all the Proof here made mentions him only by whom the Kings Pleasure is signified not him that procures the Preferment So the Docket in this Case no Proof at all The Fifth Charge was a Paper Intituled Considerations for the Church Three Exceptions against them The Observation of the King's Declaration Art 3. The Lecturers Art 5. And the High-Commission and Prohibitions Art 10 11. The Paper I desired might be all Read Nothing in them against either Law or Religion And for Lecturers a better care taken and with more Ease to the People and more Peace to the Church by a Combination of Conformable Neighbouring Ministers in their turns and not by some one Humorous Man who too often mis-leads the People Secondly my Copy of Considerations came from Arch-Bishop Harsnet in which was some sour Expression concerning Emanuel and Sidney Colleges in Cambridge which the King in his Wisdom thought fit to leave out The King's Instructions upon these Considerations are under Mr. Baker's Hand who was Secretary to my Predecessor And they were sent to me to make Exceptions to them if I knew any in regard of the Ministers of London whereof I was then Bishop And by this that they were thus sent unto me by my Predecessor 't is manifest that this account from the several Dioceses to the Arch-Bishop and from him to his Majesty once a Year was begun before my time Howsoever if it had not I should have been glad of the Honour of it had it begun in mine For I humbly conceive there cannot be a better or a safer way to preserve Truth and Peace in the Church than that once a Year every Bishop should give an account of all greater Occurrences in the Church to his Metropolitan and he to the King Without which the King who is the Supream is like to be a great Stranger to all Church Proceedings The Sixth Charge was about Dr Sibthorp's Sermon that my Predecessor opposed the Printing of it and that I opposed him to Affront the Parliament Nothing so my Lords Nothing done by me to oppose or affront the One or the Other This Sermon came forth when the Loan was not yet settled in Parliament The Lords and the Judges and the Bishops were some for some against it And if my Judgment were Erroneous in that Point it was mis-led by Lords of great Honour and Experience and by Judges of great knowledge in the Law But I did nothing to affront any 'T is said that I inserted into the Sermon that the People may not refuse any Tax that is not unjustly laid I conceive nothing is justly laid in that kind but according to Law Gods and Mans. And I dare not say the People may refuse any thing so laid For Jus Regis the Right of a King which is urged against me too I never went farther than the Scriptures lead me Nor did I ever think that Jus Regis mentioned 1 Sam 8 is meant of the Ordinary and just Right of Kings but of that Power which such as Saul would be would assume unto themselves and make it right by Power Then they say I expunged some things out of it As first The Sabbath and put instead of it the Lords Day What 's my Offence Sabbath is the Jews Word and the Lords-Day the Christians Secondly about Evil Counseilors to be used as Haman The Passage as there Expressed was very Scandalous and without just Cause upon the Lords of the Council And they might justly have thought I had wanted Discretion should I have left it in Thirdly that I expunged this that Popery is against the first and the second Commandment If I did it it was because it is much doubted by Learned Men whether any thing in Popery is against the first Commandment or denies the Unity of the God-head And Mr. Perkins who Charges very home against Popery lays not the Breach of the first Commandment upon them And when I gave Mr. Brown this Answer In his last Reply he asked why I left out both Why I did it because its being against the second is common and obvious and I did not think it worthy the standing in such a Sermon when it could not be made good against the first But they demanded why I should make any Animadversions at all upon the Sermon It was thus The Sermon being presented to his Majesty and the Argument not common he committed the Care of Printing it to Bishop Mountain the Bishop of London and four other of which I was one And this was the Reason of the Animadversions now called mine As also of the Answer to my Predecessors Exceptions now Charged also and called mine But it was the Joint Answer of the Committee And so is that other Particular also In which the whole Business is left to the Learned in the Laws For though the Animadversions be in my Hand yet they were done at and by the Committee only I being puny Bishop was put to write them in my Hand The Seventh Charge was Dr Manwaring's Business and Preferment It was handled before only resumed here to make a Noise and so passed it over The Eighth Charge was concerning some Alterations in the Prayers made for the Fifth of November and in the Book for the Fast which was Published An 1636. And the Prayers on Coronation Day 1. First for the Fast-Book The Prayer mentioned was altered as is Expressed but it was by him that had the Ordering of that Book to the Press not by me Yet I cannot but approve the Reason given for it and that without any the least approbation of Merit For the Abuse of Fasting by thinking it Meritorious is the thing left out whereas in this Age and Kingdom when and where set Fastings of the Church are cryed down there can be little fear of that Erroneous Opinion of placing any Merit in Fasting 2 Secondly for the Prayers Published for the Fifth of November and Coronation Day The Alterations were made either by the King himself or some about him when I was not in Court And the Books sent me with a Command for the Printing as there altered I made stay till I might wait upon his Majesty I found him resolved upon the alterations nor in my judgment could I justly except against them His Majesty then gave Warrant to the Books themselves with the alterations in them and so by his Warrant I commanded the Printing And I then shewed both the Books to the Lords who Viewed them and acknowledged his Ma jesty ' Hand with which not his Name only but the whole Warrant was written And here I humbly desired three things might be observed and I still desire it First with what Conscience this passage out of my Speech in the Star Chamber was urged against me for so it was and fiercely by Mr. Nicolas to prove that I had altered the Oath at the King's Coronation because the Prayers appointed for the Anniversary of the Coronation were
