their office then is to governe But in my opinion they governe worse than they Preach though they preach not at all for wee see to what passe their government hath brought us In conformity to themselves They silence others also though Hierom in one of his Epistles saith that even a Bishop let him be of never so blamelesse a life yet he doth more hurt by by his licence then he can doe good by his example Mr. Speaker It now behooves us to restraine the Bishops to the duties of their Function as they may never more hanker after heterogeneous extravagant employments Not be so absolute so single and solitary in actions of Moment as Excommunication Absolution Ordination and the like but to joyne some of the Ministry with them and further to regulate them according to the usage of Ancient Churches in the best times that by a well-temper'd Government they may not have power hereafter to corrupt the Church to undoe the Kingdome When they are thus circumscribed and the publique secur'd from their Eruptions then shall not I grudge them a liberall plentifull subsistence else I am sure they can nevâ—â— be given to Hospitality Although the calling of the Clergie be all glorious within yet if they have not a large considerable outward support they cannot be freed from vulgar Contempt It will alwaies be fit that the flourishing of the Church should hold proportion with the flourishing of the Common-wealth wherein it is If we dwell in houses of Ceaar why should they dwell in skins And I hope I shall never see a good Bishop left worse than a Parson without a Gleab Certainly Sir this superintendencie of eminent men Bishops over divers Churches is the most Primitive the most spreading the most lasting Government of the Church Wherefore whilest we are earnest to take away Innovations let us beware wee bring not in the greatest Innovation that ever was in England I doe very well know what very many doe very servently desire But let us well bethinke our selves whether a popular Democraticall Government of the Church though fit for other places will be either sutable or acceptable to a Regall Monarchicall Government of the State Every man can say It is so common and knowne a Truth that suddaine and great changes both in naturall and Politick bodies have dangerous opperations and give mee leave to say that we cannot presently see to the end of such a consequence especially in so great a Kingdome as this and where Episcopacie is so wrap'd and involv'd in the Lawes of it Wherefore Mr. Speaker my humble Motion is that we may punish the present offenders reduce and preserve the Calling for better men hereafter Let us remember with fresh thankfulnesse to God those glorious Martyr-Bishops who were burn'd for our Religion in the times of Popery who by their learning zeale and constancy upheld and convey'd it downe to us We have some good Bishops still who doe Preach every Lords Day and are therefore worthy of double honour they have suffered enough already in the Disease I shall bee sorry we should make them suffer more in the Remedy 〈…〉 A message delivered from the Commons to the Lords of the Vpper House in Parliament by Mr. Pym Novemb. 11. 1640. My Lords THe Knights Citizens and Burgesses now assembled for the Commons in Parliament have received information of divers traiterous designes and practices of a great Peere of this House and by vertue of a command from them I doe here in the name of the Commons now assembled in Parliament and in the name of all the Commons of England accuse Thomas Earle of Strafford Lo. Lieutenant of Ireland of high Treason and they have commanded me further to desire your Lordships that he may be sequestred from Parliament and forthwith committed to prison They have further commanded mee to let you know that they will within a very few dayes resort to your Lordships with the particular Articles and grounds of this accusation And they doe further desire that your Lordships will thinke upon some convenient and fit way that the passage betwixt England and Ireland for his Majesties subjects of both Kingdomes may be free notwithstanding any restraint to the contrarie The Lord Lieutenant being required to withdraw and after a debate thereof called in kneeled at the Bar and after standing up the L. Keeper spake as followeth My Lord of Strafford THe House of Commons in their owne name and in the name of the whole Commons of England have this day accused your Lordship to the Lords of the Higher House of Parliament of high treason The articles they will within a very few dayes produce In the meane time they have desired of my Lords and may Lords have accordingly resolved that your Lordship shall be committed to safe custody to the Gentleman Vsher and be sequestred from the House till your Lordship shall cleare your selfe of the accusations that shall be laid against you Articles of the Commons assembled in Parliament against Thomas Earle of Strafford in maintenance of his accusation whereby he stands charged of High Treason 1. THat he the said Thomas Earle of Strafford hath traiterously endevoured to subvert the fundamentall Lawes and government of the Realmes of England and Ireland and in stead thereof to introduce on Arbitrary and Tyrannicall Government against Law which hee hath declared by traiterous words counsels and actions and by giving his Majestie advice by force of Armes to compell his loyall Subjects to submit thereunto 2. That hee hath traiterously assumed to himselfe Regall power over the lives liberties persons lands and goods of his Majesties Subjectâ— in England and Ireland and hath exercised the same tyrannically to the subversion and undoing of many both of Peeres and others of his Majesties Liege people 3. That the better to enrich and enable himselfe to goe thorow with his traiterous designes hee hath detained a great part of his Majesties revenue without giving legall account and hath taken great summes out of the Exchequer converting them to his owne use when his Majestie was necessitated for his owne urgent occasions and his Army had beene a long time unpaid 4. That he hath traiterously abused the power and authoritie of his government to the encreasing countenancing and encouraging of Papists that so hee might settle a mutuall dependance and confidence betwixt himselfe and that partie and by their help prosecute and accomplish his malicious and tyrannicall designes 5. That hee hath maliciously endevoured to stir up enmitie and hostilitie between his Majesties subjects of England and those of Scotland 6. That he hath traiterously broken the great trust reposed in him by his Majestie of Lieutenant Generall of his Army by wilfully betraying divers of his Majesties Subjects to death his Army to a dishonourable defeat by the Scots at Newborn and the Towne of New-Castle into their hands to the end that by the effusion of bloud by dishonour and so great a losse of New-Castle his Majesties
in the North yet I dwell in England Sir BENJAMIN RUDYERDS Speech concerning the QUEENS Joynture Jan. 1640. Mr. SPEAKER GOD hath blessed the Queens Majestie with a blessed Progeny already whereby she hath relieved and fortified this Kingdome which may put us in minde in a fit time to provide according to their birth and interest Shee is the daughter of a great and famous King she is the wife of our King which to us includes all expressions But in one thing Mr. Speaker her Majestie is singular in that she is the Mother to the greatest Prince that hath beene borne amongst us above these hundred yeers which cannot but work a tendernesse in us The Queene likewise may be another Instrument of happinesse to us in her good affection to Parliaments by a good hansell in this And I beleeve we shall see effects of it for it neerly and wisely concernes her Majestie even in all the Relations that are most deare to her to contribute her best Assistance to Uphold the Government and greatnesse of the kingdome By which meanes also the king will be better enabled to make a further enlargement of his bounty towards her in some degree proportionable Wherefore Mr. Speaker it will become this House to shew our cheerfulnesse in passing of the Bill Articles against Doctor Piercie Bishop of Bath and Wells exhibited by Mr. James Minister within his Diocesse 1 HEE hath Ex officio convented mee before him for having two Sermons preached in my Church on Michaelmas day to the great disturbance hinderance of the sale of the Church Ale as his Lordship pretended and further examined me upon Oath whether I had not the said Sermons preached for the same purpose and intent admonishing me for the future neither to preach my selfe nor suffer any other to preach in my Cure in the afternoon of either the Lords-day or holy dayes 2 I heard him say to his Register That whereas Information had been given concerning certain Ministers that they expounded upon the Catechisme this Information was too narrow to catch them and therefore it should have runne thus that they Catechised or expounded upon the Catechisme Sermon-wise and then they would have been obnoxious to censure 3 At the meeting to elect Clerks of the Convocation he threatned to send forth Censures of the Church against all that would not pay in the Benevolence late granted in the late Synod within a fortnight after the second day of November last past And further at the said election his sonne gave eight single voyces two as Arch-Deacon of Bath two as Prebend of the Church of Wells two as Parson of Buckland Saint Mary two as Vicar of Kingsbury and many others also there present gave as many double voyces as they had Benefices and Dignities against which one Mr. Rosnell protested saying that it was illegall The Bishop replyed that they gave in severall capacities and thereupon commanded him silence saying that he was a young man 4. That upon the meer Information of Mr. Humphry Sydenham Rector of Buckington that in a certain Sermon Preached at the Visitation of the Arch Deacon of Taunton I bespattered the Clergie The Bishop summoned me before him down to Wells and there objected unto mee that I had preached a scandalous Sermon wherein I had cast some aspersions on some of the Clergy Upon which charge I proferd to bring in an exact Copy of the Sermon I preacht and to depose that I spake neither more nor lesse then was contained in the said Copy This the Bishop would not accept of saying that he would not have the Ministers who came to witnesse against mee troubled with a second journey One of my Proctors desired time till the next Court day for me to give in my answer the Bishop commanded him to hold his Peace and the other Proctor though he was retained by me had received a Fee never opened his mouth pretending unto me that because the Bishop was so highly displeased with mee he durst not appeare in my behalf being denyed time to give in my answer at the next Court day I desired respit untill the afternoon this also was denyed In fine contrary to the rules of their own Court he examined witnesses against me and proceeded to Censure me before he received my full answer he would not heare the answer which I could give to the Articles objected to me which I proferd to give and which he had by oath required me to give further by vertue of the oath he administred unto me he questioned me not only concerning matters of outward fact but also concerning my most secret thoughts intentions and aymes Moreover whereas the witnesses confessed that I only said in the foresaid Sermon that some put the Scriptures into a staged dresse the Bishop perswaded them that that expression was equivalent with the Article objected that some mens Sermons were Stage Playes and they by his perswasion swore down right that I saidsome mens Sermons were Stage Playes The Doctor made an Act and Order that I should make publique retractation which I refused to doe and appeald unto the Arches But upon either the Bishops or M. Sidenhams Information my Procter Hunt renounced my appeale and Sir John Lambe dismissed the same cause without hearing unto the Bishop againe 5 The Churchwardens of my Parish by order from the Bishop were enjoyned to turn the Communion Table and place it Altar-wise c. Now they that they might neither displease the Bishop nor transgresse against the Rubrick of the Liturgie made it an exact square Table that so notwithstanding the Bishops order the Minister might still Officiate at the North side of the Table M. Humphry Sydenham informed against this and upon Information the Bishop sent to view it and upon his view he certified the Bishop that it was like an Oyster Table whereupon the Bishop ordered the Churchwardens to make a new one 6 Upon M. Humphry Sydenhams Information that M. John Pym was a Parliamenteer the Bishop would not suffer me any longer to sojourn in his house although before such Information he gave me leave And when I demanded of some of his servants the reason why his Lordship had thus changed his minde they told me that his Lordship was informed by M. Sydenham that M. Pym was a Puritane The Lord Andevers speech in March 1640. concerning the Star-Chamber MY Lords since your Lordships have already looked so farre into priviledges of Peers as to make a strict inquisition upon forraign honours Let us not destroy that among our selves which we desire to preserve from strangers And if this greivance I shall move against have slept till now It is very considerable lest custome make it every day more apparent than other your Lordships very well know there was a Statute framed 3 Hen. 7. Authorizing the Chancellor Treasurer and Privy Seale and the two Chiefe Justices calling to them one Bishop and a temporall Lord of the Kings Councell to receive complaints
