Gods house were notwithstanding advanced to the highest grison of Church-Dignities And if this Narrative presents some Ecclesiasticks blame-worthy the inference is fallacious that therefore our times are worse than former or that the accrimination overspreadeth all No what St. Augustine said of some Enormitans in his time is no less true of ours That though our Church had cause to grieve for the blemishes of some yet might she glory in the Ornaments of more And so much shall serve for my present purpose as to the former part of this Authors Preface Et si constrista mur de aliquâ—bus Purgamentis tamen consolamu◠〈◊〉 pluribus Ornâ—mentis Aug Epist 137. wherein he doth endeavour to satisfie his Readers that he will carry an even hand between either side and steer his course aright and so far I shall endeavour as much as in me lyes to write after his Copy But yet where persons are blame-worthy I shall not be Meal-mouth'd but let them know their failings and embecillities until they give me better satisfaction than I have at present concerning their Reformation And now to transcribe some of this Authors Narrative concerning the Reign of King Charles the First so wise so vertuous so temperate so chaste so learned and so religious a Prince and a strong assertor of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England against the Old Gentleman at Rome and all his adherents yet that this Prince after his Death by the Pens-Militant instead of inserting this Parenthesis concerning him as they have done of many Princes after their decease of Ever blessed Memory should be constrained to counterchange their Dialect and say of Ever unfortunate and deplorable Memory I must confess is so profound a mystery unto me that I am not able to search and penetrate into the depth thereof and therefore must leave this I could wish I were not able to say so much by experience most unfortunate Prince though of Ever blessed Memory in some sense unto the searcher of all hearts and before whom all things are naked bare and open who worketh and wisely disposeth of all things both in Heaven and in Earth according to the infallible and most unerring Councel and Dictates of his own Will. But to proceed in my intended design to Transcribe from my Author some of the particular and most material Transactions as to matter of fact in those days and should I have transcribed the whole it would have been a new Edition of the said Narrative and would have swelled this small piece which was intended for no other in my primary cogitations unto a very large Bulk the which you may please to peruse in manner and form as followeth viz. King James surrendred his Soul to God and his Three Kingdoms to his Son at Theobalds Anno Domini March the 27th 1625. And now it will not be amiss saith the ingenious Historian nor vary from the usual ceremony ordained to the body of extinct Princes if I here represent in brief the pourtraicture of this Famous Monarch which I will do freely sincerely and with a spirit which equally disdains to libel or flatter him In the stile of the Court His Character he went for Great Britains Solomon nor is it any excursion beyond the Precincts of verity to say that neither Britain nor any other Kingdom whatsoever could ever since Solomon's days glory in a King for recondite learning and abstruse knowledge so near a match to Solomon as he And though he was a Universal Scholar yet did he make other Sciences their most proper imployment but drudges and servitors to Divinity wherein he became so transcendently eminent as he notoriously foil'd the greatest Clerks of the Roman See Nor did his Theological abilities more advantage the Cause of Religion abroad than at home they keeping the new-fangled Clergy aloof and at a distance as not daring to infuse into so solid a judgment their upstart and erroneous fancies no nor disquiet the Churches peace with Heterodox opinions by which it appears this Author and King James were both Calvinists as to their particular Sentiments in matters of Religion A stout adversary he was to the Arminians and Semi-Pelagians whom he called as Prosper before him and so doth the whole tribe of them ever since the Enemies of Gods grace And as slender a friend he was to the Presbytery here he intends in matters Ecclesiastical as to the form of Church-government and imposed Constitutions of whose Tyrannical and Antimonarchical principles he had from his cradle smart experience He was an excellent Speaker the Scheme of his Oratory being more stately than Pedantick and the Expressions argued him both a King and Scholar In his apparel and civil garb he seemed naturally to affect a Majestick carelesness which was so hectick and habitual in him as even in Religious exercises where the external demeanor is a grand part of that sacred homage he was somewhat too incurious and irreverent He was indulgent a little to his Palat and had a smack of the Epicure In pecuniary dispensations to his Favourites he was most excessive liberal yea though the exigence of his own wants pleaded retention Nor was Solomon