3. and that brought on the Treaty betwixt that King and Gregory the Eleventh which after two years debate ended with this express Agreement (t) Walsingham Hist 1374. Page 184. Quod Papa de caetero reservationibus beneficiorum minime uteretur which Dignities Henry the Fourth made no scruple to collate to his own use notwithstanding his being anointed with that Oil which came from Heaven the vertue whereof was to encline all the Princes that were inaugurated therewith to be favourable to the Church His Son Henry the Fifth for his exemplary Piety stil'd the Prince of Priests thought fit to demand of Martin the Fifth several Ecclesiastical Priviledges which his Predecessors had got from the Kings of England at several times and his Ambassadors finding the Pope to stick at it and give them no ready answer told him plainly That the King their Master intended to use his own mind in the matter whether he consented or no (u) In vit Hen. Chichley Pag. 56 57. Edito Anno 1617. Vtpote quae non à necessitatis sed honoris causa petat Thus the Papal power as it was interrupted in all times so from this time it sensibly languish'd till it received its fatal blow from Henry the Eight who if I may so say did as it were beat out the Popes Brains with his own Keys and had he not afterward used violence to himself by referring the point of his Supremacy to the Parliament to be confirm'd by Statute Law that was sufficiently firm'd before by the Common Law that cannot change he had undoubtedly been more absolute Lord of himself than any Christian Prince whatever and acknowledg'd Head of the Church nullis Exceptionibus as Tacitus expresses it in another case but laying the burthen of that weighty Question of the Supremacy upon the Shoulders of Divines which had been better supported by those of the great Lawyers he was perplext with many Scruples and in the end forced to enter the List in Person and fight the (w) Antiqu. Brit. Eccles p. 384. 37. Pope at his own weapon the Pen wherein by great good fortune being a great master of defence that way he had the better of it and by the Authority of his Example drew many to Second him his Supremacy being afterward Justified by the whole Convocation of Divines in both the Universities and most of the Monastical and Collegiate Theologues of the whole Kingdom whilst only four adventur'd to assert the Pope's Right to be de Jure divino 29. And now to conclude this whole discourse The Government of this Isle alwayes Monarchial it may perhaps be thought a Point of glory not unworthy our Remarke to observe that the Government of this Isle was never cloath'd in any other form but what appeared Monarchial notwithstanding the many chances and changes I cannot say alterations which Time conspiring with Fate hath brought forth wantonly disposing the Scepter of these Isles not only to several Persons and Families but different People and Nations The Genius of the very first Natives the Aborigines as Caesar observes of their Ancestors the Gaules being always inclinable to be rul'd by one single Person affecting Monarchy as Naturally as the Greeks did Aristocracy the Romans Democracy or the Germans and indeed all the Northern Nations Oligarchy and however we read of no less than four Kings in Kent by which may be guest a proportionable number of the like kind in other Provinces which Cesar had no Knowledg of yet it appears by those who wrote after him with more certainty That all these Reguli were under one Chief Tacitus to whom it matters not what Title was given by themselves Speaking of Caraciacus since Tacitus calls him more Romano Imperator Britannorum After the Romans got the Government into their hands though there was a seeming Pentarchy yet the Emperour saith Herodian reserv'd to himself all Appeals from the Presidents and Lieutenants not excepting the Cesars themselves here During the Saxon Heptarchy when each of those Royteletts had a distinct Legislative power within his own Kingdom striving like Twins in the Womb of their Conquest which should be born first yet one saith Bede was saluted by common consent with the stile and Title of Rex Anglorum So during the still-born Tetarchy of the Danes Knute was not only Primus but Princeps Uniting the Trine Power of his Predecessours in his single Person Neither did the Genius of the Normans affect any other form notwithstanding the intestine Feuds betwixt divers of those Kings and their Nobles these striving to recover what they had lost those resolving to keep what by advantage of time and sufferance they had got ingaged them in desperate Resolutions for however the Populacy prevail'd against King John Henry the Third Edward the Second and Richard the Second taking the boldness to commit so many Insolencies as sullied the