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
framed to the Visitation viz. Whither in all Churches and Chappels all Images Shrines Tables Candlesticks Trindals and Rolls of Wax Pictures Paintings and other Monuments of feigned and false Miracles Pilgrimages Idolatry and Superstition were removed abolished and destroyed Numb 2. But these objections carried their own answers in them it being manifest by the words both of the Articles and Injunctions that it never was the meaning of the Queen her Councel or Commissioners to condemn abolish or deface all Images either of Christ himself or of any of the Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors and other godly Fathers in the Church of Christ the abuse whereof is ordered to be reformed by the first Injunction but only to remove such Pictures of false and feigned Miracles as had no truth of being or existence in Nature and therefore were the more abused to Superstition and Idolatry in the times of Popery In answer to such passages as are alledged out the said Homilies it is replyed first that is confessed in the beginning of the last of the said three Homilies that Images in Churches are not simply forbidden by the New Testament Hom. Fol. 39. And therefore no offence committed against the Gospel if they be used only for History Example and stirring up of pure Devotion in the souls of men in which respect called not unfitly by Pope Gregory The Lay-mans Books Secondly The Compilers of those Homilies were the more earnest in point of removing or excluding Images the better to wean the People from the sin of Idolatry in which they had been trained up from their very infancy and were not otherwise to be weaned from it then by taking away the occasions of it And thirdly All that vehemence is used against them not as intollerable in themselves but as they might be made in those broken and unsettled times an occasion of falling before men could be fully instructed in the right use of them as appears plainly by these passages viz. Our Images also have been and be and if they be publickly suffered in Churches and Chappels ever will be also worshipped and so Idolatry committed to them p. 13. So hard it is and indeed impossible any long time to have Images publickly in Churches and Temples without Idolatry fol. 33. And finally by the passage which before we touched at where after much vehemency not only against Idolatry and Worshipping of Images but also against Idols and Images themselves the heats thereof are qualified by this expression viz I mean alwayes thus herein in that we be stirred and provoked by them to worship them and not as though they were simply forbidden by the New Testament without such occasion and danger ibid. fol. 39. And thereupon it is first alledged by those of contrary judgment that all such as lived in times of Popery being long since dead and the people of this last age sufficiently instructed in the unlawfulness of worshipping such painted Images they may be lawfully used in Churches without fear of Idolatry which seems to have been the main inducement for their first defacing Secondly Many of the Eastern Churches which notwithstanding do abominate the Superstitions of the Church of Rome retained the use of painted Images though they reject those which were cut and carved Thirdly That Images are still used in the Lutheran Churches upon which our first Reformers had a special eye and that Luther much reproved Carolostadius for taking them out of such Churches where before they had been suffered to stand letting him know Ex mentibus hominum potius removendas that the worship of Images was rather to be taken out of mens mindes by diligent and painful preaching then the Images themselves to be so rashly and unadvisedly cast out of the Churches That painted Images were not only retained in the Chappels of the Queen and of many great men of the Realm in most of the Cathedral Churches and in some private Churches and Chappels also without any defacing witness the curious painted Glass in the Cathedral Church of Canterbury the Parish Church of Faireford in the County of Glocester and the Chappel of the Holy Ghost near Basingstoke but a rich and massy Crucifix was kept for many years together on the Table or Altar of the Chappel Royal in Whitehal as appears by Saunders and Du Chesne till it was broke in pieces by Pach the Queens Fool when no wiser man could be got to do it upon the secret instigation of Sir Francis Knollis and finally it appears by the Queens Injunctions that the Priests being commanded not to extol the dignity of any Images Relicks c. and the people diligently to teach that all Goodness Health and Grace ought to be asked and looked for only at the hands of God whereby all Superstition might be taken out of their hearts the Images might lawfully remain as well in publick Churches as in private Houses as they had done formerly 16. As for the times of publick Worship we must behold them in their Institution and their Observation And first as for their Institution it is agreed on of all hands that the Annual Feasts Saints Dayes or Holy Dayes as now commonly called do stand on no other ground then the Authority of the Church which at first ordained them some in one age and some in another till they grow unto so great a number that it was thought fit by King Henry viii and afterwards by King Edward vi to abolish such of them as might best be spared Nor stands the Sunday or Lords Day according to the Doctrine of the Church of England on any other ground then the rest of the Holy dayes for in the Homily touching the time and place of Prayer it is thus doctrinally resolved viz. As concerning the time in which God hath appointed his people to assemble together solemnly it doth appear by the fourth Commandment c. Which Example and Commandment of God the godly Christian people began to follow after the Ascension of our Lord Christ and began to chuse them