great men about the Court for revealing the Kings Secrets committed to his trust and privacy contrary to the Oath taken by him as a Privy Counsellor The Bishop was conceived to live at too great a height to be too popular withal and thereby to promote the Puritan Interest against the Counsels of the Court This Information was laid hold on as a means to humble him to make him sensible of his own duty and the Kings displeasure and a Command is given to Noy then newly made his Majesties Atturney-General to file a Bill and prosecute against him in the Star-Chamber upon this delinquency Though the Bishop about two or three years since had lost the Seal yet he was thought to have taken the Purse along with him reputed rich and one that had good Friends in the Court about the King which made him take the less regard of this prosecution By the Advice of his Counsel he first demurred unto the Bill and afterwards put in a strong Plea against it both which were over-ruled by Chief Justice Richardson to whom by Order of the Court they had been referred Which artifices and delays though they gained much time yet could he not thereby take off the edge of the Atturney grown so much sharper toward him by those tricks in Law And in this state we shall finde the business about ten years hence when it came to a Sentence having laid so much of it here together because the occasion of the Suit was given much about this time About the same time also came out a Book entituled A Collection of Private Devotions or the Hours of Prayer composed by Cozens one of the Prebends of Durham at the Request and for the Satisfaâ—ction as it was then generally believed of the Countess of Denbigh the only Sister of the Duke and then supposed to be unsetled in the Religion here established if not warping from it A Book which had in it much good matter but not well pleasing in the form said in the Title page to be framed agreeably to a Book of Private Prayers Authorized by Queen Elizabeth Anno 1560. After the Kalendar it began with a Specification of the Apostles Creed in Twelve Articles the Lords Prayer in Seven Petitions the Ten Commandements with the Duties enjoined and the Sins prohibited by them The Precepts of Charity The Precepts of the Church The Seven Sacraments The Three Theological Virtues The Three kinds of Good Works The Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost The Twelve Fruits of the Holy Ghost The Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy The Eight Beatitudes Seven deadly Sins and their contrary Vertues and the Quatuor novissima After which some Prefaces and Introductions intervening followed the Forms of Prayer for the first third sixth and ninth Hours as also for the Vespers and Compline known here in former Times by the vulgar name of Canonical Hours Then came the Litany The Seven Penitential Psalms Preparatory Prayers for Recâ—iving the Holy Communion Prayers to be used in time of Sickness and of the near approach of Death besides many others The Book approved by Mountain then Bishop of London and by him Licenced for the Press with the Subscription of his own hand to it Which notwithstanding it startled many at the first though otherwise very moderate and sober men who looked upon it as a Preparatory to usher in the Superstitions of the Church of Rome The Title gave offence to some by reason of the correspondence which it held with the Popish Horaries but the Frontispiece a great deal more on the top whereof was found the Name of IESVS figured in three Capital Letters IHS with a Cross upon them incircled with the Sun supported by two Angels with two devout Women praying toward it It was not long before it was encountred by Prynne and Burton of whom we shall have occasion to speak more hereafter Prynn's Book for of the other there was but little notice taken was Printed by the name of A Brief Survey and Censure of Cozens his Cozening Devotions Anno 1628. In which he chargeth it for being framed in general according to the Horaries and Primers of the Church of Rome but more particularly to be directly moulded framed and contrived according to Our Ladies Primer or Office Printed in Latin at Antwerp 1593. and afterwards in Latin and English Anno 1604. Next he objects That the Book of Latin Prayers published by Queen Elizabeth 1560. was called Orarium not Horarium sive Libellus Precationum that is to say A Book of Prayers That in that Book there was mention of no other hours of Prayer than first third and ninth and that in the second and third Editions of the same Book published in the years 1564. and 1573. there occurred no such distribution into hours at all which said he reproacheth all the Specifications before-remembred by the name of Popish trash and trumpery stollen out of Popish Primers and Catechisms not mentioned in any Protestant Writers and then proceeds to the canvasing of every Office and the Prefaces belonging to them which with the like infallible Spirit he condemns of Popery But for all this violent opposition and the great clamors made against it the Book grew up into esteem and justified it self without any Advocate insomuch that many of those who first startled at in regard of the Title found in the body of it so much Piety such regular Forms of Divine Worship such necessary Consolations in special Exigencies that they reserved it by them as a Jewel of great Price and value But of this Author and his Book the following Parliament to whom Prynne dedicates his Answer will take further notice But before that Parliament begins we must take notice of some Changes then in agitation amongst the Governours of the Church His Majesty in the Iune foregoing had acquainted Laud with his intent of nominating him to the See of London in the place of Mountain whom he looked on as a man unactive and addicted to voluptuousness and one that loved his ease too well to disturbe himself in the concerments of the Church He also looked upon that City as the Retreat and Receptacle of the Grandees of the Puritan Faction the influence which it had by reason of its Wealth and Trading on all parts of the Kingdom and that upon the Correspondence and Conformity thereof the welfare of the whole depended No better way to make them an example of Obedience to the rest of the Subjects then by placing over them a Bishop of such Parts and Power as they should either be unable to withstand or afraid to offend In order unto this design it was thought expedient to translate Neile whose accommodations Laud much studied to the See of Winchester then vacant by the death of Andrews and to remove Mountain unto Durham in the place of Neile But the putting of this design into execution did require some time Such Officers of State as had the management of the Kings
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
the Archbishop thought it a more noble Act to remit the crime than to trouble the Court or any of his Majesties Ministers in the prosecution But herein Prynne sped better than some others who had before been snarling at him and laboured to expose him both to scorn and danger No sooner had he mounted the Chair of Canterbury but one Boyer who not long before had broke prison to which he had been committed for felony most grosly abused him to his face accusing him of no less than High Treason For which being brought into the Star-Chamber the next Michaelmas Term he was there censured by their Lordships as the Crime deserved And presently on the neck of this one Greene a poor decayed Printer for whom his Grace then Bishop of London had procured a Pension of five pound per Annum to be paid by the Company of Stationers yearly as long as he lived adventured into the Court of St. Iames's with a great Sword by his side desperately swearing That it the King did not do him Justice against the Archbishop he would take another course with him For this committed unto Newgate but how long he staid there and what other Punishment he suffered or whether he suffered any other or not let them seek that list And that the other Sex might whet their tongues upon him also the Lady Davies the Widow of Sir Iohn Davies Atturney-General for King Iames in the Realm of Ireland scatters a Prophesie against him This Lady had before spoken something unluckily of the Duke of Buckingham importing that he should not live till the end of August which raised her to the Reputation of a Cunning Woman amongst the ignorant people and now she Prophesies of the new Archbishop That he should live but few days after the fifth of November for which and other Prophesies of a more mischievous nature she was after brought into the Court of High-Commission the Woman being grown so mad that she phancied the Spirit of the Prophet Daniel to have been infused into her Body And this she grounded on an Anagram which she made of her Name viz. ELEANOR DAVIES REVEAL O DANIEL And though the Anagram had too much by an L and too little by an S yet she found Daniel and Reveal in it and that served her turn Much pains was taken by the Court to dispossess her of this Spirit but all would not do till Lamb then Dean of the Arches shot her through and through with an Arrow borrowed from her own Quiver For whilst the Bishops and Divines were reasoning the Point with her out of Holy Scripture he