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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67908	The history of the troubles and tryal of the Most Reverend Father in God and blessed martyr, William Laud, Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury. vol. 1 wrote by himself during his imprisonment in the Tower ; to which is prefixed the diary of his own life, faithfully and entirely published from the original copy ; and subjoined, a supplement to the preceding history, the Arch-Bishop's last will, his large answer to the Lord Say's speech concerning liturgies, his annual accounts of his province delivered to the king, and some other things relating to the history.	Laud, William, 1573-1645.; Wharton, Henry, 1664-1695.; Prynne, William, 1600-1669. Rome's masterpiece.	1695 (1695)	Wing L586; Wing H2188; ESTC R354	691,871	692

how such a Carriage as this through the whole Course of my Life in private and publick can stand with an Intention nay a Practice to overthrow the Law and to introduce an Arbitrary Government which my Soul hath always hated I cannot yet see And 't is now many Years since I learned of my great Master In humanis Aristotle Periculosum esse that it is a very dangerous thing to trust to the Will of the Judge rather than the written Law And all Kingdoms and Commonwealths have followed his Judgment ever since and the School-Disputes have not dissented from it Nay more I have ever been of Opinion that Humane Laws bind the Conscience and have accordingly made Conscience of observing them And this Doctrine I have constantly Preached as occasion hath been offered me And how is it possible I should seek to overthrow those Laws which I held my self bound in Conscience to keep and observe Especially since an endeavour to overthrow Law is a far greater Crime than to break or disobey any particular Law whatsoever all Particulars being swept away in that General And my Lords that this is my Judgment both of Parliaments and Laws I beseech your Lordships that I may read a short Passage in my Book against Fisher the Jesuit which was Printed and Published to the World before these Troubles fell on me and before I could so much as suspect this Charge could come against me and therefore could not be purposely written to serve any Turn I had leave and did read it but for Brevities sake refer the Reader to the Book it self As for Religion I was born and bred up in and under the Church of England as it yet stands Established by Law I have by God's Blessing and the Favour of my Prince grown up in it to the Years which are now upon me and to the Place of Preferment which I yet bear And in this Church by the Grace and Goodness of God I resolve to Dye I have ever since I understood ought in Divinity kept one constant Tenor in this my Profession without variation or shifting from one Opinion to another for any worldly Ends And if my Conscience would have suffered me to shift Tenets in Religion with Time and Occasion I could easily have slid through all the difficulties which have pressed upon me in this kind But of all Diseases I have ever hated a Palsie in Religion well knowing that too often a Dead-Palsie ends that Difease in the fearful forgetfulness of God and his Judgments Ever since I came in Place I laboured nothing more than that the External Publick Worship of God too much slighted in most parts of this Kingdom might be preserved and that with as much Decency and Uniformity as might be being still of Opinion that Vnity cannot long continue in the Church where Vniformity is shut out at the Church-Door And I evidently saw that the Publick neglect of God's Service in the outward Face of it and the nasty lying of many Places Dedicated to that Service had almost cast a Damp upon the true and inward Worship of God which while we live in the Body needs External helps and all little enough to keep it in any vigour And this I did to the uttermost of my Knowledge according both to Law and Canon and with the consent and liking of the People Nor did any Command Issue out from me against the one or without the other that I know of Farther my Lords give me leave I beseech you to tell you this also That I have as little Acquaintance with Recusants of any sort as I believe any Man of Place in England hath And for my Kindred no one of them was ever a Recusant but Sir William Webb Grandchild to my Uncle Sir William Webb sometimes Lord Mayor of London and him with some of his Children I reduced back again to the Church of England as is well known and I as able to prove One thing more I humbly desire may be thought on 't is this I I am fallen into a great deal of Obloquy in Matter of Religion and that so far as that 't is charged in the Articles That I have endeavoured to advance and bring in Popery Perhaps my Lords I am not ignorant what Party of Men have raised this Scandal upon me nor for what End nor perhaps by whom set on But howsoever I would