Peace of both Kingdoms which must be little less than a Miracle if he do As for my Hand that it was at the Warrant of Restraint of the Commissioners sent from the Parliament c. This also is but a meer clamour to bring me into further hatred which hath been their aim all along For why else is my Hand picked out alone whereas the Hands of all for ought I know that were then present at the Committee were subscribed to that Warrant And yet it seems no Hand hath troubled them but mine And for these Commissioners seeking the Peace of the Kingdom I will not offer to enter upon their Thoughts what they sought but leave it to future times that will discover the success of things and by it open the aim of the Agents how they sought the Peace of these Kingdoms But yet they go on For when we had say they by our Declarations Remonstrances and Representations manifested the Truth of our Intentions and Lawfulness of our Actions to all the good Subjects of the Kingdom of England when the late Parliament would not be moved to assist or enter into a War against us maintaining our Religion and our Liberties Canterbury did not only advise the breaking up of that High and Honourable Court to the great grief and hazard of the Kingdom but which is without Example did sit still in the Convocation and make Canons and Constitutions against us and our Just and Necessary defence They did indeed offer by many Pamphlets Printed and sent into England to manifest the Truth of their Intentions which was to join close with their Party here and come and gain some good Booty in England And this end they have obtained But the lawfulness of their Actions they neither have nor can make good to any Impartial and Judicious Reader of them And whereas they say they have made the lawfulness of them manifest to all the good Subjects of the Kingdom of England you must know that they are only such English as joyn with them in their Plot or at least in Affection to Religion And 't is easie to make any thing that fits their Humour and comes from their Associats manifest enough But God forbid these should be all the good Subjects of England which it may too justly be feared are none of them And yet it cannot be denied but that England hath at this day much too many of these good Subjects They add further that the late Parliament would not assist nor enter into a War against them I believe that is true and I leave the Parliament to give their own Reasons why they would not But I am sure that which follows is most untrue That I gave Advice for the breaking of it up as appears by that which I have formerly set down and will not repeat And I shall ever wish from my Heart that the Kingdom may never be hazarded more than it hath been by my Counsels and then by God's Blessing it shall be a happier Kingdom than the youngest now alive are like to see it if things go on in the Track they now are Next they say that without all Example I sat still in Convocation though the Parliament were risen Without Example What is that to them if it were so But the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury have sate in Convocation and made Canons too when no Parliament hath been sitting as is most manifest by the Records of that See Yea but there is no Example of it since the Reformation Be it so Nor is it for all that forbidden in the Statute of the submission of the Clergy 25 H. 8. so they sit by the King 's Writ And yet here I was so careful as that I caused the great Lawyers of the Kingdom to be consulted abaut it and followed their Judgments as is before expressed And for the Canons which were made they were not against them One branch indeed of the first Canon is against Subjects bearing Arms against their King offensive or defensive under any pretence whatsoever But this as it is the Antient Doctrine which the Church of Christ hath ever Taught in all times and places So is it not against them at all unless they against Christian Religion and Natural All giance bear Arms against their King But if they do or have done so the Canon that was not made against them hits them full And in this Case let them pretend what they list their Defence can neither be Just nor Necessary Yea but they say farther that I Ordained under all highest pains That hereafter the Clergy shall Preach four times in the Year such Doctrine as is contrary not only to our Proceedings but to the Doctrine of other Reformed Kirks to the Judgment of all sound Divines and Politicks and tending to the utter Slavery and Ruine of all States and Kingdoms and to the dishonour of Kings and Monarchs This goes high indeed if it were as full in proof as 't is loud in expression But here is not one shew of Proof added either from Reason or Authority Divine or Humane more than their bare word And therefore I must answer it in the same Key First then 't is true that in the Preface of the first Canon every Minister is injoyned under a Penalty to Publish to his People the Exposition of Regal Power contained in that Canon and this once every quarter of a Year So then if the Doctrine contained in that Canon be true and it was approved for Truth by the whole National Synod of England then all this high Charge falls low enough Besides it will concern them to consider well what their Proceedings have been For as for this Canon it is according to the Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Church And they surely were both Pious and Sound Divines that lived in it and I for my part shall hold no Man a Sound Divine that runs contrary to it Now that the Primitive Christians were of Opinion that Subjects ought not to take Arms against their Kings Offensive or Defensive upon any pretence whatsoever which are the words in our Canon which they are so angry with no not for or under pretence of Religion see the Proofs in the Margin For in the most bitter Times of Persecution for the very highest points of Religion whatever Miseries they indured they still contained themselves within the bounds of their Obedience And that too not out of any want of Power but will to hurt And if the Doctrine of other Reformed Churches be contrary to this they shall do well to shew it and then I 'll give such farther Answer as is fit But if the Canon be contrary to the Judgment of sound Politiques I know not which they call sound For if they mean such as are of their Feather I think their Judgments are alike Sound that is neither And if they mean Learned and well experienced Politiques I believe they will be able to shew none of
with that which they most feared And I pray God this Clamour of venient Romani of which I have given no cause help not to bring them in For the Pope never had such an Harvest in England since the Reformation as he hath now upon the Sects and Divisions that are amongst us In the mean time by Honour and Dishonour by good Report and evil Report as Deceivers and yet true am I passing through this World 2 Cor. 6. 8. Some Particulars also I think it not amiss to speak of And First this I shall be bold to speak of the King our Gracious Soveraign He hath been much traduced also for bringing in of Popery but in my Conscience of which I shall give God a very present Account I know him to be as free from this Charge as any Man living and I hold him to be as sound a Protestant according to the Religion by Law Established as any Man in this Kingdom and that he will venture his Life as far and as freely for it And I think I do or should know both his Affection to Religion and his Grounds for it as fully as any Man in England The Second Particular is concerning this great and Populous City which God bless Here hath been of late a Fashion taken up to gather Hands and then go to the great Court of this Kingdom the Parliament and Clamour for Justice as if that Great and Wise Court before whom the Causes come which are unknown to many could not or would not do Justice but at their appointment A way which may endanger many an Innocent Man and pluck his Blood upon their own Heads and perhaps upon the City 's also and this hath been lately practised against my self the Magistrates standing still and suffering them openly to proceed from Parish to Parish without any Check God forgive the Setters of this with all my Heart I beg it but many well-meaning People are caught by it In St. Stephen's Case when nothing else would serve they stirred up the People against him And Herod went the same way when he had killed St. James Yet he would not venture on St. Peter till he found how the other Pleased the People But take heed of having your Hands full of Blood for there is a time best known to himself when God above other Sins makes Inquisition for Blood and when that Inquisition is on foot the Psalmist tells us that God remembers that 's not all he remembers and forgets not the Complaint of the Poor That is whose Blood is shed by Oppression ver 9. Take heed of this It is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God but then especially when he is making Inquisition for Blood And with my Prayers to avert it I do heartily desire this City to remember the Prophesie that is expressed Jer. 26. 15. The Third Particular is the Poor Church of England It hath Flourished and been a shelter to other Neighbouring Churches when Storms have Driven upon them But alas now it is in a Storm it self and God only knows whether or how it shall get out And which is worse than the Storm from without it is become like an Oak cleft to Shivers with Wedges made out of it 's own Body and at every Cleft Profaneness and Irreligion is entring in while as Prosper speaks in his Second Book de Contemptu Vitae cap. 4. Men that introduce Profaneness are Cloaked over with the Name Religionis imaginariae of Imaginary Religion For we have lost the Substance and dwell too much in Opinion And that Church which all the Jesuites Machinations could not Ruine is fallen into Danger by her own The last Particular for I am not willing to be too long is my self I was Born and Baptized in the Bosom of the Church of England Established by Law in that profession I have ever since lived and in that I come now to Die This is no time to dissemble with God least of all in matters of Religion And therefore I desire it may be remembred I have always lived in the Protestant Religion established in England and in that I come now to Die What Clamours and Slanders I have endured for labouring to keep an Uniformity in the external Service of God according to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church all Men know and I have abundantly felt Now at last I am Accused of High-Treason in Parliament a Crime which my Soul ever abhorred This Treason was Charged to consist of two Parts An Endeavour to subvert the Laws of the Land and a like Endeavour to overthrow the true Protestant Religion Established by Law Besides my Answers to the several Charges I protested my Innocency in both Houses It was said Prisoners Protestations at the Bar must not be taken I can bring no Witness of my Heart and the Intentions thereof therefore I must come to my Protestation not at the Bar but my Protestation at this Hour and Instant of my Death in which I hope all Men will be such Charitable Christians as not to think I would Die and Dissemble being Instantly to give God an Account for the Truth of it I do therefore here in the Presence of God and his Holy Angels take it upon my Death that I never Endeavoured the subversion of Law or Religion And I desire you all to remember this Protest of mine for my Innocency in this and from all Treasons whatsoever I have been Accused likewise as an Enemy to Parliaments No I understand them and the Benefit that comes by them too well to be so But I did mislike the Misgovernments of some Parliaments many ways and I had good Reason for it For Corruptio Optimi est Pessima there is no Corruption in the World so bad as that which is of the Best Thing within it self for the better the thing is in Nature the worse it is Corrupted And that being the Highest Court over which no other hath Jurisdiction when it is misinformed or misgoverned the Subject is left without all Remedy But I have done I forgive all the World all and every of those Bitter Enemies which have persecuted me and humbly desire to be forgiven of God First and then of every Man whether I have offended him or not if he do but conceive that I have Lord do thou forgive me and I beg forgiveness of him And so I heartily desire you to joyn in Prayer with me Which said with a distinct and audible Voice he Prayed as followeth O Eternal God and Merciful Father look down upon me in Mercy in the Riches and fulness of all thy Mercies look down upon me But not till thou hast nailed my Sins to the Cross of Christ not till thou hast bathed me in the Blood of Christ not till I have hid my self in the Wounds of Christ that so the Punishment due unto my Sins may pass over me And since thou art pleased to try me to the utmost
a poor Evasion was this Were there no other Lawyers for him because Mr. Solicitor was for me The Truth is all that ever I did in this Business was not only with the Knowledge but by the Advice of my Councel which were Mr. Solicitor Littleton and Mr. Herbert At last this Gentleman submitted himself and the Cause and if as he says Dr. Eden perswaded him to it that 's nothing to me As for the Fine I referred the moderation of it wholly to my Councel They pitched upon Sixteen Hundred Pounds and gave such Days of Payment as that a good part is yet unpaid And this Summ was little above one Years Rent For the Parsonage is known to be well worth Thirteen Hundred Pound a Year if not more And after the Business was setled my Lord Wimbleton came to me and gave me great Thanks for preserving this Gentleman being as he said his Kinsman whom he confessed it was in my Power to ruin For the raising of the Rent Sixty Pounds it was to add Means to the several Curats to the Chappels of Ease And I had no Reason to suffer Sir Ralph Ashton to go away with so much Profit and leave the Curats both upon my Conscience and my Purse And for his Fine to St Pauls I gave him all the Ease I could But since his Son will force it from me he was accused of Adultery with divers Women and confessed all And whither that Fine went and by what Authority I have already shewed And thus much more my Lords at Mr. Bridgman's Intreaty I turned this Lease into Lives again without Fine But since I have this Reward for it I wish with all my Heart I had not done it For I am confident in such a Case of Right your Lordships would have left me to the Law and more I wou'd not have asked And I think this though intreated into it was my greatest Error in the Business 6. The last Instance was about the conversion of some Money to St. Pauls out of Administrations By Name Two Thousand Pounds taken out of Wimark's Estate and Five Hundred out of Mr. Gray's First whatsoever was done in this kind I have the Broad-Seal to Warrant it And for Mr. Wimark's Estate all was done according to Law and all care taken for his Kindred And if I had not stired in the Business Four Men all Strangers to his Kindred would have made themselves by a broken Will Executors and swept all away from the Kindred Secondly for Mr. Gray's Estate after as Odious an expression of it as could be made and as void of Truth as need to be the Proceedings were confessed to be Orderly and Legal and the Charge deserted Then there was a fling at Sir Charles Caesar's getting of the Mastership of the Rolls for Money and that I was his means for it And so it was thence inferred That I sold Places of Judicature or helped to sell them For this they produced a Paper under my Hand But when they had thrown all the Dirt they could upon me they say they did only shew what Probabilities they had for it and what Reason they had to lay it in the end of the Fourth Original Article and so deserted it And well they might For I never had more Hand in this Business than that when he came to me about it I told him plainly as things then stood that Place was not like to go without more Money than I thought any Wise Man would give for it Nor doth the Paper mentioned say any more but that I informed the Lord Treasurer what had passed between us CAP. XXVIII THis day ended I was Ordered to appear again April 4. 1644. And received a Note from the Committee under Serjeant Wild's Hand dated April 1. That they meant to proceed next upon the Fifth and Sixth Original Articles and upon the Ninth Additional which follow in haec verba The Fifth Original He hath Trayterously caused a Book of Canons to be Composed and Published and those Canons to be put in Execution without any lawful Warrant and Authority in that behalf in which pretended Canons many Matters are contained contrary to the King's Prerogative to the Fundamental Laws and Statutes of this Realm to the Right of Parliament to the Propriety and Liberty of the Subjects and Matters tending to Sedition and of dangerous Consequence and to the Establishment of a vast unlawful and presumptus Power in himself and his Successors Many of the which Canons by the practice of the said Arch-Bishop were surreptitiously passed in the late Convocation without due consideration and debate others by fear and compulsion were Subscribed unto by the Prelats and Clerks there assembled which had never been Voted and Passed in the Convocation as they ought to have been And the said Arch-Bishop hath contrived and endeavoured to assure and confirm the Vnlawful and Exorbitant Power which he hath Vsurped and Exercised over his Majesty's Subjects by a Wicked and Vngodly Oath in one of the said pretended Canons injoyned to be taken by all the Clergy and many of the Layety of this Kingdom The Sixth Original He hath Trayterously assumed to himself a Papal and Tyrannical Power both in Ecclesiastical and Temporal Matters over his Majesty's Subjects in this Realm of England and in other places to the Disherison of the Crown Dishonour of his Majesty and Derogation of his Supream Authority in Ecclesiastical Matters And the said Arch-Bishop claims the King 's Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction as incident to his Episcopal and Archiepiscopal Office in this Kingdom and doth deny the same to be derived from the Crown of England which he hath accordingly exercised to the high contempt of his Royal Majesty and to the destruction of divers of the King's Liege People in their Persons and Estates The Ninth Additional Article That in or about the Month of May 1641. presently after the dissolution of the last Parliament the said Arch-Bishop for the ends and purposes aforesaid caused a Synod or Convocation of the Clergy to be held for the several Provinces of Canterbury and York wherein were made and established by his Means and procurement divers Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical contrary to the Laws of this Realm the Rights and Priviledges of Parliament and Liberty and Property of the Subject tending also to Sedition and of dangerous Consequence And amongst other things the said Arch-Bishop caused a most Dangerous and Illegal Oath to be therein made and contrived the Tenor whereof followeth in these words That 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 Popish Doctrine contrary to that which is so Established Nor will I ever give my consent to alter the Government of this Church by Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans and Arch-Deacons c. as it
