which being minted in the Tower was no small benefit to the King by the Coynage of it and no lesse benefit to the City and the Kingdome generally in regard the greatest part thereof was stil kept amongst us in lieu of such manufactures and native commodities of this Land as were returned into Flanders for the use of that Army And yet this was not all the service which they did this Summer The French and Hollanders had â—…tred this year into a Confederacy to rout the King of Spaine out of all the Netherlands in which it was agreed amongst other things that the French should invest Dunkirk and the other parts of Flanders with their Forces by Land whilst the Hollanders did besiege them with a Fleet at Sea that so all passages into the Countrey being thus locked up they might the more easily subdue all the Inland parts And in all probability the designe had took effâ—…ct in this very year the King of Spaine noâ—… being able to bring 8000 men into the field and leave his Garrisons provided the people of the other side being so practisâ—…d on by the Holland Faction that few or none of them would Arm to repulse those Enemies But first the formidable appearance of the English Fleet which 〈◊〉 the Hollanders before Dunkirk and then the insolencies of the French at Diest and Tillemont did so incourage and iâ—…flame the hearts of the people that the Armies both of the French and Hollanders returned back again without doing any thing more than the wasting of the Countrey And was not this think we a considerable piece of service also Lastly I am to tell our Author that it was not the Earle of Northumberland as he tells us some lines before but the Earle of Lyndsey which did command the Fleet this Summer Anno 1635. The Earle of Northumberland not being in Commission for this service till the year next following when all the Counties of the Realm were engaged in the charge So as the Kings discretion was called in to part the fray by the committing the Staffe of that Office into the hands of William Juxton Lord Bishop of London March the 6th who though he was none of the greatest scholars yet was withall none of the worst Bishops Our Author still fails in his intelligence both of men and matter For first the occasion of giving the Office of Lord Treasurer to the Bishop of London was not to part a fray between the Archbishop and the Lord Cottington who never came to such immoderate heats as our Author speaks of but upon very good considerations and reasons of State â—…or whereas most of the Lord Treasurers of these latter times had rather served themselves by that Office than the King in it and raising themselves to the Estates and Titles of Earles but leaving the two Kings more incumbred with debts and wants than any of their Predecessors had been known to be it was thought fit to put the Staffe of that Officâ—… into the hands of a Church-man who having no Family to raise no Wife and Chilâ—…ren to provide for might better managâ—… the Incomes of the Treasury to the Kings advantage than they had been formerly and who more fit for that employment among all the Clergie than the Bâ—…shop of London a man of so well tempered a disposition as gave exceeding great content both to Prince and people and being a dear friend of the Archbishops who had served the whole year as Commissioner in that Publick trust was sure to be instructed by him in all particulars which concerned the managing thereof But whereas our Author tells us of him that he was none of the greatest scholars I would faine learn in what particular parts either of Divine or Humane Learning our Author reckons him defective or when our Author sate so long in the Examiners Office as to bring the poor Bishop unto this discovery I know the man and I know also his abilities as well in Publick Exercises as Private Conferences to be as farre above the censure of our Aristarchus as he conceives himself to be above such an ignorant and obscure School-Master as Theophilus Brabaurne It is true he sets him off with some commendation of a calm and moderate spirit and so doth the Lord Faulkland too in a bitter Speech of his against the Bishops Anno 1641 where he saith of him That in an unexpected place and power he expressed an equall moderation and humility being neither ambitious before nor proud after either of the Crozier or white Staffe But there are some whom Tacitus calls Pessimum inimicorum genus the worst kinde of Enemies who under colour of commending expose a man to all the disadvantages of contempt or danger The Communion Table which formerly stood in the midst of the Church or Chancel he enjoyned to be placed at the East end upon a graduated advance of ground with the ends inverted and a wooden traverse of â—…ailes before it Of placing the Communiou Table with the ends inverted we are told before Anno 1628 and if it were then introduced and so farre in practise that notice could be taken of it by the Committee for Religion no reason it should now be charged on the Archbishop as an Act of his But granting it to be his Act not to repeat any thing of that which was said before in justification of those Bishops who were there said to have done the like we doubt not but he had sufficient authority for what he did in the transposing of the Table to the Eastern wall The King by the advice of his Metropolitan hath a power by the Statute 1 Eliz. c. 2. on the hapning of any irreverence to be used by the Ceremonies or Rites of the Church by misusing the Orders appointed in this Book namely the Book of Common Prayers to ordain and publish such further Rites and Ceremonies as may be most for the advancement of Gods glory the edifying of his Church and the due reverence of Christs holy Mysteries and Sacraments And certainly there had been so much irreverence done to the Communion Table standing unfenced as then it did in the middle of the Chancell not onely by scribling and sitting on it as before was noted but also by Dogs pissing against it as of common course and sometimes snatching away the Bread which was provided for the use of the blessed Sacrament that it was more than time to transpose the Communion Table to a place more eminent and to fence it also with a raile to keep it from the like prophanation for the time to come Nor did the Archbishop by so doing outrun authority the King having given authority and 〈◊〉 to it a year before the Metropoliticall Visitation which our Author speaks of The Deane and Chapter of S. Pauls as being Ordinaries of the place had transposed the Communion Table in Saint Gregoryes to the upper end of the Chancel and caused it to be placed Altar-wise which being disliked
