a Conscientious way and to yield to one another by the Rules of Charity for the publick Peace of the Church This solid course as it will allay the Heat and Precipitation of passionate Councils so it will have Authority in it self Honor in relation to other Forreign Churches and stability in these resolutions I will be bold to add another Motion that if we may be so happy to settle these troubles and scruples of tender Conscience by imbracing this only Counsel I could wish that an Intimation were made to all the Reformed Churches that if they please to send their Deputies and to assist in this Pious work they shall as Assistants be admitted And I hope there may arise from hence an occasion of re-uniting all the Protestant Churches at least in Fundemantals Leaving to every one a Christian Liberty in those Forms of Discipline which may be most agreeable to their Civil Government which would not only strengthen the General Cause of Religion but take away that strong objection of the publick Enemy of such a Division amongst our selves as make us appear outwardly to be twenty Churches or none at all for from this Branch of division and separation hath flown all the advantages both in the Estate and Church of the Papacy against the Reformation and the Princes professing one truth not fenced about with one Policy A Divine in the City gave his following Opinion upon these Particulars The Opinion of a City Divine concerning the Liturgy Church Government TO satisfie your Demands both Concerning the Liturgy and Episcopal Government First for the Book of Common Prayer it may be alledged 1. That God himself appointed in the Law a set Form of Benediction Numb 6.23 24 25 26. 2. That David himself set Psalms to be sung upon Special Occasions as the Title of them shewtth 3. That the Prophet Joel appointed a set Form of Prayer to be used by the Priest at Solemn Fasts Joel 2.7 4. That Christ not only Commands us to pray after such manner Matth. 6.9 But to use a set Form of words Luke 11.2 When you pray say Our Father 5. The Spirit of God is no more restrained by using a set Form of Prayer then by singing set Hymns or Psalms in Meeter which yet the Adversaries of our Common-Prayer practise in their Aslemblies 6. Of all Prayers premeditated are the best Ecclesiastes 5.2 7. And of premeditated Prayers those which are allowed by public Authority are to be preferred above those which are uttered by any private spirit 8. All the Churches in the Christian World in the first and best Times had their best Forms of Lyturgies wherof most are Extant in the Writings of the Fathers unto this day 9. Let our Service-Books be Compared with the French Dutch or any other Lyturgie prescribed in any of the Reformed Churches and it will appear to any indifferent Reader that it is more Exact and Compleat than any of them 10. Our Service-Book was Penned and allowed of not onely by many Learn'd Doctors but Glorious Martyrs who sealed the Truth of the Reformed Religion with their Blood Yet it cannot be denyed but that there are Spots and Blemishes naevi quidem in pulchro Corpore And it were to be wished so it be done without much Noyse 1. That the Kalendar in part might be reformed and the Lessons taken out of the Canonical Scriptures appointed to be read in the place of them for besides that there is no necessity of reading any of the Apocrypha for there are in some of the Chapters set in the Index passages repugnant to the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures as namely in some Chapters in Tobit 2. That in the Psalms Epistles and Gospels all Sentences alledged out of the Holy Scriptures the last Translation of King James his Bible may be followed for in the former there be many Passages not agreeable to the Original as might be proved by many Instances 3. That in the Rubrick whereof of late the word Priest hath been instead of the word Minister it may be Expunged and the word Minister restor'd which is less Offensive and more agreeable to the Languages of all the Reformed Churches and likewise that some Abuses which seem surreptitiously to have crept into it be expunged as namely after the Communion every Parishioner shall Communicate and also shall receive the Sacraments and other Rites according to the Order of this Book appointed which words can carry no good Sence in a Protestant's Ears nor those added against Private Baptisme That it is certain by Gods Word That Children being Baptized having all things necessary for their Salvation be undoubtedly Saved 4. That in the Hymns instead of the Songs of the Three Children some others placed out of the Canonical Scriptures and that a fitter Psalm were chosen at the Churching of Women for those Verses He will not suffer thy foot to be moved and the Sun shall not burn thee by day nor the Moon by night seem not very pertinent That in the Prayers and Collects some Expressions were bettered as when it is said Almighty God which only workest great Marvels send down upon the Bishops c. And Let thy great Mercy loose them for the honour of Jesus Christ's sake And