I'L.iT. o ^ ^ ■^^^ PRINCETON, N. J. % :« Presented byT^fi/^^ . O^XX-V^ovAT' VoW^ BX 9333 .N4 1837 v.l Neal, Daniel, 1678-1743. The history of the Puritans V.l Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2009 witii funding from Princeton Tlieological Seminary Library Iittp://www.arcliive.org/details/liistoryofpurit01neal THE HISTORY OF THE PURITANS; OB, PROTESTANT NONCONFORMISTS ; THE REFORMATION IN 1517, TO THE REVOLUTION IN 1688; COMPRISING ^n Account of \Mt ^rinciplf s ; THEJIl ATTEMPTS FOR A FARTHER REFORMATION IN THE CHURCH, THEIR SrFFERINGS, AND THE LIVES AND CHARACTERS OF THEIR MOST CONSIDERAB[,E DIVINES. BY DANIEL NEAL, M.A. A NEW EDITION, IN THREE VOLUMES. REPRINTED FROM THE TEXT OF DR. TOULMIN'S EDITION ; WITH HIS LIFE OF THE AUTHOR AND ACCOUNT OF HIS AVRITINGS. REVISED, CORRECTED, AND ENLARGED. VOL. I. LONDON : PRINTED FOR THOMAS TEGG AND SON, 73, CHEAPSIDE ; a. GRIFFIN AND CO., GLASGOW ; T. T. AND H. TEGG, DUBLIN ; ALSO J. AND S. A. TF.GG, SYDNEY AND HOBART TOWN. 1837. LONDON : BRAODURV AND EVANS, PRINTKHS, WHITEKIlMnfr, PREFACE TO VOL. I. OF THE ORIGINAL EDITION. The design of the following work is to preserve the memory of those gi*eat and good men among the reformers, who lost their preferments in the church, for attempting a farther reformation of its discipline and ceremonies ; and to account for the rise and progress of that separation from the national establishment which subsists to this day. To set this in a proper light it was necessary to look back upon the sad state of religion before the Reformation, and to consider the motives that induced king Henry VIII. to break with the pope, and to declare the church of England an independent body, of which himself, under Christ, was the supreme head upon earth. This was a bold attempt, at a time when all the powers of the earth were against him ; and could not have succeeded without an overiniUng direction of Divine Providence. But as for any real amendment of the doctrines or superstitions of Popery, any farther than was necessary to secure his own supremacy, and those vast revenues of the church which he had grasped into lus hands, whatever his majesty might design, he had not the honour to accomplisli. The Reformation made a quick progi-ess in the short reign of king Edward VI., who had been educated under Protestant tutors, and was himself a prodigious genius for his age ; he settled the doctrines of the church, and intended a reformation of its government and laws ; but his noble designs were obstructed by some temporising bishops, who, having complied with the impositions of king Henry VIII. were willing to bring others under the same yoke ; and to keep up an alliance with the church of Rome, lest they should lose the uninterrupted succession of their characters from the apostles. The controversy that gave rise to the Separation ))egan in this reign, on occasion of bishop Hooper's refusing to be coiasecrated in the Popish habits. This may seem an unreasonable scruple in the opmion of some people, but was certainly an affair of great consequence to the Reformation, when the habits were the kno\ATi badges of Popery ; and when the administrations of the priests were thought to receive their validity from the consecrated vest- ments, as 1 am afraid many, both of the clergy and common people, are too inclinable to apprehend at this day. Had the reformers fixed upon other decent garments, as badges of the episcopal or priestly office, which had no relation to the superstitions of Popery, this controversy had been prevented. — But the same regard to tlie old religion was had in revising the liturgy, and fl 2 IV PRF.FACE. translating it into the English language ; the refonners, instead of framing a new one in the language of Holy Scripture, had recourse to the offices of the church of Rome, leaving out such prayers and passages as were offensive, and adding certain responses to engage the attention of the common people, who till tills tune had no concern in the public devotions of the church, as being uttered in an unknown tongue. This was thought a very considerable advance, and as much as the times would bear, but was not designed for the last standard of the English reformation ; however, the unmature death of young kmg Edward put an end to all further progress. Upon the accession of queen Mary, Popery revived by the supremacy's being lodged in a single hand ; and within the compass of little more than a year, became a second time the established religion of the church of England: the statutes of king Edward were repealed, and the penal laws against heretics were put in execution against the reformers ; many of whom, after a long imprisonment, and cruel trials of mockings and scourgings, made a noble confession of their faith before many witnesses, and sealed it with their blood. Great numbers fled into banishment, and were entertained by the reformed states of Germany, Switzerland, and Geneva, with great humanity; the magistrates enfranchising them, and appointing churches for their public worship. But here began the fatal division * ; some of the exiles were for keepmg to the liturgy of kmg Edward, as the religion of their country, while others, considering that those laws were repealed, apprehended themselves at full liberty ; and having no prospect of returnmg home, they resolved to shake off the remains of antichrist, and to cojiy after the purer forms of those churches among whom they lived. Accordingly the congregation at Frankfort, by the desire of the magistrates, began upon the Geneva model, with an additional prayer for the afflicted state of the church of England at that time ; but when Dr. Cox, afterward bishop of Ely, came with a new detachment from England, he interrupted the public service by answering aloud after the minister, which occasioned such a disturbance and division as could never be healed. Mr. Knox and Mr. Whittingham, with one half of the congregation, being obhged to remove to Geneva, Dr. Cox and his friends kept possession of the church at Frankfort, till there arose such quarrels and contentions among themselves, as made them a reproach to the strangers among whom they lived. Thus the separation began. When the exiles, upon the accession of queen Elizabeth, i-e turned to England, each party were for advancing the Reformation according to their own standard. The queen, with those that had weathered the storm at home, w^ere only for restoring king Edward's liturgy, but the majority of the exiles were for the worship and discipline of the foreign churches, and refused to comply with the old establishment, declaiming loudly against the Popish habits and ceremonies. The new bishops, most of whom had been their companions abroad, endeavoured to soften them for the present, declaring they would use all their interests at court to make them easy in a little time. The queen also connived at their nonconformity, till her government was settled, but then declared roundly, that she had fixed her standard, and would have all her subjects conform to it ; upon which the * Fatal division ; i. e. on account of the animosities it cieatcd and the miseiies in which it involved very many persons and families ; but in anotlier view, it was a happy division, for it hath been essentially serviceable to civil as well as religious liberty, and like other evils, been productive of many important good effects ; as the author hinieelf points out, p. vi. — En. im;f.fa(E. V bishops stiffcnetl in thoir Iteliaviour, cxpluiiiotl away their promises, and became too severe against their dissenting brethren. In the year 1564, their hndships Ijegan to sliew their authority, by urging tlie clergy of their several dioeesses to subscribe the liturgy, ceremonies, and discipline, of the church ; when those that refused were first called Puritans, a name of reproach derived from the Cathari, or Puritani, of the third century after ('hrist, but proper enough to express their desires of a more pure form of worship and discipline in the church. When the doctrines of Arminius took place in the latter end of the reign of James I. those that adhered to Calvin's explication of the five disjiuted points were called Doctrinal Puritans ; and at length, says INIr. Fuller *, the name was improved to stigmatise all those who endeavoured in their devotions to accompany the minister with a pure heart, and who were remarkably holy in their conversations. A Puritan therefore was a man of severe morals, a Calvinist in doctrine, and a Nonconformist to the ceremonies and discipline of the church, though they did not totally sejjarate from it. The queen, having conceived a strong aversion to these people, pointed all her artillery against them ; for besides the ordinary courts of the bishops, her majesty erected a new tribunal, called the court of High Commission, which suspended and deprived men of their livings, not by the verdict of twelve men upon oath, but by the sovereign determination of three com- missioners of her majesty's own nomination, founded not upon the statute laws of the realm, but upon the bottomless deep of the canon law ; and instead of producing witnesses in open court to prove the charge, they a.ssumed a power of administering an oath c.v officio, whereby the prisoner was oldigcd to answer all questions the court should put him, though never so prejudicial to his own defence : if he refused to swear, he was imprisoned for contempt ; and if he took the oath, he was convicted upon his own confession. The reader will meet with many examples of the high proceedings of this court, in the course of this history ; of theu- sending their pursuivants to bring ministers out of the country, and keeping them in town at excessive charges ; of their interrogatories upon oath, which were almost equal to the Spanish inquisition ; of their examinations and long imprisonments of ministers without bail, or bringing them to a trial ; and all this not for insufficiency, or immorality, or neglect of their cures, but for not wearing a white surplice, for not baptizing with the sign of the cross, or not sub- scril)ing to certain articles that had no foundation in law. A fourth part of all the preachers in England were under susi)ension from one or other of these courts, at a time when not one beneficed clergyman ui six was capable of composing a sermon. The edge of all those laws that were made against Popish recusants, who were continually plotting against the queen, wiis turned against Protestant Nonconformists; nay, in many cases, they had not the benefit of the law ; fur as lord Clarendon t rightly observes, queen Elizabeth carried her prerogative as high as in the worst times of 'king Charles I. "■ They who lo(jk back upon the council-books of those times, (says his lordsliip), and upon the acts of the Star-chamber then, shall find as high instances of power and sovereignty upon the liberty and property of the subject, as can be since given. But the art, order, and gravity, of those proceedings (where short, severe, constant niles, were set, and smartly ♦ Church History, b. 9. p. 76. and b. !'». p. 100. f Vol. 1. p. 72. 8vo. VI PREFACE. pursued, and the party felt only the weight of the judgment, not the passion of his judges) made them less taken notice of, and so less grievous to the public, though as intolerable to the person." These severities, mstead of reconciling the Puritans to the church, drove them farther from it ; for men do not care to be beat from their principles by tlie artillery of canons, injunctions, and penal laws ; nor can they be in love with a church that uses such methods of conversion. A great deal of ill blood was bred in the nation by these proceedings ; the bishops lost their esteem with the people, and the number of Puritans was not really lessened, though they lay concealed, tiU in the next age they got the power into their hands, and shook off the yoke. The reputation of the church of England has been very much advanced of late years, by the suspension of the penal laws, and the legal indulgence granted to Protestant dissenters. Long experience has taught us, that uniformity in doctrine and worship, enforced by penal laws, is not the way to the church's peace ; that there may be a separation from a true church without schism ; and schism wthin a church, wdthout sepai'ation ; that the indulgence granted by law to Protestant Nonconformists, which has now subsisted above forty years, has not been prejudicial to church or state, but rather advantageous to both; for the revenues of the established church have not been lessened ; a number of poor have been maintamed by the dissenters, which must otherwise have come to the parish ; the separation has kept up an emulation among the clergy; quickened them to theii- pastoral duty, and been a check upon their moral behaviour : and I will venture to say, whenever the separate assemblies of Protestant Noncon- formists shall cease, and all men be obliged to worship at their parish churches, that ignorance and laziness will prevail among the clergy; and that the laity in many parts of the country will degenerate into superstition, profaneness, and do%vnright atheism. 'W^ith regard to the state : it ought to be remembered, that the Protestant dissenters have always stood by the laws and constitution of their country; that they jomed heartily in the glorious revolution of king William and queen Mary, and suffered for their steady adherence to the Protestant succession in the illustrious house of his present majesty, when great numbers that called themselves churchmen were looking another way ; for this, the Schism-bill and other hardships were put upon them, and not for their religious differences with the church ; for if they would have joined the admmistration at that time, it is well known they might have made much better terms for themselves : but as long as there is a Protestant dissenter in England, there will be a friend of liberty, and of our present happy constitution. Instead therefore of crushing them, or comprehending them within the church, it must be the interest of all true lovers of their countrj^, even upon political views, to ease their complaints, and to support and countenance their Christian liberty. For though the church of England is as free from persecuting principles as any establishment in Europe, yet still there are some grievances remaining, which wise and good men of all pai-ties wish might be reviewed ; not to mention the subscriptions which affect the clergy ; there is the act of the twenty-fifth of king Charles II. for preventing dangers arising from Popish recusants, commonly called the Test-act, " which obliges, under very severe penalties, all persons, [of the laity] bearing any office, or place of trust or profit (besides taking the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and subscribing a declaration against transubstantiation), to receive the sacrament of the I'UKi'Acc. vn Lord's supper accordiiii'' to the usage of the church of England, in some palish church, on a Lord's day, immediately after divine service and sermon, and to deliver a certificate of having so received it, under the hands of the respective ministers and churchwardens, proved hy two credible witnesses upon oath, to be recorded in court." It appears by the title of this act, and by the disposition of the parliament at that time, that it was not designed against Protestant Nonconformists ; but the dissenters in the house gene- rously came in to it, to save the nation from Popery ; for when the court, in order to throw out the bill, put them upon moving for a clause to except their friends, ]\Ir. Love, who had already declared against the dispensing ])Ower, stood up, and desired that the nation miglit first be secured against Popery, by passing the bill without any amendment, and that then, if the house pleased, some regard might be had to Protestant dissenters ; in which, says Mr. Echard, he was seconded by most of his party *. The bill was voted accordingly, and another brought in for the ease of his majesty's Protestant dissenting subjects, which passed the commons, but before it could get through the lords, the king came to the house and prorogued the parliament. Thus the Protestant Nonconformists, out of their abundant zeal for the Protestant religion, shackled themselves, and were left upon a level with Popish recusants. It was necessaiy to secure the nation against Popery at that time, when the presimiptive heir of the crown was of that religion ; but wliBther it ought not to have been done by a civil rather than by a religious test, I leave with the reader. The obUging all persons in places of civil trust to receive the holy sacrament of the Lord's supper, seems to be a hardship upon those gentlemen, whose manner of life loudly declares their unfitness for so sacred a solemnity, and who would not run the hazard of eating and drinking unworthily, but that they satisfy themselves with thro whig oft' the guilt upon the impostors. Great Britain must not expect an army of saints ; nor is the time yet come, when all her officers shall be peace, and her exactors righte- ousness. It is no less a hardship upon a great body of his majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, who are qualified to serve their king and country, in all offices of civil trust, and would perform their duty with all cheerful- ness, did they not scruple to receive the sacrament after the usage of the church of England, or to prostitute a sacred and religious institution, as a qualification for a civil employment. I can see no inconvenience cither to church or state, if his majesty, as the common father of liis people, should have the service of all his subjects, who are willing to swear allegiance to his royal person and government ; to renounce all foreign jurisdiction, and to give all reasonable security not to disturb the church of England, or any of their fellow-subjects, in the ])eaceable enjoyment of their religious or civil rights and i^roperties. Besides, the removing this grievance would do honoiu' to the church of England itself, by obviating the charge of imjjo- sition, and Ijy relieving the clergy from a part of their work, which has given some of them very great uneasiness : but I am chiefly concerned for tlie honour of religion and j)ublic virtue, which are wounded hereby in the house of their friends. If therefore, as some conceive, the sacramental test be a national blemish, 1 humbly conceive, with all due submission, the removal of it would be a public blesshig. The Protestant Nonconfi)rmists observe with pleasure the right reverend " Echard's Cluiich History, ad ann. 1672-3. VII 1 PREFACE. lathers of the church owning the cause of religious liberty, " that private judgment ought to he formed upon examination, and that religion is a free and unforced thing." And we sincerely join with the lord bishop of Lich- field and Coventry', in the preface to his excellent Vindication of the Miracles of our Blessed Saviour '■', " in congratulating our country on the enjoyment of their civil and ecclesiastical liberties witliin their just and reasonable bounds, as the most valuable blessings ;" though we are not fully satisfied with the reasonableness of those bounds his lordsliip has fixed. God forbid that any among us should be patrons of open profaneness, irreligion, scar- lility, or ill manners, to the established religion of the nation ; much less that we should countenance any who blasphemously revile the founder of it, or who deride whatsoever is sacred ! No ; we have a fervent zeal for the honour of our Lord and Master, and are desirous to " contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints" with all sorts of spiritual weapons; but we do not yet see a necessity of stopping the mouths of the adversaries of our holy religion with fines and imprisonments, even though, to their own infamy and shame, they treat it with indecency : let scandal and ill maimers be jiunished as they deserve, but let not men he terrified from speakmg out their doubts, or proposing their objections against the gospel revelation, which we are sure will bear a thorough examination ; and though the late ungenerous attacks upon the miracles of our blessed Saviour, may have had an ill influence upon the giddy and unthinking youth of the age, they have given occasion to the publishing such a number of incomparable defences of Christianity, as have confirmed the faith of many, and must satisfy the minds of all reasonable inquirers after truth. Nor do Ave think it right to fix the boundaries of religious liberty upon the degree of people's differuig from the national establishment, because enthusiasts oi' Jews have an equal right with Christians to worship God in their own way ; to defend their oaati peculiar doctrines, and to enjoy the public protection, as long as they keep the peace, and maintain no prin- ciples manifestly inconsistent with the safety of the government they live under. But his lordship apprehends he has a chain of demonstrable propositions to maintain his boundaries: he observes +, "1. That the true ends of govemment cannot subsist without religion, no reasonable man wUl dispute it. 2. That open impiety, or a public opposition made to, and an avowed contemjtt of, the established religion, which is a considerable part of the constitution, do greatly promote the disturbance of the public peace, and naturally tend to the subversion of the whole constitution." It is here supposed that one particular religion must be incorporated mto the consti- tution, which is not necessary to the ends of government ; for religion and civil government are distinct things, and stand upon a separate basis. Reli- gion in general is the su])port of civil government, and it is the office of the civil magistrate to protect all his dutiful and loyal subjects in the free exercise of their religion ; but to incorporate one particular religion mto the constitution, so as to make it part of the common law, and to conclude from thence, that the constitution, having a right to preserve itself, may make laws for the punishment of those that publicly o^iposc any one branch of it, is to put an effectual stop to the progress of the Reformation throughout the whole Christian world : for by this reasoning our first reformers must be * Picf. p. viii. t Picf. p. ix. X. I'KEFACE. ix condemnetl ; and if a siiljoct of France, or the ecclesiastical states, slnnild at tliis time write against the nsurped power of the jx^pe ; or expose the ahsnr- dities of transubstantiation, adoration of the liost, woi-shipping of images, &c., it would be laudable for the legislative powci-s of those countries to send the writer to the galleys, or shut him up in a dungeon, as a disturber of the public peace, because Popery is supported by law, and is a very considerable part of their constitution. But to support the government's right to enact penal laws against those that opposed the established religion, his lordship is pleased to refer us to the edicts of the first Christian emperors out of tl* Codex Theodosianus, com- posed in the fifth century, which acquaints us with the sentiments of that and the preceding age ;. but says nothing of the doctrine of Scripture, or of tlie practice of the church for three hundred years before the empire became Christian. His lordship then subjoins sundry passages out of a sermon of archbishop Tillotsou, whom he justly ranks among the gi-eatest of the moderns. But it ought to be remembered, that this sei-mon was preached at court in the year 1G80, when the nation was in imminent danger from the Popish plot. His lordship should also have acquainted his readers with the archbishop's cautious introduction, which is tliis : " I cannot think (till I be In'tter informed, which I am always ready to be) that any pretence of con- science warrants any man, that cannot work miracles, to draw men off from the established religion of a nation, nor openly to make proselytes to his own religion, in contempt of the magistrate and the law, though he is never so sure he is in the i-ight *." This proposition, though pointed at the Popish missionaries ui England at that time, is not only inconsistent with the Pro- testant reformation (as 1 observed before,) but must effectually prevent the l)roj)agating of Christianity among the idolatrous nations of the Eastern and \V'estern Indies, without a new power of workuig miracles, which we have no ground to expect ; and I may venture to assure his lordship and the world, that the good arch1)ishop lived to see his mistake ; and could name the learned person to whom he frankly confessed it after some hours' convei-sa- tion upon the subject t. But human authorities are of little weight in points of reason and speculation. It was from this mistaken principle that the government pressed so hard upon those Puritans whose history is now before the reader; in which he will observe how the transferring the supremacy from the jiope to the king, united the church and state into one body under one head, inso- nmch tluit writing against the church was construed by the judges in • Abp. Tillotson's Works, vol. 1 . fol. p. 320, 321. •f- The learned ])crson, to wlioin Mr. Neal refers, T conceive, was Mr. ITowe : tlie pur- l)iirt of the conversation he iiail witli the bisliop, on the proposition contained in his sermon, was jriven to the public by Dr. Calamy in his Memoirs of Air. Howe, ]). 7-'J, 7(). Tlie fact was, that the hisho]) was sent for, out of his turn, to preach before the kitig, on aceonnt of the sickness of another gentleman ; and had prepared his discourse in great haste, and impressed with the general fears of Popery : the sentiment above ([noted from it, was the occasion of its being published from tlic press. For tlie king having slept most part of the time while the sermon was delivered, a certain nobleman, when it was over, said to him : " ' Tis pity your majesty slejit, for we have had the niiisl piece of Flobbisni that ever you heard in your life." " Odstisli, he shall print it then," replied the king. When it came from the press the author sent a copy, as a ])resent, to Mr. Howe, vviio freely expostulated with Dr. Tillotson on this passage, lirst in along letter, and then in a lonversation which the doctor desired on the subject, at tiie end of whicli he fell loweepiog freely, and s;iid " that this was the most unhuiipy thing titat had of a long time btl.illen iiim." X I'lTEFACK. Westmiustev-liall, a seditious libelling the queen's government, and was punished with exorbitant fines, imprisonment, and death. He will observe further, the rise and progress of the penal laws ; the extent of' the regal supremacy in those times ; the deplorable ignorance of the clergy ; with the opposite principles of our church- reformers, and of the Puritans, which I have set in a true light, and have pursued the controversy as an his- torian in its several branches, to the end of the long reign of queen Elizabeth ; to all which I have added some short remarks of my own, ^vllich the reader will receive accordmg to their evidence. And because the principles of the Scotch reformers were much the same with those of the English Puritans, and the imposing a liturgy and bishops upon them gave rise to a confusion of the next age, I have insei'ted a short account of their religious establishment ; and have enlivened the whole with the lives and characters of the principal Puritans of those times. A history of this kind was long expected from the late reverend and learned Dr. John Evans, who had for some years been collecting mate- rials for this purjjose, and had he lived to perfect his design, would have it done to much greater advantage ; but I have seen none of his papers, and am informed, that there is but a very small matter capable of being put in order for the press. Upon his decease I found it necessary to undertake this province, to bi'ing the history forward to those times when the Puritans had the power in their own hands ; in examining into which I have spent my leisure hours for some years ; but the publishing those collections will depend, under God, upon the continuance of my health, and the acceptance this meets Avith in the world. I am not so vain as to expect to escape the censures of critics, nor the reproaches of angry men, who, while they do nothing themselves, take plea- sure in exjjosing the labours of others in pamphlets and newspapers ; but as I shall be always thankful to any that will convince me of my mistakes in a friendly manner, the others may be secure of enjoy mg the satisfaction of their satirical remarks without any disturbance from me. I have endeavoured to acquaint myself thoroughly with the times of which I write ; and as I have no expectations from any party of Christians, I am under no temptation to disguise their conduct. I have cited my authorities in the margin, and flatter myself that I have had the opportmiity of bringing many things to light relating to the sufferings of the Puritans, and the state of the Reformation in those times, which have hitherto been unknown to the world, chiefly by the assistance of a large manuscrijjt collection of papers, faithfully transcribed fi-om their originals in the university of Cambridge, by a person of character employed for that purpose, and generously communi- cated to me by my ingenious and learned friend Dr. Benjamin Grosvenor ; for wliich I take this opportunity of retumhig him my owti, and the thanks of the public. Among the ecclesiastical historians of these times, Mr. Fuller, bishop Burnet, and Mi. Strype, are the chief ; the last of whom has searched into the records of the English reformation more than any man of the age ; Dr. Heylin and CoUyer are of more suspected authority, not so much for then- party principles, as because the former never gives us his vouchers, and yet the latter follows him blindly in all thmgs. Upon the whole, I have endeavoured to keep in view the honesty and gravity of an historian, and have said nothing with a design to exasperate or widen the differences among C-hristians ; for as I am a sincere admirer of the doctrines of the New Testament, I Avould have an equal regard to its PIlliFACE. - xi most excellent precepts, of which these .are some of the capital, that " we love one another ; that we forgive offences ; that we bear one anotlier's infir- mities, and even bless them that curse us, and pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us." If this spirit and temper were more prevalent, the lives of Christians would throw a bright lustre upon the truth and excel- lency of their divine faith, and convince the atheists and infidels of the age, more than nil their arguments can do without it. I would earnestly recommend this temper to the Protestant Noncon- formists of the present age, together Avith a holy emulation of each other in undissemblcd piety and sanctity of life, that while they are reading the heavy and grievous sufferings of their ancestors from ecclesiastical commissions, spiritual courts, and penal laws, for conscience' sake, they may be excited to an humble adoration of Divme Providence, which has delivered them so far from the yoke of oppression ; to a detestation of all persecuting princi- l)les ; and to a loyal and dutiful behaviour to the best of kings, under whose mild and just government they are secure of their civil and religious liberties. And may Protestants of all persuasions improve in the knowledge and love of the truth, and in sentiments of Christian charity and forbearance towards each other, that being at peace among themselves, they may with gi-eater success bend their united forces against the common enemy of Christianity ! Loudon, Daniel Neal. Feb. 1st, 1731-2. PREFACE TO VOL. IL OF THE ORIGINAL EDITION. The favourable acceptance of the first volume of this work has encoui-aged me to publish a second, which carries the history forward to tlie beginning of the civil war, when the two houses of parliament wrested the spiritual sword out of the hands of the king and bishops, and assumed the supremacy to themselves. There had Ijeen a cessation of controvei-sy for some time before the death of queen Elizabeth ; the Puritans being m hopes, upon the accession of a king that had been educated in their oato j)rinciplcs, to obtain an easy redress of their grievances ; and certainly no prince ever had so much in his power to compromise the differences of the church, as king James I. at the conference of Hampton-court; but being an indolent and vain-glorious monarch, he became a AN-illmg captive to the bishops, who flattered his vanity, and put that maxim into his head, " No bishop, no king." The creatures of the court, in lieu of the vast sums of money they received out of the exchequer, gave him the flattering title of an absolute sovereign, and, to supply his extravagances, broke through the constitution, and laid the foundation of all the calamities of his son's reign ; while himself, sunk into hixurv and case, became the contempt of all the powers of Europe. If king :^11 - VUKFACE. James had any principles of religion besides what he called kingcraft, or dissimulation, lie changed them with the climate, for from a rigid Calvinist he became a favourer of Arminianism in the latter part of his reign ; from a Protestant of the purest kirk upon eai'th, a doctrinal Papist ; and from a disgusted Puritan, tlic most implacable enemy of that people, putting all the springs of the prerogative in motion, to drive them out of both kingdoms. But instead of accomplishing- his designs, the number of Puritans increased prodigiously in his reign, which was owing to one or other of these causes. First. To the standing firm by the constitution and laws of their country ; which brought over to them all those gentlemen in the house of commons, and in the several counties of England, who found it necessary, for the jire- servation of their properties, to oppose the court, and to insist ujion being- governed according to law ; these were called state Puritans. Secondly. To their steady adherence to the doctrines of Calvin, and the synod of Dort, in the points of predestination and grace, against the modern • interpretations of Arminius and his followers. The court divines fell in with the latter, and were thought not only to deviate from the principles of the first reformers, but to attempt a coalition with the church of Rome ; while most of the country clergy, being stiff in their old opinions (though other- wise well enough affected to the discipline and ceremonies of the church), were in a manner shut out from all preferment, and branded with the name of Doctrinal Puritans. I'hirdly. To their pious and severe manner of life, which was at this time very extraordinary. If a man kept the sabbath and frequented sermons ; if he maintained family religion, and would neither swear, nor be drunk, nor comjily with the fashionable vices of the times, he was called a Puritan ; this by degrees ]>rocured them the compassion of the sober part of the nation ; who began to think it very hard, that a number of sober, industrious, and conscientious people, should be harassed out of the land, for scrupluig to comply with a few indifferent ceremonies, which had no relation to the favour of God, or the practice of virtue. _ Fourthly. It has been thought by some, that their increase was cvving to the mild and gentle government of aichbishop Abbot. While Bancroft lived, the Puritans were used with the utmost i-igour, but Abbot, having a greater concern for the doctrines of the church than for its ceremonies, i-elaxed the penal laws, and connived at their proselyting the people to Calvinism. Arminianism was at this time both a church and state faction ; the divines of this persuasion, apprehending their sentiments not very con- sistent with the received sense of the thirty-nine articles, and being afraid of - the censures of a parliament or a convocation, took shelter under the f»rero- gative, and went into all the slavish measures of the court to gain the royal favour, and to secure to their friends the chief preferments in the churcli. They jiersuaded his majesty to stifle the pi-edestinarian controversy, both in the pulpit and press, and would no doubt, in a few years, have got the balance of numbers on their side, if, by grasping at too much, they had not precipitated both church and state into confusion. It was no advantage to those divines that they were linked with the Roman C-atholics, for these being sensible they could not be protected by law, cried up the prerogative, and joined the forces with the court divines, to support the dispensing power; they declared for tlie unlimited authority of the sovereign on the one hand, and the alisolute obedience of the subject on the other ; so that though there is no real connexion between Arminianism aud Popery, the iwo parties were PREFACE. Xlll uiihapiu'ly (•(Hiil>incil at this time to destroy tlie Puritans, and to suljvcit the i-oustitution ami laws of their country. But if Abbot was too remiss, his successor Laud was as much too furious, for in the first year of Ills government he introduced as many changes as a wise and prudent statesman would have attempted in seven*; he jircvailcd witli his majesty to set up the English service at Edinburgh, and laid the foundation of the Scotch liturgy ; he obtained the revival of the book of sports ; he turned the communion tables into altars ; he sent out injunctions which broke up the French and Dutch churches ; and i)rocured the re]>eal of the Irish articles, and those of England to be received in their place. Such was his rigorous persecution of the P.uritans, that he would neither suffer them to live peaceably in the land, nor remove quietly out of it ! His grace was also the chief mover in all those unbounded acts of power which were subversive of the rights and liberties of the people ; and while he had the reins in his hands, drove so near the precipices of Popery and tyranny, that the hearts of the most resolved Protestants turned agamst him, and almost all England became Puritan. I am sensible that no part of modern history has been examined with so much critical exactness, as that part of the reign of king Charles I. which relates to the rise and progress of the civil war ; here the writers on both sides have blown up their passions into a flame, and instead of history, have given us little else but panegyric or satire. I have endeavoured to avoid extremes, and have represented things as they appeared to me, with modesty, and without any pereonal reflections. The character I have given of the religious principles of the long-paidiament was designedly taken out of the earl of Clarendon's History of the Grand Rebellion, that it might be without exception : and I am of opinion, that the want of a due acquaintance with the principles of the two houses with regard to church-discipline, has misled our best liistorians, who have represented some of them as zealous prelatists, and others as cunning Presbyterians, Independents, sectaries, &c. whereas in truth thc}^ had these matters veiy little at heart. The king was hampered with notions of the divine right of diocesan episcopacy, but the two houses [excepting the bishops] were almost to a man of the principles of Erastus, who mamtained, that Christ and his apostles had prescribed no particular form of discipline for his church in after ages, but had left the keys in the hands of the civil magistrate, who had the sole power of punishing trans- gressors, and of appointing such particular forms of church government from time to time, as were most subservient to the peace and welfare of the commonwealth. Indeed these were the sentiments of our church-reformers, from archbishop Cranmer down to Bancroft. And though the Puritans, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, wrote with gi-eat eagerness for the divine right of their book of discipline, their posterity in the next reigns were more cool upon that head, declaring their satisfaction, if the present episcopacy might be reduced to a more primitive standard. This was the substarico of the ministers' petition in the year 1641, signed with seven hundred hands. And even those who were for root and branch were willing to subinit to a parlia- mentary refonnation, till the Scots revived the notion of divine right in the assembly of divines. However, it is certain, the two houses had no attach- ment to presbytery or independency, but would have compromised matters with the king upon the episcopal scheme, as long as his majesty was in the ♦ Hevlin's Life -of Laud, p. 506. XIV 1' RE FACE. field ; but wlien victory had declared on their side, they eom])lied in some measure with tlieir nortliern friends, who had assisted them in the war; but would never part with the power of the keys out of their own hands. If the reader will keep tliis in mind, he will easily account for the several revolutions of church-g■o^■ernment in these unsettled times. It is not to be expected, that the most disinterested w^riter of tliese affairs should escape the censures of different parties ; I thought I had already suf- ficiently expressed niy intentions in publishing the History of the Puritans ; but because it has been insinuated in a late pani]>hlet, that it looked like a plot against the ecclesiastical constitution *, I think it proper to assure the world once for all, that what I have ^^^•itten is with no ill spirit or design against the peace of the church or nation ; that I have no private or party views ; no patron ; no associates ; nor other prospect of reward, than the pleasure of setting the English reformation in a true light, and of beating- beating down some of the fences and enclosures of conscience. Nor can there be any inconvenience in remembering the mistakes of our ancestors, when all the parties concerned are gone off the stage, and their families reconcQed by intermarriages ; but it may be of some use and benefit to man- kind, by enablbig them to avoid those rocks on which theii- forefathers have split. When I am convinced of any mistakes, or unfair representations, I shall not be ashamed to retract them before the world ; but facts are stub- born things, and will not bend to the humours and inclinations of artful and angry men : if these have been disguised or misreported, let them be set right in a decent manner, without the mean sunnises of plots and con- federacies ; and whoever does it, shall have mine as well as the thanks of the public. I have no controversy with the present church of England, which has abandoned, in a great measure, the persecuting principles of former times ; for though I am not unacquamted with the nature and defects of reli- gious establishments, yet neither my prmciples nor mclinations will allow me to give them the least disturbance, any farther than they impose upon conscience, or intrench upon the rights of civil society. If the Presbyte- rians or Independents have been guilty of such practices in their turns, I shall freely bear my testimony against them, and think I may do it wath a GOOD GRACE, suicc I havo always declared against restramts upon con- science among all parties of Christians t ; but if men will vindicate the justice and equity of oaths ex officio, and of exorbitant fines, imprisonment, and banishment for things in their own nature indifferent ; if they will call a relation of the illegal severities of council-tables, star-chambers, and high-commissions, a satire against the present establishment, they must use their liberty, as I shall mine, in appearing against ecclesiastical oppres- sion, from what quarter soever it conres. I have freely censured the mistakes of the Puritans in queen Elizabeth's reign ; nor w411 I be their advocate any longer than they have Scripture, reason, and some degree of good manners, on their side. If it shall at any time appear, that the body of them lived in contempt of all la^^^ul autho- rity, or bid defiance to the laws of their country, except in such cases wherein their consciences told them, it was their duty to obey God rather than man ; if they were guilty of rebellion, sedition, or of abandoning the queen and the Protestant religion, when it was in danger, let them bear • Expostiiktovy Letter, p. 29, 30. t Ibid, p. 12. PKKFACF,. \V tlu'ir own if'proatli ; but as yet I must ho of opiuioii, tliat tluy were tlic ])est fiionds of tlic constitution and lil)erties of their country ; that they were neither unquiet nor restless, unless against tyranny in the state, and oppression upon the conscience ; that they made use of no otlicr weapons, during a course of fourscore years, but pi-ayers to God, and petitions to the legislature, for redress of theu- grievances, it beuig an article of their belief, that absolute submission was due to the supreme magistrate in all things lawful, as will sufficiently appear by their protestations in the begin- ning of the reign of Icing James I. I have admitted that the Puritans might be too stiff and rigid in their behaviour ; that they were unac- quamted with the rights of conscience ; and, that their language to their superiors the bishops was not always decent and mannerly : Oppression maketh wise men mad. But surely, the depriving, imprisoning, and putting men to death for these things, will not be vmdicated m our times. In the preface to the first volume of this history, I mentioned with pica- sure the growuig sentiments of religious liberty m the church of England, but complained of the burden of subscriptions upon the clergy ; and of the corporation and test acts, as prejudicial to the cause of religion and vu-tue among the laity ; for which reasons the Protestant dissenters throughout England intended to petition for a repeal or amendment of these acts, the ensuing session of parliament, if they had met Avith any encouragement from their superiors, or had the least prospect of success. The sacramental test is, no doubt, a distinguishing mark of reproach which they have not deserved ; and, 1 humbly conceive, no very great security to the church of England, unless it can be supposed, that one single act of occasional conformity can take off the edge of all their imagined aversion to the liierarchy, Avho wor- ship all the restof the yearamong Nonconfonnists. Nor can the repeal of these acts be of any considerable advantage to the body of dissenters, because not one in five hundred can expect to reap any private benefit by it to himself or family ; their zeal therefore m this cause must arise principally from a regard to the libei-ties of their country, and a desire of rescuing one of the most sacred rights of Christianity from the profanation to wliich it is exposed. But it seems tliis will not be believed, till the dissenters propose some other pledge and security by which the end and intent of the sacramental test may be equally attained, for (says a late writer *) the legislature never intended them any share of trust or power in the government ; and he hopes never will, till they see better reasons for it than hath hitherto appeared. Must the dissenters then furnish the church with a law to exclude them- selves from servuig their kmg and country ? Let the disagreeable work be undertaken by men that are better skilled in such unequal seventies. I wDl not examme into the hitent of the legislature in tliis place ; but if Protestant Nonconformists are to have no share of trust or power in the government, why are they chosen into such offices, and subject to fines and penalties for declining them ? Is it for not serving ? this, it seems, is what the legislature never intended. Is it then for not qualifying ? surely this is a penalty upon conscience. I would ask the warmest advocate for the sacramental test, whether the appointing Protestant dissenters for sheriffs of counties, and obliging them to (pialify against their consciences under the penalties of a premunire, without the liberty of serving by a deputy, or of commuting by a fine, is consistent with so full a toleration, and exemption from penal laws, • History of the Test, p. 16. 23. 25. XVI PHEFACE. as this writer * says thoy enjoy ? It is tnie, a good government may take no advantage of this poAver, but in a bad one men* must qualify, or their liberties and estates lie at the king's mercy ; it seems therefore 1)ut reasonable (whatever the intent of the legislature may be), that Protestant dissenters •should be admitted to serve their country with a good conscience in offices of trust as well as of burden, or be exempted from all pains and penalties for not doing it f . It is now pretty generally agreed, that receiving the holy sacrament merely as a qualification for a place of civil profit or trust, is contrary to the ends of its institution, and a snai*e to the consciences of men | ; for though the law is open, and " they who obtain offices hi the state know befoi'chand the conditions of keeping them," yet when the bread of a numerous family depends upon a qualification which a man cannot be satisfied to comply with, it is certainly a snare. And though I agree with our author, that " if the minds of such persons are wicked the law does not make them so," yet I am afraid it hardens them, and makes them a great deal worse. How many thousand come to the sacrament of the Lord's supper with reluctance ! and, perhaps, eat and drink judgment to themselves ; the guilt of which must be chargeable either upon the imposei"S, or receivers, or upon both. Methinks therefore charity to the souls of men, as well as a concern for the purity of our holy religion, should engage all serious Christians to endeavour the removal of this grievance ; and since we are told, that the appearing of the dissenters at this time is unseasonable, and will be ineffectual ; I would humbly move our right reverend fathers the bishops not to think it below their high stations and dignities, to consider of some expedient to roll away this reproach from the church and nation, and agi"ee upon some security for the former (if needful) of a civil nature, that may leave room (as king "^Villiam expresses it in his s[jeech to his first parliament) for the admission of all Protestants that are able and willing to serve their country. The lionotir of Christ, and the cause of public virtue, seem to require it. And forasmuch as the influence of these acts affects great numbers of the laity in a very tender part, I should think it no dishonour for the several corpora- tions in England, as well as for the officers of the army, navy, customs, and excise, who are more peculiarly concerned, to join their intei-ests in petition- ing the legislature for such relief. And I flatter myself that the wise and tempei-ate behaviour of the Protestant dissenters in their late general assem- bly in London ; with the dutiful regard that they have always shown to the peace and welfare of his majesty's person, family, and government, will not fail to recommend them to the royal protection and favour ; and that his most excellent majesty, in imitation of his glorious predecessor king Wil- liam IIL will in a proper time recommend it to his parliament to strengthen his administration, by taking off those restraints wliich at present disable his Protestant dissenting subjects from showing their zeal in the service of their king and country. London, Daniel Neal. March 6, 1732-3. • History of the Test, p. 25. •f It should be mentioned to the honour of bishop Warburton, who was an advocate for a test, though not a sacramental test, that to this proposal, that " dissenters should be exempted from all pains and penalties for not serving their country in offices of trust," lie gave his hearty assent by adding in the margin, most certainly ! — Ed. \ History of the Test, p. 22. PREFACE TO VOL. UI. OF THE ORIGINAL EDITION. No period of civil history has undergone a more critical examination than tlie last seven years of Icing Charles I. wliieh was a scene of such confusion and inconsistent management between the king and parliament, that it is very difficult to discover the motives of action on either side : the king seems to have been directed by secret springs from the queen and her council of Papists, who were for ?idvancing the jjrerogative above the laws, and vesting his majesty with such an absolute sovereignty, as might rival liis brother of France, and enable him to establish the Roman-Catholic religion in England, or some how or other Ijlend it with tlie Protestant. This gave rise to the unparalleled severities of the star-chamber and high-commission, wliich, after twelve years' triumpli over the laws and liberties of the sulyect, brought on a fierce and bloody war, and after the loss of above a hundred thousand lives, ended in the sacrifice of the kmg himself, and the subversion of the wliolc constitution. Though all men had a veneration for the person of the king, his ministere liad rendered themselves justly obnoxious, not only by setting up a new form of government at home, but by extending their jurisdiction to a neigli- l)0uring kingdom, imder the government of distinct laws, and inclined to a form of cliurch-discipUne very different from the English : tliis raised sucli a storm in the north, as distressed his majesty's administration ; exhausted his treasure ; dramed all his arlntrary sprmgs of supply ; and (after an inter- mission of twelve years) reduced him to the necessity of returning to tlie constitution, and calling a parliament ; but when the public grievances came to be opened, there appeared such a collection of ill-humours, and so general a distrust between the, king and liis tw^o houses, as tln-eatencd all the miscliicf and desolation that followed. Each party laid the blame on the other, and agreed m nothing but in throwuag off the odium of the civil war from themselves. Tlie affairs of the church had a very considerable influence on the welfare of the state : the episcopal character was grown into contempt, not from any defect of learning in the bisliojis, but from their close attachment to the prerogative, and their own insatiable thirst of power, which they stramed to the utmost in their spiritual courts, by reviving old and obsolete customs, levying large fines on the people for contempt of their canons, and pro- secutmg good men and zealous Protestants, for rites and ceremonies tending to superstition, and not warranted by the laws of the land. The king supported them to the utmost ; but was obliged, after some time, to give way, first, to an act for abolishing the high-commiasion, by a clause in whicli the power of the bishops' s|)iiituiil courts was in a manner destroyed ; and at last to an act depriving them of their seats in parliament. If at tliis tinie any methods could have been thought of, to restore a mutual confidence VOL. I. b XVUl PREFACE. between the king and his two houses, the remaining differences in the church might easily have been compromised : but the spirits of men were heated, and as the flames of the civil war grew fiercer, and sjiread wider, the wounds of the church were enlarged, till the distress of the parliament's affairs obliging them to call in the Scots, with their solemn league and covenant, they became incurable. When the king had lost his cause in the field, he put himself at the head of his divines, and drew his learned pen in defence of his prerogative, and the church of England ; but his arguments were no more successful than his sword. I have brought the debates between the king and Mr. Henderson, and between the divines of both sides at the treaties of Uxbridge and New- port upon the head of episcopacy, into as narrow a compass as possible ; my chief design being to trace the proceedings of the parliament and their assembly at Westminster, which (whether justifiable or not) ought to be placed in open view, though none of the historians of those times have ventured to do it. The Westminster assembly was the parliament's gi-and council in matters of religion, and made a very considerable figure both at home and abroad through the course of the civil war, till they disputed the power of the keys with their superiors, and split upon the rocks of divine right and covenant- uniformity. The records of this venerable assembly were lost in the fire of London ; but I have given a large and just account of their proceedings, from a manuscrijit of one of their membeis, and some other papers that have fallen into my hands, and have entered as far into their debates with the Erastians, Independents, and others, as was consistent with the life and spirit of the history. Whatever views the Scots might have from the beginning of the war, the parliament would certainly have agreed with the king upon the foot of a limited episcopacy, till the calling the assembly of divines, after which the solemn league and covenant became the standard of all their treaties, and was designed to introduce the Presbyterian government in its full extent, as the established religion of both kingdoms. This tied up the parliament's hands, from yieldmg in time to the king's most reasonable concessions at Newport, and rendered an accommodation impracticable ; I have therefore transcribed the covenant at large, with the reasons for and against it. Whether such obligations upon the consciences of men are justifiable from the necessity of affairs, or bmding in all events and revolutions of govern- ment, I shall not determine; but the imposing them upon others was certainly a very great hardship. The remarkable trial of archbishop Laud, in which the antiquity and use of the several innovations complained of by the Puritans are stated and argued, has never been published entire to the world. The archbishop left in his diary a summary of his answer to the charge of the commons, and Mr. Prynne, in his Canterbury's Doom, has published the first part of his grace's trial, relatmg principally to points of religion ; but all is imperfect and immethodical. I have therefore compared both accounts together, and supplied the defects of one with the other ; the whole is brought into a narrow compass, and thrown into such a method, as will give the reader a clear and distmct view of the equity of the charge, and how far the arcli- bishop deserved the usage he met with. I have drawn out abstracts of the several ordinances relating to the rise and progress of Presbytery, and traced the proceedings of the committee for PREFACE. XIX plmulered and scandalous ministers, as far as was necessary to my general design, without descending too fur into particulars, or attempting to justify the whole of their conduct ; and though 1 am of opinion, that the number of clergy who suffered purely on the account of religion was not very considerable, it is certain that many able and learned divines, who were content to live quietly, and mind the duty of their places, had very hard measure from the violence of parties, and deserve the compassionate regards of posterity ; some being discharged their livings for refusmg the covenant, and others plundered of everything the unruly soldiers could lay their hands upon, for not complyuig with the change of the times. In the latter end of the reign of queen Anne, Dr. Walker of Exeter published " An attempt to recover the number and suffeiings of the clergy of the church of England ;" but with notorious partiality, and in language not fit for the lips of a clergyman, a scholar, or a Christian ; every page or l)aragraph, almost, labours with the cry of " rebellion, treason, parricide, faction, stupid ignorance, hypocrisy, cant, and downright knavery and wick- edness," on one side ; and " loyalty, learning, primitive sanctity, and the glorious spirit of martyrdom," on the other. One must conclude from the doctor, that there was hardly a wise or honest patriot with the parliament, nor a weak or dishonest gentleman with the kuig. His preface * is one of the most furious invectives against the seven most glorious years of queen Anne that ever was published ; it blackens the memory of the late king William III., to whom he applies that passage of Scripture, " I ga^* them a king in my anger, and took him away in my wi-ath ; " it arraigns the great duke of iVIarlborough, the glory of the English nation, and both houses of parliament, as in a confederacy to destroy the church of Englantl, and dethrone the queen. " Rebellion (says the doctor) was esteemed the most necessary requisite to qualify any one for being intrusted with the govern- ment, and disobedience the principal recommendation for her majesty's service. Those were thought the most proper persons to guard the throne, who, on the first dislike, were every whit as ready to guard the scaffold ; yea, her majesty was in effect told all this to her face, in the greatest assembly of the nation. And to say all that can be said of this matter, all the principles of 1641, and even those of 1648, have been plainly and openly revived." Thus has this obscure clergyman dared to affront the great author, under God, of all our present blessings ; and to stigmatise the Marlboroughs, the Godolphms, the Stanhopes, the Sunderlands, the Cowpers, and others, the most renowned heroes and statesmen of the age. It nuist be confessed, that the tumults and riotous assemblies of the lower sort of people are uisufferablc in a well-regulated government ; and without all question, some of the leading members of the long-parliament made an Ul use of the populace, as tools to support their secret designs ; but how easy were it to turn all this part of the doctor's artillery against himself and his friends ; for Prynne, Burton, and Bast wick, in their return from their several prisons, were not attended with such a numerous cavalcade, as waited upon the late Dr. Sachevercl, in his triumpliant progress through the western counties of England and Wales ; nor did they g've themselves up to the same excess of licentiousness and rage. If the mob of 1641 insulted the bishops, and awed the parliament, so did the doctor's retinue in 1710; * Preface, p. 8 — 11. b'2 XX PREFACE. nay, their zeal outwent their predecessors', when they pulled down the meeting-houses of Protestant dissenters, and burnt the materials in the open streets, in maintenance of the doctrines of passive obedience and nonresist- ance, which their pious confessor had been preacliiug up ; " a bold insolent man (says bishop Bumet), with a very small measure of religion, virtue, learnmg, or good sense : " but to such extremes do men's passions carry them, when they write to serve a cause ! I have had occasion to make some use of Dr. Walker's confused heap of materials, but have endeavoured care- fully to avoid his spirit and language. No man has declaimed so bitterly against the proceedings of pai'liament upon all occasions, as this clergyman ; nor complamed more loudly of the unspeakable damage the liberal arts and sciences sustained, by their purging the two universities ; the new heads and fellows of Oxford are tailed, " a colony of Presbyterian and Independent novices from Cambridge ; a tribe of ignorant enthusiasts and schismatics ; an illiterate rabble swept from the plough-tail, from shops and grammar-schools, &c.^" The university of Cambridge is reported by the same author, "to be reduced to a mere Munster by the knipper-dolings of the age, who broke the heart-strings of learned men, avIio thrust out one of the eyes of the kingdom, and made eloquence dumb ; philosophy sottish ; widowed the arts ; drove away the muses from their ancient haliitation, and plucked the reverend and orthodox professors out of their chairs. — They turned religion into rebellion, and changed the apostolical chair into a desk for blasphemy. — They took the garland from off the head of learning, and placed it on the dull brows of ignorance. — And having unhived a numerous swarm of labouring bees, they placed in their room swarms of senseless dronest. — " Such is the language of our historian, transcribed from Dr. Berwick ! I have carefully looked into this affair, and collected the chai'acters of the old and new professors from the most approved writers, that the disinterested reader may judge, how far religion and learnmg suffered by the exchange. The close of this volume, which relates the disputes between the jjarlia- ment and army; the ill success of his majesty's arms and treaties; the seizure of his royal person a second time by the army ; his trial before a pre- tended high court of justice, and his unparalleled execution before the gates of his royal palace by the military power, is a most melancholy and affect- ing scene ; in which, next to the all-disposing providence of God, one can- not but remark the kmg's inflexible temper, together with the indiscretion of his friends, especially his divines, at a time when his crown was lost by the fortune of war, and liis very life at the mercy of his enemies ; nor is the unwari-antable stiffness of the parliament less unaccountable, when they saw the victorious army drawing towards London, flushed with the defeat of the Scots and English loyalists, and detei-mined to set aside that verj' unifoi-mity they were contending for. If his majesty had yielded at first what he did at last, with an appearance of sincerity ; or, if the two houses had complied with his concessions while Cromwell was in Scotland ; or if the army had been made easy by a general indulgence and toleration, with the distribution of some honours and bounty-money among the officers, the crown and con- stitution might have been saved ; '• but so many miraculous circumstances contributed to his majesty's ruin (says lord Clarendon ;{:), that men might . well think that heaven and earth conspired it." * Walker's Introduct. p. 139, 140. t AValkei's Iiitiod. p. 115. Querela Cant. J Vol. 5. p. 258. I'UKFACE. XXI Tile objections to the first volume of the History of tlie Puritans, by the author of " The Vindication of the Government, Doctrme, and Worshij), of the Church of England," obliged me to review the principal facts in a small pamphlet, wherein I have endeavoured to discharge myself as an historian, ^\•ithout undertaking the defence of their several principles, or making myself an advocate for the Avhole of their conduct. I took the liberty to point out the mistakes of our first reformers, as I passed along, but with no design to blacken their memories ; for, with all their foibles, they were glo- rious uistruments in the hand of Providence, to deliver this nation from anti- Christian bondage ; but they were free to confess, the work was left imper- fect ; that they had gone as far as the times would admit, and hoped their successoi-s would brmg the Reformation to a greater pei'fection. But the state of the controversy was entii'ely changed in the tune of the civil wars ; for after the coming in of the Scots, the Puritans did not fight for a refonnatiou of the hierarchy, nor for the generous principles of religious liberty to all peaceable subjects ; but for the same spiritual power the bishops had exercised ; for when they had got rid of the oppression of the spiritual courts, under which they had groaned almost fourscore years, they were for setting up a number of Presbyterian consistories in all the parishes of Eng- land, equally burdensome and oppressive. Unhappy extreme ! that wise and good men should not discover the beautiful consistency of truth and liberty ! Dr. Barrow and others have observed, that in the first and purest ages of Christianity, the church had no coercive power, and apprehend that it may stUl subsist very well without it. The body of Protestant dissenters of the present age have a just abhoiTence of the persecutmg spirit of their predecessors, and are content that their actions be set m a fair light, as a warning to posterity. They have no less a dread of returning into the hands of spiritual courts, founded on the bot- tomless deep of the canon law, and see no reason why they should not be equally exposed, till they are put upon a better foot ; though it is an unpar- donable crime, in the opinion of some churchmen, to take notice, even in the most respectful manner, of the least blemish in our present establishment, which, how valua])le soever in itself, is allowed by all to be capable of amendments. Some little essays of this kind have fired the zeal of the bishop of Litchfield and Coventry*, who, in a late charge to the clergy of his diocess, is pleased to lament over the times in the following mourn- ful language : " At so critical a juncture (says his lordship), when com- mon Christianity is treated with an avowed contempt and open profane- ness, when an undisguised immorality prevails so very generally ; M'hen there is scarce honesty enough to save the nation from i-uin ; when, with regard to the established church in particular, the royal supremacy is professedly exposed, as inconsistent with the rights of conscience, even that supremacy, which was the groundwork of the Reformation among us from Popery, which was acknowledged and sworn to by the old Puritans, though now, mconsistently enough, diso^vned and condemned in the new history and vindication of them and their principles : — when so destruc- tive an attempt has been made on the legal maintenance of the clergy by the late tithe-bill, and consequently on the fate of the Christian religion among us : — when an attempt has been lately made on the important outworks of our ecclesiastical establishment, the corporation and test acts, Dr. Sinallbiook. XMl I'HEFACE. with the greatest insolences towards the cliurcli, aiid most luidutiful menaces to the civil government : — when the ejiiscopal auth(jrity has been well nigh undermined, under a pretence of reforming the ecclesi- astical courts ; and if that order had been rendered useless, as it must have been when it had lost its authority, then the revenues would have been soon thought useless; and in the result of things, the order itself might have been considered as superfluous, and perhaps in due time thought fit to be abolished : — when churches have been put mto such a method of i-epair, as would end in their ruin in a little time ; and when the correction of the abuses of the matrimonial licences has been laboured in so absurd a manner, as to permit the marriage of mmors without consent of their parents or guardians : — when these melancholy circumstances have so lately concurred, it is natural to infer, our zeal for the church should be m proportion to its danger ; and if these are not proper occasions for zeal for our ecclesiastical constitution, it is not easy to assign circumstances that may justly demand it *." How fine and subtile are these speculations ! I have not observed any insolences towards the church, or undutiful menaces to the civil govern- ment, in the late writings of the dissenters ; but if one pin of the hierarchy be removed by the wisdom of the legislature, the whole building is supposed to fall, and all religion along with it. His lordship therefore advises*^ his clergy to study the bishop f of London's Codex, in order to defend it ; and it can do tliem no real prejudice to examine, at the same time, the prmciples of law and equity on which it is founded X- As to the dissenters, his lord- ship adds, " However, it will become us of the clergy, in point of prudence, not to give any just suspicions of our disgust to the legal toleration of them, Avhile they keep within due bounds ; that is, while they do not break in upon the privileges and rights of the established church, by declarmg against all legal establishments, or the legal establishment of the church of England in i^articular, or by not being quiet with the present limits of their toleration, or by affecting posts of authority, and thereby breaking down the fences of the church, and placing themselves on a level with it §." But whether this would remain a point of prudence with his lordship, if the boundaries of his episcopal power were enlarged, is not very difficult to determine. The dissenters have no envy nor ill-will to the churches of England or Scotland, established by law (attended with a toleration of all peaceable dis- senters), any farther than they encroach on the natural or social rights of mankind ; nor are they so weak as not to distinguish between high dignities, great authority, ajid large revenues, secured by law, and a poor maintenance arising from the voluntary contributions of the people, that is, between an establishment and a toleration. But I am to attend to the charge of inconsistency brought against myself ; I had observed, upon the reign of the bloody queen Mary ||, that an abso- lute supremacy over the consciences of men, lodged with a single person, might as well be prejudicial as serviceable to tnie religion ; and in the begin- ning of the reign of queen Elizabeth If, that the powers then claimed by the kings and queens of England, were in a manner the same with those claimed by the popes in the times preceding the Reformation, except the adniuiistra- tion of the spiritual offices of the church. This was that supremacy which was the groundwork of the Reformation ; of which I say, let the reader • Charge, p. 41, 42. 44. f Dr. Gibson. , J See a late excellent examination of tiie Codex Juris Eccl. Angl. ^ Charge, p. 4(3. || Iliijt. Pur. vol. 1. p. 58. f Ibid. p. 99, 100. PREFACE. XXni juJge how far these high powers are agreeable or consistent with the natural rights of mankind. His lordship calls this a professed exposing the royal supremacy, and the rather, because " that supremacy was acknowledged and sworn to by the old Puritans themselves, though now, inconsistently enough, disowned and condemned by their historian." But surely his lord- ship should have informed his clergy at the same time, in what sense the Puritans took the oath, when it was before liis eyes, in the same page ; and my words are these : " The whole body of the Papists refused tlie oath of supremacy, as inconsistent with their allegiance to the pope ; but the Puri- tans took it under all -these disadvantages, with the queen's explication m her injunctions, that is, that no more was intended than that her majesty, under God, had the sovereignty and rule over all persons born in her realm, either ecclesiastical or temporal, so as no foreign power had, or ought to have, any superiority over them *." AVhere is the inconsistency of this conduct of the old Puritans, or their new historian ? Or, where is the dissenter in England, who is not ready to swear to it with this explication ? But liis lordshi]) is pleased to reason upon this head ; and in order to support that absolute supremacy, which was the groundwork of the Reformation, affinns, that " all Christian kings and emperors have the same power of reforming religion, and are under the same obligations, as the Jewish Idngs were in cases of the like nature t," without producing the least evidence or proof; whereas his lordsliip knows, that the government of the Jews was a theocracy ; that God himself was their king, and the laws of that nation strictly and properly the laws of God, who Ls Lord of conscience, and may annex what sanctions he pleases ; their judges and kmgs were chosen and appouited by God, not to make a new codex or book of laws, either for church or state, but to keep the people to the strict observation of those laws aud statutes that he himself had given them by the hand of Moses. His lordship is pleased to ask, " If any high pretender to spiritual liberty, and the rights of conscience, should inquire what authority the respective Jewish and Christian powers had to interpose in matters that regarded the i-ights of conscience ; smce in fact their assumed supremacy was a usurpation of those natural rights ^ ? " — I answer, that with regard to the Jews, it was no usurpation, for the reasons before mentioned ; and when his lordship shall prove a transfer of the same power to all Christian princes, the con- trovei-sy will be brought to a short issue. " — But will it not be replied (says the bishop), that those kings and emperors were intrusted by God ■with the care of the ecclesiastical as well as civil constitution § 1 — " If, l)y the care of the constitution, he meant no more than the preserving their subjects in the enjoyment of their uialienable rights, nobody denies it ; Init if, under this pretence, they assume a sovereign and arbitrary power of modelling the ecclesiastical constitution, according to their pleasure, and of cnforchig their subjects' obedience by canons and jx;nal laws, I should doubt whether they are obliged to compl}', even in things not absolutely sinful in themselves, because it may derogate from the kingly office of Christ, who is sole king and lawgiver in his own kingdom, and h'.s not delegated this l)ranch of his autliority to any vicar-general upon earth. But I readily agree with his lordship, that if any high pretender to the rights of conscience • Hist. Pur. vol. 1. p. 93. See Stiypc's Aim. vol. 1. p. 1JJ9. + Cbaigc, p. 20, X Ibid. p. 21. § Ibid. p. 22. -^>^1V' PREFACE. ' .should have asked the first Christian emperors, by what authority they took on themselves the alteration or change of religion, they would have thought the question unreasonable, and worthy of censure ; they would have affirmed their own sovereignty, and have taught the bold mquirers, as Gideon did the men of Succoth, with briers and thorns of the wilderness. The bishoi) goes on : " Let us now transfer this jjower of Jewish kings and Christian emperors to our own kings, and the case will admit of an easy decision '^," — If indeed an absolute supremacy in matters of religion be the natural and inalienable right of every Christian king and emperor, the dispute is at an end ; but if it depend upon a transfer, we must beg pardon, if we desire his lordship to produce his commission for transferring the same powers, that Almighty God gave the Jewish kings of his own appointment, to the first Christian emperors, who were neither chosen by God, nor the people, nor the senate of Rome, but usurped tbe supreme authority, by the assistance of the military arm, and were some of them the greatest tyrants and scourges of mankind. His lordship adds, " Have not the English kings, since the Refonnation, actually been invested with the same supremacy as the Jewish kuigs and Christian emperors weret?" I answer, such a supremacy is, in my judg- ment, inconsistent with our present constitution, and the laws ui being. The supremacy claimed by king Henry VIII. and his successors, at the Reformation, was found by experience too excessive, and therefore abridged in the reigns of king Charles I. and king William III. No one doubts but the kmgs of England are obliged to protect religion, and defend the esta- blishment, as long as the legislature tliink fit to continue it ; but as they may not suspend or change it by their sovereign pleasure, so neither may they publish edicts of their own to enforce it, as was the case of the first Christian emperors. The reader wUl excuse this digression, as necessaiy to support a principal fact of my history. I am sufficiently aware of the delicacy of the affairs treated of in this volume, and of the tenderness of the' ground I go over ; and though I have been very careful of my temper and language, and have endeavoured to look into the mysterious conduct of the several parties with all the indifference of a spectator, I find it very difficult to form an exact judgment of the most important events, or to speak freely without offence ; therefore, if any passionate or angry writer should appear against this, or any of the former volumes, I humbly request the' reader to pay no regard to personal reflections, or to any insinuations of any ill designs against the established religion, or the public peace ; which are entirely groundless. I am as far from vin- dicating the spirit and conduct of the warmer Puritans, as of the governing prelates of those times ; there was hard measure on both sides, though, if we separate politics from principles of pure religion, the balance will be very much in favour of the Puritans. In historical debates, nothing is to be received upon trust, but facts are to be examined, and a judgment formed upon the authority by which those facts are suppoi-ted ; by this method we shall arrive at truth ; and if it shall appear, that in the course of this long history, there are any consideral)le mistakes, the world may be assured, I will take the first opportunity to retract or amend them ; having no private or party views, no prospect of preferment, or other reward for my labours, than the satisfaction of doing some service to truth, and to the religious and • Charge, p. 22. f Ibid. PREFACE. XXV civil liberties of mankind ; and yet, after all, I niitst bespeak the indulgence and candour of my readers, whieli those, who are sensible of the labour and toil of collecting so many materials, and i-anging them in their proper order, Avill readily allow to one, Avho sincerely wishes the prosperity and welfare of all good men, and that the violence and outrage of these unhappy times, ^vhich brought such confusion and misery both on king and people, may never be imitated by the present, or any future age. Daniel Neal. London, N'ov. 4, 1735. PREFACE TO VOL. IV. OF THE ORIGINAL EDITION. This volume brings the History of the SufFei'ings of the Puritans down to its period;* for though the Protestant dissenters have since complained of several difficulties and discouragements, yet most of the penal laws have been suspended ; the prosecutions of the spiritual courts have been consider- ably restrained by the kind interposition of the civil powers, and liberty of conscience enjoyed without the hazard of fines, imprisonments, and other teiTors of this world. The times now in review were stormy and boisterous ; upon the death of king Charles I. the constitution was dissolved : the men at the helm had no legal authoiity to change the government into a conmionwealth, the protec- torship of Cromwell was a usurpation, because grafted only on the military jiower, and so were all the misshapen forms into which the administration was cast till the restoration of the king. In order to pass a right judgment upon these extraordinary revolutions, the temper and circumstances of the nation are to be duly considered ; for those actions which in some circum- stances are highly crimmal, may in a different situation of affairs become necessary. The parties engaged in the civil wars were yet living, and their resentments against each other so much inflamefl, as to cut off all hopes of a reconciliation ; each dreaded the other's success, well knowing they must fall a sacrifice to those who should prevail. All present views of the king's recovering his father's throne were defeated at the battle of "NVorcester, the loyalists being then entirely broken and dispersed ; so that if some such extraordinary genius as Cromwell's had not imdertaken to steer the nation through the storm, it had not been possible to hold the government together till Providence should open a way for restoring the constitution, and settling it on its legal basis. The vaiious forms of government (if they deserve that name) which the " The reader will observe that the period here referred to is tlic passing the act of tolc- ration, with which Mr. Neal's fourth voliimc concludes. But the additions to the original work, by notes and supplements in this edition, have necessarily extended it to a fifth volume, which comprehends the author's two last chapters, the papers that form the Appendix to each of his volumes, and other papers. Ed. XXVI PREFACE. officers of thS army introduced after the death of Cromwell, made the nation sick of their frenzies, and turned their eyes towards their banished sovereign j Avhose restoration after all could not be accomplished without great imjiru- dence on one part, and tlie most artful dissimulation on the other. The Presbyterians, like weak politicians, surrendered at discretion, and parted with their power on no other security than the roj^al word, for which they have been sufficiently reproached ; though I am of opmion, that if the king had been brought in by a treaty, the succeeding parliament would have set it aside. On the other hand, nothing can be more notorious than the deep hypocrisy of general jSIonk, and the solemn assurances given by tlie bishops and other loyalists, and even by the kmg himself, of burying all past offiinces luider the foundation of the Restoration ; but when they were lifted into the saddle, the haste they made to shew how little they meant by their promises, exceeded the rules of decency as well as honour. Nothing would satisfy, till their adversaries were disarmed, and in a manner deprived of the jiro- tection of the government ; the terms of conformity were made narrower and more exceptionable than before the civil wars, the penal laws were rigorously executed, and new ones framed almost every sessions of parlia- ment for several successive years ; the Nonconformist ministers were banished five mQes from all the corporations in England, and their people sold for sums of money to carry on the king's unlavi'ful j^leasures, and to bribe the nation into Popery and slavery ; till the house of commons, awakened at last Avith a sense of the threatening danger, grew intractable, and was there- fore dissolved. His majesty, having in vain attemjited several other repre- sentatives of the people, determmed some time before his death to change the constitution, and govern by his sovereign will and pleasure ; that the mischiefs which could not be brought upon the nation by consent of parlia- ment, might be introduced under the wing of the prerogativ^e ; but the Roman Catholics, not satisfied with the slow proceedings of a disguised Protestant, or apprehending that the discontents of the people and liis own love of ease might induce him some time or other to change measures, resolved to have a prince of their own religion and more sanguine principles on the throne, which hastened the crisis of the nation, and brought forward that glorious revolution of king William and queen Mary, which put a final period to all their projects. The nature of my design does not admit of a large and particular relation of all the civil transactions of these times, but only of such a summary as may give light to the affairs of religion ; and I could have wished that the memory of both had been entirely blotted out of the records of time, if the animosities of the several parties, and their unchristian principles, had been buried with them ; but as the remembering them may be a warning to pos- terity, it ought to give no offence to any denomination of Christians in the present age. who are no ways answerable' for the conduct of their ancestors, nor can otherwise share in a censure of it, than as they maintain the same principles, and imitate the same unchristian behaviour. At the end of each year I have added the characters of the principal Nonconformist ministers as they died, partly from the historians of those times, but chiefly from the writings of the late reverend doctor Calamy, whose integrity, moderation, and industry, deserve a peculiar commendation. My design was to preserve the memory of the reverend assembly of divines at Westminster, as well as of the little army of confessors, who afterward suffered so deeply in the cause of nonconformity. PREFACE. XXvn In passing a juilgnicnt on the several parties in church and state, I have carefully distinguished between those who went into all the arl)itrary mea- sures of the court, and such as stood firm by the Protestant religion and the liberties of their country ; for it must be allowed, that in the reign of king Charles II. there were even among the clergy some of the worst as well as Ijcst of men, as will appear to a demonstration in the course of this history ; but I desire no greater stress may be laid upon fticts or characters than the qiudity of the vouchers in the margin will support. ^Miere these have been differently related, I have relied on, the best authorities, and sometimes reported from both sides, leaving the reader to choose for himself; for if facts are fairly represented, the historian is discharged. I am not so vain as to imagine this history free from errors ; but if any mistakes of consequence are made to appear, they shall be aclcnowledgcd with thankfulness to those who shall point them out in a civil and friendly manner ; and as I aim at nothing but truth, I see no reason to engage in a warm defence of any parties of Christians who pass before us in review, but leave their conduct to the censure of the world. Some few remarks of my own are here and there mterspersed, which the reader will receive according as he apprehends them to follow from the premises ; but I flatter myself, that when he has care- fully perused the seveial volumes of this liistory, he wUl agree with me in the following conclusions : 1st. That uniformity of sentiments in religion is not to be attained among Christians ; nor wUl a comprehension within an establishment be of service to the cause of truth and lilierty, without a toleration of all other dutiful subjects. Wise and good men, after their most diligent searches after truth, have seen things in a different light, which is not to be avoided as long as they have liberty to judge for themselves. If Christ had appointed an in- fallible judge upon earth, or men were to be determined by an implicit faith in their superiors, there would be an end of such differences ; but all the engmes of human policy that have been set at work to obtain it have hitherto failed of success. Subscriptions, and a variety of oaths and other tests, ha\'e occasioned great mischiefs to the church : by these means men of weak morals and ambitious views have been raised to the highest prefennents, while others of stricter virtue and superior talents have beefi neglected and laid aside ; and power has been lodged in the hands of those who have used it in an unchristian manner, to force men to an agreement in sounds and outward appearances, contrary to the true conviction and sense of their ininds ; and thiTs a lasting reproach has been brought on the Christian name, and on the genuine principles of a Protestant church. 2dly. All parties of Christians, when in power, have been guilty of per- secution for conscience' sake. The annals of the church are a most melan- choly demonstration of this truth. Let the reader call to jnind the bloody proceedings of the Popish bishops in queen Mary's reign ; and the account that has been given of the star-chamber and high-commission court in later times ; what numbers of useful ministei-s have been sequestered, imprisoned, and their families reduced to poverty and disgrace, for refusing to wear a white surplice, or to comply with a few indifferent ceremonies ! "What havoc did the Presl)ytcrians make witli theu' covenant imifonuity; their jure divino discipline, and tlieir rigid prohibition of reading the old service koob ! And though the Independents had abetter notion of the rights of conscience, how defective was their instrument of govcnnncnt under Crom- well ! how arbitrary the proceedings of theii- triers ! how narrow their list XXVIU PREFACE. of fundamentals ! and how severe their restraints of the press ! And though the rigorous proceedings of the Puritans of this age did by no means rival those of the prelates before and after the civil wars, yet they are so many species of persecution, and not to. be justified even by the confusion of the times in which they were acted. 3dly. It is unsafe and dangerous to intrust any sort of clergy with the power of the sword : for our Saviour's kmgdoni is not of this world ; " if it Avere (says he), then would my servants fight, but now is my kmgdom not from hence." The church and state should stand on a distinct basis, and their jurisdiction be agreeable to the nature of their crimes ; those of the church purely spiritual, and those of the state purely civil ; as the king is supreme in the state, he is also head, or guardian, of the church in those spiritual rights that Christ has intrusted it with. AVhen the church in former ages first assumed the secular power, it not only rivalled the state, but in a little time lifted up its head above emperors and kings, and all the potentates of the earth : the thunder of its anathemas was heard in all nations, and in her skirts was found the blood of the prophets and saints, and of all that were slain u2:)on the earth. And whenever it recovers the wound that was given it at the Reformation, it will undoubtedly resume the same absolute coercive dommion. It is therefoi'e the interest of all sovereign princes to keep their clergy withm the limits that Christ has prescribed them in the New Testament, and not to trust them with the power of inflicting corporal pains or penalties on their subjects, which have no relation to the Christian methods of conversion. 4thly. Reformation of religion, or a redress of gTievauces in the church, has not in tact arisen from the clergy. I would not be thouglit to reflect upon that venerable order, which is of great usefulness, and deserved honour, when the ends of its institution are pursued ; but so strange has been the infatuation, so enchanting the lust of dominion, and the charms of riches and honour, that the propagation of piety and virtue has been very much neglected, and little else thought of but how they might rise higher in the authority and grandeur of this world, and fortify their strongholds against all that should attack them. In the dawn of the Reformation the clergy maintained the pope's supremacy against the king, till they were cast in a premunire. In the reign of queen Elizabeth there was but one of the whole • bench who would join m the consecration of a Protestant bishop ; and when the Reformation was established, how cruelly did those Protestant bishops, who themselves had suffered for religion, vex the Puritans, because they could not come up to their standard ! How unfriendly did they behave at the Hampton-court conference ! At the restoration of kmg Charles II. and at the late revolution of king William and queen Mary ! when the most solemn promises were broken, and the most hopeful opportunity of accom- modating diff'erences among Protestants lost, by the perverseness of the clergy towards those very men who had saved them from ruin. So little ground is there to hope for a union among Christians, or the propagation of truth, jjeace, and charity, from councUs, synods, general assemblies, or con- vocations of the clergy of any sort whatsoever. 