also with higher promises that he might corrupt his sincere mind yet a fitting occasion was never offered whereby he might insinuate himself into the Lord Archbishop to whom free access was to be impetrated by the Earl and Countess of Arundel as also by Secretary Windebank all whose intercessions he neglected and did shun as it were the Plague the company or Familiarity of Con. He was also sollicited by others of no mean Rank well known to him and yet he continued unmovable And whereas some found a way to help at last by making Windebank the Internuncio betwixt him and them that only serves to make the matter rather worse than better there being a great strangeness grown betwixt him and Windebank not only before Con's coming into the Realm but before Panzani had settled any course of intelligence in the Court of England As for his favours towards those of the Catholick Party and his connivence of their Practices which is next objected as he had good reason for the one so there could be no reason to object the other He had good reason for the one viz. That by shewing favours to the Papists here they might obtain the like favours for such Protestants as lived in the Dominion of Popish Princes Upon which ground King Iames extended many favours to them in his time as opinions as that Writer makes them appears first by the Testimony of the Archbishop of Spalato declaring in the High Commission a little beâ—ore â—iâ—â—oing hence that he acknowledged the Articles of the Church to be true or profitable at the least and none of them to be Heretical It appears secondly by a Tractate of Franciscus a Sancta Clara as he calls himself in which he pâ—tteth such a gloss upon the 39 Articles of the Church of England as rendreth them not inconsistent with the Doctrines of the Church of Rome And iâ— without prejudice to the truth the controversies might have been composed it is most probable that other Protestant Churches would have suâ—d by their Agents to be included in the Peace if not the Church of England had lost nothing by it as being hated by the Calvinists and not loved by the Lutherans Admitting then that such a Reconciliation was endeavoured betwixt the Agents for both Churches Let us next see what our great States-men have discoursed upon that particular upon what terms the Agreement was to have been made and how far they proceeded in it And first the book entituled the Popes Nuncio affirmed to have been written by a Venetian Ambassador at his being in England doth discourse it tâ—us As to a Reconciliation saith he between the Churches of England and Rome there were made some general Propositions and overtures by the Archbishops Agents they assuring that his Grace was very much disposed thereunto and that if it was not accomplisht in his life time it would prove a work of more difficulty after his death that in very truth for the last three years the Archbishop had introduced some Innovations approaching â—ear the Rites and Forms of Rome that the Bishop of Chichester a great Confident of his Grace the Lord Treasurer and eight other Bishops of his Graces party did most passionately desire a Reconciliation with the Church of Rome that they did day by day receed from their Ancient Tenents to accommodate with the Church of Rome that therefore the Pope on his part ought to make some steps to meet them and the Court of Romeâ—â—mit â—â—mit something of its Rigor in Doctrine or otherwise no accord would be The composition on both sides in so good a forwardness before Panzam leâ—t the Kingdom that the Archbishop and and Bishop of Chichester had often said that there were but two sorts of People likely to impede and hinder the Reconciliation to wit the Puritans amongst the Protestants and the Iesuites amongst the Catholicks Let us next see the judgement and Relation of another Author in a gloss or Comment on the Former intituled the English Pope Printed at London in the same year 1643. And he will tells us that after Con had undertook the managing of the affairs matters began to grow toward some agreement The King required saith he such a dispensation from the then Pope as that his Catholick Subjects might resort to the Protestant Churches and to take the oaths of Supremacy and Fidelity and that the Popes Jurisdiction here should be declared to be but of humane Right And so far had the Pope consented that whatsoever did concern the King therein should have been really performed so far forth as other Catholick Princes usually enjoy and expect as their due and so far as the Bishops were to be Independent both from King and Pope there was no fear of breach on the Popes part So that upon the point the Pope was to content himself amongst us in England with a Priority instead of a Superiority over other Bishops and with a Primacy in stead of a Supremacy in thâ—se parts of Christendom which I conceive no man of Learning and Sobriety would have grudged to grant him It was also condescended to in the name of the Pope that marriage might be permitted to Priests that the Communion might be Administred sub utraque specie and that the Liturgy might be officiated in the English tongue And though the Author adds not long after that it was to be suspected That so far as the inferiour Clergy and the people were concerned the after-performance was to be leâ—t to the Popes Discretion yet this was but his own suspicion without ground at all And to obtain a Reconciliation upon these Advantages the Archbishop had all the Reason in the world to do as he did in ordering the Lords Table to be placed where the Altar stood and making the accustomed Reverence in all approaches towards it and accesses to it in beautifying and adorning Churches and celebrating the Divine Service with all due Solemnities in taking care that all offensive and exasperating passages should be expunged out of such Books as were brought to the Press and for reducing the extravagancy of some opinions to an evener temper His Majesty had the like Reason also for tolerating Lawful Recreations on the Sundays and Holy-days The rigorous Restraint whereof made some Papists think those most especially of the vulgar sort whom it most concerned that all honest Pastime were incompetible with our Religion And if he approved Auricular Confession and shewed himself willing to introduce it into the use of the Church as both our Authors say he did it is no more then what the Liturgy Commends to the care of the Penitent though we find not the word Auricular in it or what the Canons have provided for in the point of security for such as shall be willing to confess themselves But whereas we are told by one of our Authors that the King should say he would use force to make it be received were it not for fear of Sedition
CYPRIANUS ANGLICUS OR THE HISTORY OF THE Life and Death OF The most Reverend and Renowned PRELATE WILLIAM By Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of all ENGLAND and Metropolitan Chancellor of the Universities of Oxon. and Dublin and one of the Lords of the Privy Council to His late most SACRED MAJESTY King CHARLES the First Second MONARCH of Great Britain CONTAINING ALSO The Ecclesiastical History of the Three Kingdoms of ENGLAND SCOTLAND and IRELAND from His first rising till His Death By P. Heylyn D. D. and Chaplain to Charles the first and Charles the second Monarchs of Great Britain ECCLUS 44. VERS 1 3. 1. Let us now praise Famous Men and our Fathers that begat Vs. 3. Such as did bear Rule in their Kingdoms Men Renowned for their Power giving Counsel by their Vnderstanding and Declaring Prophesies LONDON Printed for A. Seile MDCLXVIII To the Honourable Sir IOHN ROBINSON Kt. and Baronet HIS MAJESTIES Lieutenant of the Tower of London SIR YOV have here before you the History of an Eminent Prelate and Patriot a Person who lived the honour and died a Martyr of the English Church and State for it was his sad Fate to be crusht betwixt Popery and Schism and having against both defended the Protestant Cause with his Pen he after chearfully proceeded to Seal that Faith with his Bloud Together with the Story of this Great Man you have likewise that of the Age he lived in especially so far as concerned the Church wherein you will find recorded many notable Agitations and Contrivances which it were pity should be lost in silence and pass away unregarded These Considerations towards a Gentleman of your worth Curiosity and loyalty are warrant enough to justifie me in this Dedication And yet I must not conceal that it belongs to you by another right that is to say the Care of recommending this VVork to the Publick was committed to a Gentleman who himself had presented it to your hand if God had not taken him away just upon the point of putting his purpose in execution So that it seems in me as well matter of Conscience as of Respect to deliver it wholly up to your Patronage and Protection since in exposing it to the world I do but perform the will of my dead Father and in addressing it to your self together with my own I also gratifie that of my deceased Friend The value of the VVork it self I do not pretend to judge of my duty and interest for the Author forbids it but for the Industry Integrity and good meaning of the Historian I dare become answerable And in truth I hope well of the rest without which I should not have made bold with Sir John Robinson's Name in the Front of it who being so nearly related both in bloud and affection to that Incomparable and Zealous Minister of God and his Prince cannot besides a Natural but upon an Honourable Impression concern himself in the glories or blemishes of this Character defective in nothing but that it could not be as ample as his worth And now having discharged my trust and duty as I could do no less so I have little more to add for my self but that I am SIR Your most humble and obedient Servant HENRY HEYLYN A Necessary INTRODUCTION To the following HISTORY BEFORE we come unto the History of this Famous Prelate it will not be amiss to see upon what Principles and Positions the Reformation of this Church did first proceed that so we may the better Judge of those Innovations which afterwards were thrust upon her and those Endeavours which were used in the latter times to bring her back again to her first Condition 1. Know therefore that King Henry viii having obtained of the Bishops and Clergie in their Convocation Anno 1530. to be acknowledged the Supream Head on Earth of the Church of England did about three years after in the 26 of his Reign confirm the said Supremacy to Himself his Heirs and Successors with all the Priviledges and Preheminencies thereunto belonging by Act of Parliament And having procured the said Bishops and Clergie in another of their Convocations held in the year 1532. to promise in verbo Sacerdotii not to assemble from thenceforth in any Convocation or Synodical Meeting but as they should be called by his Majesties Writ nor to make any Canons or Constitutions Synodal or Provincial without his Leave and Licence thereunto obtained nor finally to put the same in Execution till they were Ratified and Confirmed under the Great Seal of England Procured also an Act of Parliament to bind the Clergie to their promise Which Act called commonly The Act of the Submission of the Clergie doth bear this name in Poulton's Abridgment viz. That the Clergie in their Convocation should Enact no Constitutions without the Kings assent Anno 25. Henry viii c. 19. Which Grounds so laid he caused this Question to be debated in both Universities and all the Famous Monasteries of the Kingdom viz. An aliquid auâ—horitatis in hoc Regno Angliae Pontifici Romano de jure competat plusquam alii cuicumque Episcopo extero Which Question being concluded in the Negative and that Conclusion ratified and confirmed in the Convocation Anno 1534. there past an Act of Parliament about two years after Intituled An Act Extinguishing the Authority of the Bishops of Rome In which there was an Oath prescribed for abjuring the Popes Authority within this Realm The refusing whereof was made High-Treason Anno 28. H. viii c. 10. 