memory of those times and gave Strangers occasion to brand the whole Nation with one of the basest Characters that malice could invent Les mutins Anglois yet was not their ill disposition heightned to that degree of madness as to follow Providence in the pursuit of their Liberties beyond the bounds of Magna Charta for though they left succeeding Ages a President they never found in deposing the two last acts no less dishonourable to themselves than them yet they admitted the Son of the one and the Uncle of the other to succeed Nor was it want of power to do otherwise Vox Populi being at the same time Preached up by no meaner a man than the Primate of England to be Vox Dei and pass'd for as good Divinity as Policy The like may be observed in those disorderly times when the two fatal houses of York and Lancaster justled one another out of the Throne with such alternate success as gave advantage to the Plebiscitum to Elect which they pleas'd the Soveraignty being so weakned by the blood lost on either side that the people had it in their power not only to turn the Scale as they thought fit but to break the Beam of Majesty on which the weight of that destructive Quarrel hung and so by taking away the Cause have prevented the Occasions of ensuing mischiefs yet still we find they kept within the Circle of their Allegiance and though they directed it variously to several Lines yet all tended to supporting the main Nave of the Monarchy continuing the Government as it had ever been in a single Person which Devotion to Monarchy was as St. Hierome observes in one of his Epistles rewarded from Heaven with this great blessing upon the Incolae in general of this Isle That by their Obedience to one Prince they were the more easily brought to the belief of One God who blest their early Faith with the Honour of having the First Christian King and Emperour of the World amongst them 30. But This last Age of ours I confess hath brought forth an unnatural Race of
France set forth his own Eloquence and the Kings Title so well deducing his Descent in a direct Line from the Lady Isabel Daughter to Philip the Fourth and Wife to his Grandfather Edward the Second and refuting all the old beaten Arguments brought from the Salique Law to oppose it as being neither consistent with Divinity Reason or Example he at once pleas'd and convinced all his Hearers but most especially the King himself who seem'd to be inspired with a Prophetick confidence of that success which after he had but scorning to steal any Advantage or wrong the Justice of his Title somuch as to seem to doubt 't would be denied before he would make any kind of preparation for the Conquest he sent Ambassadors to Charles the Sixth to demand a peaceable surrender of the Crown to him offering to accept his Daughter with the Kingdom and to expect no other pawn for his Possession till after his death This Message as it was the highest that ever was sent to any free Prince so he intrusted it to those of highest Credit and Trust about him these were his Uncle the Duke of Exeter a man of great esteem as well as of great Name the Arch-bishop of Dublin a very politick Prelate the Lord Gray a man at Arms the Lord High Admiral and the Bishop of Norwich the first as much renown'd for his Courage as the last for his Contrivances to whom for the greater state there was appointed a Guard of five hundred Horse to attend them The Report of this great Embassy as it arriv'd before them so it made such a Report throughout all this side of the World that all the Neighbour Princes like lissening Deer when they hear the noyse of Huntsmen in the Woods began to take the Alarm and consider which side to sly to it being so that England and France never made any long War upon one another but they ingaged all Christendom with them However the Court of France pretending themselves ignorant of the Occasion of their coming dissembled their disdain and treated them with that magnificence as if they had design'd to Complement them out of their business but after the Message was delivered with that faithful boldness that became so great an Affair they were all in that confusion that it was hard to judge whether they were more ashamed incensed or afraid giving such a return as seem'd neither compatible with the honour wisdom or courage of so renown'd a People as they are For first as they did neither deny nor allow the Kings Title but said they would make Answer by Ambassadours of their own So in the next place they were so hasty in their Counsels and the dispatch of their Ambassadors hither that they arriv'd in England almost as soon as those sent hence And lastly at the same time they desired Peace and offer'd to buy it with the tender of some Towns they gave the King an Affront