Lord Privie Seal Sir Edward Littleton chief Justice of the Common Pleas Sir John Bankes Attorney Generall Sir Robert Heath and Sir Ralph Whitfield the Kings Serjeants at Law who on the 10. of May subscribed a paper with their hands to this effect That the Convocation being called by the Kings Writ was to continue till it were dissolved by the Kings Writ notwithstanding the dissolution of the Parliament Upon the readiâ—…g of this paper in the lower House of Convocation and the satisfaction there by given to all contrary scruples they went on to their businesse not as a new Synod made of an old Convocation quoth the witâ—…y Gentleman but as an old Synod armed with a new Commission What they did there we shall see anon but with what danger they sate there I shall tell you now The dissolving of the Parliament having bred such discontentments some papers posted up by Lilborne so inflamed the Apprentices and the Riot upon Lambeth House created such a terrour in the Members of the Convocation that the King was faine to set a guard about Westminster Abbey for the whole time of their sitting Poor men to what a distresse were they brought in danger of the Kings displeasure if they rosâ—… of the Peoples fury if they sate in danger of being beaten up by Tumults while they were at the worke of being beaten down by the following Parliament when thâ—… worke was done and after all obnoxious to the lash of censorious tongues for their good intendments For notwithstanding their great care that all things might be done with decency and to edification every one even our Author himself must have his blow at them And first he strikes at the Oâ—…th enjoyned in the sixt Canon for preâ—…ervation of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church here by Lâ—…w established But to make sure worke of it that the blow may come home indeed he prepares his way with a discourse against Episcopacy it selfe for maintenance whereof amongst other things that Oath was framed telling us positively that Bishops and Presbyters in Scripture phrase are of eqâ—…ivalent import and denote the selfesame persons without the least distinction They whom Holy Text calls Bishops having an Identity a sâ—…enesse of Name of Ordination of Office of all qualifications necessary to that Office with Presbyters I have heard that when Cornelius Burges was to goe out Doctor he would needs take upon him to answer the Divinity Act but did it so unluckily and with such a plentifull want of understanding in the tearmes of Logick that Doctor Prideaux said openly to him Tu possis bene pradicare sed non potes bene disputare that he might possibly be a good Preacher though he were but a very sorry Disputant The like may be said of our Author 〈◊〉 so when he plaiâ—… the Historian in relating of such things as are builâ—… upon good intelligence he doth it very well few better but when he comes to shew his opinion in a matter controverted and to give his reasons for the same he doth it very ill none worse For first I doe not believe that our Author can easily prove Presbyters and Bishops to be of equivalent import or comprehended under the same name in the Holy Scripture But secondly granting that they be who that pretends to Logick can dispute so lamely as from a Community of names to inferre an Identity or samenâ—…sse in the thing so named which is the ground our Author builds on Kings are called Gods in holy Scripture I have said ye are Gods Psal. 82. 6. and God doth frâ—…quently call himselfe by the name of King yet if a man should thence inferre that from this Community of names there aâ—…iseth an Identity or samenesse between God and the King he might be worthily condemned for so great a Blasphemer S. Peter calls our Saviour Christ by the name of Bishop and himselfe a Presbyter or Priest an Elder as most unhandsomly our English reads it the Bishop of your Souleâ—… 1 Pet. 2. 25. I who am also an Elder 1 Pet. ver 1. yâ—…t were it a sorry piece of Logick to conclude from hence that there is no distinction between an Apostle and an Elder the Prince of the Apostles and a Simple Presbyter or between Christ the supream Pastor of his Church and every ordinary B shop And thirdly taking iâ—… for granted that Bishops have an Identity or samenesse in Name Office Ordination and Qualification with Presbyters as our Author telleth us they have it will not follow convertibly that Presbyters have the like Identity or samenesse of Qualification Ordination Name and Office which the Bishop hath My reason is because a Bishop being first Regularly and Canonically to be made a Priest before he take the order and degree of a Bishâ—…p hath in him all the Qualifications the Ordination Name and Office which a Presbyter hath and something farther superadded as well in point of Order as of Juvisdiction which every Presbyter hath not so that though every Bishop be a Pâ—…iest or Presbyter yet every Presbyter not a Bishop To make this clear by an exampâ—…e in the Civill Government when Sir Robert Câ—…cill Knight and principall Secretary of State was made first Earl of Salisbury and then Lord Treasurer continuing Knight and Secretary as he was before it might be said that he had an Identity or samenesse in Name Office Order and Qualification with Sir John Herbert the other Secretary yet could this be said reciprocally of Sir John Herbert because there was something super added to Sir Robert Cecill namely the dignity of an Earle and the Office of Lord Treasurer which the other had not So true is that of Lactantius an old Christian writer Adeo argumenta ex absurdo petita ineptos habent excitus So ordinary a thing it is for Arguments built upon weak grounds to have worse conclusions Episcopacy being thus knocked down with a painted club our Author goes on to tell us what great but unprofitable paines were taken in defence thereof telling us that though the Presse swarmed with Books setting forth the right upon which it was founded yet all advantaged them little How so because saith he Such a prejudice there was against them and the truth contended for lay then so deep as few had perspicuity enough to 〈◊〉 it That the Presse swarmed with Books purposely writ about this time in defence of the Dâ—…vine Right of Episcopacy I remember not but sure I am it swarmed with many pestilent and seditious Libels in which the B shops were defamed and the calliâ—…g questioned In answer whereunto if any of them were thought worthy to receive an answer it is possible that someâ—… what may be said upon the by for Declaration of that Divine Right on which it was founded Nor was this any new claime never made before but frequently insisted on by the Bishop and those that writ in defence of Bishops in Queen Elizabeths time by Doctor Bancroft then Bishop
publick Treaties and Negotiations and many private Conferences and debates of Councell he was out-witted and made use of unto other mens ends by almost all that undertook him And onâ—… might say I fearâ—… too truly that by putting off the Majesty belonging to a King of England that so he might more liberally enjoy himselfe neglecting the affaires of State and cares of Government to hunt after pleasures deserting the imperiall City to sport himselfe at Roiston Newmarket and such obscure places which were to him as the Isle of Capre was to Tiberius Caesar and finally by letting loose the Golden reines of Discipline held by his Predecessors with so strict a hand he opened the first gap unto those confusions of which we have since found the miserable and wofull consequences But I know not what temptation hath drawn this note from me I goe on againe A stout adversary he was to the Arminians and Semi-Pelagians whom he called as Prosper before him did the Enemies of Gods grace In this short sentence there are many things to be considered 1. What these Arminians were which our Author speakes of 2. Whether they were the Enemies of Gods grace or not and 3. what the reason was why King James shewed himselfe so great an adversary to them as you say he did And first for the Arminians as you call them they were a branch of the Sect of Calvin to whose Discipline in all particulars they conformed themselves and to his Doctrines in the most differing only in the matter of Predestination the points subordinate but managing thoâ—… differences with a better temper then their Opposites did Nor were these differences onely controverted in