Lordships great Abilities And now my Lord charges as hard as he can Thus For the first of these which he Charges upon me it may be he was willing to have it thought that I would not joyn in Prayer with your Lordships but refused such a Communion which is altogether false For I should most willingly joyn in Prayers with you And farther I will add that I do not think but some set Form of Prayers by some Men in some Cases may be lawfully used For this First I was not willing to have any thing thought of this Lord which is not true and if it be altogether false as his Lordship says it is that he will not joyn in Prayers with the rest of the Lords in Parliament but refuses such a Communion I would fain know why his Lordship doth not joyn in Prayer with them For most undoubtedly he may if he will And since it is most true that he hath not come to Prayers in the House with the rest of the Lords not so much as once either in the last Parliament or this I think it may reasonably be concluded without any Falshood that his Lordship will not joyn no not in such a Communion with them Where it is to be observed he says he refuses not such a Communion with them He refuses not yet he will not joyn And he refuses not such a Communion A Communion I have cause to doubt he doth refuse but not such a Communion as goes no farther than Prayers yet to these he comes not At the Sacrament I believe he will be more scrupulous of whom or with whom he receives that Indeed his Lordship adds that he would most willingly joyn in Prayers with their Lordships And though this be most strange that he should never do that which he would most willingly do an opportunity being offered him every Day Yet my Lord is pleased to add farther what his Judgment is of set Forms of Prayer And he tells you that he thinks some set Forms by some Men in some Occasions may be lawfully used Surely the Church of England is much beholding to this Lord very much and the State too For the set Forms of Prayer which she enjoyns were compiled by some of those who suffered no less than Martyrdom for the Reformation of Religion The same Form of Prayer was established by Act of Parliament and yet as if Church and State were all at a loss this Noble Lord who confesses some set Forms Lawful condemns this Form by his Actions at least in continual and professed abstaining from it Some Forms but not this by some Men but not these in some cases but not in God's Publick Service in the Church may be Lawfully used And yet for all these petty Somes of Restraint I know his Lordship's Parts so great that I dare not say as he says of me that his Lordship is of narrow Comprehensions But his Lordship will now tell us what that is in which he is not satisfied But this is that which I am not satisfied in that a certain number of Men should usurp an Authority unto themselves to frame certain Prayers and Forms of Divine Service and when that is done under the Name of the Church to enjoyn them upon all Persons in all Times and upon all Occasions to be used and no other And upon this Ground which makes it the worse because these come from the publick Spirit of the Church when the Bishop or his Chaplain shall frame them and others proceed from the private Spirit of this or that particular Man Now truly since my Lord does not think some set Forms of Prayer unlawful I am very sorry his Lordship is not satisfied that a certain Number of Men should frame these Forms of Divine Service For all Churchmen cannot possibly meet about that or any other Church-Affair nor can any Synod or Assembly be called but there must be some certain Number of them Nor do these Men usurp any Authority to themselves herein For in all Ages of the Church from Christ downward all set Forms of Prayer used in any Church have been either made by a certain Number of Men or approved by them when some Eminent Servant of God hath Composed them first and then tendred them to the Judgment of the Church And it is very necessary that it should be so Nor would the Church of Old admit any Prayers in the publick Service and Worship of God but such as were so made and so approved lest through Ignorance or want of Care and Circumspection something might slip in that was contrary to the Faith But I fear here 's Anguis in Herba And that my Lord is not satisfied not so much because these 〈◊〉 Forms are made by a set Number of Men as because they are Churchmen though he be 〈◊〉 to express it And if that be his meaning he must rest unsatisfied still For Churchmen and none but Churchmen must actually do Publick Church-Work according to their Calling and their Warrant And yet I hope Churchmen will never be so Proud but that if any Lay Religious Man of larger Comprehensions than themselves will offer in private any help to them they will lend an open Ear to it and after with a prudent Consideration do what is fit And as this Lord is not satisfied that a certain Number of Men should make these set Forms so much less is he satisfied that when this is done they should under the Name of the Church enjoyn them upon all Persons in all Times and upon all Occasions to be used and no other No set Forms that I know are enjoyned under the name of the Church but such as the Church in Synod hath approved or tolerated till a Synod may be called And when any National-Church in a Kingdom that is Christian hath approved a set Form yet that cannot be enjoyned upon all Persons till the Soveraign Power in that State hath weighed approved and commanded it But then though Framed by a certain Number of Men that and no other lays hold on all Persons and in all Times and upon all Occasions that are Publick if Men will live in Obedience to the Church and State I say Publick leaving all Persons at all Times free to use any Form of Prayer agreeable to the Foundations of Christian Religion which shall best serve their several private Occasions And therefore I conceive my Lord is in a great Errour in that which he adds next Namely that this Ground makes it the worse because these set Forms are said to come from the Publick Spirit of the Church I cannot think so hardly of my Lord as if he could like a set Form of Prayer the worse because it comes from the Publick Spirit of the Church And therefore I will take his Words in another Sense though they be in my Judgment very obscurely set down and perhaps that is his Lordship's meaning That it makes the matter the worse because these Forms of
joyneth with him therein in it self though performed in a negligent and so in a sinful manner by the Minister But if that manner be enjoyned the Service it self is to be refused This is my Lord's First Instance from the Services under the Law And I must needs say he hath made it clear what he would have But then he must give me leave to say too that this Instance differs so mainly from the thing in question that it helps my Lord and his Cause in nothing Perhaps it makes it worse than it was The difference is God in the Law did not only prescribe all the Sacrifices and Offerings which he would have and for what But also when and how he would have them And the Poor man which had not Ability to bring the greater Sacrifice might by the express Letter of the Law bring Turtles or Pigeons Levit. 5. But if a Rich Man had brought them his Service would have been rejected and himself punished So says my Lord But the Law says not so He that brought it should have born his Sin and the Priest could have made no Attonement for him which was punishment enough But that he should any other way be punished I find not in the Text of the Law And this Lord which will admit of nothing but Text should not presume to add any thing to it The Rabbins indeed reckon up Six and Thirty kinds of Offenders which for their Sins are threatned to be cut off from their People and some are mentioned Levit. 7. 17. But none of these mentioned in Leviticus or by the Rabbins is the Rich Man's offering Turtles or Pigeons instead of a Bullock or a Ram. Well this was the strict prescription of Sacrifices and Offerings in the Law But in the Gospel though Christ setled his Doctrin and Sacraments yet when and how with other Ceremonial Things were left at large to the Ordering of the Apostles and the Church after them always providing for 〈◊〉 and Order And this Liberty was left as much if not more in Preaching and Publick Prayer than in the Sacraments And therefore my Lord's Instance in this way will not follow from the Law to the Gospel To give instance in his own Words In the Law The poor Man which had nor Bullock nor Lamb might by the express Warrant of the Law bring Turtles or Pigeons but they were to be his own which he bought and the Priest was to make his Attonement accordingly But in the Gospel Men do not bring to the Priest or Minister their own Doctrins or their Prayers but he offers in publick the Sermon to them and the Prayers for them So here the Instance comes not home neither As for my Lord's Aggravation How much more would the Service have been abomination if Men should have taken Authority to themselves and have enjoyned all to bring nothing but Turtles or Pigeons Indeed it would have been full of Abomination because in this Injunction they would have gone quite contrary to God's own Command And let my Lord shew in the Gospel any Precept that commands Men to use Extemporary or Conceived Prayers in the Publick Service or Worship of God or that forbids the use of a Set Form of Prayer and then I will grant the Church's Injunction of such Forms to be in the highest degree unlawful But these cannot be shewed Besides there is a great deal of Pride in this Instance For my Lord all along the Instance makes the Set Forms of the Church Turtles and Pigeons the poor Man's Sacrifice and the Conceived Prayers of his Party to be the Rich and able Men's Sacrifice the Ram and the Bullock the Calf I doubt it is So a very little before his Lordship tells us of a Negligence in those his Men of Gifts which might offer better if they will As if it were a most easie thing for those Men to offer up far better Prayers to God than the Set Liturgy of the Church Whereas my Lord must give me leave to doubt that even of the best of them And so again a little after his Lordship tells us That God will be worshipped with the Fat and the best of the Inwards which he Interprets with the best of Mens Gifts and Abilities and of this there is no doubt Nor doth the enjoning of a Set Form of Publick Prayer hinder any Man from worshipping God with the best Gifts and Abilities which he hath And who should be served with the best if not he that gave them all But here 's the Pride of the Instance again Their conceived tedious and oft-times senseless Prayers must be the Fat and the Inwards with which God is pleased and the Set Forms of the Church Lean Carrion and not fit for the Altar O my Lord that you would in time lay your Hand on your Heart and consider from what and into what you are fallen My Lord concludes this Instance with this That if it be left free to him that Officiates 't is his personal Sin if he be negligent but it may be lawful for another that joins with him in that Service But if that manner be enjoined the Service it self is to be refused And after this great Pride in or of this Opinion my Lord ends with a Fallacy For the Question is not Whether a negligent Set Form of Prayer or a Good Form of Set Prayer negligently and without Devotion offer'd up to God as too often they are God help us be better than other Prayers carefully composed and devoutly uttered But simply Whether a good Set Form of Prayer such as the Liturgy of England is be made so evil only by the enjoyning of it as that therefore the Service it self ought to be refused Now this my Lord may say as boldly as he will but neither he nor any man else shall ever be able to prove it And in this very close I cannot but observe that which in me or another Man would have been great Pride But what it is in this Lord let the Reader judge For he doth not conclude that this Form being enjoyned is the Cause why he refuses to come to our Prayers But absolutely as if all Men were bound to do as he doth He says peremptorily that in this Case of Injunction of a set Form the Service it self ought to be refused So that by this Doctrine he is a Sinner that refuses not the Prayers of the Church of England My Lord in the beginning askt leave to speak a few Words concerning himself but I believe these will be found to concern some body else Well 't is time to consider of my Lord's second Instance and so I will Now in the time of the Gospel God hath appointed the foolishness of Preaching for so the World accounts it to be the Means by which he will save those that Believe I conceive where there are not Gifts enabling Men to Preach there might be a lawful and profitable use of Reading of Printed
Prayer come as from the Publick Spirit of the Church when it is but the Bishop or his Chaplain or some private Spirit that frames them If this be my Lord's meaning far be it from me or any other to impose any Form of set Prayers upon the Church But it is one thing to Impose and quite another to Compose a set Form of Prayer Impose none can but Just Authority Compose all together cannot but some one or more must be singled out to take that pains And all or most may approve what one or few have compiled When it is so approved then it can no more be said to proceed from any private Spirit of this or that Man be it the Bishop or his Chaplain but from the Spirit and Power of the Church My Lord himself being a Prudent Man hath had the Happiness to make Motions in Parliament which have taken the House been approved and Orders drawn up upon them When the Order is so agreed on no Man may say it is an Order of my Lord 's private Spirit but the Order of the House and approved by the publick Spirit and imposed by the Publick Authority of the State And therefore to me it seems strange that my Lord who understands these things so well should neither like of a set Form of Prayers Composed by private Men nor by a certain number of Men and after publickly Confirmed Sure this would make any Man think my Lord likes none however he minces it But my Lord goes farther and says This Injunction is an Vsurpation of Power over the Churches of Christ and over the Gifts and Graces which Christ hath given unto Men which the Apostles never exercised nor would assume And yet they might much better have done it And the same Reasons might have been alledged for it that are now This turns such Forms instead of being Directions into Superstition It seems by this for I am most willing to take my Lord 's Meaning at the fairest that my Lord can digest some set Forms of Prayer but he would have no Injunction upon them So he that would use them might and he that would not might choose and this in short time would bring meer confusion into the Church of God which I hope is not my Lord's Intention to do Besides my Lord cannot but know that this Injunction for our set Form of Service comes not from the Churches Direction and Constitution though her Wisdom and Piety framed it but from the Authority and Power of King and Parliament So that all the Arguments which his Lordship brings here against the Church are equally if not more set against the King and the Parliament Well Why then is not an Injunction of set Form of Prayers fit Why my Lord tells you First because it is an Vsurpation of Power over the Churches of Christ. 