And I humbly pray your Lordships cast your Eyes upon the Frontispiece of the Book of Martyrs Printed An 1642. since this Parliament began and when I was safe enough from having any Hand in the Business and there you shall see as dangerous Pictures as have been charged upon me or any my Chappel Windows Upon Occasion of Mr. Genebrand's Calendar Mr. Pryn took occasion to tell the Lords that I had made Notes upon the Calendar in the Missal I desired they might be read It was thought too tedious They were nothing but some Additions of my own reading to the Occurrences on some Days And because the Calendar in the Missal was open and large I thought fit to Write them there 5. The Fifth Instance is in Dr. Pocklinton his Censure of ....... and of Flaccius Illyricus And that this Book was Licensed by my Chaplain Dr. Bray And he was Censured in this Honourable House for that and like slips of his Then it was inferred at the Bar That it must be taken as my Act if it were done by my Chaplain But Inferences are no sworn Proof And I conceive no Man can by Law be punished criminally for his Servants Fact Unless there be Proof that he had a hand in it Then it was urged but without any Proof too that Dr. Pocklinton was preferred by me To which I shall answer when Proof is made And if I had 't is far enough from Treason 6. The next Instance was about the calling in of Thomas Beacons Disputation of the Mass. The Witness Mr. Pryn. He says the Book was Licensed and that a Papist thereupon said doth my Lord of Canterbury License such Books That I was informed of these Words and the Book called in the next Day First Mr. Pryn is single in this part of the Testimony for the Words Secondly if any Papist did say so it was not in my Power to stop his Mouth and they which License Books must indure many and various Censures as the Readers of them stand affected Thirdly if any Papist did so speak I have reason to think it was to do me a Mischief as much as in him lay Fourthly this is a very bold Oath For he swears that I was Informed of these Words He was not present to hear it and then he can have it but by Hearsay and no Religion teaches him to swear that for Truth which he doth but hear Lastly the Book was called in because it was slipt out contrary to the late Decree for Printing Yea but Mr. Pryn Swears and so doth Michael Sparks the other Witness that the Book was sent to the Printer before the Decree But first Sparks his Oath is uncertain for he says Mr. Pryn sent him the Book before the Decree and then by and by after says it was about that time Now the Book is somwhat large so that it might be sent him before the Decree and yet not be Printed till after and that a good space too And Secondly Mr. Pryn himself confesses the Book was sent when the Decree was in agitation 7. The Seventh Instance was about Arminianism as maintained by me against the Declarations of both Houses of Parliament and of King James concerning Vorstius and Bertius First I have nothing to do to defend Arminianism no Man having yet charged me with the abetting any point of it Secondly King James his Declaration is very Learned But under Favour he puts a great deal of difference between Vorstius and Bertius And his Majesty's Opinion is clear with the Article of the Church of England and so Expressed by himself And to which I ever Consented And the Passage in the Conference at Hampton-Court was then read to the Lords and yet for the Peace of Christendom and the strengthning of the Reformed Religion I do heartily wish these Differences were not pursued with such Heat and Animosity in regard that all the Lutheran Protestants are of the very same Opinions or with very little difference from those which are now called Arminianism And here comes in Michael Sparks who says He was called into the High-Commission about a Book of Bishop Carletons I cannot punctually remember all Particulars so long since But he confesses the Business was in the High-Commission And so not singly chargable against me Besides he is single in this Business He says he was Eleven Years in the High-Commission and never Sentenced This is more than I know But if it be so he had better luck than some Honester Men. For a bitterer Enemy to his power the Church-Government never had He was Mr. Pryn's Printer He says I was a Dean then and he thinks of Hereford I was never Dean of Hereford But howsoever this is a dangerous Oath let him think of it He Swears that I was a Dean then and a High-Commissioner or else what had I to do in the Business Now it is well known I was never a High-Commissioner till I had been a Bishop some Years For the Book it self Sparks says nothing what was the Argument of it But so far as I remember it was expresly against the King's Declaration And so I Answer'd Mr. Brown when he summed up the Evidence against me in the House of Commons And though in his Reply he seemed to deny this yet I remember no Proof he brought for it 8. The last Instance was pregnant and brought forth many Particulars As First Dr Featly's Parallels against Bishop Mountague But this was Still-born at least it says nothing of me Secondly Mr. Pryn's Perpetuity and against Dr Cosens both burnt But he doth not say absolutely burnt but as he is informed and he may be informed amiss And howsoever he says it was done by the High-Commission not by me Thirdly some Sheets of Dr. Succliff's Book Prohibited the Press at Oxford I hope Oxford is able to give an Account for it self And whereas it was here said at the Bar They hoped I would shew some repressing of the contrary part I would satisfie their Hopes abundantly could I bring Witnesses from Oxford how even and steddy a Hand I carried to both parts Fourthly Mr. Burton questioned about his Book called The seven Vials But himself confesses that upon Sir Henry Martin's Information that as that Cause was laid the High-Commission had no power in it he was dismissed Fifthly That about his Book Intituled Babel no Bethel he was questioned at a Court out of Term. This was very usual whensoever the Court was full of Business to hold one Court-day out of Term. This is Warranted by the Commission And warning of it was always publickly given the Court-day before that all whom it concerned might take notice of it and provide themselves Sixthly he says he was there railed at by Bishop Harsnet 'T is more than I know that Bishop Harsnet railed at him but if he did I hope I am not brought hither to Answer all Mens faults Seventhly he says he claimed the Petition of
this set others on work both in the Western and the Northern Parts Till at last by the practice of the Faction there was suddenly a great alteration and nothing so much cryed down as the Canons The comfort is Christ himself had his Osanna turned into a Crucifige in far less Time By this means the Malice of the Time took another occasion to whet it self against me The Synod thus ended and the Canons having this Success but especially the Parliament ending so unhappily The King was very hardly put to it and sought all other means as well as he could to get supply against the Scots But all that he could get proved too little or came too late for that service For the averse party in the late Parliament or by and by after before they parted ordered things so and filled Mens Minds with such strange Jealousies that the King 's good People were almost generally possest that his Majesty had a purpose to alter the ancient Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom and to bring in Slavery upon his People A thing which for ought I know his Majesty never intended But the Parliament-men which would not relieve the King by their meeting in that Assembly came to understand and inform one another and at their return were able to possess their several Countries with the Apprehensions themselves had and so they did Upon this some Lords and others who had by this time made an underhand solemn Confederacy with a strong faction of the Scots brought an Army of them into the Kingdom For all Men know and it hath been in a manner confessed that the Scots durst not have come into England at that Time if they had not been sure of a Party here and a strong one and that the King should be betrayed on all hands as shall after appear By these and the like means the King being not assisted by his Parliament nor having Means enough to proceed with his Forces in due Time the Scots were brought in as is aforesaid upon both King and Kingdom They under the Conduct of Sir Alexander Leshley their General passed the Tyne at Newborne Aug. .... 