took a Pen into his hand and at last hit upon this excellent Anagram viz. DAME ELEANOR DAVIES NEVER SO MAD A LADIE Which having proved to be true by the Rules of Art Madam said he I see you build much on Anagrams and I have found out one which I hope will fit you This said and reading it aloud he put it into her â—ands in Writing which happy Phansie brought that grave Court into such a laughter and the poor Woman thereupon into such a confusion that afterwards she grew either wiser or was less regarded This ended as succesfully as he could desire but he sped worse with another of his Female Adversaries The Lady Purbeck Wiâ—e of Iohn Villers Viscount Purbeck the elder Brother by the same Venter to the Duke of Buckingham had been brought into the High-Commission Anno 1627. for living openly in Adultery with Sir Robert Howard one of the younger Sons of Thomas the first Earl of Suffolk of that Family Sentenced among other things to do Penance at St. Paul's Cross she â—scaped her Keepers took Sanctuary in the Savoy and was from thence conveyed away by the French Embassador The Duke being dead all further prosecution against her died also with him which notwithstanding the proud woman being more terrified with the fear of the Punishment than the sense of the Sin vented her malice and displeasure against the Archbishop who had been very severe against her at the time of her Trial when he was come unto his Greatness spending her tongue upon him in words so full of deep disgrace and reproach unto him that he could do no less than cause her to be laid in the Gatehouse But being not long after delivered thence by the Practise of Howard afore-mentioned Howard was seised upon and laid up in her place which Punishment though it was the least that could be looked for he so highly stomach'd that as soon as the Archbishop was impeach'd by the House of Commons and committed to Custody by the Lords which hapned on Fryday December 18. 1640. he petitioned for Relief against the Archbishop and some other of the High Commissioners by whom the Warrant had been signed The Lords upon the reading of it imposed a Fine of 500 l. on the Archbishop himself and 250 l. apiece upon Lamb and Duck and pressed it with such cruel rigour that they forced him to sell his Plate to make payment of it the Fine being set on Munday the 21. of December and ordered to be paid on the Wednesday after But these Particulars have carried me beyond my year I return therefore back again and having shewed what Actings had been set on foot both in England and Scotland must now cross over into Ireland where we find Wentworth made Lord Deputy in the place of Faulkland We told you formerly of some dearness which was growing between him and Laud then Bishop of London at his first Admission to the place of a Privy-Counsellor Toward the latter end of Ianuary Anno 1630. Wentworth being then Lord President of the Council established for the Northern Parts bestowed a Visit on him at London-House where they had some private Conference touching the better Settlement of Affairs both in England and Ireland of which Kingdom Wentworth not long after was Created Lord Deputy He staid somewhat longer from his Charge than he would have done to be present at the Censure of Williams Bishop of Lincoln informed against in the Star-Chamber by his Majesties Atturney-General for some dangerous and disgraceful words which he was reported to have spoken of his Majesties Government and revealing some Secrets which his Majesty had formerly committed to his Trust as a Privy-Counsellor But Williams found so many shifts to put off the Trial that the Deputy was fain to leave him in the same estate in which he found him and hoised Sail for Ireland Scarce was he setled in his Power but he began to reform some things which he beheld as blemishes in the face of that Church In the Chappel of the Castle of Dublin the chief Seat of his Residence he found a fair large Pue at the end of the Choire erected for the use of his Predecessors in that place the Communion-Table in the mean time being thrust out of doors This Pue he commands to be taken down and the Holy Table to be restored to its ancient
it is affirmed That the ground of this Government by Episcopacy is so ancient and so general so uncontradicted in the first and best times that our most laborious Antiquaries can find no Nation no City no Church no Houses under any other that our first Ecclesiastical Authors tell us of That the Apostles not only allowed but founded Bishops so that the Tradition for some Books of Scripture which we receive as Canonical is both less ancient less general and less uncontradicted than that is So he when he was come again to his former temper and not yet entred nor initiated into Court preferments Nor was the point only canvased within those walls but managed in a more publick way by the Pens of some than there it had been tossed on the Tongues of others The Bishop of Exon. leads the way presenting An humble Remonstrance to the High Court of Parliament in behalf of Liturgie and Episcopacy which presently was encountred with an answer to it wâ—erein the Original of Liturgy and Episcopacy is pretended to be discussed c. This Answer framed by a Juncto of five Presbyterian Ministers in or about the City of London the first Letters of whose names being laid together made up the word Smectymnuus which appears only for the Author The Bishop hereunto replies in a Vindication by which name he called it which Vindication had an Answer or Rejoynder to it by the same Smectymnuus During which Interfeats of Arms and exchange of Pens a Discourse was published by Sir Thomas Ashton Knight and Baronet In the first part whereof he gives us A survey of the Inconveniences of the Presbyterian Discipline and the inconsistences thereof with the constitution of this State And in the second The original Institution Succession and Iurisdiction of the ancient and venerable order of Bishops This last part seconded within the compass of this year by the History of Episcopacy first published as the work of Theophilus Churchman and not till many years after owned by the Authors name The next year bringing forth a book of Dr. Taylors called Episcopacy asserted and the Acriomastix of Iohn Theyer c. All of them backt and the two last encouraged by many Petitions to his Majesty and both Houses of Parliament not only from the two Universities whom it most concerned but from several Counties of the Kingdom of which more hereafter I shall conclude this year with a remembrance of some change of Officers in the Court but of more in the Church Windebanke Secretary of State being questioned for releasing divers Priests and Jesuites contrary to the established Laws conveyed himself over into France and Finch Lord Keeper on some distrust which he had of his safety for acting too zealously in the Forrest-business and the 〈◊〉 of Shipmoney withdrew at the same time into Holland Pembroke Lord Chamberlain of the houshold was discharged of his Office by the King upon just displeasures before his late going into Scotland The Earl of Newcastle for the Reasons before remembred had relinquished his charge of the Princes Person and Cottington his Offices in the Exchequer and Court of Wards Neile Archbishop of York died some few daies before the beginning of the Parliament Mountague of Chichester Bancroft of Oxon. Davenant of Salisbury Potter of Carlisle and Thornborough of Worcester within few months after Nature abhorreth nothing more than Vacuity and it proved to be very agreeable to the Rules of Polity not to suâ—fer their preferments to lye longer in a state of Vacancy To fill these Places the Earl of Hertford about that time advanced to the Title of Marquiss was made and sworn Governour of the Prince Essex Lord Chamberlain of the Houshold Say Master of the Court of Wards and Liveries Littleton Chief Justice of the common-Common-Pleas preferred to the honour of Lord Keeper Faulkland made Secretary of Estate and Culpepper Chancellour of the Exchequer Which two last being Members of the House of Commons and well acquainted with such designs as were then in Project and men of good parts withall were thought worth the gaining and fastned to the Court by these great Preferments Next for the Vacancies in the Church they were supplied by preferring Williams Bishop of Lincoln to the See of York and Winiff Dean of St. Pauls to the See of Lincoln Duppa of Chichester to Salisbury and King then Dean of Rochester to succeed at Chichester Hall Bishop of Exon. translated to Norwich and Brownrigg Master of Catharine Hall in Cambridge preferred to Exon. Skinner of Bristol removed to Oxon. and Westfield Archdeacon of St. Albons advanced to Bristol the Bishoprick of Carlisle was given in Commendam to the Primate of Ireland during the troubles in that Kingdom and Worcester by the power of Hamilton conferred on Prideaux who formerly had been his Tutoâ— all of them of good parts and merit and under some especial Character of esteem and favour in the eyes of the People though some of them declined afterwards from their former height Nor were there more Changes after these till the suppressing of Episcopacy by the Ordinance of the Lords and Commons bearing date October 9. anno 1646. but that Frewen