'T is indeed an Act of Power but no Usurpation The Church Directing and the Soveraign Enacting ever had this Power since States became Christian. And should I have called it an Vsurpation of Power his Lordship I fear would have called it Treason against the King's Supremacy But I doubt my Lord would have the Churches free from Regal Power having ought to do with them durst he speak out Secondly because it 's an Vsurpation of Power over the Gifts and Graces which God hath given unto Men. Not so neither For whatsoever Gifts or Graces God hath given unto Men they may all have time place and occasions enough to use them to God's Glory and the Comfort of themselves and others and yet in the Publick Service of God submit to that set Form of God's Worship which is enjoyned for Unity and Decency in that External Service So this lays no restraint upon the Gifts and Graces of pious and religious Men But it keeps off bold ignorant and audacious Men from foming out their own shame to the great disorder and scandal of the Church of Christ. As we may see at this day now that Injunction begins to be but a little loosed what Froth and base Stuff is preached to the Consciences of Men. And yet these Men which preach thus scandalously talk of Gifts and Graces none more Thirdly because the Apostles never Exercised nor would Assume this Power of enjoyning a set Form and yet they might better have done it But how doth my Lord know the Apostles never Exercised nor would Assume this Power Out of all doubt the Apostles did Exercise and Assume many things which are not come down to our knowledge And since the Apostles did enjoyn a Form of Doctrine to the Church of Rome and delivered it too And since St. Paul enjoyned the Church at Philippi to walk by a set Rule for a Rule it cannot be unless it be set that so they might learn to mind the same things Phil. 3. And a Form of Ordination by imposition of Hands 1 Tim. 5. for such Persons as should instruct the People in these things And this with a stiff Injunction v. 21. And a Form of wholesome words 2 Tim. 1. And since St. John the Baptist taught his Disciples to pray St. Luke 11. and that it was by some set Form of Prayer I have some Reason to think First because if they did Pray by the Motion of the Spirit only St. John could not teach them that but the Spirit only So either St. John taught them not at all to pray which I hope this Lord will not say against a plain Text. Or else he taught them some set Form which was in his power and theirs to teach and learn Secondly because Christ's Disciples seem to intimate so much For they desire Christ to teach them to pray as St. John taught his Disciples And Christ instantly granting their Request taught them a set Form of Prayer Therefore it is more than probable that St. John taught his so too though the Form be not Recorded in Scripture Upon all which laid together it is probable enough by my Lord's leave that the Apostles did Exercise some set Form that at least which Christ taught them And Assumed Power to enjoyn it upon their Followers But herein yet the Apostles are somewhat beholding to this Lord that he re-allows they might better have done it than any now-adays Well I will not dispute what they might better have done sure I am it may and ought to be done now Fourthly because the same Reasons might then have been alledged for it that are now The same might but not all the same In particular the Church was small then and might with ease be Ordered in comparison of the great Congregations that are now But especially the Apostles and Apostolical Men were then present and could in another manner and with a greater Power than Men now adays both Judge and Order the Gifts and Graces of other Men to the avoiding of confusion in the Church which God by his Apostles would none of Besides the Apostles and some others in
those Times had the Grace and the Gift of Prayer as well as other Graces And there was then as peculiar a Gift by Inspiration to pray as to foretell things to come or to do Miracles As is evident in St. Chrysostom who says that these Men made use of this Gift and Prayed publickly in their Assemblies But so soon as this Gift with others ceased there was a set Form from the beginning Neither is it hard to prove that some parts of our Liturgy hath been as Ancient as the Church hath any Records to shew and some both practised and prescribed by the Apostle St. Paul for the substance of them And the true Reason why we cannot shew the exact Primitive Forms then in use is because they were continually subject to Alterations both in times and places Now if this Lord can furnish us with such Men as shall be inabled to pray by the immediate Inspiration of God's Spirit we will bind them up to no Form But 'till he can I hope we shall be so happy as to retain the set Prayers of the Church Fifthly because this enjoyning turns such Forms instead of being Directions into Superstition This is so wild a Conceit that I wonder how it fell into the Thought of so Wise a Man as my Lord is taken to be For can a Command or an Injunction alter the very Nature of a Thing so far as to turn that which is a Direction into a Superstition Then belike it is Superstition for any Christian to obey the Decrees and Injunctions whether for Belief or Practice made by any the four first General Councils And my Lord knows well that 't is Heretical for any Man to profess against any of these Councils And this not only by the Church Law which his Lordship so much slights but by the Laws of England So by this Reason of my Lord's it shall be Heretical to deny the Injunction and Superstition to obey it If this will not serve my Lord may be pleased to remember that in the Council held at Jerusalem by the Apostles themselves they gave a Command though no such Command as might trouble the believing Gentiles And therefore Decreed that they would lay no greater burthen on them No more grievous Injunction than that they abstain from things offered unto Idols and from Blood and from things strangled and from Fornication where first it is most evident that the Apostles did assume this power of enjoyning and exercise it too And I hope my Lord for very Reverence to the Scripture for as for the Church he valueth it not will not say this wholesom Direction to avoid Fornication is made Superstition by the Apostle's Injunction If this Doctrine may hold I doubt very few will be Superstitious in this point And many Men that are very strict and hate Superstition perfectly will rather not abstain from Fornication than be Superstitious by abstaining And no question can be made by a Reasonable Man but that the Church of Christ had and hath still as much Power to enjoyn a set Form of Prayers as any of these things But my Lord hath more Reasons than these and truly they had need be better too But such as they are they follow This sets aside the Gifts and Graces which Christ hath given and thrusts out the Exercise of them to substitute in their places and introduce a Device of Man Sixthly then this Injunction of a set Form is unlawful because it sets aside the Gifts and Graces c. This is upon the Matter all one with my Lord's second Reason and there 't is answered Yet truly I know no Gifts or Graces set aside much less thruss out but such as are neither Gifts nor Graces of Christ but the Bold and Impudent Attempts of Weavers Coblers and Felt-Makers taking on them to Preach without Knowledge Warrant or Calling Much like the Gifts which Alexander the Copper-Smith had in St. Paul's Time And such Gifts and Graces as these cannot be said to be thrust out But my Lord and his Adherents thrust them into the Church to help cry down all Truth and Order Much less can they be said to be thrust out to make room for a Device of Man meaning the set Form of common-Common-Prayer Now surely I think and upon very good grounds that they which Composed the Common-Prayer-Book had as good Gifts and Graces of Christ as these Men have And that the conceived and often-times Senseless Prayers of these Men are as much or more the Device of Man than the set Form of common-Common-Prayer is Yea but for all that my Lord says This Injunction of such Forms upon all Men turns that which in the beginning Necessity brought in for the help of Insufficiency to be now the continuance and maintenance of Insufficiency and a bar to the Exercise of able and sufficient Gifts and Graces As if because some Men had need to make use of Crutches all Men should be prohibited the use of their Legs and enjoyned to take up such Crutches as have been prepared for those who had no Legs In the Seventh and last place my Lord is pleased to tell us this Injunction of such Forms upon all Men turns that which in the beginning Necessity brought in for the help of Insufficiency to the Maintenance of it My Lord told us a little before of a turning into Superstition Now here 's another turning into the Maintenance of Insufficiency two very bad turnings were either of them true But God be thanked neither is In the mean time my Lord confesses that Necessity brought in this Injunction of set Forms And I believe there now is and ever will be to the end of the World as great a Necessity to continue them But I cannot agree with my Lord in this that it was a Necessity for the help of Insufficiency that brought them in For when these were first enjoyned in the Church of Christ Men were endued with as great Gifts and Graces as any now are and perhaps greater But Necessity brought them in when Christianity multiplyed to preserve Unity and Order and to avoid Confusion and Sects and Schisms in the Church And that all sorts of Men might be acquainted with that which was used in the Publick Worship and Service of God Now that which follows is an unjust and foul Scandal upon the Church Namely that this Injunction is made the Continuance and Maintenance of Insufficiency For I believe few Churches in many Ages have had more sufficient Preachers than this of late hath had And therefore 't is evident this Injunction here hath neither been the maintenance nor continuance of Insufficiency This ground failing my Lord 's fine Simile hath neither Crutch nor Leg to stand on but it is as all such fine fetches are when they have no Ground to rest on Nor is any thing more Poor in Learning than a fine handsom Similitude such as this when it hath no truth upon which to rest For the
best that can be said of it is that it is a pretty fine thing if it were to the purpose But to come nearer to the Business I would have his Lordship remember that Christ taught his Apostles a set Form of Prayer St. Luc. 11. And I believe they were so religiously Dutiful as that they would not beg of Christ to teach them to Pray and when he had taught them then neglect or not practise the very Form he taught If my Lord can think this of the Apostles he may I cannot Nor can I think that Christ taught them this Form to be used as Crutches till their Legs were grown stronger For our Saviour doth not say till ye be stronger and have better Gifts Pray as I teach you but simply and absolutely when you Pray say Our Father c. That is say these very Words this very Form And what Will my Lord say that Christ taught them this Form to maintain them in Insufficiency Or did he make Crutches for their Lameness Or thereby prohibit the use of their Legs This Speech savours of more Profaneness than well become such a Professor His Lordship speaks better of them in another place There he can say there never were nor ever will be Men of so great Abilities and Gifts as they were Endued withal And I think he dares not say I am sure nor he nor any Man living can prove that the Apostles when their Gifts were at fullest did neglect or not use this Form of Prayer which Christ taught them Therefore either to use a set Form of Prayer is not to use Crutches or if it be 't is to use the same or the like Crutches which Christ made and his Apostles used And they will better beseem any good Christians to use than his own Legs be they never so good And for the set Prayers of the Church this I think I am sure of That the Men which are cry'd up by my Lord to have such excellent Gifts and Graces are in as much need of these Crutches as other Men. In the mean time my Lord every way shews his Love to the set Liturgy of the Church that makes nothing of it but Crutches which a Man if the Bath cure him would gladly hang up and leave behind him I well hoped to have found that my Lord had entertained more moderate thoughts of things appertaining unto Religion But since he himself thus proclaims it otherwise let us see how he goes forward without these Crutches This I confess I am not satisfied in yet will farther say thus much Here are with your Lordships some Bishops Men of great Parts able to Offer up this Worship unto God in the use of those 〈◊〉 which God hath endued them with And certainly they ought to serve him with the best of their Abilities which they have received Let them make use of their own Gifts nay let them but profess that they account not themselves bound to use Forms nor to this Form they use more than any other but that it is free for them to conceive Prayer or to help themselves by the use of any other Form they please as well as this prescribed And let them practise the same indifferently that so it may be manifest the Fault rests in the person and not in the Service In the negligence of him that may offer better if he will not in the Injunction of that which is offered And I will not refuse to come to Prayers For I take the Sin then to be personal and to reside in the Person Officiating only Now my Lord goes on farther and tells us That there are with your Lordships some Bishops Men of great Parts able to offer this Worship unto God c. Indeed my Lord goes far here and I am glad to hear that any Bishops can please him Are Bishops even as such Members of Antichrist so I am sure my Lord and his Followers have accounted them and their Libels Print them for such every Day and now can any Offer this Worship unto God which his Lordship would have Why then my Lord can be pleased I see that even in this Church God should be Worshiped by the Members of Antichrist Or if not then in this Passage he grosly Dissembles But what is this Worship which his Lordship would have Why it is to Pray in Publick and not by a set Form enjoyned but in the use of those Gifts which God hath Endued them with And it is most undoubtedly true which follows that they ought to serve God with the best of the abilities they have received But 't is as true that Bishops and all Ministers else ought to serve God with the best Abilities which the Church of Christ can furnish them with And I presume I shall not wrong any my Brethren not those of the greatest Parts If I say as I must that those Bishops and other Divines which Composed the set Form of our Service and enjoyned it too as far as their Power reached were Men of as great Piety and Learning and all other good Parts as any now living And it can be no Disparagement much less any fault or dulling of their own Gifts for the best of Bishops to use the set Forms ordered by them And the Phrase which my Lord uses is somewhat unusual To offer this Worship unto God We are said indeed to offer up our Prayers unto God and by so doing to Worship Honour and Serve him and him alone in that But to offer Worship to God I think is an improper Phrase at least And Psal. 110. the People are said to offer their Free-Will-Offerings with an Holy Worship or in the Beauties of Holiness And though perhaps his Lordship will not allow of this Translation yet so far he may as to see the use of the Phrase And in the Beauties of Holiness which keeps close to the Original will please him less Since a Barn with them is as good as a Church And no Church Holy with them but that which is Slovenly even to Nastiness But then 't is void of all Superstition Next my Lord proposes some Conditions which being observed his Lordship will not refuse to come to Common-Prayer I 'll examine these then For I would have all just Demands of his granted that he may come The First is Let these Bishops and others I suppose he means make use of their own Gifts Well let them on God's Name in that Dutiful Peaceable and Orderly Way make use of their own Gifts not crossing what the Church justly prescribes Secondly Let them but profess that they account not themselves bound to use Forms This Condition is somewhat hard For if they shall acknowledge they hold themselves bound to no Forms they must be bound to no Order And how Bishops will keep the Church in Order if they will be bound to observe none themselves I cannot tell Besides if they shall profess this they must profess against the constant
