very much of this and Ambition sticks so close to Humane Nature as that it follows it into all Professions and Estates of Men And I would to God Clergy-Men had been freer from this Fault than Histories testifie they have But this hath been but the fault of some many Reverend Bishops in all Ages have been clear of it and 't is a personal Corruption in whomsoever it is and cannot justly be charged upon the Calling as this Lord lays it Neither have the worst of them some Popes of Rome excepted been the common Incendiaries of the Christian World But Incendiaries is grown a great word of late with this Lord and some of the poor Bishops of England have been made Incendiaries too by him and his Party But might it please God to shew some token upon us for good that they which hate us may see it and be ashamed Psalm 86. 17. there would be a full discovery who have been the Incendiaries indeed in these Troubles of England and then I make no question but it will appear that this Lord flames as high and as dangerously as any Man living But behold saith God all ye that kindle a Fire that compass your selves about with Sparks walk in the light of your own Fire and in the Sparks which your selves have kindled This shall ye have of my hand ye shall lie down in Sorrow Isai. 50. 11. Next I pray be pleased to consider how unworthily and fallaciously withal this Lord manages this Proof For all this Discourse tends to prove it unlawful for Bishops to intermeddle in Secular Affairs that so to do is hurtful to themselves in Conscience and in Credit and to others also by this their irregular Motion And this he proves by their never ceasing from Contention one with another either about the Precedency of their Sees or Churches They have indeed some and sometimes contended too eagerly for their Sees and Churches but neither all nor any that I know with a never-ceasing but the Bishop of Rome for his Supremacy And say this were so yet these Contentions were about their own proper Places not about Civil Affairs which now should lie before his Lordship in Proof and therefore was no irregular Motion of theirs in regard of the Object but only in regard of the manner Nor were they out of their Orb for this though faulty enough The like is to be said for that which follows their Excommunicating one another upon these Quarrels As for their drawing of Princes to be Parties with them thereby casting them into bloody Wars this hath seldom happened and whenever it hath happened some Church business or other hath unhappily set it on not their meddling in Temporal Affairs But whatever caused it the Crime of such misleading of Princes is very odious and as hateful to me as it can be to his Lordship But the Persons must bear their own Faults and not the Calling and sure I am this Lord would think me very wild if I should charge the antient Barons Wars in England upon his Lordship and the Honourable Barons now living But howsoever by this 't is plain that this Lord would not only have the Bishops turned out of all Civil Employments but out of their Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions also They must have no Power nor Superiority there neither their Sees must be laid as level as Parity can make them For all these Mischiefs came on saith he as soon as they were once advanced above their Brethren And one thing more I shall take occasion to say Here 's great Clamour made against the Bishops and their meddling in Civil Affairs but what if the Presbytery do as much or more Do they Sin too by breaking out of their Orb and neglecting the Work of the Ministery No by no means Only the Bishops are faulty For do you think that Calvin would have taken on him the Umpirage and composing of so many Civil Causes as he did order between Neighbours if so great Sin had accompanied it For he dealt in Civil Causes and had Power to inflict Civil Punishments in his Consistory For he committed divers to Prison for Dancing and those not mean ones neither and he arbitrated divers Causes and in a great Controversie between the Senate of Geneva and a Gentleman he tells one Frumentius who laboured for a Reconciliation that the Church of Geneva was not so destitute but that Fratres mei saith he huic Provinciae subeundae pares futuri essent some of his Brethren might have been fit for that Work Belike he took it ill that in such a Business though meerly Civil he and his Fellow-Ministers should be left out And for matters in the Common-wealth he had so great Power in the Senate and with the People that all things were carried as he pleased And himself brags of it that the Senate was his and the People his And to encrease his Strength and make it more formidable he brought in Fifty or more of the French his Country-men and Friends and by his solicitation made them Free Denizons of the City of which and the Troubles thence arising he gave an account to Bullinger Anno 1555. Or can you think that Beza would have taken upon him so much Secular Employment had he thought it unlawful so to do For whereas in the Form of the Civil Government of that City out of the Two hundred prime Men there was a perpetual Senate chosen of Sixty as Bodin tells us my worthy Predecessour Arch-Bishop Bancroft assures me Beza was one of these Threescore And yet what a crying Sin is it grown in a Bishop to be honoured with a Seat at the Council-Table Besides this when Geneva sent a solemn Embassie to Henry IV. of France about the razing of a Fort which was built near their City by the Duke of Savoy Beza would needs go along to commend that Spiritual Cause unto the King and how far he dealt and laid Grounds for others to deal in all such Civil Causes as were but in Ordine ad Spiritualia is manifest by himself And I am sure Laesus proximus may reach into the Cognizance of almost all Civil Causes Or can any Man imagine that so Religious a Man as Mr. Damport the late Parson of St. Stephen's in Coleman-street would have done the like to no small hindrance to Westminster-Hall had he thought that by this meddling he had hurt both his Conscience and his Credit whereas good Man he fled into New-England to preserve both Or if Mr. Alexander Henderson would have come along with the Scottish Army into England and been a Commissioner as he was in that whole Treaty wherein many of their Acts of Parliament concerning the Civil Government of that Kingdom were deliberated upon and confirm'd if he had thought his so doing inconsistent with his Calling Or that the Scots being so Religious as they then were even to the taking up of Arms against their King for Religion
Lord and others it may be made ready to receive them Now this Lord having thus belaboured these two Points that Bishops by meddling in Civil Affairs do hurt themselves in their Consciences and in their Credits he proceeds to instruct us farther And thus As these things hurt themselves in their Consciences and Credits so have they and if they be continued still will make them hurtful to others The Reason is because they break out of their own Orb and move irregularly There is a Carse upon their leaving their own Place My Lord is now come to his second general part of his Speech and means to prove it if he can that Bishops by any kind of meddling in Civil Affairs do not only hurt themselves in Conscience and in Credit but also if they continue in them they will make them hurtful to others also And that he may seem to say nothing without a Reason his Lordship tells us the Reason of this is because they break out of their own Orb and move irregularly But I conceive this Reason weak enough For first as is before proved these Stars to follow my Lord in his Metaphor are not so fixed to their Orb of Preaching the Gospel but that they may do other things also at other times so this be not neglected And therefore it will not follow that all their Motions out of this Orb are irregular Secondly when they do thus move they are not violently to break out of their Orb but to sit still till Authority find cause to call any of them a little aside to attend Civil Affairs that they may proceed never the worse and the Gospel the better As for that Curse which this Lord speaks of which follows upon their leaving of their own Place I know of none nor any leaving of their own Place This I am sure of whatever this Lord says that many extraordinary Blestings and Successes have come both upon this Kingdom and other Nations by Counsels given by Clergy-Men and I pray God his Counsels such as they have been do not bring Dishonour and a Curse to boot upon this Church and Kingdom But his Lordship goes on with his Metaphor and argues very strongly by Similitudes which hath but a Similitude of Argumentation The Heavenly Bodies while they keep within their own Spheres give Light and Comfort to the World but if they should break out and 〈◊〉 from their regular and proper Motions they would set the World on 〈◊〉 So have these done While they kept themselves to the Work of the Ministery alone and gave themselves to Prayer and the Ministery of the Word according to the Example of the Apostles the World received the greatest Benefits from them they were the Light and Life thereof But when their Ambition cast them down like Stars from 〈◊〉 to Earth and they did grow once to be advanced above their Brethren I do appeal to all who have been versed in the antient Ecclesiastical History or modern Histories whether they have not been the common Incondiaries of the Christian World never ceasing from Contention one with another about the Precedency of their Sees and Churches Excommunicating one another drawing Princes to be Parties with them and thereby casting them into bloody Wars This Argument is grounded upon si 〈◊〉 ruat if Heaven falls we shall get store of Larks But Heaven cannot sall and so 't is here The Heavenly Bodies while they keep within their own Spheres give Light and Comfort to the World but if they should break out which is impossible and fall from their Regular Motions which cannot possibly be they would set the World on fire or perhaps drown it again had not God promised the contrary according as the Irregular Motion bended So have these done Nay not so with this Lord's leave For First Clergy-Men are not so fixed to their Orbs as those Heavenly Bodies are but in themselves are free and voluntary Agents which those Bodies are not And Secondly they may and ought as occasion is offered them do many things in publick Civil Affairs which may much advantage the Gospel of Christ and they will never Fire the World by such attendance upon them and they may and ought give themselves to Prayer and to the Ministery of the Word notwithstanding this and they may be the same Benefits to the World of Light and Life as before Yea and I make no doubt but that when this Lord and his Followers will be as liberal and devout as the Primitive Christians were who sold their Land and 〈◊〉 the Money and laid it at the Apostles Feet Acts 4. 