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A43531 Examen historicum, or, A discovery and examination of the mistakes, falsities and defects in some modern histories occasioned by the partiality and inadvertencies of their severall authours / by Peter Heylin ... Heylyn, Peter, 1600-1662. 1659 (1659) Wing H1706; ESTC R4195 346,443 588

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have produc'd those arguments by which some shameless persons endeavoured to maintain both the conveniency and necessity of such common Brothel houses Had Bishop Iewel been alive and seen but half so much from Dr. Harding ple●ding in behalf of the common women permitted by the Pope in Rome he would have thought that to cal to him an Advocate for the Stews had not beeen enough But that Doctor was nor half so wise as our Author is and doth not fit each Argument with a several Antid●te as our Author doth hoping thereby by but vainly hoping that the arguments alleadged will be wash'd away Some of our late Criticks had a like Design in marking all the wanton and obscene Epigrams in Martial with a Hand or Asterism to the intent that young Scholars when they read that Author might be fore-warn'd to pass them over Whereas on the contrary it was found that too many young fellows or wanton wits as our Author calls them did ordinarily skip over the rest and pitch on those which were so mark't and set out unto them And much I fear that it will so fall out with our Author also whose Arguments will be studied and made use of when his Answers will not Fol. 253. Otherwise some suspect had he survived King Edward the sixth we might presently have heard of a King Henry the ninth Our Author speaks this of Henry Fitz Roy the Kings natural Son by Elizabeth Blunt and the great disturbance he might have wrought to the Kings two Daughters in their Succession to the Crown A Prince indeed whom his Father very highly cherished creating him Duke of Somerset and Richmond Earl of Nottingham and Earl Marshal of England and raising him to no small hopes of the Crown it self as appears plainly by the Statute 22 H. 8. c. 7. But whereas our Author speaks it on a supposition of his surviving King Edward the sixth he should have done well in the first place to have inform'd himself whether this Henry and Prince Edward were at any time alive together And if my Books speak true they were not Henry of Somerset and Richmond dying the 22. of Iuly Anno 1536. Prince Edward not being born till the 12. of October An. 1537. So that if our Author had been but as good at Law or Grammar as he is at Heraldry he would not have spoke of a Survivor-ship in such a case when the one person had been long dead before the other was born These incoherent Animadversions being thus passed over we now proceed to the Examination of our Authors Principles for weakning the Authority of the Church and subjecting it in all proceedings to the power of Parliaments Concerning which he had before given us two Rules Preparatory to the great business which we have in hand First that the proceedings of the Canon Law were subject in whatsoever touched temporals to secular Laws and National Customs And the Laitie at pleasure limited Canons in this behalf Lib. 3. n. 61. And secondly that the King by consent of Parliament directed the proceedings of the Ecclesiastical Court in cases of Heresie Lib. 4. n. 88. And if the Ecclesiastical power was thus curbed and fe●●ered when it was at the highest there is no question to be made but that it was much more obnoxious to the secular Courts when it began to sink in reputation and decline in strength How true and justifiable or rather how unjustifiable and false these two principles are we have shewn already and must now look into the rest which our Author in pursuance of the main Design hath presented to us But first we must take notice of another passage concerning the calling of Convocations or Synodical meetings formerly called by the two Archbishops in their several Provinces by their own sole and proper power as our Author grants fol. 190. to which he adds Fol. 190. But after the Statute of Praemunire was made which did much restrain the Papal power and subject it to the Laws of the Land when Archbishops called no more Convocations by their sole and absolute command but at the pleasure of the King In which I must confess my self to be much unsatisfied though I finde the same position in some other Authors My reasons two 1. Because there is nothing in the Statute of Praemunire to restrain the Archbishops from calling these meetings as before that Act extending only to such as purchase or pursue or cause to be purchased or pursued in the Court of Rome or elsewhere any such translatations Processes Sentences of Excommunication Bulls Instruments or any other things whatsoever which touch the King against him his Crown and his Regality or his Realm or to such as bring within the Realm or them receive or make thereof notification or any other Execution whatsoever within the same Realm or without c. And 2. because I finde in the Statute of the submission of the Clergy that it was recognized and acknowledged by the Clergie in their Convocation that the Convocation of the said Clergie is always hath been and ought to be assembled always by the Kings Writ And if they had been always call'd by the Kings Writ then certainly before the Statute of Praemunire for that the whole Clergy in their Convocation should publickly declare and avow a notorious falsehood especially in a matter of fact is not a thing to be imagined I must confess my self to be at a loss in this intricate Labyrinth unless perhaps there were some critical difference in those elder times between a Synod and a Convocation the first being call'd by the Archbishops in their several and respective Provinces as the necessities of the Church the other only by the King as his occasions and affairs did require the same But whether this were so or not is not much material as the case now stands the Clergie not assembling since the 25 of King Henry the eighth but as they are convocated and convened by the Kings w●it only I only adde that the time and year of this submission is mistook by our Author who pl●ceth it in 1533. whereas indeed the Clergy made this acknowledgement and submission in their Convocation Anno 1532. though it pass'd not into an Act or Statute till the year next following Well then suppose the Clergy call'd by the Kings Authority and all their Acts and Constitutions rati●ied by the R●yal assent are they of force to binde the Subject to submit and conform unto them Not if our Author may be judge for he tels us plainly Fol. 191. That even such Convocations with the Royal assent subject not any for recusancy to obey their Canons to a civil penalty in person or property untill confirmed by 〈◊〉 of Parliament I marvel where our Author took up this opinion which he neither finds in the Registers of Convocation or Records of Parliament Himself hath told us fol. 190. that such Canons and Constitutions as were concluded on in Synods or Convocations before the
Altar as it either was or could be in the power of our English Zealots to beat down superstitious Pictures and Images had they been so minded Solomon in the Book of Canticles compares the Church unto a Army Acies Castrorum ordina●a as the Vulgar hath it an Army terrible with Banners as our English reads it A powerful Body out of doubt able which way soever it moves to waste and destroy the Countrey to burn and sack the Villages through which it passeth And questionless too many of the Souldiers knowing their own power world be apt to do it if not restrained by the Authority of their Commanders and the Laws of war Ita se Ducum Authoritas sic Rigor Disciplinae habet as we finde in Tacitus And if those be not kept as they ought to be Confusi Equites Peditesque in exitium ruunt the whole runs on to a swift destruction Thus is it also in the Church with the Camp of God If there be no subordination in it if every one might do what he list himself and make such uses of that power and opportunity as he thinks are put into into his hands what a confusion would ensue how speedy a calamity must needs fall upon it Courage and zeal do never shew more amiably in inferior powers then when they are subordinate to good directions especially when they take directions from the right hand from the Supreme Magistrate not from the interests and passion of their fellow subjects It is the Princes office to command and theirs to execute With which wise caution the Emperor Otho once represt the too great forwardness of his Souldiers when he found them apt enough to make use of their power in a matter not commanded by him Vobis Arma Animus mihi Consilium virtutis vestrae Regimen relinquites as his words there are He understood their duty and his own authority allows them to have power and will but regulates and restrains them both to his own command So that whether we behold the Church in its own condition proceeding by the warrant and examples of holy Scripture or in resemblance to an Army as compared by Solomon there will be nothing left to the power of the people either in way of Reformation or Execution till they be vested and intrusted with 〈◊〉 lawful power deriv'd from him whom God hath plac'd in Authority over them And therefore though Idolatry be to be destroy'd and to be destroyed by all which have power to do it yet must all those be furnisht with 〈◊〉 lawful power or otherwise stand guilty of as high a crime as that which they so zealously endeavour to condemn in others 3. But our Author is not of this minde and therefore adds That if the Soveraign do forget the Subjects should remember their duty A lesson which he never learn'd in the Book of God For besides the examples which we have in demolishing the Brazen Serpent and the Altar of Bethel not acted by the power of the people but the command of the Prince I would 〈◊〉 know where we shall finde in the whole cour●e and current of the holy Scriptures that the common people in and by their own authority removed the high places and destroyed the Images or cut down the G●oves those excellent Instruments of Superstition and Idolatry or that they did attempt any such thing till warranted and commissionated by the Supreme Powers Where shall we finde that any of the seven thousand person which had not bowed the knee to Baal did ever go about to destroy that Idol Or that Eliah or Elisha two men as extraordinary for their calling as their zeal and courage did excite them to it Where shall we finde the Primitive Christians when living under the command of Heathenish Emperors busied in destroying Idols or defacing the Temples of those Gods whom the Pagans worshipped tho●gh grown in those times to such infinite multitudes that they filled all places of the Empire Vestra omnia implevim●● Cities Illes Castles Burroughs your places of Assembly Camps Tribes Palaces yea the very Senate and common Forum as Tertullian pleads it No other Doctrine 〈◊〉 ●eard of till either the new Gospel of Wickliffe or the new Lights shining from Geneva gave beginning to it when the Genevians were resolv'd on a Reformation and could not get the consent of their Bishop who was also their immediate Prince they resolv'd to take the work into their own hands and proceed without him And that the presence of their Bishop might not be a hinderance unto their designs they rais'd a tumult put themselves in to a posture of war and thereby force him and his Clergy to forsake the City And this being done they did not only order matters of Religion as they pleas'd themselves but took the Soveraignty of the City into their own hands changing the Government thereof to the form of a Common-wealth Eo ejecto Genevates Monarchiam in popularem Statum commutarunt as Calvin hath it in his Epistle unto Cardinal Sadolet The practice of these men drawn afterwards into example by Knox and others became at last to be the standing Rule and Measure of all Reformations For when the King and Queen of Scots refus'd to ratifie two Acts which were sent unto them concerning the abolishing of the Mass and the Popes supremacy Knox Winram and the rest of that gang without more ado devised and set up a new form of Discipline ingrossing that power unto the Kirk which formerly had been usurped by the Popes of Rome Afterwards when the Queen was return'd into Scotland and that some of their importunate Petitions were neglected by her it was concluded by the Ministers in as plain terms as might be that if the Queen will not then we must ibid. fol. 33. According to this Rule the Netherlands proceeded also not only driving on the design which they had in hand as the French Hugonots also did without the Kings Authority but against it also Finally from a matter practical it came at last to be delivered for a point of Doctrine that if the Prince or Supreme Magistrate did not reform the Church then the people might For this I finde in Clesselius one of the Contra-Remonstrants of Roterdam If saith he the Prince and Clergy do neglect their duties in the Reforming of the Church Necesse est tumid facere plebeios Israelitas that then it doth belong to the common people And it is with a Necesse too if you mark it well they might not only do it but they must be doing Not in the way of Mediation or Petition by which the dignity of the Magistrate might be preserv'd but by force and violence Licet ad sanguinem usque pro eo pugnent even to the shedding of their own bloud and their brethrens too Our Author preacheth the same Doctrine whether by way of Application or Instruction it comes all to one for Qui Parentes laudat filios provocat as
on their 〈…〉 Our Author tells us in his Brerewood upon a diligent enquiry hath found it otherwise then our Author doth letting us know That the first Countrey in Christendom whence the Jews were expelled without hope of return was our Countrey of England whence they were banished Anno 1290. by King Edward the first and not long after out of France Anno 1307. by Phi●ippus Pulcher. Not out of France first out of England afterwards as our Author would have it Fol. 100. Thus men of yesterday have pride too much to remember what they were the day before An observation true enough but not well applyed The two Spen●●rs whom he speaks this of were not men of yesterday or raised out of the dirt or dunghill to so great an height but of as old and known Nobility as the best in England insomuch that when a question grew in Parliament whether the Baronesse de Spencer or the Lord of Aburgaveny were to have precedency it was adjudg'd unto de Spencer thereby declar'd the antientest Barony of the Kingdom at that time then being These two Spencers Hugh the Father was created Earl of Winchester for term of life and Hugh the Son by marrying one of the Daughters and co-heirs of Gilbert dt Cl●re became Earl of Gloster Men more to be commended for their Loyalty then accused for their pride but that the King was now declining and therefore it was held fit by the prevalent faction to take his two supporters from him as they after did Fol. 113. The Lord Chancellor was ever a Bishop If our Author by this word ever understands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most commonly or for the most part he is right enough but then it will not stand with the following words viz. as if it had been against equity to employ any other 〈◊〉 〈…〉 he take the word ever in its proper and more natural sense as if none but Bishops had ever been advanced unto that office he doth not only misinform the Reader but confute himself he having told us fol. 31. of this present book that Thomas Becket being then but Archdeacon of Canterbury was made Lord Chancellor and that as soon as he was made Archbishop he resign'd that office But the truth is that not only men in holy Orders but many of the Laity also had attained that dignity as will appear to any who will take the pains to 〈◊〉 the Catalogue of the Chancellors and 〈◊〉 of the Gr●at Seal in the Glossary of Sir Henry 〈◊〉 in which appear not only some of inferior dignity as Deans Archdeacons House-hold Chaplains but many also not dignified with any Ecclesiasticall ●●●●or Notification and therefore in all probability to be looked on as meer Laymen Counsellors and Servants to the Kings in whose times they lived or otherwise studied in the Lawes and of good affection● and consequently capable of the place of such trust and power Fol. 116. This year● viz. 1350. as Authors generally agree King Edward instituted are Order of the Garter Right enough as unto the time but much mistaken in some things which relate unto that antient and most noble Order our Author taking up his Commodities at the second hand neither consulting the Records no● dealing in this business with men of credit For first there are not 〈◊〉 Canons resident in the Church of Win●or but thirteen only with the Dean it being King Edwards purpo●e when he founded that O●de● consisting of twenty 〈◊〉 Knights himself being one to 〈◊〉 as many greater and lesser Canons and as many old Souldiers commonly called poor Knights● to be pensioned there Though in this last the number was 〈…〉 up to his first intention He tels us secondly that if he be not mistaken as indeed he is Sir Thomas Row was the last Chancellor of the Order whereas Sir Iames Palmer one of the Gentlemen Huishers of the Privy Chamber succeeded him in the place of Chancellor after his decease Anno 1644. He tels us thirdly that there belongs unto it one Register being alwayes the Dean of Winsor which is nothing so For though the Deans of late times have been Registers also yet ab initio non suit sic it was not so from the beginning The first Dean who was also Register being Iohn Boxul Anno 1557. Before which time beginning at the year 1414. there had been nine Registers which were not Deans but how many more before that time I am not able to say their names not being on Record And so●●thly he tels us that the Garter is one of the extraordinary Habiliments of the Knights of this Order their ordinary being only the blew Ribbon about their necks with the picture of St. George appendant and the Sun in his glory on the left shoulder of their Cloak whereas indeed the Garter is of common wearing and of such necessary use that the Knights are not to be seen abroad without it upon pain of paying two Crowns to any Officer of the Order who shall first claim it unless they be to take a journey in which case it is sufficient to wear a blew Ribbon under their Boots to denote the Garter Lastly whereas our Author tels us that the Knights he●eof do wear on the left shoulder of their Cloaks a Sun in his glory and attributes this wearing as some say to King Charles I will first put him out of doubt that this addition was King Charles his then shew him his mistake in the matter it self And first in the first year of that King Ap. 26 1626. it was thus enacted at a publick Chapter of the O●der viz. That all Knights and Companions of the Order shall wear upon the left part of their Cloaks Coats and riding Cassacks at all times when they shall not wear their Roabs and in all places of Assembly an Escocheon of the Armes of St. George id est a Crosse within a Garter not enriched with Pearls or Stones in token of the honour which they hold from the said most noble Order instituted and ordained for persons of the highest worth and honour Our Authour secondly may perceive by this Act of the Kings that St. Georges Crosse within the Garter is the main device injoyned to be worn by all the Knights of that noble Order to which the adding of the Sun in his glory served but for ornament and imbellishing and might be either used or not used but only for conformities sake as they would themselves So many errors in so few lines one shall hardly meet with The Fourth Book From the first Preaching of Wickliffe to the beginning of the Reign of King Henry the Eighth OUR Author begins this Book with the Story of Wickliffe and continueth it in relating the successes of him and his followers to which he seems so much addicted as to Christen their Opinions by the name of the Gospel For speaking of such incouragements and helps as were given to Wickliffe by the Duke of Lancaster with other advantages which
