and the two Dutch Congregations in Sandwich and Maidston Apr. 14. 1634. 1. What Liturgie do you use or whether you have not the Dutch or French in use 2. Of how many Descents for the most part they were born Subjects 3. Whether such as are born Subjects will conform to the Church of England For Answer to the Articles after some fruitless Pleas touching their Exemptions they obtained time till the fifth of May against which time with the
the great Cardinal Richelieu to this effect viz. That if a King of England who was a Protestant would not permit two Disciplines in his Kingdom why should a King of France a Papist permit two Religions Great workings had been in the Court upon this occasion though all which was effected by it was but the present qualification of the second Injunction His Majesty on good Reason of State insisting so strongly on the first that it could not be altered But as for the second Injunction it was qualified thus viz. That the Ministers and all others of the French and Dutch Congregations which are not Natives and born Subjects to the Kings Majesty or any other Stranger that shall come over to them while they remain Strangers may have and use their own Discipline as formerly they have done yet it is thought fit that the English Liturgie should be Translated into the French and Dutch for the better fitting of their Children to the English Government But before the Injunction thus qualified could be sent to Canterbury the Mayor and Brethren of that City were put upon a Petition in their behalf insisting amongst other things on the great Charge which would fall upon them if the relief of the poor French which formerly had been maintained on the common Purse of that Church should be cast upon the several Parishes and the great want of Work which would happen to their own Poor in that City if the Manufactures of the French should be discontinued To which Petition they received a favourable Answer in respect of themselves but without any alteration of his Graces purpose in such other points of it as concerned those Churches A Temperament was also used in regard of the Ministers which did Officiate in those Churches it being condescended to on the suit of their Deputies That such of their Ministers as were English born should continue in their Place and Ministry as in former times but that hereafter none should be admitted to be Ministers in their Congregations but such as were Strangers Which Condescensions notwithstanding It was directed by the Coetus of the London Churches That by no means the Kentish Foreigners should publish the said Injunctions in their Congregations and that if the prosecution of them should be strictly urged they would then think upon some other course to bear of that blow And by this Tergiversation they gained so much time that the final Decree was not passed upon them till the 26th of September 1635. when to the former Injunction they found this Clause or Proviso added viz. That the Natives should continue to contribute to the maintenance of their Ministry and the Poor of their Church for the subsisting thereof and that an Order should be obtained from his Majesty if it were desired to maintain them in their Manufactures against all such as should endeavour to molest them by Informations Some time was spent about the publishing of this Decree the Ministers and Elders of those Churches refusing to act any thing in it But at the last it was published in the French Church at Canterbury by one of their Notaries and in Sandwich by the Chanter or Clerk of the Congregation with Order to the Ministers and Churchwardens of the several Parishes to take notice of such of the Natives as resorted not diligently to their Parish Churches This proved a leading Case to all the other French and Dutch Churches on this side of the Seas though they opposed it what they could For no sooner was the News of these Injunctions first brought to Norwich when a Remonstrance was presented to Corbet who was then Bishop of that Diocess and by him transmitted to the Archbishop in which they had expressed such Reasons against the tenour of the same as we have met with formerly in this Narration But the Archbishops Visitation of that Diocess in the year next following Anno 1635. put an end to that business the Injunction being published in the Churches of Strangers in that City before any publication of them had been made in Canterbury Nor was the like done only in all the Churches of Strangers in the Province of Canterbury but in those of York where the Archbishop kept them to a harder Diet for having seen what had been done by Brent in his Visitation and having no such powerful Sollicitors as the Coetus of the London Churches to take off his edge he denied them the Exercise of any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of their own injoins them the use of the English Liturgie in the French Tongue with Obedience to all the Laws and Ordinances of the Church of England to receive the Sacrament once a year in the Church of the Parish where they dwell and to perform all their Christenings Marriages and Burials there or else none of their Congregations to be permitted But notwithstanding all this care of the Metropolitans the business went forward more or less as the Ministers and Church-wardens stood affected in their several Parishes And in most Parishes the Ministers and Church-wardens were so well pleased with that indecency which they had amongst them in respect of any Superiors in Church-concernments to whom they might be made accountable for Life or Doctrine that generally they wish'd themselves in the same condition And being freed from their greatest fear of having the Poor of those Churches cast upon them in their several Parishes they seemed not much sollicitous whether they came to the Church or not to hear the Sermons receive the Sacraments or perform any other part of Publick Worship especially if they were not scrupulous in paying to the Minister his accustomed Dues and yielding to such Rates and Taxes as the Church-wardens laid upon them for Parochial uses If any Minister began to look too strictly to them they would find some means to take him off by Gifts and Presents or by some powerful Letter from some of the Grandees residing in London and sometimes from a neighbouring Justice whose displeasure must not be incurred And that they might not want encouragement to stand it out as long as they could the leading men of the Genevian Faction in most parts of the Realm did secretly sollicite them not to be too forwards in conforming to the said Injunctions assuring them of such Assistances as might save them harmless and flattering them with this Opinion of themselves That the Liberty of the Gospel and the most desirable Freedom of the Church from Episcopal Tyranny depended chiefly on their Courage and Resolution What was done afterwards in pursuance of the said Injunctions shall be told elsewhere all which Particulars I have laid together that the Proceedings of his Grace in this weighty business so much calumniated and defamed might be presented to the Reader without interruption It was once said by Telesinus to Caj Marius That he did well to scoure the Country but Italy would never want Wolves so long as Rome continued so fit a Forest to afford them shelter In like manner the
it is to be supposed that the Bishop could receive small thanks for his disobedience In Essex the business met with a greater difficulty Aylet Official there under the Chancellor of London had caused many of the Communion Tables within the verge of his Jurisdiction to be transposed and railed in and the People to come up and kneel and receive at the Rail Opposed at first in some of the greater Towns because they found it otherwise in the Churches of London whose example they conceived might be a sufficient warrant for them in that particular But much more were they moved to stand out against him upon sight of one of the Articles for the Metropolitical Visitation by which they conceived that they had leave to remove their Table at the time of Celebration and place it as it might be most convenient for the Parishioners to come about it and receive the Sacrament Aylet complains of this to Lamb finding himself thereby under an imputation of crossing the Article delivered by his Graces Visitors and following after his own Inventions without any Authority For remedy whereof and to save all that he had done from returning back again to the same estate in which he found it he desires to know his Graces Pleasure and Lambs Directions More constantly and with better fortune is the business carried on by Pierce in his Diocess of Bath and Wells No sooner had his Majesty signified his Pleasure in the Case of St. Gregories but he issueth out a Commission to some of his Clergy to inquire into the State of all the Parish Churches within that Diocess and on the return of their Account gives Order for the rectifying of such things as they found amiss especially in the posture of the Holy Table And that it might be seen that his Commands were not only countenanced by Power but backed by Reason he prepares certain Motives and Considerations to perswade Conformity as viz. 1. That it was Ordered by the Queens Injunctions That the Communion Table should stand where the Altar did 2. That there should be some difference between the placing of the Lords Table in the Church and the