fain have a good Reason given me if my Conscience lead me that way and that with my Conscience I could Subscribe to the Church of Rome what should have kept me here before my Imprisonment to indure the Libels and the Slanders and the base usage in all kinds which have been put upon me and these to end in this Question for my Life I say I would fain know a good Reason of this For first My Lords Is it because of any Pledges I have in the World to sway me against my Conscience No sure For I have nor Wife nor Children to cry out upon me to stay with them and if I had I hope the Call of my Conscience should be heard above them Or Secondly Is it because I was loth to leave the Honour and the Profit of the Place I was risen unto Surely no For I desire your Lordships and all the World else should know I do much scorn Honour and Profit both the one and the other in comparison of my Conscience Besides it cannot be imagined by any Reasonable Man but that if I could have complyed with Rome I should not have wanted either Honour or Profit And suppose I could not have so much of either as here I had yet sure would my Conscience have served me that way less of either with my Conscience would have prevailed with me more than greater against my Conscience Or Thirdly Is it because I lived here at ease and was loth to venture the loss of that Not so neither For whatsoever the World may be pleased to think of me I have 〈◊〉 very painful Life and such as I could have been very well content to change had I well known how And had my Conscience led me that way I am sure I might have lived at far more ease and either have avoided the barbarous Libellings and other bitter and grievous Scorns which I have here indured or at the least been out of the hearing of them Nay my Lords I am as Innocent in this business of Religion as free from all Practice or so much as thought of Practice for any alteration to Popery or any way blemishing the True Protestant Religion Established in the Church of England as I was when my Mother first bare me into the World And let nothing be spoken against me but Truth and I do here Challenge whatsoever is between Heaven and Hell to say their worst against me in point of my Religion In which by God's Grace I have ever hated Dissimulation and had I not

till the time that the Storm fell on me as followeth Among the rest to Mr Cobb my Organ that is at Croydon my Harp my Chest of Viols and the Harpsichon that is at Lambeth The remainder of my Estate above that which is given or shall be added to this my Will I charge my Executor as he will Answer me at the Bar of Christ that he lay out upon Land as far as it will go and then settle it by some sure course in Law to such Uses and under the same Conditions as I have setled my Land at Bray upon the Town of Reading Of which 50 l. per Annum to be setled on the Town of Ockingham 50 l. on Henly upon Thames 50 l. on Wallingford and 50 l. on Windsor to the Uses aforesaid for ever If it rise to less that there be an even abatement to all these places But if it purchase more as says he it needs must if I be well dealt with all above 200 l. per Annum he gives to Dr Baily and his Son William after him and his Heirs for ever He held a Lease of Barton-Farm near Winchester of the Cathedral Church of Winchester taken in his Servant Richard Cobb's Name Rent 370 l. per Annum of which he gives during the Lease 50 l. per Annum to the City of Winchester for the binding out of Apprentices the rest to several Nephews and Servants And if says he the Cathedral Church of Winchester be suffered to enjoy its Lands I leave the power of renewing this Lease to Dr Richard Baily he paying Mr Rich. Cobb 100 l. for his pains taken for me in this Purchase c. Item I give to my Successor if the present Troubles in the State leave me any my Organ in the Chappel at Lambeth Provided that he leave it to the See for ever Likewise I give him my Barge and Furniture to it As for the Pictures in the Gallery at Lambeth I leave them to Succession as well those that I found there as those which I have added But in case the Arch-Bishoprick be dissolved as 't is threatned then I Will that my Executor add the Organ the Barge and such Pictures as are mine to my Estate that is if they escape Plundering Item I give to my Servant Mr R C besides what already 50 l. if he deal truly with my Estate By this Will I do revoke all former Wills and do charge my Executor as he will Answer me before Christ that he perform my Will punctually in all Particulars which the Rapine of the Time shall not have Plundered from him or the Violence of the Time over-ruled him Item I do lay upon Dr Baily above Named the charge of all my Papers and Paper-Books if they can escape the Violence of the Time And I give him an English Bible in 4to cover'd with Murry-leather in which are some brief Notes upon the Liturgy and a Note-Book in Folio in which is my Catalogue of Books in relation to my