think my Lord Arch-Bishop hath done no Good Work in all his Life but these Men will object it as a Crime against him before they have done With this Charge about the Statutes it was let fall and I well know why It was to heat a Noble Person then present That I procured my self to be chosen Chancellour of that Vniversity If I had so done it might have been a great Ambition in me but surely no Treason But my Lords I have Proof great store might I be enabled to fetch it from Oxford that I was so far from endeavouring to procure this Honour to my self as that I laboured by my Letters for another And 't is well known that when they had chosen me I went instantly to his Majesty so soon as ever I heard it and humbly besought him that I might refuse it as well foreseeing the Envy that would follow me for it and it did plentifully every way But this for some Reasons his Majesty would not suffer me to do Then were objected against me divers Particulars contained in those Statutes As First the making of new Oaths The Charters of the Vniversity are not new and they gave Power to make Statutes for themselves and they have ever been upon Oath The next Illegality is That Men are tied to obey the Proctors in Singing the Litany This is Ancient and in use long before ever I came to the Vniversity and it is according to the Liturgy of the Church of England established by Law Thirdly The Statute of Bannition from the Vniversity But there is nothing more ancient in the Vniversity Statutes than this Fourthly That nothing should be propased in Convocation but what was consented unto among the Heads of Colleges first which was said to be against the Liberty of the Students The young Masters of Arts void of Experience were grown so tumultuous that no Peace could be kept in the Vniversity till my worthy Predecessor the Right Honourable William Earl of Pembroke setled this Order among them As he did also upon the same Grounds settle the present way of the choice of their Proctors In both which I did but follow and confirm for so much as lay in me the Good and Peaceable Grounds which he had laid in those two Businesses And Mr. Brown who in the summing up of my Charge urged this against me mainly mistook in two things The one was that he said this Inhibition of Proposals was in Congregations Whereas it was only in Convocations where more weighty Businesses are handled The other was that this stay of Proposals was made till I might be first acquainted with them No it was but till the Heads of Colleges had met and considered of them for avoiding of tumultuary Proceedings And when my Honourable Predecessor made that Order it was highly commended every where and is it now degenerated into a Crime because it is made up into a Statute Fifthly That some things are referred to Arbitrary Penalties And that some things are so referred is usual in that Vniversity and many Colleges have a particular Statute for it Nor is this any more Power than Ordinary School-Masters have which have not a Statute-Law for every Punishment they use in Schools And in divers things the old known Statute is that the Vice-Chancellour shall proceed Grosso Modo that is without the regular Forms of Law for the more speedy ending of Differences among the Scholars Sixthly That the Statute made by me against Conventicles is very strict But for these that Statute is express De Illicitis Conventiculis and I hope such as are unlawful may be both forbid and punished Besides it is according to the Charter of Richard the Second to that Vniversity The Seventh was the Power of Discommoning But this also hath ever been in Power and in Usage in that Vniversity as is commonly known to all Oxford-Men And no longer since than King James his time Bishop King then Vice-Chancellor Discommuned Three or Four Towns-Men together Next That Students were bound to go to Prison upon the Vice-Chancellors or Proctors Command This also was Ancient and long before my coming to the Vniversity And your Lordships may be sure the Delegacy appointed by themselves would not have admitted it had it not been Ancient and Usual Lastly about the stay of granting Graces unless there were Testimony from the Bishop of the Diocess This was for no Graces but of such as Live not Resident in the Vniversity and so they could not judge of their Manners and Conversation And for their Conformity to the Church of England none as I conceive can be a fitter Witness than the Bishop of the Diocess in which they resided And my Lords for all these thus drawn up by some of their own Body I obtained of his Majesty his Broad Seal for Confirmation And therefore no one thing in them is by any Assumption of Papal Power as 't is urged but by the King's Power only Then followed the Seventh Charge about the Statutes of some Cathedral Churches First my Lords for this I did it by Letters-Patents from the King bearing Date Mar. 31. Decimo Caroli and is extant upon Record And all that was done was Per Juris Remedia and so nothing intended against Law nor done that I know They had extream need of Statutes for all lay loose for want of confirmation and Men did what they listed And I could not but observe it for I was Dean of Gloucester where I found it so In seeking to remedy this I had nothing but my Labour for my Pains and now this Accusation to Boot The Particulars urged are That I had Ordered that nothing should be done in these Statutes Me inconsulto And I had great Reason for it For since I was principally trusted in that work by his Majesty the King if any Complaint were made would expect the account from me And how could I give it if other Men might do all and I not be so much as consulted before they passed 2. That I made a Statute against letting Leases into three Lives But first my Lords the Statute which makes it lawful to let Leases for One and Twenty Years or three Lives hath this limitation in it that they shall not let for any more Years than are limited by the said Colleges or Churches Now in Winchester Church and some other the old local Statute is most plain that they shall let no Lease into Lives Let the Dean and Prebendaries Answer their own Acts and their Consciences as they can And in those Statutes which I did not find pregnant to that purpose I did not make the Statute absolute but left them free to renew all such Leases as were Anciently in Lives before And this give me leave to say to your Lordships without offence If but a few more Leases be granted into Lives no Bishop nor Cathedral Church shall be able to subsist And this is
from the Press both Old and New and expunging some things out of them 1. The first Instance was about the English Bibles with the Geneva Notes The Bibles with those Notes were tolerated indeed both in Queen Elizabeths and King James his Time but allowed by Authority in neither And King James said plainly That he thought the Geneva Translation was the worst and many of the Notes very Partial Vntrue Seditious and savouring too much of Dangerous and Traiterous Conceits And gave Instance This passage I then read to the Lords And withal told them that now of late these Notes were more commonly used to ill purposes than formerly and that that was the Cause why the High-Commission was more careful and strict against them than before Here Michael Sparks the Elder came in as Witness and said he was called into the High Commission about these Books But he confesses it was not only for them He says the restraint of those Bibles was for the Notes But he adds as he supposes And his Supposal is no Proof Besides he might have added here also that the restraint was not for the Notes only For by the numerous coming over of Bibles both with and without Notes from Amsterdam there was a great and a just fear conceived that by little and little Printing would quite be carried out of the Kingdom For the Books which came thence were better Print better Bound better Paper and for all the Charges of bringing sold better Cheap And would any Man Buy a worse Bible Dearer that might have a better more Cheap And to preserve Printing here at home as well as the Notes was the Cause of stricter looking to those Bibles And this appears by a Letter of Sir William Boswell's his Majesty's Agent in the Low Countreys the Letter written to me and now produced against me But makes for me as I conceive For therein he sends me word of two Impressions of the Bible in English one with Notes and the other without And desires me to take care to regulate this business at home What should I do Should I sleep upon such Advertisements as these and from such a hand Especially since he sends word also that Dr. Amyes was then Printing of a Book wholly against the Church of England So my Care was against all underminings both at home and abroad of the Established Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England for which I am now like to suffer And I pray God that point of Arminianism Libertas Prophetandi do not more Mischief in short time than is expressible by me 2. The Second Instance was about the New Decree of the 〈◊〉 concerning Printing Four Articles of this Decree were read namely the 1 2 18 24. What these are may be seen in the Deecree And as I think that whole Decree made Anno 1637. useful and necessary So under your Lordships Favour I think those Four Articles as necessary as any Mr. Waly and Mr. Downes two Stationers Witnesses in this Particular say That they desired some Mitigation of the Decree and that Judge Bramston said he could not do it without me I saw my Lord Chief Justice Bramston here in the Court but the other Day why was not he examined but these Men only who oppose all Regulating of the Press that opposes their Profit And sure that grave Judge meant he could not do it alone without the consent of the Court. Or if he would have me Consulted it was out of his Judicious Care for the Peace of this Church almost Pressed to Death by the Liberty of Printing The Chief Grievance they Expressed against the new Licensing of Books was only for matter of Charges But that is provided for in the Eighteenth Article And Mr. Downes takes a fine Oath which was that he makes no doubt but that all was done by my Direction and yet adds that he cannot say it So he swears that which himself confesses he cannot say And manifest it is in the Preface that this Decree was Printed by Order of the Court and so by their Command sent to the Stationers Hall And the end of it was to suppress Seditious Schismatical and Mutinous Books as appears in the First Article 3. The Third Instance was That I used my Power to suppress Books in Holland This was drawn out of a Letter which John le Mare one of the Prime Preachers in Amsterdam writ to me expressing therein that since the Proclamation made by the States no Man durst meddle with Printing any Seditious Libels against either the State or Church of England Where 's the Fault For this Gentleman did a very good Office to this Kingdom and Church in procuring that Proclamation For till this was done every discontented Spirit could Print what he pleased at Amsterdam against either And if he had any Direction from me about it which is not proved I neither am nor can be sorry for it And the Fear which kept Men in from Printing proceeded from the Proclamation of the States not from any Power of mine 4. The Fourth Instance was in the Book of Martyrs But that was but named to Credit a base Business an Almanack made by one Mr. Genebrand In which he had left out all the Saints Apostles and all and put in those which are named in Mr. Fox And yet not all them neither for he had left out the Solemn Days which are in Fox as Feb. 2. Feb. 25. Mar. 25. And Cranmer Translated to Mar. 23. In this Particular Mr. Genebrand Brother to this Almanack-maker witnesseth that the Queen sent to me about this New Almanack If her Majesty did send to me about it as 't is probable she would disdain the Book is that any Crime in me Could I prevent her Majestys sending who could not know so much as that she would send He says his Brother was acquitted in the High-Commission but charged by me that he made a Faction in the Court If I did say so surely my Lords I saw some practising by him in this new-found way He says the Papists bought up a great number of these Almanacks and burnt them It seems he could not hinder that nor I neither unless it shall not be Lawful for a Papist to buy an Almanack For when he hath bought him he may burn him if he please But since the Book of Martyrs was named I shall tell your Lordships how careful I was of it It is well known how easily Abridgments by their Brevity and their Cheapness in short time work out the Authors themselves Mr. Young the Printer laboured me earnestly and often for an Abridgment of the Book of Martyrs But I still withstood it as my Secretary here present can Testifie upon these two Grounds The one lest it should bring the large Book it self into disuse And the other lest if any Material thing should be left out that should have been charged as done of purpose by me as now I see it is in other Books
which we differ from them And Mr. Wakerly confesses that the Words as alter'd are That they are Persecuted for their Religion and their Religion is the Protestant Religion and so is ours And therefore I could have no intention to make the Religions different but the Opinions under the same Religion For Mr Wakerly he is a Dutchman born and how far the Testimony of an Alien may be of force by the Law I know not And a bitter Enemy to me he hath ever shewed himself since I complained to the King and the Lords that a Stranger born and bred should be so near a Secretary of State and all his Papers and Cyphers as he was known to be to Mr. Secretary Coke A thing which few States would indure And how far the Testimony of such a Canker'd Enemy should be admitted let the World judge Admitted he was 2. The Second Witness was Mr 〈◊〉 He acknowledges my improvement of the Collection and my great readiness therein which doubtless I should not have shewed had I accounted them of another Religion He says there was no Alteration but in that Clause and that implies a manifest difference But that is but in his Judgment in which I have already shewed that Wakerly is mistaken and so is he Beside he comes here as a Witness of the Fact not as a Judge of my Intentions or Thoughts He adds That if he remember well the Alteration was drawn by me But if he do not remember well what then Surely here 's no Evidence to be grounded upon Ifs. Here upon the point of Antichrist Mr. Nicolas stiled me as before and was furious till he foamed again but I saw a necessity of Patience Mr. Brown also in his Summary Ch followed this Business close But I gave it the same Answer The Fifth Charge and the last under this Article was the calling in of a Book An. 1637. shewing the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church in the Palatinat but called in only because against Arminianism The single Witness Michael Sparks He says this Book was called in but he knows not by whom nor mentions he for what But he says The Pursevants which searched for it were mine He means such as belonged to the High-Commission for other than such I had none And there was cause enough for calling in the Book without thinking of Arminianism But what is the Reason why here 's nothing urged against me about Abrogating the Immunities and Priviledges of the French and Dutch Churches which fill the Body of this Article Why I conceive there may be two Reasons of it One because there was taken by Mr. Pryn among other Papers for my Defence a Letter under Queen Elizabeth's own Hand to the Lord Pawlet Marquess of Winchester then Lord Treasurer in which she expresses her willingness that those Strangers distressed in and for point of Conscience should have Succour and free Entertainment but should conform themselves to the English Liturgy and have that Translated into their own Language And they knew I would call to have this Letter produced proved and read And had this Letter been stood unto they had never been able to do the Church of England half the harm they have since done The other was because they found by their own search against me that all which I did concerning those Churches was with this Moderation that all those of their several Congregations in London Canterbury Sandwich Norwich or elsewhere which were of the second Descent and born in England should repair to their several Parish Churches and Conform themselves to the Doctrine Discipline and Liturgy of the Church of England and not live continually in an open Separation as if they were an Israel in AEgypt to the great distraction of the Natives of this Kingdom and the assisting of that Schism which is now broke forth And as this was with great Moderation so was it with the joint Approbation of his Majesty and the Lords of his Council upon the Reasons openly given and debated And all this before I proceeded to do any thing As appears apud Acta Then they went to the Thirteenth Original Article which here follows He hath Trayterously and Wickedly endeavoured to reconcile the Church of England with the Church of Rome and for the effecting thereof hath Consorted and Confederated with divers Popish Priests and Jesuits and hath kept secret Intelligence with the Pope of Rome and by himself his Agents or Instruments Treated with such as have from thence received Authority and Instruction He hath permitted and countenanced a Popish Hierarchy or Ecclesiastical Government to be Established in this Kingdom By all which Trayterous and Malicious Practices this Church and Kingdom have been exceedingly indangered and like to fall under the Tyranny of the Roman See The Seventh Additional Article That the said Arch-Bishop at several times within these Ten Years last past at Westminster and elsewhere within this Realm contrary to the known Laws of this Land hath endeavoured to advance Popery and Superstition within the Realm And for that End and Purpose hath wittingly and willingly received harboured and relieved divers Popish Priests and Jesuits namely one called Sancta Clara alias Damport a dangerous Person and Franciscan Friar who having written a Popish and Seditious Book Intituled Deus Natura Gratia wherein the Thirty nine Articles of the Church of England established by Act of Parliament were much Traduced and Scandalized the said Arch-Bishop had divers Conferences with him while he was in writing the said Book and did also provide Maintenance and Entertainment for one Monsieur S. Giles a Popish Priest at Oxford knowing him to be a Popish Priest The First Charge they say was to be laid as a Foundation and it was That I was generally reputed a Papist in Heart both in Oxford and since I came thence 1. The first Witness for this was Dr. Featly He says There was such an Opinion of me Thirty Years since there But he says he never heard any Popish Opinion maintained by me So here 's nothing of Knowledge And if I should say that above Thirty Years ago there was an Opinion that Dr. Featly then in Oxford was a Puritan this could make no Proof against him nor can his saying that I was reputed a Papist make any Proof against me He says farther That one Mr. Russel who had been bred in S. John's College told him in Paris That I maintained some Catholick Opinions First Mr. Nicolas would have it that this Mr. Russel was my Scholar But that the whole College can witness it is not so nor had he ever any relation to me in the least Degree After his Father's Death he left the College and went beyond Sea where the Weak Man for such he was lost his Religion Secondly Dr. Featly says expresly that Mr. Russel said I was no Papist which for the Countenance of his own Change he would never have said had he thought me one Thirdly if he did say
and by the Council-Table the Courts of Star-Chamber and High-Commission and in Convocation and because many more things so done are to come in the next Head concerning the Law I humbly crave leave for avoiding tedious Repetition to say it once for all That no act done by any of these either by full Consent or major Part which involves the rest ought to be charged singly against me And that for these Reasons following 1. First because this is not Peccare cum Multis For they meet not there in a Relation as Multi but as Vnum Aggregatum as Bodies made one by Law And therefore the Acts done by them are Acts of those Bodies not of any one Man sitting in them And in this Sense a Parliament is one Body consisting of many and the Acts done by it are Acts of Parliament For which should any of them prove amiss no one Man is answerable though many times one Man brings in the Bill 2. Secondly because I could sway no Man's Vote in any of those Places though this hath been often urged against me as an Over Potent Member for my Vote was either last or last save one in all these Places So I could not lead Nor is there any so much as shew of Proof offered that I moved or prepared any Man to a Sentence one way or other in any one of these Courts or Places 3. Thirdly because in those Courts of Judicature there was the Assistance of able Judges Lawyers and Divines for direction And how can that be a Treason in me which is not made so much as a Misdemeanour in any of the rest 4. Fourthly because the Act of this present Parliament which hath taken away the Star-Chamber and the High-Commission and bounded the Council-Table looks forward only and punishes no Man for any Act past much less doth it make any Man's Actions done in them to be Treason And I am no way excluded from the Benefit of that Act. 5. Lastly because in all my Proceedings both in the High-Commission and elsewhere I kept strictly to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England Established by Law against both Papist and other Sectaries And under this Government and Doctrine of this Church it hath pleased God now for above Fourscore Years together to Bless this Kingdom and People above other Nations And I pray God if we forsake the one it prove not a Cause to deprive us of the other And now Mr. Speaker I shall follow this worthy Gentleman as he went on to the Second General Head the Subversion of the Laws And here when he had caused the 1 2 3 5 and 14. Original Articles to be read as also the 2 9 and 10. Additionals He then said that I had laboured this Subversion by my Counsels and by my Actions 1. By my Counsels First Of which he gave Three Instances 1. The Vote of the Council-Table to Assist the King in Extraordinary ways if the Parliament should prove peevish and refuse And this out of my Diary at Decemb. 5. 1639. 2. The Passage in the Epistle before my Speech in Star-Chamber Not one Way of Government since the Humours of the People were in continual Change 3. A Speech at Council-Table That now the King might use his own Power c. Witnessed only by Sir Henry Vane the Elder 2. From my Counsels proceed was made to my Actions Where the Particulars were 1. That I attempted to set Proclamations above the Law 2. That I was for all Illegal Projects at the Council-Table Instanced in Inclosures in the Ship-Money and Sir John Corbett's Commitment 3. The taking down of the Houses about St. Paul's with the large Commission for the Repair of the West-End 4. The stopping of Two Brewers in their Trade being in Westminster and pretended to annoy the Court. 