a standing day in the week to come together in yet not the seventh day which the Jews kept but the Lords day the day of the Lords Resurrection the day after the seventh day which is the first day of the week c. This makes the matter clear enough and yet the Statute 5 and 6 of Edw. vi in which all the Prelates did concur with the other Estates makes it clearer then the Homily doth Forasmuch saith the Statute as men be not at all times so mindeful to laud and praise God so ready to resort to hear Gods holy Word and come to the holy Communion c. as their bounden duty doth require therefore to call men to remembrance of their duty and to help their infirmities it hath been wholesomely provided that there should be some certain dayes and times appointed wherein Christians should cease from all kindes of labour and apply themselves only and wholly unto the aforesaid holy works properly
1571. by the power and prevalency of some of the Genevian Faction the Articles were reprinted and this Clause left out But the times bettering and the Governors of the Church taking just notice of the danger which lay lurking under that omission there was care taken that the said clause should be restored unto its place in all following impressions of that Book as it hath ever since continued Nor was this part of the Article a matter of speculation only and not reducible to practice or if reducible to practice not fit to be enforced upon such as gain-said the same For in the 34. Article it is thus declared That whosoever through his private judgement willingly and purposely doth openly break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church which be not repugnant unto the word of God and be ordained and approved by common Authority ought to be rebuked openly that others may fear to do the like as he that offendeth against the common order of the Church and hurteth the the Authority of the Magistrate and woundeth the Consciences of the weak Brethren More power then this as the See of Rome did never challenge so less then this was not reserved unto it self by the Church of England And as for the Authority of the Church in controversies of Faith the very Articles by which they declared that power seconded by the rest of the points which are there determined is a sufficient Argument that they used and exercised that power which was there declared And because some objection had been made both by the Papists and those of the Genevian party that a Papal power was granted as at first to King Henry viii under the name of Supream Head so afterwards to Queen Elizabeth and her Successors it was thought expedient by the Church to stop that clamour at the first and thereupon it was declared in the Convocation of the Prelates and Clergy who make the representative Body of the Church of England in the 37. Article of the year 1562. That whereas they had attributed to the Queens Majesty the chief Government of all the Estates of this Realm whether Ecclesiastical or Civil in all cases they did not give unto their Princes the ministring either of Gods Word or of the Sacraments but that only Prerogative which was known to have been given alwayes to all godly Princes in Holy Scripture by God himself that is to say that they should rule all Estates and Degrees committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal and restrain with the Civil Sword the stubborn and evil doers Less Power then this as good Subjects could not give unto their King so more then this hath there not been exercised or desired by the Kings of England Such power as was by God vouchsafed to the godly Kings and Princes in Holy Scripture may serve abundantly to satisfie even the unlimited desires of the mightiest Monarch were they as boundless as the Popes 22. Next to the point of the Supremacy esteemed the Principal Article of Religion in the Church of Rome primus praecipuus Romanensis fidei Articulus as is affirmed in the History of the Council of Trent the most material differences betwixt them and us relate to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and the natural efficacy of good works in which the differences betwixt them and the first Reformers seem to be at the greatest though even in those they came as near to them as might stand with Piety The Sacrament of the Lords Supper they called the Sacrament of the Altar as appears plainly by the Statute 1 Edward vi entituled An Act against such as speak unreverently against the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ commonly called the Sacrament of the ALTAR For which consult the Body of the Act it self Or secondly by Bishop Ridley one of the chief Compilers of the Common-Prayer-Book who doth not only call it the Sacrament of the Altar affirming thus that in the Sacrament of the Altar is the natural Body and Blood of Christ c. But in his Reply to an Argument of the Bishop of Lincoln's taken out of St. Cyril he doth resolve it thus viz. The word Altar in the Scripture signifieth as well the Altar whereon the Jews were wont to oder their Burnt Sacrifice as the Table of the Lords Supper and that St. Cyril meaneth by this word Altar not the Iewish Altar but the Table of the Lord c. Acts and Mon. part 3. p. 492. and 497. Thirdly By Bishop Latimer his fellow Martyr who plainly grants That the Lords Table may be called an Altar and that the Doctors called it so in many places though there be no propitiatory Sacrifice but only Christ part 2. p. 85. Fourthly By the several affirmations of Iohn Lambert and Iohn Philpot two Learned and Religious men whereof the one suffered death for Religion under Henry viii the other in the fiery time of Queen Mary This Sacrament being called by both the Sacrament of the Altar in their several times for which consult the Acts and Monuments commonly called the Book of Martyrs And that this Sacrament might the longer preserve that name and the Lords Supper be administred with the more solemnity