37. to make a Stock for their and the Church's Wants the Bishops will be well content to follow the Apostles Example as far and as well as they can But if the Bishops may meddle with no Temporal Affairs according to the Example of the Apostles how came the Apostles to meddle with the Receiving first and after with the Layings out of all this Money For say it was to be employed on charitable Actions yet some Diversion more or less it must needs be to the Preaching of the Gospel But since the Example and Practice of the Apostles is so often pressed by this Lord I would willingly his Lordship should tell me if he will make their Practice a Rule general and binding why now among Christians all should not be common as the Apostles and other Believers had it and that no Man might say that ought of the things which he possessed was his own Acts 4. 32. and then where is the Property of the Subject And then why do we not go up and down and Preach at large according to the Examples of the Apostles and endure neither Division of Parishes nor Parish Churches And why do we not receive the Communion after Supper at 't is well known Christ and his Apostles did Indeed if any Bishops or other Clergy-Men should become falling Stars from Heaven to Earth especially if their Sin should be so like the Devil 's as to cast themselves down by their own Ambition That as it makes the Fall heavy to them so yet I must say to this Lord that both Fall and Fault is the Person 's the Episcopal Office is not the cause of it as is here charged by him Nor did they become falling Stars so soon as they did once grow to be advanced above their Brethren as this Lord insinuates it For among the Apostles themselves there was a Chief in order S. Luke 22. 26. and some were advanced to Dignity and Power above their Brethren even in the Apostles Days whom yet I presume this Lord will not be so ill advised as to call fallen Stars As for the Appeal which he makes to all them who have been versed in Antient or Modern Ecclesiastical Histories that 's no great matter For in all Histories you shall find great Men of all sorts doing what in Honour and Duty should not be done and Ambition hath been the cause of
are professed Friends to the Presbyterial Government And though they may Speak and Print what they please at Leyden or Amsterdam yet methinks 't is a great Oversight to make them Speak by our selves and our Presses especially in the Universities For too many Men in these broken Times will be apt enough to say That we allow and approve of that Doctrine which we Print by Licence I pray speak with the Printers and let them know from me that I will not allow them to Print any Book though it hath been Printed before without new leave from the Vice-Chancellor for the time being And that if they do Print any thing without such leave I will utterly suppress them And I pray send me word in what Year of our Lord these two Books were Printed there Lambeth Feb. 7. 〈◊〉 W. Cant. ON Sunday Morn at the beginning of Sermon a Fire kindled and brake forth in Jesus College-Lane it threatned some great danger being begun among so many Thatch'd Houses But God be praised the greatest danger was that of the burning and pulling down two or three Thatch'd Houses and spoiling of poor Mens Sunday Cloths Oxford Feb. 10. 〈◊〉 Ri. Baylie THE University and the Parish of St. Mary's are agreed for the casting of their broken Bell and the Repair of their Steeple They are to go halfs which comes to 40 l. Charge to the University They raise it not out of the University Stock but by Six Pence from every one that contributes towards the Maintenance of our Privileges Oxford Feb. 17. 〈◊〉 A. Frewen LAST Week a Scholar of Trinity College was brought home hither dangerously wounded by two Theives who betwixt Wantage and Lamborne assaulted him and there took from him his Money and well-nigh his Life For wounded as he was they left him bound fast unto a Tree where he almost Perished before any passed that way to relieve him Feb. 17. 〈◊〉 A. Frewen THERE is one Ostendorpfe a Dutch Man who lives at or near the Bath He is a very Empirick or worse He hath taken his Degree of Doctorship at Leyden and as I am credibly informed hath spoken heretofore very slightly of our Universities His Practice hath been very dangerous and rash And now I hear for his better Countenance he hath a purpose to be incorporated at Oxford But I pray be very careful that it be not done upon any Pretence whatsoever for the Man certainly is an ill Deserver Lambeth Feb. 19. 〈◊〉 W. Cant. I Ever entertained a very fair Opinion of this Course for Examinations as apparently conducible unto the advancement of Learning among the Younger and the preserving the same in Masters But I confess the Course did not make so deep Impression while I barely apprehended the same as did the solemn Executions thereof while it was let in at mine Eyes and Ears being the last Week present with Mr. Vice-Chancellor and other Heads at that Exercise The Eminency of the Places for the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors at the upper end and the like on each side for the Examiners and the Examined make the Exercise passing solemn and cannot but beget an extraordinary Care in the Actors on both sides to fit themselves unto this awful Tryal For my own part upon fuller Consideration I take it to be the most absolute Course that ever was devised for the honouring of the University This single Course giving Life to the private Pains of Tutors and the publick Pains of Readers making the Auditors diligent if they come which is for their Advantage And if not so but that the Private and Publick be slack it putteth them upon a diligent search otherwise to enable themselves as Men concern'd either to give a good Account or to be left to publick Shame and Obloquy Your Grace in this one Course hath compleated all that the Founders of Colleges and Lectures intended They intended the means to make Men Scholars Your Grace applieth this Means and effecteth it I doubt not but Your Grace fully comprehended this and have had the like Expressions formerly presented unto you Yet I trust the Repetition hereof will not be ungrateful in as much as this my late Apprehension of this singular Benefit may infer that the sight and hearing of this Exercise may in like manner work upon Men in succeeding times and cause them deservedly to bless your Memory who have so completely provided for this University in this very particular as that it may for ever carry the Face and Credit of an University Oxford Feb. 17. 〈◊〉 Ri. Baylie THE two great Days after Ash-Wednesday are always left out of Form for Curates School-Masters and such like to answer upon and much the Collectors have heretofore been press'd with their Importunities which occasioned the Horse-Fair as we term it on those Days for the quicker riddance of them but no such matter this Year On Friday last there answered but one in all such a strange Alteration have our Examinations wrought Of the Two hundred Batchellors that proceed I dare say that One hundred and eighty are Residents in the University Whereas heretofore we were wont to have a third part at the least out of the Country Thus it is with us now at Lent And I expect by so much a greater change at the Act by how much such Outliers as should pretend then will have been longer absent from the University Oxford Feb. 24. 〈◊〉 A. Frewen Right Honourable and my singular good Lord IT was objected unto me at my late being in London by Persons of good Quality That our Universities of England were grown to that Corruption especially of excessive Drinking that many did Miscarry by the Liberty and ill Example which was given them there Insomuch that many to avoid the Danger did send their Sons beyond Seas for their Education Whereunto I made answer That the Humours of Men are such in this Age that Innocence and Perfection it self being in Authority could hardly avoid Calumny That the Times are much better than heretofore they were And that the Fault if there were any did much proceed from the Parents themselves who think it a great Disparagement to their Sons that they should be kept within the Limits of Discipline Notwithstanding all which and what else may justly be replied the serious Consideration of what was objected hath caused me so much to forget mine own Unworthiness as by my own Pen to intimate unto Your Grace what I have long time wished that some other would have done That the Liberty of resorting to Taverns and other Drinking-Houses and the Excess committed there is such as may give some occasion of Scandal being dangerous to Youth and shameful in others who ought to be Examples of Sobriety and Virtue Having upon this occasion enquired into Times past since the happy Reformation of this University I understand by credible Information that Dr. Pinck by his personal visiting of suspected Places left the University in this