resolved to joyn them with the rest of his members Fryers Monks and Cardinals and our Author being a great favourer of the Presbyterians must not take notice of this scandal especially considering that Papacy and Praelacy are joyn'd together in the language of the present times and therefore fit to go together in this Annotation Fol. 68. In this Parliament Dr. Harsnet Bishop of Chichester gave offence in a Sermon preached at Court pressing the word Reddite Caesari quae sunt Caesaris as if all that was levied by Subsidies or paid by Custom to the Crown was but a redditum of what was the Kings before This Par●●ament is plac●● by our Author in the year 1613. but 〈◊〉 Parliament in the sitting whereof Bishop Ha●●●et 〈◊〉 the Sermon above mentioned was held by Pro●ogation in the year 1609. and afterwards dissolved by Procl●mation in December of the year next following Concerning which Sermon King Iames gives this account to the Lords and Commons assembled before him at White-hall March 23. and therefore s●ith he That Reverend B●shop here amongst you though I hear by divers he was mi●●aken or not well understood yet did he preach both learnedly and 〈◊〉 ancient this point concerning the power o● a King for what he spake of a Kings power in abstracto is most true in Divinity for to Emperors or Kings that are Monarchs their Subjects bodies and goods are due for their defence and maintenance But if I had been in his place I would only have added two words which would have cleared all for after I had told as a Divine what was due by the Subjects to their Kings in general I would then have concluded as an English man shewing this people that as in general all sub●ects were bound to relieve their King so to exhort them that as we lived in a setled state of a Kingdom that was governed by his own fundamental Laws and Orders that according thereunto they were now being assembled for this purpose in Parliament to consider how to help such a King as now they had and that according to the antient form and order established in this Kingdom putting so a difference between the general power of a King in Divinity and the setled and established state of this Crown and Kingdom and I am sure that the Bishop meant to have have done the same if he had not been strai●ned by time which in respect of the greatness of the present Preaching befo●e us and such an Auditory he durst not presume upon 〈◊〉 that the doctrine of the Bishop being thus justified and explained by King Iames and the Parliament continuing undissolved till December following we have no reason to believe that the Parliament was dissolved upon this occasion and much less on the occasion of some words spoken in that Parliament by Bishop 〈◊〉 of which thus our Author Ibid. Likewise Dr. Neile Bishop of Rochester uttered words in the House of Lords interpreted to the disparagement of some reputed zealous Patriot in the House of Commons ● In this passage I have many things to excep● against As 1. That this Patriot is not nam'd to who●e disparagement the words are pretended to be uttered And 2. that the words themselves are not here laid down and yet are made to be so hainously taken that to s●ve the Bishop from the storm which was coming ●owards him the King should principally be occasion'd to ●●ssolve that Parliament 3. That Dr. Neile is here call'd Bishop of Rochester whom twice before viz. sel. 64. 67. he makes to be Bishop of Coventry and Lei●hfield And 4. That the words here intimated should be spoken in Parliament Anno 1613. whereas by giving Dr. Neile the Title of Rochester it should rather be referred to the Parliament holden by prorogation till the last of December Anno 1610. when it was dissolved and then dissolved as appears by the Kings Proclamation for not supplying his necessities and other reasons there expressed whereof this was none Fol. 70. Some conceive that in reveng● Mr. John Selden soon after set forth his Book of Tithes wherein he Historically proveth that they were payable jure humano and not ●therwise Whether the acting of the Comedy called Ignoramus might move Mr. Selden at the first to take this revenge I enquire not here though it be probable it might that Comedy being acted before King Iames Anno 1614. and this Book coming out about two years after Anno 1616. But here I shall observe in the first place our Authors partiality in telling us that Mr. Selden in that book hath proved Historically that Tithes are payable 〈◊〉 humano and not otherwise whereas indeed he undertook to prove that point but proved it not as will ●ppear to any which have read the Answers set out against him I observe secondly our Authors ignorance in the Book it self telling us within few lines after that the first part of it is a meer Iew of the practice of Tithing amongst the Hebrews the second a Christian and chiefly an English man whereas indeed that part thereof which precedes the manner of Tithing amongst Christians hath as much of the Gentil as of the Iew as much time spent upon examining of the Tithes paid by the Greeks and Romans as was in that amongst the Hebrews Thirdly I must observe the prejudice which he hath put upon the Cause by telling us in the next place that though many Divines undertook the Answer of that Book yet sure it is that never a fiercer storm fell on all Parsonage Barn since the Reformation then what this Treatise raised up And so our Author leaves this matter without more ado telling us of the Churches danger but not acquainting us at all with her deliverance from the present storm neither so violent not so great nor of such continuance as to blow off any one Tile or to blow aside so much as one Load of Corn from any Parsonage barn in England For though this History gave some Countrey Gentlemen occasion and matter of discourse against paying Tithes yet it gave none of them the audaciousness to deny the payment So safe and speedy a course was took to prevent the mischief which since our Author hath not told us as had he plaid the part of a good Historian he was bound to do I will do it for him No sooner was the Churches Patrimony thus called in question but it pleased God to stir up some industrious and learned men to undertake the answering of that History which at the first made so much noise amongst the people Dr. Tillesly Archdeacon of Rochester first appeared in the Lists managing that part of the Controversie which our Author cals a Christian and an English-man relating to old Chartularies and Infeodations The three first Chapters which Dr. Tillesly had omitted concerning the payment of Tithes by the Iews and Gentiles were solidly but very smartly examined and confuted by Mr. M●ntague at that time Fellow of Eaton Colledge and afterwards Lord
But that which could not be obtain'd by this checking of the Commons in the declining and last times of King Edw. 3. was in some part effected by the more vigorous prosecution of King Hen. 8. who to satisfie the desires of the Commons in this particular and repress their checkings obtained from the Clergy that they should neither make nor execute any Canons without his consent as before is said so that the Kings power of confirming Canons was grounded on the free and voluntary submission of the Clergy and was not built as the third Argument ob●ecteth on to weak a foundation as the Popes making Canons by his sole power the Pope not making Canons here nor putting his Rescripts and Letters decretory in the place of Canons but only as a remedy for some present exigency So that the Kings power in this particular not being built upon the Popes as he said it was it may well stand That Kings may make Canons without consent of Parliament though he saith they cannot But whereas it is argued in the fourth place that the clause in the Statute of Submission in which it is said that the Clergy shall not make Canons without the Kings leave doth not imply that by his leave alone they may make them I cannot think that he delivered this for Law and much less for Logick For had this been looked on formerly as a piece of Law the Parliaments would have check'd at it at some time or other and been as sensible of the Kings encroachments in executing this power without them as antiently some of them had been about the disuse of the like general consent in the making of them Fol. 180. In the next place our Author tells us that Mr. Maynard endevoured also to prove that these Canons were against the Kings Prerogative the Rights Liberties and Properties of the Subject And he saith well th●t it was endevoured to be proved and endeavoured only nothing amounting to a proof being to be found in that which follows It had before been voted by the House of Commons that the Commons are against fundamental Laws of this Realm against the Kings Prerogative prop●●● of the Subject the Right of Parliament and do tend to faction and sedition and it was fit that some endeavours should be used to make good the Vote But this being but a general charge requires a general answer only and it shall be this Before the Canons we●e subscribed they were imparted to the King by the Archbishop of Canterbury and by the King communicated to the Lords of the Councel who calling to them the assistance of the Judges and some of the Kings Councel learned in the Laws of this Realm caus'd the said Canons to be read and considered of the King being then present By all which upon due and mature deliberation the Canons were approv'd and being so approv'd were sent back to the Clergy in the Convocation and by them subscribed And certainly it had been strange that they should pass the approbation of the Judges and learned Lawyers had they contained any thing against the fundamental Laws of the Land the property of the Subject and the Rights of Parliament or been approv'd of by the Lords of his Majesties Conncel had any thing been contained in them derogatory to the Kings Prerogative or tending to Faction and Sedition So that the foundation being ill laid the superstructures and objections which are built upon it may be easily shaken and thrown down To the first therefore it is answered that nothing hath been more ordinary in all former times then for the Canons of the Church to inflict penalties on such as shall disobey them exemplified in the late Canons of 603. many of which extend not only unto Excommunication but even to Degradation and Irregularity for which see Can. 38. 113. c. To the second That there is nothing in those Canons which determineth or limiteth the Kings Authority but much that makes for and defendeth the Right of the Subject for which the Convocation might rather have expected thanks then censure from ensuing Parliaments To the third That when the Canon did declare the Government of Kings to be founded on the Law of Nature it was not to condemn all other Governments as being unlawful but to commend that of Kings as being the best Nor can it Logically be infer'd that because the Kingly Government is not received in all places that therefore it ought not so to be or that the Gove●nment by this Canon should be the same in all places and in all alike because some Kings do and may lawfully p●t with many of 〈◊〉 Rights for the good of their Subject● which others do 〈◊〉 may as lawfully retain unto themselves ●o the fourth That the Doctrine of Non-Resistance is 〈…〉 the words of St. Paul Rom. 〈…〉 condemn the Canon in that behalf 〈…〉 Word of God upon which it is 〈…〉 fifth and last That the Statute 〈…〉 that the dayes there m●ntion● 〈…〉 dayes and no other rel●tes only to the 〈…〉 some other Festivals whi●h had been formerly 〈…〉 in the Realm of England and not to the 〈…〉 Church from ord●ining any other Holy 〈…〉 causes in the times to come Assuredly 〈…〉 Lawyer would have spoke more home 〈…〉 could the cause have born it Floquent●m 〈…〉 in the Ora●o●s language And therefore 〈…〉 on the heads of the Arguments ●s our 〈…〉 them to us I must needs think that they were 〈◊〉 fitted to the sense of the House then they were 〈…〉 own What influence these arguments might have on the House of Peers when reported by the Bishop of 〈◊〉 I am not able to affirm But ●o far I 〈…〉 our Author that they lost neither 〈…〉 came from his mo●th who as our Author sayes 〈◊〉 back friend to the Canons because made 〈…〉 and durance in the Tower A piece of 〈…〉 I did not look for The power of 〈…〉 thus shaken and endangered that of 〈…〉 and the Bishops Courts was not 〈…〉 one being taken away by Act of 〈…〉 other much wea●ened in the 〈…〉 a clause in that Act of which 〈…〉 Fol. 182. Mr. 〈…〉 should so supinely suffer themselves to be surprised in their power And well might Mr. Pim triumph as having gain'd the point he aim'd at in subverting the coercive power and consequently the whole exercise of Ecclesiastical J●risdiction But he had no reason to impute it to the ●inger of God or to the carelesness of the Bishops in suffe●ing themselves to be so supinely surpris'd For first ●e Bishops saw too plainly that those general words by which they were disabled from inflicting any pain or penalty would be extended to Suspension Excommunication and other Ecclesiastical censures But secondly they saw withall that the stream was too strong for them to ●ive against most of the Lords being wrought on by the popular party in the House of Commons to pass the Bill Thirdly they were not without hope that when the Scots A●my was disbanded
Religious Predecessors and namely the Laws Customs and Franchises granted to the Clergy by the glorious King St. Edward your Predecessor according to the Laws of God the true profession of the Gospel establi●hed in this Kingdom and agreeable to the Prerogative of the Kings thereof and the ancient Customs of this Land The King answers I grant and promise to keep them Arch-Bishop Sir Will you keep Peace and godly agreement entirely according to your power both to God the holy Church the Clergy and the People Rex I will keep it Arch-Bishop Sir Will you to your power cause Iustice Law and discretion in Mercy and Truth to be executed in all your Iudgements Rex I will Arch-Bishop Sir Will you grant to hold and keep the Laws and rightful Customs which the Commonalty of this your Kingdom have and will you defend and uphold them to the H●nor of God so much as in you lieth Rex I grant and promise so to do Then one of the Bishops reads this admonition to the King before the People with a loud voice Our Lord and King we beseech you to pardon and to grant and to preserve unto us and to the Churches committed to our charge all Canonical Priviledges and due Law and Iustice and that you would protect and defend us as every good King in his Kingdom ought to be a Protector and Defender of the Bishops and the Churches under their Government The King answereth With a willing and devout heart I promise and grant my Pardon and that I will preserve and maintain to you and the Churches committed to your charge All Canonical Priviledges and due Law and Iustice and that I will be your Protector and Defender to my power by the assistance of God as every good King ought in his Kingdom in right to protect and defend the Bishops and Churches under their Government Then the King ariseth and is led to the Communion Table where he makes a solemn Oath in sight of all the People to observe the premises and laying his hand upon the Book saith The things which I have before promised I shall perform and keep So help me God and the contents of this Book Such was the Oath taken by the King at his Coronation against which I finde these two Objections First That it was not the same Oath which anciently had been taken by his Predecessors and for the proof thereof an Antiquated Oath was found out and publisht in a Remonstrance of the Lords and Commons bearing date the twenty sixth of May 1642. And secondly It was objected in some of the Pamphlets of that time that the Oath was falsified by D. Laud Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to make it more to the Kings advantage and less to the benefit of the Subject then it had been formerly For answer whereunto the King remits the Lords and Commons to the Records of the Exchequer by which it might be easily prov'd that the Oath was the very same verbatim which had before been taken by his Predecessors Kings and Queens of this Realm And to the Pamphleters it is answered by Mr. H. L. the Author of the former History That there was no variation from the old forms but the addition of a clause to a Prayer there mentioned and that this var●ation was not the solitary act of Laud alone but of a Committee And this saith he I positively assert as minding the reformation of a vulgar Error thrown abroad in loose Pamphlets that Bishop Laud altered the Coronation Oath whereas the Oath it self was precisely the same with former precedents More candidly in this then the Author of the present History how great a Royalist soever he desires to be reckoned Fol. 31. This necessary Message produced no other supply then this insolency from a Member Mr. Clement Cook It is better says he to dye by a foreign Enemy then to be destroyed at home And this seditious speech of his was as seditiously seconded by one Dr. Turner of whom the King complain'd to the House of Commons but could finde no remedy nor was it likely that he should He that devests himself of a Natural and Original power to right the injuries which are done him in hope to finde relief from others especially from such as are parcel-guilty of the wrong may put up all his gettings in a Semtress thimble and yet never fill it But thus King Iames had done before him one Piggot a Member of the House of Commons had spoken disgracefully of the Scots for their importunity in begging and no less scornfully of the King for his extream profuseness in giving adding withal that it would never be well with England till a Sicilian Vesper was made of the Scotish Nation For which seditious Speech when that King might have took the Law into his own hands and punisht him as severely by his own Authority as he had deserv'd yet he past it over and thought that he had done enough in giving a hint of it in a Speech made to both Houses at White-Hall on the last of March Anno 1607. I know saith he that there are many Pigots amongst them I mean a number of Seditious and discontented particular persons as must be in all Commonwealths that where they dare may peradventure talk lewdly enough but no Scotish man ever spoke dishonorably of England in Parliament It being the custom of those Parliaments that no man was to speak without leave from the Chancellor for the Lords and Commons made but one House in that Kingdom and if any man do propound or utter any seditious Speeches he is straightly interrupted and silenced by the Chancellors Authority This said there was an end of that business for ought I can learn and this gave a sufficient encouragement to the Commons in the time of King Charls to expect the like From whence they came at last to this resolution not to suffer one of theirs to be questioned till themselves had considered of his crimes Which as our Author truly notes kept them close together imboldned thus to preserve themselves to the last fol. 35. This Maxim as they made use of in this present Parliament in behalf of Cook Diggs and Eliot which two last had been Imprisoned by the Kings command so was it more violently and pertinaciously insisted on in the case of the five Members Impeacht of High Treason by the Kings Attorney on the fourth of Ianuary Anno 1641. the miserable effects whereof we still feel too sensibly Fol. 40 And though the matter of the Prologue may be spared being made up with Elegancy yet rather then it shall be lost you may please to read it at this length Our Author speaks this of the Eloquent Oration made by Sir Dudly Diggs to usher in the Impeachment of the Duke of Buckingham which being amplified and prest in six tedious Speeches by Glanvil Pim Selden Wansford Herbert and Sherland was Epilogued by Sir Iohn Eliot A vein of Oratory not to be found in the Body
be this viz. That many conceived that Innovations 〈◊〉 by others for Renovations and now 〈…〉 in the Primitive times were multiplyed in 〈…〉 whereat they in their Sermons 〈…〉 into what was interpreted bitter invectives Lib. 11. Fol. 141. which puts a great difference in the Case seeming to justifie the Offendors in that which was reputed and but reputed to be bitter Invectives and to condemn the Church for multiplying Innovations in the Service of God Secondly M. Sanderson tels us That their very Texts ga●● just cause of offence and mutiny and many such reflecting upo● the most em●nent in the ●urch and violating the Kings De●laration for the depressing of Armini●● Controversies But M. F●ller must needs mince the matter And though he tell us That their Texts gave s●me and but some offence and that they had some tart re●lexion on some eminent persons in the C●urch addes next that they are apprehended to viol●te the Kings Declaration Not that the Kings Declaration for 〈…〉 as his own words are had been viol●t●● by them but that it was apprehend●d so to 〈…〉 might be better Scholars then Lawyers yet Law and Learning must submit when power is pleased to interpose which intimates that the Archbishop carried this businesse by the hand of power against Law and Learning Finally M. Sanders●n subjoyning the death of Archbishop Harsnet to the end of the differences in Oxon hath told us of him that he was a discreet assertor of these necessary and usefull Ceremonies M. Fuller relating the same story hath told us only that he was a zealous assertor of Ceremonies but whether usefull or unusefull necessary or unnecessary he determineth not which shews more candour in the State then the Church-Historian so farewell to both Errata on the Advertisements PAge 30. line 13. for queint r. texit p 34. l. 17. for by the History r. by the Authour of the History p. 36. l. 29. for facies not r. facies non r. facies non p. 40. l. 27. for of ore r. in ore p. 41. l. 3. for midsummer last r. Midsummer 1657. p. 70. l. 30. for D. Lawd Archbishop of Canterbury r. D. Lawd then Bishop of S. Davids and af●erward Archbishop of Canterbury p. 75. l. 15. for Bleth or Bl●so p. 78. l. 12. for 1627. r. 1629. p. 84. l. 16. for Nassautiae r. Nassoni● p. 94. l. 7. for but three r. but three of the Dudl●ys p. 98. l. 14. for at the valley r. at the battle p. 98. l. ●2 for of the fi●●st● of his changing of the first designe p. 106. l. 10. for Willain r. Millain p. 120. l. 12. for pr●●iso p●omise p. 15● l. 29. fo● seas r. s●ales p. 163. l. ult for Toucester r. from T●ucester p. 1●9 l. 11. for the first r. the last p. 205. l. 2. for the ●east r. them least Antiq. Iad Lib. 14. cap 1. Tacit. Annal lib 4. 1 Esdr. cap. 4. ver 41. Diog. Laert. in vit● Chrysippi Cambd. in Oxf. fol. 389. Annal R. Mariae Hist. of Camb. Hist. Camb. fol. 155. 〈…〉 〈…〉 Camd●n in 〈◊〉 Mi● u● ●bid Idem ibid. 〈…〉 Camd B it fol. 6● Ex● apud Su●ium 〈…〉 S●ss 7. Act. 19 35. Platina in vita Beda Hist. Eccles. ●ib 1. cap. 4. Lib. 2. fol. 63. * Beda Hist. Ecclesiast Ang. l. 8. cap. 1. * Hist. l 1. in initio Mart. Polon in Chron. L●b 2. cap. 3. Beda Hist. Ecclesi st l 2. c. 13. C●md in Staff shire Camden in 〈◊〉 sh. S●owes 〈◊〉 Camden in W●shire fol. 243. Camd. in Brit. fol. 135. Lactant. lib. 16. cap. 21. In Brit. fol. 135. Id. in Wi●sh fol. 241. Camd. Brit. fol. 136. Id. in Worcest fol. 578. Richardsons state of Europe lib. 3. Camd. in Scotland fol. 45. C●mden in R●chmondsh●●e sol 7●0 Cam●en in K●●t fol 3●3 〈…〉 Conser●●ce pag. 71. B●erewood Enqu cap. V. 〈…〉 Parenes ad S●vtos p. 99 Gr●g M. Ep●st 70. Camden in Wilts 141. Camd. in Kent 324. Acts 〈…〉 An●o ●532 〈…〉 Brevewoods ●nq cap 13. Camden in Monmouthsh Hist. of St George L. 3. cap. 3 8. Stow in Hen. 5. Hist. Lib. 4. Camd●n in R●dnor 624 〈…〉 〈…〉 〈◊〉 H. 8. c. 26. Vossig de Lat. Hist. Camd. in Hun. fol. 267. Ovid. Met. Lib. 2. History of Flo●ence Camdens Annals An. 1586. Acta Convocation●s 1530. Hollinshead in Henry 8. Pref to the Directory Hollinsh pag. 129. Stow in H. 8. pag. 562. Defence of the Apolog. Stat. 25 H 8. c. 19. Stow in Hen. 8. fol 573. Id. fol. 5●4 Camden in Lincolnshire fol 535. Camd. ●n Midlesex fol 4●9 Hist. Edward 6. p●g 353. 1 E● 6. c. 1. Acts and Mon. pag. 658. Rost●l● Abrid ●f 423. Arist. Pol. l. 7 cap. 16. Antiquit. B●itan Calice Tacit. H●●st l 1. Tacit. Hi●t l. 1. Hist. of Q. Mary s. 25. S●ow Su●ve● of Lond. p. 623. S●ow● An. fol. 617. Archbishops Speech p. 71. Lib. 8 fol 35. 13 El. ● 12. 13. Eliz. c. 20. Co●fer p. 80. 29 Eliz. c. 2. Appell Caesaram cap. 7. pag. 69. Co●●es Belg. Art 31. Consil. red●undi History of K. C. fol. 143. Fol. 131. F●l 143. 〈…〉 〈…〉 Ibid p. 17. 〈◊〉 Table ● 4 ● 68. * 〈…〉 〈…〉 〈…〉 * Collection of Speeches p 5. Hist of K. 〈…〉 * Whether Ceremonies used at his bringing into the Court and his thrusting out of it Minut. F●el Collection of Spe●●●es p 26. 〈◊〉 p. 2● Canon 7. 1640. Church Hist. fol 180. Hist K Charls fol. 208. Camd. Rem pag. 286. R●g in Praef. to the Artic. Minut. Fael Annal Eliz. Treaty at Vxb●idge p. 31. Artic. 13. Hist. of Cam fol. 168. Hist of King Char. ●ol 21. * Animo adversus libidinem ●aeco Apol. c. 21. Camd. Rem Hist. of King Ch. fol. 151. Tacit. Hist. L. ● 〈◊〉 Hist. l. 2. Supe●stition● cha●ged on Dr. Cosens Cru●ll usage of Mr. Smart Dr. Cosins Praise Buch. l. 5 Sm●●ym p. 16. Hist of Scotland fol. 4. Camden Brit. l. 510. Camden in Scot. fol. 42. Augustin de Haeres Hist. of the Church of Scor. ● 41● c. Husband● Collect. pag. 139. d p. 17 e Ibid. f Ibid. g ibid. h p. 18. i p. 5. k Ibid l p. 6. m p. 7. n Ibid. p 29. p. 6. r p. 12. s p. 13. u p. 18. u p. 18. x p. 19. y p. 5.
