and the Scotch in the minority of King James exacted it of Noblemen Gentlemen and Courtiers which here was extended onely to men of Ecclesiastical function Not that the Queen and State was careless of the spiritual good of others leaving them to live and believe as they list but because charitably presuming that where Parishes were provided of Pastors Orthodox in their judgments they would by Gods blessing on their preaching work their people to conformity to the same opinions * Querie about the 20 Article whether shufled in or no. Some question there is about a clause in the twentieth Article whether originally there or since interpolated Take the whole a Pag. 98. Article according to the common Edition therof Twentieth Article of the Authority of the Church The Church hath power to decree Rites or Ceremonies and authority in controversies of faith And yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to Gods word neither may it so expound one place of Scripture that it be repugnant to another Wherefore although the Church be a Witness and keeper of holy writ yet as it ought not to decree any thing against the same so besides the same ought it not to enforce any thing to be believed for necessity of salvation Take along with this the bitter invective of a modern b Mr Burton in his Apologie Minister who thus laieth it on with might and main on the backs of Bishops for some unfair practice herein in an epistle of his written to the Temporal Lords of His Majesties Privy Councel reckoning up therein Fourteen Innovations in the Church The Prelates to justifie their proceedings have forged a new Article of Religion brought from Rome which gives them full power to alter the Doctrine and Discipline of our Church at a blow and have foisted it into the twentieth Article of our Church And this is in the last edition of the Articles Anno 1628. in affront of his Majesties Declaration before them The clause forged is this The Church that is the Bishops as they expound it hath power to decree rites and ceremonies and authoritie in matters of faith This clause is a forgery fit to be examined and deeply censured in the Star-chamber For it is not to bee found in the Latin or English Articles of Edward 6 or Queen Elizabeth ratified by Parliament And if to forge a Will or writing be censurable in the Star-chamber which is but a wrong to a private man How much more the forgery of an Article of Religion to wrong the whole Church and overturn Religion which concerns all our souls 57. Such as deal in niceties discover some faltering from the truth in the very words of this grand Delator The accuser his first mistake For the Article saith that The Church hath authority in controversies of faith He chargeth them with challenging authority in matters of Faith Here some difference betwixt the terms For matters of faith which all ought to know and believe for their souls health are so plainly setled by the Scriptures that they are subject to no alteration by the Church which notwithstanding may justly challenge a casting voice in some controversies of faith as of less importance to salvation 58. But to come to the main matter The dubious appearing of this clause this clause in question lieth at a dubious posture at in and out sometimes inserted sometimes omitted both in our written and printed copies Inserted in The originall of the Articles 1562 as appeareth under the hand of a Publick Notary whose inspection and attestation is only decisive in this case So also Anno 1593. and Anno 1605. and Anno 1612. all which were publick and authentick Editions Omitted in The English and Latine Articles set forth 1571. Anno Dom. 1563. Anno Regin Eliza. 5. when they were first ratified by Act and whose being as obligatory to punishment beares not date nine yeers before from their composition in Convocation but hence forward from their confirmation in Parliament And now to match the credit of private Authours in some equality we will weigh M r. Rogers Chaplain to Arch-Bishop Whitgift inserting this clause in his Edition 1595. against D r. Mocket Chaplain to Arch-Bishop Abbot omitting it in his Latine translation of our Articles set forth 1617. 59. Arch-bishop Laud Arch-Bishop Land his opinion in the point in a speech which he made in the Star-Chamber inquiring into the cause why this clause is omitted in the printed Articles 1571. thus expresseth himself * * In his speech made Iune 14. 