upon Bill or information and Cite such parties to appeare as stand accused of any misdemeanour and this was the Infancy of the Starchamber but afterwards the Starchamber was by Cardinall Woolsey 8 H. 8. raised to mans Estate from whence being now altogether unlimited it is grown a Monster and will hourely produce worse effects unlesse it be reduced by that hand which laid the foundation for the Statutes that are ratified by Parliament admit of no other than a repeale Therefore I offer humbly unto your Lordships these ensuing Reasons why it should be repealed First the very words of the Statute cleerly shew that it was a needlesse institution for it sayes they who are to Judge can proceed with no delinquent otherwise then if he were convicted of the same crime by due proces of Law And doe your Lordships holdth is a rationall Court that sends us to the Law and calls us to the Law and calls us back from it againe Secondly divers Judicatories confound one another in pessima republica plurimae Leges The second reason is from circumstance or rather à Consuetudine and of this there are many examples both domestique and forain but more particularly by the Parliaments of France abbreviated into a standing Committee by Philip the King and continued according to his Institution untill Lewis the eleventh came to the Crown who being a subtill Prince buried the volume in the Epitome for to this day when ever the three Estates are called either at the death of the old King or to Crown the new It is a common Proverb Allons voire Le van des Estates My Lords Arbitrary judgements destroy the Common Laws and in them the two great Charters of the Kingdome which being once lost we have nothing left but the name of liberty Then the last reason is though it was the first cause of my standing up the great Eclipse it hath ever been to the whole Nobility For who are so frequently vexed there as Peers and Noblemen and notwithstanding their appeale to this Assembly is ever good whilst that famous Law of the 4 Ed. 3. remaines in force for the holding of a Parliament once a year or more if occasion require yet who durst a year ago mention such a Statute without the incurring the danger of M. Kilverts persecution Therefore I shall humbly move your Lordships that a select Commitee of a few may be named to consider of the act of Parliament it selfe and if they shall thinke it of as great prejudice as I doe that then the house of Commons in the most usuall manner may be made acquainted with it either by Bill or conference who also happily thinke it a burthen to the Subject and so when the whole body of Parliament shall joyne in one supplication I am confident his Majestie will desire that nothing shall remaine in force which his people doe not willingly obey Lunae the 10. of May 1641. IT is this day ordered by the House of Commons now assembled in Parliament that the Lord Maior of London the Justices of Peace of Midlesex Westminster and the Liberties of the Dutchie of Lancaster and those of Surrey that are for the Burrough of Southwarke and the place adjoyning doe imploy their best endeavors to prevent that none of the Kings Subjects doe frequent the houses of any the Embassadors Somerset-house or St. James to heare Masse And that they give an accompt to this House of the Execution of this Order at all such times as by the said House they shall be required My Lord Finch his Letter to my Lord CHAMBERLAINE My most welbeloved Lord THe Interest your Lordship hath ever had in the best of my fortunes and affections gives me the Priviledges of troubling your Lordship with these few lines from one that hath now nothing left to serve you withall but his Prayers Those your Lordship shall never faile with an heart as full of true affection to your Lordship as ever any was My Lord it was not the losse of my place and with that of my fortunes nor being exiled from my deare Countrey and friends though many of them were cause of sorrow that afflicts but that which I most suffer under is that displeasure of the House of Commons conceived against me I know a true heart I have ever borne towards them and your Lordship can witnesse in part what wayes I have gone in but Silence and patience best becomes me with which I must leave my selfe and my Actions to the favourable construction of my Noble Friends in which number your Lordship hath a prime place I am now at the Hague where I arrived on Thursday the last of the last moneth where I purpose to live in a fashion agreeable to the poorenesse of my fortunes for my humbling in this world I have utterly cast off the thoughts of it and my aime shall be to learne to number my daies that I may apply my heart unto wisdome that wisdome that shall wipe all teares from mine eyes and heart and lead me by the hand to true happinesse which can never be taken from me I pray God of heaven blesse this Parliament with a happy both progresse and conclusion if my ruine may conduce but the least to it I shall not repine at it I truly pray for your Lordship and your Noble Family that God would give an increase of all worldly blessings and in the fulnesse of dayes to receive you to his glory if I were capable of serving any body I would tell your Lordship that no man should be readier to make knowne his devotion and true gratitude to your Lordship then Your Lordships most humble and affectionate poore kinsman and servant J.F. Hague Jan. 3. 1640. The Lord KEEPERS Speech TO HIS MAJESTIE at the Banquetting-house at White-hall in the name of both Houses May it please Your Majestie I Am to give your Majestie most humble and heartie thanks in the name of both houses of Parliament and this whole Kingdome for the speedy and gracious Royall assent unto the Bill Entitled An act for preventing of inconveniences happening by the long intermission of Parliaments which as it is of singular comfort and securitie for all your Subjects for the present so they are confident it will be of infinite honor and setlement of Your Majesties Royall Crowne and dignitie as well as comfort to their postiritie The Declaration of the Scots Commissioners to the House of Parliament touching the maintenance of their Army March the 16th 1640. IN the midst of other matters necessitie constraineth us to shew your Lordships that fourescore thousand pounds and above of the Moneys appointed for reliefe of the Northerne Countreys there is no more paid but 18000 l. the Country people of those Countreys have trusted the souldiers so long as they are become weary and unable to furnish them their cattell and victuall being so farre exhausted and wasted as it is scarce able to entertain themselves The Markets are decayed
whole matter of my Lord of Stafford Mr. St. Johns Argvment The KINGS Majesties First Speech in Parliament the third of November 1640. My Lords THe knowledge I had of the desires of my Scottish Subjects was the cause of my calling the last Assembly of Parliament wherein had I beene beleeved I sincerely thinke that things had not fallen out as now we see But it is no wonder that men are so slow to beleeve that so great a sedition should be raised on so little ground But now my Lords and Gentlemen the honour and safety of this Kingdome lying so neerely at the stake I am resolved to put my self freely and cleerly on the love and affections of my English Subjects as these of my Lords that did wait on me at York very well remember I there declared Therefore my Lords I shall not mention mine own interest or that support I might justly expect from you till the common safety be secured though I must tell you I am not ashamed to say those charges I have been at have been meerly for the securing and good of this Kingdome though the successe hath not been answerable to my desires Therefore I shall only desire you to consider the best way both for the safety and security of this Kingdome wherein their are two parts chiefly considerable First the chastifing out of the Rebells And secondly that other in satisfying your just grievances wherein I shall promise you to concurre so heartily and cleerely with you that all the World may see my intâ—ntions have ever beene and shall be to make this a glorious and flourishing Kingdome There are only two things that I shall mention to you First the one is to tell you that the Loane of money which I lately had from the City of London wherein the Lords that waited on me at Yorke assisted me will only maintain my Armie for two moneâ—hs from the beginning of that time it was granted Now my Lords and Gentlemen I leave it to your considerations what dishonour and mischiefe it might be in case for want of money my Armie be disbanded before the Rebells be put out of this Kingdome Secondly the securing the calamities the Northern people endure at this time and so long as the treaty is on foot And in this I may say not only they but all this Kingdome will suffer the harme therefore I leave this also to your consideration for the ordering of these great affairs whereof you are to treat at this time I am so confident of your love to me and that your care is for the honour and safety of the Kingdome that I shâ—ll freely and willingly leave to you where to begin only this that you may the better know the state of all the Affairs I have commanded my Lord Keeper to give you a short and free accompt of these things that have happened in this interim wiâ—h this Protestation thaâ— if this accompt be not satisfactory as it ought to be I shall whensoever you desire give you a full and perfect accompt of every particular One thing more I desire of you as one of the greatest means to make this a happy Parliament That you on your parts as I on Mine lay aside all suspition one of another as I promised my Lords at Yorke It shall not be my fault if this be not a happie and good Parliament The Kings speech in Parliament the fift of November 1640. My Lords I do expect that you will hastily make relation to the House of Commons of those great affairs for which I have called you hither at this time and for the trust I have reposed in them and how freely I put my selfe on their love and affections at that time and that you may know the better how to do so I shall explaine my selfe concerning one thing I spake the last day I told you the Rebells must be put out of this Kingdome it 's true I must needs call them so so long as they have an Armie that do invade us and although I am under treaty with them and I under my great Seale do call them Subjects and so they are too but the state of my Affairs in short is this It 's true I did expect when I did will my Lords and great ones at Yorke to have given a gracious answer to all your grievances for I was in good hope by their wisedomes and assistances to have made an end of that businesse but I must tell you that my Subjects of Scotland did so delay them that it was not possible to end there Therefore I can no wayes blame my Lords that were at Rippon that the treaty was not ended but must thanke them for their pains and industry and certainly had they as much power as affections I should by that time have brought these distempers to a happy period so that now the treaty is transported from Rippon to London where I shall conclude nothing without your knowledge and I doubt not but by your approbation for I do not desire to have this great work done in a corner for I shall lay open all the steps of this mis-understanding and causes of the great differences between Me and my Subjects of Scotland And I doubt not but by your assistance to make them know their duty and also by your assistance to make them return whether they will or no. The Kings Speech to both the Houses Ianuary 25. 1640. My Lords THe Knights Citizens Burgesses The principall cause of my comming here at this time is by reason of the slow proceedings in Parliament touching which is a great deale of inconvenience Therefore I think it very necessary to lay before you the state of my affairs as now they stand therby to hasten not interrupt your proceedings First I must remember you that there are two Armies in the Kingdome in a manner maintained by you the very naming of which doth more cleerly shew the inconvenience thereof then a better tongue then mine can expresse Therfore in the first place I shall recommend unto you the quick dispatch of that businesse assuring you that it cannot rest upon me In the next place I must recommend unto you the State of my Navie and Forts the condition of both which is so well known unto you that I need not tell you the particulars only thus much they are the Walls and defence of this Kingdome which if out of order all men may easily judge what incouragement it will be to Our enemies and what disheartning to our friends Last of all and not of the least to be considered I must lay before you the distractions that are at this present occasioned through the cause of Parliament for there are some men that more maliciously than ignorantly will put no difference betweene Reformation and alteration of government Hence it commech that divine Service is irreverently interrupted and Petitions in an ill way given in neither disputed nor denied But I will enter into no more particulars