Sermons and Homilies and in such Cases they might very lawfully be heard But if some Men upon pretence to prevent Extravagant Preaching should take upon them to set forth a Book of Publick Common Sermons fit for all Times and Occasions and should enjoyn Ministers to conform to these and use no other Preaching at all but the Reading of those Common Sermons or Homilies so devised for Publick Worship this would make it utterly Vnlawful and to be Professed against as that which were the bringing in of a Humane Device and Injunction in the place and instead of God's Ordinance to the Exclusion thereof As the Pharisees to establish Traditions of their own made void the Commandments of God I hope my Lord will have no better success with this Instance under the Gospel than he had with that under the Law And yet whatsoever is Truth in his Instance I shall most willingly grant And therefore I do acknowledge that in the time of the Gospel God appointed the foolishness of Preaching 1 Cor. 1. to be a Means but not to be The Means if it be meant the only Means by which he will save those that believe I likewise confess that in the World's Account 't is made the Foolishness of Preaching And I would to God some Men much magnified in these Times did not give too often very just Cause to the World to account it not only the Foolishness but the Madness of Preaching such Preaching as is far from being a Means of Salvation I conceive also as well as my Lord that where there are no Gifts enabling Men to Preach as it falls out in too many Parishes in England and the true Cause is the smallness of the Living unable to Feed and Cloath Men and therefore cannot expect Men of Parts there not only might be but is a lawful and profitable use of Reading of Printed Sermons and Homilies and that in such Cases yes and in other Cases too they may very lawfully be heard And I think farther that if some Men not upon their own private Authority but lawfully meeting in a Synod or Convocation shall not upon pretence but truly to prevent Extravagant Preaching such as of late hath been and is too common in England should take upon them to set forth a Book of common Sermons such as might be fit for all Times and all Occasions which is not impossible to be done and should enjoyn Ministers to conform to these and use no other Preaching at all but the Reading of these common Sermons or Homilies so devised for publick Worship I must needs say it were a Cure not to be used but in Extremity to bar all other Preaching for the Abuse of some be it never so gross Yet if the Distempers of the Pulpit should grow in any National Church so high so Seditious so Heretical and Blasphemous so Schismatical and Outragious as many of them have been of late in this distracted Church of ours I say if such a Book of Sermons should be so set out by the Church direction and published by the Authority of King and Parliament as the Book of Common Prayer is When the Comparison is made thus even and my Lords Instance so brought home I do then think such a Book not devised for publick Worship but for publick Instruction for Sermons are not properly the Worship of God but as to teach us Faith and Obedience and how we are to pray and give Worship to him might be used with great profit yea and with far more than many Sermons of the present time which do in a manner teach nothing but Disobedience to Princes and all Authority under a false pretence of Obedience to God And for the Injunction which sticks so much with my Lord certainly in Cases of such Extremity as is above-mentioned and when nothing else will serve I conceive it might well and profitably be laid upon the Ministers and yet that such an Imposition would be far from making it utterly unlawful and to be professed against as that which were the bringing in of a Humane Device in the place and instead of God's Ordinance to the Exclusion thereof For 't is probable these Sermons my Lord speaks of would be Preached before they were Printed And the end of their being Preached was to publish Christ and his Gospel to the World And that also was or ought to be the end of Publishing the same Sermons in Print that the benefit of them might reach the farther and be of longer continuance So that upon the Matter the Printing of Sermons is but a large and more open Preaching of them still And then if Preaching be God's Ordinance Printing of Sermons is the publishing of God's Ordinance And therefore if there were an Injunction for a Book of Sermons as is mentioned it were but a more publick and durable divulging of God's Ordinance and not the bringing in of a Humane Device instead of it and to the Exclusion thereof As for that which follows that this is like the Pharisees who to establish Traditions of their own made void the Commandments of God This is but a Simile and is Answered in the former And you see that should any Necessity force the making of such an Injunction which God forbid it did help to publish God's Ordinance and not make void his Commandments Howsoever my Lord may take this along with him That that Party which he governs in this Kingdom are as well seen in this Art of the Pharisees as any Men in Christendom and will if they be let alone make void all the Service of God to bring in their Dreams against all Reason Religion and lawful Authority And this is most true whatever they think of themselves But my Lord desires farther consideration of his Instance Let it be considered what difference can be found between these but only this Vse and Custom hath inured us to that of Prayer not so in this of Preaching and therefore the Evil of it would easily appear unto us if so enjoined It is fit my Lord should have his desire in this that it be considered what difference can be found between these And out of all doubt my Lord acknowledges that some difference there is And were it this only as his Lordship would have it That Vse and Custom hath inured us to that of Prayer and not so in this of Preaching that might be Reason enough to continue our publick set Form of Prayer For if the Service have not fault in it but that 't is enjoyned And if the enjoyning of a good Service of God Almighty in which Christian People may consent and unanimously and uniformly worship him be no fault at all as most certain it is not 'T is neither wisdom nor safety to cast off such a Custom or Vsage and leave every Minister and perhaps other Men too to make what Prayers they please in the Congregation which doubtless would be many times such as no good understanding Christian could
say Amen to Besides with my Lord's leave upon the Consideration which he desires me to take I think I have found other Differences For besides the Vse and Custom which we are inured to I find that to have some set Form of Prayer when the Congregation meets is little less than * Traditio Vniversalis an Universal Tradition of the whole Church And that it took beginning while some of the Apostles were yet living and hath continued from thence in all Ages and Places of the Church to this day Now though particular Customs and Traditions vary and may be varied in several Churches yet I do not find there is such a Power over Traditions that are General but that next to the Scripture it self they are kept by all Sober Christians inviolable And St. Augustine says plainly St. Aug. Epist. 118. c. 5. 't is Insolentissimae insaniae a trick of most insolent Madness to dispute or doubt of that quod tota per Orbem frequentat Ecclesia which the Church of Christ practises throughout the whole World And for my part I believe him and I would my Lord did so too and then I think he would not refuse the Service for the Injunction nor fall into any fit of this insolent Madness As for Preaching that was ever left free And therefore the Church did ever put a difference And I find upon this Consideration another Difference yet between Prayer and Preaching For Preaching is a Speech to Man for his Edification and Instruction in Faith and good Life But Prayer is a Speech to God to Honour and Worship him in the acknowledgment of his Dominion over and his Bounty and Goodness towards all Creatures but Mankind especially And therefore though a Man cannot take too much pains in that which he is to speak from God to Man lest he be proved a False Relater Yet of the two there should be more care had what Prayers he puts up for himself and the whole Congregation unto God lest he be not only a false Worshipper but also lest he suddenly and unadvisedly ask that which may be hurtful unto all And for ought he knows God may at that time be angry with us for our Sins and may hear in his anger and grant And I believe it will be found a greater and more dangerous Sin for the Priest to make the People ask at God's Hands those things which they ought not Besides the Publick Prayers of the Church do teach and inform the People not only how to Pray and so how to Worship but in many things also what to believe as well nay often times better than many Sermons So that ill Praying in Publick contains almost all the Mischiefs that ill Preaching hath in it over and above all the Ill that is proper to it self And so is the more dangerous Sin And therefore the Church cannot be too careful for a set and known Form for Publick Prayer yea and that enjoyned too so it be well weighed before-hand though for Preaching she leave a greater Latitude So upon consideration I think there is more difference between a set Form of Prayer and a set Form of Preaching than that we are invited to the one and not to the other Yet when I hear what Extravagant nay Seditious Preaching there is now-a-days I am strongly tempted to believe that were the like Injunction for Preaching it were far better than that such loose dangerous and most unchristian Preachings as are in many places should continue It seems my Lord hath now done with the First Part of the Waspish-Man's Charge against him for so he is pleased to call it And that is his Lordship's account why he refuses to come to Common-Prayer And now he goes on to the next My Lords let me presume upon your Patience so far farther as to give me leave to speak to the other Imputation laid upon me that I am a Separatist and the greatest in England My Lords very Honourably afforded his Lordship Patience to speak to the other Imputation laid upon him and so shall I very freely But how far and in what Language and upon what Occasion I imputed any thing to his Lordship I have ingenuously declared already And shall add no more till my Lord hath proceeded farther and expressed what he pleases as follows And First I shall say of this Word Separatist as that Learned Man Mr. Hales of Eaton saith in a little Manuscript of his which I have seen That where it may be rightly fixed and deservedly charged it is certainly a great Offence But in common use now among us it is no other than a Theological Scare-crow wherewith the potent and prevalent Party uses to fright and inforce those who are not of their Opinions to subscribe to their Dictates without daring to question them or bring them to any Rule of Examination either of Scripture or Reason And he observeth that this was too usual even in Ancient Times as well as now And First my Lord begins with the Word Separatist And he professes he will say of that as Learned Mr. Hales saith And surely the first part of Mr. Hales is very true That where this Word or the Crime signified by it is rightly fixt and deservedly charged 't is a great Offence But that which follows by my Lord 's good leave and Mr. Hales his too is somewhat too hard a Censure upon the Times and the Persons living in them The Truth is some Men are too apt to Accuse others of Schism and Separation but yet I do not think the Disease is so Epidemical as 't is here expressed As Namely That it is in common use amongst us Perhaps nothing so Common at this Time to call Separatist as to be one Or that it is a Theological Scare-crow by which the potent and prevalent Party uses to affright and enforce those who are not of their Opinions to subscribe to their Dictates Or sure if there be such practice the Fault is in the Persons that use it But even that is no Excuse at all for Schism or Separation because some in an inconsiderate heat Charge that Crime upon such as are not Guilty For perhaps my Lord may say as much as this of Excommunication it self that some are struck with it who deserve it not and yet I hope my Lord hath not proceeded so far as to say that Excommunication is but a Theological Scare-crow And I farther think there are as few at this Day of them whom my Lord calls the potent and prevalent Party which refuse to be brought to any Rule of Examination either of Scripture or Reason as have lived in this Church for some Hundreds of Years past how meanly soever this Lord Esteems them and how narrow soever he thinks their Comprehensions are To conclude this Passage my Lord tells us that Mr. Hales observes farther that this was too usual even in Ancient Times as well as now That some Faults and some Degrees of this Fault were in Ancient