1637. pag. 65. Certainly this could not be done but by the malicious cunning of that opposite Faction And though I shall spare dead mens names where I have not certainty Yet if you be pleased to look back and consider who they were that governed businesses in 1571. and rid the Church allmost at their pleasure and how potent the Ancestors of these Libellers began then to grow you will think it no hard matter to have the Articles printed and this clause left out I must confess my self not so well skilled in Historicall Horsemanship as to know whom his Grace designed for the Rider of the Church at that time It could not be Arch-Bishop Parker who though discreet and moderate was sound and sincere in pressing conformity Much less was it Grindall as yet but Bishop of London who then had but little and never much influence on Church-Matters The Earle of Leicester could not in this phrase be intended who alike minded the insertion or omission of this or any other Article As for the non-Conformists they were so far at this time from riding the Church that then they first began to put foot in stirrup though since they have dismounted those whom they found in the saddle In a word concerning this clause whether the Bishops were faulty in their addition or their opposites in their Substraction I leave to more cunning State-Arithmeticians to decide 60. One Article more we will request the Reader to peruse An Article to confirme the Homilies made in King Edward his reign as the subject of some historicall debates which thereon doth depend 35. Article of Homilies The second Booke of Homilies the severall titles whereof we have joyned under this Article doth contain a godly and wholsome Doctrine and necessary for these times as doth the former Booke of Homilies which were set forth in the time of Edward the sixth and therefore we judge them to be read in Churches by the Ministers diligently and distinctly that they may be understood of the People See we here the Homilies ranked into two formes Anno Regin Eliza. 4. The first such as were made in the Raign of Edward the sixth being twelve in number Of which the tenth of obedience to Magistrates was drawn up at or about Kets Rebellion in a dangerous juncture of time For as it is observed of the Gingles or S t.
most sadly 201 at the entrance whereof we are accosted with the Funeralls of King Lucius The death buriall and Epitaph of King Lucius the brightest Sun must set buried as they say in Glocester Different dates of his Death are assigned but herein we have followed the a Annals of Sarum M. Paris Westm with London tables and hist of Rochest most judicious Long after the Monks of that Convent bestowed an Epitaph upon him having in it nothing worthy of translating Lucius b John Bever in his Abbreviat of the Brit. Chron. in tenebris priûs Idola qui coluisti Es merito celebris ex quo Baptisma subisti It seems the puddle-Poet did hope that the jingling of his Rhyme would drown the sound of his false Quantity Except any will say that he affected to make the middle Syllable in Idola short because in the days of King Lucius Idolatry was curb'd and contracted whilest Christianity did dilate and extend it self 2. But Christianity in Britain was not buried in the Grave of Lucius The Christian faith from the first preaching thereof ever continued in Britain but survived after his Death Witness Gildas whose words deserve to be made much of as the clearest evidence of the constant continuing of Religion in this Island Christ's Precepts saith c Quae praecepta â—in Britannia â— licet ab incolis tepidè suscepta sunt apud quosdam tamen integre alios minùs usque ad persecutionem Diocletiani novennem permansere Gildas in Epist de excidio Brit. he though they were received but luke-warmly of the Inhabitants yet they remained entirely with some less sincerely with others even untill the nine years of Persecution under Diocletian Whose expression concerning the entertaining of Christianity here though spoken indefinitely of the British Inhabitants yet we are so far from understanding it universally of all this Island or generally of the most or eminently of the principal parts thereof that if any list to contend that the main of Britain was stil Pagan we will not oppose A thing neither to be doubted of nor wondered at if the modern Complaints of many be true that even in this Age there are dark Corners in this Kingdome where Profaneness lives quietly with invincible Ignorance Yea that the first Professours in Christianity were but luke-warm in Religion will without Oath made for the truth thereof be easily believed by such who have felt the temper of the English Laodiceans now a days However it appeares there were some honest Hearts that still kept Christianity on foot in the Kingdome So that since Religion first dwelt here it never departed hence like the Candle of the vertuous Wife d Prov. 31. 