course of Study and my Directory to almost all my other Papers and Books All which Papers and Paper-Books I give him also But with this Proviso that he burn all that he thinks not fit to use himself that my Weakness whatever it be be not any Man's Scorn and my Diligence I am sure cannot Then he makes Dr Baily his sole Executor and gives him 200 l. for his pains But adds If he shall not be Living at the time of my Death or shall die before he make due Probat of this my Will then Mr John Robinson of London Merchant And if he die then Mr Edward Layfeild And if he die then Dr Tho Walker Master of Vniversity College And my express Will is that whatsoever my Estate amounts unto my Executor shall have no more of it than is particularly and by Name given him in this my Will And I do heartily pray my Executor to take care that my Book written against Mr Fisher the Jesuit may be Translated into Latin and sent abroad that the Christian World may know see and judge of my Religion And I give unto him that Translates it 100 l. He makes the Bishops Juxon Curle Wren and Duppa Overseers of his Will and gives them for their pains 10 l. apiece Thus I forgive all the World and heartily desire forgiveness of God and the World And so again commend and commit my Soul into the Hands of God the Father who gave it in the Merits and Mercies of my Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ who Redeemed it and in the Peace and Comfort of the Holy Ghost who Blessed it and in the Truth and Unity of his Holy Catholick Church and in the Communion of the Church of England as it yet stands Established by Law I most willingly leave the World being weary at the very Heart of the Vanities of it and of my own Sins many and great and of the grievous Distractions of the Church of Christ almost in all parts of Christendom Which Distractions God in his good time make up who well knows upon what many of them are grounded For the Mony to bear the Charge of those Legacies expressed in my Will and other Intendments I have for fear of the present Storm committed it to honest and I trust in God safe Hands And I doubt not but they will deliver the Mony in their several Custodies to my Executor for the Uses expressed But I forbear to Name them lest the same Storm should fall on them which hath driven me out of all I have considerable in my own Possession c. Jan 13 Anno 1643. Probat 8 Jan 1661. by Dr Baily Several Passages of Arch-Bishop Laud's Conference with Fisher the Jesuit 〈◊〉 Londin 1639. Fol. referred to in the preceding History I. Pag. 211. IN some Kingdoms there are divers Businesses of greatest Consequence which cannot be finally and bindingly ordered but in and by Parliament And particularly the Statute-Laws which must bind all the Subjects cannot be made and ratified but there And again as the Supreme Magistrate in the State Civil may not abrogate the Laws made in Parliament though he may dispense with the Sanction or Penalty of the Law quoad hic nunc as the Lawyers speak II. Pag. 171. John Capgrave one of your own and Learned for those Times and long before him William of Malmesbury tells us that Pope Vrban the Second at the Council held at Bari in Apulia accounted my worthy Predecessor S. Anselm as his own Compeer and said he was as the Apostolick and Patriarch of the other World So he then termed this Island Now the Britains having a Primate of their own which is greater than a Metropolitan yea a Patriarch if you will he could not be appealed from to Rome by S. Gregory's own Doctrine III. Pag. 278. The Doctrine it self is so full of Danger that it works strongly both upon the Learned and Unlearned to the Scandal of Religion and the Perverting of Truth For the unlearned

they do not differ from us in some Fundamental Points of Doctrine and saving Truth And then consequently whether it be not an Heretical as well as a Schismatical Separation which they make from the Church of England 1. And first there was a Creed Printed by John Turner in this present Year and the Parliament sitting This Turner is a Notorious Separatist or Brownist if you will In this Creed of his he leaves out the descent of Christ into Hell This is an Article of the Apostle's Creed And 't is an Article of the Church of England And so I presume a Fundamental Point of Doctrine Yet herein this Brownist and his Fellows differ from us And I have heard from some present that at a Committee of Lords appointed for Matters of Religion a young Lord should say openly and boldly enough that he did not believe the descent of Christ into Hell And that my Lord the Author of this Speech should second him 2. In the same Creed Turner professes he believes that Christ Instituted by his Apostles certain particular Churches here on Earth and no other So the Catholick Church the Mother of all particular both Men and Churches and out of which there can be no Salvation in the ordinary way is quite thrust out of this Brownist's Creed