Dean of Glocester and President of Magdalen Colledge in Oxon. was consecrated Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield on the death of Wright in the beginning of the year 1644. and Howel one of the Prebends of Windsor and Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty was preferred to the Bishoprick of Bristol on the death of Westfield before the end of the same year The passing of this Act forementioned put the imprisoned Bishops in some hope of a speedy deliverance though it proved not so quick as they expected For though on Munday February 14. an Order came that they might put in bail if they would that they should have their hearing on the Friday following and that some of them went out of the Tower the morrow after as appears by Breviate fol. 25. yet the Commons took it so indignly that either that Order was revoked or the Bishops had some private Advertisement to return and continue where they were The Bishops being deprived of their right of Peerage must be supposed to stand on the same ground with the rest of the People and consequently to be accountable for their Actions to the House of Commons whose Priviledges if the Peers invade they must look to hear of it as well as the poor Bishops had done before And on these terms the business stood till May 5. being just eighteen weeks from their first Imprisonment at which time without making suite to the House of Commons the Peers releast them upon baile and dismist them to their several dwellings There they continued all of them at their own disposing till the War forced them to provide themselves of safer quarters except the Bishop of Ely only who within few months after he was discharged from the Tower was seised on by a party of Souldiers at his house of Douwham and brought
his Confederates were fixt upon him and that they would separate and dissolve if it did not spâ—edily set forwards But then the dangers which they feared from the growth of Popery stood as much in his way as Mountague and the Grievances had done before For the securing tâ—em from all such fears an humble Petition and Remonstrance must be first prepared which they framed much after the same manner with that wâ—ich had been oâ—â—ered to King Iames in the year 1621. In this they shewed the King the dangers which were threatned to the Church and State by the more than ordinary increase of Popery and oâ—fered him such Remedies as they conceived most likely to prevent the mischiefs And unto this Petition they procured the Peers also to joyn with them But the King easily removed this obstruction by giving them such a full and satisfactory answer on the seventh of Aâ—gust that they could not chuse before their Rising which followed within five days after but Vote their humble Thanks to be returned unto his Majesty for giving such a Gracious Answer to their said Petition This they had reason to expect from his Majesties Piety but then they had another Game which must be followed before the Kings Business could be heard In the two former Parliaments they had flesh'd themselves by removing Bacon from the Seal and Cranfeild from the Treasury And somewhat must be done this Parliament also for fear of hazarding such a Priviledge by a discontinuance Williams came first into their eye whom they looked on as a man not only improper for the Place but also as not having carried himself in it with such integrity as he should have done and him the Lawyers had most mind to that they might get that Office once again into their possession This Williams fearing so applied himself to some leading Members that he diverted them from himself to the Duke of Buckingham as a more noble Prey and fitter for such mighty Hunters than a silly Priest Nor was this Overture proposed to such as were either deaf or tongue-tied for this great Game was no sooner started but they followed it with such an Out-cry that the noise thereof came presently to his Majesties ears who finding by these delays and artifices that there was no hope of gaining the Supplies desired on the 12th of the same August dissolved the Parliament He may now see the error he had run into by his breach with Spain which put him into a necessity of making War and that necessity compell'd him to cast himself in a manner on the Alms of his People and to stand wholly in like manner at their Devotion The Parliament being thus dissolved his Majesty progresseth towards the West to set forward his Navy and Laud betakes himself unto his Diocess this being the year of his Triennial Visitation He took along with him in this Journey such Plate and Furniture as he had provided for his new Chappel at Aberguilly which he Consecrated on Sunday August 28. Here he continued by reason that the Sickness was hot in London and not cooled in Oxon. till he was fain to make his way back again through Ice and Snow as he writes in his Letters to the Duke from Windsor December 13. At his return he found no small alteration in the Court The Lord Keeper Williams stood upon no good terms with the Duke in the life of King Iames but he declined more and more in Favour after his decease The Duke had notice of his practising against him in the last Parliament and was resolved to do his errand so effectually to the King his Master that he should hold the Seal no longer and he prevailed therein so far that Sir Iohn Suckling Controller of His Majesties Houshold was sent to him being then at a House of the Lord Sandys's in the Parish of Bray neer Windsor to require him to deliver up the Seal to his Majesties use which being very unwillingly done the Custody of the Great Seal on Sunday the second of October was committed to Sir Thomas Coventry his Majesties Atturney General whom Heath succeeded in that place But my Lord was not gone though the Keeper was He still remained Lord Bishop of Lincoln and Dean of Westminster holding still both his other Dignities and Preferments before recited So that he might have lived as plentifully as the greatest and as contentedly as the best had he not thought that the fall was greater from the top of the Stairs unto the second or third Step than from the second or third to the lowest of all But as he sell so Laud ascended Neil his good Friend then Bishop of Durham had fallen sick in the beginning of the Spring at whose request he was appointed to wait upon his Majesty as Clerk of the Closet in which Service though he continued not long yet he made such use of it that from that time forwards he grew as much into the Kings Favour as before he had been in the Dukes becoming as it were his Majesties Secretary for all Church Concernments His Majesty having set forward his Navy which setting out so late could not be like to make any good Return was not unmindful of the Promise he had made in Parliament in answer to the Petition of the Lords and Commons concerning the great dangers threatned to the Church and State by the Growth of Popery to which end he caused a Commission to be issued under the Great Seal for executing the Laws against Recusants which he commanded to be published in all the Courts of Justice at Reading to which Town the Term was then removed that all his Judges and other Ministers of Justice might take notice of it as also that all his Loving Subjects might be certified of his Princely Care and Charge for the Advancement of true Religion and Suppression of Popery and Superstition Which done he directed his Letters of the 15th of December to his two Archbishops signifying how far he had proceeded and requiring them in pursuance of it That no good means be neglected on their part for discovering finding out and apprehending of Jesuits and Seminary Priests and other Seducers of his People to the Romish Religion or for repressing Popish Recusants and Delinquents of that sort against whom they were to proceed by Excommunication and other Censures of the Church not omitting any other Lawful means to bring them forth to publick Justice But then withal his Majesty takes notice of another Enemy which threatned as much danger to the Church as the Papists did And thereupon he further requireth the said two Archbishops That a vigilant care be taken with the rest of the Clergy for the repressing of those who being ill affected to the true Religion here established they keep more close and secret their ill and dangerous affections that way and as well by their example as by secret and under-hand sleights and means do much encourage and encrease the growth of Popery and Superstition