from Fornication and all other deadly Sin as if all other Sins were not deadly and that among all the chances of this mortal Life they may be defended c. 5. And in the Visitation of the Sick I absolve thee from all thy sins and the like 6. That in singing of Psalms Either the lame Rhymes and superfluous Botches as I say and for why and homely Phrases As Thou shalt feed them with brown Bread And Take thy Hand out of thy Lap and give thy Foes a Rap and Mend this Geare and the like may be Corrected or at the least a better Translation of the Psalmes in Meeter appointed in the place of the old Secondly for Episcopal Government it may be alledged 1. That in the Old Law the Priests were above the Levites 2. That in the Gospel the Apostles were above the Seventy Disciples 3. That in the subscription of St. Paul 's Epistles which are part of Canonical Scripture as it is said That Timothy was Ordained the first Bishop of the Church of the Ephesians That Titus was Ordeined the second Bishop of the Church of the Ephesians That Titus was Ordained the first Bishop of the Church of the Cretians 4. That if Episcopal Ordination and Jurisdiction hath express Warrant in Holy Scripture as namely Titus 1.5 For this Cause left I thee in Crete that thou should'st set in order things that are wanting and Ordain Presbyters that is Ministers in every City And 1 Tim. 5.22 Lay hands suddenly on no man And Vers 19. Against a Presbyter or Minister Receive no Accusation but under two or three Witnesses 5. The Angels to whom the Epistles were indorsed 2 3. of Apoc. are by the Vnanimous Consent of all the best
and Burdensom and must be cried out upon as great and insupportable Grievances yea though the things in themselves be never so indifferent of never so long continuance in Use and Practice and never so much desired and affected by others so that where three or four of them be in a Parish though 500 others desire the use and continuance of things long used all must be altered or taken away as Scandals and Grievances for these three or four though to the Offence of many others and what ever they will have introduced must be imposed upon all others and must by all be admitted without Scandal or Offence whereby multitudes of Godly People and well affected are in some things deprived or abridged of what they desire and take comfort in and have had so long and lawful Use and Practise of and other things imposed upon them against their Wills and Liking as if no account were to be made of them or no Liberty of Conscience left unto them Which bold Attempts of some few to arrogate to themselves and to exercise over all others what high Presumptionis it and how great a T yranny may it prove over the Minds and Consciences of Men The great increase of late of Schismaticks and Sectaries and of Persons not only separating and sequestring themselves from the Publick Assembly at Common Prayers and Divine Service but also opposing and tumultuously interrupting others in the performance thereof in the Publick Congregation the frequent and many Conventicles held amongst them and their often Meetings at all publick Conventions of Assizes Sessions Fairs Markets and other publick Assemblies their earnest labouring to sollicit and draw the People to them and the general Correspondence held among them to advance their Ends herein Of these things we cannot but take Notice and must needs express our just Fears that their Desires and Endeavors are to work some great Change and Mutation in the present State of the Church Government and in the Form of the Publick Worship of God and Divine Service and Common Prayers Of the common Grievances of the Kingdom we as others have been and are sensible and do profess that we have just Cause with Joy and Comfort to remember and with thankfulness to acknowledg the pious Care which is already taken for the Suppressing of the Growth of Popery the better supply of able and painful Ministers and the removing of all Innovations and we doubt not but in your great Wisdoms you will regulate the Rigor and Exorbitancy of the Ecclesiastical Courts to suit with the Temper of our Common Laws and the Nature and Condition of Freemen and we hope and humbly Pray that the present Form of Church Government and of Church Service and Common Prayers now Established by the Statutes of this Kingdom shall be setled and that all such as shall oppose themselves against the same or shall do or speak any thing in derogation or depraving of the said Divine Service or Book of Common Prayer may without any further Tolleration or Connivence undergo the Pains Punishment and Forfeitures due therefore and that such Care shall be taken for placing of Orthodox and Peaceable Men Lecturers in all Places whose Doctrine may tend rather to sound Instructions and Edification than lead to Schism and Faction All which We humbly Submit to your great Judgments and shall pray to God to assist and direct you from above with his heavenly Wisdom to guide and bring all your Consultations to happy Conclusions In the Commons House the Message concerning