seasonably here if I had not somewhat to alledge for my justification But when the Reasons which induced me to the first Adventure mentioned in the Introduction following be seriously considered as they ought to be I hope I shall be capable of excuse at the least if not of pardon And for my venturing on the other I shall say nothing more at the present but that as well my love to Truth as to doe right unto the Authour whom I would willingly look on as a man well principled and of no ill affections to Church or State hath invited me to it Truth is the Mistresse which I serve and I presume that none will be offended with me because I tell them of their Errours in a modest way and beare witnesse for them to that Truth of which they doe professe themselves such especiall Lovers In that great Disputation between the Esquires of the body of King Darius whether the King Wine Women or the Truth were of greatest power the whole Assembly cryed out in behalf of Truth Magna est Veritas praevalet that is to say Great is Truth and mighty above all things So that in standing for the Truth without consideration unto the recompence of reward I hope though I mee● some Adversaries I shall finde more Friends If not for I am at a reasonable passe for that it shall be no small comfort to me that the weak Candle of my Studies hath given light to oth●rs whereby they may discern some Historicall Tru●hs even in the darkest Mists of Errour which either partiality or incogitancy hath cast before the eyes of unwary Readers Which said I shall now adde no more but that having two P●tients under cure of different tempers it is not to be thought that I should administer unto both the same kinde of Physick an ordinary purge being sufficient for the one whereas the foule body of the other doth require a Fluxing as some wounds may be healed with Balm when others more corrupt and putrified doe exact a Lancing But so it happeneth many times that some men are more impatient of the Cure then sensible of their Diseases and that in stead of giving thanks to the Physician for the great pains he took about them they pay him with nothing but displeasures Which being the worst that can befall me I am armed against it If by the haz●rd of my peace I shall procure this benefit to the present and succeeding times that men may prove more carefull of what they write and not obt●ude upon the Reader either through ignorance inadvertency or somewhat worse such and so many Falsities Mistakes and Errours as have been lately put upon him in some Modern Histories it is that I aimed at and having gained that Point I have gained my purpose Non partis studiis agimur sed sumpsimus Arma Consiliis inimica tuis ignavia fallax Peter Heyliu Examen Historicum OR A DISCOVERY AND EXAMINATION OF THE Mistakes Falsities and Defects In some Modern HISTORY Part. I. CONTAINING Necessary ANIMADVERSIONS ON THE Church-History of Britain AND The History of Cambridge Publisht by Thomas Fuller For vindication of the Truth the Church and the injured Clergy 2 Corinth 13. 8. Non possumus aliquid adversus veritatem sed pro veritate Minut. Foel in Octavio Et Veritas quidem obvia est sed requirentibus A Necessary Introduction To the Following ANIMADVERSIONS ON THE CHURCH-HISTORY OF BRITAIN Touching the Title of the Book and the Preface to it 1. INtending some short Animadversions on the Church H●story of Britain for Vindication of the Truth the Church and the injured Clergy I have thought good to prepare the way unto them by a plain but necessary Introduction touching the Quality and Nature of the Book which I have in hand Concerning which the Reader is to understand that in the Year 1642. M. Fuller publisht his Book called The Holy State in the Preface whereof he lets us know that he should count it freedom to serve two Apprentiships God spinning out the thick thread of his life so long in writing the Ecclesiasticall History from Christs time to our daies And so much time it seems he had spent upon it except some starts for recreation in the Holy Land before he had finisht and expos'd it to the publike view the Book not coming out until the Year 1655. whether agreeable to his promise and such a tedious expectation we are now to see For first The Reader might expect by the former passage that he designed the Generall History of the Church from the first preaching of Christ and the calling of the twelve Apostles to the times we live in whereas he hath restrained himself to the Church of Britain which he conceives to be so far from being founded in the time of Christ that he is loth to give it the Antiquity of being the work of any of the Apostles of any of the Seventy Disciples or finally of any Apostolicall Spirit of those eldest times And secondly Though he entitle it by the name of the Church-History of Britain yet he pursues not his Designe agreeable to that Title neither there being little said of the affairs of the Church of Scotland which certainly makes up a considerable part of the Isle of Britain and lesse if any thing at all of the Church of Ireland which anciently past in the account of a British Island Nor is it thirdly a Church-History rightly and properly so called but an aggregation of such and so many Heterogeneous bodies that Ecclesiasticall affairs make the least part of it Abstracted from the dresse and trimming and all those outward imbelishments which appear upon it it hath a very fit resemblance to that Lady of pleasure of which Martial tels us Pars minima est ipsa puella sui that the woman was the least part of her self The name of a Church-Rhapsody had been fitter for it though to say truth had it been answerable thereunto in point of learning it might have past by the old Title of Fullers Miscellanies For such and so many are the impertinencies as to matters of Historicall nature more as to matters of the Church that without them this great Volume had been brought to a narrower compasse if it had taken up any room at all So that we may affirm of the present History as one did of the Writings of Chrisippus an old Philosopher viz. Si quis tollat Chrysippi Libris quae aliena sunt facil● illi vacua relinquerentur Pergamena that is to say that if they were well purged of all such passages as were not pertinent to the businesse which he had in hand there would be nothing left in them to fill up his Parchments 2. The first of this kinde which I am to note is a meer extrinsecall and outside unto those impertinences which are coucht within consisting of Title-Pages Dedicatory Epistles and severall intermediate Inscriptions unto every Section A new way never travelled before by
Temporal Subjects And this they did by their own sole Authority as before was said ordering the same to be levyed on all such as were refractory by Sequestration Deprivation Suspension Excommunication Ecclesiastical Censures all without relating to any subsequent confirmation by Act of Parliament which they conceiv'd they had no need of Nor finde we any thing of the Convocations of Queen Elizabeths time except that of the year 1562. and that not fairly dealt with neither as is elsewhere shewed though there passed many Canons in the Convocation of the year 1571. and of the year 1585. and the year 1597. all Printed and still publickly extant besides the memorable Convocation of the year 1555. in which the Clergy gave the Queen a Benevolence of 2● in the pound to be levyed by Ecclesiastical Censures without relating to any subsequent confirmation by Act of Parliament as had accustomably been used in the Grant of Subsidies It might have been expected also that we should have found in a Church History of Britain the several degrees and steps by which the Heterodoxies and Superstitions of the Church of Rome did creep in amongst us and the degrees by which they were ejected and cast out again and the whole Reformation setled upon the Doctrine of the Apostles attended by the Rites and Ceremonies of the Primitive times as also that some honorable mention should be found of those gallant Defences which were made by Dr. Bancroft Dr. Bilson Dr. Bridges Dr. Cosins and divers others against the violent Batteries and Assaults of the Puritan Faction in Queen Elizabeths time and of the learned Writings of B. Buckeridge B. Morton Dr. Su●cliff Dr. Burges c. in justification of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England against the remnants of that scattered and then broken Faction in the time of King Iames of which we have Negry quidem not a word delivered Nor could it stand with his design which will discover it self in part in this Introduction and shall more fully be discovered in the Animadversions that it should be otherwise All which together make it clear and evident that there is too little of the Church or Ecclesiastical History in our Authors Book And that there is too much of the State or Civil History will be easily seen by that unnecessary intermixture of State-Concernments not pertinent to the business which he hath in hand Of this sort to look back no further is the long Will and Testament of King Henry the eighth with his Gloss or Comment on the same taking up three whole sheets at least in which there is not any thing which concerns Religion or which relates unto the Church or Church-affairs although to have the better colour to bring it in he tells us that he hath transcribed it not onely for the rarity thereof but because it contained many passages which might reflect much light upon his Church-History Lib. 5. ●ol 243. Of this sort also is his description of the pomp and order of the Coronation of King Charls which though he doth acknowledge not to be within the Pale and Park of Ecclesiastical History yet he resolves to bring it in because it comes within the Purlews of it as his own words are But for this he hath a better reason then we are aware of that is to say That if hereafter Divine Providence shall assign England another King though the transactions herein be not wholly precedential something of state may be chosen out grateful for imitation Lib. 11. fol. 124. As if the Pomp and order of a Coro●nation were not more punctually preserved in the Heralds Office who have the ordering of all things done without the Church and are eye-Witnesses of all which is done within then in our Authors second-hand and imperfect Collections The like may be said also of the quick and active Reigns of King Edward the sixth and Queen Mary in which the whole Body of the reformed Religion was digested setled and destroyed sufficient of it self to make a competent Volumn but contracted by our Author like Homers Iliads in the Nut shell into less then 25 sheets And yet in that small Abstract we finde many Impertinencies as to the work he hath in hand that is to say The great proficiency of King Edward in his Grammar Learning exemplified in three pieces of Latine of his making when he was but eight or nine years old the long Narrative of Sir Edward Mountague chief Iustice of the Common Pleas to vindicate himself from being a voluntary Agent in the business of the Lady Iane Gray the full and punctual relation of W●ats Rebellion and the issue of it though acted upon some false grounds of Civil Interess without relating to Religion or to Church Affairs Infinitum esset ●re per singula It were an infinite labor to look into all particulars of this nature which are found in our Author make up a great part of the Book but we may guess by this brief view as Ex pede Hereulem that his diversion upon Civil Matters and Affairs of State which neither have relation to nor any influence at all upon those of the Church do make up a considerable part of the rest of the Book Which Civil Matters and State-Concernments being discharg'd also as in all reason they ought to be we next proceed to the Church-History it self In which if we should make the like defalkation and expunge every passage which is either positively false or ignorantly mistaken by him there would be very little left to inform the Reader as by the following Animadversions will appear sufficiently 8. But well it were if onely Abberrations from Historical truth were to be met with in our Author In whom we find such a continual vein of Puritanism such dangerous grounds for inconformity and Sedition to be raised upon as easily may pervert the unwary Reader whom the facetiousness of the stile like a hook baited with a painted Fly may be apt to work on Murthering of Kings avowed for necessary prudence as oft as they shall fall into the power of their Subjects Lib. 4 fol. 109. The Coronation of the Kings and consequently their succession to the Crown of England made to depend upon the suffrage and consent of the People Lib. 11. fol. 122. The Sword extorted from the Supream Magistrate and put into the hands of the common People whensoever the Reforming humor shall grow strong amongst them Lib. 9. fol. 51. The Church depriv'd of her Authority in determining controversies of the Faith and a dispute rais'd against that clause of the Atticle in which that Authority is declared whether forg'd or not Lib. 9. f. 73. Her power in making Canons every where prostituted to the lust of the Parliament contrary both to Law and constant practice the Heterodoxies of Wickliff Canoniz'd for Gospel and Calvins Opinions whatsoever they were declar'd for Orthodox the Sabbatarian Rigors published for Divine and Ancient Truths though there be no Antiquity nor Divinity
Puritanical Zeal should be lost to posterity These things I might have noted in their proper places but that they were reseru'd for this as a taste to the rest 12. Et jam finis erat and here I thought I should have ended this Anatomy of our Authors Book but that there is another passage in the Preface thereof which requires a little further consideration For in that Preface he informs us by the way of caution That the three first Books were for the main written in the Reign of the late King as appeareth by the Passages then proper for the Government The other nine Books were made since Monarchy was turned into a State By which it seems that our Author never meant to frame his History by the line of truth but to attemper it to the palat of the present Government whatsoever it then was or should prove to be which I am sure agrees not with the Laws of History And though I can most easily grant that the fourth Book and the rest that follow were written after the great alteration and change of State in making a new Commonwealth out of the ruines of an ancient Monarchy yet I concur not with our Author in the time of the former For it appears by some passages that the three first Books either were not all written in the time of the King or else he must give himself some disloyal hopes that the King should never be restored to his place and Powe● by which he might be called to a reckoning for them For in the second Book he reckons the Cross in Baptism for a Popish Trinket by which it appears not I am sure to have been written in the time of the Kingly Government that being no expression sutable unto such a time Secondly speaking of the precedency which was sixt in Canterbury by removing the Archiepiscopal See from London thither he telleth us that the 〈◊〉 is not mu●h which See went first when living seeing our Age ●ath laid them ●oth alike level in in their Graves But certainly the Government was not chang'd into a State or Commonwealth till the death of the King and till the death of the King neither of those Episcopal Sees nor any of the rest were laid so level in their Graves but that they were in hope of a Resurrection the King declaring himself very constantly in the Treaty at the Isle of Wight as well against the abolishing of the Episcopal Government as the alienation of their Lands Thirdly In the latter end of the same Book he makes a great dispute against the high and sacred priviledge of the Kings of England in curing the disease commonly called the Kings Evil whether to be imputed to Magick or Imagina●●●n or indeed a Miracle next brings us in an old Wives Tale about Queen Elizabeth as if she had disclaimed that power which she daily exercised and finally manageth a Quarrel against the form of Prayer used at the curing of that Evil which he arraigns for Superstition and impertinencies no inferior Crimes Are all these Passages proper to that Government also Finally in the third Book he derogates from the power of the Church in making Canons giving the binding and concluding Power in matters which concern the Civil Rights of the Subjects not to the King but to the Lay-people of the Land assem●●●d in Parliament which game he after followeth in the ●ighth and last And though it might be safe enough for him in the eighth last to derogate in this maner from the Kings supremacy in Ecclesiastical affairs yet certainly it was neither safe for him so to do nor proper for him so to write in the time of the Kingl● Gov●rnment unless he had some such wretched hopes as before we sp●ke of 〈◊〉 I must need say that on the reading of these Passages an● the rest that follow I found my self possest with much indignation and long expected when some Champion would appear in the lists against this Goliah who so reproachfully had defiled the whole Armies of Israel And I must needs confess withal that I did never enter more unwillingly upon any undertaking then I did on this But being ●ollicited thereunto by Letters Messages and several personal Addresses by men of all Orders and Dignities in the Church and of all Degrees in the Universities I was at last overcome by that importunity which I found would not be resisted I know that as the times now stand I am to expect nothing for my Pains and Travel but the displeasure of some and the censure of others But coming to the work with a single heart abstracted from all self-ends and private Interesses I shall satisfie my self with having done this poor service to the Church my once Blessed Mother for whose sake onely I have put my self upon this Adventure The party whom I am to deal with is so much a stranger to me that he is neither beneficio nec injurià notus and therefore no particular respects have mov'd me to the making of these Animadversions which I have writ without relation to his person for vindication of the truth the Church and the injured Clergy as before is said So that I may affirm with an honest Conscience Non lecta est operi sed data causa meo That this implo●ment was not chosen by me but impos'd upon me the unresistable intreaties of so many friends having something in them of Commands But howsoever Iacta est alea as Caesar once said when he passed over the Rubicon I must now take my fortune whatsoever it proves so God speed me well Errata on the Animadversions PAge 10. line 17. for Melkinus r. Telkinus p. 20. l. 21. for Queen of r. Queen of England p. 27. l. 6. for Woode● poir r. Woodensdike s p. 42. l. 1. for inconsiderateness r. the inconsiderateness of children p. 121. l. 28. for ter r. better p. 145. l. 2. for statuendo r. statuendi p. 154. l. 22. Horcontnar r. cantuur p. 154. l. 17. for Dr. Hammond r. D. Boke p. 160. l. 1. for his r. this p. 163. l. 28. for Jesuites r. Franciscans p. 189. l. ult for contemn r. confession p. 221. in the Marg. for wether r. with other p. 228. l. 2. for Den r. Dean p. 239. l. 29. for Commons r. Canon p. 271. l. ult for culis r. occulis ANIMADVERSIONS ON The Church History OF BRITAIN LIB I. Of the Conversion of the Britans to the Faith of Christ. IN order to the first Conve●sion o● 〈◊〉 B●itish Nations our Author takes beginning at the sad condition they were in be●ore the Chris●ian Faith was preached unto them ● And in a sad condition they were indeed● as being in the estate of Gentilism and consequently without the true knowledge of the God that made them but yet not in a worse condition then the other Gentiles w●● were not only darkned in their understandings b●●●o deprav'd also in their Affections as to work all ma●n●er of uncleanness even
trouble at all that is to say That The Scripture quoted in that Letter is out of St. Hieroms Translation which came more then a hundred years after Unless it can be prov'd with all as I think it cannot the Hierom followed not in those texts those old Translations which were before receiv'd and used in the Western Churches Less am I mov'd with that which follows viz. That this letter not appearing till a thousand years after the death of Pope Eleutherius might probably creep out of some Monk● Cell some four hundred years since Which allegation being admitted the Monks Cell excepted it makes no more to the discredit of the letter which we have before us then to the undervaluing of those excellent Monuments of Piety and Learning which have been recovered of late times from the dust and moths of ancient Libraries Such Treasure like money long lockt up is never thought less profitable when it comes abroad And from what place soever it first came abroad I am confident it came not out of any Monks Cell that generation being then wholly at the Popes devotion by consequence not likely to divulge an Evidence so m●nifestly tending to the overthrow of his pretensions The Popes about four hundred years since were mounted to the height of that power and Tyranny which they claimed as Vicars unto Christ. To which the●e could not any thing be more plainly contrary then that passage in the Popes letter where he tells the King That he was Gods Vicar in his own Kingdom vos estis Vicarius De● in Regno vestro as the Latine hath it Too g●eat a secret to proceed from the Cell of a Monk who would have rather forg'd ten Decretals to ●pho●d the P●pis● 〈◊〉 over Soverain Princes then published one only whether true or false to subvert the same Nor doth this Letter only give the King an empty Title but such a Title as imports the exercise of the chief Ecclesiastical Power within his Dominions For thus it followeth in the same The people and the folk of the Realm of Britain be yours whom if they be divided ye ought togather in conc●rd and peace to call them to the faith and law of Christ to cherish and maintain them to rule and govern them so as you may reign everlastingly with him whose Vicar you are So far the very words of the letter as our Author rendereth them which savour far more of the honest simplicity of the Primitive Popes then the impostures and suppos●titious issues of the ●atter times Our Author tells us fol. 9. that he had ventured on this story with much aversness and we dare believe him He had not else laboured to discredit it in so many particulars and wilfully that I say no worse suppressed the best part of the Evidence in the words of Beda who being no friend unto the Britans hath notwithstanding done them right in this great business And from him take the story in these following words Anno ab i●carnati●ne Domini 156 c. In the 156. year after Christs Nativity Marcus Antonius Verus together with Aurelius Commodus his Brother did in the fourteenth place from Augustus Caesar undertake the gove●nment of the Empire In whose times when as Eleutherius a godly man was Bishop of the Church of Rome Lucius King of the Britans sent unto him Obsecrans ut per ejus mandatum Christianus essiceretur intreating by his means to be made a Christian whose vertrious desire he ein was granted and the faith of Christ being thus received by the Britans was by them kept inviolate and undefiled until the time of Dioc●tian This is the substance of the story as by him delivered true in the main though possibly there may be some mistake in his Chronology as in a matter not so canvassed as it hath been lately Now to proceed unto our Author he tells us fol. 10. out of Ieffery of Monmouth That at this time there were in England twenty eight Cities each of them having a Flamen or Pagan Priest and three of them namely London York and Caer-Lion in Wales had Archflamens to which the rest were subjected and Lucius placed Bishops in the room of the Flamens and Archbishops Metropolitans in the places of Archflamens concluding in the way of scorn that his Flamines and Archflamines seem to be Flams and Archflams even notorious falshoods And it is well they do but seem so it being possibly enough that they may seem Falshoods to our Author even notorious Falshoods though they seem true enough to others even apparent truths And first though Ieffery of Monmouth seem to deserve no credit in this particular where he speaks against our Authors sense yet in another place where he comes up to his desires he is otherwise thought of and therefore made the Foreman of the grand Inquest against Augustino the Monk whom he enditeth for the murther of the Monks of Bancor And certainly if Ieffery may be believ'd when he speaks in passion when his Welch bloud was up as our Author words it as one that was concerned in the cause of his Countreymen he may more easily be believ'd in a cause of so remote Antiquity where neither love nor hatred or any other prevalent affection had any power or reason to divert him from the way of truth And secondly though Ieffery of Monmouth be a Writer of no great credit with me when he stands single by himself yet when I finde him seconded and confirmed by others I shall not brand a truth by the name of falshood because he reports it Now that in Britain at that time there were no fewer then eight and twenty Cities is affirmed by Beda Henry of Huntington not only agrees with him in the number but gives us also the names of them though where to finde many of them it is hard to say That in each of these Cities was some Temple dedicated to the Pagan Gods that those Temples afterwards were imploy'd to the use of Christians and the Revenues of them assign'd over to the maintenance of the Bishops and other Ministers of the Gospel hath the concurr●nt testimony of approved Authors that is to say Ma●thew of Westminster out of Gildas Anno 187. Rodolph de Diceto cited by the learned Prima● of Armach in his Book De Primordiis Eccles. Brit. cap. 4. Gervaso of Tilbury ibid. cap. 6. And for the Flamines and Archflamines they stand not only on the credit of Ieffery of Monmouth but of all our own Writers who speak of the foundation of the antient Bishopricks even to Polydor Virgil. Nor want there many forain Writers who affirm the same bginning with Martinus Polonus who being esteemed no friend to the Popedom because of the Story of Pope Ione which occurs in his Writings may the rather be believ'd in the story of Lucius And he agrees with Ieffery of Monmouth in all parts of the story as to the Flamines and Archflamines as do also many other