placing of a Mans Table in his House 3. That it was not fit the People should sit above Gods Table or be above the Priest when he Consecrateth 4. That when the Communion Table stands thus the Chancel would be the fairer and so there would be more room for the Communicants 5. That the Table standing thus the face of the Minister would be better seen and his voice more audibly and distinctly heard than if it stood upon a Level in the midst of the Chancel And 6. That it was expedient that the Daughters should be like their Mother and that the Parochial Churches should conform themselves in that particular to their own Cathedrals But that which seemed to be the most popular Argument to perswade Obedience was the avoiding of those Prophanations which formerly the Holy Table had been subject to For should it be permitted to stand as before it did Church-wardens would keep their Accounts on it Parishioners would dispatch the Parish business at it School-Masters will teach their Boys to Write upon it The Boys will lay their Hats Sachels and Books upon it Many will sit and lean irreverently against it in Sermon time The Dogs would piss upon it and defile it and Glasiers would knock it full of Nail-holes By which means he prevailed so far that of 469 Parishes which were in that Diocess 140 had conformed to his Order in it before the end of the Christmas Holy-days in this present year Anno 1635. without any great reluctancy in Priest or People The first strong Opposition which he found in the business came from a great and populous Parish called Beckington where Hewish Incumbent of the place was willing of himself to have obeyed his Directions in it but the Church-wardens of the Parish were determined otherwise For this being sent for by the Bishop he gave them Order by word of mouth to remove the Table to the East end of the Chancel and to place a decent Rail before it Which they refusing to perform were cited to appear in the Bishops Court before Duck the Chancellor of that Diocess on the ninth of Iune by whom they were commanded to remove such Seats as were above the Communion Table to obey the Bishops former Directions and to return a Certificate of all that they had done therein by the sixth of October then next following and for default thereof were on the same day Excommunicated by the Bishop in person But the Church-wardens being rich well-backed and disaffected to the Service appealed from their Diocesan to the Dean of the Arches at whose request upon some hope given of their Conformity they were absolved for a Month and admonish'd to submit to that which had been enjoined them Continuing in their obstinacy he Excommunicates them again and they again appeal to the Dean of the Arches where finding â—o Relief they presented a Petition to the Archbishop with no less than a hundred hands unto it and afterwards to the King himself but with like success Pierce had done nothing in that case but what he had been warranted to do by their Authority and therefore was by their Authority to be countenanced in it There is an ancient Priviledge belonging to the Church of England That he who standeth obstinately Excommunicated for forty days upon Certificate thereof into the Court of Chancery shall be attached with a Writ De excommunicato capiendo directed to the Sheriff for his Apprehension by him to be committed to Prison without Bail or Mainprise as our Lawyers call it till he confâ—rm himself and seek Absolution By virtue of this Writ these obstinate persons were laid up in the Common Gaol after they had remained Excommunicate above a twelvemonth which shews with how great patience they had been forborn And then at last perceiving what ill counsel they had followed and into what perplexities they had cast themselves they made their submission to their Bishop by whom they were enjoined to do Penance for their Contempt and obstinate standing out against the Sentence of the Court in a form prescribed The Penance to be done in the great Church of Bath their own Parish Church at Beckington and in the Parish Church of Frome-Selwood the next Market-Town adjoining to it and thereupon the Parties to be Absolved Which Opposition thus suppressed prepared the People in most other places of that Diocess for a more ready conformity than otherwise the Diocesan might have found amongst them So true is that of the Historian That the Resistancies of the Subject being once suppressed add strength to that Authority which they sought to crush How he behaved himself in reference to his Majesties Instructions we shall see hereafter when he is brought upon the stage on that occasion and we shall see hereafter also how much or how little was done in order to the purpose
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
in that expectation carrying himself with such an even and steady hand that every one applauded but none envied his preferment to it insomuch as the then Lord Faulkland in a bitter Speech against the Bishops about the beginning of the Long Parliament could not chuse but give him this faire Testimony viz. That in an unexpected place and power he expressed an equal moderation and humility being neither ambitious before nor proud after either of the Crozier or White Staff The Queen about these times began to grow into a greater prevalâ—nâ—y over his Majesties Affections than formerly she had made shew of But being too wise to make any open alteration of the conduct of aâ—â—airs she thought it best to take the Archbishop into such of her Counsels as might by him be carried on to her contentment and with no dishonour to himself of which he gives this intimation in the Breviate on the thirtieth of August 1634. viz. That the Queen sent for him to Oatlands and gave him thanks for a business which she had trusted him withall promising him to be his Friend and that he should have immediate access to her when he had occasion This seconded with the like intimation given us May 18. 1635. of which he writes that having brought his account to the Queen on May 18. Whitsunday the Court then at Greenwich it was put of till the Sunday after at which time he presented it to her and received from her an assurance of all that was desired by him Panzani's coming unto London in the Christmas holydaies makes it not improbable that the facilitating of his safe and favourable reception was the great business which the Queen had committed to the Archbishops trust and for his effecting of it with the King had given him those gracious promises of access unto her which the Breviate spake of For though Panzani was sent over from the Pope on no other pretence than to prevent a Schism which was then like to be made between the Regulars and the Secular Priests to the great scandall of that Church yet under that pretence were muffled many other designs which were not fit to be discovered unto Vulgar eyes By many secret Artifices he works himself into the fauour of Cottington Windebank and other great men about the Court and at last grew to such a confidence as to move this question to some Court-Bishops viz. Whether his Majesty would permit the residing of a Catholick Bishop of the English Nation to be nominated by his Majesty and not to exercise his Function but as his Majesty should limit Upon which Proposition when those Bishops had made this Quaere to him Whether the Pope would allow of such a Bishop of his Majesties nominating as held the Oath of Allegiance lawful and should permit the taking of it by the Catholick Subjects he puts it off by pleading that he had no Commission to declare therein one way or other And thereupon he found some way to move the King for the permission of an Agent from the Pope to be addressed to the Queen for the concernments of her Religion which the King with the Advice and Consent of his Council condescended to upon condition that the Party sent should be no Priest This possibly might be the sum of that account which the Archbishop tendred to the Queen at Greenwich on the Whitsontide after Panzani's coming which as it seems was only to make way for Con of whom more hereafter though for the better colour of doing somewhat else that might bring him hither he composed the Rupture between the Seculars and the Regulars above-mentioned I cannot tell whether I have hit right or not upon these particulars But sure I am that he resolved to serve the Queen no further in her desires than might consist both with the honour and safety of the Church of England which as it was his greatest charge so did he lay out the chief parts of his cares and thoughts upon it And yet he was not so unmindful of the Foreign Churches as not to do them all good offices when it came in his way especially when the Doctrine or Discipline of the Church of England was not concerned in the same For in the year 1634. having received Letters from the Queen of Bohemia with whom he held a constant course of Correspondence about the furtherance of a Collection for the exiled Ministers of the Palatinate he moved the King so effectually in it that his Majesty granted his Letters Patents for the said Collection to be made in all parts of the Kingdom which Letters Patents being sealed and brought unto him for his further Direction in prosecution of the same he found a passage in it which gave him no small cause of offence and was this that followeth viz. Whose cases are the more to be deplored for that this extremity is fallen