the Priests was delivered by Sir John Culpeper A Committee was appointed to prepare an Order to be presented to the House of Lords whereby the Commissioners for the Treasury may be enjoyned not to dispose of the Money received or to be received upon the Bill of Tonnage and Poundage till provision be made out of the same for the defence of the Narrow Sea Thus did they by the late Bill of Tonnage and Poundage make such a Present to His Majesty as the Biscainers do to the King of Spain when he comes into that Province who present him with a Bag of Money upon the Top of a Lance but withal inform him that he must not meddle with it The Committee which was appointed to draw up the Instructions for the Commissioners to Treat with the Scottish Lords were also Ordered To prepare Heads for a Conference with Reasons to be delivered to the Lords to induce them to joyn with this House to move His Majesty to declare that a Toleration of Religion may not be granted to the Rebels in Ireland nor in any of His Majesties Dominions This was another of those invidious Insinuations by which under a pretence of great Zeal to the Protestant Religion they did not only secretly Calumniate His Majesty as a favourer of Popery but by putting the Rebels out of all hopes of Liberty or Connivence for their Religion was one of the things which contributed to render them more desperate and to drive on the Rebellion to the utmost Extremity Thursday Decemb. 9. Message of Commons to the Lords concerning Instructions to treat with Scots for Ireland Lords Resolution upon it to acquaint the King A Message was this day brought from the House of Commons by Mr. Pym to let their Lordships know That the Commons do agree to the Addition which their Lordships made to the Instructions sent down to them Yesterday and they desire this Addition and those Instructions brought up Yesterday from the House of Commons may be annexed to the Commission Upon this the House of Lords agreed That all the Instructions shall be presented to the King and to this purpose the Earl of Bedford and the Lord Howard of Escrick were appointed presently to attend the King with them for his approbation The Earl of Bedford Returning Reported The King approves them That he had acquainted the King with the Instructions to be given to the Commissioners of both Houses who are to Treat with the Scots Commissioners and that the King after he had read them approved of them and said He would send by His Secretary to the Lord Keeper with Directions that they may be annexed to the Commission After which it was Ordered Committee for Scandalous Pamphlets revived That the Committee appointed to consider of the Printing of unlawful Books and Pamphlets shall meet on Monday next at Eleven of the Clock and that the Lord Privy Seal Lord Wharton and Lord Bruce be added to the said Committee for Printing It was this day Ordered That James Watts License to several Persons to raise Recruits for the English Captains in the Dutch Service Ensign unto the Company of Captain Francis Gregory shall have Power by Virtue of this Order to Entertain and Transport into the Low Countries for the Service of the States of Holland the number of 300 Men by way of Recruits according to former Liberty granted by His Majesty for the supplying of the said
Altarwise and place them in some convenient place of the Church or Chancel and to take away the Rails and level the Chancels as heretofore they were before the late Innovations These high Pretences against Innovations Popery and Superstition were the Witchcrafts with which they insensibly drew on the undiscerning People into the most desperate and horrid Sin of Rebellion and amongst the rest of these frightful Crimes with which they blackned the Archbishop and the Clergy this horrible Sin of Innovation was one of the most terrible when the truth is this was so false and far from being an Innovation that whoever has travelled into the Early Regions of Antiquity will both find the Name and Thing of Alter very frequent among the Ecclesiastical Writers and the Holy Fathers of those Ages and that ever since Christianity came from under the Rod of Persecution and that Temples were erected for the Publick Worship of Almighty God they were built after the same Manner and Form with our Churches and the Holy Table was placed at the East end of them and the indeavor of the Archbishop and Regular Clergy to bring in this Piece of Uniformity into the Church of England was so far from being a Novelty or Innovation that the Design of it was to reduce them to this Primitive Custom and Usage of the Primitive Christians so Ancient and Primitive that Nicephorus and Socrates in the Ecclesiastical History make mention of two Altars placed in the West end of two Churches which was then accounted a strange Innovation Wednesday Septem 1 and directly contrary to the constant Custom of the Church The House being now shortly to be Adjourned for some time by Reason the Plague begun to encrease several Persons Petitioned the Commons to be admitted to Bail upon which It was