Contemporaries of the Apostles that there were then set Forms of Prayer to which all the People said Amen And if Dionysius were not the Author yet the Work is exceeding Ancient And so some set Forms continued till after St. Augustin's Time as appears by Justin Martyr Apol. 2. p. 97. Edit Gr. Lat. An. Christi 150. By Tertull. Apologet. c. 39. An. Christi 200. By St. Cyprian de Orat. Domin By Origen Hom. 5. in Num. An. Christi 230. By the Council of Laodicea Can. 18. 19. An Christi 316. By St. Basil Epist. ad Clericos Naeocaesariensis Ecclesiae By St. Chrysostom ..... both about the same Year As also by St. Cyril of Jerusalem ..... By the third Council of Carthage can 23. An. Christi 397. By St. Aug. Ep. 59. 156. de bono 〈◊〉 c. 13. An. Christi 400. By the second Melevitan Council can 12. And by Prosper Aquitan L. q. de Vocat Gent. c. 4. since which time no question can be made but the Publick Prayers were always in a known and set Form And that it was Vniversal for place appears by the concurrent Testimonies of the Fathers before recited and the Councils and the Practice both of the Asian African and European Churches As Justin Martyr Basil and Chrysostom for the Greek and Tertullian Cyprian St. Augustin and Prosper testifie for the West Insomuch that St. 〈◊〉 says expressly in that place that for the Order of Singing the Psalms in their Publick Service it was agreeable ..... to all the Churches of God Which place is also cited by Whitaker ad Ration 6. Campiani And divers Particulars in their set Form of Prayer remain to this day in the Liturgy of the Church of England As that there should be recited a General Confession of the Faith 〈◊〉 Areopag de Ecclesia Hierar p. 88. Edit Gr. Lat. That Prayers were made for Emperours and Men in Authority and for the Peace and Quiet of the World So Tertullian That the Presbyter should 〈◊〉 them to lift up their Hearts and the People Answer we lift them up unto the Lord. So St. Cyprian and St. Augustin The Interrogations and Answers in 〈◊〉 So Origen That Prayers should be made not only for the Faithful but for Insidels and Enemies to the Cross of Christ. So Prosper And 't is preserved in our Collect for Good Friday And the Peoples Praying with and Answering the Pastor saying Lord have Mercy upon us with Christ have Mercy upon us was before St. Gregory's time and continued down to ours yet with difference from the Mass-Book too As Dr. Rainolds proves Conf. with Hart. c. D. Divi. 4. p. 511. But howsoever set Forms they were and such as in some Particulars ferè omnis Ecclesia Dominica almost all the Church of Christ used So St. Augustin And there is nulla pars Mundi scarce any part of the World in which there is not a Concordant an Agreement in these Prayers So Prosper Which is 〈◊〉 to be but by a set Form And so the Magdeburgians conclude upon due Examination Formulas denique precationum absque dubio habuerunt Out of all doubt the Ancients had set Forms of Prayer Cent. 3. c. 6. 1. 2. 1. 2. 3. Rom. 14. 4. * T. C. L. S. p. 59 60. apud 〈◊〉 L. 2. S. 1. p. 54. 1 Cor. 11. 34. * The Lord Brook Barrow's Reply to Gifford p. 255. p. 48. * The 50. 〈◊〉 taken from his own 〈◊〉 * proposit 19. Pryn in his perpetuity p. 432. †Ezech. 18. 26. Prov. 28. 13. S. Luc. 13. 3. S. Luc. 21. 24. Acts 3. 19. 2 Cor. 6. 9. Gal. 5. 10. and many other places ‖ Rog. in Symb. Art 7. Prop. 5. * Concil Const. 1. Hooker's Pref. to Eccl. pol. S. 3. Ephes. 5. 27. Jer. 2. 24. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. a Athan. in Epist. ad solit 〈◊〉 agentes Edit Gr. Lat. p. 862. b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist. ad Solit. Vitam 〈◊〉 c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 9. 27. Athanasin Epist. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vitam agentes Edit Gr. 〈◊〉 pag. 862. d In 〈◊〉 ad Constantium quae extat apud Athana Ibid. p. 829. e St. Hilary cont Constantium Edit 〈◊〉 p. 272. passim alibi f Quando audiisti 〈◊〉 Imperator in 〈◊〉 Fidei Laicos de 〈◊〉 judicasse quis est qui 〈◊〉 in causâ Fidei in causâ 〈◊〉 Fidei 〈◊〉 solere de Imperatortbus Christianis non Imperatores de Episcopis 〈◊〉 Pater tuus baptizatus in 〈◊〉 inhabilem se ponderi tanti putabat esse judicii c. St. Amb. L. 5. Epist. 32. g Novum inauditum nefas esse dicens ut causam Ecclesiae Judex Saeculi judicaret Sulp. Sever. L. 2. Hist. 〈◊〉 h Pater tuus Deo favente vir maturioris 〈◊〉 dicebat non est meum Judicate inter Episcopos St. Amb. L. 5. Epist. 32. k Vt cum quaestionibus controversiis quae circa fidei dogmata incidunt nibil quicquam commune habeat Nefas est enim qui Sanctissimorum Episcoporum 〈◊〉 ascriptus non est illum Ecclesiasticis negotiis consultationibus sese immiscere Bin. Tom. 1. Conc. Par. 2. p. 166. Ed. Colon. * l. 869. l Quod 〈◊〉 modo iis liceat de Ecclesiasticis causis sermonem movere Hoc enim 〈◊〉 investigare Patriarcharum Pontificum Sacerdotum est qui regiminis officium 〈◊〉 sunt Nos 〈◊〉 oportet cum timore fide sincerâ 〈◊〉 adire c. Bin. Tom. 3. Concil Par. 2. 682. Hist. Trip. L 5. 35. in the case of Hereticks * hold any Instruct adLaud †our Id. ‖ strictly Id. * their Id. * February exemplar aliud Canterbury London Bath and Wells Rochester C R This must be remedied one way or other concerning which I expect a particular account of you Peterburgh Coventry and Lichfield C R If there be Dark Corners in this Dioces it were fitt a true Light should Illuminat it and not this that is falce and uncertaine St. Davids St. Asaph Landaff Lincoln C. R. Certainlie I cannot hould fitt that anie Lay-Person or Corporation whatsoever should have the Power thease Men would take to themselves For I will have no Preest have anie Necessitie of a Lay Dependancie Wherefore I command you to show me the way to overthrou this and to hinder the Performance in tyme to all suche Intentions Hereford and Bangor C. R. As soon as may bee get these Bishoppes Certificats Ely Januar. 2. 1634. Cant. C R Put mee in mynd of this at some convenient tyme when I am at Council and I shall redress it Rochester Sarum C. R. I doe and will express my Pleasure if need be what way you will Bristol Bath and Wells Exon. Lincoln C. R. The South-West Windis commonly the best therefore I will not hinder the blowing that way Winton London Norwich Ely St. Davids St. Asaph Landaff C. R. This is not much unlike that which was not longe since uttered elsewhere viz. That the Jewes Crucified Christ
I had finished my Answer the Right Reverend Lancelot Lord Bishop of Winchester and I went together to the Country House which John Lord Bishop of Rochester hath by Bromley We Dined there and returned in the Evening June 8. Wednesday I went to Chelsey but returned with my Labour lost June 12. Sunday it was Trinity Sunday Queen Mary crossing the Seas Landed upon our Shore about Seven a Clock in the Evening God grant that she may be an Evening and an Happy Star to our Orb. June 13. Munday the Parliament waiting for the King 's coming adjourned again till Saturday the 18th of June June 16. Thursday the King and Queen came to London They arrived at Court at five a Clock It was ill weather and the day cloudy When they came by the Tower of London for they came by water instead of Coach the King led out the Queen to the outside of the Barge that she might see the People and the City But at the same time a violent shower of Rain falling down forced them both to return into the inward part of the Barge The shower continued until they had entred White-Hall and then ceased June 18. Saturday The first Parliament of King Charles which had been so often put off now began There were present at the opening of it the Duke of Shiveruz with other French Noblemen a Bishop also who Attended the Queen For fear of the Pestilence which then began to be very rife the King omitted the pomp usual upon that day lest the great conflux of People should be of ill consequence And the Sermon which had been imposed upon me to be Preached in Westminster Abbey at the beginning of this Session was put off to the next day that is to June 19. First Sunday after Trinity on which day I Preached it in the Chappel at White-Hall June 20. The Convocation began June 24. Was the Feast of St John Baptist. The King Commanded the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury with six other Bishops whom he then Named to advise together concerning a Publick Fast and a Form of Prayer to implore the Divine Mercy now that the Pestilence began to spread and the extraordinary wet weather threatned a Famin and also to beg the Divine Blessing upon the Fleet now ready to put to Sea The Bishops were London Durham Winchester Norwich Rochester St. Davids This was done June 25. Saturday All the Bishops who were then in Town were introduced together that they might wait upon Queen Mary and kiss her Hand She received us very Graciously July 2. Saturday The Fast was kept by both Houses of Parliament to set an Example therein to the whole Kingdom July 3. Sunday in my Sleep his Majesty King James appeared to me I saw him only passing by swiftly He was of a pleasant and serene Countenance In passing he saw me beckned to me smiled and was immediately withdrawn from my Sight July 7. Thursday Richard Montague was brought into the Lower House of Parliament c. July 9. Saturday it pleased his Majesty King Charles to intimate to the House of Commons that what had been there said and resolved without consulting him in Montague's Cause was not pleasing to him July 11. Monday The Parliament was Prorogued to Oxford against the first day of August July 13. Wednesday there having died in the former week at London 1222 Persons I went into the Country to the House of my good Friend Francis Windebank In going thither Richard Montague met me by chance I was the first who certified him of the King's Favour to him July 15. Friday I went to Windsor and performed some Businesses committed to my trust by the Right Reverend Bishop of Durham I returned that night The Court was there at that time July 17. Sunday I went again to Windsor I stood by the King at Dinner time Some Matters of Philosophy were the Subject of Discourse I Dined Afterwards I Eat in the House of the Bishop of Glocester Baron Vaughan was there present with his Eldest Son The next day one of the Bishops Servants who had waited at Table was seized with the Plague God be merciful to me and the rest That Night I returned being become lame on the sudden through I know not what humor falling down upon my left Leg or as R An thought by the biting of Buggs I grew well within two days July 20. Wednesday A Publick Fast was held throughout all England I Preached in the Parish of Hurst where I then abode with Master Windebanke July 21. Thursday I visited Sir Richard Harrison and returned July 24. Sunday I Preached in the Parish of Hurst July 29. Friday I entred into Oxford July 31. Sunday I fell down I know not how in the Parlour of the President 's Lodging at St. John's Colledge and hurt my left shoulder and hip Aug. 1. Monday The Parliament began at Oxford Presently after the beginning of it a great assault was made against the Duke of Buckingham Aug. 12. Friday The Parliament was dissolved the Commons not hearkning as was expected to the King's Proposals Aug. 15. My Relapse I never was weaker in the judgment of the Phisician It was Munday The same day I began my journey towards Wales Aug. 21. Sunday I Preached at Brecknock where I stayed two days very busie in performing some Business That Night in my Sleep it seemed to me that the Duke of Buckingham came into Bed to me where he behaved himself with great kindness towards me after that Rest wherewith wearied Persons are wont to solace themselves Many also seemed to me to enter the Chamber who saw this Not long before I dreamed that I saw the Dutchess of Buckingham that Excellent Lady at first very much perplexed about her Husband but afterwards chearful and rejoycing that she was freed from the fear of Abortion so that in due time she might be again a Mother Aug. 24. Wednesday and the Festival of St. Bartholomew I came safely thanks be to God to my own House at Aberguille Although my Coach had been twice that day overturned between Aber-Markes and my House The first time I was in it but the latter time it was empty Aug. 28. Sunday I Consecrated the Chappel or Oratory which I had built at my own charge in my House commonly called Aberguilly-House I Named it the Chappel of St. John Baptist in grateful remembrance of St. John Baptist's Colledge in Oxford of which I had been first Fellow and afterwards President And this I had determined to do But another thing intervened of no ill Omen as I hope of which I had never thought It was this On Saturday the Evening immediately preceeding the Consecration while I was intent at Prayer I know not how it came strongly into my mind that the day of the Beheading of St. John Baptist was very near When Prayers were finished I consulted the Calendar I found that day to fall upon Munday to wit the 29th of August not upon Sunday I could have
wished it had fallen upon that same day when I Consecrated the Chappel However I was pleased that I should perform that solemn Consecration at least on the Eve of that Festival For upon that day his Majesty King James heard my Cause about the Election to the Presidentship of St. John's Colledge in Oxford for three hours together at least and with great Justice delivered me out of the hands of my powerful Enemies Septemb. 4. Sunday The Night following I was very much troubled in my Dreams My Imagination ran altogether upon the Duke of Buckingham his Servants and Family All seemed to be out of order that the Dutchess was ill called for her Maids and took her Bed God grant better things Septemb. 11. Sunday I Preached at Carmarthen the Judges being then present The same Night I Dreamed that Dr Theodore Price admonished me concerning Ma 3. and that he was unfaithful to me and discovered all he knew and that I should therefore take heed of him and trust him no more c. Afterwards I dreamed of Sackville Crow that he was dead of the Plague having not long before been with the King Septemb. 24. One only Person desired to Receive Holy Orders from me and he found to be unfit upon Examination Septemb. 25. I sent him away with an Exhortation not Ordained It was then Saturday Septemb. 26. Sunday That Night I dreamed of the Marriage of I know not whom at Oxford All that were present were cloathed with flourishing green Garments I knew none of them but Thomas Flaxnye Immediately after without any intermission of Sleep that I know of I thought I saw the Bishop of Worcester his Head and Shoulders covered with Linnen He advised and invited me kindly to dwell with them marking out a place where the Court of the Marches of Wales was then held But not staying for my Answer he subjoyned that he knew I could not live so meanly c. Octob. 8. Saturday the Earl of Northampton President of Wales returned out of Wales taking his Journey by Sea Octob. 9. Sunday I Preached at Carmarthen Octob. 10. Munday I went on Horseback up to the Mountains It was a very bright day for the time of Year and so warm that in our return I and my Company dined in the open Air in a place called Pente-Cragg where my Registrary had his Country-House Octob. 30. Sunday Sir Thomas Coventry made Lord Keeper Novemb. 11. Friday I began my Journey to return into England Novemb. 17. Thursday Charles the Duke of Buckingham's Son was born Novemb. 20. Sunday I Preached at Honye-Lacye in Herefordshire Novemb 24. Thursday I came to the House of my great Friend Fr. Windebank There the Wife of my Freind for himself was then at Court immediately as soon as I came told me that the Duke of Buckingham then negotiating for the Publick in the Low-Countries had a Son born whom God bless with all the good things of Heaven and Earth Decemb. 4. Sunday I Preached at Hurst I stayed there in the Country until Christmas Decemb. 14. Wednesday I went to Windsor but returned the same day Decemb. 25. Sunday I Preached at Hurst upon Christmas day Decemb. 31. Saturday I went to the Court which was then at Hampton-Court There Januar. 1. Sunday I understood that I was Named among other Bishops who were to consult together on Wednesday following at White-Hall concerning the Ceremonies of the Coronation I was also at the same time informed that the bigger part of the Bishop of Durham's House was appointed for the Residence of the Ambassadour Extraordinary of the King of France Januar. 