5thly. Upon these principles, it is evident that freedom of religion, in subordination to the civil power, is for the benefit of society, and no ways inconsistent with a public establishment. The king may create dignitaries, and give sufficient encouragement to those of the public religion, without invading the liberties of his dissenting subjects. If religious establishments PIIEFACE. XXIX were stiipiied of their judicial processes and civil jurisdiction, no harm could be feared from them. And as his majesty is defender of the faith in Scotland us well as England, and equally the guardian of both churches, he will no doubt hold the balance, and prevent either from rising to such a pitch of greatness as to act independently on the state, or become formidable and oppressive to their neighbours : the former would create imperimn in inipcrio ; and tliere is but one step between the church's being independent on the state, and the state becoming dependent on the church. Besides, as freedom of religion is for the true honour and dignity of the crown, it is no less for the service of the community ; for the example of the neighbouring nations may convince us, that uniformity in the church will always be attended with absolute and despotic power in the state. The meetings of disscntmg Protestants were formerly called seditious, because the peace of the public was falsely siqiposed to consist in iiniformity of worship ; but long experience has taught us the contrary : for though the Nonconformists in those times gaA^e no disturbance to the administration, the nation was far from being at peace ; but when things came to a crisis, their joining with the church, against a corrupt court and ministry, saved the religion and liberties of the nation. It must therefore be the interest of a free people to sujipijrt and encourage liberty of conscience, and not to suffer any one great and powerful religious body to oj^press, devour, and swallow up the rest. ' Finally, AVhen Protestant dissenters recollect the sufferings of their fathers in the last age for the freedom of their consciences, let them be thankful that their lot is cast in more settled times. The liberties of England are the price of a great deal of blood and treasure; wide breaches were made in the constitution in the four reigns of the male line of the Stuarts ; persecution and arbitrary power went hand in hand ; the constitu- tion was often in convulsi\'e agonies, when the patrons of liberty appeared boldly in the noble cause, and sacrificed their estates and lives in its defence. The Puritans stood firm 'by the Protestant religion, and by the li))erties of their country in the reigns of king Charles II. and king James II., and received the fire of the enemy from all their batteries, without movmg sedition, or taking advantage of their persecutors, when it was afterward in their power. Some amendments, in my humble opinion, are still wanting to settle the cause of lil)erty on a more equal basis, and to deliver wise and good men from the fetters of oaths, subscriptions, and religious tests of all sorts. But whether such desirable blessings are in reserve for this nation, must be left to the determination of an all-wise Providence. In the mean time, may Protestant dissenters express their gratitude for the protection and ease they enjoy at present, by an undissembled piety towards God ! by a firm and unshaken loyalty to his majesty's person and Avise admuiistration ! by avoiding every thing that tends to persecution or censoriousness for mere difFei-cnces in religion ! and by the integrity of their ow^l lives aiid manners I And while they think it their duty to separate from the national estal)lish- ment, may they distinguish themselves by the exercise of all social virtues, and stand fjxst in the liberty wherewith the providence of God has made them free ! By such a conduct they will preserve their characters with all sober persons, and will transmit tlie l)lessings of the present age to their latest posterity. DaNIEI/ NliAL. London, 3farch 1, 17-37 — 8. ADVERTISEMENT TO VOL.1. OF DR. TOU LIN'S EDITION. More than half a century has elapsed, since the work, now agam offered to the public, made its first appearance. The author gave it a second edition in 4to. In 1765 it was printed at Dublin, on the plan of the first impression, m four volumes octavo. The English editions have, for a number of years, been scarce ; and copies of the work, as it has been justly held in estimation by dissenters, have borne a high price. Foreigners also have referred to it as a book of authority, affording the most ample uifor- mation on that part of the English history which it comprehends*. A republication of it will, on these accounts, it is supposed, be acceptable to the friends of religious liberty. Several circumstances concur to render it, at this time, peculiarly seasonable. The Protestant dissenters, by their repeated applications to parliament, have attracted notice and excited an inquiry into their i^rinciples and history. The odium and obloquy, of which they have recently become the objects, are a call upon them to appeal to both in their own justification. Their history, while it brings up to painful review scenes of spiritual tyranny and oppression, connects itself with the rise and progress of religious liberty ; ^d necessarily brings forward many important and interesting transactions, which are not to be met with in the general liistories of our country, because not fallhig withm the province of the authors to detail. The editor has been induced, by these considerations, to comply with a proposal to revise Mr. Neal's work. In domg this, he has taken no other liberty with the origuial text, than to cast into notes some papers and lists of names, which appeared to him too much to interrupt the narrative. This alteration in the form of it promises to render it more pleasing to the eye, and more agreeable to the perusal. He has, where he could procure the works quoted, which he has been able to do in most instances, examined and corrected the references, and so ascertained the fairness and accuracy of the authorities. He has reviewed the animadversions of bishops Maddox and Warburton, and Dr. Grey ; and given the result of his scrutiny in notes ; by which the credit of the author is eventually established. He has not suppressed strictures of his own, where he conceived there was occasion for them. It has been his aim, in conducting this work through the press, to support the character of the diligent, accurate, and impartial Editor, How far he has done this, he must leave to the candid to determine. " Mosheini, Dictionnaire de Heresies, aud Wendeborn. EDTTOnS ADVERTISEMENT. XXXI Whatever inaccuracies or mistakes the eye of criticism may discover, lie is confident, tliat they cannot essentially affect the execution of the design, any more than the veracity of the author. The remark, which Mr. Neal advanced as a plea in his own defence, against the censure of bishop Maddox, will apply with force, the Editor conceives, to his own case ; as in the first instance it had great weight. " The commission of errors in writing any history of times past (says the ingenious Mr. ^Fharton, in his letter to Mr. Strype), being altogether imavoidable, ought not to detract from the credit of the history, or the merits of the historian, unless it be accom- panied with immoderate ostentation, or unhandsome reflections on the errors of others *." The Editor has only farther to solicit any communications which may tend to improve this impression of Neal's History; or to furnish materials for the continuation of the History of the I'rotestant Dissenters from the Revolution, with which period Mr. Neal's design closes, to the present times ; as he has it in contemplation, if Providence favour him with life and health, to prepare such a work for the press. Taunton, I3th June, ]793. * Mr. Wharton discovered as many errors in Mr. Strype's single volume of Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, as filled three sheets : yet Mr. Strype's collections were justly entitled to the commendations of posterity, as a work of great utility and authority. See Neal's Review, p. 6, 8vo. XXXll ' ADVERTISEMENT TO VOL. II. OF DR. TOULMIN'S EDITION. The Editor, in revising the first volume of Mr. Neal's " History of the Puritans," was greatly assisted by the author's " Review of the jjrincipal facts objected to in that volume." In the volume which is now presented to the i^ublic, such aid fails him, as it will also in the succeeding ones, since Dr. Grey's " Examination " did not make its appearance till the declining state of Mr. Neal's health prevented his farther vindication of his work. The justice due to Mr. Neal's memory and to truth, required the Editor to attempt what could have been done by the author himself with much greater advantage than at this distance of time, from the first statement of the facts, by one who cannot come at all the authorities on which Mr. Neal spake. He has endeavoured, however, to acquit himself mth care and impartiality in the examination of Dr. Grey's animadversions, and is not aware that he has passed over any material strictures, extended through a volume of four hundred pages. Though Dr. Grey's * " Examination" may be now little known or sought after, it received, at its first publication, the thanks of many divines of the first eminence ; particularly of Dr. Gibson, then bishop of London, and of Dr. Slierlock, then bishop of Salisbury. The latter jirelate, writing to the doctor, said, " It is happy that Mr. Neal's account appeared when there was one so well versed in the liistory, and so able to correct the errors and pre- • judices. The service you have done must be considered as a very important one by all the friends of the constitution of the church of England t." From the notes in the following pages, the reader will be able to form a judgment whether the encomium bestowed on Dr. Grey's work proceeded from a careful investigation of his remarks, and a comparison of ihera with Mr. Neal's History and vouchers, or from bias to a cause. In the Editor's apprehensions, the value of Mr. Neal's History and its authorities is, so far as he has proceeded, heightened by the comjiarison. In liis advertisement to the first volume, he made a great mistake in ascribing the quarto edition of " The History of the Puritans" to the author Jiunself ; who died about twelve years before its appearance. It was given * Dr. Zacliary Grey was of a Yorkshire family, originally from France ; he was rector of Houghton Conquest in Bedfordshire, and vicar of St. Peter's and St. Giles's parishes in Caiiihridge, where lie usually passed all liis winter, and the rest of his time at Anipthill, the neighbouring market-town to his living. He died, Nov. 2.5, 176G, at Ampthill, in tlie seventy-ninth year of his age, and was buried at Houghton Conquest. He was of a most amiable, sweet, and communicative disposition, most friendly to his acquaintance, and never better pleased tlian when performing acts of friendship and benevolence. His publications were numerous. — Anecdotes of Bowyer, p. 3.54. f See Anecdotes of Bowyer, p. 356, note. A n V V. K T I S K M I", N T. X X X 11 1 to the public by his worthy son, Mr. Xatlianiel Ncal, of the Million TJank, and is generally esteemed very correct. There has been pointed out to the Editor a slight error of Mr. Neal, vol. 7. p. 188; who says, that bishop Jewel was educated in Christ's College, Oxford ; whereas, according to Fuller and Wood, ho was of Corpus C'hristi. The Editor has been asked *, on what authority, in the biographical account of Mr. Tomkins, subjoined to p. 17 of the " Memoirs of Mr. Neal," he charged Mr. Asty t, on making an exchange with Mr. Tomkins, one Ijord's day, with "alarming the people with the danger of peniicious errors and damnable heresies creeping in among the dissenters, and particularly referring to errors concerning the doctrine of Christ's divinity." On examining the matter, he iinds that he has used the very words, as well as written on the authority, of Mr. Tomkins, who spoke on the infor- mation he had received concerning the tenor and strain of Mr. Asty's sermon ; and adds, that Mr. Asty himself afterward acknowledged to him, " that the information in general was true, viz. that he spake of damnable heresies, and applied those texts, 2 Pet. li. 1, Jude verse 4, or at least one, to the new doctrines about the Deity of Christ, that were now, as he a])prehended, secretly spi-eading." Mr. Tomkins was also told, that Mr. Asty Avas very warm upon these points, but he subjoins, " I must do Mr. Asty this justice, to acquaint others, that he assured me he had no particular view to me or suspicion of me, when he brought down this sermon among others to Newington. As he had an apprehension of the danger of those errors, and of the spreading of them at that time, he thought it might be seasonable to preach such a sermon any where." When another gentleman, howevtr, put the matter more closely to him, he could not deny that he had some iniima- tion of a suspicion of Air. Tomkins. But from the assurance Mr. Asty gave Mr. Tomkins, candour will be ready to conclude, that he did not greatly credit the intimation. Mr. Towle, who was a successor to Mr. Asty in the pastoral office, could scarcely suppose, that he could be guilty of a conduct so remote from the amiable and pacific character he always bore, and from the delineation of it in the funeral sermon for him by Dr. Guyse ; who, I find, says of him, " I have with pleasure observed a remarkable tenderness in his spirit, as judging the state of those that differed from him, even in points which he took to be of very great importance." It will be right to add Mr. Tomkins's declaration with respect to Mr. Asty's views : " I never had a thought that he preached his sermon out of any particular personal prejudice against me ; but really believed that he did it from a zeal for what he apprehended to be truth necessary to salvation. * By the Rev. Thomas Towle, a dissenting minister of eminence among the Independ- ents, in an interview, at which the editor was very politely received, and which took place at Mr. Towle's desire, in consequence of a letter written to him by a friend on the subject of the above charge. t Mr. Asty was grandson of Mr. Robert Asty, who was ejected from Stratford in Suffolk. He had good natural parts, and by spiritual gifts, and considerable attainments in literature, was richly furnished for his ministerial province. He was perceived to have drunk very miicli into the sentiments and spirit of Dr. Owen, who was his favouiite author. Tiic amiable traits of his character were, a sweetness of temper, an affectionate sympatliy in tiic afflictions and prosperity of others, a familiarity and condescension of deportment, and a disposition to cast a mantle over the failings of others, and to ask pardon for his own. He died .Tan. 20, l72f)-;^0, aged .)7. — Dr. Guyse's funeral sermon for him. VOL, I. i^ XXXIV ADVERTISEMENT. Though I am persuaded, in my own mind, that this zeal of his in this matter is a mistaken zeal, I do nevertheless respect him as a Christian and a minister." In the memoirs of Mr. Neal, we mentioned his letter to the Rev. Dr. Francis Hare, dean of Worcester. The Editor has lately met with this piece ; it does the author credit, for it is written with ability and temper. He is inclined to give a passage from it, as a sjjecimen of the force of argu- ment it shews, and as going to the foundation of our ecclesiastical establish- ment. The dean contended for submission to the authority of the rightful governors of the church ; whom he defined to be " an ecclesiastical consistory of presbyters with their bishop at their head." Mr. Neal, to shew that this definition does not apply to the church of England, replies : " Now, taking all this for granted, what an argument have you put into the mouths of the dissenters to justify their separation from the present establishment !" " For is there any thmg like this to be found there ? Is the church of England governed by a bishop and his presbyters ? Is not the king the fountain of all ecclesiastical authority ? And has he not power to make ordinances wliich shall bind the clergy without their consent, under the penalty of a premunire? Does not his majesty nominate the bishops, summon convocations, and prorogue them at pleasure ? When the convo- cations of Canterbury and York ai*e assembled, can they debate upon any subject without the king's licence ? or make any canons that can bind the people without an act of parliament ? The bishops in their several courts can determine nothing in a judicial manner about the faith, there lying an appeal from them to the king, who decides it by his commissioners in the court of delegates. " Now though this may be a wise and prudent institution, yet it can lay no claim to antiquity, because the civil magistrate was not Christian for three hundred years after our Saviour ; and consequently the dissenters, who are for reducing religion to the standard of the Bible, can be under no obligation to conform to it. We have a divine precept to oblige us to do whatsoever Christ and liis apostles have commanded us; but I find no passage of Scripture that obliges us to be of the religion of the state we happen to be born in. If there be any such obligation on the English dissenters, it must arise only from the laws of their country, which can have no uifluence upon them at present, those laws having been long since sus- pended by the act of indulgence." XXXV ADVERTISEMENT TO VOL. IV. OF DR. TOULMfN'S EDITION. The volume of Mr. Neal's Histoiy of the Puritans now presented to the public, besides the additions made to it in the form of notes, is considerably enlarged by supplemental chapters. These comprise the continued history of the English Baptists and Quakers, and furnish the reader with the substance of Mr. Crosby's history of the former, and a full abstract of Mr. Cough's work concerning the latter sect. The editor hopes, that in this part of his undertaking he has not only done justice, and showed respect, to two denominations who, m the last century, were treated neitlier with humanity nor equity, but afforded the reader information and entertainment. Where he has seen reason to animadvert on and correct Mr. Neal, it were sufficient to rest his justification on the plea of impartiality and the love of truth. But to the honour of his author he can add, he has only done what was wished by him ; who, in his preface to the first volume, has said *, " I shall be alwaj^s thankful to any that will convince me of my mistakes in a friendly manner ; " and in that to tlie third volume he has more'fuUy expressed himself in this manner : " In historical debates, nothing is to be received upon trust, but facts are to be examined, and a judgment formed upon the authority by which those facts are supported ; by this method we shall arrive at truth : and if it shall appear that, in the course of this long history, there are any considerable mistakes, the world may be assured, I will take the first opportunity to retract or amend them t." The editor can declare, tliat it has been his o^vn aim to do full justice to the sects and characters of those who have, in this work, come before him in review, and he can boldly appeal to his pen itself to prove the sincerity of his declaration. He scarcely would have thought of making this appeal, if in an early stage of his undertaking it had not been insinuated, that it was his design to make tliis work a vehicle for conveying particular opinions in theology, and that his own sentiments made him an unfit person for the task. He has, indeed, sentiments of his own ; but he can estimate goodness and worth wherever they are found. He has sentiments of his own, but he rejoices in the consciousness of a disposition to grant to others a full liberty to avow, defend, and disseminate, their sentiments, though opposite to liis own ; and can give them the praise due to their abilities and characters. • P. X. -f P. xxiv. c2 XXXVl ADVERTISEMENT. It is a pleasure to him, that the examination of the writers who have censured Mr. Neal with severity, has eventually established the authenticity of the history, and the candour and impartiality of the author, in all the main parts of his work. It reflects high and lasting honour on this eccle- siastical history, that if the author were convicted by a Warbui-ton, a Maddox, and a Grey, of partiality, it could be only such a partiality as might arise from a zeal against tyrants and ojjpressors. The work has, on the whole, a liberal cast ; it is on the side of civU and religious liberty ; it is in favour of the rights of Englishmen, against unconstitutional prerogative ; it is in favour of the rights of conscience, against an imperious and perse- cuting hierarchy, whether Episcopal or Presbyterian ; it is in favour of the great interests of mankind ; and, to adopt the words of a most able and liberal Mrriter *, "A history that is written without any regard to the chief privileges of human nature, and without feelings, especially of the moral kind, must lose a considerable part of its instruction and energy;" * Dr. Kippis : Preface to the first volume of the second edition of the Biographia Britannica, p. 21. XXXVll ADVERTISEMENT TO VOL. V. OF DR. TOULMIN'8 EDITION. This edition of Mr. Neal's " History of the Puritans," after many inter- ruptions, being at length completed, and the last volume being now presented to the public, the editor embraces this occasion to make his acknowledg- ments to the gentlemen who have assisted and encouraged his design. He feels his obligations to those who by their names and subscriptions have patronised it ; and he is much mdebted to some who, by the communication of books and manuscripts, have aided the execution of it. Situated, as he is, at a great distance from the metropolis, and the libraries there open to the studious, he sees not how he could have enjoyed the means of examining Mr. Neal's authorities, in any extensive degree, and of ascertaining the accu- racy of the statements by an mspection of the wi-iters of the last century, had not liis grace the duke of Grafton most handsomely offered, and most readily supplied, a great number of books necessary to that purpose, from his large and valuable libraries. Some books of great authority were obliginglj'- handed to him by Henry Waymouth, Esq. of Exeter. His thanks are also due to the Rev. Josiah Thompson, of Clapham, and to Edmund Calamy, Esq. To the former, for the free use of his manuscript collections, relative to the history of the dissenting churches ; and to the latter, for the opportunity of perusing a manuscript of his worthy and learned ancestor. Dr. Edmund Calamy, entitled, " An Historical Account of my own Life, with some Reflections on the Times I have lived in." He has been likewise much indebted to a respectable member of the society of Quakers, Mr. Moms Birkbeck, of Wanborougli, Surrey, for his judicious remarks on Mr. Neal, and for furnishing him with Gough's valuable history of that people. Taunton, August l\th, 1790. XXX VI 11 ADVERTISEMENT TO THE EDITION OF 1822*. In revising Dr. Toulmin's edition of this work for republication, it W3s found to abound with typograpliical errors, to a degree almost unprecedented in the present day, owing probably to the great distance at which he resided from the place where it was printed. These have consequently been cor- rected ; but both Mr. Neal's text, and the notes of his former edition, remain as in the last edition. Considerable alterations, however, have been made in the disposal of his supplemental matter. Valuable as the doctor's addi- tions to Mr. Neal's History certainly are, every one must have been struck with the extreme awkwardness and injudicious method of arranging his materials ; particularly as it regarded the size of his volumes ; some of which comprised seven or eight lumdred pages, whUe the fifth contained only half that number. In order to render the volumes, in this new edition, as near as possible, of an equal size, the history of the Baptists and Quakers, which Dr. Toulmin had dealt out by piecemeal, and interspersed throughout the volumes, is now collected into an imbroken narrative, and given as a SupPLEsiENT to vol. V. This, it is presumed, will be generally regarded as a material improvement in various respects, and cannot fail to confer upon the present edition a decided superiority to all that have preceded it. Some important additions have also been introduced into this part of the work, by which, it is hoped, the value of the pubUcation is still farther augmented : and, upon the whole, the work cannot fail in its present state to recommend itself to every fiiend of civil and religious liberty as the most valuable history of the kind that is extant m our language. In the present edition the work is compressed into three volumes. XXX IX MEMOIR LIFE OF MR. DANIEL NEAL, M.A.* Mr. Daniel Nf.al was born in the city of London, on the 14th of December, 1678. VMien he was very young-, his parents were removed by death, and left him, their only surviving child, in the hands of a maternal uncle : whose care of his health and education was faithful and affectionate, and was often men- tioned by his nephew with gratitude. He received his classical education at Merchant Tailors' school : to which he was sent when he was seven or eight years of age, and where he stayed till he was head scholar. In this youthful period he gave a proof of the serious and conscientious principles by which he was governed; for an exhibition to St. John's college in Oxford being offered to him, out of a foundation belonging to that school, lie declined it ; and chose an education for the ministry amongst the Protestant dissenters. About the year 1696, or 1697, he removed from this seminary to a dissenting academy, under the direction of the reverend Thomas Rowe ; under whose tuition several eminent characters were, in part, formed. t To this gentleman Dr. Watts addressed his animated ode, called " Free Philosophy," which may, in this view, be considered as an honourable testimonial to the candid and liberal spirit with which Mr. Rowe conducted the studies of his pupils. Mr. Neal's thirst after knowledge was not to be satisfied by the limited advantages of one seminary, but prompted him to seek farther improvement in foreign universities. Having spent three years with Mr. Rowe, he removed to Holland ; where he prosecuted his studies, for two years, under the celebrated professors D'Uries, Graevius, and Burman, at Utrecht; and then, one year at Leyden. About the middle or latter end of 1703 he returned to England, in company with Mr. Martin TomkinsJ and Mr. (afterward the eminent Dr.) Lardner, and soon after appeared in the pulpit. • This narrative is drawn up chiefly from the memoir of Mr. Neal's life in the funeral sermon by Dr Jennings, and a MS. account of liim and his woiks by his son Nathaniel Neal, esq. ; communicated by liis grandson, Daniel Lister, esq. of Hackney. t Amongst others. Dr. Watts, Dr. Hort, afterward archbishop of Tuam, Mr. Hughes tlic poet. Dr. John Evans, Mr. Grove, and Dr. Jeremiah Hunt. \ This gentleman was settled with a dissenting congregation at Stoke Ncwington. In the year 1718 Mr. Asty, the pastor of a congregation in Ropcmakcr's alley, Moorlields, on making an exchange with Mr. Touikins for one Lord's day, thought fit to alarm his people ■with the danger of pernicious errors and damnable heresies creeping in amongst the dis- senters; and particularly referred to errors concerning the doctrine of Christ's deity. Mr. Tonikins, to counteract the ill tendency of this discourse and of the censures it conveyed, preached, the succeeding Lord's day, from John xx. 21 — 23, on the power of Christ to settle the terms of salvation. The inference which he deduced from tlie discussion of his subject was, " that no man on earth, nor body of men ; no, nor all the angels in heaven, have power to make any thing necessary to salvation, but what Christ hath made so." In the conclusion of his discourse, he applied this general principle as a test by which to deci Xl MEMOIR OF THE LIFE OF It \\as not long before his fiuiiituic and abilities attiacted notice. And, in the next year, be was chosen assistant to Dr. John Singleton,* in the service of on the importance of the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity, and of the deity of Clnist. — Here he entered into a particular survey of the various passages in the historical and epis- tolary books of the New Testament connected with this point, and gave, at large, his reasons, why he did not apprehend the orthodox notion concerning the deity of Christ to be a fundamental doctrine of Christianity. This sermon, though the preacher neither denied nor intimated any doubt of the truth of the orthodox doctrine, gave much disgust, and made a gi'eat noise. The minds of his people were irritated, and every attempt which Mr. Tomkins used to calm them and restore harmony proving unsuccessful, he resigned his pastoral connexion, after ten years' services among them. Prejudice rose so high against him, that he was, afterward, denied the communion of the church, in which he had been many years before; when, on being disengaged from stated minis icrial functions, he desired to return to it. Mr. Tomkins did not again settle as the pastor of a congregation; but did not wholly lay aside the character, or drop the studies, of the Christian minister. For he occasionally preached, and published several valuable theological tr.acts. Tiie first, about the year 1723, was " A Sober Appeal to a Turk or an Indian concerning the plain sense of Scripture, relating to the Trinity : being an Answer to Dr. I. AVatts"s late book, entitled, ' The Christian Doctrine of the Trinity, or Father, Son, and Spirit, three Persons, and one God, asserted and proved, by plain evidence of Scripture, without the aid and incumbrance of human schemes.' " This piece was drawn up in terms of decency and respect, and in the lan- guage of friendship towards that e.\cellent and eminent person, to whose tract it was a reply : and the whole was written in an exemplary strain of moderation and candour. Iii the year 1748, it came to a second edition: to which were added, 1. Remarks on Dr. Watts's tlirec citations relating to the doctrine of tlie Trinity, published in 1724. 2. A sober Appeal to all that liave read the New Testament, whether the reputed orthodox are not more chargeable with preaching a new Gospel, than reputed Arians ? 3. A Reply to Dr. Waterland's Animadversions upon some passages in tlie " Sober Appeal." To neither of the editions of this treatise was the author's name .affixed. In' 1732, Mr. Tomkins published, also without his name, a piece which gained him great reputation ; entitled " Jesus Christ the Mediator between God and Man ; an Advocate for us with the Father, and a Propitiation for the Sins of the World." A new edition of this work appeared in 1761. He published, in 1738, '' A calm Inquiry, whether we have any warrant from Scripture for addressing ourselves, in a way of pr.ayer or praise, directly to the Holy Spirit : humbly^ offered to the consideration of all Chiistians, particularly of Protestant Dissentei-s." This piece has seriously impressed the minds of many, and has, undoubtedly, contributed very much to the disuse of the tiinit.arian doxology anjongst the dissenters. Mr. Tomkins him- self, so far back as the time when he -was minister to the congregation at Stoke Newington, had forborne it, because he could find no instance of it in Scripture. All Mr. Tomkins's pieces arc proofs of the candour of his spirit, and of the clearness and strength of his judgment. Long since his death there has appeared, in the Theological Repositor_v, vol. 3. p. 257, "A Letter from him to Dr. Lardner, in reply to his letter on the Logos; in litfeuce of the Arian h) pothcsis.'' In this enumeration of his publications it had almost escaped me to mention another, and that the first in order of time, viz. " The Case of Mr. Martin Tomkins, being an Account of the Proceedings of the Dissenting Congregation at Stoke Newington, upon occasion of a sermon preached by him July 13, 1718." This piece bears on it all the marks of being a fair and impartial, as it is an instructive, narrative. — The character of candour and piety, wliich he supported, and with which his writings are impressed ; the simplicity and integrity with which he bore his testimony to scriptural worship, Christian moderation, and the divine unity ; and the weight and influence of his publications in the trinit.arian controversy, have justly entitled Mr. Tomkins to this par- ticular mention. * Dr. John Singleton was a student in the university of Oxford ; from whence, after he Lad been there eight years, he wrs turned out by the commissioners in 1660. He then went to Holland, .and studied physic ; but never practised it any farther than to give his advice to particular friends. His settlements were various. Residing some time with lady Scott in Hertfordshire, he preached then to some dissenters at Hertford. He was afterward pastor to a congregation in London. When the meetings were generally suppressed, he went into Warwickshire, and lived with his wife's brother, Dr. Timothy Gibbons, a jihy- sician. Upon king James giving liberty he preached first at Stretton, a small hamlet, eight miles from Coventry ; and then became pastor to the Independent congregation in that city. From whence he was again called to Loudon, to succeed Mr. T. Cole. Ml!. DANIKL NEAL. xli an Iiulependent congreji^alion, in Aldersu^ate-strect; and on the doctor's dcatli, in 170t?, he was elected tlioii- pastor. In tliis relation he continued, for tiiirty- six years, till about live months hcCore his decease. When he accepted the pastoral office, the church, lhouj;h some persons of" considerable fortune and character belonged to it, was very small, as to numbers; but such acceptance did his ministry meet with, that the phice of worship became, in a few yeaas, too strait to accommodate the nundicrs that desired to attend on Mr. Neal'.s prcachin<;- ; wliich obliged them to remove to a larger housf in Jewin-street. He fullilled the duties of his character with attention and diligence : statedly preaching twice every Lord's day, till the three or four last years of his life; and usually devoting two or three afternoons in a week to visiting his people. He ptnsued his studies with so close an application, as to reserve little or no time for exercise; though he was assiduous in his preparations for tlie j)ulpit, lie gave himself some scope in his literary pursuits, and particularly indulginl in tlie study of history, to which his natural getiius strongly led him. " lie still (observes Dr. Jennings) kept his character and profession in view, as a Christian divine and minister."* The first fruits of his literary labours apjicared in 1720, under the title of " The History of New England ; being an impartial account of the civil and ecclesiastical aftaivs of the country, with a new accurate ]\Iap thereof: lowhicli is added, an Appendix, containing their present charter, their ecclesiastical discipline, and their municipal laws." In two volumes 8vo. This work ^con- tains an entertaining and instructive narrative of the first planting- of the gospel in a foreign heathen land : and, besides exhibiting the rise of a new common- wealth, struggling in its infant state with a thousand difficulties, and triumph- ing over thein all, it includes biographical memoirs of the principal persons in church and state. It was well received in New England ; and the next year their nniversity honoured the author with the degree of master of arts, the highest academical title they had power to confer. In the same year there came from Mr. Neal's pen, "A Letter to the Rev. Dr. Francis Hare, dean of Worcester, occasioned by bis reflections on the dissenters, in his late visitation-sermon and poslsaipt." Hvo.t In 1721 he published " The Christian's Duty and Interest in a time of public danger, from Ezekiel ix. 4. A sermon preached at the Rev. Mr. Jennings's meeting-place in Wapping, on Fiiday, October 27, being a time of solemn prayer on account of the plague." t This discourse is preserved in the library of Queen's college, Cambridge.^Ji Mr. Neal gave to the public, in 1722," A Narrative of the method and success of inoculating the small-pox in New England, by Mr. Benjamin Colman ; with a reply to the objections made against it from principles of consiicnce, in a letter "from a minister at Boston. To which is now prefixed, an historical introduction." On the appearance of this piece, her royal highness Caroline, princess of Wales, sent lor him to wait on her, that she might receive from him farther satisfaction concerning the practice of inoculation. He was introduced by a i)hysician of the royal family, and received by the princess in her closet ; whom he found reading " Fox's iVIartyrology."— Her highness did him the honour of entering into a free conversation with him for near an hour, on the subject of inoculation : and afterward on other subjects, particularly the state of tlie dissenting interest in England, and of religion in New England, After some time the prince of Wales, afterward George II. came into the room. and condescended to take a part in ibe conversation for above a quarter of Palmer's Nonconformists' Memorial, vol. 1. p. 170. There is a sermon of Dr. Singleton's in the Moiniii;: K.\crciscs. • Funenil Sciniojifor Mr. Nc'Ill,p 33. t Tlic title of this sermon was " Chnrch Anthovity Vindicated." This discourse also attracted tlie notice of bishop Iloadlcy, wliu published an answer to it. t It tlien nigcd at Marseilles in France, being brought thither from the Levant ; and eiglitcen tliousand died of it. § Cooke's Index to Sermons, vol. 2. p. 211. Article Neal. xlii MEMOIR OF THE LIFE OF an hour. Mr. Neal had the honour of kissing the hands ol' both the royal personages. * In 1722 he published, at request, a sermon preached to the Societies for Reformation of Manners, at Salters'-hall, on Monday June 25. This discourse, grounded on Psahn xciv. 16, is to be met with in the library mentioned before. In the beginning of the next year the request of the managers of the charity- school in Gravel-lane, Southwark, procured from him the publication of a sermon, preached January 1, for the benefit of that institution, on Job xxix. 12, 13, entitled, "The Method of Education in the Charity-schools of Protestant Dissenters ; with the Advantages that arise to the Public from them." After this nothing of Mr. Neal's appeared from the press for several yeai-s, till in 1726 the death of the Rev. Matthew Clarke, a minister of considerable eminence amongst the dissenters of that period, gave occasion for his publishing a funeral sermon for him, from Matt. xxv. 21. This discourse was, next year, reprinted, and annexed to a volume of sermons upon several occasions, by Mr. Clarke ; of which Mr. Neal was the editor, and to which he prefixed some memoirs of the author, f At the beginning of this year he printed a sermon, entitled " Of sorrowing for them who sleep in Jesus," occasioned by the death of Mrs. Anne Phillibrowne, who departed this life February 1, 1726-7, in the forty-third year of her age. This discourse is also to be found in Q,ueen's college library, Cambridge. In 1730, the united request of the ministers and the church prevailed with him to publish a sermon, entitled, " The Duty of Praying Tor Ministers and the Success of their Ministry," from 2 Thess. iii. I. ; preached at the separation of the Rev. Mr. Richard Ra\vlin,J to the pastoral office in the church at Fetter- lane, June 24. A passage in this discourse deserves to be quoted, to show the catholic and generous sentiments of Mr. Neal. Having referred to the perse- cutions of the Christians under the Roman emperors, and then to the prevalence of darkness and superstition for a thousand years after Rome became papal, he proceeds, " The light of the gospel broke out again at the Reformation ; but, alas! what obstructions has it met with ever since ! how much blood has been » The MS. account of Mr. Neal, f Mr. Matthew Clarke, a gentleman of eminence amongst the dissenting ministers of that period, and the father to Dr. Clarke, a physician of extensive practice, who died not long since at Tottenham in Middlesex, was descended from a genteel family in the county of Salop. He was the son of the Rev. Matthew Clarke, who was ejected from Harboroiiirh in Leicestershire ; and was bom February 2, 1663-4. His father, who had been an indefatigable student in Trinity-college, Cambridge, led him through the learned languages. His academical studies were pursued, under the learned Mr. Woodhouse, at Sherifhales in Shropshire, a tutor of eminence in those times. Mr. Clarke, when he had finished his academical course, spent two years in London, for the benefit of conversing with learned men, and forming himself on the model of the most celebrated preachers. He began his ministry in 1684, with great acceptance. So that great additions were made to the church, which his father had formed, at Market Harborough ; and he laid tlie foundation of several societies of Protestant dissenters in those parts. Being engaged, when he was on a visit to London, in 1687, to supply the congregation at Sandwich in Kent for a few Lord's days, he was prevailed with to spend two years there ; which he did with eminent success. In 1689, he was unanimously invited to become assistant to the aged Mr. Ford, the pastor of a congregation in Miles's lane ; which was then reduced to a very low state : but the audi- tory, in a few years, became crowded ; and seven or eight in a month were added to the communion. In 1697, Mr. Clarke was chosen one of the lecturers at Pinners'-hall. He married, in 1696, Mrs. Anne Frith, daughter of Mr. Robert Frith, of Windsor, who was repeatedly mayor of that corporation. His pulpit abilities were greatly admired, and his services mucli sought ; so that he usually preached twice or three times on a Lord's day, and several times in the week. He died March 27, 1726, aged sixty-two years, much beloved and much lamented, and leaving behind him the character of having been amongst the best and most useful divines of his age. Mr. Neal's Memoirs of Jiis Life. X Mr. Rawlin was a minister of reputation amongst the Independents, one of the six preachers of the Merchants' lecture at Pinners'-hall, and the author of a volume of sermons on justification, which met with great acceptance, and passed through more than one edition. MR. DANIEL NEAL. xliii Spill, und liow many families ruined, and sent into banishment, for tlie profession of it! There is at this time a bloody inciuisition in Spain ; and the sword of the magistrate is drawn against the preaehing of the gospel in Italy, France, Poland, in several parts of Germany, and in other Popish countries. I wish I could say, that all Protestant governments were willing the gospel should have its free course ; but our fathers in this nation have drunk of the bitter cup of persecu- tion ; our teacliers have been driven into corners, and the mouths of thousands stopped in one day : Blessed be God that there is now a more open door ! Let us pray, that all penal laws for religion may be taken away, and that no civil discouragements may lie upon Christians of any denomination, for the peace- able profession of their faith, but that the gospel may have free course." lu the year 1732 came out the first volume of Mr. Neal's great work, " The History of the Puritans." The following circumstances gave birth to this pub- lication. Dr. Edmund Calamy, many years before, had, in his " Abridgment of the life of Mr. Richard Baxter, and the continuation of it," laid before the public a view of the state of nonconformity, and of the characters and sufferings of the principal adherents to it, during the period that immediately succeeded to the act of uniformity in 1662. Dr. John Evans,* on this, formed a design of writing " A History of Nonconformity," from the beginning of the Refor- mation to 1640, when the civil wars began. Mr. Neal was requested, by several ministers and other persons of considerable figure amongst the dissenters, to take up the history from the year 1640, and to carry it on to the act of uniformity. Dr. Evans proceeded a great way in the execution of his design, by collecting, for several years, with great industry and expense, proper materials from all quarters, and by filling several quires of paper with references, under each year, to the books he had read on the subject. He had gone so far as to have written out fairly about a third part of the two folios he intended to fill. But his con- • Dr. John Evans, the author of two vohimes of judicious and admired sermons on tlie Christian temper, and of many single sermons, was the son of Mr. Jolm Evans, of Baliol- college, Oxford, and ejected by the act of uniformity from Oswestry. He was born at Wrexham in tlie year lt)79. His mother was the daughter of the eminent colonel Gerard, governor of Chester- castle. He received his education first under Mr. Thomas Rowe, of London ; and afterward under Mr. Richard Frankland, at Rathmill, in Yorkshire. He enjoyed great advantages under both, and made a singuhir proficiency in all the parts of rational and polite literature. His first settlement was in the family of Mrs. Hunt, of Boreattou in Shropshire, relict of Roland Hunt, esq., and sister of lord Paget, ambassador to the Ottoman court. In this retirement he read over entire Jlr. Pole's Latin Synopsis, in five volumes folio, which laid the foundation of his great skill in Scripture criticism, and all the Christian writers of the three first centuries, under the direction of the learned Mr. James Owen. His first settlement, as a minister, was in the place of his nativity : from whence he removed to London, to be assistant to Dr. Daniel Williams, pastor of a congre- gation in Hand-alley, Bishopsgate-street ; which afterward removed to New Bond-street, Petty-France. Dr. Evans, after several years, was by Dr. Williams's desire made co- pastor with him, and succeeded him at his death. On taking the whole charge of the con- gregation, he spent a week in solemn retirement and in extraordinary exercises of devotion. He was one of the six preachers of the Merchants' lecture at Salters'-hall, and for several years concerned in the Lord's day evening lecture in that place. Besides the sermons mentioned above, he published a small volume addressed to young persons, which has been reprinted within these few years, and a tract or two on the " Importance of Scripture con- sequences," drawn up in a masterly way, with great clearness and judgment, sobriety and decency. Both the universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen, without his knowledge and in a most honourable manner, conferred on him their highest academical honour. A com- plication of distempers broke down his constitution, and deprived the world of his abilities and labours, at so early a period as the fifty-first year of his age, May 23, 1730. He ex- celled in the several virtues of integrity, greatness and generosity of mind ; in compassion and tenderness, in a catholic temper and a public spirit, and in a steady regular piety. His solidity of judgment united witii vivacity, his industry and prudence, were distinguishing • and superior to wo^t others. Amongst the pertinent, devout, and excellent sentiments he dropped in the course of his illness, when he looked upou his body swollen with distemper, he would often say with pletisure, "This corruptible shall put on incorruption, — O glorious hope !" Dr. Harris's funeral sermon for Dr. Evans, in his Funeral Discourses, p. '28j — 296. XliV MKMUlll OV THE LlFli Of slant einjiloymeiit as a minister, llie multiplicity of public afiiiirs which passed tliiougli his hands, ill health, and various disappointments and troubles in his own concerns, greatly interrupted his close application to the work ; and his death, in the year 1730, put a final period to the design, which was left in an unfinished state. In the mean time, Mr. Neal had prosecuted his work with so much application and spirit, that he had completed his collections, and put them in order for the press, some length of time before the doctor's decease. This event obstructed his immediate progress, and opened to him a new field of study and investigation : for he now found it necessary to take up himself the long period of history from the Reformation to the commencement of the civil wars, that his own collections might be published with more acceptance, and appear with greater advantage, than he apprehended they could have done, if the doctor's province had been entirely neglected.* Tlie approbation which followed the publication of the first volume of" The History of the Puritans" encouraged him to prosecute his design ; and the next year, 1733, produced a second volume of that work. Between the appearance of this and the subsequent parts of his history, we find Mr. Neal engaged with some of his respectable brethren in carrying on two courses of lectures ; one at Berry-street ; the other at Salters'-hall. The former was preached at the request and by the encouragement of William Coward, esq., of Walthamstow. . It consisted of fifty-four sermons on the principal heads of the Christian religion, entitled " Faith and Practice." Mr. Neal's associates in this service were. Dr. Watts, Dr. J. Guise, Mr. Samuel Price, Mr. John Hubbard, and Dr. David Jennings .f The terms on which Mr. Neal complied with Mr. Coward's request, made through a common friend, to take part in this service, are proofs of the independence and integrity of mind which he possessed, and was determined to maintain. His requisitions were, that he would draw up the dedication, write the preface, and clioose his own subjects, in which JVIr. Coward, though they were not very pleasing to a gentleman of his known humour, and fondness for adulation and control, acquiesced, rather than the lecture should lose the advantage and reputation that it would derive from Mr. Neal's abilities and name J. The subjects * Dr. Harris's funeral sermon for Dr. Evans, in his volume of Funeral Discourses, p. 289, 290 ; and the MS. account of Jlr. Neal. t It is needless to say any thing here of the first name on this list, Dr. Watts, whose fame by his various writings has been so universally diffused. Mr. Samuel Price, the uncle of the late Dr. Ricliard Price, served forty-five years in the ministry of the gospel, with Dr. Watts, as assistant or co-pastor. He was a man of exemplary probity and virtue, of sound and solid sense, a judicious and useful preacher, eminent for his gift in prayer, and for wisdom and prudence in the management of affairs.^ He was a native of Wales, received his academical learning under Mr. Timothy Jollie, at AtterclifFe, and died in 1 756. Dr. John Guise was well known as a popular preacher, and as the author of a paraphrase on the New Testament, in three vols, quarto. Mr. Hubbard was minister of a congregation at Stepney, and about three years before his death was chosen tutor of a seminary for educating young men for the ministry. He filled both capacities with considerable reputation, and is said to have had so extensive and familiar an acquaintance with the Scriptures, as to supersede the use of a concordance, which had no place in his library. Dr. David Jennings has left behind him " An introduction to the use of the globes and orrery." " An introduction to the knowledge of medals," and " Jewish Antiquities," as monuments of his genius and learning. For many years he was at the head of the semi- nary endowed by Mr. Coward's munificence : and for forty-four years pastor of a congre- gation in Old Gravel-lane, Wapping. He was a pleasing and pathetic preacher, an early riser, very methodical and punctual in the arrangements of his studies and business, and, notwithstanding that he lived much in his study, his conversation was lively and instruc- tive, and his address easy and affable. He )niblibhcd several sermons, and was the author of several other jncccs "besides the above. He died September 26, 1762, in his seventy- first year. t From private iufoiiuatiou. MR. DAXIKT, NEAL. xlv handled by liim were, " Tlie divine ••uitlioriiy and perfection of llie Holy Scriptures,' from 2 Tim. iii. 16. " Of God, asthe Governor and Judi^e of the moral world, ang^els and mon," on Daniel iv. 35. " The incarnation of Clirist as the promised Messiah;" llie text Gal. iv. 4,5. " I^ffcctnal calling:, \\illi its fruits, viz. regeneration and sanclification by the Holy Spirit ; " from 2 Tim. i. 9. " Confession of sin, repcntiince, and conversion to holiness;" on Acts iii. IS). " Of fearing God, and trusting in him ;" l'>iilm xxxi. 1!). " The sacrament of the Lord's Slipper ;" on I ('or. xi. 2-3. of). " The love of onr neighbour ;" the text John xiii. 34, 35. And " Tlie pleasure and advantage of vital religion ;" fnmi Rom. vii. 22. These, with the discourses of the other preachers, were, afier tlie course wasfinislied, published in two vols. Svo. in 1735; and have passed through several editions. Dr. Doddridge, when speakincr of them, says, " I cannot recollect where I have .seen a set of important thoughts on such various and weighty subjects more judici()usly selected, more naturally digested, more closely compacted, more accurately expressed, or in a few words more power- fully enforced, than I have generally found in those sermons*." Without determining whether tins encomium he exaggerated or not, it may certainly be pronounced, that the practical strain in which the discourses are drawn up, and the good temper with which the subjects of greatest controversy are here handled, without any censure or even illiberal insinuation against others mingling with the representation of their own views on the points discussed, do great honour to the heart and spirit of the authors. The other course of lectures, in which INlr. Neal was engaged, arose from an alarm concerning the increase of Popery, which prevailed about the end of the year 1734. Some eminent dissenting ministers of the day, of the Presbyterian denomination, in conjunction with one of each of the other persuasions, agreed to preach a set of sermons on the main principles and errors, doctrines and practices, of the church of Rome, to guard Protestants against the efforts of its emissaries. The gentlemen who engaged in this design were, Mr. John Barker, Dr. Samuel Chandler, Mr. George Smith, Dr. Samuel Wright, Dr. William Han-is, Dr. Oljadiah Hughes, Dr. Jeremiah Hunt, Mr. Joshua Bayes, Mr. John Newman, Dr. Jabez Earle, Mr. Moses Lowman, Dr. Benjamin Grosvenor, Mr. Thomas Leavesly, Mr. Joseph Burrough, a minister of the Antipaedobaptist persuasion +, and Mr. Neal, who was an Independent. The subject which fell * Doddridge's Ten Sermons, 12n)0. Preface, p. ix. -f" Mr. John Barker was, for a number of years, a preaclicr of popular talents and ^reat eminence, first at Hackney, and tlien at Salters'-hall. Many single sermons came from his pen, and he published a volume of discourses in his lifetime, which was succeeded by a second volume after bis death in 176.3. Dr. Samuel Chandler is well known as rising superior to most, either within the pale of the establishment or out of it, in learning and abilities. Mr. George Smith officiated to the society of the Gravel-pit meeting, ITacknev, for thirty years, as a preacher excelled by none and equalled by few. He died May 1, 1746, aged fifty-seven, looked upon by his own brethren as holding the first rank in merit amongst them ; and not less honoured and valued by those of the esta])lishnient who knew him. Dr. Samuel Wright, the author of many single sermons and several valuable practical works, was distinguished by pulpit talents. He was thirty-eight years pastor of the con- gregation, which originally met for religious worship in Bluckfriars, and then greatly increasing under bis preaching, which was serious and judicious, solemn and strikiu"-, removed to Carter-lane. He died in his sixty-fourth year, 1746. Dr. William Harris, wbo was upwards of forty years pastor of a congregation in Crutched-friars, was a very acceptable preacher, and the author, besides many single sermons, of a volume of discourses on " The principal representations of tlie Messiah throughout the Old Testament," and of another called " Funeral Discourses, in two parts : containing, 1. Consolation on the death of our friends, and 2. Preparation for our own death." His compositions were laboured and finished. It was amongst the excellences of his character, that he was scarce ever seen to be angiy ; was a very great patron and friend of young ministers, and had a concern in many great and useful designs of a public nature. He died high in reputation and usefulness. May 25, 1740, aged sixtv-five. xlvi MEMOIR OF THE LIFE OF to liis lot to discuss was, " the supremacy of St. Peter, aud the bisliops of Rome his successors." These discourses were separately printed imuiediately after Dr. Obadiah Hughes " was many years minister of a congregation in Soutliwark, from which he removed to Westminster. He was an acceptable preacher, and printed some occasional sermons." Dr. Kippis's Life of Dr. Lardner. Dr. Jeiemiah Hunt, of Pinner's-hall, was a most respectable character, a man of e.\ten- sive learning and profound knowledge of the Scriptures ; he published many occasional sermons, and " An essay towards explaining the History of the Revelations of Scripture." He died 5th of September, 1744, aged sixty-seven. Mr. Josliua Bayes was pastor of the congregation in Hatton-garden. Mr. John Newman was, for many years, one of the most celebrated preachers in the city of London ; who delivered, to crowded audiences, long and laboured sermons wthout any assistance of notes. He was first assistant to Mr. Nathaniel Taylor, and then co-pastor with Mr. William Tong, at Salters'-hall ; appearing in the same place for five-and-forty years, with great credit and comfort, and died while he was esteemed and beloved, in full reputation and usefulness, much missed aud lamented, in his sixty-fifth year, July 25, 1741. Dr. Jabez Earle, a classical scholar, remarkable for a vivacity and cheerfulness of temper whicli never forsook him to the last, was for near seventy years a noted minister in London. He preached to the last Sunday in his life, and died in his chair without a groan or sigh, aged ninety-two. He was pastor of a congregation at Long-acre, and one of the T\iesday lecturers at Salters'-hall. He printed, besides several sermons, a little tract called Sacra- mental Exercises: and in the second edition of the " Biographia Britannica,'' under the article Amory, there is a small copy of verses which he sent to his friend Dr. Harris, on their both receiving diplomas from a Scotch university. Mr. Moses Lowman, more than forty years minister of a congregation at Clapham, Surrey, to a great character for general literature added a thorough acquaintance with Jewish learning and antiquities. His treatise on the civil government of the Hebrews, another on the ritual of that people, and a commentary on the Revelations, have been held in high estimation. A small piece drawn up by him, in the mathematical form, to prove the unity and perfections of God a priori, was called by Dr. Chandler a truly golden treatise, and asserted to be a strict demonstration. After his decease there appeared from the press three tracts on the Shechinah and Logos, published from his MSS. by Dr. Chandler, Dr. Lardner, and Mr. Sandercock. He reached the age of seventy-two, and died May 3, 1752. Dr. Benjamin Grosvenor M'as a minister in London, of distinguished reputation, upwards of fifty years. A singular acumen, lively imagination, and warm devotion of heart, cha- racterised his discourses, which were delivered with a graceful utterance. He was born in London, 1st Januar)', 1675: was chosen minister to the congiegation in Crosby-square in 1704, which^lie soon raised into a flourishing church and crowded auditory : and in 1716 he was elected one of the six preachers at the Merchants' lecture at Salters'-hall. In 1749, he retired from all public services ; and died August 27th, 1758, in the eighty-third year of his age. He published many single sennons ; the most distinguishing of which was one on " The temper of Jesus towards his enemies,'' which was reprinted at Cambridge so lately as the year 1758 ; it was a transcript of his own heart and life. " An Essay on Health ; '' and an excellent treatise entitled " The Mourner ; " both of which have passed through several editions, and will continue to be memorials of his genius, learning, and spirit. Of the latter the following passage in his diary is an amiable specimen : " I thank God (says he) for that temper of mind and genius, which has made it natural for me to have an aversion to bigotry. This has improved constantly with my knowledge. And the enlarging my mind towards those who differ from me has kept pace with my illumination and intellectual improvements. ' Agree to differ,' is a good motto. The reason and love- liness of such a friendly disposition would recommend it, and I am persuaded people would almost take it of themselves, if it were not for the several arts used to prevent it." Mr. Thomas Leavcsly, was, for some years, minister of the Old Jewry in London. Mr. Joseph Burroughs was a learned and judicious divine ; of which, not only the sermon in the above collection, but a volume of sermons published in 1741, and "A view of Popery," taken from the creed of pope Pius IV. afford ample proof. He was also the author of several single sermons, and of " Two discourses relating to positive institutions :" which brought on a controversy between him and the worthy Dr. Caleb Fleming, on the mode and subject of baptism. He was fifty-two years connected with the General Baptist congregation in Barbican, London, first as an assistant to tlie Rev. Richard Allen, and from tlie year 1717, as pastor, to November 23, 1761, when he died in the seventy- seventh year of his age ; having supported, through bo long a life, the character of the MR. DANIEL NEAL. xlvii each Wvis preaclied, and when the lecture was closed, were collected together, and formed two volumes, 8vo*. steady friend to liberty and free inquiry, of a zealous advocate for the importance of the Christian revelation, and of the strenuous promoter of every scheme that tended to advance tlie common interests of religion, as well as those whicli were particularly calculated for the benefit of Baptist societies : while through the greatest part of this period he had as a minister served the church, with which he was united, with the ^eatest fidelity, affection, and 7.cal. The length of this note might appear to require an apology, were not the names, to whose memory it is devoted, too eminent in their day to be passed over without some respectful notice. Several of the preceding gentlemen, viz. the Drs. Grosvcnor, Wright, and Evans, and I\Ir. Lowman, were engaged in the years 1716, 1717, 1718, with Dr. Avery, and Mr. Simon Brown, in a valuable publication, entitled, " The Occasional Paper : " a work sacred to the cause of religious liberty, free inquiry, and charity. * It is proper to add, that this defence of Protestantism did not terminate with the delivery of the sermons from the pulpit at Salters'-hall. Dr. Chandler pursued his subject in " A second treatise on the notes of the church ;" as a supplement to his sermon, at that place, on the same subject. And Dr. Harris followed up his sermon on transubstantiation with " A second discourse, in which the sixth chapter of St. John's Gospel is particularly considered : preached at the Merchants' lecture at Salters'-hall, April 22, 17.J.1," which was reckoned to possess peculiar merit. Mr. Burroughs farther showed himself an able \TOter, in the cause for which the sermons were preached, by his " Review of Popery." The course of lectures had not gone on a month, when a gentle- man or two being in company with a Romish priest at the Pope's-head t.iivern in Cornhill, they became the subject of conversation ; and the latter objected, in particular, against some passages in Mr. Barker's sermon, as what could not be supported by proper vouchers. This brought on, by appointment, " Two conferences on the 7th and 13th of February, 1734-5, at the Bell tavern in Nicholas-lane, on the blasphemy of many Popish wiiters in giving, and of popes in receiving, the title of Our Lord God the Pope ; on the doctrines of sub- stantiation ; praying to saints and angels, and of denying the use of the Scriptures to the laity." At the first of these conferences twenty were present, and the dispute was sup- ported by the Romish priest. Dr. Hunt, and a divine of the church of England ; at the second the debate lay between the former Catholic gentleman, Mr. Morgan, accompanied by Mr. Vaughan, supposed to be a priest, and Dr. Hunt, Dr. Chandler, and Mr. John Eames, well known to the world for his integrity and learning : Dr. Talbot Smith was chosen chairman, and the whole company consisted of thirty. A state of these disputa- tions was soon published by an anonymous author, entitled, " Two conferences held," &c. The Catholic party also gave a representation of them to the public in a pamphlet entitled, " The two conferences, &c. truly stated." This brought out from the pen of Dr. Chandler " An accoimt of the conference held in Nicholas-lane, February 13, 1734-5, between two Romish priests and some Protestant divines, with some rcmaiks on the pamphlet, &c." The doctor's account is confined to the second conference, because he was not present at the first. Soon after these Salters'-hall sermons were published, there appeared a pamphlet, in 1735, which in 1736 ran to a third edition, entitled, " A supplement to the sermons lately preached at Salters'-hall against Popery : containing just and useful remarks on another great corruption therein omitted." The author of this tract was Mr. G. Killingworth, a respectable lay-gentleman of Norwich. The design of it was to show, that the reasoning of the gentlemen, who preached those sermons, affected not only the Papists, but them- selves, in rejecting the baptism of adult persons, and substituting in the room thereof the sprinkling of infants. The author, with this view, besides stating from the New Testa- ment the evidence in favour of his own sentiments, shrewdly ajiplied a gi'cat number of passages from the sermons, somewhat in the way of a parody, to establish his own con- clusion ; and to prove, that if those gentlemen practised or believed any thing as a part of the religion of the holy Jesus, which could not be plainly and clearly proved from the New Testament (as he conceived tliat they did in the matter of sprinkling of infants), they must look upon themselves .as self-condemned, their own .arguments being a full confutation of them. Mr. Killingworth showed himself an able writer by other pieces in favour of the sentiments for which he was a strenuous advocate : and published also " An Answer " to the late very respectable Mr. Mic.ajah Towgood's tract, entitled " Infant Baptism a Reason- able Service ;" by way of appendix to an ex.amination of Dr. Forster's " Sermon en Catholic Communion." In one of his pieces, he likewise replied to the arguments of Mr. Eralyn's previous question. xlviii MEMOIR OF THE LIFE OF 111 the year 1736 came out the third volume of the History of the I'uritans : and Mr. Neal's design was completed, by the puhiication of the fourth, in the year 1738, which brought down the history of nonconformity to the act of toleration by king William and queen Mary, in the year 16S9. This and Mr Neal's other historical works spread his name through the learned world, and justly secured to him great and permanent reputation. Dr. Jennings speaking of them says," I am satisfied that there is no judicious and unprejudiced person, that has conversed with the volumes he wrote, but will acknowledge he had an excellent talent at writing history. His style is most easy and perspicuous ; and the judicious remarks, which he leads his readers to make upon facts as they go along, make his histories to be not only more entertaining, but to be more instruc- tive and useful, than most books of that kind*." While this work was preparing for and going through the press, part of his time was occupied in drawing up and publishing an answer to Dr. Maddox, bishop of St. Asaph ; who wrote a pretty long " Vindication of ihe doctrine, discipline, and worship, of the church of England, established in the reign of queen Elizabeth, from the injurious reflections (as he was pleased to style them) of Mr. Neal's first volume of the History of the Puritans." This answer was entitled, •' A review of the principal facts objected to the first volume of the History of the Puritans." It was reckoned to be written with great judgment, and to establish our historian's character for an impartial regard to truth. And it was reasonably concluded, from this specimen of his powers of defence, that, if his declining state of health had permitted him, he would have as thoroughly vindicated the other volumes from the animadversions afterward published against them by Dr. Zachary Grey. The pleasure Mr. Neal had in serving the cause of religious liberty had carried him through his undertaking with amazing alacrity. But he engaged in it at an advanced age, and when his health had begun to decline : this, joined with the close application he gave to the prosecution of it, brought on a lingering illness, from which he never recovered. He had been all his life sub- ject, in some degree, to a lowness of spirits, and to complaints of an indisposition in his head. His love of study, and an unremitting attention to the duties of his office, rendered him averse to the frequent use of any exercise that took him off from his books. In the end, repeated strokes of the palsy, first gentle and then more severe, which greatly enfeebled all his powers both of body and mind, baffled the best advice, the aids of medicine, and repeated use of the Bath waters, brought him to his grave, perfectly worn out, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. He died April 4th, 1743. During the declining state of his health, Mr. Neal applied to the excellent Dr. Doddridge to recommend some young minister, as an assistant to him. A gentleman was pointed out, and appeared in his pulpit with this view; and a letter, which on this occasion he wrote to Dr. Doddridge, and which the doctor endorsed with this memorandum, " Some wise Hints," affords such an agreeable specimen of Mr. Neal's good sense, candour, and prudence, as cannot fail, we think, to render it acceptable to our readers. " Dear Sir, " Your letter which I received yesterday gave me a great deal of agreeable entertainment, and made me almost in love with a person that I never saw. His character is the very picture of what I should wish and pray for. There is no manner of exception that I can hear of, but that of his delivery, which many, with you, hope may be conquered or very much amended. All express a very great respect and value for Mr. and his ministry, and are highly pleased with his serious and affectionate manner. And I am apt to think, when we liave lieard him again, even the thickness of the pronunciation of some of his words will in a great measure vanish ; it being owing, in a great measure (according to my son), to not making his under and upper lip meet together: but be that as it will, this is all, and the very worst that I know of, to use your osvn expression. * Funeral S riiio , p. 32. MR. DANIEL NEAL. xHx " I wisli, ns much as you, that the affair might he speedily issued ; hut you know tlial things of this n;ituic, in which many, and those of a different temper, are concerned, must proceed witli all tenderness and voluntary freedom, without the least shadow of violence or imaginary hurry. Men love to act for themselves, and with spontaneity ; and, as I have sometimes observed, have come at length cheerfully and voluntarily into measures, which they would have opposed, if they had imagined ihey were to be driven into them. " I don't mention this, as if it was the present case, for I can assure you it is not : but to put you in mind, that it may possibly not always be for the best to do things too hastily; and therefore I hope you will excuse the digression. I am exceedingly tender of Mr. 's character and usefulness; and therefore sliall leave it to your prudence to fix the day of his coming up : and you may depend upon my taking all the prudential steps in favour of this affair that I am master of. I hope the satisfaction will be geneial, but who can answer for it beforehand? It has a promising appearance; but if it comes out otherwise, you shall have a faithful account. " I am pleased to hear that Mr. is under so good an adviser as your- self, who cannot but be apprised of the great importance of this affair both to your academy, to myself, and to the public interest of the dissenters in this city : and I frankly declare I don't know any one place among us in London, where he can sit more easy, and enjoy tlie universal love and affection of a good-natured people, which will give him all fitting encouragement. We are very thankful to you. Sir, for the concern you express for us, and the care you have taken for our supply. I hope you will have a return from above, of far greater blessings than this world can bestow, and you may expect from me all suitable acknowledgments. " Pray advise Mr. , when you see him, to lay aside all undue concern from his mind, and to speak with freedom and ease. Let him endeavour, by an articulate pronunciation, to make the elder persons hear, and those that sit at a greater distance, and all will be well. He has already got a place in the affections of many of the people ; and I believe will quickly captivate them all. Assure him that he has a candid audience, who w ill not make a man an offender for a word. Let him speak to the heart and touch the conscience, and show himself in earnest in his work : and he will certainly approve himself a work- man that needs not be ashamed. I beg pardon for these hints. Let not Mr. impress his mind too much with them. My best respects attend your lady and whole family, not forgetting good Mr. , &c. " I am, Sir, in haste, " Your affectionate brother " And very humble servant, " Daniel Neal*. " London, Saturday evening, " May 12, 1739. " Brethren, pray for us ! " Disease had, for many months before his death, rendered him almost entirely incapable of public service. This induced him to resign the pastoral office ia the November preceding. The considerate, as well as generous manner in which he did it, will appear from the following letter he sent to the church on that occasion : " To the church of Christ, meeting in Jewin-stfeet, London. " My dear brethren, and beloved in the Lord, " God, in his all-wise providence, having seen meet for some time to disable me in a great measure from serving you in the gospel of his Son, and therein to deprive me of one of the greatest satisfactions of my life ; I have been waiting upon him in the use of means for a considerable time, as I thought it my duty to do. But not having found sucii a restoration as might enable me to do stated * The above letter was very obligingly communicated by the reverend Thomas Stedman, vicar of St. Chad's, Shrewsbury. VOL. I. d 1 MEMOIR OF THE LIFE OF service, it is my duty to acquiesce in his will. And having looked up to him fur direction, I think it best for your sakes to surrender iny office of a pastor amonn^st you. " Upon tliis occasion it becomes me to make my humblest acknowledgments to the blessed God, lor that measure of usefulness he has honoured me with in the course of my labours amongst you ; and I render you all my unfeigned thanks for the many affectionate instances of your regard towards me. " May the Spirit of God direct you in the choice of a wise and able pastor, who may have your spiritual and everlasting welfare at heart. And, for that end, beware of a spirit of division: be ready to condescend to each other's infirmi- ties: keep together in the way of your duty, and in waiting upon God for his direction and blessing: remember, tliis is the distinguishing mark of the disci- ples of Christ, ' that they love one another.' Finally, my brethren, farewell ; be of good comfort and of one mind ; live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you. " I am, your affectionate well-wisher, " And obedient humble servant, " Daniel Neal*." From the first attack of his long illness, it appears he had serious apprehen- sions how it would terminate; and a letter written from Bath, in April 1739, to a worthy friend, f shows the excellent state of his mind under those views. " My greatest concern (he says) is, to have rational and solid expectations of a future hapi)iness. I would not be mistaken, nor build on the sand ; but would •impress my mind with a firm belief of the certainty of the future world, and live in a practical preparation for it. I rely very much on the rational notions we have of the moral perfections of God, not only as a just but a benevolent and merciful Being, who knows our frame, and will make all reasonable allow- ances for our imperfections and follies in life ; and not only so, but, upon repent- ance and faith in Christ, will pardon our past sins, though never so many or great. " In aid of the imperfection of our rational notions lam very thankful for the glorious trulhs of gospel -revelation, which are an additional superstructure on the other: for though we can believe nothing contrary to our reason, we liave a great many excellent and comfortable discoveries built ujmn and superadded to it. Upon this double foundation would I build all my expectations, with an liumble and awful reverence of the majesty of the great Judge of all the eartii, and a fiducial reliance on the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. In this frame of mind, I desire to fear God, and keep his commandments." * From the MS. account. •f- This friend was Dr. Henry Miles, nil eminent dissenting minister at Tooting in Surrey, and a respectable member of the Royal Society, who died February 10, 1763, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. He was a native of Strond in Gloucestershire. His know- ledge in natural history, botany, and experimental philosophy, for which he had a remark- able taste, occasioned his being elected a member of the Royal Society in 1743, in the transactions of which appear several papers from his pen ; and Dr. Birch, in the preface to his fine edition of Mr. Boyle's works, handsomely says, that the conduct and improve- ment of that edition were chiefly to be ascribed to tlie great labour, judgment, and sagacity of the learned Mr. Miles, and that to him the public owed considerable additions never before published. Besides this, he could never be prevailed upon to publish more than a single sermon, preached at the Old Jewry, on occasion of a public charity in 1738. He was a hard student. His preparations for the pulpit cost him incessant labour ; and fof a course of thirty years he constantly rose, two days in the week, at two or three o'clock in the morning, to compose his sermons. He lived like an excellent Christian and minister-: Lis beh.aviour was on all occasions that of a gentleman ; the simplicity of his spirit and manners was very remarkable ; his conversation instructive and entertaining ; his counte- nance w.is always open, mild, and amiable ; and his carriage so condescending and courteous, even to his inferiors, as plainly discovered a most humane and benevolent heart. He was the friend of Dr. Lardner and Dr. Doddridge ; and in the correspondence of the latter published by the Rev, Mr. Stedman, there are several of his letters. See also Dr. Furneaux's Funeral Sermon for Dr. Miles. MR. DANIEL NEAL. H In all liis scnsiMe intervals, (liiriiii^ his last illness, lie enjoyed an uneonimon scuMiily of mind ; and behaxcd heconiini? a Christian and a minister.* Tliis peaoeftil state of mind and comfortable hope he possessed to the last, f About a montii before his death, he appeared to his fellow-worshippers, at the Lord's supper, with an air so extraordinarily serions and heavenly, as made some present say, " he looked as if he «ere not lonsc for this world." Tilt- precedinpf jiarticnlars and his writinos will, in part, enable the reader to form for himself a just opinion of Mv. Neal's character: and will certainly give credil)ility to what is reported eoneerninc^ it. He fdled the relations of domestic life with integrity and honour; and left a deep and fond rep;ret in the hearts of his family. t In his public connexions, he was the prudent counsellor, and a faithful, steady friend. His labours in the pulpit, and his visits in families, while his health continued firm, were edifying and entertainino;. He had an easy agreeable manner, both in tlie style and in the delivery of his sermon':, free from aflVctation. In convcvsition, he knew how to mix grave and prudent instruction or advice with a becoming cheerful- ness, which made his company to be pleasing and ])rolitable. He was honoured with the friendship of some in very high stations; and in early life contracted an acquaintance with several, whu afterward made a considerable tigure in the learned world, both in the established church and amongst the dissenters. The repeated and frequent invitations he received to appear in the pulpit, on singular and public occasions, especially the share he had in the lectures at Salier.->'-hall, against Fopery, are honourable proofs of the respect and estimation in which his abilities and character were in general held, even by those who difiVred from liim in their sentiments on many questions of doctrine and church- government. # His own doctrinal sentiments were supposed to come nearest to those of Calvin ; which he looked upon as most agreeable to the sacred Scriptures, and most adapted to the great ends of religion. But neither were his charity nor his friendships confined to men of his own opinion. The Bilde alone was his standard for religious trutli : and he was willing and desirous, that all others should be at perfect liberty to take and follow it, as their own rule. — Tlie nnchristian heats and unhappy diiferenecs, which had arisen ainongst Cliristians by the restraints that had been laid, more or less, by all parties, when in power, on the faith (U- worship of their fellow-Cliristians, had fixed in him an utteraver- sion to imposition upon conscience in any shape, and to all such party distinctions as would naturally lead to it. Mv. Neal married Elizabeth, the only daughter of the reverend Richard Lardner, many years pastor of a congregation at Deal § and sister of the great • Letters to and from Dr. Doddridge, 1790, p. .358. •f Dr. Jennings's Funeral Sermon, and tlie iMS. account. X Of this we have a proof in the expressive and affecting manner in which his son wrote concerning his death, to Dr. Doddridge. " The report which you had heard of my lionourcd father's death was too well founded, if it is becoming tlie filial gratitude I owe to his memory to seem to repine at my own loss, which I am satisfied is greatly his gain ; especially when his nobler powers were so much obscured, even to the sight of his friends, as they have been for sonic time past by the bodily decays he laboured uuder. But not- withstanding all the admirable reliefs which reason and faith afford under the uneasiness which nature feels on the loss of so near and (who had been) so desirable a relation, and the many circumstances of weakness which seemed to make dissolution less formidable, yet the parting season will be gloomy, the breathless coi'psc of a once dear and valuable friend will alTect us, and the carrying out of our house, and leaving behind us in a solitary tomb, all that was visible (when at the same time it was so venerable) of a father, strikes a damp on the spirits, which is not easily overcome or forgotten." Letters to and from Dr. Doddridge, p. 3.5.5, &c. § The character of Mr. I.,ardner, drawn by his son-in-law Mr. Neal, forms the sixth number of the Appendix to Dr. Lardner"s life, prefixed to tlic new edition of his works in 8vo. Hi MEMOIR OF THE LIFE OF MR. DANIEL NEAL. and excellent Dr. Lardner. She survived Mr. Neal about five years, dyinp: in 1748. Thev left a son and two daughters : one of these ladies married Mr. Josepli Jennings, of Fenchurch-street, the eldest son of the Rev. Dr. David Jennings ; the other the Rev. Mr. Lister, minister) of the dissenting congre- gation at Ware. His son, Mr. Nathaniel Neal, was an eminent attorney, and secretary to the Million-bank. He wrote a pamphlet, entitled, " A free and serious remonstrance to Protestant Dissenting ministers, on occasion of the decay of religion ; " which was republished by the late Rev. Job Orton, in 1775. Many admirable letters of this gentleman to Dr. Doddridge, are given to the public in tliat instructive and entertaining collection of letters to and from the doctor, which we owe to the Rev. Thomas Stedman, vicar of St. Cliad's, Shrewsbury ; and who, to the mention of Mr. Nathaniel Neal, adds from a correspondent, " whose character I never think of without the highest veneration and esteem, as few ever possessed more eminently the virtues of the heart, united with a very superior understanding and judgment *." * Letters, and p. 353. Note. CONTENTS THE FIRST \ O L U M E. Page Preface to Vol. I. of the Original Edition . to Vol. II. of the Original Edition to Vol. III. of the Original P^dition ■ to Vol. IV. of the Original Edition Advertisement to Vol. 1. of Dr. Toulmin's Edition to Vol. II. of Dr. Toulmin's Edition to Vol. IV. of Dr. Toulmin's Edition to Vol. V. of Dr. Toulmin's Edition Advertisement to the Edition of 1822 Memoir of the autlior ..... Ill xi xvii XXV XXX xxxii XXXV XXX vii xxxviii xxxix PART I. HISTOKV OF THE PURITANS, FROM THE ACCESSION OF HENRY VIII. TO THE DEATH OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. A. D. 1509 1G02. Chap. I. . . Reign of Henry the Eighth, a. d. 1509 — 1547 . Chap. II. . . Reign of King Edward the Sixth, a. d. 1547 — 1653 Chap. III. . Reign of Queen Mary. a. d. 1553 — 1558 Chap. IV. . From the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign to the separation of the Protestant Nonconformists, a. d. 1558 — 1560 Chap. V- • From the separation of the Protestant Nonconformists to the death of archbishop Parker, a. d. 15G6 — 1575 Chap. VI. . From the death of archbishop Parker to the death of archbishop Grindal. a. d. 1575 — 1585 . . . . Chap. VII. . From the death of archbishop Grindal to the Spanish invasion, in 1588 ....... Chap. VIII, From the Spanish invasion to the death of queen Eliza- beth, a. n. 1588—1602 1 29 58 156 224 260 326 vol.. I. hv COXTENTS. PART II. HISTORY OF THE PURITANS, FROM THE DEATH OF QUEEN ELIZABETH, TO THE BEGINNING OF THE CIVIIi WAR IN THE YEAR 1642. Page Chap. I. . • From the death of queen Elizabeth to the death of arclibishop Bancroft, a. d. 1603—1610 . . . .389 Chap, II. . . From the death of archbishop Bancroft to the death of king James I. a. d. 1610—1625 450 Chap. III. . From the death of king James I. to the dissolution of the third parliament of king Charles I. in the year 1628 . 493 Chap. IV. . From the dissolution of the third parliament of king Charles I. to the death of archbishop Abbot, a. d. 1628 — 1633 529 Chap. V. . From the death of archbishop Abbot to the beginning of the commotions in Scotland, in the year 1637 . . . 557 Chap. V'I. . From the beginning of the commotions in Scotland, to the long parliament, in the year 1640 • . . 604 HISTORY OF THE PURITANS. CHAPTER 1. REIGN OF HENRY VIII. King William the Conqueror, having got possession of the crown of England, by the assistance of the see of Rome ; and king John, having afterwards sold it, in his wars with the barons ; the rights and privileges of the English clergy were delivered up into the hands of the pope, who taxed them at his pleasure, and in process of time drained the kingdom of immense treasures ; for, besides all his other dues, arising from annates, first-fruits, Peter-pence, &.c. he extorted large suras of money from the clergy for their prefer- ments in the church. He advanced foreigners to the richest bishopricks, who never resided in their diocesses, nor so much as set foot upon English ground, but sent for all their profits to a foreign country; nay, so covetous was his holiness, that before livings became void, he sold them provisionally among his Italians, insomuch, that neither the king nor the clergy had any thing to dispose of, but every thing was bargained for beforehand at Rome. This awakened the resentments of the legislature, who in the twenty-fifth year of Edward III. passed an act, called the statute of provisors, to establish, "that the king, and other lords, shall present unto benefices of their own, or their ancestors' foundation, and not the bishop of Rome." This act enacted, " that all forestalling of benefices to foreigners shall cease; and that the free elections, presentments, and collations, of benefices, shall stand in right of the crown, or of any of his majesty's subjects, as they had formerly enjoyed them, notwithstanding any provisions from Rome." But still the power of the court of Rome ran very high, for they brought all the trials of titles to advowsons into their own courts beyond sea; and though by the seventh of Richard II. the power of nomination to benefices, without the king's licence, was taken from them, they still claimed the benefit of confirmations, VOL. I . B 1 2 HISTORY OF of translations of bishops, and of excommunications ; the arch- bishops of Canterbury and York might still, by virtue of bulls from Rome, assemble the clergy of their several provinces, at what time and place they thought fit, without leave obtained from the crown ; and all the canons and constitutions concluded upon in those synods were binding, without any further ratification from the king ; so that the power of the church was independent of the civil government. This being represented to the parlia- ment of the sixteenth of Richard II. they passed the statute com- monly called p7^ce7nu?iire, by which it was enacted, " that if any did purchase translations to benefices, processes, sentences of excom- munication, bulls, or any other instruments from the court of Rome, against the king or his crown ; or whoever brought them into England, or did receive or execute them, they were declared to be out of the king's protection, and should forfeit their goods and chattels to the king, and should be attached i|by their bodies, if they may be found, and brought before the king and council, to answer to the cases aforesaid ; or that process should be made against them, hy j)ra2muni7'e facias, in manner as it is ordained in other statutes of provisors ; and other which do sue in any other court in derogation of the regality of the king*." From this time the archbishops called no more convocations by their sole authority, but by licence from the king ; their synods being formed by writ or precept from the crown, directed to the archbishops, to assem- ble their clergy, in order to consult upon such affairs as his majesty should lay before them. But still their canons were binding, though confirmed by no authority but their own, till the act of submission of the clergy took place. About this time flourished the famous John Wickliffe, the morning-star of the Reformation. He was born at Wickliffe, near Richmond, in Yorkshire-]-, about the year 1324, and was educated in Queen's college, Oxford, where he was divinity professor, and afterward parson of Lutterworth in Leicestershire. He flourished in the latter end of thereign of KingEdward theHL and thebegin- ing of Richard II. about one hundred and thirty years before the Reformation of Luther. The imiversity gave this testimonial of him after his death, "that from his youth to the time of his death, his conversation was so praiseworthy, that there was never any spot or suspicion noised of him; that in his reading and preaching he behaved like a stout and vaUant champion of the faith ; and that he had written in logic, philosophy, divinity, morality, and the speculative arts, without an equal." While he was divinity- professor at Oxford, he published certain conclusions — against transubstantiation, and against the infallibility of the pope ; that the church of Rome was not the head of all other churches ; nor had St. Peter the power of the keys, any more than the rest of * Fuller's Church History, book 4.. p. 145 — 148. t See the very valuable Life of Wickliffe, published by the Rev. Mr. Lewis of Margate, which begins thus : " John de Wicklilfe was born, very probably, about THE PURITANS. 3 the apostles ; that the New Testament, or Gospel, is a perfect rule of life and manners, and ought to be read by the people.* — He maintained, further, most of those points by which the Puritans were afterward distinguished ; as, that in the sacrament of orders there ought to be but two degrees, presbyters, or bishops, and deacons: that all human traditions are superfluous and sinful; that we must practise, and teach only, the laws of Christ ; that mystical and significant ceremonies in religious worship are unlawful ; and that to restrain men to a prescribed form of prayer, is contrary to the liberty granted them by God. These, with some other of Wickliffe's doctrines, against the temporal grandeur of the prelates and their usurped authority, were sent to Rome and condemned by pope Gregory XI. in a consistory of twenty-three cardinals, in the year 1378. But the pope dying soon after put a stop to the process. Urban, his successor, writ to young king Richard 11. and to the archbishop of Canterbury and the university of Oxford, to put a stop to the progress of Wickliffism ; accordingly, Wick- liffe was cited before the archbishop of Canterbury, and his breth- ren the prelates, several times, but was always dismissed, either by the interest of the citizens of London, or the powerful interposition of some great lords at court, or some other uncommon providence, which terrified the bishops from passing a peremptory sentence against him for a considerable time ; but at length his new doctrines, as they were called, were condemned, in a convocation of bishops, doctors, and bachelors, held at London by the commandment of the archbishop of Canterbury 1312, and he was deprived of his professorship, his books and writings were ordered to be burned, and himself to be imprisoned, but he kept out of the way, and in the year I'A'Ii, in the parish of Wicklift'e, near Richmond in Yorkshire, and was first admitted commoner of Queen's college, Oxford, then newly founded by Robert Egglesfield, S. T. B. but was soon after removed to JNIerton-college, where he was first probationer and afterward fellow. He was advanced to the professor's chair 1372. It appears by this ingenious writer, as well as by the Catalogus Testium, that Wicklift'e was for ' rejecting all human rites, and new shadows or traditions in religion : — and with regard to the identity of the order of bishops and priests in the apostolic age,' he is very positive. Unum audacter assero, — one thing I boldly assert, that in the primitive church, or in the time of the apostle Paul, two orders of clergy were thought sufficient, viz. priest and deacon ; and I do also say, that in the time of Paul, /w?^ idem presbyter atque episcopus, a priest and a bishop were one and the same : for in those times the distinct'orders of pope, cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, archdeacons, officials, and deans, were not invented." Mr. Neal's review of the first volume of the History of the Puritans, subjoined to the quarto edition of this history, vol. 1. p. 890. Ed. To Mr. Neal's account of Wickliffe's sentiments, it may be added, that he ad- vanced some tenets which not only symbolize with, but directly led to, the peculiar opinions of those who, called Baptists, have in subsequent ages formed a large body of dissenters, viz. " that wise men leave that as impertinent, which is not plainly expressed in Scripture ; that those are fools and presumptuous which affirm such infants not to be saved which die without baptism ; that baptism doth not confer, but only signify grace, which was given before. lie also denied, that all sins are abolished in baptism ; and asserted, that children may be saved without baptism ; and that the bai)tism of water profiteth not, without the baptism of the Spirit." Fuller's Church History, b. 4. p. l.'iO. Trialogus, lib. 4. cap. 1. Ed. * Fox's Martyrol. Pierce's Vindicat. p. 4, 5. B 2 4 HISTORY OF the time of his retirement writ a confession of his faith to the pope, in which he declares liimself willing to maintain his opinions at Rome, if God had not otherwise visited him with sickness, and other infirmities: but it was well for this good man that there were two antipopes at this time at war with each other, one at Rome, and the other at Avignon. In England also there was a minority, which was favourable to Wickliff'e, insomuch that he ventured out of his retirement, and returned to his parish at Lut- terworth, where he quietly departed this life in the year 1384. This WicklifFe was a wonderful man for the times in which he lived, M'hich were overspread with the thickest daikness of anti- christian idolatry ; he was the first that translated the New Tes- tament into English ; but the art of printing not being then found out, it hardly escaped the inquisition of the prelates, at least it was very scarce when Tyndal translated it a second time in 15'27. He preached ;md published the very same doctrines for substance that afterward obtained at the Reformation ; he writ near two hundred volumes, all which were called in, condemned, and ordered to be burned, together with his bones, by the council of Constance, in the year 14^5, forty-one years after his death ; but his doctrine remained, and the number of his disciples, who were distinguished by the name of Lollards, increased after his decease, which gave occasion to the making sundry other severe laws against heretics. The clergy made their advantage of the contentions between the houses of York and Lancaster; both parties courting their assistance, which they did not fail to make use of for the support of the Catholic faith, as they called it, and the advancement of their spiritual tyranny over the consciences of men. In the pri- mitive times there were no capital proceedings against heretics, the weapons of the church being only spiritual ; but when it was found that ecclesiastical censures were not sufficient to keep men in a blind subjection to the pope, a decree was obtained in the fourth council of Lateran, A, L). 1^215, " that all heretics should be de- livered over to the civil magistrate to the burned." Here was the spring of that antichristian tyranny and oppression of the con- sciences of men, which has since been attended with a sea of Christian blood : the Papists learned it from the Heathen empe- rors ; and the most zealous Protestants of all nations have taken it up from them. Conscience cannot be convinced by fines and imprisonments, or by fire and faggot ; all attempts of this kind serve only to make men hypocrites, and are deservedly branded with the name of persecution. There was no occasion for putting these sanguinary laws in execution among us till the latter end of the fourteenth century ; but when the Lollards, or followers of WicklifFe, threatened the Papal power, the clergy brought this Italian drug from Rome, and planted it in the church of England. In the fifth year of Richard II. it was enacted, '" that all that preached without licence against the Catholic faith, or against the THE i-LUlTANS. O laws uf the land, should be arrested, and kept in prison, till they justified themselves accordino- to the law and reason of holy church. Their connnitment was to be by writ from the chancellor, who was to issue forth commissions to the sherifi's and other the king''s ministers, after the bishops had returned the names of the delin- quents into the court of Chancery." When Richard II. was deposed, and the crown usurped by Henry IV. in order to gain the good-will of the clergy, it was further enacted, in the second year of his reign, " that if any per- sons were suspected of heresy, the ordinary might detain them in prison till they were canonically purged, or did abjure their errors ; provided always, that the proceedings against them were publicly and judicially ended within three months. If they were convicted, the diocesan, or his commissary, might imprison and fine them at discretion. Those that refused to abjure their errors, or after abjuration relapsed, were to be delivered over to the secular power, and the mayors, sheriffs, or bailiffs, were to be present, if required, when the bishop, or his commissary passed sentence, and after sen- tence they were to receive them, and in some high place burn them to death before the people." By this law the king's subjects were put from under his protection, and left to the mercy of the bishops in their spiritual courts, and might, upon suspicion of heresy, be imprisoned and put to death, without presentment, or trial by a jury, as is the practice in all other criminal cases. In the beginning of the reign of Henry V. who was a martial prince, a new law passed against the Lollards or Wickliffites.* " that they should forfeit all the lands they had in fee-simple, and all their goods and chattels to the king. All state-ofliceiS, at their entrance into office, were sworn to vise their best endeavours to dis- cover them ; and to assist the ordinaries in |)rosecuting and con- victing them." I find no mention in any of these acts, of a writ or warrant from the king, de luiretico conihurcndo ; the sheriff might proceed to the burning of heretics without it ; but it seems the king's learned council advised him to issue out a writ of this kind to the sheriff, by which his majesty took them, in some sort, under * It marks the profaneness, as well as cruelty of the act, here quoted by Mr. Neal, that it was not directed merely against the avowed followers of Wickliffe as such, but against the perusal of the Scriptures in English : for it enacted, " that whatsoever they were that should read the Scriptures in the mother-tongue (which was then called Wicleiie''s learning), they should forfeit land, catel, lif, and godes, from theyr heyres for ever, and so becondempned for heietykes to God, enemies to the crowne, and most errant traitors to the lande." Emlyn's Complete Collection of State Trials, p. 48. as quoted in Dr. Flemming's Palladium, p. liO. note. So great an alarm did the doctrine of Wickliffe raise, and so high did the fear of its spread rise, that by the statute of 5 Rich. II. and 2 Hen. IV. c. 15. it was enacted, as part of the sherifFs oath, " that he should seek to redress all errors and heresies, commonly called Lollards.'' And it is a striking instance of the perma- nent footing, which error and absurdity, and even iniquity, gain, when once esta- blished bylaw, that this clause was preserved in the oath long after the Reformation, even to the first of Charles I. when Sir Edward Coke, on being appointed sheriff of the county of Buckingham, objected to it ; and ever since it has been left out. The Complete Sheriff", p. 17. Ed. 6 HISTORY OF his protection again ; but it was not as yet necessary by law, nor are there any of them to be found in the rolls, before the reign of king Henry VIII. By virtue of these statutes the clergy, according to the genius of the Popish religion, exercised numberless cruelties upon the people. If any man denied them any degree of respect, or any of those profits they pretended was their due, he was immediately suspected of heresy, imprisoned, and it may be put to death ; of which some hundreds of examples are upon record*. Thus stood the laws with respect to rehgion, when king Henry VIII. second son of king Henry VII. came to the crown ; he was born in the year 1491, and bred a scholar : he understood the purity of the Latin tongue, and was well acquainted with school divinity. No sort of flattery pleased him better than to have his wisdom and learning commended. In the beginning of his I'eign he was a most obedient son of the Papacy, and employed his talents in writine- against Luther in defence of the seven sacraments of the church. This book was magnified by the clergy as the most learned performance of the age ; and upon presenting it to the pope, his holiness conferred upon the king of England and his successors, the glorious title of defender of THE FAITH : it was voted in full consistory, and signed by twenty- seven cardinals, in the year 1521f . At the same time cardinal Wolsey, the king's favourite, exer- cised a sovereign power over the whole clergy and people of England in spiritual matters ; he was made legate in the year 1519, and accepted of a bull from the pope, contrary to the sta- tute oi' 2)rcemwib^e, empowering him to superintend and correct what he thought amiss in both the provinces of Canterbury and York ; and to appoint all officers in the spiritual courts j. The king also granted him a full power of disposing of all ecclesias- tical benefices in the gift of the crown ; with a visitatorial power over monasteries, colleges, and all his clergy, exempt ' or not exempt. By virtue of these vast powers a new court of justice * Thus in the reign of Edward IV. John Keyser was committed to jail, by Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, on the suspicion of heresy, because, having been excom- municated, he said, " that notwithstanding the archbishop or his commissary had excommunicated him, yet before God he was not excommunicated, for his corn yielded as well as his neighbours'." Thus also in the reign of Henry VII. Hilary Warner was arrested on the charge of heresy ; because he said, " that he was not bound to pay tithes to the curate of the parish where he lived." Coke's Institutes, 3 inst. p. 42, quoted in a treatise on heresy as cognizable in the spiritual courts, p. 22, 23. Ed. -f- " The extravagant praises which he received for this performance," observes Dr. Warner, " meeting with so much pride and conceitedness in his natiire, made him from this time impatient of all contradictions on religious subjects, and to set up himself for the standard of truth, by which his people were to regulate their belief." Ecclesiastical History, vol. 2. p. 228. We are surprised in the event, to see this prince, who was now " the pride of Popery, become its scourge." Such are the fluctuations in human characters and affairs, and so unsearchable are the ways of Providence! Ed. X Burnet's Hist. Rcf. vol. 1. p. 8. THE PURITANS. 7 was erected, called the Lc^-ate's court, the jurisdiction whereof extended to all actions relating to conscience, and numberless rapines and extortions were committed by it under colour of reforming men's manners ; all which his majesty connived at out of zeal to the church. But at length the king being weary of his queen Katharine, after he had lived with her almost twenty years, or being troubled in conscience because he had married his brother's wife, and the legitimacy of his daughter had been called in question by some foreign pi'inces, he first separated from her bed, and then moved the pope for a divorce ; but the court of Rome having held his majesty in suspense for two or three years for fear of offending the emperor the queen's nephew, the impatient king, by the advice of Dr. Cranmer, appealed to the principal universities of Europe, and desired their opinions upon these two questions, 1. " Whether it was agreeable to the law of God for a man to marry his brother's wife? 2. " Whether the pope could dispense with the law of God ?"" All the universities, and most of the learned men of Europe, both Lutherans and Papists, except those at Rome, declared for the negative of the two questions. The king laid their determi- nations before the parliament and convocation, who agreed with the foreign universities. In the convocation of English clergy, two hundred and fifty-three were for the divorce, and but nine- teen against it. Sundry learned books were written for and against the lawfulness of the marriage ; one party being encou- raged by the king, and the other by the pope and emperor. The pope cited the king to Rome, but his majesty ordered the earl of Wiltshire to protest against the citation as contrary to the pre- rogative of his crown ; and sent a letter signed by the cardinal, the archbishop of Canterbury, four bishops, two dukes, two mar- quisses, thirteen earls, two viscounts, twenty-three barons, twenty- two abbots, and eleven commoners, exhorting his holiness to confirm the judgment of the learned men, and of the universities of Europe, by annulling his marriage, or else he should be obliged to take other measures. The pope in his answer, after having acknowledged his majesty's favours, told him that the queen's appeal and avocation of the cause to Rome must be granted. The king seeing himself abused, and that the aft'air of his marriage, which had been already determined by the most learned men in Europe, and had been argued before the legates Campegio and Wolsey, must commence again, began to suspect Wolsey's sin- cerity ; upon which his majesty sent for the seals from him, and soon after commanded his attorney-general to put in an informa- tion against him in the King's Rench, because that, notwith- standing the statute of Richard II. against procuring bulls from Rome under the pains of a prcEtnunirc^ he had received bulls for his legatine power, which for many years he had executed. The cardinal pleaded ignorance of the statute, and submitted to the 8 HIS'fOKY OF king's mercy ; upon which he was declared to be out of the king's protection, to have forfeited his goods and chattels, and that his person might be seized. The haughty cardinal, not knowing how to bear his disgrace, soon after fell sick and died, declaring that if he had served God as well as he had done his prince, he would not have given him over in his gray hairs. But the king, not satisfied with his resentments against the cardinal, 'resolved to be revenged on the pope himself, and accord- ingly, Sept. 19, a week before the cardinal's death, he published a proclamation forbidding all persons to purchase any thing from Rome under the severest penalties ; and resolved to annex the ecclesiastical supremacy to his own crown for the future. It was easy to foresee that the clergy would startle at the king"'s assuming to himself the pope's supremacy ; but his majesty had them at his mercy, for they having acknowledged cardinal Wolsey's legatine power, and submitted to his jurisdiction, his majesty caused an indictment to be preferred against them in Westminster- hall, and obtained judgment upon thestatute of prcEmunirc, whereby the whole body of the clergy were declared to be out of the king's protection, and to have forfeited all their goods and chattels. In this condition they were glad to submit upon the best terms they could get, but the king would not pardon them but upon these two conditions, (1.) That the two provinces of Canterbury and York should pay into the Exchequer 118,840/. a vast sum of money in those times. (2.) That they should yield his majesty the title of sole and supreme head of the church of England, next and immediately under Christ. The former they readily com- plied with, and promised for the future never to assemble in convocation but by the king's writ ; nor to make or execute any canons or constitutions without his majesty's licence : but to acknowledge a layman to be supreme head of an ecclesiastical body, was such an absurdity, in their opinion, and so inconsistent with their allegiance to the pope, that they could not yield to it without an additional clause, as far as is agreeable to the laws of Christ. The king accepted it with the clause for the present, but a year or two after obtained the confirmation of it in parlia- ment and convocation without the clause. The substance of the act of supremacy* is as follows : " Albeit the king's majesty justly and rightfully is, and ought to be, supreme head of the church of England, and is so recognised by the clergy of this realm in their convocations ; yet nevertheless, for confirmation and corroboration thereof, and for increase of virtue in Christ's rehgion, within this realm of England, &c. be it enacted by the authority of this present parliament, that the king, our sovereign lord, his heirs and successors, kings of this realm, shall be taken, accepted, and reputed, the only supreme head on earth of the church of England; and shall have and * 26 Henry VIII. cap. I. TFIE PURITAKS. 9 enjoy, annexed and united to the imperial crown of this reahn, as well the title and style thereof, as all honours, dignities, immuni- ties, profits, and commodities, to the said dignity of supreme head of the said church belonging and appertaining ; and that our sovereign lord, his heirs and successors kings of this realm, shall have full power and authority to visit, repress, redress, reform, order, correct, restrain, and amend, all such errors, heresies, abuses, contempts, and enormities, whatsoever they be, which by any manner of spii'itual authority or jurisdiction, ought or may be lawfully reformed, repressed, ordered, redressed, corrected, re- strained, or amended, most to the pleasure of Almighty God, and increase of virtue in Christ's religion, and for the conversation of peace, unity, and tranquillity, of this realm ; any usage, custom, foreign law, foreign authority^ prescription, or any thing or things to the contrary notwithstanding." Here was the rise of the Reformation. The whole power of reforming heresies and errors in doctrine and worship was trans- ferred from the pope to the king, without any regard to the rights of synods or councils of the clergy; and without a reserve of liberty to such consciences as could not comply with the public standard. This was undoubtedly a change for the better, but is far from being consonant to Scripture or reason. The parliament had already forbid all appeals to the court of Rome, in causes testamentary, matrimonial, and in all disputes concerning divorces, tithes, obligations, &c. under penalty of a prcEinunire * ; and were now voting away annates and first-fruits ; and providing, " that in case the pope denied his bulls for electing or consecrating bishops, it should be done without them by the archbishop of the province ; that an archbishop might be conse- crated by any two bishops whom the king should appoint : and being so consecrated should enjoy all the rights of his see, any law or custom to the contrary notwithstanding." All which acts passed both houses without any considerable opposition. — Thus, while the pope stood trifling about a contested marriage, the king and parliament took away all his profits, revenues, and authority, in the church of England. His majesty having now waited six years for a determination of his marriage from the court of Rome, and being now himself head of the church of England, commanded Dr. Cranmer, lately conse- crated archbishop of Canterbury, to call a court of canonists and divines, and proceed to judgment. Accordingly his grace sum- moned queen Katharine to appear at Dunstable, near the place where she resided, in person or by proxy on the 20th of May, 1533, but her majesty rel'used to appear, adhering to her appeal to the court of Rome; upon which the archbishop, by advice of the court, declared iier contumax, and on the 23rd of tiie same month pronounced the king's marriage with her null and void, as being * '24 Hen. VIII. cap 12. 10 HISTORY OF contrary to the laws of God. Soon after which his majesty mar- ried Anne Bullen, and procured an act of parliament for setthng the crown upon the heirs of her body, which all his subjects were obliged to swear to. There was a remarkable appearance of Divine Providence in this affair; for the French king had prevailed with the king of England, to I'efer his cause once more to the court of Rome, upon assurances given, that the pope should decide it in his majesty's favour within a limited time ; the pope consented, and fixed a time for the return of the king's answer, but the courier not arriv- ing upon the very day, the Imperialists, who dreaded an alliance between the pope and the king of England, persuaded his holiness to give sentence against him, and accordingly, March 23rd, the marriage was declared good, and the king was required to take his M^ife again, otherwise the censures of the church were to be denounced against him *. Two days after this the courier arrived from England with the king's submission under his hand in due form, but it was then too late, it being hardly decent for the infal- lible chair to revoke its decrees in so short a time. Such was the crisis of the Reformation ! The pope having decided against the king, his majesty de- termined to take away all his profits and authority over the church of England at once: accordingly a bill was brought into the parliament then sitting, and passed without any protestation, by which it is enacted, " that all payments made to the apostolic chamber, and all provisions, bulls, or dispensations, should from thenceforth cease ; and that all dispensations or licences, for things not contrary to the law of God, should be granted within the kingdom, under the seals of the two archbishops in their several provinces. The pope was to have no further concern in the nomination or confirmation of bishops, which were appointed to be chosen by confje cVelire from the crown, as at present. Peter-pence and all procurations from Rome, were abolished. Moreover, all religious houses, exempt or not exempt, were to be subject to the archbishops' visitation, except some monasteries and abbeys which were to be subject to the king f." Most of the bishops voted against this bill, but all but one set their hands to it after it was passed according to the custom of those times. Thus the church of England became independent of the pope, and all foreign jurisdiction. Complaints being daily made of the severe proceedings of the ecclesiastical courts against heretics, the parhament took this matter into consideration, and repealed the act of the second of Henry IV. above mentioned, but left the statutes of Richard II. and Henry V. in full force, with this qualification, that heretics should be proceeded against upon presentments by two wit- nesses at least ; that they should be brought to answer in open « Burnet's Hist. Ref. vol. 1. p. 13.5. t 25 Henry VIII. cap. 20, 21. THE PURITANS. 