himself more a Solomon according to the true notion of the word which imports a man of rest than he selecting for his Motto Beati Pacifici or the seventh Beatitude as most agreeable to his genius and natural constitution He was studious of peace somewhat over-much for a King in pursuit whereof Virtue flew to a lessening and in the opinion of many out of sight he incurring thereby the note of Pusillanimity very suspicious from his managing the Cause of the Palatinate for had not the thought of War been terrible unto him would he so long have endured his Son-in-law exterminated from his Patrimony while the Austrian Faction to his great dishonour cajol'd and kept him in delusory chat with specious fallacies Would he in those several Negotiations of Carlisle Bristow Belfast and Weston have spent so vast sums the moity whereof had they been disposed in Military-levies and preparations would have Modell'd an Army able when Hidleburgh Manhrein and Frankindale defended themselves to have totally dissipated all the forces of the Usurpers to have Master'd the imperious Eagle enforcing her to forego her Quary and reinstate the Paulsgrave Would he so tediously have courted the Alliance of Spain to the very great regret of his Subjects whom his Predecessor had so often baffled and whom England ever found a worse friend than enemy What stronger Evidence can be given in of a wonderful defect of courage As this faint-heartedness lost him the reputation and respects of his People so his heavy pressures upon them and undue Levies by Privy-Seals and the like alienated their affections especially considering how those Moneys were misemployed indeed rather thrown away partly in the two dishonourable Treaties of Spain and Germany and the consequential Entertainments and partly in Largesses upon his Minion Buckingham
Between this disaffection and contempt in his People there was generated a general disposition to turbulent and boisterous darings and expostulations even against his darling Prerogative And though those dismal calamities which after befel his Son were ampliated doubtless by a superfetation of causes yet was their first and main existency derivative from those recited grounds Let Court-Pens extol the calmness of his Halcion Reign with all the artifice of Rhetorick Let them conclude the Parable and tell us God gave King James also as he did Solomon rest from all his enemies round about yet can they never truly deny but that admired severity had its set in a cloud and that he lest to his Successor a Crown of Thorns as being engaged to contend with two puissant Enemies First the mighty Monarch of the West the King of Spain Secondly the more invincible of the two an empty purse For that King who hath this Enemy to encounter shall never atchieve any thing of glorious production The death of this Famous Monarch caused no other interregnum than of joy his Son Charles being immediately by Sir Edward Zouch then Knight Marshal proclaimed at the Court-gate King of Great Britain France and Ireland His first Act of Regality was to dispatch Aviso's of his Fathers decease to Foreign Princes and States his Correspondents with whom he was in Amity Next he took into care the becoming Obsequies of the Royal Corps which removed from Theobalds to Denmark-house in London April the 23d was thence the 7th of May conveyed to Westminster and there inhum'd with the greatest Solemnities and most stately Ritualities could be devised Though grief had taken up the principal Lodgings of King Charles his heart yet did it not quite turn love out of doors but he had still an eye to France and held himself concern'd to let his Agents know he was mindful of the stock he had going there and to rear a firm assurance of his serious intentions He sent over Letters of Procuration for the Duke of Chevereux to espouse the Lady Henrietta Maria only he added this especial precaution That those Letters should not be resigned up until May the 8th when the Celebrities of his Fathers Funeral would be over for he would not that grief and joy things incompatible should justle But these instructions for what cause I know not were not in all points precisely observed for on May the 11th as others and the first as we compute six days before King James his Obsequies the Espousals were solemnized in the Church of Nostredame in Paris the Queen being given by her two Brothers the King and Monsieur the Nuptials past the Royal Bride prepared for England and to wait upon her with the greater splendor his Majesty dispatcheth over the Duke of Buckingham with the Earl of Montgomery and other Persons of Quality May the 24th they arrived at Paris and June the 2d the Queen after the iteration of most affectionate adieux reciprocated and interchanged between the King and her self set forward for Amiens where being attended with a most Princely retinue she was under the restraint of a Magnificent Entertainment till the 16 of that Month thence she dis-lodged for Bulloigne where she was to Embarque for England the Contagion then being much at Calais there she found