it was ordained in the Injunctions of Queen Elizabeth no Altar should be taken down but by the over-sight of the Curate of the Church and the Church-Wardens or one of them at least and that the Holy Table in every Church be decently made and set up in the place where the Altar stood and there commonly covered as thereto belongeth It is besides declared in the Book of Orders Anno 1561. published about two years after the said Injunction That in the place where the Steps were the Communion Table should stand and that there shall be fixed on the Wall over the Communion Board the Tables of Gods Precepts imprinted for the same purpose The like occurs in the Advertisements published by the Metropolitan and others the High Commissioners 1565. In which it is ordered That the Parish shall provide a decent Table standing on a frame for the Communion Table which they shall decently cover with a Carpet of Silk or other decent covering and with a white Linâ—en Cloath in the time of the administration and shall set the Ten Commandments upon the East-Wall over the said Table All which being laid together amounts to this that the Communion-Table was to stand above the steps and under the Commandments therefore all along the Wall on which the Ten Commandments were appointed to be placed which was directly where the Altar had stood before Now that the Holy Table in what posture soever it be plac't should not be thought unuseful at all other times but only at the time of the Ministration it was appointed by the Church in its first Reformation that the Communion-Service commonly called the Second Service upon all Sundayes and Holy-dayes should be read only at the Holy Table For first in the last
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
Iews commanded by Antiochus gave up the Divine Books to his Officers to be destroyed it was afterwards adjudged in favour of them by Optatus Bishop of Milevis a right godly man to be sin rather in them that commanded than of those who with fear and sorrow did obey their Mandates That when the Emperour Mauritius had made an Edict That no Souldier should be admitted into any Monastery and sent it to be published by Gregory sirnamed the Great the Pope forthwith dispersed it into all parts of the Christian World because he was subject to his command though in his own judgment he conceived the said Edict to be unlawful in it self and prejudicial unto many particular persons as well in reference to their spiritual as their temporal benefit and finally That it was resolved by St. Augustine in his Book against Faustus the Manichee cap. 75. That a Christian Souldier fighting under a Heathen Prince may lawfully pursue the War or exercise the Commands of his immediate or Superior Officers in the course of his Service though he be not absolutely assured in the justice of the one or the expedience of the other Such were the Reasons urged in behalf of all Parties concerned in this business and such the Defences which were made for some of them in matter of fact but neither the one nor the other could allay that storm which had been raised against him by the Tongues and Pens of unquiet Persons of which more anon Nor was the Clamour less which was raised against such of the Bishops as either pressed the use of his Majesties Instructions concerning Lecturers and silencing the Arminian Controversies or urged the Ministers of their several and respective Diocesses to use no other form of Prayer before their Sermons than that which was prescribed Canon 55. It had been prudently observed That by suâ—fering such long Prayers as had accustomably been used of late before the Sermons of most Preachers the Publick Liturgie of the Church had been much neglected That the Puritan Preachers for the most part had reduced all Gods Service in a manner to those Pulpit-Prayers That the People in many places had forborn to go into the Church till the Publick Liturgie was ended and these Prayers begun That by this means such Preachers prayed both what they listed and how they listed some so seditiously that their very Prayers were turned into Sin others so ignorantly and impertinently that they dishonoured God and disgraced Religion For remedy whereof it was thought convenient by the Archbishop and some other Prelates to reduce all to the form of Prayers appointed in the Canon above-mentioned according to the like form prescribed in the Injunctions of Queen Elizabeth and before her time by King Edward the Sixth and before his time also by King Henry the Eighth practised accordingly in the times of their several Reigns as appears by the Sermons of Bishop Latimer Bishop Gardiner Archbishop Parker Bishop Iewell Bishop Andrews and generally by all Divines of the Church of England till by the artifices and endeavours of the Puritan Faction these long Prayers of their own making had been taken up to cry down the Liturgie Which being in charge in the Visitation and afterwards in the Articles of several Bishops made as much noise amongst ignorant and factious People under colour of quenching the Spirit of God expressed in such extemporary Prayers of the Preachers conceiving as silencing the Doctrines of Predestination changing the afternoons Sermons into Catechisings and regulating the Extravagances of some of their Lecturers under the colour of a Plot to suppress the Gospel In which last Calumny as most of the Bishops had a share so did it fall as heavy on Pierce of Bath and Wells as on any other though he did nothing in that kind but what he was required to do by the Kings Instructions His Crimes were That he had commanded the Ministers in his Diocess to turn their afternoons Sermons into Catechisings and those Catechisings to be made according to the Questions and Answers in the Catechism authorised by Law and extant in the Book of Common Prayer which some few absolutely refusing to conform unto and others contrary to the meaning of the said Instructions