11 court; and if they were found guilty, and would not abjure, or were relapsed, they should be adjudged to death, the king's writ de hceretico comhurendo being first obtained*. By this act the ecclesiastical courts were limited ; heretics being now to be tried according to the forms of law, as in other cases. Towards the latter end of this session the clergy, assembled in convocation, sent up their submission to the king to be passed in parliament, which was done accordingly : the contents were, " that the clergy acknowledged all convocations ought to be assembled by the king's writ ; and promised in verho sacerdotii, that they would never make nor execute any new canons or con- stitutions without the royal assent ; and since many canons had been received that were found prejudicial to the king's prerogative, contrary to the laws of the land, and heavy to the subjects, that therefore there should be a committee of thirty-two persons, sixteen of the two houses of parliament, and as many of the clergy, to be named by the king, who should have full power to revise the old canons, and to abrogate, confirm, or alter, them as they found expedient, the king's assent being obtained." This submission was confirmed by parliament ; and by the same act all appeals to Rome were again condemned. If any parties found themselves aggrieved in the archbishops' courts, an appeal might be made to the king in the court of Chancery, and the lord-chancellor was to grant a commission under the great seal for a hearing before delegates, whose determination should be final. All exempted abbots were also to appeal to the king ; and the act concluded with a proviso, " that till such correction of the canons was made, all those which were then received should remain in force, except such as were contrary to the laws and customs of the realm, or were to the damage or hurt of the king's prerogative." Upon the proviso of this act all the proceedings of the commons and odier spiritual courts are founded ; for the canons not being corrected to this day, the old ones are in force with the exceptions above mentioned ; and this proviso is probably the reason why the canons were not corrected in the following reigns, for now it lies in the breast of the judges to declare what canons are contrary to the laws or rights of the crown, which is more for the king's prerogative, than to make a collection of ecclesiastical laws which should be fixed and immoveable. Before the parliament broke up they gave the annates or first-fruits of benefices, and the yearly revenue of the tenth part of all livings, which had been taken from the pope last year, to the king. This displeased the clergy, who were in hopes of being freed from that burden ; but they were mistaken, for by the thirty-second of Henry VIII. cap. 4o, a court of record is * 25 Henry Vlir. cap. 14. 32 HISTORY OF ordered to be erected, called the court of the first-fruits and tenths, for the levying and government of the said first-fruits for ever. The session being ended, commissioners were sent over the kingdom, to administer the oath of succession to all his majesty's subjects, according to a late act of parliament, by which it ap- pears that, besides renewing their allegiance to the king, and acknowledging him to be the head of the church, they declared upon oath ' the lawfulness of his marriage with queen Anne, and that they would be true to the issue begotten in it. That the bishop of Rome had no more power than any other bishop in his own diocess; that they would submit to all the king's laws, not- withstanding the pope"'s censures ; that in their prayers they would pray first for the king as supreme head of the church of England ; then for the queen [Anne], then for the archbishop of Canterbury, and the other ranks of the clergy.' Only Fisher bishop of Rochester, and sir Thomas More lord-chancellor, refused to take the oath, for which they afterward lost their lives. The separation of the church of England from Rome con- tributed something towards the reformation of its doctrines, though the body of the inferior clergy were as stiff for their old opinions as ever, being countenanced and supported by the duke of Norfolk, by the lord-chancellor More, by Gardiner bishop of Winchester, and Fisher of Rochester ; but some of the nobility and bishops were for a further reformation : among these were the new queen, lord Cromwell afterward earl of Essex, Dr. Cranmer archbishop of Canterbury, Shaxton bishop of Salisbury, and Latimer of Worcester. As these were more or less in favour with the king, the reformation of religion went forwards or backwards throughout the whole course of his reign. The progress of the Reformation in Germany, by the preach- ing of Luther, Melancthon, and others, with the number of books that were published in those parts, some of which were translated into English, revived learning, and raised people's curiosities to look into the state of rehgion here at home. One of the first books that was published, was the translation of the New Testament by Tyndal, printed at Antwerp 1527. The next was the Supplication of the Beggars, by Simon Frith of Gray's-Inn, 1529. It was levelled againsr the begging friars, and complains that the common poor were ready to starve, because the alms of the people were intercepted by great com- panies of lusty idle friars who were able to work, and were a burden to the commonwealth. More and Fisher ansv/ered the book, endeavouring to move the people"'s passions, by repre- senting the supplications of the souls in purgatory which were relieved by the masses of these friars. But the strength of their arguments lay in the sword of the magistrate, which was now in their hands ; for while these gentlemen were in power the clergy THE PUKtTANS. 13 made sad havoc among those people who were seeking after Christian knowledge : some were cited into the bishops' courts for teaching their children the Lord's prayer in English ; some for reading forbidden books ; some for speaking against the * vices of the clergy ; some for not coming to confession and the sacrament ; and some for not observing the church-fasts ; most of whom, through fear of death, did penance and were dismissed ; but several of the clergy refusing to abjure, or after abjuration falling into a relapse, suffered death. Among these were the Rev. Mr. Hitton, curate of Maidstone, burnt in Smithflcld 1530; the Rev. Mr. Bilney, burnt at Norwich 1531; Mr. By field, a monk of St. Edmondsbury ; James Bainham, knt. of tlie Temple ; besides two men and a woman at York. In the year 1533, Mr. John Frith*, an excellent scholar of the university of Cambridge, was burnt in Smithfield, with one Hewet, a poor apprentice, for denying the corporal presence of Christ in the sacrament ; but upon the rupture between the king and the pope, and the repeal of the act of king Henry IV. against heretics, the wings of the clergy were clipped, and a stop put to their cruelties for a time. None were more averse to the Reformation than the monks and friars: these spoke openly against the king's proceedings, exciting the people to rebellion, and endeavouring to embroil his affairs with foreign princes; the king therefore resolved to hum- ble them, and for this purpose appointed a general visitation of the monasteries, the management of which was committed to the lord Cromwell, with the title of visitor-general, who appointed other commissioners under him, and gave them injunctions and articles of inquiry. —Upon this several abbots and priors, to prevent a scrutiny into their conduct, voluntarily surrendered their houses into the king's hands ; others, upon examination, appeared guilty of the gi-eatest frauds and impositions on the simplicity of the people : many of their pretended relics were exposed and destroyed, as the Virgin Mary's milk, shewed in eight places ; the coals that roasted St. Lawi'ence ; and an angel with one wing that brought over the head of the spear that pierced our Saviour's side ; the rood of grace, which was so contrived, that the eyes and lips might move upon occasion ; with many others. The images of a great many pretended saints were taken down and burnt, and all the rich offerings made at their shrines were seized for the crown, which brought an immense treasure into the Exchequer. Upon the report of the visitors the parliament consented to the suppressing of the lesser monasteries under 200/. a year • Mr. Frith wrote a tract, published witli his other works, Loudon, 1573 entitled " A Declaration of Baptism." Sir James Bainham seems, froni his examination before the bishoj) of London Dec. 15, 1.531, to have been an opposer of infant baptism. Criifthj/'s Hint, of the English Baptists, vol. 1. p .31. 14 HISTORY OF value, and gave them to the king to the number of three hun- dred and seventy-six. Their rents amounted to about 32,000/. per annum: their plate, jewels, and furniture, to about 100,000/.* The churches and cloisters were for the most part pulled down, and the lead, and bells, and other materials, sold. A new court, called the court of Augmentations of the king's Revenue-|-, was erected, to receive the rents, and to dispose of the lands, and bring the profits into the Exchequer. Every religious person that was turned out of his cell had 45^. given him in money, of which number there were about ten thousand ; and every go- vernor had a pension. But to ease the government of this charge, the monks and friars were put into benefices as fast as they became vacant ; by which means it came to pass, that the body of the inferior clergy were disguised Papists and enemies to the Reformation. The lesser religious houses being dissolved, the rest followed in a few years: for in the years 1537 and 1539, the greater abbeys and monasteries were broken up, or surrendered to the crown, to prevent an inquiry into their lives and manners. This raised a great clamour among the people, the monks and friars going up and down the country like beggars, clamouring at the injustice of the suppression. The king, to quiet them, gave back fifteen abbeys and sixteen nunneries for perpetual alms ; but several of the abbots being convicted of plots and conspiracies against liis government, his majesty resumed his grants after two years ; and obtained an act of parliament, whereby he was em- powered to erect sundry new cathedral churches and bishopricks, and to endow them out of the profits of the religious houses. The king intended, says bishop Burnet, to convert 18,000/. a year into a revenue for eighteen bishopricks and cathedrals ; but of them he only erected six, viz. the bishopricks of Westminster, Chester, Peterborough, Oxford, Gloucester, and Bristol. This was the chief of what his majesty did for religion ; which was but a small return of the immense sums that fell into his hands : for the clear rents of all the suppressed houses were cast up at 131,607/. 6s. 4:d. per annum, as they were then rated; but were at least ten times as much in value. Most of the abbey-lands were given away among the courtiers, or sold at easy rates to the gentry, to engage them by interest against the resumption of them to the church. In the year 1545, the parliament gave the king the chantries, colleges, free chapels, hospitals, fraternities, and guilds, with their manors and estates. Seventy manors and parks were alienated from the archbishoprick of York, and twelve from Canterbury, and confirmed to the crown. How easily might this king, with his immense revenues, have put an end to the being of parliaments ! The translation of the New Testament by Tyndal, already * Burnefs Hist. Ref. vol. 1, p. 223. f 27 Henry VIII. cap. 27, 28. THE PUttlTANS. 15 mentioned, had a wonderful spread among the people ; though the bishops condemned it, and proceeded with the utmost se- verity against those that read it. They complained of it to the king; upon which his majesty called it in by proclamation in tlie month of June, 1530, and promised that a more correct trans- lation should be published: but it was impossible to stop the curiosity of the people so long ; for though the bishops bought up and burnt all they could meet with, the Testament was reprinted abroad, and sent over to merchants at London, who dispersed the copies privately among their acquaintance and f I iends. At length it was moved in convocation, that the whole Bible should be ti'anslated into English, and set up in churches; but most of the old clergy were against it. They said, this would lay the foundation of innumerable heresies, as it had done in Germany; and that the people were not proper judges of the sense of Scripture : to which it was replied, that the Scriptures were written at first in the vulgar tongue ; that our Saviour commanded his hearers to search the Scriptures; and that it was necessary people should do so now, that they might be satisfied that the alterations the king had made in religion were not contrary to the word of God. — These arguments prevailed with the majority to consent that a petition should be presented to the king, that his majesty would please to give order about it. But the old bishops were too much disinclined to move in it. The reformers therefore were forced to have recourse to Mr. Tyndal's Bible, which had been printed at Hamburgh 1532, and reprinted three or four years after by Grafton and Whit- church. The translators were Tyndal, assisted by Miles Co- verdale, and Mr. John Rogers the protomartyr : the Apocrypha was done by Rogers, and some marginal notes were inserted to the whole, which gave offence, and occasioned that Bible to be prohibited. But archbishop Cranmer, having now reviewed and corrected it, left out the prologue and notes, and added a preface of his own ; and because Tyndal was now put to death for a heretic, his name was laid aside, and it was called Thomas Matthew's Bible, and by some Cranmer's Bible ; though it was no more than Tyndal's translation corrected*. This Bible was allowed by authority, and eagerly read by all sorts of people. The fall of queen Anne Bullen, mother of queen Elizabeth, was a great prejudice to the Reformation. She was a virtuous and pious lady, but airy and indiscreet in her behaviour : the Popish party hated her for her religion ; and having awakened the king's jealousy, put him upon a nice observance of her car- riage, by which she quickly fell under his majesty's displeasure, who ordered her to be sent to the Tower May 1. On the 15th of the same month she was tried by her peers for incontinence, * Strype's Life of Cranmer, p. 59, 82. 16 lirSTORY OF for a precontract of marriage, and for conspiring the king's death ; and though there was little or no evidence, the lords found her guilty for fear of offending the king; and four days after she was beheaded within the Tower, protesting her inno- cence to the last. — Soon after her execution the king called a parliament, to set aside the succession of the lady Elizabeth her daughter, which was done, and the king was empowered to no- minate his successor by his last will and testament ; so that both his majesty's daughters were now declared illegitimate : but the king having power to settle the succession as he pleased, in case of failure of male heirs, they were still in hopes, and quietly submitted to their father's pleasure. Complaint being sent to court of the diversity of doctrines deli- vered in pulpits, the king sent a circular letter to all the bishops, July 12 [1536], forbidding all preaching till Michaelmas; by which time certain articles of religion, most catholic, should be set forth. The king himself framed the articles, and sent them into convocation, where they were agreed to by both houses. An abstract of them will show the state of the Reformation at this time. 1. " All preachers were to instruct the people to believe the whole Bible, and the three creeds, viz. the Apostles', the Nicene, and Athanasian, and to interpret all things according to them. 2. " That baptism was a sacrament instituted by Christ ; that it was necessary to salvation ; that infants were to be baptized for the pardon of original sin; and that the opinions of the Anabap- tists and Pelagians were detestable heresies : [And that those of ripe age, who desired baptism, must join with it repentance and contrition for their sins, with a firm belief of the articles of the faith.] 3. " That penance, that is, contrition, confession, and amend- ment of life, with works of charity, was necessary to salvation ; to which must be added, faith in the mercy of God, that he will ju- tify and pardon us, not for the worthiness of any merit or work done by us, but for the only merits of the blood and passion of Jesus Christ ; nevertheless, that a confession to a priest was neces- sary if it might be had; and that the absolution of a priest was the same as if it were spoken by God himself, according to our. Saviour's words. That auricular confession was of use for the comfort of men's consciences. And though we are justified only by the satisfaction of Christ, yet the people were to be instructed in the necessity of good works. 4. " That in the sacrament of the altar, under the form of bread and wine, there was, truly and substantially, the same body of Christ that was born of the Virgin. 5. " That justification signified the remission of sins, and a per- fect renovation of nature in Christ. 6. " Concerning images — that the use of them was warranted in Scripture; that they served to stir up devotion; and that it THM 1 UUITAXS. 17 was meet tliey should stand in cliurches: but the people were to he tauo-ht, that in kneeling or worshipping before them, they were not to do it to the image, but to God. 7. " Concerning honouring of saints, they were to be instructed not to expect those favours from them which are to be obtained only from God, but they were to honour them, to praise God for them, and to imitate their virtues. 8. " For praying to saints — That it was good to pray to them to pray for us and with us. 9. " Of ceremonies. The people were to be taught, that they were good and lawful, having mysiical significations in them ; such were the vestments in the worship of God, sprinkling holy water to put us in mind of our baptism and the blood of Christ ; giving holy bread, in sign of our union to Christ ; bearing candles on Candlemas-day, in remembranceof Christ the spirituallight; giving ashes on Ash-Wednesday, to put us in mind of penance and our mortaliiy ; bearing palms on Palm-Sunday, to shew our desire to receive Christ into our hearts as he entered into Jerusalem ; creep- ing to the cross on Good-Fridav, and kissing it, in memory of his death ; with the setting up of the sepulchre on that day, the hal- lowing the font, and other exorcisms and benedictions. liastly, " As to purgatory, they were to declare it good and charitable to pray for souls departed; but since the place they were in, and the pains they suffered, were uncertain by Scripture, they ought to remit them to God's mercy. Therefore, all abuses of this doctrine were to be put away, and the people disengaged from bel'eving that the pope's pardons or masses said in certain places, or before certain images, could deliver souls out of pur- gatory." These articles were signed by the Archbishop of Canterbur3', seventeen bishops, forty abbots and priors, and fifty archdeacons and proctors of the lower house of convocation : they were pub- lished by the king's authority, with a preface in his name requiring all his subjects to accept them, which would encourage him to take further pains for the honour of God and the welfare of his people. One sees here the dawn of the Reformation ; the Scriptures and the ancient creeds are made the standards of faith without the tra- dition of the church or decrees of the pope; the doctrine of justi- fication by faith is well stated ; four of the seven sacraments are passed over, and purgatory is left doubtful. But transubstantia- tion, auricular confession, the worshipping of images and saints, still remained. The court of Rome were not idle spectators of these proceedings ; they threatened the king, and spirited up the clergy to rebellion; and when all hopes of accommodation were at an end, the pope pronounced sentence of excommunication against the whole king- dom, depriving his majesty of his crown and dignity, forbidding liis subjects to obey him, and all foreign princes to correspoiul with him ; all his leagues with them were dissolved, and his own c 18 HISTORY OF clergy were commanded to depart the kingdom, and his nobility to rise in arms against him. The king, laying hold of this oppor- tunity, called a parliament, and obtained an act, requirino; all his subjects, under the pains of treason, to swear that the king was supreme head of the church of England ; and to strike terror into the Popish party, three priors and a monk of the Carthusian order, were executed as traitors, for refusing the oath, and for saying, that the king was not supreme head under Christ of the church of England ; but the two greatest sacrifices were, John Fisher bishop of Rochester, and Sir Thomas More late lord-chancellor of Eng- land, who were both beheaded last year within a fortnight of each other. This quieted the people for a time, but soon after there was an insurrection in Lincolnshire of twenty thousand men, headed by a churchman and directed by a monk ; but upon a pro- clamation of pardon they dispersed themselves : the same year there was another more formidable in the North, but after some time the rebels were defeated by the duke of Norfolk, and the heads of them executed, among whom were divers abbots and priests. These commotions incensed the king against the religious houses, as nurseries of sedition, and made him resolve to suppress them alL In the mean time his majesty went on boldly against the church of Rome, and published several injunctions by his own authority, to regulate the behaviour of the clergy. — This was the first act of pure supremacy done by the king ; for in all that went before he had the concurrence of the convocation. The injunctions were to this purpose. 1. " That the clergy should twice every quarter publish to the people, that the bishop of Rome's usurped power had no founda- tion in Scripture, but that the king's supremacy was according to the laws of God. 2, 3. " They were to publish the late ai'ticles of faith set forth by the king ; and likewise the king's proclamation for the abroga- tion of certain holidays in harvest-time. 4. " They were to dissuade the people from making pilgrimages to saints, and to exhort them to stay at home and mind their fami- lies, and keep God's commandments. 5. " They were to exhort them to teach their children the Lord's prayer, the Creed, and ten commandments, in English *. 6. " They were to take care that the sacraments were reverently administered in their parishes. 7. " That the clergy do not frequent taverns and ale-houses, nor sit long at games, but give themselves to the study of the Scriptures and a good life. 8. Every beneficed person of 20/. a year that did not reside, was to pay the fortieth part of his benefice to the poor. * " And every incumbent was to explain these, one article a day, until the peo- ple were instructed in them." Maddox's Vindic. p. 299 Ed. Tin: I'DiiiTAXs. 19 i). "Every incumbent of 100/. a year to maintain one scholar at the imiverbity ; and so many hundreds a year so many scholars. 10. " The fifth part of the profits of livinojs to be given to tlie repair of the vicarage-house if it be in decay." Thus the very same opinions, for which the followers of Wick- liff'e and Luther had been burnt a few years before, were enjoined by the king's anthority. This year a very remarkable book was printed by Batchelor, the king's printer, cum jvi viler/ to, caWed The institutionof a Chris- tian Man. Jt was called the Bishop's Book, because it was com- posed by sundry bishops, as Cranmer archbishop of Canterbury, Stokely of London, Gardiner of Winchester, Sampson of Chiches- ter, Repps of Norwich, Goodrick of Ely, Latimer of Worcester, Shaxton of Salisbury, Fox of Hereford, Barlow of St, David's, and some other divines. It is divided into several chapters, and con- tains an explanation of the Lord's prayer, the Creed, the seven sa- craments, the ten commandments, the Ave Maria, justification, and purgatory. " The book maintains the local descent of Christ into liell, and that all articles of faith are to be interpreted according to Scripture, and the four first general councils. It defends the seven sacraments, and under the sacrament of the altar affirms, that the body of Christ that suffered on the cross is substantially present under the form of bread and wine. It maintains but two orders of the clergy, and avers, that no one bishop has authority over another according to the word of God. The invocation of saints is restrained to intercession, forasmuch as they have it not in their own power to bestow any blessings upon us. It maintains, that no church should be consecrated to any being but God. It gives liberty to work on saints' days, especially in harvest-time. It maintains the doctrine of passive obedience. In the article of jus- tification it says, we are justified only by the merits and satisfaction of Christ, and that no good works on oar part can procure the divine favour or prevail for our justification *." This book was recommended and subscribed by the two arch- bishops, nineteen bishops, and by the lower house of convocation, among whom were Gardiner, Bonner, and others, who put their brethren to death for these doctrines in the reign of queen Mary ; but the reason of their present compliance might be, because all their hopes from the succession of the princess Mary were now defeated, queen Jane being brought to bed of a son October 12th, 1738, who was baptized Edward, and succeeded his father. The translation of the Bible already meritioned, was this year printed and published. Cromwell procured the king's warrant for all his majesty's subjects to read it without control ; and, by his injunctions, commanded one to be set up j)ublicly in all the churches in England, that the people might read it. His majesty further enjoined the clergv, to preach thenecessity of faith and repentance, * Strype's Mem. of Cranmer, p. 51. c 2 20 HISTORY OF and against trusting in pilgrimages and other men's works ; to order such images as had been abused to superstition to be taken down ; and to tell the people, tiiat praying to them was no less than idolatry ; but still, transubstantiation, the seven sacraments, the communion in one kind only, purgatory, auricular confession, praying for the dead, the celibacy of the clergy, sprinkling of holy water, invocation of saints, some images in churches, with most of the superstitious rights and ceremonies of the Popish church, were retained. Here his majesty made a stand ; for after this the Keformation fluctuated, and upon the whole went rather backwards than for- wards; which was owing to several causes, as, (1.) To the un- happy death of the queen in childbed, who had possession of the king's heart, and was a promoter of the Reformation. (2.) To the king's disagreement with the Protestant princes of Germany, who would not put him at the head of their league, because he Avould not abandon the doctrine of transubstantiation, and permit the communion in both kinds. (3.) To the king's displeasure against the archbishop, and the other bishops of the new learning, because he could not prevail with them to give consent in par- liament, that the king should appropriate all the suppressed monas- teries to his own use. (4.) To his majesty's unhappy marriage with the lady Anne of Cleves, a Protestant ; which was promoted by the reformers, and proved the ruin of the lord Cromwell, who was at that time the bulwark of the Reformation. (5.) To the artifice and abject submission of Gardiner, Bonner, and other Popish bishops, who by flattering the king*'s imperious temper, and complying with his dictates, prejudiced him against the re- formed. And, lastly, To his majesty's growing infirmities, which made him so peevish and positive, that it was dangerous to advise to any thing that was not known to be agreeable to his sovereign will and pleasure. The king began to discover his zeal against the Sacramentaries [and Anabaptists*] (as those were called who denied the corporal presence of Christ in the eucharist), by prohibiting the importing of all foreign books, or printing any portions of Scripture till they had been examined by himself and council, or by the bishop of the diocess ; by punishing all that denied the old rites, and by for- bidding all to argue against the real presence of Christ in the * la the articles of religiou set forth in 1536, the sect of Anabaptists is men- tioned and condemned. Fourteen Hollanders, accused of holding their opinions, were put to death in 1535, and ten saved themselves by recantation. In 1428, there were in the diocess of Norwich one hundred and twenty, who held that infants were sufficiently baptized, if their parents were baptized before them ; that •Christian people be sufficiently baptized in the blood of Christ, and need no water; and that the sacrament of baptism used in the church by water is but a light mat- ter, and of small effect. Three of these persons were burnt alive. Long before this it was a charge laid against the Lollards that they held these opinions, and would not baptize their new-born children. See Fox, as quoted by Crosby, vol. 1. p. 24, 40, 41._Er. THE PURITANS. 21 sacrament on pain of death. For breaking this last order, he condemned to the flames this very year that faithful witness to the truth, John Lambert, who had been minister of the English con- gregation at Antwerp, and afterward taught school in London ; but hearing Dr. Taylor preach concerning the real presence, he offered him a paper of reasons against it : Taylor carried the paper to Cranmer, who was then a I^utheran, and endeavoured to make him retract; but Lambert unhappily iippealed to tiie king, who after a kind of mock trial in Westmmster-hall, in presence of the bishops, nobility, and judges, passed sentence of death upon him, condemning him to be burnt as an incorrigible heretic. Cranmer was appointed to dispute against him, and Cromwell to read the sentence. He was soon after executed in Smithfield in a most barbarous manner ; his last words in the flames were, None but Christ, None but Christ ! The |3arliament that met next spring disserved the Reformation, and brought religion back to the standard in which it continued to the king's death, by the act [31 Hen. VIII. cap. 14.] commonly known by the name of the bloody statute, or the statute of the six articles ; it was entitled, An act for abolishing Diversity of Opinions in certain Articles concerning Christian Religion. The six articles were these* : 1. " That in the sacrament of the altar, after the consecration, there remains no substance of bread and wine, but under these forms the natural body and blood of Christ is present. 2. " That communion in both kinds is not necesr.ary to salvation to all persons by the law of God, but that both the flesh and blood of Christ are together in each of the kinds. 3. " That priests may not marry by the law of God. 4. <' That vows of chastity ought to be observed by the law of God. 5. " That private masses ought to be continued, which as it is agreeable to God's law, so men receive great benefit by them. 6. " That auricular confession is expedient and necessary, and ought to be retained in the church." It was further enacted, that if any did speak, preach, or write, against the first article, they should be judged heretics, and be burnt without any abjuration, and forfeit their real and personal estate to the king. Those who preached, or obstinately disputed, against the other articles, were to suffer death as felons, without benefitof clergy ; and those who either in word or writing, declared against them, were to be prisoners during the king's pleasure, and to forfeit their goods and chattels for the first offence, and for the second to suffer death. All ecclesiastical incumbents were to read this act in their churches once a quarter. As soon as the six articles took place, Shaxton bishop of Salis- bury, and Latimer of Worcester, resigned their bishopricks, and * Cranmer alone had the courage to oppose the passing these articles. — W. 22 iiisTOUY or being presented for speaking against the act, they were imprisoned, Latimer continued a prisoner to the king's death, but Shaxton, being threatened with the fire, turned apostate, and proved a cruel persecutor of the Protestants in Queen Mary's reign. Commis- sions were issued out to the archbishops, bishops, and their com- missaries, to hold a sessions quarterly, or oftener, and to proceed upon presentments by a jury according to law; which they did most severely, insomuch that in a very little time five hundred persons were put in prison, and involved in the guilt of the statute ; butCranmer and Cromwell obtained their pardon, which mortified the Popish clergy to such a degree, that they proceeded no further till Cromwell fell. Another very remarkable act of parliament, passed this session, was, concerning obedience to the king's proclamations. It enacts, that the king, with advice of his^jiouncil, may set forth proclama- tions with pains and penalties, which shall be obeyed as fully as an act of parliament, provided they be not contrary to the laws and customs in being, and do not extend so far, as that the sub- ject should suffer in estate, liberty, or person. An act of attainder was also passed against sixteen persons, some for denying the su- premacy, and others without any particular crime mentioned ; none of them were brought to a trial, nor is there any mention in the records of any witnesses examined*. There never had been an example of such arbitrary proceedings before in England ; yet this precedent was followed by several others in the course of this reign. By another statute it was enacted, that the counsellors of the king's successor, if he were under age, might set forth pi-ocla- mations in his name, which were to be obeyed in the same manner with those set forth by the king himself. I mention this, because upon this act was founded the validity of all the changes of reli- gion in the minority of Edward VI. + Next year [1540] happened the fall of lord Cromwell, one of the great pillars of the Reformation. He had been lately con- stituted the king's vicegerent in ecclesiastical affairs, and made a speech in parliament April 12th, under that character. On the 14th of April the king created him earl of Essex, and knight of the garter; but within two months he was arrested at the council- table for high treason, and sent to the Tower, and on the 28th of July was beheaded by virtue of a bill of attainder, without being- brought to a trial, or once allowed to speak for himself. He was accused of executing certain orders and directions, for which he had very probably the king's warrant, and therefore was not ad- * Burners Hist. Ref, vol. 1. p. 26'A. f In this year sixteen men, and fifteen women, were banished for opposing infant baptism : they went to Delft, in Holland, and were there prosecuted and put to death, as Anabaptists ; the men being beheaded, and the women drowned. Among other injunctions issued out in IS.'?!), was one against those who embraced the opinions, or possessed books containing the opinions, of Sacramentarians and Anabaj'tists. Crosby, b. 1. )i. 12 Ed. THE PUIUTANS, 23 mitted to make answer. But the true cause of his fall* was the share he had in the king's marriage with the Lady Anne of Cleves, whom his majesty took an aversion to as soon as he saw her, and was therefore determined to shew his resentments against the pro- moters of it ; but his majesty soon after lamented the loss of his honest and faithful servant when it was too late. Two days after the death of Cromwell there was a very odd execution of Protestants and Papists at the same lime and place. The Protestants were Dr. Barnes, Mr. Gerrard, and Mr. Jerome, all clergymen and Lutherans; they were sent to the Tower for offensive sermons preached at the Spittle in the Easter week, and were attainted of heresy by the parliament without being brought to a hearing. Four Papists, viz. Gregory Buttolph, Adam Damp- lin, Edmund Brindholme, and Clement Philpot, were by the same act attainted for denying the king's supremacy, and adhering to the bishop of Rome. The Protestants were burnt, and the Papists hanged : the former cleared themselves of heresy by rehearsing the articles of their faith at the stake, and died with great devotion and piety ; and the latter, though grieved to be drawn in the same hurdle with them they accounted heretics, declared their hearty forgiveness of all their enemies. About this time [1543] was published a very remarkable treatise, called A Necessary Erudition for a Christian Man. It was drawn up by a committee of bishops and divines, and was afterward read and approved by the lords spiritual and temporal, and the lower house of pailiament. A great part of it was cor- rected by the king's own hand, and the whole was published by his order, with a preface in the name of king Henry VIII. de- dicated to all his faithful subjects. It was called the King's * Dr. Maddox remarks on this statement of the cause of Cromwell's fall, that it is expressly contradicted by bishop Burnet, who, speaking of the king's creating him earl of Essex, upon his marriage with Anne of Cleves, adds, " This shews that the true causes of Cromwell's fall must be founded in some other thing than his making up the king's marriage, who had never thus raised his title if he had intend- ed so soon to pull him down." Hist. Ref. vol. 1. p. 275. In reply to this, Mr. Neal says, " Let the reader judge : his (i. e. bishop Burnet's) words are these ; ' An unfortunate marriage, to which he advised the king, not prov- ing acceptable, and he being unwilling to destroy what himself had brought about, was the occasion of his disgrace and destruction.' Vol. 3. p. 172. If his lordship has contradicted this in any other place (which I apprehend he has not), he must answer for it himself. It may be observed, that these two passages stand in a very voluminous work, at a great distance from one another, so that the apparent inconsistency might escape the bishop's notice ; while his remark in the first can have little force, when applied to the conduct of a prince so capricious and fluctuating in his attachments as was Henry VIII. and who soon grew disgusted with his queen. It is with no propriety that Mr. Neal's accuracy and fidelity are, in this instance, impeached : it justifies his representation, that nearly the same is given by Fuller in his Church History, b. 5. p. 231.—" Match-makers (says he) betwixt private persons seldom find great love for their pains ; betwixt princes, often fall into danger, as here it proved in the lord Cromwell, the grand contriver of the king's marriage with Anne of Cleves." The cause of Cromwell's disgrace is more fully and judiciously investigated by Dr. Warner, in his Ecclesiastical History, vol. 2. p. V.)7, l'.)8 — Ed. 24 IllSTOKY OF Book, and was designed for a standard of Christian belief". The reader therefore •will judge by the abstract below, of the sen- timents of our first Reformers in sundry points of doctrine and discipline-f- : which then constituted the established doctrine of the church of England: for by the statute of fJ2 Hen. VIII. cap. 28. it is enacted, "that all decrees and ordinances which shall be made and ordained by the archbishops, bishops, and doctors, and shall be published with the king's advice and con- firmation, by bis letters patent, in and upon the matters of Christian faith, and lawful rights and ceremonies, shall be in every point thereof beheved, obeyed, and performed, to all intents and purposes, upon the pains therein comprised; pro- vided nothing be ordained contrary to the laws of the realm," * Burnet's Hist. Ref. vol. 1. p. 286. t It begins with a description of Faith, " of which (says the book) there are two acceptations. (1.) It is sometimes taken for ' a belief or persuasion wrought by God in men's hearts, whereby they assent and take for true all the words and sayings of God revealed in Scripture.' This faith, if it proceeds no further, is but a dead faith. (2.) Faith is sometimes considered in conjunction with hope and charity, and so it signifies ' a sure confidence and hope to obtain whatsoever God has promised for Christ's sake, and is accompanied with a hearty love to God, and obedience to his commands.' This is a lively and effectual faith, and is the perfect faith of a Christian. It is by this faith that we are justified, as it is joined with hope and charity, and includes an obedience to the whole doctrine and religion of Christ. But whether there be any special particular knowledge, whereby men may be certain and assured that they are among the predestinate, which shall to the end persevere in their calling, we cannot find either in the Scriptures or doctors ; the promises of God being conditional, so that though his promise stands, we may fail of the blessing for want of fulnUing our obligation." After the chapter of Faith follows an excellent paraphrase on the twelve articles of the Creed, the Lord's prayer, the Ave Maria, or the salutation of the angel to the blessed Virgin, and the ten commandments ; and here, the second com- mandment is shortened, the words ' for I the Lord thy God,' &c. being left out, and only those that go before set down. Images are said to be profitable to stir up the mind to emulation, though we may not give them godly honour ; nevertheless censing and kneeling before them is allowed. Invocation of saints as intercessors is declared lawful ; and the fourth commandment only ceremonial and obliging t'le Jews. Then follows an article of Free-will, which is described, " ' A certain power of the will joined with reason, whereby a reasonable creature, without constraint in tilings of reason, discerneth and willeth good and evil ; but it willeth not that that is acceptable to God unless it be holpen with grace, but that which is ill it willeth of itself.' Our wills were perfect in the state of innocence, but are much impaired by the fall of Adam ; the high powers of reason and freedom of will being wounded and corrvipted, and all men thereby brought into such blindness and infirmity that they cannot avoid sin except they are made free by special grace, that is, by the supernatural working of the Holy Ghost. The light of reason is unable to conceive the things that appertain to eternal life, though there remains a sufficient freedom of will in things pertaining to the present life. ' Without me (says the Scripture) you can do nothing ; ' therefore when men feel, that notwithstanding their diligence they are not able to do that which they desire, they ought with a steadfast faith and devotion to ask of him, who gave the beginning, that he would vouchsafe to perform it. But preachers are to take care so to moderate themselves, that they neither so preach the grace of God as to take away free-will, and make God the author of sin ; nor so extol free-will as to injure the grace of God." In the article of Justification it asserts, " that all the posterity of Adam are born in original sin, and are hereby guilty of everlasting death and damnation, but that God sent his own Son, being naturally God, to take our nature and re- THE PUUITAXS. 2.5 How near the book above mentioned comes to the qualifications of this statute, is obvious to the reader. It is no less evident, that by the same act the king was in a manner invested with the infaihbihty of the pope, and had the consciences and faith of his people at his absolute disposal. deem us ; which he could not have done but by virtue of the union of his two natures." It then speaks of a twofold justification : the first is upon our be- lieving, and is obtained by repentance, and a lively faith in the passion and merit? of our blessed Saviour, and joining therewith a full purpose to amend our lives for the future. The second, or final justification at death, or the last judgment, implies further, the exercise of all Christian graces, and a following the motions of the Spirit of God in doing good works, which will be considered and recom- pensed in the day of judgment. When the Scripture speaks of justification by faith without mentioning any other grace, it must not be understood of a naked faith, but of a lively operative faith, as before described, and refers to our first. justification ; thus we are justified by free grace : and, whatever share good works may have in our final justification, they canndt derogate from the grace of God, because all our good works come of the free mercy and grace cf God, and are done by his assistance ; so that all boasting is excluded." This leads to the article of Good Works, " which are said to be absolutely necessary to salvation ; but they are not outward corporal works, but inward spiritual works; as the love and fear of God, patience, humility, &c. Nor are tliey superstitious works of men's invention ; nor only moral works done by the power of reason, and the natural will of man, without faith in Christ ; which, though they are good in kind, do not merit everlasting life ; but such outward and inward good works as are done by faith in Christ, out of love to God, and in obedience to his commands : and which cannot be performed by man's power without divine assistance. Now these are of two sorts: (1.) Such as are done by persons already justified ; and these, though imperfect, are accepted for Christ's sake, and are meritorious towards the attaining everlasting life. (2.) Other works are of an inferior sort, as fasting, alms-deeds, and other fruits of penance, which are of no avail without faith. But after all, justification and remission of sins is the free gift of the grace of God ; and it does not derogate from that grace to ascribe the dignity to good works above mentioned, because all our good works come of the grace of God.'' The chapter of Prayer for Souls Departed, leaves the matter in suspense : " It is good and charitable to do it ; but because it is not known what condition de- parted souls are in, we ought only to recommend them to the mercy of God.'' In the chapter of the Sacraments, "all the seven sacraments are maintained, and in particular the corporal presence of Christ in the eucharist." In the sacrament of Orders the book maintains no real distinction between bishops and ])riests ; it says, that " St. Paul consecrated and ordered bishops by imposition of hands ; but that there is no certain rule prescribed in Scripture for the nomination, election, or presentation, of them; this is left to the positive laws of every country. That the office of the said ministers is to preach the word, to minister the sacraments, to bind and loose, to excommunicate those that will not be reformed, and to pray for the universal church ; but that they may not execute their office without licence from the civil magistrate. The sacraments do not receive efficacy or strength from the ministration of the priest or bishop, but from God ; the said ministers being only officers, to administer with their hands those corporal things by which God gives grace, agreeable to St. Ambrose, who writes thus : ' The priest lays his hands upon us, but it is God that gives grace ; the i)riest lays on us his beseeching hands, but God blesseth us with his mighty hand." Concerning the order of Deacons, the book says : " Their office in the primitive church was partly to minister meat and drink, and other necessaries, to the poor, and partly to minister to the bishops and priests. — Then follows this remarkable passage : ' Of these two orders only, that is to say, priests and deacons, Scripture maketh express mention, and how they were conferred of the apostles by ))rayer and imposition of hands ; Viut tiie primitive church afterward appointed inferior degrees, as sub-deacons, acolytes, exorcists, t\c. but lest paradvcnture it might be thought 20 HISTORY OF By this abstract of the Erudition of a Christian Man*, it appears further, that our reformers built pretty much upon the plan of St. Austin, with relation to the doctrines of justification and grace. The sacraments and ceremonies are so contrived, as to be consistent with the six articles established by parliament. But with regard to discipline, Cranmer and his brethren were for being directed wholly by the civil magistrate ; which has since been distinguished by the hame of Erastianism. Accordingly they took out commissions to hold their biahopricks during the king's pleasure, and to exercise their jurisdiction by his authority only. But notwithstanding this reformation of doctrine, the old Popish forms of worship were continued till this year [1544], Avhen a faint attempt was made to reform them. A form of procession was published in English, by the king's authority, entitled. An Exhortation to Prayer, thought meet by His Majesty and his Clergy, to be I'ead to the People ; also a Litany, with Suffrages to be said or sung in the Time of the Processions. In the litany they invocate the blessed Virgin, the angels, arch- by some, that such authorities, powers, and jurisdictions, as patriarchs, primates, archbishops, and metropolitans, now have, or heretofore at any time liave had, justly and lawfully over other bishops, were given them by God in Holy Scripture, we think it expedient and necessary, that all men should be advertised and taught, that all such lawful power and authority of any one bishop over another, were and be given them by the consent, ordinances, and positive laws, of men only, and not by any ordinance of God in Holy Scripture ; and all such power and authority which any bishop has used over another, which have not been given him by such consent and ordinance of men, are in very deed no lawful power, but plain usurpation and tyranny." To the view which Mr. Neal has given of the doctrinal sentiments, contained in this piece, which was also called the bishop's book, it is proper to add the idea it gave of the duty of subjects to their prince. Its commentary on the fifth commandment runs thus : " Subjects be bound not to withdraw their fealty, truth, love, and obedience, towards their prince, for any cause whatsoever it be." In the exposition of the sixth commandment, the same principles of passive obe- dience and nonresistance are inculcated, and it is asserted, " that God hath assigned no judges over princes in this world, but will have the judgment of them re.served to himself." — Ed. Though the Institution of a Christian Man is now disused, the same sentiments, connected with the idea of the jure divino of kings, still run through the homilies, the articles, the canons, and the rubric, of the church of England, and have been again and again sanctioned by the resolutions and orders of our convocations. Bisliop Blake, on his death-bed, solemnly professed " that the religion of the church of England had taught him the doctrine of nonresistance, and passive obe- dience, and that he took it to be the distinguishing character of that church.'' — High-Church Politicks, p. 75, 89, and the note in the last page. — Ed. It is not easy to say, what sincere or complete alliance there can be between the church and state, when the dogmas of the former are in such glaring repug- nancy to the constitution of the latter ; when the former educates slaves, the latter freemen ; when the former sanctions the tyranny of kings, the latter is founded in the rights of the people. In this respect, surely, the church needs a reform. — Ed. * Dr. Warner observes, on this performance, that there were so many absur- dities of the old religion still retained, so much metaphysical jargon about the merit of good works, about the essential parts and consequences of faith, .about free-will and grace ; that this book, instead of promoting the Reformation, visibly put it back. Eccles. History, vol 2. p. 205. Till-; PUllITAKS. 2 I angels, anil ail holy orders of blessed spirits ; all holy patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, virgins, and all the bles- sed company of heaven, to pray for them. The rest of the litany is in a manner the very same as now in use, only a few more collects were placed at the end, with some psalms, and a para- phrase on the Lord's prayer. The preface is an exhortation to the duty of prayer, and says, that it is convenient, and very ac- ceptable to God, to use private prayer in our mother-tongue, that by understanding what we ask*, we may more earnestly and fervently desire the same. The hand of Cranmer was no doubt in this performance, but it was little regarded, though a mandate was sent to Bonner bishop of London to publish it-}-. But Cranmer''5 power was now very much weakened ; he strove against the stream, and could accomplish nothing further, except a small mitigation of the rigorous prosecution of the six articles: for by the thirty-fifth of Henry VIIL cap. 5. it is enacted, " that persons shall not be convicted upon this statute, but by the oaths of twelve men ; that the prosecution shall be u'ithin a year ; and that if any one preaches against the six articles, he shall be informed against within forty days." This rendered the prosecution more difficult ; and yet after all several were burnt at this time, for denying the doctrine of transubstan- tiation, as Mrs. Anne Askew, Mr. Belenian, Adams, Lascels, and others. The books of Tyndal, Frith, Joy, Barnes, and other Protestants, were ordered to be burnt; and the importation of all foreign books relating to religion was forbid, without special li- cence from the king. Upon the whole, the Reformation went very much backward the three or four last years of the king's life, as appears by the statute of 3o Henry VIIL cap. 1. which leads the people back into the darkest parts of Popery. It says, " that recourse must be had to the Catholic and apostolic church for the decision of controversies ; and therefore all books of the Old and New Tes- tament in English, being of Tyndal's false translation, or com- prising any matter of Christian religion, articles of faith, or Holy Scripture, contrary to the doctrine set forth by the king [in the six articles] 1540, or to be set forth by the king, shall be abo- lished. No person shall sing or rhyme contrary to the said doctrine. No person shall retain any English books or writings against the holy and blessed sacrament of the altar, or other books abolished by the king's proclamation. There shall be no annotations or preambles in Bibles or New Testaments in En- glish. The nible shall not be read in Engli.sh in any church. No women, or artificers, apprentices, journeymen, serving-men, husbandmen, or labourers, shall read the New Testament in En- glish. Nothing shall be taught or maintained contrary to the * Burnet's Hist. Ref. vol. 1. p. MM, and the Records, b. ■'}. No. 28. t Burnet's Hist. Ilef. vol. ;{. p. 1(11. 28 HISTORY OF king's instructions. If any spiritual person shall be convicted of preaching or maintaining any thing contrary to the king's in- structions already made, or hereafter to be made, he shall for the first offence recant, for the second bear a fagot, and for the third be burnt. Here is Popery and spiritual slavery in its full extent. In- deed the pope is discharged of his jurisdiction and authority ; but a like authority is vested in the king. His majesty's in- structions are as binding as the pope''s canons, and upon as severe penalties. He is absolute lord of the consciences of his subjects. No bishop or spiritual person may preach any doctrine but what he approves; nor do any act of government in the church but by his special commission. This seems to have been given his majesty by the act of supremacy, and is further confirmed by one of the last statutes of his reign, [37 Hen. VIII. cap. 17.] which declares, that " archbishops, bishops, archdeacons, and other ecclesiastical persons, have no manner of jurisdiction ecclesiastical, but by, under, and from, his royal majesty ; and that his majesty is the only supreme head of the church of England and Ireland ; to whom, by Holy Scripture, all authority and power is wholly given to hear and determine all manner of causes ecclesiastical, and to correct all manner of heresies, errors, vices, and sins, whatsoever ; and to all such persons as his majesty shall appoint thereunto." This was carrying the regal power to the utmost length. Here is no reserve of privilege for convocations, councils, or colleges of bishops; the king may ask their advice, or call them in to his aid and assistance, but his majesty has not only a negative voice upon their proceedings, but may himself, by his letters yjatent, publish injunctions in matters of religion, for correcting all errors in doctrine and worship. — His proclamations have the force of a law, and all his subjects are obliged to believe, obey, and profess, according to them, under the highest penalties. Thus matters stood when this great and absolute monarch died of an ulcer in his leg, being so corpulent, that he was forced to be let up and down stairs with an engine. The humour in his leg made him so peevish, that scarce anybody durst speak to him of the affairs of his kingdom or of another life. He signed his will Dec. 30, 1546, and died Jan. 28th following, in the thirty-eighth year of his reign, and the fifty-sixth of his age. He ought to be ranked (says bishop Burnet) among the ill princes, but not among the worst. THE I'UniTAXS. ijy CHAPTER II. REIGN OF KING EDWARD VI. The sole right and authority of reforming the church of England were now vested in the crown ; and by the act of succession, in the king*'s council, if he were under age. This was preferable to a foreign jurisdiction; but it can hardly be proved, that either the king or his council have a right to judge for the whole nation, and impose upon the people what rehgion they think best, with- out their consent. The reformation of the church of England was begun and carried on by the king, assisted by archbishop Cranmer and a few select divines. The clergy in convocation did not move in it but as they were directed and overawed by their superiors ; nor did they consent till they were modelled to the designs of the court. Our learned historian bishop Burnet* endeavours to justify this conduct, by putting the following question, " What must be done when the major part of a church is, according to the con- science of the supreme civil magistrate, in an error, and the lesser part is in the right?" In answer to this question, his lordship observes, that " there is no promise in Scripture that the majority of pastors shall be in the right ; on the contrary it is certain, that truth, separate from interest, has few votaries. Now, as it is not reasonable that the smaller part should depart from their senti- ments, because opposed by the majority, whose interest led them to oppose the Reformation, therefore they might take sanctuary in the authority of the prince and the law." But is there any promise in Scripture that the king or prince shall be always in the right? or, is it reasonable that the majority should depart from their sentiments in religion, because the prince with the minority are of another mind? If we ask, what authority Christian princes have to bind the consciences of their subjects, by penal laws, to worship God nfter their manner, his lordship answers. This was practised in the Jewish state. But it ought to be remembered, that the Jewish state was a theocracy ; that God liimself was their king, and their chief magistrates only his vice- gerents or deputies ; that the laws of Moses were the laws of God ; and the penalties annexed to them as much of divine appointment as the laws themselves. It is therefore absurd to make the special commission of the Jewish magistrates a model for the rights of Christian princes. But his lordship adds, " It is the first law in Justinian's code, made by the emperor Theodosius, that all should everywhere, under severe pains, follow that faith that * Hist. Ref. vol. 2. in preface. 30 HISTORY or was received by Damasius bishop of Rome, and Peter of Alexan- dria. And wliy might not the king and laws of England give the hke authority to the archbishops of Canterbury and York ?" 1 answer, Because Theodosius's law was an unreasonable usurpa- tion upon the right of conscience. If the apostle Paul, v>^ho was an inspired person, had not dominion over the faith of the churches, how came the Roman emperor, or other Christian princes, by such a jurisdiction, which has no foundation in the law of nature or in the New Testament ? His loidship goes on, " It is not to be imagined how any changes in rehgion can be made by sovereign princes, unless an authority be lodged with them of giving the sanction of a law to the sounder, though the lesser part of a church ; for as princes and lawgivers are not tied to an impHcit obedience to clergymen, but are left to the freedom of their own discerning, so they must have a power to choose what side to be of, where things are much inquired into." And why have not the clergy and the common people the same power? Why must they be tied to an implicit faith in their princes and lawgivers? Is there any promise in the word of God, that princes and lawgivers shall be infallible, and always judge right which is the sounder, though the lesser part of a church ? " If (as his loi-dship adds) the major part of synods cannot be supposed to be in matters of faith so assisted from heaven, that the lesser part must necessarily acquiesce in their decrees; or that the civil powers must always make laws accord- ing to their votes, especially when interest does visibly turn the scale;" how can the prince or civil magistrate depend upon such assistance ? Can we be sure that interest or prejudice will never turn the scale with him ; or that he has a better acquaintance with the truths of the gospel than his clergy or people? It is highly reasonable that the prince should choose for himself what side he will be of, when things are much inquired into; but then let the clergy and people have the same liberty, and neither the major nor minor part impose upon the other, as long as they entertain no principles inconsistent with the safety of the govern- ment.— " When the Christian belief had not the support of law, every bishop taught his own flock the best he could, and gave his neighbours such an account of his faith, at or soon after his con- secration, as satisfied them ; and so (says his lordshij)) they main- tained the unity of the church." — And why might it not be so still ? Is not this better, upon all accounts, than to force people to profes? what they cannot believe, or to propcigate religion with the sword, as was too nuich the case with our reformers? If the penal laws had been taken away, and the points in controversy between Protestants and Papists had been left to a free and open debate while the civil magistrate had stood by, and only kept the peace, the Reformation would certainly have taken place in due time, and proceeded in a much more unexceptionable manner than it did. THE PURITANS. 31 To return to the history. King Edward VI. came to the crown at the age of nine years and four months ; a prince, for learning and piety, for acquaintance with the world, and application to business, the very wonder of his age. His father, by liis last will and testament, named sixteen persons executors of his will, and regents of the kingdom, till his son should be eighteen 3'ears of age : out of these the earl of Hertford, the king's uncle, was chosen protector of the king's realms, and governor of his person. Besides these, twelve were added as a privy council, to be assist- ing to them. Among the regents some were for the old religion, and others for the new ; but it soon appeared that the reformers • had the ascendant, the young king having been educated in their principles by his tutor Dr. Cox, and the new protector his uncle being on the same side. The majority of the bishops and inferior clergy were on the side of Popery, but the government was in the hands of the reformers, who began immediately to relax the rigours of the late reign *. The persecution upon the six articles * was stopped ; the prison-doors were set open ; and several who had been forced to quit the kingdom for their religion returned home, as. Miles Coverdale, afterward bishop of Exeter ; John Hooper, afterward bishop of Gloucester; John Rogers, the pro- tomartyr ; and many others, who were preferred to considerable benefices in the church. The reforming divines, being delivered from their too awful subjection to the late king, began to open against the abuses of Popery. Dr. Ridley and others preached vehemently against images in churches, and inflamed the people, so that in many places they outran the law, and pulled them down without authority. Some preached against the lawfulness of soul-masses and obits; though the late king, by his last will and testament, had left a large sum of money to have them continued at Windsor, where he was buried, and for a frequent distribution of alms for the repose of his soul, and its deliverance out of pur- gatory ; but this charity was soon after converted to other uses. The Popish clergy were alarmed at these things, and insisted strongly, that till the king their supreme head was of age, religion should continue in the state in which king Henry left it. But the reformers averred, that the king's authority was the same while he was a minor, as when he was of age ; and that they had heard the late king declare his resolution to turn the nmss into a com- munion if he had lived a little longer, upon which they thought it their duty to proceed. After the solemnity of tlie king's coronation, the regents ap- * The heads of the two parties were th^se : For the Reforinatioii — King Ed- ward, duke of Somerset, protector ; Dr. Craiimer, archbishop of Canterbury ; Dr. Holgate, archbishop of York ; sir W. Paget, secretary of state ; lord viscount Lisle, lord-admiral; Dr. Holbeach, bishop of Lincoln; Dr. Goodrick, bishop of Ely; Dr. Latimer, bisho]) of Worcester ; Dr. Ridley, elect of Rochester. For the old religion — Princess Mary ; Wriothesley, earl of Southampton, lord-chancellor ; Dr. Tonstal, bishop of Durham ; Dr. Gardiner, bishop of Winchester ; Dr. Bonner, bishop of London. 32 HISTORY OF pointed a I'oyal visitation, and commanded the clergy to preach nowhere but in their parish churches without licence, till the visitation was over. The kingdom was divided into six circuits ; two gentlemen, a civilian, a divine, and a registrer, being ap- pointed for each. The divines were by their preaching to instruct the people in the doctrines of the Reformation, and to bring them oft' from their old superstitions. The visitation began in the month of August ; six of the gravest divines, and most popu- lar preachers, attended it : their names were, Dr. Ridley, Dr. Madew, Mr. Briggs, Cottisford, Joseph, and Farrar. A book of homilies * or sermons, upon the chief points of the Christian faith -|-, drawn up chiefly by archbishop Cranmer, was printed, and ordered to be left with every parish priest, to supply the de- fect of preaching, which few of the clergy at that time were capable of performing. Cranmer communicated it to Gardiner, and would fain have gained his approbation of it ; but he was so inflamed at being left out of the king's will, that he constantly opposed all innovation till the king should be of age. With these homilies the visitors were to deliver sundry injunc- tions from the king, to the number of thirty-six j. * Burnet's Hist. Ref. vol. 2. p. 27. f The book consisted of twelve discourses on the following arguments : — 1 . Con- cerning the use of the Scriptures. 2. Of the misery of mankind by sin. 3. Of their salvation by Christ. 4. Of a true and lively faith. 5. Of good works, fi. Of Christian love and charity. 7. Against swearing and perjury. 8. Against apostacy. 9. Against the fear of death. 10. An exhortation to obedience. 11. Against whoredom and adultery. 12. Against strife and contention about mat- ters of religion. These titles of the homilies are taken verbatim from bishop Burnet. — Neal's Review. X The chief were, 1. " That all ecclesiastical persons observe the laws relating to the king's su- premacy. 2. " That they preach once a quarter against pilgrimages and praying to images, and exhort to works of faith and charitj'. 3. " That images abused with pilgrimages and offerings be taken down ; that no wax candles or tapers be burnt before them ; but only two lights upon the high altar before the sacrament shall remain still, to signify that Christ is the light of the world. The limitation in this article giving occasion to great heats among the people, some affirming their images had been so abused, and others not, the council sent orders to see them all taken down. 4. " That when there is no sermon, the Paternoster, the Creed, and ten com- mandments, shall be recited out of the pulpit to the parishioners. .5. " That within three months every church be provided with a Bible ; and within twelve months, with Erasmus's Paraphrase on the New Testament. 9. " That they examine such who come to confession, whether they can recite the Paternoster, Creed, and ten commandments, in English, before they receive the sacrament of the altar, else they ought not to come to God's board. 21. " That in time of high mass the epistle and gospel shall be read in English ; and that one chapter in the New Testament be read at matins, and one in the Old at even song. 23. " No processions shall be used about churches or churchyards ; but imme- diately before high mass the litany shall be said or sung in English ; and all ringing of bells (save one) utterly forborne. 24. " That the holy days at the first beginning godly instituted and ordained, be wholly given to God, in hearing the word of God read and taught ; in private and public prayers, in acknowledging their offences to God, and promising amendment ; THE PUKITANS. 33 The bishops were enjoined to see the articles put in execution, and to preach themselves four times a year, unless they liad a reasonable excuse. They were to give orders to none but such as were able to preach and to recal their licences from others. The injunctions were to be observed under the pains of excommuni- cation, sequestration, or deprivation. In bidding of their prayers they were to remember the king their supreme head, the queen-dowager, the king's two sisters, the lord-protector, and the council ; the nobility, the clergy, and the commons, of this realm. The custom of bidding prayer, which is still in use in the church, is a relic of Popery. Bishop Burnet* has preserved the form, as it was in use before the Reformation, which was this : After the preacher had named and opened his text, he called on the people to go to their prayers, telling them what they were to pray for. " Ye shall pray (says he) for the king, for the pope, for the holy catholic church," &c. After which all the people said their beads in a general silence, and the minister kneeled down likewise and said his : they were to sa^' a Paternoster, Ave Maria, Deus misereatur nostri, Domine salvum fac regem, Gloria Patri, &c, and then the sermon proceeded. How sadly this bidding of prayer has been abused of late, by some divines, to the entire omission of the duty itself, is too well known to need a remark ! Most of the bishops complied with the injunctions, except Bonner of London, and Gardiner of Winchester. Bonner offered a reserve, but that not being accepted, he made an absolute sub- mission ; nevertheless, he was sent for some time to the Fleet for contempt. Gardiner having protested against the injunctions and homilies as contrary to the law of God, was sent also to the Fleet, where he continued till after the parliament was over, and was then released by a general act of grace. The parliament that met November the 9th, made several alteratibns in favour of the Reformation. They repealed all laws that made any thing treason but what was specified in the act of 25 Edward III.; and two of the statutes against LoUardies. They repealed the statute of the six articles, with the acts that followed in explanation of it ; all laws in the late reign, declaring any thing felony that was not so declared before ; together with the act that made the king's proclamation of equal authority with in reconciling themselves to their neighbours, receiving the communion, visiting the sick, &c. Only it shall be lawful in time of harvest to labour upon holy and festival days, in order to save that thing which God hath sent ; and that scrupulosity to abstain from working on those days does grievously offend God. 28. " That they take away all shrines, coverings of shrines, tables, candlestick3, triudills, or rolls of wax, pictures, paintings, and other monuments of feigned mi- racles, so that no memory of them remain in walls or windows ; exhorting the people to do the like in their several houses." The rest of the articles related to the advancement of learning, to the encourage- ment of preaching, and correcting some very gross abuses. * Hist. Ref. vol. 2. p. 30. and Collection of Records, b. 1. No. 8. VOL. I. 1' 34 HISTORY OF an act of parliament. Besides the repeal of these laws, sundry new ones were enacted *, as " that the sacrament of the Lord's supper should be administered in both kinds," agreeably to Christ's first institution, and the practice of the church for five hundred years ; and that all private masses should be put down : an act concerning the admission of bishops into their sees ; which sets forth, that the manner of choosing bishops by a conge (Telire, being but the shadow of an election, all bishops hereafter shall be appointed by the king's letters patent only, and shall continue the exercise of their jurisdiction during their natural life, if they behave well-f*. One of the first patents with this clause is that of Dr. Barlow, bishop of Bath and Wells:[:, bearing date Feb. 3, in the second year of the king's reign ; but all the rest of the bishops afterward took out letters for their bishopricks with the same clause. In this the archbishop had a principal hand ; for it was his judgment, that the exercise of all episcopal jurisdiction depended upon the prince ; and that as he gave it, he might restrain or take it away at his pleasure §. Cranmer thought the exercise of his own episcopal authority ended with the late king's life, and therefore would not act as archbishop till he had a new commission from king Edward j|. In the same statute it is declared, " that since all jurisdiction both spiritual and temporal was derived from the king, therefore all processes in the spiritual court should from henceforward be carried on in the king's name, and be sealed with the king's seal, as in the other courts of common law, except the archbishop of Canterbury's courts, only in all faculties and dispensations ; but all collations, presentations, or letters of orders, were to pass under the bishops' proper seals as formerly." By this law, causes concerning wills and marriages were to be tried in the king's name ; but this was repealed in the next reign. Lastly : The parliament gave the king all the lands for main- tenance of chantries not possessed by his father ; all legacies given for obits, anniversaries, lamps in churches; together with all guild-lands ; which any fraternity enjoyed on the same account ^ : the money was to be converted to the maintenance of grammar-schools ; but the hungry courtiers shared it among themselves. After this the houses were prorogued from the 24th of December to the 20th of April following. The convocation that sat with the parliament did little; the majority being on the side of Popery, the archbishop was afraid of venturing any thing of importance with them ; nor are any of their proceedings upon record ; but Mr. Strype has collected from the notes of a private member, that the lower house agreed to the communion in both kinds ; and that upon a division, about • 1 Edw. VI. cap.l. f ] Edw. VI. cap. 2. I Bui-net's Hist. Ref. vol. 2. p. 218. § Strype's Mem. Cran. p. 141. App. p. 53. II Burnet's Hist. Ref. vol. 2. p. 42. ^ Edw. VI. cap. 14. THE rURlTAXS. 35 the lawfulness of priests' marriages, fifty-three were for tl/e affir- mative, and twenty-two for the negative*. The Reformation in Germany lying imder great discourage- ments by the victorious arms of Charles V. who had this year taken the duke of Saxony ])risoner, and dispossessed him of his electorate, several of the foreign reformers, who had taken sanc- tuary in those parts, were forced to seek it elsewhere. Among these Peter Martyr, a Florentine, was invited by the archbishop, in the king's name, into 'England, and had the divinity-chair given him at Oxford; Bucer had the same at Cambridge; Ochinus and Fagius, two other learned foreigners, had either pensions or canonries with a dispensation of residence, and did good service in the universities; but Fagius soon after died. The common people were very much divided in their opinions about religion ; some being zealous for preserving the Popish » rites, and others no less averse to them. The country people were very tenacious of their old shows, as processions, wakes, carrying of candles on Candlemas-day, and palms on Palm- Sundays, &c., while others looked upon them as Heathenish rites, absolutely inconsistent with the simplicity of the gospel. This was so effectually represented to the council by Cranmer, that a proclamation was published Feb. 6, 1548, forbidding the / continuance of them. And for putting an end to all contests about images that had been abused to superstition, an order was published Feb. 11th, that all images whatsoever should be taken out of churches; and the bishops were commanded to execute it in their several diocessesf. Thus the churches were emptied of all those pictures, and statues, which had for divers ages been the objects of the people''s adoration. The clergy were no less divided than the laity ; the pulpits clashing one against another, and tending to stir up sedition and rebellion : the king therefore, after the example of his father, and by advice of his council, issued out a proclamation, Sept. 3, in the second year of his reign, to prohibit all preaching throughout i all his dominions. The words are these: " The king^s highness, minding shortly to have one uniform order throughout this realm, and to put an end to all controversies in religion, so far as God shall give grace ; doth at this present, and till such time as the said order shall be set forth, inhibit all manner of persons whatsoever, to preach in open audience in the pulpit or otherwise; to the intent, that the whole clergy, in the mean space, may apply themselves in prayer to Almighty God, for the better achieving the same most godly intent and purpose." At the same time a connnittee of divines was appointed to examine and reform the offices of the church \ : these were the archbishops of Canterbury and York ; the bishops of London, * Strype's Life of Cran. p. 156. f Burnet's Hist. Ref. vol. 2. p. (il. fi4. : Burnet's Hist. Ref. vol. 2. p. fil. 64. D 2 36 HISTORY OF Durham, Worcester, Norwich, St. Asaph, Salisbury, Coventry and Lichfield, Carlisle, Bristol, St. David's, Ely, Lincoln, Chichester, Hereford, Westminster, and Rochester ; with the doctors Cox, May, Taylor, Heins, Robertson, and Redmayn. They began with the sacrament of the eucharist, in which they made but little alteration, leaving the office of the mass as it stood, only adding to it so much as changed it into a communion of both kinds. Auricular confession was left indiiferent. The priest having received the sacrament himself, was to turn to the people and read the exhortation : then followed a denunciation, requiring such as had not repented to wididraw, lest the devil should enter into them as he did into Judas. After a little pause, to see if any would withdraw, followed a confession of sins and absolution, the same as now in use ; after which the sacrament was administered in both kinds without elevation. This office was published with a proclamation, declaring his majesty's inten- tions to proceed to a further reformation ; and willing his subjects not to run before his direction, assuring them of his earnest zeal in this affair, and hoping they would quietly tarry for it. In reforming the other offices they examined and compared the Romish missals of Sarum, York, Hereford, Bangor, and Lin- coln ; and out of them composed the morning and evening service, almost in the same form as it stands at present ; only there was no confession, nor absolution. It would have obviated many objections if the committee had thrown aside the mass-book, and composed a uniform service in the language of Scripture, without any regard to the church of Rome ; but this they were not aware of, or the times would not bear it. From the same materials, they compiled a litany, consisting of many short petitions, interrupted by suffrages ; it is the same with that which is now used, except the petition to be delivered from the tyranny of the bishop of Rome, and all his detestable enormities; which, in the review of the liturgy in queen Elizabeth's time, was struck out. In the administration of baptism a cross was to be made on the child's forehead and breast, and the devil was exorcised to go out, and enter no more into him. The child was to be dipped three times in the font, on the right and left side, and on the breast, if not weak. A white vestment was to be put upon It in token of innocence ; and it was to be anointed on the head, with a short prayer for the unction of the Holy Ghost. In order to confirmation, those that came were to be catechised; then the bishop was to sign them with the cross, and lay his hands upon them, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. If sick persons desired to be anointed, the priest might do it upon the forehead and breast, only making the sign of the cross ; with a short prayer for his recovery. In the office of burial^ the soul of the departed person is Tllk PUKITAXS. SiT recommended to the mercy of God ; and the minister is to pray that the sins which he committed in this world may be for^iveii him, and that he may be admitted into heaven, and his body raised at the last day. This was the first sei'vice-book or liturgy of king Edward VI. We have no certain account of the use of any liturgies in the first ages of the church ; those of St. Mark, St. James, and that of Alexandria, being n)anifestly spurious. — It is not till the latter end of the fourth century that they are first mentioned : and then it was left to the care of every bishop to draw up a form of prayer for his own church, — In St. Austin's time they began to consult about an agreement of prayers, that none should be used without common advice : but still there was no uniformity. Nay, in the darkest times of Popery there was a vast variety of forms in different sees, witness the oliices secundum usum Sarum, Bangor, York, &c. But our reformers split upon this rock, sacrificing the peace of the church to a mistaken necessity of an exact uni- formity of doctrine and worship, in which it was impossible for all men to agree. Had they drawn up divers forms, or left a discretionary latitude for tender consciences, as to some particular phrases, all men would have been easy, and the church more firmly united than ever. The like is to be observed as to rites and ceremonies of an in- different nature. Nothing is more certain, than that the church of Rome indulged a variety. Every religious order (says bishop Burnet*) had their peculiar rites, with the saints' days that belonged to their order, and services for them : but our reformers thought proper to insist upon an exact uniformity of habits and ceremonies for all the clergy ; though they knew many of them were exceptionable, having been abused to idolatry ; and were a yoke which some of the most resolved Protestants could not bear. Nay, so great a stress was laid upon the square cap and surplice, that rather than dispense with the use of them to some tender minds, the bishops were content to part with their best friends, and hazard the Reformation into the hands of the Papists. If there must be habits and ceremonies for decency and order, why did they not appoint new ones, rather than retain the old, which had been idolized by the Papists to such a degree as to be thought to have a magical virtue, or a sacramental efficacy ? Or if they meant this, why did they not speak out, and go on with the consecration of them ? The council had it some time under consideration, whether those vestments in which the priests used to officiate should be continued ? It was objected against them, by those who had been confessors for the Protestant religion, and others, that " the habits were parts of the train of the mass ; that the people had such a superstitious opinion of them, as to think they gave an efficacy to • Hist. Ref. vol. 2. p. 72. §8 HISTORY OF their prayers, and that divine service said without this apparel ■was insignificant : whereas at best they were but inventions of Popery, and ought to be destroyed with that idolatrous rehgion *." But it was said, on the other hand, by those divines that had stayed "* in England, and weathered the storm of King Henry's tyranny by a pohtic compliance, and concealment of their opinions, that " church habits and ceremonies were indifferent, and might be appointed by the magistrates; that white was the colour of the priests' garments in the Mosaical dispensation ; and that it was a natural expression of the purity and decency that became priests. That they ought to depart no further from the church of Rome than she had departed from the practice of the primitive church. Besides, " the clergy were then so poor, that they could scarce afford to buy themselves decent clothes." But did the priests buy their own garments ? could not the parish provide a gown, or some other decent apparel, for the priest to minister in sacred things, as well as a square cap, a surplice, a cope, or a tippet ? were these the habits of the primitive clergy before the rise of Papacy ? But upon these slender reasons the garments were con- ■rt tinned, which soon after divided the reformers among themselves, and gave rise to the two parties of Conformists and Noncon- formists ; archbishop Cranmer and Ridley being at the head of the former ; and bishop Hooper, Rogers, with the foreign divines, being patrons of the latter. The parliament, after several prorogations, met the 24th of November 1548 ; and, on the 15th of January following, the act confirming the new liturgy passed both houses ; the bishops of London, Durham, Norwich, Carlisle, Hereford, Worcester, West- minster, and Chichester, protesting. The preamble sets forth, " that the archbishop of Canterbury, with other learned bishops and divines, having, by the aid of the Holy Ghost, with one uniform agreement, concluded upon an order of divine worship, agreeable to Scripture and the primitive church, the parliament having considered the book, gave the king their most humble thanks, and enacted, that from the feast of Whitsunday, 1549, all divine offices should be performed according to it ; and that such of the clergy as refused to do it, or officiated in any other manner, should upon the first conviction suffer six months' impri- sonment, and forfeit a year's profits of his benefice ; for the second offence forfeit all his chiuxh preferments, and sufl^er a year's impri- sonment ; and for the third offence imprisonment for life. Such as writ or printed against the book, were to be fined lOZ, for the first offence ; 20/. for the second ; and to forfeit all their goods, and be imprisoned for life for the third." It ought to be observed, that this service-book was not laid before the convocation, nor any representative body of the clergy : and whereas it is said to be done by one universal agreement, it is certain that four of the * Fuller's Church History, b. 7. p. 402. THE PURITANS. 39 bishops employed in drawing it up protested against it, viz. the bishops of Norwich, Hereford, Chichester, and Westminster. But if the hturgy had been more perfect than it was, the penalties, by which it was imposed, were severe and unchristian, contrary to Scripture and primitive antiquity *. As soon as the act took place, the council appointed visitors to see that the new liturgy was received all over England. Bonner, who resolved to comply in every thing, sent to the dean and resi- dentiary of St. Paul's to use it ; and all the clergy were so pliable, that the visitors returned no complaints; only that the lady Mary continued to have mass said in her house, which upon the inter- cession of the emperor was indulged her for a time -j-. Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, continued still a y)risoner in the Tower, without being brought to a trial, for refusing to submit to the council's supremacy while the king was under age; and for some other complaints against him. His imprisonment was certainly illegal ; it was unjustifiable to keep a man in prison two years upon a bare complaint ; and then, withoiit producing any evidence in support of the charge, to sift him by articles and interrogatories : this looked too much like an inquisition ; but the king being in the pope's room (says bishop Burnet;}:), there were somethings gathered from the canon law, and from the proceedings ex officio, that rather excused than justified the hard measures he met with. When the council sent secretary Petre to the bishop, to know whether he would subscribe to the use of the service-book, he consented with some exceptions, which not being admitted, he was threatened with deprivation. But the new liturgy did not sit well upon the minds of the country people, who were for going on in their old way, of wakes, processions, church ales, holidays, censing of images, and other theatrical rites, which strike the minds of the vulgar : these, being encouraged by the old monks and friars, rose up in arms in several counties, but were soon dispersed. The most formidable insurrec- tions were those of Devonshire and Norfolk. In Devonshire they were ten thousand strong, and sent the following articles or demands to the king : 1. " That the six articles should be restored. 2. " That mass should be said in Latin. 3. " That the host should be elevated and adored. 4. " That the sacrament should be given but in one kind. 5. " That images should be set up in churches. 6. " That the souls in purgatory should be prayed for. 7. " That the Bible should be called in, and prohibited. * Burnet's Hist. Uef. vol. 2. p. 9.?, 94. t The intercession of the emperor Carolils was supported by the requisition of the council, and urged by the importance of preserving amity with him. But the king, amiable as his temper appears to have been, with tears opposed the advice of his council, and finally denied the emperor's suit. Fox, as quoted by Crosby, b. 1. p. 44.— Ed. " : Hist. Rcf. vol. 2. p. 152. 40 IIISTOKY OF 8. " That the new service-book should be laid aside, and the old religion restored " An answer was sent from court to these demands : but nothing- prevailed on the enraged multitude, whom the priests inflamed with all the artifice they could devise, carrying the host about the camp in a cart, that all might see and adore it. They besieged the city of Exeter, and reduced it to the last extremity : but the inhabitants defended it with uncommon bravery, till they were relieved by the lord Russell, who with a very small force entered the town and dispersed the rebels. The insurrection in Norfolk ■was headed by one Ket, a tanner, who assumed to himself the power of judicature under an old oak, called from thence the Oak of Reformation. He did not pretend much of religion, but to place new counsellors about the king, in order to suppress the greatness of the gentry, and advance the privileges of the com- mons. The rebels were twenty thousand strong ; but the earl of Warwick, with six thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse, quickly dispersed them. Several of the leaders of both rebellions were executed, and Ket was hanged in chains. The hardships the reformers underwent in the late reign from the six articles, should have made them tender of the lives of those who differed from the present standard. Cranmer himself had been a Papist, a Lutheran, and was now a Sacramentary ; and in every change guilty of inexcusable severities : while he was a Lutlieran he consented to the burning of John Lambert and Anne Askew, for those very doctrines for which himself afterward suf- fered. He bore hard upon the Papists, stretching the law to keep their most active leaders in prison ; and this year he imbrued his hands in the blood of a poor frantic woman, Joan Bocher, more fit for Bedlam than a stake ; which was owing not to any cruelty in the archbishop's temper, but by those miserable persecuting principles by which he was governed. Among others that fled out of Germany into England, from the Rustic war, there were some that went by the name of Ana- baptists [disseminating their errors, and making proselytes], who, besides the principle of adult baptism, held several wild opinions about the Trinity, the Virgin Mary, and the person of Christ *. * It is to be wished that Mr. Neal had not characterized, ia this style, the seu- tinieuts of these persons ; but had contented himself, without insinuating his own judgment of their tenets, with giving his readers the words of bishop Burnet. For calling their opinions zvild notions, will have a tendency with many to soften their resentment against the persecuting measures which Mr. Neal justly condemns ; and be considered as furnishing an apology for them. Bishop Burnet says, " Upon Luther's first preaching in Germany, there arose many, who building on some of his principles, carried things much further than he did. The chief foundation he laid down was, that the Scripture was to be the only rule of Christians." Upon this many argued that the mysteries of the Trinity, and Christ's incarnation and sufferings, of the fall of man, and the aids of grace, were indeed philosophical subtilties, and only pretended to be deduced from Scripture, as almost all opinions of religion were, and therefore they rejected them. Amongst these the baptism of infants was one. They held that to be no baptism, and so were rebaptized. But TiiK I'ur.rPAXs. 41 Complaint being made of them to tlie council April 12th, a com- mission was oicleied to the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops of Ely, Worcester [Westminster], Chichester, Lincoln, Roches- ter [sir William Petre, sir Thomas Smith, Dr. Cox, Dr. May], and some others, any three being a quorum, to examine and search after all Anabaptists, heretics, or contemners of the common prayer, whom they were to endeavour to reclaim, and after penance to give them absolution ; but if they continued obstinate, they were to excommunicate, imprison, and deliver them to the secular arm. This was little better than a Protestant inquisition. People had generally thought that all the statutes for burning- heretics had been re])ealed ; but it was now said, that heretics were to be burnt by the common law of England ; and that the statutes were only for directing the manner of conviction ; so that the repealing them did not take awav that which was grounded upon a writ at common law. Several tradesmen that were brought before the commissioners abjured ; but Joan Bocher, or Joan of Kent, obstinately maintained, that " Christ was not truly incar- nate of the Virgin, whose flesh being sinftd he could not par- take of it ; but the Word, by the consent of the inward man in the Virgin, took flesh of her.'''' These were her words : a scholastic nicety not capable of doing much mischief, and far from deserving so severe a punishment. The poor woman could not reconcile the spotless purity of Christ''s human nature, with his receiving flesh from a sinful creature ; and for this she is declared an obstinate heretic, and delivered over to the secular power to be burnt. When the compassionate young king could not prevail with himself to sign the warrant for her execution, Cranmer with his superior learning was emploved to persuade him ; he argued from the practice of the Jewish church in stoning blasphemers, which rather silenced his highness than satisfied him : for when at last he yielded to the archbishop's importunity, he told him with tears m his eyes, that if he did wrong, since it was in sub- mission to his authority, he should answer for it to God *. This struck the archbishop with surprise, but yet he suffered the sen- tence to be executed f. from this, wliioli was Uiost tulicu iioiice oi, as being a visible thing, they carried all the general name of Anabaptists. Hist. Ref. vol. 2. p. 110, &c. — Ed. * Burnet's Hist. Ref. vol. 2. p. 112. ■f Mr. Neal representing Joan Bocher as a poor frantic woman, more fit for Bedlam than the stake, and as obstinately maintaining her opinion, has not spoken so respectfully of her as her character and the truth of the case required. The charge of obstinacy wants propriety and candour ; for though an opinion in the account of others may be a great and hurtful error, it cannot, without insincerity and the violation of conscience, be renounced by the person who has embraced it until his judgment is convinced of its falsehood. Arguments whicli produce con- viction in ©ne mind, do not carry the same degree of clearness and strength to other minds ; and men are very incompetent judges of the nature and force of evidence necessary to leave on others the impressions they themselves feel. The extraordinary efforts used to bring Joan Bocher to retract her opinion, shew her to have been a perst)n of note, whose opinions carried more weight and respect than it can be supposed would the chimeras of a frantic woman. The account whicli 42 HISTORY OF Nor did his grace renounce his burning principles as long as he was in power ; for about two years after, he went through the same bloody work again. One George Van Paris, a Dutch- man, being convicted of saying, that God the Father was only God and that Christ was not very God, was dealt with to abjure, but refusing, he was condemned in the same manner with Joan of Kent, and on the 25th of April 1552, was burnt in Smithfield ; he was a man of a strict and virtuous life, and very devout ; he suf- fered with great constancy of mind, kissing the stake and fagots that were to burn him. No part of archbishop Cranmer's life ex- posed him more than this ; it was now said by the Papists, that they saw men of harmless lives might be put to death for heresy by the confession of the reformers themselves. In all the books published in queen Mary's days, justifying her severities against Protestants, these instances were always produced ; and when Cranmer himself was brought to the stake they called it a just retaliation. But neither this, nor any other arguments, could con- vince the divines of this age, of the absurdity and wickedness of putting men to death for conscience' sake. Bonner bishop of London, being accused of remissness in not settling the new service-book throughout his diocess, and being suspt^cted of disaffection to the government, was enjoined to de- clare publicly, in a sermon at Paul's Cross, his belief of the king's authority while under age, and his approbation of the new service- book, with some other articles ; which he not performing to the council's satisfaction, was cited before the court of delegates, and after several hearings, in which he behaved with great arrogance, sentence of deprivation was pronounced against him Sept. 23rd, by the archbishop of Canterbury, Ridley bishop of Rochester, secre- tary Smith, and the dean of St. PauTs. It was thought hard to proceed to such extremities with a man for a mere omission ; for Bonner pleaded, that he forgot the article of the king's authority in his sermon ; and it was yet harder to add imprisonment to de- privation : but he lived to take a severe revenge upon his judges in the next reign. The vacant see was filled up with Dr. Ridley, who, on the 24lh of February 1549-50, was declared bishop of London and Westminster, the two bishopricks being united in him ; but his consecration was deferred to the next year. Mr. Strype gives of her is truly honourable. " She was (he says) a great disperser of Tyndal's New Testament, translated by him into English, and printed at Colen, and was a great reader of Scripture herself. Which book also she dispersed in the court, and so became known to certain women of quality, and was more particu- larly acquainted with Mrs. Anne Ascue. She used, for the more secrecy, to tie the books with strings under her apparel, and so pass with them into the court ^" By this it appears, that she hazarded her life in dangerous times, to bring others to the knowledge of God's word : and by Mr. Neal's own account, her sentiments, were they ever so erroneous, were taken up out of respect to Christ ; " for she could not reconcile the spotless purity of Christ's human nature, with his receiving flesh from a sinful creature." — Ed. ' Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. 2. p. 214. as quoted in Lindsey's Apo- logy, fourth edition, p. 43. and in his Historical View of the Unitarian Doctrine and Worship, p. 87. THE PUUITANS. 48 The parliaiDent tliat met the 14th of November revived the act of the late kin<>;, empowering his majesty to reform the canon law, by naming thirty-two persons, viz. sixteen of the spirituahty, of whom four to be bishops ; and sixteen of the temporahty, of whom four to be common lawyers, who within three years should compile a body of ecclesiastical laws, which, not being contrary to the statute law, should be published by the king's warrant under the great seal, and have the force of laws in the ecclesiastical courts. This design was formed, and very far advanced in king Henry VIII. 's time, but the troubles that attended the last part of his reign prevented the finishing it. It was now resumed, and in pursuance of this act a commission was first given to eight persons, viz. two bishops, two divines, two doctors of law, and two common lawyers, who were to prepare materials fur the review of the thirty-two; but the preface to the printed book says, that Cranmer did almost the whole himself*. It was not finished till the month of February 1552-53, when another com- mission was granted to thirty-two persons to revise it, of whom the former eight were a part, viz, eight bishops, eight divines, eight civilians, and eight common lawyers ; they divided them- selves into four classes, and the amendments of each class were communicated to the whole. Thus the work was finished, being digested into fifty-one titles. It was translated into Latin by Dr. Haddon and sir John Cheek ; but before it received the royal confirn)ation the king died ; nor was it ever revived in the succeeding reigns. Archbishop Parker first published it in the year 1571, under the title of Reformatio Legum Anglicariim, &c. , and it was reprinted 1640. By this book Cranmer seems to have softened his burning principles; for though, under the third title of judgments for heresy, he lays a very heavy load upon the back of an obstinate heretic, as, that " he shall be declared infamous, incapable of public trust, or of being witness in any court ; or of having power to make a will ; or of having the benefit of the law;" yet there is no mention of capital proceedings. Another remarkable act, passed this session -f-, was for ordain- ing ministers ; it appoints, " that such forms of ordaining ministers as should be set forth by the advice of six prelates and six divines, to be named by the king, and authorized under the great seal, should be used after April next, and no other." Here is no mention again of a convocation or synod of divines ; nor do the parliament reserve to themselves a right of judgment, but intrust every thing absolutely with the crown. The committee soon finished their Ordinal, which is almost the same with that now in use. They take no notice in their book of the lower orders in the church of Rome, as subdeacons, readers, acolytes, &c. but confine themselves to bishops, priests, and deacons; and here it is ob- servable, that the form of ordaining a priest and a bishop is the * Strype's Life of Cranmer, p. 271. t 3 aiul I of Edward VI. cap. 12. 44 HI.STOIIY OF same we yet use, there being no express mention in the worck of ordination whether it be for the one or the other office* : this has been altered of late years, since a distinction of the two orders has been so generally admitted ; but that was not the received doctrine of these times -|-. The committee struck out most of the modern rites of the church of Rome, and contented themselves, says bishop Burnet, with those mentioned in Scri])ture, viz. im- position of hands, and prayer. The gloves, the sandals, the mitre, the ring, and crosier, which had been used in consecrating bishops, were laid aside. The anointing, the giving consecrated vestments, the delivering into the hands vessels for consecrating the eucharist, with a power to offer sacrifice for the dead and living, which had been the custom in the ordination of a priest, were also omitted. But when the bishop ordained, he was to lay one hand on the priest's head, and with his other hand to give him a Bible, with a chalice and bread in it. The chalice and bread are now omitted ; as is the pastoral staff in the consecration of a bishop. By the rule of this Ordinal a deacon was not to be ordained before twenty-one, a priest before twenty-four, nor a bishop before he was thirty years of age. The council went on with pressing the new liturgy upon the people, who were still inclined in many places to the old service ; but to put it out of their power to continue it, it was ordered that all clergymen should deliver up to such peisons whom the king- should appoint, all their old antiphonals, missals, grails, proces- sionals, legends, pies, portuasses, &c. and to see to the observing one uniform order in the church ; which the parliament con- firmed, requiring further, all that had any images in their houses, that had belonged to any church, to deface them ; and to dash out of their primers all prayers to the saints. 1550. Ridley being now bishop of London, resolved upon a visitation of his diocess. His injunctions were, as usual, to inquire into the doctrines and manners of the clergy J ; but the council sent him a letter in his majesty's name, to see that all altars were taken down, and to require the churchwardens of every parish to provide a table decently covered, and to place it in such part of the choir or cliancel as should be most meet, so that the ministers and communicants should be separated from the rest of the people. The same injunctions were given to the rest of the bishops, as appears by the collection of bishop Spar- row.