me for Assistance according to the Proclamation and are now busie in calling their scatter'd Forces together again Oxford Wednesday the 15th of July 1640. A. Frewen At Whitehall the 22th of July 1640. PRESENT The KING's MAJESTY Lord Arch-Bishop of Cant. Lord Keeper Lord Treasurer Lord Privy Seal Lord Duke of Lenox Lord Marquis Hamilton Lord Admiral Earl of Berks Earl of Holland Earl of Traquare Lord Goring Lord Cottington Mr. Treasurer Mr. Secretary Windebanke Sir Tho. Rowe WHereas His Majesty being present at the Board did this day hear the Complaints of the Mayor Recorder and others of the City of Oxford expressed in two Letters the one of the 15th of June to the Board the other of the 4th of June to the Earl of Berks a Member of the Board concerning their Liberties in the Presence of the Vice-Chancellor and other Doctors of the University and Mr. Allibond one of the Proctors whom the said Complaint did concern After mature Debate it was ordered That the University of Oxford according to his Majesty's Gracious Letter shall have the sole Licensing of Victualling-Houses in that City and Suburbs in like manner as the University of Cambridge hath in the Town of Cambridge And for that purpose it is ordered by His Majesty with advice of the Board That the Commission for the Peace in Oxford shall be renewed and the Vice-Chancellor only made of the Quorum Secondly for the Complaint of the Building of Cottages it is ordered That the Vice-Chancellor and the Mayor shall make several Certificates of all the new Cottages built within Twenty Years and shall distinguish which of them have been built by Privileged Persons upon College Lands and which by Townsmen and which by Privileged Persons upon the Town Wast by their leave Upon return of which Cerficates their Lordships will give such farther Order therein as shall be fit Thirdly it was order'd That his Majesty's Attorney and Sollicitor-General shall examine how the Orders set down by Mr. Justice Jones for preventing of Disputes and Controversies between the University and City of Oxford have been observed and by whom there hath been any defailer therein admitted Upon Certificate whereof their Lordships will take such Order as shall be fit for the due Observance of the same Fourthly it was ordered That according to the Statute of Winchester those to whom it belongeth ought to set Watches at the Gates of the City according to the said Statute and that the said Watch continue there without walking of the Streets or moving from their Station except it be for the suppressing of any sudden Tumult or other Malefactors whereof there is not time to give notice to the Vice-Chancellor and the Proctors of the said University Lastly it is ordered That the Constable committed to Prison shall be delivered but not without paying of Fees After my hearty Commendations DR Frewen hath now born the troublesom Office of the Vice-Chancellorship of that University for the space of two whole Years which is the time now usually given to execute that Office And is certainly weight enough for any Man to bear so long In the discharge of this Office he hath through the whole course of his time carried himself with great Care Moderation and Prudence and that as well in all Businesses which relate to the Town as in those which look more immediately upon the University And among other great Services perform'd by him I cannot forbear to single out one and here publickly to give him Thanks for it even above the rest And that is the great Pains he hath taken and the singular Dexterity which he hath used in bringing the Statutes concerning the Examinations into Use and Settlement Which Statute I dare be bold to say being continued and kept up in the same Vigour to which it is now raised by his Care and Providence will be of such singular use as that for my part I cannot easily tell whether it will be greater Honour or Benefit to that University but sure I am it will be the one by the other if it be kept up to the Life as I hope it shall be Dr. Frewen's time being thus happily spent both for his own Honour and the University's Good the Care now lies upon me to name another to take up that Burthen which he lays down and to go in those steps which he hath trod out before him And I thank God for it there is such Choice of able Men in that Place for this Service that I cannot be to seek whom to name unto it But I have for the present thought upon Dr. Potter Dean of Worcester and Provost of Queen's-College as a Man whom I know to be of great Integrity and Sufficiency for that Place and of whose Care and Industry therein I am very confident To him together with the Office I do more especially recommend the Care of the Examinations in point of Learning and a most strict Watchfulness and Observance against all haunting of Taverns or any other Meetings private or publick which may any way help to suppress the base Sin of Drunkenness the Mother or the Nurse of almost all other Distempers which may bring Obloquy upon that Place These are therefore to let you know that I do hereby nominate and chuse Dr. Potter to be my Vice-Chancellor for this Year ensuing And do hereby pray and require you to allow of this my Choice and to give him all due Respect and Assistance in all things necessary for that Government and more especially in the two Particulars above-named that so Sobriety and good Manners as well as Learning may flourish in that Place And thus not doubting of your readiness and willing Obedience herein I leave both him and you to the Grace of God and rest Lambeth July 24. 1640. Your Loving Friend and Chancellor W. Cant. AND for the future I pray let not the Town so much as begin to lay the Foundation of any Cottage or any other House whatsoever in any Place but send me word of it presently that I may acquaint the Lords with it and command a stay August 3. 1640. W. Cant. UPON a late Warrant from the Deputy-Lieutenants the Mayor hath freshly pressed and set out ten new Soldiers Coat and Conduct-Money for these in their several Parishes was taxed upon all Privileged Persons not only Stationers Apothecaries that trade and use Merchandize who are more liable but upon Doctors Clayton Sanders Bambridge and all Physicians upon Mr. Crosse our Beadle on our Butlers Manciples Cooks who are our immediate Servants and deal not with any Trade All profess themselves very willing to advance His Majesty's Service especially in these base and broken Times Yet they hope by your Grace's Favour to enjoy the benefit of that Privilege which being anciently granted to our University was of late confirmed by His Majesty's Charter and is enjoy'd by the other University At my intreaty all of them in a manner have paid but their
to be understood of another Kingdom and that this Text meddles with no Temporal either Offices or Employments but that by occasion of this our Saviour preaches Humility to them yet so as still to keep up Authority and Government in the Church to which he applies it And for that other parallel Place be ye not called Rabbi S. Matth. 23. 8. that cannot prejudice all Juridiction in Men in Holy Orders as if to meddle with it were forbidden by Christ or as if it were Antichristian as now 't is made since it is plain that Christ there forbids neither the Title nor the Preheminence nor the Authority but the Vain-glorious Affectation of it ver 5 6. and that 's a Sin indeed no Man doubts And it may be observed too if this Lord pleases that this Precept was given to the People too as well as to the Disciples ver 1. and then for ought I know this Truth will come in as strongly to pull down Temporal Lords as Bishops and what will his Lordship say to that As for that which is added by this Lord If ye strive for Greatness he shall be greatest who is the greatest Servant to the rest Though the words differ somewhat from the Text yet my Lord must be content to hear that there is a twofold Greatness the one in God's account and that 's Greatness indeed And so our Saviour means it here that he is Greatest who is the greatest Servant to the rest if this Lord will needs read it so The other is in Man's account when one Man hath Power and Superiority over another and which was that which the Apostles affected In which case though our Saviour's Precept be Whosoever will be great among you let him be your Servant that is the more serviceable to you and the Church the greater he is yet these words it shall not be so with you do not deny this Authority or Greatness which one may have over another in the Church of Christ for the necessary Government thereof though they neither do nor may Domineer over their Brethren And therefore where St. Matthew reads it he that will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 first among you there St. Luke hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 greater and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chief or Leader Nor doth he say so as St. Matthew does he that would be so but he that is which argues clearly that even in our Saviour's own account and Institution too there was then and should be after his Ascension greater and less such as were to lead and such as were to be led No Parity and yet no barbarous Lording but orderly and Christian Governing in the Church And this must needs be so or else Christ lest his Church in a worse Condition than this Lord acknowledges the Civil Governments were among the Heathen which he says might lawfully govern so For I hope he will not say that even the Heathen might tyrannize If this be not sufficient this Lord puts us in mind that our Saviour says in another place That he which lays his hand to the