And this I hope is another Fundamental Point of Doctrine and saving Truth But in this I must do my Lord right and not charge him with this point Because a little before his Lordship tells of a two-fold Separation one whereof he says is from the Vniversal or Catholick Church So the Catholick Church is not yet thrust out of my Lord's Creed But then this appears that the Separatists are not yet agreed upon all the Articles of their Creed Nay some of them call the Apostle's Creed a patched Forgery And Barrow justifies it 3. Thirdly they differ from us in charging gross Corruptions upon the Church of England And these are known to my Lord for he acknowledges them and so gross that should they be true the Church of England must be faulty in Fundamental and Saving Truth As shall farther appear in my Answer to my Lord's next Passage Therefore if their Charge be true they must by my Lord 's own Confession differ from us in Fundamental and saving Truth And if their Charge be false why do they separate from us Besides all Anabaptists and Brownists agree in this that the Church of England is Antichristian And if it be so they must either differ in Fundamentals from the Church of England Or be Antichristian themselves in joyning with them Or grant that Christ and Antichrist have one and the same Foundation 4. Fourthly some of them yet living though they dare not speak it out in all Companies do cunningly insinuate That at Death Soul and Body are extinct together but shall rise again at the Resurrection first or last And that Christ shall come and live here upon the Earth again That the Martyrs shall then rise and live with him a Thousand Years And that Christ once come upon the Earth shall not for any thing they can learn out of Scripure ever depart from the Earth again 5. Fifthly one Brierly and his Independent Congregation are of this Belief That the Child of God in the Power of Grace doth perform every Duty so well that to ask Pardon for failing either in matter or manner is a Sin That it is unlawful to pray for Forgiveness of Sins after their Conversion With divers others some as bad some worse to the number of Fifty 6. Sixthly One Spisberrye yet living and of that Independent Fraternity maintains that God works all things in us and that we are but Organs Instruments and meer empty Trunks Which is to make God the Author of all the Sins which Men commit And therefore Brierly says expresly that if they do at any time fall they can by the power of Grace carry their Sin to the Lord and say here I had it and here I leave it Will not the Devil one day stop the Mouth of this Blasphemy 7. Seventhly Mr. Pryn himself who hath been a great stickler in these Troubles of the Church says expresly Let any true Saint of God be taken away in the very act of any known Sin before it is possible for him to Repent I make no doubt or Scruple of it but he shall as surely be saved as if he had lived to have repented of it And he instances in David in case he had been taken away before he had repented of his Adultery and Murther So according to this Divinity the true Saints of God may commit horrible and carying Sins dye without Repentance and yet be sure of Salvation which teareth up the very Foundations of Religion induceth all manner of Profaneness into the World and is expresly contrary to the whole current of the Scripture 8. In the Eighth place almost all of them say That God from all Eternity Reprobates by far the greater part of Mankind to eternal Fire without any Eye at all to their Sin Which Opinion my very Soul abominates For it makes God the God of all Mercies to be the most fierce and unreasonable Tyrant in the World For the Question is not here what God may do by an absolute act of Power would he so use it upon the Creature which he made of nothing But what he hath done and what stands with his Wisdom Justice and Goodness to do 9. Ninthly One Lionel Lockier now or late of Cranbrooke in Kent among other his Errors rails against teaching Children the Lord's Prayer or other Forms of Catechising And if they differ from the Church of England in the whole Catechism I think the Lord must work a Miracle before he can make his Speech good That they differ from us in no Fundamental point 10. Lastly to omit all those base Opinions in which the Brownists agree with the Anabaptists this in which they differ from them will be sufficient to prove that they differ from us in that which is fundamental unless they will say that to believe the Trinity is not Fundamental For some of them and by name one Glover deny the Deity of the Holy Ghost Which stands condemned for a gross and Fundamental Heresie in the Second General Council held against Macedonius And for the Familists of which there is Store this Day in England they deny the Resurrection of the Flesh turning it as they do many other things into a Mystery or Allegorie Perhaps more particulars might be found upon a narrow search But if there be no more these are enough to make it evident to the World that these Separatists 〈◊〉 from us in some fundamental points of Doctrine or saving Truth And as these are in fault for their Separation so I doubt the Church is to blame for not proceeding against such of them as are altogether incorrigible But whether my Lord thinks these to be