18. It went not out by night by the Night neither of Ignorance nor of Security nor of Persecution The Island generally never was an Apostate nor by Gods blessing ever shall be 3. To the Authority of Gildas Two Fathers to be believ'd before two children we will twist the Testimony of two Fathers both flourishing in this Century Tertullian and Origen plainly proving Christianity in Britain in this Age both of them being undoubtedly Orthodox without mixture of Montanist Anno Dom. 201 or Millenary in historical matters Hear the former There are places of the a Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loca Christo verò subdita Tertull advers Iudaeos cap. 7. Britans which were unaccessible to the Romans but yet subdued to Christ Origen in like maner b Virtus Domini Salvatoris cum his est qui ab orbe nostro in Britannia dividuntur Orig. in Lucae c. 1. Homil. 6. The power of God our Saviour is even with them which in Britain are divided from our world These ought to prevail in any rational belief rather then the detracting reports of two modern men Paradine and Dempster who affirm that after Lucius death the British Nation returned to their Heathen Rites and remained Infidels for full five hundred years after Which c Paradine Ang. descrip cap. 22. Dempster in Apparat. Hist Scot. cap. 6. words if casually falling from them may be passed by with pardon if ignorantly uttered from such Pretenders to Learning will be heard with wonder if wilfully vented must be taxed for a shameless and impudent Falshood Had Dempster the more positive of the two in this point read as many Authours as he quoteth and marked as much as he read he must have confuted himself yea though he had obstinately shut his Eies so clear a Truth would have shined through his Eye-lids It wil be no wilde Justice or furious Revenge but Equity to make themselves satisfaction if the Britans declare Dempster devoid of the faith of an Historian who endeavoured to deprive their Ancestours of the Christian Faith for many yeares together his Pen to be friend the North doing many bad offices to the South part of this Island 4. The Magdeburgenses The judgement of the Magdeburgenses in this point Compilers of the General Ecclesiastical History not having lesse Learning but more Ingenuity speaking of the Churches through Europe in this Age thus express themselves Then follow the Isles of the Ocean where we first meet with Britain d Centuria tertia cap. 2. colum 6. Mansisse hac aetate ejus Insulae Ecclesias affirmare non dubitamus We doubt not to affirme that the Churches of that Island did also remain in this Age. But as for the names of the Places and Persons professing it we crave to be excused from bringing in the Bill of our particulars 5. By the Levitical Law Want of work no fault of the workman e Exod. 22. 12. If an Oxe Sheep or Beast were delivered to a man to keep and it were stolen away from him the keeper should make restitution to the owner thereof but if it was torn in pieces and he could bring the fragments thereof for witness he was not bound to make it good Had former Historians delivered the entire memory of the passages of this Century to our custody and charged us with them the Reader might justly have blamed our Negligence if for want of our Industry or Carefulness they had miscarried but seeing they were devoured by Age in evidence whereof we produce these torn Reversions hardly rescued from the Teeth of Time we presume no more can justly be exacted of us 6. Gildas very modestly renders the reason Reason why so little left of this Age. why so little is extant of the British History Scripta patriae Scriptorumve monumenta si quae fuerint aut ignibus hostium exusta aut Civium exulum classe longius deportata non comparent The Monuments saith he of our Country or Writers if there were any appear not as either burnt by the fire of enemies or transported farr off by our banished countrymen 7. This is all I have to say of this Century Conclusion of this Century and must now confess my self as
us and with us unto Almighty God after this manner All holy Angels and Saints in heaven pray for us and with us unto the Father that for his dear son Jesu Christ his sake we may have grace of him and remission of our sins with an earnest purpose not wanting ghostly strength to observe and keep his holy commandements and never to decline from the same again unto our lives end And in this manner we may pray to our blessed Lady to Saint John Baptist to all and every of the Apostles or any other Saint particularly as our devotion doth serve us so that it be done without any vain superstition as to think that any Saint is more mercifull or will hear us sooner than CHRIST or that any Saint doth serve for one thing more than another or is parrone of the same And likewise we must keep Holy-daies unto God in memory of him and his Saints upon such daies as the Church hath ordained their memories to be celebrate except they be mitigated and moderated by the assent and commandment of Us the Supreme Head to the Ordinaries and then the Subjects ought to obey it Of Rites and