— Ridley began with his own cathedral at St. Paul's, where he ordered the wall on the back side of the altar to be broken * Burnet's Hist. Ref. vol. 2. p. 144. Collyer's Eccles. Hist. vol. 2. p. 290. t For a full vindication of the above assertions, see Mr. Neal's Review, p. 860 — 864 of the first volume of the quarto edition of his history. — Ed. X Among the other articles which he put to the inferior clergy, this was one: " Whether any Anabaptists or others, used private conventicles, with different opi- nions and forms from those established, and with other questions about baptism and marriages. ' Crosby, vol. 1. p. 51. — Ed. THE PURITANS. 45 down, and a decent table to be placed in its room ; and tiiis was done in most chinches throuohout the province of Canterbury. The reasons for this alteration were these: 1. " Because our Saviour instituted the sacrament at a table, and not at an altar. 2. " Because Christ is not to be sacrificed over again, but his body and blood to be spiritually eaten and drunk at the holy supper ; for which a table is more proper than an altar. 8. " Because the Holy Ghost, speaking of the Lord's supper, calls it the Lord''s table, 1 Cor. x. 21. but nowhere an altar. 4. *' The canons of the council of Nice, as well as the fathers St. Chrysostom and St. Augustine, call it the Lord's table; and though they sometimes call it an altar, it is to be understood figuratively. 5. " An altar has relation to a sacrifice; so that if we retain the one we must admit the other; which would give great coun- tenance to mass-priests. 6. " There are many passages in ancient M'riters, that shew that communion-tables were of wood, that they were made like tables * ; and that those who fled into churches for sanctuary did hide themselves under them. 7. " The most learned foreign divines have declared against altars; as Bucer, CEcolampadius, Zuinglius, Bullinger, Calvin, P. Martyr, Joannes Alasco, Hedio, Capito, &c. and have removed them out of their several churches: only the Lutheran churches retain them f." Ridley, Cranmer, Latimer, and the rest of the English re- formers, were of opinion, that the retaining altars would serve only to nourish in people"'s minds the superstitious opinion of a propitiatory mass, and would minister an occasion of offence and division amouj; the godly ; and the next age will shew they were not mistaken in their conjectures. But some of the bishops refused to comply with the council's order ; as Day bishop of Chichester, and Heath of Worcester, insisting on the apostle's words to the Hebrews, " V^'e have an altar ;" and rather than conijdy they suffered themselves to be deprived of their bishop- ricks for contumacy, October lo51. Preachers were sent into the countries to rectify tlie people"'s prejudices, which had a very good effect ; and if they had taken the same methods with re- spect to the habits, and other relics of Popery, tliese would hardly have kept their ground, and the reformers would have acted a more consistent and prudent part. The sad consequences of retaining the Popish garments in the service of the church, began to appear this year : a debate, one would think, of small consequence; but at this time apprehended of great importance to the Reformation. The people, having " Burnet's Hist. Ref. vol. 2. p. l.")0. Strype's Anu. vol. 1. p. ICO. t Strype's Aiiuals. vol. 1. p. \(\2. Hist. Ref. vol. ;{. p. 158. Strype's Ann. vol. 1. p. Ki'i. 46 HISTORY OF been bred up in a superstitious veneration for the priests' gar- ments, were taught that they were sacred ; that without them no administrations were valid; that there was a sort of virtue con- veyed into them by consecration ; and in a word, that they were of the same importance to a Christian clergyman, as the priests'" garments of old were in their ministrations ; it was time therefore to disabuse them. The debate began upon occasion of Dr. Hooper's nomination to the bishoprick of Gloucester, in the room of Dr. Wakeman, who died in December 1549. Dr. Hooper was a zealous, pious, and learned man : he went out of England in the latter end of king Henry's reign, and lived at Zurich at a time when all Germany was in a flame on account of the Interim ; which was a form of worship contrived to keep up the exterior face of Popery, with the softenings of some other senses put upon things. Upon this arose a great and important question among the Germans, concerning the use of things indif- ferent*. It was said, " If things were indifferent in themselves, they were lawful ; and that it was the subject's duty to obey when commanded." So the old Popish rites were kept up, on purpose to draw the people more easily back to Popery. Out of this an- other question arose, " whether it was lawful to obey in things indifferent, when it was certain they were enjoined with an ill design." To which it was replied, that the designs of legislators were not to to be inquired into. This created a vast distraction in the country : some conformed to the Interim ; but the major part were firm to their principles, and were turned out of their livings for disobedience. Those who complied were for the most part Lutherans, and carried the name of Adiaphorists, from the Greek word, that signifies, things indifferent. But the rest of the reformed were for shaking off all the relics of Popery, with the hazard of all that was dear to them in the world ; particularly at Zurich, where Hooper was, they were zealous against any com- pliance with the Interim, or the use of the old rites prescribed With these principles Hooper came over to England, and applied himself to preaching and explaining the Scriptures to the people ; he was in the pulpit almost every day in the week, and his sermons were so popular, that all the churches were crowded where he preached. His fame soon reached the court, where Dr. Poynet and he were appointed to preach all the Lent sermons. He was also sent to preach throughout the counties of Kent and Essex, in order to reconcile the people to the Reformation. At length, in the month of July 1550, he was appointed bishop of Gloucester by letters patent from the king, but declined it for two reasons, 1. Because of the form of the oath, which he calls foul and impious. And, 2. By reason of the Aaronical habits. * Hist. Ref. vol. 3. p. 199. THE VURITANS. 47 By tlie oath is meant the oath of supremacy*, which was in this form, " By God, by the saints, and by the Holy Ghost ;" which Hooper thought impious, because God only ought to be appealed to in an oath, forasmuch as he only knows the thoughts of men. The young king being convinced of this, struck out the words with his own pen-|-. But the scruple about the habits was not so easily got over. The king and council were inclined to dispense with them ; but Ridley and the rest of the bishtips that had worn the habits were of another mind, saying, " the thing was indifferent, and therefore the law ought to be obeyed." — This had such an influence upon the council, that all Hooper's objections were afterward heard with great prejudice. It discovered but an ill spirit in the re- formers, not to suifer Hooper to decline his bishoprick, nor yet to dispense with those habits which he thought unlawful. Hooper was as much for the clergy's wearing a decent and distinct habit from the laity, as Ridley, but prayed to be excused from the old symbolizing Popish garments, 1. Because they had no countenance in Scripture or primitive antiquity. 2. Because they were the inventions of antichrist, and were introduced into the church in the corruptest ages of Christianity. 3. Because they had been abused to superstition and idolatry, particularly in the pompous celebration of the mass ; and therefore were not indifferent. 4. To continue the use of these garments, was, in his opinion, to symbolize with antichrist, to mislead the people, and was incon- sistent with the simplicity of the Christian religion. Cranmer was inclined to yield to these reasons ; but Ridley and Goodrick insisted strongly on obedience to the laws, affirming, that " in matters of rites and ceremonies, custom was a good argiunent for the continuance of those that had been long used." But this ai'gument seemed to go too far, because it might be used for the retaining all those other rites and ceremonies of Popery which had been long used in the church, but were now abolished by these reformers themselves. Hooper, not willing to rely upon his own judgment, wrote to Bucer at Cambridge, and to Peter Martyr at Oxford, who gave their opinions against the habits, as inventions of antichrist, and wished them removed ; as will appear more fully in tlie reign of queen Elizabeth:|: ; but were of opinion, since the bishops were so resolute, that he might acquiesce in the use of them for a time till they were taken away by law : and the rather, because the Refor- mation was in its infancy, and it would give occasion of triumph * Mr. Fuller, -when he wrote his Church History, conceived that the oath bishop Hooper refused, was that of canonical obedience, but when he published his Wor- thies he was convinced of his mistake, atld corrected it. Neal's Review. — Ed. t Hist. Ref. vol. 3. p. 203. : Collyer's Eccles. Hist. vol. 2. p. 297. 4S HISTOKY OF to the common enemy to see the reformers at variance amono- themselves. The divines of Switzerland and Geneva were of the same mind, being unwilling that a clergyman of so much learnino- and piety, and so zealous for the Reformation, as Hooper was, should be silenced ; they therefore advised him to comply for the present, that he might be the more capable by his authority and influence in the church, to get them laid aside. But these reasons not satisfying Hooper''s conscience, he continued to refuse for above nine months. The governing prelates being provoked with his stiffness, re- solved not to suffer such a precedent of disobedience to the ec- clesiastical laws to go unpunished. Hooper must be a bishop, and must be consecrated in the manner others had been, and wear the habits the law appointed ; and to force him to comply he was served with an order of council first to silence him, and then to confine him to his house. The doctor thought this usage very se\ere : to miss his promotion was no disappointment, but to be persecuted about clothes, by men of the same faith with himself, and to lose his liberty because he would not be a bishop, and in the fashion, this, says Mr. Collyer, was possibly more than he well understood. After some time Hooper was committed to the cus- tody of Cranmer, who not being able to bring him to conformity, complained to the council, who thereupon ordered him into the Fleet, where he continued some months to the reproach of the reformers. At length he laid his case before the earl of Warwick, who by the king"'sown motion wrote to the archbishop, to dispense with the habit at his consecration : but Cranmer alleged the dan- ger of a prcemuni re ; upon which a letter was sent from the king and council to the archbishop and other bishops to be concerned in the consecration, warranting them to dispense with the garments, and discharging them of all manner of dangers, penalties, and forfeitures, they might incur any manner of way by omitting the same: but though this letter was dated August the oth, vet such was the rekictance of Cranmer and liidley, that Hooper was not consecrated till March following; in which time, says bishop Bur- net,* the matter was in some sort compromised ; Hooper consenting to be robed in his habits at his consecration, when he preached before the king, or in his cathedral, or in any public |)lace, but to be dispensed with at other times. Accordingly!, being appointed to preach before the king, he came forth, says Mr. Fox, like a new player on the stage : his upper garment was a long scarlet chymere down to the foot, and under that a white linen rochet that covered all his shoulders, and a four-square cap on his head ; but he took it patiently for the • Hish Ref. vol. 2. p. 166. t Mr. Neal in his Review, adds from Mr. Fox, that " Bishop Hooper was con- strained to appear once in public attired^fter the manner of other bishops, which unless he had done, some think there was a contrivance to take away his life ; for his servant told me (says Mr. Fox), that the duke of Suffolk sent such word to Hoo- per, who was not himself ignorant of what was doing." — Ed. THFC rURITAKS. 49 public profit of tlie cluirch*. After this Hooper retired to his diocess, and preached sometimes two or three times a day, to crowds of people that hungered for the word of life : he was im- partial and zealous in the faithful discharge of every hrancli of his episcopal character, even beyond his strength, and was himself a ])attern of what he taught to others. In the king''s letter to the archbisliop, Moo)>er is said to be a divine of great knowledge, deep judgment, and long study, both in the Scriptures and profane learning ; as also, a person of good discretion, ready utterance, and of an honest life ; but all tliese cjualifications must be buried in silence and a prison, at a time when there was a famine of the word, rather than the above-men- tioned uniformity in dress be dispensed with. Most of the reforming clergy were with Hooper in this contio- versy ; several that had submitted to the habits in the late reign laid them aside in this, as the bishops Latimer and Coverdale, Dr. Taylor, Philpot, Bradford, and oth( rs, who laid down their lives for the Protestant faithf . In some ordinations, Cranmer and Ridley dispensed with the habits ; for Mr. Thomas Sampson, parson of Bread-street, London, afterward one of the heads of the Puritans, and successively dean of Chichester and Christ-church, in a letter to secretary Cecil, writes, "that at his ordination by Cranmer and Ridley, he excepted against the apparel, and was nevertheless permitted and admitted;]:." If they had not done so on some occasions, there would not have been clergymen to sup- port the Reformation. Bishop Burnet says, they saw their error, and designed to procure an act to abolish the Popish garments, but whether this were so or not, it is certain that in the next reign they repented their conduct ; for when Ridley was in prison he wrote a letter to Hooper, in which he calls him " his dear brother and fellow-elder in Christ ;" and desires a mutual forgiveness and reconciliation. And when he and Cranmer came to be degraded, they smiled at the ridiculous attire with which they were clothed, and decl.ired they had long since laid aside all regards to that pageantry II . This behaviour of the bishops towards the king's nalural-born subjects was the more extraordinary, because a latiuide was al- lowed to foreign Protestants to worship God after the manner of their coimtry, without any regard to the Popish vestments: for this year a church of German refugees was established at St. Austin's in London, and erected into a corporation under the direction of .To' in a Lasco, superintendent of all the foreign churches in London, with whom were joined four other ministers; and as a mark of favour three hundred and eighty of the congre- • Fuller's Abel Redivivus, p. 17:5. t Pierce's Vind. p. ;U-;5;{. X Strype's Life of Cranmer, p. 192. II Bishop Maddox maintained, that the habits put on those reformers were the Popish habits, which was the ground of their dislike. Mr. Neal, in his H.view, controverts the trutli, and exposes thy futility, of this distinction. — Eu. VOL. I. K 50 HISTORY OF gation were made denizens of England, The preamble to the patent sets forth, that the German church made profession of pure and uncorrupted rehgion, and was instructed in truly Christian and apostohcal opinions and rites*. In the patent which incor- porates them there is the following clause : "/few, We command, and peremptorily enjoin, our lord mayor, aldermen, and magis- trates, of the city of London, and their successors, with all arch- bishops, bishops, justices of the peace, and all officers and ministers whatsoever, that they permit the said superintendent and ministers to enjoy and exercise their own proper rites and ceremonies, and their own proper and peculiar ecclesiastical discipline, though differing from the rites and ceremonies used in our kingdom, without impediment, let, or disturbance ; any law, proclamation, or injunction, heretofore published to the contrary notwith- tanding.'"" John a Lasco was a Pol.inder of noble birth ; and according to the words of the patent, a man very famous for learning, and for integrity of life and manners. He was in high esteem with the great Erasmus, who saye, that he, though an old man, had pro- fited much by his conversation. And Peter Martyr calls him his most learned patronf . But he did not please the ruling prelates, because he took part with Hooper, and wrote against the Popish garments, and for the posture of sitting rather than kneeling at the Lord's Supper;];. 1551. Upon the translation of Ridley to the see of London, Dr. Poynet was declared bishop of Rochester, and Coverdale, coadjutor to Veysey, bishop of Exeter. The see of Winchester had been two years as good as vacant by the long imprisonment of Gardiner, who had been confined all this time without being- brought to a trial : the bishop complained of this to the council, who thereupon issued out a commission to the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops of London, Ely, and Lincoln, with secretary Petre, judge Hales, two civilians, and two masters in Chancery, to proceed against him for contempt. It was objected to him, that he refused to preach concerning the king's power while under age ; that he had been negligent in obeying the king's injunctions, and was so obstinate that he would not ask the * Burnet's Hist. Ref. in Records, vol. 2. No. 51. f Strype's Life of Cranmer, p. 231). + About the end of December 1550, after many cavils in the state, bishop Burnet informs us, that an act passed for the king's general pardon, wherein the Anabaptists were excepted. Crosby, vol. 1 . p. 50. Mr. Neal, in his Review of the transactions of this year, has also omitted to inform his readers, that the doctrines established by the reformers by no means met with an implicit reception from all. The doctrine of the Trinity was denied by many, and Unitarian sentiments were so plainly avowed, and spread so fast, that the leading churchmen were alarmed at it, and feared their generally prevailing. Mr. Strype's words are, " Arianism now shewed itself so openly, and was in such dan- ger of spreading farther, that it was thought necessary to suppress it, by using more rugged methods than seemed agreeable to the merciful principles of the profession of the gospel." Lindsey's Historical View of the State of the Unitarian Doctrine and Worship, p. 84. — Ed. TlfK I'URITAXS. .>! king mercy. It was the declared ()})inion of the Popish clergy at this time, that the kino's laws were to be t)l)eyed, but not tiie orders of his council; and therefore that all things should remain as the late king left them, till the present king, now a child, came of age. This the rebels in Devon j)lea2.'). Neat's Review. — Ed. § An alteration in tlie twenty eighth article is not noticed by Mr. Neal, in the place to which he refers. The last clause of the article was laid down in these e2 52 HISTORY OF and alterations. The controverted clause of the twentieth article, that the church has power to decree rites and ceremonies, and authority in controversies of faith, is not in king Edward's articles, tior does it appear how it came into queen Elizabeth's. It i* evident by the title of the articles, that they were designed as articles of truth, and not of peace, as some have since imagined, who subscribed them rather as a compromise, not to teach any doctrine contrary to them, than as a declaration that they believed according to them. This was a notion the imposers never thought of, nor does there appear any reason for this conceit. So that (says bishop Burnet*) those who subscribed, did either believe them to be true, or else they did grossly prevaricate. AVith the book of articles was printed a short catechism -f-, with a preface prefixed in the king's name. It is supposed to be drawn up by bishop Poynet, but revised by the rest of the bishops and other learned men. It is dated May 7th, about seven weeks before the king's death ; [and in the first impression of the articles it was printed before them ;{:.] 1552. The next work the reformers were employed in, was a second correction of the Common Prayer-book. Some things they added, and others that had been retained through the necessity of the times were struck out. The most considerable amendments were these. The daily service opened with a short confession of sins, and of absolution to such as should repent. The communion began with a rehearsal of the ten commandments, the congregation being on their knees ; and a pause was made between the rehearsal of every commandment, for the people''s devotions. A rubric was also added, concerning the posture of kneeling, which declares that there was no adoration intended thereby to the bread and wine, which was gross idolatry : nor did they think the very flesh and blood of Christ there present. This clause was struck out by queen Elizabeth, to give a latitude to Papists and Lutherans; but was inserted again at the restoration of king Charles II., at tiie request of the Puritans. Besides these amendments, sundry old rites and ceremonies, which had been retained in the former book, were discontinued ; as the use of oil in confirmation and extreme unction ; ])raver for the dead in the office of burial ; and in the communion-service, auricular confes- words : " The custom of the church for baptizing young chiklren, is both to be commended, and by all means to be retained in the church." This clause was left out of queen Elizabeth's articles. It seems by this, however, observes Crosby, " that the first reformers did not found the practice of infant baptism upon Scrip- ture ; but took it only as a commendable custom, that had been used in the Christian church, and therefore ought to be retained." — Hist. Eng. Bapt. vol. 1. p. 54, 55. But what shall we think of, rather how should we lament the bigotry and illiberality of those times, when men were harassed and put to death for declining a religious practice, which they who enjoined it did not pretend to enforce on the authority of Scripture, but only as a custom of the churches : a plea which would have equally justified all these other religious ceremonies which they themselves, notwithstand- ing this sanction, rejected ! Ed. * Hist. Ref. vol. 2. p. 169. f Ibid. vol. 3. p. 211, 214. l Neal's Review. THE PURITANS. 58 sion the use of the cross in the eucharist, and in confirniatitn. In short, the whole liturgy was in a manner reduced to tiie form in which it appears at present, excepting some small variations that have since been made for the clearing some ambiguities. By this book of Common Prayer, says Mr. Stry)je *, all copes and vestments were forbidden throughout England ; the prebendaries of St. PauTs left off their hoods, and the bish()})s their crosses, &c. as by act of parliament is more at length set forth. When the parliament met January 23rd, tiie new Common Prayer-book was brought into tlie house, with an ordinal or form of ordaining bishops, priests, and deacons ; both which passed the houses without any considerable opposition. The act requires '"all persons after the feast of Allhallows next, to come to com- mon prayer every Sunday and holy day, under pain of the cen- sures of the church. All archbishops and bishops are required to" endeavour the due execution of this act ; and whereas divers doubts had been raised about the service-book, it is said, the king and parliament had now caused it to be perused, explained, and made more perfect." The new service-book was to take place in all churches after the feast of All Saints, under the same penalties that had been enacted to the former book three years before f. By another act of this session the marriages of the clergy, if performed according to the service-book, were declared good and valid, and their children inheritable according to law ; and by another the bishoprick of Westminster was suppressed, and leunited to the see of London. Dr. Heath bishop of Worces- ter, and Day of C^lhichester, were both deprived this year [1553], with Tonstal bishop of Durham, whose bishoprick was designed to be divided into two ; but the act never took effect. One of the last things the king set his hand to was a royal visitation, in order to examine what plate, jewels, and other fur- niture, were in the churches. The visitors were to leave in every church one or two chalices of silver, with linen for the commu- nion-table and for surplices, but to bring in the best of the church-furniture into the king's treasury ; and to sell the linen copes, altar-cloths, &c. and give the money to the poor. The pretence was, the calling in the superfluous plate that lay in churches more for pomp than use. Some have called this by no better a name than sacrilege, or church theft ; and it really was no better. But it ought to be remembered, the young king was now languishing under a consumption, and near his end. It must however be confessed, that in the course of this as well as the last reign, there was a very great alienation of church- lands : the chantry-lands were sold among the laity, some of whom held five or six prebendaries or canonries, while the clergy themselves were in want. Bishop Latimer complains in one of * Life of Cranmer, p. 290. t Buruefs Hist. Ref. vol. 2. p. 190. 54 HISTORY OF his sermons, " that the revenues of the church were seized by the rich laity, and that the incumbent was only a proprietor in title. That many benefices wei'e let out to farm by secular men, or given to their servants, as a consideration for keeping their hounds, hawks, and horses ; and that the poor clergy were re- duced to such short allowance that they were forced to go to service; to turn clerks of the kitchen, surveyors, receivers. Sec." And Camden complains, " that avarice and sacrilege had strangely the ascendant at this time, that estates formerly settled for the support of religion and the poor, were ridiculed as superstitious endowments; first miscalled and then plundered." The bishops were too easy in parting with the lands and manors belonging to their bishopricks, and the courtiers were too eager in grasping at every thing they could lay their hands upon *. If the revenues of the church had been abu>ed to superstition, they might have been converted to other religious uses ; or if too great a pro- portion of the riches of the kingdom was in the hands of the church, they should have made an ample provision for the main- tenance of the clergy, and the endowanent of smaller livings, before they had enriched their friends and families. Nor were the lives of many who were zealous for the Refor- mation free from scandal : the courtiers and great men indulged themselves in a dissolute and licentious life ; and the clergy were not without their blemishes. Some that embraced the Refor- mation were far fi'om adorning their profession, but rather dis- posed the people to return to their old superstitions : nevertheless there were many'great and shining lights among them, who preached and prayed fervently against the corruptions of the times, and were an example to their flocks, by the strictness and severity of their lives and manners ; but their numbers were small in com- parison to the many that were otherwise, turning the doctrines of grace into lasciviousness f . We have now seen the length of king Edward's reformation. It was an adventurous undertaking for a few bishops and privy- councillors, to change the religion of a nation only by the advan- tage of the supremacy of a minor, without the consent of the people in parliament or convocation, and under the eye of a pre- sumptive heir, who was a declared enemy of all their proceedings ; as was the case in the former part of this reign. We have taken notice of the mistaken principles of the reformers, in making use of the civil power to force men to conformity ; and of their stretch- ing the laws to reach at those whom they could not fairly come at any other way. But notwithstanding these and some other blemishes, they were great and good men, and valiant in the cause of truth ; as appears by their sealing it with their blood. They made as quick advances perhaps in restoring religion towards its primitive simplicity, as the circumstances of the time would * Hist. Ref. vol. 3. p. 218. f Strype's Life of Cranme ■, p 2!»n. THE PLIUITANS. 55 admit ; and it is evident they designed to <^o farther, and not make this the last standard of the Reformation. Indeed queen Ehzabeth thought her brother had gone too far, by stripping reh'gion of too many ornaments; and therefore when she came to the crown, she was hardly persuaded to restore it to the condi- tion in which he left it. — Kino; James I. king Charles I. arch- bishop Laud, and all their admirers, instead of removmg farther from the superstitious pomps of the church of Home, have been for returning back to them, and have appealed to the settlement of queen Elizabeth as the purest standard. But the reformers themselves were of another mind, as appears by the sermons of Latimer, Hooper, Bradford, and otliers ; by the letters of Peter Martyr, Martin Bucer, and John a Lasco *, who in his book De Ordinatione Ecclesiarum Peregrinarum in Anglia, dedicated to Sigismund king of Poland, loo5, says, " that king Edward desired that the rites and ceremonies used under Popery should be purged out by degrees ; that it was his pleasure that strangers should have churches to perform all things according to apostolical observation only, that by this means the English churches might be excited to embrace apostolical purity with the unanimous consent of the states of the kingdom." He adds, " that the king was at the head of this project, and that Cranmer promoted it, but that some great persons stood in the way." As a farther evidence of this, a passage was left in the preface of one of their service-books to this purpose f; " that , they had gone as far as they could in reforming the church, considering the times they lived in, and hoped they that came after them would, as they might, do more." King Edward in his Diary | laments, that he could not restore the primitive dis- cipline according to his heart's desire, because several of the bishops, some for age, some for ignorance, some for their ill name, and some out of love to Popery, were unwilling to it. And the church herself, in one of her public offices, laments the want of a godly discipline to this day. Martin Bucer, a German divine, and professor of divinity in Cambridge, a person in high esteem with the young king, drew up a plan, and presented it to his majesty, in which he writes largely of ecclesiastical discipline §. The king having read it, set himself to write a general discourse about reformation, but did not live to finish it. Bucer proposed ||, that there might be • Voet. Eccl. Pol. lib. 2. cap. 6. part 1. p. 421. t The following quotation, Mr. Neal, in answer to bishop Maddox, observes, is transcribed from Mr. Pierce's Vindication, p. 11. where it is to be found verbatim, with his authority ; and in Bennett's Memorial of the Reformation, p. 50. Mr. Strype intimates, that a farther reformation was intended ; (Life of Cran. p. 2S)9.) and bishop Burnet adds, that in many of the letters to foreign divines, it is asserted, that both Cranmer and Ridley intended to procure an act for abolishing the habits. — Ei>. ^ , t King Edward's Remains, num. 2. § Burnet's Hist. Ref. vol. 2. p. 156. II Bucer died in lof)!, and was consulted on the review of the Common Prayer, 1550. But Mr. Neal has introduced his sentiments in this place, because he was 56 HlSTORr OF a Strict discipline, to exclude scandalous livers from the sacrament ; that the old Popish habits might be laid aside. He did not like the half office of communion, or second service, to be said at the altar when there was no sacrament. He approved not of god- fathers answering in the child's name so well as in their own. He. presses much the sanctification of the Lord's day ; and that there might be many fastings, but was agi'inst the observation of Lent. He would have the pastoral function restored to what it ought to be; that bishops, throwing off all secular cares, should give them- selves to their spiritual employments. He advises that coadjutors might be given to some, and a council of presbyters appointed for them all. He would have rural bisiiops set over twenty or thirty parishes, who should gather their clergy often together, and inspect them closely ; and that a provincial synod should meet twice a year, when a secular man, in the king's name, should be ap- pointed to observe their proceedings. Cranmer was of the same mind. He disliked the present way of governing the church by convocations as they are now formed ; in which deans, archdeacons, and cathedrals, have an interest far superior in number to those elected to represent the clergy. These, says Bishop Burnet *, can in no sort pretend to be more than a part of our civil constitution. They have no foundation in Scrip- ture, nor any warrant from the first ages of the church ; but did arise from the model set forth by Charles the Great, and formed according to the feudal law, by which a right of giving subsidies was vested in all who were possessed of such tenures as qualified them to contribute towards the support of the state. Nor was Cranmer satisfied with the liturgy, though it had been twice reformed, if we may give credit to the learned Bullinger -j-, who told the exiles at Frankfort, " that the archbishop had drawn up a book of prayers a hundred times more perfect than that which was then in being ; but the same could not take place, for that he was matched with such a wicked clergy and convocation, and other enemies ;]:.'"' The king was of the same sentiments; but his untimely death, which hapjiened in the sixteenth year of his age and seventh of his reign, put an end to all his noble designs for perfecting the Reformation. He was indeed an incomparable prince, of most promising expectations ; and in the judgment of the most impar- here giving a summary of the changes in king Edward's reign. And in reply to bishop Maddox, who, after bishop Burnet, says, that the most material things to which Bucer excepted were corrected afterward ; Mr. Neal observes, that they ■who will be at the pains to read over the abstract of his book, entitled, " Of the Kingdom of Christ," in Collyer's Eccles. Hist. vol. 2. p. 296, &c. must be of another mind. Review.— Ed. * Hist. Ref. vol. li. p. 214. t Strype's Life of Cranmer, p. 2G6. Bennet's Mem. p. 52. I The troubles at Frankfort, in the Phoenix, vol. 2. p. 82. and Pierce's Vindic. p. 12, 13. Mr. Pierce remarks, that this is reported, as is plain to him who looks into the book itself, not on the testimony of Bullinger, as Strype represents it, but by one of Dr. Cox's party on his own knowledge. Review — Ed. THE rU HIT A MS. .57 tial persons, tlie very plioenix of his age. It was more than whispered that he was poisoned. Kut it is very surprising that M Pi otestant divine, Heylin, in his History of the Reformation *, should say, "that he was ill-principled; that his reign was un- fortunate ; and that his death was not an infelicity to the church," only because he was apprehensive he would have re- duced the hierarchy to a more ])rimitive standard. With good king Edward died all farther advances of the Reformation ; for the alterations that were made afterward by queen Elizabeth hardly came up to his standard. We may observe from the history of this reign, 1st. That in matters of faith the first leformers followed tlie doctrine of St. Austin, in the controverted points of original sin, predestination, justification by faith alone, effectual grace, and good works. 2ndly. That they were not satisfied with the present discipline of the church, though they thought they might submit to it, till it should be amended by the authority of the legislature. Srdly. That they believed but two orders of churchmen in Holy Scripture, viz. bishops and deacons ; and consequently, that bishops and priests were but difl'erent ranks or degrees of the same order. 4thly. That they gave the right hand of fellowship to foreign churches, and ministers that had not bet n ordained by bishops ; there being no dispute about reordination in order to any church- preferment, till the latter end of queen E]izabeth"'s reign. In all which points most of our modern chuichmen have departed from them. [To Mr. NeaPs remarks on the reign of Edward VI. it may be added, that the Reformation was all along conducted in a manner inconsistent with the principles on which it was founded. The principles on which the justification of it rested, were, the right of private judgment, and the sufficiency of the Scriptures as a rule of faith. Yet the Reformation was limited to the con- ceptions and ideas of those who were in power. No liberty was granted to the consciences of dissidents : no discussion of points, on which they themselves had not doubts, was permitted : such as held sentiments different from their model, and pursued their inquiries farther, without consideration of their numbers or their characters, so far from being allowed to propose their opinions or to hold separate assemblies for religious worship agreeably to their own views of things, were stigmatized as heretics, and pursued unto death. Besides the instances Mr. Neal mentions, the Ana- baptists were excepted out of the king's general pardon, that came out in looO-j-: they were also burnt in divers towns in the kingdom ; and met death with singular intrepidity and cheerful- ness:J:. Thus inquiry was stifled: and the Reformation was really * Pref. p. 4. part 7. p. 141. t Burnet's Hist. Ref. vol. 2. p. 143. J Crosby's History of the English Baptists, vol. 1. p. 62. / o8 HISTORY OF not the result of a comprehensive view and cahn investigation of all the doctrines and practices which had been long established, but the triumph of power in discarding a few articles and prac- tices which more particularly struck the minds of those who were in government. These persons gained, and have exclusively possessed, the honourable title of Reformers ; without any respect to, nay with a contemptuous disregard of, those who saw farther, and in point of numbers, carried weight. Bishop Latimer, in a sermon before the king, reported, on the authority of a credible person, that there were, in one town, five hundred Anaba[)tists*. The reformers, in thus proscribing inquiry and reformation beyond their own standard, were not consistent with themselves. For they acknowledged that corruptions had been a thousand years introducing, which could not be all discovered and thrown outatoncef. By this concession they justified the principle, while they punished the conduct, of those who, acting upon it, endea- voured to discover, and wished to reject, more corruptions.] — Ed. CHAPTER III. REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. It will appear in the course of this reign, that an absolute supre- macy over the consciences of men, lodged with a single person, may as well be prejudicial as serviceable to true religion : for if king Henr}' VIII. and his son king Edward VI. reformed some abuses by their supremacy, against the inclinations of the majority of the people, we shall find queen Mary making use of the same power to turn things back into their old channel, till she had restored the grossest and most idolatrous part of Popery. This was begun by proclamations and orders of council, till her majesty could procure a parliament that would repeal king Edward's laws for religion, which she quickly found means to accomplish. It is strange indeed, that when there were but seven or eight peers that opposed the laws made in favour of the Reformation under king Edward, the same house of lords should ahiiost all turn Papists in the reign of queen Mary; but as to the commons, it is less wonderful, because they are changeable, and the court tuok care to new-model the magistrates in the cities and corporations before the elections came on, so that not one almost was left that was not a Roman Catholic. Bribery and menaces were made use of in all places ; and where they could not carry elections by reason of the superiority of the reformed, the sheriffs made double returns:|:. It is sad when the religion of a nation is under such a direction ! But so it will be when the * Crosby's Hist. vol. 1. p. 63. f Burnet's Hist. Ref. vol. 2. p. 190. X Burnet's Hist. Ref. vol. 2. p. 252. THE PURITANS. 59 niaiuigement of rclii>ion falls into the hands of a bigoted prince and ministry. Queen Mary was a sad exaniy)le of the truth of this observation, whose reign was no better than one continued scene of calamity. It is the genuine picture of Popery, and should be remembered by all true Protestants with abh.orrence ; the principles of that religion being such as no man can receive, till he has abjured his senses, renounced his understanding and reason, and put off' all the tender compassions of human nature. King Edward VI. being far gone in a consumption, from a concern for preserving the Reformation, was persuaded to set aside the succession of his sisters ]\Iary and Elizabeth, and of the queen of Scots, the hrst and last being Papists, and Ehzabeth's blood being tainted by act of parliament ; and to settle the crown by will upon lady Jane Grey, eldest daughter of the duke of Suffolk, a lady of extraordinary qualities, zealous for the Reformation, and next in blood after the princesses above men- tioned. One may guess the sad apprehensions the council were under for the Protestant religion, when they put the king, who was a minor, and not capable of making a will, upon this expe- dient, and set their hands to the validity of it. The king being- dead, queen Jane was proclaimed with the usual solemnities, and an army raised to support her title ; but the princess Mary, then at Norfolk, being informed of her brother's death, sent a letter to the council, in which she claims the crown, and charges them, upon their allegiance, to proclaim her in the city of London and elsewhere. The council in return insisted upon her laying aside her claim, and submitting as a good subject to her new sovereign. But Mary, by the encouragement of her friends in the north, resolved to maintain her right ; and to make her way more easy, she promised the Suffolk men to make no alteration in religion. This gained her an army, with which she marched towards Lon- don ; but before she came thither, both the council and citizens of London declared for her : and on the 3rd of August she made her public entry, without the loss of a drop of blood, four weeks after the death of her brother. LTpon queen Mary's entrance into the Tower she released Bonner, Gardiner, and others, whom she called her prisoners. August 12, her majesty declared in council, " that though her conscience was settled in matters of religion, yet she was resolved not to compel others, but by the preaching of the word." This was different fiom her promise to the Suffolk men : she assured them that religion shoidd be left upon the same foot she found it at the death of king Edward, but now she insinuates, that the old religion is to be restored, but without compulsion." Next day there was a tumult at St. Paufs, occasioned by Dr. Bourne, one of the canons of that church, preaching against the late reformation : he spoke in connnendation of Bonner, and was going on with severe refleciions u])on the late king Edward, when the 60 HISTORY OF Avhole audience was in an uproar ; some called to pull down the preacher, others throwing* stones, and one a dagger, which stuck in the limber of the pulpit. Mr. Rogers and Bradford, two popular preachers for the Reformation, hazarded their lives to save the doctor, and conveyed him in safety to a neighbouring- house ; for which act of charity they were soon after imprisoned, and then burnt for heresy. 'J'o prevent the like tumults for the future the queen published an inhibition, August 18th, forbidding all preaching without special licence; declaring farther, that she would not compel her subjects to be of her religion, till public order should be taken in it by common assent. Here was another intimation of an approaching storm : " the subjects were not to be compelled till public order should be taken for it." And to prevent farther tumults a proclamation was published, for masters of families to oblige their apprentices and servants to frequent their own parish churches on Sundays and holidays, and keep them at home at other times. The shutting up all the Protestant pulpits at once awakened the Suffolk men, who, presuming upon their merits and the queen's promise, sent a deputation to court to represent their grievances; but the queen checked them for their insolence: and one of their number, happening to mention her promise, was put in the pillory three days together, and had his ears cut off for de- famation. 6n the 22nd of August, Bonner of London, Gardiner of Winchester, Tonstal of Durham, Heath of Worcester, arid Day of Chichester, were restored to their bishopricks. Some of the reformers, continuing to preach after the inhibition, were sent for into custody, among whom were Hooper bishop of Gloucester, Coverdale of Exeter, Dr. Taylor of Hadley, Rogers the proto- martyr, and several others. Hooper was committed to the Fleet, September 1, no regard being had to his active zeal in asserting the queen's right in his sermon against the title of lady Jane; but so sincerely did this good man follow the light of his con- science, when he could not but see what sad consequences it was like to have. Coverdale of Exeter, being a foreigner, was ordered to keep his house till farther o.der. Burnet * says he was a Dane, and had afterward leave to retire. But according to Ful- ler^f he was born in Yorkshire. Archbishop Cranmer was so silent at Lambeth, that it was thought he would have returned to the old religion ; but he was preparing a protestation against it, which taking air, he was examined, and confessing the fact, he was sent to the Tower, with bishop Latimer, about the 13th of September. The beginning of next month Holgate archbishop of York was committed, to the Tower, and Horn dean of Dur- ham, was summoned before the council, but he fled beyond sea. The storm gathering so thick upon the reformers, above eight * Burnet's Hist. Ref. vol. 3. p. 221. 239. t Fuller's 'W'orthies, b. 3. p. li)8. THE PUIIITANS. 61 luindretl of them retired into foreign parts; among whom were five bishops, viz. Poynet of Winchester, who died in exile; Bar- low of Bath and AVells, wlio was superintendent of the congrega- tion at Embden; Scory of Cliichester ; Coverdale of Exon ; and Bale of Ossory ; five deans, viz. Dr. Cox, lladdon, Horn, Turner, and Sampson ; four archdeacons, and above fifty doctors of divi- nity and eminent jM-eachers, among whom were Grindal, Jewel, Sandys, Reynolds, Pilkington, Whitehead, Lever, Nowel, Knox, Hough, Wittingham, Fox, Parkhurst, and others, famous in the reign of queen Elizabeth : besides of noblemen, merchants, trades- men, artificers, and plebeians, many hundreds. Some fied in dis- guise, or went over as the servants of foreign Protestants, who Jiaving come hither for sheltei* in king Edward''s time, were now required to leave the kingdom * ; among these were Peter Martyr and John a Lasco, with his congregation of Germans. But to prevent too many of the English embarking with them, an order of council was sent to all the ports, that none should be suffered to leave the kingdom without proper passports. The Roman Catholic party, out of their abundant zeal for their religion, out- run the laws, and celebrated mass in divers churches before it was restored by authority -f- ; while the people that favoured the Re- formation continued their public devotion with great seriousness and fervency, as foreseeing what was coming upon tlum ; but the rude multitude came into the churches, insulted their ministers, and ridiculed their worship. The court not only winked at these things, but fined judge Hales (who alone refused to sign the act which transferred the crown to Jane Grey) a thousand pounds sterling, because in his circuit he ordered the justices of Kent to conform themselves to the laws of king Edward, not yet re- pealed ; upon which that gentleman grew melancholy and drowned himself. The queen was crowned October 1, 1553, by Gardiner, at- tended by ten other bishops, all in their mitres, copes, and crosiers ; and a parliament was summoned to meet the 10th. AVhat methods were used in the elections have been related. On the 31st of October a bill was sent down to the commons for repealing king Edward's laws about religion, which was argued six days, and at length carried. It repeals in general all the late statutes relating to religion, and enacts, " that after the 20th of December next, there should be no other form of divine service but what had been used in the last year of king Henry VHP" Severe jiunishments were decreed against S'.ich as should interrupt the public service : as should abuse the holy sacrament, or break down altars, crucifixes, or crosses. It was made felony for any number of persons above twelve, to assemble together with an intention to alter the religion established by law. November 3rd, archbishop Cranmer, the lord Guilford, lady Jane, and two other * Strype's Life of Cran. p. ;U4. t Burnet's Hist. Ref. vol. 'A. p. 223. 62 UISTOKY OF sons of the duke of Northumberland, M'ere broiight to their trials for high treason, in levyincr war against the queen, and conspiring to set up another in her room. — They all confessed their indict- ments, but Cranmer appealed to hisjudges, how unwillingly he had set his hand to the exclusion of the queen: these judgments were confirmed by parliament; after which the ({ueen"'s intended mar- riage with Philip of Spain being discovered, the commons sent their speaker, and twenty of their members, humbly to entreat her majesty not to marry a stranger ; with which she was so displeased, that upon the 6th of December she dissolved the parliament. The convocation that sat with the parliament was equally de- voted to the court. Care had been taken about their elections. In the collection of public acts there are found about a hundred and fifty presentations to livings before the choice of representa- tives ; so that the lower house of convocation was of a piece with the upper, from whence almost all the Protestant bishops were excluded by imprisonment, deprivation or otherwise. Bonner presided as the (h"st bishop of the province of Canterbury, llarp.s- field his cha])lain preached the sermon on Acts xx. 28, Feed the flock ; and Weston dean of Westminster was chosen prolocutor. On the 20th of October it was proposed to the members to sub- scribe to the doctrine of transubstantiation ; which all complied with but the following six divines, who by their places had a right to sit in convocation ; Philpot archdeacon of Winchester; Philips dean of Rochester ; Haddon dean of Exeter; Cheyney archdeacon of Hereford ; Aylmer archdeacon of Stow ; and Young chanter of St. David's: these disputed upon the argument for three days, but the disputation was managed according to the fashion of the times, with reproaches and menaces on the stronger side ; and the prolocutor ended it with saying, " You have the word, but we have the sword *.*" This year [15.54] began with Wyat"'s rebellion, occasioned by a general dislike to the queen's marriage with Philip of Spain : it * Burnefs Hist. Ref, vol. 2. p. 267. Bishop Warburton, in his notes on Mr. NeaFs History (see a supplemental volume of his works, 8vo. 1788. p. 4b^.) with great anger impeaches the truth of this passage. " This is to lie (says his lordship) under the cover of truth. Can any body in his senses believe that when the only contention between the two parties was, who had the word, that the more powerful would yield it up to their adversaries. Without all doubt, some Protestant member, in the heat of dispute, said, ' We have the word ;' upon which the prolocutor insultingly answers ' But we have the sword ;' without thinking any one would be so foolish as to join the two propositions into one, and then give it to the prolocutor." In reply to these unhandsome reflections, it is sufficient to say, that Mr. Neal spoke on the authority of bishop Burnet, whom he truly quotes : and whom it would have been more con- sistent with candour and the love of truth for bishop Warburton to have consulted the authority, before he insinuated his conjectures against the statement of a fact, and without authority pointed his charge of folly and falsehood : of which Mr. Neal, by quoting his author, stands perfectly clear ; and which if well founded must fall, not on him but bishop Burnet, — whose remark on the prolocutor's speech is ; that " by it he truly pointed out wherein the strength of both causes lay." — Ed. Tin: PLRiTAXs. 03 was a raw uiiudvisccl attein])t, and occasioned crreat mischiefs to the Protestants, though religion had no share in the conspiracy, AV^yat himself being a Papist : this gentleman got together four thousand men, with whom he marched directly to London; but coming into Southwark, February 2, he found the bridge so well fortified that he could not force it without cannon ; so he marched about, and having crossed the Thames at Kingston, he came by Charing-cross to Ludgate next morning, in hopes the citizens would have opened their gates; but being disappointed, he yielded himself a prisoner at Temple-bar, and was afterward exe- cuted; as were the lady Jane Grey, lord Guilford her husband, and others; the \ady Elizabeth herself hardly escaping. "Wyat upon his trial accused her, in hopes of saving his life; upon ■which she was ordered into custody : but when Wyat saw he must die, he acquitted her on the scaffold; and upon the queen's marriage this summer she obtained her pardon. As soon as the nation was a little settled, her majesty, by virtue of the supremacy, gave instructions to her bishops to visit the clergy. The injunctions were drawn up by Gardiner, and con- tain an angry recital of all the innovations introduced into tiie church in the reign of king Edward ; and a charge to the bishops, " to execute all the ecclesiastical laws that had been in force in king Henry VIlI.'s reign; but not to proceed in their courts in the queen's name. She enjoins them not to enact the oath of su- premacy any more, but to punish heretics and heresies, and to remove all married clergymen from their wives ; but for those that would renounce their wives they might put them into some other cures. All the ceremonies, holidays, and fasts, used in king Henry's time were to he revived. Those clergymen who liad been ordained by the late service-book were to be reordained, or have the defects of their ordination supplied ; that is, the anointing, the giving the priestly vestments, with other rites of the Roman pontifical. And lastly, it was declared, that all people should be compelled to come to church *." — The archbishop of York, the bishops of St. David's, Chester, and Bristol, were de- prived for being married ; and the bishops of Lincoln, Gloucester, and Hereford, were deprived by the royal pleasure, as holding their bishopricks by such a patei^t. It was very arbitrary to tinn out the married bishops, while there was a law subsisting to legi- timate their marriages; and to deprive the other bishops without any manner of process, merely for the royal })leasure. This was acting up to the height of the supremacy, which though the queen believed to be an unlawful power, yet she claimed and used it for the service of the ]{omish church. The vacant bishopricks were filled up the latter end of March, with men after the queen's heart, to the number of sixteen, in the room of so many deprived or dead. * Burnet's History of the Reformation, vol. 2. p. 291. 274. Collection of Re- cords, num. 1.5. 04 HISTORY OF The new bishops in their visitation, and particularly bishop Bonner, executed the queen's injunctions with rigour. The mass was set up in all places, and the old Popish rites and ceremonies revived. The carvers and makers of statues had a quick trade for roods, and other images, that were to be set up again in churches. The most eminent preachers in London were under confinement; and all the married clergy throughout the kingdom wei'e deprived. Dr. Parker reckons, that of sixteen tiiousand clergymen twelve thousand were turned out; which is not pro- bable, for if we compute by the diocess of Norwich, which is almost an eighth part of England, and in which there were but three hundred and thirty-five deprived, the whole number will fall short of three thousand *. Some were turned out withont conviction, upon common fame: some were never cited, and yet turned out for not appearing. Those that quitted their wives, and did penance, were nevertheless deprived ; which was grounded on the vow that (as was pretended) they had made. ISiich was the deplorable condition of the reformed this summer, and such the cruelty of their adversaries. The queen's second parliament met April 2nd. The court had taken care of the elections by large promises of money from Spain. Their design was to persuade the parliament to approve of the Spanish match -f- ; which they accomplished, with this proviso, that the queen alone should have the government of the kingdom ; after which the houses were presently dissolved. King Ptiilip arrived in England :j: July 20th, and was married to the queen on the 27th, at Winchester, he being then in the twenty- seventh year of his age, and the queen in her thirty-eighth. He brought with him a vast mass of v,ealth ; twenty-seven chests of bullion, every chest being above a yard long ; and ninety-nine horse-loads and two cart-loads of coined silver and gold. The reformers complaining of their usage in the late dispute held in convocation, the court resolved to give them a fresh mortification, by appointing another at Oxford in presence of the whole university ; and because archbishop Cranmer, bishops Ridley and Latimer, were the most celebrated divines of the Reformation, they were by warrant from the queen removed from the Tower to Oxford, to manage the dispute. The convo- * Burner s Hist. Ref. vol. 3. p. 226. f " This," observes Dr. Warner, " is the first instance to be met with in the English history of corrupting parliaments : but the precedent has been so well followed ever since, that if ever this nation should lose its liberties and be enslaved and ruined, it will be by means of parliament corrupted with bribes and places." Ecclesiastical History, vol. 2. p. Ml — Ed. X The view of Philip, in this match, was undoubtedly to make himself master of the kingdom. When attervyard IVIary was supposed to be pregnant, he ajiplied to parliament to be appointed regent during the minority of the child, and offered security to resign the government on its coming of age. The motion "was warmly debated in the house of peers, and nearly carried ; when the lord Paget stood up and said, " Pray who shall sue the king's bond?'' This laconic speech had its intended effect, and the debate was soon concluded in the negative. Granger's Biogr. History of England, vol. 1. p. 161. note, 8vo. edition — Ed. IJIK rillUTANS. 05 cation sent their prolocutor antl scvcriil of tlieir mcnihers, wlio arriving on the 18th of April bein. Dr. Warner, whose character of cardinal Pole is a panegyric, yet says, " that he was very inconsistent in one particular ; which was, that at the same time he was exclaiming against the persecution of the reformed, and would not himself take any part in that slaughter, he was giving commissions to others to proceed in it, and returned a certificate into the court of Chancery, of several who had been convicted of heresy before the commissaries of his appointing." Ecclesiastical History, vol. 2. p. 402.— Ed. f Hist. Ref vol. .3. in Records, numb. 38. THE PURITANS. 09 treated with all kinds of inhumanity and scorn. They threaten us every day with death, which we do not value. We resolutely ilespise fire and sword for the cause of Christ. We know in whom we have believed, and are sure we have committed our souls to him by well-doing. In the meantime, help us with your prayers, that he that has begun the good work in us would per- form it to the end. We are the Lord"*?, let him do with us as seemeth good in his sight." About the same time Mr. Saunders, another minister, was burnt at Coventry. When he came to the stake, he said, " Wel- come the cross of Christ ; welcome everlasting life." Dr. Taylor, parson of Hadley, suffered next: Gardiner used him very roughly, and after condenming and degrading him sent him to his own parsonage to be burnt ; which he underwent with great courage February 9, though he had barbarous usage in the fire, his brains being beat out with one of tiie halberts. Gardiner seeing himself disappointed, meddled no further, but committed the prosecution of the bloody work to Bonner bishop of London. This clcrjjynian behaved more like a cannibal than a Christian ; he condemned without mercy ail that came before him ; ordering them to be kept in the most cruel durance till they were delivered over to the civil magistrate. He tore off the beard of Tomkins a weaver in Shoreditch, and held his hand in the Hame of a candle till tlie sinews and veins shrunk and burst, and the blood spirted out in Harpsfields face, who was standing by. He put others in dungeons, and in the stocks, and fei\ them with bread antl water ; and when they were brought before him in- sulted over their misery in a most brutish manner. In the month of Alarch were burnt, bishop Ferrars, at St. David's; Mr. Lawrence, a priest, at Colchester; Mr. Tomkins, a weaver, in Smithfiekl ; Mr. Hunter, an apprentice of nineteen years of age, at Brentwood ; Mr. Causton and Mr. Higden, gentlemen of good estates, in Essex ; Mr. William Pigot, at Braintree ; Mr. Stephen Knight, at Maiden ; Mr. llawlings White, a poor fisherman, at Cardiffe. In the next month, Mr. IMarch, a priest, at Chester ; and one Flower, a young nsan, in St. Margaret's churchyard, Westminster. These burnings were disliked by the nation, which began to he astonished at the courage and constancy of the martyrs ; and to be startled at the unrelenting severity of the bishops, who, being reproached with their cruelties, threw the odium upon the king and queen. At the same time a petition was printed by the exiles beyond sea, and addressed to the queen, putting her in mind, "that the Turks tolerated Christians, and Christians in the most places tolerated Jews. That no Paj)ist had been put to death for religion in king Edward's time. And then they beseech the nobiliiy and connnon people to intercede with her majesty, to put a stop to this issue of blood, and at least grant her sulijects the same liberty she al!ow<.';s of those debates which afterward occasioned unspeakable mischiefs to the church ; for though the Pelagian doctrine was espoused but by a very few of the English reformers, and was buried in that prison where it began for almost fifty years, it revived in the latter end of queen Elizabeth, under the name of Arminianism, and within the compass of a few years supplanted the received doctrine of the Reformation. Many of the clergy that were zealous professors of the gospel under king Edward VI. through fear of death recanted and sub- scribed ; some out of weakness, who, as soon as they were out of danger, revoked their subscri})tions, and openly confessed their fall : of this sort were Scory and Barlow, bishops, the famous Mr. Jewel, and others. Among the common people some went to mass to preserve their lives, and yet frequented the assemblies of the Gospellers, holding it not unlawful to be present with their bodies at the service of the mass, as long as their spirits did not consent f. Bradford and others wrote with great warmth against these tem- porizers, and advised their brethren not to trust or consort with them. They also published a treatise upon this argument, enti- tled, the Mischief and Hurt of the Mass ; and recommended the reading it to all that had defiled themselves with that idolatrous service. But though many complied with the times, and some con- cealed themselves in friends' houses, shifting from one place to another, others resolved with the hazard of their lives to join together and worship God, according to the service-book of king Edward. There were several of these congregations up and down the country, which met together in the night, and in secret places, to cover themselves from the notice of their persecutors. Great numbers in Suftblk and Essex constantly frequented the private assemblies of the Gospellers, and came not at all to the public service ; but the most considerable congregation was in and about London, It was formed soon after queen Mary's accession, and consisted of above two hundred members. They had divers preachers, as Mr. Scambler afterward bishop of Peterborough, Mr. Fowler, IVIr. Rough a Scotsman, who was burnt ; Mr. Bernher, and Mr. Bentham, who survived the persecution, and in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, was made bishop of Litchfield and Coventry ; Mr. Cuthbert Simpson was deacon of " Mr. Neal's language and sentiments are not here the most correct. Disputes arising from differences of opinion on points of speculation, may be proofs of the frailty of our nature; as they shew, that all cannot attain to precise ideas, a clear discernment, and comprehensive views, on subjects that are attended with many difficulties. But liosv do they indicate the corruption of human nature ? That betrays itself in the intemperate spirit and language with which they are managed, and should be imputed not to human nature, but to the want of self-government in those individuals who thus ofl'end. It is not jjroper, indiscriminately, to condemn disputes, because such censures operate as discouragements and bars to the investi- gation of the truth Ed. f Strype's Life of Craumer, p. 3(i2, .%':'. 76 HISTOUY OF the church, and kept a book with names of all that belonged to it : they met sometimes about Aldgate, sometimes in Black- iViars, sometimes in Thames-street, and sometimes on board of ships, when they had a master, for their purpose : sometimes they assembled in the villages about London, to cover themselves from the bishops' officers and spies; and especially at Islington ; but here, by the treachery of a false brother, the congregation was at length discovered and broke up : Mr. Rough their mi- nister, and Mr. Simpson their deacon, were apprehended and burnt, with many others. Indeed the whole church was in the utmost danger; for whereas Simpson the deacon used to carry the book wherein the names of the congregation were contained, to their private assemblies, he happened that day, through the good providence of God, to leave it with Mrs. Hough the mi- nister's wife. When he was in the Tower the recorder of Lon- don examined him strictly, and because he would neither discover the book or the names, he was put upon the rack three times in one day*. lie was then sent to Bonner, who said to the spec- tators, " You see what a personable man this is ; and for his patience, if he was not a heretic, I should much commend him, for he has been thrice racked in one day, and in my house has endured some sorrow, and yet 1 never saw his patience moved." But notwithstanding this, Bonner condemned him, and ordered him first into the stocks in his coal-house, and from thence to Smithfield, where with Mr. Fox and Davenish, two others of the church taken at Islington, he ended his life in the flames. Many escaped the fury of the persecution, by withdrawing from the storm, and flying into foreign countries. Some went into France and Flanders, some to Geneva, and others into those parts of Germany and Switzerland where the Reformation had taken place; as Basil, Frankfort, Embden, Strasburgh, Does- burgh, Arrow, and Zurich, where the magistrates received them with great humanity, and allowed them places for public worship. But the uncharitableness of the Lutherans on this occasion was very remarkable ; they hated the exiles because they were Sacra- mentarians, and when any English came among them for shelter, they expelled them their cities ; so that they found little hos- pitality in Saxony and other places of Germany where Luthe- ranism was professed. Philip Melancthon interceded with the senate on their behalf, but the clergy were so zealous for their consubstantiation, that they irritated the magistrates every where against them. The number of the refugees is computed at above eight-hundred ; the most considerable of whom have been mentioned, as the bishops of Winchester, Bath, and Wells, Chichester, Exeter, and Ossory ; the deans of Christ-church, Exeter, Durham, Wells, and Chichester ; the archdeacons of Canterbury, Stowe, and Lincoln ; with a great many other very learned divinesf. The laity of distinction were, the duchess of * Clarke's Martyr, p. 497. f Strype's Life of Cranmer, p. .'{o4, &c. THE ruRiTAys. (7 Suffolk with her hiisbaiul, sir Thomas Wroth, Sir Richard Morison, sir Aiitiiony Cook, sir John Chcekc, and others. TJje exiles were most numerous at Frankfort, where that contest and division began which gave rise to the Puritans, and to that separation from the church of England which continues to this day. It will therefore be necessary to trace it from its original. On the 27th of June 1554, Mr. "Whittingham, Wil- liams, Sutton, and Wood, with their families and friends, came to settle at the city of Frankfort : and upon application to the ma- gistrates were admitted to a partnership in the French church for a place of worship ; the two congregations being to meet at different hours, as they should agree among themselves, but with this proviso, That before they entered they shoidd subscribe the French confession of faith, and not quarrel about ceremonies, to which the English agreed ; and after consultation among them- selves they concluded, by universal consent of all present, not to answer aloud after the minister, nor to use the litany and sur- plice ; but that the public service should begin with a general confession of sins, then the people to sing a psalm in metre in a plain tune, after which the minister to pray for the assistance of God's Holy Spirit, and so proceed to the sermon ; after sermon, a general prayer for all estates, and y)articularly for England, at the end of which was joined the Lord'^s prayer, and a rehearsal of the articles of belief; then the people were to sing another psalm, and the minister to dismiss them with a blessing. They took possession of their church July 29th, 1554, and having chosen a minister and deacons to serve for the present, they sent to their brethren that were dispersed, to invite them to come to Frankfort, where they might hear God's word truly preached, the sacraments rightly ministered, and Scripture discipline used, which in their own country could not be obtained. The more learned clergymen, and some younger divines, settled at Strasburgh, Zurich, and Basil, for the benefit of the libraries of those places, and of the learned conversation of the professors, as well as in hopes of some little employment in the way of printing*. The congregation at Frankfort sent letters to these ])laces of the 2nd of August 1554, beseeching the English divines to send some of their number, whom they might choose, to take the oversight of them. In their letter they commend their new settlement, as nearer the policy and order of Scripture than the service-book of king Edward. The Strasburgh divines demurring upon the affair, the congregation at Frankfort sent for j\Ir. Knox from Geneva, Mr. Haddon from Strasburgh, and Mr. Eever from Zurich, whom they elected for their ministers. At length the students at Zm-ich sent them word, that unless they might be assured, that they would use the same order of service concerning religion, as was set forth by king Edward, they would * Hist, of the Troubles of Francfort, printed l.")75. lIISTOTiy OF not come to them, for tliey were fully determined to admit and use no other. To this the Frankfort congregation replied, that they would use the service-book as far as God's word commanded it ; but as for the unprofitable ceremonies, though some of them were tolerable, yet being in a strange country they could not be suffered to use them ; and indeed they thought it better that they should never be practised. " If any (say they) think that the not using the book in all points should weaken our godly fnthers and brethren's hands, or be a disgrace to the worthy laws of king Edward, let them consider, that they themselves have upon consideration and circumstances altered many things in it heretofore ; and if God had not in these wicked days otherwise determined, would hereafter have altered more ; and in our case we doubt not but they would have done as we do." So they made use of the book, but omitted the litany and responses. But this not giving satisfaction, Mr. Chambers and Mr. Grindal came with a letter from the learned men of Strasburgh, subscribed with sixteen hands, in which they exhort them in the most pressing language to a full conformity. They say, they make no question but the magistrates of Frankfort will consent to the use of the English service, and therefore they cannot doubt of the congregation's good-will and ready endea- vours to reduce their church to the exact pattern of king Ed- ward''s book, as far as possible can be obtained : " should they deviate from it at this time, they apprehend they should seem to condemn those who were now sealing it with their blood, and give occasion to their adversaries to charge them with incon- stancy." The Frankfort congregation, in their letter of De- cember 3rd, reply, that " they had omitted as few ceremonies as possible, so that there was no danger of their being charged with inconstancy. They apprehended that the martyrs in England were not dying in defence of ceremonies, which they allow may be altered ; and as for doctrine there is no diiference ; therefore, if the learned divines of Strasburgh should come to Frankfort with no other views but to reduce the congregation to king Ed- ward's form, and to establish the Popish ceremonies, they give them to understand that they had better stay away." This was signed by John Knox, now come from Geneva, John Bale, John Fox, the martyrologist, and foiuleen more. Things being in this uncertain posture at Frankfort ; king Edward's book being used in part, but not wholly ; and there being no prospect of an accommodation with their brethren at Strasburgh, they resolved to ask the advice of the famous Mr. Calvin, pastor of the church at Geneva; who having perused the English liturgy, took notice, "that there weremany tolerable weak- nesses in it, which, because at first they could not be amended, were to be suffered ; but that it behoved the learned, grave, and godly ministers of Christ to enterprise farther, and to set up something more filed from rust, and purer. If religion (says he) THE PURITANS. 79 had flourished till this day in England, many of these things should have been corrected. But since the Reformation is over- thrown, and a church is to be set up in another place, vvliere you are at hberty to establish what order is most for edification, 1 cannot tell what they mean, who are so fond of the leavings of Popish dregs."" Upon this letter the Frankfort congregation agreed not to submit to the Strasburgh divines, but to make use of so much of the service-book as they had done, till the end of April 155o; and if any new contention arose among them in the meantime, the matter was to be referred to Calvin, IMusculus, INIartyr, Bullinger, and Vyret. But upon the 13th of March, Dr. Cox, who had been tutor to king Edward VI. a man of a high spirit, but of great credit with his countrymen, coming to Frankfort with some of his friends, broke through the agreement, and interrupted the public service by answering aloud after the minister ; and the Sunday following one of his company, without the consent of the con- gregation, ascended the pulpit, and read the whole litany. Upon this Mr. Knox their minister taxed the authors of this disorder in his sermon with a breach of their agreement ; and farther affirmed, that some things in the service-book were superstitious and impure. — The zealous Dr. Cox reproved him for his cen- soriousness ; and being admitted with his company to vote in the congregation, got the majoritv to forbid Mr. Knox to preach any more. But Knox's friends applied to the magistrate, who commanded them to unite with the French church both in dis- cipline and ceremonies, according to their first agreement. Dr. Cox and his friends, finding; Knox's interest among the magis- trates too strong, had recourse to an unchristian method to get rid of him. This divine, some years before when he was in England, had published an English book, called An Admo- nition to Christians ; in which he hati said, tliat the emperor was no less an enemy to Christ than Nero. For which, and some other expressions in the book, these gentlemen accused him of high treason against the emperor. The senate being tender of the emperor's honour, and not willing to embroil themselves in a controversy of this nature, desired Mr. Knox in a respectful manner, to depart the city, which he did accordingly, March 25, 1555. After this Cox's party being strengthened by the addition of several English divines from other places, sixteen of them, viz. three doctors of divinity, and thirteen bachelors, petitioned the magistrates for the free use of king Edward's service-book, which they were pleased to grant. Thus the old congregation was broke up by Dr. Cox and his friends, who now carried all before them. They chose new church-officers, taking no notice of the old ones, and set up the service-book of king Edward without interruption. Knox's friends would have left the matter to the arbitration of divines, which the others refused, but wrote to Mr. Calvin to 8i) IIISTiMiY OF countenance their proceedings, wh'uli that great tlivit>e could not do; hut after a modest excuse for intenneddhng in their affairs, told them, that " in his opinion they were too much addicted to the English ceremonies; nor could he see to what purpose it was to hurden the church with such hurtful and offensive things, when there was liberty to have a simple and more pure order. He blamed their conduct to Mr. Knox, which he said, was neither godly nor brotherly ; and concludes with beseeching them to pre- vent divisions among themselves."" This pacific letter having no effect, the old congregation left their countrymen in possession of their church, and departed the city. Mr. Fox the martyroh)gist with a few more went to Basil; and the rest to Geneva, where they were received with great humanity, and having a church ap- pointed them, they chose Mr. Knox and Goodman their pastors. Here they set up the Geneva discipline, which they published in English, under the title of The Service, DiscijjJiue, and Form, of Common Prayers and Administration of Sacraments used in the English Church of Geneva: with a dedication to their brethren in England and elsewhere. Dated from Geneva, Fel)ruary 10th, 1556. The liturgy is too long to be inserted in this place, but is agreeable to that of the French churches. In their dedication they say, " that their discipline is limited within the compass of God's word, which is sufficient to govern all our actions. That the dilatory proceedings of the bishops in reforming church-disci- pline, and removing offensive ceremonies, is one cause of the heavy judgments of God upon the land. That the late service-book of king Edward being now set aside by parliament according to law, it was in no sense the established worship of the church of Eng- land, and consequently they were under no obligation to use it, any farther than it was consonant to the word of God. Being therefore at liberty, and in a strange land, they had set up such an order as, in the judgment of Mr. Calvin and other learned divines, was most agreeable to Scripture, and the best reformed churches." Their reasons for laying aside the late rites and cere- monies were these; '-because being invented by men, though upon a good occasion, yet they had since been abused to supei"- stition, and made a necessary part of divine worship. U'hus Hezekiah was commended for breaking in pieces the brazen ser- pent, after it had been erected eight hundred years, and the high places that had been abused to idolatry were commanded to be destroyed. In the New Testament, the washing the disciples'* feet, which was practised in the primitive church, was for wise reasons laid aside, as well as their love-feasts. Besides, these rites and ceremonies have occasioned great contentions in the church in every age. The Galatian Christians objected to St. Paul, that he did not observe the Jewish ceremonies as the other apostles did ; and yet he observed them while there was any hope of gain- ing over weak brethren ; for this reason he circumcised Timothy; but when he perceived that men would retain them as necessary THE PURITANS. 81 tilings in llie duircli, lie called that, wliicli before lie made indif- ferent, wicked and impious, sayin^-, that ' whosoever was circum- cised, Christ could noihing profit him.' Tlie like contentions have been between the Greek and Latin church in later ages. For which, and other reasons, they have thought fit to lay aside these human inventions which have done so much mischief; and have contented themselves with that wisdom that is contained in God's book ; which directs them to preach the word of God purely, to minister the sacraments sincerely, and use prayers and other orders thereby approved, to the edification of the church, and increase of God\s glory." The reader has now seen the first breach or schism between the English exiles, on the account of the service-book of king Ed- ward ; which made way for the distinction, by which the two parties were afterwards known, of Puritans and Conformists. It is evident that Dr. Cox and his friends were the aggressors, by breaking in upon the agreement of the congregation of Frankfort, which was in peace, and had consented to go on in their way of worship for a limited time, which time was not then expired. He artfully ejected Mr. Knox fx'om his ministry among them, and brought in the service-book with a high hand ; by which those who had been in possession of the church about nine months *, were obliged to depart the city, and set up their worship in an- other place. The doctor and his friends discovered an ill spirit in this affair. They might have used their own forms without im-^ posing them upon others, and breaking a congregation to pieces, that had settled upon a different foundation with the leave of the government under which they lived. But they insisted, that be- cause the congregation of Frankfort was made up of Englishmen, they ought to have the form of an English church ; that many of them had subscribed to the use of the service-book ; and that the departing from it at this time was pouring contempt on the mar- tyrs who were sealing it with their blood. But the others re])lied, that the laws of their country relating to the service- book were repealed; and as for their subscription, it could not bind them from making nearer approaches to the purity and simplicity of the Cliristian worship, especially w'hen there was no established Protestant church of England, and they were in a strange country, where the vestments and ceremonies gave offence. Besides, it was allowed on all hands, that the book itself was imperfect ; and it was credibly reported, that the archbishop of Canterbury had drawn up a form of common prayer much more perfect, but that he could not make it take place, because * Mr. Neal has said, " almost two years ;" here, by consulting his authority, " the troubles at Frankfort," it appears that he is properly corrected by bishop Maddux. In other respects his lordship's animadversions on this part of Mr.NeaPs History are not just or accurate; if Mr. Neal's authority, to which he has faitli- fully adhered, deserves credit. This piece, when it was become scarce, was re- jirinted in the I'haMiix, vol. 2. 1708. Mr. Slrype refers to it, as givinir autlicnii- information. — Eu. VOL. I. G 82 HISTORY OF of the corruption of the clergy. As for discipline, it was out of the (jnestioii that it was imjK'rfect, for the service-book itself laments the want of it; and therefore they apprehend, that if the martyrs themselves were in their circumstances they would prac- tise with the same latitude, and reform those imperfections in the English service-book, which they attempted, but could not obtain in their own country. To return to Dr. Cox's congregation at Frankfort. The doctor having settled Mr. Horn in the pastoral office, in the room of Mr. Whitehead who resigned, after some time left the place. But within six months a new division happened among them, occa- sioned by a private dispute between Mr. Horn the minister, and Mr. Ashby, one of the principal members. Mr. Horn summoned Ashby to appear at the vestry before the elders and officers of the church ; Ashby appealed from them as parties, to the whole church, who appointed the cause to be brought before them ; but Mr. Horn and the officers protested against it, and chose rather to lay down their ministry and service in the church, than submit to a popular decision. The congregation being assembled on this occasion, gave it as their opinion, that in all controversies among themselves, and especially in cases of appeals, the dernier resort should be in the church. It is hardly credible wliat heats and divisions, factions and parties, these personal quarrels occa- sioned among a handful of strangers, to the scandal of religion, and their own reproach Avith the people among whom they lived. At length the magistrate interposed, and advised them to bury all past offences in oblivion, and to choose new church-officers in the room of those that had laid down ; and since their discipline was defective as to the points of controversy that had been before them, they commanded them to appoint certain persons of their number to draw up a new form of discipline, or correct and amend the old one ; and to do this before they chose their ecclesiastical officers, that, being all private persons, they might agree upon that which was most reasonable in itself, without respect of persons or parties. This precept was delivered in writing, March 1st, 1557, and signed by Mr. John Glauburge. Hereupon fifteen persons were appointed to the work, which after some time was finislied; and having been subscribed by the church, to the number of fifty-seven, was confirmed by the magistrate; and on the 21st of December, twenty-eight more were added to the church and subscribed ; but Mr. Horn and his party, to the num- ber of twelve, dissented, and appealed to the magistrates, who had the patience to hear their objections, and the others"" reply. But Mr. Horn and his friends, not prevailing, left the congrega- tion to their new discipline, and departed the city ; from which time they continued in peace till the death of queen Mary. During these troubles died Dr. Poynet, late bishop of Win- chester, born in Kent, and educated in Queen''s college, Oxon, a very learned and pious divine, who was in such favour with king TITF, rURITANS. 83 Edward for liis practical prcacliin^, tliaf lie preferred him first to the hishojM'ick of Rochester, and then to Winchester *. Upon the accession of queen Mary lie Med to Strasburgli, where he died yVugust 2, loJG, before he was full forty years old, and was buried with great lamentations of his countrymen. To return to England. Both the universities were visited this year. At Cambridge they burnt the bodies of Bucer and Fagius, with their books and heretical writings. At Oxford the visiters went through all the colleges, and burnt all the English Bibles, and such heretical books as they could find. They took up the body of Peter Martyr's wife out of one of the churches, and buried it in a dunghill, because, having been once a nun, she broke her vow ; but her body was afterward taken up again in cpieen Elizabeth's time, and mixed with the bones of St. Fridis- wide, that they might never more be disturbed by Papists. The persecution of the reformed was carried on with all imaginable fury ; and a design was set on foot to introduce the inquisition, by giving covnmissions to certain laymen to search for persons suspected of heresy, and present them to their ordinaries, as has been related. Cardinal Pole being thought too favourable to he- retics, because he had released several that were brought before hin» upon their giving ambiguous answeis, had his legantine power taken from him, and was recalled ; but upon his sub- missitni lie was forgiven, and continued here till his death, but had little influence afterward either in the courts of Rome or England, being a clergyman of too much temper for the times he lived in. Princess Elizabeth was in constant danger of her life through- out the whole course of this reign. Upon the breaking out of Wyat's conspiracy she was sent to the Tower, and led in by the Ti-aitoi-s' gate ; her own servants being put from her, and no per- son allowed to have access to her : the governor used her hardly, not suffering her to walk in the*gallcry, or upon the leads. Wyat and his confederates were examined about her, and some of them put to the rack ; but they all cleared her except Wyat, who once accused her, in hopes to save his life, but declai-cd upon the scaf- fold to all the people, that he only did it with that view. After some time she was sent to Woodstock in custody of sir Henry Benefield, who used her so ill, that she apprehended they de- signed to put her privately to death. Here she was under close confinement, being seldom allowed to walk in the gardens. The politic bishop Gardiner often moved the queen to think of putting lier out of the w'ay, saying, it was to no purpose to lop off the branches while the tree was left standing. ]kit king Philip was iier friend ; who sent for her to court, where she fell upon her knees before the queen, and protested her innocence, as to all conspiracies and treasons against her majesty ; but the queen Fulki's Wortliies, b. 2. p. 72. G 2 84 HISTORY OF still hated her : liowever, after tliat, her guards were discharged, and she was suffered to retire into the country, where she gave herself wholly to study, meddling in no sort of business, for she was always apprehensive of spies about her. The princess com- plied outwardly with her sistcr''s religion, avoiding as much as she could all discourses with the bishops, who suspected her of an inclination to heresy from her education. The queen herself was apprehensive of the danger of the Popish religion if she died without issue; and was often urged by her clergy, especially when her health was visibly declining, to secure the Roman Ca- tholic religion, by delivering the kingdom from such a presump- tive heir. Her majesty had no scruple of conscience about spill- ing human blood in the cause of religion ; the preservation of the princess was therefore little less than a miracle of Divine Provi- dence, and was owing, under God, to the protection of king Philip, who despairing of issue from his queen, was not without expectations from the princess. But the hand of God was against queen Mary and her govern- ment, which was hardly attended with one prosperous event ; for instead of having issue by her marriage, she had only a false con- ception, so that there was little or no hopes afterward of a child. This increased the sourness of her temper; and her husband being much younger than herself, grew weary of her, slighted her company; and then left her to look to his hereditary domi- nions, after he had lived with her about fifteen months. Thei*e being a war between Spain and France, the queen was obliged to take part with her husband ; this exhausted the treasure of the nation, and was the occasion of the loss of all the English domi- nions upon the continent. In the beginning of this year the strong town of Calais was taken, after it had been in the posses- sion of the English two hundred and ten years : afterward the French took G nines and the rest of that territory; nothing being left but the isles of Jersey and Guernsey. The English, says a learned writer, had lost their hearts ; the government at home being so unacceptable that they were not much concerned to support it, for they began to think that heaven itself was against it. Indeed there were strange and unusual accidents in the hea- vens*. Great mischief was done in many places by thunder and lightning ; by deluges ; by excessive rains ; and by stormy winds. There was a contagious distemper like the plague, that swept away great numbers of people; so that in many places there were not priests to bury the dead, nor men enough to reap the harvest. Many bishops died, which made way for the Pro- testant ones in the next reign. — The parliament was dissatisfied with king Philip's demands of men and money for the recovery of Calais; and the queen herself grew melancholy upon the loss of * Buruefs Mist. Ref. vol. 2. p. 366. THE PURITANS. 8.5 that, place, and the other misfortunes of the year. She had been decHnino- in heaUh ever since her pretended miscarriage, which was vastly increased by the absence of her husband, her despair of issue, and the cross accidents that attended her government. Her spirits w^ere now decayed, and a droj)sy coming violently upon her put an end to her unhappy life and reign, November 17, 1558, in the forty- third year of her age, and sixth of her reign ; cardinal Pole, archbishop of Canterbury, dying the same day *. Queen Mary was a princess of severe princi[)les, constant at her prayers, and very little given to diversions. She did not mind any branch of government so much as the church, being entirely at the disposal of her clergy, and forward to give a sanction to all their cruelties. She had deep resentments of her own ill-usage in her father's and brother\s reigns, which easily induced her to take revenge, though she coloured it over with a zeal against heresy. She was perfectly blind in matters of religion, her con- science being absolutely directed by the pope and her confessor, wlio encouraged her in all the cruelties that were exercised against the Protestants, assuring her, that she was doing God and his church good service. There is but one instance of a pardon of any condemned for heresy during her whole reign. Her natural temper was melancholy ; and her infirmities, together with the misfortunes of her government, made her so peevish, that her death was lamented by none but her Popish clergy. Her reign was in every respect calamitous to the nation, and " ought to be transmitted down to posterity in characters of blood." CHAPTER IV. FROM THE BEGINNING OF QUEEN ELIZABETH'S REIGN TO THE SEPARATION OF THE PROTESTANT NONCONFORMISTS. Queen Elizabeth's t accession to the crown gave new life to the Reformation : as soon as it was known beyond sea most of the exiles returned home; and those who had hid themselves in the houses of their friends began to appear; but the public religion continued for a time in the same posture the (pieen found it ; the Popish ])riests kept their livings, and went on celebrating mass. None of the Protestant clergy wlio had been ejected in the last reign were restored ; and orders were given against all innovations • During liis residence in Italy, on tlie demise of Paul III. cardinal Pule had been elected pope, at midnight, by the conclave ; and sent for to come and he ad- mitted. He desired that this, as it was not a work of darkness, might he post- poned to the mornini^. Upon this message, the cardinals, without any further ceremony, proceeded to another election, and chose the cardinal Dc Monte; who, before he left the conclave, bestowed a hat upon a servant who looked alter his monkey, (irangci's Biogr. History, Bvo. vol. 1. p. 168, note.— Ed. t Strype's Ann. vol. I. p. 251. 175. 86 HISTOKV OF witliuut public authority. Though the queen had conij)Hed with the changes in her sister\s reign, it was well known she was a favourer of the Reformation ; but her majesty proceeded with great caution, for fear of I'aising distuibances in her infant go- vernment. No prince ever came to the crown under greater disadvantages. The pope had pronounced her illegitimate ; upon which the queen of Scots put in her claim to the crown. All the bishops and clergy of the present establishment were her declared enemies. The nation was at war with France, and the treasury exhausted ; the queen therefore, by the advice of her privy council, resolved to make peace with her neighbours as soon as possible, that she might be more at leisure to proceed in her intended alterations of religion, which, though very considerable, were not so entire as the best and most learned Protestants of these times desired. The queen inherited the spirit of her father, and affected a great deal of magnificence in her devotions, as well as in her court. She was fond of many of the old rites and cere- monies in which she had been educated. She thought her bro- ther had stripped religion too much of its ornaments ; and made the doctrines of the church too narrow in some points. It was therefore with difficulty that she was prevailed on to go the length of king Edward's reformation *. The only thing her majesty did before the meeting of the par- liament, was to prevent pulpit disputes ; for some of the reformed that had been preachers in king Edward's time, began to make use of his service-book without authority or licence from their superiors; this alarmed the Popish clergy, and gave occasion to a proclamation, dated December 27, 1558-f-. By which all preach- ing of ministers, or others, was prohibited ; and the people were charged to hear no other doctrine or preaching, but the epistle and gospel for the day, and the ten commandments in English, with- out any ex])osition or para[)hrase whatsoever. The proclamation admits of the litany, the Lord's prayer, and the creed, in English ; but no public prayers were to be read in the church but such as were appointed by law, till the meeting of the parliament, which was to be upon the 2ord of Januaryj. § While the exiles were pjepairing to return home, conciliatory letters passed between theuj ; those of Geneva desired a mutual forgiveness, and prayed their breUnen of Arrow, Basil, Frankfort, Strasburgh, and Worms, to unite with them in preaching God's word, and in endeavouring to obtain such a form of worship as they had seen practised in the best reformed churches. The others replied, that it would not be in their power to appoint what * Burnet's Hist. Ref. vol. 2. p. 376. t This proclainatioii was directed agaiust the Papists as well as the reformed: "tor both," says Stjype, "took their occasions to speak freely their minds in the jiulpits. Strype's Auuals, vol I. Appendix, ]'. 3. Camden's Eliz. p. (>. X Burnet's ilistory ol the Ueruriii. \ol. 2. p. 3/"(J -'378. § Strype's Ann. vol. I. p. 103-105. THE PURITANS. 87 ceremonies should be observed ; but they were determined to sub- mit in tilings indidercnt, and hoped those of Geneva would do so too ; however, they would join with them in petitioning the queen, that nothing burdensome might be imposed. Both parties con- gratidated her majesty's accession, in poems, addresses, and dedi- cations of books; but they were reduced to the utmost poverty and distress. They came thread-bare home, bringing nothing with them (says Mr. Strype*) but much experience, as well as learning. Those who could comply with the queen's establishment were quickly preferred, but the rest were neglected, and though suffered to j)reach in the churches for some time, they were after- ward suspended, and reduced to as great poverty as before. It had been happy, if the sufferings of the exiles had taught them a little more charity and mutual forbearance; or that they had followed the advice of their learned friends and patrons beyond sea, who advised them to go through with the reforma- tion, and clear the church of all the relics of Popery and super- stition at once. This was the advice of G ualter, one of the chief divines of Zurich, who in his letter to Dr. Masters, the queen's physician, January 16, 1558-9, wishes, " that the reformers among us would not hearken to the counsels of those men, who when they saw that Popery could not be honestly defended, nor entirely retained, would use all artifices to have the outward face of religion to remain mixed, uncertain, and doubtful ; so that while an evan- gelical reformation is pretended, those things should be obtruded on the church which will make the returning back to Popery, superstition, and idolatry, very easy. We have had the experience of this (says he) for some years in Germany, and know what in- fluence such persons may have : their counsels seem to a carnal judgment to be full of modest}', and well fitted for carrying on a universal agreement ; and we may well believe the common enemy of our salvation will find out proper instruments, by whose means the seeds of Popery may still remain among you. I apprehend, that in the first beginnings, while men may study to avoid the giving some small offence, many things may be suffered imder this colour, that they will be continued but for a little while, and yet afterward it will scarce be possible by all the endeavours that can be used to get tliem removed, at least not without great strugglings-j-.'" I'he letter seems to be written with a prophetic spirit ; JMasters laid it before the queen, who read it all over, though without effect. Letters of the same strain were written by the learned Bullingcr, Peter Martyr, and Weidner, to the earl of Bedford, who had In-en some time at Zurich; and to Jewel, Sandys, Horn, Cox, Grindal, and the rest of the late exiles, pressing them vehe- mently to act with zeal and courage, and to take care in the first beginriings to have all things settled iqion sure and sound foun- dations. The exiles in their answers seem resolved to follow their advices, * Annals, vol. 1. p. 12y. f Hist. lief. vol. 3. p. 276. 88 HISTORY Gl- and make a bold stand for a thorough reformation ; and if they had done so, they might have obtained it. — Jewel, in his letter of May 22, 1559, thanks BuUinger for quickening their zeal and courage ; and adds " they were doing what they could ; and that all things were coming into a better state." In another of April 10, "he laments the want of zeal and industry in promoting the Reforma- tion ; and that things were managed in so slow and cautious a manner, as if the word of God was not to be received on his own authority." In another of November 16, *' he complains of the queen's keeping a crucifix in her chapel, with lighted candles ; that there was worldly policy in this, which he did not like : that" all things were so loose and uncertain with them, that he did not know whether he should not be obliged to return back to Zurich. He complains of the Popish vestments, which he calls the relics of the Amorites, and wishes they were extirpated to the deepest roots." The like complaints were made by Cox, Grindal, Horn, rilkington, and others; but they had not the resolution to perse- vere : had they united counsels, and stood by one anothei*, they might at this juncture have obtained the removal of those griev- ances wliich afterward occasioned the separation. To return to the parliament. The court took such measures about elections as seldom fail of success ; the magistrates of the counties and corporations were changed, and the people, who were weary of the late persecutions, were assisted, and encouraged to exert themselves in favour of such representatives as might make them easy ; so that when the houses met, the majority were on the side of the Reformation. The temper of the house was first tried by a bill to restore to the crown the first-fruits and tenths, which queen Mary had returned to the church. It passed the commons without much opposition, February 4th, but in the house of lords all the bishops voted against it*. By another act they repealed some of the penal laws, and enacted, that no person should be punished for exercising the religion used in the last year of king Edward. They ajipointed the public service to be performed in the vulgar tongue. They empowered the queen to nominate bishops to the vacant bishopricks by cowjc (Vel'ire, as at present. They suppressed the religious houses founded by queen Mary, and annexed them to the crown ; but the two principal acts passed this session were, the acts of supremacy, and of uniformity of com- mon prayer. The i'ormer is entitled, an act for restoring to the crown the ancient jurisdiction over the state ecclesiastical and spiritual ; and for abolishing foreign power. It is the same for substance with the twenty-fifth of Henry VIII. already mentioned, but the com- mons incorporated several other bills into it ; for besides the title of supreme governor in all causes ecclesiastical and temporal, which is restored to the ([ueen, the act revives those laws of king Henry * Shypc, p. 67. THE PURITANS. 