abilities of nature and what he hath got by acquisition depth of judgement quicknesse of apprehension unparaleld moderation in great Councels and great affaires such as you my Lords that had the happinesse to attend Him at the Councell of the Peeres at York to your great joy and comfort can witnesse and after ages will remember to His eternall honour and same For His just and pious Government I dare boldly say that if any under Him as our Instrument have had the distributing of justice to His people have not done as they ought the fault is their own and they have done contrary to the Royall Nature and expresse Command of our Gratious Soveraign from whom I have often learned this golden Rule and Maxim he serves me best that serves me with honesty and integrity Behold Him in another part of Himself in His dearest comfort our Gracious Queen the mirror of Vertue from whom since Her happy arrivall here now above three lustres of yeetes never any Subject record other then gratious and benigne Influence and I dare a vow as She is neerest and dearest to our Soveraign so there is none whose affections and endeavours His Majesty onely excepted hath or doth or can cooperate more to the happy successe of this Parliament and the never to be equalled joy and comfort of a right understanding between the King and His people Behold Him in His best image our excellent young Prince and the rest of the Royall and lively Progeny in whom we cannot but promise to our selves to have our happinesse perpetuated From the Throne turn your eyes upon the two supporters of it on the one side the Stemne of honour the Nobility and Clergy on the other side the Gentry and Commons Where was there or is there in any part of the world a nobility so numerous so magnanimous and yet with such a temper that they neither ecclipse the throne nor overtop the people but keep in a distance fit for the greatnesse of the Throne Where was there a Common-wealth so free and the ballance so equally held as here And certainly so long as the beam is so held it cannot be otherwise in right Anglis if you turn the line never so little it groweth quickly accute or obdure and so in States the least deviation makes a great change But His Majesties great wisedome and goodnesse and the assistance of the Honourable Assembly I do not doubt will be a means to make us stear between the Teophick of moderation that there be no declension from the poole of severity I am by His Maiesties Command to relate to you some proceedings since the last Assembly here You may remember the Summer preceding this last His Majesty went with an Army into the North ingaged in honour so to do by reason of the câ—urses that were taken by divers of the Subjects in Scotland in the prejudice of Monarchy and rendring lesse glorious this Kingdom I know not under what pretence but all that time they came very neer England with an Army so neer that it was believed they would have then entred and invaded the Kingdome They did professe the contrary neither did they want remonstrations and declarations to infuse this opinion into the hearts of His Majesties people before it would by the effects What their intentions from the beginning were His Maiestie by His goodnesse and wisedome settled a Peace and made a pacification at Barwick upon which both Armies were disbanded which pacification and every Article of it His Maiesty for His part hath been so far from violating that whensoever any question shall be made of it shall plainly and clearly appear it was His care to see it in all things performed On the contrary those Subiects of His not contented with that grace which His Maiesty then gave them in those Articles of pacification they have strained them beyond the bounds and limits of the intention and meaning but they over and above attempted and acted divers things so prejudiciall to Monarchy and contrary and repugnant to the Law and settled constitution and usage of that Kingdome that His Maiesty could not in honour continue at it This being made known unto His Maiesty and to His Privy Councell by those who best knew the State and affairs of that Kingdom and that were most trusted and imployed by His Maiesty His Maiesty by the unaminous consent of His Privy Councell resolved to raise an army to reduce them to their modest and iust condition of true obedience and subiection to defend this Kingdome from all damage and danger that by their means how specious soever they shaddow their pretences they might fall upon it His Maiesty then foresaw and foretold that the raising of an Army at this time was but to stand upon their own defence as they professed and they had an intention to enter this Kingdome and to seize upon some place of importance and eminency and His Maiesty in particular named Newcastle Had His Maiesty then had means and money aswell as he had certain knowledge of their intentions I do beleeve that these calamities that have fallen upon that Town and the Counties adioyning had been prevented Perhaps the misinterpretation of His Maiesties intentions and the misunderstanding of His actions and I am a fraid the two benigne interpretation of the attempts actions and professions of the Subiects in Scotland added sâ—me impediment to that which the most of us I hope have lived to repent of His Maiesty howsoever wâ—nt in Person to the North to see His Army ordered and to take care for the safety and defence of this Kingdom asmuch as he possible could He had not long been there but that which he foresaw and foretold fell out for the Scots passed with their Army the Rivers Tweed and Tine and seized upon Newcastle which of what importance it is you all know And that they force contribution of the Counties of Noâ—thumberland and the Bishoprick of Durbâ—m besides many other spoiles and distructions that were committed His Maiesty well considering of what weight and importance this was and then having neither time nor place to call this assembly of Parliament He did resolve as had been frequently used to summon a great Councell of all the Peeres that by their advice and assistance there might be some interruption given to the calamity that was likely to spread over the whole Kingdome And commanded Writs to issue accordingly That was not done to prevent but to prepare for a Parliament It was not to clash or entor fire with this assembly by acting or ordering any thing which belongeth to this high and supream jurisdiction but onely to give their assistance for the present to render things more fit for this great assembly That His Maiesties intention was so it is cleer for before ever any petition was delivered or ever any speech of petition for a Parliament His Maiesty had resolved to call one The Lords understood It so will plainly appear by the
proceedings of the Assembly of which if those that were Officers and Ministers there had been come to Town upon whose help I rested for my particular instruction I should have been better able to have given you an accompt And His Maiesty was pleased to let you know that when there was an occasion of any particular you may be satisfied in it According to His Maiesties command 24. of September all the Peeres were summoned all except some few did meet where His Maiesty was In the first place pleased to declare unto us His resolution to call a Parliament and to all our ioyes and contents as he hath now done it to yours and ours declared that there was nothing he did more desire then to be rightly understood of His people And whosoever he be that shall go about effect it I am sure he cannot to attempt or indeavour to alter this gracious declaration and resolution of His Maiesty or whosoever shall go about to poyson the hearts of His good Subiects with an opinion that it can be so or lesson the affection of His loving Subiects for certainly never Subiects of the world better loved their King then the English nor ever did ever English-men better love a King then now if I say there be any sucâ— may acurse and punishment fall up 〈◊〉 But â—et the Royall Throne be for ever Hâ—â— Majesty was then pleased to tell us the cause for which 〈◊〉 had called us together In the first place it was touching an answer to a petition that had bâ—en since his coming to York And before His assembly sent unto him from those His Subiects of Scotland that were at Newcastle The first thing that His Maiesty desired their advice in was â—â—e answer to that petition The next thing His Maiesty conceived And all that were there were of one opinion with one voyce and consent that it was not fit His Maiesty should disband His Army so long as the Scotch Army was on foot And His Maiesty wished them to take into their consideration what way to have maintenance for His Army in the mean time His Maiesty having opened the cause of calling them together was pleased to expresse himself that He would leave to the Lords their freedom of Debate and himself was ready to have been gone from the Councell but at the humble suite of the Lords he stayed And I am perswaded that nothing was of that ioy to them as His Maiesties presence with such freedome of discourse did every man deliver himself with such grace and sweetnesse did his Maiesty hear them and such content did they take in His moderating guiding and directing those Councells My Lords as holding it most necessary took the latter of those two considerations propounded by His Maiesty to their thoughts and that was the supplying and supporting His Maiesties Army till this Parliament might take some course in it His Maiesty and my Lords did declare themselves as before I have opened unto you that they could never attempt nor have the least thought to make by any Act or Order any thing tending to the Subiect but that it might be left wholly to the supream Jurisdiction And therefore not seeing any other way they resolved by letter to addresse themselves to the City of London And with their letters they sent half a dozen of my Lords My Lord Privy Seal my Lord of Clare who was appointed to go but his urgent occasions prevenâ—ed him Viscount Cambden Lord Coventry Lord Goring and _____ And these Lords they did expresse the joy and content they took in the Kings grace and confidence they had of His gracious assistance was such that they did freely offer themselves and as I dare say there is none but is yet ready to enter into security with His Maieâ—ty And the City gave an answer fit for the Chamber of the King and part of the money is already lent and will be ready I assure my self to supply the rest For the other part the first thing propounded by His Majesty was touching the answer that was to be given to that petition and to the demands of the Subjects in Scotland upon which occasion His Majesty was pleased by those great Officers and Ministers of His that knew best and understood the laws and usages of that Kingdome to expound their demands particularly and to make appear unto their Lordships upon every one wherein they had expounded the Articles of pacification which His Majesty ever