2. But this Exclusion of the Pope as it did no way prejudice the Clergy in their power of making Canons Constitutions and other Synodical Acts but only brought them to a dependance upon the King for the better ordering of the same so neither did it create any diminution of the Power and Priviledges of the Arch-Bishops and Bishops in the free exercise of that Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction which anciently belonged to them For in the Act of Submission before-mentioned there passed a Clause that all former Constitutions Synodal or Provincial which were not contrary to the Word of God the Kings Prerogative Royal or the Laws and Statutes of this Realm should remain in force until they were reviewed and fitted for the use of the Church by 32 Commissioners to be nominated by the King for that end and purpose Which re-view being never made in the time of that King nor any thing done in it by K. Edw. vi though he had an Act of Parliament to the same effect the said Old Canons and Constitutions remained in force as before they were By means whereof all causes Testamentary Matrimonial and Suits for Tythes all matters of Incontinency and other notorious Crimes which gave publick Scandal all wilful absence from Divine Service Irreverence and other Misdemeanours in the Church not punishable by the Laws of the Land were still reserved unto the Ecclesiastical Courts Those Ancient Canons and Constitutions remaining also for the perpetual standing Rule
Suffrage of the Right Learned Bishop Bilson who lived the greatest part of his time with the said Mr. Nowel by whom we are told in his Book of True Subject c. p. 779. And he tells it with a God forbid that we deny not That the Flesh and Blood of Christ are truly present and truly received of the faithful at the Lords Table 26. A clear explication of which Doctrine was made in the beginning of the Reign of King Iames by whose appointment with the consent of the Metropolitan some of the Bishops and other learned men of the Clergy it was ordered in the Conference at Hampton Court that the Doctrine of the Sacraments should be added to the Authorized Catechism of the Church where before it was not in which addition to the Catechism it is said expresly That the Body and Blood of Christ are verily and indeed taken of the Faithful in the Lords Supper Verily and indeed saith the English Book Vere reipsa or Vere realiter saith the Latine Translations by which the Church doth teach us to understand that Christ is truly and really present though after a spiritual manner in that Blessed Sacrament And that this was the Churches meaning will be made apparent by the Testimony of some of the most learned men which have written since two of which I shall here produce that out of the mouths of two such Witnesses the truth hereof may be established The first of these shall be the most eminent Bishop Andrews a contemporary of the said Bishop Bilson who in his answer unto Cardinal Bellarmine thus declares himself Presentiam credimus non minus quam vos veram deinde presentiae nil temere definimus We acknowledge saith he a presence as true and real as you do but we determine nothing rashly of the manner of it The second shall be Bishop Morton as great an enemy to the Errors and Superstitions of the Church of Rome as any that ever wrote against it who could not but be sixty years of age at the death of Bishop Andrews and he affirms expresly That the question betwixt us and the Papists is not concerning a Real Presence which the Protestants as their own Jesuites witness do also profess Fortunatus a Protestant holding that Christ is in the Sacrament most Really Verissime Realissime as his words are By which it seems it is agreed on on both sides that is to say the Church of England and the Church of Rome that there is a true and real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist the disagreement being only in the modus presentiae 27. The like Dispute is also raised de modo descensus touching the manner and extent of Christs Descending into Hell which the Papists will have to be only partial and to extend no farther then to the upper Region of that infernal Habitation called by them commonly Limbus Patrum The Calvinists will have it to be only figurative no descent at all and they are sub-divided into three opinions Calvin himself interprets it of our Saviours Sufferings on the Cross in which he underwent all those torments even to Desperation which the damned do endure in Hell Many of the Calvinian party understand nothing by Christs Descent into Hell but his Descending into the Grave and then his descending into Hell will be the same with his being buried Which Tautology in such a short summary of the Christian Faith cannot be easily admitted And therefore the late Lord Primate of Ireland not liking either of their opinions will finde a new way by himself in which I cannot say what leaders he had but I am sure he hath had many followers And he by Christs descending into Hell will haue nothing else to be understood but his continuing in the State of Separation between the Body and the Soul his remaining under the power of death during the time that he lay buried in the Grave which is no more in effect though it differ somewhat in the terms then to say he dyed and was buried and rose not again till the third day as the Creed instructs us and then we are but where we were with the other Calvinists But on the contrary the Church of England doth maintain a Local Descent that is to say That the Soul of Christ at such time as his Body lay in the Grave did Locally Descend into the neathermost parts in which the Devil and his Angels are reserved in everlasting Chains of Darkness unto the Judgment of the great and terrible Day And this appears to be the meaning of the first Reformers by giving this Article a distinct place by its self both in the Book of Articles published in the time of King Edward vi Anno 1552. and in the Book agreed upon in the Convocation of the 5. of Queen Elizabeth 1564. in both which it is said expresly in the self-same words viz. As Christ dyed for us and was buried so also is it to be believed that he went down into Hell which is either to be understood of a Local Descent or else we are tyed to believe nothing by it but what explicitely or implicitely is comprehended in the former Article in which there is particular mention of Christs Sufferings Crucifying Death and Burial Now that this is the Churches meaning cannot be better manifested then in the words of Mr. Alexander Nowel before-mentioned who for the reasons before remembred cannot in reason be supposed to be ignorant of the true sense and meaning of the Church in that particular and he accordingly in his Catechism publickly allowed of with reference to a Local Descent doth declare it thus viz. Vt Christus corpore in terrae viscera ita anima corpore separata ad inferos descendit c. that is As Christ descended in his Body into the bowels of the earth so in his Soul separated from that Body he descended also into Hell by means whereof the power and efficacy of his Death was not made known only to the dead but to the Devils themselves insomuch that both the souls of the unbelievers did sensibly perceive that condemnation which was most justly due to them for their incredulity and Satan himself the Prince of Devils did as plainly see that his tyranny and all the powers of darkness were opprest ruined and destroyed Which Doctrine when it began to be decryed and the Calvinian Gloss to get ground upon it was learnedly asserted by Dr. Thomas Bilson then Bishop of Winchester in his Book entituled A Survey of Christs Sufferings in which he hath amassed together whatsoever the Fathers Greek and Latine or any of the ancient Writers have affirmed of this Article with all the points and branches which depend upon it 28. The Sufferings of Christ represented in the Blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper with some of the effects thereof by his descending into Hell being thus dispatched we shall next look into that of Baptisme in which we shall consider the necessity