1640. and took New-castle the next Day after And all this gross Treason though it had no other end than to Confirm a Parliament in Scotland and to make the King call another in England that so they might in a way of Power extort from him what they pleased in both Kingdoms yet Religion was made almost all the pretence both here and there and so in pursuance of that pretence Hatred spread and increased against me for the Service-Book The King hearing that the Scots were moving Posted away to York Aug. 20. being Thursday There he soon found in what Straights he was and thereupon called his Great Council of all his Lords and Prelates to York to be there by September 24. But in regard the Summons was short and suddain he was Graciously pleased to dispense with the Absence of divers both Lords and Bishops and with mine among the rest How things in Particular succeeded there I know not nor belongs it much to the Scope of this short History intended only for my self But the Result of all was a present Nomination of some Lords Commissioners to treat at Rippon about this Great Affair with other Commissioners from the Scotch Army But before this Treaty at Rippon one Melborne or Meldrum Secretary to general Leshly as he was commonly said to be at the Shire-House in Durham when the Country-Gentlemen met with the chief of the Scottish Army about a composition to be made for Payment of Three Hundred and Fifty Pounds a Day for that County expressed himself in this Manner Septemb. 10. 1640. I wonder that you are so Ignorant that you cannot see what is good for your selves For they in the South are sensible of the good that will ensue and that we came not unsent for and that oftner than once or twice by your own Great Ones There being a Doubt made at these words Great Ones He reply'd your own Lords with farther Discourse These Words were complained of during the Treaty at Rippon to the English Lords Commissioners by two Gentlemen of the Bishoprick of Durham to whom the Words were spoken by Meldrum The Gentlemen were Mr. John Killinghall and Mr. Nicholas Chaytor and they offer'd to Testify the Words upon Oath But the Lords required them only to Write down those Words and set their Hands to them which they did very readily The Lords acquainted the Scotch Commissioners with the Words They sent to Newcastle to make them known to General Leshly He called his Secretary before him questioned him about the Words Meldrum denyed them was that enough against two such Witnesses This Denyal was put in Writing and sent to Rippon Hereupon some of the English Lords Commissioners required that the two Gentlemen should go to Newcastle to the Scotch Camp and there give in their Testimony before General Leshly The two Gentlemen replyed as they had great reason to do that they had rather testify it in any Court of England and could do it with more safety Yet they would go and testify it there so they might have a safe Conduct from the Scottish Commissioners there being as yet no Cessation of Arms. Answer was made by some English Lords that they should have a safe Conduct Hereupon one of the Kings Messengers attendant there was sent to the Scotch Commissioners for a safe Conduct for the Two Gentlemen He brought back Word from the Earl of Dumfermling to whom it was directed that the Two Gentlemen were unwise if they went to give such Testimony at the Camp And then speaking with the Lord Lowdon he came again to the Messenger and told him that such a safe Conduct could not be granted and that he would satisfy the Earl that sent for it who was Francis Earl of Bedford The Messenger returning with this Answer the Gentlemen were dismissed So the business dyed it being not for somebody's safety that this Examination should have proceeded for it is well enough known since that many had their hands in this Treason for Gross Treason it was by the express Words of the Statute of 25 Edw. 3. c. 2. The Truth of all this will be sworn to by both the Gentlemen yet living and by a very honest grave Divine who was present at all these Passages at Rippon and gave them to me in Writing In this Great Council while the Treaty was proceeding slowly enough it was agreed on that a Parliament should begin at London Nov. 3. following And thither the Commissioners and the Treaty were to follow and they did so After this how things proceeded in Parliament and how long the Scotch Army was continued and at how great a charge to the Kingdom appears olsewhere upon Record for I shall hasten to my own particular and take in no more of the Publick than Necessity shall inforce me to make my sad Story hang together
for the Happiness of this Kingdom I would to God it were impossible But suppose the Word Peevish had been absolutely spoken by me is it Lawful upon Record to say the Parliament An. 42. Hen. 3. was Insanum Parliamentum a Mad Parliament and that in the 6. Hen. 4. Indoctum an Unlearned Parliament and that in the 4. Hen. 6. a Parliament of Clubbs And shall it be High Treason in me to say a Parliament in some one Particular was Peevish or but to suppose if it were Canany Man think that an Vnlearned or a Mad Parliament or one of Clubbs did not do something Peevishly Might my Precessor Tho. Arundel tell the Commons openly in Parliament that their Petitions were Sacrilegious And may not I so much as suppose some one Action of a Parliament to be Peevish but it shall be Treason May an ordinary Historian say of that Vnlearned Parliament that the Commons were fit to enter Common with their Cattle for any Vertue they had more than Brute-Beasts And may not I in my private Notes write the Word Peevish of them without Treason 3. Thirdly Whereas 't is said That the Voting at the Council-Table to assist the King in Extraordinary Ways if c. was by my Counsel There is no such thing in my Diary There is that I with others advised a Parliament But there is not one Word that the Voting mentioned at the Council-Table proceeded from any Advice of mine So there is no Proof from my Diary and other Proof beside that was not so much as urged which was not in Favour but because they had it not For had they had any other Proof I see already it should not have been lost for want of urging Where I desired their Lordships also to observe in what a difficulty I have lived with some Men who will needs make me a great Enemy to Parliaments and yet are angry with me that I was one with others who moved for that Parliament So it seems nothing that I do can content some Men For a Parliament or against it nothing must be well if the Counsel be mine 4. Fourthly For the Voting of Assistance in Extraordinary Ways I was included in the general Vote of the Table and therefore that cannot be called or accounted my Counsel 5. Fifthly It is expressed in my Diary whence all this Proof is taken that it