Ceremonies As concerning the Rites and Ceremonies of Christ's Church as to have such vestments in doing Gods service as be and have been most part used as sprinkling of Holy water to put us in remembrance of our Baptism and the blood of Christ sprinkled for our redemption upon the Cross Giving of Holy-bread to put us in remembrance of the Sacrament of the Altar that all Christian men be one body mystical of Christ as the bread is made of many grains and yet but one loaf and to put us in remembrance of the receiving of the holy Sacrament and body of Christ the which we ought to receive in right charity which in the beginning of Christ's Church men did more often receive than they use now adaies to do Bearing of Candles on Candle-mas-day in memory of Christ the spiritual Light of whom Siemeon did prophecie as is read in the Church that day Giving of Ashes on Ash wednesday to put in remembrance every Christian man in the beginning of Lent and penance that he is but ashes and earth and thereto shall return which is right necessary to be uttered from henceforth in our Mother-tongue alwaies on the Sunday Bearing of Palms on Palm-Sunday in memory of the receiving of Christ into Hierusalem a little before his death that we may have the same desire to receive him into our hearts Creeping to the Crosse and humbling our selves to Christ on Good Friday before the Crosse and there offering unto Christ before the same and kissing of it in memory of our redemption by Christ made upon the Crosse Setting up the Sepulture of Christ whose body after his death was buried The hallowing of the Font and other like exorcismes and benedictions by the Ministers of Christs Church and all other like laudable Customes Rites and Ceremonies be not to be contemned and cast away but to be used and continued as things good and laudable to put us in remembrance of those spiritual things that they doe signifie not suffering them to be forgotten or to be put in oblivion but renewing them in our memories from time to time but none of these Ceremonies have power to remit sinne but onely to stirre and lift up our mindes unto God by whom onely our sinnes be forgiven Of Purgatorie Forasmuch as due order of charity requireth and the Book of Macca bees and divers antient Doctours plainly shewen That it is a very good and charitable deed to pray for Souls departed and forasmuch also as such usage hath continued in the Church so many years even from the beginning We will that all Bishops and Preachers shall instruct and teach Our people committed by us unto their spiritual charge that no man ought to be grieved with the continuance of the same and that it standeth with the very due order of charity a Christian man to pray for Souls departed and to commit them in our prayers to God's mercy and also to cause other to pray for them in Masses and Exequies and to give alms to other to pray for them whereby they may be relieved and holpen of some part of their pain But forasmuch as the place where they be the name thereof and kinde of pains there also be to us uncertain by Scripture therefore this with all other things we remit to Almighty God unto whose mercy it is meet and convenient for us to commend them trusting that God accepteth our prayers for them referring the rest wholy to God to whom is known their estate and condition Wherefore it is much necessary that such abuses be clearly putaway which under the name of Purgatorie hath been advanced as to make men believe that through the Bishop of Rome's Pardons Souls might clearly be delivered out of Purgatorie and all the pains of it Or that Masses said at Scala coeli or otherwhere in any place or before any Image might likewise deliver them from all their pain and send them straight to heaven And other like abuses 36. Nothing else of moment passed in this Convocation The Convocation dissolved and what acted in Parliament save that on the 20 of July Edward Bishop of Hereford July 20. brought in a Book containing the King's Reasons conceiving it unfit in Person or by Proxie to appear at the General Councel lately called by the Pope at Mantua afterward removed to Trent and then the Convocation having first confirm'd the King's Reasons was dissolved It was transacted in relation to Church or Church-men in the contemporary x See them in the Statutes at large Parliament 1. That Felons for abjuring Petty Treason should not have y Cap. 1. Clergie 2. That every Ecclesiastical and Lay-Officer shall be sworn to renounce the Bishop of Rome and his authority and to resist it to his power and to repute any Oath taken in the maintenance of the said Bishop or his authority to be void And the refusing the said Oath being tendered z Cap. 10. shall be adjudged High Treason 3. That Fruits during the vacation of a Benefice shall be restored to the next Incumbent a Cap. 11. whose charge for first shall begin from the first vacation 4. Which Spiritual persons shall be resident upon their Benefices and which not and for what causes 5. Release of such who have obtained Licences from b Gap 16. the See of Rome But all these are set down at large in the printed Statutes and thither we referre the Reader for satisfaction as to our History of Abbies to be informed about the Rebellion in the North occasioned in this year by these alterations in Religion 37. Towards the end of this year The birth bâ—eeding frist persecution far travelling of William Tyndal the faithfull servant of God Ann. Dom. 1536. Octob. 7. William Tyndall alià s c Balcus de script