upon them for their sincerity and constancy in the true Religion which we together with them professed and which we are all bound in conscience to maintain to the utmost of our powers whereas these Religious and Godly persons being involved amongst other their Country-men might have enjoyed their Estates and Fortunes if with other backsliders in the times of Trial they would have submitted themselves to the Antichristian Yoke and have renounced or dissembled the Profession of the true Religion Upon the reading of which passage he observed two things First That the Religion of the Palatine Churches was declared to be the same with ours And secondly That the Doctrine and Government of the Church of Rome is called an Antichristian Yoke neither of which could be approved of in the same terms in which they were presented to him For first he was not to be told that by the Religion of those Churches all the Calvinian Rigors in the point of Predestination and the rest depending thereupon were received as Orthodox that they maintain a Parity of Ministers directly contrary both to the Doctrine and Government of the Church of England and that Pareus Profesâ—or of Divinity in the University of Heydelberg who was not to be thought to have delivered his own sense only in that point ascribes a power to inferiour Magistrates to curb the power controule the persons and resist the Authority of Soveraign Princes for which his Comment on the Romans had been publickly burnt by the appointment of King Iames as before is said Which as it plainly proves that the Religion of those Churches is not altogether the same with that of ours so he conceived it very unsafe that his Majesty should declare under the Great Seal of England that both himself and all his Subjects were bound in conscience to maintain the Religion of those Churches with their utmost power And as unto the other point he lookt upon it as a great Controversie not only between some Protestant Divines and the Church of Rome but between the Protestant Divines themselves hitherto not determined in any Council nor
do for Kilvert against their Master The Story whereof desireth the Readers further patience though it come somewhat out of time and is briefly this Osbaldston the late Schoolmaster and then Prebend of Westminster a profess'd Creature of the Bishops and much imployed by him in his greatest businesses had written a Letter to him about Christmas in the year 1635. touching some Heats which hapned in that cold Season betwixt the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Treasurer Weston Osbaldston conceiving this to be a fit opportunity for the Bishop to close in with Weston and by his means to extricate himself out of those Perplexities in which this Star-Chamber Suit had so long intangled him This Intelligence he disguised in these expressions viz. The little Vermin the Vrchin and Hocus Pocus is this stormy Christmas at true and real variance with the great Leviathan And this conceit the Bishop out of too much jollity makes known to others by whom at last it came to Kilvert who laying hold on the Advantage exhibits a new Bill against him for divulging Scandalous Libels against Privy Counsellors there being good proof to be produced That by the names of Little Vermin Vrchin and Hocus Pocus the writer of that Letter designed no other than the Archbishop and the Lord Treasurer Weston by the Great Leviathan Both being made Parties to the Bill Osbaldston answers for himself That by Leviathan he intended Chief Justice Richardson and Spicer a Doctor of Laws by the other Character The differing statures of the men seeming to make good this Construction which the Grammar of the Text might bear as well as the other The Bishop pleaded for his part That he remembred not the receiving of any such Letter and that if any such Letter had come unto him it could not be brought within the compass of a Libel because not written in such plain and significant terms as might apparently decypher and set forth the Person intended in it But all this proved to be but shifts on either side for Kilvert had a Letter ready which Walker was supposed to have put into his hands to make sure work of it a Letter which the Bishop had writ to the said Walker being then his Secretary at the time of that falling out betwixt Laud and Weston Here is a strange thing saith that Letter Mr. Osbaldston importunes me to contribute to my Lord Treasurers use some Charges upon the Little Great Man and assures me they are mortally out I have utterly refused to meddle in this business and I pray you learn from Mr. S. and Mr. H. if any such falling out be or whether somebody hath not gulled the Schoolmaster in these three last Letters and keep it unto your self what I write unto you If my Lord Treasurer would be served by me he must use a more neer solid and trusty Messenger and free me from the Bonds of the Star-Chamber else let them fight it out for me This Secret thus discovered and the Mystery opened it was not long before the Cause was brought to Censure For the two Letters being compared with the Time and Circumstances it was no hard matter to the Lords who had their own Concerment in it to conclude both of them to be guilty of the Crime called Scandalum Magnatum a Libelling and defaming the Great Men of the Realm proâ—ibited and punishable by the Laws of the Land So that no Buckler being â—ound to bear off the Blow a Fine of another 8000 l. was imposed on the Bishop Osbaldston fined 5000 l. to be deprived of all his Ecclesiastical Preferments his Ears to be tack'd to the Pillory in the Palace-yard and Dammages or Costs of Suit to be paid by both to the Archbishop of Canterbury A Censure greater than the Crime as most men conceived in respect of Osbaldston whose Indiscretion might have been corrected with far less severity and less severity was intended then the Sentence intimated For though Osbaldston at that time conceived the Archbishop to be his greatest Enemy yet the Archbishop was resolved to shew himself his greatest Friend assuring the Author of this History before any thing was known of his supposed flight that he would cast himself at the Kings feet for obtaining a discharge of that corporal punishment unto which he was Sentenced Which may obtain the greater credit first in regard that no course was taken to stop his flight no search made after him nor any thing done in order to his Apprehension And secondly By Osbaldstons readiness to do the Archbishop all good Offices in the time of his Troubles upon the knowledge which was given him at his coming back of such good intentions For Osbaldston not hoping for so much favour and fearing more the shame of the Punishment than the loss of Preferment had seasonably withdrawn himself to a Friendâ— House in London where he lay concealed causing a noise to be spread abroad of his going beyond Sea and signifying by a Paper which he left in his Study That he was gone beyond Canterbury But this hapned not till the latter end of the year next following though I have laid it here together because of the coherence which it hath with the former Story To look back therefore where we left The Bishop of Lincoln was no sooner Suspended by the High-Commission that part of the Sentence being executed Iuly 24. but all the Profits of his Preferments in the Church were Sequestred to the Use of the King A Privy Seal is sent to the Sub-Dean and Prebends of the Church of Westminster requiring them to set apart all the Profits certain and uncertain which of right accrued unto that Dean and to pay the same from time to time into the Receipt of the Exchequer And that his Majesties Profits might not suffer any diminution nor the Prebends of that Church be punished for the fault of their Dean a Commission was issued under the Great Seal of England inabling them to Let and Set to Renew Leases keep Courts and make Grants of Offices and finally to act and do all manner of things which concerned the Government of that Church in as ample manner as if the Dean himself had been present at the doing of them The like course also taken in gathering in the Profits of his other Promotions those of the Bishoprick of Lincoln naturally flowing into the Exchequer as in times of Vacancy And as for his Episcopal Iurisdiction that fell as naturally to the Archbishop of the Province as the Temporal Revenue to the King the Archbishop of Canterbury exercising all kind of Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction throughout the Diocess of Lincoln not only as Ordinary of that Diocess but as Visitor of all those Colledges which had any dependence on that See Amongst which Colledges as that of Eaton was the chief so there was somewhat in it which was thought to want a present Remedy some Information being given That they had diminished the number of their Fellows from Ten to Seven