ready to receive her 21 tall Ships sent from her dearest with a gallant Convoy of the Dutchess of Buckingham and other Ladies of Honour and Eminence to serve her June the 22d she set Sail for England and Landed safe at Dover after a turbulent and tempestuous passage His Majesty lay that night at Canterbury and next morning with joy incredible greeted his Royal Consort and conducted her to Canterbury where the Marriage was finally compleated the Duke of Chevereux his Majesties former Representative consigning up his precious charge to the King c. I have heard some who undertake to mate all events with their proper causes passionately ascribe Englands Calamities to those Internuptials and fetch that ireful stroke of Divine vengeance upon his late Majesty from his Marrying a Lady of mis-belief Grant I do that both England's and his Majesties Sufferings may in some sort be reductive to the casualty of that Match but that there was any intrinsick noxiousness in it either as French or Popish I am not yet convinced The same time while His Majesty was thus busied in his Amorous Negotiation abroad he plyed as well his Interest at home and while he Wooed his Royal Mistriss there he made Love to his People here by Summoning a Parliament that League being not more important to him as Man than this as King for as Man is without a female Consort so is a King without his Supreme Council an half-form'd steril thing the natural Extracts of the one procreated without a Wife are not more spurious than the Laws the politick Descendents of the other without the coition of a Representative The solemnity of this grand Match was commenced at VVestminster June the 18th At first interview it appeared under the scheme and fashion of a Money-Wedding and in truth the publick affairs did then implore no less Upon the opening the Parliament the King imparted his mind to the Lords and Commons to this effect My Lords and Centlemen YOV are not ignorant that at your earnest intreaty March 23. 1623 my Father of happy Memory first took up Arms for the recovery of the Palatinate for which purpose by your assistance he began to form a considerable Army and to prepare a goodly Armado and Navy-Royal But death intervening between him and the atchievement the War with the Crown is devolved upon me To the prosecution whereof as I am obliged both in Nature and Honour so I question not but the same necessity continuing you will cherish the action with the like affection and farther it with a ready contribution True it is you furnished my Father with affectionate supplies but they held no symmetry or proportion with the charge of so great an enterprize for those your Donatives are all disburs'd to a penny and I am enforced to summon you hither to tell you That neither can the Army advance nor the Fleet set forth without your aid Consider I pray you the Eyes of all Europe are defixt upon me to whom I shall appear ridiculous as though I were unable to out-go Muster and Ostentation if you now desert me it is my first attempt wherein if I sustain a foil it will blemish all my future Honour If mine cannot let your Reputations move deliver and expedite me fairly out of this War wherewith you have becumbred let it never be said whereininto you have betrayed me I desire therefore your speedy supply speedy I call it for else it will prove no supply The Sun you know is entring into his declining point so it will be soon too late to set forth when it will be rather not too soon to return Again I must mind you of the
Brittain should be this Person of Quality here intimated and described in this most wonder ful and Antient Prophecy a Prediction I must needs Confess most proper for such wonderful times as we now live in would you not all unanimously and with loud Acclamations throw up your Caps and Beavers into the Air and cry Vive le Roy or Currat Lex vivat Rex And if so for my own part I should yet hope to see if it shall please my Gracious God to lend me a little longer time of health and strength many Halcyon and most happy days in the Land and Nation of my Nativity before I go away hence and shall be seen no more And that an happy union and good correspondence between his present Majesty and his future Parliaments without the least suspition or jealousie one of another may yet come to pass in our days I do most humbly beseech thy Divine Majesty who art the Lord God Almighty to grant for thy great names-sake and for thy Vicegerents sake and for his Peoples sake who are truly Loyal and obedient Subjects in and through thy most dear and well beloved Son the Lord Jesus Christ in whom thou art well pleased and whom by thy free grace goodness and most stupendious mercy and compassion to thy poor creatures is the Lord and giver of everlasting Life to all those who shall most faithfully and most sincerely though but imperfectly obey him And now to him with thy eternal Majesty who art King Immortal Invisible and only wise God by the assistance of thy holy and for ever blessed Spirit of Grace I do most humbly desire to render give and ascribe all honour