King Edward having no dominion over them could not impose a Law upon them Not was it probable that he should borrow any of their Lawes or impose them on his natural subjects considering the Antipathy and disaffection betwixt the Nations There were indeed at that time in England three kinds of Lawes The first called Dane-lage or the Danish Lawes prevailing for the most part in the Kingdom of the East-Angles and that of Northumberland secondly Saxon-lage used generally in the Kingdoms of the West-Saxons East-Saxons South-Saxons and that of Kent and thirdly Merce●-lage extending over all the Provinces of the Kingdom of Mercia As for the Britans of Cornwal and Cumberland they had no distinct Law for themselves as had those of Wales but were governed by the Lawes of that Nation unto which they were subject By these three sorts of Laws were these Nations governed in their several and respective limits which being afterwards reduced into one body and made common equally to all the subjects did worthily deserve the name of the Common-Law But secondly I dare not give the honour of this action to King Edward the Confessor The great Iustinian in this work was another Edward called for distinctions sake King Edward the elder who began his Reign Anno 900. almost 150 years before this Confessor to whom our Author hath ascribed it But the truth is that these Lawes being suppressed by the Danish Kings who governed either in an arbitrary way or by the Lawes of their own Countrey they were revived and reinforced in the time of this Edward from whence they had the name of Edward the Confessors Lawes and by that name were sued and fought for in the time succeeding of which more hereafter Now as this work may be ascribed to his love to justice so from his piety his successors derive as great a benefit of curing the disease which from thence is called the Kings evill which some impute as our Author tels us to secret and hidden causes Fol. 145. Others ascribe it to the power of fancy and an exalted imagination Amongst which others I may reckon our Author for one He had not else so strongly pleaded in defence thereof But certainly what effect soever the strength of fancy and an exalted imagination● as our Author cals it may produce in those of riper years it can contribute nothing to the cure of children And I have seen some children brought before the King by the hanging sleeves some hanging at their Mothers breasts and others in the armes of their Nurses all touch'd and cur'd without the help of any such fancies or imaginations as our Author speaks of Others lesse charitably condemn this cure as guilty of supersti●ion quarrelling at the Circumstances and Ceremonies which are used and this they do Saith he ibid. either displeased at the Collect consisting of the first nine verses of the Gospell of St. John as wholly improper and nothing relating to the occasion c. Our Author tels us more then once lib. 11. 167. of his being a Clerk of the Convocation but I finde by this that he never came so high as to be Clerk of the Closet Which had he been he would not have mistaken the Gospel for a Collect or touched upon that Gospel which is lesse material without insisting on the other which is more pertinent and proper to the work in hand or suffered the displeased party to remain unsatisfied about the sign of the Crosse made by the Royall hands on the place infected as it after followeth when there is no such crossing used in that sacred Ceremony the King only gently drawing both his hands over the sore at the reading of the first Gospel But that both he and others may be satisfied in these particulars I have thought fit to lay down the whole form of prayers and readings used in the healing of that malady in this manner following The form of the Service at the healing of the Kings-evill The first Gospel is exactly the same with that on Ascension day At the touching of every infirm person these words are repeated They shall lay their hands on the sick and they shall recover The second Gospell begins the first of St. Iohn and ends at these words Full of grace and truth At the putting the Angell about their necks were repeated That Light was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy Name c. Min. O Lord save thy servants An. Which put their trust in thee Min. Send unto them help from above An. And evermore mightily defend them Min. Help us O God our Saviour An. And for the glory of thy name sake deliver us be merciful unto us sinners for thy names sake Min. O Lord hear our Prayer An. And let our cry come unto thee The Collect. Almighty God the eternal health of all such as put their trust in thee hear us we beseech thee on the behalf of these thy servants for whom we call for thy merci●●l help that they receiving health may give thanks ●nto thee in thy holy Church through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen The peace of God c. This is the whole form against which nothing is objected but the using of the words before mentioned at the putting on of the Angel the pertinency whereof may appear to any who consider that the Light which was the true Light and lighteth every man which cometh into the world did not shine more visibly at the least mo●e comfortably upon the people then in the healing of ●o many sick infirm and leprous persons as did from time to time receive the benefit of it But it is time I should proceed Fol. 148. These chose Harald to be King whose Titl● to the Crown is not worth our deriving of it● much 〈◊〉 his r●lying on it A Title not so de●picable as our Author makes it nor much inferior unto that by which hi● Predecessor obtain'd the Kingdom Harald being ●on to Earl Godwin the most potent man of all the S●●xons by Theyra the natural Daughter of Canutus the fi●st was consequently Brother by the whole bloud to Harald Har●agar and Brother by the half bloud to Canutus the ●econd the two last Danish Kings of England In which respect being of Saxon Ance●●ry by his Fa●her and of the Danish Royal bloud by his Mother he might be look'd on as the fittest person in that conj●ncture to con●ent both Nations But whatsoever his Title was it was undoubtedly better then that of the Norman had either his success been answerable or his sword as good Upon occasion of which Conquest our Author telleth us that Ibid. This was the fifth time wherein the South of this Island was conquered first by Romans secondly by Picts and Scots thirdly by Saxons fourthly by the Danes and fifthly● by the Norman But this I can by no means
to say the Title of Earl of Hereford which the Duke requested but so much of the Lands of those Earls as had been forme●ly enjoy'd by the House of Lancaster Concerning which we are to know that Humphry de Bohun the last Earl of Hereford left behinde him two Daughters only of which the eldest called Eleanor was married to Thomas of Woodstock Duke of Gloster Mary the other married unto Henry of Bullenbrook Earl of Darby Betwixt these two the Estate was parted the one Moiety which drew after it the Title of Hereford falling to Henry Earl of Darby the other which drew after it the Office of Constable to the Duke of Glocester But the Duke of Glocester being dead and his estate coming in fire unto his Daughter who was not able to contend Henry the fifth forced her unto a sub-division laying one half of her just partage to the other Moiety But the issue of Henry of Bullenbrook being quite exti●ct in the Person of Edward Prince of Wales Son of Henry the sixth these three parts of the Lands of the Earls of Hereford having been formerly incorporated into the Duchy of Lancaster remained in possession of the Crown but were conceiv'd by this Duke to belong to him as being the direct Heir of Anne Daughter of Thomas Duke of Glocester and consequently the direct Heir also of the House of Hereford This was the sum of his demand Nor do I finde that he made any suit for the Office of Constable or that he needed so to do he being then Constable of England as his Son Edward the last Duke of Buckingham of that Family was after him Fol. 199. At last the coming in of the Lord Stanley with three thousand fresh men decided the controversie on the Earls side Our Author is out in this also It was not the Lord Stanley but his Brother Sir William Stanley who came in so seasonably and thereby turn'd the Scale and chang'd the fortune of the day For which service he was afterward made Lord Chamberlain of the new Kings Houshold and advanc'd to great Riches and Estates but finally beheaded by that very King for whom and to whom he had done the same But the King look'd upon this action with another eye And therefore when the merit of this service was interposed to mitigate the Kings displeasure and preserve the man the King remembred very shrewdly that as he came soon enough to win the Victory so he staid long enough to have lost it ANIMADVERSIONS ON The Fifth and Sixth Books OF The Church History OF BRITAIN Relating to the time of King Henry the Eighth WE are now come to the busie times of King Henry the Eighth in which the power of the Church was much diminisht though not reduced to such ill terms as our Author makes it We have him here laying his foundations to overthrow that little which is left of the Churches Rights His superstructures we shall see in the times ensuing more seasonable for the practice of that Authority which in this fifth Book he hammereth only in the speculation But first we will begin with such Animadversions as relate unto this time and story as they come in our way leaving such principles and positions as concern the Church to the close of all where we shall draw them all together that our discourse and observations thereupon may come before the Reader without interruption And the first thing I meet with is a fault of Omission Dr. Newlen who succeeded Dr. Iackson in the Pres●dentship of Corpus Christi Colledge in Oxford Anno 1640. by a free election and in a statuteable way being left out of our Authors Catalogue of the Presidents of C. C. C. in Oxford fol. 166. and Dr. Stanton who c●me in by the power of the Visitors above eight years after being placed therein Which I thought fit though otherwise of no great moment to take notice of that I might do the honest man that right which our Author doth not Fol. 168. King Henry endevoured an uniformity of Grammar all over his Dominions that so youths though changing their School-masters might keep their learning That this was endevoured by King Henry and at last en●oyned I shall easily grant But then our Authour should have told us if at least he knew it that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thereof p●oceeded f●om the Convocation in the yea● 1530. in which complaint being made Quod multiplex varius in Scholis Grammaticalibus modus esset 〈◊〉 c. That the multiplicity of Grammars did much him to learning it was thought meet by the Prelates and Clergy then assembled Vt una eadem edatur formula Auctoritate 〈…〉 singula Schola Gramma●icals per 〈…〉 that is to say that one only 〈…〉 that within few years after it was enjoyned by the Kings Proclamation to be used in all the Schools thoughout the Kingdom But here we are to note withall that our Author anticipates this business placing it in the eleventh year of this King● Anno 1519. whereas the Convocation took not this into con●ideration till the eighth of March Anno 1530. and ce●tainly would not have medled in it then if the King had setled and enjoyned it so long before Fol. 168. other●ardiner ●ardiner gathered the Flowers made the Collections though King Henry had the honour to wear the Posie I am not ignorant that the making of the Kings Book against Martin Luther is by some Popish writers ascribed to Dr. Iohn Fisher then Bishop of Rochester But this Cav●● was not made till after this King had re●ected the Popes Supremacy and consequently the lesse credit to be given unto it It is well known that his Father King Henry the seventh designed him for the Arch-bishoprick of Canterbury and to that end caused him to be trained up in all parts of learning which might inable 〈◊〉 for that place But his elder Brother Prince Arthur d●ing and himself succeeding in the Crown though he had laid aside the thoughts of being a Priest he could not but retain that Learning which he had acquired and reckon it amongst the fairest Flowers which adorned his Diadem Too great a Clerk he was to be called Beauclerk junior as if he were as short in learning of King Henry the first whom commonly they called Beauclerk as he was in time though so our Author would fain have it Hist. Cam. p. 2 3. A little learning went a great way in those early dayes which in this King would have made no shew● in whose ●●me both the Arts and Languages began to flourish And if our Author doth not suspect this Kings lack of learning he hath no reason to suspect his lack of 〈◊〉 the work being small the glory great and helps enough at hand if he wanted any But of this enough Fol. 196. Which when finished as White-hall Hampton-Court c. he either freely gave to the King or exchanged them on very reasonable considerations That Hampton Court was either freely given by
passing of the Statute of Praemunire were without any further Ratification obligatory to all subjected to their jurisdiction And he hath told us also of such Convocations as had been called between the passing of the Statute of Praemunire and the Act for Submission that they made Canons whiche were binding although none other then Synodical Authority did confirme the same Upon whi●●●remisses I shall not fear to raise this Syllogism viz That power which the Clergy had in their Convocations before their submission to the King to binde the subject by their Canons and Constitutions without any further Ratification then own Synodicall Authority the same they had when the Kings power signified in his Royal assent was added to them but the Clergy by our Authors own confession had power in their Convocations before their submission to the King to binde the Subject by their Canons and Constitutions without any further ratification then their own Synodical Authority Ergo they had the same power to binde the Subjects when the Kings power signified by the Royal assent was added to them The Minor being granted by our Author as before is shewed the Major is only to be proved And for the proof hereof I am to put the Reader in minde of a Petition or Remonstrance exhibited to the King by the House of Commons Anno 1532. in which they shewed themselves agrieved that the Clergy of this Realm should act Authoritatively and Supremely in the Convocations and they in Parliament do nothing but as it was confirmed and ratified by the Royal assent By which it seems that there was nothing then desired by the House 〈◊〉 ●ommons but that the Convocation should be brought down to the same level with the Houses of Parliament and that their Acts and Constitutions should not binde the Subject as before in their Goods and Possessions untill they were confirmed and ratified by the Regal power The Answer unto which Remonstrance being drawn up by Dr. Gardiner then newly made Bishop of Winchester and allowed of by both Houses of Convocation was by them presented to the King But the King not satisfied with this Answer ●●solves to bring them to his bent le●t else perhaps they might have acted something to the hindrance of his divorce which was at that time in agitation and therefore on the 10 of May he sends a paper to them by Dr. Fox after Bishop of Hereford in which it was peremptorily required That no Constitution or Ordinance shall be hereafter by the Clergy Enacted Promulged or put in Execution unlesse the Kings Highness do approve the same by his high Authority and Royal assent and his advice and favour be also interponed for the execution of every such constitution among his Highnesse Subjects And though the Clergy on the receipt of this paper remov'd first to the Chappel of St. Katherines and after unto that of St. Dunstan to consult about it yet found they no Saint able to inspi●e them with a resolution contrary to the Kings desires and therefore upon the Wednesday following being the 15 of the same Moneth they made their absolute submission binding themselves in Verbo Sacerdotii not to make or execute any Canons or other Synodical Constitutions but as they were from time to time enabled by the Kings Authority But this submission being made unto the King in his single person and not as in conjunction with his Houses of Parliament could neither bring the Convocation under the command of Parliaments nor render them obnoxious to the power thereof as indeed it did not But to the contrary hereof it is said by our Author that Fol. 194. He viz. the King by the advice and consent of his Clergy in Convocation and great Councel in Parliament resolved to reform the Church under his inspection from grosse abuses crept into it To this I need no other Answer then our Author himself who though in this place he makes the Parliament to be joyned in Commission with the Convocation as if a joynt Agent in that great business of Reforming the Church yet in another place he tels us another tale For fol. 188. it will appear saith he and I can tell from whom he saith it upon serious examination that there was nothing done in the Reformation of Religion save what was acted by the Clergy in their Convocations or grounded on some Act of theirs precedent to it with the Advice Counsel and Consent of the Bishops and most eminent Churchmen confirmed upon the Postfact and not otherwise by the Civill Sanction according to the usage of the best and happiest times of Christianity So then the Reformation of the Church was acted chiefly by the King with the advice of the Clergy in their Convocation the confirmation on the post-fact by the King in Parliament and that by his leave not in all the Acts and Particulars of it but in some few only for which consult the Tract entituled The Way and Manner of the Reformation of the Church of England Now as our Author makes the Parliament a joynt Assistant with the King in the Reformation so he conferreth on Parliaments the supreme Power of ratifying and confirming all Synodicall Acts. Fol. 199. The Parliament saith he did notifie and declare that Ecclesiasticall power to be in the King which the Pope had formerly unjustly invaded Yet so that they reserved to themselves the confirming power of all Canons Ecclesiastical so that the person or property of Refusers should not be subjected to temporal penalty without consent of Parliament But certainly there ●is no such matter in that Act of Parliament in which the submission of the Clergy and the Authority of the King grounded thereupon is notified and recorded to succeeding times nor any such reservation to themselves of a confirming power as our Author speaks of in any Act of Parliament I can knowingly and boldly say it from that time to this Had there been any such Priviledge any such Reservation as is here declared their power in confirming Ecclesiastical Canons had been Lord Paramount to the Kings who could have acted nothing in it but as he was enabled by his Houses of Parliament Nor is this only a new and unheard of Paradox an Heterodoxie as I may call it in point of Law but plainly contrary to the practice of the Kings of England from that time to this there being no Synodical Canons or Constitutions I dare as boldly say this too confirmed in Parliament or any otherwise ratified then by the superadding of the Royal assent For proof whereof look we no further then the Canons of 603 and 640 confirmed by the two Kings respectively and without any other Authority concurring with them in these following words viz. We have therefore for Us our Heirs and lawful Successors of our especial Grace certain knowledge and meer motion given and by these p●esents do give our Royal assent according to the fo●m of the said Statute or Act of Parliament aforesaid to all and every of
his very Book fol. 283. which is this that followeth Once saith he it was in my minde to set down a Catalogue easie to do and useful when done of such Houses of Cistercians Templers and Hospitallers which were founded since the Lateran Council yet going under the general notion of Tithe-free to the great injury of the Church But since on second thoughts I conceived it better to let it alone as not sure on such discovery of any blessing from such Ministers which should gain but certain of many curses from such Lay-men who should lose thereby So he But I have heard it for a usual saying of King Henry the fourth of France That he that feared the Popes curse the reproaches of discontented people and the frowns of his Mistress should never sleep a quiet hour in his bed And so much for that Fol. 357. But this was done without any great cost to the Crown only by altering the Property of the place from a late made Cathedral to an Abbey Our Author speaks this of the Church of Westminster which though it suffered many changes yet had it no such change as our Author speaks of that is to say from a Cathedral to an Abbey without any other alteration which came in between For when the Monastery was dissolved by King Henry the eighth An. 1539. it was made a Deanry Will. Benson being the first Dean In the year 1541. he made it an Episcopal See or Cathedral Church and placed Thomas Thurlby the first Bishop there But Thurlby being remov'd to Norwich Anno 1550. the Bishoprick was suppressed by King Edward the sixth and the Church ceased from being Cathedral continuing as a Deanry only till the 21. of November 1557. at what time Dr. Hugh Weston the then Dean thereof unwillingly remov'd to Winsor made room for Feckna● and his Monks and so restor'd it once again to the State of an Abbey as our Author telleth us Fol. 359. Nor can I finde in the first year of Queen Elizabeth any particular Statute wherein as in the r●ign of King Henry the eighth these Orders are nominatim suppressed c. But first the several Orders of Religious Persons were not suppressed nominatim except that of St. Iohns by a Statute in the time of King Henry the eight Secondly if there were no such Statute yet was it not because those Houses had no legal settlement as it after followeth Queen Mary being vested with a power of granting Mortmains and consequently of founding these Religious Houses in a Legal way Thirdly there might be such a Statute though our Author never had the good luck to see it and yet for want of such good luck I finde him apt enough to think there was no such Statute Et quod non invenit usquam esse putat nusquam in the Poets language And such a Statute as he speaks of there was indeed mentioned and related to in the Charter of Queen Elizabeth for founding the Collegiate Church of St. Peter in Westminster But being an unprinted Statute and of private use it easily might escape our Authors diligence though it did not Camdens who being either better ●ighted or more concern'd had a view thereof For telling ●s how the Monks with their Abbot had been set in possession again by Queen Mary he after addeth that they within a while after being cast out by Authority of Parliment the most vertuous Queen Elizabeth converted it into a Collegiate Church or rather into a Seminary or Nurse Garden of the Church c. Fol. 369. Jesuits the last and newest of all Orders The newest if the last there 's no doubt of that but the last they were not the Oratorians as they call them being of a later brood The Iesuites founded by Ignatius Loyola a Spaniard and confirmed by Pope Paul the thi●d Anno 1540. The Oratorians founded by Philip Meri● a Florentine and confirmed by Pope Pius the fourth Anno 1564. By which accompt these Oratorians are younger Brethren to the Iesuites by the space of four and twenty years and consequently the ●esuites not the last and newest of Religious Orders ANIMADVERSIONS ON The Seventh and Eighth Books OF The Church History OF BRITAIN Containing the Reigns of King Edward the sixth and Queen Mary WE are now come unto the Reign of King Edward the sixth which our Author p●sseth lightly over though very full of action and great alterations And he●e the first thing which I meet with is an unnecessary Quaere which he makes about the Injunctions of this King Amongst which we finde one concerning the religious keeping of the Holy-dayes in the close whereof it is declared That it shall be lawful for all people in time of Harvest to labour upon Holy and Festivall dayes and save that thing which God hath sent and that scrupulosity to abstain from wo●king on those dayes doth grievously offend God Our Author he●upon makes this Quaere that is to say Fol. 375. Whether in the 24 Injunction labouring in time of Harvest upon Holy-dayes and Festivals relateth not only to those of Ecclesiastical Constitution as dedicated to Saints or be inclusive of the Lords-day also Were not our Author a great Zelot for the Lords-day-Sabbath and ●●●dious to intitle it to some Antiquity we had not met with such a Quaere The Law and Practice of those times make this plain enough For in the Statute of 5 and 6 of Edward the sixth c. 3. the names and number of the Holy-dayes being first laid down that is to say All Sundayes in the year the Feasts of the circumcision of our Lord Iesus Christ of the Epiphany c. with all the rest still kept and there named particularly it is thus enacted viz. That it shall and may be lawful to every Husbandman Labourer Fisherman and to all and every other person and persons of what Estate Degree or Condition he or they be upon the Holy-dayes aforesaid in Harvest or at any other times in the year when necessity shall so require to labour ride fish or work any kinde of 〈◊〉 at their free-wils and pleasure any thing in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding The Law being such there is no question to be made in point of practice nor consequently of the meaning of the Kings injunction For further opening of which truth we finde in Sir Iohn Haywoods History of this King that not the Countrey only but the Court were indulged the liberty of attending but ness on that day it being ordered by the King amongst other things That the Lords of the Councell should upon Sundayes attend the publick Affairs of the Realm dispatch Answers to Letters for good order of the State and make full dispatches of all things concluded the week before Provided that they be p●esent at Common Prayer And that on every Sunday night the Kings Secretary should deliver him a memorial of such things as are to be debated by the Privy Councell in the week ens●ing Which Orders had our Author