Plough and looks back to the things of this World is not sit for the Kingdom of God that is the Preaching of the Gospel as 't is usually called St. Luke 9. ult Where first it may be doubted whether this laying of the hand to the Plough belong to the Ministers of the Gospel only or to others also For if it belongs to others as well as to them though perhaps not so much then no Christian though he be not a Minister may have to do with Worldly Affairs and then we shall have a devout wise World quickly Secondly it may be doubted too whether this looking back be any kind of meddling at all with worldly Affairs or such a meddling as shall so entangle the Husbandman that his Plough stands still or so bewitches him that he forsakes his Plough that is his Calling altogether If it be no meddling at all no Man can live if it be no meddling but that which entangles then any Minister may meddle with Worldly Affairs so far and so long as he entangles not himself with them And so far as to entangle himself no Christian may meddle that will live Godly in Christ Jesus If this be not sufficient this Lord will prove it e'er he hath done for he goes on To be thus withdrawn by entangling themselves with the Affairs of this Life by the Necessity and Duty of an Office receiv'd from Men from the Discharge of that Office which God hath called them to brings a Woe upon them Woe unto me saith the Apostle if I Preach not the Gospel What doth he mean If I Preach not once a Quarter or once a Year in the King's Chapel No. He himself interprets it preach the Word be instant in season and out of season rebuke exhort or instruct with all long-Suffering and Doctrine He that hath an Office must attend on his Office especially this of the Ministery I see my Lord will not mend his Terms though they marr the Sense and mislay the Question For no Man says that which this Lord so often repeats namely that a Bishop or any other Clergy-Man may entangle himself with the Affairs of this Life which yet may be with Covetousness and Voluptuous Living as much or more than with being called to Council in Civil Affairs by any Office received from Man from the discharge of that Office which God hath called them unto No! God forbid this would bring a Woe upon them indeed But since no Man says it this Lord fights here with his own Shadow For all that is said is this that a Bishop being grown old and full of Experience if the King or the State in which he lives thinks him for his Wisdom Experience and Fidelity fit to be employed in Civil Councils or Affairs be it with an Office or without the Bishop may lawfully undertake this so he be able to discharge it without deserting the Office which God and his Church have laid upon him But if he takes it and be not able to discharge both or being able doth loiter and not discharge them either of these is Vitium Hominis the fault of the Person but the thing is lawful As for the place of Scripture which his Lordship adds I doubt his Lordship understands it not as the Apostle means it for 't is a Text very much abused by ignorant Zeal For when he saith Woe unto me if I preach not the Gospel 1 Cor. 9. 16. what doth he mean if he Preach not once a Quarter No sure that 's too seldom What then if he Preach not once a Year in the King's Chapel No sure much less For in those days there was no King in Corinth nor any where else that was Christian to have a Chapel to Preach in So this Lord might have let this Scorn alone had it so pleased him No nor is it
if a Man Prate not three or four times a Week in one of his Lordship's Independent Congregations and then call it Preaching The Apostle knew no such Schismatical Conventicles No sure None of this Why but what is this Preaching then the neglect whereof draws this Woe after it This he tells you St. Paul interprets himself 2 Tim. 4. 2. 't is to Preach the Word 'T is indeed and neither Schism nor Sedition which are the common Themes of these Times 'T is to be instant in Preaching the Word as God gives Ability and Opportunity 't is to be instant in season and out of season that is to take God's Opportunity rather than our own and not Preach out of season only as some of this Lord 's great Favourites use to do 't is to rebuke exhort and instruct with Knowledge and Gravity and not spend Hours in idle and empty Discourses And all this is to be done with all long-Suffering and Doctrine and let the Clergy but study hard and provide that their Doctrine be sound and good and I will pass my word this Lord and his Friends shall take order they shall do it with all the long Suffering that may be and if they do not suffer enough or not long enough it shall not be his Fault so dearly doth he love that they should Preach the Word Nay I must go farther yet To preach the Word in this manner is not only to go up into the Pulpit and thence deliver wholsom and pious Instructions and necessary and Christian Reproof though this be as the commendable so the ordinary way of publick Preaching that most at once may hear For he may be said to Preach the Gospel that any ways declares Christ 〈◊〉 and informs the Understandings and Consciences of Men for right Belief and true Obedience be it privately or publickly be it by word of Mouth or by Writing and a Man may be seasonably instant this way sometimes when in the publick way of Preaching he cannot And if this be not so how is it said of the Apostles Acts 5. 42. that in the Temple and in every House they ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ Acts. 20. 20. I have taught you publickly and from House to House And I believe some Bishops whom this Lord in this passage is pleased to jeer at have preached more and to more purpose than any of his Lordship's Divinity-darlings That which follows is true that he which hath an Office must wait upon his Office Rom. 12. 7. and especially this of the Ministery of which Office there the Apostle principally treats But this again no Man denies And yet by his Lordship's good leave no Man is bound to starve by waiting upon his Office He must wait upon it that 's true but he must provide necessarys too that he may be able to wait Next this Lord tells us The Practice of the Apostles is answerable to the Direction and Doctrine of our Saviour There never was nor will be Men of so great Abilities and Gifts as they were endued withal yet they thought it so inconsistent with their Calling to take Places of Judicature in Civil Matters and Secular Affairs and Employments upon them that they would not admit of the Care and Distraction that a business far more agreable to their Callings than these would cast upon them and they give the Reason of it in the Sixth of the Acts v. 2. It is not Reason that we should leave the Word of God and serve Tables There is no doubt but that the Practice of the Apostles was answerable to the Direction and Doctrine of our Saviour And as certainly true it is that there never were nor ever will be Men of so great Abilities and Gifts in Supernatural and Heavenly things especially as they were endued withal But how will this Lord prove that they thought it a thing absolutely inconsistent with their Callings to meddle with Temporal or Civil Affairs No one of them hath in any place of Scripture expressed so much Against entangling themselves with the World and the Affairs of it I confess they have but no more Yet this Lord proves it thus They would not admit of the Care and Distraction that a business far more agreeable to their Calling than these would cast upon them His Lordship means the Deacon's Office And therefore surely they would not take these But this Argument by his Lordship's leave is inconsequent For if any Offices or Employments how agreeable soever to their Calling bring with them such Care and Distraction as shall in a manner quite take them off from Preaching the Gospel the Apostles did not and their Successours may not trouble themselves with them When as yet the Apostles might and their Successours may take on them other Employments though in their Nature less agreeable to their Calling if they be less distractive from it Now the Deacon's Office as it was then brought more trouble upon them for the Poor and the Widows than any Places of Judicature or Council do upon Clergy-men now Which may appear by the very Reason they have given and here remembred that it was no Reason they should leave the Word of God and serve Tables For there it is not said that they might not at all meddle with the ordering of those Tables but that it was not fit they should so meddle with them as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 leaving the word of God to attend them And this to do no Man says is lawful now But his Lordship presses this Argument yet farther And again when they had appointed them to choose Men fit for that business they institute an Office rather for taking Care of the Poor than they by it would be distracted from the principal Work of their Calling and then shew how they ought to apply themselves But we say they will give ourselves continually unto Prayer and to the Ministery of the Word Did the Apostles Men of extraordinary Gifis think it unreasonable for them to be hinder'd from giving themselves continually to preaching the Word and Prayer by taking care for the Tables of Poor Widows and can Bishops now think it reasonable or lawful for them to contend for sitting at Council Tables to govern States to turn States-men instead of Churchmen to sit in the highest Courts of Judicature and to be employed in making Laws for Civil Polities and Government It is true indeed that the Apostles appointed the Disciples to choose Men fit for that business and that they did institute the Office of Deacons to take care of the Poor rather than they would be distracted from the principal Work of their Calling But when was this done When Why not till the Disciples were multiplied not till there arose Contentions between the Greeks and the Hebrews that that their Widows were neglected in the daily Ministration Acts 6. 1. Therefore till the Work grew so heavy and the Contentions so warm the Apostles themselves did order those