taking some Catechism-point for their Text and making long Sermons on the same were by him suspended and so continued till they found a greater readiness in themselves to obey their Ordinary But the Great Rock of Offences against which they stumbled and stumbling filled all places with their Cries and Clamours was That he had suppressed the Lecturers in most parts of his Diocess and some report That he proceeded so far in it as to make his brag not without giving great Thanks to God for his good Success That he had not left one Lecturer in all his Diocess of what sort soever whether he Lectured for his Stipend or by a voluntary combination of some Ministers amongst themselves Which if it should be true as I have some reason to believe it is not ought to be rather attributed to some exiliency of humane frailty of which we are all guilty more or less than to be charged amongst his Sins But for his Actings in this kind as also for his vigorous proceedings in the Case of Beckington he had as good Authority as the Instructions of the King and the Directions of his Metropolitan could invest him in And so far Canterbury justified him in the last particular as to take the blame if any thing were blame-worthy in it upon himself though then a Prisoner in the Tower and under as much danger as the Power and Malice of his Enemies could lay upon him For such was his undaunted Spirit that when Ash a Member of the House of Commons demanded of him in the Tower Whether the Bishop of Bath and Wells had received his Directions from him in the Case of Beckington he answered roundly That he had and that the Bishop had done nothing in it but what became an obedient Diocesan to his Metropolitan So careful was he of preserving those who had acted under him that he chose rather to augment the number of his own misfortunes then occasion theirs If all the Bishops of that time had joined their hearts and hands together for carrying on the work of Uniformity as they were required the Service might have gone more happily forwards and the Envy would have been the less by being divided but leaving the whole burden upon so few and turning it over to their Chancellors and Under-Officers if they did so much they did not only for as much as in them was destroy the business but expose such as took care of it to the publick hatâ—ed For such was their desire to ingratiate themselves amongst the People that some of them being required to return the names of such Ministers as refused the reading of the Book made answer That they would not turn Informers against their Brethren there being enough besides
as forward in it as any other that their Contributions mounted higher than was expected The Benevolence of the Diocess of Norwich only aâ—ounting to 2016 l. 16 s. 5 d. The Archdâ—acorry of Winchester only to the sum of 1305 l. 5 s. 8 d. And though we may not conclude of all the rest by the greatness of thâ—se yet may it be very safely said that they did all exceeding bountifully in their several proportions with reference to the extent of their Diocesses and the ability of their Estates Nor were the Judges of the several Benches of the Courts at Westminster and the great Officers under them Protonotaries Secondaries and the like deficient in expressing their good aâ—â—ections to this general cause in which the safety of the Realm was as much concerned as his Majesties honour And for the Doctors of the Laws Chancellors Commissaries Officials and other Officers belonging to the Ecclesiastical Courts they were spurred on to follow the example of the Secular Judges as having a more particular concernment in it by a Letter sent from the Archbishop to the Dean of the Arches on February 11. and by him communicated to the rest By which Free-will offerings on the one side some commanded duties on the other and the well-husbanding of his Majesties Revenue by the Lord Treasurer Iuxon he was put into such a good condition that he was able both to raise and maintain an Army with no charge to the Common Subject but only a little Coat and Conduct money at their first setting out These preparations were sufficient to give notice of a War approaching without any further denouncing of it by a publick Herald and yet there was another accident which seemed as much to fore-signifie it as those preparations Mary de Medices the Widow of King Henry iâ— of France and Mother to the Queens of England and Spain arrived at Harwich on October 19. and on the last of the same was with great State conducted through the Streets of London to his Majesties Palace of St. Iames. A Lady which for many years had not lived out of the smell of Powder and a guard of Muskets at her door embroyled in wars and troubles when she lived in France and drew them after her into Flanders where they have ever since continued So that most men were able to presage a Tempest as Mariâ—eâ—s by the appearing of some Fish or the flying of some Birds about their ships can foresee a storm His Majesty had took great care to prevent her comming knowing â—ull well how chargeable a guest she would prove to him and how unwelcome to the Subject To which end â—eswel was commanded to use all his wits for perswading her to stay in Holland whither she had retired from Flanders in the year precedent But she was wedded to her will and possibly had received such invitations from her Daughter here that nothing but everlasting foul weather at Sea and a perpetual cross-wind could have kept her there All things provided for the War his Majesty thought sit to satisfie his good Subjects of both Kingdoms not only of the Justice which appeared in this Action but in the unavoydable necessity which enforced him to it To which end he acquaints them by his Proclamation of the 20 of February How traiterously some of the Scottish Nation had practiced to pervert his Loyal Subjects of this Realm by scattering abroad their Libellous and Seditious Pamphlets mingling