about it Maxwell applying himself to Laud then Bishop of London from whom he received this positive Answer That if his Majesty would have a Liturgie setled there different from what they had already it was best to take the English Liturgie without any variation from it that so the same Service-Book might pass through all his Majesties Dominions Maxwell replying That the Scottish Bishops would be better pleased to have a Liturgie of their own but such as should come near the English both in Form and Matter the Cause was brought before the King who on a serious consideration of all Particulars concurred in Judgment for the English And on these terms it stood till this present year Laud standing hard for admitting the English Liturgie without alteration the Scottish Bishops pleading on the other side That a Liturgie made by themselves and in some things different from the English Service would best please their Countrymen whom they found very jealous of the least dependence on the Church of England But because Letters writtten in the time of Action are commonly conceived to carry more truth in them than Relations made upon the post-fact for particular ends take here this short Remembrance in one of his Letters to the Earl of Traquaire dated September 11. 1637. where we find this Passage And since saith he I hear from others That some exception is taken because there is more in that Liturgie in some few particulars than is in the Liturgie of England Why did they not admit the Liturgie of England without more ado But by their refusal of that and the dislike of this 't is more than manifest they would have neither and perhaps none at all were they left to themselves But besides this there was another Invitation which wrought much upon him in order to the present Journey At his first coming to the Crown the great Engagements then upon him want of Supply from England and small help from Scotland forced him to have recourse to such other ways of assistances as were offered to him of which this was one In the Minority of King Iames the Lands of all Cathedral Churches and Religious Houses which had been setled on the Crown by Act of Parliament were shared amongst the Lords and great men of that Kingdom by the connivence of the Earl of Murrey and some other of the Regents to make them sure unto that side And they being thus possessed of the same Lands with the Regalities and Tythes belonging to those Ecclesiastical Corporations Lorded it with Pride and Insolence enough in their several Territories holding the Clergy to small Stipends and the poor Peasant under a miserable Vassalage and subjection to them not suffering them to carry away their nine parts till the Lord had carried off his Tenth which many times was neglected out of pride and malice those Tyrants not caring to lose their Tythe so that the poor mans Crop might be left unto spoil and hazard King Iames had once a purpose to revoke those Grants but growing into years and troubles he left the following of that Project to his Son and Successor Having but little help from thence to maintain his Wars by the Advice of some of the Council of that Kingdom he was put upon a course of resuming those Lands Tythes and Regalities into his own hand to which the present Occupants could pretend no other Title than the unjust Usurpation of their Predecessors This to effect he resolves upon an Act of Revocation Commissionating for that purpose the Earl of Annandale and the Lord Maxwell afterwards Earl of Niddisdale to hold a Parliament in Scotland for Contribution of Money and Ships against the Duynkirkers and arming Maxwell also with some secret Instructions for passing the said Act of Revocation if he found it feasible Being on the way as far as Barwick Maxwell was there informed That his chief errand being made known had put all at Edenborough into Tumult That a rich Coach which he had sent before to Dalkeith was cut in pieces the poor Horses killed the People seeming only sorry that they could not do so much to the Lord himself Things being brought unto this stand the King was put to a necessity of some second Counsels amongst which none seemed more plausible and expedient to him than that of Mr. Archibald Achison who from a puisne Judge in Ireland was made his Majesties Procurator or Solicitor-General in the Kingdom of Scotland who having told his Majesty That such as were Estated in the Lands in question had served themselves so well by the bare naming of an Act of Revocation as to possess the People whom they found apt to be inflamed on such Suggestions That the true intendment of that Act was to revoke all former Laws for suppressing of Popery and settling the Reformed Religion in the Kirk of Scotland And therefore That it would be unsafe for his Majesty to proceed that way Next he advised That instead of such a General Revocation as the Act imported a Commission should be issued out under the Great Seal of that Kingdom for taking the Surrendries of all such Superiorities and Tythes within the Kingdom at his Majesties Pleasure And that such as should refuse to submit unto it should be Impleaded one by one to begin first with those whom he thought least able to stand out or else most willing to conform to his Majesties Pleasure Assuring him That having the Laws upon his side the Courts of Iustice must and would pass Iudgment for him The King resolved upon this course sends home the Gentleman not only with Thanks and Knighthood which he had most worthily deserved but with Instructions and Power to proceed therein and he proceeded in it so effectually to the Kings Advantage that some of the impleaded Parties being cast in the Suit and the rest seeing that though they could raise the People against the King they could not raise them against the LaWs it was thought the best and safest way to compound the business Hereupon in the year 1630. Commissioners are sent to the Court of England and amongst others the Learned and right Noble Lord of Marcheston from whose mouth I had this whole Relation who after a long Treaty with the King did at last agree That the said Commission should proceed as formerly and That all such Superiorities and Tythes as had been or should be surrendred should be re-granted by the King on these Conditions First That all such as held Hereditary Sheriffdoms or had the Power of Life and Death over such as lived within their Iurisdiction should quit those Royalties to the King Secondly That they should make unto their Tenants in their several Lands some permanent Estates either for their Lives or one and twenty years or some such like Term that so the Tenants might be encouraged to Build and Plant and improve the Patrimony of that Kingdom Thirdly That some Provisions should be made for augmenting the Stipends of the
is nothing more dear to us than the preservation of true Religion as it is now setled and established in this Our Kingdom to the Honour of God the great Comâ—ort of Our Self and Our Loyal People and there can nothing more conduce to the Advancement thereof than the strict observations of such Canons of the Church as concern those who are to take Orders in their several Times more especially of keeping that particular Canon which enjoins That no man be made a Priest without a Title For We find that many not so qualified do by favour or other means procure themselves to be Ordained and afterwards for want of Means wander up and down to the scandal of their Calling or to get Maintenance fall upon such Courses as were most unfit for them both by humouring their Auditors and other ways altogether unsufferable We have therefore thought fit and We do hereby straightly command require and charge you to call such Bishops to you as are now present in or near Our City of London and to acquaint them with this Our Resolution And further That you fail not in the beginning of the next Term to give notice of this Our Will and Pleasure openly in Our High-Commisâ—ion Court and that you call into your said Court every Bishop respectively that shall presume to give Orders to any man that hath not a Title and there to censure him as the Canon aforesaid doth enjoin which is to maintain the Party so Ordered till he give him a Title and with what other Censure you in Iustice shall think fit And Our further Will is That nothing shall be reputed a Title to enable a man for Orders but that which is so by the Ancient Course of the Church and the Canon-Law so far forth as that Law is received in this our Church of England And as you must not fail in these our Directions nor in any part of them so We expect that you give us from time to time a strict Account of your Proceedings in the same Given under Our Signet at Our Palace of Westminster Septemb. 