Persons to Ecclesiastical Dignities Promotions and Benefices belonging to his Majesty and divers of the Nobility Clergy and others and hath taken upon him the Nomination of Chaplains to the King by which means he hath preferred to his Majesty's Service and to other great Promotions in the Church such as have been Popishly affected or other wise Vnsound and Corrupt both in Doctrine and Manners I did never wittingly abuse the Power or Trust which His Majesty reposed in me Nor did I ever intrude upon the Places of any great Officers or others to procure to my self the Nomination of Persons Ecclesiastical to Dignities Promotions and Benefices belonging to His Majesty the Nobility or any other And though here be no Particular named yet I guess at that which is meant and will clearly set down the Truth His Majesty some few Years since assumed to himself from the Right Honourable the Lord Coventry the Lord Keeper that then was and from my Lord Cottington then Master of the Court of Wards the disposing of all such Benefices as came to the King's Gift by Title of Wardship of what value soever they were The Reason which moved His Majesty to do this was The Lord Keeper and the Lord Cottington became humble Suitors to him to end a Contention between them about the giving of those Benefices both for their own Quiet and the Peace of other His Majesties Subjects For the Course was when any thing fell void in the Gift of a Ward he of these two great Officers which came first to know of the avoidance gave the Living This caused great and oft-times undue Practising among them which were Suitors for the Benefices And many times the Broad-Seal and the Seal of the Court of Wards bore Date the same Day And then the Bishop which Clerk soever he Instituted was sure to offend the other Lord. And these Lords too many times by the earnest putting on of Friends were not well pleased one with another in the Business Upon this Suit of their own His Majesty gave a Hearing to these Lords and in Conclusion of it took the Disposal of all such Benefices into his own Hands and for ought I know with both their liking and content In the disposing of these Benefices to such Men as had served His Majesty at Sea or otherwise I was trusted by the King and I served him in it faithfully but proceeded no farther nor otherwise than he directed and commanded me But I never took the Nomination of any one to my self or my own disposing And the Truth of this as His Majesty knows so I am Confident my Lord Cottington who is yet living will Witness For the Nomination of Chaplains to the King if I had done it I think the work was as proper for the Arch-Bishop as for any Man Yet because by Ancient Custom it was conceived to belong in a great part to the Lord Chamberlain who was then the Right Honourable the Earl of Pembrook I never Named any to His Majesty but I did fairly acquaint the Lord Chamberlain with it and desired his favour But in all my time I never was the means to prefer any Man to His Majesties Service as a Chaplain or to any Promotion whom I knew to be Popishly affected or any way Corrupt in Doctrine or Manners 9. He hath for the same Trayterous and Wicked intent chosen and employed such Men to be his own Domestical Chaplains whom he knew to be Notoriously disaffected to the Reformed Religion grosly addicted to Popish Superstition and Erroneous and unsound both in Judgment and Practice And to them or some of them he hath committed Licensing of Books to be Printed By which means divers false and Superstitious Books have been Published to the great Scandal of Religion and to the seducing of many of His Majesties Subjects I never chose any Man to be my Chaplain who I knew or had good Cause to suspect was Popishly affected Nor any that was unsound in Judgment or Practice Nor did I commit the Licensing of Books to any such but to those only who I then did and do still believe are Orthodox and Religious Divines and Men of very good Judgment for that Necessary and great Service And if they or any of them have by negligence or otherwise suffered any Erroneous and Dangerous Books to pass the Press they must answer both the Church and the State for whatsoever they have done amiss in that kind for it is not possible for the Archbishop to perform all those Services in Person And in the committing of them to my Chaplains and other Divines of Note I have done no new thing but that which my Predecessors have done before me This I am sure of I gave often and express and strict Command to all and every of them that they should License nothing that was contrary to the