2. Munday I returned to Hains-Hill For there not then knowing any thing of these Matters I had left my necessary Papers with my Trunk When I had put these in order I went to Sir Richard Harrison's House to take leave of my Friends There if I mistake not I first knew what F. H. thought of me I told my mind plainly c. I returned Januar. 3. Tuesday I came to London and fixed my self at my own House at Westminster For the week before Christmas I had sent my Servant who had brought all my things out of the House of my good Friend the Bishop of Durham with whom I had abode as a Guest for Four Years compleat to my own House save only my Books the removal of which I unadvisedly put off till my own coming For the coming of the French Ambassadour forced me to make over-much haste and the multitude of business then laying upon me made it requisite that I should have my Books at hand In the Evening I visited the Duke of Buckingham Januar. 4. Wednesday We met at White-Hall to consult of the Ceremonies of the Coronation I sent my Servant to bring my Books who brought them That Night I placed them in order in my Study And it was high time For while we were in consultation about the Ceremonies the Right Honourable the Earl of Pembroke Lord Chamberlain of the Houshold to his Majesty came from the King to us and delivered to me the King's Order to be ready against the sixth day of February to Preach that day at the opening of the Parliament Januar. 6. Friday Epiphany day We met again to consult concerning the Ceremonies and gave up our Answer to the King Januar. 16. The Arch-Bishop of Canterbury made known to me the King's Pleasure that at the Coronation I should supply the place of the Dean of Westminster For that his Majesty would not have the Bishop of Lincoln then Dean to be present at the Ceremony It was then Munday The same day by the King's Command a Consultation was held what was to be done in the Cause of Richard Montague There were present the Bishops of London Durham Winchester Rochester and St. Davids Januar. 17. Tuesday We gave in our Answer in Writing Subscribed this day This day also the Bishop of Lincoln deputed me under his Hand and Seal to supply the place for him which he as Dean of Westminster was to Execute in the Coronation of King Charles Januar. 18. Wednesday The Duke of Buckingham brought me to the King to whom I shewed my Notes that if he disliked any thing therein c. The same day by the King's Command the Arch-Bishop of Cant. and the Bishops of London Durham Winchester Rochester and St. Davids consulted together concerning a Form of Prayer to give Thanks for the decrease of the Plague Januar. 23. I had a perfect Book of the Ceremonies of the Coronation made ready agreeing in all things with the Kings Book It was Munday Januar. 29. Sunday I understood what D. B. had collected concerning the Cause Book and Opinions of Richard Montague and what R. C. had determined with himself therein Methinks I see a Cloud arising and threatning the Church of England God of his Mercy dissipate it Januar. 31. Tuesday The Bishops and other Peers before nominated by the King to consult of the Ceremonies of the Coronation that
After they had continued at York till Octob. 28. the King and the Lords returned and the Parliament sate down Novemb. 3. Great Heats appear'd in the very beginning On Wednesday Novemb. 10. Tho. L. 〈◊〉 Earl of Strafford was accused by the House of Commons of High Treason and Committed by the Lords to Mr. James Maxwell the Officer of the House And upon general Articles sent up He was upon Wednesday Novemb. 25. committed to the Tower It is thought and upon good Grounds that the Earl of Strafford had got Knowledge of the Treason of some Men and that he was preparing to accuse them And this Fear both hastned and heated the proceedings against him And upon Dec. 4. being Friday his Majesty at the great Importunity of some Lords of his Council gave way that his Council should be examined upon Oath in the Earl of Strafford's Case and I with others was examined that very Day There were great Thoughts of Heart upon this Business and somewhat vapoured out at Mens Tongues but the thing was done Now at and after the breaking up of the late Parliament Sir Hen. Vane at the private Committee concerning the Scotch Affairs before mentioned instead of setting down the Heads of the several Businesses then Treated of Writ down what every Man said at the Committee though it were but Matter of deliberation and debate Afterwards by a cunning conveyance between his Son who had been Governour in New-England and himself this Paper or a Copy of it was delivered to some Members of the House of Commons and in all probability was the Ground of that which was after done against the Lord Strafford my self and others and the Cause why the King was so hard pressed to have the Lords and others of his Council examined was that so Sir Henry Vane might upon Oath avow the Paper which his Son had seen and shewed and others be brought to witness as much had Truth and their Memories been able to say as much as his Paper After the examination of me and others concerning these Particulars there arose great and violent Debates in the House of Commons against the Bishops and particularly their Votes in Parliament After that Decemb. 16. 1640. they Voted against the late Canons as containing in them many Matters contrary to the fundamental Laws and Statutes of the Realm to the Rights of Parliaments to the Property and Liberty of the Subject and matters tending to Sedition and of dangerous Consequences I was made the Author of all and presently a Committee put upon me to inquire into my Actions and prepare a Charge The same Morning in the Upper-House I was Named as an Incendiary in an Accusation put in by the Scottish Commissioners For now by this Time they were come to that Article of the Treaty which reflected upon me And this was done with great noise to bring me yet further into Hatred with the People especially the Londoners who approved too well the Proceedings of their Brethren the Scots and debased the Bishops and the Church Government in England The Articles which the Scots put into the Upper House by the Hands of their Lords Commissioners against me Decemb. 15. were read there Decemb. 16. I took out a true Copy as it follows here And though I was to make no answer then till the House of Commons had digested them and taken as much out of them as as they pleased to fill my intended Charge withall yet because I after found that the House of Commons insisted upon very few of these particulars if any I thought my self bound to vindicate my Innocency even in these Particulars which shall now appear in their full strength against me if they have any in Wise and Learned Mens Judgments CAP. III THe Novations in Religion which are universally acknowledged to be the main Cause of Commotions in Kingdoms and States and are known to be the true Cause of our present Troubles were many and great besides the Books of Ordination and Homilies First some particular alterations in matters of Religion pressed upon us without Order and against Law contrary to the Form established in our Kirk Secondly a new Book of Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical Thirdly a Liturgy or Book of common-Common-Prayer which did also carry with them many dangerous Errours in matters of Doctrine Of all these we challenge the Prelate of Canterbury as the prime Cause on Earth I shall easily grant that Novations in Religion are a main Cause of Distempers in Commonwealths And I hope it will be as easily granted to me I am sure it should that when great Distempers fall into Kingdoms and Common-wealths the only way to ingage at home and get Credit abroad is to pretend Religion which in all Ages hath been a Cloak large enough to cover at least from the Eyes of the Many even Treasons themselves And For the present Troubles in Scotland Novations in Religion are so far from being known to be the true Cause as that it is manifest to any Man that will look upon it with a single Eye that Temporal Discontents and several Ambitions of the great Men which had been long a working were the true cause of these Troubles And that Religion was call'd in upon the bye to gain the Clergy and by them the Multitude For besides that which was openly spoken by the right Honourable James then Earl of Carlile that somewhat was a brewing in Scotland among some discontented there which wou'd break out to the Trouble of this Kingdom 't is most apparent there were many discontents among them Some whereof had no relation at all to Religion and were far antienter than the Troubles now began and were all Legally proved against the Lord Balmerino who was condemned of high Treason before any of these Stirs began For there were Grievances as they said propounded in the Convention Anno 1628. about Coyning and their black Money which they say were slighted again in the Parliament held 1633. Murmuring also there was as if the Articles and Parliament were not free Great Clamour likewise was there against the Bishops Power in choosing the Lords of the Articles though that Power belonged unto them by the fundamental Laws of that Kingdom As much against the Act of Revocation and the Taxations which yet were voluntarily offer'd and miscalled on purpose to edge the People As also for Applying as they said these Taxations to wrong uses With all which and more Religion had nothing to do Nay this discontented Party grew so High and so Bold that a very Base and Dishonourable Libel was made and spread against the King Anno 1633. by these and the like Pretences to alienate the Hearts of the People from him Of this Libel if one Hagg were the Authour Balmerino was the Divulger and so prov'd And though it be true that then also some things were to be done against the Church-government yet their
Tyranical Power he went about to establish in the Hands of our Prelates over the Worship of God and the Souls and Goods of Men overturning from the Foundation the whole Order of our Kirk and how large an entry he did make for the grossest Novations afterward which hath been a main Cause of this Combustion This is the last Shot against these Canons and me for them And I conceive this is no great thing For Arbitrary Government is one thing And 't is quite another that wheresoever there is no Penalty expresly set down it is provided that it shall be Arbitrary as the Ordinary shall think fittest which are the words of the Canon For since no Law can meet with all particulars some things must of necessity be left Arbitrary in all Government though that be perfectest and happiest that leaves least Nor is it an unheard of thing to find something Arbitrary in some Canons of the Church which are very antient As in the Council of Eliberis the Punishment of him who was absent from the Church three Sundays was that he should be Abstentus and barred from the Church for some small time that his negligence in the Service of God may seem to be punished But this small Time being not limited is left to Arbitrary Discretion So likewise in the Council of Valence An. 374. The giving of the Sacrament to such as had vowed Virginity and did afterwards Marry was to be deferr'd as the Priest saw Reason and Cause for it and that sure is Arbitrary The like we find in the third Council of Carthage where the Time of Penance according to the quality of the Sin is left to the Discretion of the Bishop And these Councils were all within the fourth Century By all which it is apparent that in Church as well as in State some things may be left Arbitrary and have been in Better and Wiser Times than these of ours Nay 't is confest by one that Writes almost as well as Junius Brutus that there is an Arbitrary Power in every State somewhere and that no Inconvenience follows upon it And the Council of Ancyra inflicting Censures upon Presbyters first and then Deacons which had fallen in time of Persecution yet gives leave to the Bishop to mitigate the Penance at his Discretion Again 't is manifest by the care taken in the preceeding Canons that here 's little or nothing of moment left Arbitrary And then the Ordinary will fall into an Excess more dangerous to himself than his Arbitrary Punishment can be to him that suffers it if he offer to Tyrannize For this Clause wheresoever it is inserted in Canon or Statute as it is in the Statutes of very many Colledges stands but for a Proviso that Disorderly persons may not think they shall escape Punishment if they can cunningly keep off the Letter of the Law And yet so that the Arbitrary Punishment be Regulated by that which is expressed in the Canons or the Statutes for Omissions or Commissions of like nature And therefore that which is inferred upon all this Charge and the Particulars in it Namely That I went about to establish a Tyranical Power in the Hands of their Prelates either over the Worship of God or the Souls and Goods of Men is utterly false and cannot be proved to follow out of any of the Premises Not over the Goods of the People For no Prelate not invested with Temporal Power can meddle with them so that were there any Canon made for that it would be void of it self Nor over the Souls of Men for they are left free in all things save to commit Sin and Disorder which to repress by Canons is and hath been the Church way Much less over the Worship of God For these Canons have laboured nothing so much as to Honour and Establish that in Decency and Uniformity And as for that which follows That these Canons over-turn from the Foundation the whole Order of their Kirk 'T is more than I believe will be proved that they have over-turned any good Order in their Church much less Foundations Though it may be thought by some and perhaps justly that there is so little Order in their Church and that so weakly founded that it may be over-turned with no great stress And for the large Entry made for the Gross Novations afterwards you see what it is And when you have considered the Gross Novations which are said to come after I hope you will not find them very Gross nor any way fit to be alledged as a main Cause of this Combustion Now follows ART III. The third and great Novation which was the Book of Common-Prayer Administration of Sacraments and other parts of Divine Service brought in without Warrant from our Kirk to be Vniversally received as the only Form of Divine-Service under the highest pains both Civil and Ecclesiastical Now we are come to the Arraignment of the Liturgy and the Book of common-Common-Prayer and this they say was brought in without Warrant from their Kirk If this be true it was the fault of your own Prelates and theirs only for ought I know For though I like the Book exceeding well and hope I shall be able to maintain any thing that is in it and wish with all my Heart that it had been entertained there yet I did ever desire it might come to them with their own liking and approbation Nay I did ever upon all Occasions call upon the Scottish Bishops to do nothing in this Particular but by Warrant of Law And farther I professed unto them before His Majesty that though I had obeyed his Commands in helping to Order that Book yet since I was ignorant of the Laws of that Kingdom I would have nothing at all to do with the manner of introducing it but left that wholly to them who do or should understand both that Church and their Laws And I am sure they told me they would adventure it no way but that which was Legal But they go on And say this Book Is found by our National Assembly besides the Popish Frame and Forms in Divine Worship to contain many Popish Errors and Ceremonies and the Seeds of manifold and gross Superstitions and Idolatries and to be repugnant to the Doctrine Discipline and Order of our Reformation to the Confession of Faith Constitutions of General Assemblies and Acts of Parliament Establishing the true Religion That this was also Canterbury's Work we make manifest This is a great Charge upon the Service-Book indeed But it is in Generals and those only affirmed not proved And therefore may with the same case and as justly be denied by me as they are affirmed by them And this is all I shall say till they bring their Proofs And though this be no more Canterbury's Work than the Canons were yet by their good will I shall bear the burden of all And therefore before they go to prove this great Charge against the Service-Book