was in and for the Scottish Business and so is within the Act of Oblivion And these Answers I gave to Mr. Brown when in the summing up of the Charge against me in the Honourable House of Commons he made this to be my Counsel to the King And he began with it in his Charging of the Points against Law The Second Particular this Day 〈◊〉 against me was That after the Ending of the late Parliament I did use these Words to the King That now he might use his own Power or Words to that Effect This was attested by Sir Henry Vane the Elder then a Counsellor and present 1. To this my Answer was That I spake not these Words either in Terms or in Sense to the uttermost of my Knowledge 2. Secondly If I had spoken these Words either they were ill advised Words but no Treason and then they come not home to the Charge Or they are Treasonable and then I ought by Law to have been tryed within Six Months Mr. Brown in his Reply to me in the House of Commons said That this Statute expired with the Queen because it concerned none but her and the Heirs of her Body I had here urged Sir Edward Coke as urging this Statute and commending the Moderation of it But I was therein mistaken for he speaks of 1. Eliz. c. 1. And that Statute is in force and is for Tryal within Six Months for such Crimes as are within that Statute So it comes all to one for my Cause so either of the Statutes be in force And to this Charge in general I gave the same Answers which are here 3. Thirdly Sir Henry Vane is in this a single Witness whereas by Lav he that is accused of Treason must be convicted by two Witnesses or his own Confession without Violence neither of which is in this Case And strange it is to me that at such a full Table no Person of Honour should remember such a Speech but Sir Henry Vane 4. Fourthly both this and the former Charge relate to the Scottish Business and so are within the Act of Oblivion which I have Pleaded Besides here is nothing expressed in the Words Charged which savours of Practice Conspiracy Combination or Force and cannot therefore possibly be adjudged Treason especially since there is no Expression made in the Words Witnessed what Power is meant For what should hinder the King to use his own Power But Legal still Since nothing is so properly a King 's own Power as that which is made or declared his own by Law As for the Inference That this was called his own in opposition to Law First Sir Henry Vane is a Witness to the Words only and not to any Inference So the Words have but one Witness and the Inference none And perhaps it were as well for themselves as for Persons questioned in great Courts if they who are imployed about the Evidence would be more sparing of their Inferences many Men laying hold of them without Reason or Proof Lastly For the Honour of Sir Henry Vane let me not forget this he is a Man of some Years and Memory is one of the first Powers of Man on which Age works and yet his Memory so good so fresh that he alone can remember Words spoken at a full Council-Table which no Person of Honour remembers but himself Had any Man else remembred such Words he could not have stood single in this Testimony But I would not have him brag of it For I have read in St Augustin That Quidam Pessimi some even the worst of Men have great Memories and are Tanto Pejores so much the worse for having them God Bless Sir Henry I have stayed the longer upon these Two because they were apprehended to be of more weight than most which follow The next was a Head containing my Illegal Pressures for Money under which the next Particular was That in the Case of Ship-Money I was very angry against one Samuel Sherman of Dedham in Essex That I should say Dedham was a Maritime Town And that when the Sum demanded of him was Named I should say a Proper Sum whereas the Distress came to eleven Subsidies To this I Answered First here was no Proof but Sherman and in his own Cause Secondly he himself says no more than that he believes I was the Instrument of his Oppression as he called it whereas his Censure was laid upon him by the Council-Table not by me Nor was I in any other Fault than that I was present and gave my Vote with the rest So here
I hope your Lordships will not think that not to suffer the Printers to turn out a deserving Man at their pleasure is to exempt the Clergy from the Civil Magistrate The business my Lords was this This Corrector was principally entertained for the Latin and Greek Press especially which I had then not without great pains and some cost Erected They were desirous to keep only one for the English and him at the cheapest Among them their negligence was such as that there were found above a Thousand faults in two Editions of the Bible and Common-Prayer-Book And one which caused this search was that in Exod. 20. where they had shamefully Printed Thou shalt commit Adultery For this the Masters of the Printing-House were called into the High-Commission and Censured as they well deserved it As for this Corrector whom they would have heaved out they never did so much as complain of him to any that had power over the Press till this fell upon themselves for so gross an Abuse Nor did they after this proceed against him to make him appear faulty and till that were done we could not punish And for this Business of the Press he is single too And I have told your Lordships that which is a known Truth And Hunsford being bit in his Credit and Purse and Friends by that Censure for so gross an abuse of the Church and Religion labours to fasten his Fangs upon me in this way 2. The Second Witness is Mr. Bland But all that he says is that there was once a dismission of this Cause out of the Court and that though I disliked it yet I gave way to it because all Parties were agreed And no word of proof that I was any cause of bringing it back into the Court again What 's my fault in this 3. The Third Witness was Thorn in his own Cause And 't is plain by his own words that this Cause was depending in Court before my time And I believe were the Records of the Court here Mr. Lewis would not be found so great an Offender as Mr. Thorn would make him This I am sure of both the High-Commission and my self have been quick enough against all Ministers which have been proved to be debauched in their Life and Conversation And he says nothing against me but that I sided with his Adversaries which is easie to say against any Judge that delivers his Sentence against any Man But neither of these come home to Hunsford The next Charge is in the Case of one Mr. Tomkins about the Taxing of a Minister in a Case of Robbery and Repayment by the Country To this Mr. Newdigate is produced who says as he remembers that I should speak these words That Ministers were free from such Taxes and I hoped to see the Times in which they might be free again First this Gentleman is single Secondly he speaks not positively but as he remembers Thirdly this Tax I do humbly conceive is not by Law to be laid upon any Minister For no Man is subject to this Tax but they which are to keep Watch and Ward which Ministers in that kind are not bound unto And this I learned of the Lord Keeper Coventry at the Council-Table So I might well then hope to see Ministers free from all such Taxes by the right understanding and due Execution of