5. Things done by me as Referee Instanced in a Case between Rich and Pool and another of one Symmes 6. Obstructing the Course of Law by sending to Judges Instanced in the Parishioners of Beckington in the Case of Ferdinando Adams in Sir Henry Martyn's Case about an Attorney at Law Judge Richardson's Words in Mr. Huntley's Case and Baron Trevers Words in Grafton's Case 7. The punishing Men that came in a Legal Way Instanced in the Case of New-comin and Burrowes that I said in the High-Commission I hoped to see the Clergy exempt again the next hundred Years the two Church-wardens of Chesham with Words concerning Sir Thomas Dacres 8. The Case of Prohibitions and Mr. Wheeler's Note out of a Sermon of mine concerning them 9. That no Pope ever claimed so much Jurisdiction not from the King 10. The Canons and I the main Man the over-grown Member again 11. The Statutes of Oxford enforced a second time Nevill's Case of Merton-College instanced in 12. Books Printed that are against the Law Instanced in Cowell's Interpreter and Dr. Manwaring's Sermons 13. The Alteration of the King's Oath at his Coronation 14. My Enmity to Parliaments To all which as I then gave sufficient Answers so I hope the Courteous Reader hath found them at large in their several Places And for this last concerning Parliaments I humbly and heartily desire that this may be taken notice of and remembred That there is not in any one of these Paper-Proofs produced against me any one thing that offers to take away any Rights of Parliaments rightly understood much less any that offers to take away Parliaments themselves Which is a continued Mistake all along this particular Charge And if any rash or unweighed Words have fallen from me yet these cannot be extended to the disannulling of Parliaments or their Priviledges in any kind which I defended in Print long since before I could foresee any of this Danger threatning me It is in my Book against Fisher. It was read in the Lords House and I humbly desire I may read it here And it was read After this it was inferred by this worthy Gentleman what a great Offender I was and greater than Cardinal Woolsey Mr. Speaker I have seen the Articles against the Cardinal and sure some body is mistaken for some of them are far greater than any thing that is proved against me In which I thank Christ for it my Conscience is at peace whereas the Cardinal confessed himself guilty of them all and yet no thought of Treason committed And a Premunire was all that was laid upon him Then he gave a touch That in Edward III.'s time there was a Complaint That too much of the Civil Government was in the hands of the Bishops and that in the 45th Year of his Reign they were put out and Lay-men put in But first this concerns not me Secondly the late Act of this Parliament hath taken sufficient Order with that Calling for medling in Civil Affairs Thirdly the time is memorable when this was done It was in the Forty and fifth Year of Edward III. That 's enough Mr. Speaker I shall draw towards an end
share therein as he could desire his Body being accompanied to the Earth with great Multitudes of People whom Love or Curiosity or remorse of Conscience had drawn together purposely to perform that Office and decently Interred in the Church of Alhallow Barking a Church of his own Patronage and Jurisdiction according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England In which it may be noted as a thing remarkable That being whilst he Lived the greatest Champion of the Common-Prayer-Book here by Law Established he had the Honour being Dead to be Buried by the Form therein prescribed after it had been long disused and almost reprobated in most Churches of London Hitherto Dr. Heylin The same day that the House of Lords passed the Ordinance of Attainder against the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury viz. Jan. 4. they likewise passed an Ordinance that the Book of Common-Prayer should be laid aside and for Establishing the Directory for Publick Worship which had been framed by the Assembly of Divines Rushworth par 3. vol. 2. pag. 839. H. W. On the Arch-Bishop's Coffin was nailed a little Brass-Plate with his Arms and this Inscription Engraven thereon In hac Cistuli conduntur Exuviae Gulielmi Laud Archiepiscopi Cantuariensis qui Securi percussus Immortalitatem adiit Die X. Januarij AEtatis suae LXXII Archiepiscopatûs XII In the Year 1663 his Body was removed from All-Hallows Church in London and being carried to Oxford was there Solemnly deposited July 24. in a little brick Vault near to the Altar of the Chappel in St. John Baptist's College The Arch-Bishop's Last Will and Testament In Dei Nomine Amen I William Laud by God's great Mercy and Goodness Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury being in perfect Health tho' at this time a Prisoner in the Tower of London God knows for what in due and serious Consideration of Humane Frailty do hereby Make Ordain and Declare this my Last Will and Testament in Manner and Form following And First in all Humility and Devotion of a contrite Heart I 〈◊〉 beg of God Pardon and Remission of all my Sins for and through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ my alone Saviour And though I have been a most Prodigal Son yet my hope is in Christ that for his sake God my most merciful Creator will not cast off the Bowels of Compassion of a Father Amen Lord Jesus In this Hope and Confidence I render up my Soul with Comfort into the Mercies of God the Father through the Merits of God the Son in the Love of God the Holy Ghost And I humbly pray that most Blessed and Glorious Trinity One God to prepare me in that Hour of Dissolution and to make me wait every Moment when my Changing shall come and in my Change to receive me to that Rest which he prepared for all them that Love and Fear his Name So Amen Lord Jesu Amen Whomsoever I have in the least degree Offended I heartily ask God and him Forgiveness And whosoever hath Offended me I pray God forgive them and I do And I hope and pray that God will forgive me my many Great and Grievous Transgressions against him Amen For my Faith I Die as I have Lived in the True Orthodox Profession of the Catholick Faith of Christ foreshewed by the Prophets and Preached to the World by Christ himself his Blessed Apostles and their Successors and a True Member of his Catholick Church within the Communion of a Living part thereof the present Church of England as it stands Established by Law Secondly I leave my Body to the Earth whence it was taken in full assurance of the Resurrection of it from the Grave at the last day This Resurrection I constantly believe my Dear Saviour Jesus Christ will make happy unto me his poor and weary Servant And for my Burial tho' I stand not much upon the place yet if it conveniently may be I desire to be Buried in the Chappel of St. John Baptist's College in Oxford underneath the Altar or Communion-Table there And should I be so unhappy as to die a Prisoner yet my earnest desire is I may not be buried in the Tower But wheresoever my Burial shall be I will have it private that it may not waste any of the poor Means which I leave behind me to better Uses Thirdly For my Worldly Estate I Will that my Debts be presently paid which at this time I praise God are very small Then for St Paul's Church it grieves me to see it at such a stand And tho' I have besides my pains given largely towards it and the Repairs thereof yet I leave it a Blessing of 800 l. which will be truly paid in for that Work if ever it go on while the Party trusted with it lives But my Executors are not charged with this 't is in safe but other Hands Item I take the boldness to give to my Dread and Dear Soveraign King Charles whom God bless 1000 l. and I do forgive him the Debt which he owes me being 2000 l. and require that the Tallies for it be delivered up Item I give to St John's College in Oxford where I was bred all my Chappel-Plate gilt or party-gilt All my Chappel-Furniture all such Books as I have in my Study at the time of my Death which they have not in their Library and 500 l. in Money to be laid out upon Lands And I Will that the Rent of it shall be equally divided to every Fellow and Scholar alike upon the 17th day of October every fourth Year Something else I have done for them already according to my Ability And God's everlasting Blessing be upon that Place and that Society for ever I give to the Right Honourable George Lord Duke of Buckingham his Grace my Chalice and Patin of Gold and these I desire the young Duke to accept and use in his Chappel as the Memorial of him who had a Faithful Heart to love and the Honour to be beloved of his Father So God bless him with wise and good Counsels and a Heart to follow them By Father and Mother I never had Brother nor Sister but by my Mother many They were all Ancient to me and are Dead but I give to their Children as followeth Legacies To his Brother Dr Robinson's Children Scil Henry and John and Lucie and Elizabeth Wife to Dr Baily To Dr Cotsford Son of his Sister Amie To Dr Edward Layfield Son of his Sister Bridget To Eliz Holt Daughter of his Sister Bennet To William Bole Son of his Sister Elizabeth To his Sister Briget's Daughter Wife to Mr Snow To his Chaplains Rings rich or Watches To the Poor of several places he had reference to 5 l. each To Canterbury Lambeth and Croydon 10 l. each To the University of Oxford where I was Bred and to the Town of Reading where I was Born I have already in perpetuity as God hath made me able Item I give to so many of my Servants as did continue my Servants
which my Lord calls so That if these Corruptions be fundamental they may be such too as may keep these Churches which he speaks of from being true Churches and the Ministry from being a true Ministry But if these Corruptions be of a very light Allay as I verily believe they are if there be any then his Lordship ought not to separate but to joyn in Communion with them for all these either Yokes or Corruptions The Apostle indeed tells us of a Church without Wrinkle Ephes. 5. But that is a Triumphant Church in Heaven not a Militant upon Earth And for the Yokes which my Lord speaks of they are not Yokes of Bondage as he pleases to call them but Yokes of Obedience which whenever they shall be broken the wild Asses of the Wilderness will over-run all My Lord goes farther and says That in these true Churches this true Ministry does yield unto and admit of these Yokes and these Corruptions contrary as he thinks to their Duty But it seems they think not so or if they do think so why do they not remonstrate their Grievance Sure if their Conscience tell them they do against their Duty they ought to inform their Conscience or forbear the Work To inform their Conscience I am sure is fit for them if they need it Though it seems my Lord would rather have them forbear the Duty the doing whereof he calls their yielding unto and their admitting these things which he calls Yokes and Corruptions As for that which follows and which my Lord says he is sure of that no Separatist in England that deserves that Name holds that which his Lordship says here he doth believe In that also I conceive his Lordship is utterly mistaken For I believe there is no Separatist in England Brownist or other deserving that Name but he holds and will say as much as my Lord believes namely that there are in England many true Churches that is Assemblies or Congregations of their own Brotherhood And a true Ministry To wit those which themselves have made And that they do hear them that is such as these Yea and that they could joyn in Communion with some other Churches were those Yokes of Bondage which are layd upon them taken off and those Corruptions removed That is upon the matter if they would become as themselves are then they would joyn with them And this 〈◊〉 of all doubt they think they ought to do and neither yield unto such Yoeks nor admit of such Corruptions So that my Lord may see every 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in England even they which most deserve that Name hold that which his Lordship believes And therefore no question can be made but that my Lord deserves that Name as much as any of them even while he says he is sure no Separatist in England that deserves that Name holds as he doth But to come to the quick The Brownists and Separatists deal plainly with God and the World and say expresly that the whole Church of England as it stands established by Law is peccant both in the Doctrine Liturgy and Discipline of it and in such a degree as that they neither will nor can joyn in Communion with it And therefore separate from it and betake themselves to their own private Opinions and Congregations But my Lord he Equivocates both with God and Man And tells us he believes there are true Churches in England and a true Ministry which he hears And this no Separatist that understands himself but will say as fast as he But let his Lordship come home to the Business directly and plainly Let him say that the Church of England is a true Church That the Ministry of it is a true Ministry That the Doctrine Liturgy and Discipline of it as it stands established now by Law are free from any such Corruptions as give just cause for a Separation And when he hath said this let him joyn in Communion with it as he ought to do and then he shall wrong my Lord very deeply that says he is a Separatist But for all this which he hath yet said for himself 't is manifest that a Separatist he is And I doubt hath hereby proved himself whether I will or no the greatest Separatist in England And therefore he hath little cause to hope as he says he doth that he shall stand right in their Lordships Opinions or any other Man's that is not possest with the same Humour Yet my Lord hath two Requests to make I will now end with two Requests The one that your Lordships will please to pardon me for troubling you with so long a Discourse concerning my self I have not used it heretofore and I am not like to offend again in the same kind It is but once and your Lordships will consider the occasion In this Suit were there need I would joyn with my Lord. For though I have a great deal of hard Measure put upon me in this Speech yet I have the more reason to be content with it because this whole Discourse of my Lord's well weighed is more against himself than me And such Trouble of his Lordship's I hope all Men well affected to the present Church of England will easily Pardon And this I doubt not but their Lordships and all Men else will the rather do when they consider the Occasion Which certainly I gave not personally in the House But a Guilty Conscience it seems would needs be meant The Second Request is to entreat of you that where you know there is one and the same God worshipped one and the same Faith embraced one and the same Spirit working Love and causing an unblamable Conversation without any offence to the State in your Brethren who in all these concur with you you will not suffer them for Ceremonies and Things indifferent to you but not to them but Burthens which without offence to the State or prejudice to the Churches you may take off if you will to be thrust out of the Land and cut off from their Native Country For if you thus shall wound the Consciences of your Brethren you will certainly offend and sin against Christ. In this second Request I can easily agree with my Lord in some things but must differ in other And First I agree with all my Heart that I would have no pressure at all much less cutting off from their Native Country put upon them who are known to worship the same God to embrace one and the same Faith and one and the same Spirit working Love But in this I must disagree that the Separatists for they are the Men of whom this Lord speaks thus and says they are your Brethren and concur with you in all these are not known to be such For though he be one and the same God whom they worship yet the Worship is not one and the same For my Lord says plainly that our set Forms are Superstition And that he cannot joyn in Communion with us till our
Oblation for no other end but that the Memorial and Sacrifice of Praise mentioned in it may be understood according to the Popish meaning Bellarm. de Missa l. 2. c. 21. not of the Spiritual Sacrifice but of the Oblation of the Body of the Lord. This Book they say Inverts the Order of the Communion in the Book of England Well and what then To Invert the Order of some Prayers in the Communion or any other part of the Service doth neither pervert the Prayers nor corrupt the Worship of God For I hope they are not yet grown to be such superstitious Cabbalists as to think that Numbers work any thing For so the Prayers be all good as 't is most manifest these are it cannot make them ill to be read in 5. 7. or 3. place or the like unless it be in such Prayers only where the Order is essential to the Service then in hand As for Example to read the Absolution first and the Confession after and in the Communion to give the Sacrament to the People first and read the Prayer of Consecration after In these Cases to Invert the Order is to Pervert the Service but in all other ordinary Prayers which have not such a necessary dependence upon Order first second or third work no great effect And though I shall not find fault with the Order of the Prayers as they stand in the Communion-Book of England for God be thanked 't is well yet if a Comparison must be made I do think the Order of the Prayers as now they stand in the Scottish Liturgy to be the better and more agreeable to use in the Primitive Church and I believe they which are Learned will acknowledge it And therefore these Men do bewray a great deal of Will and Weakness to call this a New-Communion only because all the Prayers stand not in the same Order But they say there are divers secret Reasons of this Change in the Order Surely there was Reason for it else why a Change But that there was any hidden secret Reason for it more than that the Scottish Prelates thought fit that Book should differ in some things from ours in England and yet that no differences could be more safe than those which were in the Order of the Prayers especially since both they and we were of Opinion that of the two this Order came nearest to the Primitive Church truly I neither know nor believe As for the only Reason given of this Change 't is in my Judgment a strange one 'T is forsooth for no other end they say but that the Memorial and Sacrifice of Praise mentioned in it may be understood according to the Popish meaning not of the Spiritual Sacrifice but of the Oblation of the Body of the Lord. Now Ignorance and Jealousie whither will you For the Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving no Man doubts but that is to be Offer'd up Nor doth any Man of Learning question it that I know but that according to our Saviour's own Command we are to do whatsoever is done in this Office as a Memorial of his Body and Blood Offered up and shed for us S. Luc. 22. Now 't is one thing to Offer up his Body and another to Offer up the Memorial of his Body with our Praise and Thanks for that infinite Blessing So that were that Change of Order made for this end which is more than I know I do not yet see how any Popish Meaning so much feared can be fastned upon it And the Words in that Prayer are plain as they are also in the Book of England That we offer and present unto God our Selves our Souls and Bodies to be a reasonable holy and lively Sacrifice unto him What is there here that can be drawn to a Popish Meaning unless it be with the cords of these Mens Vanity Yet thus much we have gained from them That this Prayer comes in the Book of England pertinently after the Communion Any approbation is well of that Antichristian Service-Book as 't is often called And I verily believe we should not have gained this Testimony of them for it but only that they are content to approve that to make the greater hatred against their own Next they tell us 2. It seems to be no great matter that without warrant of the Book of England the Presbyter going from the North end of the Table shall stand during the time of Consecration at such a part of the Table where he may with the more ease and decency use both his Hands Yet being tryed it importeth much As that he must stand with his hinder parts to the People representing saith Durand that which the Lord said to Moses Thou shalt see my hinder parts Truly this Charge is as it seems no great matter And yet here again they are offended that this is done without warrant of the Book of England How comes this Book of England to be so much in their esteem that nothing must be done without warrant from it Why 't is not that they approve that Book for they will none of that neither But 't is only to make their Complaint more acceptable in England Yet they say this very remove of the Presbyter during the time of Consecration upon tryal imports much The Rubrick professes that nothing is meant by it but that he may use both his Hands with more ease and decency about that work And I protest in the presence of Almighty God I know of no other Intention herein than this But these Men can tell more They are sure it is that he may turn his hinder parts to the People representing that which the Lord said to Moses And what Warrant have they for this Why Durand says so Now truly the more Fool he And they shall do well to ask their own Bishops what acquaintance they have with Durand For as for my self I was so poorly satisfied with the first Leaf I Read in him that I never medled with him since Nor indeed do I spend any time in such Authors as he is So I have nothing to do with this Yea but they find fault with the Reason given in the Rubrick For they say He must have the use of both his Hands not for any thing he hath to do about the Bread and the Wine for that may be done at the North end of the Table and be better seen of the People But as we are taught by the Rationalists That he may be stretching out his Arms represent the extension of Christ on the Cross. But the Reason given in the Rubrick doth not satisfie them For they say plainly They have no use of both their Hands for any thing that is to be done about the Bread and the Wine Surely these Men Consecrate these Elements in a very loose and mean way if they can say truly that they have not use of both their Hands in this work Or that whatsoever is done may as well be done at the