Hierarchy and the Church of England against the Practices of the Scots and Scotizing English and no less busied in digesting an Apologie for vindicating the Liturgie commended to the Kirk of Scotland In reference to the last he took order for translating the Scottish Liturgy into the Latine Tongue that being published with the Apologie which he had designed it might give satisfaction to the world of his Majesty Piety and his own great care the Orthodoxie and simplicity of the Book it self and the perverseness of the Scots in refusing all of it Which Work was finished and left with him but it went no further the present distemper of the times and the troubles which fell heavily on him putting an end to it in the first beginning But the best was that the English Liturgie had been published in so many Languages and the Scottish so agreeable to the English in the Forms and Offices that any man might judge of the one by perusing the other The first Liturgie of King Edward vi translated into Latine by Alexander Alesius a learned Scot for the better information of Martin Bucer when he first came to live amongst us the second Liturgie of that King with Queen Elizabeths Emendations by Walter Haddon President of Magdalen Colledge in Oxon. and Dean of Exeter and his Translation rectified by Dr. Morket in the times of King Iames according to such Explications and Additions as were made by order from the King The same translated into French for the use of the Isle of Iersey by the appointment of the King also into the Spanish for the better satisfaction of that Nation by the prudent care of the Lord Keeper Williams And finally by the countenance and encouragement of this Archbishop translated into Greek by Petley much about this time that so the Eastern Churches might have as clear an information of the English Piety as the Western had In order to the other he recommended to Hall then Bishop of Exon. the writing of a book in defence of the Divine Right of Episcopacy in opposition to the Scots and their Adherents Exeter undertakes the Work and sends him a rude draught or Skeleton of his design consisting of the two main points of his intended discourse together with the several Propositions which he intended to insist on in pursuance of it The two main points which he was to aim at were First That Episcopacy is a lawful most ancient holy and divine institution as it is joyned with imparity and superiority of Jurisdiction and therefore where it hath through Gods providence obtained cannot by any humane power be abdicated without a manifest violation of Gods Ordinance And secondly That the Presbyterian Government however vindicated under the glorious names of Christs Kingdom and Ordinance hath no true footing either in Scripture or the Practice of the Church in all Ages from Christs time till the present and that howsoever it may be of use in some Cities or Territories wherein Episcopal Government through iniquity of times cannot be had yet to obtrude it upon a Church otherwise settled under an acknowledged Monarchy is utterly incongruous and unjustifiable In which two points he was to predispose some Propositions or Postulata as he calls them to be the ground of his proceedings which I shall here present in his own conceptions that so we may the better judge of those corrections which were made upon them The Postulata were as followeth viz. 1. That Government which was of Apostolical Institution cannot be denied to be of Divine Right 2. Not only that Government which was directly commanded and enacted but also that which was practiced and recommended by the Apostles to the Church must justly pass â—or an Apostolical Institution 3. That which the Apostles by Divine Inspiration instituted was not for the present time but for continuance 4. The universal Practice of the Church immediately succeeding the Apostles is the best and surest Commentary upon the Practice of the Apostles or upon their Expressions 5. We may not entertain so irreverent an opinion of the Saints and Fathers of the Primitive Church that they who were the immediate Successors of the Apostles would or durst set up a Government either faulty or of their own heads 6. If they would have been so presumptuous yet they could not have diffused an uniform form of Government through the world in so short a space 7. The ancient Histories of the Church and Writings of the eldest Fathers are rather to be believed in the report of the Primitive Form of the Church-Government than those of this last Age. 8. Those whom the ancient Church of God and the holy and Orthodox Fathers condemned for Hereticks are not fit to be followed as Authors of our Opinion or Practice for Church-Government 9. The accession of honourable Titles or Priviledges makes no difference in the substance of the calling 10. Those Scriptures wherein a new Form of Government is grounded have need to be very clear and unquestionable and more evident than those whereon the former rejected Politie is raised 11. If that Order which they say Christ set for the Government of the Church which they call the Kingdom and Ordinance of Christ be but one and undoubted then it would and shall have been ere this agreed upon against them what and which it is 12. It this which they pretend be the Kingdom and Ordinance of Christ then if any Essential part of it be wanting Christs Kingdom is not erected in the Church 13. Christian Politie requires no impossible or absurd thing 14. Those Tenets which are new and unheard of in all Ages of the Church in many and Essential points are well worthy to be suspected 16. To depart from the Practice of the Universal Church of Christ ever from the Apostles times and to betake our selves voluntarily to a new Form lately taken up cannot but be odious and highly scandalous These first Delineations of the Pourtraicture being sent to Lambeth in the end of October were generally well approved of by the Metropolitan Some lines there were which he thought to have too much shadow and umbrage might be taken at them if not otherwise qualified with a more perfect Ray of Light And thereupon he takes the Pensil in his hand and with some Alterations of the Figure accompanied with many kind expressions of a fair acceptance he sent them back again to be compleatly Limned and Coloured by that able hand Which alterations what they were and his reasons for them I shall adventure to lay down as they come before me that so the Reader may discern as well the clearness of his apprehension and the excellency of his judgment in the points debated The Letter long and therefore so disposed of without further coherence that so it may be perused or pretermitted without disturbance to the sequel some preparations being made by the hand of his Secretary he proceeds thus to the rest The rest of your Letter is fitter to be
amongst the People yet is but in one of our Authors neither who hath no other Author for it then a nameless Doctor And in the way towards so happy an agreement though they all stand accused for it by the English Pope pag. 15. Sparrow may be excused for placing it with Auricular Confession and Wâ—llâ— for for Penance Heylyn for Adoration toward the Altar and Mountague for such a qualified praying to Saints as his books maintain against the Papists If you would know how far they had proceeded towards this happy Reconciliation the Popes Nuncio will assure us thus That the Vniversities Bishops and Divines of this Realm did dayly embrace Catholick Opinions though they profess'd not so much with Pen or Mouth for fear of the Puritans For example they hold That the Church of Rome is a true Church That the Pope is Superiour to all Bishops That to him it appertains to call General Councils That it is lawful to pray for the Soul of the Departed That Altars ought to be erected of Stone In sum That they believe all that is taught by the Church but not by the Court of Rome Another of their Authors tells us as was elsewhere noted That those amongst us of greatest Worth Learning and Authority began to love Temper and Moderation That their Doctrines began to be altered in many things for which their Progenitors forsook the Visible Church of Christ as for example The Pope not Antichrist Prayers for the Dead Limbus Patrum Pictures That the Church hath Authority in determining Controversies of Faith and to interpret Scriptures about Free will Predestination Universal Grace That all our Works are not Sins Merit of Good Works Inherent Iustice Faith alone doth justifie Charity to be preferred before Knowledge The Authority of Traditions Commandments possible to be kept That in Exposition of the Scripture they are by Canon bound to follow the Fathers And that the once fearful Names of Priests and Altars are used willingly in their Talk and Writings In which Compliances so far forth as they speak the truth for in some Points through the ignorance of the one and the malice of the other they are much mistaken there is scarce any thing which may not very well consist with the established though for a time discontinued Doctrine of the Church of England the Articles whereof as the same Iesuit hath observed seem patient or ambitious rather of some sense wherein they may seem Catholick And such a sense is put upon them by him that calls himself Franciscus a Sacta Clara as before was said And if upon such Compliances as those before on the part of the English the Conditions offered by the Pope might have been confirmed Who seeth not that the greatest Benefit of the Reconciliation would have redounded to this Church to the King and People His Majesties Security provided for by the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance so far as it concerned his Temporal Power The Bishops of England to be independent of the Popes of Rome The Clergy to be permitted the use of Marriage The People to receive the Communion in both KINDS and all Divine Offices officiated in the English Tongue No Innovation made in Doctrine but only in the