19. in the ninth year of Our Reign 1633. On the Receipt of these Letters which himself had both advised and digested he called such of his Suffragan Bishops who were then about London to come before him acquaints them with the great scandal which was given the Church the danger of Schism and Faction which might thence arise and the more than ordinary displeasure which had been taken by his Majesty and the Lords of his Council at such unlawful and uncanonical Ordinations he required them therefore to be more careful for the time to come and not to give the like offence to his Sacred Majesty who was resolved to see the Canons of the Church in that particular more punctually observed than they had been formerly and to call all such to an account who should presume hereafter to transgress therein Which said he gave to each of them a Copy of his Majesties Letters and sent the like Copies unto all the rest of his Suffragan Bishops inclosed in Letters of his own in which Letters having declared unto them as much as he spake unto the rest touching his Majesties pious Care to redress that Mischief he requires them and every one of them That at all times of Ordination they be very careful to admit none into Holy Orders but such men as for Life and Learning are fit and which have a Title for their maintenance according to the Laws and the ancient Practice of the Church assuring them that his Majesty had commanded him to let them know That he would not fail to call for an account of those his Letters both from him and them and therefore That he did not doubt but that they would have a special care both of the good of the Church and his Majesties Contentment in it The like Letters were sent from his Majesty by his procurement to the Archbishop of York who was as sensible of the inconvenience as himself could be And though nothing was required in either of the said Letters but what had been provided for in the Canon of 1603. yet was it as much inveighed against as if it had been a new device never heard of formerly The reason was because that neither any Lecture nor any possibility of being entertained as a Chaplain in the Houses of Noblemen or others of the inferiour Gentry could be allowed of for a Title and consequently no Orders to be given hereafter under those Capacities But notwithstanding those Reproaches the Archbishops so bestirred themselves and kept such a strict eye on their several Suffragans that from henceforth we hear but little of such vagrant Ministers and Trencher-Chaplains the old brood being once worn out as had pestred and annoyed the Church in those latter Times It is to be observed That the Archbishops Letter to his several Suffragans bears date on the eighteenth of October which day gives date also to his Majesties Declaration about Lawful Sports concerning which we are to know That the Commons in the first Parliament of his Majesties Reign had gained an Act That from thenceforth there should be no Assembly or Concourse of People out of their own Parishes on the Lords day or any Bull-baiting Bear-baiting Enterludes Common Plays or any other unlawful Exercises or Pastimes in their own Parishes on the same Which being gained they obtained another in the third Parliament for inhibiting all Carriers Waggoners Drovers Pack-men for Travelling on the said day with their Horses Waggons Packs c. As also That no Butcher should from thenceforth kill or sell any Victual upon that day either by himself or any other under the several Penalties therein contained And though it was not his Majesties purpose in those Acts to debar any of his good Subjects from any honest and harmless Recreations which had not been prohibited by the Laws of the Land or that it should not be lawful for them in case of necessity to buy a piece of Meat for the use of their Families the Butchers Shop not being set open as on other days yet presently some Publick Ministers of Justice began to put another sense upon those Acts than ever came within the compass of his meaning For at the Summer Assizes held in Exon Anno 1627. an Order was made by Walter then Chief Baron and Denham one of the puisne Barons of the Court of Exchequer for suppressing all Revels Church-Ales Clerk-Ales which had been used upon that day requiring the Justices of the Peace within the said County to see the same put in execution and that every Minister in his Parish-Church should publish the said Order yearly on the first Sunday in February The like Order made in the same year also for the Counties of Somerset and Dorset and probably enough for some of the other Counties of that Western Circuit none of them in those squeasie and unsettled Times being questioned for it And then in
a base and Libellous Answer without the name of any Author Place or Printer or any Bookseller according to the unusual Custom where and of whom it might be bought I shall not trouble my self any more about it than by a Transcript of the Title which was this that followeth viz. DIVINE and POLITICK OBSERVATIONS newly translated out of the Dutch Language wherein they were lately divulged upon some lines in the Speech of the Archbishop of Canterbury pronounced in the STAR-CHAMBER the fourteenth of June 1637. VERY expedient for preventing all prejudice which as well through ignorance as through malice and flattery may be incident to the judgment which men make thereby either of his Graces power over the Church and with the King or of the Equity Iustice and Wisdom of his ENDS in his said Speech and of the reasons used by him for attaining to his said ENDS And though he took great care and pains concerning that supposed additional clause to the 20th Article so much as might satisfie any man not extremely partial yet find I a late Writer so unsatisfied in it that he leaves it to the State-Arithmeticians to decide the Controversie whether the Bishops were more faulty in the addition than the opposites in their substraction of it One other Charge there was and a great one too which I find not touched at in this Speech and that is that the Prelates neither had nor sought to have the Kings Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England for their keeping Courts and Visitations c. but did all in their own Names and under their own Seals contrary to the Law in that behalf Concerning which we are to know that by a Statute made in the first year of King Edward the Sixth it was Enacted That all Summons Citations and other Process Ecclesiastical in all Suites and causes of Instance and all causes of Correction and all causes of Bastardy or Bigamy or De jure Patronatus Probates of Testaments and Commissions of Administrations of persons deceased be made in the name and with the Style of the King as it is in Writs Original or Iudicial at the Common Law c. As also that no matter of person or persons who hath the Exercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction use any other Seal of Jurisdiction but wherein his Majesties Arms be engraven c. on pain of incurring his Majesties indignation and suffering imprisonment at his will and pleasure Which Statute and every branch thereof being repealed by Queen Mary and not revived by Queen Elizabeth in all her Reign the Bishops of her time were safe enough from any danger on that side But in the first Parliament of King Iames there passed an Act for continuing and reviving of divers Statutes and for repealing of some others 1 Iac. c. 25. Into the Body whereof a Clause was cunningly conveyed his Majesties Council learned not considering or fraudulently conniving at it for the repealing of that Statute of the Reign of Queen Mary by which King Edwards stood repealed of which no notice being taken for some while by those whom it chiefly did concern it was now discovered and made use of as a Rod to affright the Prelates from exercising their Jurisdiction over obstinate and incorrigible Non-conformists as formerly they had been accustomed For remedy whereof and for encouraging the Bishops to perform their duties iâ— was declared by the Judges with an unanimous consent and so delivered by the Lords Chief Justices in the Star-Chamber the fourteenth of May in this present year That the said Act of Repeal 1 of Queen Mary did still stand in force as unto that particular Statute by them so much pressed This was sufficient for the present but the Archbishop would not trust to it for the time to come and thereupon in in his Epistle to the King before remembred He humbly desired his Majesty in the Churches name That it might be resolved by all the Reverend Judges of England and then published by his Majesty that the Bishops keeping of their Courts and issuing Processes in their own names and the like exceptions formerly taken and now renued were not against the Laws of this Realm that so the Church Governours might go on chearfully in their duty and the peoples minds be quieted by this assurance that neither their Law nor their Liberty as Subjects was thereby infringed A motion favourably heard and graciously granted his Majesty issuing out his Royal Proclamation on the eighteenth day oâ— August then next following For declaring that the proceedings of his Ecclesiastical Câ—urts and Ministers were according to Law The Tenour of which Proclamation or Declaration was as followeth By the King WHereas in some of the Libellous Books and Pamphlets lately published the most Reverend Fathers in God the Lord Archbishops and Bishops of the Realm are said to have usurped upon his Majesties Prerogative Royal and to have proceeded in the High Commission and other Ecclesiastical Courts contrary to the Laws and Statutes of the Realm It was Ordered by his Majesties High Court of Star-Chamber the twelfth of June last that the Opinion of the two Lords Chief Justices the Lord Chief Baron and the rest of the Judges and Barons should be had and certified in these particulars viz. whether Processes may not issue out of the Ecclesiastical Courts in the names of the Bishops Whether a Patent under the Great Seal be necessary for the keeping of the Ecclesiastical Courts and enabling Citations Suspensions Excommunications and other Censures of the Church And whether the Citations ought to be in the Kings Name and under his Seal of Arms and the like for Institutions and Inductions to Benefices and correction of Ecclesiastical offences And whether Bishops Archdeacons and other Ecclesiastical persons may or ought to keep any Visitation at any time unless they have express Commission or Patent under the great Seal of England to do it and that as his Majesty Visitors only and in his name and right alone Whereupon his Majesties said Judges having taken the same into their sâ—rious consideration did unanimously agree and concur in opinion and the first day of Iuly last certified under their hands as followeth That Processes may issue out of Ecclesiastical Courts in the name of the Bihops and that a Patent under the Great Seal is not necessary for the keeping of the said Ecclesiastical Courts or for the enabling of Citations Suspensions Excommunications and other Censures of the Church And that it is not necessary that Summons Citations or other Processes Ecclesiastical in the said Courts or Institutions and Inductions to benefices or correction of Ecclesiastical offences by Censure in those Courts be in the Kings name or with the Style of the King or with the Kings Seal or the Seals of the Office have in them the Kings Arms And that the Statute 1 Edw. 6. c. 2. which enacted the contrary is not now in force And that the Archbishops Bishops Archdeacons and other Ecclesiastical