Doctrine and Discipline Established in the Church of England or might Personally or otherwise give Offence or Distaste And I hope they have Obeyed my Directions If not they must Answer for themselves 10. He hath Trayterously and Wickedly endeavoured to reconcile the Church of England with the Church of Rome And for the effecting thereof hath Consorted and Confederated with divers Popish Priests and Jesuits and hath kept secret intelligence with the Pope of Rome And by himself his Agents and Instruments treated with such as have from thence received Authority and Instruction He hath permitted and countenanced a Popish Hierarchy or Ecclesiastical Government to be Established in this Kingdom By all which Trayterous and Malicious Practices this Church and Kingdom have been exceedingly indangered and like to fall under the Tyranny of the Roman See The Article is now come of which I spake before and in my Answer to which I promised to set down the substance of that which I spake in the Parliament House to the Lords when this General Charge was brought up against me and I shall somewhat inlarge it yet without any Change of the Grounds upon which I then stood And now I shall perform that Promise And I shall be of all other least afraid to answer all that is here said concerning Religion For my Heart I bless God for it is sound that way to the uttermost of my Knowledge and I think I do well understand my Principles And my Old Master Aristotle hath taught me long since that Qui se bene habent ad divina audaciores sunt they which are well and setledly composed in things pertaining to God that is in Religion are much the bolder by it And this not only against Slanders and Imputations cast upon Men for this but in all other Accidents of the World what ever they be And surely I may not deny it I have ever wished and heartily Prayed for the Unity of the whole Church of Christ and the Peace and Reconciliation of torn and divided Christendom But I did never desire a Reconciliation but such as might stand

with Truth and preserve all the Foundations of Religion entire For I have Learned from a Prime School-Man of their own That every Vnion doth not perfect the true Reason or Definition of that which is good but that only upon which depends Esse perfectum Rei the perfect Essence of that thing So that in this particular if the substance of Christian Religion be not perfected by any Vnion that Vnion it self cannot have in it Rationem boni the true Being and Nature of Good And therefore I did never desire that England and Rome should meet together but with forsaking of Errour and Superstition especially such as grate upon and frett the Foundations of Religion But were this done God forbid but I should Labour for a Reconciliation if some Tenets of the Roman Party on the one side and some deep and imbittered Disaffections on the other have not made it impossible as I much doubt they have But that I shou'd practice with Rome as now it stands and to that end should confederate with Priests and Jesuits or hold secret intelligence with the Pope or treat with him or any Instruments Authorised by him or by any Agents is utterly untrue As I hope may fully appear by that which follows vid. init libri And First in hope that they which have observed my Life in times past will give me Credit in this time of my Affliction I do here make my solemn Protestation in the Presence of God and this great Court that I am Innocent of any thing greater or less that is charged in this Article or any part of it And I do here offer my Corporal Oath Please it the Lords to give it me in the strictest form that any Oath can be conceived that I am wholly Innocent of this Charge And let nothing be tendred against me but Truth and I do challenge whatsoever is between Heaven and Hell to come in and Witness whatsoever they can against me in this Particular For all that I have feared in all this Charge against me is not Guilt but Subornation of Perjury Against which Innocency it self cannot be safe And I have found the deadly Hatred of some Men against me to be such as that though I cannot suspect the House of Commons of such an Irreligious Baseness yet I have great Cause to suspect some particular Men which I see make no Conscience of the Way so they may compass their End Secondly Should I practice be it with whom you will to superinduce Romish Tyranny and Superstition over the true Religion established in England I have taken a very wrong way to it For I have hindred as many from going to the Roman Party and have reduced as many from it and some of great Quality and some of great Learning and Judgment as I believe any Divine in England hath done And is this the way to bring in Romish Superstition to reduce Men from it Or is this the Reward from the State which Men must look for that have done these Services Thirdly The Book which I have Written against Mr. Fisher the Jesuit must of Necessity either acquit