Katheri●e Parr the Widow of King Henry the eighth and wife unto Sir Thomas Seimor the Lord here mentioned is generally charactered for a Lady of so meek a nature as not to contribute any thing towards his destruction Had the Dutchesse of Somerset been lesse impetious then she was or possest but of one half of that aequanimity which carryed Queen Katherine off in all times of her troubles this Lord might have lived happily in the armes of his Lady and gone in peace unto the grave We finde the like match to have been made between another Katherine the Widow of another Henry and Owen Tudor a private Gentleman of Wales prosperous and comfortable to them both though Owen was inferior to Sir Thomas Seimor both in Birth and Quality and Katherine of Valois Daughter to Charles the sixth of France far more superiour in her bloud to Queen Katherine Parr The like may be said also of the marriage of Adeliza Daughter of Geofry Earl of L●vain and Duke of Brabant and Widow to King Henry the first marryed to William de Albeney a noble Gentleman to whom she brought the Castle and Honour of Arundel con●erred upon her by the King her former Husband continuing in the possession of their posterity though in severall Families to this very day derived by the Heirs general from this House of Albeney to that of the Fitz-●lans and from them to the Howards the now Earls thereof Many more examples of which kinde fo●tunate and succesful to each party might be easily ●ound were it worth the while Fol. 421. This barren Convocation is entituled the Parent of those Articles of Religion forty two in number which are printed with this Preface Articuli de quibus in Synodo Londinensi c. Our Author here is guilty of a greater crime then that of Scandalum Magnatum making King Edward the sixth of pious memory no better then an impious and leud Impostor For if the Convocation of this year were barren as he saith it was it could neither be the Parent of those Articles nor of the short Catechisme which was Printed with them countenanced by the Kings Letters Patents pre●ixt before it For First the Title to the Articles runneth thus at large viz. Articuli de quibus in Synodo Londinensi Anno 1552 inter Episcopos alios eruditos viros convenerat ad tollendam opinionum dissensionem consensum verae Religionis firmandum Regia Authoritate in lucem editi Which title none durst have adventured to set before them had they not really been the products of that Convocation Secondly the King had no reason to have any such jealousie at that time of the major part of the Clergy but that he might trust them with a power to meddle with matters of Religion which is the only Argument our Author bringeth against those Articles This Convocation being holden in the sixth year of his Reign when most of the Episcopal Sees and Parochial Churches were filled with men ag●ee●ble to his desi●es and generally conform●ble to the form of worship the● by Law established Thi●dly the Church of England for the first five years of Queen Elizabeth retained these Articles and no othe● as the publick tendries of the Church in poin●s of Doctrine which ce●tainly she had not done had they been re●ommended to her by a lesse Autho●ity then a Convocation Fourthly and las●ly we have the testimony of our Author against himself who telling us of the Catechisme above mentioned that it was of the san●e extraction with the Book of Articles addes afte●wards that being first composed by a single person it was perus●d and allowed by the Bishops and other learned men understand it the Convocation and by Royall Authority commended to all Subjec● and c●mman●ed to all School-masters to teach it their Scholars So that this Catechism being allowed by the Bishops and other learned men in the Convocation and the Articles being said to be of the same extraction it must needs follow thereupon that these Articles had no other Parent then this Convocation The truth is that the Records of Convocation during this Kings whole Reign and the first years of Queen Mary are very imperfect and defective most of them lost and amongst others those of this present year and yet one might conclude as strongly that my Mother died childless because my Christning is not to be found in the Parish Register as that the Convocation of this year was barren because the Acts and Articles of it are not entred in the Journal Book The Eighth Book OR The Reign of Queen MARY WE next proceed unto the short but troublesome Reign of Queen Mary in which the first thing 〈◊〉 occurs is ●ol 1. But the Commons of England who for many ye●●s together had conn'd Loyalty by-heart out of the Sta●●●e of the succession were so perfect in their Lesson that they would not be put out of it by this new started design In which I am to note these things first that he makes the Loyalty of the Commons of England not to depend upon the primogeniture of their Princes but on the Statute of Succession and then the object of that Loyalty must not be the King but the Act of Parliament by which they were directed to the knowledge of the next successor and then it must needs be in the power of Parliaments to dispose of the Kingdom as they pleas'd the Peoples Loyalty being tyed to such dispositions Secondly that the Statutes of Succession had been so many and so contrary to one another that the common people could not readily tell which to trust to and for the last it related to the Kings last Will and Testament so lately made and known unto so few of the Commons that they had neither opportunity to see it nor time to con the same by heart Nor thirdly were the Commons so perfect in this lesson of Loyalty or had so fixt it in their hearts but that they were willing to forget it within little time and take out such new lessons of disobedience and disloyalty as Wiat and his Partizans did preach unto them And finally they had not so well conn'd this lesson of Loyalty in our Authors own judgement but that some strong pretender might have taught them a new Art of Oblivion it being no improbable thing as himself confesseth to have heard of a King Henry the ninth if Henry Fitz-Roy the Duke of Somerset and Richmond had liv'd so long as to the death of King Edward the sixth Fol. 11. Afterwards Philpot was troubled by Gardiner for his words spoken in the Convocation In vain did he plead the priviledge of the place commonly reputed a part of Parliament I cannot finde that the Convocation at this time nor many years before this time was commonly reputed as a part of the Parliament That antiently it had been so I shall easily grant there being a clause in every letter of Summons by which the Bishops were required to attend in
Fellow of this Colledge whose Book entituled The Religion of Protestants a safe way to Salvation written in de●ence of Dr. Potters Book called Charity mistaken commended by our Author Lib. 3. fol. 115. remains unanswered by the Iesuites notwithstanding all their brags beforehand to this very day Which Book though most ridiculously buried with the Author at Arundel get thee gone thou accursed Book c. by Mr. Francis Cheynel the usu fructuary of the rich personage of Pe●worth shall still survive unto the world in its own just value when the poor three-penny commodities of such a sorry Haberdasher of Small Wares shall be out of credit Of this Pageant see the Pamphet call'd Chillingworthi Novissima printed at London Anno 1644. Fol. 41. But now it is gone let it go it was but a beggerly Town and cost England ten times yearly more then it was worth● in keeping thereof Admit it be so yet certainly it was worth the keeping had it cost much more The English while they kept that Town had a dore open into France upon all occasions and therefore it was commonly said that they carried the Keyes of France at their Girdles Sound States-men do not measure the benefit of such Towns and Garrisons as are maintain'd and kept in an Enemies Countrey by the profit which they bring into their Exchequer but by the opportunities they give a Prince to enlarge his Territories Of this kinde was the Town of Barwick situate on the other side of the Tweed upon Scottish ground but Garrison'd and maintain'd with great charge by the Kings of England because it gave him the same advantage against the Scots as Calice did against the French The government of which last Town is by Comines said to be the goodliest Captain ship in the world so great an Eye-sore to the French that Mounsieur de Cordes who liv'd in the time of Lewis the eleventh was used to say that he would be content to lie in Hell seven years together upon condition that Calice were regain'd from the English and finally judged of such importance by the French when they had regain'd it that neither the Agreement made at the Treaty of Cambray nor the desire to free New-haven from the power of the English nor the necessities which Henry the fourth was reduc'd unto could ever prevail upon them to part with it But it is dry meat said the Countrey fellow when he lost the Hare and so let Cali●e pass for a Beggerly Town and not worth the keeping because we have no hope to get it ANIMADVERSIONS ON The Ninth Book OF The Church History OF BRITAIN Containing the Reign of Queen Elizabeth THe short Reigns of King Edward the sixth and Queen Mary being briefly past over by our Author he spends the more time in setting out the affairs of the Church under Queen Elizabeth not so much because her Reign was long but because it was a busie Age and full of Faction To which Faction how he stands affected he is not coy to let us see on all occasions giving us in the very first entrance this brief but notable Essay viz. Fol. 51. Idolatry is not to be permitted a moment the first minute is the fittest to abolish it all that have power have right to destroy it by that grand Charter of Religion whereby every one is ●ound to advance Gods glory And if Soveraigns forget no reason but Subjects should remember their duty Our Author speaks this in behalf of some forward● Spirits who not enduring the la●inesse of Authority in order to the great work of Reformation fell beforehand to the beating down of superstitious Pictures and Images And though some others condemned their indiscretion herein yet our Author will not but rather gives these Reasons for their justification 1. That the Popish Religion is Idolatry 2. That Idolatry is to be destroyed by all that have power to do it 3. Which is indeed the main that if the Soveraigns do forget there is no reason but Subjects should remember their duty This being our Authors Master-piece and a fair g●●●ndwork for Seditious and Rebellious for the times ensuing I shall spend a little the more time in the examination of the p●opositions as before we had them And 1. It will be hard for our Author to prove that the Romish Religion is Idolatry though possible it is that some of the members of that Church may be proved Idolaters I know well what great pains Dr. Reynolds took in his laborious work entituled De Idololatria Ecclesiae Romanae and I know too that many very learned and moderate men were not th●oughly satisfied in his proofs and Arguments That they are worshippers of Images as themselves deny not so no body but themselves can approve them in it But there is a very wide difference betwixt an Image and an Idol betwixt the old Idolate●s in the state of Heathenism and those which give religious worship unto Images in some pa●ts of Chris●endom And this our Author being well st●died in Antiquity and not a stranger to the 〈…〉 of the present times cannot chuse but know tho●gh zeal to the good cause and the desire of being co●stan● to himself drew this p●●●age from him The Ch●istian faith delivered in the h●ly Gospels succeeded over the greatest part of the then known wo●●d in the place of that Idolatrous worship whi●h like a Leprosie had generally overspread the whole face thereof And therefore that the whole Mass of Wickliffes He●erodoxies might be Christned by the name of Gospel our Author thinks it necessary that the Popish Mass and the rest of the Superstitious of that Church should be call'd Idolatry 2. That Idolatry is to be destroyed by all them that have power to do it I shall easily grant But then it must be understood of a lawful power and not permitted to the liberty of unlawful violence Id possumus quod jure possumus was the rule of old and it held good in all attempts for Reformation in the elder times For when the Fabrick of the Jewish Church was out of order and the whole Worship of the Lord either defiled with superstitions or intermingled with Idolatries as it was too often did not Gods servants carry and await his leisure till those who were supreme both in place and power were by him prompted and inflamed to a Reformation How many years had that whole people made an Idol of the Brazen Serpent and burnt ●●cense to it before it was defaced by King H●zekiah How many more might it have longer stood undef●ced untouched by any of the common people had not the King given order to demolish it How many years had the seduced Israelites adored before the Altar of Bethel before it was hewn down and cut in p●eces by the good King Iosiah And yet it cannot be denyed but that it was as much in the power of the Iews to destroy that Idol and of the honest and religious Isra●lites to break down that
reciting the course both of his preferments and imployments he telleth us that soon after the Kings coming to the Crown●● he was made Dean of Christ-Church in Oxon and chosen one of the four Preachers in the Conference at Hampton-Court But first Dr. King was not Dean of Christ-Church at the time of the Conference at Hampton-Court that Conference being held in Ianuary An. 1603. and Dr. King not coming to the Deanry of Christ-Church till the year 1605. Secondly he was none o● the fou● Preachers in the Conference at Hampton-Court there being no such Preachers chosen for the ●ime of that Conference But as it is a true and old say●●g that Omnis fabula fundatur in Historia so I may ●●y that there was something true and real which might ●arry him inadvertently upon this Error For in Sep●●mber Anno 1606. it pleased King Iames to call before ●im at Hampton-Court the Melvins and some other of ●he principal sticklers for Presbytery of the Scottish Na●ion For information of whose judgement and re●●ucing them if possible to some conformity he caused four Sermons to be there preached in their hea●ing by ●our of his most able Divines that is to say Dr. Andrews then Bishop of Chichester Dr. Barlow before mentioned then Bishop of Rochester Dr. King then Dean of Christ-Church after Bishop of London and Dr. Buckeridge who after succeeded in the See of Rochester● and dyed Bishop of Ely Which four Sermons being afterwards printed and bound together though they gave very good satisfaction to most persons else could get no ground upon those refractary Scots who were resolved aforehand not to hear the voice of those Charmers charmed they never so sweetly Fol. 27. Indeed a Statute had formerly been made th● 13. of Queen Elizabeth which to prevent final 〈◊〉 of Church Land did disable all Subjects from 〈◊〉 them but in that Statute a liberty was left unto the Crown to receive the same Our Author speaks this on occasion of a Statute made in the first Parliament of King Iam●● by which the King and his Successors were made uncapable of receiving any Grants or Leases of Lands from any Archbishops or Bishops for longer then 21 years or three lives But he is much mistaken in the grounds of it For first the Statute he relates unto was not made in the thirteenth year of the Queen that Statute extending only unto Deans and Chapters Masters of Colledges and Hospitals as also unto Parsons and Vicars who by long Leases had dilapidated the publick Patrimony of the Church and their several Houses Not a word in it which concerns Archbishops and Bishops or any Leases by them made And secondly that Sta●ute whatsoever it be doth not disable all Subjects from accepting such Leases Grants and Alienations but disableth the said Archbishops and Bishops from making such Grants unto the Subjects But the truth is that Statute which our Author means is an unprinted Statute made in the first year of Queen Elizabeth By which it was enacted That it should be lawful for the said Queen as often as any Archbishoprick or Bishoprick should be vacant to take unto herself any of the Castles Mannors Lan●s Tenements and Here ditaments to the same belonging and to pay the said Archbishop or Bishop in Impropriations Tithes and Portions of Tithes And this is that Statute which our Author relates unto lib. 9. fol. 70. where it is said That a Bill passed for the assurance of certain Lands assumed by the Queen from some Bishoprick● during their Vacation And secondly it was enacted in the said unprinted Statute that it should not be lawful for any Archbishop or Bishop to grant any Lands Leases or Estates for more then 21 years or three lives to any person whatsoever except it were unto the Queen 〈◊〉 Heirs and Successors which last words opened such a gap to sacrilege and rapine that what the Queen thought fit to leave unto the Church vacante sede the Cou●●iers would finde some way to divest it of by making use of this last clause first in obtaining such a 〈◊〉 to be made to the Queen and then from the Queen unto themselves So that our Author might have sav'd his Advocating for this clause of that Act considering that he saw the ill consequents and effects thereof Fol. 54. Some of the greatest Prelates how much Self is there 〈◊〉 all men though seemingly forward really remi●● in the matter This spoken in relation to Che●sey Colledge the stop whereof must be imputed to some great Prela●es fearing to grow less both in esteem power and jurisdiction if that work went fo●wards Contrary whereunto he ●elleth us of fol●57 ●57 That he was very forward in founding Chelsey Co●●edge which as a two edged Sword was to cut on both sides to suppress Papists and Sectaries Upon which grounds there is no question to be made but that the work was furthered also by the rest of the Bishops at the least not hindered Our Author hath indeed afforded us this Marginal Note viz. This obstruction signifies nothing of discreet men how ever it must pass for company sake But it had argued more discretion in him as I conceive to have left this obstruction as he calls it out of his Discourse then first to break the Bishops heads and then give them this plaister Howsoever he viz. Mr. Nicholas ●uller left behinde him the reputation of an honest man No question of it It is a thing so incident to the name that whatsoever they do or say they are honest still Before we had the story of Thomas Full●r of Hammersmith condemn'd for felony but still so honest and to entirely beloved by King Harry the sixth after his decease that he appear'd to him on the top of the Gallows incourag'd him and so cla●m'd the Rope that it did not strangle him lib. 4. 154. Afterwards we meet with Iohn Fuller Doctor of the Laws a better then he a Persecutor in Queen Maries dayes but a pitiful man as the Index telleth us Here we have Nicholas Fuller a Counsellor the best of the three decrying openly the Authority of the High Commission and thereby giving a legal advantage to Archbishop Bancroft by whom imprison'd and there dying but dying with the reputation of an honest man And then another Thomas Fuller a Minister the best of all the company and an honest man too so well deserving of the Church and all good Church-men both alive and dead by this notable History as not to doubt of the like favour at their hands should there be occasion as Thomas of Hammersmith receiv'd of King Harry the sixth Fol. 57. I am credibly informed from a good hand how in the days of King James a Scotch man and a prevalent Courtier had swallowed up the whole Bishoprick of Durh●m had not this Archbishop seasonably interposed his power with the King and dashed the design Credible though the information were yet it was not true there being no such prevalent Courtier not no such
Bishop of Chichester as finally the two first Chapters about the Ti●hing of the Iews were learnedly reviewed by Mr. Nettles a Count●ey 〈◊〉 but excellently well skilled in Talmudical Learning In which encounters the Historian was so gall'd by Tillesly so gagg'd by Montague and stung by Nettles that he never came off in any of his undertakings with such losse of credit In the Preface to his History he had charged the Clergy with ignorance and lazinesse upbraided them with having nothing to keep up their credit but beard habit and title and that their Studies reache no further then the Breviary the Postils and the Polyanthea But now he found by these encounters that some of the ignorant and lazie Clergy were of as retired studies as himself and could not only match but overmatch him too in his own Philo●ogi● But the Governours of the Church went a shorter way and not expecting till the Book was answered by particular men resolv'd to seek for reparation of the wrong from the Author himself upon an Information to be brought against him in the High Commission Fearing the issue of the business and understanding what displeasures were conceived against him by the King and the Church he made his personal appearance in the open Court at Lambeth on the eight and twentieth day of Ianuary Ann● 1618. where in the presence of George L. Archbishop of Canterbury Iohn L. B. of London Lancelot L. B. of Winchester Iohn L. B. of Rochester Sir Iohn Benet Sir William Bird Sir George Newman Doctors of the Laws and Th●mas Mothershed Notary and Register of that Cou●t he tendred his submission and acknowledgement all of his own hand-writing in these following words My go● Lords I most humbly acknowledge my error whic● ha●e committed in publishing the History of Tithes and especially in that I have at all by shewing any interpretation of Holy Scriptures by medling with Councels Fa●hers or C●nons or by whatsoever occurs in it offered any occasion of argument against any right of Maintenance ●ure divino of the Ministers of the Gospel beseeching your Lordships to receive this ingenuous and humble acknowledgement together with the unfeigned protestation of my grief for that through it I have so incurred both his Majesties and your Lordships displeasure conceived against me in behalf of the Church of England IOHN SELDEN Which his submission and acknowledgement being received and made into an Act of Court was entred into the publick Registers thereof by this Title following viz. Officium Dominorum contra Joh. Selde●● de inter Templo London Armigerum So far our Author should have gone had he plaid the part of a good Historian but that he does his work by halfs in all Church-concernments Fol. 72. James Montague Bishop of Winchester a potent Courtier took exceptions that his Bishoprick in the marshalling of them was wronged in method as put after any whose Bishop is a Privy Counsellour The Bishop was too wise a man to take this as our Author hates it for a sufficient ground of the proceeding against Dr. Mocket who had then newly translated into the Latin tongue the Liturgy of the Church of England the 39. Articles the Book of the Ordination of Bishops Priests and Deacons and many Doctrinal points extracted out of the Book of Homilies All which with Bishop Iewels Apology Mr. Noels Catechism and a new Book of his own entit●led Politi● Ecclesiae Anglicanae he had caused to be Printed and bound up together A Book which might have been of great honour to the Church of England amongst forain Nations and of no lesse use and esteem at home had there not been somewhat else in it which deserved the fire then this imaginary Quarrel For by the Act of Parliament 31 H. 8. 6. 10. the precedency of the Bishops is thus Marshalled that is to say the Archbishop of Canterbury the Archbishop of York the Bishop of London the Bishop of Durham the Bishop of Winchester the rest according to the order of their Consecrations yet so that if any of them were Secretary to the King he should take place of all those other Bishops to whom otherwise by the Order of his Consecration he had been to give it If the Doctor did mistake himself in this particular as indeed he did the fault might easily have been mended as not deserving to be expiated by so sharp a punishment The following reason touching his derogating from the Kings power in Ecclesiastical matters and adding it to the Metropolitan whose servant and Chaplain he was hath more reason in it if it had but as much truth as reason and so hath that touching the Propositions by him gathered out of the Homilies which were rather framed according to his own judgement then squared by the Rules of the Church But that which I conceive to have been the true cause why the Book was burned was that in publishing the twentieth Article concerning the Authority of the Church he totally left out the first clause of it viz. Habet Ecclesia Ritus sive Ceremonias statuendi jus in Controversus ●ides Authoritatem By means whereof the Article was apparently falsified the Churches Authority dis●vowed and consequently a wide gap opened to dispute her power in all her Canons and Determinations of what sort soever And possible enough it is that some just offence might be taken at him for making the Fasting dayes appointed in the Liturgy of the Church of England to be commanded and observed ob Politi● is solum rationes for Politick Considerations only as insinuated pag. 308. whereas those Fasting-dayes were appointed in the first Liturgy of King Edward the sixth Anno 1549. with reference only to the primitive Institution of those several Fasts when no such Politick considerations were so much as thought of But whatsoever was the true cause or whether there were more then one as perhaps there was certain I am it could not be for derogating any thing from the Kings Power and enlarging that of the Archbishop in confirming the election of Bishops as our Author tels us For though the Doctor doth affirm of the Metropolitans of the Church of England pag. 308. Vt Electiones Episcoporum suae Provinciae confirment that it belongs to them to confirm the Electio●s of the Bishops of their several Provinces and for that purpose cites the Canon of the Councel of Nice which our Author speaks of yet afterwards he declares expresly that no such confirmation is or can be made by the Metropolitans without the Kings assent preceding Cujus 〈◊〉 electi comprobantur comprobati confirmantur confirmati consecrantur pag. 313. which very fully clears the Doctor from being a better Chaplain then he was a Subject as our Author makes him Fol. 77. At this time began the troubles in the Law-Countries about matters of Religion heightned between two opposite parties Remonstrants and Contra-R●monstrants their Controversies being chiefly 〈◊〉 to five points c Not at this time viz. 1618. which our