work of God's Omnipotency Well and a work of Omnipotency it is what ever the Change be For less than Omnipotence cannot Change those Elements either in Nature or Vse to so high a Service as they are put in that great Sacrament And therefore the Invocating of God's Almighty Goodness to effect this by them is no proof at all of intending the Corporal Presence of Christ in this Sacrament 'T is true this passage is not in the Prayer of Consecration in the Service-Book of England but I wish with all my Heart it were For though the Consecration of the Elements may be without it yet is it much more solemn and full by that Invocation Secondly these words they say intend the Corporal Presence of Christ in the Sacrament because the Words in the Mass are ut fiant nobis that they may be unto us the Body and the Blood of Christ. Now for the good of Christendom I would with all my Heart that these words ut fiant nobis That these Elements might be To us worthy Receivers the blessed Body and Blood of our Saviour were the worst Error in the Mass. For then I would hope that this great Controversie which to all Men that are out of the Church is the shame and among all that are within the Church is the division of Christendom might have some good Accommodation For if it be only ut fiant nobis that they may be to us the Body and the Blood of Christ it implies clearly that they are to us but are not Transubstantiated in themselves into the Body and Blood of Christ nor that there is any Corporal Presence in or under the Elements And then nothing can more cross the Doctrine of the present Church of Rome than their own Service For as the Elements after the Benediction or Consecration are and may be called the Body and Blood of Christ without any addition in that real and true Sense in which they are so called in Scripture So when they are said to become the Body and the Blood of Christ nobis to us that Communicate as we ought there is by this addition fiant nobis an allay in the proper signification of the Body and Blood And the true Sense so well signified and expressed that the words cannot well be understood otherwise than to imply not the Corporal Substance but the Real and yet the Spiritual use of them And so the words ut fiant nobis import quite contrary to that which they are brought to prove And I hope that which follows will have no better success On the other side the Expressions of the Book of England at the delivery of the Elements of feeding on Christ by Faith and of eating and drinking in remembrance that Christ died for thee are utterly deleted Before they went about to prove an intendment to establish the Doctrine of the Corporal Presence of Christ in the Sacrament by some positive words And here they go about to prove the same by the omission of some other words of the Book of England For they say and 't is true that those words are expressed in the English Liturgy at the delivery of the Elements and are left out of the Book prepared for Scotland But it is altogether false either that this omission was intended to help to make good a Corporal Presence or that a Corporal Presence can by any good consequence be proved out of it For the first of feeding on Christ by Faith if that omission be thought to advantage any thing toward a Corporal Presence surely neither the Scottish Bishops nor my self were so simple to leave it out here and keep these words in immediately after that thou dost vouchsafe to feed us which have duly received those Holy Mysteries with the Spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son For the feeding on Christ by Faith and the Spiritual Food of the Body and Blood of Christ are all one and 't is hard that the asserting of a Spiritual Food should be made the proof a Corporal Presence or that the omitting of it in one place should be of greater force than the affirming it in another The like is to be said of the second omission of eating and drinking in remembrance that Christ died for us For that remembrance of his Death and Passion is expressed almost immediately before And would not this have been omitted as well as the other had there been an intention to forget this remembrance and to introduce a Corporal Presence Besides St. Paul himself in the 1 Cor. 11. adds this in remembrance of me But in the 1. Cor. 10. The Cup of blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ Which Interrogation there is a pressing Affirmation and these words in remembrance of Christ are omitted And what then will these my Learned Adversaries say that St. Paul omitted this to establish a Corporal Presence I hope they will not But whatsoever this omission may be thought to work it cannot reflect upon me For when I shall come to set down as I purpose God willing to do the brief Story what hand I had in this Liturgy for Scotland it shall then appear that I laboured to have the English Liturgy sent them without any Omission or Addition at all this or any other that so the Publick Divine Service might in all his Majesty's Dominions have been one and the same But some of the Scottish Bishops prevail'd herein against me and some Alterations they would have from the Book of England and this was one as I have to shew under the then Bishop of Dunblain's Hand Dr. Wetherborne whose Notes I have yet by me concerning the Alterations in that Service-Book And concerning this particular his words are these The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee preserve thy Body and Soul unto Everlasting Life And so The Blood of c. whereunto every Receiver answer'd Amen There is no more in King Edw. 6. his first Book And if there be no more in ours the Action will be much the shorter Besides the words which are added since take eat in remembrance c. may seem to relish somewhat of the Zuinglian Tenet That the Sacrament is a bare Sign taken in remembrance of Christ's Passion So that for my part First I see no hurt in the omission of those latter words none at all And next if there be any it proceeded not from me That which follows is a meer flourish in the general For they say Many Evidences there be in this part of the Communion of the Bodily presence of Christ very agreeable to the Doctrine taught by his Sectaries which this Paper cannot contain They teach us that Christ is received in the Sacrament Corporaliter both Objectivè Subjectivé Corpus Christi est objectum quod recipitur at
Corpus nostrum est subjectum quo recipitur Many weak Collections and Inferences are made by these Men out of this part of the Communion of the Bodily Presence of Christ but not one Evidence is or can be shewed As for Sectaries I have none nor none can have in this Point For no Men can be Sectaries or Followers of me in that which I never held or maintained And 't is well known I have maintained the contrary and perhaps as strongly as any my Opposits and upon Grounds more agreeable to the Doctrine of the Primitive Church Among these Sectaries which they will needs call mine they say there are which teach them that Christ is received in the Sacrament Corporaliter both Objectivè Subjectivé For this Opinion be it whose it will I for my part do utterly condemn it as grosly Superstitious And for the Person that affirms it they should have done well to name him and the place where he delivers this Opinion Had this been done it had been fair And I would then have clearly acknowledged what Relation if any the Person had to me and more fully have spoken to the Opinion it self when I might have seen the full scope together of all that he delivered But I doubt there is some ill Cause or other why this Author is not named by them Yet the Charge goes on 4. The Book of England abolishes all that may import the Oblation of †an unbloody Sacrifice but here we have besides the preparatory Oblation of the Elements which is neither to be found in the Book of England now nor in King Edward's Book of old The Oblation of the Body and the Blood of Christ which Bellarmin calls Sacrificium Laudis quia Deus per illud magnoperè laudatur This also agrees well with their late Doctrine First I think no Man doubts but that there is and ought to be offered up to God at the Consecration and Reception of this Sacrament Sacrificium Laudis the Sacrifice of Praise And that this ought to be expressed in the Liturgy for the Instruction of the People And these Words We entirely desire thy Fatherly Goodness Mercifully to accept this our Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving c. are both in the Book of England and in that which was prepared for Scotland And if Bellarmin do call the Oblation of the Body and the Blood of Christ a Sacrifice of Praise sure he doth well in it for so it is if Bellarmin mean no more by the Oblation of the Body and the Blood of Christ than a Commemoration and a Representation of that great Sacrifice offered up by Christ himself As Bishop Jewel very Learnedly and fully acknowledges But if Bellarmin go farther than this and by the Oblation of the Body and the Blood of Christ mean that the Priest Offers up that which Christ himself did and not a Commemoration of it only he is Erroneous in that and can never make it good But what Bellarmin's Opinion and Meaning is when he calls it Sacrificium Laudis a Sacrifice of Praise I cannot tell till they be pleased to cite the place that I may see and consider of it In the mean time there is as little said in the Liturgy for Scotland which may import an Oblation of an unbloody Sacrifice as is in the Book of England As for the Oblation of the Elements that 's fit and proper And I am sorry for my part that it is not in the Book of England But they say farther We are ready when it shall be judged convenient and we shall be desired to discover much more of Matters in this kind as Grounds laid for Missa Sicca or the Half Mass for Private Mass without the People of Communicating in one kind of the Consumption by the Priest and Consummation of the Sacrifice of receiving the Sacrament in the Mouth and not in the Hand c. Here 's a Conclusion of this Charge against me concerning the Service-Book And these charitable Men which have sought no less than my Life now say they are ready when it shall be convenient and that they shall be desired to deliver much more in this kind Sure the time can never be more convenient for them than now when any thing they will say shall be believed even against apparent Evidence or most full Proof to the contrary And I do desire them that notwithstanding this is Hora vestra Potestas Tenebrarum their most convenient time that they will discover any thing which they have more to say But the Truth is here 's nothing in this threatned Heap but Cunning and Malice For they would seem to reckon up many things but divers of them are little different as Missa Sicca and Communicating in one kind And neither these nor any of the rest offered with any Proof nor indeed are they able to prove that any Grounds are laid for any one of them in that Service-Book And for my own part I have expressed my self as fully against these particulars as any Protestant that hath Written Yet they say Our Supplications were many against these Books But Canterbury procured them to be Answered with Horrible Proclamations We were constrained to use the Remedy of Protestation But for our Protestations and other Lawful Means which were used for our Deliverance Canterbury procured us to be declared Rebells and Traytors to all the Parish-Kirks of England where we were seeking to possess our Religion in Peace against those Devices and Novations Canterbury kindles War against us In all these it is known that he was although not thes ole yet the principal Agent and Adviser Their Supplications against these Books of the Canons and the Service were many indeed But how well qualified the matter duly considered I leave to them who shall take the pains to look into them And howsoever most untrue it is that I caused them to be answered with Horrible Proclamations Nor were they constrained by any thing that I know but their own wilfulness to use the Churlish Remedy of Protestation against their Sovereigns Lawful Power in Lawful Things They add that for their Protestations and other Lawful Means which they used for their Deliverance Canterbury procured them to be proclaimed Rebels Now truly I know no other Lawful means that they used but taking up of Arms professedly against the King And I for my part do not conceive that Lawful for Subjects to do in any Cause of Religion or otherwise and this I am sure was the Ancient Christian Doctrine And yet when they had taken up Arms I did not procure them to be declarered Rebels and Traytors The Proclamation for that went out by Common Advise of the Lords of the Council and their carriage at that time deserv'd it plentifully let them paint over that Action how they can And let the World and future Ages judge whether to take Arms against their Sovereign were a Christian and an orderly seeking to
reduce them to the Heresies in Doctrine the Superstition and Idolatry in Worship and the Tyranny in Government which are in that See and for which the Reformed Kirks did separate from it and came forth of Babel From him certainly hath issued all this Deluge which almost hath overturned all What not the Pope himself now surely he could do little then For as I told you in the very last Passage I never intended more to the Reformed Churches than to wish them in Doctrine and Discipline like the Church of England And I hope that was neither to Negotiate for Rome nor to reduce them to Heresie in Doctrine nor to Superstition and Idolatry in Worship no nor to Tyranny in Government All which are here most wrongfully imputed to me And this comparing of me with the Pope himself I could bear with more ease had I not Written more against Popish Superstition than any Presbyter in Scotland hath done And for my part I wou'd be contented to lay down my Life to Morrow upon Condition the Pope and Church of Rome would admit and confirm that Service-Book which hath been here so eagerly charged against me For were that done it would give a greater blow to Popery which is but the Corruption of the Church of Rome than any hath yet been given And that they know full well And whereas they say that for these things the Reformed Churches did separate from it and came forth of Babel That is true that they did separate and for these things But not till for the maintaining of the contrary to these things they were Excommunicated and Thrust out Then indeed they separated but not till they were forced by a double necessity of Truth from which they might not depart and of that Punishment which would not suffer them to enter And yet the Reformed Churches all and every of them had need look well to themselves For if they came out of Babel to run down into Egypt they 'll get little by the Bargain Now they end in Confidence We are therefore confident that your Lordships this they speak to the English Commissioners who were to deliver this their Charge against me into the Lords House will by your means deal effectually with the Parliament that this great Fire-brand may be presently removed from his Majesties Presence and that he may be put to Tryal and have his deserved Censure according to the Laws of the Kingdom Which shall be good Service to God Honour to the King and Parliament Terror to the Wicked and Comfort to all good Men and to us in special who by his means principally have been put to so many and grievous Afflictions wherein we had Perished if God had not been with us Decemb. 14. 1640. Ad. Blayer They were and they might well be confident upon their Lordships For all or some chief of that Committee were in league with them And some of them the principal Men which brought the Scots in to have their ends upon the King And they did deal effectually with the Parliament For as appears by the Date this Charge was delivered to the English Commissioners Decemb. 14. It was Read in the upper House and transmitted to the House of Commons and such haste made of it there that they though they had no Articles drawn yet came up in haste and accused me to the Lords of High Treason desiring my Commitment and Promising the bringing up of their Articles and Proof against me in convenient time So upon this Accusation only I was upon Decemb. 18. committed to Mr. James Maxwell the Officer of the House and so removed from his Majesty's Presence which was the great aim against me For they conceiv'd I wou'd speak my Conscience if I came near him And they could not with any Colour of Justice take me from him but by an Accusation of High Treason of which I would not for all the World be as Guilty as some of them are which Accused me This was their desire for my Commitment Their next desire was That I might be brought to Tryal and receive my Censure according to the Laws And this hath been and yet is my desire as well as theirs For I long for nothing more than a Tryal and I can fear no Censure that is according to Law and am as free from the Breach of any Law that can make me guilty of Treason as I was when my Mother bare me into the World And when I was thus far on upon my Answer I had remained at Mr. Maxwell's and in the Tower Eleven Months so many it was when I writ this But before I came to my Hearing I had been Thirteen Months in Prison and neither brought to Tryal no nor so much as a Particular Charge brought up against me that I might prepare for an Answer in so heavy a Business And I am somewhat farther of my Accusers Mind That to bring me to a just Tryal according to Law would be good Service to God Honour to the King and the Parliament who cannot but suffer in the Judgment of Moderate Men for laying a Man of my Place and Calling so long in Prison a thing without all Precedent and yet charging me with no particular Nay and I think in a good Sense too it would be a Terrour to the Wicked to see an Innocent Man brought to such a Tryal Yea and yet a Comfort to all Good Men too when they see that an Innocent Man shall not be let lye and languish to Death in Prison which may be my Case for ought I see but that in some time they may hope for Tryal Yea and to them the Scots in special For this Bold and most true Word I 'll speak The Scottish Nation in general the City of Edinburgh in special and very many particular Men of good Worth and some Men of Honour besides Clergy-men of all sorts during the time I had Interest in Court have been more beholding to me than to any ten English Subjects of what rank and condition soever And this his Majesty knows and I dare say will Witness And for their present Afflictions which they speak of the Current of this Discourse will shew to the indifferent Reader what a Principal means I have been of them In the mean time I little deserved from them the Name of This great Firebrand for many of them have warmed themselves at me but yet I never Fired any of them Nor can I make any doubt but that God will deliver me out of the midst of this Fire which he knows I kindled not Howsoever letthem take heed for as sure as they now make themselves in the Conjuncture of a great Party in which one Wave seconds and keeps up another yet though these Waves of the Sea are mighty and rage horribly the Lord that dwelleth on High is Mightier And under him I rest and I hope shall till their Waves be broken against some Rock or other