which was a greater Provocation then the denyal of ten such Kingdoms for the Daulphin who in respect of the King his Fathers sickness I might rather say weakness managed the State affecting the honour to give the first Box or perhaps desiring to make any other Quarrel the ground of the approaching War which he foresaw was not to be prevented rather then that of the Title which had been already so fatally bandi'd scornfully sent the King a Present of Tenis-balls which being of no value nor reckoning worthy so great a Princes acceptance or his recommendation could have no other meaning or interpretation but as one should say he knew better how to use them then Bullets The King whose Wit was as keen as t'others Sword return'd him this Answer That in requital of his fine Present of Tenis-balls he would send him such Balls as he should not dare to hold up his Racket against them Neither was he worse then his word however his preparations seem'd very disproportionable for so great a Work For the Army he landed was no more but six thousand Horse and twenty four thousand Foot a Train so inconsiderable and by the Daulphin judg'd to be so despicable that he thought not fit to come down himself in Person to take any view of them for fear he should fright them out of the Country too soon but sent some rude Peasants to attend their Motion who incouraged by some of the Troops of the nearest Garrisons as little understanding the danger they were ingaged in as they did the language of the Enemy they were ingaged with fell in upon the Rear of his Camp but as Village Curs which fiercely set upon all Strangers having the least Rebuke with a Stone or a Cudgel retreat home whining with their Tails betwixt their Legs so they having a Repulse given them ran away and made such Out-cries as dishearten'd the Souldiers that were to second them so much that after that he marched without any Resistance as far as Callice Neither indeed saw he any Enemy till he came to give Battel to the united Forces of France at that famous Field of Agencourt where notwithstanding he was out-numbred by the French above five for one he fought them with that Resolution as made himself Master of more Prisoners then he had men in his Camp to keep them an Occasion Fortune gave him to shew at once her Cruelty and his Mercy who whilst he might have kill'd did not but when he should not was forc'd to be cruel beyond almost all Example for as he gave Quarter in the beginning of the Battel to all that ask'd it his Clemency and Gentleness being such that as he was then pleas'd to declare he consider'd them as his Subjects not as his Captives So being over-charged with their Prisoners Numbers upon a sudden and unexpected accident however of no great Consequence if it had been rightfully understood he was forc'd to write the dismal Fate of France in cold Blood and in order to the saving life destroy it For as he was seeing his wounded men drest having gotten an intire Victory as he thought and as afterward it proved a sudden out-cry alarm'd his Camp occasion'd by a new Assault of some French Troops who being the first had quit the Field were the first return'd into it again in hopes by fighting with Boyes to regain the honour they lost in refusing to fight with men these under the Leading of the Captain of Agencourt set upon the Pages Sutlers and Laundresses following the pursuit with that wonted noyse as if they would have the English think the whole Army was rally'd again and chasing them Upon this the King caus'd all the scatter'd Arms and Arrows to be recollected and his stakes to be new pitch'd and put himself into a posture of Defence neither were the English only deceived by the Shreiks and Cries of those miserable People that fell into these mens hands but all those of the French likewise that were within hearing insomuch that the Earls of Marle and
whit as sound as the exterior parts Witness the free Cities and those large Countries the Patrimonies of the Psaltzgrave the Dukes of Saxony Brandenburg Wittenburg Lunenburg Brunswick Mecklen Pomerania Sweburgh Newburgh and Holst with those other under the Prince of Anhalt the Marquess of Baden the Landgrave of Hesse and in fine almost all the Princes of Germany I think we may except only the Dukes of Austria and Bavaria in whose Countries yet are many Protestant Families of note to all which joyning those out-lying Plantations in the furthest part of the less known World containing many a Sun-burnt Saint those of the Reformed Religion there being infinitely more extensive and Populous than those of the Popish Perswasion and all these with Universal consent acknowledging our King as Head of the League within the Protestant Pale as it will extend the Borders of our Church beyond what is