89 VIII. and king Edward VI. which had been repealed in the late reign. It forbids all apjjcais to Rome, and exonerates the sub- jects from all exactions and impositions heretofore j)aid to that court ; and as it revives king Edward's laws, it repeals a severe act made in the late reign for punishing heresy* ; and three other old statutes mentioned in the said act. " Moreover, all persons in any public employs, whether civil or ecclesiastical, are obliged to take an oath in recognition of the queen''s right to the crown, and of her supremacy in all causes ecclesiastical and civil, on penalty of forfeiting all their promotions in the church, and of being de- clared inca})able of holding any public office." In short, by this single act of the supremacy, all that had been done by queen Mary was in a manner annulled, and the external policy of the church restored to the same foot as it stood at the death of king Edward'V I. Further, " The act forbids all writing, printing, teaching, or preaching, and all other deeds or acts whereby any foreign juris- diction over these realms is defended, upon pain that they and their abettors, being thereof convicted, shall for the first offence forfeit their goods and chattels ; and if they are not worth twenty |X)unds, suffer a year's imprisonment ; spiritual persons shall lose their benefices, and all ecclesiastical preferments ; for the second offence they shall incur the penalties of a praemunire ; and the third offence shall be deemed higli treason-" There is a remarkable clause in this act, which gave rise to a new court, called the court of High Commission f. The words are these ; " The queen and her successors shall have power, by their letters patent under the great «eal, to assign, name, and authorize, as often as they shall think meet, and for as long time as they shall please, persons, being natural-born subjects, to use, occupy, and exercise, under her and them, all manner of jurisdic- tion, privileges, and pre-eminences, touching any spiritual or ecclesiastical jurisdiction within the realms of England and Ire- land, &c., to visit, reform, redress, order, correct, and amend all errors, heresies, schisms, abuses, contempts, offences, and enor- mities whatsoever. Provided, that they have no power to deter- mine any thing to be heresy, but what has been adjudged to be so by the authority of the canonical Scripture, or by the first four general councils, or any of them ; or by any other general coun- cil, wherein the same was declared heresy by the express and plain words of canonical Scripture ; or such as shall hereafter be declared to be heresy by the high court of parliament, with the assent of the clergy in convocation I." * The repeal of this aet, it may not be imi)i-0))er to observe, oju'rated in favour of those only who denied the essential anil disseminating tenets of I'ljpery. It was a necessary step, when government was about to establish a reformation which would subvert the reception of those tenets. But it did not jiroeeed from any just notions of the rights of conscience : and, as it appears in the course of this reign, still left those who went beyond the limits fixed by the uew establishuieut, exposed to the heaviest penalties — Kd. t Strypc, ]>. ()'.). Rajiin, p. 236. I On tiiis statute IMi. Justice Bhickstone remarks, that "a man continued still liable to be burnt for what peihaps he did not understaud to be heresy, till the 90 HISTORY OF Upon the authority of this clause the queen appointed a certain number of coniniissioners for ecclesiastical causes, who exercised the same power that had been lodged in the hands of one vice- gerent ill the reign of king Henry VIII. And how sadly they abused their power in this and the two next reigns will appear in the sequel of this history *. They did not trouble themselves much with the express words of Scripture, or the four first general councils, but entangled their prisoners with oaths ex officio, and the inextricable mazes of the Popish canon law ; and though all ecclesiastical covirts ought to be subject to a prohibition from the courts of Westminster, this privilege was seldom allowed by the commissioners. — The act makes no mention of an arbitrary juris- diction of fining, imprisoning, or inflicting corporal punishments on the subjects, and therefore can be construed to extend no farther than to suspension or deprivation ; but notwithstanding this, these commissioners sported themselves in all the wanton acts of tyranny and oppression, till their very name became odious to the whole nation ; insomuch that their proceedings were con- demned by the united voice of the people, and the court dissolved by act of parliament, with a clause, that no such jurisdiction should be received for the future in any court whatsoever. Bishop Burnet says -|-, that the supremacy granted by this act is short of the authority that king Henry had ; nor is it the whole that the queen claimed, who sometimes stretched her prerogative beyond it. But since it was the basis of the Reformation, and the spring of all its future movements, it will be proper to inquire what powers were thought to be yielded the crown by this act of supremacy, and some others made in support of it. King Henry VIII. in his letter to the convocation of York assures them, that " he claimed nothing more by the supremacy, than what Christian princes in the primitive times assumed to them- selves in their own dominions j." But it is capable of demon- stration, that the first Christian emperors did not claim all that ecclesiastical judge so interpreted the words of the canonical Scriptures." To this a late writer justly adds*: "And even at this day, whoever, of the sectaries not tolerated, shall dare to interpret the Holy Scriptures for himself, maybe punished by ecclesiastical censures, if an ecclesiastical judge should decree such interpreta- tion to be crroueous." High Church Politics, p. G(>.— Ed. * In addition to our author's remark may be subjoined the reflections of a modern writer : " On this foundation," says he, "was erected, in a subsequent part of her reign, that court of ecclesiastical commission, which, in the sequel, was the source of tlie most arbitrary proceedings, and of the most shameful tyranny, oppression, and persecution. The powers we have mentioned, as granted to Eliza- beth, will appear to many, in the present enlightened and liberal age, to have been unreasonable and enormous, and contrary to the just ends of political government. But the conferring of such powers accorded with the idea of the times, which had no conception of introducing religious changes by the mere operation of reason and argument, and which had not learned to ascertain the true nature, objects, boun- daries, and distinctions of civil and ecclesiastical authority." History of Know- ledge in the New Annual Register for 1789, p. G. — Ed. t Burnet's Hist. Ref. vol. 2. p. 38(J. X The primitive times, as they are called, did not commence till the beginning ot tlic Ccmilh cealuiy, under ConsLantinc the Great ; who was the first printe that employed the po^yers of the state in the affairs of the church — Ed. THE r-UKlTANS. 91 jurisdiction over llic church in spirituals, that king Henry diil,vvho by the act of the thirty-first of his reign, was made absolute lord over the consciences of his subjects, it being tlierein enacted, tiiat " whatsoever his ninjesty sliould enjoin in matters of religion should be obeyed by all his subjects." It is very certain, that the kings and queens of England never pretended to the character of spiritual ])ersons, or to exercise any part of the ecclesiastical function in their own persons; they neither preached nor administered the sacraments, nor pronounced or inflicted the censures of tlie church ; nor did they ever conse- crate to the episcopal office, though the liglit of nomination is in them : these things were done by spiritual persons, or by proper oilicers in the sjnritual courts, deriving their j)Owers from the crown. When the adversaries of the supremacy objected tlie absurdity of a lay person being head of a spiritual body, the ([ueen endeavoured to remove the difficulty, by declaring in her injunctions to her visiters, " that she did not, nor would she ever, challenge authority and power to minister divine service in the church; nor would she ever challenge any other authority, than her predecessors king Henry VIII. and Edward VI. used.'' But abating this )X)int, it apj)ears very probable, that all the jurisdiction and authority claimed by the pope, as head of the church, in the times preceding the Reformation, was transferred to the king by the act of supremacy, and annexed to the imperial crown of these realms, as far as was consistent with the laws of the land then in being ; thouuh since it has underoone some abatements. The words of the learned Mr. Hooker * are very express : " If the whole ecclesiastical state should stand in need of being visited and reformed : or when any part of the church is infested with errors, schisms, heresies, &c., whatsoever spiritual powers the legates had from the see of Rome, and exercised in right of the pope for remedying of evils, without violating the laws of God or nature ; as much in every degree have our laws fully granted to the king for ever, whether he thinks fit to do it by ecclesiastical synods, or otherwise according to law.'** The truth of this remark will appear, by considering the powers claimed by the crown in this and the following reigns. 1. The kings and cjueens of England claimed authority in mat- ters of faith, and to be the ultimate judges of what is agreeable or repugnant to the word of God. The act of supremacy says ex- pressly, '• that the king has power to redress and amend all errors and heresies; he might enjoin what doctrines he would to be })reached, not repugnant to the laws of the land : and if any should preach contrary, he was for the third offence to be judged u heretic, and suffer death ; liis majesty claimed a right to forbid all preaching for a time, as king Henry VIII., king Edward \T., queen Mary, and Elizabeth, did ; or to limit the clergy's pieach- * Ecdes. Pol. b. 8. §. 8. 92 HISTORY OF ing to certain of the thirty-nine articles established by law, as king Charles I. did." All the forementioned kings and queens published instructions or injunctions concerning matters of faith, without consent of the clergy in convocation assembled ; and en- forced them upon the clergy under the penalties of a prcemunire ; which made it a little difficult to understand that clause of the twentieth article of the church, which says, the church has autho- rity in matters of faith. 2. With regard to discipline, the kings of England seem to have had the keys at their girdle ; for though the old canon law be in force, as far as is consistent with the laws of the land, and the prerogative of the crown, yet the king is the supreme and ulti- mate judge in the spiritual courts by his delegates, as he is in the courts of common law by his judges. His majesty might appoint a single person of the laity to be his vicar-general in all causes eccle- siastical to reform what was amiss, as king Henry VIII. and Charles I. did, which very much resembled the pope's legate in the times before the Reformation. By authority of parliament the crown was empowered to appoint thirty-two commissioners, some of the laity and some of the clergy, to reform the canons or ecclesiastical laws; and though the design vyas not executed, the power was certainly in the king, who might have ratified the new canons, and given them the force of a law, without the consent of the clergy in convocation, or of the parliament ; and therefore at the coronation of king Charles I. the bishop was directed to pray, " that God would give the king Peter's key of discipline, and Paul's doctrine." 3. As to rights and ceremonies, the act of uniformity* says expressly. " that the queen's majesty, by advice of her ecclesias- tical commissionei-s, or of her metropolitan, may ordain and pub- lish such ceremonies or rites, as may be most for the advancement of God''s glory, and the edifying of the church." Accordingly her majesty published her injunctions, without sending them into convocation or parliament, and erected a court of high commission for ecclesiastical causes, consisting of connnissioners of her own nomination, to see them put in execution. Nay, so jealous was queen Elizabeth of this branch of her prerogative, that she would not suffer her high court of parliament to pass any bill for the amendment or alteration of the ceremonies of the church, it being, as she said, an invasion of her prerogative. 4. The kings of England claimed the sole power of the nomi- nation of bishops : and the deans and chapters were obliged to choose those whom their majesties named, under penalty of a prre- raunire; and after they were chosen and consecrated, they might not act but by commission from the crown. They held their very bishopricks for some time durante bene placito ; and by the statute of the fifth and sixth of Edward VI., chap. 1, it was enacted, * 1 Eliz. cap. 1, THE PURITANS. 03 " that archbishops and bishops shall punish by censures of the church all persons that oftend," &c. Which plainly implies, that without such a licence or authority they might not do it. 5. No convocation, or synods of the clergy, can assemble but by a writ or precept from the crown ; and when assembled, they can do no business without the king's letters patent, appointing them the particular subjects they are to debate upon * ; and after all, their canons are of no force without the royal sanction. Upon the whole it is evident, by the express words of several statutes f, that all jurisdiction, ecclesiastical as well as civil, was vested in the king, and taken away from the bishops, except by delegation from him. The kino- vvas chief in the determination of all causes in the church ; he had authority to make laws, cere- monies, and constitutions, and without him no such laws, ceremo- nies, or constitutions, are or ought to be of force. And, lastly, all appeals which before had been made to Rome, are for ever iiere- after to be made to his majesty ""s chancery, to be ended and deter- mined, as the manner now is, by delegates |. I am sensible, that the constitution of the church has been altered in some things since that time: but let the reader judge, by what has been recited from acts of parliament, of the high powers that were then intrusted with the crown ; and how far they were agreeable with the natural or religious rights of mankind. The whole body of the Papists refused the oath of supremacy, as inconsistent with their allegiance to the pope ; but the Puritans took it under all these disadvantages, with the queen's explication in her injunctions; that is, that no more was intended, than " that her majesty, under God, had the sovereignty and rule over all persons born in her realms, either ecclesiastical or temporal, so as no foreign power had or ought to have authority over them." They apprehended this to be the natural right of all sovereign princes in their dominions, though there has been no statute law for it ; but as they did not admit the government of the church to be monarchical, they were of opinion, that no single person, whe- ther layman or ecclesiastic, ought to assume the title of supreme head of the church on earth, in the sense of the acts above men- tioned. This appears from the writings of the famous Mr. Cart- wright, in his admonition to the parliament. " The Christian sovereign (says he §) ought not to be called head under Christ of the particular and visible churches within his dominions : it is a title not fit for any mortal man ; for when the * Stat. 25 Hen. VIII. and stat. prsemun. t .i" Hen. Vlll. cap. 17, I Eliz. c. 1. X Thus the power, wliich had been for ages exercised hy the pope, was trans- ferred to the temjjoral monarch. The actjuisition of this power was highly flat- tering to tlie h)ve of authority in princes, especially as they had been so long under suljjection to the pope. To a woman of queen Elizabeth's spirit, it was, indepen- dently of every religious consideration, a powerful inducement to support the Refor- mation.— Ed. § Admonition to Parliament, lib. 2. p. 4, 11. 94 HISTORY OF apostle says Christ is Ke^nAij, tlie Ijoatl, it is as much as if he had said, C'hrist and no other, is head of tiie church. No civil magis- trate in councils or assemblies for church-matters, can either be chief moderator, overruler, judge, or determiner ; nor has he such authority as that, without his consent, it should not be lawful for ecclesiastical persons to make any church-orders or ceremonies. Church-matters ought ordinarily to be handled by church -officers. The principal direction of them is, by God's ordinance, committed to the ministers of the church, and to the ecclesiastical governors: as these meddle not with the making civil laws, so the civil magis- trate ought not to ordain ceremonies, or determine controversies in the church, as long as they do not intrench upon his temporal authority. Nevertheless, our meaning is not to seclude the ma- gistrate from our church-assemblies ; he may call a council of his clergy, and appoint both time and place ; he may be there by himself or his deputy, but not as moderator, determiner, oi judge; he may have his voice in the assembly, but the orders anil decrees of councils are not made by his authority ; for in ancient times the canons of the coimcils were not called the decrees of the em- perors, but of the bishops. It is the prince's province to })rotect and defend the councils of his clergy, to keep the peace, to see their decrees executed, and to punish the contemners of them, but to exercise no spiritual jurisdiction." We shall meet with a fuller declaration of the Puritans upon this head hereafter ; in the meantime it may be observed, that the just boundaries of the civil and ecclesiastical powers were not well understood and stated in this age. The powers of the civil magistrates seem chiefly to regard the civil welfare of his subjects: he is to protect them in their proper- ties, and in the peaceable enjoyment of their civil and religious rights ; but there is no passage in the New Testament that gives him a commission to be lord of the consciences of his subjects, or to have dominion over their faith. Nor is this agreeable to reason, because religion ought to be the effect of a free and deliberate ch(5ice. Why must we believe as the king believes, any more than as the clergy or pope ? If every man could believe as he would ; or if all men's understandings were exactly of a size ; or if God would accept of a mere outward profession when com- manded by law, then it would be reasonable there should be but one I'eligion, and one uniform manner of worship : but to make ecclesiastical laws, obliging men's practice under severe penalties, without or against the lioht of their consciences, looks like an invasion of the kingly office of Christ, and must be subversive of all sincerity and virtue. On the other hand, the jurisdiction of the church is purely spiritual. No man ought to be compelled by rewards or punish- ments to become a member of any Christian society, or to con- tinue of it any longer than he apprehends it to be his duty. All the ordinances of the church are spiritual, and so are her wea- THE PUniTANS. 95 pons and censures. The weapons of the church arc Scripture and renson, accompanied with [)rayers and tears. These arc her j)il- lars, and the walls of her defence. The censures of tlie church are admonitions, reproofs, or declarations of persons' unfitness for her communion, commonly called exconnnunications, which are of a spiritual nature, and ought not to affect men"'s lives, liherties, or estates. No man ought to be cut off from the rights and pri- vileges of a subject, merely because he is disqualified for Chris- tian communion. Nor has any church upon earth authority from Christ to inflict corporal punishments upon those whom she may justly expel her society : these are the weapons of civil ma- gistrates, who may punish the breakers of the laws of their coun- tries with corporal pains and penalties, as guardians of the civil rights of their subjects; but Christ's kingdom is not of this world. If these principles had obtained at the Reformation, there would have l)een no room for the disturbance of any, whose reli- gious principles were not inconsistent with the safety of the go- vernment*. Truth and charity would have prevailed ; the civil powers would have protected the church in her spiritual rights ; and the church, by instructing the people in their duty to their superiors, would have supported the state. But the reformers, as well Puritans as others, had different notions. They were for one religion, one uniform mode of worship, one form of discipline or church-government, for the whole nation, with which all must comply outwardly, whatever were their inward sentiments ; it was therefore resolved to have an act of parliament to establish a uniformity of public worship, without any indulgence to tender consciences ; neither party having the wisdom or courage to oppose such a law, but both endeavouring to be included in it. To make way for this, the Papists who were in possession of the churches were first to be vanquished ; the queen therefore appointed a public disputation in Westminster-abbey, before her privy council and both houses of parliament, March 81st, 15o9, between nine of the bishops and the like number of Protestant divines, upon these three points : 1st. Whether it was not against Scripture and the custom of the ancient church to use a tongue unknown to the people in the common prayers and sacraments? — 2dly. Whether every church had not authority to appoint, change, and take away, ceremonies * It would have been more consistent with our author's reasonintc, if, instead of " religious iirinciples," he had substituted actions. If religious principles are to be the grounds of toleration or protection, according to their s\ipposed con- sistency or inconsistency with the safety of the civil government, there is not only room for endless disputes concerning this consistency ; but men of tlie best views and characters will be liable to suffer through the im))utation of conse- (juenccs arising from their principles, \vhi(-h they thcmscdvcs disavow and abhor, besides, the pernicious tendency of some jirinciples is counteracted by the influence of others, and the good disi)ositioiis of those who hold theni. Overt acts alone afford a clear definite rule, by which to judge of moral or political cha- racter Ei). 96 HISTORY OF and ecclesiastical rites, so the same were done to edifyino- ? — 3dly. Whether it could be proved by the word of God, that in the mass there was a propitiatory sacrifice for the dead and living ? The disputation was to be in writing; but the Papists, finding- the populace against them, broke it off after the first day, under pretence that the Catholic cause ought not to be submitted to such an arbitration, though they had not these scruples in the reign of queen Mary, when it was known the issue of the con- ference would be in their favour. The bishops of Winchester and Lincoln said the doctrine of the Catholic church was already established, and that it was too great an encouragement to heretics to admit them to discourse against the faith before an unlearned multitude. They added, that the queen had deserved to be excommunicated ; and talked of thundering out their ana- themas against the privy council, for which they were both sent to the Tower. The reformed had a great advantage by their adversaries quitting the field in this manner, it being concluded from hence that their cause would not bear the light, which pre- pared the people for further changes. The Papists being vanquished, the next point was to unite the reformed among themselves, and get such an establishment as might make them all easy; for though the troubles at Frankfort were hushed, and letters of forgiveness had passed between the contending parties, and though all the reformers were of one faith, yet they were far from agreeing about discipline and cere- monies, each party being for settling the church according to their own model. Some were for the late service and discipline of the Enolish at Geneva; others were for the service-book of kino- Edward VI., and for withdrawing no further from the church of Rome than was necessary to recover purity of faith, and the independency of the church upon a foreign power. Rite.s and ceremonies were, in their opinion, indifferent ; and those of the church of Rome preferable to others, because they were vene- rable and pompous, and because the people had been used to them : these were the sentiments of the queen, who therefore ap- pointed a committee of divines to review king Edward's liturgy, and to see if in any particular it was fit to be changed ; their names were, Dr. l-*arker, Grindal, Cox, Pilkington, May, Bill, Whitehead, and sir Thomas Smith, doctor of the civil law. Their instructions were, to strike out all offensive passages against the pope, and to make people easy about the belief of the cor- poral presence of Christ in the sacrament ; but not a word in favour of the stricter Protestants. Her majesty was afraid of reforming too far ; she was desirous to retain images in churches, crucifixes and crosses, vocal and instrumental music, with all the old Popish garments ; it is not therefore to be wondered that, in reviewino- the liturgy of king Till 1 . ,. ^ ^•' " Edward, no alterations were made in favour of those who now THE PURITANS. 97 began to be called Puiitaiis, from their attempting a purer form of worship and (.liscipline than had yet been establisiied. The ipieen was more concerned i'ov the Papists, and therefore, in the litany this passage was struck out, " From the tyranny of the bishop of Rome, and all his detestable enormities, good Lord deliver us/"" The rubric tljat declared, that by kneeling at the sacrament no adoration was intended to any corporal presence of Christ, was expunged. The connuittee of divines left it at the people's liberty to receive the sacrament kneeling or standing, but the queen and parliament restrained it to kneeling ; so that the enforcing this ceremony was purely an act of the state. The old festivals with their eves, and the Popish habits, were conti- nued, as they were in the secoml year of king Edward VI. till the queen should please to take them away ; for the words of the statute are, " they shall be retained till other order shall be therein taken by authority of the queen''s majesty, with the ad- vice of the conmn'ssioners authorized under the great seal of England, for causes ecclesiastical."' Some of the collects were a little altered ; and thus the book was presented to the two houses and passed into a law*, being hardly equal to that which was set out bv king Edwartl, and confirmed bv parliament in the fifth year of his reign. For whereas in that liturgy all the garments were laid aside except the surplice, the queen now returned to king Edwartl's first book, wherein copes and other garments were ordered to be used. The title of the act is, an act for the uniformity of common prayer and service in the cluu'ch, and administration of the sacraments. Jt was brought into the house of commons April IS, and was read a thirtl tinjc April 20. It passed the house of lords April 28, and took place from the 24th of June 1559. Heath archbishop of York-|- made an elegant speech against it, in which among other things he observes very justly, that an act of this consequence ought to have had the consent of the clergy in convocation before it passed into a law. " Not only the or- thodox, but even the Arian emperors (says he), ordered that points of faith should be examined in councils ; and Cilallio by the light of nature knew that a civil judge ought not to meddle with matters of religion." But he was overruled, the act of su- premacy, which passed the house the very next day, having vested this power in the crown;]:. This statute lying open to common view at the begiiming of the Common Prayer-book, it is not worth while to transcribe it in this place. I shall only * Burnet's Hist, of the Ref. vol. 2. p. .31*0. Strypc's Ann. ]>. 8.'5. ■f- Mr. .Stryjie says, there is so much h'arning and such strokes therein, fhnt we need not doubt but that it is his. Ann. Ref. vol. 1. \t. 7'.i. The sjieech itself is in his Appendix to vol. 1. no. (J. This prelate was always honourably esteemed by the ((ueen, and sometimes had the honour of a visit from her. He lived discreetly in his own house, till by very age he departed this life. Annals, vol. 1. p. ii:; iM). X D'Kw's Journal, p. .W. U 98 HISTORY OF lake notice of one clause, by which all ecclesiastical jurisdiction was again delivered up to the crown : " The queen is hereby empowered, with the advice of her commissioners or metropo- litan, to ordain and publish sucli farther ceremonies and rites, as may be for the advancement of God's glory, and edifying his church, and the reverence of Christ's holy mysteries and sacra- ments.*" And had it not been for this clause of a reserve of power to make what alterations her majesty thought fit, she told archbishop Parker, that she would not have passed the act. Upon this fatal rock of uniformity in things merely indifferent, in the opinion of the imposers, was the peace of the church of England split. The pretence was decency and order ; but it seems a little odd that uniformity should be necessary to the decent worship of God, when in most other things there is a greater beauty in variety. It is not necessary to a decent dress that men's clothes should be always of the same colour and fashion ; nor would there be any indecorum or disorder, if in one congregation the sacrament should be administered kneeling, in another sitting, and in a third standing; or if in one and the same congregation the minister were at liberty to read prayers either in a black gown or a surplice, supposing the garments to be in- different, which the makers of this law admitted, though the Puritans denied. The rigorous pressing of this act was the occasion of all the mischiefs that befel the church for above eighty years. What good end could it answer to press men*'s bodies into the public service, without convincing their minds? If there must be one established form of worship, there should certainly have been an indulgence for tender consciences. — When there was a difference in the church of the Romans about eating flesh, and observing festivals, the apostle did not pinch them with an act of uniformity, but allowed a latitude, Rom. xiv. 5. " Let not him that eateth judge him that eateth net: but let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. Why dost thou judge thy brother ? or, why dost thou set at nought thy brother ? For we must all stand before the judgment-scat of Christ." Had our reformers followed this apostolical precedent, the church of England would have made a more glorious figure in the Pro- testant world, than it did by this compulsive act of uniformity. Sad were the consequences of these two laws, both to the Pa- pists and Puritans. The Papists in convocation made a stand for the old religion ; and in their sixth session agreed upon the following articles, to be presented to the parliament for disbur- dening their consciences. 1. " That in the sacrament of the altar the natural body of Christ is really present, by virtue of the words of consecration pronounced by the priest. 2. " That after the consecration there remains not the sub- stance of bread and wine, nor any other substance but God-man. 3. " That in the mass the true body of Christ is offered as a propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead. THE ruUITANS. 99 4. " Tliat ihc supronie power of feeding and ruling tlie cinireli is in St. Peter and his successors. 5. " That the authority of determining matters of faith and disci|)line belongs only to the pastors of the church, and not to laymen.'" These articles or resolutions were presented to the lord-keeper by their prolocutor Dr. IlarpsHeld, but his lordship gave them no answer ; nor did the convocation move any farther in mat- ters of religion, it being apparent that they were against the Ueforniation. As soon as the sessions was ended the oath of supremacy was tendered to the bishops, who all refused it, except Dr. Kitchen bishop of Landaff, to the number of fourteen ; the rest of the sees being vacant. Of the deprived bishops three retired beyond sea, viz. Dr. Pate bislioj) of Worcester, Scot of Chester, and CJoldwcll of St. Asaph ; Heath archbishop of York was suffered to live at his own house, where the queen went sovnetimes to visit him ; Tonstal and Thirleby bishops of Durham and Ely, resided at Lambeth in the house of archbishop Parker with free- dom and ease ; the rest were suffered to go at large upon their parole ; only Uonner bishop of London, White of Winchester, and Watson of Lincoln, whose hands had been deeply stained with the blood of the Protestants in the late reign, were made close prisoners ; but they had a sufficient maintenance from the queen. Most of the monks returned to a secular life ; but the nuns went beyond sea, as did all others who had a mind to live where they might have a free exercise of their religion. Several of the reformed exiles were offered bishopricks, but refused them, on account of the habits and ceremonies, &c., as Mr. Whitehead, Mr. Bernard Gilpin, old father Miles Cover- dale, Mr. Knox, Mr. Thomas Sampson, and others. Many who accepted, did it with trembling ; from the necessity of the times, and in hopes by their interest with the queen to obtain an amend- ment in the constitution of the church ; among these were Grindal, Parkhurst, Sandys, Pilkington, and others. The sees were left vacant for some time, to see if any of the old bishops would conform ; but neither time nor any thing else could move them ; at length, after twelve months. Dr. Matthew Parker was consecrated archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth, by some of the bishops that had been dc{)rivcd in the late reign, for not one of the present bishops would officiate. This, with some other accidents, gave rise to the story of his being conse- crated at the Nag's Head tavern in Cheapside, a fable that has been sufficiently confuted by our church historians * ; the per- * Life of Parker, p. 38. (iO, (i\. Voltaire, though he know, or, as a liheral writer observes, should have known, that thfs story was refuted even by the Pu- ritans themselves, has yet related it as a fact- It was a calumny, to which the custom of the new-ordained bishojis furnishint; a grand dinner or entertainmeut, gave rise. Wendeboru's View of lingland, vol. 2. [t. .'500. — Ed. H 2 100 HISTORY OF sons concerned in the consecration were Barlow and ScorVj bishops elect of Chichester and Hereford ; Miles Coverdale, the deprived bishop of Exeter, and Hodg^kins, suffragan of Bedford ; the two former appeared in their chimere and surphce, but the two latter wore long gowns open at the arms, with a falling cape on the shoulders ; the ceremony was perfonned in a plain manner without gloves or sandals, ring or slippers, mitre or pall, or even without any of the Aaronical garments, mily by imposition of liands and prayer. Strange ! that the archbishop should be sa- tisfied with this, in his own case, and yet be so zealous to inipose the Popish garments upon his brethren. But still it has been doubted, whether Parker's consecration was perfectly canonical. 1st. Because the persons engaged in it had been legally de- prived in the late reign, and w^ere not yet restored. To which it was answered, that having been once consecrated, the episcopal character remained in them, and therefore they might convey it ; though Coverdale and Hodgkins never exercised it after this time. 2ndly. Because the consecration ought by law to have been directed according to the statute of the twenty-fifth of Henry VIII. and not according to the form of king Edward's Ordinal for ordaining and consecrating bishops, inasmuch as that book had been set aside in the late reign, and was not yet restored by parliament.- These objections being frequently thrown in the way of the new bishops by the Papists, made them uneasy ; they began to doubt of the validity of their consecrations, or at least of their legal title to their bishopricks. The affair was at length brought before parliament, and to silence all future clamours Parker's consecration, and those of his brethren, were confirmed by the two houses, about seven years after they had filled their chairs. The archbishop was installed December 17, 1559, soon after which he consecrated several of his brethren, whom the queen had appointed to the vacant sees, as C^rindal to the bishoprick of London, Horn to Winchester, and Pilkington to Durham, &c. Thus the reformation was restored, and the church of England settleil on its present basis. The new bishops being poor, made but a mean figure in comparison of their predecessors : they were unacquainted with courts and equipages, and numerous attend- ants ; but as they grew rich, they quickly rose in their deport- ment, and assumed a lord Ij superiority over their brethren. The hierarchy being now at its standard, it may not be im- proper to set before the reader in one view the principles upon which it stands ; with the different sentiments of the Puritans, by which he will discover the reasons why the reformation pro- ceeded no further: — I. The coairt-reformcrs apprehended, that every prince had authority to correct all abuses of doctrine and worship, within THE rUUlTANS. 101 hi^ own lerntorits. From this principle the parlianiriit suh- niitted the consciences and reli<;ion of the whole nation to the ns of kinj^ Edward VI. and queen Elizalx^th, before it had the sanction of parliament or convocation: and though (pieen Marv disallowed of the supremacy, she made use of it to restore the old religicMi, before the laws for aboh'shing it were rej)ealed. Hence also they indulged the foreign Protestants v\ith the liberty of their separate discipline, which they denied to their own coun- trymen. The Puritans disowned all foreign authority and jurisdiction over the church as much as their brethren, but could not admit of that extensive power which the crown claimed by the supre- macy, apprehentiing it mn-easonable, that the religion of a who'e nation should be at the disposal of a single lay person ; for let the apostle's ride, " that all things be done decently and in or- der," mean what it will, it was not directed to the prince or civil magistrate. However, they took the oath with the queen''s ex- plication in her injimctions, as only restoring her majesty to (he ancient and natural rights of sovereign ])rinces over their subject'*. 2. It was admitted by the court- reformers, that the churcl) of Home was a true church, though conupt in some points of doc- trine and govenmicnt ; that all her ministrations were valid, and that the pope was a true bishop of Rome, though not of the uni- versal church. It was thought necessary to maintain this, for the support of the character of our bisho))s, who could not other- wise derive their succession from the apostles. But the I'uritans ath'rmed the pope to be antichrist, the church of Home to be no true church, and all her ministrations to be superstitious and idolatrous ; they renounced her connnimion, and durst not risk the validity of their ordinations upon an un- interrupted line of succession from the apostles through their hands. S. It was agreed by all, that the Holy Scri})tures were a per- fect rule of faith; but the bishops and court- reformers did not allow them a standard «)f discipline or church-government, but affirmed that our Saviour and his apostles left it to the discretion of the civil magistrate, in those jilaces where Christianity shoukl obtain, to accommodate the govermnent of the church to the )K)- licy of the stale. Hut the I'uritans apprehended (he Holy Scriptures to be a standard of church-discipline, as well as doctrine ; at least that 102 HISTORY OF nothing should be imposed as necessary but what was expressly contained in, or derived from them by necessary consequence. And if it shoidd be proved, that all things necessary to tlie well government of the church could not be deduced from Holy Scripture, they maintained that the discretionary power was not vested in the civil magistrate, but in the spiritual officers of the church. 4. The court-reformers maintained, that the practice of the primitive church for the first four or five centuries was a proper standard of church-government and discipline, and in some res- pects better than that of the apostles, which, according to them, was only accommodated to the infant state of the church while it was under persecution, whereas theirs was suited to the grandeur of a national establishment. Therefore they only pared off the later corruptions of the Papacy, from the time the pope usurped the title of universal bishop, and left those standing which they could trace a little higher, such as archbishops, metropolitans, archdeacons, suffragans, rural deans, &c. which were not known in the apostolic age, or those immediately following. Whereas the Puritans were for keeping close to the Scriptures in the main principles of church-government ; and for admitting no church-officers or ordinances, but such as are appointed therein. They apprehended that the form of government ordained by the apostles was arlstocratical, according to the constitution of the Jewish sanhedrim, and was designed as a pattern for the churches in after ages, not to be departed from in any of its main prin- ciples ; and therefore they paid no regard to the customs of the Papacy, or the practices of the earlier ages of Christianity, any farther than they corresponded with the Scriptures. 5. Our reformers maintained, that things indifferent in their own nature, which are neither commanded nor forbidden in the Holy Scriptures, such as rites, ceremonies, habits, &c. might be settled, determined, and made necessary, by the command of the civil magistrate ; and th it in such cases it was the indispensable duty of all subjects to observe them. But the Puritans insisted, that those things which Christ had left indifferent ouglit not to be made necessary by any human laws, but that we are to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free; and farther, that such rites and ceremonies as had been abused tt) idolatry, and manifestly tended to lead men back to Popery and superstition, were no longer indifferent, but to be rejected as unlawful. 6. Both parties agreed too well in asserting the necessity of a uniformity of public worship, and of using the sword of the magistrate for the support and defence of their respective prin- ciples, which they made an ill use of in their turns whenever they could grasp the power into their hands. The standard of uni- formity, according to the bishops, was the queen's supremacy, and the laws of the land ; according to the Puritans, the decrees of THE PURITANS. 103 provincial and national synods allowed and enforced by the civil ma^istrate : hut neither party were for admitting that liberty of conscience, and freedom of profession, which is every man's right, as far as is consistent with the peace of the civil government he lives inider. The principle upon which the bishops justified their severities against the Puritans, in this and the following reigns, was the subjects' obligation to obey the laws of their country in all things indifferent, which are neither commanded nor forbidden by the laws of God. And the excellent archbisho]) Tillotson, in one of his sermons, represents the dissenters as a humourous and perverse set of people, in not complying with the service and ceremonies of the church, for no other reason, says he, but because their superiors require them. — But if this were true, it is a justifiable reason for their dissent, supposing the magistrate requires that which is not within the bounds of his commission. Christ, say the Nonconformists, is the sole lawgiver of his church, and has en- joined all things necessary to be observed in it to the end of the world ; therefore, where he has indulged a liberty to his fol- lowers, it is as much their duty to maintain it, as to observe any other of his precepts. If the civil magistrate should, by a stretch of the prerogative, dispense with the laws of hiscountry, or enjoin new ones, according to his arbitrary will and pleasure, without consent of parliament, would it deserve the brand of humour or perverseness to refuse obedience, if it were for no other reason, but because we will not submit to an arbitrary dispensing power ? Besides, if the magistrate has a power to impose things indifferent, and make then) necessary in the service of God ; he may dress up religion in any shape, and instead of one ceremony may load it with a hundred. To return to the history. The Reformation being thus settled, the queen gave out commissions for a general visitation, and pub- lished a body of injunctions, consisting of fifty-three articles, commanding her loving subjects obediently to receive, and truly to observe and keej) them, according to their offices, degrees, and states. They are almost the same with those of king Edward. I shall therefore only give the reader an abstract of such as we may have occasion to refer to hereafter. Artie. 1. " All ecclesiastical persons shall see that the act of supremacy be duly observed, and shall preach four times a year against yielding obedience to any foreign jurisdiction. — 2. They shall not set forth or extol the dignity of any images, relics, of miracles, but shall declare the abuses of the same, and that all grace is from God. — 3. Parsons shall preach once every month upon works of faith, mercy, and charity, commanded by God ; and shall inform the people, that works of man's devising, such as pilgrimages, setting up of caiulles, praying upon beads, &c. arc offensive to God. — 4, Parsons having cure of souls shall preach in person once a ll make a suitable exhortation.— 20. Holy days shall be strictly observed, except in harvest-time after divine service. — 21. Curates may not admit to the holy communion, persons that live openly in sin without repentance; or that are at variance with their neighbours, till they are reconciled.— 22. Curates, kc. shall teach the people not obstinately to violate the laudable ceremonies of the church. — 23. Also, they shall take away, utterly extinguish, and destroy, all shrines, coverings of shrines; all tables, candlesticks, trindals, and rolls of wax, pictures, paintings, and all other monuments of feigned miracles, pilgrimages, idolatry, and superstition, so that there remain no memory of the same in walls, glass-windows or elsewhere, within their churches and houses; preserving never- theless, or repairing, both the walls and glass-windows; and they shall exhort all their parishioners to do the like in their several houses. — 28. Due reverence shall be j)aid to tlie ministers of the gospel. — 29i No priest or deacon shall marry without allowance of the bishop of his diocess, and two justices of the peace; nor without consent of the parents of the woman (if she have any), or others that are nearest of kin, upon penalty of being incapable of holding any ecclesiastical promotion, or ministering in the word and sacraments. Nor shall bishops marry without allowance of their metropolitan, and such commissioners as the queen shall ap- point.—30. All archbishops and bisho})s, and all that preach and administer the sacraments, or that shall be admitted into any ecclesiastical vocation, or into either of the universities, shall wear such garments and square caps, as were worn in the latter end of the reign of king Edward VJ. — 33. No person shall absent from his parish-church, and resort to another, but upon an extraor- dinary occasion. — 34. No innholders or public-houses, shall sell meat or drink in the time of divine service. -35. None shall THli I'UUITANS. lOo keep in their houses any abused images, tables, pictures, paintings, and nioiuinients of feigned miracles. — 86. No man shall disturb the minister in his sermon ; nor mock or make a jest of him. — IJ7. No man, womai), or child, shall be otherwise busied in time of divine service, but shall give due attendance to what is read and preached. — 40. No person shall teach school but such as are allowed by the ordinary. — 41. Schoolmasters shall exhort their children to love and reverence the true religion now allowed by authority. —42. They shall teach their scholars certain sentences of scriptures tending to godliness. — 43. None shall be admitted to any spiritual cure that are utterly unlearned. — 44. The parson or curate of the parish shall instruct the children of his parish for half an hour before evening prayer on every holy day and second Sunday in the year, in the catechism, and shall teach them the Lord's prayer, Creed, and ten commandments. — 45. All the ordinaries shall CNhfliit to the visitors a copy of the book con- taining the causes, why any have been imprisoned, famished, or put to death for religion in the late reign. — 46. Overseers in every parish shall see that all the parishioners duly resort to church ; and shall present defaulters to the ordinary.. — 47. (Miurch wardens shall deliver to the queen's visitors an inventory of all their church-furniture, as vestments, cop.es, plate, books, anil especially of graylcs, couchers, legends, processionals, ma- nuals, hymnals, porluesses, and such-like, appertaining to the cluu-ch. — 48. 'Ihe litany and |)rayers shall be read weekly on Wednesdays and Fridays. — 49. Singing men shall be continued and maintained in collegiate churches, and there shall be a modest and distinct song so used in all parts of the common prayers in the church, that the same may be as plainly under- stood as if it were read without singing ; and yet nevertheless, for the comforting such as delight in music, it may be permitted that in the beginning or end of the common prayer, there may be sung a hynm, or such-like song, in the best sort of melody and music that may be conveniently devised, having respect th tt the sentences of the hynm may be understood and perceived.— 50. ^I'here shall be no vain and contentious disputes in matters of religion ; nor the use of opprobrious words, as Papist, ))aj)istical, heretic, schismatic, or ISacramentary. Offenders to be remitted to the ordirary — 51. No book or pamphlet shall be I)rinted or made public without licence from the (jueen, or six of her ])rivy council, or her ecclesiastical commissioners, or from the archbishops of Canterbury and ^'ork, the bishop of London, the chancellors of both universities, the bishop being ordinary, and the archdeacon also of the place, where any such book shall l)e |)rinted, or two of them, whereof the ordinarv to be always one : thenamesof the licensers to be printedat the end. Ancient and pro- fane authors arc excepted. — 52. In lime of reading the litany, aiul all other collects and comnion prayer, all the people shall devoutly kneel; and when the name of Jesus shall l)e in any lesson, ser- 106 HISTORY OF mon, or other ways pronounced in the church, due reverence shall be made of all persons with lowness of courtesy, and uncovering the heads of the men, as has been heretofore accustomed." These injunctions were to be read in the churches once every quarter of a year. An appendix was added, containing one form of bidding prayer ; and an order relating to tables in churches, which en- joins, " that no altar be taken down but by oversight of the curate and churchwardens, or one of them at least, wherein no riotous or disorderly manner shall be used ; and that the holy table in every church be decently made, and set in the place where the altar stood, and there to stand covered, saving when the sacrament is to be administered ; at which time it shall< be so placed within the chancel, as thereby the minister may be more conveniently heard of the communicants, and the communicants also more conveniently, and in more numbers, communicate with the said minister ; and after the communion done the holy table shall be placed where it stood before." The penalties for disobeying these injunctions, were, suspen- sion, deprivation, sequestration of fruits and benefices, excommu- nication, and such other corrections as to those who have ecclesiastical jurisdiction under her majesty should seem meet. The major part of the visitors were laymen, any two of whom were empowered to examine into the true state of all churches; to suspend or deprive such clergymen as were unworthy, and to put others into their places * ; to proceed against the obstinate by im- prisonment, church-censures, or any other legal methods. They were to reserve pensions for such as quitted their benefices by resignation ; to examine into the condition of all that were impri- soned on the account of religion, and to discharge them ; and to restore all such to their benefices who had been unlawfully de- prived in the late times. This was the first high commission, which was issued about Midsummer 1559. It gave offence to many, that the queen should give lay-visitors authority to proceed by ecclesiastical cen- sures; but this was no more than is frequently done by lay- chancellors in the ecclesiastical courts -|-. It was much more unjustifiable for the commissioners to go beyond the censures of the church, by fines, imprisonments, and inquisitory oaths, to the ruin of some hundreds of families, without the authority of that statute which gave them being, or any other. Mr. Strype assures us, that the visitors took effectual care to have all the instruments and utensils of idolatry and supersti- tion demolished and destroyed out of the churches where God's pure service was to be performed ; such as roods, i. e. images of Christ upon the cross, with Mary and John standing by ; also * Hist. Ref. vol. 2. p. 400. f This Dr. Warner observes, was justifying one abuse bj' another. — En. THE PURITANS- 107 images of (iitelaiy saints of the churches that were dedicated to them, Popish books, altars, and the like. But it does not appear that either the second or twenty-third article of injunctions em- |X)wered them absolutely to remove all imaoes out of churches; the (jueen herselt was as yet undetermined in that matter*. Bishop Jewel, in his letter to Peter Martyr, February 4th 1560, says, there was to be a conference about the lawfulness of images in churches the day following, between Parker and Cox who were for them, and himself and Grindal who were against them ; and if they prevail, says he, 1 will be no longer a bishop -j-. However, it is certain, that the visitors commanded ihe ])rcbendaries and archdeacon of London to see that the cathedral church of St. Paul's be purged and freed from all and singular images, idols, and altars; and in the place of the altars to provide a decent table for the ordinary celebration of the Lord''s supper ; and accordingly the roods and high altar were taken away |. Tiie populace was on the side of the Reformation ||, having been provoked with the cruelties of the late times: great numbers attended the connnissioners, and brought into Cheapside, PauTs Churchyard, and Smithfield, the roods and crucifixes that were taken down, and in some places the vestments of the priests, copes, surplices, altar-cloths, books, banners, sepulchres, and burnt them to ashes, as it were, to make atonement for the blood of the mar- tyrs which had been shed there. Nay, they went fjirther, and in their furious zeal broke the painted glass-windows, rased out some ancient inscriptions, and s])oiled those monuments of the dead that had any ensigns of Popery upon them. " The divines of this time (says Mr. Strype) could have been content to have been with- out all relics and ceremonies of the ]lomish church, that there might not be the least compliance with Popish devotions." And it had not been the worse for the church o(' England if their suc- cessors had been of the same mind. But the queen disliked these proceedings § ; she had a crucifix with the blessed Virgin and St. John, still in her chapel; and when Sandys bishop of Worcester spoke to her against it, she * Hist. Ref. vol. 3. p. 2W. f Pierce's Vind. p. .'58. X Strype's Ann. vol. 1. j). 175. II The following anecdotes mark tlie strong disposition of the people towards a ret'ormation, and are pleasing specimens of tlie skill and ingenuity with which queen Elizabeth knew how to suit herself to their wishes. On her releasing the prisoners, confined in the former reign on account of religion, one Rainsford told the queea that he had a petition to present to her, in hehalf(of other prisoners, called Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. She readily re]ilied, that she must first consult the pri- soners themselves, and learn of them whether tliey desired that lilierty which he had asked for them. At the time of her coronation, from one of the principal arches through wliich .-she was conducted, a l)oy j)ersonating Truth was let down, and presented her with a Bible. She received it on her knees, kissed it, and i)lac- ing it in her bosom, said, " she preferred that above all the other presents that were on that day made her." History of Knowledge in the New Annual Register for l/H'.t, p. 4. and Burnet's History of tiu' Iteformation abridged, 8vo. p. .'544. — Ed. § Hist. Ref. vol. :<. p. 2'J\. Life of Parker, p. id. 310. Strypc's Annals, vol. 1. p. 175, 176. J08 HISTORY OF threatened to deprive him. The crucifix was after some time re- moved, but replaced in 1570, To put some stop to these proceed- ings, her majesty issued out a proclamation, dated September 1 9th, in the second year of her reign, prohibiting " the defacing or breaking any parcel of any monument, tomb, or grave, or other inscription, in memory of any person deceased, or breaking any images of kings, princes, or nobles, &c. set up only in memory of ihem to posterity, and not for any religious honour ; or the de- facing or breaking any images in glass-windows in any churches, without consent of the ordinary.'' It was with great difficulty, and not without a sort of protestation from the bishops, that her majesty consented to have so many monuments of idolatry, as are mentioned in her twenty-third injunction, removed out of churches; but she would not part with her altar, or her crucifix, nor with lighted candles, out of her own chapel. The gentlemen and sing- ing children appeared there in their surplices, and the priests in their copes: the altar was furnished v\ith rich plate, and two gilt candlesticks with lighted candles, and a massy crucifix of silver in the midst : the service was sung not only with the sound cf organs, but with the artificial music of cornets, sackbuts, &c. on solemn festivals. The ceremonies olj.served by the knights of the garter in their adoration towards the altar, which had been abolished by king Edward, and revived by queen Mary, were retained. In short, the service performed in the queen's chapel, and in sundry cathedrals, was so splendid and showy, that foreigners could not distinguish it from the Roman, except that it was performed in the English tongue. By this method most of the Popish laity were deceived into conformity, and cause regularly to church for nine or ten years, till the pope, being out of all hopes of an ac- conmiodation, forbid them, by excommunicating the queen, and laying the whole kingdom under an interdict. When the visitors had gone through the kingdom, and made their report of the obedience given her majesty's laws and injunc- tions, it appeared that not above two hundred and forty-three clergymen had quitted their livings, viz fourteen bishops, and three bishops elect ; one abbot, four priors, one abbess, twelve deans, fourteen archdeacons, sixty canons or prebendaries, one hundred beneficed clergy, fifteen heads of colleges in Oxford and Cambridge; to which may be added about twenty doctors in several faculties. In one of the volumes in the Cotton-library the number is one hundred and ninety-two; D'Ew's Journal mentions but one huntlred and seventy-seven; bishop Burnet one hundred and ninety-nine; but Camden and cardinal Allen reckon as above. Most of the inferior beneficed clergy kept their places, as they had done through all the changes of the three last reigns ; and without all question if the queen had died, and the old reli- gion had been restored, they would have turned again ; but the bishops and some of the dignified clergy having sworn to the su- premacy under king Henry, and renounced it again under c[ueen Tiir: luaiTAXS. 1U9 Maiy, they llioiiglit it miglit reflect a tlishonoiir uj)()ii their character to dian^e again, and thcM'efore they resolved to hold together, and by their weight endeavour to distress the llefornia- tion. Upon so great an alleraiion of religion the number of recu- sants out of nine thousand four hundred parochial benefices ums inconsiderable ; and yet it w as impossible to find Protestants of a tolerable capacity to supply the vacancies, because many of the stricter sort, who had been exiles for religion, could not come up to the terms of conformity, and the queen's injunctions*. It may seem strange, that amidst all this concern for the new form of worship, no notice should be taken of the doctrinal articles which king Edwartl had published for avoiding diversities of opinions, though her majesty might have enjoined them, by virtue of her supremacy under the great seal, as well as her bro- ther ; but the bishops durst not venture them into convocation, because the majority were for the old religion, and the queen was not very fL.nd of her brother''s doctrines. To supply this defect for the present, the bishops drew up a declaration of their failh^, which all churchmen were obliged to read publicly at their en- trance upon their cures. These were the terms of ministerial conformity at this time,- — the oath of sujiremacy, compliance with the act of uniformity, and this declaration of faith. There was no dispute among the reformers about the first and last of these qualifications, but they differed upon the second ; many of the learned exiles, and others, refusing to accept of livings in the church according to the act of uniformity, and the queen's injunctions. If the Popish ha])its and ceremonies had been left indifferent, or other decent ones ap- pointed in their room, the seeds of division had been prevented ; but as the case stood, it was next to a miracle that the Reforma- tion had not fallen back into the hands of the Papists; and if some of the Puritans had not complied for the present, in hopes of the removal of these grievances in more settled times, this would have been the sad consequence; for it was impossible, withal! the assist- ance they could get from both universities, to fill u}) the parochial vacancies with men of learning and character. Many churches were disfurnished for a considerable time, and not a few mechanics, altogether as unlearned as the most remarkable of those that were ejected, were preferred to dignities and livings, who being disre- garded by the people, brought great discredit on the Reformation, while others of the first rank for learning, piety, and usefulness, in their functions, were laid by in silence. There was little or no preaching all over the country; the bishop of Rangor writes, that " he had but two preachers in all his diocess;):." It was enough if the parson could read the service, and sometimes a homily. The bishops were sensible of the calamity ; but instead of opening * Strype's Ann. vul. 1. ji. 72, 7'.'>. f See tliis declaration, Appendix No. 1. : M.S. p. 88G. 110 H ISTORY OF the door a little wider, to let in some of the more conscientious and zealous reformers, they admitted the meanest and most illite- rate who would come up to the terms of the laws ; and published a second book of homilies for their farther assistance. It is hard to say, at this distance of time, how far the bishops were to blame for their servile and abject compliance with the queen ; yet one is ready to think, that those who had drunk so deep of the cup of persecution, and had seen the dreadful effects of it, in the fiery trial of their brethren the martyrs, should have insisted as one man, upon a latitude for their conscientious bre- thren in points of indifference ; whereas their zeal ran in a quite different channel ; i'or when the spiritual sword was put into their hands, they were too forward in brandishing it over the heads of others, and even to outrun the laws, by suspending, depriving, fining, and imprisoning, men of true learning and piety, popular preachers declared enemies of Popery and superstition, and of the same faith with themselves, who were fearful of a sinful compli- ance with things that had been abused to idolatry. All the exiles were now come home, except a few of the Puri- tan stamp that stayed at Geneva to finish their translation of the Bible begun in the late reign. The persons concerned in it were, Miles Coverdale, Christ. Goodman, John Knox, Ant. Gibbs, Thomas Sampson, William Cole of Corpus Christi college, Oxon, and William Whittingham : they compared TyndaPs old English Bible first with the Hebrew, and then with the best modern trans- lations ; they divided the chapters into verses, which the former translators had not done; they added some figures, maps, and tables, and published the whole in 1560, at Geneva, in quarto, printed by Rowland Harle, with a dedication to the queen, and an epistle to the reader, dated April 10th, which are left out in the later editions, because they touched somewhat severely upon cer- tain ceremonies retained in the church of England, which they excited her majesty to remove, as having a Popish aspect; and because the translators had published marginal notes, some of which were thought to affect the queen's prerogative, and to allow the subject to resist wicked and tyrannical kings ; therefore when the proprietors petitioned the secretary of state for reprinting it in England for public use, in the year 156i5, it was refused, and the impression stopped, till after the death of the archbishop in the year 1576 *. The author of the Troubles at Frankfort, published in the year 1575, complains that " if the Geneva Bible be such as no enemy of God can justly find fault with, then may men marvel that such a work, being so profitable, should find so small favour, as not to be printed again f ." The exceptionable notes were on Exodus XV. 19, where ch'sobedience to kings is allowed ; 2 Chron. xix. 16, where Asa is censured for stopping short at the deposing of his mother, and not executing her ; Rev. ix. 3, where the lo- * Life of Parker, p. 206. f Hickman against Heylin, p. 179. THE PURITANS. Ill eiists that conic out of the smoke are said to be heretics, false teachers, worldly, subtle prelates, with monks, friars, cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, bislioj)s, doctors, bachelors, anrl masters. But notvvithstandinir these, and sonic other excejitionable pas- sages in the notes, the Geneva Bible was reprinted in the years 157 C) and 1579, and was in such repute, that some, who had been curious to search into the number of its editions, say, that by the queen's own printers it was printed above thirty times. However, for a present su])ply 'I'yndal and Coverdale's translation, printetl in the reign of king Henry VIII. was revised and ])ublislied for the use of the church of England, till the bishops should publish a more correct one ; which they had now undertaken. Together with the exiles, the Dutch and German Protestants, who in the reign of king Edward VI. had the church in Austin- friars assigned them for a place of worship, returned to England with John a Lasco, a Polonian, their superintendant. They pe- titioned the queen to restore them to their church and privileges, which her majesty declined for some time, because she would not admit of a stranger to be superintendant of a church within her bishop's diocess. To take off this objection Alasco resigned, and the people chose Grindal bishop of London their superintendent, and then the queen confirmed their charter, which they still enjoy, though they never chose another superintendent after him. The French Protestants were also restored to their church in Thread- needle-street, which they yet enjoy. The Reformation took place this year in Scotland, by the preaching of Mr. John Knox, a bold and courageous Scots divine, who shunned no danger, nor feared the face of any man in the cause of religion. He had been a preacher in England in king Edward's time, then an exile at Frankfort, and at last one of the ministers of the English congregation at Geneva, from whence he arrived at Edinburgh, May 2nd, 1559, being forty- five years of age, and settled at Perth, but was a sort of evange- list over the whole kingdom. He maintained this position, that if kings and princes refused to reform religion, inferior ma- gistrates and the peo|)le, being directed and instructed in the truth by their preachers, may lawfully reform within their own bounds themselves ; and if all or the far greater part be enlightened by the truth, they may make a public reformation. Upon this principle the Scots reformers humbly petitioned the queen-dowager, regent for her daughter [Mary], now in France, for liberty to assemble publicly or privately for prayer, for reading and explaining the Holy Seriplures, and administering the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper in the vulgar tongue ; and the latter in both kinds, according to Christ's institution. This reasonable petition not being admitted, certain noblemen and barons formed an asso- ciation, resolving to venture their lives and fortunes in this cause ; and they encouraged as many of the curates of the parishes within their districts as were willing to read the prayers and lessons in 1 12 HISTOnr OF English, but not to expoinul the Scriptures till God should dispose the (jueen to grant them liberty. This being executed at Perth and the neighbouring parts without disturbance, the association spread, and was signed by great numbers, even in the capital city of Edinburgh. Upon this they presented another petition, repre- senting to the regent the unseasonableness of her rigour against the l^rotestants, considering their numbers ; but she was deaf to all moderate councils. At the meeting of the parliament the con- gregation, or heads of the association, presented the regent with sundry articles relating to liberty of conscience, to lay before the liouse, which she supj)ressed, and would not suffer to be debated ; whereupon they drew up the following protestation, and desired it might be recorded : " that since they could not procure a ivforma- tion, agreeable to the word of God, from the government, that it niiffht be lawful for them to follow thcdictates of their consciences. That none that joined with them in the ])r()fession of the true faith should be liable to any civil penalties, or incur any damages for so doing. They protest, that if any tumults arise on the score of religion, the imputation ought not lo lie upon them who now humbly entreat for a regular remedy ; and that in all other things they will be most loyal subjects." The regent acquainted the court of France with the situation of affairs, and received an order to suffer no ether religion but the Roman Cath(Jic to be professed, with a promise of large su{)plies of forces to support her. Upon this she summoned the magistrates of Perth, and the reformed ministers, to appear before her at Stirling, with a design to have them banished by a solemn decree. The minfsters appeared accordingly, being attended by vast crowds of people ai mcd and prepared to defend them, agreeably to thecustom of Scotland, which allowed criminals to come to their trials attended with their relations and friends. The regent, astonished at the sight, prayed John Areskin to persuade the multitude to retire, and gave 'her parole that nothing should be decreed against the ministers ; but they were no sooner gone c^uietly home than she condemned them for nonappearance. This news being brought to Perth, the burghers, encouraged by great nmnbers of the nobility and neighbouring gentry, formed an army of seven thousand men under the command of the earl of Glencairne, for the defence of their ministers against the regent, who was marching with an army of French and Scots to drive them out of their country ; but being informed of the |)re})aration of the burghers she consented to a treaty, by which it was agreed, that she should be received with honour into the city, and be suf- fered to lodge in it some days, provided she would promise to make no alteration in religion, but refer all to the parliament ; the Scots forces on both sides to be dismissed : but the reformed had no sooner disbanded their army, and opened their gates to the regent, than she broke ail the articles, .set up the mass, and left a garri.son o^ French in the town, resolving to make it a place of arms. THE PURITANS. 113 Upon this notorious breach of treaty, as well as the regent's de- claration, that promises were not to be kept with heretics, the con- gregations of Fife, Perth, Dundee, Angus, Mearns, and Montrose, raised a little army, and signed an engagement to assist each other in maintaining the Reformation with their lives and fortunes. Mr. Knox encouraged them by his sermons; and the populace being warmed, pulled down altars and images, plundered the monasteries, and dismantled the churches of their superstitious ornaments. The regent marched against them at the head of two thousand French, and two thousand Scots in French pay ; but being afraid to venture a battle, she retreated to Dunbar, and the confederates made themselves masters of Perth, Scone, Stir- ling, and Lithgow. At length a truce was concluded, by which the ministers of the congregation had liberty to preach in the pulpits of Edinburgh for the present ; but the regent, having soon after received large recruits from France, repossessed herself of Leith, and ordered it to be fortified, and stored with all necessary provisions ; the confederates desired her to demolish the works, allegino" it to be a violation of the truce; but she commanded them upon their allegiance to be quiet and lay down their arms ; and marching directly to Edinburgh, she obliged them to desert the city and retire to Stirling, whither the French troops followed them, and dispersed them into the mountains. In this low condition they published a proclamation, discharging the regent of her authority, and threateningto treat as enemies all that obeyed her orders; but not being able to stand their ground, they thiew themselves into the arms of queen Elizabeth ; who, being sensible of the danger of the Protestant religion, and of her own crown, if Scotland should l)ecomeentirelv Popish, under thegovernmentof a queen of France, who claimed the crown of England, entered into an alliance to support the confederate Protestants in their religion and civil liberties, and signed the treaty at Berwick, Feb. 27, 1560. Amono- other articles of this treaty it was stipulated, that the queen should send forces into Scotland, to continue there till Scot- land was restored to its liberties and privileges, and the French driven out of the kingdom. Accordingly, her majesty sent an army of seven thousand foot, and twelve hundred horse, whicii joined the confederate army of like force*. This army was after- ward reinforced by a large detachment from the northern marches, mider the command of the duke of Norfolk ; a-fter which they took the city of Leith, and obliged the queen-regent to shut herself up in the castle of Edinburgh, where she died June 10th. The French offered to restore Calais, if the cjueen would recall her forces from Scotland ; but she refused. At length the troubles of France recjuiring all their forces at home, plenipotentiaries were sent into Scotland to treat with Elizabeth about withdrawing the * Rapin, ^ol. 8. p. 271. vol.. I. I 114 HISTOIIV OF French forces out of that kingdom, and restoring the Scots to their parliamentary government. The treaty was conchided the beginning of August, whereby a general amnesty was granted ; the English and French forces were to withdraw in two months, and a parliament to be called with all convenient speed, to settle the affairs of religion and the kingdom ; but Francis and Mary refused to i-atify it. Before the parliament met Francis died, and left Mary cjueen of Scots a young widow. The late treaty nut being ratified, the parliament had no direct authority from the crown, but assembled by virtue of the late treaty, and received the following peti- tions from the barons and gentlemen concerning religion : 1. " That the doctrines of the Roman church should be sup- pressed by act of parliament, in those exceptionable points therein mentioned. 2. " That the discipline of the ancient church be revived. 3. " That the pope''s usurped authority be discliarged." All which was voted, and the ministers were desired to draw up a confession of faith, which they expressed in twenty-five articles, agreeable to the sentiments of Calvin, and the foreign reformers. The confession being read in parliament was carried but with three dissenting voices; the Popish prelates ofTering nothinsT in defence of their relijrion. By another act the pope's authority was abolislied, and readmg mass was made punishable, for the first offence with loss of goods ; for the second banishment ; and for the third death. This was carrying matters too far; for to judge men to death for matters of mere conscience that do not aftiect the government, is not to be justified. " To affirm that we are in the right, and others in the wrong (says Mr. Collyer*), is foreign to the point; for every one that suffers for religion thinks liimself in the right, and therefore ought not to be destroyed for his sincerity, for the prejudices of education, or the want of a better understanding, unless his opinions have mutiny and treason in them, and shake the foundations of civil society." Upon the breaking up of the parliament a commission was directed to Mr. Knox, Willock, Spotiswood, and some other divines, to draw up a scheme of discipline for the church, which they did pretty much upon the Geneva plan, only admitting superintendents in the room of bishops, and rejecting impo- sition of hands in the ordination of ministers, because that miracles were ceased, which they apprehended to accompany that cere- mony. Their words are these f : " Other ceremonies than the public approbation of the people, and declaration of the chief minister, that the person there presented is appointed to serve the church, we cannot approve; for albeit the apostles used imposi- tion of hands, yet seeing the miracle is ceased, the using of the Collyei-'s Eccl. Hist. p. 468. f First Book of Discipline, p. 31. THE I'UniTAXS, 115 ceremony we judge not necessary." They also appointed ten or twelve superintendents to plant and erect kirks, and to appoint ministers in such counties as should be committed to their care, wliere there were none already. But then tiiey add, these men nuisi not live like idle bishops, but must preach themselves twice or thrice a week, and visit their districts every three or four months, to inspect the lives and behaviour of the parochial minis- ters, to redress grievances, or bring them before an assembly of the kirk. The superintendents were to be chosen by the minis- ters and elders of the several provinces ; and to be deprived by them for misbeliaviour. The assemblies of the kirk were divided into classical, provincial, and national, in which last the dernier resort of all kirk-jurisdiction was lodged. When tliis plan of discipline was laid before tlic estates, ii was referred to farther consideration, and had not a j^arliamentary sanction, as the reformers expected. Cut after the recess of the parliament several noblemen, barons, and chief gentlemen, of the nation, met together at the instance of Mr. Knox, and signed it, resolving to abide by the new discipline, till it should be confirmed or altered by parliament. From this time the old hierarchical government was disused, and the kirk was governed by general, provincial, and classical assemblies, with superintendents, though there was no law for it till some years after. To return to England. The Popish bishops behaved rudely towards the queen and her new bishoj)s, they admonished her majpsty by letter to return to the religion of her ancestors, and threatened her with the censures of the church, in case she refused. This not prevailing, pope Pius IV. himself exhorted her by letter, dated May 5, 1570, to reject evil counsellors, and obey his fatherly admonitions, assuring her, that if she would return to the bosom of the church, he would receive her with the like affectionate love as the father in the gospel received his son. Parpalio, the nuncio that was sent with this letter, offered in the pope's name, to confirm the English liturgy, to allow of the sacrament in both kinds, and to disannul the sentence against her mother's marriage ; but the queen would not part with her supremacy*. Another nuncio, the abbot Martmegues, was sent this sunmier with other proposals, but was stopped in Flanders and forbid to set foot in the realm. The emperor and other Roman Catholic princes, interceded with the queen to grant her subjects of their religion churches to officiate in after tlieir own manner, and to keep up a separate communion ; but her majesty was too politic to trust them ; upon which they entered upon more desperate measures, as will be seen hereafter -f-. * Foxes and Firebrands, part 'A. p. 15. 18. " Elizabeth (as Dr. Warner expresses it) was not to be won with either threats or entreaties to part with her supremacy ; of which she was as fond as the king her father." — Ed. t Strype's Ann. p. 408. I 2 116 HISTORY OF Arclibishop Parker visited liis Jiocess this summer, and found it in a deplorable condition ; the major part of the Ijeneficed clergy being cither mechanics or mass-priests in disguise ; many churches were shut up, and in those that were open, not a sermon was to be heard in some counties within the compass of twenty miles ; the people perished for lack of knowledge, while men who were capable of instructing them were kept out of the church, or at least denied all preferment in it. But the queen was not so much concerned tor this, as for maintaining her supremacy ; his grace, therefore, by her order, drew up a form of subscription to be made by all that held any ecclesiastical preferment *, wherein they acknowledge and confess, "that the restoring the supremacy to the crown, and the abolishing all foreign power, as well as the adn)inistration of the sacraments according to the Book of Com- mon Prayer, and the queen's injunctions, is agreeable to the word of God and the practice of the primitive church." Which most that favoured the Reformation, as well as great numbers of time-serving priests, complied with; but some refused and were deprived. The next thing the archbishop undertook was, settling the calendar, and the order of lessons to be read throughout the year, which his grace, as one of the ecclesiastical commissioners, pro- cured letters under the great seal to reform f. Before this time it was left to the discretion of the minister to change the chapters to be read in course for some others that were more for edification ; and even after this new regulation the bishops recommended it ; for in the preface to the second book of homilies published in the year 1564, there is a serious admonition to all ministers ecclesias- tical, to be diligent and faithful in their high functions ; in which, among others, is this remarkable instruction to the curates or ministers |. " If one or other chapter of the Old Testament falls in order to be read on Sundays or holidays, it shall be well done to spend your time to consider well of some other chapter in the New Testament of more edification, for which it may be changed. By this your prudence and diligence in your office will appear, so that your people may have cause to glorify God for you, and be the readier to embrace your labours." If this indulgence had been continued, one considerable difficulty to the Puritans had been removed, viz. their obligation to read the Apocrypha lessons; and surely there could be no great danger in this, when the minister was confined within the canon of Scripture. But this liberty was not long permitted, though, the admo- nition being never legally reversed, archbishop Abbot was of opinion, that it was in force in his time, and ought to have been allowed the clergy throughout the course of this reign§. His words are these, in his book entitled, Hiirs Reasons Unmasked, » Life of Parker, p. 77. t M. S. penes me, p. 88. X Life of Parlver, p. 84. § Strype's Annals, p. 117. THE I'UUITAXS. 117 J). 317 : " It is not oi)Iy perniittctl to the minister, but recom- mended to liini, if wisely and t|uietly lie do read canonical Scrip- ture, where the A|)ocry))ha upon good iud|rnient seemeth not so fit ; or any chapter of the canonical may be conceived not to have in it so much edification before the simple, as some other parts of the same canonical scriptures may be thought to have."" But the governing bishops were of another mind, they would trust nothing to the discretion of the minister, nor vary a tittle from the act of uniformity. Hitherto there were few or no peculiar lessons for holidays and particular Sundays, but the chapters of the Old and New Testament were read in course, without any interruption or va- riation ; so it is in the Common Prayer-book of 1549, ful*. In the second edition of that book under king Edward VI. there were proper lessons for some few holidays, but none for Sun- days ; but now there was a table of proper lessons for the whole year, thus entitled, " Proper lessons to be read for the first lesson, both at morning and evening prayer, on the Sundays throughout the year ; and for some also the second lessons." It begins with the Sundays of Advent, and appoints Isa. i. for matins, and Isa. ii. for even-soug. There is another table for proper lessons on holidays, beginning with St. Andrew ; and a third table for proper psalms on certain days, as Christmas, Easter, Ascension Whitsunday, &.c. At the end of this common prayer-book, printed by Jug and Cawocxl, I06O, were certain prayers for private and family use, which in the later editions are either shortened or left out, Mr. Strype cannot account for this conduct, but says, it was great pity that the people were disfurnished of those assistances they so much wanted ; but the design seems to have been, to confine all devotion to the church, and to give no liberty to clergy or laity, even in their closets or families, to vary from the public forms. An admonition was pub- lished at the same time, and set up in all churches, forbidding all parsons under the degree of a master of arts, to preach or ex- pound the Scriptures, or to innovate or alter any thing, or use any other rite but only what is set forth by authority ; these were only to read the homiliesf. And whereas by reason of the scar- city of ministers, the bishops had admitted into the ministry sun- dry artificers, and others not brought up to learning, and some that were of base occupation, it was now desired, that no more tradesmen should be ordained, till the convocation met and took some better order in this affair. But it was impossible to comply with this admonition ; for so many churches in country towns and villages were vacant, that in some places there was no preaching, nor so much as reading a homily, f<»* many months together. In sundry ])arishes it was hard to find persons to baptize or bury the dead ; the bishops * Life of Parker, p. 8;i. t Life of Parker, p. 90. 118 HISTOllV OK therefore were obliged to admit of pluralists, nonresidents, civi- lians, and to ordain such as offered themselves, how meanly soever they were qualified, while others who had some scruples about conformity, stood by unprovided for ; the learned and industrious Mr. John Fox the martyrologist was of this number, for in a letter to his friend Dr. Humphreys, lately chosen president of Magdalen-college, Oxon, he writes thus: "I still wear the same clothes, and remain in the same sordid condition, that England received me in, when I first came home out of Germany, nor do I chanoe my degree or order, which is that of the Mendicants ; or, if vou will, of the friars-preachers." Thus pleasantly did this oraveand learned divine reproach the ingratitude of the times. The Puritans complained of these hardships to the queen, but there was no remedy. The two universities could give little or no assistance to the reformers ; for the professors and tutors, being of the Popish religion, iiad trained up the youth in their own principles for the last six or seven years. Some of the heads of colleges were dis- placed this summer, and Protestants put in their room ; but it was a long time before they could supply the necessities of tlie church. There were only three Protestant preachers in the university of Oxford. in the year 1563, and they were all Puritans, viz. Dr. Humphreys, Mr. Kingsmill, and Mr. Sampson ; and though by the next year the clergy were so modelled, that the bishops pro- cured a convocation that favoured the Reformation, yet they were such poor scholars that many of them could hardly write their names. Indeed the Reformation went heavily on. The queen could scarcely be persuaded to part with images, nor consent to the marriage of the clergy ; for she commanded that no head or member of any collegiate or cathedral church, should bring a wife or any other woman within the precincts of it, to abide in the same, on pain of forfeiture of all ecclesiastical promotions* : and her majesty would have absolutely forbid the marriage of all her clergy, if secretary Cecil had not briskly interposed. She re- pented that she had made any married men bishops ; and told the archbishop in anger, that she intended to publish other in- junctions, which his grace understood to be in favour of Popery ; upon which the archbishop wrote to the secretary, that he was sorry the queen's mind was so turned ; but in such a case he should think it his duty to obey God rather than man. Upon the whole, the queen was so far from improving her brother's re- formation, that she often repented she had gone so farf. * Life of Parker, p. 10/, 109. f Of this Dr. Warner gives the following instances : when the dean of St. Paul's, in a sermon at court, spoke with some dislike of the sign of the cross, her majesty called aloud to him from her closet, commanding him to desist from that ungodly digression, and to return to his text. At another time, when one of her chaplains preached a sermon on Good-Friday, in defence of the real presence, TIIK I'URITANS, 119 Her majesty's second parliament met the 12tli of January 1562, in u'hich a remarkable act was passed, for assurance of the queen's royal })o\vcr over all states and subjects within her do- minions. It was a confirmation of the act of supremacy. "All persons that by writing, printing-, preaching, or teaching, main- tained the })ope\s authority within this realm, incurred a prjiemu- nire for the first offence, and the second was high treason. The oath of supremac}^ was to be taken by all in holy orders, by all graduates in the universities, lawyers, schoolmasters, and all other officers of any court whatsoever; and by all knights, citi- zens, and burgesses, in parliament*." But the archbishop by the queen's order wrote to the bishops, not to tender the oath but in case of necessity, and never to press it a second time without his special direction ; so that none of the Popish bishops or divines were burdened with it, except Bonner and one or two more. The convocation was opened at St. PauTs the day after the meeting of the parliament. Mr. Day, provost of Eton, preached the sermon, and Alexander Nowel, dean of St. PauTs, was chosen prolocutor. Her majesty having directed letters of licence to review the doctrine and discipline of the church, they began with the doctrine, and reduced the forty-two arti(;les of king Edward VI. to the number of thirty-nine, as at present, the following articles being omitted : Article 89. The resurrection of the dead is not passed already. Art. 40. The souls of men deceased do neither perish with their boilies nor sleep idly. Art. 41. Of the INIillenarians. Art, 42. All men not to be saved at last. Some of the other articles underwent a new division, two being- joined into one, and in other parts one is divided into two ; but there is no remarkable variation in the doctrinef. It has been warmly disputed, whether the first clause of ihe twentieth article, " The church has power to decree rites and ce- remonies, and authority in controversies of fiiith," was a part of the article which ])assed the synod, and was afterwards confirmed by parliament in the year 1571. It is certain that it is not among king Edward's articles; nor is it in that original manuscript of the articles subscribed by both houses of convocation with their wljich without guessing at her sentiments he would scarce have ventured on, she openly gave him thanks for liis pains and piety. Ecclesiastical History, vol. 2. p. 127 E». * Life of Parker, p. 12t;. t The eighth article of Edward VI. had a clause imputing to the Anabaptists as the Pelagi;in<, the opinion, that original sin consisted in following of Adam : in this revisal of the articles the part of the chiuse charging the Anabaptists witli that opinion was left out. That article concerning baj)tism stated also the grounds of administering that rite to infants in this manner : " The custom of the church for baptizing young (-hildren is ])oth to be commended, and by all means to be retained in the church. It seems by this that the first reformers did not found the jiractice of infant-baptism upon Scripture ; but took it only as a commendable custom, that had been used in tlie Christian church, and tlierefore ought to be retained. Crosby's History of the English Baptists, vol. 1. p. 54 Ed. 120 HISTORY OF own hands, still preserved in Bene't-college library among the ret>r of archbisiiop Parker's papers. The records of this convocation were burnt in the fire of London, so that there is no appealing to them ; but archbishop Laud says, that he sent to tke public re- cords in his office, and the notary returned him the twentieth article with the clause ; and that afterward he found the book of articles subscribed by the lower house of convocation in 1571, with the clause. Heylin says, that he consulted the records of convocation, and that the contested clause was in the book ; and yet Fuller, a much fairer writer, who had the liberty of perusing the same records, declares he could not decide the controversy *. The fact is this ; the statute of 1571 expressly confirms English articles comprised in an imprinted book, entitled, " Articles, whereupon it was agreed by the archbishops and bishops of both provinces, and the whole clergy in the convocation holden at London in the year 1562, according to the computation of the church of England ; for the avoiding diversity of opinions, and for the establishing of consent touching true rehgion : put forth by the queen's authority." Now there were only two editions of the articles in English before this time, both which have the same numerical title with that transcribed in the statute, and both, says my author, want the clause of the church's power. But Mr. vStrype, in his Life of Archbishop Parker, says, that the clause is to be found in two printed copies of 1563, which I believe very few have seen -j-. However, till the original MS. above-men- tioned can be set aside, which is carefully marked as to the number of pages, and the number of lines and articles in each page, it seems more probable that the clause was some way or other surreptitiously inserted by those who were friends of the churclfs power, than struck out by the Pvu'itans, as Laud and his followers have published to the world ; for it is hard to suj)- pose, that a foul cojjy, as this is pretended to be, should be so carefully marked and subscribed by every member of the synod with their own hands, and yet not be perfect : but it is not impro- bable that the notary or registrar, who transcribed the articles into the convocation-book, with the names of them that subscribed, might by direction of his superiors privately inseit it : and so it might appear in the records of 1571, though it was not in the original draught. The controversy is of no great moment to the present clergy, because it is certain, the clause was a part of the * Church History, b. !). p. 74. t The celebrated Mr. Anthony Collins discussed the question concerning the genuineness of this clause, in several publications ; and professed to demonstrate that it was not a part of the articles agreed on by tbe convocations of ]5()2 and 1571. His first pamphlet was entitled, Priestcraft in Perfection. Its appearance gave a general alarm to the clergy; and a variety of pamphlets, sermons, and larger works, in reply to it, issued forth from the press. The two principal of which Mr. Collins answered in 1724, in " An Historical and Critical Essay on the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England." See British Biograjjhy, vol '.K p. 275. 278, &c.— Ed. THK VIIRITANS. 121 articleconfiinicd by parliament at the restoration of kingCliarlcsT T. 1662; though liow far it was consistent with the act of supreinacy, which loclged the ultimate power of determining matters of faith and discipline in the crown, I must leave with the reader. The synod itself seemed to be apprehensive of the danger of a praemu- nire, and therefore after their names these words were cautiously added : " Ista subscriptio facta est ab omnibus sub hac protesta- tione, quod nihil statuunt in prppjudicium cujusquam senatus con- sulti, sed tantum supplicem libellum petitiones suas continentem humiliter offerunt : " i. e. " This subscription is made by all with this protestation, that they determine nothing in prejudice of any act of parliament, but only offer this little book to the queen or parliament, containing their requests and petitions," The articles were concluded, and the subscription finished, in the chapter-house of St. Paul's, January 31, 1562, in the ninth session of convocation *. All the bishops subscribed, except Gloucester and Rochester, who I believe were absent. Of the lower house there were upwards of a hundred hands; but what- ever their learning was, many of them wiote so ill that it was hard to read their names. Among the subscribers are several of the learned exiles, who were dissatisfied with the constitution ; as the reverend Mr. Beseley, Watts, Cole, Mullyns, Sampson, PuUan, Spencer, Wisdom, Nowel, Heton, Beaumont, Pedder, Lever, Pownal, Wilson, Croley, and others. But the articles did not j)ass into a law, and become a part of the establishment, till nine years after, though some of the more rigid bishops of the ecclesiastical commission insisted upon subscription from this time. The next considerable affair that came under debate, was the rites and ceremonies of the church ; and here, first, bishop Sandys brought in a paper of advice to move her majesty, " That private baptism, and baptism by women, may be taken out of the Common Prayer-book. That the cross in baptism may be disallowed as needless and superstitious. That commissioners may be appointed to reform the ecclesiastical laws." Another paper was presented to the house with the following requests, signed by thirty-three names. " That the psalms may be sung distinctly by the whole congre- gation ; and that organs may be laid aside. That none may baptize but ministers ; and that they may leave off the sign of the cross. That at the ministration of the communion the posture of kneeling may be left indifferent. That the use of copes and sur- plices may be taken awav ; so that all ministers in their ministry use a grave, comely, and sad garment, as they commonly do in ])rcaching. That ministers be not compelled to wear such gowns and caps, as the enemies of Christ's gospel have chosen to be the special array of their priesthood. That the words in the thirty - third article, concerning the punishment of those who do not in * Sirype's Ann. )'. .'V29. 122 HISTORY OF all things conform to the public order about ceremonies, may be mitigated. That all the saints' days, festivals, and holidays, bearing the name of a creature, may be abrogated ; or at least a commemoration only of them reserved by sermons, homilies, or common prayer, for the better instructing the people in histoiy ; and that after service men may go to work." I have subjoined the names of the subscribers to this paper, that the reader may take notice what considerable persons they were for learning and ability, as well as numbers, that desired a further reformation in the church *. This ])aper not being approved, another was brought into the lower house February 13, containing the following articles to be approved or rejected -f. " That all Sundays in the year, and principal feasts of Christ, be kept holidays ; and that all other holidays be abrogated. That in all parish-churches the minister in the common prayer turn his face towards the people, and there read distinctly the service appointed, that the people may hear and be edified. That in baptism the cross may be omitted, as tending to superstition. Forasmuch as divers commun'cants are not able to kneel for age and sickness at the sacrament, and others kneel and knock superstitiously, that therefore the order of kneeling may be left to the discretion of the ordinary. That it be sufficient for the mini- ster in time of saying divine service, and ministering of the sacra- ments (once) to wear a surplice ; and that no minister say service, or minister the sacraments, but in a comely garment or habit. That the use of organs be removed." These propositions were the subject of warm debates ; some approving and others rejecting them. In conclusion, the house * Alexander Nowel, dean of St. Paul's and prolocutor. Sampson, dean of Christ-church, Oxon. Lawrence Nowel, dean of Litchfield. Ellis, dean of Hereford. Day, provost of Eton. Dodds, dean of Exon. ' MuUins, archdeacon of London. Pullan, archdeacon of Colchester. Lever, archdeacon of Coventry. Bemont, archdeacon of Huntingdon. Spencer, archdeacon of Chichester. Croley, archdeacon of Hereford. Heton, archdeacon of Gloucester. Rogers, archdeacon of St. Asaph. Kemp, archdeacon of St. Alban's. Prat, archdeacon of St. David's. Longland, archdeacon of Bucks. Watts, archdeacon of Middlesex. Calfhil, Walker, Saul, Wiburne, Savage, W. Bonner Avys, Wilson, Nevynson, Tremayne, Renyger, Roberts, Reeve. Hills, t Strype's Ann ^ p. ;?37. /'Church of Oxon. Clergy of Suffolk. Dean and chapter of Gloucester. Church of Rochester. Clergy of Gloucester. Churcli of Somerset. Church of Wigorn. Church of Wigorn, Worcester. Clergy of Canterbury. Clergy of Exeter. Dean and chapter of Winton. Clergy of Norwich. Dean and chapter of Westminster. ^Clergy of Oxon. THE IHTRITANS. 