CAP. IV. NOW follows Adam Blair the second with a Codicil or a Corollary to this Charge And this though it concerns my Brethren the Bishops as much as me yet because it charges upon the Calling and was delivered in with the Charge against me though under another date of December 15. I shall express what I think of that too For I think the Scotch Commissioners took another day in upon advice that they might have a fling at the whole Calling And I cannot but think it was upon design among them when I consider how eagerly the House of Commons hath followed Episcopacy ever since This Codicil to their last Will and Testament concerning me begins thus We do indeed confess that the Prelates of England have been of very different humours some of them of a more hot and others of them Men of a moderate Temper some of them more and some less inclinable to Popery yet what known Truth and constant Experience hath made undeniable we must at this Opportunity express And so must we For we as ingenuously confess that the Presbyters of Scotland have been of very different humours some of them of a more hot and others of them Men of a moderate Temper And the more moderate for Temper and the more able for Learning among them have ever declared for the Episcopacy of England But whereas they say some of the Bishops of England are more and some less inclinable to Popery that may seem to imply that all of them are more or less inclinable to Popery which I dare say is a loud untruth Perhaps that which some of them call Popery is Orthodox Christianity and not one whit the worse for their miscalling it though they much the worse for disbelieving it But now you shall hear what that known truth is which constant experience they say hath made undeniable That from the first time of the Reformation of the Kirk of Scotland not only after the coming of King James of Happy Memory into England but before the Prelates of England have been by all means uncessantly working the overthrow of our Discipline and Government A little change in the words answers this For from the very first of the Reformation of the Church of England as well before as after the coming in of King James of Happy Memory the Presbyters of Scotland have been by all means uncessantly working the overthrow of Episcopacy our Discipline and Government As appears most manifestly in Archbishop Bancroft's Works So then either this is a loud untruth if our Prelates did not so practise against them Or if it be truth our Bishops had altogether as much reason if not more the justice of the Cause considered to work the overthrow of their Discipline than they had of Episcopacy But they tell us It hath come to pass of late that the Prelates of England having prevailed and brought Vs to Subjection in point of Government and finding their long-waited-for Opportunity and a rare Congruity of many Spirits and Powers ready to co-operate for their Ends have made a strong Assault upon the whole External Worship and Doctrine of our Kirk Surely for their Doctrine 't is too large a Field to beat over at this time Yet many Doctrines are on foot amongst them which are fitter to be weighed than swallowed would they permit them to be brought to the Sanctuary and Balanced there And for the whole External Worship which they speak of I have heard it said they have none at all and out of doubt 't is very little they have if any And therefore if the Prelates of England had gotten an Opportunity and a Congruity of Spirits and Powers to co-operate which yet is not so they had been much to blame if they had not pursued it till they had brought both the one and the other to a better Condition than they stand in at present And if they had such an Opportunity they were much to blame that deserted it And if they had not these Men are unworthy for asserting it But what End had the Prelates of England in this Why sure By this their doing they did not aim to make us conform to England but to make Scotland first whose weakness in resisting they had before experienced in Novations of Government and of some Points of Worship and therefore England conform to Rome even in those matters wherein England had separated from Rome ever since the time of Reformation These Men out of doubt have or take on them to have a great insight into the Hearts and Souls of the Prelates of England They know that we did not aim to make them conformable to England but to make Scotland first and then England conformable to Rome But I know the contrary and will leave the Book it self to be judged by the Learned in all parts of Christendom for it is carefully Translated into Latin whether it teach or practise Conformity with Rome or not which trial is far beyond their unlearned and uncharitable Assertion And if any other of my Brethren have had this aim they should do well to name them But they are so void of Charity that they cannot forbear to say that we aim to make them Conformable to Rome even in those things wherein England had separated from Rome ever since the Reformation Which is so monstrous an untruth that I wonder how Impudence it self dare utter it considering what the Bishops of England have written in defence of their Reformation against Rome and how far beyond any thing which the Presbyters of Scotland have written against it As for the Reason which is given why we began with Scotland namely because we had experience of their weakness in resisting Novations of Government and of some Points of Worship I know not what they mean by their weakness in resisting unless it be That they did not prevail against King James of Blessed Memory for resist they did to their power when he brought in Bishops which it seems they call Novations in Government and the Articles of Perth which they stile Novations in some Points of Worship And if this be that which they mean there is no Novation in the one or the other And for their weakness in resisting you may see what it is For no sooner have they gotten the Opportunity which they speak of in the beginning of this Codicil but they cast out all their Bishops reversed all the Articles of Perth all the Acts of Parliament which confirmed both brought back all to the rude draught of Knox and Buchanan saving that they have made it much worse by admitting so many Lay-Elders with Votes in their General Assemblies as may inable the Lay-men to make themselves what Religion they please A thing which the Church of Christ never knew in any part of it Nor have they stayed here but made use of the same Opportunity to cry down the Bishops and Church-Government in England As you will see by that
by his Majesty in the presence of a Secretary of State and commanded to speak my Judgment and my Conscience And I did so And declared clearly against any Bishops of the Roman Party his coming into the Kingdom to reside or exercise any Jurisdiction here And I gave then for my Reason the very self-same which is since Published by the 〈◊〉 of Commons in their Remonstrance A different and inconsistent Church within a Church which ever brought hazard upon the State And in this Judgment I persisted and never permitted much less countenanced any Popish Hierarchy to settle in this Kingdom but hindred it by all the 〈◊〉 and means I could 11. He in his own Person and his Suffragans Visitors Surrogats Chancellors or other Officers by his Command have caused divers Learned Pious and Orthodox Preachers of Gods Word to be Silenced Suspended Deprived Degraded Excommunicated or otherwise grieved and vexed without any just and lawful Cause whereby and by divers other Means he hath hindred the Preaching of God's Word caused divers of his Majesty's Loyal Subjects to forsake the Kingdom and increased and cherished Ignorance and Prophaneness amongst the People That so he might the better facilitate the way to the effecting of his own Wicked and Trayterous Designs of altering and corrupting the True Religion here Established I have neither by my self nor by my Command to my Officers Silenced Suspended Deprived Degraded or Excommunicated any Learned Pious and Orthodox Preachers nor any other but upon Just Cause Proved in Court and according to Law And I think it will appear that as few be the Cause never so Just have been Suspended or Deprived in my Diocess as in any Diocess in England Nor have I by these Suspensions hindred the Preaching of Gods Word but of Schism and Sedition as now appears plainly by the Sermons frequently made in London since the time of Liberty given and taken since this Parliament first began Nor have I caused any of his Majesty's Subjects to forsake the Kingdom but they forsook it of themselves being Separatists from the Church of England as is more than manifest to any Man that will but consider what kind of Persons went to New-England And whereas in their late Remonstrance they say The high Commission grew to such excess of Sharpness and Severity as was not much less than the Romish Inquisition and yet in many Cases by the Arch-Bishops Power was made much more heavy being assisted and strengthned by Authority of the Council-Table I was much troubled at it that such an Imputation from so great a Body should be fastned on me And therefore first I considered that my Predecessors were all or most of them strengthned with the same Authority of the Council-Table that I was And therefore if I did use that Authority to worse ends or in a worse manner than they did I was the more to blame Therefore to satisfie my self and others in this particular I did in the next place cause a diligent search to be made in the Acts of that Court which can deceive no Man what Suspensions Deprivations or other Punishments had past in the Seven Years of my Time before my Commitment Then I compared them with every of the Three Seven Years of my immediate Predecessor for so long he sat and somewhat over and was in great esteem with the House of Commons all his Time and I find more by Three Suspended Deprived or Degraded in every Seven Years of his Time than in the Seven Years of my Time so cryed out upon as you see for Sharpness and Severity even to the equasling of that Commission almost to the Romish Inquisition So safe a thing it is for a Man 〈◊〉 Imbarque himself into a Potent Faction and so hard for any other Man be he never so intire to withstand its Violence 12. He hath 〈◊〉 endeavoured to cause Division and Discord between the Church of England and other Reformed Churches And to that end hath Suppressed and Abrogated the Priviledges and Immunities which have been by his Majesty and his Royal Ancestors granted to the French and Dutch Churches in this Kingdom And divers other ways hath expressed his Malice and Disaffiction to these Churches that so by such Disunion the Papists might have more advantage for the Overthrow and Extripation of both I never endeavoured to set Division between the Church of England and other Reformed Churches And if I had so done it had been a very Unchristian and unworthy Act but yet no Treason as I conceive And for the Priviledges and Immunities granted by his Majesty and his Royal Progenitors to the French and Dutch Churches in this Kingdom I did not seek to Suppress or Abrogate any of them which kept Conform to their first Toleration here much less did I labour by any Disunion betwixt them and us to advantage the Papists to the overthrow of both But this I found that they did not use their Priviledges with that Gratitude and Fairness to his Majesty the State and Church of England as they ought to have done And hereupon I acquainted his Majesty and the Lords in full and open Council with what I conceived concerning that business As Namely 1. That their living as they did and standing so strictly to their own Discipline wrought upon the Party in England which were addicted to them and made them more averse than otherwise they would have been to the present Government of the Church of England 2. That by this means they lived in England as if they were a kind of God's Israel in Egypt to the great Dishonour of the Church of England to which at first they fled for Shelter against Persecution And in that time of their Danger the Church of England was in their Esteem not only a true but a glorious Church But by this Favour which that Church received it grew up and incroached upon us till it became a Church within a Church and a kind of State within a State And this I ever held dangerous how small beginning soever it had And that upon two main Reasons The one because I find the Wisdom of God against it For he says plainly to his prime People One Law and especially for Divine Worship shall be to him that is home-born and to the Stranger that Sojourns among you Exod. 12. And the other because I find the Wisdom of this State against it For this Parliament in their Remonstrance give the self-same Reason against the Papists but must hold good against all Sects that labour to make strong and inlarge themselves The Words are these Another State moulded within this State independent in Government contrary in Interest and Affection 〈◊〉 corrupting the Ignorant or Negligent Professors of our Religion and closely Vniting and Combining themselves against such as are sound in this posture waiting for an Opportunity c. And the Words are as true of the one Faction as the other and
the King and his People And I have ever been of Opinion and I shall Live and Dye in it That there can be no true and setled Happiness in this or any other Kingdom but by a fair and Legal as well as Natural Agreement between the King and his People and that according to the Course of England this Agreement is in a great proportion founded upon Parliaments Now Parliaments as I humbly conceive can never better preserve their own Rights than by a free and honourable way to keep up the Greatness and Power of their King that so he may be the better able against all Forreign Practices to keep up the Honour as well as the Safety of the Nation both which usually stand or fall together And if any particular Mens Miscarriages have distempered any Parliaments and caused or occasioned a Breach I have upon the Grounds before laid been as sorry as any Man for it but never contributed any thing to it And I hope it is not Criminal to think that Parliaments may sometimes in some things by Misinformation or otherwise be mistaken as well as other Courts This in conclusion I clearly think Parliaments are the best preservers of the Ancient Laws and Rights of this Kingdom But this I think too that Corruptio optimi est Pessima that no Corruption is so bad so foul so dangerous as that which is of the best And therefore if Parliaments should at any time be misguided by practice of a 〈◊〉 Party nothing then so dangerous as such a 〈◊〉 because the highest Remedy being Corrupted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sure Redress left at all And we had a lamentable 〈◊〉 of such a Parliament 〈◊〉 Hen. 4. was set up For that 〈◊〉 was the Cause of 〈◊〉 the Civil Wars and that great 〈◊〉 of Blood which followed soon after in this Kingdom God make us mindful and careful to prevent the like The said Commons do farther aver that the said William Arch-Bishop of Canterbury during the time in which the Treasons and Offences afore-named were Committed hath been a Bishop or Arch-Bishop in this Realm of England one of the King's Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Matters and of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council And that he hath taken an Oath for his Faithful discharge of the said Office of Counsellor and hath likewise taken the Oath of Supremacy and Allegiance And the said Commons by Protestation saving to themselves the Liberty of Exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Accusation or Impeachment against the said Arch-Bishop and also of replying to the Answers that the said Arch-Bishop shall make unto the said Articles or to any of them and of offering farther Proof also of the Premises or any of them or of any other Impeachment or Accusation that shall be exhibited by them as the Case shall according to the Course of Parliaments require do pray that the said Arch-Bishop may be put to answer to all and every the Premises and that such Proceedings Examinations Tryal and Judgment may be upon every of them had and used as is agreeable to Law and Justice This is the Conclusion of these general Articles then put up against me and is added only for Form and so requires no Answer from me But in the Close they of the House of Commons make two Petitions to the Lords and both were granted as 't is fit they should The one is That they may add farther Accusations or farther Proof of this as the Course of Parliaments require And I refuse no such either Accusation or Proof so the due Course of Parliaments be kept The other is That there may be such Proceedings Examinations Tryal and Judgment as is agreeable to Law and Justice And such Proceedings my Innocency can never decline But whether the Proceedings hitherto against me be according to the Antient Proceedings in Parliament or to Law and Justice I leave Posterity to judge Since they which here seem so earnestly to call for Examinations Tryal and Judgment have not to this Day proceeded to any Tryal nay have not so much as brought up any particular Charge against me it being almost a full Year since they brought up this general Charge and called for Examinations and Tryal and yet have kept me in Prison all this while to the great Weakning of my Aged Body and Waste of my poor Fortunes And how much longer they mean to keep me there God knows Whereas all that I do desire is a Just and Fair Tryal with such an Issue better or worse as it shall 〈◊〉 God to give CAP. VIII WHen these Articles had been Read unto me in the Upper House and I had spoken to the Lords in a general Answer to them what I thought fit as is before expressed I humbly desired of the Lords this being upon Friday Feb. 26. that my going to the Tower might be put off till the Monday after that so I might have time to be the better fitted for my Lodging This I humbly thank their Lordships was granted I returned to Mr. Maxwell's Custody and that Afternoon sent my Steward to Sir William Balfore then Lieutenant that a Lodging might be had for me with as much convenience as might be On Munday March 1. Mr. Maxwell carried me in his Coach to the Tower St. George's Feast having been formerly put off was to begin that Evening By this means Mr. Maxwell whose Office tied him to attendance upon that Solemnity could not possibly go with me to the Tower at Evening as I desired Therefore Noon when the Citizens were at Dinner was chosen as the next fittest time for Privateness All was well till I passed through Newgate Shambles and entred into Cheapside There some one Prentice first Hallowed out more and followed the Coach the Number still increasing as they went till by that time I came to the Exchange the shouting was exceeding great And so they followed me with Clamour and Revilings even beyond Barbarity it self not giving over till the Coach was entred in at the Tower-Gate Mr. Maxwell out of his Love and Care was extreamly troubled at it but I bless God for it my Patience was not moved I looked upon a higher Cause than the Tongues of Shimei and his Children The same Day there was a Committee for Religion named in the Upper House of Parliament Ten Earls Ten Bishops and Ten Barons So the Lay Votes will be double to the Clergy that they may carry what they will for Truth This Committee professes to meddle with Doctrine as well as Ceremonies and to that end will call some Divines to them to consider of and prepare Business This appears by a Letter sent by Dr. Williams then Lord Bishop of Lincoln now Lord Arch-Bishop of York to some Divines which were named to attend this Service The Copy of the Letter follows WIth my best Wishes unto you in Christ Jesus I am Commanded by the Lords of the Committee for Innovations in Matters of