commonly apprehended so it so far magnifies the Majesty of the King of England whether consider'd as Propagator fidei in the Protestant Phrase or Defensor Fidei in the Pope's stile that it may as truly be said of him as of Claudius when he was Lord of Britaine (f) Anâ—nimi Epigra vet Lib. 2. Oceanus medium venit in Imperium Now because the Supremacy in Ecclesiasticis is so nice a Point as the Popish Faction render it many of whom not comprehending the Legality much less the necessity of its being Intrusted with the King only have been more obstinate in the defence of their Allegations than their Allegiance it may be reasonable to examine the matter of Right by the matter of Fact as that by Common Usuage which our Common Lawyers Date (g) Bracton fol. 314. Cook sur Lit. l. 2. Sect. 170. Du temps il ny ad memoire de Contraire from the Authority of which Age we may conclude the practice whatever it has been to have gain'd the form and effect as well as the honour and repute of a Law according to that known Maxime (h) Cook sur Litt. lib. 3. Sect. 659. Quod Prius est Tempore potius est Jure Pass we then through those four noted Periods 1. From the time of Lucius the first Christian King of the Britains to that of Constantine the first Christian King or Emperour of the Romans reckon'd about a hundred and fifty years 2. From that Time till the Conversion of Ethelbert the first Christian King of the Saxons or English suppos'd to be three hundred and sixty years more 3. From thence to the time of the first King of the Norman here which was not so little as five hundred years more at what time the Pope first put in his Claim 4. From thence to the time he let go his hold again which being about the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Reign whose Ambassadour he refused to treat with makes up near five hundred years more and if in all that long series of Christianity it shall appear by consent of all Ecclesiastical Writers in all times that the King has ever been deem'd to be Papa Patriae Jure Proprietatis Vicarius Dei in Regno Jure Possessionis I hope then the Imputation of Heresie and Schism laid upon Henry the Eight by Paul the Third for taking upon him to be the Supream head of the Church within his own dominions will vanish as a Result of Passion and Our present Kings be Judged in Remitter to their antient Right or as the Law-books Express it Enson (i) 25. Assis pl. 4.35 Ass s pl. 11.23 Edw. 3.69.11 Hâ—n 4.50 Tit. Remitt 11. melior Droit Lucius and those claiming immediately from by and after him I take to be stated in a double right Ratione Fundationis ratione Donationis For as the Lawyers have it cujus est dare ejus est disponere Now that all the Bishopricks of this Isle were of his Foundation and Donative appears by all our books saith the (k) Sur Lit. Cap. Discontinuance Sec. 648. Lord Cooke The first Canons receiving Sanction Ex Divinitate Principis as the Canonists express it till such time as that Foundation laid by him was buried in the Rubbish of Dioclesian's Persecution After which we have no Constat of any Ecclesiastical Polity till the time of Constantine who having recover'd the Church out of its Ruines and laid a new Superstructure of his own upon the Old Found is upon that Account both by Eusebius and Socrates stil'd the Great and it is well they call'd him not the Vniversal Bishop His Power being no less extensive than his Dominions the (l) Euseb vit Constant Cap. 24. L. 4. first of them pointing at his power in General calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The (m) Socrat. Hist Eccles last referring to his more immediate power over the Clergy for to say truth he precided even in Rome it self stiles him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Pontifex Maximus From the time of this Constantine the Great till that of Pope Gregory the Great neither heard those here any thing of the Church of Rome nor they of Rome any thing of the Church here That Pope being so little known to or knowing any thing of the concerns of this Isle that when accidentally he saw some little (n) Some it seems of the Pagan Saxons then newly planted here Children who had been brought from hence he ask'd whether they were Christians or no and it being as Ignorantly answer'd him That all the Natives here were Pagans he out of his singular Zeal to Christian Piety sent over Austin the Monk to bring them under his Apostolical Obedience By which we may rather Understand a subjection to the Roman Faith than to the Roman Church for that Rome being at that time but a private Diocess had not Credit enough to give Laws to all the Churches of Italy much less to Impose upon those further off for every body knows how they of (o) Sygonius lib. 9. de â—eg Italiae dicit non debere