Tables and attend them too Therefore the Work was not unlawful in its self for them for then it had been Sin in them to do it at all at any time For that which is simply evil in and of it self is ever so therefore the most that can be made of this Example is that it was lawful very lawful and and charitable too for the Apostles to take care of those Tables themselves and they did it For all the Provision for the Poor was brought and laid at the Apostles feet Acts 4. 35. which doubtless would never have been done had it been unlawful for the Apostles to order and to distribute it But when they found the encreasing Burthen too heavy for both the one Work and the other then though both were lawful yet it was more expedient to leave the Tables than the Word of God with which the World was then as little acquainted as now 't is full of and I pray God it be not full to a dangerous Surfeit Now this as I conceive in Humility states the Bishops Business For to me it seems out of Question that it is most lawful for Bishops to be conversant in all the Courts Councils and Places of Judicature to which they have been called since the Reformation in the Church and State of England till they find themselves or be found unable to discharge the one Duty and the other And then indeed I grant no serving of Tables no nor Council Tables is to be preferred But then you must not measure Preaching only by a formal going up into the Pulpit For a Bishop and such Occasions are often offer'd may Preach the Gospel more publickly and to far greater Edisication in a Court of Judicature or at a Council Table where great Men are met together to draw things to an Issue than many Preachers in their several Charges can and therefore to far more Advancement of the Gospel than any one of his Lordship's Sect at a Tables end in his Lordship's Parlour or in a Pulpit in his Independent Congregation wheresoever it be And when he hath said all that he can or any Man else this shall be found true that there is not the like Necessity of Preaching the Gospel lying upon every Man in Holy Orders now Christianity is spread and hath taken Root as lay upon the Apostles and Apostolical Men when Christ and his Religion were Strangers to the whole World And yet I speak not this to cast a Damp or Chilness upon any Man's Zeal or Diligence in that Work No God forbid For though I conceive there is not the same Necessity yet a great Necessity there is still and ever will be to hold 〈◊〉 both the Verity and Devotion which attend Religion and Non 〈◊〉 est Virtus quam quaerere parta tueri So there may be as great Vertue in the Action though perhaps not equal Necessity of it Besides Deacons were not Lay Men but Men in Holy Orders though inferiour to the Apostles as appears by Stephen's undertaking the Libertines and Cyrenians in the Cause of Christ and Philip's Preaching of Christ in Samaria and Baptizing And if they were of the Seventy as Epiphanius thinks they were Haer. then they were Presbyters before they had this Temporary Office if such it were put upon them Therefore if to meddle with these things were simply unlawful in themselves or for Men in Holy Orders Or if all meddling with them were such a Distraction as must needs make them leave the Preaching of the Gospel then these Seventy might not discharge the Office to which they were chosen and if this be so then this Lord must needs infer that the Apostles and all which chose them did sin in Instituting such Men to take care of the Tables and to distract them from Preaching of the Word which they thought unfit for themselves to do And yet I hope my Lord will not say this in his privatest Conventicle Nay yet more though this Care was delivered over to the Deacons in ordinary yet Calvin tells us plainly that in things of moment they could do nothing Nec quicquam without the Authority of the Presbyters So they meddled still Next this Lord shews since the Apostles did not think fit to distract themselves with Business about these Tables how they ought to apply themselves And this he sets down in the Apostle's Words Acts 6. 4. But we will give our selves continually to Prayer and the Ministery of the Word And yet I hope this Lord doth not think the Apostles by this word continually meant to do nothing else but Pray and Preach For if they did one of these two continually without any intermission then they could do nothing else which is most apparently false And indeed which it seems this learned Lord considered not this word continually is not in the Text. For in the Greek the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we will be constant and instant in Prayer and Ministration of the Word which may and ought to be done though neither of them continually and which many of God's Servants have done and yet meddled some way or other with temporal or worldly Affairs The Argument is over The rest of this Passage is this Lord's Rhetorick which I shall answer as I repeat it Did the Apostles saith his Lordship Men of extraordinary Gifts think it unreasonable for them to be hindred from giving themselves continually to Preaching the Word and Prayer by taking care of the Tables of the poor Widows No sure they they did not think it unreasonable that is this Lord's word to make the present business of the Bishops more Odious as if it were against common Reason But there 's no such word in the Text. The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is not meet Now many things may not be meet or comely which yet are not altogether unreasonable Nay which at some times and upon some occasions may be meet and comely enough nay perhaps necessary for the very Gospel it self and therefore no way unreasonable howsoever at this time unfit for the Apostles and worthily refused by them Well the Rhetorick goes on Did the Apostles thus and can the Bishops now think it reasonable or lawful for them Yes the Times and Circumstances being varied and many things become fit which in some former Times were not they can think it both reasonable and lawful nay necessary for some of them What To contend for sitting at Council Tables No God forbid perhaps not to sue for sitting there but certainly not to contend for it but to sit there being called unto it and to give their best Advice there never unlawful and oft-times necessary And here let me tell this Lord by the way that the Bishop which he hath sufficiently hated was so far from contending for this that though he had that Honour given him by His Majesty to sit there many Years yet I do here take it upon my Christianity and Truth that he did
than other Men of what Rank or Condition soever and therefore excepts from its own general Canon the Cases of Orphans and Widows and the Estates of such Persons as most need Ecclesiastical help or where any Cause in the fear of God requires it In which Cases the Widows and the Fatherless have had much cause to bless God when they have been referred to the Conscience Trust and Care of Bishops But this were in a manner to make them Masters of the Wards or Guardians to them which I know this Lord will not like by any means It would come too near his Office and then he would cry out indeed that this was a greater Distraction of them from their Function to which God had called them than that of the attending poor Widows Tables was to the Apostles And yet he sees what some Canons of Antient Councils have decreed in this Case Besides we cannot have a better or a clearer Evidence of the true meaning of the Antient Canons than from the Practice of the Antient Fathers of the Church who were strict and consciencious Observers of the Canons and yet as is before proved meddled in many and some the greatest Givil Affairs being employed as Ambassadors from great Emperors and Kings And Balsamon observes that whensoever it shall please the Prince to call any Bishops to such Employments they neither are to be restrained by the aforesaid Canons nor censured by them I conclude this Point then that Bishops are not prohibited to meddle with Civil publick Affairs either by Christ's command or by the Apostle's either Doctrine or Practice though all their Practice doth not give an absolute Rule for all future Obedience as their Doctrine doth and I may add not by Canons of Antient Councils rightly understood nor are all of them such Distractions as will bring a Woe upon Bishops or other Clergy-Men though they meddle with them I rather believe some things will be in a woful Case if they meddle not And in some Cases there 's all the Reason in the World they should be not only permitted but some of them commanded to meddle to the end that in all Consultations especially the greatest in Parliament and at Council Table it might be their care to see that Religion were kept upright in all and that nothing by Practice or otherwise pass cum detrimento Religionis Ecclesiae with detriment to Religion or the Church always provided that they do not so entangle themselves in any of these Affairs as shall much prejudice their Function and this done I know no Guilt that this meddling can bring upon their Souls or hurt their Consciences But this Lord having as he thinks concluded the contrary proceeds now to the next Point and says that In the next place this meddling in Temporal Affairs doth 〈◊〉 them and strike them in their Credits so far from Truth is that Position which they desire to possess the World withal that unless they may have those outward Trappings or worldly Pomp added to the Ministery that Calling will grow into Contempt and be despised Good God! How