qualifying of some Expressions and discharging some Out-landish Glosses as were put upon them And seeing this What man could be so void of Charity so uncompassionate of the Miseries and Distractions of Christendom as not to wish from the very bottom of his Soul That the Reconciliation had proceeded upon so good Terms as not to magnifie the men to succeeding Ages who were the Instruments and Authors of so great a Blessing But then admitting as we may That no such Reconciliation was upon the Anvil and that our two Discoursers have proceeded only upon Suppositions yet Canterbury had good ground for what he did were it no other than the settling of the Church of England upon the first Principles and Positions of her Reformation But he had further aims than so He had some thoughts and I have reason to believe it by Conferences first and if that failed by the ordinary course of Ecclesiastical Censures of gaining the Papists to the Church and therefore it concerned him in point of Prudence to smooth the way by removing all such Blocks and Obstacles which had been laid before them by the Puritan Faction He knew that from their Infancy they had been trained up in a Regular Order of Devotion and that they loved that Religion best which came accompanied with Decency and External Splendour That they objected nothing more against us than the Novelty of our Doctrine the Heterodoxies maintained in Publick by some of our Preachers the slovenly keeping of our Churches the Irreverence of the People in them the rude and careless slubbering over of our Common Prayers And what Encouragements had they for resorting to the Congregation when they should hear the Pope defamed whom they behâ—ld with Reverence as their Common Father their Ceremonies to be counted Antichristian their Mass â—â—â—latrous their whole Religion worse than that of the Turks and Moors conâ—ormity to whom in Rites and Ceremonies was held to be more tolerable by the Puritan Preachers than to those of Rome These â—ubs were first to be removed before they could have any thoughts of uniting to us And for the removing of those Rubs he â—â—ll up on the courses before-mentioned which being Renovations only of some ancient Usages were branded by the odious name of Innovations by some of those who out of cunning and design had long disused them Some zealous Protestants beheld his Actings with no small fear as byaâ—sing too strongly toward Rome that the Puritans exclaimed against him for a Papist and the Papists cried him up for theirs and gave themselves some flattering hopes of our coming towards them But the most knowing and understanding men amongst them found plainly That nothing could tend more to their destruction than the introducing of some Ceremonies which by late negligence and Practice had been discontinued For I have heard from a Person of known Nobility That at his being at Rome with a Father of the English Colledge one of the Novices came in and told him with a great deal of joy That the English were upon returning to the Church of Rome That they began to set up Altars to Officiate in their Copes to Adorn their Churches and to paint the Pictures of the Saints in the Church Windows To which the old Father made Reply with some indignation That he talked like an ignorant Novice That these Proceedings rather tended to the Ruine than Advancement of the Catholick Cause That by this means the Church of England coming nearer to the ancient Usages the Catholicks there would sooner be drawn off from them than any more of that Nation would fall off to Rome In reference to Doctrinal Points Heterodoxies and new Opinions and such extravagant Expressions both from Press and Pulpit he took as much
perceived in the next place That the Ring-leaders of many well-minded people did make the more advantage for the nourishing of such distempers amongst them because the aforesaid Rites and Ceremonies or some of them were now insisted upon but only in some Diocesses and were not generally received in all places nor constantly nor uniformly practiced throughout all the Churches in the Kingdom and thereupon have been liable to be quarrelled and opposed by them who use them not In imitation therefore of the pious Examples of King Edward vi Queen Elizabeth and King Iames of Blessed Memories he thought it most agreeable to his own Honour and the good of his People to Licence the Archbishops Bishops and the rest of the Clergie in their several Convocations to make such further Orders Ordinances and Constitutions as should be found necessary for the Advancing of Gods Glory the Edifying of the Holy Church and the due Reverence of his Blessed Mysteries and Sacraments And this he did to this end and purpose That as he had been ever careful and ready to cut off Superstition with the one hand so he might also expell Profaneness and Irreverence with the other By means whereof it might please Almighty God to bless him and this Church committed to his Government that it might at once return to the true former splendour of Uniformity Devotion and holy Order the last whereof for many years last past had been much obscured by the devices of some ill affected to it where it had long stood from the very beginning of the Reformation and through inadvertency of some in Authority in the Church under him Such were the Motives which induced his Majesty to grant this Commission which was exceeding acceptable to the greatest and best affected part of the whole Assembly as being an evident demonstration of the Trust and Confidence which his Majesty had reposed in them In a grateful acknowledgment whereof for the support of his Majesties Royal Estate and the effectual furtherance of his most Royal and Extraordinary Designs abroad they gave him six Subsidies after the rate of four shillings in the pound to be paid in the six years then next following by two equal parts or moyeties in every year appointing a Committee to put the Grant into form and make it ready for a Confirmation by Act of Parliament But the first thing in which they acted by this Commission was the tendring of a Canon to them by the Archbishop of Canterbury For suppressing the further growth of Popery and reducing Papists to the Church with Order to the Prolocutor and inferiour Clergy to enlarge and perfect it as to them seemed most conducible to the end desired But afterward considering how much it might redound to his estimation that the said Canon should proceed intirely from himself alone he recalled the Paper into his own hands and after some time of deliberation returned it back unto the Clergy in the very same words in which it passed By which so framed and enlarged it was Ordained That all and every Person or Persons of what Rank soever having and exercising any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction as also all Persons entrusted with Cure of Souls should use respectively all possible care and diligence by open Conferences with the Parties and by Censures of the Church in inferiour and higher Courts as also by Complâ—ints unto the Secular Power to reduce all such to the Church of England who were misled into Popish Superstition Those publick Conferences to be managed by the Bishop in person if his Occasion will permit it or by some one or more Learned Men of his especial appointment The time and place of such Conferences with the Names of the Persons to be admitted to the same to be of the Bishops nomination Such Papists as refuse to appear at any of the said Coâ—ferences to be counted obstinate and such Ministers as should refuse to act therein without a reasonable Cause approved by the Bishop to be Suspended for six Months Provided That the place appointed for the said Conferences be not distant above ten miles from their dwelling Houses That in case such Conferences produce not the effect desired all Ecclesiastical Persons shall then be careful to inform themselves of all Recusants above the age of 12 years in their several Parishes as well concerning their not coming to the Church as their resorting to other places to hear Mass of all such as be active in seducing the Subjects from coming to Church and disswading them from taking the Oath of Allegiance the Names of all such to be presented that being cited and found obstinate they might be publickly Excommunicated as well in the Cathedral as their Parish Churches The like course to be also taken by the Diocesans in places of exempt Jurisdiction and the Offenders to be turned over to the High-Commission That the Names of all such as are presented in any Inferiour Jurisdiction be transmitted within six Months to the Diocesans by them to be returned toâ—ether with the Names of such as have been presented in their own Visitations to his Majesties Justices of Assize in their several Circuits And the same course to be also taken in returning the Names of all such persons as have been either Married or Buried or have â—ave had their Children Christned in any other form than according to the Rules of the Church of England to the intent they may be punished according to the Statutes in that behalf That Information be given by all Churchwardens upon their Oaths what persons are imployed as Schoolmasters in Recusants Houses to the end that if they have not or will not subscribe they may be forbidden and discharged from teaching Children any longer And the Names of all Persons which entertain such Schoolmasters to be certified at the next Assizes Such Schoolmasters to incur the publick Censure of the Church as do not carefully instruct the Children committed to them in the publick Catechism and the Names of such Parents as either thereupon shall take away their said Children or otherwise send them to be educated beyond the Seas to be presented upon Oath at the Visitations and certified also to the said Justices as before is said that the said Parents may be punished according to Law The said Certificate to be presented to the Judges by the Bishops Registers immediately on the Reading of the Commission or at the end of the Charge upon pain of Suspension for three Months from their several Offices The said Judges and Justices being entreated and exhorted not to fail of putting the said Laws in execution and not to admit of any vexatious Suit or Suits against any Churchwardens or other sworn Officers for doing their duty in this kind That a Significavit be made in Chancery by all the several Bishops of the Names of all such persons as have stood Excommunicated beyond the time limited by the Laws desiring that the Writ De Excommunicato capiendo may be issued against them