private Laird to be a Peer of that Realm made him first Treasurer Depute Chancellor of the Exchequer we should call him in England afterwards Lord Treasurer and Privy Counsellor of that Kingdom This man he wrought himself so far into Lauds good liking when he was Bishop of London only that he looked upon him as the fittest Minister to promote the Service of that Church taking him into his nearest thoughts communicating to him all his Counsels committed to his care the conduct of the whole Affair and giving order to the Archbishops and Bishops of Scotland not to do any thing without his privity and direction But being an Hamiltonian Scot either originally such or brought over at last he treacherously betrayed the cause communicated his Instructions to the opposite Faction from one time to another and conscious of the plot for the next daies tumult withdrew himself to the Earl of Mortons house of Dalkeith to expect the issue And possible it is that by his advice the executing of the Liturgy was put off from Easter at what time the reading of it was designed by his Majesty as appears by the Proclamation of December 20. which confirmed the Book By which improvident delay he gave the Presbyterian Faction the longer time to confederate themselves against it and to possess the people with Fears and Jealousies that by admitting of that book they should lose the Purity of their Religion and be brought back unto the Superstitions and Idolatries of the Church of Rome And by this means the People were inflamed into that Sedition which probably might have been prevented by a quicker prosecution of the Cause at the time appointed there being nothing more destructive of all publick Counsels than to let them take wind amongst the People cooled by delaies and finally blown up like a strong Fortress undermined by some subtle practice And there were some miscarriages also amongst the Prelates of the Kirk in not communicating the design with the Lords of the Council and other great men of the Realm whose Countenance both in Court and Country might have sped the business Canterbury had directed the contrary in his Letters to them when the first draughts of the Liturgy were in preparation and seems not well pleased in another of his to the Archbishop of St. Andrews bearing date September 4. that his advice in it was not followed nor the whole body of the Council made acquainted with their Resolutions or their advice taken or their power called in for their assistance till it was too late It was complained of also by some of the Bishops that they were made strangers to the business who in all Reason ought to have been trusted with the knowledge of that intention which could not otherwise than by their diligence and endeavours amongst their Clergy be brought to a happy execution Nor was there any care taken to adulce the Ministers to gain them to the Cause by fair hopes and promises and thereby to take off the edge of such Leading men as had an influence on the rest as if the work were able to carry on it self or have so much Divine assistance as countervailed the want of all helps from man And which perhaps conduced as much to the destruction of the Service as all the rest a publick intimation must be made in all their Churches on the Sunday before that the Liturgie should be read on the Lords day following of purpose as it were to unite all such as were not well affected to it to disturb the same And there were some miscarriages also which may be looked on as Accessories after the Fact by which the mischief grew remediless and the malady almost incurable For first the Archbishops and Bishops most concerned in it when they saw what hapned consulted by themselves apart and sent up to the King without calling a Council or joyning the Lay Lords with them whereas all had been little enough in a business of that nature and so much opposed by such Factious persons as gathered themselves on purpose together at Edenborough to disturb the Service A particular in which the Lay Lords could not be engaged too far if they had been treated as they ought But having run upon this error they committed a worse in leaving Edenborough to it self and retiring every one to his own Diocess except those of Galloway and Dumblaine For certainly they must needs think as Canterbury writes in one of his Letters to Traquaire that the Adverse party would make use of the present time to put further difficulties upon the work and therefore that they should have been as careful to uphold it the Bishop of Ross especially whose hand had been as much in it as the most But possibly the Bishops might conceive the place to be unsecure and therefore could not stay with safety neither the Lords of the Council nor the Magistrates of the City having taken any course to bring the chief Ringleaders of the Tumult to the Bar of Justice which must needs animate all disaffected and seditious persons and almost break the hearts of those who were well enclined And such indeed was the neglect of the Civil Magistrate that we hear of no man punished scarce so much as questioned for so great a Riot as was not to be expiated but by the death or some proportionable punishment of the chief offenders Which had it been inflicted on some three or four for a terror to others it might have kept that City quiet and the whole Kingdom in obedience for the time to come to the saving of the lives of many thousands some hundreds of thousands at the least in all the three Kingdoms most miserably lost in those long and cruel Wars which ensued upon it But the Lords of Scotland were so far from looking before them that they took care only for the present and instead of executing Justice on the Malefactors suspended the Liturgie it self as the cause of the Tumult conceiving it a safer way to calm the differences than to encrease the storm by a more rigorous and strict proceeding All that they did in order to his Majesties Service or the Churches peace was the calling in of a scandalous Pamphlet entituled A dispute against the English Popish Ceremonies obtruded on the Kirk of Scotland which not being done till October 20 following rather declared their willingness to suffer the said Book to be first dispersed and set abroad then to be called in and suppressed Nor seemed the business to be much taken to heart in the Court of England from whom the Scots expected to receive Directions Nor Order given them for unsheathing the Sword of Justice to cut off such unsound and putrified Members which might have saved the whole Body from a Gangreen the drawing of some Blood in the Body Politick by the punishment of Malefactors being like letting Blood in the Body Natural which in some strong Distempers doth preserve the whole Or granting that the Tumult
Observation of all Rites and Ceremonies then established or from thenceforth to be established by the Kings Authority saying that he would prosecute all Repugners of them to the very Blood The Rest of the Articles relating unto Civil matters I omit of purpose as neither being pertinent or proper to my Present History observing only in this place that for the better carrying on of their charge against him they had gained two points more necessary to be craved than fit to be granted The first was which they carried in the House of Lords by a Major Vote that no Bishop should be of that Committee for the Preparatory Examinations in the present case under colour that they were excluded from acting in it by some Ancient Canons as in Causa sangiums or the cause of blood concerning which a brief discourse entituled De jure Paritatis Episcoporum was presented to his Grace of Canterbury and some other Bishops for asserting all their Rights of Peerage and this of being of that Committe amongst the rest which either by Law or Ancient Custom did belong unto them The second was that the Lords of the Council should be examined upon Oath for anything which was said or done by the Earl of Strafford at the Council Table Which being yielded by the King though tending visibly to the Derogation of his Power and the discouragement of all such as either were or should be of his Privy Council the Archbishop was accordingly Examined on December 4th being the next day after the said Condescention Nor was it long before the like Oath was required and obtained by them against the Archbishop himself being the next man whom the Scots and their Confederates in both houses had an eye upon He knew there was some danger coming toward him by the said combination but thought not at the first it would reach so far as to touch his Life The most he looked for as he told the Author of these Collections on the second or third day after the beginning of the Parliament was to be sequestred from his Majesties Councils and confin'd to his Diocess to which he profest himself as willing as any of his Enemies were desirous of it And as it seems his Enemies at the first had no further thoughts For it appeareth by a passage in his Diary that on Thursday Decemb. 