Ambrosianam Ecclesiam Rom. â—egibus subjicere Millan not to mention any other contested with them for the Precedence many years after And for the Independency of the Churches in (p) Baronius An. 1059. Spain and France there needs no other Proof than what we have from that Magisterial Monk's own Relation before mention'd who as he pass'd through France in his way hither observing how different their Forms of Divine Service were from those at Rome and how repugnant their Discipline to any thing he had been before acquainted with was so surpriz'd with the Novelty that he could not forbear (q) Cum una sit fides cur sunt Ecclesiarum consuetudines alterum missarum consuetudo in Sanct. Rom. Eccles atque altera in Galliarum c. Expostulating the Reason with his Ghostly Master whose pious Answer yet to be seen at the end of his Printed Works is worthy Notice who after an excellent discourse upon that Subject concludes that as their Liberty
did not offend him so neither did he desire that his Authority should offend them but as soon as this Austin came hither he found yet more matter of Amazement For part of the Isle being Pagans and part Christians these last seem'd to him to be more inhospitable than the other at least they were so far from submitting to his Legatine Authority after the Ignorant Pagans had own'd it 1 Cor. 14.1.11 that as St. Paul expresses it by not understanding one another each seem'd to the other alike Barbarian whereby it so fell out that they fell from Arguments to Arms and he having no probability of Subjugating them under his Jurisdiction Baptiz'd almost as many of them in (r) He caused 1200 Monks of the Brittains to be murthered at one time Blood as he did in Water but as it appeared that he brought them no new Faith so neither would they suffer him to bring in any new Lawe amongst them defending their own Church so well with their own Cannons that neither he nor any of the Roman community could break in upon them or infringe their liberty in the least for the space of near five hundred Years when Henry the Second reducing both State and Church under like Paction of Servitude forc'd them by the laws of Conquest to part as well from their Ecclesiastical as Civil Rights and at the same time they became no Church to become no People being so Cantoniz'd with England that they were no longer considerable which had yet been Impossible for him to have Effected had he not at the same time he set up his own declared against the Pope's Supremacy But to proceed from that of the Britaines to consider the Primitive State of the English Church it may yet be allow'd for good Prescription and that we know is a (s) Lit. Sect. 170. Title implies a long continued and peaceable Possession derived ab Authoritate Legis if it can be made out that any of the Saxon Kings converted by the aforesaid Austin from the time of the Proto-Christian King Ethelbert himself until the Norman Conquest did at any time so far Agnize the Pope's Authority as to forbear the Exercise of any part of that Spiritual dominion which they challenged Proprio Jure For as it is evident that they did constrain as well Ecclesiasticks as Laicks to submit to the final determination as well of Spiritual as Civil Pleas in their temporal Courts so they not seldome made the Ecclesiastical Censures without and sometimes against the Consent of the Bishop if it displeased them even after Excommunication pronounced and did they not (t) Leg. Alfred cap. 8. p. 25. dispense even with the Offences themselves if they were only (u) As were Priest Marriage Basterdy Non-residency Pluralities c. Mala per accidens and not mala in se as the Casuists distinguish Nay did they not permit even Nuns to marry against the usual practice of those Times and the Judgment of the Church doing many other things of the like nature which whoso reads M. Paris Florentius Eadmerus c. will find more at large than becomes the brevity I design and all this they did without any Exception or Scandal or to use (w) Baronius Tome 3. Anno 312. N. 100. Baronius his own Phrase Sine ullâ Ecclesiarum Labe. Indeed such was the plenitude of their Ecclesiastical Power that each King of them was as the Priest pray'd at their (x) See the old formula continued til H. 6. time Coronation that they might be Sicut Aaron in Tabernaculo Zacharias in Templo Petrus in Clave as appears by their several Edicts yet Extant Some for the better Observation of the (y) Leg. Alured C. 39. P. 33. Lords day Some for the due keeping of (z) Bede lib. 3. Cap. 8. Lent Others for the right administration of the (a) Jornal l. 761. C. 2. Sacraments the Regulation of (b) â—eg Canut C. 7. p. 101. Matrimony and ascertaining the degrees of (c) Leg. Alured uâ— supâ—a Consanguinity Some for permitting