ex Officio And finally That no person or persons subject to the said Writ shall be Absolved by virtue of an Appeal into any Ecclesiastical Court till they have first taken in their own persons the usual Oath De parendo juri stando mandatis Ecclesiae With a Petition to his Majesty in the Name of the Synod to give command both to his Officers in Chancery and the Sheriffs of the several Counties for sending out and executing the said Writs from time to time without any Charge to the Diocesans whose Estates it would otherwise much exhaust as often as it should be desired of them Such is the substance of this Canon in laying down whereof I have been the more punctual and exact that the equal and judicious Reader may the better see what point it was which the Archbishop aimed at from the first beginning of his Power and Government as before was noted In the mean time whilst this Canon was under a Review another ready drawn was tendred to the Prolocutor by the Clerk of Westminster for the better keeping of the day of his Majesties most happy Inauguration By which it was decreed according to the Example of the most pious Emperours of the Primitive Times and our own most Godly Kings and Princes since the Reformation and the Form of Prayer already made and by his Majesties Authority Appointed to be used on the said days of Inauguration That all manner of persons within the Church of England should from thenceforth celebrate and keep the morning of the said day in coming diligently and reverently unto their Parish Church or Chappel at the time of Prayer and there continue all the while that the Prayers Preaching or other Service of the day endureth That for the better observing of the said day two of the said Books should be provided at the Charge of each several Parish by the Churchwardens of the same with an Injunction to all Bishopâ— Archdeacons and other Ordinaries to inquire into the premises at their Visitations and punish such as are delinquent as in case of such as absent themselves on the other Holydays Another Canon was brought in against Socinianism by the spreading of which damnable and cursed Heresie much mischief had already been done in the Church For the suppressing whereof it was ordained by the Synod after some explication and correction of the words and phrases That no Stationer Printer or other person should print buy sell or disperse any Book broaching or maintaining the said Abominable Doctrine or Positions upon pain of Excommunication ipso facto and of being proceeded against by his Majesties Atturney-General on a Certificate thereof to be returned by the several Ordinaries to their Metropolitan according to the late Decree of Star-Chamber against Sellers of prohibited Books That no Preacher should presume to vent any such Doctrine in any Sermon under pain of Excommunication for the first Offence and Deprivation for the second That no Student in either of the Universities nor any person in Holy Orders excepting Graduates in Divinity or such as have Episcopal or Archidiaconal Jurisdiction or Doctors of Law in Holy Orders shall be suffered to have or read any such Socinian Book or Discourse under pain if the Offender live in the University that he shall be punished according to the strictest Statutes provided there against the publishing reading and maintaining of false Doctrines or if he lived in the City or Country abroad of a Suspension for the first Oâ—fence Excommunication â—or the second and Deprivation for the third unless he should absolutely and in terminis abjure the same That if any Lay-person should be seduced unto that Opinion and be convicted of it he should be Excommunicated and not Absolved but upon due Repentance and Abjuration and that before his Metropolitan or his own Bishop at least With several Clauses for seizing and burning all such Books as should be found in any other hands than those before limited and expressed Which severe course being taken by the Convocation makes it a matter of no small wonder That Cheynell the Usufructuary of the 〈◊〉 Parsonage of Petworth should impute the Rise and Growth of 〈◊〉 in a Pamphlet not long after Printed unto many of those who had been principal Actors in suppressing of those wicked and detestable Heresies Another Canon was presented to the Prolecutâ—r by one of the Members of that Body advanced the next year to a 〈◊〉 Dignity for Restraint of Sectaries By which it was deâ—â—â—â—d That all those Proceedings and Penalties which are mentiâ—â—â—d in the Canon against Popish Recusants so far forth as may be appliable should be in full force and vigour against all Anabaptists Brownists Sâ—peratists Familists or other Sect or Sects Person or Persons whatsoever who do or shall either obstinately refuse or ordinarily not having a lawful impediment that is for the space of a Month neglect to repair to their Parish Churches or Chappels where they inhabit for the hearing of Divine Service established and receiving of the Holy Communion according to Law That the Clause in the former Canon against Books of Socinianism should also extend to the Makers Importers Printers and Publishers or Dispersers of any Book Writing or Scandalous Pamphlet devised against the Discipline and Government of the Church of England and unto the Maintainers and Abettors of any Opinion or Doctrine against the same And finally That all despisers and depravers of the Book of Common Prayer who resorted not according to Law to their Church or Chappel to joyn in the Publick Worship of God in the Congregation contenting themselves with the hearing of Sermons only should be carefully inquired after and presented to their several and respective Ordinaries The same Proceedings and Penalties mentioned in the aforesaid Canons to be used against them unless within one whole Month after they are first Denounced they shall make Acknowledgment and Reformation of their fault So far the Bishops and Clergy had proceeded in the Work recommended to them when the Parliament was most unhappily Dissolved And possibly the Convocation had expired the next day also according to the usual custom if one of the Clergy had not made the Archbishop acquainted with a Precedent in Queen Elizabeths Time for the granting a Subsidy or Benevolence by Convocation to be Taxed and Levied by Synodical Acts and Constitutions without help of the Parliament directing to the Records of Convocation where it was to be found Whereupon the Convocation was Adjourned from Wednesday till the Friday following and then till the next day after and so till Munday to the great amazement of many of the Members of it who expected to have been Dissolved when the Parliament was according to that clause in the Commission aforesaid by which it was restrained to the Time of the Parliament only Much pains was taken by some of the Company who had been studied in the Records of Convocation in shewing the difference betwixt the Writ for calling a Parliament