glory laud and praise might Majesty reverential fear and all humble adoration from this time forth and for evermore Amen And now in the close of all Whereas in my Title-Page I have there intimated how Magna Charta was most solemnly and most wonderfully even to the astonishment of the Spectators ratified pronounced and proclaimed and therefore must not now leave you in the dark as to that particular but refer you to the Packet of Advice from Rome Number 50. the which in my slender apprehension deserves to be written in Letters of Gold upon the Walls of both Houses of Parliament And for your present and I hope pleasant satisfaction I have here inserted and presented you with the same at large HAving presented the Reader with the most remarkable Transactions of Papal Tyranny in Foreign Parts down to the year 1254 't is time to look homewards and observe Ecclesiastic Occurrences in England our last Discourse of that kind terminating with the death of King John to whom succeeded his Son Henry the third of that name for though by reason of the Fewds between John and his Barons they had invited over Lewis the French King's Son and many had to him sworn Allegiance yet the Father being dead and his faults buried with him they did not think fit to yield up themselves to the French Man's Yoak who already began to exercise an insufferable Tyranny wherever he had Power And although the Pope had at first encourag'd the Barons in their Rebellion yet when once he had hector'd King John into a Resignation of his Crown he became his Patron and forbad Lewis from intermedling with the Kingdom as being then forsooth part of S. Peter's Patrimony and therefore excommunicated Lewis for the Invasion which engag'd most of the Clergy to oppose him And so Henry on the 28th of October 1216. was Crown'd being then in the 10th year of his Age and Lewis being routed at Lincoln was glad to come to a Treaty quit his Pretensions and most dishonourably retreat into France Yet 't is observable that the Clergy were then such fast Friends to their Head the Pope and so little regardful of the Descent in the Right Line that they would not accept Henry for their King without making him first do Homage to the Holy Church of Rome and Pope Innocent for his Kingdoms of England and Ireland and swearing to pay the 1000 Marks per Annum which his Father had promised to that See. Matth. Paris fol. 278. And besides to bring Grists to the Roman Mill the Pope's Legate at that time in England immediately on the Departure of Prince Lewis sent his Inquisitors all over the Realm and whomsoever they would discover to have sided with him Consensu etiam Levissimo Though in the least degree must atone the Crime with a large Sum insomuch as the Bishop of Lincoln before he could be restored to his Bishoprick was forc'd to pay 1000 Marks to the Pope's use and 1000 to the Legate for the little Rogue would have snips in the prey with the great One and many other Bishops and Religious Men were glad to empty their Pockets to him at the same rate Matth. Paris fol. 218. In the year 1220. the Pope was pleased to make Hugh formerly Bishop of Lincoln a Saint and since the manner of his Vn-Holiness's declaring the same may be Divertive to the common English Reader I shall give you the very words of his Letter Translated as I find it in Matth. Paris fol. 298. Honorius Servant of the Servants of God to all our well-beloved Sons the Faithful of Christ that shall inspect these Presents Greeting and Apostolick Benediction The worthiness of Divine Piety does make famous his Holy Ones and Elect placed in the Bliss of the Celestial Kingdom by the shining forth of their Miracles still upon Earth that the Devotion of the Faithful being thereby stirred up may with due Veneration implore their Aid and Suffrages since therefore we are fully satisfied that the Bounty of Heaven hath illustrated Hugh Bishop of Lincoln as well in his Life as after his Death with a multitude of Famous Miracles We have thought fit to Enroll him in the Catalogue of Saints and admonish and exhort you all in the Lord That you devoutly implore his Patronage and Intercession for you with Almighty God farther Commanding That the day of his Decease be henceforwards every year devoutly Celebrated as a Holyday Dated at Viterbium the 13th Calend of March in the fourth year of our Popedom But how much a Saint soever he was we meet with another Bishop as very a Devil for about this time a Quarrel happening between Richard Bishop of Durham and the Monks of the same Church they complain'd of him to the Pope who seem'd much concern'd at his many horrid Crimes and presently sent over a Letter in these Terms Honorius Bishop c. to the Bishops of Salisbury Ely c. Greeting and Aposlolick Benediction It is fit for us to be so delighted in the sweet Savour of a good opinion of our Brethren and Fellow-Labourers as not to connive at Vices in those that are Pestilent since it becomes not us for the Reverence of the Order to bear with Sinners whose Guilt renders them as worthy of as many Deaths as they transinit Examples of