our own Laws without assuming any Papal Power The last Instance of this Day was the bringing of Sir Rich Samuel into the High-Commission for doing his Office as Justice of the Peace upon some Clergy-Men First for this this Gentleman is single and in his own Case Secondly himself confesses that his bringing into the High-Commission was long after the Fact Therefore in all Probability not for that nor doth he say that I caused his bringing in He says farther That one Article for which he was called into the Commission was that he was an Enemy to the Clergy But he doth not say that I preferred these Articles against him Nor doth he tell or can I remember what the other Articles were which with this may be bad enough to merit what was there laid against him And whatsoever was done appears by his own Narration to be the Act of the High-Commission or the Council-Table and so not Chargeable upon me alone And whereas he says I blamed him much at the Council-Table Let him tell why and then I 'll give him a farther Answer And sure if I did blame him I had just Cause so to do Lastly he says I did use the Word Base to him when he came to me Sure I cannot believe I did It was not my Language to meaner Men. If it did slip from me it was in Relation to his Enmity to the Clergy not to his Person or Quality And I conceive 't is no Gentile part for a Man of Place and Power in his Country to oppress poor Clergy-Men which neighbour about him In which kind this Gentleman Pessimè Audiebat heard extreamly ill CAP. XXX THis Day thus ended I was ordered to appear again on Monday April 22. I came and my former Answers having taken off the Edge of many Men for so I was told by good Hands the Scorns put upon me at my Landing and elsewhere were somewhat a bated though when it was at best I suffered enough After I had attended the Pleasure of the House some Hours I was remitted without Hearing and commanded to attend again upon Thursday April 25. But sent back again then also and ordered to appear on Tuesday April 30. And when I came I was sent away once more unheard No Consideration had of my self or the great Charge which this frequent coming put me to I was then ordered to appear again on Saturday May 4. Then I was heard again And the Day proceeded as follows My Eighth Day of Hearing To raise up Envy against me Mr. Nicolas falls first to repeating the Titles which were given me in Letters from Oxford to which I gave answer the Day before From thence he fell again upon the former Charge My Endeavour to exempt the Clergy from the Civil Power And very loud he was and full of sour Language upon me To this General I answered with another more true That I never did attempt to bring the Temporal Power under the Clergy nor to free the Clergy from being under it But I do freely confess I did labour all I could to preserve poor Clergy-Men from some Lay-Mens Oppression which lay heavy on them And de Vi Laica hath been an old and a great and too Just a Complaint And this I took to be my Duty doing it without Wrong to any Man as sincerely I did to the best of my Knowledge And assuring my self that God did not raise me to that Place of Eminency to sit still see his Service neglected and his Ministers discountenanced nay sometimes little better than trampled on And my standing thus to the Clergy and their
there present p. 28 32 35 42. Nay more this proceeding tam in locis Exemptis quam non Exemptis is allowed to the Governours of the Church in the Exercise of their Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by Act of Parliament in Queen Elizabeth's Time which would never have been allowed had it then been thought such a dangerous Business as 't is now made against me 2. The Second Clause was Power to Censure by Fine and Imprisonment This also I shewed in the old Commission Fol. 37. and is as I conceive in plain pursuance of the Act of Parliament upon which the High-Commission is grounded For the King says there Fol. 13. And so 't is in the new That he grants this Power by Vertue of his Supream Authority and Prerogative Royal and of the said Act. Nay farther 't is added in this latter Commission and by our Authority Ecclesiastical which is not expressed in the former And sure I would never have caused Authority Ecclesiastical to be added had I any Plot as 't is urged either to exalt the Clergy above the Laity or to usurp Papal Power which all Men know is far enough from ascribing Ecclesiastical Authority to the King And as for Fine and Imprisonment if that Power be not according to Law why was it first admitted and after continued in all former Commissions 3. The Third Clause was the Non Obstante which he said was against all Law and of such a boundless Extent as was never found in Commission or other Grant in England And he here desired the Lords that he might read it which he did with great Assurance of a Triumph But after all this Noise which Mr. Nicolas had made I shewed the same Non Obstante in the Old Commission 〈◊〉 62. Word for Word which I humbly desired might be read and compared It was so The Lords looked strangely upon it Mr. Nicolas was so startled that he had not Patience to stay till his Reply which he saw impossible to be made but interrupted me and had the Face to say in that Honourable Assembly that I need not stand upon that for he did but name that without much regarding it And yet at the giving of the Charge he insisted principally upon that Clause and in higher and louder Terms than are before expressed Had such an Advantage been found against me I should have been accounted extreamly Negligent if I compared not the Commissions together or Extreamly Impudent if I did 4. The Fourth Exception was That by this Commission I took greater Power than ever any Court had because both Temporal and Ecclesiastical First whatsoever Power the High-Commission had was not taken by them till given by his Majesty and that according to Use and Statue for ought hath been yet declared Secondly they have not Power of Life or Limb therefore not so great Power as other Courts have Thirdly they may have more various Power in some respects but that cannot make it greater As for the Expression in which 't is said I took this Power that is put most unworthily and unjustly too to derive the Envy as much as he could upon my Person only For he could not hold from comparing me to Pope Boniface 8. and saying that I took on me the Power of both Swords But this was only ad Faciendum Populum For he knows well enough that to take both the Swords as the Pope takes them is to challenge them Originally as due to him and his Place Not to take both as under the Prince and given by his Authority and so not I alone but all the Commissioners take theirs 5. Fifthly To prove that this vast Commission as it was called was put in execution Mr. Burton is produced He says that when he was called into the High-Commission he appealed to the King and pleaded his Appeal and that thereupon I and the Bishop of London Writ to the King to have him submit to the Court He confesses he was dismissed upon his Appeal till his Majesty's Pleasure was farther known And it was our Duty considering what a Breach this would make upon the Jurisdiction of the Court to inform his Majesty of it and we did so The King declared that he should submit