Conclusion that they might refer all to Treason and so they be suffer'd to give me no Councel at all in matter of Fact Hereupon they drew me another Petition to the same effect which I caused to be delivered Novemb. 6. But it received the same Answer Then Novemb. 7. being Wednesday I Petitioned the House of Commons to the same purpose And Novemb. 8. this my Petition was read in the House of Commons and after a short Debate the Resolution was that they being my Accusers would not meddle with any thing but left all to the Order of the Lords before whom the Business was and my Councel's own Judgment thereupon This seemed very hard not only to my self and my Councel but to all indifferent Men that heard it In the mean time I could resort no whither but to Patience and God's Mercy Novemb. 13. I appeared in the Parliament-House according to the Order and was at the Bar. That which I spake to the Lords was this That I had no Skill to judge of the Streights into which I might fall by my Plea which I had resolved on being left without all assistance of my Councel in regard of the nature and form of the Impeachment that was against me That yet my Innocency prompted me to a ready Obedience of their Lordships Order casting my self wholly upon God's Mercy their Lordships Justice and my own Innocency Then I humbly desired that their Lordships Order first and the Impeachment after might be read This done I put in my Answer in Writing as I was ordered to do and humbly prayed it might be entred My Answer was All Advantages of Law against this Impeachment saved and reserved to this Defendant he pleads Not Guilty to all and every part of the Impeachment in manner and form as 't is Charged in the Articles And to this Answer I put my Hand My Answer being thus put in I humbly besought their Lordships to take into their Honourable Consideration my great Years being Threescore and ten compleat and my Memory and other Faculties by Age and Affliction much decayed My long Imprisonment wanting very little of three whole Years and this last year little better than close Imprisonment My want of skill and knowledge in the Laws to defend my self The Generality and Incertainty of almost all the Articles so that I cannot see any Particulars against which I may provide my self In the next place I did thankfully acknowledge their Lordships Honourable Favour in assigning me such Councel as I desired But I told their Lordships withal that as my Councel were most ready to obey their Lordships in all the Commands laid upon them so there were certain Doubts arisen in them how far they might advise me without Offence considering the Charges against me were so interwoven and left without all distinguishment what is intended as a Charge of Treason and what of Crime and Misdemeanour That to remove these Doubts I had humbly besought their Lordships twice for distinguishment by several Petitions That their Lordships not thinking it fit to distinguish I have without advice of Councel put in my Plea as their Lordships see But do most humbly pray that their Lordships will take me so far into Consideration as that I may not lose the Benefit of my Councel for Law in all or any and for Law and Fact in whatsoever is not Charged as Treason when it shall be distinguished As still my Prayers were that by their Lordships Wisdom and Honourable Direction some way might be found to distinguish them And that having not without much difficulty prevailed with my Councel to attend their Lordships would be pleased to hear them speak in this perplexed Business While I was speaking this the Lords were very attentive and two of them took Pen and Paper at the Table and took Notes And it was unanimously granted that my Councel should be heard and so they were And the Order then made upon their Hearing was that they should advise me and be heard themselves in all things concerning matter of Law and in all things whether of Law or Fact that was not Charged as Treason and that they would think upon the distinguishment in time convenient This was all I could get and my Councel seem'd somewhat better content that they had gotten so much Not long after this I heard from good Hands that some of the Lords confessed I had much deceived their expectation for they found me in a Calm but thought I would have been stormy And this being so I believe the two Lords so careful at their Pen and Ink made ready to observe any Disadvantages to me which they thought Choler and Indignation might thrust forth But I praise God the Giver I am better acquainted with Patience than they think I am So this my main Business staid a while In the mean time that I might not rust I was warned Decemb. 8. to appear in Parliament the 18th of that Month as a Collateral Defendant in a Case of Smart against Dr. Cosin formerly heard in the High Commission This Cause had been called upon both in this and former Parliaments but I never heard that I was made a Defendant till now Nor do I know any thing of the Cause but that in the High Commission I gave my Vote according to my Conscience and Law too for ought I know and must refer my self to the Acts of that Court. On Wednesday Decemb. 13. I Petitioned for Councel in this Cause and had the same assigned me And on the 18. day I appeared according to my Summons but I was not called in and the Business put off to that day three Weeks On Thursday Decemb. 28. which was Innocents day one Mr. Wells a new-New-England Minister came to me and in a boisterous manner demanded to know whether I had Repented or not I knew him not till he told me he was Suspended by me when I was Bishop of London and he then a Minister in Essex I told him if he were Suspended it was doubtless according to Law Then upon a little further Speech I recalled the Man to my Remembrance and what care I took in Conference with him at London-House to recall him from some of his turbulent ways but all in vain And now he inferred out of the good words I then gave him that I Suspended him against my Conscience In conclusion he told me I went about to bring Popery into the Kingdom and he hoped I should have my Reward for it When I saw him at this heighth I told him he and his Fellows what by their Ignorance and what by their Railing and other boisterous Carriage would soon actually make more Papists by far than ever I intended and that I was a better Protestant than he or any of his Followers So I left him in his Heat This Man was brought to my Chamber by Mr. Isaac Pennington Son to the Lieutenant By this time something was made
wanted any 3 The Third Stile is Summus Pontifex But this was in my Lord of London's Letters and he must answer if any thing be amiss But Pontifex and Summus too is no unusual Stile to and of the Chief Prelate in any Nation 4 The Fourth Stile is Archangelus ne quid nimis Yes sure the meanest of these Titles is Multum nimis far too much applied to my Person and unworthiness Yet a great sign it is that I deserved very well of that University in the place I then bare or else they would never have bestowed such Titles upon me And if they did offend in giving such an unworthy Man such high Language why are not they called in Question for their own Fault 5 The last which I remember is Quo rectior non stat Regula c. And this is no more than an absolute Hyperbole A high one I confess yet as high are found in all Rhetorical Authors And what should make that Blasphemy in an Vniversity Orator which is every where common and not only allowed but commendable I know not Especially since the Rule of the Interpretation of them is as well known as the Figure Where the Words are not to be understood in their Proper and Literal Sense but as St. Augustine speaks when that which is spoken Longè est amplius is far larger than that which is signified by it And if I had assumed any of these Titles to my self which I am and ever was far from doing yet 't is one thing to assume Papal Title and another to assume Papal Power which is the thing Charged though I thank God I did neither If I have here omitted any Title it is meer forgetfulness for one part or other of the Answers given will reach it what-e're it be And as I told Mr. Browne when he Charged this on me Dr. Strowd the University Orator who writ those Letters and gave those Titles was called up before a Committee of this Parliament examined about them Acquitted and Dismissed 6 These Titles from the Letters being past He quoted another which he called a Blasphemous Speech too out of my Book against Fisher where he said I approved of Anselme an Enemy to the Crown and took on me to be Patriarch of this other World Let any Man look into that place of my Book and he shall find that I make use of that Passage only to prove that the Pope could not be Appealed unto out of England according to their own Doctrine Which I hope is no Blasphemy And for St. Anselme howsoever he was swayed with the Corruptions of his time yet was he in other things worthy the Testimony which the Authors by me Cited give him And if any Man be angry that the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury is called the Patriarch of this other World he may be pleased to remember that St. Jerom gives St. Augustine who was Bishop of Hippo and no Arch-Bishop a greater Title than that For he writes Beatissimo Papae Augustino more than once and again as appears in his Epistles to St. Augustine 7 To these Sir Nathaniel Brent's Testimony is produced Who says that he over-heard me say to another that I would not so easily quit the Plenitude of my Power or to that Effect He confesses he was coming in and finding me speaking with another made stay and stood a-far off and knows not of what I spake for so he said but over-heard the Words I beseech your Lordships observe this Witness He confesses he knows not of what I spake and yet comes here upon his Oath to testifie of Plenitude of Power in Relation to my assuming Papal Power If he meant not this his Testimony is nothing for Plenitude of Power may Extend to many other things and I might justly say if I said it that I would not easily part with the Plenitude of my Power in Relation to other Bishops of my Province who by Law have not so full Power as I have But if he did mean this then his Testimony is worse than nothing Nothing in regard he confesses he knows not of what I was speaking And worse than nothing That not knowing he would give such a Testimony upon Oath As for the Statutes themselves there was scarce one urged against me but it was either a Statute or a Prescription of that University long before I was born into the World and could not therefore be of my new-making And this was my Answer to Mr. Browne in the House of Commons And such Bannition 〈◊〉 and the like are well known to be The next Charge of this Day was that I went about to Exempt the Clergy from the Civil Magistrate 1. The first Witness is Mr. Pincen He says he heard me say at the High-Commission That the Clergy were now debased that heretofore it was otherwise and I hope to see it so again Truly my Lords if I did say thus which is more than I can call to Memory I spake truth they were debased and I did hope to see it otherwise For the debasing of the Clergy will make their Office and their Doctrine base as well as their Persons But here is not a word of freeing them from Laws or the Temporal Magistrate It was replyed he did mention the Civil Magistrate If he did he mentions no time by which I might be inabled to make Counterproof He is single They are words and if within the Statute then triable by it within six Months And I desire this grave Gentleman to consider his Oath For if I spake of any such Exemption I must speak against my Conscience and Judgment which I humbly thank God I use not to do Nor is it altogether impossible for the Civil Magistrate sometimes to oppress poor Clergy-Men But a little will be thought too much of this And therefore to Mr. Browne's Summary Charge I gave the former Answer that I spake of Exemption from Oppression not from Law 2. The Second Witness was Alderman Railton about the carrying up of the Sword in the Church when he was Lord Mayor He says I once sent him word about it but knows not by whom and after heard no more of it but refers himself to Mr. Marsh. He says there was an Order of the Council-Table May 3. 1633. concerning the submitting of the Sword in time and place of Divine Service If an Order of Council then was it no Act of mine as I have often Pleaded and must as often as it comes He says farther that I spake these Words or to this Effect That the Church had been low for these Hundred Years but I hoped it would Flourish again in another Hundred But here 's no one word of Exemption from Civil Magistracy And I hope your Lordships will take Witnesses as they speak not as Men shall infer and descant upon them And then my Lords under Favour I see no harm in the Words Only I shall recall my hope For if I had then any hope to
there present p. 28 32 35 42. Nay more this proceeding tam in locis Exemptis quam non Exemptis is allowed to the Governours of the Church in the Exercise of their Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by Act of Parliament in Queen Elizabeth's Time which would never have been allowed had it then been thought such a dangerous Business as 't is now made against me 2. The Second Clause was Power to Censure by Fine and Imprisonment This also I shewed in the old Commission Fol. 37. and is as I conceive in plain pursuance of the Act of Parliament upon which the High-Commission is grounded For the King says there Fol. 13. And so 't is in the new That he grants this Power by Vertue of his Supream Authority and Prerogative Royal and of the said Act. Nay farther 't is added in this latter Commission and by our Authority Ecclesiastical which is not expressed in the former And sure I would never have caused Authority Ecclesiastical to be added had I any Plot as 't is urged either to exalt the Clergy above the Laity or to usurp Papal Power which all Men know is far enough from ascribing Ecclesiastical Authority to the King And as for Fine and Imprisonment if that Power be not according to Law why was it first admitted and after continued in all former Commissions 3. The Third Clause was the Non Obstante which he said was against all Law and of such a boundless Extent as was never found in Commission or other Grant in England And he here desired the Lords that he might read it which he did with great Assurance of a Triumph But after all this Noise which Mr. Nicolas had made I shewed the same Non Obstante in the Old Commission 〈◊〉 62. Word for Word which I humbly desired might be read and compared It was so The Lords looked strangely upon it Mr. Nicolas was so startled that he had not Patience to stay till his Reply which he saw impossible to be made but interrupted me and had the Face to say in that Honourable Assembly that I need not stand upon that for he did but name that without much regarding it And yet at the giving of the Charge he insisted principally upon that Clause and in higher and louder Terms than are before expressed Had such an Advantage been found against me I should have been accounted extreamly Negligent if I compared not the Commissions together or Extreamly Impudent if I did 4. The Fourth Exception was That by this Commission I took greater Power than ever any Court had because both Temporal and Ecclesiastical First whatsoever Power the High-Commission had was not taken by them till given by his Majesty and that according to Use and Statue for ought hath been yet declared Secondly they have not Power of Life or Limb therefore not so great Power as other Courts have Thirdly they may have more various Power in some respects but that cannot make it greater As for the Expression in which 't is said I took this Power that is put most unworthily and unjustly too to derive the Envy as much as he could upon my Person only For he could not hold from comparing me to Pope Boniface 8. and saying that I took on me the Power of both Swords But this was only ad Faciendum Populum For he knows well enough that to take both the Swords as the Pope takes them is to challenge them Originally as due to him and his Place Not to take both as under the Prince and given by his Authority and so not I alone but all the Commissioners take theirs 5. Fifthly To prove that this vast Commission as it was called was put in execution Mr. Burton is produced He says that when he was called into the High-Commission he appealed to the King and pleaded his Appeal and that thereupon I and the Bishop of London Writ to the King to have him submit to the Court He confesses he was dismissed upon his Appeal till his Majesty's Pleasure was farther known And it was our Duty considering what a Breach this would make upon the Jurisdiction of the Court to inform his Majesty of it and we did so The King declared that he should submit to the Court as is confessed by himself Then he says because he would not submit to the Court he was Censured notwithstanding his Appeal And he well deserved it that would not be ruled by his Majesty to whom he had appealed And the Commission had Power to do what they did Besides himself confesses all this was done by the High-Commission not by me Nor doth he urge any Threat Promise or Solicitation of mine any way to particularize the Act upon me and farther he is single and in his own Cause Then followed the last Charge of this Day which was the Patent granted for the Fines in the High-Commission for Finishing the West End of St Pauls cryed out upon as Illegal and Extorted from the King and such as took all Power from him for the space of the Ten Years for which time it was granted This is the Fourth time that St Pauls is struck at My Lords let it come as often as it will my Project and Endeavour in that Work was Honest and Honourable to both Church and Kingdom of England No Man in all this Search and Pursuit hath been able to charge me with the turning of any one Penny or Pennyworth to other use than was limited to me I took a great deal of Care and Pains about the Work and cannot repent of any thing I did in that Service but of Humane Frailty And whereas 't is said this Patent was extorted from his Majesty as there is no Proof offered for it so is there no truth in it For his Majesty's Piety was so forward that nothing needed to be extorted from him Thus went I on Bonâ Fide and took the Prime Direction of the Kingdom for drawing the Patent The Lord Keeper Coventry Mr. Noy and Sir Henry Martin And therefore if any thing be found against Law in it it cannot be imputed to me who took all the care I could to have it beyond exception And I marvel what security any Man shall have that adventures upon any great and publick Work in this Kingdom if such Councel cannot be trusted for drawing up of his Warrant And whereas it was said this Patent for the Ten Years space took away both Justice and Mercy from the King That 's nothing so For whatever the Words be to enable me the better for that Work yet these being inseparable from him may be used by him notwithstanding this or any other Patent And if these be inseparable as 't is granted they are no inseparable thing can be taken away or if it be taken 't is void in Law and the King is where he was in the Exercise of his Right both for Justice and Mercy And so I answered Mr. Brown's summary Charge against me and as for that
which I answered at both times First that the Statute of Ed. 6. spake of other Images and that Images in Glass-Windows were neither mentioned nor meant in that Law The Words of the Statute are Any Images of Stone Timber Alabaster or Earth Graven Carved or Painted taken out of any Church c. shall be Destroyed c. and not reserved to any Superstitious Use. So here 's not a Word of Glass-Windows nor the Images that are in them Secondly that the Contemporary Practice which is one of the best Expounders of the meaning of any Law did neither destroy all coloured Windows though Images were in them in the Queens time nor abstain from setting up of new both in her and King James his Time And as the Body of this Statute is utterly mistaken so is the Penalty too which for the First and Second Offence is but a small Fine and but Imprisonment at the King's Will for the Third A great way short of Punishment for Treason And I could not but wonder that Mr. Brown should be so earnest in this Point considering he is of Lincolns-Inn where Mr. Pryn's Zeal hath not yet beaten down the Images of the Apostles in the fair Windows of that Chappel which Windows also were set up new long since that Statute of Edward 6. And t is well known that I was once resolved to have returned this upon Mr. Brown in the House of Commons but changed my Mind lest thereby I might have set some furious Spirit on Work to destroy those harmless goodly Windows to the just dislike of that Worthy Society But to the Statute Mr. Brown added That the Destruction of all Images as well in Windows as elsewhere were Condemned by the Homilies of the Church of England and those Homilies confirmed in the Articles of Religion and the Articles by Act of Parliament This was also urged before and my Answer was First that though we Subscribed generally to the Doctrine of the Homilies as good Yet we did not express or mean thereby to justifie and maintain every particular Phrase or Sentence contained in them And Secondly that the very Words of the Article to which we subscribe are That the Homilies do contain a Godly and a wholesom Doctrine and necessary for those Times Godly and wholesom for all Times but necessary for those when People were newly Weaned from the Worship of Images Afterwards neither the Danger nor the Scandal alike Mr. Brown in his Reply said That since the Doctrine contained in the Homilies was wholesom and good it must needs be necessary also for all Times But this worthy Gentleman is herein much mistaken Strong Meat as well Spiritual as Bodily is good and wholesom but though it be so yet if it had been Necessary at all Times and for all Men the Apostle would never have fed the Corinthians with Milk and not with Meat The Meat always good in it self but not necessary for them which were not able to bear it 4 The Fourth thing which Dr. Featly Testifies is That there were Bowings at the coming into the Chappel and going up to the Commanion-Table This was usual in Queen Elizabeth's Time and of Old both among Jews as appears in the Story of Hezekiah 2 Chro. 29. 28. and among Christians as is evident in Rhenanus his Notes upon Tertullian And one of them which have written against the late Canons confesses it was usual in the Queens Time but then adds That that was a Time of Ignorance What a Time of such a Reformation and yet still a Time of Ignorance I pray God the Opposite be not a Time of Prophaneness and all is well Mr. Brown in the Summ of his Charge given me in the House of Commons instanced in this also I answered as before with this Addition Shall I Bow to Men in each House of Parliament and shall I not bow to God in his House whither I do or ought to come to Worship him Surely I must Worship God and Bow to him though neither Altar nor Communion-Table be in the Church 5 For Organs Candlesticks a Picture of a History at the back of the Altar and Copes at Communions and Consecrations All which Dr. Featly named First these things have been in use ever since the Reformation And Secondly Dr. Featly himself did twice acknowledge that it was in my Chappel as it was at White-Hall no difference And it is not to be thought that Queen Elizabeth and King James would have endured them all their Time in their own Chappel had they been introductions for Popery And for Copes they are allowed at Times of Communion by the Canons of the Church So that these all or any are very poor Motives from whence to argue an Alteration of Religion 2. The second Witness against my Chappel was Sir Nathaniel Brent But he says not so much as Dr. Featly And in what he doth say he agrees with him saving that he cannot say whether the Picture at the Back of the Communion-Table were not there before my time 3. The third Witness for this Charge was one Mr. Boreman who came into my Chappel at Prayers time when I had some new Plate to Consecrate for use at the Communion And I think it was brought to me for that end by Dr. Featly This Man says first he then saw me Bow and wear a Cope That 's answer'd Secondly That he saw me Consecrate some Plate That in that Consecration I used some part of Solomon's Prayer at the Dedication of the Temple And that in my Prayer I did desire God to accept those Vessels No fault in any of the Three For in all Ages of the Church especially since Constantine's Time that Religion hath had publick allowance There have been Consecrations of Sacred Vessels as well as of Churches themselves And these Inanimate things are Holy in that they are Deputed and Dedicated to the Service of God And we are said to Minister about Holy Things 1 Cor. 9. And the Altar is said to Sanctifie the Gift S. Matt. 23. which it could not do if it self were not Holy So then if there be no Dedication of these Things to God no separation of them from common use there 's neither Thing nor Place Holy And then no Sacriledge no difference between Churches and common Houses between Holy-Tables so the Injunction calls them and ordinary Tables But I would have no Man deceive himself Sacriledge is a grievous Sin and was severely Punished even among the Heathen And S. Paul's Question puts it home would we consider of it Thou which abhorrest Idols Committest thou Sacriledge Rom. 2. Thou which abhorrest Idols to the very defacing of Church Windows dost thou Thou of all other Commit Sacriledge which the very Worshippers of Idols punished And this being so I hope my use of a part of Solomon's Prayer or the Words of my own Prayer That God would be pleased to accept them shall not be reputed Faults But