themselves at their publick meetings and reproaching both his Person and Government That he had never any intention to alter their Religion or Laws but had condescended unto more for defence thereof than they had reason to expect That they had rejected the Band and Covenant which themselves had prest upon the people because it was commended to them by his Authority and having made a Covenant against God and him and made such Hostile preparations as if he were their sworn Enemy and not their King That many of them were men of broken Fortunes who because they could not well be worse hoped by engaging in this War to make themselves better That they had assumed unto themselves the power of the Press one of the chief markes of the Regal Authority prohibiting to Print what he commanded and commanding to Print what he prohibited and dismiâ—â—ng the Printer whom he had established in that Kingdom That they had raised Arms blockt up and besieged his Castles laid Impositions and Taxes upon his people threatned such as continued under Loyalty with force and violence That they had contemned the Authority of the Council Table and set up Tables of their own from which they send their Edâ—cts throughout all parts of the Kingdom contrary to the Laws therein established pretending in the mean time that the Laws were violated by himself That the question was not now whether the Service-Book should be received or not or whether Episcopacy should continue or not but whether he were King or not That many of them had denied the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance for which some of them had been committed as inconsistent and incompatible with their holy Covenant That being brought under a necessity of taking Arms he had been traduced in some of their writings for committing the Arms he had then raised into the hands of professed Papists a thing not only dishonourable to himself and the said noble persons but false and odious in it self That some of power in the Hierarchy had been defamed for being the cause of his taking Arms to invade that Kingdom who on the contrary had been only Counsellors of peace and the chief perswaders as much as in them lay of the undeserved moderation wherewith he had hitherto proceeded toward so great Offenders That he had no intent by commending the Service-Book unto them to innovate any thing at all in their Religion but only to create a conformity between the Churches of both Kingdoms and not to infringe any of their Liberties which were according to the Laws That therefore he required all his loving Subjects not to receive any more of the said seditious Pamphlets but to deliver such of them as they had received into the hands of the next Justice of the Peace by him to be sent to one of his Majesties principal Secretaries And finally That this his Proclamation and Declaration be read in time of Divine Service in every Church within the Kingdom that all his People to the meanest might see the notorious carriages of these men and likewise the Justice and Mercy of all his proceedings And now his Majesty is for Action beginning his Journey towards the North March 27. being the Anniversary day of his Inauguration His Army was advanced before the best for quality of the Persons compleatness of Arms number of serviceable Horse and necessary Provision of all sorts that ever waited on a King of England to a War with Scotland Most of the Nobility attended on him in their Persons and such as were to be
persons as were either Papists or suspected to be Papists or had not received the Communion within the space of one whole year or whose Wives or any of their Servants were Recusants or suspected to be so might be removed from all Commissions of charge and trust from being Justices of the Peace or bearing any Office in the Common Wealth But this Petition was not made ready for the Lords till the twentieth of May next following and being then reported to them by the Archbishop of Canterbury they did proceed no further in it The Commons in the mean time had been wholly busied in the Prosecution of the Lord Treasurer Cranfield whom at last they brought unto his Sentence A Gentleman he was by birth but had his breeding in the City from whence by his own wit and industry he preferred himself into the Court where he was first made Master of the Wardrobe afterward Master of the Wards and finally advanced by the power and favour of the Duke one of whose Kinswomen he had married to the office of Lord Treasurer and the honour of being made the first Earl of Middlesex In this Office he had disobliged the Prince when he was in Spain by disswading and diverting those Large Supplies which were required for the maintaining of his Port in a Forraign Kingdom And he had disobliged the Duke by joyning in some secret practises to make him grow less and less in his Majesties Favour They had both served the turn of the Commons in drawing the King by their continual importunities to dissolve the Treatie And the Commons must now serve their turn in prosecuting this man to his final destruction Which they pursued so effectually that in the end he was sentenced in the House of Lords to be deprived of the Office of Lord High Treasurer of England to be fined fifty thousand Pounds and remain a Prisoner in the Tower during his Majesties will and pleasure It was moved also to degrade him from all Titles of honour but in that the Bishops stood his Friends and dasht the motion So Cranfield sell and Williams did not stand long after Laud was now brought into an higher degree of credit with the Duke of Buckingham than he was before by means whereof he came to be of great power and authority with him Insomuch that when the Duke fell sick of an Ague in the beginning of May he was extreme impatient in his Fits till Laud came to visit him by whom he was so charmed and sweetned that at first he endured his Fits with patience and by that patience did so break