secrets of the heart of man Interest tenebris interest cogitationibus nostris quasi alteris tenebris as Minutius hath it The man here mention'd had been in the Confe●sion of our A●thor himself Archbishop of Spalato in Dalmatia ● dignity of great power and reputation and consequently of a fair Revenue in propo●tion to it He could not hope to mend his Fortunes by his coming hither or to advance himself to a more liberal entertainment in the Church of England then what he had attain'd unto in the Church of Rome Covetousness therefore could not be the motive for leaving his own estate of which he had been possessed 14 years in our Authors ●eckoning to betake himself to a strange Countrey where he 〈◊〉 promise himself nothing but protection and the ●●eedom of conscience Our Author might have said with more probability that covetousness and not cons●ience 〈…〉 cause of his going hence no b●it of pro●●t or preferment being laid before him to invite him 〈◊〉 ●s they were both by those which had the managing 〈…〉 him hence He had given great 〈◊〉 to the Pope by his defection from that Church and no 〈◊〉 councenance to the Doctrine of the 〈◊〉 Churches by his coming o●er unto ou●s The 〈◊〉 of ●o great a 〈…〉 of that Church was not like to stand And yet he gave greater blows to them by his Pen then by the defection of his Person his learned Books entituled De Republica Ecclesiasticâ being still unanswered In which respect those of that Church bestird themselves to disgrace his person devising many other causes by which he might be mov'd or forc'd to forsake those parts in which he durst no longer tarry But finding little credit given to their libellous Pamphlets they began to work upon him by more secret practises insinuating that he had neither that respect nor those advancements which might incourage him to stay that the new Pope Gregory the fifteenth was his special friend that he might chuse his own preferments and make his own conditions if he would return And on the other side they cunningly wrought him out of credit with King Iames by the arts of Gondomar and lessened his esteem amongst the Clergy by some other Artifices so that the poor man being in a manner lost on both sides was forc'd to a necessity of swallowing that accursed bait by which he was hook'd over to his own destruction For which and for the rest of the story the Reader may repair for satisfaction to this present History Fol. 96. Besides the King would never bestow an Episcopal charge in England on a foreiner no not on his own Countrey-men the Scots This must be understood with reference to the Church of England King Iames bestowing many Bishopricks upon his Countrey-men the Scots in the Realm of Ireland And if he did not the like here as indeed he did not it neither was for want of affection to them nor of confidence in them but because he would not put any such discouragement upon the English who looked on those preferments as the greatest and most honourable rewards of Arts and Industry Quis enim virtutem exquireret ipsum Proemia si ●ollin Fol. 100. All mens mouthes were now 〈◊〉 with discourse of Prince Charles his match with 〈…〉 Infanta of Spain The Protestants grieved thereat fearing that this marriage would be the Funerals of their Religion c. The bu●●ness of the match with Spain●ath ●ath already been sufficiently agitated between the Autho● of the History of the Reign of King Charles and his Observator And yet I must adde some●hing to let our Author and his Reader to understand thus much that the Protestants had no cause to fear such a Funeral They knew they liv'd under such a King who lov'd his Soveraignty too well to quit any part thereof to the Pope of Rome especially to part with that Supremacy in 〈◊〉 matters which he esteemed the fairest Flower in the Royal Garland They knew they liv'd under ●●ch a King whose interest it was to preserve Religion in the same state in which he found it and could not fear but that he would sufficiently provide for the 〈◊〉 of it If any Protestants ●eared the funeral of their Religion they were such Protestants as had been frighted out 〈…〉 as you know who us'd to call the Puritans 〈…〉 under the name of Protestants had ●ontriv'd themselves into a Faction not only against Episcopacy but even Monarchy also And to these nothing was more 〈◊〉 then the match with Spain fearing ●nd perhaps 〈◊〉 fearing that the Kings 〈◊〉 with that Crown might a●m him both with power and counsel to suppress those practices which have since prov'd the Funeral of the Church of England But as it seems they 〈…〉 fear was our Author telling us fol. 112. that the 〈…〉 State had no minde or meaning of a match and that this was quickly discovered by Prince Charles at his coming 〈◊〉 How so Because saith he Fol. 112. They demanded 〈…〉 in education of the 〈…〉 English Papists c 〈…〉 nothing For thus the argument seems to stand viz. The Spaniards were desirous to get as good conditions as they could for themselves and their Party Ergo they had no minde to the match Or thus The demands of the Spaniards when the business was first in Treaty seem'd to be unrea●onable Ergo they never really intended that it should proceed Our Author cannot be so great a stranger in the shops of London as not to know that Trades-men use to ask many times twice as much for a commodity as they mean to take and therefore may conclude as strongly that they do not mean to sell those wares for which they ask such an unreasonable 〈◊〉 at the first demand Iniquum petere ut aequum obtineas hath been the usual practice especially in driving S●a●e-bargains of all times and ages And though the Spaniards at the first spoke big and stood upon such points as the King neither could nor would in honour or conscience consent unto yet things were after brought to such a temperament that the marriage was agreed upon the Articles by both Kings subscrib'd a Proxie made by the Prince of ●ales to espouse the Infanta and all things on her part prepared for the day of the wedding The b●each which ●ollowed came not from any aversness in the Court of Spain though where the fault was and by what means occasioned need not here be said But well ●are our Author for all that who finally hath absolv'd the Spaniard from this brea●h and laid the same upon King Iames despairing of any restitution to be made of the Palatinate by the way of Treaty Ibi● Whereupon King James not only broke off all Treaty 〈◊〉 pain but also called the great Councel of his Kingdom together By which it seems that the breaking off of the Treaty did precede the Parli●ment But multa apparent quae non sunt Every thing is not as it seems The Parliament
England France and Ireland and proclaimed that day to be crowned consecrated and anointed unto whom he demanded whether they would obey and serve or not By whom it was again with a loud cry answered God save the King and ever live his Majesty The same we have in substance but in sewer words in the Co●onation of King Iames where it is said that The King was shewed to the people and that they were required to make acknowledgement of the●● all●giance to his Majesty by the Archbishop which they did by acclamations Assuredly the difference is exceeding va●t betwixt obeying and consenting betwixt the peoples acknowledging their allegiance and promising to obey and serve thei● lawful Soveraign and giving their consent to his Coronation as if it could not be pe●formed without such consent Nor had the late Archbishop been rep●oacht so generally by the common people and that reproach publisht in several Pamphle●s for altering the Kings Oath at his Coronation to the infringing of the Libe●●ies and diminution of the Rights of the English Subjec●s had he done them such a notable pie●e of service as freeing them from all promises to obey and ●erve and making the Kings Coronation to depend on their consent For Bishop Laud being one of that Committee which was appointed by the King to review the form and o●der of the Coronation to the end it might be fitted to some Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England which had not been observ'd befo●e must bear the greatest blame in this alteration if any such alteration had been made as our Author speaks of because he was the principal man whom the King re●●ed on in that business But our Author tels us in his Preface that this last Book with divers of the rest were written by him when the Monarchy was turn'd into a State and I dare believe him He had not el●e so punctually conform'd his language to the new State-doctrine by which the m●king and con●equently the unmaking of Kings is wholly ve●ted in ●he people according to that Maxim of Buchannan ●opulo jus est imperium cui velit deferat then which ●here is not a more pestilent and seditious passage ●n his whole Book De jure Regni apud Scotos though ●here be nothing else but Treason and Sedition ●n it Fol. 123. Then as many Earls and Barons as could ●onveniently stand about the Throne did lay their hands ●n the Crown on his Majesties head protesting to spend their blouds to maintain it to him and his lawful He●rs A promise faithfully performed by many of them some losing their lives for him in the open field others exhausting their Estates in defence of his many more venturing their whole fortunes by adhering to him to a con●●scation a Catalogue of which la●t we may finde subscribed to a Letter sent from the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled in Oxford to those at Westminster Anno 1643. And by that Catalogue we may also see what and who they were who so ignobly brake faith with him all those whose names we finde not in that s●bscription or presently superadded to it being to be reckoned amongst those who in stead of spending their bloud to maintain the Crown to him and to his lawful successors concurred with them either in opere or in 〈◊〉 who despoiled him of it And to say truth they were rewarded as they had deserved the first thing which was done by the House of Commons after the King by their means had been brought to the fatal Block being to tu●ne them out of power to dissolve their House and annul their priviledges reducing them to the same condition with the re●t of the Subjects Fol. 127. And it had not been amiss if such who would be accounted his friends and admirers had followed him in the footsteps of his Moderation content with the enjoying without the enjoyning their private practises and opinions 〈◊〉 others This comes in as an inference only on a forme● passage in which it is said of Bishop Andrews that in Wh●● place soever he came he never pressed any other Ceremonie● upon them then such as he found to be used there before 〈◊〉 coming though otherwise condemned by some ●omany superstitious Ceremonies and super●luous Ornaments in his private Chappel How true this is I am not able to affi●m lesse able if it should be true to commend it in him It is not certainly the office of a carefull Bishop only to leave things as he found them but to reduce them if amiss to those Rules and Canons from which by the forwardness of some to innovate and the connivence of others at the innovations they had been suffered to decline And for the inference it self it is intended chiefly for the late Arch-bishop of Canterbury against whom he had a fling before in the fourth Book of this History not noted there because reserved to another place of which more hereafter Condemned here for his want of moderation in enjoyning his private practises and opinions on other men But 〈◊〉 our Author had done well to have spared the man who hath already reckoned for all his errors both with God and the world And secondly it had been bette● if he had told us what those private practises and opinions were which the Archbishop with such want of moderation did enjoyne on others For it is possible enough that the opinions which he speaks of might be the publick Doctrines of the Church of England maintained by him in opposition to those private opinions which the Calvinian p●rty had intended to obtrude upon her A thing complained of by Spalato who well observed that many of the opinions both of Luther and Calvin were received amongst us as part of the Doctrine and Confession of the Church of England which ●therwise he acknowle●ged to be capable of an Oxtho●x sense Praeter Anglicanam Confessionem ●uam mihi ut modestam praedicabant multa 〈◊〉 Lutheri Calvini dogmata obtinuisse ●he there objects And it is possible enough ●●at the practises which he speaks of were not private either but a reviver of those ancient and publick ●ages which the Canons of the Church enjoyned ●nd by the remisness of the late Government had been ●iscontinued He that reads the Gag and the Appello ●aesarem of Bishop Montague cannot but see that those ●●inions which our Author condemned for private were ●he true Doctrine of this Church professed and held forth ●n the Book of Articles the Homilies and the Common-Prayer-Book But for a justification of the Pra●●ises the private practises he speaks of I shall direct ●im to an Author of more credit with him Which ●●thor first tels us of the Bishops generally That being of late years either careless or indulgent they had not required within their Dioceses that strict obedience to Ecclesiastical Constitutions which the Law expected upon which the Liturgy began totally to be laid aside and in conformity the uniform practise of ●he Church He
England is much beholding to our Author for making question whether their adhering to the Liturgy then by Law established were not to be imputed rather unto obstinacy and doating then to love and constancy The Liturgy had been lookt on as a great blessing of God upon this Nation by the generality of the people for the sp●ce of fourscore years and upwards they found it est●●lis●t by the Law seal'd by the bloud of those that made it confirm'd by many godly and religious P●inces and had almost no other form of making their ordinary addresses to Almighty God but what was taught them in the Book of Common-Prayer And could any discreet man think or wise man hope that a form of Prayer so unive●sally receiv'd and so much esteem'd could be laid by without reluctancy in those who had been so long accustom'd to it or called obstinacy or doating in them if they did not presently submit to every new nothing which in the name of the then disputable Authority should be laid before them And though our Author doth profess that in the agitating of this Controve●sie pro and con he will reserve his private opinion to himself yet he discovers it too plainly in the present passage Quid verba audiam cum facta videam is a good rule here He must needs shew his private opinion in this point say he what he can who makes a question whether the adhesion of the people generally to the publick Liturgy were built on obstinacy and doating or on love and constancy But if it must be obstinacy or doating in the generality of the people to adhere so cordially unto the Book of Common-Prayer I marvel what it must be called in Stephen Marshall of Essex that great Bel-weather for a time of the Presbyterians who having had a chief hand in compiling the Directory did notwithstanding marry his own Daughter by the form prescrib'd in the Common-Prayer Book and having so done paid down five pound immediately to the Church-wardens of the Parish as the fine or forfeiture for using any other form of Marri●ge then that of the Directory The like to which I have credibly been info●med was done by Mr. Knightly of Fawsley on the like occasion and probably by many others of the same strain also With like favour he beholds the two Universities as he d●e the Liturgy and hard it is to say which he injureth most And first beginning with Oxford he lets us know that Fol. 231. Lately certain Delegates from the University of Oxford pleaded their priviledges before the Committee of Parliament that they were only visitable by the King and such who should be deputed by him But their Allegations were not of proof against the Paramount power of Parliament the rather because a passage in an Article at the rendition of Oxford was urged against them wherein they were subjected to such a Visitation Our Author here subjects the Vniversity of Oxford to the power of the Parliament and that not only in regard of that Paramount power which he ascribes unto the Parliament that is to say the two Houses of Parliament for so we are to understand him above all Estates but also in regard of an Article concerning the surrendry of Oxford by which that Vniversity was subjected to such Visitations I finde indeed that it was agreed on by the Commissioners on both sides touching the Surrendry of that City That the Chancellor Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxon and the Governors and Students of Christ-Church of King H. 8. his Fo●ndation and all other Heads and Governors Masters Fellows and Scholars of the Colledges Halls and Bodies Corporate and Societies of the same University and the publi●●● Professors and Readers and the Orator thereo● and all other persons belonging to the said University or to any Colledges or Halls therein shall and may according to their Statutes Charters and Customs enjoy their antient form of government subo●dinate to the immediate Authority and power of Parliament But I finde not that any of the Heads or Delegates of that University were present at the making of this Article or consented ●o it or tho●ght themselves oblig'd by any thing contained in it Nor indeed could it stand with reason that they should wave the patronage of a gracious Soveraign who had been a Nursing Father to them and put themselves under the arbitrary power of those who they knew minded nothing but destruction toward them And that the University did not think it self oblig'd by any thing contained in that Article appears even by our Author himself who tells us in this very passage that the Delegates from the Vniversity pleaded their priviledges before the Committee of Parliament that they were only visitable by the King and such as should be deputed by him which certainly they had never done unless our Author will conclude them to be fools or mad-men had they before submitted to that Paramount power which he adscribes unto the Houses Nor did the Houses of Parliament finde themselves impowered by this clause of the Article to obtrude any such Visitation on them And therefore when the Delegates had pleaded and prov'd their priviledges a Commission for a Visitation was issued by the two Houses of Parliament in the name of the King but under the new broad Seal which themselves had made which notwithstanding the University stood still on their own defence in regard that though the Kings name was us'd in that Commission yet they knew well that he had never given his consent unto it Whereupon followed that great alteration both 〈◊〉 the Heads and Members of most Colledges which our Author speaks of Nor deals he much more candidly in relating the proceedings of the Visitation which was made in Cambridge the Visitors whereof as acting by the Paramount power of Parliament he more sensibly favoureth then the poor sufferers or malignant members as he calls them of that Vniversity For whereas the Author of the Book called Querela Cantabrigionsis hath told us of an Oath of Discovery obtruded by the Visitors upon several persons whereby they were sworn to detect one another even their dearest friends Our Author who was out of the storm seeming not satisfied in the truth of this relation must write to Mr. Ash who was one of those Visitors to be inform'd in that which he knew before and on the reading of Mr. Ash his Answer declares expresly that no such Oath was tendred by him to that Vniversity But first Mr. Ash doth not absolutely deny that there was any such Oath but that he was a stranger to it and possibly he might be so far a stranger to it as not to be an Actor in that part of the Tragedy Secondly Mr. Ash only saith that he cannot call to minde that any such thing was mov'd by the Earl of Manchester and yet I ●row such a thing might be mov'd by the Earl of Manchester though Mr. Ash after so many years was willing not
their yongest Sons some Earldom or other until the time of Edward the third after which time they were invested with the Title of Dukes as appears evidently to any who are studied in their Chronologies But that they or any of them were Earls by Birth is a new piece of learning for which if the Historian can give me any good proof I shall thank him for it Fol. 278. Henry the eight thus cousened into some kindness both by his own power and purse makes Charls Emperor and the French King his Prisoner 1519. Neither so nor so For first though King Henry did contribute both his power and purse to the taking of the French King Prisoner yet to the making of Charls Emperor he contributed neither the one nor the other And secondly though Charls were created Emperor Anno 1519 yet the French King was not taken Prisoner till six years after Anno 1525. Fol. 31● Oswald united the Crowns of England and Scotland which were 〈◊〉 afterwards for many Ages 3● That Oswald King of Northumberland here mentioned was a Pui●●ant Prince as being the ninth Monarch of the English I shall easily grant but that he united the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland is not any where found Our Author therefore must be understood of his uniting the two Realms of De●ra and Pernicia part of which last hath for long time been accounted part of Scotland which after his decease were again divided Fol. 317. Whose Results notwithstanding are not to be obtruded on the S●culars to be obs●rved with the Authority of Laws until they be allowed by assent of the King and both Houses An error far more pardonable in our present Author to whom the concernments of the Church are not so necessary to be known or studied then in our Church Historian where before we had it and which hath had a full Con●utation in our Animadversions to which for brevity sake I shall now refer Fol. 320. Rory Duke of Solia from France Either the Printer or the Author are mistaken here The Ambassador who was sent from France was neither called Rory nor Duke of Solia but Marquess of Rhosney created afterward Duke of Sully and Lord High Treasurer of that Kingdom by King Henry 4. A Protestant and therefore purposely selected for that imployment Of whom it is reported in the conference at Hampton-Court that having observed the order and gravity of our Church Service in the Cathedral Chu●ch at C●n●erbury he was heard to say that if the like had been used in France there would have been many thousands of Protestants more then were at that present Fol. 329. Ce●il fo● his good Service was created Earl of Salisbury That is to say for so it must be understood for his activity and diligence in discovering the Powder-Treason But he was Earl of Salisbury before that Discovery call'd so by the Historian himself in the course of tha● Na●rative and made so by King Iames in the M●y forego●ng at what time also his Brother Thomas Lord Burley was made Earl of EXCESTER The like mistake I finde in the advancement of Thomas Lord Buckhurst to the Earldom of Dorcet plac'd by the Author fol. 342. in the year 1605. whereas indeed he was created Earl of Dorcet in the first year of King Iames March 13. Anno 1603. Fol. 333. The Earl of Flanders c. being by Storm cast upon our Coast c. was fain to yield to all the Kings demands in delivering up the Countess of Warwick and other Fugitives resident in Flanders This story is well meant but not rightly told there being at that time no Earl of Flanders commonly so called to be cast upon the Coast of England nor any such Woman as a Countess of Warwick whom King Henry the seventh could be afraid of the truth is that the person here meant was Philip King of Castile Duke of Burgundy Earl of Flanders c. who in his return from Spain was driven by Tempest on the Coast of England and being Royally Feasted by King Henry the seventh was detained here till he had delivered into the Kings hands the Earl of Suffolk who had fled into the Nether-lands for protection and began to work new troubles against his Soveraign The story whereof we have at large in the History of King Henry the seventh writ by the Lord Viscount St. Alban from fol. 222. to 225. Fol. 334 The fate of that Family evermore false to the crown This spoken of the Piercies Earls of Northumberland too often false to the Crown though not always so For Henry the second Earl of this Family lost his life fighting for King Henry the sixth in the Battle of St. Albans as Henry his Son and Successor also did at the Battle of ●owton And so did Henry the fifth Earl in the time of King Henry the seventh for his Fidelity to that King in a tumultuous Insurrection of the Common People not to say any thing of his Son and Successor who dyed without any imputation of such disloyalty Fol. 362. Zutphen and Gelders did of right belong to the Duk● Arnold who being Prisoner with the last Duke of Burgundy who died before Nancy that Duke intruded upon his Possession c. 40. Not so it was not Arnold Duke of Gelders that was Imprisoned by Charls Duke of Burgundy but his Son Adolphus who having most ungratiously Imprison'd his aged Father was vanquished by Duke Charls and by him kept Prisoner and the old Duke restored again to his power and liberty In a grateful acknowledgement of which favor he made a Donation of his Estates to Duke Charls and his Heirs to commence after his decease though it took no effect till Conquered under that pretence by Charls the fifth uniting it unto the rest of his Belgick Provinces Anno 1538. Fol. 423. Sir William Seymour Grandchilde to the third Son and the Heir of the Earl of Hertford created by Henry the eighth whose sister he marryed c. And being thus near the Crown c. In this business of Sir William Seymer now Marquess of Hertford there are two mistakes For first the Earl of Hertford from whom he derived his discent married not any of the Sisters of King Henry the eighth he having but two Wives in all the first the Daughter of Filol of Woodland from whom comes Baronet Seymer of the West the second Anne Daughter of Sir Edward and Sister to Sir Michael Stanhop from whom discends the House of Hertford still in being It s true King Henry married a Sister of Sir Edward Seymer by him created Earl of Hertford but not é contra the Earl of Hertford married not with a sister of his Secondly The nearness of this House to the Crown of England came not from any such Marriage of this first Earl with that Kings Sister but from the Marriage of Edward the second Earl with a Neece of that Kings that is to say with 〈◊〉 Daughter of Henry Duke of Suffolk and of F●a●ces his Wife
failing in their persons sent●their 〈…〉 I more admire at this gross pie●● of ignorance then at all the rest Silesia Moravia and 〈…〉 incorporated with the Realm of 〈◊〉 being n●ver qualified with sending any Electors ●or th● choice of the Emperour The three Electors which he meaneth were the Count Palatine of the R●●ne the Duke of Saxony and the Marquess of Brandenburg and they not coming in Person to the 〈◊〉 at Frackford appeared there by their Embassadors as at other times A like mistake but far more pardon●ble o●curreth Fol. 484. Where Da●mstal is said to be a Town of Bohemia whereas indeed it is a Town of the Land of H●ssen the whole Territories of the Duke of Saxony being interposed betwixt this Town and the nearest parts of that Kingdom Fol. 489. The Lord Marchers after the Conquest were re●ident upon the Confines and borders of the Welch and other places not subdued men of valour of high blood of the Normans with the name and priviledges of the Earls of Chester That the Lord Marchers on the Borders of Wales were at first many in number as it after followeth is a truth undoubted But their power being contracted into fewer hands one of them Roger Mortimer by name was by King Edward the third made Earl of March The Earldome of Chester was of another foundation conferrd by William the Conqueror upon Hugh sirnamed Lupus Son to the Viscount of Auranches in Normandy with all the Rites and Privileges of a County Palatine to him and to his Heires for ever So that this honour being appropriated to the Heirs of that House was not Communicable unto any of the rest of the Marchers nor could those Marchers claim the stile and privileges of Earles of Chester Fol. 490. Sir Edward Montague had three sons Edward the eldest Knight of the Bath c. The Author here is much mistaken in the House of the Montagues For first that Edward Montague who was 〈…〉 c. was not Brother to Iames Bishop of Winchester a●d Henry Earl of Manchester but their Brothers Son that is to say the Son of another E●ward their eldest Brother Secondly besides that Edward Iames and Henry there was another Brother whom the Author names not though he could not chuse but know the man viz. Sir Sidney Mon●●●● one o● the Masters of the Requests to the late King 〈◊〉 The●●fore to set this matter right I am to let both him and his Rea●ers know that Sr. Edward Montague chief Justice ●n the time of King Edward the sixth was father of another Edward who lived peaceably and nobly in his own Country To whom succeeded a third Edw●rd who 〈…〉 in the Wars and gained the reputation of a good Comma●der the elder Brother of Iames Henry and 〈◊〉 before mentioned and the father of a fourth Ed●●●● who was made Knight of the Bath at the Coron●tion 〈…〉 Anno 1●03 and afterwards created Lord 〈◊〉 of Bough●on in the nin●teenth year of that King Anno 1621. which honourable Title is now enjoyed by his Son anothe● Edward Anno. 1658. And thirdly th●●gh ● grant that Dr. Iames Montag●e Bishop of Winch●ster the second Brother of the four was of great power and favour in the time of King Iames and might have free accesse into the Bed-chamber of that King whensoever he pleased ye● that he was of the Bed chamber as the Author saith that i● to say admitted formerly thereunto and one of that number I do more then doubt Fol. 506. Then comes Iohn Howard c. created by Richard the 〈◊〉 Duke of Northfolk but not Earle Marshal In this and in the ●●st that follows touching the succession of the Earls M●rsh●●ls there a●e many mistaken F●r first t●is Iohn Lord Howard was by Richard the third ●ot onely created Duke of North-folk but Earl Mar●●●ll also as appears by Camd●n Fol 483. Secondly as well Thomas Earl of Surrey the son of this 〈◊〉 as an●th●r Thomas the son of that Thomas were both advan●●d 〈◊〉 the ●ffice of Earl Marshal as is affirmed by such as have writ the Genealogies of this noble family Thirdly that Thomas Howard whom queen Mary restored unto the Office of Earl Marsh●l was not the Grand-c●ilde of Thomas M●wbray ●ut the Grand-child of the Grand-child of the Daughter of that Thomas Mowbray as will appear to any who shall search that Pedigree But this perhaps may be an error of the Printer in giving us the name of Thomas Mowbray for Thomas Howard Fourthly though Robert Dev●r●ux Earle of Essex is by our Author placed next after this last Thom●s H●ward in the Office of Marshal yet sure it is that Georg Talbot Earl of Shrewbury came in between them advanc'd unto that Dignity by Queen Elizabeth Anno 157● Fol. 507. He 〈◊〉 the emine●t Stru●ture of the Library of St. Iohns in Cambridge where he had been Master for many years This spoken of Dr. Williams then Bishop of Lincoln and Lord Keeper who certainly was never Master of that Colledge though by his power and and party in that Society he advanced Dr. Gwin who had been his Tutor unto that place as is affirmed in the Church History of B●itain Lib. 11. fol. 225. It may be Mr. Williams was at that time of the same minde with ●harles Mart●l of whom it is affirmed that he chose rather to make a King then to be a King Non ●word regn●re sed R●gibus 〈…〉 as the old verse hath it Or else perhaps we may say of him as T●citus does of Mutian●s Cui facil●us er●t 〈…〉 that is to say that it was easier for him to procure the mastership for another then to obtain it for hims●lf But howsoever it was it seemes to have been carried by strong 〈◊〉 canvas of which Nation both the Pupil and the Scholer were as appeareth by these H●xameters following in which the four Competitors are thus laid before us Fol. 〈◊〉 Th● 〈◊〉 of that Protestation 〈◊〉 me●● 〈…〉 Regni negotiis but left out Quibusdam 〈…〉 particular cases as the King 〈…〉 This spoken of a Protestation entred b●●ome of the House of Commons Anno 1621. concerning 〈◊〉 of their pretended Rights and Privileges in which they 〈◊〉 mista●en and I wonder the Author did not see it in 〈◊〉 the ve●y grounds on which they built it For by the writ of summons the Commons were not called to consult of any thing either great of little difficult or not difficult whatso●●ver it was but onely 〈◊〉 consentiendum faciendum to consent to and perfo●m such things as by the great Councel of the Realm● consisting of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal should be then ordained as by the very ●writ it self doth at large appear By which it seems that the Commons assembled in Parliament were of themselves so far from being any 〈◊〉 o● that supreme Cou●t that they were not to be counted for a part of the Kings great Councel So that the founda●ion being 〈◊〉 the Superstructure could not stand which was built upon