The Books which had been written on both sides being purposely dispersed abroad to encourage and encrease their several Parties cross'd over the Seas into England also where being diligently studied either out of curiosity or desire of Knowledge they awaked many out of that dead sleep in which they were to look with better eyes into the true and native Doctrines of this Church than before they did Amongst the first which publikly appeared that way at Oxon. after the coming out of the said Books were Laud and Houson whom Abbot then Doctor of the Chair and Vice-chancellor also exposed to as much disgrace as by his Place and Power he could lay upon them Amongst the first at Cambridge were Tompson a Dutchman by original if I be not mistaken in tâ—e man and Richardson the Master of Trinity Colledge The first of these had writ a Book touching Falling away from Grace entituled De Intercisione Gratiae Iustificationis to which Abbot of Oxon. above-mentioned returned an Answer The other being a corpulent man was publickly reproach'd in S. Maries Pulpit in his own University by the name of a Fat-bellied Arminian By that name they were called in Holland which adhered not unto Calvin's Doctrine though many had formerly maintained these Opinions in those Churches before van Harmine came to the Chair of Leyden And by that name they must be called in England also though the same Doctrines had been here publickly Authorised and Taught before he was born So that the entitling of these Doctrines to the name of Arminius seems to be like the nominating of the great Western Continent by the name of America of which first Christopher Columbus and afterwards the two Cabots Father and Son had made many great and notable Discoveries before Americus Vestputius ever saw those Shores Howsoever these Doctrines must be called by the name of Arminianism and by that name Mountague stands accused by the two Informers though he protests in his Appeal That he had never seen any of the Writings of Arminius and that he did no otherwise maintain those Doctrines than as they were commended to him by the Church of England and justified by the unanimous Consent of the Ancient Fathers But of this man and the pursuance of these Quarrels we shall hear more shortly These matters being thus laid together let us look back on some former Passages which preceded Mountagues Disputes The Commons had obtained their ends in dissolving all Treaties with the King of Spain but lost their hopes of Marrying the Prince to a Lady of their own Religion His Majesty would not look beneath a Crown to finde a Marriage for his Son and no Crown could afford him a better Wife for his Son than a Daughter of France The Prince had seen the Lady at the Court in Paris and the King as much desired to see her in the Court of England Upon this ground the Earl of Holland is dispatch'd privately into France to see how the Queen-Mother and her Ministers who then Governed the Affairs of that King would approve the Match to which at first they seemed so chearâ—ully inclined that they did not seem to stand upon any Conditions But no sooner had they found that the Breach between his Majesty and the King of Spain was grown irreparable and that both sides prepared for War but they knew how to make their best advantage of it They thought themselves to be every way as considerable as the Spaniards were and would abate nothing of those Terms which had been obtained by the Spaniards in reference either to the Princess her self or in favour of the English Catholicks And to these Terms when they saw no better could be gotten his Majesty and the Prince consented But such a Spirit of Infatuation was at that time upon the People that they who on the 23d of February before had celebrated the Dissolving of the Treaties with Spain with Bâ—lls and Bonfires on the 21st of November following did celebrate with like Solemnities and Expressions the like Match with France And in this Match Laud is accused to have a hand or at the least to have shew'd his good affections to promote it An heavy Crime and proved by as infallible proofs that is to say his writing to and receiving Letters from the Duke at such time as the Duke was sent to the Court of France to attend the new Queen into England And what else could this Match and those Letters aim at but to carry on the same design to bring in Popery and by that means to stand their ground and retain all those Priviledges and Immunities which the Popish Party had procured by the former Treaties To such absurdities are men sway'd when Prejudice and Prepossessions over-rule the Balance We must begin the next year with the Death of King Iames and therefore think it not amiss to take a brief view of the Condition of the Church and State at the time of his departing from us He had spent all his life in Peace but died in the beginning of a War A War which had been drawn upon him by dissolving the Treaties to which he was as it were constrained by the continual importunity of the Prince and the Duke of Buckingham The Duke knew well that he could not do a more popular act than to gratifie the Commons in that business and had easily possess'd the Prince with this opinion That as his future Greatness must be built on the Love of his People so nothing could oblige them more than to be instrumental in dissolving the present Treaties But herein they consulted rather their own private Passions than the publick Interest of the Crown and they shall both pay dear enough for it in a very short space For there is nothing more unsafe for a King of England than to cast himself upon the necessity of calling Parliaments and depending on the Purse of the Subject by means whereof he makes himself obnoxious to the humour of any prevailing Member in the House of Commons and becomes less in Reputation both at home and abroad The Church he left beleaguer'd by two great Enemies assaulted openly by the Papist on the one side undermined by the Puritans on the other Of the audaciousness of the Papists we have spoke already abated somewhat by the Fall at Black-friers more by the dissolving the two Treaties about four Months after For though they made some use of the French by this new Alliance yet they resolved to fasten no dependance upon that Crown insomuch that many of those who greedily embraced such Favours as were obtained for them by the Treaties with the King of Spain would not accept the same when they were procured by the Match with France for which being asked the Reason they returned this Answer That they would not change an old Friend for a new of the continuance of whose Favours they could have no certainty and who by suffering Hereticks in his own Dominions declared
mature deliberation and with the Advice of so many of Our Bishops as might conveniently be called together thought fit to make this Declaration following That the Articles of the Church of England which had been allowed and authorized heretofore and which Our Clergy generally have subscribed unto do contain the true Doctrine of the Church of England agreeable to Gods Word which We do therefore ratifie and confirm requiring all Our loving Subjects to continue in the Vniform Profession thereof and prohibiting the least difference from the said Articles which to that end We command to be reprinted and this Our Declaration to be published therewith That We are Supreme Governour of the Church of England and that if any difference arise about the External Policie concerning Injunctions Canons or other Constitutions whatsoever thereunto belonging the Clergy in their Convocation is to order and settle them having first obtained leave under Our Broad Seal so to do And We approving their said Ordinances and Constitutions providing that none be made contrary to the Laws and Customs of the Land That out of Our Princely care that the Church-men may do the work which is proper unto them the Bishops and Clergie from time to time in Convocation upon their humble desire shall have licence under Our Broad Seal to deliberate of and to do all such things as being made plain by them and assented by Vs shall concern the settled continuance of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England established from which We shall not endure any variation or departing in the least degree That for the present though some differences have been ill raised We take comfort in this that all Clergie-men within Our Realm have alwaies most willingly subscribed to the Articles established which is an Argument to Vs that they all agree in the true usual literal meaning of the said Articles and that even in those curious Points in which the present differences lye men of all sorts take the Articles of the Church of England to be for them which is an argument again that none of them intend any desertion of the Articles established That therefore in these both curious and unhappy differences which have for many hundred years in different times and places exercised the Church of Christ We will that all further curious search be laid aside and these disputes be shut up in Gods Promises as they be generally set forth unto Vs in holy Scriptures and the general meaning of the Articles of the Church of England according to them And that no man hereafter shall either Print or Preach to draw the Article aside any way but shall submit to it in the plain and full meaning thereof And shall not put his own sense or Coment to be the meaning of the Article but shall take it in the literal and Grammatical sense That if any Publick Reader in either Our Vniversities or any Head or Master of a Colledge or any other person respectively in either of them shall affix any new sense to any Article or shall publickly read determine or hold any publick Disputation or suffer any such to be held either way in either the Vniversities or Colledges respectively or if any Divine in the Vniversities shall Preach or Print any thing either way other than is established in Convocation with Our Royal Assent He or they the Offenders shall be liable to Our displeasure and the Churches Censure in Our Commission Ecclesiastical as well as any other and We will see there shall be due execution upon them No sooner were the Articles published with this Declaration but infinite were the clamours which were raised against it by those of the Calvinian Party Many exclaimed against it for the depths of Satan some for a Iesuitical Plot to subvert the Gospel For what else could it aim at as they gave it out but under colour of silencing the disputes on either side to give incouragement and opportunity to Arminians here to sow their tears and propagate their erroneous Doctrines And what effects could it produce but the suppressing of all Orthodox Books the discouraging of all godly and painful Ministers thereby deteâ—red from preaching the most comfortable Doctrines of mans election unto life The Arminians in the mean time gathering strength and going on securely to the end they aimed at And to give the better colour to these suspitions a Letter is dispersed abroad pretended to be written to the Rector of the Jesuites in Bruxells the chief City of Brabant In which the Writers lets him know with what care and cunning they had planted â—ere that Soveraign drug Arminianism which they hoped would purge the Protestants from their Heresies and that it begin to flourish and bear fruit already That for the better preventing of the Puritans the Arminians had lockt up the Dukes ears c. with much of the like impudent stuff which no sober man did otherwise look on than a piece of Gullery Upon which grounds a Petition was designed for his Sacred Majesty by some of