their heats and violences that at last they left him From this time forwards he was not used only as a Confessor but a Counsellor also imployed by him in considering and advising whether the great endowments belonging to the Hospitals founded in the dissolved house of Carthusian Monks commonly but corruptly called the Charter-House might not be inverted to the maintenance of an Army for the present Wars as well for his Majesties advantage as the case of the Subject And to this Proposition as it seems he returned a Negative for I find not that the business advanced any further He liked not any inversions or alienations of that nature lest being drawn into example the Lands of Colledges or Cathedral Churches might in like manner be imployed unto secular uses Besides he could not choose but know that a project had been set on foot about ten years before for the Entituling of the King to all Sutton's Lands which probably might have succeeded if Coke then being Lord Chief Justice and one of the Trustees for erecting the Hospital had not stood stoutly to his trust By which though he got the Kings displeasure yet amongst others he preserved the reputation of an honest man And Laud might very well conclude that he who durst oppose the King when he was in his favour would be found more intractable at this time when he was in disgrace which rendred him the less sollicitous to appear in a business not otherwise approved of by him But in another point which was more to his liking and lay within the spheare of his activity he gave him as much satisfaction as he had desired This was the giving him the heads of Doctrinal Puritanism that is to say the Heads of such Doctrines as were maintained by those of the Puritan Faction though not maintained by them as Puritans but as Calvinists only The Duke had a desire to know them and he served him in it I must needs say the name of Doctrinal Puritanism is not very ancient but whether first taken up by the Archbishop of Spalato at his being here I am not able to say Nor am I of opinion that Puritan and Calvinian are terms convertible For though all Puritans are Calvinians both in doctrine and practise yet all Calvinians are not to be counted as Puritans also whose practises many of them abhor and whose inconformities they detest though by the errour of their Education or ill direction in the Course of their Studies they may and do agree with them in some points of Doctrine But I must take the word as it stands in the Breviate and so let it go These Doctrinal heads being ten in number related to the indispâ—nsible morality of the Lords-day-Sabbath the indiscrimination of Bishops and Presbyters the Power of Soveraign Princes in Ecclesiastical matters the Doctrine of Confession and Sacerdotal Absolution and the five Points so much disputed about Predestination and the Concomitants thereof Which last Points having been hotly agitated for twenty years last past in the Belgick Churches did now begin to exercise the Church of England upon this occasion The Priests and Jesuites having been very busie of late in gaining Proselites and sowing their erronious Doctrines had got a haunt in a Village of the County of Essex called Stanford-Rivers The Rector of that Church was Richard Montague Batchelor of Divinity Prebend of Windsor and one of the Fellows of Eaton Colledge a man exceedingly well versed in all the Learning of Greeks and Romans and as well studied in the Fathers Councils and all other ancient Monuments of the Christian Church Desirous to free his Parish from this haunt he left some Propositions at the house of one of his Neighbours which had been frequently visited with these Night-Spirits with this Declaration thereunto that if any of those which ranged that walk could convince him in any of the same he would immediately subscribe and be a Papist After long expectation instead of answering to his queries one of them leaves a short Pamphlet for him entituled A new Gag for the Old Gospell in which it was pretended that the Doctrine of the Protestants should be confuted out of the very words of their own English Bibles This book he was required to answer and found it no such knotty piece but that it might be cleft in sunder without Beetle or Wedges But in perusing of that
paid for that purpose all which amounted to three thousand two hundred forty seven pound sixteen shillings two pence half-peny The Clergy of England within the Province of Canterbury freely contributed the fortieth part of all such Church Livings as were charged with First-fruits and the thirtieth part of all their Benefices not so charged those of London only excepted who besides the thirtieth part of such as paid First-fruits gave the twentieth part of all the rest Which Contribution of the Clergy amounted to one thousand four hundred sixty one pound thirteen shillings and eleven pence whereunto was added by the benevolence of the Bishop of London at several times coming in all to nine hundred five pound one shilling and eleven pence By the Dean and Chapter one hundred thirty six pound thirteen shillings and four pence and made of the surplusage of Timber one hundred nineteen pound three shillings and nine pence Given by the Justices and Officers of the Common Pleas thirty four pound five shillings and by those of the Kings Bench seventeen pound sixteen shillings eight pence All which together made no more than six thousand seven hundred and two pound thirteen shillings and four pence And yet with this small Sum such was the cheapness of those Times the Work was carried on so prosperously that before the Month of April 1566. all the Roofs of Timber whereof those large ones of the East and West framed in Yorkshire and brought by Sea were perfectly finished and covered with Lead the adding of a new Steeple being thought unnecessary because too chargeable though divers Models have been made and presented of it The whole Roof being thus Repaired