some of the 〈◊〉 of those who had possest themselves of the Crown ●ands in his ●athers Minority in which course he might hope to finde good success without noise or dange● And ●f this may be called the adding of fuel to the fi●e of 〈…〉 King will finde a safe way to recover his own 〈…〉 from him by power and pride unless he do 〈…〉 strong hand which findes no resistance For which good ser●ice if he were afterwards Knighted and made second Secretary of Estate the principal being called Lord Secretary in the stile of that Kingdom it was no more then he had worthily deserv'd for his sound Advice ●rom the Title and the Introduction proceed we next unto the History it self in which the first mistake we meet with 〈◊〉 the placing of the ●uneral of King Iames on the 14 of May which Mr. H. L. in his History of the Reign of King Cha●ls had 〈…〉 on the fourth in both erron●ously alike But the 〈◊〉 of the ●ormer History hath corrected his error by the 〈…〉 and placed it rightly on the seventh which the 〈…〉 Historian might have done also having so thorowly 〈…〉 all the Passages in those Observations 〈…〉 land had nothing but foul weather triste lugubre Coelum when she was at the Sea and the worst of foul weathers from the time of her landing to the very minute of her death The like tempestuous landing is observed to have happened to the Princesse Catharine daughter of Ferdinand and If bell● Kings of Spain when she came hither to be married to Prince Arthur eldest Son to King Henry 7 which afterwards was lookt on as a sad presage of those Cala●●ities which hapned to that pious but unfortunate Lady in the last part of her life And certainly such presages are neither to be rejected as superstitious nor too much relied on as infallible such a middle course being to be stee●'d in such conjecturals as is advised to be held in Prophetical or presaging dreams not wilfully to be slighted nor too much regarded ●ol 6. The Parliament to be subordinate not coordinate with the Prince c. though King Charles unadvisedly makes himself a member of the house of Peers which the Parliament would never acquit him A passage which the Author likes well enough and hopes the Reader will do the like as it comes from himself but will not let it go uncensured in the O●servator It is noted in the Observations p. 62. that the King having passed away the Bishops votes in Parliament did after by a strange improvidence in a Message or Declaration sent from York the 17. of Iune reckon himself as one of the three Estates which being once slipt from his pen and taken up by some leading men in the Houses of ●●●●ament it never was let fall again in the whole agitati●n of those Controversies which were bandied up and down between them Our Author says the same thing though in fewer words and yet corrects the Observator for ta●ing notice of the Kings strange imp●ovidence in a message 〈…〉 Iune 17. where he reckons himself as one of the 〈…〉 member of the House of Peers Fol. 10● for which he 〈◊〉 to call him to a further account in 〈…〉 and so perhaps he may in a second edition of his History there being no such thing to be found in this 〈◊〉 Councels are privy and publick his Privy Councel by his own 〈…〉 election●● publick his Parliament Peers and people In these words there are two things to be enquired after first why the Bishops are not named as Members of this publick Councel and secondly why the people are admitted art thereof That the Bishops are to be accounted of as necessa●y members of this publick Councel appeareth by the 〈◊〉 writ of Summons by which they are severally and respectively called to attend in Parliament In which it is declared that the King by the advice of his Privy Councel hath called a Parliament unto this end ut cum Pralatis 〈…〉 Reg●● Colloquium ha●eret that he for his part might confer with the Prelat● Peers and great men of the Realm and that they for their parts super dictis Negotiis tractaren● co●●ilium suum impenderent should debate of all such difficult matters concerning the preservation of the Church and State as the King should recommend unto them and give their faithful Counsel in them accordingly So that the Author dealt not well with the Bishops in excluding them from being a part of the Kings publick Councel and putting the people in their room who never were beheld as members of it till so made by our Author the Commons being called to Parliament to no other purpose but ad consen●iendum faciendum to give consent and yield obedience to all such things as by the great Councel of the Kingdom 〈◊〉 communi Concilio Regni nostri shall be then ordained But if our Author say that he includes the Bishops in the name of Peers though I allow his meaning and am able to defend him in it yet I must still except against his expression because not plain and full enough to the vulgar Reader Ibid. But 〈◊〉 Iames altered that course a● best able of any his Predecessors to speak for him self It was indeed the common usage of the Kings of England to speak to their people in ●arliament by the mouth of the Chancellors not that they were not able to tell their own tales and express their own me●ning but that it was held for a point of State not to descend so much beneath themselves as to play the Orators Yet somtimes as they saw occasion they would speak their own mindes in Parliament and not trouble their Chancellors as appears by that speech of King Henry 7. when he resolved to engage himself in a war with France a copy whereof we have in the History of his Reign writ by the Lord Viscount St. Alban which he thus beginneth My Lords and you the Commons when I purposed to make a war in Britain by my Lieutenant I made declaration thereof to you by my Chancellor But now that I mean to make war upon France in person I will declare it to you myself c. Fol. 96. But King Iames thinking himself an absolute Master in the Art of speaking and desirous that his people should think so too in the opening of all his Parliaments and the beginning of each Session and many occasions on the by used no tongue but his own Which though it might seem necessary at the opening of his first Parliament to let the Lords and Commons see how sensible he was of that Affection wherewith the whole body of the Nation had imbraced his coming to the Crown yet the continual use thereof made him seem cheaper in the eyes of the People then might stand with Majecty Nor was this all the inconvenience which ensued upon it for first it put a necessity upon his son and ●●●cessor of doing the like to whom it
of the English Parliament till the time of King Iames. It s true that on the Petition of the Commons in the beginning of each Parliament the King was graciously pleas'd to indulge them a freedom of reasoning and debate upon all such points as came before them and not to call them to account though they delivered their opinions contrary to his sence and meaning But then it is as true withal that they used not to waste time in tedious Orations nor to declaim against the proceedings of the King and the present Government or if they did the Speaker held it for a part of his Office to cut them short and to reminde them of their duty besides such after-claps as they were sure to finde from an injured and incensed Soveraign But of this take along with you this short passage as I finde it in a letter written ab ignoto to King Charls in this very business of the Duke May it please your excellent Majesty to consider That this great opposition against the Duke of Buckingham is stirred up and maintained by such who either maliciously or ignorantly and concurrently seek the debasing of this free M●narchy which because they finde not yet ripe to attempt against the king himself they endeavor it through the dukes sides These men though agreeing in one mischief yet are of divers sorts and humors Viz. 1. Medling and busie persons who took their first hint at the beginning of King Iames when the Vnion was treated of in Parliament That learned King gave too much way to those popular Speeches by the frequent proof he had of his great Abilities in that kinde Since the time of H. 6. these Parliamentary Discourses were never suffered as being the certain Symptoms of subsequent Rebellions Civil Wars a●d the dethroning of our Kings But these last twenty years most of the Parliament Men seek to improve the reputation of their Wisdoms by these Declamations and no honest Patriot dare oppose them lest he incur the imputation of a Fool or a Coward in his Countries cause But which is more the pride they took in their own supposed Eloquence obtain'd another priviledge for them that is to say The liberty for any man to speak what he list and as long as he list without fear of being interrupted whereof King Iames takes notice in his said Speech to both the Houses at White-Hall Nor did they onely take great delight in these tedious speeches but at first disperst Copies of them in writing and afterwards caused them to be printed that all the people might take notice of the zeal they had to the common liberty of the Nation and the edge they hed against the Court and the Kings Prerogative But to proceed Fol. 47. To ballance the Dukes enemies three persons his confederates were made Barons to compeer in the Lords house the Lord Mandevil the eldest son to the Earl of Manchester created by Patent Baron Kimbolton Grandison Son to the created Baron Imbercourt and Sr Dudly Carlton made Baron Tregate In which short passage there are as many mistakes as lines For first the Lord Mandevil was not created by Patent Lord Kimbolton that title together with the tite of Vicount Mandevil having been conferred upon his father by letter Patents in the 18. year of King Iames Anno 1620. whom afterwards King Charles in the first year of his Reign made Earl of Manchester The meaning of our Author is that Sr. Edward Montague commonly called Lord Mandevil was summoned to the Parliament by the Title of Lord Kimbolton as is the custom in such cases when the eldest sons of Earls are called to Parliament by the stile and Title of their Fathers Barony Secondly there never was any such Baron as the Baron Tregate Thirdly Sr. Dudly Carlton was not created Baron Tregat but Baron of Imbercourt that being the name of a Mannor of his in the County of Surry But fourthly Grandison son to the created Baron Imbercourt is either such a peece of negligence in not filling the blanks or of ignorance in not knowing that noble Person as is not often to be met with And therefore to inform both our Author and his Reader also I must let them know that William de Grand●son a noble Burgundian Lord allied to the Emperour of Constantinople the King of Hungary and the Duke of Bavaria was brought into England by Edmond Earl of Lancaster second son to King Henry the 3. by whose bounty he was endowed with fair possessions and by his power advanced unto the dignity of an English Baron The estate being much encreast by the Marriage of the Daughter and Heir of the Lord Tregoz fell by the Heir general to the Pateshuls of Ble●so in the County of Bedford and by a Daughter of that house to the house of the Beauchamps By Margaret the daughter and Heir of Sr. Iohn Beauchamp of Bletso the whole estate came by Marriage to Sr. Oliver St. Iohn from whose eldest son descended that Sr. Oliver St. Iohn whom Queen Elizabeth descended from the said Margaret by Iohn Duke of Somerset her second husband made Lord St. Iohn of Bletho in the first year of her Reign From Oliver St. Iohn the second son of the said Margaret estated by his mother in the Mannor of Lydiard Tregoz neer Highworth in the County of Wilts descended another Oliver St. Iohn the second son of Sr. Iohn St. Iohn of Lydiard Tregoz who having in defence of his Fathers Honour killed one Captain Best in St. Georges fields neer Southwark was fain to passe over into France where he remained untill his friends about the Queen had obtained his pardon To merit which and to avoid the danger which might happen to him by Bests acquaintances he betook himself to the wars of Ireland where he performed such signal service against the Rebels that passing from one command to another he came at last to be made Lord Deputy of Ireland at what time he was created viscount Grandison with reference to the first founder of the greatnesse of his House and family That dignity entailed on him and the heires males of his body and for want of Such Issue on the Heires males of Sr. Edward Villers begotten on the body of Mrs. Barbara St. Iohn the new Viscounts Neece according unto which remainder that Honnurable Title is enjoyed by that branch of the house of Villers But being the Title of Viscount Grandison was limited to the Realm of Ireland to make him capable of a place in this present Parliament he was created Lord Tregoz of Highworth to him and to the heires males of his body without any remainder Fol. 62. Carlton gone upon this Errand and missing the French King at Paris progressed a tedious journey after that Court to Nantes in Bohemia And here we have as great an Error in Geography as before in Heraldry there being no such Town as Nantes in Bohemia or if there were it had been too farre off and too unsafe a
C●rrans by Queen Elizabeth it was done as our Authour tels us to cry quits with the Venetians who had rais'd the Customes of our Cl●th And this was done saith he without regret or complaint the generall prosperity of the Reign overshadowing and her power commanding fol. 133. Here then we have an Imposition raised upon some Commodities by the sole will an● power of the Queen not only without Act of Parliament but without any regret or complaint of the Merchants as our Authour tels us And in the first he tels us true but not so in the last For the Merchants having fee'd some Members of the House of Commons to befriend them in it it was moved that some course might be taken by the House to ease the Merchants in th●t Point When presently M. Secretary Cecil addressing himself unto the Speaker desired that that businesse might proceed no further affirming that it was a Noli me tangere part of the Queens prerogative Royall and therefore not to be disputed within those wals adding w●●hal that if 〈◊〉 proceeded any further he must as he was in duty bound acquaint her Majesty with the matter of whose displeasure they would quickly finde themselves to be very sensible And so the businesse stopt for that time though it broke out afterwards but little to the benefit of the Merchant as in fine it proved It seems by this story that the Commons challenged no such priviledge in Queen Elizabeths time as they did afterwards in the time of King Charles that is to say that neither the King nor Queen was to take notice of any thing which was said or done within those Walls until it was communicated to them by the consent of the House For whereas the King in a Speech made to both Houses on the 14 of December 1641. took notice of some dispute which had been raised in that House about the Kings power in pressing Soldiers for his Wars the Commons voted this for a breach of Priviledge and gain'd so far upon the Lords that they joyn'd together in this Declaration to his Ma●esty viz. That amongst other priviledges of Parliament it was their ancient and undoubted right that his Maj●sty ought not to take notice of any matter in Agitation and debate in either House of Parliament but by their Information and Agreement But yet as ancient as it was the yongest man present had seen the beginning and as undoubted as it was the oldest man there sitting liv'd to see the end of it And so much for that Fol. 136. But they were all ten committed to several Prisons and on the first of May Attorney-General Noy sent Process out against them to appear in the Star-Chamber and answer his Information there Our Author speaks this of those ten persons who had been guilty of that most unparallel'd Ryot which was committed in the House of Commons at the dissolving of the last Parliament at what time Mr. Noy was not Attorney-General nor in three years after and therefore could not send out Process or make any Info●mation against them as is here affirmed The Attorney-General was at that time Sir Robert Heath who not long after entred the like Information against the Earls of Bedford Somerset and Clare Sir Robert Cotton Master Selden Mr. St. Iohn for dispersing a Manuscript containing sundry projects for raising money on the Subject without the help of Parliaments as if it had been some Design of the King or his Councel to enslave the Nation Concerning which our present Author tells us one thing and an absent Author tells us another That which our present Author tells us is That Fol. 140. It was contrived at Florence by Sir Robert Dudley who descended from the Dudlies Earls of Warwick and so he stiled himself That this Book of projects was contrived by Sir Robert Dudley I am well assured and I am well assured also that he neither descended from the Dudlies Earls of Warwick nor ever call'd himself by that Title There were but three that held the Titles of Warwick viz. Iohn the first Baron of that House created Earl of Warwick and Duke of Northumberland by K. Edward the sixth Secondly Iohn his eldest surviving Son commonly called Earl of Warwick as the custom is after his Father was made Duke who dyed without Issue And thirdly Ambrose the fourth Son of the first Io●n created Earl of Warwick by Queen Elizabeth Anno 1552. who deceased without Issue also so that there was but one Dudley Earl of Warwick from whom this Robert could descend and from him he did as being the base or natural Son of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester the fifth Son of the said Iohn Dudly Earl of Warwick and Duke of Northumberland Secondly This Sir Robert Dudley who contriv'd the Manuscript did not stile himself by the name of Earl of Warwick that being too low a title to content his Ambition For looking on himself as the onely remaining branch of this House of the Dudlies he took upon himself the Stile of Duke of Northumberland and was commonly called so by all sorts of People in the State of Florence But to proceed our Author tells us of this Manuscript of Sir Robert Dudlies That Ibid. It was a Rhapsody of several pro●ects for increase of the Kings Revenue and somewhat in prejudice of proceedings in Parliament sundry copies whereof were dispersed c. And so disperst that there were few or none who were inquisitive into matters which con●erned the publick that got not ● Copy of th●se Paper● Which being found in the Study of the Earl of Strafford as it might have been in thous●nds more gave an occasion to E. H. an obscure fellow compos'd of Ignorance and malice to publish it in Print with this following Title viz. Straffords Pl●t discovered and th● Parliament vindicated in their Iustice executed upon him by the late discovery of certain Propositions delivered to his Majesty by the Earl of Strafford a little before his tryal with this Inscription Propositions for the bridling of Parliaments and for the increasing of his Majesties Revenue much m●re then before c. And so much for the harmless Errors of my present and the malicious falshood of my absent Author Amongst which harmless Errors of my present but not to be excused in any Author I reckon his naming of King Charls to be the Uncle of Frederick Prince Elector Palatine fol. 143. and within few lines after his Brother-in-law as indeed he was his making ●alcedon to be a City in Greece fol. 151. whereas it was a City of Bithynia in Asia minor on the other side of the Sea But leaving these I proceed to matters of more moment and of greater conseq●ence Fol. 148. And therefore draws a Pedigree of his right and title from King James the first c. Our Author speaks this of the Pedigree by which the Marquess of Hamilton pretended a Right and Title to the Crown of Scotland a Title which had so many flaws that
Secondly he bought not the Dutchy of Gelders neither but possest himself of it by a mixt Title of Arms and Contract The first Contract made between Charls the Warlike Duke of Burgundy and Arnold of Egmond Duke of Gelders who in regard of the great Succors which he received from him when deprived and Imprisoned by his own ungracious son passed over his whole Estate to him for a little mony But this alienation being made unprofitable by the death of Charls the intrusion of Adolph the son of Arnold and the succession of Charls the son of Adolph this Emperor reviv'd the claim and prest Duke Charls so hotly on all sides with continual Wars that he was forc'd to yield it to him upon condition that he might enjoy it till his death which was afterwards granted Thirdly if he had any right to the Dukedom of William it accrued not to him by discent as King of Spain but as a ●ief forfeited to the Empire for want of Heirs male in the House of Sforsa which not being acknowledged by the French who pretended from the Heir General of the Galeazzo's he won it by his Sword and so disposed thereof to his Son and Successor King Philip the second and his Heirs by another right then that of Conquest The proceeding of the short Parliament and the surviving Convocation have been so fully spoken of in the Observations on the former History that nothing need be added here But the long Parliament which began in November following will afford us some new matter for these Advertisements not before observ'd And first we finde That Fol. 336. There came out an Order of the Commons House that all Projectors and unlawful Monopolists that have or had ●●tely any benefit from Monopolies or countenanced or issued out any Warrants in favor of them c. shall be disabled to sit in the House A new piece of Authority which the Commons never exercised before and which they had no right to now but that they knew they were at this time in such a condition as to venture upon any new Incroachment without control For anciently● and legally the Commons had no power to exclude any of their Members from their place in Parliament either under colour of false elections or any other pretence whatsoever For it appears on good Record in the 28 year of Queen Elizabeth that the Commons in Parliament undertaking the examination of the chusing and returning of Knights of the Shire for the Coun●y of Norfolk were by the Queen sharply reprehended for it that being as she sent them word a thing improper for them to deal in as belonging onely to the Office and Charge of the Lord Chancellor from whom the Writs issue and a●e returned And if they may not exclude their Members under colour of undue Elections and false Returns much less Authority have they to exclude any of them for acting by vertue of the Kings Letters Patents or doing any thing in order to his Majesties Service For if this power were once allowed them they might proceed in the next place to shut out all the Lords of the Privy Councel his Counsel learned in the Laws his Domestick Servants together with all such as hold any Offices by his Grant and Favor because forsooth having dependance on the King they could not be true unto the Interest of the Commonwealth And by this means they might so weed out one another that at the last they would leave none to sit amongst them but such as should be all ingag'd to drive on such projects as were laid before them But whereas our Author tells us in the following words that it was Ordered also That Mr. Speaker should issue out new Warrants for electing other Members in their places he makes the Commons guilty of a greater incroachment then indeed they were All that they did or could pretend to in this case was to give order to the Speaker that intimation might be given to his Majesty of the places vacant and to make humble suit unto him to issue out new Writs for new Elections to those places But the next Incroachment on the Kings Authority was far greater then this and comes next in order Fol. 360. The Bill for the Trienial Parliament having p●ssed both Houses was confirmed with the Kings Royal Assent Febr. 16. And then also he past the Bill of Subsidies fol. 361. The Subsidies here mentioned were intended for the relief of the Northern Counties opprest at once with two great Armies who not onely liv'd upon Free Quarter but raised divers sums of money also for their present necessities the one of them an Army of English rais'd by the King to right himself upon the Scots the other being an Army of Scots who invaded the Kingdom under colour of obtaining from the King what they had no right to So that the King was not to have a peny of that Money and yet the Commons would not suffer him to pass the one till he had before hand passed the other which the King for the relief of his poor Subjects was content to do and thereby put the power of calling Parliaments into the hands of Sheriffs and Constables in case he either would not or should not do it at each three years end But the nex● incroachment on the Power and Prerogative Royal was worse then this there being a way left for the King to reserve that Power by the timely calling of a Parliament and the dissolving of it too if called within a shorter time then that Act had limited But for the next sore which was his passing of the Bill of Tonnage and Poundage there was no Plaister to be found the King being for'd remember that the Commons had an Army of Scots at their devotion to pass away all his Right unto it before he could obtain it but for three Moneths onely as was said before In which Bill it is to be observ'd that as they depriv'd the King of his Right to Tonnage and Poundage so they began then to strike at the Bishops Rights to their Vote in Parliament For whereas generally in all former Acts the Lords Spiritual and Temporal were distinctly named in this that distinction was left out and the Bill drawn up in the name of the Lord● and Commons which being disputed by the Bishops as well fore-seeing what the Commons intended by it was notwithstanding carried for the Commons by the Temporal Lords who thereby made a way for their own exclusion when the Commons were grown as much too strong for them as they were for the Bishops The secular Lords knew well that the Lords Spiritual were to have the precedence and therefore gave them leave to go first out of the House that they themselves might follow after as they ought to do Proceed we next to the business of the Earl of Strafford a● whose Tryal our Author tells us That Fol. 376. The Earl of Arundel was made Lord High Steward and the Earl of