the Calvinian Party in and about the City of London For the revoking of the said Declaration by which they were deterred as the matter was handled from preaching the saving Doctrines of Gods Free Grace in Election and Predestination And this say they had brought them into a very great straight either or incurring Gods heavy displeasure if they did not faithfully discharge their Embassage in declaring the whole Counsel of God or the danger of being censured as violaters of his Majesties said Act if they preacht those constant Doctrines of our Church and confuted the opposite Pelagian and Arminian Heresies both preached and Printed boldly without fear of censure And thereupon they pray on their bended knees that his gracious Majesty would take into his Princely consideration the forenamed Evils and Grievances under which they groaned and as a wise Physician prescribe and apply such speedy Remedies as may both cure the present Maladies and secure the peace of Church and Common-wealth from all those Plagues which their Neighbours had not a little felt and more may fear if the Council of his Majesties Father to the States of the United Provinces were not better followed But this Petition being stopt before it came to the King they found more countenance from the Commons in the next Parliamentary meeting than they were like to have found at the hands of his Majesty For the Commons conceiving they had power to declare Religion as well as Law and they had much alike in both they voted this Anti-Declaration to be published in the name of that House viz. We the Commons now assembled in Parliament do claim profess and avow for truth the sense of the Articles of Religion which were established in Parliament the thirteenth year of Queen Elizabeth which by the publick Acts of the Church of England and the general and currant exposition of the Writers of our Church have been delivered to us and we
Preoccupate the most Reverend Archbishop Whitgift with most sad complaints touching the Rupture made by Baroe in that Vniversity For remedy whereof the Archbishop calls unto him Fletcher the Lord Elect of London Vaughan the Lord Elect of Bangor Tyndal Dean of Ely and such Divines as came from Cambridge who meeting at his house in Lambeth on the twenty sixth day of November Anno 1595. did then and there conclude upon certain Articles for regulating disputations in those points of Controversie Which Articles being nine in number are these that follow I. God from all eternity hath predestinated certain men unto life certain men he hath reprobated II. The moving or efficient cause of Predestination unto life is not the foresight of Faith or of perseverance or of God-works or of any thing that is in the person predestinated but only the good will and pleasure of God III. There is predetermined a certain number of the Predestinate which can either be augmented or diminished IV. Those who are not predestinated to salvation shall be necessarily damned for their sins V. A true living and justifying faith and the Spirit of God justifying is not extinguished falleth not away it vanisheth not away in the Act either finally or totally VI. A man truly faithful that is such a one who is enduced with a justifying Faith is certain with the full assurance of faith of the remission of his sins and of his everlasting salvation by Christ. VII Saving grace is not given is not granted is not communicated to all men by which they may be saved if they will VIII No man can come unto Christ unless it shall be given unto him and unless the Father shall draw him and all men are not drawn by the Father that they may come to the Son IX It is not in the will or power of every one to be saved These Articles being brought to Cambridge so discouraged Baroe that when the ordinary time of his publick readings was expired he forsook that place and not many years after died in London His Funerall being attended by order from Bishop Bancroft by most of the Eminent Divines about that City which shews that both the Bishop and the most eminent Divines of London were either inclinable to his opinions or not so averse from them as not to give a solemn attendance at the time of his Funeral The news of which proceedings being brought to the Queen she was excâ—edingly offended conceiving it a deep intrenchment upon her Prerogative that any such Declaration should be made in matter of Religion without her Authority Once was she at a point to have them all indited of a Praemunire but the high esteem she had of Whitgift whom she commonly called her black husband reprieved all the rest from the danger of it Howsoever such a strict course was taken for suppressing the said Articles that a Copy of them was not to be found in Cambridge for a long time aâ—ter though after the Queens death they began to peep abroad again and became more publick Nor was King Iames better conceited of them than Queen Elizabeth was for when it was moved by Dr Reynolds at Hampton Court that the nine Orthodoxal Assertions as he pleased to call them which were concluded on at Lambeth might be admitted into the confession of the Church of England the King so much disliked the motion that it was presently rejected without more ado But that which the Calvinians could not get in England they effected at the last in Ireland where the true and genuine Doctrines of the Church of England had been less looked after than at home For in the year 1615. a Parliament and Convocation being holden in Dublin it was resolved on by the Archbishop Bishops and the rest of the Clergy then assembled that a Book of Articles should be framed to be the Publick Confession of that Church for succeeding times the drawing up whereof was committed to Doctor Iames Vsher afterwards Archbishop of Armagh and Lord Primate of Ireland a Rigid Calvinist but otherwise the ablest Scholar of that Nation And he accordingly fashioning the Doctrine for that Church by his own Conceptions inserted into the said Book of Articles the nine Conclusions made at Lambeth to be the standing Rule as he thought and hoped of that Church for ever And yet they did not stay there neither The Sabbatarian Doctrines had been broached by Bownd in the same year wherein the nine Articles had been made at Lambeth Which being opposed by Archbishop Whitgift and never admitted in this Church were by the cunning of that Faction and the zeal or diligence of this man incorporated into the Body of the Articles for the Church of Ireland in which it is declared for a Doctrinal Point That the first day of the Week which is the Lords-day is wholly to be dedicated to the Service of God and therefore we are Bound therein to rest from our common and daily Business and to bestow that leisure upon holy Exercises both Publick and Private And because he concluded in himself that the Pope was Antichrist that also must be made an Article of this Confession in which we find it in these words viz. The Bishop of Rome is so far from being the Supream Head of the Vniversal Church that his Works and Doctrines do plainly discover him to be the Man of Sin foretold in the Holy Scripture whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of his mouth and abolish with the brightness of his coming And hereunto That the Plantation of the Scots in Vlster unhappily projected in the time of King Iames brought in so much Puritanism such a contempt of Bishops such a neglect of the Publick Liturgie and other Divine Offices of this Church that there was nothing less to be found amongst them than the Doctrine Government and Forms of Worship established in the Church of England The Papists in the mean time encreasing more and more grew at the last to so great a confidence by the clashings here in England betwixt the King and his Parliaments that they gave themselves great hope of a Toleration And possibly enough they might have obtained somewhat like it if the Irish Bishops had not joined together in a Protestation to the contrary and caused it to be published in the Pulpit by the Bishop of Derry with infinite Acclamations of the Protestant Hearers Howsoever the lost hopes had so far emboldened them that they set up some Religious Houses even in Dublin it self shewed themselves openly in their Friars Habits and publickly affronted not only the Mayor but the Archbishop of that City This coming to his Majesties knowledge he caused his pleasure to be signified to the Lords of his Council That Order should be taken there That the House where the said Seminary Friars appeared in their Habits and wherein the Reverend Archbishop and the Mayor of Dublin received their first Affront be speedily demolished and be the Mark of Terrour to
Archbishop knew full well how small a Progress he should make in his Reformation for reducing the French and Dutch to a Communion with the Church of England and the Church of England to it self if London were not brought to some Conformity Which City having a strong influence on all parts of the Kingdom was generally looked on as the Compass by which the lesser Towns and Corporations were to steer their Course the practice of it being pleaded upon all occasions for Vestries Lectures and some other Innovations in the State of the Church And to this nothing more concurred than that the Beneficed Clergy being but meanly provided for were forced to undertake some Lectures or otherwise to connive at many things contrary to their own Judgment and the Rules of the Church in hope that gaining the good will thereby of the Chief of their Parishes they might be gratified by them with Entertainments Presents and some other helps to mend their Maintenance The Lecturers in the mean time as being Creatures of the People and depending wholly on the Purse of the wealthier Citizens not only overtopped them in point of Power and Reputation but generally of Profit and Revenue also Not that these Lecturers were maintained so much by the Zeal and Bounty of their Patrons as by a general Fraud which for many years last past had been put upon the Regular Clergy by the diminishing of whose just Dues in Tythes and Offerings such Lecturers and Trencher-Chaplains had been fed and cherished For the better understanding whereof we are to know That in the year 1228. Roger Niger Bishop of London ordained by a Synodical Constitution That the Citizens should pay of every pounds Rent by the year of all Houses Shops c. the Sum of 3 s. 5 d. as time out of mind had formerly been paid Which 3 s. 5 d. did arise from the Offerings upon every Sunday and thirty of the principal Holydays in the same year after the Rate of one halspeny for every twenty shillings Rent