the Stone-work of it stood as before it did sensibly decaying day by day by reason of the corroding quality of the Sea-coal smoke which on every side annoyed it Which being observed by one Henry Farley about the middle of the Reign of King Iames he never left solliciting the King by several Petitions and Addresses to take the Ruinous Estate thereof into his Princely Consideration till at last it was resolved on by the King And to create the greater Veneration to so good a Work he bestowed that magnificent Visit on it described at large in the first Book of this History Anno 1620. The product and result whereof was the issuing out a Commission under the Great Seal of England bearing date the sixteenth day of November then next following directed to Sir Francis Iones Knight then Lord Mayor of London George Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Francis Lord Verulam then Lord Chancellor of England and divers others to the number of sixty Persons and upwards Which Commission importing That this Church being the greatest and most eminent as also one of the principal Ornaments of the Realm and in much decay any six or more of these Commissioners whereof three to be of the said Kings Privy-Council should meet to make Particulars of the decay and likewise what Houses Cellars c. had been built near it either to the annoyance of it or the Church-yard And moreover to Inquire what Lands Rents c. had been given towards its Repair or Sums of Money collected to that purpose and not accordingly employed And further to consider of the most fit and proper means to raise money to carry on the said Repair And lastly to appoint Surveyors and other Officers of their Work and to make Certificate of their Proceedings therein into the Chancery Upon the Meeting of which Commissioners and diligent search made into the Particulars afore-mentioned it was acknowledged that the Bishop of London had the whole care of the Body of that Church and the Dean and Chapter of the Choires But that which each of them enjoyed to this purpose was so little that they yearly expended double as much upon the Roof and other parts decayed to preserve them from present ruine Which being made evident to the Commissioners as also that in former times even from the very first foundation thereof it had been supported partly out of the large Oblations of those that visited the Shrines and Oratories therein and partly from Publick Contributions in all parts of the Kingdom It was concluded to proceed in the same way now as had been done formerly And that it might proceed the better the King himself and many of the principal Nobility and Gentry declared by their Superscriptions for the encouragement of others to so good a Work what Sums they resolved to give in pursuance of it Doctor Iohn King then Bishop of London subscribing for 100 l. per Annum as long as he should continue in that See Mountain who succeeded not long after in that Bishoprick procured with great charge and trouble some huge massie Stones to be brought from Portland for the beginning of the Work But money coming slowly in and he being a man of small activity though of good affecâ—ions the heat of this great business cooled by little and little and so came to nothing But Laud succeeding him in the See of London and having deservedly attained unto great Authority with his Majesty no sooner saw his Office settled both at home and abroad but he possessed him with a Loyal and Religious Zeal to persue that Work which King Iames had so piously designed though it went not much further than the bare design Few words might serve to animate the King to a Work so pious who aimed at nothing more than the Glory of God in the Advancement of the Peace and Happiness of the Church of England And therefore following the example oâ— his Royal Father he bestowed the like Visit on St. Pauls whither he was attended with the like Magnificence and entertained at the first entrance into the Church with the like Solemnity The Divine Service being done and the Sermon ended which tended principally unto the promoting of a Work so honourable both to his Majesties Person and the English Nation his Majesty took a view of the Decays of that Church and there Religiously promised not to be wanting in the Piety of his best Endeavours to the Repair of those Ruines which Age the Casualties of Weather or any other Accidents had brought upon it In order whereunto in the beginning oâ— this year he issued out his Royal Commission under the Great Seal of England bearing date the tenth of April in the seventh year of his Reign directed to Sir Robert Ducy Lord Mayor of the City of Londan George Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Lord Coventry Lord Keeper of the Great Seal c. William Lord Bishop of London Richard Lord Bishop of Winton Iohn Lord Bishop of Ely c. Nicholas Rainton Ralph Freeman Rowland Heylyn c. Aldermen of the City of London Edward Waymack and Robert Bateman Chamberlain of the said City of London In which Commission the said King taking notice of this Cathedral as the goodliest Monument and most ancient Church of his whole Dominions as also that it was the principal