Divorces others for perfecting Contracts in fine they did whatever might become the wisdom and honour of such as had the sole care of the Church all Christian Obedience being enforced Providentiâ Potentiâ Regis as (d) Hoveden fol. 41â— Hoveden expresses it or as we find it in some (e) 2 H. 4. N. 44. Records Justitiâ fortitudine Regis for however the Bishop was always joyn'd in Commission with tâ—e Lay Magistrate as having in him Jus Ordinis as some (f) Belâ—arm Pontif. lib. 4. Divines call it yet this was not so much in affirmation of his Ecclesiastical as for Prevention of his disputing the Regal Authority and to take off all clashing (g) Treisden Eccles Juris Regis Inter Placita Regis Christianitatis Jura that is to say in M. Paris's own words ne contra Regiam Coronam dignitatem aliquid statuere tentaretur Episcopus who was to the King as the Arch-Deacon to him Tanquam Oculus Regis as t'other was tanquam Oculus Episcopi But the greatest Instance of all was that of the (h) Jan. Anglor lib. 1. Pag. 85. Investiture of the Bishops by the King who gave them the Ring and the Pastoral Staffe the antient Emblemes of Supream dignity and Authority which he himself had accepted at his Coronation the first signifying the Power of Joyning such an one to the Church the last denoting the Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical in Foro interiori or as some term it in Foro animae but he kept the Scepter in his own hand as the proper Ensign of that Jus Potentiae or Soveraign Power by which he stood particularly obliged to defend the Church to which King Edgar doubtless Referr'd when he told his Bishops at a general Convocation Ego Constantini vos Petri gladium habetis in manibus and as Christ commanded Peter as soon as he had drawn his Sword to put it up again so did he as Christ's Representative forbid St. Dunstan who would be thought St. Peter's to sheath his weapon when he began to draw upon the Lay Magistrate and would have been medling with those things that were (i) as Socrates expresses it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 forbidding any Inquity to be made de peccatis subditorum Add to this that in all general Councils the King himself presided Tanquam Papa Patriae Thus Ina for I chuse to begin with him because Baronius stiles him Rex maxime Pius presided in the great Synod at Winchester An. 733. by the Title of (*) Tom. 9. Anno 740. N. 14. Vicarius Dei (k) Jornal Lib. 761. Edgar at another meeting gave the Law to all the Clergy Tanquam (l) Vide Tit. Gar. Edgar Pastor Pastorum The like did Ethelred under the stile of (m) Eadmer 146. 16. Eadmer 155. 6. Vicarius Christi after him again Canute presided in another Council at Winchester by the Title of (n)
understanding do it by themselves before the Bishop 2. They deem'd it most laudable as being warranted by the practice of the Primitive Church from the very Apostles time Lastly they judg'd it necessary that the Children should receive Benediction by the Imposition of Hands after the Example of †Matt. 19.13 Christ himself This Answer being so solid that it could not well admit of any Reply he very dexterously grafted a Desire upon it That every private Pastor might Confirm as well as the Bishop But Doctor Andrews challenging him to shew where ever it was done by any but Bishops he lost the Point for want of ready proof After this he objected in the second place against Absolution as savouring too much of Popery To which was answer'd That the Commission of Pardoning Sins was originally given by Christ himself and allowed of by the Church of England upon no other but Gospel Terms of sincere Repentance and amendment of Life which differenc'd it sufficiently from the Popes Pardons and Indulgences granted upon far other and easier respects and being agreeable to the practice of other Reformed Churches particularly that of Geneva the pattern which they themselves desired to follow it was thought not only immodest and inconvenient but scarcely justifiable before God or Man to condemn the practice of it Which Answer how it satisfied him at that present time I know not but I have been credibly inform'd that when he was upon the point of Death he earnestly desired the Absolution of a Reverend Divine that came to pray with him and taking his hands between his own kiss'd them with all imaginary shew of Devotion and Humility The third Objection was against the use of the Cross in Baptism but it appearing to have been used in Constantine's time and prov'd out of several of the Fathers to have been used in Immortali Lavacro by which either side understood Baptism the King judg'd it Antiquity enough to justifie the continuance of it still Upon which waving any further Objection to the Antiquity he urged the scandal of it for