assemblies are to be monished to make Collections for relief of the poor and of scholars but especially for relief of such Ministers here as are put out for not subscribing to the Articles tendered by the Bishops also for relief of Scottish Ministers and others and for other profitable and necessary uses All the Provinciall Synods must continually aforehand foresee in due time to appoint the keeping of their next Provinciall Synods and for the sending of Chosen Persons with certain instructions unto the nationall Synod to be holden whensoever the Parliament for the Kingdome shall be called at some certain set time every year See we here the embryo of the Presbyterian Discipline lying as yet as it were in the wombe of Episcopacy though soon after it swell'd so great that the mother must violently be cut before the child could be delivered into the world as to the publick practice thereof 2. Many observables in these Decrees offer themselves to our consideration Several observations on these Decrees First that they were written in latine whereof they had two elegant penners Cartwright and Travers shewing themselves no enemies to that tongue which some ignorant Sectaries afterward condemn'd for superstitious counting every thing Romish which was Romane and very Cordials to be poison if lapp'd up in latine 2. Probably as Artists hang a curtain before their works whilst yet imperfect so these Synodists thought fit in latine as yet to vail their Decrees from vulgar eyes seeing nothing can be projected and perfected together Yea the repetition of those words doth seem and it seemeth carrying something of uncertainty in them sheweth these Decrees as yet admitted but as Probationers expecting confirmation on their good behaviour 3. The election of the people is here made the essence of a call to a Pastoral Charge to which the presentation of the most undoubted Patrone is call'd in but ad corroborandum As for Institution from the Bishop it was superadded not to compleat his Ministeriall function in point of conscience but legally to enable the Minister to recover his maintenance from the detainers thereof 4. Partiall subscription is permitted to the Articles of Religion viz. only to the Doctrinal part thereof but none to those wherein Discipline is mentioned especially to the clause at the end of the twentieth Article The Church both power to decree Rites and Ceremonies c. accounted by the Brethren the very sting in the tail of the locusts 5. Those words If subscription shall be urged again Plainly intimate that the reins of Episcopal government were but loosly held and the rigour thereof remitted for the reasons by us fore-alledged 6. That Church-wardens and Collectors for the poor are so quickly convertible even in their opinion into Elders and Deacons only with a more solemn and publick election shows the difference betwixt those officers to be rather nominal then real 7. By Women-Deacons here mentioned we understand such widows which the Apostle appointeth in the primitive Church to attend strangers and sick people and which M r. a In his Admonitions pag 163. Section 2. Cartwright affirmeth ought still to be continued although he confesseth there be learned men think otherwise 8. Their Comitial Assemblies kept in the Universities at the commencements wisely they had an eye on the two eyes of the land were conveniently chosen as safely shadowed under a confluence of people See we here though the matter of their Discipline might be Jure Divino humane prudence concurred much in the making thereof as in ordering a National Synod alwayes to run parallel with the Parliament 9. Mention being made of relieving Scottish Ministers if any ask what northern tempest blew them hither know they quitted their own country about this time upon refusal of conformity and found benevolence in England a better livelihood than a Benefice in Scotland 10. The grand designe driven on in these Decrees was to set up a Discipline in a Discipline Presbytery in Episcopacy which as appears in the Preface they thought might well stand with the peace of the Church