the School of Calvin but had been many times disputed with great heat and passion betwixt the Franciscans and Dominicans in the Church of Rome The rigid and moderate Lutherans in the Churches Protestant The rigid Lutherans who looke on Flacius Illyricus a man of a turbulent and fiery nature as their Head and Captaine and with them the Dominieans or black Friers goe the same way as Calvin and his followers doâ—… and these proceed upon the authority of Saint Augustine whose zeale against the Pâ—…lagian Heresies transported him into such inconvenient expressions as the wisâ—…st men may fall into on the like occasions The moderate Lutherans of which Melancthon a sober and right learned man and therefore not unfitly called the Phoenix of Germany was the principal leader and with them the Franciscan Friers and of late the Jesuits goe the same way which the Arminians since have followed grounding themselves upon the constant current of the antient Fathers who lived and flourished ante mala certamina Pelagiana before the authority of Saint Augustine in canvassing and confuting the Pelagian Heresies carried all before it For Doctor James Hermin the University Reader in the University of Leidon preferring the Doctrine of Melancthon in these points before that of Calvin not onely maintained it in the Schooles but preached it also in the Pâ—…lpit as occasion was not that he was the first of the School of Calvin that professed this way but that he was of better parts and of greater Learning then any who before had undertook it And being he was a man of such parts and Learning and that his doctrine was conceived to be more Rationall in it selfe farre more agreeable unto the Justice and Mercy of Almighty God and more conducing unto Piety then that of the Rigid Calvinist was esteemed to be it quickly found great multitudes of followers in the Bâ—…lgique Churches and these not onely of the Vuâ—…gar but the Learned sort of which last ranke I may reckon Episcopius Corvinus Bertius Tilenus John Gâ—…rard Vossius for his abilities in Learning made a Prebend of Canterbury and that great magazine both of Divine and Humane literature Hugo Grotius These are the men who commonly are nick-named Arminians and these the rigid Calvinists have indeavoured to oppose to the publick hatred by fastning on them many horrid Blasphemies and grosse absurdities which cannot properly and of right be charged upon them For in the continuation of the History of the Netherlands writ by one â—…rosse as I remember a fellow of no Parts or Judgment and so more apt to be abused with a false report It is affirmed that there was a Synod called at Dâ—…rt to suppresse the Arminians and that the said Arminians held amongst other Heresies first that God was the Author of Sinne and secondly that he Created the far greatest part of mankinde onely of purpose for to damn them with severall others of that kinde which every man of Reading knowes not onely to be the Consequence and Results of Calvin's Doctrine but to be positively mainteined and taught by some of his followers By these and such like subâ—…ill and malitious practises they indeavoured to expose their adversaries to the publick hatred and make them odious with the people till at the last those poore men might have said most justly as once the Primitive Christians did under the burden of the like Calumnies and Imputations Condemnati sumus quia nominamur non quia convincimur as Tertullian hath it the name of an Arminian carried a Condemnation in it selfe without any conviction 2. But if they were the Enemies of the Grace of God and that King James so conceived of them they did undoubtedly deserve all this and more but certainly whatsoever King James might please to call them I am sure he had little reason for it those whom you call Arminians speaking as Honourably and Religiously of the grace of God as the most Orthodox writers in the Primitive times It is true indâ—…d that the Pelagians did ascribe so much to the powers of Nature in the Conversion of a Sinner and the whole worke of Regeneration ut gratiam Dei necessariam non putarent that they thought the Grace of God 〈◊〉 be together unnecessary as Lyrinensis tells us of them If the Arminians as you call them were of this opinion they were the Enemies of Gods Grace there is no doubt of that But looke into the five Articles which they exhibited in their Remonstrance to the States of Holland and after to the Assembly at Dort and you will finde the contrary it being there affirmed expresly in these following words Gratiam Dei Staiuimus esse principium progressum complementum omnis boni â—…deo ut ne ipse quidem regenitus absque praecedente sive praeveniente ista excitante prosequente cooperante gratiâ bonum cogitare velle aut peragere possit uâ—…isve ad malum tentationibus resistere It a ut bona opera actionesque quas quis cogitando potest adsequi gratiae Dei in Christo adscribenda sint We teach say they that the Grace of God is the beginning and promotion and accomplishment of every thing that is good in us insomuch that the Regenerate man can neither thinke will nor doe any thing that is good without this grace
preventing Cooperating and Assisting and consequently that all good works which any man in his life can attaine unto are to be attributed and Ascribed to the Grace of God Call you those men the Enemies of Gods grace as you seem to make them I hope Saint Augustine was no enemy of the grace of God in giving us this Golden sentence since gratia Dei praeveniente ut velimus subsequente ne frustra velimus ad pietatis opera nil valemus that is to say Without the grace of God preventing that we may will the things which are good and following or assisting that we doe not will them to no purpose we are not able to doe any thing in the works of piety Say not these men the same as S. Austin doth and saying the same why are they called the Enemies of the Grace of God whilst he is honoured with the title of the Champion and Defender of it But some will say that they ascribe more unto the freedome of the will then may stand with Grace and consequently overthrow all the former building If so they are more cunning then I thought they were But these plain dealing men doe assure me otherwise for thus they say in the same Articles as before Homo salvificam fidem non habet à se neque ex liberi sui arbitrii viribus sed necesse est ut ab â—…o in Christo per spiritum ipsius sanctum regeneretur atâ—…ue renovetur intellectu affectibus voluntate omnibusque viribus ut salutaria bona recte possit intelligere meditari velle atque perficere That is to say A man hath not saving Faith in and of himselfe nor by the strength of his owne Free will but it is necessary that he be regenerate and renewed in Christ by the Holy Ghost in his understanding affections will and all the other powers of Nature that so he may both understand meditate will and bring to passe the things which appertaine to his Salvation I grant indeed that they ascribe somewhet more to the will of Man then the rigid sort of Lutherans and Calvinians doâ—… who will have a man drawn forcibly and Irresistably with the cords of Grace velut in animalon quiddam like a senselesse stock without contributing any thing to his owne eternity but they ascribe no more unto it then what may stand both with the Grace and Justice of Almighty God according to that Divine saying of Saint Augustine viz. Si non est Gratia Dei quomodo salvaâ—… mundum si non est liberum arbitrium quomodo judicat mundum were it not for the