and that for assembling a Convocation their different Forms and the independence of the one upon the other but more especially betwixt the Writ by which they were made a Convocation and that Commission by which they were enabled to the making of Canons That though the Commission was expired with the Parliament yet the Writ continued still in force and by that Writ they were to remain a Convocation until they were Dissolved by another With which Distinction the greatest part of those who before had scrupled at their Sitting did appear well satisfied but better satisfied on the Munday by a Paper which was sent unto them from the Court For the King being made acquainted with these scrupulosities proposed the Question on Sunday May 10. to the greatest Lawyers then about him who gave their Judgment in these words viz. The Convocation called by the Kings Writ is to be continued till it be dissolved by the Kinâ—s Writ notwithstanding the Dissolution of the Parliament Subscribed by â—inch Lord Keeper Manchester Lord Privy Seal Littletâ—â— Chief 〈◊〉 of the Common Pleas Bancks Attorney-General Whitfeild and Heath two of his Majesties Counsel Learned in the Laws of this Land Incouraged with which assurance and Animated by a New Commission to remain in Force during the Pleasure of the King they settled to their work again on Wednesday the thirteenth of that Moneth but not without some trouble of mind in regard of the Apparent Danger which seemed to threaten them The Archbishops house at Lambeth had been assaulted on Munday by a Rabble of Anabaptists Brownists and other Sectaries to the Number of five hundred and upwards who seeing they could not force that house resolved to turn their fury on the Convocation Of which his Majesty being Informed he caused a guard to be set about them consisting of some Companies of the trained Bands of the County of Middlesex under the Command of Endymion Porter one of the Grooms of the Bed-chamber an honest man and of good affections to the Church and his Majesties Service To such extremities were the poor Clergy brought during these confusions in danger of the Kings displeasure if they Rose of the Peoples fury if they Sate in danger of being beaten up by tumults when they were at their work of being beaten down by the following Parliament when their work was done But they went forward howsoever to the end of their journey and did the business as they went dispatching more work in so short a time then could be easily imagined Tâ—ree things there were which Canterbury was to take special caâ—e of in reference to the Publick peace of the Church and State That is to say the Reparation of the breaches made in the Regal and Episcopal Power by the late batteries of the Scots and their adherents on the commending of the Uniformity to all parts of the Kingdom which had been happily begun in so many places 〈◊〉 râ—ference to the first some propositions touching the institution Power and Priviledges of Sovereign Princes were recommended to the consideration of the Prolocutor and the Rest of the Clergy by them to be corrected if they saw occasion and being so corrected to pass into a Canon The Propositions six in number and were these tâ—at follow I. The most High and Sacred Order of Kings is of Divine Right bâ—inâ— the Ordinance of God himself founded in the prime Laws of Nature and clearly established by Express Texts both of the Old and the New Testaments A Supream Power is given to this most Excellent Order by God himself in the Scriptures which is That Kings should Rule and Command in their several Dominions all Persons of what Rank or Estate whatsoever whether Ecclesiastical or Civil and that they should Restrain and Punish with the Temporal Sword all Stubâ—â—â—n and wicked doers II. 〈◊〉 care of Gods Church is so committed to Kings in Scripture that they are commanded when the Church keeps the Right way and taxed when it Runs Amiss and therefore her Goverment belongs in Chief unto Kings For otherwise one man would be commended for anothers care and taxed but for anothers negligence which is not Gods way III. The Power to Call and Dissolve Councils both National and Provincial is the true Right of all Christian Kings within their own Realms and Territories And when in the first times of Christs Church Prelates used this Power 't was therefore only because in those days they had no Christian Kings And it was then so only used as in time of persecution that is with supposition in case it were required of submitting their very lives unto the very Laws and Commands even of those Pagan Princes that they might not so much as seem to disturb their Civil Government which Christ came to confirm but by no means to undermine IV. For any Person or Persons to set up maintain or avow in any the said Realms or Territories Respectively under any pretext whatsoever any Independent Co-active Power either Papal or Popular whether directly or indirectly is to undermine their Great Royal Office and cunningly to overthrow the Most Sacred Ordinances which God himself hath established And so it is Treasonable against God as well as against the King V. For Subjects to bear Arms against their Kings Offensive or Defensive upon any pretence whatsoever is at least to Resist the Powers which are ordained by God And though they do not invade but only Resist S. Paul tells them plainly They shall receive to themselves damnation VI. And although Tribute and Custom and Aid and Subsidies and all manner of necessary Support and Supply be respectively due to Kings from their Subjects by the Law of God Nature and Nations for the Publick Defence care and Protection of them yet nevertheless Subjects have not only possession of but a true and Iust Right Title and Propriety to and in all their Goods and Estates and ought for to have And these two are so far from crossing one another that they mutually go together for the Honourable and Comfortable support of both For as it is the duty of Subjects to supply their King so is it part of the Kingly office to support his Subjects in the Propriety and Freedom of their Estates These Propositions being Read and Considered of were generally past and approved without contradiction but that a little stop was made touching the Necessity of Aid and Subsidie to Kings from their Subjects which some thought fitter to leave at large according to the Laws of several Countries then to entitle it to the Law of God Nature and Nations but after a very light dispute that clause was allowed of with the Rest and a Canon presently drawn up by a ready hand according to the Vote of the House to make them Obligatory to the Clergy in the course of their Ministries The preamble which was sent with the Propositions required them to be read distinctly and audibly by every Parson Vicar Curate or Preacher upon some one Sunday
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
Law guilty of death that he did never bear any touch of Conscience with greater regret which as a sign of his Repentance he had often with sorrow confessed both to God and Men as an Act of so sinful frailty that it discovered more a â—ar of Man than of God whose Name and Place on Earth no man is worthy to bear who will avoid Inconveniences of State by Acts of so high Injustice as no Publick Convenience can compâ—nsat◠〈◊〉 loss of this Gentlemans Life after such a manner so terrified 〈…〉 oâ— his Majesties Servants that as some had deserted him in 〈…〉 appearance of his Troubles so there were few that durst stand to him or put him upon â—â—solute or couragious Counsels when he most wanted such Assistance In which respect it was no 〈◊〉 matter for the Houses of Parliament to wire draw him by de 〈…〉 Conâ—â—secâ—sions as finally left the Church without any Authority and the Crown with little more Prerogative than a Tâ—tular and precarious Empire He had before passed an Act for Triâ—â—nial Parliaments to be called in his default by Sheriffs and Constaples and signed a Bill for the continuance of the present Parliament during the pleasure of the Houses at such time as he passed away this poor Gentlemans Life He must now give up so much of his Power at once as would disable him from subsisting by any other means than the Alms of his Parliament or keeping down those factions and seditious Humours for which the ordinary Courts of Justice tied to Formalities of Law could provide no remedy In reference to the first having kept him hungry and in appetite for seven Months and more from their first meeting in November they present him with a Bill for Tonnage and Poundage to be paid only for the three Months following and that too clogged in the Preamble with such a Condition as to disclaim all such Right unto it as had been formerly enjoyed by his Predecessors They prepared also other Bills for Repealing the Statute concerning Knighthood made by K. Edward ii and then made rather for the ease of the Subâ—â—ct than the advantage of the Crown as also For abolishing his Preâ—â—ntions to the Raising of Ship-money For retrenching the Perambu 〈◊〉 of his Forests For suppressing the Court of Stanneries in Cornwâ—â— And 〈◊〉 long-continued Jurisdiction of his Clerk of the Market Aâ—â— in relation to the other they prepared two Bills more the one for pâ—â—ting down the Court of Star-Chamber the other for destroying the Higâ— Commission without which bridles there had been no ruling of the Puritan Faction But as in the Bill for putting down the Star-Chamber there were some Clauses which extended to the overthrow of tâ—e Court of the Marches and the Council established in the North and for Regulating the Authority of the Council-Table so 〈…〉 for destroying the High-Commission there was a Clause which took away the Coercive power of Bishops Chancellors Archdeacons and all other Ecclesiastical Judges To these two last the Royal Assent having been passed unto all the former without any difficulty the King was pleased to demur which bred such a heat amongst the Commons that he was forced on Munday the fifth of Iuly being but two daies after his passing of the other to make an excuse for this small delay the business being of such importance as the Altering in a great measure those Fundamental Laws both Ecclesiastical and Civil which so many of his Predecessors had established How great a blow was given by the first Act to the Royal Authority I leave to be considered by our Civil Historians What the Church suffered by the second will appear by these words in which it was Enacted under the several penalties therein contained That from the fifth day of August then next following no Archbishop or Bishops or any other Person or Persons having or exercising any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction under the