that it had been Superstitiously abus'd as he said in the time of Popery to which the King himself gave Answer That it should be used no otherwise then as it was before the time of that abuse the Antiquity thereof being imply'd in their own Objection Hereupon one of the out-lying Objectors sallied forth impertinently enough and desired to know how far an Ordinance of the Church was binding without Impeachment of Christian Liberty Whom immediately the King took off with a sharp Reply telling him That as the Church taught him Faith he would teach him Obedience Many other Objections there were against the 4. use of the Surplice 5. The Ring in Marriage 6. The Ordination by Bishops 7. Baptizing by Women 8. Predestination 9. The Oath ex Officio 10. The High Commission Court c. to all which the King himself gave Answers so like a Prince in respect of Authority and yet so like a Priest in point of Divinity that not knowing whether they less understood him or themselves as men at once asham'd afraid and confounded they begg'd to be dismiss'd and promis'd to Conform for the Future now they knew it to be his Will to have it so However there were some Gainsayers that rose up afterwards taking upon them to speak evil of the things they understood not men of perverse spirits puffâ—d up with pride rather then prick'd in Conscience who found out an Engineeâ— fiâ— for their purpose a filthy Dreamer more impudent then can be imagined however he was by his Profession a Physitian of Bodies and not of Souls took upon him to preach in his sleep whose Story is not altogether unpleasant or impertinent having render'd himself so famous by his counterfeit Trances that the King himself curious to find out the chear had a desire to hear him His manner was after having pass'd through a Rapsâ—dy of Prayers to take some apt Text for his purpose to inveigh against Pope Prince and Prelate which he did so smartly and yet so methodically that the King clearly perceiv'd he was awake although being call'd stirr'd or pull'd he would make no shew of having any sense of hearing or feeling Whereupon he commanded every Body out of the Room saving two or three persons only to whom drawing near the Bed where the Fellow lay seemingly asleep he said I well perceive this Fellow is an irreconcileable Enemy to Church and State and I believe it is the Devil speaks in him whilst he sleeps now because I know not what effects his preaching may have amongst the ignorant Rabble I command you making secret Signs to them that he was not in earnest to strangle him with the pillows before he awake which said he cannot be perceiv'd to be other then a natural Death and I think my self the rather obliged to take away his life that I may not be forc'd to take away the lives of many innocent persons who will be seduced by his Doctrines Therefore as soon as I am withdrawn into the next Room be sure you stifle him immediately The Fellow surpriz'd with the apprehension of this unexpected Judgment so near execution imagining it might be too late to call for Mercy when the King was gone away rose up and pitching upon his knees confess'd his Imposture begging his Majesties pardon Whose Wisdom by this Discovery was magnified to that degree that all men look'd on him as another Solomon in point of King-craft and had his bodily abilities born any proportion to those of his mind doubtless the Women would have extoll'd him no less then the men Having now setled all things to his mind in the Church of England he proceeded in the next place to the Reformation of the Kirk of Scotland whither he sent divers grave and learned Divines upon an Apostolick Ambassy to prepare the way for the establishment of a like Hierarchy there as here Which Work prov'd so successful that without any great Dispute they admitted as many Bishops as there had been ancient Sees in that Church i. e. Thirteen of which number there were three that received their Consecration from the Arch-bishop of York who was it seems accounted and obeyed as Metropolitan of that Kingdom till the Year 1478. all the rest being Consecrated at home by their own Prelates whose Authority was not long after confirmed both by Synodical Acts and Acts of Parliament After which the Liturgy and certain Books of Canons extracted out of scatter'd Acts of their old Assemblies were likewise ratified and confirmed by Parliament And at the Assembly of Perth now call'd St. Johnstown there pass'd two years after though not without great difficulty those five notable Articles for 1. Episcopal Confirmation 2. Kneeling at the Communion 3. Private Baptisme 4. the Celebration of the four great Anniversary Feasts of the Birth Passion and Resurrection of our Saviour and the Pentecost and 5. for the setling the Church Habits All