their Opinion unless they be such as have been bred up either in their Faction or in the Opposite at Rome For Bodin is clear That Arms may not be taken up against the Prince be he never so Impious and Wicked And instances in Saul and Nebuchadnezzar And Grotius doth not only say as much as Bodin but Censures them which hold the contrary to be Men which serve Time and Place more than Truth Nor is it any whit more Lawful for Inferiour Magistrates to make this resistance against the King than it is for private Men. And this is universally true where the Princes are free and have not undertaken the Government under that or the like Condition or being free seek with a Hostile Mind to ruine their People which is scarce possible And a great Civilian tells us that he is properly a Rebel that resists the Emperor or his Officers in things belonging to the State of the Empire Some Cases he lays down indeed in which the pleasure of a Prince may not be obeyed but none in which his Power is to be resisted Nor is it any marvel that Christians do disallow the taking up of Arms against the Prince since even the soundest Politicks among the Heathen have declared so likewise Aristotle was of this Opinion that if the Magistrate strike yet he is not to be struck again And Seneca that Men are to bear the unjust as well as the just Commands of Princes And Tacitus that good Emperours are to be desired but whatever they be to be born with And Plutarch that it is not Lawful to offer any Violence to the Person of the King And Cicero That no Force is to be offered either to a Man's Parent or to his Country And therefore in his Judgment not to the Prince who is Pater Patriae the Father of his Country And the truth is where-ever the contrary Opinion is maintained the Prince can never be safe nor the Government setled But so soon as a Faction can get a fit Head and gather sufficient strength all is torn in pieces and the Prince lost for no considerable Errour or perhaps none at all For a strong Party once Heated can as easily make Faults as find them either in Church or Common-wealth And make the King say as Zedekiah sometimes did to his potent Nobles Behold Jeremiah is in your Hands for the King is not he that can do any thing against you Jerem. 38. But whereas they say it is a Doctrine that tends to the utter Slavery and ruin of all States and Kingdoms That will appear most untrue by the very Letter of the Canon it self which gives way to no Tyranny but expresses only the true Power of a King given by God and to be exercised according to God's Law and the several Laws of Kingdoms respectively And I hope there will ever be a real difference found in Christian Kingdoms between the Doctrine that tends to Slavery and Ruine and that which forbids taking up of Arms against their Sovereign which is all that this Canon doth And in the mean time I pray God this not Doctrine only but Practice also of taking up Arms against the Lord 's Anointed under meer pretence of Religion do not in a shorter time than is fear'd bring all to Confusion where-ever 't is Practised For howsoever it bears a shew of Liberty yet this way of maintaining it is not only dishonourable to Kings but the ready way to make them study ways of Force and to use Power when-ever they get it to abridge the Liberties of such over-daring Subjects And in all times it hath sown the Seeds of Civil Combustions which have ended in Slavery and Ruine of flourishing Kingdoms And I pray God these do not end so in this But they go on And as if this had not been sufficient he procures six Subsidies to be lifted of the Clergy under pain of Deprivation to all who should refuse The giving of the King Subsidies is no new thing The Clergy have bin ever willing to the uttermost of their Power But what I and my Brethren of the Clergy did at this time therein is before set down And I hold it not fit to lengthen this Tract with the needless Repetition of any thing And which is yet more and above which Malice it self cannot ascend by his means a Prayer is framed Printed and sent through all the Parishes of England to be said in all Churches in time of Divine Service next after the Prayer for the Queen and Royal Progeny against our Nation by Name as Trayterous Subjects having cast off all Obedience to our Anointed Sovereign and coming in a Rebellious manner to Invade England that shame may cover our Faces as Enemies to God and the King We are now come to the last part of their Charge and that 's the Prayer which was made and sent to be used in all Churches when the Scots came into England But this Prayer was made not by my means or procurement but by his Majesties special Command to me to see it done And it hath bin ever usual in England upon great and urgent occasions to have one or more Prayers made by some Bishop or Bishops nearest hand to fit the Present business And this may appear by divers Forms and Prayers so made and publickly used in all times since the Reformation And since this Prayer was made by his Majesties own Command I am sorry they should say of it that Malice it self cannot ascend above it Though I perswade my self they thought to hit me not him in this Speech Now what I pray is that above which Malice it self cannot ascend Why first it is That they were called in that Prayer trayterous Subjects which had cast off all Obedience to their Anointed Sovereign Why but Truth spake this not Malice For Trayterous Subjects they were then if ever a King had any And the Kings Proclamation called them so before that Prayer came forth And what Title soever it is fit to give them now since his Majesty hath bin graciously pleased to treat with them and pass by their Offence that 's another thing but as the case stood then they had shaken off all Obedience and were as they were then called Trayterous Subjects And I had a special Charge from the King not to spare that Name Secondly They except against this that 't is there said that they came in a Rebellious manner to Invade this Kingdom And that is most true too for whereas they said they came in a peaceable manner to deliver their Petitions to the King for the Liberty of their Religion and Laws Is it a peaceable way to come two or three and twenty Thousand Men strong and Armed to deliver a Petition Let the whole World judge whether this were not a Rebellious Invasion Thirdly They say 't is desir'd in the Prayer that God would with shame cover the Faces
and continued Practice of the whole Church of Christ. Thirdly Let them profess they are not bound to this Form they use more than any other but that it is free for them to conceive Prayer c. Harder and harder For they stand bound not only by Church-Ordinance but by Injunction and Command of the State in Parliament strictly to observe this Form And they are therefore bound to this Form more than any other And therefore so long as this Act of Parliament remains in force with what Honour or Conscience can this Lord who seems to stand so much upon Law ask this at the Bishops Hands that they should profess that they are not bound to any Forms Nor to this more than any other when his Lordship must needs know they are bound to this and no other and that by an Act of Parliament Besides What a Coil hath been kept by some of this Lord's Favourites against Innovations of Religion as contrary to Law No Rails to fence the Holy Table from Prophanation Though that be no Ceremony nor forbidden by Law No coming up to it or the steps of the Chancel to receive the Communion though most decent and in ancient usage and forbidden by no Law that I know No Reverence to God himself at coming in or going out of his Temple though that of the Psalmist began the ancient Liturgies of the Church and is continued in our O come let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our maker c. Psal. 95. The Communion-Table must not stand North and South though the Queens Injunction commanded it to be set just in that Place in which the Altar then stood So they innovate themselves and then cry out of Innovation And if this Lord's Doctrin be good let 's have no Injunction for North and South and all 's well But then we must have no Injunction for East and West neither For if there be an Injunction East and West is Superstition as well as North and South But then if my Lord would have all free what would he have in this Particular Why First he would have it free for these Men to conceive Prayer Let them in due time and place conceive Prayer on God's Name But let them not make publick Abortion in the Church 'T is an over-hasty Mother that brings forth so soon as she has Conceived And yet Extemporary Men out-run these Mothers and Conceive and bring forth their unnatural Monsters both at once Next he would have these Men to help themselves by the use of any other Forms they please as well as this which is prescribed So then belike these great Men of Gifts in my Lord's Eye are not so perfect in the Spirit but that they may need helps And if my Lord be so indifferent that these may help themselves by the use of any other Forms as well as this which is prescribed let him be as fair at least to the Church that made him a Christian as to others and give Men leave to help themselves by the use of this Form which is prescribed as well any other And if it be the Injunction only that sticks in his Stomach I am sorry he should shew himself so Guilty of the great Sin of Disobedience Fourthly Let them practise the same indifferently that so it may be manifest the Fault rests in the Person and not in the Service c. This is his Lordship's last Condition And either I am dulled with this Business or the Expression is somewhat obscure But I will take it as right as I can It seems my Lord would not refuse coming to the Prayers of the Church for the Personal Fault of him that Officiates And that 's well It seems likewise that to manifest this whether the Sin lies in the Person that offers or in the Service that is Offered up his Lordship would have an indifferent practice of that which is enjoyned and other Forms And that 's stark naught For by this we shall have no certain Service of God for the People It shall 〈◊〉 and perhaps more dangerously than is fit not only in different Parishes but in the same Congregation at different times And were not this so yet I cannot assent to my Lord in this that these Men he means can so easily offer better if they will and that when they do not it is their Negligence that is the only Cause And besides it is useless For it is known already to sober Minds that the Fault when any arises in that Work is neither in the Service which is very good nor in the Injunction which is very Lawful but in the Person which Officiates if he do not his Duty And so there is no need of a confused practising of divers Forms indifferently to manifest that which is known already And if my Lord brings no worse Sins about him when he comes to Church than he will find Faults in the Liturgy he may safely come to Church and be a Happy Man in so doing And I might well doubt of my Lord's meaning herein for himself is jealous of his Auditors Therefore he adds I know not whether I express my self clearly to be understood in this or not and it may seem to be a nice Scrupulosity Give me leave therefore to endeavour to clear it by an Instance or two Truly my Lord takes himself right For neither hath he expressed himself very clearly nor is the matter so material in it self but that it may be as it seems a very nice Scrupulosity and altogether unable to warrant his Lordship's Separation from the Prayers of the Church Yet since my Lord desires to clear it by an Instance or two I shall be well content to hear and consider of them His First Instance is In the time of the Law when God appointed himself to be Worshipped by Offerings and Sacrifices the Shadows and Types of those Truths which were to come If a Poor Man which had not Ability to bring a Bullock or a Ram or a Lamb had brought a pair of Turtle Doves or two Young Pigeons it would have been in him an acceptable Service But if a Man of Ability who had Herds and Flocks should out of Negligence or Covetousness have spared the Cost of a Bullock or Ram and brought Young Pigeons his Service would have been rejected and himself punished How much more would the Service have been Abomination if Men should have taken Authority to have enjoyned all to bring no other but Turtles or Young Pigeons because some were not able to do more In one kind there might be a tolerable and lawful use of that which otherways used especially if generally enjoyned would have been most unlawful God will be Worshipped with the Fat and best of the Inwards the best of Mens Gifts and Abilities which he that worships or officiates in Worshipping is to do at his own Peril And if it be left free unto him the Worship may be Lawful to him that