of their Houses Shops c. This Order of Roger Niger remaining in force till the year 1397. and the Câ—â—â—gy being kept to such Rates for the Rents of Houses as at the first making of the same it was decreed by Thomas Arundell then Bishop of Canterbury That as the Rent increased so the Offerings or Tythes should increase also That the said Order should be read in every Parish-Church four times in the year and a Curse laid upon all those who should not obey it Confirmed by Pope Innocent vii and Nicholas v. with a Proviso That the said Oblations should be paid according to the true yearly value of the Shops and Houses It so remained until the twenty fifth year of Henry viii at what time many of the former Holydays being abrogated by the Kings Authority the yearly Profit of the Clergy found a great abatement the greater in regard of the variances which arose betwixt them and their Parishioners about the payment of their Dues the People taking the advantage of some Disorders which the Clergy at that present had been brought unto by acknowledging the King for the Supream Head of the Church of England Upon this variance a Complaint is made unto the King who refers the whole matter to Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury Audley Lord Chancellor Gardiner Bishop of Winton Cromwell Chief Secretary of Estate Fitz-Iames and Norwich Chief Justices of the several Benches by whom it was concluded That from thenceforth 2 s. 9 d. only should be paid out of every pound for the Rents of Houses Shops c. And to this Order the Citizens did not only consent as they had good reason but bound themselves by an Act of Common Council to perform the same the said Decree confirmed by Act of Parliament in the twenty seventh and afterwards in the thirty seventh of that King with a power given to the Lord Mayor to commit to Prison every person whatsoever who should not pay his Tythes and Dues according to that Proportion But contrary to the true intent and meaning of the said Decrees and the several Acts of Parliament which confirmed the same the covetous and unconscionable Landlords who had the Fee-simple or some long Leases at the least of such shops and houses devised many base and fraudulent waies to put a cheat upon the Law and abuse the Clergie reserving some small sum in the name of a Rent and covenanting for other greater Sums to be paid quarterly or half yearly in the name of Fines Annuities Pensions Incomes Interest money c. Finding these Payments so conditioned and agreed upon to be too visible a cheat some were so wise as to take their Fines in gross when they sealed their Leases some inconsiderable Rent being charged upon them others so cunning as to have two Leases on foot at the same time one at a low contemptible Rent to gull the Incumbent of his dues the other with a Rent four or five times as great to keep down the Tenant and some by a more cleanly kind of conveyance reserving a small Rent as others did caused their Tenants to enter into several bonds for the payment of so much money yearly with reference to the term which they had in their Leases By which Devises and deceits the house-Rents were reduced to so low a value that some Aldermen who do not use to dwell in Sheds and Cottages could be charged with no more than twenty shillings for a whole years Tythe the Rent reserved amounts after that proportion but to seven pounds yearly The Clergie by the Alteration of Religion had lost those great advantages which had before accrued unto them by Obits Mortuaries Obventions to the Shrines and Images of some special Saints Church Lands and personal Tythes according to mens honest gain which last was thought to have amounted to more than the Tythe of houses Being deprived of the one and abused in the other they were forced in the sixteenth of King Iames Anno 1618. to have recourse to the Court of Exchequer by the Barons whereof it was declared that according to the true intent of the said Acts the Inhabitants of London and the Liberties thereof ought to pay the Tythe of their houses shops c. after the rate of two shillings nine pence in the pound proportionable to the true yearly value of the Rent thereof In order whereunto it was then ordered by the Court that a Shed which had been built and made a convenient dwelling house should pay twenty four shillings nine pence yearly in the name of a Tythe as was afterwards awarded by Sir Henry Yelverton upon a reference made unto him that one Rawlins who paid forty shillings yearly to his Landlord in the name of a Rent and twelve pound by the name of a fine should from thenceforth pay his Tythe to the Incumbent of the Parish in which he dwelt after the rate of fourteen pound yearly This and the like Arbitrements about that time
dies though his Munificence survive him It was then Midlent-Sunday and the Court-Sermon at Whitehall according to the ancient Custom in the after-noon At what time the sad News passing through London began to be rumored in the Court as Laud was going into the Pulpit to preach before the Lords of the Council the Officers of the Houshold and the rest of that great Concourse of all sorts of People which usually repaired thither at those Solemn Sermons Before he was come to the middle of it the certainty of the Kings death more generally known amongst them the confusion which he saw in the faces of all the Company his own griefs and the dolorous complaints made by the Duke of Buckingham occasioned him to leave the Pulpit and to bestow his pains and comforts where there was more need He did not think as I believe few wise men do that the carrying on of one particular Sermon was such a necessary part of Gods business as is not to be intermitted upon any occasion nor was this ever charged upon him amongst his crimes The sense of this great loss being somewhat abated he was requested by the Duke to draw up some Remembrances of the Life Reign and Government of the King Deceased which he accordingly performed and presented to him But they are but Remembrances or Memorials only like the first lines of a design or Picture which being polished and perfected by a skilâ—ul Workman might have presented us with the true and lively Pourtraiture of that gracious Prince But who will undertake to finish what Laud began I must therefore leave the deceased King to those Memorials and those Memorials to be found in his Breviate p. 5. But there was another Pourtraiture provided for that King before his Funeral His Body being brought from Theobalds unto Sommerset-house where a Royal and Magnificent Hearse was erected for him visited and resorted to by infinite multitudes of people for some Weeks together From Sommerset-house his Body was carried in great State on Saturday the seventh of May to St. Peters Church in Westminster where it was solemnly interred The Funeral Sermon preached by the Lord Keeper Williams and printed not long after by the name of Great Britains Solomon which afterwards administred the occasion of some discourse which otherwise might have been spared Thus is Iames dead and buried but the King survives his only Son Prince Charles being immediately proclaimed King of Great Britain France and Ireland first at the Court Gates by Sir Edward Zouch Knight Marshal most solemnly the next day at London and afterwards by degrees in all the Cities and Market Towns of the Kingdom At his first entrance on the Crown he found himself ingaged in a war with the K. of Spain the mightiest Monarch of the West for which he was to raise great Forces both by Sea and Land He was also at the Point of Marriage with the Daughter of France and some proportionable preparations must be made for that Nor was King Iames to be interred without a solemn and magnificent Funeral answerable in the full height to so great a Prince All which must needs exact great Sums of money and money was not to be had without the help of a Parliament which he therefore gave order to be called in the usual manner But in the middest of these many and great preparations he forgets not the great business of the Church He had observed the multitudinousness of his Fathers Chaplains and the disorder of their waitings which puts him on a Resolution of reducing them to a lesser number and limiting them to a more certain time of attendance than before they were He knew well also what an influence the Court had alwaies on the Country by consequence how much it did concern him in his future Government that his Officers and Servants should be rightly principled according to the Doctrine Government and Forms of Worship established in the Church of England And therefore that he might be served with Orthodox and Regular men Laud is commanded to prepare a Catalogue of the most eminent Divines and to distinguish them by the two Letters of O and P. according to their several perswasions and affections And that being done he is directed by the Duke and the Kings appointment to have recourse to the most learned Bishop Andrews to know of him what he thought fitting to be done in the Cause of Religion Especially in reference to the five Articles condemned not long since in the Synod at Dort and to report his answer with convenient speed A Convocation was of course to accompany the ensuing Parliament And it was fit not only that the Prelates should resolve before-hand what Points they meant to treat on when they were assembled but that his Majesty also might have time to consider of them These seasonable cares being thus passed over he hastens both his own marriage and his Fathers Funeral The first he sollemnized by Proxie in the Church of Nostre Dame in Paris on Sunday the first of May according to the Style of England The news whereof being brought to the Court on the Wednesday following was celebrated in the Streets of London the Liberties and out-parts of it with more than ordinary Expressions of Joy and Gladness The Proxie made to Claud. de Lorain Duke of Chevereux one of the younger Sons of the Duke of Guise from which House his Majesty derived himself by his great Grand-Mother Mary of Lorain Wife of Iames the Fifth The Funeral he attended in his own Person as the principal Mourner Which though it were contrary to the Custome of his Predecessors yet he chose rather to express his Piety in attending the dead Body of his Father to the Funeral Pile than to stand upon any such old niceties and points of State This was the third Funeral which he had attended as the principal Mourner which gave some occasion to presage that he would prove a man of sorrows and that his end would carry some proportion to those mournful beginnings The Intervall before the coming of his Queen he spent in looking to his Navy and drawing his Land Forces together for that Summers service But hearing that his Queen was advancing toward him he went to Canterbury and rested there on Trinity Sunday the twelfth of Iune That night he heard the news of her safe arrival at the Port of Dover whom he welcomed the next morning into England with the most chearful signs of a true aâ—fection From thence he brought her unto Canterbury and from thence by easie Stages to Gravesend where entring in their Royal Barge attended by infinite companies of all sorts of People and entertained by a continual peal of Ordnance all the way they passed he brought her safely and contentedly unto his Palace at Westminster The Lords and Ladies of the Court having presented to her the acknowledgement of their humble duties such Bishops as were about the Town as most of them were in regard of