Ordered That Alderman Abel Mr. Kilvert Thomas Powlet Diverse Persons Bailed Charles Cotton Edward Watkins Lewis Kirk shall be Bailed the Principals at 1000 l. and the Sureties each 500 l. Bail Ferris also who was in Custody for Breach of Priviledg for Arresting a Servant of one of the Members and the Post-Master of Ware who was committed to the Serjeant at the complaint of Mr. Rushworth Debate about Religion about Post-Horses were Ordered to be Bailed upon reasonable Bail The House also fell upon the Church-work again which was to be Swept with their beesom of Reformation by abolishing Order Decency and Government as Superstition and Innovation to this purpose it was moved that they might consider of what alterations and additions were to be made in the Book of Common-Prayer whereupon Sir John Culpeper stood up and moved that the Book of Common-Prayer might be continued and remain without alteration or addition and that it might be observed and used with all due Reverence throughout the Kingdom Upon which the Question being put whether they should proceed to the farther consideration of this matter the House was divided upon it with the Yeas were 55 with the Noes 60 so it was for the present laid by This was always one great Artifice of the Party That when there was a thin House and any thing was moved which they perceived they should not be able to Carry to get it put off till either the contrary Party being tired with long Sitting were gone out of the House or that they found their own Party strong enough to carry the Vote And this the Reader shall find verified in a few days and that they not only proceeded to Vote but Authoritatively to Enact this their pretended Abolition of Innovations without the consent of either the King or House of Lords The House being very thin many of the Members being gone into the Country by reason of the spreading of the Contagion It was Ordered That lest the House should fall for want of Forty of the Members to be present at the Adjournment that there should at least Sixty meet the next Week to agree about the Recess upon which the House was Adjourned till Monday next Upon hearing the matter concerning the affront put upon the French Ambassador It was this day Ordered by the Lords as follows WHereas it appears by the Certificate of the Justices of Peace and by Proof of Witnesses Viva voce this Day at the Barr The Order about those who assaulted the French Ambassadors House upon full Examination of the business That Christopher Cook John Symons Richard Clarke John Bird Gyles Philips and Roger Gardner were principal Actors in committing of the great Outrage and Assault upon the French Ambassadors House in Lincolns Inn Fields as flinging of Stones and Assaulting the said House to the great molestation and dishonor of the said Ambassador which this House is very tender of It is Ordered that the Delinquents aforesaid shall forthwith stand committed to New Bride-well there to remain until their Masters or some others shall be Sureties for their Good Behaviour and that they appear at the next Sessions for Middlesex furthermore that the aforesaid Offenders shall stand on Pillories on Wednesday next in the morning for an hours space before the said Ambassadors House without being Vailed and shall publickly ask forgiveness upon their Knees of the Ambassador after which they shall be whipped before the said Ambassadors Door and along the Fields and Streets thereabout And Lastly it is Ordered that Mr. Long Mr. Sheppard Mr. Whittaker and Mr. Hooker Justices of the Peace together with the Sheriff of Middlesex who is to put this Order in Execution shall take special Care that there be a sufficient Guard about the Ambassadors House to prevent such Tumults that so the Peace may be kept during the time of the Execution of this Order The Ambassador being acquainted with this Order did by the Lord Chamberlain return his humble Thanks to the House for the same but desired That the Execution of it might be spared Whereupon it was Ordered That the Whipping be spared and that it be signified to the Offenders that it is remitted at the request of the said Ambassador And afterwards upon his request the Sentence was wholly remitted they asking him Pardon upon their Knees and they were released from their Imprisonment The Bishop of Lincoln who had formerly been so great a Favourite of the Commons Monday Septem 6. yet was a Bishop still and therefore upon any little false step contrary to their Sense more liable than another person to fall under their displeasure which happened to be upon this Occasion The Commons it seems had a great mind to try the Extempore Talent of Marshal and Burgess being men of Renown in that way of treating God Almighty and their Auditors with Prayers that were not tied to any Set Form whereby the Spirit was stinted and the Candle of mens Parts put under a bushel as the phrase of the Times went Now my Lord of Lincoln had it seems compiled a set Office as had been Usual upon the like Occasions for the Service of the Day of