Pious this Lord is and what a careful Friend over the Church First he takes care the Bishops Consciences may not be hurt and now he is as jealous over their Credits But I doubt he is jealous over them amiss For he is of Opinion that meddling in Civil Affairs strikes them in their Credit and he thinks farther that the Position with which they would possess the World in this case is far from Truth Let 's examine this Position then what it is and what it works The Position is as this Lord reports it That unless they may have these outward Trappings or worldly Pomp added to the Ministery their Calling will grow into Contempt First there was never any Age in any Kingdom Christian in which the Bishops were ridden with so much Scorn and Contempt as they are at this day in England and this makes this Lord though he be a very ordinary Horseman for any good Service please himself with Trappings Secondly for the worldly Pomp which he means and expresses the Train of that hath been long since cut short enough in England and he that will not look upon the Bishops with an evil Eye must needs acknowledge it Well but what then doth this Position work Why they may not have these Trappings there will follow Contempt upon their Calling so he makes the Bishops say Is this Lord of that Opinion too No sure for he says The Truth is these things cast Contempt upon them in the Eyes of Men. They gain them Cap and Courtesie but they have cast them out of the Consciences of Men and the Reason is this every thing is esteemed as it is eminent in its own proper Excellency the Eye in seeing not in hearing the Ear in hearing not in speaking The one would be rather monstrous than comely the other is ever acceptable being proper So is it with them their proper Excellency is Spiritual the denial of the World with the Pomps and Preferments and Employments thereof This they should teach and practice Well then the question is Whether the Honour of Bishops and their Employments in Temporal Affairs as they are at this day moderated in the Church and State of England bring Contempt upon them and their Calling as this Lord says or help to keep off Contempt as he says the Bishops would possess the World First I am clear of Opinion that Solomon was almost as wife as this Lord thinks himself and yet he says plainly Eccles. 9. 16. That though Wisdom in its self be far better than Folly yet the poor Man's Wisdom is despised and his Words not heard And we see in daily Experience that a poor Minister's Words are as much slighted in the Pulpit as a poor Man 's in the Gate And therefore these things which this Lord calls Trappings are many times very necessary to keep off that Contempt and Despight which the boisterous Multitude when their Sins are reproved are apt to cast upon them And whatsoever this Lord thinks t is a great Credit and Support to the rest of the Clergy and being well used a great advantage to their Calling that the Bishops and other Eminent Men of the Clergy should have moderate Plenty for Means and enjoy Honour and external Reputation and though it be well known that the Church consider'd in Abstract in and by its self only is not promoted nor advanced by such Employments yet as she is considered in her Peregrination and Warfare she gains by them great both Strength and Encouragement Secondly That which this Lord adds that those things gain the Bishops Cap and Courtesie but have cast them out of the Consciences of Men. 'T is well that these things gain them that For the Age is grown so churlish to that Calling that I believe they would have very little of either were it not for these things as will too soon appear now
this last Act of Parliament hath taken away their Trappings As for that which follows next that these things have cast them out of the Consciences of Men that 's not so For in other Kingdoms that are Christian and some Reformed as well as other they have more Employment in Civil Affairs than with us and yet are in high esteem in the Consciences of Men. But the Truth is Schisin and Separation have so torn Men from Clergy and Church from God and Christ and all that they have not only cast Bishops but Religion too out of their Consciences and their Consciences are thrown after God knows whither Now for the Reason which this Lord gives he is quite wide in that also For every thing is not esteemed as it is eminent in its own proper Excellency as he says it is Indeed it ought to be so but so it is not For in the place before cited Eccles. 9. 16. Wisdom is better than Folly and is most eminent in its own proper Excellency but is it always esteemed so No sure for the poor Man's Wisdom is despised There however it ought to be esteemed for its proper Excellency yet if it be found in a poor Subject 't is despised and accounted as mean and vile as he is that hath it And as for the Illustration which his Lordship makes of this his Proposition 't is meerly fallacious For Arguments drawn from Natural Things which ever work constantly the same way to Moral Things which depend upon voluntary and mutable Agents will seldom or never universally follow And therefore though it be true that the Eye is esteemed for seeing not hearing and the Ear for hearing not speaking and should it be otherwise it would be rather monstrous than comely That 's true because they are Agents determined ad unum to that one Operation and cannot possibly do the other but then by his Lordship's leave so it is not with Bishops for though their proper Excellency be indeed Spiritual yet they may meddle with other things so long as they can observe the Apostle's Rule 1 Cor. 7. 31. and use this World as if they used it not that is use it so long and so far as may help their Service of God and cast it off when it shall hinder them But this Lord thinks all use of these things and Employments in them to be unlawful for our Calling And therefore he adds That when they contrary hereunto seek after a worldly Excellency like the great Men of the World and to Rule and Domineer as they do contrary to our Saviour's Precept Vos autem non sic But it shall not be so amongst you Instead of Honour and Esteem they have brought upon themselves in the Hearts of the People that Contempt and 〈◊〉 which they now lie under and that justly and necessarily because the World sees that they prefer a worldly Excellency and run after it and contend for it before their own which being Spiritual is far more excellent and which being proper to the Ministery is that alone which will put a Value and Esteem upon them that are of that Calling All this which follows is but matter of Ampliation to help aggravate the business and to make Bishops so hateful to other Men as they are to himself For I hope no Bishops of this Church do seek after worldly Excellency contrary to their Function at least I know none that do And they are far from being like the Great Men of the World As to Ruling 't is proper enough to them so far as Authority is given but Domineer they do not This comes from this Lord's Spleen not from their Practice And by that time his Lordship hath sat a while longer in the State Men will find other manner of Domineering from him than they found from the Bishops Nor do they in their meddling with Civil Affairs in such sort as is now practised in England go contrary to our Saviour's Precept Vos autem non sic It shall not be so amongst you as I have proved before Most true indeed it is that the poor Bishops of this Church do now instead of Honour and Esteem lie under Contempt and Odium in the Hearts of the People Of some not of all no nor either of the greater or the better part for all the noise that hath been raised against them and this Lord is much deceived to say they have brought it upon themselves For it is but part of the Dirt which this Lord and his fellow Sectaries have most unchristian-like cast upon them And this only to wrest their Votes out of Parliament that now they are gone they may the better compass their ends against Church and State which God preserve against their Malice and Hypocrisie But this Lord says farther That the Bishops have brought this Contempt upon themselves justly and necessarily Now God forbid that it should be either and his Lordship proves it but by saying the same thing over again namely because the World sees that they prefer a worldly Excellency and run after it and contend for it before their own And surely if they do this they are much to blame but I believe the World sees it not unless it be such of the World as look upon them with this Lord's Eyes and that when they are at the worst too And I verily persuade my self and I think upon very good grounds that the present Bishops of this Kingdom all or the most of them are as far from any just tax in this or any other kind as they have been in any former Times since the Reformation 'T is true that their own Calling being Spiritual is far more excellent and I shall the better believe it when I see this Lord and the rest value it so For I have told his Lordship already that every thing which is more excellent in its self is not always so esteemed by others And though this Excellency be never so proper yet by his good leave it is not that alone which will put a value and esteem upon them and their Calling There must be some outward helps to encourage and countenance and reward them too or else Flesh and Blood are so dull that little will be done And suppose this Religious Lord and some few like himself would value and esteem them for their Spiritual Calling only yet what are these to so many as would 〈◊〉 them And yet to speak the Truth freely I do not see this Lord nor any of that Feather put a value upon that Calling for the Spiritual Excellency only for then all Ministers that do their Duty should be valued and esteemed by them the Calling being alike Spiritual and alike Excellent in all whereas the World sees they neither care for nor countenance any Ministers but such as separate with them from the Church of England or are so near to it as that they are ready to step into an Independent Congregation so soon as by the Artifice of this