123 being divided, it appeared upon the serutiny, that the majority of those present were for approvino- tlani, fortv-tliree against tliirty- fivc; but wlien the proxies were cotmted, the scale was turned; those wlio were for the ])ro])()sitions being fifty-eiglit, and those against them fifty-nine ; so that l)y tlie majority of one single voice, and that not a person present to hear the debates but a proxy, it was determined to make no alteration in the ceremonies, nor any abatements of the present establishment *. I mention these names, nt)t to detract from the merit of those who appeared for the present establishment; for many of them would have voted for the alterations, had they not been awed by their superiors, or afraid of a prjemunire; whereas, if the con- trary vote had ]irevailed, it was only to address the queen or j)arliament, to alter the service-book in those particulars: but 1 mention them to shew, that the voice of half the clergy in convo- cation, and of no less numbers out of it, were for amendments, or at least a latitude in the observation of the rites and ceremonies of the church. Indeed it was very unkind, that when such consi- derable abatements had been made in favour of the Koman Ca- tholics, nothing should be indulged to those of the same faith, and who had suffered in the same cause with themselves, espe- cially when the controversy was about points which one party apprehended to be sinful, and the other acknowledged to be inclifFerent. Sundry other papers and petitions were drawn up, by the lower house of convocation, in favour of a further reforma- tion, but nothing passed into a law. The church having carried their point against the Puritans in convocation, we are now to see what use they made of their victory. The plague being in London and several parts of the country this summer, put a little stop to their zeal for uniformity at [)resent ; some were indulged, but none preferred that scrupled the habits. " The names of the forty-three that approved of the above articles were, Dean Nowel, prolocutor, St. Paul's. Mr. Bradbridge, cancellar. Cicest. Mr. archdeacon I,ever, Coventry. Mr. Hills, proct. cler. Oxon. Dean Pedder, Wigorniensis. Mr. Savage, proct. cler. Glouc. Mr. archdeacon Watts, Middlesex. Mr. archdeacon Pullan, Colchest. Dean Nowel, of Litchfield. Mr. Wilson, proct. Wigorn. ' Mr. archdeacon Sjjcncer, Cicestrensis. Mr. Burton. Mr. Besely, proct, cler. Cant. Mr. archdeacon Bemont, lluntingd. Mr. Nevynson, proct. cler. Cant. Mr. Wiburne, proct. eccl. Roff. Mr. Bower, proct. cler. Somers. Mr. Day, prov. Eton. Mr. Ebden, proct. cler. Wiut. Mr. Reeve, proc. dec. cap. Westm. Mr. archdeacon Longland, Bucks. Mr. Roberts, proct. cler. Norw. Mr. Lancaster, tliesaurar. Sariim. Mr. Calfhil, proct. cler. Loud, and Mr. archdeacon Weston, Lewensis. Oxon. Mr. archdeacon Wisdom, Eliensis. Mr. Godwin, proct. cler. Line. Mr. Saul, procf. dec. cap. Glouc. Mr. archdeacon Prat, St. David's. Mr. Walker, proct. Suffolk. ^Ir. Tremayn, proct. cler. ICxon. Mr. Becon. Mr. archdeacon llcton, Glouc. Mr. Proctor, proct. cler. Sussex. Mr. archdeacon Kemp, St. Albans. Mr. Cocerel, proct. cler. Surrey. Mr. Avys, jnoct. eccl. Wigorn. Mr. archdeacon Tod, Bedf. Mr. Renyger, proct. dec. caji. Wint. Mr. archdeacon Croley, Hereford. Mr. dean Elis, Hereford. Mr. Soreby, jiroct. cler. Cicest. JMr. dean Sampson, Oxon. 124 iiisTouy oi' In proof of this we may produce tlie examples of two of the wor- thiest and most learned divines of the age; one was father Miles Coverdale, formerly bishop of Exeter, who with Tyndal and Rogers first translated the Bible into English after Wickliffe. This prelate was born in Yorkshire, bred at Cambridge, and pro- ceeded doctor in divinity in the university of Tubing, lleturning to England in the reign of king Edward, he was made bishop of Exeter, 1551 *. Upon the accession of queen Mary he was im- prisoned, and narrowly escaped the fire ; but by the intercession of the king of Denmark was sent over into that country, and coming back at her death, assisted at the consecration of queen Elizabetirs first archbishop of Canterbury ; yet because he could not comply with the ceremonies and habits he was neglected, and had no preferment. This reverend man, says Mr. Strype-j-, being now old and poor, Grindal bishop of London gave him the small living of St. Magnus, at the Bridge-foot, where he preached quietly about two years; but not coming up to the conformity required, he was persecuted thence, and obliged to relinquish his parish a little before his death, which happened May 20, 1567, at at the age of eighty-one |. He was a celebrated preacher, ad- mired and followed by all the Puritans ; but the act of uniformity brought down his reverend hairs with sorrow to the grave. He was buried in St. Bartholomew's behind the Exchange, and was attended to his grave with vast crowds of people. The other was that venerable man Mr. John Fox, the martyr- ologist, a grave, learned, and painful divine, and exile for religion, who employed his time abroad in writing the acts and monuments of that church which would hardly receive him into her bosom, and in collecting materials relating to the martyrdom of those that suffered for religion in the reigns of king Henry VIII. and queen Mary; all which he published, first in I^atin for the benefit of foreigners, and then in English for the service of his own country, in the year 1561. No book ever gave such a mortal wound to Popery as this ; it was dedicated to the queen, and was in such high reputation, that it was ordered to be set up in the churches; where it raised in the people an invincible horror and detestation of that religion which had shed so much innocent blood. Queen Elizabeth had a particular esteem for Mr. Fox ; but this excellent and laborious divine, though reduced to very great poverty and want, had no preferment in the church because he scrupled the habits, till at length, by the intercession of some great friend, he obtained a prebend in the church of Sarum, which he made a shift to hold till his death, though not without some disturbance from the bishops ||. * Fuller's Worthies, b. 3. p. 198. t Ann. p. 405. J Life of Parkir, p. 149. || Strype's Annals, vol. 1. p. KJO. Bishop VVarburton says, that he was also installed in the tin id prebend of Durham, Octo- ber 14, 1.572, but held it not long ; Bellamy succeeding to the same stall, October A], J57;5. .Supplement to W'arbuiton's works, p. 156. - Ed. THE PURITAN'S. 125 The parochial clerg y, both in city and country, had an aversion to the habits; they wore them sometimes in obedience to the law, but more frccjuently administered without them ; for which some were cited into the spiritual courts, and admonished, the bishops not having yet assumed the courat^e of proceeding to suspension and deprivation. At length the matter was laid before the queen, as appears by a paper found among secretary Cecil's MSS. dated February 24, 1.5G4, which acquaints her majesty, that " some per- form divine service and prayers in the chancel, others in the body of the church ; some in a seat made in the chur(;h, some in a pulpit with their faces to the people ; some keep precisely to the order of the book, some intermix psalms in metre; some say with a sur- plice, and others without one. " The table stands in the body of the church in some places, in others it stands in the chancel ; in some places the table stands altarwise, distant from the wall a yard ; in others in the middle of the chancel, north and south ; in some places the table is joined, in others it stands upon tressels ; in seme the table has a carpet, in others none. " Some administer the communion with surplice and cap; some with surplice alone * ; others with none; some with chalice, others with a communion-cup, others with a common cup; some with unleavened bread, and some with leavened. " Some receive kneeling, others standing, others sitting; some baptize in a font, some in a basin ; some sign with the sigti of the cross, others sign not ; some minister in a surplice, others without ; some with a square cap, some with a round cap, some with a button cap, some with a hat; some in scholars' clothes, some in others." Her majesty was highly displeased with this report, and espe- cially that her laws were so little regarded ; she therefore directed a letter to the archbishops of Canterbury and York, dated January 25th, " to confer with the bishops of the ecclesiastical connnission, and to inquire what diversities there were among the clergy in doctrine, rites, and ceremonies, and to take effectual methods that an exact order and uniformity be maintained in all external rites and ceremonies, as by law and good usages are provided for ; and that none hereafter be admitted to any ecclesiastical preferment, but who is well disposed to common order, and shall formally pro- mise to comply with iff*." To give countenance to this severity, it was reported that some of the warmer Puritans had turneil the habits into ridicule, and given unhandsome lanffuaoe to those that wore them ; which, according to Mr. Strype, was the occasion of their being pressed afterward with so much rigour: but whatever gave occasion to the persecution that followed, or whoever was at the head of it, supposing the insinuation to be just, it was very hard that so great a number of useful ministers, who neither ccn- • Life of Pinker, y. 14<). f IbiJ- p. 154. 12G HISTORY OF sured their brttliren, nor abused their indulgence by an unman- nerly bcliaviour, should be turned out of their benefices for the indiscretion of a few. The bishops, in their letters to the foreign divines, had promised not to urge their lirethren in these things, and when opportunity served to seek reformation of them ; but now they took themselves to be released from their promises, and set at liberty by the queen's express command to the contrary ; their meaning being, that they would not do it with their own accord, without direction from above. The Puritans and their friends, foreseeing the storm, did what they could to avert it. Pilkington bishop of Durham wrote to the carl of Leicester, October 2oth, to use his interest with the queen in their behalf. He said, " that compulsion should not be used in things of liberty. He prayed the earl to consider, how all reformed countries had cast away Popish apparel, with the pope, and yet we contend to keep it as a holy relic*. That many ministers would rather leave their livings than comply ; and the realm had a great scarcity of teachers ; many places being desti- tute of any. That it would give incurable offence to foreign Protestants; and since we have forsaken Popery as v»icked, I clo not see (says the bishop) how their apparel can become saints and professors of the gospel." Whittingham dean of Durham wrote to the same purpose. He dreaded the consequence of imposing that as necessary, which at best was only indifferent, and in the opinion of many wise and learned men superstitious. " If the apparel which the clergy wear at present (says he), seems not so modest and grave as their vocation requires, or does not sufficiently distinguish them from men of other callings, they refuse not to wear that which shall be thought, by godlj' magistrates, most decent for these uses; provided they may keep themselves ever pure from the defiled robe of antichrist. Many Papists (says he) enjoy their livings and liberty, who have not sworn obedience, nor do any part of their duty to their miserable flockf. Alas ! my lord, that such compulsion should be used towards us, and such great lenity towards the Papists. O ! noble earl, be our patron and stay in this behalf, that we may not lose that liberty, that hitherto by the queen's benignity we have enjoyed." Other letters were written to the same purpose ; and all made what friends they could among the courtiers. The nobility were divided, and the queen herself seemed to be at a stand, but the archbishop spirited her forv\ard ; and having received her majesty's letter, authorising him to proceed, he entered upon the unpleasing worlc with vigour and resolution. The bishops Jewel and Horn preached at Paul's cross to recon- cile the people to the habits. Jewel said, he did not come to defend them, but to shew that they were indifferent, and might * Life of Parker, p. 155, and Appendix, p. 40. f Life of Parker, p. 157, and Appendix, p. 43. ■niE lURlTAXS. 127 l)c conipliixi willi. Horn went a little faiiher, and \sihlied those cut off' fVoui the church, that troubled it about white or black oarments, round or scjuare caps. The Puritans were not allowed to preach af^ainst the habits, but they expostulated with the bishops, and told them, that in their opinions, those ought rather to be cut oil", which stopped the course of the gospel, and that grieved and oll'ended their weak brethren, by urging the remnants of antichrist more than God's coninjandnients, and l)y punishing the refusers of them more extremely than the breakers of God's laws. The archbishop, with the bishops of London, Ely, Winchester, and Lincoln, framed sundry articles to enforce the liabits, which were afterward published under the title of Advertisements. But when his grace brought them to court, the queen refused to give them her sanction. The archbishop, chafed at the disappoint- ment, said that the court had put him upon framing the Adver- tisements ; and if they would not go on, they had better never have done any thing ; nay, if the council would not lend their helping hand against the Nonconformists, as they had done here- tofore in Iloopei's days, they should only be laughed at for all they had done*. But still the cjueen was so cold, tliat when the bishop of London came to court, she spoke not a word to him about the redressing the neglect of conformity in the city of London, where it was most disregarded. Upon which the arch- bishop applied to the secretary, desiring another letter from the queen, to back their endeavours for conformity, adding, in some heat, '• If you remedy it not by letter, I will no more strive against the stream, fume or chide who will." But the wearing of Popish garments being one of the grand principles of nonconformity, it will be proper to set before the reader the sentiments of some learned performers upon this con- troversy, which employed the pens of some of the most judicious divines of the age. We havp related the unfriendly behaviour of the bishops Cran- mer and llidley towards Hooper ; and that those very prelates, who once threatened his life for refusing the habits, if we may credit Mr. Fox's Latin edition of the Book of Martyrs, lived to see their mistakes and repent -f-; for when Brooks bishop of Gloucester came to Oxford, to degrade bishop Ridley, he refu.sed to put on the surjilicc, and while they were putting it on him, whether he would or no, he vehemently inveighed against the apparel, calling it " foolish, abominable, and too fond for a vice in a ])h»y.'' Bishop J^atimer also derided the garments; and when they pulled off his surplice at his degradation, " Now (says he) I can make no more holy water." * Life of Parker, p. 1.59. t Fox's Book of Martyrs, vo!. '.\. ]>. aOO. Strype's Ann. vol. 2. p. .'>•">">. 128 HisTony of In the articles against bishop Farrar in king Edward's reign, it was objected, article forty-nine, that he had vowed never to wear tlie cap, bnt that became into his cathedral with a long gown anil hat; which he did not deny, alleging he did it to avoid super- stition, and without any offence to the people. When the Popish vestments were put upon Dr. Taylor, the martyr, in order to his degradation, he walked about with his hands by his sides, saying, " How say you, my lord, am I not a goodly fool .'' If I were in Cheapside, would not the boys laugh at these foolish toys and apish trumpery ?"" And when the surplice was pulled off, " Now (says he) I am rid of a fool's coat." When they were pulling the same off from archbishop Cran- mer, he meekly replied, " All this needed not, 1 myself had done with this gear long ago." Dr. Heylin testifies, that John Rogers the protomartyr pe- remptorily refused to wear the habits unless the Popish priests were enjoined to wear upon their sleeves, by way of distinction, a chalice with a host. The same he asserts concerning Philpot, a very eminent martyr ; and concerning one Tyms a deacon, who was likewise martyred in queen Mary's reign. The holy martyr John Bradford, as well as Mr. Sampson and some others, excepted against the habits at their entrance into holy orders, and were ordained without them. Bucer and Peter Martyr, professors of our two famous univer- sities, were both against the habits, and refused to wear them. Bucer being asked, why he did not wear the square cap, answered, Because his head was not square *. And Martyr, in one of his letters after his return home, says, " When I was at Oxford, I would never use those white garments in the choir, though I was a canon in the church ; and 1 am satisfied in my own reasons for what I did f.'" In the same letter, Bucer says he would be con- tent to suffer some great pain in his body, upon condition that these things were utterly taken away |. And, in such case as we are now [1550], he willeth that in no case they should be received. He adds, in his letter from Cambridge to a friend beyond sea, dated 12lh January looO, that no foreigner was consulted about the purity of ceremonies, " de puritate rituum scito hie neminem extraneum de his rebus rogari."" And though both he and Peter Martyr thought they might be borne with for a season ; yet in our case, he would not have them suffered to remain. These were the sentiments of our first reforn)ers in the reign of king Edward VI. and queen Mary. Upon restoring the Protestant religion under queen Elizabeth, the same sentiments concerning the habits prevailed among all the reformers at first, though they disagreed upon the grand question, whether they should desert their ministry ratherthan comply. * Life of Parker, Appendix, p. 41. f Hist. Ref. p. (i5. + Ann. Ref. vol. 2. p. r).')4, .'i.'iS. THE PURrrANF. ]'2[) Mr. Strype, in his Life of Art libisliop Parker, a most cruel persecutor of the Puritans, says, that he was not fond of the cap, the surplice, and the wafer-bread, and such-like injunctions, and would have been pleased with a toleration ; that he gloried in havinly, the separation liad been stiHed in its infancy ; for there was harcily a Puritan in England that refused subscription to the doctrinal articles : if all the thirty-nine articles had been established, there had been no need of the following clause, " which only concern the confes- sion of the true Christian faith, and the doctrine of the sacra- nients."" And yet notwithstanding this act, many that held benefices and ecclesiastical preferments, and that offered to conform to the statute, were deprived in the following part of this reign ; which was owing to the bishops' servile com|)liance with the prerogative, and pressing subscription to more than the law required *. It deserves further to be taken notice of, that by a clause in this act the parliament admits of ordination by presbyters without a bishop; which was afterward disallowed by the bishops in this reign, as well as at the restoration of king Charles II. when the church was deprived of great numbers of learned and useful preachers, who scru])led the matter of reordination, as they would at this time, if it had been insisted on. Many of the present clergy had been exiles for religion, and had been ordained abroad, according to the custom of foreign churches, but would not be reordained, any more than those of the Popish commu- nion ; therefore to put an end to all disputes the statute includes both ; the words are these, '• that everv person under the degree of a bishop, that 'doth or shall pretend to be a priest or minister of God's word and sacraments, by reason of any other form of institution, consecration, or ordering, than the form set forth in parliament in the time of the late king Edward VI. or now used in the reign of our most sovereign lady queen Elizabeth, shall, before Christmas next, declare his assent, and subscribe the articles aforesaid." The meaning of which clause, says Mr. Strype, is undoubtedly to com})rehend Papists, and likewise such as received their orders in some of the foreign reformed churches, when they were in exile under cjueen Maryf. It is probable that the controverted clause of the twentieth article, " the church has power to decree rites and ceremonies, and authority in controversies of faith," was not among the articles of loG2, as has been shewn under that year ; though it might be (according to Laud and Heylin) inserted in the convocation-book of 1.571, but what has this to do with the act of [larliament, which refers to a book printed nine years before? besides, it is absurd to charge the l^uritans with striking out the clause, as archbishop Laud has done; they having no share in the government of the church at this time, nor interest to obtain the least abatement in their favour ; nor does it appear that they disapproved the • Strype's Aun. vol. 2. p. 72. t Ibid. p. 71. VOL. I. N 178 HISTORY OF clause under proper regulations : one might rather suppose, that the queen should take umbrage at it as an invasion of her prero- gative, and that therefore some zealous churchman, finding the articles defective upon the head of the church's authority, might insert it privately, to avoid the danger of a prseniunire. But after all, subscription to the doctrinal articles of the church only, has been reckoned a very great grievance by many pious and learned divines, both in church and out of it ; for it is next to impossible to frame thirty-six propositions in any human words, to which ten thousand clergymen can give their hearty assent and consent. Some that agree to the doctrine itself may dissent from the words and phrases by which it is expressed ; and others that agree to the capital doctrines of Christianity, may have some doubts about the deeper and more abstruse points of specu- lation. It would be hard to deprive a man of his living, and shut him out from all usefulness in the church, because he doubts of the local descent of Christ into hell; or, whether the best actions of men before their conversion have the nature of sins* ; or that every thing in the three creeds, commonly called the Apostles', the Nicene, and the Athanasian, may be proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture, and are therefore to be believed and receivedf. Wise and good men may have different sentiments upon the doctrine of the decrees, which ai'e a depth which no man can fathom. These, and some otlier things, have galled the consciences of the clergy, and driven them to evasions destructive to morality, and the peace of their own minds. Some have subscribed them as articles of peace, contrary to the very title, which says, they " are for avoiding the diversity of opi- nions." Others have tortured the words to a meaning contrary to the known sense of the compilers. Some subscribe them with a secret reserve, as far as they are agreeable to the word of God ; and so they may subscribe the council of Trent, or even Maho- met"'s Alcoran, Others subscribe them not as doctrines which they believe, but as doctrines that they will not openly contradict and oppose ; and others, I am informed, put no sense upon the articles at all, but only subscribe them as a test of their obedience to their superiors, who require this of them as the legal way to pre- ferment in the church. How hard must it be for men of learning and probity to submit to these shifts ! when no kinds of subscrip- tions can be a barrier ag-ainst ignorant or dishonest minds. Of what advantage is uniformity of profession without an agreement in principles ? If the fundamental articles of our faith were drawn up in the language of Holy Scripture ; or if those who were appointed to examine into the learning and other qualifications of ministers, were to be judges of their orthodox confessions of faith, it would answer a better purpose than subscription to hu- man creeds and articles. Though the commons were forbid to * Art. 13. t Art. 8. Tllli I'UUITANS. 179 concern themselves with the discipHne of the church, they ven- tured to present an adch-ess lo the queen*, conijilaining, " tliat for h\ck of true discipline in the church, great numbers are ad- mitted ministers that are infamous in their hves and conversa- tions; and among those that are of ability, their gifts in many places are useless, by reason of pluralities and nonresidency, whereby infinite numbers of your majesty's subjects are like to perish for lack of knowledge. By means of this, together with the conmion blaspheming of the Lord's name, the most wicked licentiousness of life, the abuse of excommunication, the commu- tation of penance, the great numbers of atheists, schismatics daily springing up, and the increase of Papists, the Protestant religion is in imminent danger ; wherefore in regard first and principally to the glory of God, and next in discharge of our bounden duty to your majesty, besides, being moved with pity towards so many thousands of your majesty's subjects, dally in danger of being lost for want of the food of the word, and true « • 1 • 111 discipline ; we the commons in this present parliament assembled, are humbly bold to open the griefs, and to seek the salving of the sores of our country, and to beseech your majesty, seeing the same is of so great importance, if the parliament at this time may not be so long continued, as that by good and godly laws pro- vision may be made for supply and reformation of these great and grievous wants and abuses, that yet by such other means, as to your majesty ""s wisdom shall seem meet, a perfect redress of the same may be had ; by which the number of your majesty's faith- ful subjects will be increased. Popery will be destroyed, the glory of Got! will be promoted, and your majesty's renown will be recommended to all posterity." But the queen broke up the parliament without taking any notice of the supplication. The convocation which sat with this parliament assembled April 3rd, 1571, when the reverend Mr. Gilbert Alcock presented a supplication to them in behalf of the deprived ministers, pray- ing their interest with the queen for a redress of their griev- ancesf : " If a godly minister (says he) omit but the least ceremony, for conscience sake, he is immediately indicted, deprived, cast into prison, and his goods wasted and destroyed ; he is kept from his wife and children, and at last excommunicated. We therefore beseech your fatherhoods to pity our case, and take from us these stumbling-blocks." But the convocation were of another spirit, and, instead of removing their burdens, increased them ; by framing certain new canons of discipline against the Puritans; as, that the bishops should call in all their licences for preaching, and give out new ones to those who were best qualified I ; and among the qualifications they insist not only upon subscription to the doctrines of the church enjoined by parliament, but u})()n subscription to the Common Prayer-book, and ordinal for con- * MS. p. 92. t MS p. 92. ; Sparrow, p. 223. N 2 180 HISTORY OF secration of archbishops, bishops, priests, and deacons, as contain- ing nothing contrary to the word of God. And they declare, that all such preachers as do not subscribe, or that disturb peo- ple's minds with contrary doctrine, shall be excommunicated. But as these canons never had the sanction of the broad seal, surely the enforcing them upon the Puritans was a stretch of power hardly to be justified. Bishop Grindal confessed they had not the force of a law, and might possibly involve them in a praemunire; and yet the bishops urged them upon the clergy of their several diocesses. They cancelled all the licences of preach- ers, and insisted peremptorily on the subscription above men- tioned. The complaints of the ministers, under these hardships, reached the ears of the elector palatine of the Rhine, who was pleased to order the learned Zanchy, professor of divinity in the university of Heidelburgh, to write to the queen of England in their behalf, beseeching her majesty not to insist upon subscriptions, or upon wearing the habits, which gave such offence to great numbers of the clergy, and was hke to make a schism in the church*. The letter was enclosed to bishop Grindal ; who, when he had read it, would not so much as deliver it to the queen, for fear of disobliging her majesty, whose resolution was to put an end to all distinctions in the church, by pressing the act of uniformity. Instead there- fore of relaxing to the Puritans, orders were sent to all church- wardens, " not to suffer any to read, pray, preach, or minister the sacraments, in any churches, chapels, or private places, without a new licence from the queen or the archbishop, or bi>hop of the diocess, to be dated since May, 1571." The more resolved Puritans were therefore reduced to the necessity of assembling in private, or of laying down their ministry. Though all the bishops were obliged to go into these measures of the court, yet some were so sensible of the want of discipline, and of preaching the word, that they permitted their clergy to enter into associations for the ])romoting of both. The ministers of the town of Northampton, with the consent and approbation of Dr. Scambler their bishop, the mayor of the town, and the justices of the county, agreed upon the following regulations for worship and discipline f: " That singing and plaving of organs in the choir shall be put down, and common prayer read in the body of the church, with a psalm before and after sermon. That every Tuesday and Thursday there shall be a lecture from nine to ten in the morning, in the chief chiu'ch of the town, beginning with the confession in the Book of (yommon Prayer, and ending with prayer and a con- fession of faith. Every Sunday and holiday shall be a sermon after morning prayer, with a psalm before and after. Service shall be ended in every parish-church by nine in the nKjrning * Stryjie's Ann. vol. 2. p. ^7. t Ibid. THE PITRrXANS. 181 every Sunday and holidays, to the end that people may resort to the sermon in the chief church, except they have a sermon in their own. None shall walk abroad, or sit idly in the streets, in time of divine service. The youth shall every Sunday evening he examined in a portion of Calvin's catechism, which the reader shall expound for an hour. There shall he a general communion once a quarter in every parish, with a sermon. A fortnight before each communion, the minister with the churchwardens shall go from house to house, to take the names of the communi- cants, and examine into their lives; and the party that is not in charity with his neighbour shall be put from the communion. After the communion the minister shall visit every house, to understand who have not received the communion, and why. Every communion-day each parish shall have two communions, one beginning at five in the morning, with a sermon of an hour, and ending at eight, for servants; the other from nine to twelve for masters and dames. The manner of the communion shall be according to the order of the queen's book, saving that the people being in their confession upon their knees, shall rise up from their pews and so pass to the communion-table, where they shall receive the sacrament in companies, and then return to their pews, the n)inister reading in the pulpit. The communion-table shall stand in the body of the church, according to the book, at the upper end of the middle aisle, having three ministers, one in the middle to deliver the bread, the other two at each end for the cup, the ministers often calling upon the people to remember the poor. The communion to end with a psahii. — Excessive ringing of bells on the Lord's day is prohibited ; and carrying of the bell before corpses in the streets, and bidding prayers for the dead, which was used till within these two years, is restrained." Here was a sort of association, or voluntary discipline, intro- duced, independent of the ([ueen's injunctions, ov canons of the church ; this was what the Puritans were contending for, and would gladly have acquiesced in, if it might have been established by a law. Jiesides these attempts for discipline, the clergy, with leave of their bishop, encouraged religious exercises among themselves, for the interpretation of some texts of Scripture, one speaking to it orderly after another; these were called prophesyings from the apostolical direction, 1 Cor. xiv. 31, " Ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all be comforted." They also conferred among themselves, touching sound doctrine and good life and manners. The regulations or orders for these exercises in Northampton, were these : — " That every minister, at his first allowance to be of this exer- cise, shall by subscription declare his consent in Christ's true religion with his brethren, and submit to the discipline and order of the same. The names of all the members shall be written in 182 HISTORY OF a table; three of whom shall be concerned at each exercise; the first, beginning and ending with prayer, shall explain his text, and confute foolish interpretations, and then make a practical reflection, but not dilate to a common-place. Those that speak after may add any thing they think the other has omitted, tending to explain the text ; but may not repeat what has been said, nor oppose their predecessor, unless he has spoken contrary to the Scriptures. The exercise to continue from nine to eleven ; the first speaker to end in three quarters of an hour, the second and third not to exceed each one quarter of an hour; one of the moderators always to conclude. After the exercise is over, and the auditors dismissed, the president shall call the learned brethren to him to give him their judgment of the performances, when it shall be lawful for any of the brethren to oppose their objections against them in writing, which shall be answered before the next exercise. If any break orders, the president shall command him, in the name of the eternal God, to be silent ; and after the exer- cise he shall be reprimanded. When the exercise is finished, the next speaker shall be appointed, and his text given him." The confession of faith, which the members of these prophesy- ings signed at their admission, was to the following purpose : — " That they believed the word of God, contained in the Old and New Testament, to be a perfect rule of faith and manners ; that it ought to be read and known by all people, and that the authority of it exceeds all authority, not of the pope only, but of the church also; and of councils, fathers, men, and angels. " They condemn, as a tyrannous yoke, whatsoever men have set up of their own invention, to make articles of faith, and the binding men's consciences by their laws and institutes; in sum, all those manners and fashions of serving God, which men have brought in without the authority of the word for the warrant thereof, though recommended by custom, by unwritten traditions, or any other names whatsoever ; of which sort are the pope's supremacy, purgatory, transubstantiation, man's merits, free-will, justification by works, praying in an unknown tongue, and dis- tinction of meats, apparel, and days, and briefly all the ceremonies, and whole order of Papistry, which they call the hierarchy : which are a devilish confusion, established as it were in spite of God, and to the reproach of religion. " And we cortent ourselves (say they) with the simplicity of this pure word of God, and doctrine thereof; a summary of which is in the apostles' creed ; resolving to try and examine, and also to judge all other doctrines whatsoever by this pure word, as by a certain rule and perfect touchstone. And to this word of God we humbly submit ourselves, and all our doings, willing and ready to be judged, reformed, or farther instructed thereby, in all points of religion." Mr. Strype calls this, a well-minded and religiously disposed combination of both bishop, magistrates, and people. It was THE PURITANS. 183 designed to stir up an emulation in the clergy to study the Scrip- tures, that they may be more capable of instructing the people in Christian knowledge ; and though men of loose principles censured it, yet the ecclesiastical commissioners, who had a special letter from the queen, to inquire into novelties, and were acquainted with the scheme above mentioned, gave them as yet neither check nor disturbance ; but when her majesty was informed that they were nurseries of Puritanism, and tended to promote alterations in the government of the church, she quickly suppressed them, as will be seen in its proper place. This year [1571] put a period to the life of the eminent John Jewel, bishop of Salisbury, author of the famous Apology for the Church of England. He was born in Devonshire, 1522, and educated in Christ-church college, Oxon, where he proceeded M. A. 1544. In king Edward's reign he was a zealous promoter of the Reformation ; but not having the courage of a martyr, he yielded to some things against his conscience in the reign of queen Mary, for which he asked pardon of God and the church among the exiles in Germany, where he continued a confessor of the gospel till queen Elizabeth's accession, when he returned home, and was preferred to the bishopric of Salisbury, in 1559. He was one of the most learned men among the reformers, a Calvinist in doctrine, but for absolute obedience to his sovereign in all things of an indifferent nature, which led him not only to comply with all the queen's injunctions about the habits, when he did not approve them, but to bear hard upon the consciences of his brethren who were not satisfied to comply. He published several treatises in his life-time, and others were printed after his death ; but that which gained him greatest reputation, was his Apology, which was translated into the foreign languages, and ordered to be chained in all the churches in England.* He was a truly pious man, and died in a comfortable frame of mind. Some of his last words were, "I have not so lived that I am ashamed to die; neither am I afraid to die, for we have a gracious Lord. There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. Christ is my righteousness. Lord, let thy servant depart in peace;" which he did at Monkton-Farley, September 23, 1571, in the fiftieth year of his age, and lies buried in the middle of the choir of the cathedral of Salisbury. In the same year died the Rev. Mr. David Whitehead, a great scholar, and a most excellent professor of divinity. — He was educated in Oxford, and was chaplain to queen Anne Bullen, * This book was originally written in Latin ; but for the use of the generality of the people, it was translated into English, with remarkable accuracy, by Anne, lady Bacon, the second of the four learned daughters of sir Anthony Coke. Such was the esteem in which it was held, that there was a design, of its being joined to the thirty-nine articles, and of causing it to be deposited not only in all cathedrals and collegiate churches, but also in private houses. It promoted the Reformation from Pojiery more than any other publication of that period. The New Annual Register for 1789, History of Knowledge, p. I'.).— Ed. 184 history'of and one of the four divines nominated by archbishop Crannier to bishopricks in Ii-eland. In the beginning of queen Mary's reign he went into voluntary exile, and resided at Frankfort, where he answered the objections of Dr. Horn, concerning church-discipline and worship. Upon his return into England he was chosen one of the disputants against the Popish bisliops, and shewed himself so profound a divine, that the queen, out of her high esteem for him, offered him the archbishopric of Canter- bury : but he refused it from Puritanical principles, and would accept of no preferment in the church, as it then stood: he ex- cused himself to the queen, by saying, he could live plentifully on the gospel without any preferment ; and accordingly did so : he went up and down like an apostle, preaching the word where it was wanted : and spent his life in celibacy, which gained him the higher esteem with the queen, who had no great affection for married priests. He died this year in a good old age;* but in what church or chapel he was buried I know not. Our archbishop was very busy this summer, with the bishops of Winchester and lily, in harassing the Puritans; for which purpose he summoned before him the principal clergy of both provinces who were disaffected to the uniformity established by law, and acquainted them, that if they intended to continue their ministry, they must takeout new licences, and subscribe the arti- cles, framed according to a new act of parliament, for reforming certain disorders in ministers ; otherwise they might resign quietly or be deprived. He took in the bishops above mentioned to countenance his proceedings ; but Grindal declared he would not be concerned, if his grace proceeded to suspension and depriva- tion : upon which Parker wrote back, that "he thought it high time to set about it ; and however the world may judge, he would serve God and his prince, and put her laws in execution ; that Grindal was too timorous, there being no danger of a praemunire ; that the queen was content the late book of articles (though it had not the broad seal) should be prosecuted ; and in case it should hereafter be repealed there was no fear of a praemunire, but only of a fine at her pleasure, which he was persuaded her majesty, out of love to the church, would not levy : but Grindal being now at York wisely declined the aff'air."f In the month of June the archbishop cited the chief Puritans about London to Lambeth, J viz. Messrs. Goodman, Lever, Sampson, Walker, Wyburn, Goff, Percival, Deering, Field, Browne, Johnson, and others. These divines being willing to live peaceably, offered to subscribe the articles of religion as far as concerned the doctrine and sacraments only, and the Book of Common Prayer, as far as it tended to edification, it being acknow- ledged on all hands, that there were some imperfections in it ; but they prayed, with respect to the apparel, that neither party might * Ath. Ox. vol. 1. p. l;55, I'M. Pierce's Viudic. p. 45, 4(>. tLife of Griudal, p. 166. J MS. p. 117. THE PURITANS. 185 condemn the other, but that those that wore them, and those that did not, inioht live in unity antl concord. How reasonable soever this was, the archbishop told them peremptorily, that they must come up to the standard of the (jueen's injunctions, or be deprived.* Good- man was also recjuired to renounce a book that he had written many years ago, when he was an exile, against the government of women ; which he refused, and was therefore suspended. Mr. Strype says, that he was at length brought to a revocation of it, and signed a protestation before the conmiissioners at Lambeth, April 28, 1571, concerning his dutiful obedience to the queen's majesty's person and her lawful government.f Lever quietly resigned his prebend in the church of Durham. Browne being domestic chaplain to the duke of Norfolk, his patron undertook to screen him ; but the archbishop sent him word, that no place within her majesty's dominions was exempt from the jurisdiction of the commissioners, and therefore if his grace did not forthwith send up his chaplain, they should be forced to use other methods. This was that Robert Browne who afterward gave name to that denomination of dissenters called Brownists; but his family and relations covered him for the present. — Johnson was domestic chaplain to the lord-keeper Bacon, at Gorambury, where he used to preach, and administer the sacrament in his family : he had also some place at St. Alban's, and was fellow of King's college, Cam- bridge. He appeared before the commissioners in July, but refusing to subscribe to the Book of Common Prayer as agreeable to the word of God, he was suspended, though he assured them he used the book, and thought for charity's sake it might be suf- fered, till God should grant a time of more perfect reform.ition ; that he would wear the apparel, though he judged it neither expedient nor for edification ; and that he was willing to subscribe all the doctrinal articles of the church, according to the late act of parliament : but the commissioners insisting peremptorily upon an absolute subscription, as above, he was suspended, and resigned his prebtnd in the church of Norwich ; but about two years after he fell into farther troubles, which cost him his life. The learned Beza [in 1572] wrote to the bishops not to be the instruments of such severities ; and being informed that a parlia- ment was shortly to be called, in which a consultation was to be had concerning the establishing of religion, he excited the lord- treasurer to endeavour some reformation of discipline: " tor 1 will not dissemble (says he) that not a few complain of divers things wanting in the church ; and when 1 say not a few, I do not mean that worse sort whom nothing pleases but what is perfect and absolute in all respects; but I understand godly men, learned men, and some that are best affected to God's church, and lovers of tiieir nation. I look upon the reformation of discipline as of great importance to the peace and welfare of the nation, and the strengthening of the Reformation ; and therefore there is nothing » Life of Parker, p. 32(i, .327. t Aa. Ref. vol. 2. p. 95. 186 HISTORY OF the queen's majesty and her council should sooner think of than this, however great and difficult the work mioht be, especially since the English nation affords so many divines of prudence, learning, and judgment, in these affairs: if they, together with the bishops, to whom indeed especially, but not alone, this care belongs, would deliberate hereupon, I doubt not but such things would follow whence other nations would take example." Thus did this learned divine intercede for the recovery of dis- cipline, and the ease of tender and scrupulous consciences. But this was more than our archbishop thanked him for, says Mr. Strype, after he had taken so much pains in pressing the act of uniformity.* The parhament met May 8, 1572 ; the lord-keeper opened it with a speech, in which he recommended to the houses, in the queen's name, " to see that the laws relating to the discipline and ceremonies of the church were put in due execution ; and that if any farther laws were wanting they should consider of them ; and so, says his lordship, c/ladius gladium juvahit, the civil sword will support the ecclesiastical, as beforetime has been used."-!* But the parliament, seeing the ill use the queen and bishops made of their spiritual power, instead of framing new laws to enforce the ceremonies, ordered two bills to be brought in to regulate them ; in one of which the hardships that the Puritans complained of were redressed. | The bills passed smoothly through the com- mons, and were referred to a select committee of both houses, which alarmed the bishops, and gave the queen such offence, that two days after she sent to acquaint the commons by their speaker, that it was her pleasure, that no bills concerning religion should henceforth be received, unless the same should be first considered and approved by the bishops or clergy in convocation ; and far- ther, her majesty commanded them to deliver up the two bills last read in the house, touching rites and ceremonies. § This was a * Life of Parker, p. 344. t Strype's Annals, vol. 2. p. 125. D'Ew's Journal, p. 207. : Life of Parker, p. 394. § In the face of this full and positive evidence of the temper and measures of the queen, bishop Maddox talks of the great favour and indulgence shewn to the Puri- tans in the year 1572 ; and refers us to Strype, in his life of Whitgift, saying " that they were as gently treated as might be ; no kind of brotherly persuasion omitted towards them ; and most of them as yet kept their livings, though one or two were displaced." In this connexion he quotes also a letter of Fox the martyrologist to her majesty, " exalting her in his praises for her regard and gracious answer to a petition of certain divines concerning the habits." Vindication, p. 173. This letter, Mr. Neal observes, was written in 1564, several years before that part of her reign, ■wherein she thought fit to inflict severe punishments upon the dissenters. Besides, whatever weight is due to Mr. Fox's praises, or to Mr. Strype's representation; though the Puritans had some intervals of ease, some tokens of royal indulgence and favour ; her reigti, and their situation under it, are not surely to be character- ized by a few intervals of ease, and by partial indulgences ; but by the spirit of the laws framed against them ; and by the great leading measures and the general tenor of her government The first Christians are, generally, understood to have suffered ten severe persecutions under the Roman emperors : " but it is not to be supposed, that persecution was always violent and uninterrupted ; there might be some abatements of those troubles, and some seasons of rest and peace. In the reigns of Adrian and Titus Antoninus, there were some edicts, or rescripts, whicli were favourable to them : though during those very reigns many Christians still suffered THE PURITANS. 187 high strain of the prerogative, and a blow at the very root of the freedom of parliament. But the commons sent her majesty the bills, with a servile request, that she would not conceive an ill opinion of the house if she should not approve them.* Her majesty sent them word, within a day or two, that she utterly disliked the bills, and never returned them. This awakened a brave spirit of liberty among some of the members ; many free speeches were made upon this occasion, and among others, Peter Wentworth, esq. stood up and said,-)- " that it grieved him to see, how many ways the liberty of free speech in parliament had been infringed. Two things (says he) do great hurt among us, one is a rumour that ran about the house, when the bill about the rites of the church was depending ; ' Take heed what you do, the queen liketh not such a matter, she will be offended with them that prosecute it."" The other is, that sometime a message was brought to the house, either commanding or inhibiting our pro- ceedings." He added, " that it was dangerous always to follow a prince's mind, because the prince might favour a cause prejudicial to the honour of God, and the good of the state. Her majesty has forbid us to deal in any matter of religion, unless we first receive it from the bishops. This was a doleful message ; there is then little hope of reformation. I have heard from okl parlia- ment men, that the banishment of the pope, and the reforming true religion, had its beginning from this house, but not from the bishops ; few laws for religion had their foundation from them ; and I do surely think (before God 1 speak it) that the bishops were the cause of that doleful message." But for this speech and another of a like nature, Wentworth was sent to the Tower. In the meantime the late act of the thirteenth of Elizabeth for subscrihing the articles, was put in execution all over England, together with the queen's injunctions; and according to Mr. Strype's computation, one hundred clergymen were deprived this year for refusing to subscribe :J:. The university of Cambridge was a nest of Puritans ; many of the graduates were dissaffected to the discipline of the church, as particularly Mr. Browning, Mr. Brown of Trinity-college, Mr. Millain of Christ's, Mr. Charke of Peterhouse, Mr. Deering of Christ's college, and several in St. John's college, who being men of learning, had a great number of followers ; but Dr. Whitgift the vice-chancellor watched them narrowly, and kept them under. The reverend Mr. Charke, in one of his sermons at St. Mary's, had said, that " there ought to be a parity among the ministers in the church ; and that the hierarchical orders of archbishops, patriarchs, metropolitans, &c. was introduced into the church by Satan." For which he vsas in almost every part of the empire." Lardner's Works, vol. 8. p. 341, 342. 8vo. So as to the period before us, the question is. Did the Puritans enjoy liberty and security under the reign of queen Elizabeth ; or was their situation the reverse of enjoying these blessings .' If it were the latter (and the particulars of this long detail will shew what was the case), then the leading features of her government were intolerance and persecution. — Ed. * Strype's Annals, vol. 2. p. 127. 128. t lb. p. 12. I Strype's Annals, p. 187. 188 HISTORY OF summoned before the vice-chancellor and heads of colleges, and, refusing to recant, was expelled the university. Charke wrote a handsome Latin apology to lord Burleigh their present chancellor, in which he confesses that it was his opinion, that the church of England might be brought nearer to the apostolic character or likeness; but that this must not be said either in the pulpit or desk, under the severest penalties. The chancellor, knowing him to be a good scholar, and in consideration that he had been hardly dealt with, interceded for him, but to no purpose. Mr. Browning, Mr. Deering, and others, met with the like usage. Mr. Deering was a man of good learning, and made a chief figure in the university ; he was also reader at St. PauPs, London, and a most popular preacher ; but being an enemy to the superior order of bishops, he fell into the hands of the commissioners, and was silenced. The Puritans finding it in vain to hope for a reformation from the queen or bishops, resolved for the future to apply to parlia- ment, and stand by the constitution ; for this purpose they made interest among the members, and compiled a treatise, setting forth their chief grievances in one view ; it was drawn up by the reverend Mr. Field, minister of Aldermary, London, assisted by Mr. Wilcox, and was revised l)y several of the brethren. It was entitled. An Admonition to the Parliament; with Beza's letter to the earl of Leicester, and Gualter's to bishop Parkhurst for Reformation of church-discipline, annexed. It contains the plat- form of a church ; the manner of electing ministers ; their several duties, and their equality in government. It then exposes the corruptions of the hierarchy, and the proceedings of the bishops, with some severity of language. When Mr. Pearson, the arch- bishop's chaplain, taxed the authors with this in prison, Mr. Field replied, " This concerns me; the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament use such vehemency ; we have used gentle words too long, which have done no good ; the wound grows desperate, and wants a corrosive ; it is no time to blanch or sew pillars under men's elbows, but God knoweth we meant to touch no man's person, but their places and abuses. The admonition concludes with a petition to the houses, that a discipline more consonant to the word of God, and agreeing with the foreign reformed churches, may be established by law. The authors themselves, viz. the reverend Mr. Field and Wilcox, presented it to the house, for which they were sent for into custody, and by the influence of the bishops committed to Newgate, October 2, 1572*. Upon this the book already printed was suffered to go abroad, and had three or four editions within the compass of two years, notwithstanding all the endeavours of the bishops to find out the press f. The imprisonment of the two ministers occasioned the drawing * MS. p. 111). 135. t Life of Parker, p. 347. THE PURITANS. 189 up a Second Admonition, by Mr, Cartwrih the commissioners knew of the presbytery, they could not discover the members of it, nor prevent others being erected in neigiibouring counties While the queen and bishops were defending the outworks of the church against the Puritans, and bracing up the building with articles, canons, injunctions, and penal laws, enforced by the sword of the civil magistrate, the Papists were sap))ing the very foundation ; for upon publishing the pope's bull of excom- munication against the queen, great numbers deserted the public worship, and resorted to private conventicles to hear mass, while others, who kept their stations in the church, were secretly undermining it. " There were at this time (says a learned writer*) certain ministers of the church that were Papists, who subscribed and observed the orders of the church, wore a side- gown, a square cap, a cope, and surplice. They would run into corners, and say to the people. Believe not this new doctrine, it is naught, it will not long endure ; although I use order among them outwardly, my heart is not with them, but with the mother- church of Rome. No, no, we do not preach, nor yet teach openly ; though we read their new-devised homilies for a colour to satisfy the time for a season." In Yorkshire they went openly to mass, and were so numerous, that the Protestants stood in awe of them. In London there was a great resort to the Portugal ambassador's chapel ; and when the sheriff, by order of the bishop of London, sent his officers to take some of them into custody, the queen was displeased, and ordered them immediately to be released. Sad was the state of religion (says Mr. Strype) at this time ; " the substantial being lost in contending lor externals ; the churchmen heaped up many benefices upon themselves, and resided upon none; neglecting their cures f. Many of them alienated their lands, made unreasonable leases, and waste of woods, and granted reversions and advowsons to their wives and children. Among the laity there was little devotion ; the Lord's day greatly profaned, and little observed ; the common prayers not frequented ; some lived without any service of God at all; many were mere Heathens and Atheists; the queen's own court a harbour for Epicures and Atheists, and a kind of lawless place, because it stood in no parish ; which things make good men fear some sad judgments impending over the nation. The governors of the church expressed no concern for suppress- ing of vice, and encouraging virtue ; there were no citations into the commons for immoralities : but the bishops were every day shutting the mouths of the most pious, useful, and industrious preachers in the nation, at a time when the queen was sick of the * Stryjie's Ann. p. OS. t Life of Parker, p. 395. i>00 HISTORY OF small-pox, and troubled with fainting fits, and the whole Refor- mation depended upon the single thread of her life. This precarious state of religion was the more terrible, because of the Parisian massacre, which happened this very summer [1572] on the 24th of August, being Bartholomew day, when great numbers of Protestants having been invited to Paris, on pretence of doing honour to the king of Navarre's marriage to the king's sister, ten thousand were massacred in one night, and twenty thousand more in other parts of the kingdom, within the compass of a few weeks, by his majesty's commission ; no distinction being made between lords, gentlemen, justices, lawyers, scholars, physicians, and the meanest of the people * ; they spared neither women, maids, children in the cradle, nor infants in their, mother's womb. Many who escaped fled to Geneva and Switzer- land, and great numbers into England, to save their lives. The Protestant princes of Germany were awakened with this butchery ; and the queen put the coasts into a posture of defence, but made no concessions for uniting her Protestant subjects among them- selves. This year died the reverend and learned Mr. John Knox, the apostle and chief reformer of the kirk of Scotland. — This divine came into England in the reign of king Edward VI. and was appointed one of the itinerant preachers for the year 1552; he was afterward offered a parochial living in London, but refused it; upon king Edward's death he retired beyond sea, and became preacher to the English exiles at Frankfort, till he was artfully spirited away by the contrivance of Mr. Cox, now bishop of Ely, for not reading the English service. He afterward preached to the English at Geneva ; and upon the breaking up of that con- gregation in the year 1559, he returned to Scotland, and was a great instrument in the hand of Providence for the reformation of that kirk. He was a son of thunder, and feared not the face of any man in the cause of religion, which betrayed him some- times into too coarse treatment of his superiors -f*. However, he had the respect of all the Protestant nobility and gentry of his country ; and after a life of great service and labour, he died comfortably in the midst of his friends, in the sixty-seventh year of his age j, being greatly supported in his last hours from the seventeenth chapter of St. John, and 1 Cor. xv. ; both which he ordered to be frequently read to him : his body was attended to the grave with great solemnity and honour. The queen being incensed against the Puritans for their late applications to parliament, reprimanded the bishops for not sup- * Strype's Ann. p. 160. fit has been justly observed, " that though the praise of sincerity and piety can- not be denied him, it is to be regretted that those virtues were accompanied with a narrow and bigoted turn of mind. In the time of John Knox, the having suffered persecution, did not hinder men from exercising persecution when it was in their power." The Is^ew Annual Register for 1789. History of Knowledge, p. 31. t Life of Parker, p. 366. THE I'URITANS. 201 pressing them, resolving to bend all the powers of the crown that way. Accordingly commissioners were appointed under the great seal *, in every shire, to put in execution the penal Jaws by way of oyer and terminer, and the queen ])ublished a proclamation in the month of October, declaring her royal pleasure, that all offenders against the act of uniformity should be severely punished. I^etters were also sent from the lords of the council to the bishops, dated November 7th, 1573, to enforce her ma- jesty's proclamation f ; in which, after having reproached them with holding their courts only to get money, or fur such-like purposes, they now require them in her majesty's name, either by themselves, which is most fit, or by their archdeacons, per- sonally to visit and see that the habits, with all the queen's injunctions, be exactly and uniformly observed in every church of their diocess ; and to punish all refusers according to the ecclesiastical laws. The lord-treasurer also made a long speech before the commissioners in the star-charaber,j in which, by the queen''s order, "he charged the bishops with neglect, in not enforcing her majesty ""s proclamation ; he said, the queen could not satisfy her conscience without crushing the Puritans ; for she thought none of her subjects worthy of her protection that favoured innovations, or that directly or indirectly countenanced the alteration of any thing established in the church : that by too much lenity some might be apt to think the exceptions of these novelists against the ceremonies were reasonable and well-founded, or but trifling matters of disputation ; but the queen was resolved that her orders and injunctions should not be contemned ; that the public rule should be inviolably observed ; and that there should be an absolute obedience, because the safety of her govern- ment depended upon it." The treasurer, therefore, or some other member, proposed in council, that all ministers tliroughout the kingdom should be bound in a bond of 200/. to conform in all things to the act of uniformity, and in case of default their names to be returned into the exchequer by the bishop, and the bond to be sued §. If this project had taken place, it would have ruined half the clergy of the kingdom. Another occasion of these extraordinary proceedings of the court, is said to arise from the accidental madness of one Peter Birchet, of the Middle Temple, who had the name of a Puritan, * Life of Parker, p. 447. 479. Strype's Annals, vol. 2. p. 260. + Life of Parker, Append, vol. 2. p. 454. : Life 'of Parker, p. 4.56. 458. The letter from the lords of the council, and the speech of the lord-treasurer, are alleged by bishop Maddox, as convincing proofs of the mild conduct of the bishops. How far his conclusion is justly dravm ; whether it prove anything more than that the zeal and activity of the bishops did not keep pace with the wishes of the court, the reader will judge from the facts Mr. Neal's History has exhibited. But, how- ever this evidence may exculpate the bishops, it certainly impeaches the lenity of the queen and is a direct proof of the severity, the unyielding severity, of her govern- ment.— Ed. § Strype's Ann. p.26(>. vol. 2. p. 283. Life of Crinlal, p. 18."). 202 HISTOKY OF but was disordered in his senses; this man came out of the Tem- ple in his gown, October 14, 1573, about eleven in the morning, and seeing Mr. Fitzgerald, lieutenant of the pensioners, sir Wil- liam Winter, and Mr. Hawkins, officers of the queen's navy, riding through the Strand, with their servants on foot, came up to them, and suddenly struck Hawkins with a dagger through the right arm into the body about the arm-hole, and immediately lan into the Bell-inn, where he was taken, and upon examination being asked, whether he knew Mr. Hawkins, he answered, he took him for Mr. Hatton, captain of the guards, and one of the privy chamber, whom he was moved to kill by the spirit of God, by which he should do God and his country acceptable service, because he was an enemy of God's word, and a maintainer of Papistry. In which opinion he persevered, without any signs of repentance, till, for fear of being burnt for heresy, he recanted before Dr. Sandys bishop of London, and the rest of the commis- sioners. The queen asked her two chief justices, and attorney- general, what corporal punishment the villain might undergo for his offence ; it was proposed to put him to death as a felon, because a premeditated attempt with an intention of killing had been so punished by King Edward H. though the party wounded did not die; but the judges did not apprehend this to be law. It was then moved, that the queen, by virtue of her prerogative, should put him to death by martial law ; and accordingly a war- rant was made out under the great seal for his execution, though the fact was committed in time of peace. This made some of the council hesitate, apprehending it might prove a very bad precedent. At length the poor creature put an end to the dispute himself, for on the 10th of November, in the afternoon, he killed his keeper Longworth with one blow, striking him with a billet on the hinder part of the head, as he was looking upon a book in the prison- window of the Tower ; for this crime he was next day indicted and arraigned at the King's-bench, where he confessed the fact, saying, that Longworth in his imagination was Hatton : there he received judgment for murder, and the next day, November 12, had his right hand first cut oft' at the place in the Strand where he struck Hawkins, and was then immediately hanged on a gibbet erected purposely between eight and nine of the clock in the morning, and continued hanging there for three days. The poor man talked very wildly, and was by fits downright mad, so that if he had been shut up in Bedlam after his first attempt, as he ought to have been, all farther mischief had been prevented.*. However, it was very unreasonable to lay this to the charge of the Puritans, and to take occasion from hence to spread a general per- secution over the whole kingdom : but the queen was for laying hold of all opportunities to suppress a number of conscientious men, whom she would often say, she hated more than the Papists f. » MS. p. 870. t Life of Parker, p. 454. Tiir ruRiTA^os. 203 The commissioners, being thus pushed forwards from above, sent letters to the bishops, exhorting them to command their archdeacons, and other ecclesiastical officers, to give it in charge to their clergy and quest-men, to present the names and surnames of all Nonconformists in their several parishes, before the first week in Lent*. A letter of this sort was sent, among others, by the old bishop of Norwich to his chancellor, dated from Ludham, January 30, 1573. This was very unacceptable work to a man who was dropping into his grave ;-|- but he gave orders as he was commanded ; and many ministers of his diocess being returned unconformable, were suspended from reading common prayer and administering the sacraments, but allowed still to catechise youth ;;{: several of whom offered to preach to some congregations as the bishops should appoint, of which his lordship wrote to the arch- bishop, but his grace refused to set them on work, and continue their parts in the public exercises or prophesyings, for which the bishop was severely reprimanded, and threatened by the commis- sioners with the queen's high displeasure ; whereupon he allowed his chancellor to silence them totally, though it was against his judgment; for in his letter to a gentleman on this occasion, he writes, " — I was obliged to restrain them, unless I would willingly procure my own danger. — Therefore let not this matter seem strange to you, for the matter was of importance, and touched me so near, that I could do no less if I would avoid extreme danger. "§ But after all, his lordship being suspected of remissness, Parker directed a special commission to commissaries of his own appoint- ing, to visit his diocess parochially ; which they did, and reported, that some ministers were absent, and so could not be examined ; other churches had no surplices, but the ministers said they would wear them when provided ; but that there were about three hun- dred Nonconformists whom they had suspended ; one of whom, as the good old bishop wrote, was godly and learned, and had done much good. II The heads of the Puritans, being debarred the liberty of preaching and printing, challenged their adversaries to a pubHc disputation : this had been allowed the Protestants in queen Mary's reign, and the Papists at the accession of queen Elizabeth ; but the queen and council would not now admit, that what was established by law should be exposed to question, and referred to the hazard of a dispute. Instead therefore of a conference, they took a shorter way, by summoning the disputants before the eccle- siastical commission, to answer to sundry articles exhibited against them, and among others to this, AVhether the Common Prayer- book is every part of it grounded upon Holy Scripture? — an " Strype's Annals, vol. 2. p. 261. t Life of Parker, p. V,'J. 2M;. 251. 252. 449. : Strype's Annals, vol. 2. p. 261. 262. Life of Parker, p. .3.36. § Life of Parker, p. 24(5. 25'.). 141». 45 1 . 452. 479. Strype's Annals, vol. 2. p. 10f». 261— 26:5. 343. II Life of Parker, p. 336. 204 HISTORY OF honour hardly to be allowed to any human composure : and for not answering to the satisfaction of the commissioners, Mr. Wy- burn, Johnson, Brown, Field, Wilcox, Sparrow, and King, were deprived, and the four last committed to Newgate,* from whence two of them had been but lately released. — They were told far- ther, that if they did not comply in a short time they should be banished ; though there was no law for inflicting such punish- ment. Mr. Cartwright was summoned among the rest, but wisely got out of the way, upon which the commissioners issued out the fol- lowing order : " To all mayors, bailiffs, sheriffs, constables, head- boroughs, and all others the queen's officers, to be aiding and assisting to the bearer [their messenger] with the best means they can devise, to apprehend one Thomas Cartwright, student in divinity, wheresoever he be within the realm, and to bring him up to London with a sufficient guard, to appear before us her majesty's commissioners in causes ecclesiastical, for his misdemeanours in matters of religion ;f December 15th, 1573. Signed by John Rivers, mayor; Edwin, bishop of London ; Alex. Nowell, dean of St. Paul's ; Gabriel Goodman, dean of Westminster ; together with the attorney-general, solicitor-general, recorder, master of the rolls, and master of the requests." But Mr. Cartwright lay con- cealed among his friends till an opportunity offered of leaving the kingdom. The reverend Mr. Deering, reader of St. Paul's, was also sus- pended for some trifling words spoken against the hierarchy in con- versation ; and in order to his restoration was obliged to subscribe four articles, viz. to the supremacy ; to the thirty-nine articles ; to the Book of Common Prayer ; and that the word and sacra- ments are rightly administered in the church of England ; which he did, with some few exceptions. The commissioners then examined him upon fifteen or twenty articles more, of which these were some : — " Whether we be tied by God's word to the order and use of the apostles, and of the primitive church, in all things ? Whether nothing may be in the church concerning ceremonies or regimen, but only that which Christ himself has commanded in his word ? Whether every particular parish-church, of necessity and by order of God's word, ought to have their pastors, elders, and deacons, chosen by the people, and they only to have the whole government of the church in ecclesiastical matters? Whether there should be an equality among the ministers of this realm, as well concern- iiig government and discipline, as the ministration of the word and sacraments? Whether the patrimony of the church, as glebe-lands and tithes, &c. ought to be taken from them ? Whe- ther the present ministers of the church of England are true ministers, and their administrations effectual ? Whether it be Life of Parker, p. 4 J 3. f .Stiyjie's Annals, vol. 2, p. 282. THE PUIUTANS. 205 more agreeable to Goers word, and more for the profit of the church, to use a form of common prayer; or that every minister jiray publicly, as his own spirit shall direct him ? Wlietlier the children of Papists ought to be rebaptized ? Whether an eccle- siastical person may have more livings than one ? Whether a minister of Christ may exercise a civil function ? " * The rest of the articles, making in all above twenty, were about the obligation of the judicial law of Moses, and the power of the civil magistrate in matters of religion. To all which Mr. Deering gave wise and modest answers, yielding as much as his principles and the nature of things would admit ; but being called, as it were, before an inquisition, as he thought himself not bound to be his own accuser, so he prayed their honours, that what he had said might not be interpreted to his prejudice; yet the commissioners ungenerously took advantage of his answers, and deprived him of his lecture. jXIr. Deering appealed from the commissioners to the council, who were pleased to restore him, which galled the archbishop, as appears by his letter to one of the commissioners, dated July 6th, 1573, in which are these words; "We have sent you certain articles taken out of Cartwright's book, by the council propounded to JNIr. Deering, with his answers to the same ; and also a copy of the council's letter to Mr. Deering, to restore him to his former reading and preaching, notwithstanding our advices never required thereunto. These proceedings puff them up with pride, make the people hate us, and magnify them with great triumphing, that her majesty and her privy council have good liking of this new building : — but w-e are persuaded her majesty has no liking thereof, howsoever the matter be favoured by others."" Mr. Deering was a learned, pious, and peaceable Noncon- formist; his printed sermons are polite and nervous. In his letter to the lord-treasurer Burleigh on this occasion, he offered to shew, before any body of learned men, the diiference between bishops of the primitive church, and those of the present church of England, in the following particulars : — Bishops and ministers then were in one degree, now they are divers. There were then many bishops in one town, now there is but one in a whole country. No bishop's authority was more than in one city, but now it is in many shires. — Bishops then used no bodily piniish- ments, now they imprison, fine. Sec. The primitive bishops could not exconnnunicate, or absolve, merely by their own autho- rity, now they may. Then, without consent of presbyters, they could make no ministers, now they do. They could confirm no children in other parishes, they do now in many shires. They had then but one living, now they have divers. They had neither officials, connnissaries, nor chancellors. They dealt in no civil government l)y any established authority t. They had no * Pierce's Vindication, p. SO, 81. t C'ollyer's Church History, p. 543. 206 HISTORY OF right to alienate any parsonage, or let it in lease. Then they had a church where they served the cure, as those we call parish- priests, though they were metropolitans or archhishops; so that Ambrose, St. Austin, and others, who lived as late as the fourth or fifth century, and were called bishops, had very little agree- ment with ours. But for this our archbishop never left him till he was silenced again and deprived. On the 29th of January 1573, the reverend Mr. Arthur Wake, parson of Great-Willing, value 100/. a year; Eusebius Paget, parson of Owld, 100/. a year ; Thurston Mosely, parson of Har- dingston, 40/. a year; George Gilderd, parson of Collingtrowgc, and William Dawson, parson of Weston-Favel, one hundred marks (all in the diocess of Peterborough, of which Dr. Scambler was bishop, and James Ellis, LL.D. chancellor), were first sus- pended for three weeks, and then deprived of their livings. They were all preachers ; four of them were licensed by the university as learned and religious divines, and three of them had been moderators in the exercises. The reasons of their deprivation were not for errors in doctrine, or depravity of life, but for not subscribing two forms of the commissioners' devising, one called forma j)romissionis, the other forma ohjurationis. In the forma promissionis they swear and subscribe " to use the service and Common Prayer-book, and the public form of administration of sacraments, and no other; that they will serve in their cures according to the rites, orders, forms, and ceremonies prescribed ; and that they will not hereafter preach or speak any thing tend- ing to the derogation of the said book, or any part thereof, remaining authorised by the laws and statutes of this realm." In the forma ohjurationis they subscribe and protest upon oatii, " that the book of consecration of archbishops and bishops, and of the ordei'ing of deacons, set forth in the time of king Edward VI. and confirmed by authority of parliament, doth contain in it all things necessary for such consecration and ordering, having: in It notnmg that is either superstitious or ungodly, according to their judgment; and therefore that they which be consecrated and ordered according to the same book, be duly, orderly, and lawfully ordained and consecrated, and that they do acknowledge their duty and obedience to their ordinary and diocesan as to a lawful magistrate under the queen's majesty, so set forth as the laws and statutes do require ; which obedience they do promise, according as the laws shall bind them to perform. In testimony whereof they do hereunto subscribe their names*." The ministers offered to use the Book of Common Prayer and no other ; and not to preach against the same before the meeting of the next parliament: but apprehending the oath and subscription to be contrary to the laws of God and the realm, they appealed to the archbishop of Canterbury; who denied their appealf. Hereupon * MS. p. 198. t MS. p. 202. TIIK PURITANS. 207 tliey presented a supplication to tlie queen, and another to the jiarlianicnt, but could not be heard, though their case was most compassionate, for they had wives and large families of children, which were now reduced to poverty and want, so that (as they say in their supplication) if God in his providence does not help they must beg. In the room of the deprived ministers certain outlandish men succeeded, who could hardly read so as to be understood ; the people were left untaught; instead of having two sermons every Lord's day, there was now but one in a quarter of a year, and for the most part not that. The parishioners signed petitions to the bishop for their former preachers, but to no purpose ; they must swear and subscribe, or be buried in silence. On the 20th of September, 1573, the reverend Mr. Robert Johnson, already mentioned, sometime domestic chaplain to the l(jrd- keeper Uacon, now parson of St. Clement's near Temple-bar, was tried at Westminster-hall for nonconformity ;* it was alleged against him, that he had married without the ring; and that he had baptized without the cross. Mr. Piercc-f- says, lie was also accused of a misdemeanour, because when once he was adminis- tering the sacrament, the wine falling short, he sent for more, but did not consecrate it afresh, accounting the former consecration sufficient for what was to be applied to the same use ; but nothing of this kind appears in his two indictments which are now before me, with the names of all the witnesses ; but for the other offences, viz. for omitting these words in the office of baptism, " I receive this child into the congregation of Christ's flock, and do sign him with the sign of the cross, in token," &c. And for omitting these words in the marrying of Leonard Morris and Agnes Miles, " With this ring 1 thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow, in the name of the Father," &c. and for refusing to subscribe, he was shut up in close prison for seven weeks, till he died in great poverty and want. The forms of subscription varied in the several diocesses, though the usual subscription and protestation for such clergymen as were cited before the commissioners for nonconformity,^ was this, " I promise unfeignedly by these presents, and subscribe with my hand, that I will teach the word of God soberly, sincerely, and truly, according to the doctrine established by law, without moving unnecessary contentions; and that I will never suffer any person to use my licence of preaching, by rasing out the name, or abusing the seal ; and that I will deliver up my licence, being so required by that authority from whence 1 had it. " I acknowledge the book of articles agreed on in the synod of 1563, and confirnied by the queen, to be sound and agreeable to the word of God. That the queen's majesty is supreme * MS. p. l\)'J. t Viiidicat. p. 83. I MS. p. 200. 208 HISTOUY OF o-ovcrnor of the church of England next inider Christ, as well in ecclesiastical as in civil causes. That in the Book of Common Prayer there is nothing evil, or repugnant to the word of God, and that it may be well used in this our Christian church of EnoJand. That as the public preaching of the word in the church of England is sound and sincere, so the public order of administration of sacraments is consonant to the word of God. And whereas I have in public prayer, and administration of sacraments, neglected and omitted the order by public authority set down, following my own fancy in altering, adding, or omitting of the same, not using such rites as by law and order are appointed : I acknowledge my fault therein, and am sorry for it, and humbly pray pardon for that disorder. And here I do sub- mit myself to the order and rites set down ; and I do promise that I will from henceforth, in public prayer, and administration of the sacraments, use and observe the same. The which I do presently and willingly testify with the subscription of mine own hand." But this not reaching the laity, many of whom deserted their own parish-churches, and went to hear the Nonconformists, the commissioners framed the following subscription for such of them as should be presented as defaulters : " I acknowledge the queen's majesty to be chief governor of the church of England under Christ. That in the Book of Com- mon Prayer there is nothing repugnant to the word of God. That as the public pi'eaching in this church of England is sound, so the public administration of the sacraments is consonant to the word of God. And whereas I have absented myself from my parish church, and have refused to join with the congregation in public prayer, and in receiving the sacrament, according to the pub- lic order set down, and my duty in that behalf, I am right sorry for it, and pray that this my fault may be pardoned ; and do pro- mise, that from henceforth I will frequent my parish-churc-h, and join with the congregation there, as well in prayer as in the administration of the sacraments, according to such order as by public authority is set down and established ; and to witness this my promise I do hereunto willingly subscribe my name*." The officers of the spiritual courts planted their spies in all suspected parishes, to make observation of those who came not to church, and caused them to be summoned into the commons, where they were punished at pleasure. — The keepers were charged to take notice of such as came to visit the prisoners, or bring them relief; and upon notice given, spies were set upon them to bring them into trouble. Complaints have been made of their rude language to the bishops and the rest of the commissioners; and it is possible that their lordly behaviour, and arbitrary proceedings, might sometimes make their passions overflow. " Oppression will make a wise man mad." But I have the exaxninations of » MS. p. 201. THF. rURTTANS. 209 several before nic, in which nothino- of this kind ajipears. On the other hand, it is certain the conduct of the commissioners was high and imperious ; tlieir undtr officers were ravenous, and oTcedy of gain ; tlie fees of the court were exorbitant*, so that if an honest Puritan fell into their liands he was sure to be half ruined before he got out, though he was cleared of the accusa- tion -|-. * MS. p. 176. ■f- The commissioners treated those that came before them neither like men nor Christians, as will appear, among many others, by the following examination of INIr. White, a substantial citizen of London, January 18, 1573; who had been fined, and tossed from one prison to another, contrary to law and justice, only for not fretjupiiting his parish-church. His examiners were, the lord-chief-justice, the master of the rolls, the master of the requests, Mr. Gerard, the dean of Westmin- ster, the sheriff of London, and the clerk of the peace. After sundry others had been dispatched, Mr. White was brought before them, whom his lordship accosted after this manner : I<. C. J. Who is this? White. Wliite, an't please your honour. L. C. J. White, as black as the devil. White. Not so, my lord ; one of God's children. L. C. J. Why will you not come to your parish-church ? White. My lord, 1 did use to frequent my parish-church before my troubles, and procured several godly men to jireacli there, as well as in other places of preaching and prayer ; and since my troubles I have not frequented any private assemblies, but as I have had leave and liberty have gone to my parish-church ; and therefore those that presented me, have done it out of malice ; for if any of these things can be proved against me simpl)', or that 1 hold all things in common, your lordship may dismiss me from hence to the gallows. !Mr. Ger. You have not usually frequented your own parish-church. White. I allow I have more used other jjlaces, where I was better edified. Mr. Ger. Then your presentment is in part true ? WHiite. Not, aa't please you, for I am presented for not coming at all to my parish-church. Mr. Ger. Will you then come to prayers when there is no sermon ? White. I would avoid those things that are an offence to me and others, and disturb the peace of the church; however, I crave the liberty of a subject, and if I do not publicly frequent both preaching, prayer, and the sacraments, deal with me accordingly. Dean of West. What fault find you in the common prayer ? White. Let them answer to whom it appertains ; for being in prison almost a year about these matters, I was, upon a statute relating to that book, indicted, and before I came to liberty almost outlawed, as your worship, Mr. Gerard, knows. Mast. Req. What Scripture have you to ground your conscience against these garments ? White. The whole Scriptures are for destroying idolatry, and every thing that belongs to it. Mast. Req. These things never served to idolatry. White. Shough ! they are the same which heretofore were used to that pur})0se. Mast. Req. Where is the place where these are forbidden ? White. Li Deuteronomy, and other places, the Israelites are commanded, not only to destroy the altars, groves, and images, with all thereto belonging, but also to abolish the very names ; and God by Isaiah commandeth not to pollute our- selves with the garments of the image, but to cast it away as a menstruous clout. ^last. Rolls. These are no part of idolatry, but are commanded by the prince for civil order, and if you will not be ordered you shew yourself disobedient to the laws. Wliite. I would not willingly disobey any law, only I would avoid those things that are not warranted by the word of God. Mast. Ret]. These things are commanded by act of parliament, and in disobey- ing the laws of your country you disobey God. VOL. I. P 210 HISTORY OF Notwithstanding the dangers already mentioned, " people resorted to the suffering Puritans in prison, as in Popery they White. I do it not of contempt, but of conscience ; in all others things I am an obedient subject. L. C. J. Thou art a contemptuous fellow, and wilt obey no laws. White. Not so, my lord, I do and will obey laws ; and therefore refusing but a ceremony out of conscience, and not refusing the penalty for the same, I rest still a true subject. L. C. J. The queen's majesty was overseen not to make you of her council, to make laws and orders for religion. White. Not so, my lord; 1 am to obey laws warranted by God's word. L. C. J. Do the queen's laws command any thing against God's word? White. I do not so say, my lord. L. C. J. Yes, marry do you, and there I will hold you. White. Only God and his laws are absolutely perfect : all men and their laws may err. L. C. J. This is one of Shaw's darlings ; I tell thee what, I will not say any thing of affection, for I know thee not, saving by this occasion ; thou art the wickedest and most contemptuous person that has come before me, since I sat in this commission. White. Not so, my lord, my conscience witnesseth otiierwise. Mast. Req. What if the queen should command to wear a gray frize gown, would you come to church then ? White. That were more tolerable than that God's ministers should wear the habit of his enemies. L. C. J. How, if she should command to wear a fool's coat and a cock's comb ? White. That were very unseemly, my lord, for God's ministers. Dean of West. You will not then be obedient to the queen's commands ? White. I would only avoid those things that have no warrant in the word of God, that are neither decent nor edifying, but flatly the contrary, and are con- demned by the foreign reformed churches. L. C. J. You would have no laws. White. If there were no laws, I would live a Christian and do no wrong ; if I received any, so it were. L. C. J. Thou art a rebel. Wliite. Not so, my lord, a true subject. L. C. J. Yea, I swear by God, thou art a very rebel ; for thou wouldst draw thy sword, and lift up thy hand against thy prince, if time served. White. My lord, I thank God, my heart standeth right towards God and my prince ; and God will not condemn, though your honour hath so judged. L. C. J. Take him away. White. I would speak a word which I am sure will offend, and yet I must speak it ; I heard the name of God taken in vain ; if I had done it, it had been a greater offence than that which I stand here for. Mr. Ger. White, White, you don't behave yourself well. White. I pray your worship, shew me wherein, and I will beg pardon and amend it. L. C. J. I may swear in a matter of charity. White. There is no such occasion ; but because it is bruited, that at my last being before you I denied the supremacy of my prince, I desire your honours and worships, with all that be present, to bear witness, that I acknowledge her majesty the chief governor, next under Clirist, over all persons and causes within her domi- nions, and to this 1 will subscribe. I acknowledge the book of articles, and the Book of Common Prayer, as far as they agree with the word of God. I acknowledge the substance of the doctrine and sacraments of the church to be sound and sin- cere ; and so I do of rites and orders, as far as they agree with the word of God. Dean of West. You will not then allow that all things in the Book of Common Prayer are taken out of the word of God .' Wliite. Tliough they should be so, yet being done by man, I cannot give them the same warrant as to the writings of the Holy Ghost. L. C. J. Take him away. White. I would to the Lord Jesus, that my two years" imprisonment might be a means of having these matters fairly decided Ijy the word of God, and the judg- ment of other reformed churches. THE PURITANS. 211 were wont to run on pilgrimage (they are the hisiiop of London's words). Some aldermen and several wealthy eitizens gave them great and stout countenances, and persuaded others to do the like." Separate communions were establisiicd, where the sacrament of the Lord's supper was administered privately, after the manner of the foreign reformed churches ; and those who joined with them, according to archbishop Parker, sig^ned the following pro- testation : " Being thoroughly persuaded in my conscience, by the work- ing and by the word of the Almighty, that these relics of anti- christ are abominable before the Lord our God ; and also, for that by the power, mercy, strength, and goodness, of the Lord our God only, I am escaped from the filthincss and pollution of these detestable traditions, through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ : and last of all, inasmuch as by the v/orking also of the Lord Jesus his Holy Spirit, I have joined in prayer and hearing God's word with those that have not yielded to this idolatrous trash, notwithstanding the danger for not comino- to my parish-church, &c. Therefore I come not back atrain to the preaching of them that have received the marks of the Komisli beast. " Because of God's commandment to go forward to perfection. Heb. vi. 1 ; 2 Cor. vii. 1 ; Psalm Ixxxiv. 1 ; Ephes. iv. 15. Also to avoid them. JRom. xvi. 17 ; Ephes. v. 11 ; 1 Thess. v. 22. " Because they are an abomination before the Lord our God. Deut. xxvii. 25, 26, and xiii. 17 ; Ezek. xiv. 6. " I will not beautify with my presence those filthy rags, which brino- the heavenly wonl of the Eternal our Lord God into bondage, subjection, and slavery. " Because I would not communicate with other men's sins. L. C. J. You shall be committed, I warrant you. White. Pray, my lord, let me have justice ; I am unjustly committed ; I desire a copy of my presentment. L. C. J. You shall have your head from your shoulders ; have him to the Gate- house. White. I pray you to commit me to some prison in London, that I may be near my house. L. C. J. No, sir, you shall go thither. White. I have paid fines and fees in other prisons ; send me not where I shall pay them over again. I.. C. J. Yes, marry shall you : this is your glory. White. I desire no such glory. L. C. J. It will cost you twenty pounds, I warrant you, before you come out. W^hite. God's will be done. These severities against zealous Protestants, of pious and sober lives, raised the compassion of the common people, and brought them over to their interests. " It was a great grief to the archbishop (says Mr. Strype), and to other good bishops, to see persons going off from the first establishment of tlie Protestant religion among us, making as if the service-book was unlawful, and the ecclesiastical state anti-christian ; and labouring to set up another government and discipline ." But who drove them to these extremities ? Why were not a few amendments in the liturgy yielded to at first, whereby conscientious men might have been made easy ; or liberty given them to worship God in their own way ? p2 212 HISTORY OF John ii. 9 — 11 ; 1 Cor. vi. 17. Touch no unclean thing, &c. Sirach xiii. 1. " Tljey give offence both to preacher and hearers. Rom. xvi. 17 ; Luke xvii. 1. " They glad and strengthen the Papists in their errors, and grieve the godly. Ezek. xiii. 21, 22. [Note this 21st verse.} " They do persecute our Saviour Jesus Christ in his members. Acts ix. 4, 5 ; 2 Cor. i. 5. Also they reject and despise our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Luke x. 16. Moreover those labourers, who, at the prayer of the faithful, the Lord hath sent forth into his harvest, they refuse and also reject. Matt. ix. 38. " These Popish garments are now become very idols indeed, because they are exalted above the word of the Almighty. " I come not to them because they should be ashamed, and so leave their idolatrous garments, &c. 2 Thess. iii. 14. If any man obey not our sayings, note him. " Moreover, I have now joined myself to the church of Christ, wherein I have yielded myself subject to the discipline of God's word, as I promised at my baptism, which if I should now again forsake, and join myself with their traditions, I should forsake the union wherein I am knit to the body of Christ, and join myself to the discipline of antichrist ; for in the church of the tradition- aries there is no other discipline than that which has been main- tained by the antichristian pope of Rome, whei-eby the church of God has always been afflicted, and is until this day, for the which cause I refuse them, " God give us grace still to strive in suffering under the cross, that the blessed word of ovu* God may only rule and have the high- est place, to cast down strong holds, to destroy or overthrow policy, or imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and to bring into captivity or subjection every thought to the obedience of Christ. 2 Cor. x, 4, 5. That the name and word of the Eternal our Lord God may be exalted, and magnified above all thinj^s. Psalm viii. 2. Finis*." To this protestation the congregation did severally swear, and then received the communion for the ratification of their assent ; if we may believe the relation of archbishop Parker, who wrote this last paragraph with his own hand ; though his grace had not always the best information, nor was sufficiently careful to dis- tinguish between subscribing and swearing. Sundry Nonconformists, who were willing to be at ease, and avoid the hazard of persecution, took shelter in the French and Dutch churches, and joined themselves to their communion : there were not many of this sort, because they understood not their language. But the queen and council had their eye upon them, and resolved to drive them from this shelter ; for this pur- pose a letter was written from the council-board, to the ministers * Life of Parker, p. 4.15. TlIK PUIUTANS. '213 ami clilcrs of llie Dutch cluircli in London, beaiin<>; date April I.jTS, in whicli tliey say, "that they were not ignorant, that from llie be<^innin_o- of the Christian religion various churches had various and divers rites and ceremonies ; that in tiieir service and devotions some stood, some kneeled, and others lay prostrate, and yet the piety and rcHoion was the same, if they directed tlieir prayers to the true God, without impiety and superstition. They added farther, that they contemned not their rites ; nay, that tliey a])jiroved their ceremonies as fit and convenient for tliem, and that state whence they sprang. They expected, therefore, that their congregation should not despise the customs of the English church, nor do any tiling that might create a suspicion of disturb- ing its peace ; and in particular, that they should not receive into their communion any of this realm that offered to join with them, and leave the customs and practice of their native country, lest the queen shoukl be moved to banish them out of the kingdom*."" Endeavours had been used to bring these churches under the jurisdiction or superintendency of the bishop of the diocess for the time being ; but they pleaded their cb.arter, and that Grindal, while bisiiop of London, was their superintendent only by their own consent ; bowever, a quarrel happening some time after in the Dutch church at Norwich, the queen's commissioners interposed ; and because the elders refused to own their jurisdiction, they banished all their three ministers ; which struck such a terror into those of London, that when they received the council's let- ter they were perfectly submissive, and after returning thanks for their own liberties, they promised to expel all such out of their church ; and for the future not to receive any English, who from such principles should separate themselves from the customs of tlieir own country-]-. Gualter, liullinger, and other foreign divines, again this year addressed the bisliops their correspondents for moderation, but nothing could be obtained ; only Parkhurst, bishop of Norwich, lamented the case, and wished to God that all the English people would follow the church of Zurich, as the most absolute pattern. " The J^apists (says he) lift up their crests, while Protestants walk about the streets dejected and sorrowful ; for at this time there are not a few preachers that have laid down their cures of souls, and left them to fools and idiots, and that for this reason, because they would not use the linen garment called a surplice. New and severe edicts are lately published here against such as refuse to observe our ceremonies : pray God give a good issue, and have mercy upon all the churches of Christ." The prophesyings of the clergy, begun in the year lo71, bad by this time [1-374] spread into the diocesses of York, Chester, l)iu-ham, and Ely; the bishop of London set them up in several parts of his diocess; as did most of the other bishops. The • Lite of I'aiker, {>. M'li. t Strype's Aunals, vol. 2. p. 2i^l. 214 HISTORY OF clergy were divided into classes, or associations, under a mode- rator appointed by the bishop ; their meetings were once a fort- night ; the people were present at the sermon ; and after they were dismissed, the members of the association, whose names were subscribed in a book, censured the performance. These exer- cises were of great service to expose the errors of Popery, and spread the knowledge of the Scriptures among the people. But the queen was told by the archbishop, that they were no better than seminaries of Puritanism * ; that the more averse the people were to Popery, the more they were in danger of noncon- formity : that these exercises tended to popularity, and made the people so inquisitive, that they would not submit to the orders of their superiors, as they ought. It was said farther, that some of the ministers disused the habits, and discoursed on church-dis- cipline ; and that others were too forward to shew their abilities, to the discouragement of honest men of lower capacities; and that all this was notorious in the diocess of Norwich. Hereupon the queen gave the archbishop private orders to put them down every where, and to begin with Norwich ; his grace accordingly wrote to Matchet, one of the chaplains in that diocess, requiring him to repair to his ordinary, and shew him how the queen had willed him to suppress those vain prophesyings ; and that there- upon he should require the said ordinary, in her majesty ""s name, immediately to discharge them from any farther such doings. This was very unacceptable news to the good old bishop, who, taking hold of the word vain, wrote to the archbishop, desiring to be resolved, whether he meant thereby the abuse, or some vain speeches used in some of these conferences ; or in general, the whole order of those exercises ; of which he freely declared his own approbation, saying, " that they had, and still did bring, singular benefit to the church of God, as well in the clergy as in the laity, and were right necessary exercises to be continued, so the same were not abused, as indeed they had not been, unless in one or two places at the most ; whereof after he had knowledge he wrote an earnest letter to his chancellor, that such persons as were over- busy speakers should be put to silence, unless they would sub- scribe to the articles of conformity in religion, or else promise not to intermeddle with any matter established and commanded by her majesty ; which was performed accordingly, since which time he had not heard, but all things had succeeded quietly without offence to any." The archbishop was vexed at this letter, and wrote back to his chaplain, " that it was one of bis old griefs, that this bishop had shewn his letter to his friends, who had eluded its true meaning, by standing upon the word vam. It is pity, says he, that we should shew any vanity in our obedience." In the mean time the bishop of Norwich applied to the privy council, who knew nothing * Life of Farker, p. Ifil, THE PURITANS. 215 of this affair; but were surprised at the archbishop's order, and njave his lordship instruction to upliold the prophesyings. Their letter was as follows : " Sdl/itrm in C/irisfo. Whereas we understand that there are certain good exercises of prophesyings and expounding of Scrip- tures in Norfolk, as namely, at Holt-town, and other places, whereby both speakers and hearers do profit much in the know- ledge of the word of God. And whereas some not well minded towards true religion, and the knowledge of God, speak evil and slanderously of these exercises, as commonly they used to do against the sincere preaching of God's holy word ; these are to require your lordship, that so long as the truth is godly and re- verently uttered in their prophesyings, and that no seditious, heretical, or schismatical doctrine, tending to the disturbance of the peace of the church, can be proved to be taught or maintained in the same ; that so good a help and means to further true reli- gion may not be hindered and stayed, but may proceed and go forward to God's glory, and the edifying of the people. Thus not doubting of your forwardness herein, your office and calling dutifully requiring the same at your hands, we bid your lordship right heartily farewell.* " Your lordship'^s loving friends, " T. Smith, Kdwin, bp. London, " Wa. MiLDMAY, Fran. Knollys. "From London, this 6th of May, 1574." The archbishop was surprised to see his orders countermanded by the privy council; but his grace took no notice of it to them, only accjuainting the queen with it; by whose direction he wrote again to the bishop ; that whereas he understood he had received letters from the council to continue the prophesyings, contrary to the queen''s express command, he desired to know what warrant they had given him for their proceedings ; upon this the bishop of Norwich wrote back to the bishop of London, who was one of those that had signed the letter, for advice : but his lordship and the council were afraid to meddle any farther. Parker, being thus supported by the queen, wrote again to Norwich, commanding the bishop peremptorily to obey the queen's orders, upon pain of her majesty*'s high displeasure ; and advised him not to be led by fantastical folk, nor take such young men into his counsels, who when they had brought him into danger, could not bring him out of it. Of my care I have for you and the diocess (says the archbishop) I write thus much.-]- Upon this the good old bishop submitted, and wrote to his chan- cellor from Ludham, June the 7th, " Whereas, by the re- ceipt of my lord of Canterbury's letter, I am commanded by him, in the (jucen her majesty's name, that the prophesyings through- * Lifu of I'iiiker, p. IfiO, 4fil. t Ibid. p. 4(i2. Strype's Ann. vol. 2. p. 32'A. t?I6 HISTORY OF out my diocess should be suppressed, these are therefore to will you, that as conveniently as you may, you give notice to every of my commissaries, that they in their several circuits may suppress the same. And so I leave you to God." Thus were these reli- gious exercises suppressed in one diocess, which w^as but the pro- logue to their downfal over the whole kingdom. But his lordship did not long survive this distinguishing mark of the archbishop's displeasure, for towards the latter end of the year he departed this life, to the great loss of his diocess, and of the whole church of England. John Parkhurst, bishop of Norwich, was born at Guildford in Surrey, 1511, and educated in Merton-college, Oxon. He had been domestic chaplain to queen Katharine Parr, tutor to bishop Jewel, and rector of the rich parsonage of Clive ; all which he forsook in the reign of queen Mary, and was an exile at Zurich in Switzerland, wliere he was so delighted with the order and disci- pline of that church, that he would often wish the church of Eng- land were modelled according to it. He was an open favourer of the Puritans, and never entered willingly into any methods of se- verity against them. " I find (says he, in one of his letters to archbishop Parker) that rough and severe methods do the least good, and that the contrary has won over divers ; and therefore I choose to go in this way, rather than with others to overrule by rigour and extremity*." He would willingly have allowed a liberty of officiating in the church to such as could not conform to the ceremonies, but by command from above he Avas forced sometimes to obey his superiors, contrary to his judgment. The bishop was a zealous Protestant, and a great enemy to Popery ; a learned divine, a faithful pastor, a diligent and constant preacher, and an example to his flock in righteousness, in faith, in love, in peace, in word, and in purity. He was exceeding hospitable, and kept a table for the poor ; and was universally beloved, honoured, and esteemed, by his whole diocess. This character is given him, says Mr. Strype, by one that knew him well, Thomas Becon, a native of Norfolk, and of known eminence in those days. He was made bishop of Norwich 1560, and died of the stone this year [1574], in the sixty-third year of his age. Sundry well-disposed people in the parishes of Balsham in Cam- bridgeshire, and of Strethali in Essex, met together on holidays, and at other times, after they had done work, to read the Scrip- tures, and to confirm one another in the Christian faith and prac- tice; but as soon as the commissioners were informed of these assemblies, the parsons of the parishes were sent for, and ordered to suppress them ; though the honest people declared themselves conformable to the orders of the church, and that they met toge- ther after dinner, or after supper, upon holidays only, for their own and their families' instruction ; for the reformation of vice, and for * Strype' s Annals, vol. 2. p. 34.?. THE PUllITANS. 