in sundry parts of this Kingdom And therefore he did not only require that none of them might have any manner of Covert Protection Countenance or connivence from them or any of the rest as they tendred his Royal Commandment in that behalf but that all possible diligence be used as well to unmask the false shadows and pretences of those who may possibly be won to Conformity letting all men know That he could not think well of any that having Place and Authority in the Church do permit such persons to pass with impunity much less if they give them any countenance to the emboldening them or their adherents On the receiving of these Letters Abbot transmits the Copies of them to his several Suffragans and to our Bishop of St. Davids amongst the rest requiring him to conform therein to his Majesties Pleasure and to see the same executed in all parts of his Diocess On the receipt whereof the Bishop commands his Chancellor Arch-Deacons and other Ecclesiastical Officers within his Diocess of St. Davids That all possible care be taken of such as are any way backward in Points of Religion and more especially of known and professed Recusants that they may be carefully presented and Proceedings had against them to Excommunication according to form and order of Law and that there be a true List and Catalogue of all such as have been presented and proceeded against sent to him yearly after Easter by him to be presented to the Archbishop of Canterbury as had been required No Command given unto his Chancellor and other Officers to look into the Practises and Proceedings of the Puritan Faction for which I am able to give no reason but that he had received no such Direction and Command from Archbishop Abbot whose Letter pointed him no further it is no hard matter to say why than to the searching out presenting and Excommunicating the Popish Recusants And in what he commanded he was obeyed by his Chancellor returning to him in Iune following the names of such Recusants as lived within the Counties of Caermarthen and Pembroke the chief parts of his Diocess The Kings Coronation now draws on for which Solemnity he had appointed the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin better known by the name of Candlemas day The Coronations of King Edward vi and Queen Elizabeth had been performed according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Roman Pontificals That at the Coronation of King Iames had been drawn in haste and wanted many things which might have been considered of in a time of leasure His Majesty therefore issueth a Commission to the Archbishop of Canterbury and certain other Bishops whereof Laud was one to consider of the Form and Order of the Coronation and to accomodate the same more punctually to the present Rules and Orders of the Church of England On the fourth of Ianuary the Commissioners first met to consult about it and having compared tâ—e Form observed in the Coronation of King Iames with the publick Rituals it was agreed upon amongst them to make some Alterations in it and Additions to it The Alteration in it was that the Unction was to be performed in forma Crucis after the manner of a Cross which was accordingly done by Abbot when he officiated as Archbishop of Canterbury in the Coronation The Additions in the Form consisted chiefly in one Prayer or Request to him in the behalf of the Clergy and the clause of another Prayer for him to Almighty God the last of which was thought to have ascribed too much Power to the King the first to themselves especially by the advancing of the Bishops and Clergy above the Laity The Prayer or Request which was made to him followed after the Vnction and was this viz. Stand and hold fast from henceforth the Place to which you have been Heir by the Succession of your Forefathers being now delivered to you by the Authority of Almighty God and by the hands of us and all the Bishops and Servants of God And as you see the Clergy to come neerer to the Altar than others so remember that in place convenient you give them greater honour that the Mediator of God and Man may establish you in the Kingly Throne to be the Mediator between the Clergy and the Laity that you may Reign for ever with Iesus Christ the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who with the Father and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth for ever Amen The Clause of that Prayer which was made for him had been intermitted since the time of King Henry vi and was this that followeth viz. Let him obtain favour for the People like Aaron in the Tabernacle Elisha in the Waters Zacharias in the Temple Give him Peters Key of Discipline and Pauls Doctrine Which Clause had been omitted in times of Popery as intimating more Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to be given to our Kings than the Popes allowed of and for the same reason was now quarrell'd at by the Puritan Faction It was objected commonly in the time of his fall That in digesting the form of the Coronation he altered the Coronation Oath making it more advantageous to the King and less beneficial to the People than it had been formerly from which calumny his Majesty cleared both himself and the Bishop when they were both involved by common Speech in the guilt thereof For the clearer manifestation of which truth I will first set down the Oath it self as it was taken by the King and then the Kings Defence for his taking of it Now the Oath is this The Form of the CORONATION-OATH SIR says the Archbishop Will you grant keep and by your Oath confirm to your People of ENGLAND the Laws and Customs to them granted by the Kings of ENGLAND your Lawful and Religious Predecessors and namely the Laws Customs and Franchises granted to the Clergy by the Glorious King St. Edward your Predecessor according to the Laws of God the true Profession of the Gospel established in this Kingdom and agreeable to the Prerogative of the Kings thereof and the Ancient Customs of this Land The King Answers I grant and promise to keep them Archbishop Sir Will you keep Peace and Godly Agreement entirely according to your Power bâ—th to God the Holy Church the Clergie and the People Rex I will keep it Archbishop Sir Will you to your Power cause Iustice Law and Discretion in Mercy and Truth to be executed in all your â—udgments Rex I will Archbishop Sir Will you grant to hold and grant to keep the Laws and rightful Customs which the Commâ—nalâ—y of this your Kingdom have and will you deâ—end and uphold them to the honour of God so much as in you lieth Rex I grant and promise so to do Then one of the Bishops reads this Admonition to the King before the People with a loud voice Our Lord and King we beseech you to pardon and to grant and to preserve unto us and
point that he put himself into a Cock-boat with Stapleton and some others of his principal Friends and left his whole Army to his Majesties mercy His Horse taking the Advantage of a dark night made a shift to escape but the Commanders of the Foot came to this Capitulation with his Majesty that they should depart without their Arms which with their Cannon Baggage and Ammunition being of great Consideration were left wholly to his disposing Immediately after this success his Majesty dispatched a message from Tavestock to the two Houses of Parliament in which he laid before them the miserable Condition of the Kingdom remembring them of those many Messages which he had formerly sent unto them for an accommodation of the present differences and now desiring them to bethink themselves of some expedient by which this Issue of blood might be dried up the distraction of the Kingdom settled and the whole Nation put into an hope of Peace and Happiness To which message as to many others before they either gave no Answer or such an one as rather served to widen then close the breach falsly conceiving that all his Majesties offers of Grace and Favour proceeded either from an inability to hold out the War or from the weakness and irresolution of his Counsels But if instead of thâ—s Message from Tavestock his Majesty had gone on his own errand and marched directly toward London it was conceived in all probability that he might have made an end of the War secured the life of the Archbishop his most trusty Servant and put an end to those calamities which the continuance and conclusion of the War brought with it The Army of Essex being thus broken and that of Manchester not returned from the Northern Service He could not chuse but have observed in the course of that Action with what a Military Prudence Lesly had followed at the heels of the Marquis of Newcastle not stopping or diverting upon the by till he had brought his Army before York the gaining whereof as being the chief City of those parts brought in all the Rest. And certainly it hath been counted no dishonour in the greatest Souldiers to be instructed by their enemies in the feats of War But the King sitting down before Plymouth as before Glocester the last year and staying there to perfect an Association of the Western Counties he spent so much time that Essex was again in the head of his Army and being seconded by Manchester and Waller made a stand at Newbury where after a very sharp dispute the Enemy gained some of his Majesties Cannon which struck such a terrour into many of those about him that they advised him to withdraw his Person out of the danger of the Fight as he did accordingly But this he did so secretly and with so slender a Retinue that he was not mist His Army holding on the â—ight with a greater courage because they thought the safety of his Majesties Person did depend upon it whose departure if it had been known would questionless have created such a general dejection in the