Thanksgiving at this the Commons took great distast and upon Monday at their first meeting they fell upon this Debate the Result of which was That this House doth declare The Commons offended with the Bishop of Lincoln for making a Form of Prayer for the Thanksgiving Day That the Bishop of Lincoln had no Power to set forth any Prayer to be read at the Publick Thanksgiving and that no Minister ought to be ingaged to read the said Prayer and therefore the House is of Opinion and doth so Order That the said Prayer be not read in the Liberties of Westminster or elsewhere and that the Prayer be taken into Consideration upon Wednesday next and that a Conference be desired with the Lords thereupon At a Conference with the Lords several Letters were read Conference with the Lords about the Spanish Ambassador's Transporting Soldiers one from the King about four thousand Irish for the King of Spain a complaint being made to His Majesty by the Spanish Ambassador of the stopping of Ships which he had contracted with for their Transportation The Lord Newport acquainted the Commons That a Corporal of his Troop lately come out of the North was spoken unto from the Spanish Ambassador to conduct Horsemen to Plymouth and to have about three pound a man for it and it was very highly resented that the Spanish Ambassador should take upon him to levy Men here in England without consent of Parliament Whereupon it was Ordered That there shall be a stop at all the Ports in England to prohibit all Transportation of Horse or Foot out of the King's Dominions and that Sir John Culpeper and Mr. Waller shall forthwith repair to the Spanish and French Ambassadors to know by what Authority they Treat with Officers concerning the Levies of any Men Horse or Foot To this upon their return they gave the House an account That the Spanish Ambassador answered Negatively that he did not Treat with any whatsoever but that a Colonel had offered his Service but till he had His Majesties consent he refused to Treat with him That by His Majesties promises he thought himself in Possession of the Irish Soldiers and if they were taken from him he thought they took from him that which was his own It was thereupon further Ordered That no Merchants Transport any Soldiers out of any of His Majesties Dominions and no Ships to be cleared till they have given Security that they will not It was twice this day put to the Vote The same Question put twice in the House whether Col. Ashburnham Capt. Pollard should have their pay Whether Colonel Ashburnham and Captain Pollard should have their pay and the House was thereupon divided with the Noes were 49 with the Yeas 41. But the Friends of these Gentlemen taking the opportunity of the absence of some of those who had Voted against them moved the thing a second time and upon the Debate of the House they were again divided with the Yeas were 29 with the Noes 23 so it was carried in the Affirmative It was also Ordered Order about Lecturers That it shall be lawful for the Parishioners of any Parish in the Kingdom of England or Dominion of Wales to set up a Lecture and to maintain an Orthodox Minister at their own Charge to Preach every Lord's day where there is no Preaching and to Preach one day in every week where there is no weekly Lecture Thus did they set up a Spiritual Militia of these Lecturers who were to Muster their Troops and however it only appeared a Religious and Pious Design yet it must go for one of their pioe fraudes Politick Arts to gain an Estimate of their Numbers and the strength of their Party These Lecturers were neither Parsons Vicars nor Curates but like the Order of the Friers Predicants among the Papists who run about tickleing the Peoples Ears with stories of Legends and Miracles in the mean time picking their Pockets which were the very Faculties of these Men for they were all the Parliaments or rather the Presbyterian Factions Creatures and were therefore ready in all places to Preach up their Votes and Orders to Extol their Actions and applaud their Intentions these were the Men that debauched the People with Principles of disloyalty and taught them to Worship Jeroboam's Golden Calves the pretended Liberty of the Subject and the Glorious Reformation that was coming which the Common People adored even the Imaginary Idea of like the wild Ephesians as if it were a Government falling down from Heaven and as they used to Cant it the Pattern in the Mount the New Jerusalem and Mount Zion And in short the succeeding Tragedies of Murder Rapine Sacriledge and Rebellion were in a great measure the dismal Harvest of these Seeds of Fears Jealousies the Lawfulness of resisting the King's Authority in assistance of the Parliament their long Prayers and disloyal Sermons their Curse ye Meroz's and exhorting to help the Lord against the Mighty which with such diligence they sowed and with such unwearied pains by preaching as they said in Season and most certainly out of Season they took care to Cultivate and Improve and whoever will take the pains to observe shall find in the thred of this History that these Hirelings were so far from laying down their Lives for the Sheep that they preached many deluded Souls out of their Lives by a flagrant Rebellion and were so far from advancing the Gospel of Peace that they sounded the Trumpet for War and always their Pulpit Harangues to the People were the Repeated Ecchoes of the Votes Orders Remonstrances and Declarations of Westminster Besides this general Order for Lecturers there was a particular Order sent from the House to the Curate of Farnham the Seat of the Bishop of Winton commanding him to admit of a Lecturer The Contagion of the Pestilence Wednesday Septemb. 