to the Court as is confessed by himself Then he says because he would not submit to the Court he was Censured notwithstanding his Appeal And he well deserved it that would not be ruled by his Majesty to whom he had appealed And the Commission had Power to do what they did Besides himself confesses all this was done by the High-Commission not by me Nor doth he urge any Threat Promise or Solicitation of mine any way to particularize the Act upon me and farther he is single and in his own Cause Then followed the last Charge of this Day which was the Patent granted for the Fines in the High-Commission for Finishing the West End of St Pauls cryed out upon as Illegal and Extorted from the King and such as took all Power from him for the space of the Ten Years for which time it was granted This is the Fourth time that St Pauls is struck at My Lords let it come as often as it will my Project and Endeavour in that Work was Honest and Honourable to both Church and Kingdom of England No Man in all this Search and Pursuit hath been able to charge me with the turning of any one Penny or Pennyworth to other use than was limited to me I took a great deal of Care and Pains about the Work and cannot repent of any thing I did in that Service but of Humane Frailty And whereas 't is said this Patent was extorted from his Majesty as there is no Proof offered for it so is there no truth in it For his Majesty's Piety was so forward that nothing needed to be extorted from him Thus went I on Bonâ Fide and took the Prime Direction of the Kingdom for drawing the Patent The Lord Keeper Coventry Mr. Noy and Sir Henry Martin And therefore if any thing be found against Law in it it cannot be imputed to me who took all the care I could to have it beyond exception And I marvel what security any Man shall have that adventures upon any great and publick Work in this Kingdom if such Councel cannot be trusted for drawing up of his Warrant And whereas it was said this Patent for the Ten Years space took away both Justice and Mercy from the King That 's nothing so For whatever the Words be to enable me the better for that Work yet these being inseparable from him may be used by him notwithstanding this or any other Patent And if these be inseparable as 't is granted they are no inseparable thing can be taken away or if it be taken 't is void in Law and the King is where he was in the Exercise of his Right both for Justice and Mercy And so I answered Mr. Brown's summary Charge against me and as for that
Secondly he confesses that when Dr. Bray made stay of them he never complained to me and I cannot remedy that which I do not know Thirdly he confesses that all the time he was in Lambeth-House my Predecessor ever left that care of the Press upon his Chaplains and why I might not do it as well as my Predecessor I do not yet know But he said that he complained to Sir Edmund Scott and desired to be advised by him what he should do And that he Answer'd he thought I would not meddle with that troublesome Business more than my Predecessors had done Be this so yet Sir Ed. Scott never told me this nor is there any the least Proof offer'd that he did But because this and the like passages about Expunging some things out of Books makes such a great Noise as if nothing concerning Popery might be Printed And because Mr. Brown in Summing up of the Charge in the House of Commons warmly insisted upon this Particular I thought it necessary to Answer as follows That what moved my Chaplain to Expunge that large passage against Images I knew not nor could I now know my Chaplain being Dead But that this I was sure of that else-where in those very Sermons there was as plain a passage and full against Images left in And in another place a whole Leaf together spent to prove them Idolaters and that as gross as the Baalists and so he terms them Yea and that the Pope is Antichrist too and not only called so but proved by divers Arguments And not so only but in plain Terms that he is the Whore of Babylon And these passages I then Read out of the Book it self in the House of Commons And many other-like to these there are So my Chaplain might see good Cause to leave out some passages Where so many upon as good Cause were left in But to the Business of leaving the Care of these Books and the overview of them to my Chaplains it was then urged That the Commissary of John Lord Arch-Bishop of York had Excommunicated the Lord Bishop of Durham being then in the King's Service And that the Arch-Bishop himself was deeply Fined for this Act of his Commissary And that therefore I ought much more to be answerable for my Chaplain's Act whom I might put away when I would than he for his Commissary who had a Patent and could not be put out at pleasure Mr. Brown also followed this Precedent close upon me But first there is a great deal of difference in the thing it self My Chaplain's Case being but the leaving out of a passage in a Book to be Printed But his Commissary's Case being the Excommunicating of a great Bishop and he in the King's Service of whose Honour the Laws of this Realm are very tender And Secondly the Bishop and his Official call him Chancellor or Commissary or what you will make but one Person in Law and therefore the Act of the Commissary to the full extent of his Patent is the Act of the Bishop in legal Construction and the Bishop may be answerable for it But the Bishop and his Chaplain are not one Person in any Construction of Law And say he may put away his Chaplain when he will yet that cannot help what is past if ought have been done amiss by him And this was the Answer I insisted on to Mr. Brown Upon my entrance on this days Defence I found my self aggrieved at the Diurnal and another Pamphlet of the Week wherein they Print whatsoever is Charged against me as if it were fully proved never so much as mentioning what or how I Answer'd And that it troubled me the more because as I conceived the passages as there expressed trenched deep upon the Justice and Proceedings of that Honourable House And could have no Aim but to incense the Multitude against me With some difficulty I got these Pamphlets received but there they dyed and the Weekly abuse of me continued to keep my Patience in Breath CAP. XXXV The Thirteenth Day of my Hearing THE First Charge of this Day was the Opinion which was held of me beyond the Seas The first Witness was Sir Henry Mildmaye who as is before related told me without asking That I was the most Hateful Man at Rome that ever sate in my See since the Reformation Now he denied not this but being helped on by good Preparation a Flexible Conscience and a fair leading Interrogatory by Mr. Nicolas Mr. Serjeant Wilde was Sick and came no more till the last day when I made my Recapitulation he minced it And now he says that there were two Factions at Rome and that one of them did indeed speak very ill of me because they thought I aimed at too great a Power here in England But the other Faction spake as well of me because they thought I endeavoured to bring us in England nearer to the Church of Rome But first my Lords this Gentleman's Words to me were Round and General That I was hated at Rome not of a Party or Faction there And my Servants heard him at the same time and are here ready to witness it that