Inconvenience by Bishops sitting in the House of Parliament is no less prejudicial to the Kingdom Where first I observe that this Lord accounts the Pope's ruling in this Kingdom but a matter of inconvenience for so his words imply For that must be one Inconvenience if the Bishops voting be the other and I am sure the Laws both of this Church and State make it far worse than an Incovenience Had I said thus much I had been a Papist out of Question Secondly I 'll appeal to any prudent and moderate Protestant in the Christian World whether he can possibly think that the Bishops having Votes in the Parliaments of England can possibly be as great or no less an Inconvenience than the Pope's Supremacy here And I believe this Lord when he thinks better of it will wish these words unsaid Well! but what then is this inconvenience that is so great Why my Lord tells us 't is because they have such an absolute dependency upon the King that they sit not there as free-Men Where first 't is strange to me and my Reason that any dependency on the King be it never so absolute can be possibly so great an Inconvenience to the King as that upon an Independent foreign Power is the King being sworn to the Laws but the Pope being free and as he challenges not only independent from but superiour to both King and Laws Secondly I conceive the Bishops dependency is no more absolute upon the King than is the dependence of other Honourable Members of that House and that the Bishops sit there as absolute free-men as any others not excepting his Lordship And of this Belief I must be till the contrary shall be proved which his Lordship goes thus about to do That which is requisite to Freedom is to be void of Hopes and Fears he that can lay down these is a Free-man and will be so in this House But for the Bishops as the case stands with them it is not likely they will lay aside their Hopes greater Bishopricks being still in expectancy and for their Fears they cannot lay them down since their Places and Seats in Parliament are not invested in them by Blood and so hereditary but by annexation of a Barony to their Office and depending upon that Office so that they may be 〈◊〉 of their Office and thereby of their Places at the King's pleasure My Lord's Philosophy is good enough for to be void of Hopes and Fears is very requisite to Freedom and he that can lay these down is a Free-man or may be if he will But whether he will be so in that great House I cannot so well tell For though no Man can be free that is full charg'd with Hopes or Fears yet there are some other things which collaterally work upon Men and consequently take off their Freedom almost as much as Hopes and Fears can do Such are Consanguinity Affinity especially if the Wife bears any sway private Friendship and above all Faction And therefore though I cannot think that every Man will be a Free-man in that House that is void of Hopes and Fears yet I believe he may if he will Now I conceive that in all these collateral Stiflings of a Man's Freedom the Lay Lords are by far less free than the Bishops are Again for the main bars of Freedom Hopes and Fears into which all the rest do some way or other fall I do not yet see but that Bishops even as the case stands with them may be as free and I hope are in their Voting as Temporal Lords For their Hopes this Lord tells us 't is not likely they will lay them aside greater Bishopricks being still in expectancy Truly I do not know why a deserving Bishop may not in due time hope for a better Bishoprick and yet retain that Freedom which becomes him in Parliament as well as any Noble-man may be Noble and Free in that great Court and yet have moderated Hopes of being called to some great Office or to the Council-table or some honourable and profitable Embassage or some Knighthood of the Garter of all or some of which there is still expectancy Lay your Hand on your Heart my Lord and examine your self As for Fears his Lordship tells us roundly the Bishops cannot lay them down Cannot Are all the Bishops such poor Spirits But why can they not Why because their Places in Parliament are not hereditary but by annexation of a Barony to their Office and depending upon it so that they may be deprived of their Office and thereby of their Place at the King's pleasure First I believe the Bishops gave their Votes in Parliament as freely to their Conscience and Judgment as this Lord or any other Secondly If any of them for Fear or any other motive have given their Votes unworthily I doubt not but many Honourable Lords have at some time or other forgot themselves and born the Bishops company though in this I commend neither Thirdly I know some Bishops who had rather lose not their Baronies only but their Bishopricks also than Vote so unworthily as this Lord would make the World believe they have done Lastly it is true their Seat in Parliament depends on their Barony their Barony on their Office and if they be deprived of their Office both Barony and Seat in Parliament are gone But I hope my Lord will not say we live under a Tyrant and then I will say Bishops are not deprivable of their Office and consequently not of the rest at the Kings Pleasure But this Lord proceeds into a farther Amplification And to whet his inveterate Malice against the King says as follows Nay They do not so much as sit here dum bene se gesserint as the Judges now by your Lordships Petition to the King have their Places granted them but at Will and Pleasure and therefore as they were all excluded by Edward the First as long as he pleased and Laws made excluso Clero so may they be by any King at his Pleasure in like manner They must needs therefore be in an absolute dependency upon the Crown and thereby at Devotion for their Votes which how prejudicial it hath been and will be to this House I need not say If I could wonder at any thing which this Lord doth or says in such Arguments as these when his Heart is up against the Clergy I should wonder at this For if he will not suppose the King's Government to be Tyrannical the Bishops have their Places during Life and cannot justly be put out of them unless their Miscarriage be such as shall merit a Deprivation And therefore by this Lord 's good leave they have as good a Tenure as the Judges is of a Quamdiu bene se gesserint And this they have without their Lordships Petition to the King as his Lordship tells us was fain to be made for the Judges thereby galling the King for giving some Patents to the Judges during Pleasure which as
rest For out of all doubt their Votes do hurt sometimes and it may be more often and more dangerously than the Bishops Votes And when this Lord shall be pleased to tell us what those other Irregularities are which are as antient and yet redressed I will consider of them and then either grant or deny In the mean time I think it hath been proved that it is no Irregularity for a Bishop that is called to it by Supreme Authority to give Counsel or otherwise to meddle in Civil Affairs so as it take him not quite off from his Calling And for his Lordship 's Close That this is not so antient but that it may be truly said Non fuit sic ab initio his Lordship is much deceived For that Speech of our Saviour's St. Matthew 19. 8. is spoken of Marriage which was instituted in Paradise and therefore ab initio from the beginning must there be taken from the Creation or from the Institution of Marriage soon after it But I hope his Lordship means it not so here to put it off that Bishops had not Votes in the Parliaments of England from the Creation For then no question but it may be truly said Non fuit sic ab initio But if his Lordship or any other will apply this Speech to any thing else which hath not its beginning so high he must then refer his Words and meaning to that time in which that thing he speaks of took its beginning as is this particular to the beginning of Parliaments in this Kingdom And then under Favour of this Lord the voting of Bishops in Parliament is so antient that it cannot be truly said Non fuit sic ab initio For so far as this Kingdom hath any Records to shew Clergy-Men both Bishops and Abbots had free and full Votes in Parliament so full as that in the first Parliament of which we have any certain Records which was in the Forty and ninth Year of Henry the Third there was Summoned by the King to Vote in Parliament One hundred and twenty Bishops Abbots and Priors and but Twenty three Lay-Lords Now there were but Twenty six Bishops in all and the Lords being multiplied to the unspeakable Prejudice of the Crown into above One hundred besides many of their young Sons called by Writ in their Father's Life-time have either found or made a troubled time to cast the Bishops and their Votes out of the House 2. To the Objection for being Established by Law his Lordship says The Law-makers have the same Power and the same Charge to alter old Laws inconvenient as to make new that are necessary The Law-makers have indeed the same Power in them and the same Charge upon them that their Predecessors in former Times had and there 's no question but old Laws may be Abrogated and new ones made But this Lord who seems to be well versed in the Rules and Laws of Government which the poor Bishops understand not cannot but know that it 's a dangerous thing to be often changing of the Laws especially such as have been antient and where the old is not inconvenient nor the new necessary which is the true State of this Business whatever this Lord thinks 3. And for the Third Objection the Privileges of the House this Lord says