but this peace prov'd but a truce this truce but a short one before both parties brake into irreconcileable hostility Thus it is impossible to make a subordination in their practises who have an opposition in their principles For though such spheres and orbs which agree in one center may proportionably move one within another yet such as are excentricall can never observe equall distance in their motion but will sagg aside to grind and grate one the other But enough hereof at this time having jetted out a little already into the next year no offence we hope seeing it makes our History more entire in this subject 3. This year A blasphemous Hererick reclaimed Robert Dickons a Leicester shire youth but it seems Apprentice at Mansell in Nottingham-shire having parts and pregnancy above his Age and profession arrived at such a height of Prophanenesse as not only to pretend to visions but account himself Eliah sent from God to perfect some defects in the Prophesie of Malachy But by Gods blessing on the endeavours of M r. Henry Smith whom his Unkle M r. Briant Cave this year Sheriff of Leicester-shire employed therein this Heretick was a See Mr. Smiths Sermon of the lost sheep found reclamed renouncing his Blasphemies by Subscription under his own hand and for ought I finde to the contrary lived peacably and painfully the remainder of his life 4. This is that Henry Smith The Character of Mr. Henry Smith born at Withcock in Leicester-shire of a worshipfull family and elder Brother to S r. Roger smith still surviving bred in Oxford and afterwards became that famous Preacher at S t. Clements Danes in London commonly called the silver-tongu'd smith being but one mettall in Price and Purity beneath S t. Chrysostome himself Yea whereas generally the sermons of those dayes are now grown out of fashion such is our Ages Curiosity and Affectation of Noveltie Smiths Sermons keep up their constant Credit as appears by their daily Impressions calculated for all times places and persons so solid the learned may partly admire so plain the unlearned may perfectly understand them The wonder of his worth is increased by the consideration of his tender Age dying very young b About the year 1500 as I am inform'd by his brother about 50. years agoe 5. I finde three of such who seemed Pillars in the Romish Church The death of Rich. Bristow deceased this year First Richard Bristow born in Worcester-shire bred in Oxford in Exeter Colledge whence he fled beyond the Seas and by Cardinall Allen was made overseer of the English Colledge first at Doway then at Rhemes He wrote most in English humili quidem stilo faith one of his own * â—itzaeus de illustribus Argl. scriptor Opinion but very solidly for proof whereof let his Books against D r. Fulke be perused For the recovery of his health he was advised
flying into the Kings quarters for safety he staid at home till his Bishoprick left him roused from his Swans-nest at Fulham for a bird of another feather to build therein 50. Dr. Laud Arch-bishop Laud presses conformity formerly Archbishop in power now so in place after the decease of Bishop Abbots this yeer kept his metropoliticall visitation hence-forward conformity was more vigorously pressed than before Insomuch that a Minister was censured in the High-Commission for this expression in a sermon That it was suspicious that now the night did approach because the shadows were so much longer then the body and ceremonies more in force then the power of godliness And now many differences about divine worship began to arise whereof many books were writen pro and con So common in all hands that my pains may be well spared in rendering a particular account of what is so universally known So that a word or two will suffice 51. One controversy was about the Holiness of our Churches Our Churches succeed not to the Temple but Synagogues some maintaining that they succeed to the same degree of sanctity with the Tabernacle of Moses Temple of Solomon which others flatly denyed First because the Tabernacle and Temple were and might be but one at a time whil'st our Churches without fault may be multiplyed without any seâ— number They both for their fashion fabrick and utensils were jure divino their Architects being inspired whil'st our Churches are the product of humane fancy Thirdly God gloriously appeared both in the Tabernacle and Temple only gratiously present in our Churches Fourthly The Temple was a type of Christs Body which ours are not More true it is our Churches are heirs to the holyness of the Jewish Synagogues which were many and to whom a reverence was due as publiquely destined to divine service 52. Not less the difference about the manner of adoration to be used in Gods-House Adoration towards the Altar which some would have done towards the Communion-Table as the most remarkable place of Gods presence Those used a distinction between bowing ad altare towards the Altar as directing their adoration that way and ad altare to the Altar as terminating their worship therein the latter they detested as Idolatrous the former they defended as lawfull and necessary such a * Mal. 1. 