he then said the Pope was a goodly Gentleman and did use to ride two or three great Horses in a Morning and but that he was something taller he was as like Auditor Philips who was then at Dinner with me as could be But I pray mark what Wise Men he makes them at Rome One Faction hates me because I aim at too much Power And the other loves me because I would draw England nearer Rome Why if I went about to draw England nearer Rome can any among them be such Fools as to think my Power too great For if I used my Power for them why should any there Condemn me And if I used it against them why should any here Accuse me Non sunt haec benè divisa temporibus These things suit not with the Times or the Dispositions of Rome But the plain Truth is I do not think that ever he was at Rome I after heard a whisper that he only stepped into France for another Cure not to Rome for Curiosity which was the only cause he gave the Lords of his going thither 2. The second Witness was Mr. Challoner He says not much of his own knowledge but of Fame that tatling Gossip yet he told the Lords I was a very Obscure Man till within these Fifteen Years Be it so if he please Yet I have been a Bishop above Three and Twenty Years And 't is Eighteen Years since I was first Dean of his Majesty's Chappel Royal. He says that after this time there was a strong Opinion of Reconciliation to Rome A strong Opinion but a weak Proof For it was an Opinion of Enemies and such as could easily believe what they over-much desired He farther said that some of them were of Opinion that I was a good Roman-Catholick and that
Prayer come as from the Publick Spirit of the Church when it is but the Bishop or his Chaplain or some private Spirit that frames them If this be my Lord's meaning far be it from me or any other to impose any Form of set Prayers upon the Church But it is one thing to Impose and quite another to Compose a set Form of Prayer Impose none can but Just Authority Compose all together cannot but some one or more must be singled out to take that pains And all or most may approve what one or few have compiled When it is so approved then it can no more be said to proceed from any private Spirit of this or that Man be it the Bishop or his Chaplain but from the Spirit and Power of the Church My Lord himself being a Prudent Man hath had the Happiness to make Motions in Parliament which have taken the House been approved and Orders drawn up upon them When the Order is so agreed on no Man may say it is an Order of my Lord 's private Spirit but the Order of the House and approved by the publick Spirit and imposed by the Publick Authority of the State And therefore to me it seems strange that my Lord who understands these things so well should neither like of a set Form of Prayers Composed by private Men nor by a certain number of Men and after publickly Confirmed Sure this would make any Man think my Lord likes none however he minces it But my Lord goes farther and says This Injunction is an Vsurpation of Power over the Churches of Christ and over the Gifts and Graces which Christ hath given unto Men which the Apostles never exercised nor would assume And yet they might much better have done it And the same Reasons might have been alledged for it that are now This turns such Forms instead of being Directions into Superstition It seems by this for I am most willing to take my Lord 's Meaning at the fairest that my Lord can digest some set Forms of Prayer but he would have no Injunction upon them So he that would use them might and he that would not might choose and this in short time would bring meer confusion into the Church of God which I hope is not my Lord's Intention to do Besides my Lord cannot but know that this Injunction for our set Form of Service comes not from the Churches Direction and Constitution though her Wisdom and Piety framed it but from the Authority and Power of King and Parliament So that all the Arguments which his Lordship brings here against the Church are equally if not more set against the King and the Parliament Well Why then is not an Injunction of set Form of Prayers fit Why my Lord tells you First because it is an Vsurpation of Power over the Churches of Christ. 'T is indeed an Act of Power but no Usurpation The Church Directing and the Soveraign Enacting ever had this Power since States became Christian. And should I have called it an Vsurpation of Power his Lordship I fear would have called it Treason against the King's Supremacy But I doubt my Lord would have the Churches free from Regal Power having ought to do with them durst he speak out Secondly because it 's an Vsurpation of Power over the Gifts and Graces which God hath given unto Men. Not so neither For whatsoever Gifts or Graces God hath given unto Men they may all have time place and occasions enough to use them to God's Glory and the Comfort of themselves and others and yet in the Publick Service of God submit to that set Form of God's Worship which is enjoyned for Unity and Decency in that External Service So this lays no restraint upon the Gifts and Graces of pious and religious Men But it keeps off bold ignorant and audacious Men from foming out their own shame to the great disorder and scandal of the Church of Christ. As we may see at this day now that Injunction begins to be but a little loosed what Froth and base Stuff is preached to the Consciences of Men. And yet these Men which preach thus scandalously talk of Gifts and Graces none more Thirdly because the Apostles never Exercised nor would Assume this Power of enjoyning a set Form and yet they might better have done it But how doth my Lord know the Apostles never Exercised nor would Assume this Power Out of all doubt the Apostles did Exercise and Assume many things which are not come down to our knowledge And since the Apostles did enjoyn a Form of Doctrine to the Church of Rome and delivered it too And since St. Paul enjoyned the Church at Philippi to walk by a set Rule for a Rule it cannot be unless it be set that so they might learn to mind the same things Phil. 3. And a Form of Ordination by imposition of Hands 1 Tim. 5. for such Persons as should instruct the People in these things And this with a stiff Injunction v. 21. And a Form of wholesome words 2 Tim. 1. And since St. John the Baptist taught his Disciples to pray St. Luke 11. and that it was by some set Form of Prayer I have some Reason to think First because if they did Pray by the Motion of the Spirit only St. John could not teach them that but the Spirit only So either St. John taught them not at all to pray which I hope this Lord will not say against a plain Text. Or else he taught them some set Form which was in his power and theirs to teach and learn Secondly because Christ's Disciples seem to intimate so much For they desire Christ to teach them to pray as St. John taught his Disciples And Christ instantly granting their Request taught them a set Form of Prayer Therefore it is more than probable that St. John taught his so too though the Form be not Recorded in Scripture Upon all which laid together it is probable enough by my Lord's leave that the Apostles did Exercise some set Form that at least which Christ taught them And Assumed Power to enjoyn it upon their Followers But herein yet the Apostles are somewhat beholding to this Lord that he re-allows they might better have done it than any now-adays Well I will not dispute what they might better have done sure I am it may and ought to be done now Fourthly because the same Reasons might then have been alledged for it that are now The same might but not all the same In particular the Church was small then and might with ease be Ordered in comparison of the great Congregations that are now But especially the Apostles and Apostolical Men were then present and could in another manner and with a greater Power than Men now adays both Judge and Order the Gifts and Graces of other Men to the avoiding of confusion in the Church which God by his Apostles would none of Besides the Apostles and some others in