8. which had infected the Cities of London and Westminster increasing there were by the agreement of both Houses of Parliament certain Orders made to prevent the spreading of the Infection which were as follows 1. That the Bill Lord have mercy upon us with a large Red Cross be set upon the Door of every House infected with the Plague Orders for preventing the spreading of the Infection of the Plague 2. That all the stuff in the House where any have been visited with the Plague be well Ayred before they be discharged or the House opened 3. The House visited with the Plague to be shut up whether any persons therein do die or not and the persons so shut up to bear their own charges if they be of ability 4. No person to be removed out of any infected House but by leave of the Magistrate 5. If any person shall fly out of any House infected with the Plague at or before the death of any in the House such persons so flying to be pursued by Hue and Cry and the House where they shall be found to be
and doth get the Tongue of some men whose hearts are far from him For at one of your Committees I heard it publickly asserted by one of the Committee that some of our Articles do contain some things contrary to Holy Scripture Mr. Speaker Sunday is a Sabbath Sunday is no Sabbath Both true both untrue in several acceptations and the knot I think too hard for our Teeth Shall I give you an easier instance Some say it is lawful to kneel at receiving the Elements of our Holy Communion others Plead it as expedient Some do press it as necessary and there want not others who abhor it as Idolatrous And Sir I am confident you cannot so state this easie question to pass among us but that there will be many Contradicentes The Second Epistle of St. Peter is now newly denyed to be the Apostles Our Creed The Ministers in their Remonstrance do complain that the Creed is often rehearsed but they blotted out what they had put in that it is over-short and in one place dangerous obscure the Holy Apostles Creed is now disputed denyed inverted and exploded by some who would be thought the best Christians among us I started with wonder and with anger to hear a bold Mechanick tell me that my Creed is not my Creed He wondred at my wonder and said I hope your worship is too wise to believe that which you call your Creed O Deus bone in quae tempora reservasti nos Thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One absurdity leads in a thousand and when you are down the Hill of Error there is no bottom but in Hell and that is bottomless too Shall I be bold to give you one and but one instance more much clamor now there is against our publick Lyturgy though hallowed with the Blood of some of the first Composers thereof And surely Sir some parts of it may be well corrected But the clamors now go very high Impudence or Ignorance is nown grown so frontless that it is lowdly expected by many that you should utterly abrogate all forms of publick worship a As for them who admit a form to be lawful yet do declaim against Authothority for commanding and imposing the use of it it is to me a wonder and absurdity that a just Authority may not bind that to be done by a Law which is as they confess lawful in it self both to have and use and at least if you have a short Form yet not to impose the use of it Extirpation of Episcopacy that hope is already wallowed and now the same Men are as greedy for abolition of the Lyturgy that so the Church of England in her publick Prayers b In a false Copy abroad instead of may hereafter the silly Transcriber put in Nay her afferture which hath been some displeasure unto me may hereafter turn a babler at all adventure A brainless stupid and an ignorant conceit of some Thus much for a taste of that whereof there is two much abroad for the divisions of Reuben there are great thoughts of heart abroad Sir Thus are we engaged into sad points of Divinity and with the favour of that Gentleman who did last time disgust it I must again propound my doubtful quaere to be resolved by the wisdom of this House whether we be Idonei competentes judices in doctrinal resolutions In my Opinion we are not Let us maintain the Doctrine Established in the Church of England it will be neither safety nor wisdom for us to determine new Sir I do again repeat and avow my former words and do confidently affirm That it was never seen nor known in any age in any Nation throughout the whole World that a Set of Lay-men Gentlemen