desired might be the Square and Rule of the treaty with them My Lords tooke into consideration what was fit to be done for his Majesty then professed as he did oft and as he hath done it during the time of that Councell to be wholy ruled guided and directed by their advice f r the honor of this Nation and safâ—ty of it he did leave it to their wisedomes and considerations against whose advice and without whose judgements and advice he would do nothing My Lords howsoever they had received this information and explanation upon every particular of their demands yet in justice they thought it was fit to hear what could be said on the other side how the objection might be answered and what objection might be made by them against that which seemed to be plain enough For this purpose they were all of opinion and his Majesty was pleased to be of the same opinion that some Lords selected and trusted by that great Councell should Treate with those Subjects of Scotland upon all those particulars to the end that they might see what they did cleerly intend to the end that if a firm peace which was most desired from us might be had or a just Warre to be begun My Lords of the great Councell that were appointed for that purpose were the Earles of Bedford Hertford Essex Salisbury Warwick Bristow Holland and Barkeshire The Barons were the Lords Wharton Paget Rimbolton Brooke Pawlet Howard of Esaich Savile and Dunsmore After which choice some generall insurrections proceeding from the debate and discourses in that great Councell a Commission under the great Seale was given unto them to enable them to treate and conclude as they in their wisedomes and Judgements should thinke fit The place appointed for this treaty was at Rippon where the Lords Commissioners wanted the happinesse of that that they and we had at Yorke of his Maiesties presence And that might be the occasion that more time was spent in it then otherwise would have been yet my Lords omitted not their parts but were desirous to look into the depth to see the utmost extent of their demands But before those of Scotland could come to the maine treaty to explaine themselves touching their demands they made a preparatory demand of maintenance for their Armie and did go so high as to demand Forty thousand Pounds a moneth My Lords that were very unwilling to do any Act or make any order whatsoever as I have opened unto you for the sustenance maintenance and
under great penalties forbid all Parsons Vicars Curates Readers in Divinity c. to speake any other wayes of them then as they had defined by which meanes having seized upon all the Conduites whereby knowledge is convayed to the people how easie would it bee for them in time to undermine the Kings Prerogative and to suppresse the subjects liberty or both And now Sir I beseech you to consider how they have defined this high and great poynt they have dealt with us in matter of Divinity as the Judges had done before in matter of Law they first tooke upon them to determine a matter that belonged not to their Judicature but onely to the Parliament and after by their judgement they overthrew our propriety and just so have these Divines dealt with us they tell us that Kings are an Ordinance of God of Divine Right and founded in the prime Lawes of Nature from whence it will follow that all other formes of government as Aristocracies and Democracies are wicked formes of government contrary to the Ordinance of God and the Prime Lawes of Nature which is such new Divinitie as never read in any Booke but in this new Booke of Canons Mr. Speaker We all know that Kings and States and Iudges and all Magistrates are the Ordinances of God but Sir give mee leave to say they were the Ordinances of men before they were the Ordinances of God I know I am upon a great and high poynt but I speake by as great and as high a warrant if St. Peters chaire cannot erre as St. Peters Epistles cannot thus he teacheth us Submit your selfe to-every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it bee to the King as supreame or to the Governour as to him that is sent by him c. Sir It is worthy noting that they are Ordinances of men but that they are to be submitted unto for the Lords sake and truely their power is as just and their subjects allegeance as due unto them though we suppose them to bee first ordinances of men and then confirmed and established by Gods Ordinance as if wee suppose them to bee immediate Ordinances of God and so received by men But there was somewhat in it that these Divines aimed at I suppose it was this If Kings were of Divine Right as the Office of a Pastor in the Church or founded in the prime Lawes of Nature as the power of a Father in a Family then it would certainly follow that they should receive the fashion and manner of their government onely from the Prescript of Gods Word or of the Lawes of Nature and consequently if there bee no Text neither of the Old nor New Testament nor yet any Law of Nature that Kings may not make Lawes without Parliaments they may make Lawes without Parliaments and if neither in the Scripture nor in the Law of Nature Kings be forbidden to lay taxes or any kind of impositions upon their people without consent in Parliament they may doe it out of Parliament and that this was their meaning they expresse it after in plaine termes for they say that Subsidies and taxes and all manner of ayds are due unto Kings by the Law of God and of Nature Sir if they bee due by the Law of God and of Nature they are due though there be no act of Parliament for them nay Sir if they bee due by such a right a hundred acts of Parliaments cannot take them away or make them undue And Sir that they meant it of Subsidies and aids taken without consent in Parliament is clearely that addition that they subjoyne unto it that this doth not take away from the Subject the propriety hee hath in his goods for had they spoken of Subsidies and aydes given by consent in Parliament this would have been a very ridiculous addition for who ever made any question whether the giving Subsidies in Parliament did take away from the Subject the propriety hee hath in his goods when as it doth evidently imply they have a propriety in their goods for they could not give unlesse they had something to give but because that was alledged as a chiefe reason against Ship-mens and other such illegall payments levied upon the people without their consent in Parliament that it did deprive them of their right of propriety which they have in their goods these Divines would seem to make some answer thereunto but in truth their answer is nothing else but the bare assertion of a contradiction and it is an easie thing to say a contradiction but impossible to reconcile it for certainely if it bee a true rule as it is most true quod meum est sine consensu meo non potest fieri alienum to take my goods without my consent must needes destroy my propriety Another thing in this first Canon wherein they have assumed unto themselves a Parliamentarie power is in that they take upon them to define what is Treason besides what is determined in the statute of Treasons They say to set up any coactive independent power is treasonable both against God and the King the question is not whether it bee true they say or no but whether they have power to say what is Treason and what not But now Sir that I am upon this point I would gladly know what kinde of power that is which is exercised by Arch-Bishops Bishops Deanes Arch-Deacons c. Coactive certainely it is all the Kingdome feeles the lash thereof and it must needs bee independant if it be jure Divine as they hold it for they doe not meane by an independant power such a power as doth not depend on GOD. Besides if their power be dependant of whom is it dependant not of the King for the Law acknowledgeth no way whereby Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction can bee derived from his Majestie but by his Commission under the great-Scale which as I am informed they have not I speake not of the High Commission but of that jurisdiction which they exercise in their Archiepiscopall Episcopall Archidaconall Courts c. and therefore if their owne sentence bee just wee know what they are and what they have pronounced against themselves But Sir it were worth knowing what they aimed at in that independent coactive power which they terme popular I will not take upon me to unfold their meaning but wee know Doctor Beale had a hand in the making of these Canons and if wee apply his Paraphrase to the Text it may give us some clearenesse I remember amongst other notes of his this was one that he did acknowledge the Kings Supremacy but would joyne unto him an assistant viz. the people meaning this House which being the representative body of the COMMONS of England and claiming as it is so a share in the Legislative power Doctor Beale calleth this a joyning of an assistant to the King in whom soly hee placeth the power of making Lawes and that it is but of grace that he assumeth either the Lords or Commons
which time the sayd Iustice Seate was called by adjournment the sayd Iohn Lord Finch then Lord Chiefe Iustice of his Majesties Court of Common Pleas and was one of the Iudges assistants for them he continued by further unlawfull and unjust practices to maintaine and confirme the said verdict and did then and there being assistant to the Iustice in Eyre advise the refusal of the traverse offered by the County and all their evidences but onely what they should verbally deliver which was refused accordingly IV. That hee about the Moneth of November 1635. hee being then Lord Chiefe Iustice of the Common Pleas and having taken an oath for the due administration of Iustice to his Majesties Liege people according to the Lawes and statutes of the Realme contrived in opinion in haec verba when the good and safety c. and did subscribe his name to that opinion and by perswasions threats and false suggestions did solicite and procure Sir Iohn Bramstone Knight then and now Lord Chiefe Iustice of England Sir Humfrey Davenport Knight Lord chiefe Baron of his Majesties Court of Exchequer Sir Richard Hutton Knight late one of the Iustices of his Majesties Court of Common Pleas Sir Iohn Denham Knight late one of the Barons of his Majesties Court of Exchequer Sir William lones Knight late one of the Iustices of the said Court of Kings Bench Sir George Crock then and now one of the Iudges of the said Court of Kings Bench Sir Thomas Trevor Knight then and now one of the Barons of the Exchequer Sir George Vernon Knight late one of the Iustices of the said Court of Common Pleas Sir Robert Barkley Knight then and now one of the Iustices of the said Court of Kings Bench Sir Francis Crawly Knight then and now one of the Justices of the said Court of Common Pleas Sir Richard Weston Knight then and now one of the Barons of the said Court of Exchequer some or one of them to subscribe with their names the said opinion presently and enjoyned them severally some or one of them secresâ— upon their allegeance V. That he the fifth day of Iune then being Lord Chiefe Iustice of the said Court of Common Pleas subscribed an extrajudiciall opinion in answer to questions in a letter from his Majesty in haec verba c. And that he contrived the said questions and procured the said Letter from his Majesty and whereas the said Iustice Hutton and Iustice Crook declared to him their opinions to the contrary yet hee required and pressed them to subscribe upon his promise that hee would let his Majesty know the truth of their opinions notwithstanding such subscriptions which neverthelesse he did not make knowne to his Majestie but delivered the same to his Majesty as the opinion of all the Iudges VI. That hee being Lord Chiefe Iustice of the said Court of Common Pleas delivered his opinion in the Chequer Chamber against Master Hampden in the case of Ship-money that hee the said Master Hampdâ—n upon the matter and substance of the case was chargeable with the money then in question a Coppy of which proceedings the Commons will deliver to your Lordships and did solicite and threaten the said sudges some or one of them to deliver their opinions in like manner against Master Hampden and after the said Baron Denham had delivered his opinion for Master Hampden the said Lord Finch repaired purposely to the said Baron Denhams Chamber in Serjeants Inne in Fleetstreet and after the said Master Baron Denham had declared and expressed his opinion urged him to retract the said opinion which hee refusing was threatned by the said Lord Finch because hee refused VII That hee then being Lord