7. slovenly unmannerlynes had lately possessed many people in their approaches to Gods House that it was high time to reform 53. But such as disliked the gesture Disliked by many could not or would not understand the distinction as in the Suburbs of Superstition These allowing some corporall adoration lawfull yea necessary seeing no reason the Moity of Man yea the Totall Sunne of Him Anno Regis Caroli 13 Anno Dom. 1637 which is visible his Body should be exempted from Gods service except such a Writ of Ease could be produced and proved from Scripture But they were displeased with this adoration because such as injoyn it maintain one kinde of reverence due to the very place another to the Elements of the Sacraments if on the Table a third to God himself these severall degrees of reverence ought to be rayled about as well as the Communion-Table and cleerly distinguished lest that be given to the Creature which belongs to the Creator and such as shun profanation run into Idolatry 54. A controversy was also started about the Pasture of the Lords Board Communion-Table or Altar the last name beginning now in many Mens mouths to out the two former Some would have it constantly fixed with the sides East and West ends North and South on a graduated advance next the East-wall of the Chancell citing a Canon and the practise in the Kings-Chappell for the same Others pressed the Queens injunctions that allowing it at other times to stand but not Altar-wise in the Chancell it ought to be set in the body of tâ—e Church when the Sacrament is celebrated thereon 55. Such the heat about this Altar till both sides had almost Sacrificed up their mutual charity thereon and this controversy was prosecuted with much needless animosity This mindeth me of a passage in Cambridge when King James was there present to whom a great Person complained of the inverted situation of a Colledge-Chappell North and South out of designe to put the House to the cost of new building the same To whom the King answered It matters not how the Chappell stands so their hearts who goe thither be set aright in Gods service Indeed if moderate men had had the managing of these matters the accommodation had been easy with a little condescension on both sides But as a small accidentall heat or cold such as a healthfull body would not be sensible of is enough to put him into a fit who was formerly in latitudine febris so mens minds distempered in this age with what I may call a mutinous tendency were exasperated with such small occasions which otherwise might have been passed over and no notice taken thereof June 14. Wednesday Mr William Prinne 56. For now came the censure of Mr. Prinne Dr. Bastwick and Mr. Burton and we must goe a little backwards to take notice of the nature of their offences a The perpetuity of the regenerate man his estate Mr. William Prinne born about Bath in Gloucestershire bred some time in Oxford afterwards Utter-Baraster of Lincolns-Inn began with the writing of some usefull and Orthodox Books I have heard some of his Detractours account him as only the hand of a better head setting forth at first the endeavours of others Afterwards he delighted more to be numerous with many then ponderous with select quotations which maketh his Books to swell with the loss oft-times of the Reader sometimes of the Printer and his Pen generally querulous hath more of the Plaintiff then of the Defendant therein 57. Some three yeers since he set forth a Book called Histriomastrix or the Whip of Stage-players Accused for libelling against the Bishops Whip so held and used by his hand that some conceived the Lashes thereof flew into the face of the Queen her self as much delighted in Masques For which he was severely censured to lose his EARES on the Pillory and for a long time after two removalls to the Fleet imprisoned in the Tower Where he wrote and whence he dispersed new Pamphlets which were interpreted to be Libells against the established Discipline of the Church of England for which he was indited in the Star-chamber 58. Dr. John Bastwick by vulgar errour generally mistaken to be a Scotchman was born at Writtle in Essex Dr. Bastwick his accusation bred a short time in Emanuell-Colledge then travailed nine yeers beyond the Seas made Dr. of Physick at Padua Returning home he practised it at Colchester and set forth a Book in Latine wherein his Pen commanded a pure and fluent style entituled Flagellum Pontificis Episcoporum Latialium But it seems