Grace of God no man could be saved and were there not a Freedome of Will in Mâ—…n no man with justice could be damned If they that speak so much of the Grace of God and so little of the Will of Man in the workings of it must notwithstanding be the Enemies of the Grace of God I fear the Church of England will be found in a sorry case whose Doctrine in these points is the very same and thus delivered in the tenth Article of her Confession viz. The condition of Man after the Fall of Adam is such that he cannot turne and prepare himselfe by his owne naturall strength and good workes to Faith and calling upon God wherefore we have no power to doe good workes pleasant and acceptable to God without the Grace of God by Christ preventing us that we may have a good Will and working with us when we have that good will Saint Augustine and the Church of England and all Orthodox Christians are as much Enemies of Gods Grace for ought I can see as any of those poore despised ones whom you call Arminians 3. But then it may be justly asked what moved King James to be so stout an stout of theirs as you say he was and for that the reasons may be many for 1. he had his education in the Kirk of Scotland where all the Hetrodoxies of Calvin were received as Gospell and therefore could not sodainly cast off those opinions which he had sucked in as it were with his nurses milk 2. He was much governed at that time by Doctor Montague then Bâ—…shop of Winchester and Dean of his Majesties Chappell Royall who having been a great stickler in these Predestinarian Controversies when he lived in Cambridge thought himselfe bound to beat down all opponents by the Kings Authority which he could not overbear by the strength of Argument and finding the Kings will inclineable to his owne perswasions in these points put him upon many harsh and severe expressions against these poor men especially in his Declaration against Vorstius where he strikes most at them But thirdly the greatest motive with K. James was Reason of State the Arminians as you call them being united into a party under the countenance command of 〈◊〉 Olden Barnevell and by him used to undermine the power of Mawrice then Prince of Orange who as he was a great Patron of the Rigid Calvinians so was he to that King a most dear confederate Bâ—…sides the King considered this division in the Belgick Provinces as a matter of most dangerous â—…ature and utterly distructive of that peace unity and concord which was to be the greatest preservation of the States United whom therefore he exhorteth in the same Declaration to take heed of such infected persons their own Countreymen being already divided into Factions upon this occasion which was a matter as he saith so opposite to unity which was indeed the onely prop and safety of their State next under God as of necessity it must by little and little bring them to utter ruine if wisely in time they did not provide against it So that K. James considâ—…ring the present breach as tending to the utter ruine of those Estates and more particularly of the Prince of Orange his most dear Allie he thought it no small piece of King-craft to contribute toward the suppresâ—…ion of the weaker party not onely by blasting them in the said Declaration with reproachfull names and sending such of his Divines to the Assembly at Dort as he was sure wou'd be sufficiently active in their Condemnation which being done his own turn served therein to his full contentment and Bishop Montague his great Directour in those businesses being also dead he began to shew himselfe more favourable unto their opinions than before he did especially on the coming out of the Answer to the Romish Gaggar composed by another Montague then Prâ—…bend of Windsor and afterwards L. Bishop of Chichester and at last of Norwich a man of lesse Courtship but of farre more Learning than the other was whosâ—… judgment in those points he liked very well as being more consonant to the Doctrine of the Church of England and more agreeable to the Tenor of approved Antiquity But I have stayed too long on this Observation I must now go forwards The Kings Corps on the 4th of May was conveyed to Westminster and
there inhumed c. Our Author tells us in the end of his Preface what an espâ—…ciall care he hath of his Temporalities as his owne word is in assigning unto every action it s own proper time and yet he fails us here in the first beginning For neither was the body of that King interr'd on the 4th of May nor the Letters of procuration kept undelivered till the 8th as he after teâ—…ls us nor the Marriage celebrated after the Funerall of the King as is there declared though possibly in the intention of King Charles for the reasons there delivered it had been so resolved on at the first designation of those Royall pomps For upon Sunday May the 1st the Marriage was celebrated at the Church Nastre Dame in Paris on Tuesday May the 3d the news thereof came unto the Court and was welcomed the same night with Bells and Bone-fires in all parts of London on Saturday May the 7th was King James interred and on Sunday morning May the 8th there came an Order from the Lords of the Council to the Preachers appointed for St. Pauls Crosse as I have heard him say more than once or twice requiring him that in his Prayer before the Sermon he should not pray for the Queen by the name of Henrietta Maria but by the name of Queen Mary ouely And yet it is true too which he after telleth us that is to say That the Marriage was celebrated in Paris on the 11th of May. But then he is to understand that this was on the 11th of May in the French Accompt which following the Gregorian Calender anticipates ten daies in every Month that being the 11th day of the Moneth to them in the new Style or stylo novo as they phrase it which is the first day of the Moneth in the old Style and Accompt of England He sent Letters of Prolucution to the Duke of Chevereux If it be asked why the King when he was onely Prince of Wales should look no lower for a Proxy than the King of Spaine and being now the mighty Monarch of Great Britaine should pitch upon so mean a Prince as the Duke of Chevereux it may be answered that the Duke of Chevereux was a Prince of the house of Guise from which his Majesty was extracted Mary of Loraine Daughter to Claud of Loraine the first Duke of Guise being Wife to James the fift of Scotland Grandmother unto James the sixt and consequently great Grandmother to King Charles himself From Canterbury his Majesty took Coach for Whitehall where the third after his arrivall c. If our Author meaneth by this that his Majesty went in Coach but some part of the way onely he should then have said so but if he mean that he went so all the way to Whitehall he is very much out their Majesties passing in Coach no further than Gravesend and from thence in theâ—…r Royall Barge by water unto his Palace at Whitehall accompanied or met by all the Barges Boats and Wherries which could be found upon the Thames the Author of these Observations beholding from Tower-wharfe that magnificent passage For as man is without a female Consort so is a King without his supreme Councell a halfe formed sterill thing Our Author in these words and the rest that follow maintains a Paradox most dangerous to supreme Authority in making Parliaments so necessary to all Acts of State as if that Kings or they that have the Supreme power could doe nothing lawfully but what they doe with their assistance and by their consent which were it so a Parliament must