not proved so 't is Petitio Principii the begging of that to be granted which is the thing in question Secondly if there be Corruptions yet it is not proved they are in the Matter but of the two rather in the Manner of Worship Thirdly were both these granted yet it will remain a Question still whether these Corruptions be such as that the Worshippers are defiled therewith And another Question whether so deeply defiled as that other good Christians shall be defiled by coming to Common-Prayer with them For I am not yet persuaded nor shall be till I be convinced That every Man that will keep himself pure from other Mens Sins and not Sin against his Conscience is bound to make this Separation For I conceive many Corruptions may be tolerated nay ought to be before a Separation be made And that a private Conscience is to be both informed and reformed before it be attempted Nor can I think that he which comes to the publick Service of any Church that is not Idolatrous or peccant in the Fundamentals of Religion doth partake with other Mens Sins that frequent the same Common-Prayer or Service with him or he with them And yet my Lord is so peremptory as that without any distinction or Degrees of Corruption he delivers it positively with a great deal more Boldness than Knowledge That every Man that will keep himself pure from other Mens Sins must make this Separation Every Man and must make And it is not to be conceived but that what every Man must do my Lord who seems to be so careful to keep himself pure from other Mens Sins hath done already That is hath made this Separation from the Church And my Lord for ought I see is ready to confess as much For he adds And I will ingenuously confess that there are many things in many Churches or Congregations in England practised and injoyned upon all to be practised and suffered which I cannot practise nor admit of except I should Sin against the Light of my Conscience until I may out of the Word of God be convinced of the Lawfulness of them which hitherto I could never see sufficient ground for I told you my Lord was very near confessing as much as I have said For he says ingenuously there are many things in many Churches in England practised First I told my Lord before that this Business of Separation was not to be judged by what is practised in one or more Parochial Congregations but by what ought to be practised in all the Churches of England And if my Lord dislike any thing in one Congregation he may go to another so he will endure the whole Liturgy as it is setled by Law and no Man if he will do this ought to account him a Separatist And I find by my Lord's Words that his Exception is to many Churches and I would willingly hope if his Carriage would let me that he excepts not against all Besides he tells us that many things are so practised but he is not pleased to tell us what they are And then it is not possible for me or any Man else either to know whether his Lordship's Exception be just against them or to give him satisfaction in them And it is no great sign that my Lord bears any good Mind to the Church that he is so ready to charge many things against the Church and to name none My Lord goes farther and says plainly that these many things thus practised or enjoyned also and that upon all to be practised or suffered which he cannot practise nor admit of except he should Sin against the Light of his Conscience You have heard already how much my Lord is troubled with this Enjoyning and to that I refer you In the mean time since I am the Man so particularly shot at by my Lord I shall answer for my self according to Truth and with Truth I can legally prove if need be I have not Commanded or injoyned any one thing Ceremonial or other upon any Parochial Congregation in England much less upon all to be either practised or suffered but that which is directly commanded by Law And if any Inferiour 〈◊〉 in the Kingdom or any of my own Officers have given any such Command 't is either without my Knowledge or against my Direction And 't is well known I have sharply chid some for this very particular and if my Lord would have acquainted me with any such troubled thought of his I would have given him so far as had been in my Power either Satisfaction or Remedy if any thing had been against the Light of his Conscience Though in these things I must needs tell my Lord that there is now adays in many Men which have shaken off all Church Obedience great pretensions to Light in their Vnderstandings and Consciences when to Men which see indeed 't is little less than Palpable Darkness But how it is with my Lord and his Conscience I will not take upon me to Judge but leave him to stand or fall to his own Master Rom 14. For it seems my Lord stands not simply upon the Light of his Conscience but only until he may be convinced out of the Word of God of the Lawfulness of these things which hitherto he could never see sufficient ground for And this is the Common-Plea which all of them have resort to till they be convinced which as I have had experience of many they are resolved not to be And they will be convinced in every particular out of the Word of God to the very taking up of a Rush or Straw as their grave Master T. C. taught them As if God took care of Straws or their taking of them up As if every particular thing of Order or Decency were expresly set down in the Word of God Surely if this were so St. Paul should have had nothing to set in order when he came to Corinth 1 Cor 11. And if this be so the Church hath no Power left in any thing not so much as to Command a Bell shall Tole to call the people to publick Prayers because 't is no where commanded in the Word of God So that upon this Ground if any Man shall say he hath Light enough in his Conscience to see the unlawfulness of such Humane Devices he may Separate from the Church rather than Sin against this Light So there shall be no Publick Service of God but some Ignis Fatuus or other under the Name of Light in the Conscience shall except against it and Separate from it Which is directly to set up the Light in each private Spirit against that Light which God hath placed in his Church shine it never so clearly Yet his Lordship is confident and says But my Lords this is so far from making me the greatest Separatist in England that it cannot argue me to be any at all For my Lords the Bishops do know that those whom they usually
apply this term unto are the Brownists as they call them by another Name and they know their Tenents The truth is they differ with us in no Fundamental Point of Doctrine or saving Truth I know Here then my Lord is 〈◊〉 to say that all that he hath hitherto said is so far from making him the greatest Separatist in England that it cannot argue him to be any at all For my part I would to God it were so But let 's examine whether it be so or not First then this I humbly conceive is certain That he whoever he be that will not Communicate in Publick Prayers with a National Church which serves God as she ought is a Separatist But the Church of England as it stands established by Law serves God as she ought Therefore my Lord by his general absenting himself from her Communion in Prayers is a Separatist And this is by his own confession For he says a little before and that expresly that this is a Separation which every Man must make that will keep himself pure from other Mens Sins And I cannot doubt but his Lordship hath made that which he says he must make All that can be said for my Lord herein is this First That my Lord Charges the Church of England with Corruptions in the Worship of God and such Corruptions as he must Separate from her But is it sufficient for a Separation for a particular Man barely to say there are such Corruptions in the Liturgy when he doth neither prove them to be such nor so much as name them what they are Surely no. And I think these Gnats which his Lordship strains at may be swallowed without any Offence to God or Man So far are they from being a just Cause of Separation Therefore for all this my Lord is a Separatist Yea but my Lord charges upon the Church of England that she injoyns her Liturgy upon all Men by a certain Number of Men usurping Authority to themselves and imposing this Injunction under the name of the Church I have made answer already to this Power of the Church to compose a set Form for publick Service and I hope made it manifest that this Authority is not usurped And then that can be no just Cause of a Separation Nay I must doubt whether if such Authority were usurped by some Church-Men in any National Church the injoyning of the Service after it is made supposing always that it contain no Idolatry or Fundamental Error be for the Injunction alone a sufficient Warrant to my Lord or any other to Separate Therefore my Lord 's forsaking the publick Service of the Church upon no better Grounds than these makes him a Separatist by his own Confession without any Man calling him so As for his Lordship's being the greatest Separatist in England I have at the beginning of this Tract clearly related to the uttermost of my Memory what and upon what occasion I spake of his Lordship in this kind But whether I said it or not my Lord for ought I see will hardly escape being so For he is the greatest Separatist from the Church that absents himself with most will and least cause And this if I mistake not is my Lord's Case for he separates with most will that says Men must and ought to Separate And upon least Cause because as yet he hath Named none at all but Corruptions in general which any Man may say and the Injunction of a set Form which is no cause Therefore for ought I yet see it may truly be said of his Lordship that he is the greatest Separatist in England Especially if you add to this how busie and active his Lordship is and for many Years hath been to promote this Cause of Separation And I have some very good grounds to think that his Lordship hath been and is the great Cause and enlarger of all the Separation that now is in Church Affairs And of all the Disobedience thereby bred or cherished against Soveraign Power Next my Lord appeals to my Lords the Bishops and tells them that they know that they whom they usually apply this Name Separatist unto are the Brownists as they call them by another Name I know not all things which the rest of my Learned Brethren the Bishops know Yet I think both they and I know this that the Name Separatist is a common Name to all Hereticks or Schismaticks that separate for their Opinions sakes either from the Catholick or from any particular Orthodox Church And if my Lord himself who it seems is well acquainted with them or any of my Lords the Bishops do know that this Name is usually applyed to the Brownists be it so That I am sure is not material unless it be for that which my Lord closes this passage withal Namely that my Lords the Bishops know the Tenents of the Brownists and that the truth is they differ from us in no Fundamental Point of Doctrine or Saving Truth that his Lordship knows I doubt not but my Lords the Bishops know the Tenents of the Brownists so far forth at least as they be Tenents and not varied from and so far as they are their General Tenents to which all or most of them agree And so far as they are plain and univocal Tenents and not such as shall equivocate with the very Faith it self But such Tenents of the Brownists as these are it may be all my Lords the Bishops know not Now if the Truth be as my Lord says it is for ought he knows that the Brownists differ from us in no Fundamental Point of Doctrine or saving Truth Then out of all doubt Majus peccatum habent their Sin and my Lord 's too is the greater that they will so Uncharitably and with so great Heat and setled Violence and to the great scandal of Religion first separate themselves from and now labour utterly to overthrow that Church which by my Lord 's own Confession here differs not from them in any Fundamental Point of Doctrine or saving Truth For sure if they differ not from us we differ not from them But this is only Argumentum ad Hominem and is sufficient to convince this Lord I think in his own way But I doubt the Truth is quite another thing Namely that the Church of England is very Orthodox and that the Brownists or Separatists call them as you will do Separate upon false and unchristian Opinions And that besides Matters of Opinion and breach of Charity they do differ from us in some Fundamental Points of Doctrine and saving Truth My Lord a little before tells us of Corruptions in the Liturgy of the Church but names none And should I charge the Brownists with difference from the Church in Fundamental Points of Doctrine and yet name none I should run into the same fault for which I there taxed my Lord I shall therefore give some Instances of some of their Opinions and then leave the indifferent Reader to judge whether
they do not differ from us in some Fundamental Points of Doctrine and saving Truth And then consequently whether it be not an Heretical as well as a Schismatical Separation which they make from the Church of England 1. And first there was a Creed Printed by John Turner in this present Year and the Parliament sitting This Turner is a Notorious Separatist or Brownist if you will In this Creed of his he leaves out the descent of Christ into Hell This is an Article of the Apostle's Creed And 't is an Article of the Church of England And so I presume a Fundamental Point of Doctrine Yet herein this Brownist and his Fellows differ from us And I have heard from some present that at a Committee of Lords appointed for Matters of Religion a young Lord should say openly and boldly enough that he did not believe the descent of Christ into Hell And that my Lord the Author of this Speech should second him 2. In the same Creed Turner professes he believes that Christ Instituted by his Apostles certain particular Churches here on Earth and no other So the Catholick Church the Mother of all particular both Men and Churches and out of which there can be no Salvation in the ordinary way is quite thrust out of this Brownist's Creed And this I hope is another Fundamental Point of Doctrine and saving Truth But in this I must do my Lord right and not charge him with this point Because a little before his Lordship tells of a two-fold Separation one whereof he says is from the Vniversal or Catholick Church So the Catholick Church is not yet thrust out of my Lord's Creed But then this appears that the Separatists are not yet agreed upon all the Articles of their Creed Nay some of them call the Apostle's Creed a patched Forgery And Barrow justifies it 3. Thirdly they differ from us in charging gross Corruptions upon the Church of England And these are known to my Lord for he acknowledges them and so gross that should they be true the Church of England must be faulty in Fundamental and Saving Truth As shall farther appear in my Answer to my Lord's next Passage Therefore if their Charge be true they must by my Lord 's own Confession differ from us in Fundamental and saving Truth And if their Charge be false why do they separate from us Besides all Anabaptists and Brownists agree in this that the Church of England is Antichristian And if it be so they must either differ in Fundamentals from the Church of England Or be Antichristian themselves in joyning with them Or grant that Christ and Antichrist have one and the same Foundation 4. Fourthly some of them yet living though they dare not speak it out in all Companies do cunningly insinuate That at Death Soul and Body are extinct together but shall rise again at the Resurrection first or last And that Christ shall come and live here upon the Earth again That the Martyrs shall then rise and live with him a Thousand Years And that Christ once come upon the Earth shall not for any thing they can learn out of Scripure ever depart from the Earth again 5. Fifthly one Brierly and his Independent Congregation are of this Belief That the Child of God in the Power of Grace doth perform every Duty so well that to ask Pardon for failing either in matter or manner is a Sin That it is unlawful to pray for Forgiveness of Sins after their Conversion With divers others some as bad some worse to the number of Fifty 6. Sixthly One Spisberrye yet living and of that Independent Fraternity maintains that God works all things in us and that we are but Organs Instruments and meer empty Trunks Which is to make God the Author of all the Sins which Men commit And therefore Brierly says expresly that if they do at any time fall they can by the power of Grace carry their Sin to the Lord and say here I had it and here I leave it Will not the Devil one day stop the Mouth of this Blasphemy 7. Seventhly Mr. Pryn himself who hath been a great stickler in these Troubles of the Church says expresly Let any true Saint of God be taken away in the very act of any known Sin before it is possible for him to Repent I make no doubt or Scruple of it but he shall as surely be saved as if he had lived to have repented of it And he instances in David in case he had been taken away before he had repented of his Adultery and Murther So according to this Divinity the true Saints of God may commit horrible and carying Sins dye without Repentance and yet be sure of Salvation which teareth up the very Foundations of Religion induceth all manner of Profaneness into the World and is expresly contrary to the whole current of the Scripture 8. In the Eighth place almost all of them say That God from all Eternity Reprobates by far the greater part of Mankind to eternal Fire without any Eye at all to their Sin Which Opinion my very Soul abominates For it makes God the God of all Mercies to be the most fierce and unreasonable Tyrant in the World For the Question is not here what God may do by an absolute act of Power would he so use it upon the Creature which he made of nothing But what he hath done and what stands with his Wisdom Justice and Goodness to do 9. Ninthly One Lionel Lockier now or late of Cranbrooke in Kent among other his Errors rails against teaching Children the Lord's Prayer or other Forms of Catechising And if they differ from the Church of England in the whole Catechism I think the Lord must work a Miracle before he can make his Speech good That they differ from us in no Fundamental point 10. Lastly to omit all those base Opinions in which the Brownists agree with the Anabaptists this in which they differ from them will be sufficient to prove that they differ from us in that which is fundamental unless they will say that to believe the Trinity is not Fundamental For some of them and by name one Glover deny the Deity of the Holy Ghost Which stands condemned for a gross and Fundamental Heresie in the Second General Council held against Macedonius And for the Familists of which there is Store this Day in England they deny the Resurrection of the Flesh turning it as they do many other things into a Mystery or Allegorie Perhaps more particulars might be found upon a narrow search But if there be no more these are enough to make it evident to the World that these Separatists 〈◊〉 from us in some fundamental points of Doctrine or saving Truth And as these are in fault for their Separation so I doubt the Church is to blame for not proceeding against such of them as are altogether incorrigible But whether my Lord thinks these to be