me of this Calumny or proclaim me a Villain to the World And I hope I have so lived as that Men have not that Opinion of me sure I am I have not deserved it And had this Book of mine been written according to the Garb of the Time fuller of Railing than Reason a Learned Jesuit would have Laughed at it and me and a Learned Protestant might have thought I had Written it only to conceal my self and my Judgment in those Difficulties But being Written in the way it is I believe no Romanist will have much Cause to Joy at it or to think me a Favourer of their Cause And since I am thus put to it I will say thus much more This Book of mine is so Written by God's great blessing upon me as that whensoever the Church of England as they are growing towards it apace shall depart from the Grounds which I have therein laid she shall never be able before any Learned and disingaged Christian to make good her Difference with and her Separation from the Church of Rome And let no Man think I speak Pride or Vanity in this For the Outrages which have been against me force me to say it and I am confident future times will make it good unless Profaneness break in and over-run the whole Kingdom which is not a little to be feared Fourthly I must confess I am in this Particular most unfortunate For many Recusants in England and many of that Party beyond the Seas think I have done them and their Cause more Harm than they which have seemed more fierce against them And I doubt not but I shall be able to prove that I have been accounted beyond Sea the greatest Enemy to them that ever sat in my Place And shall I suffer on both sides Shall I be accounted an Enemy by one part for opposing the Papist and accused for a Traytor by the other for Favouring and Complying with them Well If I do suffer thus 't is but because Truth usually lies between two Extreams and is beaten by both As the poor Church of England is at this day by the Papist and the Separatist But in this and all things else in despight of all Malice Truth shall be either my Protection from Suffering or my Comfort while I suffer And by God's gracious assistance I shall never depart from it but continue at the Apostle's Ward 2 Cor. 13. Nihil possum contra veritatem I can do nothing against the Truth and for it I hope God will enable me patiently to suffer any thing Fifthly If I had practised with the Pope or his Agents for the alteration of Religion in England surely I must have used many great and dextrous Instruments to compass my end And in a business of so great Consequence Difficulty and Danger to all that should have a Hand nay but a Finger in it no Man would venture to meddle without good pay And 't is well known that I have filled no Purse nor laid up any store to set ill Instruments on work upon that or any other unworthy design Sixthly I am a Man in Years great Years for a Man so loaded with business as I have been all my Life And it cannot be long before I must go to give God Almighty an account of all my Actions And whatsoever the Malignity of the Time may put upon me yet they which know me and my ways will easily believe that I have not so little Conscience or care of my Soul as to double with God to my very Death Nay could I have doubled thus I could easily have seen a way through all this difficulty and how to have been as gracious with the People as any even the worst of my Predecessours But I have ever held that the lowest depth of Baseness to frame Religion to

hated it perhaps it might have been better with me for worldly safety than now it is But it can no way become a Christian Bishop to halt with God Lastly If I had any purpose to blast the True Religion Established in the Church of England and to introduce Popery sure I took a very wrong way to it For my Lords I have stayed as many that were going to Rome and reduced as many that were already gone as I believe any Bishop or other Minister in this Kingdom hath done and some of them Men of great Abilities and some of them Persons of great Place And is this the way my Lords to introduce Popery I beseech your Lordships consider it well For surely if I had blemished the True Protestant Religion I could not have setled such Men in it And if I had purposed to introduce Popery I would never have reduced such Men from it And though it please the Author of the Popish Royal Favourite to say That scarce one of the swaying Lord Prelats is able to say that ever he Converted one Papist to our Religion yet how void of Charity this Speech of his is and how full of Falshood shall appear by the number of those Persons whom by Gods Blessing upon my Labours I have setled in the True Protestant Religion Established in England And with your Lordships leave I shall Name them that you may see both their Number and their Condition though I cannot set them down in that order of time in which I either Converted or Setled them 1. And first Hen Birk-head of Trinity Coll. in Oxford was seduced by a Jesuit and brought up to London to be conveyed beyond the Seas His Friends complained to me I had the happiness to find him out and the blessing from God to settle his Conscience So he returned to Oxford and there continued 2. 