be Co-ordinate to Kings or such as have the power of Kings not subordinate to them Nor need the Members write themselves by the name of His Majesties most loyall and most humble Subjâ—…cts but by the name of Partners and Associates in the Royall power which doctrine of what ill consequence it may be in Monarchical Government I leave Counsellors of State to consider of His speech being ended the King vailed his Crown a thing rare in any of his Predecessouâ—…s Our Chroniclers tell us of King James that at his first coming to the Crown of England he used to go often to the Tower to see the Lyon the reputed King of Beasts baited sometimes by Dogs and sometimes by Horses which I could never reade without some râ—…gret the baiting of the King of Beasts seeming to me an ill presage of those many baitings which he a King of Men sound afterwards at the haâ—…s of his Subjects And Mr. Prin tells us of K. Charles that on the day of his Coronation he was cloathed in white contrary to the custome of his Predecessours who were on that day clad in purple White is we know the colour of the saints who are represented to us in White robes by S. John in the Revelation And Purple is we know the Imperiall and Regall colour so proper hereto sore unto Kings and Emperours that many of the Constantinoplitan Emperours were called Porphirogeniti because at their first comming into the world they were wrapt in purple And this I look upon as an ill presage that the King laying aside his Purple the Robe of Majesty should cloathe himselfe in White the Robe of Innocence as if thereby it were fore-signified that he should devest himselfe of that Regall Majesty which might and would have kept him safe from affront and scorn to relie wholly on the innocence of a vertuous life which did expose him finally to calamitous ruine But as all ill presages none like that which our Authour speaks of I mean the veiling of his Crown to this his first Parliament which I consider of the Introduction to those many veilings of the Crown in all the Parliaments that followed For first he vailed his Crown to this in leaving Mountague in their hands and his Bond uncancelled as you tell us after Fol. 12. notwithstanding that he was his sworn Chaplain and domestick Servant and that too in a businesse of such a nature as former Parliaments used not to take cognizince of he vailed his Crown unto the next when he permitted them as you tell us Fol. 25. to search his Signet Office and to examine the Letters of his Secretaries of State leaving him nothing free from their discovery a thing not formerly practised he vailed his Crown unto the third first in the way of preparation to it releasing all the Gentlemen whom he had imprisoned for their refusall of the Loane many of which being elected Members of the following Parliament brought with them both a power and will to avenge themselves by the restraint of His Prerogative within narrower bounds next in the prosecution of it when hearing that the Parliament had granted him some Subsidies not a man dissenting he could not restraine himselfe from weeping which tendernesse of his was made good use of to his no small dammage adding withall and bidding his Secretarie tell them as our Authour tells us Fol.
ejus nemo sensit nisi aut levatione periculi aut accessione dignitatis that no body ever found her power but either in lessening his deserved punishments or adding some respects to him for his well-deservings Nor seemed the question in the sense of many which was the Traytour but which was the most That is to say whether the Duke of Buckingham or the Earle of Bristol were the greater Traytour though it appeareth not for any thing which our Authour tells us that any treason was proved against either of them For had the Duke proved his Charge of Treason against the Earle he had both power and opportunity enough to have wrought his ruine or had the Earle proved the like Charge against the Duke the Commons needed not have troubled themselves with a new Impeachment containing nothing but Encroachments on the Royall favour and some miscarriages which at another time and in another man would have been connived at Our Author gives us a sull Copie of the Earles Charge against the Duke but of the Dukes Charge against the Earle whether out of Partiality or want of Information he affords us nothing I shall therefore adde so much in the way of supplement as to subjoyn three or four of the principall Articles of the Charge against him leaving them here as they were left in the House of Peers without any further prosecution than the Narrative onely It was then charged upon the Earle 1. That having certified King James by several Letters out of Spain that the Treaty of the Match was in a very good forwardnesse the Prince at his arrivall there found it nothing so there being little done in relation to it 2. That in the time of his negotiation by Letters unto his late Majesty and otherwise he counselled and perswaded the said Kings Majesty to set at liberty the Jesuits and Priests of the Romish Religion and to grant and allow unto the Papists and Professours of the same a free toleration and silencing the Laws made and studing in force against them 3. That at the Princes coming into Spain the said Earle of Bristol cunningly falsly and traiterously moved and perswaded the Prince being then in the power of a forreign King of the Romish Religion to change his Religion and used many dangerous and subtile insinuations to that effect 4. That in pursuance of the said trayterous designe he used these words unto the Prince That the State of England did never any great thing but when they were under the obedience of the Pope of Rome and that it was impossible they should doe anything of note otherwise 5. That a Proposition being made by the King of Spaine touching the Palatinate which was That the eldest Son of the Prince Palatine should marry with the Emperours Daughter but must be bred up in the Emperours Court the said Earle delivered his opinion That he thought it unreasonable And when the danger was presented in regard of the alteration of the young Princes Religion which must needs follow thereupon the said Earle answered That without some great action the peace of Christendome would never be had Comparing these with those that were charged upon the Duke it will appeare that they both concurred in one designe which was to â—…ender each oâ—…her suspected in matter of Loyalty Religion though by so doing they made good sport to all their Enemies and the world to boot Many good men as our Authour calls them being passing jocund at the contest But it was resolved by the Judges that by their Restraint i. e. the Restraint of Sir Dudley Diggs and Sir John Eliot no reason being given to the House for it the whole House was Arrested The Judges were wise men and would not strive against the stream as the saying is for otherwise I can see no reason of their resolute precedents to the contrary there are many in the times foregoing of which I shall instance in two onely and those two in a Parliament held in the 35 year of the so much celebrated Reigne of Queen Elizabeth The first is this Mr. Peter Wentworth and Sir Henry Bromely delivered a Petition to the Lord Keeper desiring the Lords of the Upper House to be Suppliants with them of the Lower House unto Her Majesty for entailing of the succession of the Crown whereof a Bill was ready drawn by them Her Majesty was highly displeased herewith as contrary to Her former strait command and charged