as thought of Practice for any Alteration unto Popery or any blemishing of the true Protestant Religion established in England as I was when my Mother first bore me into the World And let nothing be spoken but truth and I do here re-challenge whatsoever is between Heaven and Hell that can be said against me in point of my Religion in which I have ever hated dissimulation And had I not hated it perhaps I might have been better for worldly safety than now I am but it can no way become a Christian Bishop to halt with God Lastly If I had a purpose to blast the true Religion established in the Church of England and to introduce Popery sure I took a wrong wâ—â— to it For my Lords I have staid more going to Rome and reduced more that were already gone than I believe any Bishop or Divine 〈◊〉 this Kingdom hath dâ—ne and some of them men of great Abilities and some persons of great place And is this the way to introduce Popery My Lords If I have blemished the true Protestant Religion how could I have brought these men to it And if I had promised to introduce Popery I would never have reduced these men from it And that it may appear unto your Lordships how many and of what condition the persons are which by Gods blessing upon my labours I have settled in the true Protestant Religion established in England I shall briefly name some of them though I cannot do it in order of time as I converted them First Henry Berkinstead of Trinity Colledge in Oxon. seduced by a Iesuite and brought to London Two Daughters of Sir Richard Lechford in Surrey sent towards a Nunnery Two Scholars of S. Johns Colledge in Cambridge Toppin and Ashton who had got the French Embassadors Pass and after this I allowed means to Toppin and then procured him a Fellowship in St. Johns And he is at this present as hopeful a young man as any of his time and a Divine Sir William Webb my Kinsman and two of his Daughters and his Son I took from him and his Father being utterly decayed I bred him at my own charge and he is a very good Protestant A Gentleman brought to me by Mr. Chesford his Majesties Servant but I cannot recall his name The Lord Mayo of Ireland brought to me also by Mr. Chesford The Right Honourable the Lord Duke of Buckingham almost quite gone between the Lady his Mother and Sister The Lady Marquiss Hamilton was settled by my direction and she died very Religiously and a Protestant Mr. Digby who was a Priest Mr. James a Gentleman brought to me by a Minister of Buckinghamshire as I remember Dr. Heart the Civilian my Neighbours Son at Fulham Mr. Christopher Seaborne a Gentleman of an ancient Family in Herefordshire The Right Honourable the Countess of Buckingham Sir William Spencer of Parnton Mr. Chillingworth The Sons and Heirs of Mr. Winchcomb and Mr. Wollescot whom I sent with their Friends liking to Wadham Colledge Oxon. and received a Certificate Anno 1638. of their continuing in Conformity to the Church of England Nor did ever any one of these named relapse again but only the Countess of Buckingham and Sir William Spencer It being only in Gods power not mine to preserve them for relapse And now let any Clergy-man in England come forth and give a better account of his zeal to the Church This being said and all Parties commanded to withdraw their Lordships after some short time of consideration appointed the next Morning at nine of the clock for the beginning of the Prosecution to be made against him In order whereunto the twenty four Articles for so many there were in both impeachments were reduced under these four general Heads viz. 1. His traiterous Endeavours and Practices to alter and subvert Gods true Religion by Law established in this Realm and in stead thereof to set up Popish Superstition and Idolatry the particulars wherof are specified in the 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Original and 6 7 8 9 Additional Articles 2. His traiterous usurpation of a Papal and Tyrannical Power in the Church of England in all Ecclesiastical affairs to the prejudice and derogation of his Majesties Royal Prerogative and the Subjects Liberties comprised in the sixth Original Article 3. His traiterous Attempts and Endeavours to subvert the Fundamental Temporal Laws Government and Liberties of the Realm and Subjects of England and instead thereof to introduce an Arbitrary and Temporal Government against Law and the Subjects Liberty expressed in the 1 2 3 4 5 6 13 Original and 1 2 2 3 4 5 10 Additional Articles And 4. His traiterous Endeavours to subvert the Rights of Parliament and ancient course of Parliamentary Proceedings and by â—alse and malicious slanders to incense his Majesty against them contained in the 14 Original and the 1 9 10 Additional Articles The managing of the Evidence committed to Maynard Wilde and Nicholas all Members of the House of Commons by whom the business was drawn out to so great a length that it took up no less than seventeen daies not altogether but with so many pauses and intermissions as the Scots prospered and came forwards that the pleadings were not fully finished till the end of Iuly I hope it will not be expected that I should lay down the proceedings on both sides the Proofs and Testimonies which were brought against him or the defences which were made by him in full Answer to them that being a work which of it self would make a greater Volume than our present History All I shall say amounts to no more but this That there wanted neither wit nor will in the Prosecutors to make him appear as guilty in the eye of the Lords as his Accusers could desire And as for him it is related by the Pen of his greatest Adversary That he made as Full as Gallant as Pithy a Defence and spake as much for himself as was possible for the wit of man to invent and that with so much Art Vivacity Oratory Audacity and Confidence that he shewed not the least acknowledgment of Guilt in any of the particulars which were charged upon him And though the Relator putting the worst gloss upon the Text be pleased to say that these Abilities did argue him rather Obstinate than Innocent Impudent than Penitent a far better Orator Sophister than Protestant or Christian a truer Son of the Church of Rome than of the Church of England yet in the midst of these Reproaches he gives him the Commendations of Wit and Eloquence of being a good Orator and a subtle Disputant which with the rest of the Abilities ascribed unto him considering the suddenness of his Preparations the frailty of his Memory the burthen of seventy years with other natural infirmities then lying heavy on him may not unjustly be imputed to Divine assistance What sense the Commons had of his justification and what satisfaction was found in it by the House of