chiefe Justice of the Court of Common Pleas declared and published in the Exchequer Chamber and westerne circuit where he went Judge that the Kings right to Ship-money as aforesaid was so inherent a right to the Crowne as an Act of Parliament could not take it away and with divers malicious speeches inveighed against and threatned all such as refused to pay Ship-money all which opinions contained in the foure five sixth Articles are against the Law of the Realme the Subjects right of property and contrary to former resolutions in Parliament and to the petition of right which said resolutions and petition of right were well knowne to him and resolved and enacted in Parliament when he was Speaker of the Commons house of Parliament VIII That hee being Lord chiefe Justice of the Court of Common Pleas did take the generall practice of that Court to his private Chamber and that hee sent warrants into all or many shires of England to severall men as to Francis Giles of the County of Devon Rebert Renson of the County of Yorke Attorneys of that Court and to divers others to release all persons arrested on any utlawry about 40. shillings fees whereas none by Law so arrested can be bailed or released without Supersedeas under seale or reversall IX That hee being Lord Chiefe Iustice of the Court of Common pleas upon a pretended suit begun in Michaelmas Terme in the 11. yeare of his Majesties Reigne although there was no plaint or Declaration against him did notoriously and contrary to all Law and Iustice by threats menaces and imprisonment compell Thomas Laurence an Executor to pay 19 pound 12 shillings and likewise caused Richard Bernard being onely over-seer of the last Will of that Testator to bee arrested for the payment of the said Money contrary to the advice of the rest of the Iudges of that Court and against thâ— knâ—wne and ordinary course of Iustice and his said Oath and knowledge and denyed his Majesties Subjects the common and ordinary Iustice of this Realme as to Mr. Liâ—â—rick and others and for his private benefit endammaged and ruined the estates of very many of his Majesties Subjects contrary to his oath and knowledge X. That hee being Lord Keeper of the great Seale of England and sworne one of his Majesties Privie Counsell did by false and malicious slanders labour to incense his Majestie against Parliaments and did frame and advise the publishing the Declaration after the dissolution of the last Parliament All which Treasons and misdemeanors above mentioned were done and committed by the said Iohn Lord Finch Baron of Fordwich Lord Keeper of the great Seale of England and thereby he the aforesaid Finch hath trayterously and contrary to his allegiance laboured to lay Imputations and Scandalls upon his Majesties government and to alienate the hearts of his Majesties liege people from his Majestie and to set a division betweene them and to ruine and destroy his Majesties Realme of England for which they doe impeach him the said Lord Finch Baron of Fordwich Lord Keeper of the Great Seale of England of high Treason against our Soveraigne Lord the King his Crowne and Dignity of the misdemeanours above mentioned And the said Commons by Protestation saving to themselves the libertie of exhibiting at any time
Ratcliffe was not the man alone but others joyned with him in that Assembly and I am sure my Lord of Strafford moved it for the breach of Parliament I shall addresse myselfe to the body of his answere Now give me leave my Lords that I may open the nature of this great offence My Lords it is a charge of Treason which is a Treason not ended or expired by one single Act but a trade enured by this Lord of Strafford ever since the Kings favor hath been bestowed upon him My Lords it hath two parts to deprive us that which was good And secondly to bring in a Tyrannicall government it takes away the Lawes of the Land and it hath an arbitrary government bounded by no law but what my Lord of Strafford pleaseth It is the law my Lords which we reverence and cheerefully render to our gracious Soveraigne The Law as it is the ground of our libertie so it is the distribution of Iustice My Lords in all this my Lord of Strafford hath endeavoured to make them uncapable of any benefit it is true my Lords that Treason against the person of a Prince is high Treason and the highest Treason that can be to man but it falls short of this Treason against the State When blessed King Iames was taken to heaven he commended the lawes to his sonne our gracious Soveraigne But my Lords if such a design as this should take effect that the law of Iustice shouldbe taken from the Throne we are without hope of ever seeing happy dayes power is not so easily laid downe unlesse it be by so good and just a Prince as we have My Lord of Straffords accusation is conveyed into twenty eight Articles and I shall but touch the heads that wee shall insist upon and I thinke the best way to this is to consider what he did before he went into Ireland what then and what since He hath encroached jurisdiction where none was taking upon him a power to repell the lawes and to make new lawes and in domineering over the lives and goods and what ever else was the subjects My Lords this he hath not done onely upon the meaner sort but upon the Peeres and auncient Nobilitie and what may your Lordships expect but the same measure at his hands here as they have found there when he committed any to prison if a Habeas Corpus were granted the Officers must not obey and if any Fine were put upon the Officer for refusing them there was a command that he should bee discharged so that he did not onely take power to himselfe but the Scepter of Iustice out of the Kings hand When he was a member of the house of Commons it was his owne motion all Ministers of state should serve the King according to the lawes which he hath broken himselfe He doth as much as say that Fines shall not be payed by Officers if in this they fulfill his commands but those that release a prisoner upon a Habeas Corpus shall finde his displeasure My Lords if this had been a single Act we should not have accused him of high Treason but this hath beene his common course and this we present to your Lordships consideration The next thing is that in the North the people attending for Iustice you shall see what a dishonour he flung upon the sacred Majestie of the King that did advance him some of the Iustices saith he are all for Law but they shall finde that the Kings little fingers is heavier then the Loynes of the Law My Lords what a sad speech was this and what sad Accidents happened upon it you all know and he said in a solemne speech That Ireland was a conquered Nation and that the King might do with them what he would their Charters were nothing worth they did binde the King no longer then he pleased Surely you may see what hee would do if he had power but we hope never such counsell shall have acceptation in so gracious an Eare as our Soveraignes and he doth not stay in words but proceeds to Actions when a Peere of the Kingdome was expelled the Kingdome for suing at Law for recovering of his Right he saith he would have Ireland know that neither Law nor Lawyers should question any thing that he ordered My Lords he goes higher for when there was an occasion to speake of an Act of State he said it should bee as binding as an Act of Parliament My Lords he cannot goe higher then this hee tells them in Parliament they were a Conquered Nation and they must expect the usage of a Conquered Nation The Lord Mountnorris for a few words that fell from his mouth spoken privately at his Table had a Counsell of warre called against him and was judged to death My Lords it is no marvaile that he saie That the Kings little finger should be so heavie when his little too was so heavie to tread downe a Peere under his foote My Lords he makes Lawes of himselfe and hee makes a difference in matters of Iustice betweene the poore and the rich but when he hath executed his power upon the poore he will fall upon the rich My Lords he hath made that which was worth but five shillings to the value of twenty and my Lords by this he doth in effect take away what ere this commoditie is worth he saith he doth it for the Kings gaine but we shall make it appeare that the Crowne hath lost and he hath gained And for the Commodity of Flax my Lords it is but a Womans Commodity but yet it is the staple Commodity of Ireland Now my Lords this Commondity he hath gotten wholly into his owne hands for he made such a Proclamation that it should be used in such wayes as the Women could not doe it and if it were not used in such ways that it should bee seised upon no he doth not onely put impositions upon the Subject but take away the goods too and thus he hath levyed warre against the Kings Subjects and this is his course that if a Decree were made by him and not obeyed there issued a warrant to Souldiers that they should make Garrison and that they should goe to the houses of those that were pretended to be disobedient My Lords they have killed their sheep and their Oxen and bound their horses and took them Captives till they have rendered obedience which is expressely contrary to Law for it saith If any man set horse or foot upon the Kings Subject in a Military way it is high Treason My Lords it doth not onely oppresse them in their estates but provoke and incite his Majesty to lay downe his mercy and goodnesse and to fall into an offensive war against his Subjects and to say they are Rebels and Traytors He tels his Counsell that the Parliament having forsaken the King and the King having tryed the Parliament hee might use other wayes to procure money to supply his necessities My Lords the same day
bee bound together If this Treason had taken effect our Soules had been inthralled to the Spirituall Tyranny of Sathan our Consciences to the Ecclesiasticall Tyranny of the Pope our Lives our Persons and Estates to the Civill Tyranny of an arbitrary unlimited confused Government Treason in the least degree is an odious and a horrid Crime other Treasons are particular if a Fort bee betrayed or an Army or any other treasonable fact committed the Kingdome may out-live any of these this Treason would have dissolved the frame and beeing of the Common-wealth it is an Universall a Catholike Treason the venome and malignity of all other Treasons are abstracted digested sublimated into this The Law of this Kingdome makes the King to be the fountaine of Justice of Peace of Protection therefore we say the Kings Courts the Kings Judges the Kings Lawes The Royall Power and Majestie shines upon us in every publique blessing and benefit wee enjoy but the Author of this Treason would make him the fountaine of Injustice of Confusion of publike misery and calamitie The Gentiles by the light of Nature had some obscure apprehensions of the Deity of which they made this expression that hee was Deus optimus maximus an infinite goodnesse and an infinite greatnesse All soveraigne Princes have some Characters of Divinity imprinted on them they are set up in their dominions to bee Optimi Maximi that they should exercise a goodnesse proportionable to their greatnesse That Law terme Laesa Majestas whereby they expresse that which wee call Treason was never more thorowly fulfilled then now there cannot bee a greater laesion or diminution of Majestie then to bereave a King of the glory of his goodnesse It is goodnesse My Lords that can produce not onely to his people but likewise to himself honour and happiness There are Principalities Thrones and Dominions amongst the Divels greatness enough but being uncapable of goodness they are made uncapable both of honour and happinesse The Lawes of this Kingdome have invested the Royall Crowne with power sufficient for the manifestation of his goodness and of his greatness if more bee required it is like to have no other effects but povertie weaknesse and miserie whereof of late wee have had very wofull experience It is farre from the Commons to desire any abridgement of those great Prerogatives which belong to the King they know that their own Liberty Peace are preserved and secured by his Prerogative they will alwayes be ready to support and supply his Majesty with their lives and fortunes for the maintenance of his just and lawfull Power This My Mords is in all our thoughts in our prayers and I hope will so be manifested in our indeavours that if the proceedings of this Parliament bee not interrupted as others have beene the King may within a few moneths bee put into a cleare way of as much greatnesse plenty and glory as any of his Royall Ancestors