3. Two Daughters of Sir Rich Lechford in Surrey were sent to Sea to be carried to a Nunnery I heard of it and caused them to be brought back before they were got out of the Thames I setled their Consciences and both of them sent me great thanks since I was a Prisoner in the Tower 4. 5. Two Scholars of St John's Coll. in Cambridge Topping and Ashton had slipped away from the College and here at London had got the French Embassadour's Pass I have the Pass to shew I found means to get them to me and I thank God setled both their Minds sent them back to their College Afterwards hearing of Topping's Wants I allowed him Means till I procured him a Fellowship And he is at this time a very hopeful Young Man as most of his time in that University a Minister and Chaplain in House at this Present to the Right Honourable the Earl of Westmerland 6. 7. 8. Sir William Web my Kinsman and two of his Daughters and the better to secure them in Religion I was at the Charge their Father being utterly decayed to Marry them to two Religious Protestants and they both continued very constant And his Eldest Son I took from him placed him with a careful Divine maintained him divers Years and then setled him with a Gentleman of Good Worth 10. 11. The next in my remembrance was the Lord Maio of Ireland who with another Gentleman whose name I cannot recal was brought to me to Fulham by Mr. Jefford a Servant of his Majesty's and well known to divers of your Lordships 12. The Right Honourable the Lord Duke of Buckingham was almost lost from the Church of England between the continual cunning Labours of Fisher the Jesuit and the Perswasions of the Lady his Mother After some Miscarriages King James of ever Blessed Memory Commanded me to that Service I had God's Blessing upon me so far as to settle my Lord Duke to his Death And I brought the Lady his Mother to the Church again but she was not so happy as to continue with us 14. The Lady Marchioness Hamilton was much solicited by some Priests and much troubled in Mind about it My Lord spake with me of it and though at that present I was so overlaid with Business that I could not as I much desired wait upon that Honourable Person my self yet I told my Lord I would send one to his Lordship that should diligently attend that Service and that I would give him the best direction I could And this I did and God be thanked she dyed very quietly and very Religiously and a good Protestant And my Lord Marquess told me he had acknowledged this Service of mine to an Honourable Lord whom I now see present 15. Mr. Chillingworth's Learning and Abilities are sufficiently known to all your Lordships He was gone and setled at Dowaye My Letters brought him back and he Lived and Dyed a Defender of the Church of England And that this is so your Lordships cannot but know For Mr. Pryn took away my Letters and all the Papers which concerned him and they were Examined at the Committee 16. 17. Mr. Digby was a Priest and Mr. James Gentleman a School-master in a Recusant's House This latter was brought to me by a Minister as far as I remember in Buckinghamshire I converted both of them and they remain setled 18. Dr. Hart a Civilian Son to a Neighbour of mine at Fulham He was so far gone that he had written part of his Motives which wrought as he said that Change in him I got sight of them shewed him wherein he was deceived had God's Blessing to settle his Conscience and then caused an able Divine to Answer his Motives and give him the Copy 19. There were beside these Mr. Christopher Seburne a Gentleman of an Ancient Family in Hereford-shire and Sir William Spencer of Yarnton in Oxfordshire The Sons and Heirs of Mr. Wintchome and Mr. Williscot whom I sent with their Friends good liking to Wadham-College in Oxford and I received a Certificate Anno 1638. of their continuing in conformity to the Church of England Nor did ever any of these relapse again to Rome but only the Old Countess of Buckingham and Sir William Spencer that ever I heard of And if any of your Lordships doubt of the Truth of any of these Particulars I am able and ready to bring full proof of them all And by this time I hope it appears that one of the swaying Prelats of the time is able to say he hath Converted one Papist to the Protestant Religion And let any Clergy Man of England come forth and give a better account of his Zeal to this present Church And now my Lords with my most humble Thanks for your Lordships favour and patience in hearing me I shall cease to be farther troublesom for the present not doubting but I shall be able to Answer whatever shall be particularly objected against me After I had ended this Speech I was commanded to withdraw As I went from