the Councell to call the parties before them Sir Thomas Henage being then Vice-Chamberlaine and one of the Lords of the Privie Councell sent for them and after speech with them commanded them to foâ—…ar the Parliament and not to go out of their severall lodgings After they were called before the Lord Treasurer the Lord Buckhurst and Sir Thomas Henage Mr. Wentworth was committed by them to the Tower Sir Henry Bromely with Master Richard Stevens to whom Sir Henry Bromely had imparted the matter were sent to the Fleet as also Mr. Welch the other Knight for Worcestershire In the same Parliament one Mr. Morrice Attorney of the Dutchy of Lancaster who is to be my second instance moved against the hard courses of the Bâ—…shops Ordinaries and other Ecclesiâ—…sticall Judges in their Courts used towards sundry learned and godly Ministers and Preachers and spake against subseription and oathes and offered a Bill to be read against Imprisonment for refusall of such Oathes which comming to the Queens knowledge and Mr. Coke afterwards Sir Edward Coke then Speaker of the House of Commons being sent for and admonished not to admit of that or any such Bills if they should be offered the said Mr. Morrice as I have been credibly informed was taken out of the House by Sergeant at the Armes but howsoever sure I am that he was committed unto Prison for the said Attempt And when it was moved in the House by one Mr. Wroth that they might be humble Suitors to Her Majesty that she would be pleased to set at liberty those Members of the House that were restrained To this it was answered by all the Privy Counsellours which were then Members of the House that Her Majesty had committed them for causes best known to Her selfe and to presse Her Highnesse with this suit would but hinder them whose good is sought That the House must not call the Queen to accompt for what shâ—… doth of her Royall Authority That the causes for which they were restrained may be high and dangerous That Her Majesty lâ—…h no such questions neither doth it become the House to search into such mattâ—…rs Whereupon the House desisted from interposing any further in their behaâ—…f And thus we see that no fewer than five Members that is to say Wentworth Welch Bromely Stevens and Mâ—…rrice â—…ut off at one time from the House of Commons without any remedy or any Declâ—…ration of the Judges that any such Arrest as is here pretended was layd upon the House by their Imprisonment So
by some few ordinary Parishioners and an Appeale made from the Ordinary to the Deane of the Arches the Cause was brought before the King then sitting in his Privie Council Anno 1633. who on the hearing of all parties and the Reasons alledged on both sides having first testified His dislike of all Innovations He concludes at last That hâ—… did well approve and confirmed the Act of the said Ordinary and also gave commandemâ—…nt that if those few Parishioners before 〈◊〉 did proceed in their said Appeal then the Dâ—…an of the Arches should confirm the said Order of the aforesaid Deane and Chapter Here was authority enough as good authority for the Archbishop to proceed upon in his Visitation as the Prevogative Royall the new Statute of the Queen and the old Lawes of the Land could give him This then was no Anomalous Innovation as our Author calls it The King it seems thought otherwise of it and so did all men studied in the Rules of this Church and the practice of approved Antiquity who looked upon it as a Renovation of a Rite disused not as an Innovation or Introduction of a new Ceremonie never used before But sure our Author had forgotten when these words fell from him what he said before of the Remisse Government of Archbishop Abbot the titular Archbishop as he calls him there but Titular in nothing so much as not doing the duties of his Office of whom hâ—… tells us Fol. 127. that by his extraordinary remisnesse in not exacting strict conformity to the prescribed Orders of the Church in point of Ceremonie he led in such an habit of Inconformity as the future reduction of those tender-conscienced men to long discontinued obedience was interpreted an Innovation But the Controversie is not onely managed betwixt our Author and himself but as he telleth us afterward between Bishops and Bishops for as he saith The Bishop of Lincolne published a Tract under a concealed name positively asserting therein that the holy Table antiently did in the Primitive times and ought so in ours according to the Dictates of our Church stand in Gremio and Nave of the Quire The Tract here meant was called The Holy Table name and thing in which the Bishop hath said much but asserted little Affirmations are no Proofs in Law and multitudes of allegations falsified in themselves and wrested to a contrary seâ—…ce make not one good Evidence yet this is all we are to look for in the Bishops Book It being not untruly said in the Answerers Preface that he came armed into the field with no other weapons than impudence ignorance and falshoods And to say truth it can be no otherwise when a man writes both against his science and his conscience as we have very good cause to think this Bishop did Look on him in the point of practise and we shall finde the Communion Table placed Altar-wise in the Cathedral Church of Lincolne whereof he was Bishop and in the Collegiate Church of Westminster of which he was Dean and in the private Chappel of his House at Bugdon in which last it was not only placed Altar-wise but garnisht with rich Plate and other costly Utensils one of his own words in more than ordinary manner Look on him in his letter to the Vicar of Grantham and he tells him thus that your Communion Table is to stand Altar-wise if you meane in that place of the Chancell where the Altar stood I thinke somewhat may be said for that because the injunctions 1559. diâ—… so place it and I conceive it to be the most decent scituation when it is not used and for use too where the quire is mounted up by steps and open so that he that officiates may be seene and heard of all the Congregation Nor writes he thus onely to that Vâ—…ar but he allowes it in that Tract which my Author speakes of both in Cathedrall Churches and in the Kings Chappels and in the Chappels of great men which certainly have no more Law for it then what the Archbishop had for placing it in the Parish Churches which as the Bishop telleth the Vicar are to be presidented by the formes in his Majesties Chappels and in the Quires of their Cathedralls If it be asked what moved the Bishop to stickle so stoutly in this businesse it may be answered that he loved to fiâ—…sh in a troubled water that being a man which considered only his own ends he went such wayes as most conduced to the â—…ccomplishing of the ends he aimed at Being in Power and place at Court in the time of K. James he made himself the head of the Popish Faction because he thought the match with Spaine which was then in treaty would bring not only a connivance to that Religion but also a Toleration of it And who more like to be in favour if that match went on then such as were most zealous in doing good offices to the Catholick cause But being by King Charles deprived first of the Great Seale and afterwards commanded to retire from Westminster he gave himselfe to be the head of the Puritane party opposing all the Kings proceedings both in Church and State and amongst others this of placing the Communion Table to make himselfe gracious with that Sect who by their shy practises and insinuations and by