Houses as were like to make the worst use of it and the more to ingratiate himself with the prevalent party he aggravated the supposed offence to the very utmost And the supposed offence was this that the Bishops having been frequently reviled pursued and violently kept from the House of Peers protested by a Writing under their hands That they durst not sit or Vote in the House of Peers untill his Majesty should secure them from all affronts indignities and dangers and therefore that all Laws Orders Votes Resolutions and Determinations should be reputed null and of none effect which in their absence had passed or should passe in the said most Honourable House during the time of their forced and violent absence Which Petition and Protestation being 〈…〉 Records of Parliament was thought to be a good 〈◊〉 of their place and right suffrage in the House of 〈◊〉 ●●●withstanding the Subsequent Act of Parliament 〈◊〉 deprived them of it But how that Protestation could amount to Treason in the newest construction of the word was so impossible to be proved that they who 〈◊〉 so voted it having served their turns by the imprisonment of the Bishops for depriving them of their place and vote in Parliament and divesting the King of his power and prerogative in pressing Souldiers for his wars at once released them of the imp●i●onment and accusation under which they suffered Adde hereunto that when the Members of the House of Commons were seized upon and kept in custody by the Officers of the Army under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax on the sixt and seventh daies of December 1647. they made a Protestation to this effect viz. that all Acts and Ordinances Votes and proceedings of the House of Commons made after the said sixt and seventh of December or after to be made during their restraint and forcible seclusion from the House and the continuance of the Armies force upon it should be no way obligatory but void and null to all ●ntents and purposes whatsoever Which protestation though it toucht the Officers of the Army to the very quick yet had they so much modesty as not to count it for high Treason And when the Members which were left remaining in that House for the present turn had scanned over every particular of that protestation they only ventured so far as to Vote it to be scandalous and seditious as tending to destroy the present visible Government and that all that had a hand in it were unworthy of trust for which consult Mercurius Pragmaticus Numb 38. By which we see that which was counted Treason in the Bishops was not conceived to be such in these Members of the House of Commons No more then farre worse crimes then those which 〈…〉 for Treason in the Earl of Strafford could 〈◊〉 to be Treason in the Case of the Five 〈…〉 Lord of Kimbolton So true is that which Horace 〈…〉 Book De Arte Poetica viz. Coecilio Plautoq●e dabit 〈…〉 Virgilio Varioque which cannot be englished more ●●●nificantly then by this old Proverb that is to say that 〈◊〉 better steal a Horse then others look on Fol. 478. The City taking h●art and hands with the House of Commons summon a Common Councel where they debate their jealousies and fears The constitution of the Common Councell of the City was of great concernment at this time and therefore it behoved the Commons in order to the prosecution of their designe that it should be new moulded most of the old ones laid aside and creatures of their own elected into their places And by their Emissaries and Agents they prevailed so far that on S. Thomas day when the Common-Councell-men were to be chosen for every Ward in stead of those grave sober and substantiall men which before they had they chose a company of factious and indigent persons known only by their disaffections to Monarchical and Episcopal Government And whereas by the ancient custome of the City the Common-Councell-men then elected were not admitted unto Councell till the Munday after Twelfthday when their Elections were returned and enrolled by the Town-Clerk these men well knowing how much the Designe of the Commons did depend upon them would not stay so long And therefore when the King had appointed a Common-Councell to be called on the last day of December for the prevention of such tumults as had happened a few daies before they thrust themselves in amongst the rest The like they did when the King gave a meeting to a Common Councel appointed by him on the fifth of Ianuary wherein he acquainted them with the reason of his proceedings against the five impeached Members desiring that they might not have any retreat or harbour within the City At what time Fowke one of these Common-Councell men as being the Bell-weather to the rest made a sawcy and insolent speech unto the King concerning fears and ●●●lousies touching the Members accused the Priviledges of Parliament and that they might not be tried but in a Parliamentary way To which though the King returned a very milde and gracious Answer yet the Rabble being once inflamed by their seditious Orator would not so be satisfied but at his coming out of the Hall and as he past in his Coach thorow the Streets there was nothing ecchoed in his ears but Priviledges of Parliament Priviledges of Parliament By the help and vote of these men also was that Petition framed and delivered to the King on the morrow after which follows immediatly in our Authour And by the help of these men did they extort the Militia of the City out of the hands of the Mayor and Aldermen and put it into the power of inferiour persons such as the Faction in the House of Commons might best confide in And for their Iealousies and Fears which were to be debated in the Common Councell they were of no lesse nature then the blowing up of the Thames to drown the City or the beating it down about their ears by Col. Lunsford from the Tower or the sacking it by the King and the Cavaliers Horrible Gulleries but such as were generally disperst and no lesse generally beleeved by fools women and children Fol. 482. Vpon information of Troops of Horse to be gathered by the Lord Digby and Colonell Lunsford at Kingston where the County Magazine is lodged they order that the Sheriffs of the severall Counties c. shall suppresse all unlawfull Assemblies c. Most true it is that such an order was made by the House of Commons the better to amaze the people and keep them in continuall Fears and Iealousies of the Kings proceedings But nothing is more false then that any Troops of Horse had been rais'd by the Lord Digby or Colonel Lunsford or that they had any such designe as to seize the Magazine at Kingston which they might easily have done had they been so minded before it could have been prevented But the truth is that the King not knowing what the London Tumults might
issued out of the Chancery which they still kept open But when it came to be debated in the House of Commons it was alledged by some sober men that the counterfeiting of the Great Seal was made High Treason by the Statute of the 25. of King Edward the third To which it was very learnedly replied by Sergeant Wilde that they intended not to counterf●t the Old Great Seal but to make a new one On which ridiculous Resolution of this Learned Sergeant whose great Ruff had as much Law in it as his little head the designe went forward but not with any such alteration in the Impresse as our Authour speaks of The Impresse of this New Seal was the same with that in the old the Feathers or Princes Arms being only added in a void place of it to Shew the difference between them that so their Followers might disti●guish be●ween such Commands as came from his Majesty and such as came immediatly from themselves in his Majesties Name But whereas our Authour speaks in some words fore-going of a Legislative Power which he conceives to be in the Parliament he shews himself therein to be no better a Lawyer then M. Ser●cant The Legislative power was only in the King himself though legally he was restrained in the exercise of it to the consent of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament Fol. 623. lin l● 〈…〉 the one a Cripple the other somewhat like a Lunatick Our Authour speaks this of the Children of M. Iohn Hambden one of the five Members so much talked of the principal Member of the five as our Authour cals him but on what ground he speaks it as I do not know ●o neither is it worth enquiry And though I might leave the Children of M. Hambden under this reproach as an undoubted signe of Gods judgements on him for being a principall Incendiary in that fire which for a long time consumed the Kingdom yet so far do I preferre truth before private interesse that I shall do him that right in his post●●ity which our Authour either out of ignorance easinesse of belief or malice hath been pleased to deny him And therefore the Reader is to know that the surviving children of that Gentleman are not only of an erect and comely stature but that they have in them all the abilities of wit and judgement wherewith their Father was endued though governed with a more moderate spirit and not so troublesomely active in affairs of state Fol. 626. The five and twentieth of August the Earls of Bedford and Holland went from London towards Oxford c. That the said two Ea●ls came to Oxford to tender their s●bmission to the King is a Truth undoubted sooner then our Authour speaks of but that they were received with favour and forgivenesse may be very well questioned not as in reference to forgivenesse which considering the Kings good nature may be ●asily granted but in relation unto Favour A point wherein our Authour hath confuted himself telling us fol. 639. of the Earl of Holland that he had but slender Reception though he put himself in a posture of Arms with the King in the Field And 〈◊〉 this slender Reception he complain'd in a Letter to the Lo●d Ierm●n after his departure wherein he did relate that the King did not shew so much countenance to him as he had seen h●m do at the same time to some C●mmon Souldiers who had fled from the Enemy to come to him There came to Oxford also at or about the same time the Earl of Clare and found the like cold entertainment It was conceived and by some reported that if the King had shewed good countenance to these three Lords most of the rest would have left the Parliament and repaired unto him But the King considered well enough that not so much the sense of their duty as his successes in the West had brought them thither and that if five or six only of the Lords should be left in Westminster those five or six only would be thought sufficient to constitute a House of Peers as many times there were no more present fo● the passing of any Ordinance which the Commons should be pleased to commend unto them Fol. 630. And now was the King drawn down before the Town attended by Prince Charles and the Duke of York Prince Rupert and Generall Ruthen c. For the Kings sitting down before Glocester and laying a formal Siege unto it there was given this reason viz. that by the taking of this Town all Wales would be preserved in the Kings Obedience entirely united unto E●gland and free passage given on all occasions and distresses to assist each other And so far the design was not to be discommended But on the contrary it was said that the Kings unhappy sitting down before that Town lost him the opportunity of marching directly towards London and ●●attering the Faction in the Parliament both which by reason of the affrightments which fell upon them by the taking of Bristol and oth●r places in the West were ready to give up themselves even to desperation And so much was affirmed by the Earl of Holland when he was at Oxford assuring Sir Iohn Heydon Lieutenant of the Ordinance from whose mouth I have it that the prevailing Members of both Houses were upon the point of trussing up of Bagge and Baggage but that they hoped as some of them told him that N. N. one of great nearnesse to the King an especiall confident of theirs would prevail with him at the last to lay siege to Glocester and not to leave that Town at his back to infest the Countrey Fol. 633. Two Spies sent out long since returned from Warwick giving them News of the March of the Earl of Essex but was not assured he lodging then ●nder a Cloud of disgrace being beaten out of the West But certainly the Earl of Essex could not be under a cloud at that time for being beaten out of the West his preparing to raise the Siege of Glocester happening in the end of August Anno 1643. and his being beaten in the West not happening till the beginning of September Anno 1644. But we must think the Houses were indued with the spirit of prophecy and frowned upon the man before-hand for that which was to happen to him a Twelve moneth after Nor was it any fault of his that Bristol Exceter and so many places of importance had been lost in the West he having no Forces able to act any thing against the King till the Pulpit-men in London preacht him up an A●my for the Relief of Glocester An Army which came time enough to do the work the siege being very slackly followed and having done the work were as desirous to return back to their own Houses But see what hapned by the way Fol. 636. From Cirencester he marches to Chilleton the Cavaliers facing them on Mavarn Hills If so then First The Earl of Essex must be the Ianus of this Age
ordinary temper And so much was the King startled when he heard of the giving up of that City with the Fort and Castle and that too in so short a time that he posted away a Messenger to the Lords at Oxford to displace Col. Legg a well known Creature of Prince Ruperts from the Government of that City and Garison and to put it into the hands of Sir Thomas Glenham which was accordingly done and done unto the great contentment of all the Kings party except that Prince and his Dependents But Legg was sweetned not long after by being made one of the Grooms of his Majesties Bed-chamber a place of less command but of greater trust Fol. 891. And now the Parliament consider of a Term or Title● to be given to the Commissioners intrusted with their Great Seal and are to be called Conservators of the Common-wealth of England Not so with reference either to the time or the thing it self For first The Commissioners of the Great Seal were never called the Conservators fo the Common-wealth of England And Secondly If they ever had been called so it was not now that is to say when the Kings Seals were broken in the House of Peers which was not long after Midsummer in the year 1646. But the truth is that on the 30 of Ianuary 1648. being the day of the Kings most deplorable death the Commons caused an Act or Order to be printed in which it was declared that from thenceforth in stead of the Kings Name in all Commissions Decrees Processes and Indictments the ●●tle of Custodes Libertatis Angliae or the Keepers of the Liberties of England as it was afterwards englished when all Legall Instruments were ordered to be made up in the English-Tongue should be alwaies used But who these Keepers of the Liberties were was a thing much questioned some thought the Commissioners for the great Seal were intended by it whom our Authour by a mistake of the Title cals here the Conservators of the Common-wealth others conceiv'd that it related to the Councel of State but neither rightly For the truth is that there were never any such men to whom this Title was appliable in one sense or other it being onely a Second Notion like Genus and Species in the Schools a new devised term of State-craft to express that trust which never was invested in the persons of any men either more or fewer Fol. 892. ●o then the eldest Son and the yongest Daughter are with the Qu●●n in France the two Dukes of York and Glocester with the Princess Elizabeth at St. James 's The Prince in the We●t with his Army ● This is more strange then all the rest that the Kings eldest Son should be with his Mother in France and yet that the Prince at the same time should be with his Army in the West of England I always thought till I saw so good Authority to the contrary that the Prince and the Kings eldest Son had been but one person But finding it otherwise resolved I would fain know which of the Kings Son● is the Prince if the eldest be not It cannot be the second or third for they are here called both onely by the name of Dukes and made distinct persons from the Prince And therefore we must needs believe that the Kings eldest Son Christned by the name of Charls-Iames who dyed at Gre●nwich almost as soon as he was born Anno 1629. was raised up from the dead by some honest French Conjurer to keep company with the yong Princess Henrietta who might converse with h●m as a Play-Fellow without any terror as not being able to distinguish him from a Baby of Clouts That he and all that did adhere unto him should be safe in their Persons Honors and●●onsciences in the Scotish Army and that they would really and effectually joyn with him and with such as would come in unto him and joyn with them for his preservation and should employ their Armies and Forces to assist him to his Kingdom● in the recovery of his ●ust Rights But on the contrary these jugling and perfidious 〈◊〉 declare in a Letter to their Commissioners at London by them to be communicated to the Houses of Parliament that there had been no Treaty nor apitulation betwixt his M●●esty and them nor any in their names c. On the receit of which Letters the Houses Order him to be sent to Warwick Castle But Les●ly who had been us'd to buying and selling in the time of his Pedl●ry was loth to lose the benefit of so rich a Commodity and thereupon removes him in such post-haste that on the eighth of May we finde him at Southwel and at Newcastle on the tenth places above an hundred Miles distant from one another and he resolv'd before-hand how to dispose of him when he had him there ●o Scotland he never meant to carry him though some hopes were given of it at the first for not onely Lesly himself but the rest of the Covenanters in the Army were loth to admit of any Competitor in the Government of that Kingdom which they had ingrossed who●y to themselves but the 〈◊〉 in an Assembly of theirs declare expresly against his coming to live amongst them as appears fol 〈◊〉 So that there was no other way left to dispose of his person but to ●ell him to the Houses of Parliament though at the first they made 〈◊〉 of it and would be thought to stand upon Terms or Honor The Ea●l of Lowdon who lov'd to hear hims●lf speak more ●hen ●ny man living in some Spe●ches made be●ore ●he Houses protested strongly against the d●livery of their Kings Person into their Power 〈◊〉 what in 〈◊〉 ●●amy would lie upon them and the whole Nation ●f 〈◊〉 ●hould to 〈◊〉 But this was but a co●y of their Countenance onely 〈◊〉 ●●vice to raise the Mar●e● and make is ●uch money 〈…〉 as they could At last they came to this Agreement that for the sum of Two hundred thousand pounds they should deliver him to such Commissioners as the Houses should Authorize to receive him of them which was done accordingly For Fol. 939. The Commissioners for receiving the Person of the King came to Newcastle Iune 22. c. Not on the 22 of Iune I am sure of that the Commodity to be bought and sold was of greater value and the Scots too cunning to part with it till they had raised the price of it as high as they could The driving of this Bargain took up all the time betwixt the Kings being carried to Newcastle and the middle of the Winter then next following so that the King might be delivered to these Commissioners that is to say from Prison to Prison on the 22 day of Ianuary but of Iune he could not And here it will not be amiss to consider what loss or benefit redounded to those Merchants which traded in the buying and selling of this precious Commodity And first The Scots not long before their breaking out
was not to be found in the whole body of it And for the proof thereof he read the Article out of a Book which lay before him beginning thus Non licet Ecclesia quicquam instituere quod verbo Dei scripto adversetur c. To which the Res●ondent readily answered that he perceived by the bignesse of the Book which lay on the Doctors Cushion that he had read that Article out of the Harmony of Confessions publisht at Geneva Anno 1612. which therein followed the Edition of the Articles in the time of King Edward the sixth Anno 1552. in which that sentence was not found but that it was otherwise in the Articles agreed on in the Convocation Anno 156● to which most of us had subscribed in our severall places but the Doctor still persisting upon that point and the Respondent seeing some unsatisfiednesse in the greatest part of the Auditory he called on one M. Westly who formerly had been his Chamber-Fellow in Magdalen● College to step to the next Booksellers Shop for a Book of Articles Which being observed by the Doctor he declared himself very willing to decline any further prosec●tion of t●at particular and to go on directly to the Disputation But the Respondent was resolved to proceed no further Vsque dum liberaverit animam suam ab ist a calumnia as his own words were till he had freed himself from that odious Calumny but it was not long before the coming of the Book had put an end to that Controversie out of which the Respondent read the Article in the English Tongue in his verbis viz. The Church hath power to decree Rites and Ceremonies and authority in Controversies of faith c. which done he delivered the Book to one of the standers by who desired it of him the Book passing from one hand to another till all men were satisfied And at this point of time it was that the Queens Almoner left the Schools p●ofessing afterwards that he could see no hope of a fair Disputation from so foul a beginning and not as being tired with the tedious Preface of the Respondent before the Disputations begun which whether it were tedious or impertinent or not may perhaps be seen hereafter upon this occasion But to proceed upon the breaking of this blow the Doctor fell on roundly to his Argumentation and in the heat thereof insisted upon those extravagant expressions without any such qualification of them as is found in the Paper which made the matter of the Information which is now before us and for which if he received any check from the King at Woodstock it is no more then what he had received at the same place but two years before as afore is said Which notwithstanding the Book of Articles was printed the next Year at Oxon in the Latine tongue according to the Copy in the said Harmony of Confessions or to a corrupt Edition of them Anno 1571. in which that clause had been omitted to the great animation of the Puritan party who then began afresh to call in question the Authority of the Church in the points aforesaid For which as D. Prideaux by whose encouragement it was supposed to have been done received a third check from the Arch-bishop of Canterbury then Chancellor of that University So the Printers were constrained to re-print the Book or that part of it at the least according to the genuine and ancient Copies And here I should have parted with D. Prideaux but that there is somewhat in the Paper as it is now publisht to the world by M. Sanderson which is thought fit to have an answer though not held worthy of that honour when it was secretly disperst in scattered Copies The Paper tels us of a Hiss● which is supposed to have been given and makes the Doctor sure that such a Hisse was given When the Respondent excluded King and Parliament from being parts of the Church But first The Respondent is as sure that he never excluded King and Parliament from being parts of the Church that is to say of the diffusive body of it but denied them to be members of the Convocation that is to say the Church of England represented in a Nationall Councel to which the power of decreeing Rites and Ceremonies and the Authority of determining Controversies in faith as well as to other Assemblies of that nature is ascribed by the Articles Which as it did deserve no Hisse so the Respondent is assured no such hisse was given when those words were spoken If any hisse were given at all as perhaps there was it might be rather when the Doctor went about to prove that it was not the Convocation but the High Court of Parliament which had the power of ordering matters in the Church in making Canons ordaining Ceremonies and determining Controversies in Religion and could finde out no other medium to make it good but the Authority of Sir Ed. Cooke a learned but meer common Lawyer in one of the Books of his Reports An Argument if by that name it may be called which the Respondent thought not fit to gratifie with a better answer then Non credendum esse quoquo extra artem suam Immediatly whereupon the Doctor gave place to the next Opponent which put an end unto the heats of that Disputation In which if the Doctor did affirm that the Church was Mera Chimaera as it seems he did what other plaister soever he might finde to salve that sore I am sure he could not charge it on the insufficiency of the Respondents answers who kept himself too close to the Chur●h-Representative consisting of Arch-Bishops Bishops and other of the Clergy in their severall Councels to be beaten from it by any argument which the Doctor had produced against him And thus we have a full relation of the differences between D Prideaux and the Respondent forgotten long agoe by those whom it most concerned and now unseasonably revived revived as little to the honour of the reverend name and living fame of that learned Doctor as D. Bernards publishing the Lord Primates Letters never intended for the Presse hath been unto the honour of that emi●nent and pious Prelate But the Squire will not so give over he hath another peece in store which must now be printed though written as long since as any of the Lord Primates Letters or the Doctors Paper and must be printed now to shew what slender account is to be made of his that is to say the Respondents language that ways in reference namely to such eminent persons as he had to deal with For this he is beholden to some friend or other who helpt him to the sight of a Letter writ by D. Ha●well in the year 1633. in which speaking of M. Heylyn since Doctor whom he stiles The Parton of that pretended Saint George he hath these words of him viz In the second Impression of his Book where he hath occasion to speak of