217 a fartlior ac'iiuiiintancc with the word of God : the occasion of their assenibhcs we have in tlieir own words: "for that lieretofore (say ihey) we have at divers times spent and consumed our hoHdays vainly, in drinking at the alehouse, and playing at cards, tables, dice, and other vain pastimes, not meet for us and such of our calling and degree, for the which we have been often blamed of our parson : we thought it better to bestow the time in soberly and godly reading the Scri{)tures, only for the ]KU'poses aforesaid, and no other. We do not favour or maintain any of the opinions of the Anabaptists, Puritans, Papists, or Libertines, but would be glad to learn our duty towards God, our prince, and magistrates, towards our neighbours and our families, in such sort as becomes good, and faithful, and obedient subjects, and it is our greatest and only desire to live, follow, and perform, the same accordingly, as God shall give us grace."" But our archbishop had rather these poor peojjle should be drinking and gaming at an alehouse, than engaged in a religious assembly not appointed by public authority.* The reverend Mr. Sampson, late dean of Christ-church, Oxon, Mas this year struck with the dead palsy on one side, which niade him resign his lecture in the church at Whittington-college, which lie had held to this time, and for which he had lOZ. a year : it was in the gift of the cloth- workers'" company, to whom he recommended ]Mr. Deering for his successor ; but Deering being silenced for non- confoi mitv, the archbishop utterly refused liim, which Sampson complained of in a letter to the treasurer, saying, " that though my lord of Canterbury liked not to take pains in the congregation himself, yet should he not forbid others who were both able and willing ; that he could find no fault with Mr. Deering's doctrine or maimer of life ; and that this was no great promotion. "-f- He therefore humbly desired, that if the cloth-workers chose him, that his lordship would use his interest with the archbishop not to refuse him ; but his grace was inflexible, and so the business mis- carried. This Mr. Sampson was a most exact man in his principles and morals ; and having suffered the loss of all things for a good con- science, he took the liberty to write freely to his superiors upon proper occasions ; and among others to Grindal, archbishop of York, who had been his comjianion in exile, though now advanced to the dignity of a lord-archbishop. Sampson in one of his letters put him in mind of his former low condition, and cautioned him against being too much exalted with his high title. Crindal told him, he did not value the title of a lord, but that his great care was, to discharge his function faithfully until the great day of the Lord. Sampson replied, " that if he, whom worldly policy liatl made a lord, kept the humility of an humble brother and minister of the gospel, he was a phoenix ; but his port, his train of waiting- men in the streets, his gentlemen-ushers going before him with • Life of Talker, p. 1/";?. t H'iil- I' • 178. *il8 HISTORY OF bare heads, and his family full of idle serving-men, looked very lordly." He adds, " that his own and his brethren's revenues should not be laid out in maintaining a parcel of lazy idle ser- vants, but rather upon these, who were labourers in the harvest of the Ivord Jesus. That whereas the archbishop had called them Puritans, it was a name unjustly imposed on brethren with whose doctrine and life none could find fault : if by Puritans such were meant as, following Novatus, dissembled themselves to be teach- ers, and wished the ceremonies might be observed, while they hated the customs of the ancient church, then might a number of churchmen be called Puritans ; and he prayed God to purge them and make them more pure — .'"' And whereas the archbishop in his letter had pitied his complaints of poverty and lameness, he said, " he complained of nothing ; if he should complain of the former, it would be before he had need ; but when he had need he would complain to those to whom he might complain. Con- cerning his lameness, he was so far from complaining of that, that he humbly thanked God for it ; and these chains he would choose to carry before the clogs and cares of a bishoprick *." Such was the plain deahngof this confessor to one of the highest dignitaries in the church. Parker's zeal against the Puiitans betrayed him sometimes into great inconveniences ; like a true inquisitor, he listened to every idle story of his scouts, and sent it presently to the queen or coun- cil; and the older he grew, the more did his jealousies prevail. In the month of June one of his servants acquainted him, that there was a design of the Puritans against the life of the lord- treasurer and his own ; and that the chief conspirator was one Undertree, encouraged by the great earl of Leicester : the old archbishop was almost frighted out of his wits at the news, as appears by the following passage in his letter to the treasurer : " This horrible conspiracy (says he) has so astonished me, that my will and memory are quite gone ; I would 1 were dead before I see with my corporal eyes that which is now brought to a full ripeness." He then prays, that the detector of this conspiracy may be protected and honourably considered, and the conspirators punished with the utmost severity, otherwise the end Mould be worse than the beginning. And that he might not seem to ex- press all his concern for his own safety, he tells the treasurer, that it was for his sake and the queen's that he was so jealous, " for he feared that when rogues attempted to destroy those that were so near her majesty's person, they would at last make the same attempt upon her too ; and that even some that lay in her bosom [Leicester], when opportunity served, would sting her." The archbishop sent out his scouts to apprehend the conspirators that his steward had named, who pretended a secret correspond- ence with Undertree ; and among others who were taken into * Life of Parker, \\ 469. THE PUJIITANS, 219 custody were tlic reverend Mr. Bonham, Brown, and Stonden, divines of great name among the Puritans ; Stonden had heen one of the preachers to the queen's army, when the earl of War- wick was sent against the northern rehels. Many persons of honour were also accused, as the earls of Bedford, Leicester, and others. But when Undertree came to be examined before the council, the whole appeared to be a sham, between Undertree and the archbishop's steward, to disgrace the Puritans, and punish them as enemies to the state as well as the church. So early was t!ie vile practice of fathering sham plots upon the Puritans begun, which was repeated so often in the next age ! Undertree had forged letters in the names of Bonham, Stonden, and others ; as appeared to a demonstration when they were pi'oducpcl before the council, for they were all written with one hand. When he was examined about his accomplices he would accuse nobody, but took the whole upon himself; so that their honours wrote immediately to the archbishop to discharge his prisoners *. But, which is a little unaccountable, neither Undertree nor the archbishop's stew- ard received any punishment. His grace's reputation suffered by this plot ; all impartial men cried out against him, for shutting up men of character and repu- tation in prison, upon such idle reports. The Prn-itans and their friends reflected upon his honour and honesty ; and in particular the bishop of London, and Dr. Chatterton, master of Queen's college, Cambridge, whom in his wrath he called a chatterer ; and in his letter to Grindal, archbishop of York, said, " that he cared not three chips for aught that coukl be proved as to his allegiance; he doing it so secretly, faithfully, and prudently, as he did ; and would do the same again, if he knew no more than he did at that time." The earl of I^eicester could not but resent his ill-usage of him, which he had an opportunity to repay had he been so minded ; the archbishop having executed an act of justice [as he called it] upon a person in the late plot, after he had received a letter from court forbidding him to do it ; which was not very consistent with his allegiance. But the archbishop braved out his conduct against every body, after his own brethren the bishops, and all the world, had abandoned him. He told the lord-trea- surer, " that he cared not for Leicester, though he was informed he took counsel with the J'recisians to undo him : that though he had written to the earl, and to another Puritan courtier, it was not in way of submission, as some of the crew reported and took it f. That the earl had peaceably written again to him, dissem- bling his malice like a right courtier: but he notwithstanding un- derstood what was purposed against him, and for religion's sake he took it." This was the spirit and language of our archbishop ! One of the last public acts in which his grace was employed was visiting the diocess of W^inchester, and in particular the * Life of raikcr, p. 4fi(i. -f Ii,ia. j,. 477. 220 HISTORY OP isle of Wight, in 1575; aiid here he made use of such methods of severity, says Mr. Strype, as made him talked against all over the country. This island was a place of resort for foreign Pro- testants, and seafaring men of all countries, which occasioned the habits and ceremonies not to be so strictly observed as in other places, their trade and commerce requiring a latitude : when the archbishop came thither with his retinue, he gave himself no trou- ble about the welfare of the island, but turned out all those ministers who refused the habits, and shut vip their churches. This was so great a concern to the inhabitants, that they sent up their complaiuts to the earl of Leicester, who made such a report to the queen of the archbishop*'s proceedings, that her majesty immediately gave order, that things should return to their former channel * ; and when his grace came to court after his visitation, her majesty received him coldly, and declared her displeasure against his unseasonable severities. The bishop of Winchester also complained, that the clergy of his diocess had been sifted in an unmerciful manner; all which, instead of softening this prelate, drew from him the following angry letter to the lord-treasurer, wherein he complains " of the strong interest the Puritans had at court ; and of the inconstancy of some of the bishops ; that several of that order lay by and did little, while others endeavoured to undermine him. That the queen was almost the only person that stood firm to the church ; but if the Precisians had the advan- tage, her majesty would be undone. That lie was not so nuich concerned for the cap, tippet, surplice, wafer-bread, and such-like ceremonies, as for the authority of the laws that enjoined them. The queen indeed had told him, that he had the supreme govern- ment ecclesiastical, but upon experiment he found it very much liampered and embarrassed. Before God (says he) I fear that her highness's authority is not regarded ; and if public laws are orxe disregarded, the government must sink at once-f-." There was but one corner of the British dominions that our archbishop's arm could not reach, viz. the isles of Guernsey and Jersey ; these had been a receptacle for the French refugees from the Parisian massacre ; and lying upon the coasts of France, the inhabitants were chiefly of that nation, and were allowed the use of the Geneva or French discipline, by the lords of the coun- cil. An order of the states of France had been formerly obtained, to separate them from the jurisdiction of the bishop of Constance in Normandy, but no form of discipline having been settled by law since the Reformation, Mr. Cartwright and Snape were invited to assist the ministers in framing a proper discipline for their churches: this fell out happily for Cartwright, who being forced to abandon his native country, made this the place of his retreat. The two divines being arrived, one was made titular pastor of Mount Orgueil, in the isle of Jersey ; and the other of Castle * Life of Parker, p. 121. t Ibid. Appendix, No. iU). THE PURITANS, 221 Cornet, in Guernsey. The rej^resentatives of tlie several churches beini;- ai^senihled at St. Peter's Port in Guernsey, they connnuni- cated to them a draught of disci])hne, whicli was debated, and acconnnodated to the use of tliose islands, and finally settled the year following, as appears by the title of it, \vhich is this; " The ecclesiastical discipline observed and practised by the churches of Jersey and Guernsey, after the reformation of the same, by the ministers, elders, and deacons, of the isles of Guernsey andJersey, Sark and Alderney, confirmed by the authority, and in the pre- sence, of the governors of the same isles, in a synod holden in Guernsey, June 28, 1576 ; and afterward received by the said ministers and elders, and confirmed by the said governors in a synod, holden in Jersey the 11th, 12th, loth, 14th, loth, and 17th days of October, lo77." The book consists of twenty chapters, and each chapter of several articles, which were con- stantly observed in these islands till the latter end of the reign of king James I. when the liturgy of the church of England su})f)lanted it *." Though the Papists were the queen's most dangerous enemies, her majesty had a peculiar tenderness for them-f- ; she frequently released them out of prison, and connived at their religious as- semblies.of which there were above five hundred in Et)gland at this time: many of the queen's subjects resorted to the Portugal ambi'ssador's house in Charter-house yard, where mass was pub- licly celebrated ; and because the sheriffs and recorder of London disturbed them, they were committed to the Fleet by the queen's express command. At the same time they were practising against the queen's life; and that their religion might not die with the present age, seminaries were erected and endowed, in several parts of Europe, for the education of English youth, and for pro- viding a succession of missionaries to be sent into England for the propagation of their faitli. The first of these was erected when the kingdom was excommunicated ; after which many others were founded, to the imspeakable prejudice of the Pro- testant religion. To set them before the reader in one view : colleges were erected at the following places: The 1st at Douay, 1569, by Philip king of Spain. 2nd at Rome, 1579, by pope Gregory XIII. 3rd at Valladolid, 1589, by the king of Spain. 4th at Seville, 1593, by the same. 5th at St. Omer's, 1596, by the same. 6th at :\Iadrid, 1606, by Joseph Creswel, Jesuit. 7th at Louvaine, 1606, by Philip III. of Spain. 8th at Eicge, 1616, by the abp. of that country. 9th at Ghent, 1624, by Philip IV. The Popish nobility and gentry sent over their children to * Heylin's Aerius Ridiviviis, p. 276. t Strype's Annals, p. 320. 410. 622. Life of Parker, p. ;5.')2— ;554. Appendix, p. 47. 222 HISTORY OF these colleges for education*; and it is incredible what a mass of money was collected in England for their maintenance, by their provincials, sub-provincials, assistants, agents, coadjutors, fami- liars, &c. out of the estates of such Catholics as were possessed of abbey-lands; the pope dispensing with their holding them on these considerations. The oath taken by every student at his admission was this: " Having resolved to offer myself wholly up to divine service, as much as I may, to fulHl the end for which this our college was founded, I promise and swear, in the presence of Almighty God, that I am prepared from mine heart, with the assistance of divine grace, in due time to receive holy orders, and to return into England, to convert the souls of my countrymen and kindred, when and as often as it shall seem good to the superior of this college.'" The number of students educated in these colleges may be collected from hence ; that whereas according to Saunders, an eminent Popish writerf, there were but thirty old priests remain- ing in England, this year [1575], the two colleges of Douay and Rome alone, in a very few years, sent over three hundred ; and it is not to be doubted but there was a like proportion from the rest. "^ About this time began to appear the family of love, which de- rived its pedigree from one Henry Nicholas, a Dutchman. By their confession of faith published this year, it appears that they were high enthusiasts; that they allegorized the doctrines of re- velation, and, under a pretence of attaining to spiritual perfec- tion, adopted son:ie odd and whimsical opinions, while they grew too lax in their morals, being in their principles something akin to the Quietists of the church of Rome, and the Quakers among ourselves. They had their private assemblies for devotion, for X which they tasted of the severities of the government. ' But the weight of the penal laws fell heaviest upon some of the German Anabaptists, who refused to join with the Dutch or English churches. There were two sorts of Anabaptists that sprung up with the reformation in Germany ; one was of those who differed only about the subject and mode of baptism, whe- ther it should be administered to infants, or in any other manner than by dipping the whole body under water. But others, who bore that name, were mere enthusiasts, men of fierce and bar- barous tempers, who broke out into a general revolt, and raised the war called the Rustic war. They had an unintelligible way of talking of religion, which they usually turned into allegory ; and these being joined in the common name of Anabaptists, brought the others under an ill character. Twenty-seven of them were apprehended in a private house without Aldersgate-bars, on Easter-day, 1575, where they were assembled for worship: of * Fuller, b. 9. p. 92. t De Schismat. Aug. p. 365. THE I'URITAKS. 223 these, four recanted the followino- errors, (1.) That Christ took not Hesh of the substance of the Virgin. (2.) That infants born of faithful parents ought to be rebaptized. (8.) That no Cln-istian man ought to be a magistrate, (l.) That it is not lawful for a Christian man to take an oath. Eut otiiers refusing to abjure, eleven of them, all Dutchmen, were condenmed in the consistory of St. Paul's to be burnt, nine of whom were banished, and two suffered the extremity of the fire in Smithfield, July 22, 1575, viz. John Wielmacker and Hendrick Ter Woort. Thus the writ de liccretico comhuvcndo, which had hung up only in terrorem for seventeen years, was taken down and ])ut in execution upon these unhappy men. The Dutch congregation interceded ear- nestly for their lives ; as did Mr. Fox, the martyrologist, in an elegant Latin letter to the queen, but she was immovable ; so distant was her majesty from the tender spirit of her brother king Edward.* A little before the burning of these heretics IMatthew Parker, archbishop of Canterbury, departed this life : he was born at Norwich, 1504, and educated in Bene't-college, Cambridge. In the reign of king Edward VI."j' he married, and was therefore obliged to live privately under queen Mary. Upon queen Eli- zabeth's accession he was advanced to the archbishopric of Can- terbury ; and how he managed in that high station may be collected from the foregoing history. He wrote a book entitled Antifjuitates Britannicte, which shews him to have had some skill * The remarks of that valuable historian, Gerard Brandt, on these cruel pro- ceedings, are so just and liberal, that they deserve to be laid before the reader. " This severity (says he), which was not the first that had been practised in Eng- land since the Reformation, appeared to many Protestants, who were still under the cross in Flanders and Brabant, both strange and incredible. They lamented that those who not long before liad been persecuted themselves, were now ha- rassing others for the sake of their religion, and offering violence with fire and sword to the consciences of other men, though they had before taught, and that ■with great truth, ' that it did not belong to any mortal man to lord it over the consciences of others. That faith was the gift of God, and not to be implanted in the minds of men by any external force, but by the word of God, and illumination of the Holy Spirit: that heresy was not a carnal but spiritual crime, and to be punished by God alone : that error and falseliood were not to be overcome with violence, but truth : that the obligation which the children of God lie under, is not to put others to death for the faith, but to die themselves in bearing witness to the truth. Lastly, that the shedding of blood for the sake of religion is a mark of antichrist, who thereby sets himself in the judgment-seat of God, assuming to himself the dominion over conscience, which belongs to none but God only.' '' See Brandt's History of the Keformation in the Low Countries, quoted in Mr. Lindsey's Second Address to the Youth of the Two Universities, p. TM, tkc. or La Roche's Abridgment of Brandt, p. KiS. It should be added, that one ground of the odium which fell on those who were called Anabaptists, was their deviation from the established creed, in their ideas concerning the person of Christ and the doctrine of the Trinity. Which sliews in how very early a period of the Reforma- tion Unitarian sentiments arose among the more thoughtful and inquisitive ; but the hand of power was lifted up to sujipress their growth and spread Ed. t In this reign he was initiated into the exercise of power and measures of persecution : for in the year Ifjol he was put into a commission, with thirty other persons, for correcting and punishing Anabaptists. British Biography, vol. 3. p. 4.— Ed. 224 HISTORY OF in ecclesiastical antiquity, but he was a severe churchman ; of a rough and uncourtly temper, and of high and arbitrary principles both in church and state ; a slave to the prerogative and the supremacy ; and a bitter enemy to the Puritans, whom he per- secuted to the length of his power, and beyond the limits of the law. His religion consisted in a servile obedience to the queen's injunctions, and in regulating the public service of the church : but his grace had too little regard for public virtue;* his enter- tainments and feastings being chiefly on the Lord's day : nor do we read, among his episcopal qualities, of his diligent preaching or pious example. Fuller calls him a Parker indeed, careful to keep the fences, and shut the gates of discipline, against all such night-stealers as would invade the same; and indeed this was his chief excellence. He was a considerable benefactor to Bene't- college, the place of his education, where he ordered his MS. papers to be deposited, which have been of considerable service to the writers of the English Reformation.-]- He died of the stone on the 17th of May, 1575, in the seventy-second year of his age, and was interred in Lambeth-chapel the 6th of June fol- lowing ; where his body rested till the end of the civil wars ; when Col. Scot, having purchased that palace for a mansion- house, took down the monument, and buried the bones, says Mr. Strype]:, in a stinking dung-hill, where they remained till some years after the Restoration, when they were decently reposed near the place where the monument had stood, which was now again erected to his memory. § CHAPTER VL FROM THE DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP PARKER TO THE DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP GRINDAL. Dr. Edmund Grindal, archbishop of York, succeeded Parker in the see of Canterbury, and was confirmed February 15, 1575 — 6. He M'as a divine of moderate principles, and moved no faster in courses of severity against the Puritans than his superiors obliged him, being a friend to their preachings and prophe- syings. Sandys was translated from London to York, and Aylmer was advanced to the see of London. This last was one of the exiles, and had been a favourer of Puritanism ; for in his book * Life of Parker.p. 524. t It should be added, that literature was indebted to him for editions of our best ancient historians ; Matthew of Westminster, Matthew Paris, Thomas Wals- singham, aud Asser's Life of King Alfred. It should also, says Mr. Granger, be remembered to his hanour, that he was the first founder of the society of anti- quaries in England. — Ed. : Life of Parker, p. 499. § As a balance to tois, the bodies of nineteen or twenty Puritan divines were dug up in Westminster-abbey, and thrown into a pit in the yard. Dr. Trap, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Strong, &c. See, in Strype, what a pompous funeral Parker had ordered for himself. — Ed. THE rUUITANS. 225 against Knox, entitled, " An liarbour of iaitlifiil subjects," he declaims against the wealth and splendour of the bishops, and speaks with vehemence against their lordly dignities and civil authority. In the convocation of 1562, when the question about the habits was debated, he withdrew, and would not be concerned in the affair; but upon his advancement to the episcopal order he became a new convert, and a cruel persecutor of the Puritans. He was a little man, of a quick spirit, and of no extraordinary character. The parliament being now sitting, a bill was brought into the house of lords, to mulct such as did not come to church and receive the sacrament, with the payment of certain sums of money ; but it was thought proper to drop it for the present. The convocation was busy in framing articles touching the admitting able and fit persons to the ministry, and establishing good order in the church.* Thirteen of them were published with the queen's licence, though they had not the broad seal ; but the other two, for marrying at all times of the year, and for pri- vate baptism by a lawful minister, in cases of necessity, her majesty would not countenance. One of the articles makes void all licences for preaching, dated before the 8th of February 1575, but provides, that such as should be thought meet for that office should be readmitted without difficulty or charge. This had been practised once and again in Parker's time, and was now renewed, that by disqualifying the whole body of the clergy, they might clear the church of all the Nonconformists at once ; and if all the bishops had been ecjually severe in renewing their licences, the church would have been destitute of all preaching ; for the body of the conforming clergy were so ignorant and illiterate, that many who had cure of souls were incapable of preaching, or even of reading to the edification of the hearers ; being obliged by law only to read the service, and administer the sacrament in person once in half a year, on forfeiture of five pounds to the poor. The Nonconformist ministers, under the character of curates or lecturers, supplied the defects of these idle drones, for a small recompence from the incumbent, and the voluntary contribution of the parish ; and by their warm and affectionate preaching gained the hearts of the people : they resided upon their curacies, and went from house to house visiting their parishioners, and instruct- ing their children ; they also inspected their lives and manners, and, according to the apostolical direction, reproved, rebuked, and exhorted them, with all long-suffering and doctrine, as long as they could keep their licences. Thus most of the Puritan ministers remained as yet within the church, and their followers attended upon the word and sacraments in such places where there were sober and orthodox preachers. But still they continued their associations and private assemblies, * Stryjie's Life of Grindal, y>. 194. VOL. I. a 226 HISTORY OF for recovering the discipline of the church to a more primitive standard : this was a grievance to the queen and court-bishops, who were determined against all innovations of this kind. Strange ! that men should confess in their public service every first day of Lent, "that there was a godly discipline in the primitive church ; that this discipline is not exercised at present in the church of England, but that it is much to be wished that it were restored :" and yet never attempt to restore it, but set themselves with vio- lence and oppression to crush all endeavours that way ! For the reader will observe, that this was one chief occasion of the suffer- ings of the Puritans in the following part of this reign. Some of the ministers of Northampton and Warwickshire, in one of their associated meetings, agreed upon certain rules of dis- cipline in their several parishes ; but as soon as they began to practise them, the court took the alarm, and sent letters to the new archbishop to suppress them.* His grace accordingly sent to the bishops of these diocesses, to see things reduced to their former channel ; and if need were, to send for assistance from himself or the ecclesiastical commissioners: accordingly Mr. Paget and Mr. Oxenbridge, the two heads of the association, were taken into custody and sent up to London. Some time after there was another assembly at Mr. Knewstub's church, at Cockfield in Suffolk, where sixty clergymen of Nor- folk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire, met together to confer of the Common Prayer-book, and come to some agreement as to what might be tolerated, and what was necessary to be refused. They consulted also about apparel, holidays, fastings, injunctions, &c.f From thence they adjourned to Cambridge, at the time of the next commencement, and from thence to London, where they hoped to be concealed by the general resort of the people to par- liament : in these assemblies they came to the following conclu- sions, which were drawn up in an elegant Latin style by Mr. Cartwright and Travers, and given to the ministers for their direction in their several parishes. Conceming Ministers. " Let no man, though he be an university man, offer himself to the ministry ; nor let any man take upon him an uncertain and vague ministry, though it be offered unto him. " But such as are called by some church, let them impart it to the classis or conference, of which they are members, or to some greater church-assemblies ; and if the called be approved, let them be commended by letters to the bishop, that they may be ordained ministers by him. " Those ceremonies in the Book of Common Prayer, which being taken from Popery are in controversy, ought to be omitted, if it may be done without danger of being put from the ministry ; * Life of Grindal, p. 21;-). f FuUer, b. 9, p. 135. THE PUniTANS. 227 but if there be imminent daniade already ; he was born of an ancient and worthy family in Kent, and bred fellow of Christ's college, Cambridge; a pious ;>nd painful preacher, says Fuller |, but disaffected to bishops and ceremonies ; he was a learned man and a fine orator, but in one o'' his sermons before the queen he took the liberty to say, that when her majesty was under perse- cution her motto was Tanquam ovis ; but now it might be, Taw- * MS. p. 1P6. t Ath. Ox. 1. 590. X Fuller, b. f). p. 10<). THE PURITANS. 231 fjnnm indontitd juveiica. As an untamed heifer *. For which he was forbid preaching at court for the future, and lost all his pre- ferments in the churcli. Archbishop Grindal had endeavoured to regulate the prophe- syings, and cover tliem from the objections of the court, by enjoin- ing the ministers to observe decency and order, by forbidding them to meddle with politics and church-government, and by prohibiting all Nonconformist ministers and laymen from being speakers. The other bishops also, in their several diocesses, published [in 1577] the followinjj regulations : That the exercises should be only in such churches as the bishop under his hand and seal should appoint. That the archdeacon or some other grave divine, appointed and allowed by the bishop, should be moderator. That a list of the names of those that are thought fit to be speakers in course, be made and allowed of by the bishop ; and the bishop to appoint such part of Scripture they shall treat of. That those ministers that are judged not fit to speak publicly, be assigned some other task by the moderator, for the increase of their learning. A7ite omnia, that no lay-person be admitted to speak publicly in the exercises. That if any man glance at affairs of state, the moderator shall immediately silence him, and give notice to the bishop. If any man inveighs against the laws concerning rites and cere- monies, and discipline established, he shall immediately be silenced, and not be admitted to speak any more, till he has given satisfac- tion to the auditory, and obtained a new admission and approba- tion of the bishop. And No suspended or deprived ministers shall be suffered to be speakers, except they shall first conform to the public order and discipline of the church, by subscription and daily practice. But the queen was resolved to suppress them ; and having sent for the archbishop, told him, she was informed that the rites and ceremonies of the church were not duly observed in these prophe- syings ; that persons not lawfully called to be ministers exercised in them ; that the assemblies themselves were illegal, not being allowed by public authority ; that the laity neglected their secular affairs by repairing to these meetings, which filled their heads with notions, and might occasion disputes and seditions in the state ; that it was good for the church to have but few preachers, three or four in a county being sufficient -f-. She further declared her dislike of the number of these exercises, and therefore com- manded him peremptorily to put them down. Letters of this tenor were sent to all the bishops in England \. * Life of Parker, p. 380. t MS. p. 203. X Tlie copy of her majesty's letter to the bishop of London, with his lordship's order thereupon, being before me, I shall impart it to the reader. " Salutem in Christo, " Having received from the queen's majesty letters of strait commandment 1:32 HISTORY Ol- Most of the bibhops complied readily wilh the (lueen's letter and put down the prophesyings ; but some did it witli reluctaiice, and purely in obedience to the royal command ; as appeal's by the following letter of the bishop of Litchfield and Coventry, to his archdeacon : " Salatcm in Cltristo. " Whereas the queen has been informed of some matters han- dled and abused in the exercise at Coventry, and thereupon hath toucliiiig the reformation of certain disorders and innovations within my diocess ; the tenor whereof I liave inserted, as foUoweth : " ' ELIZABETH. : " ' Right Keverend Father in God, " ' We greet you well. We hear to our great grief, that in sundry parts of our realm there are no small number of persons presuming to be preachers and teachers in the church, though neither lawfully thereunto called, nor yet meet for the same ; who contrary to our laws established, for the public divine service of Almighty God, and the administration of his holy sacraments within this church of England, do daily devise, imagine, propound, and put in execution, sundry new rites and forms in the church, as well by the inordinate preaching, reading, and ministering the sacraments, as by unlawfully procuring of assemblies, and great numbers of our people, out of their ordinary parishes, and from places far distant ; and that also of some of our subjects of good callings (though therein not well advised), to be heai-ers of their disputations, and new-devised opinions upon points of divinity, far unmeet for vulgar people ; which manner of ministrations they in some places term prophesyings, and in some other places exercises ; by means of which assem- blies great numbers of our people, especially of the vulgar sort (meet to be otherwise occupied with some honest labour for their living), are brought to idle- ness, seduced, and in manners schismatically divided among themselves into va- riety of dangerous opinions, not only in towns and parishes, but even some families are manifestly thereby encouraged to the violation of our laws, and to the breach of common orders, and not smally to the offence of all our cpuet subjects, that desire to live and serve God according to the uniform orders established in the church, whereby these [exercises] cannot but be dangerous to be suffered. Where- fore considering it should be the duty of bishops, being the principal ordinary officers in the church of God (as you are one), to see these disorders against the honour of God, and the quietness of the church reformed, and that by the increase of these, through sufferance, great danger may arise, even to the decrease of Chris- tian faith, whereof we are by God appointed the defender ; besides the other incon- veniences, to the disturbance of our peaceable government. " ' We, therefore, according to the authority which we have, do charge and com- mand you, as bishop of that diocess, with all manner of diligence to take order throughout your diocess, as well in all places exem])t, or otherwise, that no manner of pul)lic or divine service, nor other form of ministration of the holy sacraments, or any other rites and ceremonies, be in any sort used in the church, but directly according to the order established by our laws : neither that any manner of per- son be suffered in your diocess to teach, preach, read, or exercise, any function in the church, but such as shall be lawfully approved and licensed, as persons able by their knowledge, and conformable to the ministrations in the rites and ceremo- nies of this church of England. And where there shall not be sufficient able persons for learning in any cure, to preach and instruct their cures, as are requi- site, then shall you limit the curates to read the public homilies, according to the injunctions heretofore by us given for like cause. " ' And furthermore, considering the great abuses that have been in sundry places of our realm, by reason of the aforesaid assemblies called exercises ; and for that these are not, nor have been appointed or warranted by us or our laws ; we will and straitly charge you, that you do cause the same forthwith to cease, and not to be used ; but if any shall attempt to continue or renew the same, we will you not only to commit them to prison, as maintainers of disorders, but also to advertise us or our council of the names and qualities of them, and of their maintainers and abettors ; that thereupon for better example their punishment may be made more TIIK PLTUITAN'S. 233 written to me a strait clinri;e to ilihibit the said exercise ; tlicse are therefore to will and recjuire you, and nevertheless in her niajesty's name to charge you, to forbear and stay yourselves from that exercise, till it shall please God \vc may either by earnest prayer, or humble petition, obtain the full use thereof with her good pleasure and full authority ; and in the meantime so to use the heavenly and most comfortable gift of ])rcaching, that you may seek and set forth Jesus Christ and his kingdom without contempt and controlment of the state and laws, under which we ought to live in unity and peace; which I beseech God grant unto you and mc, and all that look for the coming of our Saviour Christ, to whose direction I commit you, this 18th of June, 1577 *. " Your loving friend and brother in Christ, " Thomas Cov. and Litciif. " To my very loving friend and brother in Christ, Thomas Lever, archdeacon of Cov. or in his absence to the censors of the exer- cise there." But our archbishop could not go this length ; he who had com- plied with all the queen's injunctions, and with the severities of the ecclesiastical commissioners against the Puritans hitherto, is now distressed in conscience, and constrained to disobey the com- mands of his royal mistress, in an affair of much less consequence than others he had formerly complied with. Instead, therefore, of giving dii'ections to his archdeacons to execute the queen's com- mands, he writes a long and earnest letter to her majesty, dated December 10, 1576, to inform her of the necessity and useful- ness of preaching, and of the subserviency of the exercises to this ))urpose : " AVith regard to preaching, nothing is more evident from Scrip- ture (says his grace), than that it was a great blessing to have the gospel preached, and to have plenty of labourers sent into the Lord's harvest. That this was the ordinary means of salvation, and that hereby men were taught their duty to God and their civil governors. That though reading the homilies was good, yet it was not comparable to preaching, which might be suited to the diversity of times, places, and hearers ; and be delivered with sharp, for their reformation. And in these things we charge you to be so careful antl vigilant, as by your negligence (if we shall hear of any person attempting to offend 'in the premises without your correction or information to us), we be not forced to make some example in reforming of you according to your deserts. Given under our signet at our manor of Greenwich, the 7th of May, 1577, and in tlie nineteenth year of our reign." — MS. p. 283. " Therefore I will and straitly charge you, in her majesty's name, that imme- diately upon the receipt hereof, you do diligently and carefully jiut in execution, in every point, all such things as therein be contained, throughout and in every place within your whole archdeaconry ; so that at my visitation, which, God willing, shall he shortly, sufficient account may be given of that your doing and diligence in that behalf accordingly. Fail you not so to do, as you will answer the contrary, at your peril. " Your loving brother, '' John Londox." • MS. p. 281. 234 HISTORY OF more efficacy and affection, 'l^at homilies were devised only to supply the want of preachers, and were by the statute of king Edward VI. to give place to sermons whensoever they might be had. He hoped, therefore, her majesty would not discountenance an ordinance so useful, and of divine appointment. " For the second point, concerning the exercises, he appre- hended them profitable to the church ; and it was not his judg- ment only, but that of most of the bishops, as London, Winton, Bath and Wells, Litchfield, Gloucester, Lincoln, Chichester, Exon, and St. David's, who had signified to him by letter, that by means of these exercises the clergy were now better versed in the Scripture than heretofore ; that they had made them studious and diligent; and that nothing had beat down Popery like them. He affirms that they are legal, forasmuch as by the canons and constitutions of the church now in force, every bishop has autho- rity to appoint such exercises, for inferior ministers to increase their knowledge in the Scriptures, as to him shall seem most expe- dient."* Towards the close of this letter his grace declares him- self willing to I'esign his province, if it should be her majesty's pleasure; and then makes these two requests, "(1.) That your majesty would refer ecclesiastical matters to the bishops and divines of the realm, according to the practice of the first Christian empe- rors. And, ('2.) That when your majesty deals in matters of faith and religion, you would not pronounce so peremptorily as you may do in civil matters ; but remember that in God's cause, his will, and not the will of any earthly creature, is to take place. It is the antichristian voice of the pope, ' Sic volo sic jubeo, stet pro ratione voluntas.' " He then puts her in mind, that though she was a great and mighty princess, she was nevertheless a mortal creature, and accountable to God ; and concludes with a declara- tion, that whereas before there were not three able preachers, now there were thirty fit to preach at Paul's-cross, forty or fifty besides able to instruct their own cures. That therefore he could not, without offence of the majesty of God, send out injunctions for suppressing the exercises. The queen was so inflamed with this letter, that she determined to make an example of the honest archbishop, as a terror to the whole bench : she would not suffer her commands to be disputed by the primate of all England, but by an order from the star- chamber confined him immediately to his house, and sequestered him from his archiepiscopal function for six months. This was a high display of the supremacy, when the head of the church, being a woman, without consulting the bishops, or any of the clergy in convocation assembled, shall pronounce so peremptorily in a mat- ter purely respecting religion ; and for noncompliance tie up the hands of her archbishop, who is the first mover under the prince in all ecclesiastical affairs. * MS. p. 245. THE PURITANS. 235 Before the expiration of the six months, which was in Decem- ber, Grindal was advised to make his submission, which he did so far as to acknowledge the queen's mildness and gentleness in his restraint, and to promise obedience for the fnture ; but he could not be persuaded to retract his opinion, and confess his sorrow for what was past ; there was therefore some talk of depriving him, which being thought too severe, his sequestration was still con- tinued till about a year before his death ; however, his grace never recovered the queen's favour. Thus ended the prophesyings, or religious exercises of the clergy, a useful institution for promoting Christian knowledge and piety, at a time when both were at a very low ebb in the nation. The queen put them down for no other reason, but chiefly because they enlightened the people's minds in the Scriptures, and encouraged their inquiries after truth ; her majesty being always of opinion, that knowledge and learning in the laity would only enchmger their peaceable submission to her absolute will and pleasure. This year put an end to the life of that eminent divine, Mr. Thomas Lever, a great favourite of queen Elizabeth till he refused the habits. He was master of St. John's college, Cambridge, in the reign of king Edward VI., and was reckoned one of the most eloquent preachers in those times. He had a true zeal for the Protestant religion, and was an exile for it all the reign of queen Mary. Upon queen Elizabeth's accession, he might have had the highest preferment in the church, but could not accept it upon the terms of subscription and wearing the habits; he was therefore suspended by the ecclesiastical commissioners ; till his great name and singular merit, reHecting an odium upon those who had deprived the church of his labours, and exposed him a second time to poverty and want after his exile, he was at length dispensed with, and made archdeacon of Coe, and master of Sherburne- hospital near Durham, where he spent the remainder of his days in irreat reputation and usefulness. He was a resolute Noncon- formist, and wrote letters to encourage the deprived mmisters, to stand by their principles, and wait patiently for a farther reforma- tion. He was buried in the chapel of his own hospital, having thisplain inscription on a flat marble stone over his grave, "Thomas Lever, preacher to king Edward VL" Had he lived a little longer he had been persecuted by the new bishop, as his brother Whit- tingham was ; but God took him away from the evil to come. He died in .Tuly ir>77, and was succeeded in the hospital by his bro- ther llalph Lever, ]\Ir. Cartwright, u]Km his return from the isle of Guernsey, was chosen preacher to one of the English factories at Antwerp : these factories submitted to the discipline of the Dutch churches among Avhom tlicy lived, and their ministers became mend)ers of their consistories. AVhile Cartwright was here, many of the English, who were not satisfied with the tern)s of conformity, or the Eng- lish manner of giving orders, went over thither, and were ordained 236 irisTouY OF by the presbyters of those churches; nay, some who had received deacons' orders in tlie church of England, chose to be made full ministers by the foreign consistories; among these were, Mr. Cartwright, Fenner, Ashton, and Travers.* Travers was bache- lor of divinity in the university of Cambridge before he left England, and was ordained at Antwerp, May 14, 1578. The copy of his testimonials-f* is to this effect. "Forasmuch as it is just and reasonable, that such as are re- ceived into the number of the ministers of God's word, should have a testimonial of their vocation ; we declare, that having called together a synod of twelve ministers of God's word, and almost the same number of elders, at Antwerp, on May 8th, 1578, our very learned, pious, and excellent brother, the reverend doc- tor Gualter Travers was, by the unanimous votes and ardent desires of all present, received and instituted into the ministry of God's holy word, and confirmed according to our accustomed manner, with prayer and imposition of hands ; and the next day after the sabbath, having preached before a full congregation of English, at the request of the ministers, he was acknowledged and received most afTectionately by the whole church. That Almighty God would prosper the ministry of this our reverend brother among the English, and attend it with great success, is our most earnest prayer, through Jesus Christ. Amen. " Given at Antwerp, May 14, 1578, and signed " JoANKEs Taffinus, V. D. M. "LOGELERIUS ViLERIUS, V. D. M. " Joannes Hocheleus, V. D. M." Pilkington, late bishop of Durham, was succeeded by Dr. Barnes, bishop of Carlisle, a prelate of severer principles than his predecessor : who having in vain attempted to reduce the clergy of his diocess to an absolute conformity, complained to his metropo- litan of the lax government of his predecessor, and of the numbers of Nonconformists whom he could not reduce to the established orders of the church. Upon this Sandys, the new archbishop of York, resolved to visit his whole province, and to begin with Dur- ham, where dean Whittingham was the principal man under the bishop ; he was a divine of great learning, and of long standing in the church, but not ordained according to the form of the Eng- lish service-book. The accusation against him was branched out into thirty-five articles, and forty-nine interrogatories, the chief whereof was his Geneva ordination. :|: The dean, instead of an- swering the charge,'stood by the rights of the church of Durham, and denied the archbishop's power of visitation, upon which his grace was pleased to excommunicate him ; "but Whittingham aj)- pealed to the queen, who directed a commission to the archbishop, to the lord-president of the council in the north, and to the dean of York, to hear and determine the validity of his ordination, and » Strype's Auri. vol. 2. p. 524. t Fuller, b. 9. o. 214. t Strype's Ann. vol. 2. p. 481. , THE PURITANS. 237 to inquire into the other misdemeanours contained in the articles. The president of the north was a favourer of the Puritans, and Dr. Hutton dean of York was of Whittinghani's principles, and boldly averred, "that the dean was ordained in a better sort than even the archbishop iiimself ;" so that the commission came to nothing. But Sandys, vexed at the disappointment, and at the calling in (question his right of visitation, obtained another com- mission directed to himself, the bishop of Durham, the lord-pre- sident, the chancellor of the diocess, and some otliers whom he could depend upon, to visit the church of Durham. The chief design was to deprive Whittingham as a layman ; when the dean appeared before the commissioners, he produced a certificate under the hands of eight persons, for the manner of his ordination, in these words: "It pleased God, by the suffrages of the whole con- gregation [at Geneva], orderly to choose Mr. W. Whittingham, unto the office of preaching the word of God and ministering the sacraments; and he was admitted minister, and so published, with such other ceremonies as here are used and accustomed."* It Avas objected, that here was no mention of a bishop or superin- tendent, nor of any external solemnities, nor so much as of imposi- tion of hands. The dean replied, there was mention in general of the ceremonies of that church, and he was able to prove his voca- tion to be the same that all the ministers of Geneva had ; upon which the lord-president rose up and said, that he could not in conscience agree to deprive him for that cause only, for (says he) it will be ill taken by all the godly and learned, boih at home and abroad, that we should allow of the Popish massing priests in our ministry, and disallow of ministers made in a reformed church ; whereupon the commission was adjourned siite die. These pro- ceedings of the archbishop against the dean were invidious, and lost him his esteem both in city and country. The calling his ordination in question was expressly contrary to the statute 13 Eliz. by which, says Mr. Strype, the ordination of foreign re- formed churches was declared valid ; and those that had no other orders were made of like capacity with others, to enjoy any place of ministry within England. But the death of Mv. Whittingham, which happened about six months after, put an end to this and all his other troubles: he was born in the city of Chester 1521, and educated in Brazen- nose college, Oxon ; he was afterward translated to Christ-church, •when it was founded by king Henry VIII., being reckoned one of the best scholars in the university ; in the year looO, he travelled into France, Germany, and Italy, and returned about the latter end of king Edward VI. In the reign of (jueen Mary he was with the exiles at Frankfort, and upon the division there went with part of the congregation to Geneva, and became their minis- ter. He had a grreat share in translating the Geneva Bible, and * Strype's Ann. vol. 2. ji. r)2.3. 238 HISTORY OF the Psalms in metre, as appears by the first letter of his name [W] over many of them. Upon his return home he was preferred to the deanery of Durham, 1563, by the interest of the earl of Leicester, where he spent the remainder of his life. He did good service, says the Oxford historian,* against the Popish rebels in the north, and in repelling the archbishop of York from visiting the church of Durham ; but he was at best but a lukewarm Con- formist, an enemy to the habits, and a promoter of the Geneva doctrine and discipline. However, lie was a truly pious and reli- gious man, an excellent preacher, and an ornament to religion. He died while the cause of his deprivation, for not being ordained according to the rites of the English church, was depending, June 10, 1579, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. We have mentioned the bishop of Norwich's severity in his primary visitation ; his lordship went on still in the same method, not without some marks of unfair designs ;t for the incumbent of Sprowton being suspected to be of the Family of Love, his lord- ship deprived him, and immediately begged the living for his son- in-law Mr. Maplesdon, who was already archdeacon of Suffolk. :[ He shewed no mercy to his suspended clergy, though they offered to subscribe as far as the laws of the realm required. At length they petitioned their metropolitan Grindal, who though in disgrace licensed them to preach throughout the whole diocess of Norwich, durante bene placito, provided they did not preach against the established orders of the church, nor move contentions about cere- monies ; but still they were deprived of their livings. The reverend Mr. Lawrence, an admired preacher, and incum- bent of a parish in Suffolk, was suspended by the same bishop, for not complying with the rites and ceremonies of the church. || Mr. Calthorp, a gentleman of quality in the county, applied to the lord-treasurer in his behalf; and the treasurer wrote to the bishop, requesting him to take off' his sequestration ; but his lord- ship replied, that what he had done was by virtue of the queen's letter to him, requiring him to allow of no ministers but such as were perfectly cojiformable. Mr. Calthorp replied, and urged the great want the church had of such good men as Mr. Law- rence, for whose fitness for his work he would undertake the chief gentlemen of credit in the county should certify ; but his seques- tration was still continued. The like severities were used in most other diocesses. The bishop of London § came not behind the chief of his bre- * Ath. Ox. vol. 1. p. 154. t Strype's Ann. vol. 2. p. 284. X MS. p. 286. II Strype's Ann. p. 285. § This bishop Warburton censures as " an unfair charge which runs through the History. The exacting conformity of the ministry of any church by the go- vernors of that church is no persecution." This is a strange sentiment to come from the pen of a Protestant prelate. There was no persecution then in the reign of queen Mary. It was no persecution, when the Jewish sanhedrin agreed, " that if any man did confess that Jesus was the Christ, he should be put out of the THE PURITANS. 239 tliren the bishops, in liis persecuting zeal against the Puritans : he gave out orders for apj)aritors and other officers to go from church to church in time of divine service, to observe the con- formity of the minister, and to make report to her majesty ""s com- missioners. As this prelate had no compassion in his nature, he liad little or no regard to the laws of his coimtry, or the cries of the people after the word of God.* Great was the scarcity of preachers about England at this time ; in the large and populous town of Northampton there was not one, nor had been for a considerable time, though the people applied to the bishop of the diocess by most humble supplication for thfe bread of life. In the county of Cornwall there were one hundred and forty clergymen, not one of which was capable of preaching a sermon, and most of them were pluralists and non- residents. Even the city of London was in a lamentable case, as appears by their petition to the parliament which met this winter, in which are these words : " — May it please you therefore, for the tender mercies of God, to understand the woful estate of many thousands of souls dwelling in deep darkness, and in the shadow of death, in this famous and populous city of London : a place, in respect of others, accounted as the morning star, or rather as the sun in its brightness, because of the gospel, supposed to shine glo- riously and abundantly in the same ; but being near looked into, will be found sorely eclipsed and darkened through the dim cloud of unlearned ministers, whereof there be no small number. Tliere are in this city a great number of churches, but the one half of them at the least are utterly unfurnished of preaching ministers, and are pestered with candlesticks not of gold, but of clay, un- worthy to have the Lord's light set in them, with watchmen that have no eyes, and clouds that have no water ; — in the other half, partly by means of nonresidents, which are very many ; partly through the poverty of many meanly qualified, there is scarcely the tenth man that makes conscience to wait upon his charge, whereby the Lord's sabbath is ofttimes wholly neglected, and for the most part miserably mangled; ignorance increaseth, and wick- edness comes upon us like an armed man. As sheep therefore going astray, we humbly on our knees beseech this honourable as- sembly, in the bowels and blood of Jesus Christ, to become humble suitors to her majesty, that we may have guides ; as hungry men bound to abide by our empty rackstaves, we do beg of you to be means, that the bread of life may be brought home to us ; that the sower may come into the fallow ground ; that the pipes of water may ])e brought into our assemblies ; that there may be food and refreshing for us, our poor wives and forlorn children : synagogue." It was no persecution, when the parliament imposed the Scots cove- nant.— Ed. * lie declared, that he would surely and severely punish those who would not comply with the act of uniformity : or " I will lie (said he) in the dust for it.'' Strype. — Ed 240 HISTORY OF SO shall the Lord iiave his due honour ; you shall discharge good duty to her majesty ; many languishing souls shall be comforted ; atheism and heresy banished ; her majesty have more faithful subjects ; and you more hearty prayers for your prosperity in this life, and full happiness in the life to come, through Jesus Christ our alone Saviour. Amen."* In the supplication of the people of Cornwall, it is said,-|- ** We are above the number of fourscore and ten thousand souls, which for want of the word of God are in extreme misery and ready to perish, and this neither for want of maintenance nor place; for besides the impropriations in our shire, we allow yearly above 9,2001. and have about one hundred and sixty churches, the greatest part of which are supplied by men who are guilty of the grossest sins ; some fornicators, some adulterers, some felons, bearing the marks in their hands for the said offence ; somCj drunkards, gamesters on the sabbath-day, &c. We have many nonresidents who preach but once a quarter, so that between meal and meal the silly sheep may starve. We have some minis- ters who labour painfully and faithfully in the Lord's husbandry ; but these men are not suffered to attend their callings, because the mouths of Papists, infidels, and filthy livers, are open against them, and the ears of those who are called lords over them, are sooner open to their accusations, though it be but for ceremonies, than to the others' answers. Nor is it safe for us to go and hear them ; for though our own fountains are dried up, yet if we seek for the waters of life elsewhere, we are cited into the spiritual courts, re- viled, and threatened with excommunication. Therefore from far we come, beseeching this honourable house to dispossess these dumb dogs and ravenous wolves, and appoint us faithful minis- ters, who may peaceably preach the word of God, and not be disquieted by every apparitor, registrar, official, commissioner, chancellor, &c. upon every light occasion* ." The ground of this scarcity was no other than the severity of the high-commission, and the narrow terms of conformity. Most of the old incumbents, says Dr. Keltridge,:j: are disguised Papists, fitter to sport with the timbrel and pipe, than to take into their hands the book of the Lord ; and yet there was a rising genera- tion of valuable preachers ready for the ministry, if they might have been encouraged ; for in a supplication of some of the stu- dents at Cambridge to the parliament about this time, they acknowledge, that there were plenty of able and well-furnished men among them, but that they could not get into places upon equal conditions ; but unlearned men, nay the scum of the people, were preferred before them ; so that in this great want of labour- ers, we (say they) stand idle in the market-place all the day, being urged with subscriptions before the bishops, to approve the Romish hierarchy, and all the effects of that government to be * MS. p. 302. t MS. p. 300. + Life of Aylmer, p. 32. THE PURITANS. 241 agreeable to the word of God, which with no safety of conscience we can accord unto. They then offer a conference or disputation, as the queen and parh'ainent shall agree, to put an amicable end to these differences, that the church may recover some discipline, that simony and perjury may be banished, and that all that are willing to promote the salvation of souls may be enjployed ; but the queen and bishops were against it. All the pubHc conversation at this time ran upon the queen's marriage with the duke of Anjou, a French Papist, which was thought to be as good as concluded ; the Protestant part of the nation were displeased with it, and some warm divines expressed their dark apprehensions in the pulpit. — The Puritans in general made a loud protest against the match, as dreading the conse- quences of a Protestant body being under a Popish head. Mr. John Stubbs, a student of Lincoln's-inn, whose sister Mr. Cart- wright had married, a gentleman of excellent parts, published a treatise this summer, entitled, " The gaping gulf, wherein England will be swallowed up with the French marriage;" wherewith the queen was so incensed, that she immediately issued out a pro- clamation to suppress the book, and to apprehend the author and printer. At the same time the lords of the council wrote circular letters to the clergy, to remove all surmises about the danger of the Reformation, in case the match should take place, assuring them the queen would suffer no alterations in religion by any treaty with the duke, and forbidding them in their sermons or discourses to meddle with such high matters. Mr. Stubbs the author, Singleton the printer, and Page the disperser, of the above-mentioned book, were apprehended, and sentenced to have their right hands cut off, by virtue of a law made in queen Mary's reign against the authors and disperscrs of seditious writings : the printer was pardoned, but Mr. Stubbs and Page were brought to a. scaffold, erected in the market-place at Westminster, where with a terrible formality their right hands were cut off, by driving a cleaver through the wrist with a mallet* ; but I remember (says Camden, being present) that as soon as Stubbs's right hand was cut off, he pulled off his hat with his left, and said with a loud voice, God save the queen, to the amazement of the spectators, who stood silent, either out of horror of the punishment, or ])ity to the man, or hatred to the match. Mr. Stubbs proved after- ward a faithful subject to her majesty, and a valiant commander in the wars of Ireland. At the beginning of the next sessions of parliament, which was January 10, I08O, the commons voted, " that as many of theiT members as conveniently could, should, on the Sunday fortnight, assemble and meet together in the Temple-church, there to have preaching, and to join together in prayer, with humiliation and "• " This (says bishop Warburton) was infinitely more cruel than all the years under Charles I. whether we consider the punishment, the crimp, or the man." — En- VOL. 1. il 242 HISTORY OF fasting, for the assistance of God's Spirit in all their consultations during this parliavTient ; and for the preservation of the queen's majesty, and her realms*." The house was so cautious as not to name their preachers, for fear they might be thought Puritanical, but referred it to such of her majesty's privy-council as were members of the house. There was nothing in this vote contrary to law, or unbecoming the wisdom of parliament ; but the queen was no sooner acquainted with it, than she sent word by sir Christopher Hatton, her vice-chamberlain, that "she did much admire at so great a rashness in that house, as to put in execution such an innovation, without her privity and pleasure first made known to them."" Upon which it was moved by the courtiers, that " tlie house should acknowledge their offence and contempt, and hunibly crave forgiveness, with a full purpose to forbear com- mitting the like for the future ;" which was voted accordingly. A mean and abject spirit in the representative body of the nation ! Her majesty having forbid her parliament to appoint times for fasting and prayer, took hold of the opportunity, and gave the like injunctions to her clergy ; some of whom, after the putting down of the prophesyings, had ventured to agree upon days of private fasting and prayer for the queen and church, and for exhorting the people to repentance and reformation of life, at such times and places where they could obtain a pulpit. All the Puritans, and the more devout part of the conforming clergy, fell in with these appointments ; sometimes there was one at Leicester ; sometimes at Coventry and at Stamford, and in other places ; where six or seven neighbouring ministers joined together in these exercises ; but as soon as the queen was acquainted with them, she sent a warm message to the archbishop to suppress them, as being set up by private persons, without authority, in defiance of the laws, and of her prerogative -f. Mr. Prowd, the Puritan minister of Burton upon Dunmore, complains, in a melancholy letter to lord Burleigh, of the sad state of religion, by suppressing the exei cises ; and by forbidding the meeting of a few ministers and Christians, to pray for the pre- servation of the Protestant religion, in this dangerous crisis of the queen's marrying with a Papist. He doubted whether his lord- ship dealt so plainly with her majesty as his knowledge of these things required, and begs him to interpose. But the queen was determined against all prayers, except what herself should appoint. We have already taken notice of the petitions and supplications to parliament from London, Cornwall, and some other places, for redress of grievances ; but the house was so intimidated by the queen's spirited behaviour, that they durst not interpose, any farther than in conjunction with some of the bishops, to petition her majesty as head of the church, to redress them. The queen promised to take order about it, with all convenient speed ; putting * Hcylin, p. 287. f Heylin's Aerius Redivivus, p. 286. THE PURITANS. 243 tlicni ill mind at the same time, tliat all motions for reformation in religion ought to arise from none but herself. But her majesty's sentiments differed from the j)arliament's ; her greatest grief was the increase of Puritans and Nonconforn)ists, ami therefore, instead of easing them, she girt the laws closer about them, in order to bring them to an exact conformity. In- formation being given, that some who iiad livings in the church, and preached weekly, did not administer the sacrament to their parishioners in their own persons, her majesty commanded her bishops in their visitations, to inquire after such half- conformists as disjoined one part of their function from the other, and to compel them by ecclesiastical censures to perform the whole at least twice a year. The Puritan ministers being dissatisfied with the promiscuous access of all persons to the conmiunion, and with several pas-sages in the office for the Lord's supper, some of them used to provide a qualified clergyman to administer the ordinance in their room ; but this was now made a iiandle for their eject- ment : inquisition was made, and those who after admonition would not conform to the queen's pleasure were sent for before the commissioners, and deprived. Though the springs of discipline moved but slowly in the diocess of Canterbury, because the metropolitan, who is the first mover in ecclesiastical causes under the queen, was suspended and in disgrace; yet the sufferings of the Puritans were not lessened ; the other bishops, who were in the high commission, doubled their diligence ; the reverend Mr. Nash was in the jNlarshalsea, ]Mr. Drewet in Newgate, and several others were shut up in the prisons in and about London. — Those that were at liberty had nothing to do, for they might nof preach in public without full conformity ; nor assemble in private to mourn over their own and the nation's sins, without the danger of a prison. This exasperated their spirits, and put them upon writting satirical pamphlets* against their adversaries ; in some of which there are severe expressions against the unpreaching clergy, cal- ling them (in the language of Scripture) dumb dogs, because they took no pains for the instruction of their parishioners ; the authors glanced at the severity of the laws, at the pride and ambi- tion of the bishops, at the illegal proceedings of the high-commis- sion, and at the unjustifiable rigours of the queen's government; which her majesty being informed of, procured a statute this very parliament -f- [1580], by which it is enacted, that "if any person or persons, forty days after the end of this season, shall devise, or write, or print, or set forth, any manner of book, rhyme, ballad, letter, or writing, containing any false, seditious, or slanderous * Bishop Warburton censures Mr. Neal for not speaking in much severer terms of these pamphlets. But he should have adverted to our author's grave censure of them in chap. viii. and have recollected that " the writers on the church-side came not behind their adversaries in buffoonery and ridicule." These were the weapons of the age. t 2,'i Eliz. cap 2. R 2 244 HISTORY OF matter, to the defamation of the queen's majesty, or to the encour- ao-ino-, stu'ring, or moving of any insurrection or rebellion within this realm, or any of the dominions to the same belonging ; or if any person or persons shall procure such books, rhymes, or bal- lads, to be written, printed, or published (the said offence not being within the compass of treason, by virtue of any former statute), that then the said offenders, upon sufficient proof by two witnesses, shall suffer death and loss of goods, as in case of felony." This statute was to continue in force only during the life of the present queen ; but within that compass of time, sundry of the Puritans were put to death by virtue of it. In the same session of parhament, another severe law was made wliich like a two-edged sword cut down both Papists and Puritans; it was entitled, An act to retain the queen's subjects, in their due obedience *: " by which it is inade treason, for any priest or Jesuit to seduce any of the queen's subjects, from the established to the Romish religion. If any shall reconcile themselves to that religion, they shall be guilty of treason : and to harbour such above twenty days, is misprision of treason. If any one shall say mass, he shall forfeit two hundred marks and suffer a year's imprison- ment; and they that are present at hearing mass shall forfeit one hundred marks, and a year's imprisonment." But that the act might be more extensive, and comprehend Protestant Noncon- formists as well as Papists, it is farther enacted, " that all persons that do not come to church or chapel, or other place where com- mon prayer is said, according to the act of uniformity, shall for- feit twenty pounds per month to the queen, being thereof lawfully convicted, and suffer imprisonment till paid. Those that are absent for twelve months shall upon certificate made thereof into the King's-bench, besides their former fine, be bound with two sufficient sureties in a bond of two hundred pounds, for their good behaviour. Every schoolmaster that does not come to common prayer, shall forfeit ten pounds a month, be disabled from teach- ing school, and suffer a year's imprisonment." This was making merchandise of the souls of men, says a reverend authorf; for it is a sad case to sell men a licence to do that which the receivers of their money conceive to be unlawful. Besides the fine was unmerciful ; by the act of uniformity, it was twelve pence a Sun- day for not coming to church, but now 20/. a month ; so that the meaner people had nothing to expect but to rot in jails, which made the officers unwilling to apprehend them. Thus the queen and her parliament tacked the Puritans to the Papists, and sub- jected them to the same penal laws, as if they had been equal enemies to her person and government, and to the Protestant religion. A precedent followed by several parliaments in the suc- ceeding reigns. The convocation did nothing but present an humble petition to * 2.3 Eliz. oap. 1. t Fuller, b. 9. p. I.3I. THE PURITANS. 24o the queen, to take off the archbi!;^hop''s sequestration, which her majesty was not pleased to o-rant. This suunncr Ayhiicr bishop of London, held a visitation of his clergy, at the convocation-house of St. Paul's, and obliged them to subscribe the following articles : 1. Exactly to keep to the Book of Common Prayer and sacraments. 2. To wear the surplice in all their minstrations. 3. Not add or diminish any thing in reading divine service. He then made the following inquiries, 1. Whether all that had cure of souls administered the sacraments in person? 2. Whether they observed the ceremonies to be used in baptism and marriage ? 3. Whether the youth were catcehised ? 4. Whether their ministers read the homilies ? 5. WHie- ther any of them called others that did not preach by ill names, as dumb dogs } Those who did not subscribe, and answer the interrogatories to his lordship's satisfaction, were immediately suspended and silenced. But these violent measures, instead of reconciling the Puritans to the church, drove them farther from it. Men who act upon ])rinciples* will not easily be beaten from them with the artillery of canons, injunctions, subscriptions, fines, imprisonments, &c. much less will they esteem a church that fights with such weapons. Multitudes were by these methods carried off to a total separation, and so far prejudiced, as not to allow the church of England to be a true church, nor her ministers true ministers; they renounced all communion with her, not only in the prayers and ceremonies, but in hearing the word and the sacraments. These were the peo- ple called Brownists-f-, from one Robert Brown, a preacher in the diocess of Norwich, descended of an ancient and honourable family in Rutlandshire, and nearly related to the lord-treasurer Cecil ; he was educated in Corpus Christi college, Cambridge, and preached sometimes in Bene't-church, where the vehemence of his delivery gained him reputation with the people. He was first a school-master, then a lecturer at Islington ; but being a fiery, liot-headed young man, he went about the countries, inveigh- ing against the discipline and ceremonies of the church, and exhort- ing the people by no means to comply with them. He was first taken notice of by the bishop of Norwich, who committed him to the custody of the sheriff of the county in the year 1580, but upon acknowledgment of his offence he was released. In the year 1.582, he published a book called " The life and manners of true Christians ; to which is prefixed, a treatise of reformation without * To do so is highly virtuous and praiseworthy. It is the support of integrity, and constitutes excellence of character : yet, in this instance, bishop Warburton could allow himself to degrade and make a jest of it. " It is just the same (says he) with men who act upon passion and prejudice, for the poet says truly. Obstinacy's ne'er so stiff As when tis in a wrong belief." — Ed. t With them commenced the third period of Puritanism. The increasing seve- rity of the bishops inflamed, instead of subduing, the spirits of the Nonconformists, and drove them to a greater distance from the establishment — Ed. 246 HISTORY OF tarrying for any ; and of the wickedness of those preachers who will not reform themselves and their charge, because they will tarry till the magistrate command and compel them." For this he was sent for again into custody, and upon examination con- fessed himself the author, but denied that he was acquainted with the publication, of the book ; whereupon he was dismissed a second time, at the intercession of the lord-treasurer, and sent home to his father, with whom he continued four years; after wh ch he travelled up and down the countries in company with his assistant Richard Harrison, preaching against bishops, cere- monies, ecclesiastical courts, ordaining of ministers, &c., for which, as he afterward boasted, he had been committed to thirty-two prisons, in some of which he could not see his hand at noon-day. At length he gathered a separate congregation of his own princi- ples ; but the queen and her bishops watching them narrowly, they were quickly forced to leave the kingdom. Several of his friends embarked with their effects for Holland ; and having obtained leave of the magistrates to worship God in their own way, settled at Middleburgh in Zealand. Here Mr. Brown formed a church according to his own model : but when this handful of people were delivered from the bishops their oppressors, they crumbled into parties among themselves, insomuch that Brown, being weary of his office, returned into England in the year 1589, and having renounced his principles of separation, became rector of a church in Northamptonshire : here he lived an idle and dissolute life, according to Fuller*, far from that Sabbatarian strictness that his followers aspired after. He had a wife, with whom he did not live for many years, and a church in which he never preached ; at length, being poor and proud, and very passionate, he struck the constable of his parish for demanding a rate of him ; and being beloved by nobody, the officer summoned him before sir Roland St. John, a neighbouring justice of peace, who committed him to Northampton-jail ; the decrepit old man, not being able to walk, was carried thither upon a feather-bed in a cart, where he fell sick and died, in the year 1630, and in the eighty-first year of his age. The revolt of Mr. Brown broke up his congregation at Mid- dleburgh, but was far from destroying the seeds of separation that he had sown in several parts of England ; his followers increased, and made a considerable figure towards the latter end of this reign ; and because some of his principles were adopted and improved by a considerable body of Puritans in the next age, I shall here give an account of them. The Brownists did not differ from the church of England in any articles of faith ; but were very rigid and narrow in points of discipline. They denied the church of England to be a true churcli, and her ministers to be rightly ordained. They main- * B. 10. p. 263. THE PURITANS. 247 tainecl the discipline of the churcli of England to be Popish and antichristian, and all her ordinances and sacraments invalid. Hence they forbade their people to join with them in prayer, in hearing, or in any part of public worship ; nay, they not only renounced communion with the church of England, but with all other reformed churches, except such as should be of their own model. They apprehended, according to Scrijiture, that every church oup'ht to be confined within the limits of a sinjile conffregation : and that the government should be democratical. AVhen a church was to be gathered, such as desired to be members made a confes- sion of their faith in presence of each other, and signed a cove- nant, obliging themselves to walk together in the order of the gospel, accorth'ng to certain rules and agreements therein contained. The whole power of admitting and excluding members, with the deciding of all controversies, Avas in the brotherhood. Their church-officers, for preaching the word, and taking care of the poor, were chosen from among themselves, and separated to their several offices by fasting and praver, and imposition of the hands of some of the brethren. They did not allow the priesthood to be a distinct order, or to give a man an indelible character ; but as the vote of the brotherhood made him an officer, and gave him authority to preach and administer the sacraments among them ; so the same power could discharge him from office, and reduce him to tlie state of a private member. When the number of communicants w-as larger than could meet in one place, the church divided, and chose new officers from among themselves as before, living together as sister-churches, and giving each other the right hand of fellowship, or the privi- lege of conmuinion with either. One church might not exercise jurisdiction or authority over another, but each might give the other counsel, advice, or admonition, if they walked disorderly, or abandoned the capital truths of religion ; and if the offending church did not receive the admonition, the others were to with- draw, and pul)licly disown them as a church of Christ. The powers of their church-officers were confined within the narrow limits of their own society ; the pastor of one church might not administer the sacrament of baptism or the Lord's sup))er to any but those of his own communion and their immediate children. They declared against all prescribed forms of praver. Any lay- brother had the liberty of prophesying, or giving a word of exhortation, in their church-assemblies ; and it was usual after sermon, for some of the members to ask questions, and confer with each other u})on the doctrines that had been delivered ; but as for church-censures, they were for an entire separation of the ecclesiastical and civil sword. In short, every church, or society of Christians meeting in one place, was, according to the Brownists, a body corporate, having full power within itself to admit and exclude members, to choose and ordain officers ; 248 HISTORY OF and, when the good of the society required it, to depose them, without being accountable to classes, convocations, synods, coun- cils, or any jurisdiction whatsoever. Some of their reasons for withdrawing from the church are not easily answered : they alleged, that the laws of the realm, and the queen's injunctions, had made several unwarrantable additions to the institutions of Christ. That there were several gross errors in the church-service. That these additions and errors were imposed and made necessary to communion. That if persecution for conscience' sake was the mark of a false church, they could not believe the church of England to be a true one. They apprehend farther that the constitution of the hierarchy was too bad to be mended; that the very pillars of it were rotten, and that the structure must be begun anew. Since therefore all Christians are obliged to preserve the ordinances of Christ pure and undefiled, they resolved to lay a new foundation, and keep as near as they could to the primitive pattern, though it were with the hazard of all that was dear to them in the world. This scheme of the Brownists seems to be formed upon the practice of the apostolical churches, before the gifts of inspiration and prophecy were ceased, and is therefore hardly practicable in these latter ages, wherein the infirmities and passions of private persons too often take place of their gifts and graces. Accordingly they were involved in frequent quarrels and divisions; but their chief crime was their uncharitableness, in unchurching the whole Christian world, sfnd breaking off' all manner of communion in hearing the Avord, in public prayer, and in the administration of the sacraments, not only with the church of England, but with all foreign reformed churches, which, though less pure, ought certainly to be owned as churches of Christ. The heads of the Brownists were, Mr. Brown himself, and his companion Mr. Harrison, together with Mr. Tyler, Copping, Thacker, and others, who were now in prison for spreading his books ; the two last being afterward put to death for it. The bishop of Norwich used them cruelly, and was highly displeased with those that shewed them any countenance. When the pri- soner above mentioned, with Mr, Handson and some others, com- plained to the justices at their quarter-sessions of their long and illegal imprisonment, their worships were pleased to move the bishops in their favour ; with which his lordship was so dissatis- fied, that he drew up twelve articles of impeachment. against the justices themselves, and caused them to be summoned before the queen and council to answer for their misdemeanours.* In the articles they are charged with countenancing Copping, Tyler, and other disorderly clergymen. They are accused of contempt of his lordship's jurisdiction, in refusmg to admit divers ministers whom he had ordained, because they were ignorant, and could only read ; * Stiype's Ann. vol. 3. p. 20. THE PURITANS. 249 and for removing one Wood from his living on the same account. Sir Robert Jermin and sir John Higham, knights, and Robert Ashfield and Thomas Radley, esquires, gentlemen of Suffolk and Norfolk, and of the number of the aforesaid justices, gave in their answer to the bish()[)''s articles in the name of the rest; in which, after asserting their own conformity to the rites and ceremonies of the church, they very justly tax his lordship with cruelty, in keep- ing men so many years in prison, without bringing them to a trial, according to law ; and are ashamed that a bishop of the church of England should be a patron of ignorance, and an enemy to the preaching the word of God. Upon this the justices were dismissed. But though the lord-treasurer, lord North, sir Robert Jermin, and others, wrote to the bishop, that Mr. Handson, who was a learned and useful preacher, might have a licence granted him, the angry prelate declared peremptorily, that he never should have one, unless he would acknowledge his fault, and enter into bonds for his good behaviour for the future. While the bishops were driving the Puritans out of the pulpits, the nobility and gentry received them into their houses as chap- lains and tutors to their children, not merely out of compassion, but from a sense of their real worth and usefulness ; for they were men of undissembled piety and devotion ; mightyin the Scriptures ; zealous for the Protestant religion ; of exemplary lives; far remote from the liberties and fashionable vices of the times ; and inde- fatigably diligent in instructing those committed to their care. Here they were covered from their oppressors ; they preached in the family, and catechised the children ; which, without all ques- tion, had a considerable influence upon the next generation. The Papists were now very active all over the country : swarms of Jesuits came over from the seminaries abroad, in defiance of the law* ; and spread their books of devotion and controversy among the common people ; they had their private conventicles almost in every market-town in England ; in the northern counties they were more numerous than the Protestants. This put the government upon inquiring after the priests; many of whom were appre- hended, and three were executed, viz. Edmund Champion, a learned and subtle Jesuit, educated in Cambridge, where he con- tinued till the year loG9, when he travelled to Rome and entered himself into the society of Jesus, 1573. Some years after he came into England, and travelled the covmtrics to propagate the' Catholic faith. Being apprehended he was put on the rack to discover the gentlemen who harboured him, and afterward was hanged, drawn, and quartered, when he was but forty-one years of age. The • Bishop Warburton asks here, '• Were the Jesuits more faulty in acting in de- fiance of the laws, than the Puritans ? " and replies, " I think not — They had both the same plea, conscience, and both the same ])rovocatioii, persecution." This is candid and pertinent, as far as it applies to the religious priuciples of each : but certainly tlie spirit and views of these parties were very different ; the former was engaged, once and again, in plots against the life and government of the queen; the loyalty of the other was, notwithstanding all their sufferings, uninipeached. — Ed. 250 HISTOUY OF other two that suffered with him, were, Ralph Sherwin and Alex- ander Bryant. These were executed for an example, but the rest ■were spared, because the queen's match with the duke of Anjou was still depending. However, the Protestants in the Netherlands being in distress, the queen assisted them with men and money, for which they delivered into her majesty ""s hands the most im- portant fortresses of their country, which she garrisoned with English. She also sent relief to the French Protestants who were at war with their natural prince; and ordered a collection all over England for the relief of the city of Geneva, besieged by the duke of Savoy : — measures which were hardly consistent with her own principles of government; but as Rapin observes,* queen Eliza- beth''s zeal for the Protestant religion was always subordinate to her private interest. About this time [1582] the queen granted a commission of concealments to some of her hungry courtiers, by which they were empowered to inquire into the titles of church lands and livings ; all forfeitui-es, concealments, or lands for Avhich the parish could not produce a legal title, were given to them : the articles of inquiry seem to be levelled against the Puritans, but, through their sides, they must have made sad havoc with the patrimony of the church f. They were such as these. What right have you to your parsonage? How came you into it? Who ordained you ? and at what age were you ordained ? Have you a licence.'* Were you married under the hands of two jus- tices of the peace .'' Do you read the whole service ? Do you use all the rites, ceremonies, and ornaments, appointed by the queen's injunctions ? Have you publicly read the articles and subscribed them 'i The churchwardens of every parish had also twenty-four interrogatories administered to them upon oath, concerning their parson, and their church-lands ; all with a design to sequester them into the hands of the queen's gentle- men-pensioners. This awakened the bishops, who fell upon their knees before the queen, and entreated her majesty, if she had any regard for the church, to supersede the commission; which she did, though, it is well enough known, the queen had no scruple of conscience about plundering the church of its revenues. To return to the Puritans. The Rev. Robert Wright, domes- tic chaplain to the late lord Rich, of Rocliford in Essex, fell into the hands of the bishop of London last year:]: [1581] ; he was a learned man, and had lived fourteen years in the univer- sity of Cambridge ; but being dissatisfied with episcopal ordina- tion, went over to Antwerp, and was ordained by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery of that place. Upon his return home, lord Rich took him into his family, at Rochford in the * Vol. 8. p. 475. t Strype's Anu. vol. 3. p. 114. X Strype's Ann. p. 123. THK PUllITANS. 251 hundreds of Essex, where he preached constantly in his lord- ship's chapel, and no where else, because he could obtain no licence from the bishop. He was an admired preacher, and universally beloved by the clero;y of the county, for his great seriousness and piety. While his lordship was alive he protected him from danger, but his noble patron was no sooner dead, than the bishop of London laid hands on him, and confined him in the Gate-house, for saying, that to keep the queen's birth-day as a holiday was to make her an idol. When the good man had been shut up from his family and friends several months, he petitioned the bishop to be brought to his trial, or admitted to bail. But all the answer his lordshij) returned was, that "he deserved to lie in prison seven years." This usage, together with Mr. Wright's open and undisguised honesty and piety, moved the compassion of his keeper, insomuch that his poor wife being in child-bed and distress, he gave him leave, with the private allowance of the secretary of state, to make her a visit at Kochford upon his parole ; but it happened that Dr. Ford the civilian, meeting him upon the road, acquainted the bishop with his escape, who thereupon fell into a violent passion, and sending immediately for the keeper, demanded to see his prisoner. The keeper pleaded the great compassion of the case ; but the bishop threatened to complain of him to the queen, and have him turned out, Mr. Wright being informed of the keeper's danger, return- ed immediately to his prison, and wrote to the lord-treasurer on his behalt. " Oh ! my lord (says he), I most humbly crave your lordship's favour, that I may be delivered from such unpi- tiful minds ; and especially that your lordship will stand a good lord to my keeper, that he may not be discouraged from favour- ing those that profess true religion." Upon this the keeper was pardoned. But tlie bishop resolved to take full satisfaction of the prisoner ; accordingly he sent for him before the commissioners, and exam- ined him upon articles concerning the Book of Common Prayer ; concerning rites and ceremonies; concerning praying for the ([ueen and the church ; and concerning the established form of ordaining ministers. He was charged with preaching without a licence, and with being no better than a mere layman. To which he made the following answers ; " that he thought the Book of Common Prayer, in the main, good and godly, but could not answer for every ])articular. That as to rites and ceremonies, he thought his resorting to churches where they were used, was a sufficient proof that he allowed them. That he prayed for the queen, and for all ministers of God"'s word, and consequently for archbishops and bishops, &c. That he was but a private chap- lain, and knew no law that required a licence for such a place. But he could not yield himself to be a mere layman, having preached seven years in the university with licence ; and since that time having been regularly ordained, by the laying on of 252 HISTORY OF the hands of the presbyters at Antwerp. The bishop having charged him with saying, that the election of ministers ought to be by their flocks, he owned it, and supposed it not to be an error ; and added farther, that in his opinion, every minister was a bishop, though not a lord-bishop ; and that his lordship of London must be of the same opinion, because when he rebuked Mr. White for striking one of his parishioners, he alleged that text, tiiat a " bishop must be no striker : " which had been im- pertinent, if Mr. White, being only a minister, had not been a bishop. When his lordship charged him with saying, there were no lawful ministers in the church of England, he replied *, " 1 will be content to be condemned, if I bring not two hundred witnesses for my discharge of this accusation. I do as certainly believe, that there are lawful ministers in England, as that there is a sun in the sky. In Essex, I can bring twenty godly minis- ters, all preachers, who will testify that they love me, and have cause to thinj<: that I love and. reverence them. I preached seven years in the university of Cambridge with approbation, and have a testimonial to produce under the hands and seals of the master and fellows of Christ-college, being all ministers at that time, of my good behaviour." However, all he could say was to no purpose, the bishop would not allow his orders, and therefore pronounced him a layman, and incapable of holding any living in the church. The lord Rich and divers honourable knights and gentlemen in Essex, had petitioned the bishop of London for a licence, that Mr. Wright might preach publicly in any place within his dio- cess ; but his lordship always refused it, because he was no min- ister, that is, had only been ordained among the foreign churches. But this was certainly contrary to law ; for the statue 13 Eliz. cap. 12, admits the ministrations of those who had only been ordained according to the manner of the Scots, or other foreign churches : there were some scores, if not hundreds of them, now in the church ; and the archbishop of Canterbury at this very time commanded Dr. Aubrey, his vicar-general, to licence Mr. John Morrison, a Scots divine, who had had no other ordination than what he received from a Scots presbytery, to preach over his whole province. The words of the licence are as follow : " Since you the aforesaid John Morrison, about five years past, in the town of Garret, in the county of Lothian, of the kingdom of Scotland, were admitted and ordained to sacred orders and the holy ministry, by the imposition of hands, according to the laudable form and rite of the reformed church of Scotland : and since the congregation of that county of Lothian is conformable to the orthodox faith, and sincere religion now received in this realm of England, and established by public authority : we therefore, as much as lies in us, and as by right we may, approv- " Strype's Ann. vol. 3. Appendix, no. 23, 24. THE PURITANS. 253 ing and ratifying the form of your ordination and preferment done in such manner aforesaid, grant unto you a licence and faculty, with the consent and express command of the most reverend father in Christ, the lord Edmund by the Divine Providence archbishop of Canterbury, to us signified, that in such orders by you taken, you may and have power in any convenient yjlaces in and throughout the whole province of Can- terbury, to celebrate divine offices, to minister the sacraments, &c. as much as in us lies; and we may dejure, and as far as the laws of the kingdom do allow." This licence was dated April 6, 1582, and is as full a testimonial to the validity of presbyterial ordination, as can be desired. But the other notion was orowing in'o fashion; all orders of men are for assuming some peculiar characters and powers to themselves ; the bishop will be a dis- tinct and superior order to presbyters ; and no man must be a minister of Christ, but on whom they lay their hands *. The behaviour of the bishop of London towards the Puritans, moved the compassion of some of the conforming clergy ; the reverend Mr. Wilkin, rector of Danbury in Essex, in a letter to the lord-treasurer, writes thus: — "As some might be thought over-earnest about trifles, so on the other hand, there had been too severe and sharp punishment for the same. Though I myself think reverently of the Book of Common Prayer, yet surely it is a reverence due only to the sacred writings of Holy Scripture, to say the authors of thtm erred in nothing, and to none other books of men, of what learning soever. I have seen the letters of the bishops to BuUinger and Gualter, when I was at Zurich in the year, 1567, in which they declare, that they had no hand in passing the book, and had no other choice, but to leave their places to Papists or accept them as they were ; but they professed and promised never to urge their brethren to those things; and also, when opportunity should serve to seek reformation." How different was the practice of these prelates from their former professions ! But not only the clergy, but the whole country also, exclaimed against the bishops for their high proce3dings ; the justices of peace of the county of Suffolk were so moved, that, notwithstand- ing his lordship's late citation of them before the council, they wrote again to their honours, praying them to interpose in behalf of the injuries that were offered to divers godly ministers. The words of their supplication are worth remembering, because they * Here bishop Warburton remarks, " the Puritans were even with them ; and to the jus fliviiium of episcopacy, opposed the jus dirinum of presbytery, which was the making each other antichristian." His lordship goes into this conclusion too hastily, and applies it without, nay against, authority, to the Puritans : they never required such as had been episcopally ordained to be reordained ; but, in the height of their power, declared, " We hold ordination by a bishop to be for substance valid, and not to be disclaimed by any that have received it." See our author, vol. 3. — Ed. 254 HISTORY OF discover the cruelty of the commissioners, who made no distinc- tion between the vilest of criminals, and conscientious ministers, " The painful ministers of the word (say they) are marshalled with the worst malefactors, presented, indicted, arraigned, and condemned, for matters, as we presume, of very slender moment: some for leaving the holidays unbidden; some for singing the psalm Nunc Dimittis in the morning; some for turning the questions in baptism concerning faith, from the infants to the godfathers, which is but you for thou; some for leaving out the cross in baptism ; some for leaving out the ring in marriage. A most pitiful thing it is, to see the back of the law turned to the adversary [the Papists], and the edge with all sharpness laid upon the sound and true-hearted subject. * " We gi'ant order to be the rule of the Spirit of God, and desire uniformity in all the duties of the church, according to the proportion of faith ; but if these weak ceremonies are so indif- ferent as to be left to the discretion of ministers, we think it (under correction) very hard to have them go under so hard handling, to the utter discredit of their whole ministry, and the profession of truth." " We serve her majesty and the country [as magistrates and justices of the peace] according to law ; we reverence the law and lawmaker; when the law speaks, we keep silence; when it com- mandeth, we obey. By law we proceed against all offenders; we touch none that the law spareth, and spare none that the law touch eth ; we allow not of Papists; of the Family of Love; of Anabaptists, or Brownists. No, we punish all these. -f* " And yet we are christened with the odious name of Puritans; a term compounded of the heresies above mentioned, which we disclaim. The Papists pretend to be pure and immaculate ; the Family of Love cannot sin, they being deified (as they say) in God. But we groan under the burden of our sins, and confess them to God : and at the same time we labour to keep ourselves and our profession unblamable; this is our Puritanism; a name given to such magistrates and ministers and others that have a sti'ict eye upon their juggling. " We think ourselves bound in duty to unfold these matters to your lordships; and if you shall please to call us to the proof of them, it is the thing we most desire." This supplication produced a letter from the council to the judges of the assize, commanding them not to give ear to mali- • Strype's Annals, vol. 3. p. 183, 184. •f Bishop Maddox observes, the expressions in Strype are stronger. " We allow not of the Papists, their subtilties and hypocrisies : we allow not of the Family of Love, an egg of the same nest : we allow not of the Anabaptists, and their com- munion : we allow not of Brown, the overthrower of church and commonwealth : we abhor all these ; no (we) punish all these." This, we must own with his lord- ship, was not the language of real and consistent friends to liberty of conscience. — Ed. THE PURITANS. 