say Amen to Besides with my Lord's leave upon the Consideration which he desires me to take I think I have found other Differences For besides the Vse and Custom which we are inured to I find that to have some set Form of Prayer when the Congregation meets is little less than * Traditio Vniversalis an Universal Tradition of the whole Church And that it took beginning while some of the Apostles were yet living and hath continued from thence in all Ages and Places of the Church to this day Now though particular Customs and Traditions vary and may be varied in several Churches yet I do not find there is such a Power over Traditions that are General but that next to the Scripture it self they are kept by all Sober Christians inviolable And St. Augustine says plainly St. Aug. Epist. 118. c. 5. 't is Insolentissimae insaniae a trick of most insolent Madness to dispute or doubt of that quod tota per Orbem frequentat Ecclesia which the Church of Christ practises throughout the whole World And for my part I believe him and I would my Lord did so too and then I think he would not refuse the Service for the Injunction nor fall into any fit of this insolent Madness As for Preaching that was ever left free And therefore the Church did ever put a difference And I find upon this Consideration another Difference yet between Prayer and Preaching For Preaching is a Speech to Man for his Edification and Instruction in Faith and good Life But Prayer is a Speech to God to Honour and Worship him in the acknowledgment of his Dominion over and his Bounty and Goodness towards all Creatures but Mankind especially And therefore though a Man cannot take too much pains in that which he is to speak from God to Man lest he be proved a False Relater Yet of the two there should be more care had what Prayers he puts up for himself and the whole Congregation unto God lest he be not only a false Worshipper but also lest he suddenly and unadvisedly ask that which may be hurtful unto all And for ought he knows God may at that time be angry with us for our Sins and may hear in his anger and grant And I believe it will be found a greater and more dangerous Sin for the Priest to make the People ask at God's Hands those things which they ought not Besides the Publick Prayers of the Church do teach and inform the People not only how to Pray and so how to Worship but in many things also what to believe as well nay often times better than many Sermons So that ill Praying in Publick contains almost all the Mischiefs that ill Preaching hath in it over and above all the Ill that is proper to it self And so is the more dangerous Sin And therefore the Church cannot be too careful for a set and known Form for Publick Prayer yea and that enjoyned too so it be well weighed before-hand though for Preaching she leave a greater Latitude So upon consideration I think there is more difference between a set Form of Prayer and a set Form of Preaching than that we are invited to the one and not to the other Yet when I hear what Extravagant nay Seditious Preaching there is now-a-days I am strongly tempted to believe that were the like Injunction for Preaching it were far better than that such loose dangerous and most unchristian Preachings as are in many places should continue It seems my Lord hath now done with the First Part of the Waspish-Man's Charge against him for so he is pleased to call it And that is his Lordship's account why he refuses to come to Common-Prayer And now he goes on to the next My Lords let me presume upon your Patience so far farther as to give me leave to speak to the other Imputation laid upon me that I am a Separatist and the greatest in England My Lords very Honourably afforded his Lordship Patience to speak to the other Imputation laid upon him and so shall I very freely But how far and in what Language and upon what Occasion I imputed any thing to his Lordship I have ingenuously declared already And shall add no more till my Lord hath proceeded farther and expressed what he pleases as follows And First I shall say of this Word Separatist as that Learned Man Mr. Hales of Eaton saith in a little Manuscript of his which I have seen That where it may be rightly fixed and deservedly charged it is certainly a great Offence But in common use now among us it is no other than a Theological Scare-crow wherewith the potent and prevalent Party uses to fright and inforce those who are not of their Opinions to subscribe to their Dictates without daring to question them or bring them to any Rule of Examination either of Scripture or Reason And he observeth that this was too usual even in Ancient Times as well as now And First my Lord begins with the Word Separatist And he professes he will say of that as Learned Mr. Hales saith And surely the first part of Mr. Hales is very true That where this Word or the Crime signified by it is rightly fixt and deservedly charged 't is a great Offence But that which follows by my Lord 's good leave and Mr. Hales his too is somewhat too hard a Censure upon the Times and the Persons living in them The Truth is some Men are too apt to Accuse others of Schism and Separation but yet I do not think the Disease is so Epidemical as 't is here expressed As Namely That it is in common use amongst us Perhaps nothing so Common at this Time to call Separatist as to be one Or that it is a Theological Scare-crow by which the potent and prevalent Party uses to affright and enforce those who are not of their Opinions to subscribe to their Dictates Or sure if there be such practice the Fault is in the Persons that use it But even that is no Excuse at all for Schism or Separation because some in an inconsiderate heat Charge that Crime upon such as are not Guilty For perhaps my Lord may say as much as this of Excommunication it self that some are struck with it who deserve it not and yet I hope my Lord hath not proceeded so far as to say that Excommunication is but a Theological Scare-crow And I farther think there are as few at this Day of them whom my Lord calls the potent and prevalent Party which refuse to be brought to any Rule of Examination either of Scripture or Reason as have lived in this Church for some Hundreds of Years past how meanly soever this Lord Esteems them and how narrow soever he thinks their Comprehensions are To conclude this Passage my Lord tells us that Mr. Hales observes farther that this was too usual even in Ancient Times as well as now That some Faults and some Degrees of this Fault were in Ancient