Fundamental Points or whether he know that the Brownists do differ from us in them I shall not take on me to declare till his Lordship open himself farther In the mean time his Lordship goes on to tell us wherein these Brownists fail though they do not differ in Fundamental Points to his Knowledge Their failing is in this They hold that there is no true Church in England no true Ministry no true Worship which depend the one upon the other they say all is Antichristian Here is their Error they distinguish not between the bene esse or Purity of a true Church and the esse or true being of it though with many Defects and gross Corruptions But conclude because such things are wanting which are indeed necessary to the well-being of a true Church and to be desired therefore there is none at all in being Here my Lord shews a great deal of sharp and good Apprehension And distinguishes very rightly between the entire being of a true Church which is her bene esse and the true Being of a Church which is her esse only And my Lord doth farther fairly acknowledge that this is the Brownists Error To conclude no Church in being because it hath many Defects and gross Corruptions in it to hinder its well-being So then my Lord here grants two things First that to hold there is no True Church in England no True Ministry no true Worship which depend one upon another but that all is Antichristian is an Error And Secondly that it is the Brownists Error How and how far these Three No True Church no True Ministry no True Worship depend one upon another And in what cases it may in some Exigents be otherways I will not now dispute nor divert from the main Business 1. First then if it be an Error to say there is no True Church no True Ministry no True Worship in England Then I hope it will be found Truth to say there is a True Church a True Ministry and a True Worship in England And he that shall avow the contrary must needs differ from the Church of England in Fundamentals For these Contradictions a True Church and no True Church a True Ministry and no True Ministry a True Worship of God and no True Worship cannot be built up but upon different Foundations And as for that which my Lord affirms is added by the Brownists That there are many Defects and gross Corruptions in it So long as this is said and not proved 't is enough without farther Proof to deny both the Defects and Corruptions both the many and the gross As I doubt not but the Church of England can make good against both my Lord and all the Brownists in England 2. Secondly if to affirm this be the Brownists Error then I would fain know of my Lord how he can say the Brownists do not differ from or with us in any fundamental Point of Doctrine or saving Truth For if this be no fundamental Point or no saving Truth that we be in and of a true Church that this Church hath a true Ministry to be between God and us in all the Duties of their Function whether upward to God in Prayer and Spiritual Sacrifice or downward to us in the Word and Sacraments that in this Church and by this Ministry there is a true Worship and that without gross Corruptions What can be accounted next the Creed it self fundamental or saving So that in one Line my Lord is pleased to say the Brownists do not differ with us in any fundamental Point of Doctrine or saving Truth and in the very next Line his Lordship confesses they differ from us in these three things which if not several yet altogether as they depend one upon another are saving and fundamental Nor can this cautelous close help my Lord one jot that he adds The Brownists do not differ from us in any fundamental point of Doctrine or saving Truth as his Lordship knows For were his Lordship of a shallow or narrow Comprehension 't were another matter But since he is so full of understanding in these things 't is impossible but he must know these three together are fundamental and being so he must needs know also that the Brownists differ with us in Fundamentals which is that which he denyed If therefore my Lord will say he knows not this to be the Brownists Error why doth he take upon him to say it is If he will grant that he knows it he must needs know withal if he will not shut out the Light of his Conscience of which a little before he is so tender that the Brownists or Separatists call them what you will differ from us in some fundamental Points of Doctrine or saving Truth Thus far then my Lord relates the failing of the Brownist I hope he will be so careful as not to fail with them himself Yes sure for he adds I hold no such Opinion but do believe to the contrary That there are in England many true Churches and a true Ministry which I do hear and with which Churches I could joyn in Communion were those Yokes of Bondage which are laid upon them taken off and those Corruptions removed which they do contrary as I think to their Duty yield unto and admit of And this I am sure no Separatist in England holds that deserves that Name And therefore I hope your Lordships will in that respect let me stand right in your Opinions Here my Lord tells us he holds no such Opinion but does believe to the contrary But I doubt he so believes to the contrary as that he is of the same Opinion For he believes that there are in England many true Churches and a true Ministry And so do all the Brownists For no doubt but they believe that all their Congregations or Conventicles are true Churches in England and that the Ministers which they hear are true Ministers And this is plainly my Lord's Belief For he saith he believes there is a true Ministry in England 〈◊〉 he doth hear But what Ministers they are which he doth hear he does not say Or if this be not my Lord's meaning but that there are some true Churches and some true Ministers in England though ordained as in England they are yet my Lord continues a Separatist still For his Lordship doth not say either that he doth or that he will or that he can joyn in Communion with any of these Churches or this Ministry which he says are true But only that he could joyn with them if If what Why if these Yokes of Bondage were taken off which are laid upon them and those Corruptions removed By the Yokes of Bondage he means the Injunction of a set Form of Prayers which he hath so often mentioned in this Speech But what Corruptions he means I know not till his Lordship shall be pleased to tell us Only this I conceive I may add That all things are not Corruptions in the Church
in their Cause and medled in decernendo in determining and that before-hand what the Prelats should do and sometimes in Commanding the Orthodox Prelats to Communicate with the Arrians This they refused to do as being against the Canons of the Council of Nice And then his Answer was Yea but that which I will shall go for Canon But then we must know withal that Athanasius reckn'd him for this as that Antichrist which Daniel Prophesied of Hosius also the Famous Confessor of those Times condemned in him that kind of medling in and with Religion And so doth St. Hilary of Poictiers Valentinian also the Younger took upon him to judge of Religion at the like presuasion of Auxentius the Arrian but he likewise was sharply reproved for it by St. Ambrose In like manner Maximus the Tyrant took upon him to judge in Matters of Religion as in the Case of Priscillian and his Associates But this also was checkt by St. Martin Bishop of Tours Where it is again to be observed that though these Emperours were too busie in venturing upon the determination of Points of Faith yet no one of them went so far as to take Power from the Synods and give it to the Senate And the Orthodox and Understanding Emperours did neither the one nor the other For Valentinian the Elder left this great Church-work to be done by Church-Men And though the Power to call Councils was in the Emperour And though the Emperours were sometimes personally present in the Councils and sometimes by their Deputies both to see Order kept and to inform themselves yet the decisive Voices were in the Clergy only And this will plainly appear in the Instructions given by the Emperor Theodosius to Condidianus whom he sent to supply his place in the Council of Ephesus which were That he should not meddle with Matters of Faith if any came to be debated And gives this Reason for it Because it is unlawful for any but Bishops to mingle himself with them in those Consultations And Basilius the Emperour long after this in the Eighth General Council held at Constantinople 〈◊〉 870. affirms it of the Laity in general That it is no way lawful for them to meddle with these things But that it is proper for the Patriarchs Bishops and Priests which have the Office of Government in the Church to enquire into these Things And more of this Argument might easily be added were that needful or I among my Books and my Thoughts at liberty And yet this crosses not the Supremacy which the King of England hath in Causes Ecclesiastical as it is acknowledged both by the Church and Law For that reaches not to the giving of him Power to determine Points of Faith either in Parliament or out or to the acknowledgment of any such Power residing in him or to give him Power to make Liturgies and publick Forms of Prayer or to Preach or Administer Sacraments or to do any thing which is meerly Spiritual But in all things which are of a mixed Cognizance such as are all those which are properly called Ecclesiastical and belong to the Bishops External Jurisdiction the Supremacy there and in all things of like Nature is the Kings And if at any time the Emperour or his Deputy sit Judge in a Point of Faith it is not because he hath any right to judge it or that the Church hath not Right but meerly in case of Contumacy where the Heretick is wilful and will not submit to the Church's Power And this the Hereticks sometimes did and then the Bishops were forced to Appeal thither also but not for any Resolution in the point of Faith but for Aid and Assistance to the just Power of the Church I cannot but remember a very Prudent Speech utter'd in the beginning of the late preceding Parliament and by that Lord who now made this The occasion was A Lord offer'd to deliver a Message from the King before he was formally brought into the House and his Patent shew'd This Lord who thinks Church-Ceremonies may so easily be alter'd stood up and said He would not be against the delivery of the Message he knew not how urgent it might be but desired withal that it might be enter'd that this was yielded unto by Special leave of the House For that saith he though this be but a Ceremony yet the Honour and Safety of the Priviledges of this Great House is preserved by nothing more than by keeping the Ancient Rights and Ceremonies thereof intire And this I think was very wisely spoken and with great Judgment And could my Lord see this in the Parliament and can he not see it in the Church Are Ancient Ceremonies the chief Props of Parliamentary Rights and have they no use in Religion to keep up her Dignity yea perhaps and Truth too The House of Parliament is I confess a Great and Honourable House But the whole Church of Christ is greater And it will not well beseem a Parliament to maintain their own Ceremonies and to kick down the Ceremonies of the National Church which under God made all their Members Christians Most sure I am they cannot do it without ossence both to State and Church and making both a Scorn to Neighbouring Nations Now in the close of all my Lord tells his Fellow Peers and all others in them That if they shall thus wound the Consciences of their Brethren the Separatists they will certainly offend and sin against Christ. Soft and fair But what shall these Lords do if to Humour the Consciences of those Brethren some weak and many wilful and the cunning misleading the simple they shall disgrace and weaken and perhaps overthrow the Religion they profess Shall they not then both wound their own Consciences and most certainly sin against Christ Yes out of all doubt they shall do both Now where it comes to the wounding of Consciences no question can be made but that every Man ought first to look to his own to his Brethrens after A Man must not do that which shall justly wound his Brother's Conscience though he be his Brother in a Separation and stand never so much a-loof from him But he must not wound his own to preserve his Brother from a wound especially such a one as happily may cure him and by a timely pinch make him sensible of the ill Condition in which he is As for these Men God of his Mercy give them that Light of his Truth which they want and forgive them the boasting of that Light which they presume they have And give them true Repentance and in that Sense a wounded Conscience for their breaking the Peace of this Church And forgive them all their Sins by which they still go on with more and more violence to distract this Church And God of his Infinite Goodness preserve this Church at all times and especially at this time while the Waves of this Sea of Separation
such Proceeding in this Case The very Parties that tendred this Cap presuming some good Inclination in him to accept it and to the Romish Church which he maintains to be a True Church wherein Men are and may be saved And the Second Proffer following so soon at the Heels of the First intimates That the First was in such sort entertained by him as rather encouraged than discouraged the Party to make the Second And his Second Consultation with the King concerning it insinuates That the King rather enclined to than against it or at leastwise left it arbitrary to him to accept or reject it as he best liked As for his Severity in prosecuting Papists it appears by his Epistle to the King before his Conference with the Jesuit Fisher where he useth these Speeches of his Carriage towards them God forbid that I should perswade a Persecution in any kind or practise it in the least against Priests and Jesuits For to my remembrance I have not given him or his so much as cross Language Therefore he is no great Enemy to them The Second thing which may seem strange to others is this That the Pope's Legat and Jesuits should ever hate or conspire his Death unless he were an utter Enemy to all Popery Papists and the Church of Rome which admits an easie Answer The Truth is the Bishop being very pragmatical and wilful in his Courses could not well brook pragmatical peremptory Jesuits who in Popish Kingdoms are in perpetual Enmity with all other Orders and they with them they having been oft banished out of France and other Realms by the Sorbonists Dominicans and other Orders no Protestants writing so bitterly against these Popish Orders as themselves do one against the other yea the Priests and Jesuits in England were lately at great Variance and persecuted one another with much Violence This is no good Argument then that the Arch-Bishop held no Correspondence with Priests and other Orders and bare no good Affection to the Church of Rome in whose Superstitious Ceremonies he outstripped many Priests themselves What Correspondency he held with Franciscus de Sancta Clara with other Priests and Dr Smith Bishop of Calcedon whom the Jesuits persecuted and got Excommunicated though of their own Church and Religion is at large discovered in a Book entituled The English Pope and by the Scottish Common-Prayer Book found in the Arch-Bishop's Chamber with all those Alterations wherein it differs from the English written with his own Hand some of which smell very strongly of Popery As namely his blotting out of these Words at the Delivery of the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee and feed on him in thy Heart by Faith with Thanksgiving Take and drink this in remembrance that Christ's Blood was shed for thee c. and leaving only this former Clause the better to justifie and imply a Corporal Presence of Christ in the Sacrament The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which was shed for thee preserve thy Body and Soul unto everlasting Life And this Popish Rubrick written with his own Hand The Presbyter during the time of Consecration shall stand AT THE MIDDLE OF THE ALTAR where he may with more Ease and Decency USE BOTH HIS HANDS than he can do if he stand at the North-end With other Particulars of this kind Moreover in his Book of Private Devotions written with his own Hand he hath after the Romish Form reduced all his Prayers to Canonical Hours And in the Memorials of his Life written with his own Hand there are these suspicious Passages among others besides the Offer of the Cardinal's Cap Anno 1631. Jun. 21. 26. My nearer Acquaintance began to settle with Dr. S. God bless us in it Junii 25. Dr. S. with me at Fulham cum Ma. c. meant of Dr. Smith the Popish Bishop of Calcedon as is conceived Jun. 25. Mr. Fr. Windebank my old Friend was Sworn Secretary of State which Place I OBTAINED FOR HIM of my Gracious Master King Charles What an Arch-Papist and Conspirator he was the Plot relates and his Flight into France for releasing Papists and Jesuits out of Prison and from Executions by his own Warrants and imprisoning those Officers who apprehended them confirms About this time Dr Theodore Price Sub-dean of Westminster a Man very intimate with the Arch-Bishop and recommended specially to the King by him to be a Welch Bishop in Opposition to the Earl of Pembrook and his Chaplain Griffith Williams soon after died a Reconciled Papist and received Extream Vnction from a Priest Noscitur ex comite August 30. 