Kings Majesty within the Realm of England and Dominion of Wales should award impose or inflict any Pain Penalty Fine Amercement Imprisonment or any Corporal Punishment for any Contempt Misdemeanour Crime Offence Matter or Thing whatsoever belonging to Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Cognizance or Jurisdiction or should Ex Officio or at the instance or promotion of any person whatsoever urge enforce tender give or minister unto any Churchwarden Sideman or person whatsoever any Corporal Oath whereby they shall be obliged to make any Presentment concerning others or confess any thing against themselves which might make them lyable or expose them to any Censure Pain Penalty of what sort soever Which in effect was to take away the Power of Ecclesiastical Censures belonging naturally and originally to the Episcopal Function that is to say Suspensions Excommunications Deprivations and Degradations all which are both inflicted and renounced as Pains or Penalties to the no small encouragement of Inconformity Incontinency and all other irregular Courses both in Clergy and Laity because it nourisht an opinion of impunity in the hearts of those who formerly had been awed respectively by those several Censures For when the Subject fears neither Pain nor Penalty the Superiour under whom he lives will find little obedience and the Laws much less But we have too long left our Archbishop in his cares and sorrows and therefore must return to ease him of some part of his cares though his sorrows continued as before Hitherto he had given himself no improbable hopes of being called unto his Trial and given such strong proof of his integrity and innocence from the Crimes objected as might restore him to a capacity of doing those good offices to the University as that place of Chancellor did require But finding by the late proceedings of the Houses of Parliament in the business of his dear Friend the Earl of Strafford that his affairs were like to grow from bad to worse he would no longer undergo the name of that Office which he was not able to perform Resolved to put the University into such a condition as might enable them to proceed in the choice of a more fortunate Patron he acquaints the King with his intent by the Bishop of London and finding his Majesties Concurrence in opinion with him he sends his Resignation in his Letter of Iune 28. Which being published and excepted in the Convocation of the University on Iuly 1. The Earl of Pembroke was now elected to succeed him who had before been named in competition for the Office with him MY Present Condition saith the Letter is not unknown to the whole World yet by few pitied or deplored The righteous God 〈◊〉 knows the Iustice of my sufferings on whom both in life and death I will ever depend the last of which shall be unto me most welcome in that my life is now burdensome unto me my mind attended with variety of sad and grievous thoughts my soul continually vexed with Anxietie and troubles groaning under the burden of a displeased Parliament my name aspersed and
r. was commanded p. 113. l. 40. r. Scrinia p. 119. l. 26. r. home p 134. l. 24. 〈◊〉 it p. 144 l. 23 r. named any p. 150. l. 4. 〈…〉 p. 151. 4. 11. r. â—een p. 161. l. 1. r. land p. 170. l. 8. r. in the. p. 172. l. 14. â— â—â—gden p. 174. l. 17. r. at it p. 181. l. 26. r. the suppâ—sed p. 182. l. 28. r. there â— p. â—â—9 l. 36. r. tares p. 192. l. 14. for worse r. wiser p. 194. l. 19. r. Acts of Grace p. 197. l. 4. â—eie for l. 27. r. Embarrassâ—s p. 215. l. 40. r. Twisse p. 219. l. 41. r Subscriptiâ—ns p. 233. l. 3. r. given p. 250. l. 31. r. of them p. 271. l. 20. r. Dauphine p. 〈…〉 33. 〈◊〉 them p. 298. l. 36. r. quarrelled with p. 308. l. 38. r. in a manner p. 321. l. 25â— but. p. 331. l. 11. r. knows p. 340. l. 26. r. they come p. 343. l. 37. r. keep p. 345. l. 15. r. Osbeston p. 378 l. 36. r. distaste p. 381. l. 8. r. too blame p. 390. l. 23 r. sentences of the Kirk l. 25. r. calumnies p. 392. l. 39. r. Vâ—rres p. 401. l. 43. r. 〈◊〉 p. 407. l. 8. dele be p. 410. l. 35. dele as p. 412. l. 39. r. imploy p. 413. l. 23. r 〈◊〉 p. 415. l. 45. dele for p. 432. l. 28. r. in the. p. 436. l. 37. r. thwarting p. 465. l. 45. r. â—y the Lord. p. 464. l. 46. r. he l. 46. till p. 465. l. 45. r. silliest p. 467. l. 31. r. tâ—le p. 476. l. 44. r. as to take p. 488. l. 37. r. nor p. 491. l. 11. r. them p. 493. l. 30. r. Scotland p. 495. l. 9. â— Consents of p. 500. l. 40. dele the. p. 515. l. 29. r. nor AN ELEGIE ON THE DEATH OF The most Reverend FATHER in GOD WILLIAM Lord Archbishop of Canterbury c. Ianuary 10. 1644. Horat. Carm. Lib. 4. Od. 8. Dignum Laude Virum musa vetat mori AND yet not leave thee thus I fain would try A Line or two in way of Elegie And wail so sad a Loss if to express The greatness of it would not make it less If to Lament thee might not vex thee more Than all the Scorns thou hast endur'd before And make thee think we envied thee thy start Or doubted that thou wert not where thou art Yet with thy leave I needs must drop a Verse Write it with Tears and fit it for thy Herse And at this distance from thy Grave which lacks The Pomps of Sorrow hang my Heart with Blacks Religious Prelate What a Calm hast thou I' th' midst of those turbulent Storms which now Shipwrack this Island At how cheap a Rate Hast thou procur'd this Change of thy Estate The Mitre for a Crown A few poor days For endless Bliss Vile Earth for Heavenly Joys Such Glories has thou found such Alteration In this thy Highest as thy last Translation How were thine Enemies deceiv'd when they Advanc'd thee thus and chalk'd thee out the Way A Way so welcome to thee No Divine But knows the Red-Sea leads to Palestine And since Christ Iesus Sanctified the Cross Death 's the best Purchase Life the greatest Loss Nor be thou griev'd Blest Soul that Men do still Pursue thee with black Slanders and do kill Thy Shadow now and trample on thy Ghost As Hectors Carcass by the Grecian Host Or that thou want'st Inscriptions and a Stone T' ingrave thy Name and write thy Titles on Thou art above those Trifles and shalt stand As much above Mens malice Though the hand Of base Detraction hath defil'd thy Name And spotless Virtues yet impartial Fame Shall do thee all just Honours and set forth To all succeeding Times thy matchless Worth No Annals shall be writ but what Relate Thy happy Influence both on Church and State Thy Zeal to Publick Order Thy Great Parts For all Affairs of Weight Thy Love to Arts And to our shame and his great Glory tell For whose dear Sake by whose vile Hands he fell A Death so full of Merits of such Price To God and Man so sweet a Sacrifice As by good Church-Law may his Name prefer To a fixt Rubrick in the Kalender And let this silence the Pure Sects Complaint If they make Martyrs we may make a Saint Or should Men envie thee this Right thy Praise An Obsequie unto it self can raise Thy brave Attempt on Pauls in time to come Shall be a Monument beyond a Tombe Thy Book shall be thy Statua where we find The Image of thy Nobler Part thy Mind Thy Name shall be thy Epitaph and he Which hears and reads of that shall publish thee Above the reach of Titles and shall say None could express thy Worths a braver way And thus though murther'd thou shalt never die But live Renown'd to all Posterity Rest thou then happy in the Sweets of Bliss Th' Elyzian the Christians Paradise Exempt from Worldly Cares secure from Fears And let us have thy Prayers as thou our Tears FINIS Submission of the Clergie Character and Ejection of the Pope No Diminution of the Power and Priviledges of the Church by the Alteration The manner of Electing and Confirming Archbishops and Bishops Established by King HENRY viii still continuing in effect notwithstanding some Statutes to the contrary by K. EDW. vi The Reformation of the Church under EDW. vi Modelled according to the Scriptures and the Ancient Fathers but with relation rather to the Lutheran then Calvinian Forms Bishops a distinct Order from that of the Presbytery The Power ascribed unto the Priest or Presbyter in hearing the Confession of and giving Absolution to the Penitent Party The security of the Penitent provided for by the Church and the Authority of Absolution more fully justified The several Offices which be performed by the Priest attired at ordinary times in his Surplice and at extraordinary in his Cope The Priest in his officiating the Divine Service of the Church Restrained to his appointed Postures Not permitted to use any Form of his own Composing Tyed to officiate daily both at morning and evening but With a liberty of officiating in the Latin tongue at some times and places Presbyters not to Preach without being Licenced By whom they were to be so licenced And why they were directed to the reading of Homilies Preaching or Homilizing only once a day on the Sundays and Holy dayes Lectures upon working dayes by whom and for what ends erected and Of the dangers which arose from the Institution Of Sacraments and Sacramentals No orders to be given but by Bishops only and Confirmation reckoned for one of their peculiars The rest promisenously permitted to the Presbyter also Penance how far retain'd in the Church of England Not only as commemorated on Ashwednesday yearly but As judicially imposed on scandalous and notorious Sinners in the open Consistory Consecration of Churches truly Primitive Honoured with Dedication Feasts and Those Feasts made annually and