it can be no Breach of them For either Estate may propose to the other by way of Bill what they conceive to be for publick Good and they have Power respectively of accepting or refusing This is an easie Answer indeed and very true For either Estate in Parliament may propose to the other by way of Bill and they have Power respectively of accepting or refusing and there is no Breach of Privilege in all this But this easie Answer comes not home For how my Lord understands this Objection I know not it seems as if it did reach only to the external Breach of some Privilege but I conceive they which made the Objection meant much more As namely that by this Bill there was an aim in the Commons to weaken the Lords House and by making their Votes fewer to be the better able to work them to their own Ends in future Businesses So the Argument is of equal if not greater strength against the Lord's yielding to the Bill to the Iufringement of their own strength than to the Commons proposing it and there is no doubt but that the Commons might propose their Bill without Breach of Privilege but whether the Lords might grant it without impairing their own strength I leave the future Times which shall see the Success of this Act of Parliament to judge of the Wisdom of it which I shall not presume to do I thought his Lordship had now done but he tells us 4. There are two other Objections which may seem to have more force but they will receive satisfactory Answers The one is that if they may remove Bishops they may as well next time remove Barons and Earls This Lord confesses the two Arguments following are of more force but he says they will receive satisfactory Answers And it may be so But what Answers soever they may receive yet I doubt whether those which that Lord gives be such For to this of taking away of Barons and Earls next his Lordship Answers two things First he says The Reason is not the same the one sitting by an Honour invested in their Blood and Hereditary which though it be in the King alone to grant yet being once granted he cannot take away The other sitting by a Barony depending upon an Office which may be taken away for if they be deprived of their Office they sit not To this there have been enough said before yet that it may fully appear this Reason is not Satisfactory this Lord should do well to know or rather to remember for I think he knows it already that though these great Lords have and hold their Places in Parliament by Blood and Inheritance and the Bishops by Baronies depending upon their Office yet the King which gives alone can no more justly or lawfully alone away their Office without their Demerit and that in a legal way than he can take away Noblemens Honours And therefore for ought is yet said their Cases are not so much alike as his Lordship would have them seem In this indeed they differ somewhat that Bishops may be deprived upon more Crimes than those are for which Earls and Barons may lose their Honours but neither of them can be justly done by the King's Will and Pleasure only But Secondly for farther Answer this Lord tells us The Bishops sitting there is not so essential For Laws have been and may be made they being all excluded but it can never be shewed that ever there were Laws made by the King and them the Lords and Earls excluded This Reason is as little satisfactory to me as the former For certainly according to Law and Prescription of Hundreds of Years the Bishops sitting
Tabernacle Numb 20. 6. Hezekiah and all that were present with him when they had made an end of offering bowed and worshipped 2 Chron. 29. 29. David calls the People to it with a Venite O come let us Worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker Psal. 95. 6. And in all these Places I pray mark it 't is bodily Worship Nor can they say That this was Judaical Worship and now not to be 〈◊〉 For long before Judaism began Bethel the House of GOD was a place of Reverence Gen. 28. 17 c. Therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of and To GOD. And after Judaical Worship ended Venite Adoremus as far up wards as there is any track of a Liturgy was the Introitus of the Priest all the Latine Church over And in the daily Prayers of the Church of England this was retain'd at the Reformation and that Psalm in which is Venite Adoremus is commanded to begin the Morning Service every Day And for ought I know the Priest may as well leave out the Venite as the Adoremus the calling the People to their Duty as the Duty it self when they are come Therefore even according to the Service-Book of the Church of England the Priest and the People both are call'd upon for external and bodily Reverence and Worship of GOD in his Church Therefore they which do it do not Innovate And yet the Government is so moderate God grant it be not too loose therewhile that no Man is constrained no Man questioned only religiously called upon Venite Adoremus Come let us Worship For my own part I take my self bound to Worship with Body as well as in Soul when ever I come where God is Worshipped And were this Kingdom such as would allow no Holy Table standing in its proper place and such places some there are yet I would Worship God when I came into His House And were the times such as should beat down Churches and all the curious carved Work thereof with Axes and Hammers as in Psal. 74. 6. and such Times have been yet would I Worship in what place soever I came to Pray tho there were not so much as a Stone laid for Bethel But this is the misery 't is Superstition now adays for any Man to come with more Reverence into a Church than a Tinker and his Bitch come into an Ale-house the Comparison is too homely but my just Indignation at the Prophaneness of the Times makes me speak it And you my Honourable Lords of the Garter in your great Solemnities you do your Reverence and to Almighty God I doubt not but yet it is versus Altare towards his Altar as the greatest place of God's Residence upon Earth I say the greatest yea greater than the Pulpit For there 't is Hoc est Corpus meum This is my Body But in the Pulpit 't is at most but Hoc est Verbum meum This is my Word And a greater Reverence no doubt is due to the Body than to the Word of our Lord. And so in Relation answerably to the Throne where his Body is usually present than to the Seat whence his Word useth to be proclainted And God hold it there at His Word for as too many Men use the matter 't is Hoc est Verbum Diaboli This is the Word of the Devil in too many places Witness Sedition and the like to it And this Reverence ye do when ye enter the Chapel and when you approach nearer to Offer And this is no Innovation for you are bound to it by your Order and that 's not New And Idolatry it is not to Worship God towards His Holy Table For if it had been Idolatry I presume Queen Elizabeth and King James would not have practised it no not in those Solemnities And being not Idolatry but true Divine Worship You will I hope give a poor Priest leave to Worship God as Your selves do For if it be God's Worship I ought to do it as well as You And if it be Idolatry You ought not to do it more than I. I say again I hope a poor Priest may Worship God with as lowly Reverence as you do since you are bound by your Order and by your Oath according to a Constitution of Henry the Fifth as appears to give due Honour and Reverence Domino Deo Altari ejus in modum Virorum Ecclesiasticorum That is to the Lord your God and to his Altar for there is a Reverence due to that too though such as comes far short of Divine Worship and this in the manner as Ecclesiastical Persons both Worship and do Reverence The Story which led in this Decree is this King Henry the Fifth that Noble and Victorious Prince returning gloriously out of France sat at this Solemnity and finding the Knights of the Order scarce bow to God or but slightly and then bow towards Him and His Seat startled at it being a Prince then grown as Religious as he was before Victorious and after asking the Reason for till then the Knights of the Order never bowed toward the King or his Seat the Duke of Bedford answer'd it was setled by a Chapter Act three Years before Hereupon that Great King replied No I 'll none of this till you the Knights do it satis bene well enough and with due performance to Almighty GOD. And hereupon the forenamed Act proceeded that they should do this Duty to Almighty GOD not slightly but ad modum Virorum Ecclesiasticorum as low as well as decently as Clergy-Men use to do it Now if you will turn this off and say it was the Superstition of that Age so to do Bishop Jewell will come in to help me there For where Harding names divers Ceremonies and particularly howing themselves and adoring at the Sacrament I say adoring At the Sacrament not adoring the Sacrament there Bishop Jewell that Learned Painful and Reverend Prelate approves all both the Kneeling and the Bowing and the Standing up at the Gospel which as antient as it is in the Church and a common Custom is yet fondly made another of their Innovations And farther the Bishop adds That they are all commendable Gestures and tokens of Devotion so long as the People understand what they mean and apply them unto GOD. Now with us the People did ever understand them fully and apply them to GOD and to none but GOD till these Factious Spirits and their like to the great disservice of GOD and His Church went about to persuade them that they are Superstitious if not Idolatrous Gestures As they make every thing else to be where GOD is not served slovenly 13. The Thirteenth Innovation is The placing of the Holy Table Altar-wise at the upper end of the Chancel that is the setting of it North and South and placing a Rail before it to keep it from Prophanation which Mr. Burton says is done to advance and usher in Popery To this I Answer That 't is no