hearts of his Souldiers as would have rendred them to a cheap discomfiture But the Lost Cannon being regained and the fight continued with those of his Majesties party with greater advantage then before each Army drew of by degrees so that neither of them could find any great cause to boast of the victory This Summers Action being ended in which the Scots had done very good service to the Houses of Parliament it was thought necessary to proceed in the Tryal of the Archbishop of Canterbury which had taken up so much time already that it seemed ready for a sentence But there appeared more difficulty in it then at first was lookt for For being admitted to a Recapitulation of his whole defence before the Lords in the beginning of September it gave such a general satisfaction to all that heard it that the mustering up of all the evidence against him would not take it off To prove the first branch of the charge against him they had ript up the whole course of his Life from his first coming to Oxford till his Commitment to the Tower but could find no sufficient Proof of any design to bring in Popery or suppress the true Protestant Religion here by Law Established For want whereof they insisted upon such Reproches as were laid upon him when he lived in the University the beautifying of his Chappel Windows with Pictures and Images the Solemn Consecration of Churches and Chappels the Placing of the Communion Table Altar-wise and making Adoration in his Accesses to or Approches toward it Administring the Sacrament with some more Solemnities then in Ordinary Parochial Churches though constantly observed in his Majesties Chappels the care and diligence of his Chaplains in expunging some offensive passages out of such Books as were to be licenced for the Press and tâ—eir permitting of some passages to remain in others which were supposed to â—avor of Popery and Arminianism because they crost the sense of Calvin the preferring of many able men to his Majesties Service and to advancements in the Church who must the Stigmatized for Papists or Arminians because they had not sworn themselves into Calvins Faction his countenancing two or three Popish Priests for no more are named of whom good use was to be made in Order to the Peace and Happiness of the Church of England as had before been done by Bancroft and others of his Predeâ—â—ssors since the Reformation Such were the proofs of his designs to bring in Popery and yet his plots and purposes for suppressing tâ—e true Protestant Religion had less proofs then this Of which sort were His severe proceedings in the High Commission against some Factious Ministers and Seditious Lecturers the sentencing of Sherfield for defacing a Parish Church in Salisbury under colour of a Vestry-order in contempt of the Diocesan Bishop who then Lived in that City the pressing of his Majesties two Declarations the one for Lawful Sports the other for Silencing unnecessary though not unlawful Disputations His zeal in overthrowing the Corpoâ—ation of Feoffees which had no Legal Foundation to stand upon and seemed destructive to the Peace of the Church and State in the eyes of all that pierc'd into it and finally the Piety of his endeavours for uniting the French and Dutch Congregations to the Church of England in which he did nothing without Warrant or against the Law Such were the Crimes or Treasons rather which paint him out with such an ugly countenance in the Book called Canterburies Doom as if he were the Greatest Traytor and the most Execrable Person that ever had been bred in England And he is promised to be Painted out in such Lively Colours in the following Branches of his Charge as should for ever render him as Treasonable and as Arch a Malefactor as he was in the others and in both alike that promise never being performed in the space of a Dozen
these St. John Baptist had his head danced off by a lewd woman and St. Cyprian Archbishop of Carthage submitted his head to a persecuting Sword Many examples great and 〈◊〉 and they teach me patience for I hope my cause in heaven will 〈◊〉 of another dye than the colour that is put upon it here And some comfort it is to me not only that I go the way of these great men in their several Generations but also that my charge as foul as it is made 〈◊〉 like that of the Jews against St. Paul Acts 25.3 for he was accused for the Law and the Temple i. e. Religion and like that of St. Steven Acts 6.14 for breaking the Ordinances which Moses gave i. e. Law and Religion the holy place and the Temple v. 13. But you will then say Do I then compare my self with the Integrity of St. Paul and St. Steven No far be that from me I only raise a comfort to my self that these great Saints and Servants of God were laid at 〈◊〉 their time as I am now And it is memorable that St. Paul who helped on this accusation against St. Steven did after fall under the very same himself Yea but here is a great clamour that I would have brought in Popery I shall answer that more fully by and by In the mean time you knâ—w what the Pharisees said against Christ himself If we let him alone all men will believe in him ET VENIENT ROMANI and the Romans will come and take away both our Place and Nation Here was a causeless cry against Christ that the Romans would come and see how just the Iudgment was they Crucified Christ for fear least the Romans should come and his death was it which brought in the Romans upon them God punishing them with that which they most feared And I pray God this clamour of Venient Romani of which 〈…〉 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 a Deceiver 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 on 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 Iustice as if that great and wise Court before whom the Causes come which are unknown to many could not or would not do Iustice but at their Appointment A way which may endanger many an Innocent man and pluck his bloud upon their own heads and perhaps upon the Cities also and this hath been lately practiced 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. Stevens 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 bloud for there is a time best known to himself when God above other sins makes Inquisition for bloud 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 bloud 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 bloud 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 thâ—â— the storm from without it is become like an Oak cleft to shivers with wedges made out of its own body and at every cleft Prophaneness and Irreligion is entring in while as Prosper speaks in his second book De vitae contemptu 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 Iesuites 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 Bosome of the Church of England establâ—â—hed by Law in that Profession I have ever since lived and In that I come nâ—w to die This is no time to dissemble with God least of all in 〈◊〉 of Religion and therefore I desire it may be remembred I â—ave alwaies lived in the Protestant Religion established in England and â— that I come now to dye What clamours and slanders I have endured 〈…〉 to keep an Vniformity in the external Service of God accordinâ— tâ— the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church all men know and I 〈◊〉 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 endeaâ—our to overthrow the true Protestant Religion established by Law Besides my Answers to the several Charges I protested my innocency in â—oth Houses It was said Prisoners Protestations at the Bar must 〈…〉 taken I can bring no witness of my heart and the inten 〈◊〉 thereof therefore I must come to my Protestation not at the Bar â—ut my Protestation of this hour and instant of my death in which I 〈◊〉 all men will be such charitable Christians as not to think I would 〈◊〉 and dissemble being instantly to give God an account for the truth of 〈…〉 therefore here in the presence of God and
the execution of such penal Laws as were made against them The People hereupon began to cry out generally of a Toleration and murmur in all places against the King as if he were resolved to grant it And that they might not seem to cry out for nothing a Letter is dispersed abroad under the name oâ— Archbishop Abbot In this Letter his Majesty is told That by granting any such Toleration he should set up the most damnable and Heretical Doctrine of the Church of Rome the whore of Babylon That it would be both hateful to God grievous to his good Subjects and contradictory to his former Writings in which he had declared their Doctrines to be Superstitious Idolatrous and detestable That no such toleration could be granted but by Parliament only unless it were his purpose to shew his people that he would throw down the Laws at his pleasure That by granting such a Toleration there must needs follow a discontinuance of the true Profession of the Gospel and what could follow thereupon but Gods heavy wrath and indignation both on himself and all the Kingdom That the Prince was not only the Son of his Flesh but the Son of his People also and therefore leaves him to consider what an errour he had run into by sending him into Spain without the privity of his Council and consent of his Subjects And finally That though the Princes return might be safe and prosperous yet they that drew him into that dangerous and desperate Action would not scape unpunished This was the substance of the Letter whosoever was the Writer of it For Abbot could not be so ill a Statesman having been long a Privy Councellour as not to know that he who sitteth at the Helm must stear his course according unto wind and weather And that there was a very great difference betwixt such personal indulgencies as the King had granted in that case to his Popish Subjects and any such Publick Exercise of their Superstitions as the word Toleration doth import and howsoever that it was a known Maxime in the Arts of Government that necessity over-rules the Law and that Princes many times must act for the publick good in the infringing of some personal and particular rights which the Subjects claim unto themselves Nor could he be so ignorant of the Kings affections as to believe that the King did really intend any such toleration though possibly he might be content on good reason of State that the people should be generally perswaded of it For well he knew that the King loved his Soveraignty too well to quit any part thereof to the Pope of Rome and consequently to part with that Supremacy in Ecclesiastical matters as needs he must have done by a Toleration which he esteemed the fairest Flower in