the Remisse Government and connivance of Archbishop Aâ—…ot had gained much ground upon the people If it be asked what authority I have for this I answer that I have as good as can be wished for even our Author himselfe who telleth us of this Bishop Fol. 145. That being malevolently inclined by the Kings disfavours he thought he could not gratifie beloved revenge better then to endeavour the supplanting of his Soveraigne To which end finding him declining in the affections of his people he made his Apostraphe and applications to them fomenting popular discourses tending to the Kings dishonour c. And being set upon this pinne no mervaile if he entertained the present occasion of making the Archbishop odiouâ—… and the King himselfe lesse pleasing in the eyes of the Subjects But of this Bishop we may perhaps have some occasion to speak more hereafter In the meane time we must follow our Author who having done with the Archbishop goes on to his Instruments for so he calls them in which he saith he was most unhappy Why so because saith he They were not blamelesse in their lives some being vitious even to scandall Our Author needed not have told us in his Preface by the way of prevention that he should be thought no friend to the Clergy we should have found that here in such Capitall Letters as any man that runs might read them Vitious even to scandall that goes high indeed and it had well become our Author to have named the men that so the rest of the Clergy might have been discharged of that â—…oule reproach For my part I have took some paines to inquire after such instruments and subordinate
opinion of most knowing men that this Cardinal had a very great hand in animating the Scots to such a height of disobedience as we finde them in And this may evidently appeare first by a passage in our Author Fol. 176. in which we finde from the intelligence of Andreas ab Habernefield that the Cardinall sent his Chaplaine and Almoner Mâ—… Thomas Chamberlain a Scot by Nation to assist the confederates in advancing the businesse and to attempt all waies for exasperating the first heat with order not to depart from them till things succeeding as he wished he might returne with good newes Secondly from the Letter writ by the Lord Loudon and the rest of the â—…ovenanters to the French King first published in his Majesties lesser Declaration against the Scots and since exemplified in our Author Fol. 168. of which Letter they could hope for no good effect but as the Cardinall should make way and provide meanes for it Thirdly by the report of a Gentleman from whose mouth I have it who being took Prisoner and brought unto the Scotish Camp immediatly after the fight neer Nuborne found there the Cardinalls Sâ—…cretary in close consultation with the heads of the Covenanters which after his restoring to liberty by the Treaty at Rippon he declared to the King and offered to make it good upon his Oath Fourthly by the impossibility which the Cardinall found in his designes of driving the Spaniard out of Flanders and the rest of the Netherlands unlesse the King was so disturbed and embroyled at home that he could not help them it being heretofore the great master-piece of the Kings of England to keep the Scale even between France and Spaine that neither of them being too strong for the other the affaires of Christendome might be poized in the evener ballance Fiftly by the free accesse and secret conferences which Hamiltons Chaplain had with Con the Popes agent here during such time as Chamberlain the Cardinalls Chaplain laboured to promote the businessâ—… Sixthly Adde hereunto the great displeasure which the Cardinall had conceived against the King for invading the Isle of Rhe and attempting the relief of Rochell and we shall finde what little reason the King had to be perswaded to any beliefe in Cardinall Richelieu though the Embassador might use all his eloquence to perswade him to it And had this presumptuous attempt of the Hollanders met with a King or in times of another temper it would not it 's like have been so silently connived at Most truly spoken this action of the Hollanders being one of the greatest and unsufferablest affronts which ever was puâ—… by any Nation on a King of England I have been told that complaint being made of King James of the barbarous Butchery at Amboyna he fell into a terrible rage throwing his Hat into the fire and then stamping on it and using all the signes of outragious Passion but when Time Sleep had taken off the edge of his Fury he told the Merchants who attended his answer That it was then no time to quarrell with the Hollanders of whom he hoped to make some use for restoring the Palsgrave to his lawfull Patrimony King Charles might make the same answer on this new occasion he had his head and his hands too so full of the Scots that he had no time to quarrell with the Hollanders though certainly if he had then presently turned his Fleet upon the Hollanders wherein no question but the Spaniard would have sided with him he had not onely rectified his honour in the eye of the world but might thereby have taught the Scots a better lessen of Obedience then he had brought them to by the great preparations which he made against them But this I look on in the Hollanders as one of the Consequents or effâ—…cts of the Scottish darings for if the Scots who were his Subjects durst be so bold as to baffle with him why might not they presume a little on his patience who were his confederates and Allies in husbanding an advantage of so great a concernment and having vailed his Crown to the Scots and English why might he not vaile it to them his good friends and neighbours At this close and secret Councell December 5. it was agreed that his Majesty should call a Parliament to assemble April the 13th This secret Councell did consist of no more then three that is the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and who must needs be at the end of every businesse the Marquesse of Hamilton By these it was agreed that the King should be moved to call a Parliament the intimation of it to be presently made but the Parliament it selfe not to be assembled till the middle of April In giving which long intervall it was chiefly aimed at that by the reputation of a Parliament so neer approaching the King might be in credit to take up Money wherewith to put himselfe into a posture of Warre in case the Parliament should faile him but then the inconvenience was as great on the other side that intervall of four Moneths time giving the discontented party opportunity to unite themselves to practice on the Shires and Burroughs to elect such members as they should recommend unto them and finally not onely to consult but to conclude on such particulars which they intended to insist on when they were assembled And though it be extreame ridiculous for me to shoot my Fooles-bable in so great a businesse in which such wise men did concurre yet give me leave to speak those thoughts which I had of that advice from the first beginning reckoning it alwaies both unsafe and unseasonable as the times then were I looked upon it as unsafe in regard that the last Parliament being dissolved in so strange a rupture the Closets of some Members searched many of them Imprisoned and some Fâ—…ned it was not to be hoped but that they would come thither with revengefull thoughts and should a breach happen between them and the King and the Parliament be dissolved upon it as it after was the breach would be irreparable as indeed it proved I looked upon it as unseasonable also in regard that Parliaments had been so long discontinued and the people lived so happily without them that very few took thought who should see the next and 〈◊〉 that the neighbouring Kings and States beheld the King with greater veneration then they had done â—…ormerly as one that could stand on his own leggs and had scrued up himselfe to so great power both by Sea and Land without such discontents and brabbles as his Parliaments gave him But whatsoever it was in it selfe either safe or seasonable I am sure it proved neither to the men who advâ—…sed the calling of it unlesse it were to Hamilton onely of which more hereafter Yet the King was willing to allow them all the faire dealing he in honour could hoping to gaine upon them by the sweetnesse of his carriage but