Fundamental Points or whether he know that the Brownists do differ from us in them I shall not take on me to declare till his Lordship open himself farther In the mean time his Lordship goes on to tell us wherein these Brownists fail though they do not differ in Fundamental Points to his Knowledge Their failing is in this They hold that there is no true Church in England no true Ministry no true Worship which depend the one upon the other they say all is Antichristian Here is their Error they distinguish not between the bene esse or Purity of a true Church and the esse or true being of it though with many Defects and gross Corruptions But conclude because such things are wanting which are indeed necessary to the well-being of a true Church and to be desired therefore there is none at all in being Here my Lord shews a great deal of sharp and good Apprehension And distinguishes very rightly between the entire being of a true Church which is her bene esse and the true Being of a Church which is her esse only And my Lord doth farther fairly acknowledge that this is the Brownists Error To conclude no Church in being because it hath many Defects and gross Corruptions in it to hinder its well-being So then my Lord here grants two things First that to hold there is no True Church in England no True Ministry no true Worship which depend one upon another but that all is Antichristian is an Error And Secondly that it is the Brownists Error How and how far these Three No True Church no True Ministry no True Worship depend one upon another And in what cases it may in some Exigents be otherways I will not now dispute nor divert from the main Business 1. First then if it be an Error to say there is no True Church no True Ministry no True Worship in England Then I hope it will be found Truth to say there is a True Church a True Ministry and a True Worship in England And he that shall avow the contrary must needs differ from the Church of England in Fundamentals For these Contradictions a True Church and no True Church a True Ministry and no True Ministry a True Worship of God and no True Worship cannot be built up but upon different Foundations And as for that which my Lord affirms is added by the Brownists That there are many Defects and gross Corruptions in it So long as this is said and not proved 't is enough without farther Proof to deny both the Defects and Corruptions both the many and the gross As I doubt not but the Church of England can make good against both my Lord and all the Brownists in England 2. Secondly if to affirm this be the Brownists Error then I would fain know of my Lord how he can say the Brownists do not differ from or with us in any fundamental Point of Doctrine or saving Truth For if this be no fundamental Point or no saving Truth that we be in and of a true Church that this Church hath a true Ministry to be between God and us in all the Duties of their Function whether upward to God in Prayer and Spiritual Sacrifice or downward to us in the Word and Sacraments that in this Church and by this Ministry there is a true Worship and that without gross Corruptions What can be accounted next the Creed it self fundamental or saving So that in one Line my Lord is pleased to say the Brownists do not differ with us in any fundamental Point of Doctrine or saving Truth and in the very next Line his Lordship confesses they differ from us in these three things which if not several yet altogether as they depend one upon another are saving and fundamental Nor can this cautelous close help my Lord one jot that he adds The Brownists do not differ from us in any fundamental point of Doctrine or saving Truth as his Lordship knows For were his Lordship of a shallow or narrow Comprehension 't were another matter But since he is so full of understanding in these things 't is impossible but he must know these three together are fundamental and being so he must needs know also that the Brownists differ with us in Fundamentals which is that which he denyed If therefore my Lord will say he knows not this to be the Brownists Error why doth he take upon him to say it is If he will grant that he knows it he must needs know withal if he will not shut out the Light of his Conscience of which a little before he is so tender that the Brownists or Separatists call them what you will differ from us in some fundamental Points of Doctrine or saving Truth Thus far then my Lord relates the failing of the Brownist I hope he will be so careful as not to fail with them himself Yes sure for he adds I hold no such Opinion but do believe to the contrary That there are in England many true Churches and a true Ministry which I do hear and with which Churches I could joyn in Communion were those Yokes of Bondage which are laid upon them taken off and those Corruptions removed which they do contrary as I think to their Duty yield unto and admit of And this I am sure no Separatist in England holds that deserves that Name And therefore I hope your Lordships will in that respect let me stand right in your Opinions Here my Lord tells us he holds no such Opinion but does believe to the contrary But I doubt he so believes to the contrary as that he is of the same Opinion For he believes that there are in England many true Churches and a true Ministry And so do all the Brownists For no doubt but they believe that all their Congregations or Conventicles are true Churches in England and that the Ministers which they hear are true Ministers And this is plainly my Lord's Belief For he saith he believes there is a true Ministry in England 〈◊〉 he doth hear But what Ministers they are which he doth hear he does not say Or if this be not my Lord's meaning but that there are some true Churches and some true Ministers in England though ordained as in England they are yet my Lord continues a Separatist still For his Lordship doth not say either that he doth or that he will or that he can joyn in Communion with any of these Churches or this Ministry which he says are true But only that he could joyn with them if If what Why if these Yokes of Bondage were taken off which are laid upon them and those Corruptions removed By the Yokes of Bondage he means the Injunction of a set Form of Prayers which he hath so often mentioned in this Speech But what Corruptions he means I know not till his Lordship shall be pleased to tell us Only this I conceive I may add That all things are not Corruptions in the Church
do here upon the Second of Januay 1635. Comput Angl. present my Account both for the Diocess and Province of Canterbury concerning all those Church-Affairs which are contained in your Majesty's most gracious Instructions published out of your most Princely and Religious care to preserve Unity in Orthodox Doctrine and Conformity to Government within this your Church of England And First for my own Diocess I humbly represent to your Majesty that there are yet very many Refractory Persons to the Government of the Church of England about Maidstone and Ashford and some other Parts the Infection being spread by one Brewer and continued and increased by one Turner They have been both Censured in the High-Commission Court some Years since but the Hurt which they have done is so deeply rooted as that it is not possible to be plucked up on the suddain but I must crave time to work it off by little and little I have according to your Majesty's Commands required Obedience to my Injunctions sent to the French and Dutch Churches at Canterbury Maidstone and Sandwich And albeit they made some shew of Conformity yet I do not find they have yielded such Obedience as is required and was ordered with your Majesty's Consent and Approbation So that I fear I shall be driven to a quicker proceeding with them The Cathedral Church begins to be in very good Order And I have almost finished their Statutes which being once perfected will mutatis mutandis be a sufficient Direction for the making of the Statutes for the other Cathedrals of the new Erection which in King Henry the Eighth's Time had either none left or none Confirmed and those which are in many things not Canonical All which Statutes your Majesty hath given Power to me with others under the Broad Seal of England to alter or make new as we shall find Cause And so soon as these Statutes for the Church of Canterbury are made ready I shall humbly submit them to your Majesty for Confirmation There is one Mr Walker of St John's the Evangelist a Peculiar of mine in London who hath all his time been but a disorderly and a peevish Man and now of late hath very frowardly Preached against the Lord Bishop of Ely his Book concerning the Lord's Day set out by Authority But upon a Canonical Admonition given him to desist he hath hitherto recollected himself and I hope will be advised For the Diocess of London I find my Lord the Bishop hath been very careful for all that concerns his own Person But Three of his Arch-Deacons have made no return at all to him so that he can certifie nothing but what hath come to his knowledge without their help There have been convented in this Diocess Dr Stoughton of Aldermanbury Mr Simpson Curate and Lecturer of St Margarets New-Fishstreet Mr Andrew Moline Curate and Lecturer of St Swithin Mr John Goodwin Vicar of St Stevens Colman-street and Mr Viner Lecturer of St Laurence in the Old 〈◊〉 for Breach of the Canons of the Church in Sermons or Practice or both But because all them promised Amendment for the future and submission to the Church in all things my Lord very moderately forbore farther proceeding against them There were likewise convented Mr Sparrowhawke Curate and Lecturer at St Mary Woolchurch for Preaching against the Canon for Bowing at the Name of Jesus who because he wilfully persisted is suspended from Preaching in that Diocess As also one Mr John Wood a wild turbulent 〈◊〉 and formerly Censured in the High-Commission-Court But his Lordship forbore Mr White of Knightsbridge for that his Cause is at this present depending in the Court aforesaid Concerning the Diocess of Lincoln my Lord the Bishop returns this Information That he hath Visited the same this Year all over in Person which he conceives no Predecessor of his hath done these Hundred Years And that he finds so much good done thereby beyond that which Chancellours use to do when they go the Visitation that he is sorry he hath not done it heretofore in so many Years as he hath been Bishop He farther Certifies that he hath prevailed beyond Expectation for the Augmenting of Four or Five small Vicarages and conceives as your Majesty may be pleased to remember I have often told you upon my own Experience that it is a Work very necessary and fit to be done and most worthy of your Majesty's Royal Care and Consideration For Conformity his Lordship professeth that in that large Diocess he knows but one unconformable Man and that is one Lindhall who is in the High-Commission Court and ready for Sentence My Lord the Bishop of Bath and Wells Certifies that his Diocess is in very good Order and Obedience That there is not a single Lecture in any Town Corporate but grave Divines Preach by course and that he hath changed the Afternoon Sermons into Catechising by Question and Answer in all Parishes His Lordship farther Certifies that no Man hath been Presented unto him since his last 〈◊〉 for any Breach of the Canons of the Church or Your Majesty's Instructions and that he hath received no notice of any increase of Men Popishly affected beyond the number mentioned in his last Certificat The Bishop of this See died almost Half a Year since and had sent in no Certificat But I find by my Visitation there this present Year that the whole Diocess is much out of Order and more at Ipswich and Yarmouth than at Norwich it self But I hope my Lord that now is will take care of it and he shall want no Assistance that I can give him Mr Samuel Ward Preacher at Ipswich was Censured this last Term in the High-Commission Court for Preaching in Disgrace of the Common-Prayer-Book and other like gross Misdemeanours These Six Bishops respectively make their Answer that in their own Persons they have observed all your Majesty's Instructions and that they find all their Clergy very conformable no one of them instancing in any particular to the contrary In this Diocess the Bishop found in his Triennial Visitation the former Year two noted Schismaticks Wroth and Erbury that led away many simple People after them And finding that they willfully persisted in their Schismatical course he hath carefully preferred Articles against them in the High-Commission Court where when the Cause is ready for Hearing they shall receive according to the Merits of it Concerning this Diocess your Majesty knows that the late Bishop's Residence upon the place was necessarily hindred by his Attendance upon your Majesty's Person as Clerk of the Closet But he hath been very careful for the observance of all your Instructions and particularly for Catechizing of the Youth As also for not letting of any thing into Lives to the Prejudice of his Successor in which he hath done exceeding well And I have by your Majesty's Command laid a strict Charge upon his Successor to look to those Particular Leases which
about Catechizing in the Afternoon of which he will take great Care that it my be remedied And I find by his Lordship's return to me that there are divers obstinate Recusants in those parts which I presume are certified to your Majesty's Judges according to Law The Bishop of London visited his Diocess this Year the City and Middlesex in Person the rest by his Chancellour by reason of his necessary attendance upon your Majesty In this his Visitation he found divers complaints about Inconformity to the Church Discipline but the Proofs came home only against Four Three Curates and a Vicar The Vicar upon Submission hath time given him till the next Term to settle himself and reduce his Parishioners And two of the Three Curates did presently submit themselves and promise constancy in their Obedience to the Church The Third Curate one Philip Saunders of Hutton in Essex being Refractory was Suspended and hath since forsaken the Diocess It seems he means to settle himself where he may hope to find more Favour For Norwich the Bishop certifies that he hath put down some Lectures where Factious Men performed them and particularly that he hath Suspended one Bridges Curate of St Georges Parish in Norwich for transgressing your Majesty's Declaration in his Lectures but hath of late freed him from that Suspension upon humble submission made and promise not to offend hereafter And farther that he hath lately heard complaint of Mr Ward of Ipswich for some Words uttered in Sermons of his for which he is now called into the High-Commission He farther Certifies that he hath Suspended one Enoch Grey for unsound Doctrine Preached by him And that one Simon Jacob alias Bradshaw and Ralph Smith two Wanderers went up and down Preaching here and there without Place of Aboad or Authority And that upon his Summoning them to appear they are run out of that Diocess Your Majesty's Instructions in other things have as he certifieth been carefully observed both by himself and his Clergy The Bishop of Ely certifies that for any thing that hath been made appear to him all your Majesty's Royal Injunctions for the good of the Church have been carefully observed throughout his Diocess And he promises to carry a watchful Eye as he hath ever done concerning all such Lecturers as are or shall at any time be in his Diocess For St. Davids the Bishop is now gone and setled in his Diocess whence he hath not been absent two Months these two Years He promiseth to be very careful whom he Ordains The Lecturers in those parts are not many yet of late he hath been driven first to Suspend and afterwards to dismiss one Roberts a Welch Lecturer for Inconformity And one or two others that have with their giddiness offered to distemper the People he hath likewise driven out of his Diocess But his Lordship complains grievously and not without Cause that divers Impropriators in those parts have either pulled down the Chancels or suffered them to fall to the great debasing of their Churches and leaving them so open and cold as that the People in those mountainous parts must endure a great deal of hardness as well in the Churches as in their way to them The Bishop of St. Asaph professes he hath little to return And that it is a great part of his Comfort in that remote place that the whole Diocess in a manner is peaceable and obedient as well to your Majesty's Instructions as other things which concern the Church That they are not any where troubled with Inconformity But heartily wishes that they might be as well acquitted from Superstition and Prophaneness The Bishop of Landaff certifies That this last Year he Visited in Person and found that William Erbury Vicar of St. Maries in Cardiff and Walter Cradocke his Curate have been very disobedient to your Majesty's Instructions and have Preached very Schismatically and Dangerously to the People That for this he hath given the Vicar a Judicial Admonition and will further proceed if he do not submit And for his Curate being a bold ignorant young Fellow he hath Suspended him and taken away his License to serve the Cure Among other things he used this base and Unchristian passage in the Pulpit That God so loved the world that for it he sent his Son to live like a Slave and dye like a Beast He farther Certifies that one William Newport Rector of Langua in Monmouthshire hath pulled down the Partition betwixt the Chancel and the Church and sold part and disposed the rest to his own use with some other violences to the great prophanation of that place For which the Bishop desires leave to bring him into the High Commission The Bishop of Glocester Certifies That he is forced to Ordain some very mean Ministers in his Diocess to supply Cures as mean yet he professeth that to his knowledge he never gave Holy Orders to any unworthy Person And further he saith that he hath put down some Lecturers and set up othersome which he conceives he did without offence being done upon different occasions but saith that he doth neither know nor can probably conjecture that there is any one unconformable Man in all his Diocess Which if it be true is a great clearing of those parts which have of late been so much suspected This Bishoprick is void For the Diocess of Oxford I find the Bishop very careful and that he hath according to his Promise made to your Majesty built a House at Cuddesden a Vicarage in his own Diocess and Gift which he now holds in Commendam Which House he humbly desires by your Majesty's Favour may be annexed to the See of Oxford which never yet had any House belonging to it And for your Instructions they have all been observed within his Diocess save that he doubts some few Lecturers of whom he will make present Inquiry and hath already suppressed Two which were not performed as they ought viz. at Dadington and Woodstocke My Lord of Chichester Certifies all very well in his Diocess save only in the East part which is far from him he finds that some Puritan Justices of the Peace have awed some of the Clergy into like Opinions with themselves which yet of late have not broken out into any publick Inconformity The Bishop of Peterborough hath Visited his Diocess this last year and begun so well to look to all good Orders that I hope things will go very well there But I find he is beholding to his Predecessors who took very good care in former Years concerning your Majesties Instructions This is all the Return which I have this year to make to your Majesty having received no Accompt at all from these Bishops following viz. Worcester Coventry and Lichfield and Bangor So I humbly submit my Certificat W. Cant. The Arch-Bishop's Account of his Province to the King for the Year 1635. ACcording to your Royal Commands I