have enjoyed A King and his People make one Body the inferiour parts conferre nourishment and strength the superiour sense and motion If there be an interruption of this necessary intercourse of bloud and spirits the whole Body must needs bee subject to decay and distemper therefore obstructions are first to bee removed before restoratives can be applyed This My Lords is the end of this Accusation whereby the Commons seeke to remove this person whom they conceive to have beene a great cause of the obstructions betwixt his Majesty and his People for the effecting whereof they have commanded mee to desire your Lordships that their proceedings against him may bee put into as speedy a way of dispatch as the courses of Parliaments will allow First that hee may bee called to answer and they may have liberty to reply that there may bee a quick and secret examination of witnesses and they may from time to time bee acquainted with the depositions that so when the cause shall bee ripe for Judgement they may collect the severall Examinations and represent to your Lordships in one entire Body the state of the Proofes as now by mee they have presented to you the state of the Charge Mr. PYM his SPEECH After the Articles of the Charge against Sr. GEORGE RATCLIFFE were read My LORDS BY hearing this Charge your Lordships may perceive what neere conjunction there is betweene this Cause and the Earle of STRAFFORDS the materials are for the most part the same in both the offences of the Earle moving from an higher Orb are more comprehensive they extend both to England and Ireland these except in one particular of reducing of England by the Irish Army are confined within one Kingdome the Earle is charged as an Authour Sir GEORGE RATCLIFFE as an Instrument and subordinate Actor The influences of superiour Planets are often augmented and inforced but seldome mitigated by the concurrence of the inferiour where merit doth arise not from well-doing but from ill the officiousnesse of ministers will rather adde to the malignity of their Instructions then diminish it that so they may more fully ingratiate themselves with those upon whom they depend In the crimes committed by the Earle there appears more haughtinesse and fiercenesse being acted by his owne principles those motions are ever strongest which are neerest the Primum mobile But in those of Sir GEORGE RATCLIFFE there seemes to be more basenesse and servility having resigned and subjected himselfe to bee acted by the corrupt will of onother The Earle of STRAFFORD hath not beene bred in the study and practice of the Law and having stronger lusts and passions to incite and lesse knowledge to restraine him might more easily be transported from the Rule Sir GEORGE RATCLIFFE in his naturall temper and disposition more moderate and by his education and profession better acquainted with the grounds and directions of the Law was carried into his offences by a more immediate Concurrence of will and a more corrupt suppression of his owne Reason and Judgement My Lords as both these have beene partners in offending so it is the desire of the Commons they may bee put under such tryall and examination and other proceedings of justice as may bring them to partake in a deserved punishment for the safety and good of both Kingdomes Mr SPEAKERS SPEECH At the presenting of these three BILLS viz. An Act For the shortning of Michaelmas Terme For the pressing of Mariners for the Kings Ships For the remainder of the six entire Subsidies May it please your most excellent Majesty THE great security of the Kingdome rests in the happy concurrence of the King and people in the unity of their hearts These joyned safety and plenty attends the Scepter but divided distraction and confusion as Bryers and Thorns overspreads and makes the Land barren No peace to the King No prosperity to the people The duties and affections of your subjects are most transparent most cleare in the cheerfull and most liberall contributions given to knit fast this union with
My Lord Keeper did first let us know that his Majesty had commanded the Lords Commissioners of the great Councell to give an account of their Treaties at Yorke and Rippon to both Houses and of his Majesties gracious intentions in a businesse so much importing the honour and safety of the Kingdome that there might be made a faithfull relation with all candor and clearnesse which was the summe of his Majesties instructions His Lordship declaring that my Lords of the upper House for the saving of time had thought fit to give this account to a Committee of both Houses which hath occasioned the meeting at this Conference and election being made of the Earle of Bristoll by the Lords Commissioners he began his Narration directed to the Lords of the upper House and to the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the house of Commons and thus the Earle of Bristoll began That the Lords Commissioners intended not to looke further back into the businesse then the Acts of their own imployments They did intend to give no account of the pacification interrupted nor war renewed no account how the Armies in England Ireland and by Sea were designed nor of any occasion They purposed not to lay fault upon any man nor to enquire into the cause why the Scots as they pretended from necessity were drawne to enter this Kingdome nor why the Kings Army when service was to be done was out of the way But that those through whose hands these have passed might hereafter give their own account His Lordship told us that his Majesty was pleased to call his great Councell at Yorke to whom he made two propositions The first was how his Army which seemed to be in distresse for want of pay should be relieved and maintained To this to shew their duties to the King the Lords resolved to ingage themselves and to that purpose to send chosen Deputies to London to negotiate a supply The second proposition was that after the Scots had passed Northumberland taken Newcastle and possessed the Bishopricke of Duresme they sent a Petition to his Majesty which containeth in generall termes a desire to have their grievances taken into consideration Which Petition and Answer thereunto was read unto us A. N. A. and presented for our clearer understanding Upon receipt of his Majesties Answer the Scotish Lords sent his Majesty a second Petition directed in a Letter to the Earle of Lanrick K. Q. in which they made their particular demands and declared that according to his Majesties command they would advance no further and this Petition was also read and delivered unto us of which his Lordship desired that great Assembly to take especiall notice for that much of the future discourse would depend upon it The businesse thus stated at the great Councell the second proposition was what Answer should be made to that Petionary Letter and in what manner it should be carried In which his Majesty required their Councell Whereupon the Lords replyed that it was impossible for them to give any well grounded advice unlesse the true state of his affaires and the Condition of his Army were laid before them Whereupon his Majesty commanded the Earle of Traquaire N. L. to make the Narration of the Scotish businesse and their late Acts of Parliament and the Lord Lievtenant generall to give an account in what condition the Army stood and what was answered by my Lord Lievtenant was read in his owne words Besides this declaration the Earle of Bristoll delivered upon a further enquiry how the state of the businesse then stood That the Scots Army had passed Northumberland without resistance that they had disputed the passage of the River of Tyne at Newburne where our horse retyred in disorder that his Majesties foot Army consisting of twelve or fourteene thousand men in Newcastle likewise retired to Yorke whereby the Towne of Newcastle a place of great consideration was without one stroke strucken fallen into the Scots hands and the Bishopricke of Duresme drawn under Contribution That in this state the Gentry of the Bishopricke repayred to Master Treasurer who carryed them to his Majesty from whom they were referred to my Lord Lievtenant of the Army who gave them this answer positively That they could looke for no help nor protection from the King and therefore they might use the best meanes they could to preserve their lives and estates Whereby those distressed Provinces the ancient Bulwarks of this Kingdome full of brave and valiant men being now fallen into the power of an Army which of necessity must live were forced to consent to a contribution by Treaty and a very heavy one though such without which the Scotish Army could not subsist The agreement was 350. l. a day for the Bishopricke of Duresme 300. l. a day for Northumberland 200. a day for the Towne of Newcastle in all 850. l. a day which should it continue would amount unto 300000. l. for one yeare These Gentlemen much lamented their estates that the Scots should be irritated as they call it by being proclaimed Traytors His Lordship made a little digression and asked leave to speake truth in such language as the Scots had presented their state unto them That having proclamation made against them being threatned with a great Army of thirty or forty thousand men another of ten thousand out of Ireland and by Parliament declared Traytors and Rebels and having heard of another Army providing of eight or ten thousand by shipping to hinder their Trade at least their Commerce with England that they were drawne together by necessity as they pretended of defence further alledging that it was a common discourse of which they had seene papers that they should bee reduced into a Province which would be but one Summers worke and therefore they having drawne their power together as any Nation would doe and being assembled and their Country being poore taking advantage of the time and that all those Armies that should oppose them were out of the way and those unfortunate Provinces left like a list of Cloath they were forced to enter in England that thus they had lamented and thus the state stood before the Lords when it was examined in the great Councell Thus their Lordships found that the Scots had increased their confines neere fourescore miles in England and had passed the Rivers of Tweed and Tyne and that the River of Tees the boundary of Yorkeshire Duresme being possessed was not to be defended being foordable in many places by forty horse a front that if the Scots should passe that River there was no possibility to hinder them from comming to Yorke or to any part of England without hazarding a Battell which my Lord Lievtenant had declared unto them he would not advise for though the Kings Army consisted of seventeene or eighteene thousand good bodies of men yet being untrained and unused to Armes he would be loath to hazzard such an Adventure upon them but if they