being the day before that unhappy accident that he was taking care to provide some materialls in a businesse which concerned the Church of which he was resolved to speake in the House of Peers on the Wednesday following Some say that this Dissolution was precipitated upon some intelligence that the House of Commons meant that day to vote against the Warre with Scotland then which there could be nothing more destructive to the Kings affaires And it was probable enough that it was so meant For first the Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdome doth declare no lesse where it is said that the People were like to close with the King in satisfying his desire of Money but that withall they were like to blast their malicious designe against Scotland they being very much indisposed to give any countenance to that Warre And Secondly we finde that House to be highly magnified â—…in a Scotish Pamphlet called the Intentions of the Army for their pious zeale in crossing the intended Warre and denying any countenance and assistance towards it But whatsoever the truth is most sure I am that it was secretly muttered about the Court the night before that Hamilton had prevailed with the King to dissolve the Parliament who playing as he used to do with both hands at once did with the one pull back the Commons by his party there from all compliâ—…nce with the King and with the other thrust the King forwards to dissolve that meeting that by this meanes the Kings affaires being more embroyled then they were before he might confirme the Scots and confound the English and thereby raise himselfe to the point he aimed at A sad and unfortunate day it was and the newes so unpleasing unto the Author of these papers whosoever he be that being brought him by a friend whilst he was writing some dispatches it so astonished him though he had heard some inkling of it the night before that sodainly the pen fell out of his hand and long it was before he could recollect his spirits to returne an answer Having thus said I should proceed from the dissolving of the Parliament to the continuing of the Convocation but I must first remove a block which lieth in my way our Author telleth us that This Archbishops Predecessour Penultime was Dr. Whitgift Whereas indeed it was not Dr. Whitgift but Dr. Bancroft who was the penultimate and last Predecessour saving one unto the Archbishop Dr. Bancroft coming in between Whit. gift and Abbot as any who have looked into these affairs cannot choose but know This Convention was not more unhappily dissolved than another was continued That is as a witty Gcntleman said well a new Synod made of an old Convocation The witty Gentleman here meant was Sir Edward Deering who pleased himself exceedingly in one of his witty Speeches but made withall good sport to most knowing men in descantinâ—… on a Synod and a Convocation the one being a Greek word the other originally Latine but both of the same sense and signification A Provinciall Synod being no other then a Convocation of the Clergy of the Provinces of Yorkâ—… or Canterbury and the Convocation of the Clergy of both Provinces together being nothing else but a National Synod So that it was the same Synod and the same Convocation call it which you will as before it was and not a new Synod made of an old Convocation as the witty Gentleman would have it A Gentleman he was more witty then wise but more proud then either one of sufficient Learning to adorne a Gentleman but very ill imployed in disgracing the Clergy considering that the most worthy of his Ancestors was of that Profession and himselfe allyed unto it by some mixt relations But see how ill this Gentleman sped with his too much wit being the first that threw Dirt into the Face of the Archbishop and preferred the first Information which was brought against him he after flew so high in his commendations in the Preface to his Book of Speeches that neither Heylyn whom the Scotish Pamphleters in their Laudencium Autocatachrisis call his Gracâ—…s Herald nor Pocklington nor Dowe nor any of his own Chaplains in any of their Speeches of him or addresses to him ever went so farrâ—… Having propounded to the House in that witty Speech which he made against the Canons and Convocation that every one that had a hand in making those Canons should come unto the Barre of the House of Commons with a Candle in one hand and a Book in the other and there give fire to his own Canons he was so far from seeing it done that on the contrary he saw within a little more then a twelve month after the Collection of his witty Speeches condemned by that House unto the fire and burnt in severall places by the Publick Hang-man And finally having in another of his witty Speeches defamed the Cathedralls of this Kingdome and that too with so foule a mouth as if he had licked up all the filth of foregoing Libels to vomit it at once upon them he made it his earnest suit not long after to be Dean of Canterbury which being denied him by the King in a great discontent he returned to the Parliament though he hought good to put some other glosse upon it in his Declaration But of this witty Gentleman we said enough Proceed we now unto our Author who telleth us of this new-made Synod that By a new Commission from the King it was impowered to sit still No such matter verily the new Commission which he speaks of gave them no such power The Writ by which they 〈◊〉 first called and made to be a Convocation gave them power to siâ—… and by that Writ they were to sit as a Convocation till by another Writ proceeding from the like Authority thâ—…y were dissolved and licensed to returne to their severall homes The Commission subsequent to that gave them power to Act to Propose Deliberate and conclude upon such Canons and Constitutions as they conceived conducible to the Peace of the Church And such a Commission they had granted at their first assembling But being there was a clause in that Commission that it should last no longer then during the Session of that Parliament and that the King thought good to continue the Convocation till they had finished all those matters which they had in treaty his Majesty gave order for a new Commission to be issued out of the same tenour with the former but to expire upon the signification of his Majesties pleasure I have been told that it was some time before some of the Members of the lower House of Convocation could be satisfied in the difference between the Writ the Commisston though one of the company had fully opened and explained the same unto them which being made known to the Archbishop and by him to the King it was proposed to the Lord Finch Lord Keeper of the Great Seale the Earle of Manchester