the Royal Garland In which respect King Iames might seem to be made up of Caesar and Pompey as impatient of enduring an equal as of admitting a Superiour in his own Dominions Or had he been a greater stranger at the Court than can be imagined yet could he not be ignorant that it was the Kings chief interest to preserve Religion in the same state in which he found it and could not fear but that he would sufficiently provide for the safety of it Upon which Premises it may be rationally inferred that Abbot was only the reputed Author of this Bastard Letter and not the natural Parent of it Nor was the Toleration more feared by the English Protestants than hoped for by the Papists here and presumed by the Pope himself In confidence whereof he nominated certain Bishops to all the Episcopal Sees of England to exercise all manner of Jurisdiction in their several and respective Diocesses as his false and titular Bishops did in the Church of Ireland The intelligence whereof being given to the Jesuites here in England who feared nothing more than such a thing one of them who formerly had free access to the Lord Keeper Williams acquaints him with this mighty secret assuring him that he did it for no other reason but because he knew what a great exasperation it would give the King and consequently how much it would incense him against the Catholicks Away with this Intelligence goes the Lord Keeper to the King who took fire thereat as well as he and though it was somewhat late at night commanded to go to the Spanish Embassadour and to require him to send unto the King his Master to take some course that those proceedings might be stopt in the Court of Rome or otherwise that the Treaty of the Match should advance no further The Lord Keeper finds the Embassadour ready to send away his Pacquet who upon hearing of the news commanded his Currier to stay till he had represented the whole business in a Letter to the King his Master On the receiving of which Letter the King imparts the same to the Popes Nuncio in his Court Who presently sends his dispatches to the Pope acquainting him with the great inconveniences and unavoidable dangers of this new design which being stopt by this device and the Treaty of the Match ending in a rupture not long after the same Jesuite came again to the Lord Keepers Lodging and in a fair and facetious manner thanked him most humbly for the good office he had done for that Society for breaking and bearing off which blow all the friends they had in Rome could find no buckler Which Story as I heard from his Lordships own mouth with no small contentment so seemed he to be very well pleased with the handsomness of the trick which was put upon him Laud was not sleeping all this while It was not possible that a man of such an Active Spirit should be out of work and he had work enough to do in being the Dukes Agent at the Court The Marquiss was made Duke of Buckingham at his being in Spain to make him more considerable in the eye of that Court and this addition to his honours was an addition also to that envy which was borne against him Great Favourites have for the most part many enemies such as are carefully intent upon all occasions which may be made use of to supplant them Which point the Duke had so well studied that though he knew himself to be a very great Master of the Kings affections yet was he apprehensive of the disadvantages to which this long absence would expose him It therefoâ—e concerned him nearly to make choice of some intelligent and trusty friend whom he might confide in and he was grown more confident of Laud than of any other from whom he might receive advertisement of all occurrences and such advice as might be most agreeable to the complexion of affairs Nor did it happen otherwise than he expected for long he had not been in Spain when there were many fearings of him in the Court of England many strange whisperings into the ears of the King concerning the abuse of his Royal Favours the general
discontentments which appeared in the people for the Princes Journey into Spain the sad consequents which were feared to ensue upon it in reference to his Person and the true Religion that the blame of all was by the People laid on the Duke and that it was safest for his Majecty to let it rest where they had laid it But nothing could be thought more strange unto him than that the Lord Keeper Williams and the Lord Treasurer Cranfield should be of Counsel in the Plot both of them being of his raising and both in the stile of Court his Creatures Of all which practises and proceedings Laud gives intelligence to the Duke and receives back again Directions in his actings for him Pity it is that none of these reciprocal Letters have been found to make up the Cabala and to enrich the treasures in the Scrinea Sacra From hence proceeded the constancy of affection which the Duke carried to him for ever after the Animosity between Laud and Williams the fall of Cranfield first and of Williams afterwards Laud by his diligence and fidelity overtopping all The news of these practices in the Court made the Duke think of leaving Spain where he began to sink in his Estimation and hasting his return to England for fear of sinking lower here than he did in Spain Some clashings there had been betwixt him and the Conde d' Olivarez the Principal Favorite of that King and some Caresses were made to him by the Queen of Bohemia inviting him to be a God-father to one of her Children In these disquiets and distractions he puts the Prince in mind of the other Game he had to play namely the Restitution of the Palatinate which the Spaniard would not suffer to be brought under the Treaty of the Match reserving it as they pretended and perhaps really intended to be bestowed by the Infanta after the Marriage the better to ingratiate her self with the English Nation Which being a point of too great moment to depend upon no other assurance than a Court-Complement only it was concluded by the Prince That since he could not prevail in the one he would not proceed to the Consummation of the other But then it did concern him so to provide for his own saâ—ety that no intimation might be made of the intended Rupture till he had unwinded himself out of that Labyrinth into which he was cast For which cause having desired of his Father that some Ships might be sent to bring him some he shewed himself a more passionate Lover than ever formerly bestowed upon the Lady Infanta many rich Jewels of most inestimable value and made a Proxie to the Catholick King and Don Charles his Brother in his name to Espouse tâ—e Lady Which Proxie being made and executed in due form of Law on the Fourth of August 1623. was put into the Hands of Digby on the Fifteenth of September after made Earl of Bristol by him to be delivered to the King of Spain within ten days after the coming of the Dispensation from the new Pope Vrban which was then every day expected But no sooner had he took his leave and was out of danger but he dispatch'd a Post unto him commanding him not to deliver up the Proxie until further Order And having so done he hoised Sails for England Arriving at Portsmouth on Sunday the fifth of October he rides Post the next day to London and after Dinner on the same day to the Court at Royston his welcom home being celebrated in all Places with Bells and Bonfires and other accustomed Expressions of a Publick Joy Being come unto the Court they acquaint his Majesty with all that hapned informing him that no assurance of regaining the Palatinate could be had in Spain though the Match went forwards His Majesty thereupon dispatches Letters to the Earl of Bristol on the eighth of October requiring him not to deliver up the Proxie and so not to proceed to the Espousals till the Christmas Holy-days and in the mean time to press that King to a positive Answer touching the Palatinate The expectation whereof not being answered by success a Parliament is summoned to begin on the 17th of February then next following to the end that all things might be governed in this Great Affair by the publick Counsel of the Kingdom Not long after the beginning whereof the Duke declaâ—ed before both Houses more to the disadvantage of the Spaniard than there was just ground for how unhandsomly they had dealt with the Prince when he was in Spain how they had fed him with delays what indignities they had put upon him and finally had sent him back not only without the Palatinate but without a Wife leaving it to their prudent consideration what course to follow It was thereupon Voted by both Houses That his Majesty should be desired to break off all Treaties with the King of Spain and to engage himself in a War against him for the recovery of the Palatinate not otherwise to be obtained And that they might come the better to the end they aimed at they addressed themselves unto the Prince whom they assured That they would stand to him in that War to the very last expence of their Lives and Fortunes and he accordingly being further set on by the Duke became their instrument to perswade his Father to hearken to the Common Votes and Desires of his Subjects which the King press'd by their continual Importunities did at the last but with great unwillingness assent to Such was the conduct of this business on the part of the English Look we next what was done in Spain and we shall find in Letters from the Earl of Bristol That as soon as news was come to Spain that King Iames had sworn the Articles of the Treaty which was done on the 26th of Iuly the Lady Infanta by all the Court with the Approbation of that King and her own good-liking was called La Princessa d' Inglaterra That as such she gave her self the liberty of going publickly to such Comedies as were presented in the Court which before was not allowable in her That as such also not only he himself as the Kings Embassadour was commanded to serve her but the Duke and all the English were admitted to kiss her hands as her Servants and Vassals That after the Princes departure there was no thought of any thing but of providing Presents for the King and him the setling of the Princesses Family and making Preparations for the Journey on the first of March That the Princess also had begun to draw the Letters which she intended to have written the day of her disposories to the Prince her Husband and the King her Father in Law That besides such assurances as were given by the Count of Olivarez and other Ministers of that King the Princess had made the business of the Palatinate to be her own and had therein most expresly moved the King her Brother and written to the Conde