would scarce remunerat the iniuries repay the losses of this suffering Nation since the pronouncing of that fatall sentence What proportionable satisfaction then can this Common-wealth receive in the punishment of a few inconsiderable Delinquents But 't is a Rule valid in Law approved in equity that Qui non habent in crumen Luant in Corpore And 't is without all question in policy exemplar punishments conduce more to the safety of a State than pecuniary reparations Hope of impunity lulls every bad-great-officer into security for his time and who would not venture to raise a Fortune when the allurements of honour and wealth are so prevalent if the worst is can fall be but Restitution We see the bad effects of this bold-erroneous opinion what was at first but corrupt Law by encouragement taken from their impunity is since become false Doctrine the people taught in Pulpits they have no property Kings instructed in that destructive principle that all is theirs and is thence deduc'd into necessary state-policy whispered in counsell That he is no Monarch who is bounded by any Law By which bad consequences the best of Kings hath bin by the infusion of such poysonous positions diverted from the sweet inclinations of his own Naturall Equity and Justice the very essence of a King taken from him which is preservation of his people and whereas Salus populi is or should be Suprema Lex the power of undoing us is masqu'd under the stile of what should be Sacred Royall Prerogative And is it not high time for us to make examples of the first authors of this subverted Law bad Counsell worse Doctrine Let no man think to divert us from the pursuit of Iustice by poysoning the clear streams of our affections with jealous sears of his Majesties Interruption if we look too high Shall we therefore doubt of Iustice because we have need of great Justice We may be confident the King well knows That his Iustice is the Band of our Allegiance That 't is the staffe the proof of his Soveraignty 'T is a happy assurance of his intentions of grace to us that our loyalty hath at last won him to tender the safety of his people and certainly all our pressures weighed this 12 yeers last past it will be found the passive loyalty of this suffering Nation hath our-done the active duty of all Times and Stories As the Poet hath it fortiter ille facit qui miser esse potest I may as properly say Fideliter fecimus we have done loyally to suffer so patiently Then since our Royall Lord hath in mercy visited us let us not doubt but in his Justice he will redeem his people Qui timidè rogat docet negare But when Religion is innovated our Liberties violated our Fundamentall Laws abrogated our modern Laws already obsoleted the propriety of our Estates alienated Nothing left us we can call our own but our misery and our patience if ever any Nation might iustifiably this certainly may now now most properly most seasonably cry out and cry aloud vel Sacra Regnet Iustitia vel Ruat Coelum Mr. Speaker the summe of my humble motion is that a speciall Committee may be appointed to examine the whole carriage of that Extraiudiciall iudgement Who were the Counsellors Soliciters and subscribers to the same the reasons of their Subscription whether according to their opinions by importunity or pressure of others whether proforma tantum And upon report thereof to draw up a charge against the guilty and then Lex Currat Fiat Iustitia A brief Discourse concerning the power of the Peers and Commons of Parliament in point of Iudjcature SIR to give you as short an account of your desires as I can I must crave leave to lay you as a ground the frame or first modell of this State When after the period of the Saxon time Harold had lifted himself into the Royall Seat the Great men to whom but lately he was no more equall either in fortune or power disdaining this act of arrogancy called in William then Duke of Normandy a Prince more active than any in these Western parts and renowned for many victories he had fortunately atchieved against the French King then the most potent Monarch in Europe This Duke led along with him to this work of glory many of the younger sons of the best families of Normandy Picardy and Flanders who as undertakers accompanied the undertaking of this fortunate man The Usurper slain and the Crown by war gained to secure certain to his posterity what he had so suddenly gotten he shared out his purchase retaining in each County a portion to support the Dignity Soveraign which was styled Demenia Regni now the ancient Demeans and assigning to others his adventures such portions as suited to himself dependancy of their personall service except such Lands as in free Almes were the portion of the Church these were styled Barones Regis the Kings immediate Freeholders for the word Baro imported then no more As the King to these so these to their followers subdivided part of their shares into Knights fees and their Tenants were called Barones Comites or the like for we finde as in the Kings Writ in their Writs Baronibus suis Francois Anglois the Soveraigne gifts for the most part extending to whole Counties or Hundreds an Earl being Lord of the one and a Baron of the inferiour donations to Lords of Town-ships or Mannors And thus the Land so was all course of Iudicature divided even from the meanest to the highest portion each severall had his Court of Law preserving still the Mannor of our Ancestors the Saxons who jura per pages reddebant and these are still tearmed Court-Barons or the Freeholders Court twelve usually in number who with the Thame or chief Lord were Iudges The Hundred was next where the Hundredus or Aldermanus Lord of the Hundred with the chief Lord of each Township within their limits iudged Gods people observed this form in the publike Centureonis decam Judicabant plebem omni tempore The County or Generale placitum was the next this was so to supply the defect or remedy the corruption of the inferiour Vbi Curiae Dominorum probantur defecisse pertinet ad vice comitem Provinciarum the Iudges here were Comites vice comites Barones Comitatus qui liberas in hoc terras babeant The last and supreme and proper to our question was generale placitum apud London universalis Synodus in Charters of the Conquerour Capitalis curia by Glanvile Magnum Commune consilium coram Rege magnatibus suis In the Rolles of Henry the 3. It is not stative but summoned by Proclamation Edicitur generale placitum apud London saith the book of Abingdon whether Epium Duces principes Satrapae Rectores Causidici ex omni parte confluxerunt ad istam curiam saith Glanvile Causes were referred Propter aliquam dubitationem quae emergit in comitatu cum
à me alienum puto was indeed the saying of the Comedian but it might well have becom'd the mouth of the greatest Philosopher We allow to sense all the works and operations of sense and shall we restrain reason must onely man be hindered from his proper actions They are most fit to do reasonable things that are most reasonable For Science commonly is accompanied with conscience So is not ignorance they seldome or never meet And why should we take that capacity from them which God and nature have so liberally bestowed My Lords the politike body of the Common-wealth is analogicall to the body naturall every member in that contributes something to the contribution of the whole the superfluity or defect which hinders the performance of that duty your Lordships know what the Philosopher calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Natures sin And truely my Lords to be part of the other body and do nothing beneficiall thereunto cannot fall under a milder term The common-wealth subsists by laws and their execution and they that have neither head in the making nor hand in the executing of them conferre not any thing to the being or well being thereof And can such be called members unlesse most unprofitable ones onely fruges consumere nati Me thinks it springs from nature it self or the very depths of Justice that none should be tied by other Laws than himself makes for what more naturall or just than to be bound onely by his own consent to be ruled by anothers will is meerly tyrannicall Nature there suffers violence and man degenerates into beast The most flourishing Estates were ever governed by Laws of an universall constitution witnesse this our Kingdom witnesse Senatus populusque Romanus the most glorious Common-wealth that ever was and those many others in Greece and elsewhere of eternall memory Some things my Lords are so evident in themselves that they are difficult in their proofs Amongst them I reckon this inconveniency I have spoken of I will therefore use but a word or two more in this way The long experience that all Christendom hath had hereof for these 1300 yeers is certainly argumentum ad bominem Nay my Lords I will go further for the same reason runs thorow all Religions never was there any Nation that employed not their religious men in the greatest affairs But to come to the businesse that lies now before your Lordships Bishops have voted here ever since Parliaments began and long before were imployed in the publike The good they have done your Lordships all well know and at this day enjoy for this I hope ye will not put them out nor for the evill they may do which yet your Lordships do not know and I am confident never shal suffer A position ought not to be destroyed by a supposition à posse ad esse non valet consequentia My Lords I have done with proving of this positively I shall now by your good favours do it negatively in answering some inconveniences that may seem to arise Object 1 For the Text No man that warres intangles himself with the affairs of this life which is the full sense of the word both in Greek and Latine it makes not at all against them except to intermeddle and intangle be tearms equivalent Besides my Lords though this was directed to a Church-man yet it is of a generall nature and reaches to all Clergy and Laity as the most learned and best expositors unanimously do agree To end this Argumentum symbolicum non est argumentativum Object 2 It may be said that it is inconsistent with a spirituall vocation truely my Lords Grace and Nature are in some respects incompossible but in some others most harmoniously agree it perfects nature and raises it to a heighth above the common altitude and makes it most fit for those great works of God himself to make Laws to do Iustice There is then no inconsistency between themselves it must arise out of Scripture I am confident it doth not formally out of any place there nor did I ever meet with any learned Writer of these or other times that so expounded any Text. Object 3 But though in strict tearms this be not inconsistent yet it may peradventure hinder the duty of their other calling My Lords there is not any that sits here more for preaching than I am I know it is the ordinary means to salvation yet I likewise know there is not that full necessity of it as was in the primitive times God defend that 1600 yeers acquaintance should make the Gospel of Christ no better known unto us Neither my Lords doth their office meerly and wholly consist in preaching but partly in that partly in praying and administring the blessed Sacraments in a godly and exemplary life in wholsome admonitions in exhortations to vertue dehortations from vice and partly in easing the burdened conscience These my Lords compleat the office of a Church-man Nor are they altogether tied to time or place though I confesse they are most properly exercised within their own verge except upon good occasion nor then the omission of some can be tearmed the breach of them all I must adde one more an essentiall one the very form of Episcopacy that distinguisheth it from the inferiour Ministry the orderly and good government of the Church and how many of these I am sure not the last my Lords is interrupted by their sitting here once in 3 yeers and then peradventure but a very short time and can there be a greater occasion than the common good of the Church and State I will tell your Lordships what the great and good Emperour Constantine did in his expedition against the Persians he had his Bishops with him whom he consulted with about his military affairs as Eusebius has it in his life lib. 4. c. 56. Object 4 Reward and punishment are the great negotiators in all worldly businesses these may be said to make the Bishops swim against the stream of their consciences and may not the same be said of the Laity Have these no operations but onely upon them Has the King neither frown honour nor offices but onely for Bishops Is there is nothing that answers their translations Indeed my Lords I must needs say that in charity it is a supposition not to be supposed no nor in reason that they will go against the light of their understanding The holinesse of their calling their knowledge their freedoms from passions and affections to which youth is very obnoxious their vicinity to the gates of death which though not shut to any yet alwayes stand wide open to old age these my Lords will surely make them steer aright But of matter of fact there is no disputation some of them have done ill Crimine ab uno disce omnes is a poeticall not a logicall argument Some of the Judges have done so some of the Magistrates and Officers and shall there be therefore neither Iudge Magistrate nor Officer more A personall