24th four Earls of Great Power in the Upper House declared unto a Parliament man that they were resolved to Sequester him only from the Kings Council and deprive him of the Archiepiscopal dignity and no more then so which though it were too much and savoured of too little Justice to be so resolved before any particular charge was brought against him yet I consider it as an Argument of their first intentions that they aimed not at his Life but at his removal In Order whereunto it was thought expedient that his Majesty should be moved to release the Bishop of Lincoln from his long imprisonment and to restore him to his place in the house of â—â—â—rs knowing full well how Active an Instrument they were sure to find him by reason of some former grudges not only against the Archbishop but the Earl of Stafford Which motion being made and granted he was conducted into the Abby Church by six of the Bishops and there officiated it being a day of Humiliation as Dean of Westminster more honoured at the first by the Lords and Commons then ever any of his Order his person looked upon as Sacred his words deemed as Oracles And be contiâ—â—â—d in tâ—is height tâ—ll having served their turn against the Archâ—isâ—op and the Lord Lieutenant he began sensibly to decline and grew at last to be generally the most hated man of all the Hierarchy Orders are also made by the House of Commons for releasing such as were Imprisoned by the Star-Chamber Council-Table or High-Commission and more particularly for the remanding of Bastwick Prynne and Burton from the several Islands to which they were before confined Upon which general Goal-delivery Burton and Prynne had so contrived it as to come together met on their way as far as Brainford by some thousands of the Puritan Faction out of London and South-wark and by them silently conducted with Bays and Rosemary in their hands to their several Houses to the intolerable affront of the Courts of Justice and his Majesties Government his Majestie conniving at the insolency or not daring to punish it Not well reposed after the toil and trouble of so long a journey Prynne joyns himself with Bagshaw before remembred and both together are admitted to a private conference with the Bishop of Lincoln in the beginning of December which boded no great good to the Church or State or any who had formerly appeared in defence of either These preparations being made the Project was carried on a main For on the 16 â—h of that month the Canons made in the late Convocation were condemned in the House of Commons as being against the Kings Prerogative the Fundamental Laws of the Realm the Liberty and Property of the Subject and containing divers other things tending to Sedition and of dangerous Consequence A Vote was also past for making Canterbury the Principal Author of the said Canons for a Committee to be nominated to enquire into all his former Actions and for preparing a Bill against all those of the said Convocation by whom these Canons were subscribed but the sorrows of that day did not end there neither For on the same a charge was laid against him in the house of Peers by the Scots Commissioners that being the day in which they had accused the Earl of Strafford for doing ill offices and being an Incendiary between the Nations And in pursuance of the plot on Fryday the 18 â—h of the same Moneth he was Impeacht by Hollis in the name of all the Commons of England of no less then Treason and thereupon without any particular charge against him he was committed to the custody of the Gentleman Usher leave only being granted him to repair to his house at Lambeth for the Collecting of such Papers as were necessary for his Justification At Maxwells house for so was the Usher of the Black-Rod called he remained ten weeks before so much as any General charge against him was brought up to the Lords During which time he gained so much on the good opinion of the Gentle-woman of the House that she reported him to some of her Gossips to be one of the goodest mâ—n and most Pious Souls but with all one of the sillest fellows to hold talk with a Lady that ever she met with in all her life On the 26 â—h of February This charge was brought up to the Lords â—y â—ane the younger consisting of fourteen General Articles which Generals he craved time to prove in particular and thereupon a Vote was passed for transmitting the Prisoner to the Tower with leave however to remain at Maxwell's till the Munday following Which day being
Law guilty of death that he did never bear any touch of Conscience with greater regret which as a sign of his Repentance he had often with sorrow confessed both to God and Men as an Act of so sinful frailty that it discovered more a â—ar of Man than of God whose Name and Place on Earth no man is worthy to bear who will avoid Inconveniences of State by Acts of so high Injustice as no Publick Convenience can compâ—nsat◠〈◊〉 loss of this Gentlemans Life after such a manner so terrified 〈…〉 oâ— his Majesties Servants that as some had deserted him in 〈…〉 appearance of his Troubles so there were few that durst stand to him or put him upon â—â—solute or couragious Counsels when he most wanted such Assistance In which respect it was no 〈◊〉 matter for the Houses of Parliament to wire draw him by de 〈…〉 Conâ—â—secâ—sions as finally left the Church without any Authority and the Crown with little more Prerogative than a Tâ—tular and precarious Empire He had before passed an Act for Triâ—â—nial Parliaments to be called in his default by Sheriffs and Constaples and signed a Bill for the continuance of the present Parliament during the pleasure of the Houses at such time as he passed away this poor Gentlemans Life He must now give up so much of his Power at once as would disable him from subsisting by any other means than the Alms of his Parliament or keeping down those factions and seditious Humours for which the ordinary Courts of Justice tied to Formalities of Law could provide no remedy In reference to the first having kept him hungry and in appetite for seven Months and more from their first meeting in November they present him with a Bill for Tonnage and Poundage to be paid only for the three Months following and that too clogged in the Preamble with such a Condition as to disclaim all such Right unto it as had been formerly enjoyed by his Predecessors They prepared also other Bills for Repealing the Statute concerning Knighthood made by K. Edward ii and then made rather for the ease of the Subâ—â—ct than the advantage of the Crown as also For abolishing his Preâ—â—ntions to the Raising of Ship-money For retrenching the Perambu 〈◊〉 of his Forests For suppressing the Court of Stanneries in Cornwâ—â— And 〈◊〉 long-continued Jurisdiction of his Clerk of the Market Aâ—â— in relation to the other they prepared two Bills more the one for pâ—â—ting down the Court of Star-Chamber the other for destroying the Higâ— Commission without which bridles there had been no ruling of the Puritan Faction But as in the Bill for putting down the Star-Chamber there were some Clauses which extended to the overthrow of tâ—e Court of the Marches and the Council established in the North and for Regulating the Authority of the Council-Table so 〈…〉 for destroying the High-Commission there was a Clause which took away the Coercive power of Bishops Chancellors Archdeacons and all other Ecclesiastical Judges To these two last the Royal Assent having been passed unto all the former without any difficulty the King was pleased to demur which bred such a heat amongst the Commons that he was forced on Munday the fifth of Iuly being but two daies after his passing of the other to make an excuse for this small delay the business being of such importance as the Altering in a great measure those Fundamental Laws both Ecclesiastical and Civil which so many of his Predecessors had established How great a blow was given by the first Act to the Royal Authority I leave to be considered by our Civil Historians What the Church suffered by the second will appear by these words in which it was Enacted under the several penalties therein contained That from the fifth day of August then next following no Archbishop or Bishops or any other Person or Persons having or exercising any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction under the Kings Majesty within the Realm of England and Dominion of Wales should award impose or inflict any Pain Penalty Fine Amercement Imprisonment or any Corporal Punishment for any Contempt Misdemeanour Crime