1634. he hath this Memorial Saturday at Oatlands the Queen sent for me and gave me Thanks for a Business with which she trusted me her Promise then that she would be my Friend and that I should have immediate Address to her when I had occasion All which considered together with his Chaplains Licensing divers Popish Books with their expunging most Passages against Popery out of Books brought to the Press with other Particulars commonly known will give a true Character of his Temper that he is another Cassander or middle Man between an Absolute Papist and a real Protestant who will far sooner hug a Popish Priest in his Bosom than take a Puritan by the Little Finger An absolute Papist in all matters of Ceremony Pomp and external Worship in which he was over-zealous even to an open 〈◊〉 Persecution of all Conscientious Ministers who made Scruple of them if not half an one at least in Doctrinal Tenets How far he was guilty of a Conditional Voting the breaking up the last Parliament before this was called and for what end it was summoned this other Memorial under his own Hand will attest Decemb 5. 1639. Thursday the King declared his Resolution for a Parliament in case of the Scottish Rebellion The first Movers to it were my Lord Deputy of Ireland my Lord Marquess Hamilton and my self And A RESOLUTION VOTED AT THE BOARD TO AS-SIST THE KING IN EXTRAORDINARY WAYS IF THE PARLIAMENT SHOULD PROVE PEEVISH AND REFUSE c. But of him sufficient till his Charge now in preparation shall come in Observations on and from the Relation of this PLOT FRom the Relation of the former Plot by so good a Hand our own Three Realms and all Foreign Protestant States may receive full Satisfaction First That there hath been a most cunning strong execrable Conspiracy long since contrived at Rome and for divers Years together most vigorously pursued in England with all Industry Policy Subtilty Engines by many active potent Confederates of all sorts all Sexes to undermine the Protestant Religion re-establish Popery and alter the very Frame of Civil Government in all the King's Dominions wherein a most dangerous visible Progress hath
which my Lord calls so That if these Corruptions be fundamental they may be such too as may keep these Churches which he speaks of from being true Churches and the Ministry from being a true Ministry But if these Corruptions be of a very light Allay as I verily believe they are if there be any then his Lordship ought not to separate but to joyn in Communion with them for all these either Yokes or Corruptions The Apostle indeed tells us of a Church without Wrinkle Ephes. 5. But that is a Triumphant Church in Heaven not a Militant upon Earth And for the Yokes which my Lord speaks of they are not Yokes of Bondage as he pleases to call them but Yokes of Obedience which whenever they shall be broken the wild Asses of the Wilderness will over-run all My Lord goes farther and says That in these true Churches this true Ministry does yield unto and admit of these Yokes and these Corruptions contrary as he thinks to their Duty But it seems they think not so or if they do think so why do they not remonstrate their Grievance Sure if their Conscience tell them they do against their Duty they ought to inform their Conscience or forbear the Work To inform their Conscience I am sure is fit for them if they need it Though it seems my Lord would rather have them forbear the Duty the doing whereof he calls their yielding unto and their admitting these things which he calls Yokes and Corruptions As for that which follows and which my Lord says he is sure of that no Separatist in England that deserves that Name holds that which his Lordship says here he doth believe In that also I conceive his Lordship is utterly mistaken For I believe there is no Separatist in England Brownist or other deserving that Name but he holds and will say as much as my Lord believes namely that there are in England many true Churches that is Assemblies or Congregations of their own Brotherhood And a true Ministry To wit those which themselves have made And that they do hear them that is such as these Yea and that they could joyn in Communion with some other Churches were those Yokes of Bondage which are layd upon them taken off and those Corruptions removed That is upon the matter if they would become as themselves are then they would joyn with them And this 〈◊〉 of all doubt they think they ought to do and neither yield unto such Yoeks nor admit of such Corruptions So that my Lord may see every 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in England even they which most deserve that Name hold that which his Lordship believes And therefore no question can be made but that my Lord deserves that Name as much as any of them even while he says he is sure no Separatist in England that deserves that Name holds as he doth But to come to the quick The Brownists and Separatists deal plainly with God and the World and say expresly that the whole Church of England as it stands established by Law is peccant both in the Doctrine Liturgy and Discipline of it and in such a degree as that they neither will nor can joyn in Communion with it And therefore separate from it and betake themselves to their own private Opinions and Congregations But my Lord he Equivocates both with God and Man And tells us he believes there are true Churches in England and a true Ministry which he hears And this no Separatist that understands himself but will say as fast as he But let his Lordship come home to the Business directly and plainly Let him say that the Church of England is a true Church That the Ministry of it is a true Ministry That the Doctrine Liturgy and Discipline of it as it stands established now by Law are free from any such Corruptions as give just cause for a Separation And when he hath said this let him joyn in Communion with it as he ought to do and then he shall wrong my Lord very deeply that says he is a Separatist But for all this which he hath yet said for himself 't is manifest that a Separatist he is And I doubt hath hereby proved himself whether I will or no the greatest Separatist in England And therefore he hath little cause to hope as he says he doth that he shall stand right in their Lordships Opinions or any other Man's that is not possest with the same Humour Yet my Lord hath two Requests to make I will now end with two Requests The one that your Lordships will please to pardon me for troubling you with so long a Discourse concerning my self I have not used it heretofore and I am not like to offend again in the same kind It is but once and your Lordships will consider the occasion In this Suit were there need I would joyn with my Lord. For though I have a great deal of hard Measure put upon me in this Speech yet I have the more reason to be content with it because this whole Discourse of my Lord's well weighed is more against himself than me And such Trouble of his Lordship's I hope all Men well affected to the present Church of England will easily Pardon And this I doubt not but their Lordships and all Men else will the rather do when they consider the Occasion Which certainly I gave not personally in the House But a Guilty Conscience it seems would needs be meant The Second Request is to entreat of you that where you know there is one and the same God worshipped one and the same Faith embraced one and the same Spirit working Love and causing an unblamable Conversation without any offence to the State in your Brethren who in all these concur with you you will not suffer them for Ceremonies and Things indifferent to you but not to them but Burthens which without offence to the State or prejudice to the Churches you may take off if you will to be thrust out of the Land and cut off from their Native Country For if you thus shall wound the Consciences of your Brethren you will certainly offend and sin against Christ. In this second Request I can easily agree with my Lord in some things but must differ in other And First I agree with all my Heart that I would have no pressure at all much less cutting off from their Native Country put upon them who are known to worship the same God to embrace one and the same Faith and one and the same Spirit working Love But in this I must disagree that the Separatists for they are the Men of whom this Lord speaks thus and says they are your Brethren and concur with you in all these are not known to be such For though he be one and the same God whom they worship yet the Worship is not one and the same For my Lord says plainly that our set Forms are Superstition And that he cannot joyn in Communion with us till our
yokes of Bondage and our other gross Corruptions be removed And I must doubt they embrace not the same Faith till they admit the whole Creed and will use the Lord's Prayer which few of them will As for the Spirit that works by Love I much fear he is a great stranger to many of these Men. For I have many ways found their Malice to be fierce and yet endless And therefore I wonder my Lord should have the Boldness to tell my Lords in Parliament that they know all these things of these Men and that they are their Brethren and concur with them in all these forenamed things whom in the mean time their Lordships do and cannot but know different from them nay separating from them in the very Worship of God Next I agree with my Lord again that I would have no pressure put upon those Men in whom the Spirit of Love causes an unblamable Conversation without any offence to the State But in this I must disagree that the Separatists from the Church of England are such manner of Men. For the private Conversation of very many of them whom I could name were it fit is far from being unblamable And the Publick Conversation of all or most of them is full of offence to the State Unless my Lord think the State is or ought to be of their Humour For how can their Conversation be without great offence very great to this or any State Christian who shall have and maintain private Conventicles and Meetings in a different way of Religion from that which is Established by the State Nay which shall not only differ from but openly and slanderously oppose that which is so Established Besides no well governed State will allow of private Meetings especially under pretence of Religion which carry far without their privity and allowance For if this be permitted there lies a way open to all Conspiracies against the State whatsoever and they shall all be satisfied under the pretence of Religion The third thing in which I agree with my Lord is that I would not that for Ceremonies and Things indifferent these Men should be thrust out of the Land and cut off from their Native Country No God forbid if any thing will reclaim them But then I must disagree with my Lord in this That these Men whether such as my Lord describes them or no are thrust out of the Land or cut off from their Native Country for Ceremonies or Things indifferent For First they are not all Ceremonies for which they separate from the Church For they pretend certain gross Corruptions in the very Worship of God as my Lord a little before delivers Secondly be the Cause what it will none of them have been banished or thrust out of the Land or cut from their Native Country as is here spoken to move Hatred against the Government But 't is true they have thrust themselves out and cut themselves off and run a Madding to New England scar'd away as they say by certain gross Corruptions not to be endured in this Church Nor after they have gone a Madding enough is their return denyed to any And I know some that went out like Fools and are come back so like that you cannot know the one from the other In this Passage 't is said by my Lord that these Ceremonies and Things indifferent unto you speaking to the Lords in Parliament are not so to them but Burthens In this Passage I can agree with my Lord in nothing For First my Lord but a very little before tells of Yokes of Bondage and gross Corruptions And are they so soon become but Ceremonies and Things indifferent If they be more than Ceremonies and Things indifferent then my Lord delivers not the whole Truth And if they be but Ceremonies and Things indifferent then his Lordship and all other Separatists ought rather to yield to the Church in such things than for such things to separate from it And certainly so they would if the Spirit that worketh by Love did work in them Yea but my Lord says they are such things as though they be indifferent to others yet to them they are not but burthens And it may be they make them so for in their own Nature they are nothing less And of great use they are to preserve the Substance and the Body of Religion But this I find let any thing in the World be enjoyned by the Church Authority and it is a Burthen presently And so you see all along this Speech how earnest my Lord is in behalf of himself and these Separatists against all Injunctions of set Forms and Yokes of Bondage This is an excellent way of Religion to settle Temporal Obedience And I can as little agree with that which follows Namely that the Lords may without any Offence to the State or prejudice to the Churches take away if they will these Things indifferent to them but Burthens to these Brethren For First suppose them to be but 〈◊〉 and Things indifferent yet can they not be taken away without offence to the State or prejudic to the Churches who to please a few unruly Separatists must make an Alteration in that part of Religion which hath continued with great Happiness to this Church ever since the Reformation Secondly I will not dispute it here what Power a Lay Assembly and such a Parliament is hath to determine Matters of Religion Primely and Originally by and of themselves before the Church hath first agreed upon them Then indeed they may confirm or refuse And this course was held in the Reformation But Originally to take this Power over Religion into Lay Hands is that which hath not been thus assumed since Christ to these unhappy days And I pray God this Chair of Religion do not prove Cathedra Pestilentiae as the vulgar reads it Psal. 1. 1. to the infecting of this whole Nation with Schism and Heresie and in the end bring all to confusion I meddle not here with the King's Power For he may be present in Convocation when he pleases and take or leave any Canons as he pleases which are for the Peace and well Ordering of the Church as well as in Parliament take or leave any Laws made ready for him for the good and quiet of his People But if it come to be Matter of Faith though in his Absolute Power he may do what he will and Answer God for it after Yet he cannot commit the ordering of that to any Lay Assembly Parliament or other for them to determine that which God hath intrusted into the Hands of his Priests Though if he will do this the Clergy must do their Duty to inform him and help that dangerous Error if they can But if they cannot they must suffer an unjust Violence how far soever it proceed but they may not break the Duty of their Allegiance 'T is true Constantius the Emperour a great Patron of the Arrians was by them interested