Soldiers Lawyers of both Gowns Physicians Merchants Citizens all professions admitted or at least admittable but the Professors of Religion alone excluded that we should determine upon Doctrines in Divinity Shall the Clergy hold different Doctrines from us or shall our determinations bind them also They are a considerable body in this Kingdom they are herein surely concerned as much as we and ought not to be bound up unheard and unpartied Farther Sir If Clergy-men among us be thought fit for no other then for spiritual imployment How shall we answer it to God and to a good Conscience if we shut them out from that which we our selves pretend to be their only and their proper work Mr. Speaker We cannot brag of an unerring spirit infallibility is no more tyed to your Chair then it is unto the Popes And if I may speak truth as I love truth with clearness and with plainness I do here ingeniously profess unto you that I shall not acquiesce and sit down upon the doctrinal resolutions of this House unless it be where my own Genius doth lead and prompt me to the same conclusions Mr. Speaker We are Convened by his Majesties Writ to Treat Super arduis negotiis regni Ecclesiae I beseech you let us not turn negotia Ecclesiae into dogmata fidei There is a great difference in Objecto between the Agends and the Credends of a Christian Let us take care to settle the Government that we do not unsettle the Doctrines The short close of all with a motion is but this we are poysoned in many points of Doctrine And I know no Antidote no Recipe for cure but one a well chosen and well temper'd National Synod and God's Blessing thereon this may cure us without this in my poor opinion England is like to tuâ—â— itself into a great Amsterdam And unless this Council be very speedy the Disease will be above the Cure Therefore that we may have a full fruition of what is here but promised I do humbly move that you will command forth the Bill for a National Synod to be read the next morning I saw the Bill above five Months since in the hand of a worthy Member of this House If that Bill be not to be had then my humble Motion is as formerly that you would name a Committee to draw up another This being once resolved I would then desire that all Motions of Religion this about the Lyturgy especially may be transferred thither and you will find it to be the way of Peace and Unity amongst us here I might have added in due place above a mention of 1. Frequent Schismatical Conventicles 2. That Taylors Shoomakers Braziers Felt-makers do climb our publick Pulpits 3. That several odd irregular Fasts have been held for partial venting of private flatteries of some slanders of other Members of this House 4. That the distinction of the Clergy and Laity is Popish and Antichristian and ought no longer to remain 5. That the Lords Prayer was not taught us to be used 6. That no National Church can be a true Church of God 7. That the visible Church of Antichrist did make the King Head of the Church 8. That supreme power in Church Affairs is in every several Congregation
Instructions were read in haec verba YOV shall be careful to Express to the Commissioners of Scotland His Majesties Gracious Acceptance Instructions to the Commissioners appointed to treat with the Scots Commissioners concerning assistance for Ireland and the thanks of both Houses of Parliament for their readiness to assist this Kingdom against the Rebels of Ireland You shall receive the Answer of the Parliament and State of Scotland concerning the 5000 Men which we formerly desired might be sent from thence into Ireland and upon what Conditions of Imprest Mony for raising of them and Wages for their Entertainment or otherwise how they shall be sent Furnish'd and Transported for His Majesties Service and the assistance of this Kingdom against the Rebellious Irish And you shall by the best Ways and Means you can Expedite the Raising and Sending over of these Men. These Instructions the House agreed to but because it was conceived they were short in one particular the Lords thought fit this Aâ—dition following should be made unto them viz. You shall from time to time before you grow to any perfect agreement give an account of what is propounded in this Treaty unto His Majesty and the two Houses of Parliament and receive their Directions before you come to any binding Conclusion Which was accordingly the next day Voted in the Commons House to be added to the said Commissioners Instructions The Lord Steward delivered in a Petition from Huntingdon-shire touching Episcopacy which was in these Words To the Right Honorable The Huntingdon-shire Petition for Episcopacy c. delivered Decemb 8. 