gentler and kinder to us then the Law speciall provision is made no fine no punishment shall be lesse then by the law is appointed by no means but as much greater as your discretion shall think sit and indeed in this improvement we find Arbitrary Courts are very pregnant if the Law require my good behaviour this discretion makes me close Prisoner if the Law sets me upon the Pillory this discretion appoints me to leave my cares there But this proceeding according to discretion is no new expression 't was in the first Commission I told your Lordships of in the 31. Hen. 8. that they should proceed secundum legem consuetudinem Regni Angliae vel aliter secundum sanos discretiones vestras which in the interpretation of the Law and that is the best interpretation signifies the same thing to proceed according to discretion is to proceed according to Law which is summa discretio but not according to their private conceit or affection For talis discretio saies the law discretionem confundit and such a confusion hath this discretion in these Instructions produced as if discretion were onely removed from rage and fury no inconvenience no mischiefe no disgrace that the malice or insolence or curiosity of these Commissioners had a minde to bring upon that people but through the latitude and power of this discretion the poore people have felt this discretion hath been the quickesand which hath swallowed up their property their liberty I beseech your Lordships rescue them from this discretion Besides the charge that this Court is to his Majesty which is neer 1300. l. per annum your Lorâ—ships will easily guesse what an unsupportable burthen the many officers whose places are of great value the Atturnies Clarks Registers and above 1000. Sollicitors that attend the Courts must be to that people insomuch that in truth the Country seems to be divided into officers and dependants upon that Court And the people upon whom these officers of that Court prey and commit rapines as he said in Petronius Omnes hic aut captantur aut captant aut cadavere quae laterentur aut corni quae laterunt Truly my Lords these vexed worn-people of the North are not sutors to your Lordships to regulate this Court or to reform the judges of it but for extirpating these Judges and the utter abolishing this Court they are of Catoes minde who would not submit to Caesar for his life saying he would not be beholding to a Tyrant for injustice for it was injustice in him to take upon him to save a mans life over whom he had no power So these Gentlemen desire not to be beholding to this Court hereafter for injustice The very administration of injustice founded upon such illegall principles being a grievance and oppression to the subject First upon the whol matter the House of Commons is of opinion that the Commission and Instructions whereby the President and Councell of the North exercise a Jurisdiction is illegall both in the creation and execution Secondly that it is improfitable to his Majesty for besides so much neer thirteen hundred pound taken out of his Majesties revenues every year his Majesty loseth the great benefit would accrew to him upon writs and upon Fines upon Out-laws and other profits which redound to his Majesty out of his Court here And which I had almost forgot to tell your Lordships of that his Majesty may be sure to have benefit from that Court notable care is taken by the fiftty three Instructions And if any money remaines over and above all disbursements it shall be bestowed in providing Houshold-stuffe and furniture for the house where the Lord President and Councell use to be And lastly that it is inconvenient and grievous to His Majesties subjects of those parts And therefore they are humble Sutors to your Lordships and the house of Commons on this behalfe that since this people doe and have in all matters of duty and affection contend with the best of His Majesties subjects that they may not be distinguished from them in the manner of His Majesties Justice and protection since this Court originally instituted continued by his Majesty for the ease and benefit of his subjects is apparently inverted to the burthen and discomfort of them that your Lordships will joyn with the House of Commons in beseeching His Majesty that the present Commission may be revoked and no more such granted for the future A Speech of Master John White Counsellour concerning Episcopacy EPiscopacy as it stands in this kingdom comprehends in it in linea recta these foure degrees the Deacon the Presbyter the Bishop and the Archbishop Every Archbishop wades through every of these ordinarily Of the first and last we have no vestigium in the holy scriptures This Deacon may Preach and Baptize help the Presbyter to administer the Lords Supper Book of ordering of Deacons but may not consecrate the Elements in the Lords Supper contrary to the Scriptures by which Preach and Baptize is a full Commission for the exercise of all the ministeriall function Mat. 28.19 The Deacon mentioned in holy Scripture is the same in Office with our Church-warden to looke to the Church goods and the poore Acts 6. 1 Tim. 3. The Presbyter is of all hands acknowledged to be Jure Divino The Bishop is considerable in respect of his trayn and secondly in respect of himself His trayn are these first the Dean and Chapter called Prebends quia praeherent auxilium Episcopo and were originally ordained for his Counsell to advise him in difficulties in Religion and to advise him in and consent unto his dispositions of his possessions Cok. r. 3. Dean and Chapter of Norwiches case Secondly the Archdeacon is the oculus Episcopi to discover and punish offences spirituall and Ecclesiasticall within his limits manus Episcopi to present unto him such as are to be made Deacons and Presbyters and to induct such as he admits and institutes into Benefices Thirdly his Chancellors Vicars Generall Commissaries Officials Surrogates Registers Promotors and others belonging to his Cathedrals These be all meerly humane and may be taken away without offence to God or conscience if there appeare just cause for it The Bishop in respect of himselfe is considerable in his Barony and temporalties and his spiritualties The first is meerly Exgratia Regis and in this kingdome began 4. of William the Conquerour Case of tenures 35. a. And by vertue hereof they have had place in the house of Peers in Parliament 7. H. 8.1846 Kel it is resolved by all the Judges of England that the King may hold his Parliament by himselfe his temporall Lords and Commons without any Bishop for a Bishop hath not any place in Parliament by reason of his spiritualties but meerly by reason of his Baronry and accordingly acts of Parliament have been made 2 Rich. 3. cap. 3. and at divers other times They have usurped the name of Spirituall Lords
inclining and returning to Popery and the Religion of Antichirst as hath most cleerly appeared even in our daies as well as before since the restoring of Religion I shall for this time instance onely in three places of the Rubrick corrupted by Bishops In the Rubrick confirmed by act of Parliament in the beginning of it It is directed that prayer shall be in such place of the Church or Chancell and the Minister shall so turne him as the people may best heare In the Rubrick as it is now Printed prayer shall be used in the accustomed place c. except it shall be otherwise determined by the Ordinary Whereby they have introduced the Popish practice of reading Prayers at the upper end of the Chancell at their Altar where few in the Church can see them and fewer heare them and turning their faces to the East and their backs to the people in reading in the Desk and colour all with the determination of the Ordinary Secondly in the Letany there are these words in the book of Common prayer confirmed by the Statutes of 5. and 6. Ed. 6. and of 1 Eliz. From the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities good Lord deliver us and that the Bishops in the latter books have caused to be left out wholly Thirdly in the Rubrick concerning the administration of the Lords Supper as it stands now altered an excellent declaration of the reason why kneeling at this Sacrament was left in the reformation and a renunciation of Transubstantiation Consubstantiation adoration of the bread and wine as abhominable Idolatries are wholly obliterate and left out that the use of that gesture there might be rendred the more suspicious and superstitious and a more clear way might be made to induce the Popish superstitious innovations that have been since obtruded upon us concerning the Table Altar supreminent presence of God almighty there cringings Altar-worship and the like And I conceive alterations were made by the Bishops as appeares unto me by the Proclamation they procured to be set forth 5. Martii 1. Jac. concerning the booke of Common prayer And how can things prosper better in the hands of the Episcopacy when Gods blessing alone giveth out prosperity and the Lord disposeth his blessing in his owne way only and not in any other And this being no plant planted by God in his Church how can it be expected it should yeeld us any better fruits then we have received from it Againe if I be not much deceived the Episcopacy in whatsoever it exceeds the Presbyters office in which sense only I speak of it is abranch of the Hierarchy of Rome and of the Antichrist and of that consider what is prophesied Revel 14.11 They shall not have any rest day nor night that receive any print of the name of the Beast and examine the former and present times whether the same hath not been verified among us and in all such places where that Hierarchy hath been entertained whether the most troubles and miseries of the Churches and in great part also of the Common-wealth have not sprung from the said Episcopacy and the fruites thereof Therefore let us proceed to the perfecting of the Reformation of our Church and to the gathering out of it every stone that offends even whatsoever is not according to God and the standard of his word and reduce every thing in the government to the rule and walke in it in Gods way which is the sure way to have his presence with us and blessing upon us and ours for ever It hath ever been a point of higher honour from God and of greater acceptance and esteem with him to advance the reformation of his Church and worship 2 Cro. 17.6 3. iIâ— 1 Kings 15.14 2 Kings 12.3 1 Cron. 28.16 Zac. 4.7 and was ever will be a reproach from him and blot upon such as have left any thing not agreeable to his word unreformed and not taken away Up then let us be doing and the Lord will goe before us and make plain all mountains that may occurre in our way and give a blessed issue and successe To the honorable Houses of Parliament now assembled The humble Petition of many of the Inhabitants within his Majesties County of Kent Most humbly shewing THat by sad experience we doe daily finde the Government of the Church of England by Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans and Arch-Deacons with their Courts Jurisdictions and Administrations by them and their inferiour Officers to be very dangerous both to Church and Commonwealth to be the occasions of manifold Grievances unto his Majesties Subjects in their Consciences Liberties and Estates and likely to be fatall unto us in the continuance thereof the dangerous effects of which Lordly power in them have often appeared in these particulars following 1 They doe with a hard hand over-rule all other Ministers subjecting them to their cruell Authority 2 They doe suspend and deprive many godly Religious and painfull Ministers upon sleight and upon no grounds whilest in the mean time few of them preach the Word of God themselves and that but seldome but they doe restrain the painfull preaching of others both for Lectures and for afternoon Sermons on the Sabbath day 3 They doe countenance and have of late encouraged Papist Priests and Arminian books and persons 4 They hinder good and godly books yet they doe license to be published many Popish and Arminian and other dangerous Books and Tenents 5 They have deformed our Churches with Popish Pictures and seated them with Romish Altars 6 They have of late extolled and commended much the Church of Rome denying the Pope to be Antichrist affirming the Church of Rome to be a true Church in Fundamentals 7 They have practised and enforced antiquated and obsolete Ceremonies as standing at all Hymns and at Gloria patri turning to the East at severall parts of the Divine Service Bowing at the Altar which they term the place of Gods Refidence upon earth the reading of a second Service at the Altar and denying the holy Sacrament of the Eucharist to such as have not come up to the new set rayl before the Altar 8 They have made and confirmed new illegall Canons and Constitutions and framed a most pernitious and desperate Oath an Oath of covenant and confederacy for their own Hierarchicall greatnesse besides many other very dangerous and pernitious passages in the said Canons 9 They doe dispense with pluralities of Benefices they doe both prohibit and grant Marriages neither of them by the rule of Law or Conscience but doe prohibit that they may grant and grant that they may have money 10 They have procured a licentious liberty for the Lords day and have pressed the strict observation of the Saints Holydayes and doe punish suspend and deprive godly Ministers for not publishing that book for liberty of sports on the Sabbath day 11 They doe generally abuse the great Ordinance of Excommunication making a great gain of it