Offence Matter or Thing whatsoever belonging to Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Cognizance or Jurisdiction or should Ex Officio or at the instance or promotion of any person whatsoever urge enforce tender give or minister unto any Churchwarden Sideman or person whatsoever any Corporal Oath whereby they shall be obliged to make any Presentment concerning others or confess any thing against themselves which might make them lyable or expose them to any Censure Pain Penalty of what sort soever Which in effect was to take away the Power of Ecclesiastical Censures belonging naturally and originally to the Episcopal Function that is to say Suspensions Excommunications Deprivations and Degradations all which are both inflicted and renounced as Pains or Penalties to the no small encouragement of Inconformity Incontinency and all other irregular Courses both in Clergy and Laity because it nourisht an opinion of impunity in the hearts of those who formerly had been awed respectively by those several Censures For when the Subject fears neither Pain nor Penalty the Superiour under whom he lives will find little obedience and the Laws much less But we have too long left our Archbishop in his cares and sorrows and therefore must return to ease him of some part of his cares though his sorrows continued as before Hitherto he had given himself no improbable hopes of being called unto his Trial and given such strong proof of his integrity and innocence from the Crimes objected as might restore him to a capacity of doing those good offices to the University as that place of Chancellor did require But finding by the late proceedings of the Houses of Parliament in the business of his dear Friend the Earl of Strafford that his affairs were like to grow from bad to worse he would no longer undergo the name of that Office which he was not able to perform Resolved to put the University into such a condition as might enable them to proceed in the choice of a more fortunate Patron he acquaints the King with his intent by the Bishop of London and finding his Majesties Concurrence in opinion with him he sends his Resignation in his Letter of Iune 28. Which being published and excepted in the Convocation of the University on Iuly 1. The Earl of Pembroke was now elected to succeed him who had before been named in competition for the Office with him MY Present Condition saith the Letter is not unknown to the whole World yet by few pitied or deplored The righteous God 〈◊〉 knows the Iustice of my sufferings on whom both in life and death I will ever depend the last of which shall be unto me most welcome in that my life is now burdensome unto me my mind attended with variety of sad and grievous thoughts my soul continually vexed with Anxietie and troubles groaning under the burden of a displeased Parliament my name aspersed and
these St. John Baptist had his head danced off by a lewd woman and St. Cyprian Archbishop of Carthage submitted his head to a persecuting Sword Many examples great and 〈◊〉 and they teach me patience for I hope my cause in heaven will 〈◊〉 of another dye than the colour that is put upon it here And some comfort it is to me not only that I go the way of these great men in their several Generations but also that my charge as foul as it is made 〈◊〉 like that of the Jews against St. Paul Acts 25.3 for he was accused for the Law and the Temple i. e. Religion and like that of St. Steven Acts 6.14 for breaking the Ordinances which Moses gave i. e. Law and Religion the holy place and the Temple v. 13. But you will then say Do I then compare my self with the Integrity of St. Paul and St. Steven No far be that from me I only raise a comfort to my self that these great Saints and Servants of God were laid at 〈◊〉 their time as I am now And it is memorable that St. Paul who helped on this accusation against St. Steven did after fall under the very same himself Yea but here is a great clamour that I would have brought in Popery I shall answer that more fully by and by In the mean time you knâ—w what the Pharisees said against Christ himself If we let him alone all men will believe in him ET VENIENT ROMANI and the Romans will come and take away both our Place and Nation Here was a causeless cry against Christ that the Romans would come and see how just the Iudgment was they Crucified Christ for fear least the Romans should come and his death was it which brought in the Romans upon them God punishing them with that which they most feared And I pray God this clamour of Venient Romani of which 〈…〉 no cause help not to bring them in For the Pope never had such an harvest in England since the Reformation as he hath now upon the Sects and Divisions that are amongst us In the mean time by Honour and dishonour by good report and evil report as a Deceiver and yet true am I passing through this world 2 Cor. 6.8 Some Particulars also I think it not amiss to speak of And first This I shall be bold to speak of the King our Gracious Soveraign He hath been much traduced also for bringing in of Popery but on my conscience of which I shall give God a very present account I know him to be as free from this Charge as any man living and I hold him to be as sound a Protestant according to the Religion by Law Established as any man in this Kingdom And that he will venture his life as far and as freely for it And I think I do or should know both his affection to Religion and his grounds for it as fully as any man in England The second Particular is concerning this great and Populous City which God bless Here hath been of late a Fashion taken up to gather Hands and then go to the great Court of this Kingdom the Parliament and clamour for Iustice as if that great and wise Court before whom the Causes come which are unknown to many could not or would not do Iustice but at their Appointment A way which may endanger many an Innocent man and pluck his bloud upon their own heads and perhaps upon the Cities also and this hath been lately practiced against my self the Magistrates standing still and suffering them openly to proceed from Parish to Parish without any check God forgive the Setters of this with all my heart I beg it but many well-meaning People are caught by it In St. Stevens case when nothing else would serve they stirred up the People against him and Herod went the same way when he had killed St James yet he would not venture on St. Peter till he found how the other pleased the People But take heed of having your hands full of bloud for there is a time best known to himself when God above other sins makes Inquisition for bloud and when that Inquisition is on foot the Psalmist tells us That God remembers that 's not all He remembers and forgets not the complaint of the poor that is whose bloud is shed by oppression ver 9. Take heed of this It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God but then especially when he is making Inquisition for bloud And with my prayers to avert it I do heartily desire this City to remember the Prophesie that is expressed Jer. 26.15 The third Particular is the poor Church of England It hath flourished and been a shelter to other Neighbouring Churches when storms have driven upon them But alas now it is in a storm it self and God only knows whether or how it shall get out and which is worse thâ—â— the storm from without it is become like an Oak cleft to shivers with wedges made out of its own body and at every cleft Prophaneness and Irreligion is entring in while as Prosper speaks in his second book De vitae contemptu cap. 4. Men that introduce profaneness are cloaked over with the name Religionis Imaginariae of Imaginary Religion for we have lost the substance and dwell too much in opinion and that Church which all the Iesuites Machinations could not ruine is fallen into danger by her own The last Particular for I am not willing to be too long is my self I was born and baptized in the Bosome of the Church of England establâ—â—hed by Law in that Profession I have ever since lived and In that I come nâ—w to die This is no time to dissemble with God least of all in 〈◊〉 of Religion and therefore I desire it may be remembred I â—ave alwaies lived in the Protestant Religion established in England and â— that I come now to dye What clamours and slanders I have endured 〈…〉 to keep an Vniformity in the external Service of God accordinâ— tâ— the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church all men know and I 〈◊〉 abundantly felt Now at last I am accused of High Treason in Parliament a Crime which my soul ever abhorred This Treason was charged to consist of two parts An endeavour to subvert the Laws of the Land and a like endeaâ—our to overthrow the true Protestant Religion established by Law Besides my Answers to the several Charges I protested my innocency in â—oth Houses It was said Prisoners Protestations at the Bar must 〈…〉 taken I can bring no witness of my heart and the inten 〈◊〉 thereof therefore I must come to my Protestation not at the Bar â—ut my Protestation of this hour and instant of my death in which I 〈◊〉 all men will be such charitable Christians as not to think I would 〈◊〉 and dissemble being instantly to give God an account for the truth of 〈…〉 therefore here in the presence of God and