1641. the Lords and Commons Assembled in Parliament The Humble Petition and Remonstrance of the County of Huntingdon for the continuance of the Church-Government and Divine Service or Book of Common Prayer Sheweth THat whereas many Attempts have been practised and divers Petitions from several Counties and other Places within this Kingdom framed and Penned in a close and subtile Manner to import more then is at first descernable by any ordinary Eye or that was imparted to those who signed the same have carried about to most Places against the present Form and Frame of Church-Government and Divine Service or Common Prayer and the Hands of many Persons of ordinary Quality solicited to the same with Pretence to be presented to the Honorable Assembly in Parliament and under colour of removing some Innovations lately crept into the Church and Worship of God and reforming some Abuses in the Ecclesiastical Courts which we conceiving and fearing not so much to aim at the taking away of the said Innovations and Reformation of Abuses as tending to an absolute Innovation of Church Government and Subversion of that Order and Form of Divine Service which hath happily continued among us ever since the Reformation of Religion out of a tender and zealous regard hereunto We have thought it our Duty not only to disavow all such Petitions but also to manifest our Publick Affections and Desires to continue the Form of Divine Service and Common Prayers and the present Government of the Church as the same have been continued ever since the first Reformation and stand so established by the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom For when We consider That the Form of Divine Service expressed and contained in the Book of Common Prayer was with great Care Piety and Sincerity revised and reduced from all former Corruptions and Romish Superstitions by those holy and selected Instruments of the Reformation of Religion within this Church and was by them restored to its first purity according as it was instituted and practised in the Primitive Times standeth Confirmed Established and Injoyned by Act of Parliament and Royal Injunction and hath ever since had the general Approbation of the Godly and a publick Use and continuance within this Church And that Bishops were instituted and have had their being and continuance ever since the first Planting of Christian Religion among us and the rest of the Christian World that they were the Lights and glorious Lamps of God's Church that so many of them sowed the Seeds of Christian Religion in their Bloods which they willingly pouered out therefore that by them Christianity was rescued and preserved from utter extirpation in the fierce and most cruel Persecutions of Pagan Emperors that to them we owe the Redemption of the purity of the Gospel and the Reformation of the Religion we now profess from Romish Corruption that many of them for the propagation of that Truth became glorious Martyrs leaving unto us an holy Example and an honorable Remembrance of their Faith and Christian Fortitude that divers of them lately and yet living with us have been so great Assertors and Champions of our Religion against the common Enemy of Rome and that their Government hath been so Ancient so long Approved and so often Established by the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom and as yet nothing in their Doctrine generally taught dissonant from the Word of God or the Articles Established by Law and that most of them are of singular Learning and Piety In this Case to call the Form of Divine Service and Common Prayers Erronious Popish Superstitious Idolatrous and call the Government by Bishops a perpetual Vassalage and intolerable Bondage and at the first Step and before the Parties concerned be heard to pray the present removal of them or the utter Dissolution and Extirpation of them their Courts and their Officers as Antichristian and Diabolical we cannot conceive to savor or relish of Piety Justice and Charity nor can we joyn with them herein but rather humbly pray a Reformation of the Abuses and Punishment of the Offenders but not the Ruin or Abolition of the Innocent Now on the contrary when We consider the Tenor of such Writings as in the Name of Petition are spread among the Common People the Contents of many printed Pamphlets swarming at London and over all Countries the Sermons preached publickly in Pulpits and other private Places and the bitter Invectives divulged and commonly spoken by many disaffected Persons all of them shewing an extreme averseness and dislike of the present Government of the Church and Divine Service or Common Prayers dangerously exciting a Disobedience to the established Form of Government and Church Service their several Intimations of the desire of the Power of the Keys and that their Congregations may be independent and may execute Ecclesiastical Censures within themselves whereby many Sects and several and contrary Opinions will soon grow and arise whereby great Divisions and horrible Factions will soon insue thereupon to the Breach of that Union which is the sacred Bond and Preservation of the Common Peace of Church and State their peremptory desires and bold assuming to themselves the Liberty of Conscience to introduce into the Church whatsoever they Affect and to refuse and oppose all things which themselves shall dislike and what they dislike must not only to themselves but also to all others be Scandalous