255 clous informers against peacefnl and faithful ministers, nor to match them at the bar with rogues, felons, or Papists ; but to put a difference in the face of the world, between those of another faith, and they who differ only about ceremonies, and yet dili- gently and soundly preach true religion. The judges were struck with this letter, and the bishop of London, with his attendants, returned from his visitation full of discontent. Indeed his lord- ship had made himself so many enemies, that he grew weary of his bishoprick, and petitioned the queen to exchange it for that of Ely, that he might retire and be out of the way ; or rather, that he might kindle a new flame in those parts ; but her majesty refused his request. Notwithstanding these slight appearances in favour of the Puritans, two ministers of the Brownist persuasion were con- demned, and put to death this summer for nonconformity, viz. ]VIr. Elias Thacker hanged at St. Edmund's-bury, June 4th, and ]\Ir. John Copping two days after, June 6th, 1583. Their indictments were for spreading certain books seditiously penned by Robert Brown against the Book of Common Prayer esta- blished by the laws of this realm. The sedition charged upon Brown's book was, that it subverted the constitution of the church, and acknowledged her majesty's supremacy civilly, but not otherwise, as appears by the report which the judges sent to court, viz. That the prisoners, instead of acknowledging her majesty's supremacy in all causes, would allow it only in civil*. This the judges took hold of to aggravate their offence to the queen, after they had- passed sentence upon them, on the late statute of the 23d Eliz. against spreading seditious libels, and for refusing the oath of supremacy. Mr. Copping had suffered a long and illegal imprisonment from the bishop of his diocess; his wife beino- brought to bed while he was under confinement, he was charged with not suffering his child to be baptized ; to which he answered, that his conscience could not admit it to be done with godfathers and godmothers, and he could get no preacher to do it without. Ele was accused farther with saying the queen was perjured, because she had sworn to set foi-th God's glory directly as by the Scriptures are appointed, and did not ; but these were only circumstances, to support the grand charge of sedition in spreading Brown's book. However, it seemed a little hard -j- * Strype's Annals, vol. 3. p. 18(). f Bishop Waiburtoa imputes it to party and prejudice in Mr. Neal, that he doth not point out the difference in this case ; which his lordship states to be the same as between " the dispensers of poison hanged for going on obstinately in mischief, and of him who comjjounded the i)oison, but was on his repentance pardoned." But no such distinction existed, and his lordship lost sight of the real state of the case. Brown did not renounce his principles till seven years after he was committed to prison for publishing his book, and was dismissed not on his repentance, but at the intercession of the lord- treasurer. So far from repenting, he went up and down inveighing against bishops, &c. and gathered a separate congregation on his own principles. See our author, p. 2(>8. — Ed. 256 HISTORY OF to hano- men for spreading a seditious book, at a time when the author of that very book [Brown] was pardoned and set at liberty. Both the prisoners died by their principles; for though Dr. Still the archbishop's chaplain, and others, travelled and conferred with them, yet at the very hour of their death they remained immovable ; they were both sound in the doctrinal articles of the church of England, and of unblemished lives*. One Wilsford a layman should have suffered with them, but upon conference wath secretary Wilson, who told him the queen's supremacy might be understood only of her majesty's civil power over ecclesiastical persons, he took the oath and was discharged. While the bishops were thus harassing honest and conscientious ministers, for scrupling the ceremonies of the church, practical religion was at a very low ebb; the fashionable vices of the times were, profane swearing, drunkenness, revelhng, gaming, and pro- fanation of the Lord's day; yet there was no discipline for these offenders, nor do I find any such cited into the spiritual courts, or shut up in prisons. If men came to their parish-churches, and approved of the habits and ceremonies, other offences were overlooked, and the court was easy. At Paris-gardens in South- wark, there were public sports on the Lord's day for the enter- tainment of great numbers of people who resorted thither; but on the 13th of January, being Sunday, it happened that one of the scaffolds, being crowded with people, fell down, by which accident some were killed, and a great many wounded. This was thought to be a judgment from heaven; for the lord-mayor, in the account he gives of it to the treasurer, says, '"that it gives great occasion to acknowledge the liand of God for such abuse of his sabbath-day, and moveth me in conscience to give order for redress of such contempt of God's service; adding, that for this purpose he had treated with some justices of peace in Surrey, who expressed a very good zeal, but alleged want of commission, which he referred to the consideration of his lordship-f-." But the court paid no regard to such remonstrances, and the queen had Jier ends, in encouraging the sports, pastimes, and revellings of the people on Sundays and holidays. This year died the famous northern apostle Mr, Bernard Gil- pin, minister of Houghton in the bishoprick of Durham. He was born at Kentmire in Westmoreland, 1517, of an ancient and honourable family, and was entered into Queen's college, Oxford, in the year 1533. He continued a Papist all the reign of king Henry VIIL but was converted by the lectures of Peter Martyr, in the beginning of the reign of Edward VL He was remarkably honest, and open to conviction, but did not separate from the Romish communion till he was persuaded the pope was antichrist. Cuthbert Tonstal, bishop of Durham, was his uncle by the mother's side, by whose encouragement he travelled to Paris, * Strype's Ann. vol. 2. p. 532, 53:i. + Strype's Annals, vol. 2. p. 532, 53.1, THE I'URITAXS. 257 I^ouvaiiie, and other parts, being still foi' the real presence of Clirist in the sacrament, though not for transubstantiation. Re- turning home in the days of queen Mary, his uncle placed him first in the rectory of Essington, and afterward at Houghton, a large parish containing fourteen villages ; here he laboured in the work of the ministry, and was often exposed to danger, but con- stantly preserved by his uncle, bishop Tonstal, who was averse to burnina: men for relig-ion. Miserable and heathenish was the condition of these northern counties at this time, with res[)ect to religion ! Mr. Gilpin beheld it with tears of compassion, and resolved at his own expense to visit the desolate churches of North- umberland, and the parts adjoining, called liiddesdale and Tindale, once every year, to preach the gospel, and distribute to the necessities of the poor, which he continued till his death ; this gained him the veneration of all ranks of people in those parts ; but though he had such a powerful screen as bishop Tonstal, yet the fame of his doctrine, which was Lutheran, reaching the ears of Bonner, he sent for him to London ; the reverend man ordered his servant to prepare him a long shirt, expecting to be burnt, but before he came to London queen Mary died. Upon the accession of queen Elizabeth, Mr. Gilpin, having a fair estate of his own, erected a granunar-school, and allowed maintenance for a master and usher ; himself choosing out of the school such as he liked best for his own private instruction. Many learned men, who afterward adorned the church by their labours and uprightness of life, were educated by him in his domestic academy. Many gen- tlemen's sons resorted to him, some of whom were boarded in the town, and others in his own house ; besides, he took many poor men's sons under his care, giving them meat, drink, clothes, and education. In the year 1560 he was offered the bishoprick of Carlisle, and was urged to accept it by the earl of Bedford, bishop Snndys, and others, with the most powerful motives ; but he desired to be excused, and in that resolution remained immovable; his reasL,ns were taken from the largeness of the diocesses, which were too great for the inspection of one person ; for he was so strongly pos- sessed of the duty of bishops, and of the charge of souls that was committed to them, that he could never be persuaded to keep two livings, over both of which he could not have a personal inspec- tion, and perform all the offices of a pastor; he added farther, that he had so many friends and relations in those parts to gratify or connive at, that he could not continue an honest man and be their bishop. But though Mr. Gilpin would not be a bishop, he supplied the place of one, by preaching, by hospitality, by erect- ing schools, by taking care of the poor, and providing for desti- tute churches ; in all which he was countenanced and encouraged by the learned and reverend James Pilkington, then bishop of Durham, by whom he was excused from subscriptions, habits, and a strict observance of ceremonies, it being his fixed opinion that VOL. I. s 258 HISTORY OF no human invention should take place in the church, instead of a divine institution. After bishop Pilkington's death Dr. Barnes was chosen his successor, who was disgusted at Mr. Gilpin''s popu- larity, and gave him trouble: once when he was setting out upon his annual visitation to Riddesdale and Tindale, the bishop sum- moned him to preach before him, which he excused in the hand- somest manner he could, and went his progress; but upon his return he found himself suspended, for contempt, from all eccle- siastical employments. The bishop afterward sent for him again on a sudden, and commanded him to preach, but then he pleaded his suspension, and his not being provided ; the bishop immedi- ately took off his suspension, and would not excuse his preaching, upon which he went into the pulpit, and discoursed upon the high charge of a Christian bishop ; and having exposed the corrup- tions of the clergy, he boldly addressed himself to his lordship in these words ; " Let not your lordship say. These crimes have been committed without my knowledge, for whatsoever you your- self do in person, or suffer through your connivance to be done by others, it is wholly your own ; therefore, in the presence of God, angels, and men, I pronounce your fatherhood to be the author of all these evils ; and I and this whole congregation will be a witness in the day of judgment, that these things have come to your ears." All men thought the bishop would have deprived Mr. Gilpin for his freedom, as soon as he came out of the pulpit, but by the good providence of God it had quite a different efllect; the bishop thanked him for his faithful reproof, and after this suffered him to go on with his annual progress, giving him no farther disturb- ance. At length his lean body being quite worn out with labour and travail, and feeling the approaches of death, he commanded the poor to be called together, and took a solemn leave of them ; afterward he did the like by his relations and friends ; then giving himself up to God, he took his bed about the end of February, and died March 4, 1583, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. He was a heavenly man, endued with a large and generous soul, of a tall stature of body, with a Roman nose : his clothes were neat and plain ; for he was frugal in his own dress, though very boun- tiful to others. His doors were always open for the entertain- ment of strangers. He boarded in his own house twenty-four scholars, most of whom were upon charity. He kept a table for the poor every Lord's day, from Michaelmas to Easter, and expended 5001. for a free school for their children. Upon the whole, he was a pious, devout, and open-hearted divine; a con- scientious Nonconformist, but against separation. He was ac- counted a saint by his very enemies, if he had any such, being full of faith and good works ; and was at last put into his grave as a shock of corn fully ripe *. * " The worth and labours of this excellent man (it was observed in the New Annual Register for 1789) have been amply displayed in the present century, by the elegant pen of one of his own name and family "• — Ed. THE PURITANS. 259 The same year died Edmund Grindal, archbishop of Canter- bury, born at Copland, in the county of Cumberland, in the year 1519, and educated in Cambridge. He was a famous preacher in king Edward's days, and was nominated by him to a bishoprick, when he was only thirty-three years of age ; but that king dying soon after, he went into exile, and imbibed the principles of a farther reformation than had as yet obtained in England. Upon queen Elizabeth's accession he returned to England, and was advanced first to the see of London, and then to York and Canterbury, though he could hardly persuade himself for some time to wear the habits and comply with the ceremonies of the church ; nor did he ever heartily approve them, yet thought it better to support the Reformation on that foot, than hazard it back into the hands of the Papists *. He was of a mild and moderate temper, easy of access, and affable even in his highest exaltation. He is blamed by some for his gentle usage of the Puritans, though he used them worse than he would have done, if he had been left to himself. About a year or two after his pro- motion to the see of Canterbury, he lost the queen"'s favour on the account of the prophesy ings, and was suspended for some years, during which time many Puritan ministers took shelter in the counties of Kent and Surrey, &c., which made more work for his successor. The good old archbishop being blind and broken hearted, the queen took off his sequestration about a year before his death, and sent to acquaint him, that if he would resign, he should have her favour, and an honourable pension ; which he promised to accept within six months ; but Wiiitgift, who was designed for his successor, refusing to enter upon the see while Grindal lived, he made a shift to hold it till his death, which hap- pened July 6th, 1583, in the sixty-third year of his age. Cam- den calls him a religious and grave divine. HoUingshead says, he was so studious that his book was his bride, and his study his bride-chamber, in which he spent his eyesight, his strength, and his health. He was certainly a learned and venerable prelate, and had a high esteem for the name and doctrines of Calvin, with whom, and with the German divines, he held a constant corre- spondence. His high stations did not make him proud ; but if we may believe his successor in the see of York, archbishop Sandys, he must be tainted with avarice (as most of the queen's bishops were), because, within two months after he was translated to Canterbury, he gave to his kinsmen and servants, and sold for round sums of money to himself, six score leases and patents, even then when they were thought not to be good in law-j-. But upon the whole, he was one of the best of queen Elizabeth"'s bishops. He lies buried in the chancel of the church at Croydon, where his eflfigies is to be seen at length in his doctor"'s robes, and in a pray- ing posture J. * Grindal's Life, p. 295. t Strype's Ann. vol. ult. Su^ipl. P- -I- J This prelate is the Algrind of Spencer, which is the anagram of his name. The s2 260 HISTORY OF CHAP. VII. FROM THE DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP GRINDAL TO THE SPANISH INVASION IN 1558. Upon the death of Grindal, Dr. John Whitgift, bishop of Worcester, was translated to the see of Canterbury, and confirmed September 23rd, 1583. He had distinguished himself in the controversy against the Puritans, and was therefore thought the most proper person to reduce their numbers. Upon his advance- ment the queen charged him " to restore the discipline of the church, and the uniformity established by law, which (says her majesty) through the connivance of some prelates, the obstinacy of the Puritans, and the power of some noblemen, is run out of square." Accordingly, the very first week, his grace published the following articles, and sent them to the bishops of his pro- vince, for their direction in the government of their several diocesses : — " That all preaching, catechising, and praying, in any private family, where any are present besides the family, be utterly ex- tinguished *. That none do preach or catechise, except also he will read the whole service, and administer the sacraments four times a year. That all preachers, and others in ecclesiastical orders, do at all times wear the habits prescribed. That none be admitted to preach unless he be ordained according to the manner of the church of England. That none be admitted to preach, or execute any part of the ecclesiastical function, unless he subscribe the three following articles: 1st, To the queen's su- premacy over all persons, and in all causes ecclesiastical and civil within her majesty's dominions, 2ndly, To the Book of Common Prayer, and of the ordination of priests and deacons, as containing nothing contrary to the word of God ; and that they will use it in all their pubhc ministrations, and no other. 3rdly, To the thirty-nine articles of the church of England, agreed upon in the synod of 1562, and afterward confirmed by parliament f." And with what severity his grace enforced these articles will be seen presently. It is easy to observe, that they were all levelled at the Puritans ; but the most disinterested civil lawyers of these times were of opinion, that his grace had no legal authority to impose those, or French Protestants were very much indebted to his influence and activity in obtaining for them a settlement in England, in their own method of worship. This was the beginning of the Walloon church, situated in Threadneedle-street, Lon- don ; which has ever since been appropriated to the use of the French nation. British Biography, vol. 3. p. 161. Granger's Biographical History, vol. 2. p. 204, note, 8vo. — Ed. » Life of Whitgift, p. 118. f MS. p. 429. THE PURITANS. 261 any other articles, upon the clergy, without the broad seal ; and that all his proceedings upon them were an abuse of the royal prerogative, contrary to the laws of the land, and consequently so many acts of oppression upon the subject. Their reasons were : 1. Because the statute of the twenty-fifth Henry VIII. chap. 20, expressly prohibits " the whole body of the clergy, or any one of them, to put in use any constitutions, or canons already made, or hereafter to be made, except they be made in convo- cation assembled by the king's writ, his royal assent being also had thereunto, on pain of fine and imprisonment." 2. Because, by the statute of the 1st of Eliz. chap. 3. " All such jurisdictions, privileges, superiorities, pre-eminences, spi- ritual or ecclesiastical power and authority, which hath heretofore been, or may lawfully be, executed or used for the visitation of the ecclesiastical state and persons, and for reformation of the same, and of all manner of errors, heresies, schisms, abuses, con- tempts, and enormities, are for ever united to the imperial crown of these realms." — Whence it follows, that all power is taken from the bishops, except that of governing their diocesses ac- cording to the laws of the land, or according to any further injunctions they may receive from the crown under the broad seal. 3. Because some of the archbishop's articles were directly contrary to the statute laws of the realm, which the queen herself has not power to alter or dispense with. By the 13th Eliz. chap. 1 2, the subscription of the clergy is limited to those articles of the church, which relate to the doctrines of faith, and admini- stration of the sacraments only ; whereas the bishop enjoined them to subscribe the whole thirty-nine. And by the preamble of the same statute, all ordinations in the times of Popery, or after the manner of foreign reformed churches, are admitted to be valid, so that such may enjoy any ecclesiastical preferment in the church ; but the archbishop says, [art. 4th.] " that none shall be admitted to preach, unless he be ordained according to the manner of the church of England." Upon these accounts, if the queen had fallen out with him, he might have incurred the guilt of a premunire. To these arguments it was replied by his grace's lawyers, 1. That by the canon law, the archbishop has power to make laws for the well-government of the church, so far as they do not encounter the peace of the church, and quietness of the realm. To which it was answered, this might be true in times of Po- pery ,but the case was very much altered since the Re f inmatn because now the archbishops and bishops' authority is derived from the person of the queen only ; for the late queen JNIary, having: surrendered back all ecclesiastical iurisdiction into the hands of the pope, the present (jueen upon her accession had no 262 HISTOUV OF jurisdiction resident in her person, till the statute of recognizance, 1st of Eliz. by which the archbishops and bishops of this reahn, being exempted from tlie jurisdiction of the pope, are made subject to the queen, to govern her people in ecclesiastical causes, as her other subjects govern the same (according to their places) in civil causes* ; so that the clergy are no more to be called the archbishops or bishops' children, but the queen*'s liege people, and are to be governed by them according to the laws, which laws are such canons, constitutions, and synodals provincial, as were in force before the twenty-fifth of Henry VIII. and are not contrary nor repugnant to the laws and customs of the realm, nor derogatory to her majesty's prerogative royal; and therefore all canons made before the twenty-fifth of Henry VIII. giving to the archbishops or bishops an unlimited power over the clergy, as derived from the see of Rome, are utterly void, such canons being directly against the laws and customs of the realm, which do not admit of any subject executing a law but by authority from the prince ; and they are derogatory to her majesty's pre- rogative royal, because hereby some of her subjects might claim an unlimited power over her other subjects, independent of the crown, and by their private authoi-ity command or forbid what they please. Since then the archbishop's articles were framed by his own private authority, they cannot be justified by any of the canons now in force. And as for the peace of the church and quiet of the realm, they were so far from pi'omoting them, that they were like to throw both into confusion. 2. It was said that the queen, as head of the church, had power to publish articles and injunctions for reducing the clergy to uniformity ; and that the archbishop had the queen's licence and consent for what he did. But the queen herself had no authority to publish articles and injunctions in opposition to the laws ; and as for her majesty's permission and consent, it could be no warrant to the archbishop, except it had been under the great seal. And if the archbishop had no legal authority to command, the clergy were not obliged to obey; the oath of canonical obedience does not bind in this case, because it is limited to licitis et honestis, things lawful and honest ; whereas the present articles being against law, they were enforced by no legal authority, and were such as the ministers could not honestly consent to. Notwithstanding these objections, the archbishop, in his pri- mary metropolitical visitation, insisted peremptorily, that all who enjoyed any office or benefice in the church should subscribe the three articles above mentioned; the second of which he knew the Puritans would refuse : accordingly there were suspended for not subscribing — * MS. p. 6(51. THE PUEITANS, In the county of Norfolk 64 ministers. Suffolk . , 60 Sussex, about , 30 Essex . , 38 Kent 19 or 20 Lincolnshire . • 21 263 In all 233 All whose names are now before me ; besides great numbers in the diocess of Peterborough, in the city of London, and pro- portionable in other counties ; some of whom were dignitaries in the church, and most of them graduates in the university ; of these some M^ere allowed time, but forty-nine were absolutely deprived at once.* Among the suspended ministers his grace showed some parti- cular favour to those of Sussex, at the intercession of some great persons ; for after a long dispute and many arguments before himself at Lambeth, he accepted of the subscription of six or seven, with their own explication of the rubrics, and with declara- tion that their subscription was not to be understood in any other sense than as far as the books were agreeable to the word of God, and to the substance of religion established in the church of Eng- land, and to the analogy of faith ; and that it did not extend to any thing not expressed in the said books f. Of all which the archbishop allowed them an authentic copy in writing, dated December the 6th, 1583, and ordered his chancellor to send letters to Chichester, that the rest of the suspended ministers in that county might be indulged the same favour. Many good and pious men strained their consciences on this occasion ; some subscribed the articles with this protestation in open court, " as far as they are agreeable to the word of God ; " and others dempto secundo^ that is, taking away the second. JVIany, upon better consideration, repented their subscribing in this man- ner, and would have rased out their names, but it was not per- mitted. Some, who were allured to subscribe with the promises of favour and better preferment, were neglected and forgotten, and troubled in the commissaries' court as much as before \. The court took no notice of their protestations or reserves ; they wanted nothing but their hands, and when they had got them, they were all listed under the same colours, and published to the world as absolute subscribers. The body of the inferior clergy wished and prayed for some amendments in the service-book, to make their brethren easy. " I am sure (says a learned divine of these times) that this good would come of it. (1.) It would please Almighty God. (2.) The learned ministers would be more firmly united against the Papists. (3.) The good ministers and good subjects, whereof many are now at Weeping-cross, would be cheered ; and many able students * MS. p. 43C. I MS. p. S-li. 405. Life of Whitgift, p. 129. \ Feaner's Answer to Dr. Bridge*, p. lit), 120. 264 HISTOIIY OF encouraged to take upon them the ministry. And, (4.) Hereby the Papists, and more careless sort of professors, would be more easilv won to rehgion. If any object, that excellent men were publishers of the Book of Prayer, and that it would be some dis- grace to the church to alter it, I answer — 1st, That though Avorthy men are to be accounted of, yet their oversights in matters of religion are not to be honoured by subscriptions. 2ndly, The reformation of the service-book can be no disgrace to us nor them, for men's second thoughts are wiser than their first; and the Papists in the late times of Pius V. reformed our Lady's Psalter. To conclude, if amendments to the book be inconve- nient, it must be either in regard of Protestants or Papists; it cnnnot be in regard of Protestants, for very great numbers of them pray heartily to God for it. And if it be in regard of the Papists, we are not to mind them ; for they, whose captains say, that we have neither church, nor sacraments, nor ministers, nor queen in England, are not greatly to be regarded of us *." But Whitgift was to be influenced by no such arguments ; he was against all alterations in the liturgy, for this general reason, lest the church should be thought to have maintained an error : which is surprising to come from the mouth of a Protes- tant bishop, who had so lately separated from the infallible church of Rome. His grace's arguments for subscription to his articles are no less remarkable. 1st, If you do not sub- scribe to the Book of Conmion Prayer, you do in effect say, there is no true service of God, nor administration of sacra- ments, in the land. 2ndly, If you do not subscribe the book of ordination of priests, &c. then our calling must be unlawful, and we have no true ministry nor church in England. 3rdly, If you do not subscribe the book of the thirty-nine articles, you deny true doctrine to be established among us, Avhich is the main note of a true church f. Could an honest man, and a great scholar, be in earnest with this reasoning ? Might not the Pu- ritans dislike some things in the service-book, without inva- lidating the whole ? Did not his grace know, that they offered to subscribe to the use of the service-book, as far as they could apprehend it consonant to truth, though they could not give it under their hands, that there was nothing in it contrary to the word of God, nor promise to use the whole without the least variation, in their public ministry ? But according to the archbishop*'s logic, the church must be infallible or no church at all. The liturgy must be perfect in every phrase and sentence, or it is no true service of God ; and every article of the church must be agreeable to Scripture, or they contain no true doctrine at all. He told the ministers, that all who did not subscribe his articles were schismatics; that they had separated themselves from the church ; and declared peremptorily, that they should be turned out of it. * MS. p. 156. t Life of Whitgift, p. 125. THE PURITANS. 265 This conduct of the archbishop was exposed in a pamphlet, entitled, " The Practice of Prelates * ; ■" which says, that none ever used good ministers so severely since the Reformation as he; that his severe proceedings were against the judgment of many of his brethren the bishops, and tliat the devil, the com- mon enemy of mankind, had certainly a hand in it. — For who of the ministers (says this writer) have been tumultuous or un- peaceable ? Have they not striven for peace in their ministry, in their writings, and by their example; and sought for their discipline only by lawful and dutiful means ? Why then should the archbishop tyrannize over his fellow-ministers, and starve many thousand souls, by depriving all who refuse subscription? Why should he lay such stress upon Popish opinions, and upon an hierarchy that never obtained till the approach of antichrist ? Loud were the cries of these poor sufferers and their distressed families to Heaven for mercy, as well as to their superiors on earth! Their temptations were strong; for as men, they were moved with compassion for their wives and little ones ; and as faithful ministers of Ciirist, they were desirous to be useful, and to preserve the testimony of a good conscience. Some through frailty were overcome and submitted, but most of them cast themselves and families upon the providence of God; having written to the queen, to the archbishop, and to the lords of the council ; and after some time to the parliament, for a friendly conference, or a public disputation, when and where and before whom they pleased ; though without success -|-. The supplication of the Norfolk ministers to the lords of the council, signed with twenty hands ; the supplication of the Lin- colnshire ministers with twenty-one hands ; the supplication of the Essex ministers with twenty-seven hands; the supplication of the Oxfordshire ministers with hands ; the supplication of the ministers of Kent with seventeen hands, are now before me ; be- sides the supplication of the London ministers, and of those of the diocess of Ely and Cambridgeshire; representing in most moving language their unhappy circumstances : '* We commend (ihey say) to your honours' compassion our poor families, but much more do we commend our doubtful, fearful, and distressed consciences, together with the cries of our poor people, who are hungering after the word, and are now as sheep having no shepherd. -We have applied to the archbishop, but can get no relief, we therefore humbly beg it at your honours' hands I." — • Life of Whitgift, p. 122. t In the year 1583, one John Lewis, for denying tlie deity of Christ, was burnt at Norwich. Many of the Popish persuasion, under the charge of treason, were executed in different places. But, notwithstanding these severities, " her majesty (says Fuller) was most merciful unto many Popish malefactors, whose lives stood forfeited to the law, in the rigour thereof. Seventy, who had been condemned, by one act of grace were pardoned and sent beyond sea." Church History, b. 9. p. Kiy, 170 Ed. i MS. p. 328. 330. &c. 266 HISTORY OF They declare their readiness to subscribe the doctrinal articles of the church, according to the stat. 13 Eliz. cap. 12. and to the other articles, as far as they are not repugnant to the word of God. And they promise farther, if they may be dispensed with as to subscription, that they will make no disturbance in the church, nor separate from it. The Kentish ministers, in their supplication to the lords of the council, professed their reverence for the established church*, and their esteem for the Book of Common Prayer, so far as that they saw no necessity of separating from the unity of the church on that account : that they believed the word preached, and the sacraments administered according to authority, touching the substance, to be lawful. They promised to show themselves obedient to the queen, in all causes ecclesiastical and civil ; but then they added, that there were many things that needed refor- mation, which therefore they could not honestly set their hands to f . They conclude with praying for indulgence, and subscribe themselves their honours' daily and faithful orators, the ministers of Kent suspended from the execution of their ministry. The London ministers applied to the convocation, and fifteen of them offered to subscribe to the queen's supremacy, to the use of the Common Prayer-book, and to the doctrinal articles of the church, if they might be restored; but then add, " We dare not say tliere is nothing in the three books repugnant to the word of God, till we are otherwise enlightened ; and therefore humbly pray our brethren in convocation to be a means to the queen and parliament, that we may not be pressed to an absolute subscription, but be suffered to go on in the quiet discharge of the duties of our calling, as we have done heretofore, to the honour of Almighty God, and the edification of his church. — We protest, before God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, that if by any means, by doing that which is not wicked, we might continue still our labours in the gospel, we would gladly and willingly do any thing that might procure that blessing, esteeming it more than all the riches in the world ; but if we cannot be suffered to continue in our places and callings, we beseech the Lord to show greater mercy to those by whom this affliction shall be brought upon us, and upon the people com- mitted to our charge, for whom we will not cease to pray, that the good work which the Lord has begun by our labours may still be advanced, to that day wlien the Lord shall give them and us comfort one in another, and in his presence everlasting hap- piness and eternal glory J," This petition was presented to the * This has been considered, by bishop Warburton, as inconsistent with calling the " established church an hierarchy, that never obtained till the approach of antichrist." But the charge of inconsistency does not lie against the Kentish ministers who speak above, unless it be proved that they were the authors of the pamphlet, entitled, The Practice of Prelates, which contains the other senti- ments Ed. t MS. p. 326. : MS. p. 595. 623. THE PURITANS. 267 convocation, in the first sessions of the next parliament, in the name of the ministers of London that had refused to subscribe the articles lately enforced upon them ; with an humble request to have their doubts satisfied by conference, or any other way. Among the suspended ministers of London was the learned and virtuous Mr. Barber, who preached four times a week at Bow church : his parishioners, to the number of one hundred and twenty, signed a petition to the lord-mayor and court of aldermen for his release, but that court could not obtain it*. March 4, 1584, the learned Mr. Field and Mr. Egerton were suspended. Mr. Field had been often in bonds for nonconformity ; he was minister of Aldermary, and had admitted an assembly of ministers at his house, among whom were some Scots divines, who being disaffected to the hierarchy, the assembly was declared an unlawful conventicle, and Mr. Field was suspended from his ministry for entertaining them ; but the rest were deprived for not subscribing:. Many gentlemen of reputation both in city and country ap- peared for the suspended ministers, as well out of regard to their poor families, as for the sake of religion, it being impossible to supply so many vacancies as were made in the church upon this occasion. The gentlemen of Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Kent, interceded with the archbishop, alleging that it was very hard to deal with men so severely for a few rites and ceremonies, when they were neither heretics nor schismatics, and when the country wanted their useful preaching. The parishioners of the several places from whence the ministers were ejected signed Petitions to the lord-treasurer, and others of the queen's council, eseeching them, in the bowels of Jesus Christ, that their minis- ters, being of an upright and holy conversation, and diligent preachers of the word of God, might be restored, or otherwise (their livings being only of small value) their souls would be in danger of perishing for lack of knowledge -f-. The inhabitants of Maiden in Essex sent up a complaint to the council, " that since their ministers had been taken from them, for not subscribing to certain articles neither confirmed by the law of God, nor of the land; they had none left but such as they could prove unfit for that office, being altogether ignorant, having been either Popish priests or shiftless men, thrust in upon the ministry when they knew not else how to live; men of occu- pation, serving-men, and the basest of all sorts; and which is most lamentable, as they are men of no gifts, so they are of no common honesty, but rioters, dicers, drunkards, &c. and of offensive lives. These are the men (say they) that are supported, whose reports and suggestions against others are readily received and admitted ; by reason of which, multitudes of Papists, heretics, and other enemies to God and the queen, are increased, and we - MS. p. 160. 5(j'H. fee. t Ibid. p. 457. 268 HISTOIIV OF ourselves in danger of being insulted. We therefore humbly beseech your honours, in the bowels of Jesus Christ, to be a means of restoring our godly and faithful ministers ; so shall we and many thousands of her majesty's subjects continue our daily supplications to Almighty God, &c. The petition of the inhabitants of Norwich, signed with one hundred and seventy-six hands, and many letters and supplica- tions from the most populous towns in England, to the same purpose, are now before me. But these appeals of the Puritans .and their friends did them no service; for the watchful arch- bishop, whose eyes were about him, wrote to the council to put them in mind, " that the cause of the Puritans did not lie before them ; that he wondered at the presumption of the ministers, to bring his doings in question before their lordships; and at their proud spirit, to dare to offer to dispute before so great a body against the religion established by law, and against a book so painfully penned, and confirmed by the highest authority." He then adds, " that it was not for him to sit in his place, if every curate in his diocess must dispute with him ; nor could he do his dnty to the queen, if he might not proceed without interruption ; but if they would help him he should soon bring them to comply*." As to the gentlemen who petitioned for their ministersf, he told them to their faces, that he would not suffer their factious minis- ters, unless they would subscribe : that no church ought to suffer its laudable rites to be neglected : that though the ministers were not heretics, they were schismatics, because they raised a conten - tion in the church, about things not necessary to salvation. And as for lack of preaching, if the gentlemen or parishioners would let him dispose of their livings, he would take care to provide them with able men. Thus this great prelate, who had complied with the Popish religion +, and kept his place in the university through all the reign of queen Mary, was resolved to bear down all opposition, and to display his sovereign power against those whose consciences were not as flexible as his own. But not content with his episcopal jurisdiction, his grace soli- cited the queen for a new ecclesiastical commission, and gave her majesty these weighty reasons for it, among others. Because the Puritans continue the ecclesiastical censures. Because the com- • Life of Whitgift, p. 127. f Strype's Life of Whitgift, p. 4. I Bishop Maddox here censures Mr. Neal, and says that the reverse was true. The fact, from all his biographers, appears to be that on the expectation of a visi- tation of the university, in queen Mary's reign, to suppress heresy, and to oblige such as were qualified to take the first tonsure, Whitgift, foreseeing his danger, and fearing not only an expulsion but for his life, particularly because he could not comply with this requisition, would have gone abroad ; but Dr. Pearn encouraged and persuaded him to stay, bidding him to keep his own counsel, and not utter his opinion, and engaging to conceal him without incurring any danger to his conscieuce in this visitation. He continued, therefore, in the college throughout this reign. But it is not to be conceived but that he must have preserved an out- ward conformity to the public and usual services of the church.— Ed. THE PURITANS. 269 mission may order a search for seditious books, and examine the writers or publishers upon oath, whieh a bisliop cannot. Because the ecclesiastical conniiission can pvniish by fines, which are very commodious to the government ; or by imprisonment, which will strike more terror into the Puritans. Because a notorious fault cannot be notoriously punished, but by the commission. Because the whole ecclesiastical law is but a carcass without a soul, unless it be quickened by the commission*. The queen, who was already disposed to methods of severit}-, easily gave way to the archbishop's arguments, and ordered a new high commision to be prepared, which she put the great seal to, in the month of December 1583, and the twenty sixth year of her reign t. • Life of AVhitgift, p. 134. f There had been five high commissions before this, in most of which tlie powers of the commissioners had been enlarged ; but forasmuch as the court was now almost at its height, I will give the reader an abstract of their commission from au attested copy, under the hand and seal of Abraham Hartwell, a notary public, at the special request and command of the archbishop himself, dated January 7th, 1S83-4. The preamble recites the act of the first of the queen, commonly called the act for "restoring to the crown the ancient jurisdiction of the state ecclesiastical and civil, and the abolishing all foreign power repugnant to the same : " and another of the same year, " for uniformity of common prayer and service of the church and administration of the sacraments :" and a third of the fifth of the queen, entitled, " An act of assurance of the queen's powers over all states, &c. :" and a fourth of the thirteenth Eliz. entitled, " An act for reforming certain disorders touching ministers of the church : " as the foundation of her ecclesiastical jurisdiction and power. Her majesty then names forty-four commissioners, whereof twelve were bishops ; some were privy-councillors, lawyers, and officers of state, as sir Francis Knollys treasurer of the household, sir Francis Walsingham secretary of state, sir Walter Mildmay chancellor of the Exchequer, sir Ralph Sadlier chancellor of the dutchy of Lancaster, sir Gilbert Gerard master of the rolls, sir Robert Manliood lord chief baron of the Exchequer, sir Owen Ilopton lieutenant of the Tower of London, John Popham, esq. attorney-general, Thomas Egerton, esq. solicitor- general; the rest were deans, archdeacons, and civilians. Her majesty then proceeds; " We, earnestly minding to have the above-mentioned laws put in execution, and putting special trust and confidence in your wisdoms and discretions, have autho- rised and appointed you to be our commissioners : and do give full power and authority to you, or any three of you, whereof the archbishop of Canterbury, or one of the bishops mentioned in the commission, or sir Francis Walsingham, sir Gilbert Gerard, or some of the civilians, to be one, to inquire' from time to time during our pleasure, as well by the oaths of twelve good and lawful men, as also by witnesses, and all other means and ways you can devise ; of all offences, con- tempts, misdemeanours, &c. done and committed contrary to the tenor of the said several acts and statutes ; and also to inquire of all heretical opinions, seditious books, contempts, conspiracies, false rumours or talks, slanderous words and say- ings, &c. contrary to the aforesaid laws, or any others, ordained for the maintenance of religion in this realm, together with their abettors, counsellors, or coadjutors. " And farther we do give full power to you or any three of you, whereof the archbishop of Canterbury, or one of the bishops mentioned in the commission, to be one, to hear and determine concerning the premises, and to order, correct, reform, and j)unish, all persons dwelling in places exempt or not exempt, that wil- fully and obstinately absent from church, or divine service established by law, by the censures of the church, or any other lawful ways and means, by the act of uniformity, or any laws ecclesiastical of this realm limited and appointed ; and to take order, of your discretions, that the penalties and forfeitures limited by the said act of uniformity against the offenders in that behalf may be duly levied, according to the forms prescribed in the said act, to the use of us and tlie poor, upon the 270 HISTORY OF The court of high commission was so called, because it claimed a larger jurisdiction and higher powers than the ordinary courts of the bishops ; its jurisdiction extended over the whole kingdom, and was the same in a manner with that which had been vested in the single person of lord Cromwel, vicar-general to king Henry VIII. though now put into commission. The court was erected upon the authority of the acts mentioned in the preamble, and therefore its powers must be limited by those statutes ; but the council for Mr. Cawdrey, whose case was argued before all the goods, lands, and tenements, of such offenders, by way of distress, according to the true meaning and limitation of the statute. " And we do farther empower yoii, or any three of you, during our pleasure, to visit and reform all errors, heresies, schisms, &c. which may lawfully be reformed or restrained by censures ecclesiastical, deprivation, or otherwise, according to the power and authority limited and appointed by the laws, ordinances, and statutes, of this realm. " And we do hereby farther empower you, or any three of you, to call before you such persons as have ecclesiastical livings, and to deprive such of them as wil- fully and advisedly maintain any doctrine contrary to such articles of religion of the synod of 1562, which only concern the confession of the true faith and doctrine of the sacraments, and will not revoke the same. " And we do farther empower you, or any three of you, to punish all incests, adulteries, fornications, outrages, misbehaviours and disorders in marriage ; and all grievous offences punishable by the ecclesiastical laws, according to the tenor of the laws in that behalf, and according to your wisdoms, consciences, and discretions, commanding you, or any three of you, to devise all such lawful ways and means for the searching out the premises, as by you shall be thought necessary : and upon due proof thereof had, by confession of the party, or lawful witnesses, or by any other due means, to order and award such punishment by fine, imprisonment, cen- sures of the church, or by all or any of the said ways, as to your wisdom and dis- cretions shall appear most meet and convenient. " And farther we do empower you, or any three of you, to call before you all persons suspected of any of the premises, and to proceed against them, as the quality of the offence and suspicion shall require, to examine them on their corporal oaths, for the better trial and opening of the truth ; and if any persons are obsti- nate and disobedient, either in not appearing at your command, or not obeying your orders and decrees, then to punish them by excommunication, or other censures ecclesiastical, or by fine, according to your discretions ; or to commit the said offenders to ward, there to remain, till he or they shall be by you, or three of you, enlarged or delivered ; and shall pay such costs and expenses of suit as the causfe shall require, and you in justice shall think reasonable. " And farther we give full power and authority to you, or three of you as afore- said, to command all our sheriffs, justices, and other officers, by your letters, to apprehend, or cause to be apprehended, such persons as you shall think meet to be convened before you ; and to take such bond as you shall think fit, for their per- sonal appearance ; and in case of refusal, to commit them to safe custody, till you shall give order for their enlargement: and farther, to take such securities for their performance of your decrees as you shall think reasonable. And farther, you shall keep a register of your decrees, and of your fines, and appoint receivers, messengers, and other officers, with such salaries as you shall think fit ; the receiver to certify into the Exchequer, every Easter and Michaelmas term, an account of the fines taxed and received, under the hands of three of the commissioners. " And we do farther empower you, or any six of you, whereof some to be bishops, to examine, alter, review, and amend, the statutes of colleges, cathedrals, grammar- schools, and other public foundations, and to present them to us to be confirmed. " And we do farther empower you to tender the oath of supremacy to all minis- ters, and others compellable by act of parliament, and to certify the names of such as refuse it into the King's Bench. " And lastly, we do appoint a seal for your office, having a crown and a rose over it, and the letter E before and R after the same ; and round about the seal these words, ' Sigil. commiss. regise maj. ad causas ecclesiasticas." THE PURITANS. 271 judges in Trinity term 1591, questioned whether the court had any foundation at all in law ; it being doubtful whether the queen could delegate her ecclesiastical autliority, or the commissaries act by virtue of such delegation. But admitting the court to be legal, it will appear that both the queen and her commissioners exceeded the powers granted them by law; for it was not the intendment of the act of supre- macy to vest any new powers in the crown, but only to restore those which were supposed to be its ancient and natural right. Nor do the acts above recited authorise the queen to dispense with the laws of the realm, or act contrary to them ; or to set aside the ordinary legal courts of proceeding in other courts of judicature, by indictments, witnesses, and a jury of twelve men ; nor do they empower her to levy fines, and inflict what corporal punishments she pleases upon offenders ; but in all criminal cases, where the precise punishment is not determined by the statute, her commissioners were to be directed and governed by the common law of the land. Yet contrary to the proceedings in other courts, and to the essential freedom of the English constitution, the queen empowered her commissioners, to " inquire into all misdemeanours, not only by the oaths of twelve men, and witnesses, but by all other means and ways they could devise ;"" that is, by inquisition, by the rack, by torture, or by any ways and means, that fourty-four sovereign judges should devise. Surely this should have been limited to ways and means warranted by the laws and customs of the realm. Farther, her majesty empowers her " commissioners to examine such persons as they sus[)ected upon their corporal oaths, for the better trial and opening of the truth, and to punish those that refused the oath, by fine or imprisonment, according to their dis- cretion." This refers to the oath ex officio niero, and was not in the five first commissions. It was said in behalf of this oath, by Dr. Aubrey*, that though it was not warrantable by the letter of the statute of the 1st of Elizabeth, yet the canon law being in force, before the making of that statute, and the commission warranting the commissioners to proceed according to the law ecclesiastical, they might lawfully administer it according to ancient custom -f*. - To which it was answered, " that such an oath was never allowed by any canon of the church, or general council, for a thousand years after Christ ; that when it was used against the primitive Christians, the Pagan emperors countermanded it ; that it was against the pope's law in the decretals, which admits of such an inquisition only in cases of heresy ; nor was it ever used in England till the reign of king Henry IV. and then it was enforced as law, only by a haughty archbishop, without consent of the commons of England, till the * And nine others, learned civilians ; and most of them, Strype says, judges in the civil and ecclesiastical courts. — Ed. t Life of Whitgift, p. 340. 272 HISTORY OF 25tb of Henry VIII. when it was utterly abrogated. This pre- tended law was again revived by queen Mary, but repealed again by the 1st of queen Elizabeth, and so remained*. Besides, as this purging men by oath has no foundation in the law of the land, it is undoubtedly contrary to the law of nature and nations, where this is a received maxim, Nemo tenetur seipsum accusare : No man is bound to accuse himself. The queen therefore had no power to authorise her commissioners to set up an inquisition, and administer an oath to the suspected person, to answer all ques- tions the court should put to him, and to convict him upon those answers ; or if they could confront his declarations, to punish him as perjured. If any persons disobeyed the orders and decrees of the court, by not appearing at their summons, &c. the commissioners were empowered to punish them by fine or imprisonment at their dis- cretions. This also was contrary to law, for the body of a subject is to be dealt with, secundum legem terrce, according to the law of the land, as Magna Charta and the law saith. The clerk felon in the bishop's prison is the king's prisoner, and not the bishop's, and therefore by the 1st of Henry VII. cap. 4, " the bishop of the diocess is empowered to imprison such priests, or other reli- gious persons, within his jurisdiction, as shall by examination, and other lawful proofs requisite by the law of the church, be convicted of fornication, incest, or any fleshly incontinency, and there to detain them for such time as shall be thought by their discretions convenient, according to the quality of the offence; and that none of the said archbishops or bishops shall be charge- able with an action of false imprisonment for so doing -j-. Which plainly implies, that a bishop cannot by law commit a man to prison, except in the cases above mentioned ; and that in all others, the law remains in force as before If then the queen, by her ecclesiastical commission, could not dispense with the laws of the land, it is evident that the long and arbitrary imprisonments of the Puritan clergy, before they had been legally convicted, and all their confinements afterward, beyond the time limited by the statutes, were so many acts of oppression ; and every acting- bishop or commissioner was liable to be sued in an action of false imprisonment. The law says, no man shall be fined ultra tenementum, beyond his estate or ability. But the fines raised by this court, in the two next reigns, were so exorbitant, that no man was secure in his property or estate ; though, according to lord Clarendon, their power of levying any fines at all was very doubtful. Some for speaking an unmannerly word, or writing what the court was pleased to construe a libel, were fined from 5001. to 10,000/. and perpetual imprisonment; some had their ears cut off and their noses slit, after they had been exposed several days in the pillory ; Life of Whitgift, p. 39;i, 394. f Life of Aylmer, p. 145. THIC I'UnTiANS. 273 and many families were driven into banishment ; till in process of time the court became such a general nuisance, that it was dis- solved by parliament, with a clause that no such court should be erected for the future. Farther, the commission gives no authority to the court to frame articles, and oblige the clergy to subscribe them. It em- powers them to reform all errors, heresies, and schisms, which may lawfully be reformed, according to the power and authority, limited and appointed by the laws and statutes of the realm. But there never was a clause in any of the commissions, empowering them to enforce subscription to articles of their own devising*. Therefore their doing this, without a special ratification under the great seal, was no doubt a usurpation of the supremacy, and brought them within the compass of a premunire, according to the statutes of 2o Henry VIII. cap. 20, and 1 Eliz. cap. 8. Lastly, Though all spiritual courts (and consequently high- commission) arc and ought to be subject to prohibitions from the supreme courts of law, yet the commissioners would seldom or never admit them, and at length terrified the judges from granting them : so that, upon the whole, their proceedings were for the most part contrary to the act of submission of the clergy, con- trary to the statute laws of the realm, and no better than a spiritual inquisition -f. If a clergyman omitted any of the ceremonies of the church in his public ministrations, or if a parishioner bore an ill-will to his minister, he might inform the commissioners by letter, that he was a suspected person ; upon which a pursuivant or messenger was sent to his house with a citation I • MS. p. 573. t la this view it was considered by the lord-treasurer Burleigh. — " According to my simple judgment (says he, in a letter to the archbishop,) this kind of pro- ceeding is too much savouring the Romish inquisition, and is rather a device to seek for offenders, than reform any." Fuller's Church History, b. 9. p. 1.55. Mr. Hume stigmatises this court not only as a real inquisition ; but attended with all the iniquities, as well as cruelties, inseparable from that horrid tribunal — Ed. t The citation was to the following effect : " We will and command you, and every of you, in her majesty's name, by virtue of her high commission for causes ecclesiastical, to us and others directed, that you, and every of you, do make your |)ersonal appearance before us, or others her majesty's commissioners in that behalf appointed, in the consistory within the cathedral church of St. Paul's, London [or at Lambeth] , the seventh day ne.xt after the sight hereof, if we or other our colleagues shall then happen to sit in commission, or else at our next sitting there, then next immediately following : and that after your appearance there made, you, and every of you, shall attend, and not depart without our special licence ; willing and commanding you, to whom these our letters shall first be delivered, to show the same, and give intimation and knowledge thereof, to the others nominated upon the indorsement hereof, as you, and every of you, will answer to the contrary at your perils. Given at London, the Kith of May, 1584. John Cant. Gabriel Goodman. John London- Indorsed, To Ezekias Morley, ^ Rob. Pamnet, and V of Ridgwell in Essex. William Bigge, ) VOL. I. T 274 HISTORY OF The pursuivant who brought them up, had thirty-three shilhngs and fourpence for forty one miles, being about nine or ten pence a mile. Upon their appearing before the commissioners, they were committed prisoners to the Chnk-prison seven weeks, before they were called to their trial. — When the prisoners were brought to the bar, the court immediately tendered them the oath, to answer all questions to the best of their knowledge ; by which they were obliged not only to accuse themselves, but frequently to bring their relations and friends into trouble. The party to be examined, was not to be acquainted with the interrogatories beforehand, nor to have a copy of his answers, which were lodged with the secretary of the court, against the day of his trial. If the commissioners could not convict him upon his own confession, then they examined their witnesses, but never cleared him upon his own oath. If they could not reach the prisoner by their ordi- nary jurisdiction as bishops, they would then sit as ecclesiastical commissioners. If they could not convict him upon any statute, then they had recourse to their old obsolete law ecclesiastical ; so that the prisoner seldom knew by what law he was to be tried, or how to prepare for his defence. Sometimes men were obliged to a long attendance, and at other times condemned in haste without any trial. The reverend Mr. Brayne, a Cambridge minister, being sent for to Lambeth, made his appearance before the archbishop and two other commissioners, on Saturday in the afternoon, and being commanded to answer the interrogatories of the court upon oath, he refused, unless he might first see them, and write down his answers with his own hand ; which his gi'ace refusing, immediately gave him his canonical admonitions, once, twice, and thrice ; arid caused him to be registered for contempt, and suspended *. Let the reader carefully peruse the twenty-four articles them- selves, which the archbishop framed for the service of the court ; and then judge, whether it were possible for an honest man to answer them upon oath, without exposing himself to the mercy of his adversaries f. * Life of Wliitgift, p. 163. f The articles were these that follow : — 1. Imprimis, " Objicimus, ponimus, et articularaur, i. e. We object, put, and article to you, that you are a deacon or minister, and priest admitted ; declare by whom and what time you were ordered ; and likewise, tliat your ordering was according to the book in that behalf by the law of this land provided. Et objici- mus conjunctim de omni et divisim de quolibet, i. e. ' And we object to you the whole of this article taken together, and every branch of it separately.' 2. Item, " Objicimus, ponimus, et articulamur. That you deem and judge such your ordering, admission, and calling, into your ministry to be lawful, and not repugnant to the word of God. Et objicimus ut supra, i. e. ' And we object as before.' 3. Item, " Objicimus, ponimus, &c. That you have sworn, as well at the time of your ordering as institution, duty and allegiance to the queen's majesty, and canonical obedience to your ordinary and his successors, and to the metropolitan and his successors, or to some of them. Et objicimus ut supra. 4. Item, " Objicimus, &c. That by a statute or act of parliament made in tiie TiiK MJiur.vNs. 275 When tlie lortl-lirasurcr IJurleij^h had read them over, and seen the execution they had done upon the clergy, he wrote his grace the following letter: first year of the queen's majesty that now is, one virtuous and godly book, entitled, The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of Sacraments, &c. was author- ised and established to stand and be from and after the feast of the Nativity of St. John Baptist then next ensuing, in full force and effect, according to the said statut(!, and so yet remaineth. Et obj. ut supra. .5. Item, Obj. That by the said statute all ministers within her majesty's domi- nions, ever since the said feast, have been, and are bound to say and use, a cer- tain form of morning and evening prayer called in the act mattins, even-song, celebration of the Lord's supper, and administration of each of the sacraments ; and all other common and open prayer in such order and form as is mentioned in the same book, and none other, nor otherwise. Et obj. ut supra. (). Item, " Obj. That in the said statute her majesty, the lords temporal, and all the commons, in that jiarliament assembled, do in God's name earnestly charge and require all the archbishops, l)ishops, and other ordinaries, that they shall endeavour themselves, to the uttermost of their knowledge, that the due and true execution of the said act might be had throughout their diocess and charge, as they would answer it before Almi{,'hty God. Et. obj. ut supra. 7. Item, " Obj. ponimus, &c. That you deem and judge the said whole book to be a godly and a virtuous book, agreeable, or at least not repugnant, to the word of God ; ' if not, we re(|uire and command you to declare, wherein, and in what points.' Et objicimus ut suj)ra. if. Item, " Obj. That for the space of these three years, two years, one year, half a year ; three, two, or one month, last past, you have at the time of commu- nion, and at all or some other times in your ministration, used and worn only your ordinary apparel, and not the surplice, as is required : ' declare how long, how often, and for what cause, consideration, or intent, you have so done, or refused so to do.' Et obj. ut supra 9. Item, " Obj. That within the time aforesaid you have baptized divers, or at least one infant, and have not used the sign of the cross in the forehead, with the words prescribed to be used in the said book of common prayer ; ' declare how many you have so baptized, and for what cause, consideration, and intent.' Et obj. ut supra. 10. Item, " Obj. &c. That within the time aforesaid you have been sent unto, and required divers times, or at least once, to baptize children ; or some one child being weak, and have refused, neglected, or at least so long deferred, the same, till the child or children died without the sacrament of baptism : ' declare whose child, when, and for what consideration.' Et. obj. ut supra. 11. Item, " Obj. &c. That within the time aforesaid you have celebrated matri- mony otherwise than the book prescribes, and without a ring, and have refused at such times to call for the ring, and to use such words in that behalf as the book appoints, and particularly those words, ' that by matrimony is signified the spiritual marriage and unity between Christ and his church.' — ' Declare the circumstances of time, person, and place, and for what cause, intent, and consideration.' Et obj. ut supra. 12. Item, " Obj. &c. That you have within the time aforesaid neglected, or refused to use, the form of thanksgiving for women, or some one woman after childbirth, according to the said book. ' Declare the like circumstances thereof, and for what intent, cause, or consideration, you have so done, or refused so to do.' Et obj. ut supra. l.'i. Item, " Objicimus, &c. That you within the time aforesaid baptized divers infants, or at the least one, otherwise and in other manner than the said book pre- scribeth, and not used the interrogatories to the godfathers and godmothers in the name of the infant, as the said book requireth. ' Declare the like circumstances thereof, or for what cause, intent, or consideration, you have so done, or refused so to do.' Et objicimus ut supra. 14. Item, " We do object, that you have within the time aforesaid, used any other form of litany, in divers or some points, from the said book ; or that you have often, or once, wholly refused to use the said litany. ' Declare the like circumstances thereof, or for what cause, intent, or consideration, you have so done, or refused so to do.' T 2 276 HISTORY OF " It may please your grace, " I am sorry to trouble you so oft as I do, but I am more troubled myself, not only with many private petitions of sundry 15. Item, " We do object, &c. That you have within the time aforesaid, refused and omitted to read divers lessons prescribed by the said book, and have divers times either not read any lessons at all, or read others in their places. ' Declare the like circumstance thereof, and for what intent, cause, or considei-ation, you have so done, or refused.' Et obj. ut supra. 16. Item, " Objicimus, That within the time aforesaid you have either not used at all, or else used another manner of common prayer or service at burial, from that which the said book prescribeth, and have refused there to use these words, We commit earth to earth, in sure and certain hope of resurrection to eternal life. ' Declare the like circumstances thereof, and for what intent,cause, or consideration, you have so done or refused so to do.' Et obj. ut supra. 17. Item, " Objicimus, &c. That within the time aforesaid you have advisedly, and of set purpose, not only omitted and refused to use the aforesaid parts, or some of them, of the said book, but also some other parts of the said book of common prayer, as being persuaded that in such points it is repugnant to the word of God. ' Declare what other parts of the said book you have refused to use, for what intent, cause, or consideration.' Et objic. ut supra. 18. Item, " Objic. &c. That within the time aforesaid you have at the commu- nion, and in other parts of your ministration, advisedly added unto, diminished, and taken from, altered, and transposed, mSiifoldly at your own pleasure, sundry parts of the said book of common prayer. ' Declare the circumstances of time and place, and for what intent, cause, and consideration.' Et obj. ut sujjra. * 19. Item, " Objic. That within the time aforesaid you have advisedly, and of set purpose, preached, taught, declared, set down, or published by writing, public or private speech, matter against the said book of common prayer, or of some thing therein contained, as being repugnant to the word of God, or not convenient to be used in the church ; or some thing have written or uttered, tending to the depraving, despising, or defacing, of some things contained in the said book.' ' Declare what, and the like circumstances thereof, and for what cause or consider- ation, you have so done.' Et objic. ut supra. 20. Item, "Objicimus, &c. That you at this present do continue all or some of your former opinions against the said book, and have a settled purpose to continue hereafter such additions, diminutions, alterations, and transpositions, or some of them, as you heretofore unlawfully have used in your public ministration : and that you have used private conferences, and assembled, or been present, at conventicles, for the maintenance of their doings herein, and for the animating and encouraging of others to continue in the like disposition in this behalf that you are of ' Declare the like circumstances, and for what intent, cause, and consideration.' Et objic. ut supra. 21. Item, " Objicimus, &c. That you have been heretofore noted, defamed, presented, or detected publicly, to have been faulty in all and singular the pre- mises, and of every or some of them ; and that you have been divers and sundry times, or once at the least, admonished by your ordinary, or other ecclesiastical magistrate, to reform the same, and to observe the form and order of the book of common prayer, wliich you have refused, or defer to do. ' Declare the like cir- cumstances thereof.' Et objic. ut supra. 22. Item, " That for the testification hereafter of your unity with the church of England, and your conformity to laws established, you have been required simply and absolutely, to subscribe with your hand, (1) That her majesty under God nath and ought to have, the sovereignty and rule over all manner of persons born within her realm, dominions, and countries, of what estate either ecclesiastical or temporal soever they be ; and that none other foreign power, prelate, state, or potentate, hath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within her majesty's said realms, dominions, or countries. (2) That the book of common prayer, and of ordering bishops, priests, and deacons, containeth in it nothing contrary to the word of God, and that the same may be lawfully used ; and that you who do subscribe will use the form in the said book prescribed, in public prayer and administration of the sacra- ments, and none other. {^) That you allow the book of articles of religion, agreed upon by the archbishops and bishops of both provinces, and the whole clergy in the convocation hoklen at London in the year of our Lord God 1562, and set THE PURITANS. 277 ministers, reconinieiidecl for persons of credit, and peaceable in their ministry, who are jrrcatly troubled l)y your grace, and your colleagues in commission ; but I am also daily charged by coun- sellors and public persons, with neglect of my duty, in not stay- ing your grace's vehement proceedings against ministers, whereby Papists are greatly encouraged, and the (jueen''s safety endan- gered.*— 1 have read over your twenty-four articles, found in a Komish style, of great length and cvu'iosity, to examine all man- ner of ministers in this time, without distinction of persons, to be executed ^'.r officio mero. — And I find them so curiously penned, so full of branches and circumstances, that I think the inquisition of Spain used not so many questions to comprehend and to trap their priests. I know your canonists can defend these with all their particles; but surely, under correction, this judicial and canonical sifting poor ministers, is not to edify or reform. And in charity I think they ought not to answer all these nice points, exce[)t they were notorious Papists or heretics. I write with the testimony of a good conscience. I desire the peace and unity of the church. I favour no sensual and wilful recusant ; but I con- clude, according to my simple judgment, this kind of proceeding is too much savouring of the Romish inquisition, and is a device rather to seek for offenders than to reform any. — It is not charit- able to send poor ministers to your common registrar, to answer upon so many articles at one instant, without a copy of the arti- cles or their answ^ers. — I pray your grace bear with this one (per- chance) fault, that I have willed the ministers not to answer these articles except their consciences may suffer them. "July 15, 1584. W. Cecil." This excellent letter was so far from softening the archbishop, that, two days after, he returned his lordship a long answer, vin- dicating his interrogatories, from the practice of the star-chamber, the court of marches, and other places. The treasurer found it was to no purpose to contend, and therefore replied in a short but smart letter, in which he tells him, " that after reading his grace's long answer, he was not satisfied in the point of seeking by ex- amination to have ministers accuse themselves, and then punish them for their own confessions : that he would not call his pro- ceedings captious, but they were scarcely charitable ; his grace forth by her majesty's authority ; and do believe all the articles therein contained to be agreealjle to tlie word of God. ' Declare by whom, and how often, whicli hitherto you have advisedly refused to perform, and so yet do persist.' Et objic. itc. 2'^. Item, "That you have taken upon you to preach, read, or expound, the Scriptures, as well in public places as in private houses, not being licensed by your ordinary, nor any other magistrate having authority by the laws of this land so to license you.' ' Declare the like circumstances hereof.' Et objic. nt supra. 24. Item, " Quod prsemissa omnia et singula, &c. i. e. ' That all and singular the ))remises, &c." Could the wit of man invent any thing more like an inquisition ! Here are interrogatories enough to entangle all the honest men in the kingdom, and bring them into danger. • Life of Whitgift, b. J. Rcc. no. 1. 278 HISTOIIY OF might therefore deal with his friend Mr. Brayne as he thought fit, but when by examining him it was meant only to sift him with twenty-four articles, he had cause to pity the poor man.'"* The archbishop, being desirous to give satisfaction to the trea- surer, sent him two papers of reasons, one to jvistify the articles, and the other the manner of proceeding ex mero officio. In the former he says, that by the ecclesiastical or canon laws, articles of inquiry may be administered, and have been ever since the Reformation ; and that they ought not to be compared with the inquisition, because the inquisition punished with death, whereas they only punished obstinate offenders with deprivation-f-. In the latter his lordship gives the following reasons, among others, for proceeding ex mero officio. If we proceed only by presentment and witnesses, then Papists, Brownists, and Family men, would expect the like measure. It is hard to get witnesses against the Puritans, because most of the parishioners favour them, and therefore will not present them, nor appear against them. There is great trouble and charge in examining witnesses, and sending for them from distant parts. If archbishops and bishops should be driven to use proofs by witnesses only, the execution of the law would be partial, their charges in procuring and pro- ducing witnesses would be intolerable ; and they should not be able to make quick despatch enough with the sectaries. These were the arguments of a Protestant archbishop ! I do not won- der that they gave no satisfaction to the wise treasurer ; for surely, all who have any regard for the laws of their country, or the civil and religious rights of mankind, must be ashamed of them. The treasurer having given up the archbishop, the lords of the council took the cause in hand, and wrote to his grace and the bishop of London, in favour of the deprived Ministers, Septem- ber the 20th]:. In their letter they tell their lordships, " that they had heard of sundry complaints out of divers counties, of proceedings against a great number of ecclesiastical persons, some parsons, some vicars, some curates, but all preachers ; some deprived, and some suspended by their lordships'" officers, chan- cellors, &c. but that they had taken no notice of these things, hoping their lordships would have stayed their hasty proceedings, especially against such as did earnestly instruct the people against Popery. But now of late, hearing of great numbers of zealous and learned preachers suspended from their cures in the county of Essex, and that there is no preaching, prayers, or sacraments, in most of the vacant places ; that in some few of them, persons neither of learning nor good name are appointed ; and that in other places of the country, great numbers of persons that occupy cures, are notoriously unfit; most for lack of learning; many chargeable with great and enormous faults, as drunkenness, filthi- ness of life, gaming at cards, haunting of alehouses, &c. against * Life ol' \\'lu(sift, p. KiO. t Ibid. | Ibid. p. ICfi. THE PURITANS. 279 whom tiloy [ilie council] heard of no proceedings, hut that they were quietly sufFered," To fix this charge iionic on the bishops, they sent with (heir letter a catalogue of names; one column of learned ministers deprived ; a second of unlearned and vicious persons continued: "a matter vei-y lamentable (say they) for this time !" and a third of plui'alists and nonresidents ; " against these latter we [the council] have heard of no inquisition ; but of great diligence, and extreme usage against those that were known to be diligent preachers ; we therefore pray your lordships to have some charitable consideration of their causes, that people may not be deprived of their diligent, learned, and zealous pastors, for a few points ceremonial, which entangled their consciences." This letter was dated from Oatlands, September the 20th, 1584, and signed by lord Burleigh, the earls of Warwick, Shrewsbury, and Leicester ; the lord Charles Howard, sir James Crofts, sir Christopher Hatton ; and sir Francis Walsingham, secretary of state. But this excellent remonstrance had no manner of influence upon our archbishop*. After this Mr. Beale, clerk of the queen's council, a man of great learning and piety, drew up a treatise, shewing the injustice and unlawfulness of the bishop's proceedings ; and delivered it in manuscript into the archbishop's own hands, which, together with some freedom of speech, inflamed his grace to that degree, that he complained of him to the queen and coun- cil, and used all his interest to have him tried in the star-chamber, and turned out of his placef. Among his misdemeanours, drawn up by the archbishop, were these, that he had printed a book against ecclesiastical oaths: that in the house of commons he had spoke of ecclesiastical matters, contrary to the queen's command : that he had defended his book against the practice of the ecclesi- astical courts : that he had disputed against the queen's having authority, by virtue of the statute of the 1st of Elizabeth, to grant jiower to her ecclesiastical commissioners, to imprison whom they they ])lcase ; to impose fines upon offenders ; and to administer the oath rx officio, saying they are within the statute of premunire : that he had condemned racking for grievous offenders, as contrary to law and the liberty of the subject ; and advised those in the marches of Wales, that execute torture by virtue of instructions under her majesty's hands to look to it, that their doings are well warranted : but the court would not prosecute u])on this charge. All that the Puritans could obtain, was a kind of conference between the archbishop of Canterbury and the bishop of Win- chester on the one part, and Dr. Sparke and IVIr. Travers on the other, in presence of the right honourable the carl of Leicester, the lord Gray, and sir Francis Walsingham. The conference was at Lambeth, concerning things needful to be reformed in the Book of Connnon Prayer. * Life of Whilgift. p. U;<. t H'iil. !>• '212. 280 HISTORY OF The archbishop opened it with declarino-, "that my lord of Leicester, liaviiig requested for his satisfaction, to hear what the ministers could reprove, and how their objections were to be answered, he had granted my lord to procure such to come for that purpose, as might seem best to his good lordship ; and now I perceive, said he, you are the men, of whom one I never saw or knew before [Dr. Sparke]; the other I know well. Let us hear what things in the Book of Common Prayer, you think ought to be mended ; you appear not now judicially before me, nor as called in question by authority for these things, but by way of confer- ence ; for which cause it shall be free for you (speaking in duty) to charge the book with such matters as you suppose to be blame- worthy in it." Dr. Sparke replied ; " We give most humble and hearty thanks to Almighty God, and to this honourable presence, that after so many years, wherein our cause could never be admitted to an in- different hearing, it hath pleased God of his gracious goodness so to dispose things, that we have now that equity and favour shewed us, that before such honourable personages, as may be a worthy means to her most excellent majesty for reformation of such things as are to be redressed, it is now lawful for us to declare with freedom, what points ought to be reviewed and reformed, which our endeavour is, because it concerns the service of God, and the satisfaction of such as are in authority ; and for that the good issue depends on the favour of God, I desire, that before we enter any farther, we may first seek for the gracious direction and blessing of God by prayer." At which words, framing himself to begin to pray, the archbishop interrupted him, saying, he should make no prayers there, nor turn that place into a coventicle. Mr. Travers joined with Dr. Sparke, and desired that it might be lawful for them to pray before they proceeded any farther ; but the archbishop not yielding thereunto, terming it a conventicle if any such prayer should be offered to be made, my lord of Lei- cester and sir Francis Walsingham desired Dr. Sparke to content himself, seeing they doubted not, but that he had prayed already before his coming thither. Dr. Sparke therefore, omitting to use such pra3'er as he had proposed, made a short address to God in very few words, though the archbishop continued to interrupt him all the while. Ihe heads that the ministers insisted upon were, 1st. Put- ting the apocryphal writings (in which were several errors and false doctrines) upon a level with the Holy Scripture, by reading them publicly in the church, while several parts of the canon were utterly omitted. This they said had been forbidden by councils, and particularly that of Laodicea. The archbishop denied any errors to be found in the Apocrypha ; which led the ministers into a long detail of particulars, to the satisfaction (says my author) of the noblemen. 2ndly. The second head was upon baptism ; and here they objected — Against its being done in private. Against TUK rURlTASS. 281 its being done by laymen or women. And, against tlie doctrine from whence this practice arises, viz. that children not baptized are in danger of damnation ; and that the outward baptism of water saveth the child- that is baptized. Against the interroga- tories in the name of the child, which Mr. 'I'ravers charged with arising from a false principle, viz. that faidi was necessary in all persons to be baptized ; he added, that the interrogatories crept into the church but lately, and took their rise from the baptism of those that were of age ; from whence very ignorantly they were trans- ferred to infants. — Against the cross, as a mystical rite and cere- mony, and an addition to the sacrament of human invention : here they argued, that though the foreign divines did not condemn the use of the cross, yet all agreed it ought to be abolished, and Beza gives counsel to the ministers, rather to forego their ministry, than subscribe to the allowance of it. After many words upon this head, my lord of Leicester said it was a pitiful thing, that so many of the best ministers, and painful in their preaching, should be de- prived for these things. Srdly. They objected to private commu- nion. 4thly. To the apparel; and here they produced the judg- ment of bishop Ridley at his degradation, as reported by Mr. Fox, who saicl, it was too bad to be put upon a fool in a play. 5thly. They objected to the bishop's allowing of an insufficient ministry, nonresidence, and pluralities*. The conference continued two days, at the close of which nei- ther party being satisfied, the noblemen requested some favour for the ministers. Mr. Strype sayst, the ministers were convinced and confirmed ; but it is evident he knew not the disputants, nor had seen the debate ; a copy of which is before me. Travers was a Nonconformist to his death, and Sparke appeared at their head at the Hampton-court conference, the beginning of the next reign. Nor was the archbishop softened, but rather confirmed in his former resolution. Aylmer, bishop of London, came not behind his metropolitan in acts of severity. Mr. Strype says, he was the chief mover in the ecclesiastical commission, and had as high a spirit as the greatest lord in the land. During Grindal's disgrace, he harassed the London clergy with new interrogatories and articles, three or four times a year. He advised the heads of the university of Cam- bridge (with wh.jm he had nothing to do) to call in all their licen- ces, and expel every man who would not wear the apparel, saying, " that the folly that is bound up in the heart of a child, is to be expelled with the rod of discipline:|:."" • M S. p. ^(]2, &c. f Life of Whitgift, p. I/O. J Life of Aylmer, p. 84. 1*4. In his visitation this summer [1584] lie suspended the following cleri^ymcn in Essex, &c. Mr. Whiteingof Panfield, Messrs. Wyres- dale and Gifford of Maiden. Mr. llawkdon vicar of Fryan, Mr. Carre of Rain, Mr. Tonstalof jNIuch-Tottani, Mr. Iluckle of Atrop-Roodiiig, Mr. Piggot of Tilly, Mr. C'ornwal of Markstay, Mr. Ntgns of Leigh, IVIr. Carew of Hattield, Mr. Ward of AVrittle, Mr. Dyke afterward of St. .\lbans, Mr. Rogers of Weathersfield, Mr. Nor- they of Colchester, Mr. Newman of Coxall, Mr. Taye of Peldon, ISIr. Parker of 282 HISTORY OF Mr. Carew, of Hatfield-Peveril, was a zealous promoter of the welfare of souls, and mourned over the want of a learned and preaching ministry ; he was ordained by the bishop of Worcester, and licensed by archbishop Grindal and the bishop of London himself, who commended his preaching ; but being too forward in acquainting his diocesan by letter, that in Essex, within the com- pass of sixteen miles, there were twenty-two nonresidents, thirty insufficient ministers, and at the same time nineteen preachers silenced for not subscribing ; his lordship, instead of being pleased with the information, sent for Carew before the commissioners, and charged him falsely, without the least evidence, with setting up a presbytery, and with contemning ecclesiastical censures. It was alleged against him farther, that he was chosen by the peo- ple ; that he had defaced the Book of Common Prayer, and had put several from the communion, when there v/as more need to allure them to it, &c. But to make short work, the bishop tendered him the oath ex officio, which Carew refusing, he was committed to the Fleet, andanother clergyman sent down to supply his place. Mr. Allen the patron, in whom the right of presentation was by inheritance, refusing to admit the bishop's reader, was summoned before his lordship, and committed to prison ; because (as the war- rant expresses it) he behaved seditiously in withstanding the au- thority of the court : nay, the very sexton was reprimanded, and ordered not to meddle with the church any more ; and because he asked his lordship simply, whether his meaning was, that he should not come to church any more, he committed him for ridiculous behaviour. Both Allen and Carew offered bail, which was refused, unless they would admit his lordship"'s clergyman*. After eight weeks' imprisonment, they appealed to the privy council and were released ; with which his lordship was so displeased, that he sent the council a very angry letter, calling the prisoners knaves, rebels, rascals, fools, petty gentlemen, precisians, &c. and told their honours, that if such men were countenanced, he must yield up his authority ; and the bishop never left him, till he had hunted him out of the diocess. Mr. Knight suffered six months' imprisonment, for not wear- ing the apparel, and was fined one huntlred marks. — Mr. Negus was suspended on the same account : twenty-eight of his parish- ioners, who subscribed themselves his hungry sheep that had no Dedham, Mr. Morley of Ridswell, Mr. Nix (or Knight) of Hampstead, Mr. Wink- field of Wicks, Mr. AVilton of Aldham, Mr. Dent of .South- Souberry, Mr. Pain of Tolberry, Mr. Larking of liittle-M^altham, Mr. Camillus Rusticus pastor of Tange, Mr. Seredge of East-Havingfield, Mr. Howel of Pagelsam, Mr. Chadwick of Dan- bury, Mr. Ferrar of Langham, Mr. Serls of Lexdou, Mr. Lewis of St. Peter's Col- chester, Mr. Cock of St. Giles's Colchester, Mr. Beaumont of East-Thorp, Mr. Redridge of Hutton, Mr. Chaplain of Hempsted, Mr Culverwell of Felsted, Mr. D. Chapman preacher at Dedham, and Mr. Knevit of Mile-End, Colchester, in all about thirty-eight. These (says my author) are the painful ministers of Essex, whom the bishop threatens to deprive for the surplice, saying, We shall be Mhite with him, or he will be black with us. MS. p. 584. 741. * Life of Aylmer, p. 122. MS. p. U>2, fl.-.S. THE PUUITANS. 283 shepherd, signed a letter, beseeching him to conform; but he pro- tested he couKl not do it with a oood conscience, and ?o was deprived. The reverend Mr. GifFord of Maiden was a modest man, irre- provable in Ins life, a great and diligent preacher, says Mr. Htrype, and esteemed by many of good rank. He had written learn- edly against the Brownists, and by his diligence had wrought a wonderful reformation in the town; but being informed against for preaching u\) a limited obedience to the magistrate, he was suspended and imprisoned*. After some time, he was brought to his trial, and his accuser failing in his evidence, he was released. But the bishop of London setting his spies upon him, he was im- prisoned again for nonconformityf. Upon this he ap})lied to the lord-treasurer, who ap|)lied to the archbishop in his favour ; but his grace having consulted his brother of London, told his lord- shij) that he was a ringleader of the Nonconformists; that he him- self had received complaints against him, and was determined to bring him before the high-commission. The parishioners of Mai- den presented a petition in behalf of their minister, signed with fifty-two hands, whereof two were bailiffs of the town, two jus- tices of the peace, four aldermen, fifteen head burgesses, and the vicar : but to put an end to all farther application, the archbishop wrote to ihe treasurer, " that he had rather die, or live in prison all the days of his life, than relax the rigour of his proceedings, by shewing favour to one, which might give occasion to others to expect the same, and undo all that he had being doing + ; he there- fore beseeches his lordship not to animate this forward people by writing in their favour." Sir Francis Knollys the queen's kins- man, and treasurer of her chamber, seconded the treasurer, beseech- ing his grace to open the mouths of zealous preachers, who were sound in doctrine, though they refused to subscribe to any tradi- tions of men, not com])ellable by law ; but all was to no })urpose; for as Fuller observes §, " This was the constant custom of Whit- gift: if any lord or lady sued for favour to any Nonconformist, he would profess how glad he was to serve them, and gratify their desires, assuring them for his part, that all possible kindness should be indulged to them, but at the same time he would remit nothing of his rigour. Thus he never denied any man's desire, and yet never granted it ; pleasing them for the present with general ]iro- mises, but still kept to his own resolution ; whereupon the nobility, in a little time, ceased making farther applications to him, as know- ing them to be ineffectual." Some of the ministers were indicted at the assizes||, for omitting the cross in baptism, and for not wear- ing the surplice once every month, and at every connnunion. Most of them were dej)rived, or to avoid it, forced to quit their livings and depart the country. * MS. p. 410. 420. t Life of Aylnu-r, ji. 111. + I'uller, b. 9. p. ](i2. § Fuller, 1). .'». p. 218. II M. Beaumont of East-Tlioip, Mr. Wilton of Alilham, Mr. llawkdon ot' Fryaii, M. Seretlge of East-llavingfithl. 284 HISTORY OF Among these was the excellent Mr. Dyke, preacher first at Coggeshall in Essex, and afterwards at St. Alban's in Hertford- shire, whose character was without blemish, and whose practical writings discover him to be a divine of considerable learning and piety; he was suspended, and at last deprived, because he con- tinued a deacon, and did not enter into priest's orders, which (as the bishop supposed) he accounted Popish. He also refused to wear the surplice, and troubled his auditory with notions that thwarted the established religion. The parishioners, being con- cerned for the loss of their minister, petitioned the lord Burleigh to intercede for them, setting forth, " that they had lived without any ordinary preaching till within these four or five years, by the want of which they were unacquainted with their duty to God, their sovereign, and their neighbours*; but that of late it had pleased the Lord to visit them with the means of salvation, the ordinary ministry of the word, in the person of Mr. Dyke, an authorized minister, who, according to his function, had been painful and profitable, and both in life and doctrine had carried himself peaceably and dutifully among them, so as no man could justly find fault with him, except of malice. There were some indeed, that could not abide to hear their faults reproved, but through his preaching many had been brought from their ignor- ance and evil ways to a better life, to be frequent hearers of God's word, and their servants were in better order than hereto- fore. " They then give his lordship to understand, that their minis- ter was suspended, and that they were as sheep without a shep- herd, exposed to manifold dangers, even to return to their former ignorance and cursed vanities : that the Lord had spoken it, and therefore it must be true, that where there is no vision the people perish. They therefore pray his lordship, in the bowels of his compassion, to pity them in their present misery, and become a means that they may enjoy their preacher again." Upon this letter, lord Burleigh wrote to the bishop to restore him, promising that if he troubled the congregation with innova- tions any more, he would join with the bishop against him ; but his lordship excused himself, insinuating that he was charged with incontinence ; this occasioned a farther inquiry into Dyke's character, which was cleared up by the woman herself that accused him, who confessed her wicked contrivance, and openly asked him forgiveness. His lordship therefore insisted upon his being restored, forasmuch as the best clergymen in the world might be thus slandered ; besides, the people of St. Alban's had no teaching, having no curate but an insufficient doting old man. For this favour (says the treasurer) I shall thank your lordship, and will not solicit you any more, if hereafter he should give just cause of public offence against the orders of the church esta- * Life of Aylmer, p. ;^03. THE PURITANS. 285 blislied. But all that the treasurer could say was ineffectual ; the bishop of London was as inexorable as his grace of Canterbury. The inhabitants of Essex had a vast esteem for their ministers; they could not part from them without tears; when they could not prevail with the bishop, they applied to the parliament, and to the lords of the privy council. I have before me two or three petitions from the hundreds of Essex, and one from the county, signed by Francis Barrington, esq. at the head of above two hun- dred gentlemen and tradesmen, housekeepers; complaining in the strongest terms, that the greatest number of their present minis- ters were unlearned, idle, or otherwise of scandalous lives; and that those few from whom they reaped knowledge and comfort, were molested, threatened, and put to silence, for small matters in the common prayer, though they were men of godly lives and conversations. The bishop was equally severe in other parts of his diocess. The reverend Mr. Barnaby Benison, a city divine of good learn- ing, had been suspended and kept in prison several years, on pretence of some irregularity in his marriage: the bishop charged him with being married in an afternoon, and in presence of two or three hundred people, by Mr. Field a Nonconformist; for this he was committed to the Gate-house, where he had lain ever since the year 1579. At length he applied to the queen and council, and in the state of his case he declares, that he had invited only forty persons to the ceremony, and that of them there were only twenty present ; that he was married in a morning, and according to law ; that when the bishop sent for him and charged him with sedition, he cleared himself to his satisfaction ; but that after he was gone home he gave private order under his own hand for his being apprehended and sent to the Gate-house; that he was shut up there in a dungeon eight days, without knowing the cause of his imprisonment, though Dr. Hammond, and his faithful father Fox, who were both at the wedding, and saw the whole proceeding, went to the bishop and assured him, that he was without wickedness or fault in I hat way he went about to charge him ; but his lordship would not release him without such bonds for his good behaviour and appearance as the prisoner could not procure. " Thus I continue (says Mr. Benison) separated from my wife before I had been married to her two weeks, to the great trouble of her friends and relations, and to the staggering of the patient obedience of my wife ; for since my imprisonment his lordship has been endeavouring to separate us whom God has joined together in the open presence of his people. — Wherefore I most humbly beseech your godly honours, for the everlasting love of God, and for the pity you take upon God's true Protestants and his poor people, to be a means that my pitiful cry may be heard, and my just cause with some credit be cleared, to Govl's honour and her majesty's, whose favour I esteem more than all the bishop's blessings or bitter 286 HISTORY OF cursino-s; and that I now being half dead may recover again to o-et a poor hving with the little learning that God has sent me, to his glory, to the discharging some part of my duty, and to the profitof the land " The council were so moved with Benison's case, that they sent his lordship the following letter : — " Whereas Barnaby Benison, minister, has given us to under- stand, the great hinderancehe has received by your hard dealing with him, and his long imprisonment, for which if he should bring his action of false imprisonment he should recover damages, which would touch your lordship's credit ; we therefore have thought fit to require your lordship to use some consideration towards him, in giving him some sum of money to repay the wrong you have done him, and in respect of the hinderance he hath incurred by your hard dealing towards him. — Therefore praying your lordship to deal with the poor man, that he may have occasion to turn his complaint into giving to us a good report of your charitable dealing, we bid you heartily farewell. Hampton-court, November 14th, 1584. Signed, Ambrose Warwick, Fr. Bedford, Fr. Knollys, Rob. Leicester, Walter Mildmay, Charles Howard, Fr. Walsingham, James Crofts, Wm. Burgh ley, Chr. Hatton.'' Bromley, chan. After some time the bishop returned this answer : " I beseech your lordships to consider, that it is a rare exam- ple thus to press a bishop for his zealous service to the queen and the peace of the church, especially the man being found worthy to be committed for nonconformity, to say nothing of his con- temptuous using of me ; nevertheless, since it pleaseth your lord- ships to require some reasonable sum of money, I pray you to consider my poor estate and great charges otherwise, together with the great vaunt the man will make of his conquest over a bishop. I hope therefore your lordships will be favourable to me, and refer it to myself, either to bestow upon him some small benefice, or otherwise to help him as opportunity offers. Or if this shall not satisfy the man, or content your lordships, leave him to the trial of the law, which I hope will not be so plain with him as he taketh it. Surely, my lords, this and the like must gready discourage me in this poor service of mine in the commission. — " What recompence the poor man had for his long imprisonment I cannot find. ]3ut he was too wise to go to law with a bishop of the court of high-commission, who had but little conscience or honour, and who, notwithstanding his " poor estate and great charges,"" left behind him about 16,000Z in money, an immense sum for those times. His lordship complained that he was hated like a dog, and THE I'UlllTANS. i^S? commonly styled the oppressor of the cliiklrcn of God*; that he was ill danger of being mobbed in his progress at Maiden, and other places ; which is not strange, considering his mean appear- ance, being a very little man, and his high and insulting beha- viour towards those that were examined by him, attended with ill language and a cruel spirit. This appears in numberless instan- ces. When Mr. Merbury, one of the ministers of Northampton, was brought before him, he spake thus : — B. Thou speakest of making ministers ; the bishop of Peter- borough was never more overseen in his life, than when he admitted thee to be a preacher in Northampton. Merbury. Like enough so (in some sense), I pray God these scales may fall from his eyes. B. Thou art. a very ass ; thou art mad ; thou courageous ! Nay, thou art impudent ; by my troth I think he is mad ; he carelh for nobody. M. Sir, I take exception at swearing judges; I praise God I am not mad, but sorry to see you so out of temper. B. Did you ever hear one more impudent ? M. It is not, I trust, impudence to answer for myself. B. Nay, I know thou art courageous ; thou art fool-hardy. M. Though I fear not you, I fear the Lord. Recorder of London. Is he learned ? B. He hath an arrogant spirit ; he can scarce construe Cato, I think. M. Sir, you do not punish me because I am unlearned ; how- beit, I understand both the Greek and Latin tongues ; assay me to prove your disgrace. B. Thou takest upon thee to be a preacher, but there is nothing in thee ; thou art a very ass, an idiot, and a fool. ]\I. I humbly beseech you, Sir, have patience ; give this people better example ; I am that I am through the Lord ; I submit the trial of my sufficiency to the judgment of the learned ; but this wandering speech is not logical. There is a ijreat deal more of the same languao-e in this exa- mination ; one thing is remarkable, that he insults poor Merbury, because he was for having a minister in every parish. At parting lie gave him the salutation of an "overthwart, proud, Puritan knave ; " and sent him to the Marshalsea, though he had been twice in prison beforef. How different was this from the apostolical character of a bishop ! " A bishop (saith St. Paul) should be blameless, of good behaviour, no brawler, nor striker, nor greedy of filthy lucre. — The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle to all men, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, that they may recover them out of the snare of the devil." Nay, how different was this bishop from himself before * Life of Aylmer, p. 9(). f Part of a register, i». ,?82. Pierce's Vindic. j). !»7. 288 HISTORY OF he put on lawn-sleeves ! For in his book, entitled, " The har- bour for faithful subjects," published soon after the queen*'s accession, are these words : " Come off ye bishops, away with your superfluities, yield up your thousands ; be content with hundreds, as they be in other reformed churches, where be as great learned men as you are. Let your portion be priest-like and not prince-like ; let the queen have the rest of your tempo- ralities and other lands, to maintain these wars which you pro- cured, and your mistress left her; and with the rest to build and found schools throughout the realm ; that every parish may have his preacher, every city his superintendant, to live honestly and not pompously ; which will never be, unless your lands be dispersed and bestowed upon many, which now feedeth and fatteth but one; remember that Abimelech, when David in his banishment would have dined with him, kept such hospitality that he had no bread in his house to give him but the shew- bread. Where was all his superfluity to keep your pretended hospitality ? For that is the cause you pretend why you must have thousands, as though you were commanded to keep hospi- tality rather with a thousand than with a hundred. I would our countryman Wickliffe's book De Ecclesia were in print, there should you see that your Avrinches and cavillations be nothing Avorth*." When the bishop was put in mind of this passage, he made no other reply than that of St. Paul, " When I was a child I spake as a child, I thought as a child." The case of those clergymen who were sent for up to Lambeth from the remotest parts of the kingdom, was yet harder. Mr. EUiston, vicar of Preston, made seven journeys to Peterborough, which was thirty -six miles from his house, and ten to London, within the compass of two year's, besides several to Leicester and Northampton, at his own cost and charge ; and after all, was deprived for not subscribing. — To whom might be added, Mr. Stephen Turner, Mr. William Fleming of Beccles, Mr. Holden of Biddlestone, and others. Among these, the case of the reverend Mr. Eusebius Paget, minister of the parish-church of Kilkhampton, in the diocess of p'xon, was very moving ; this divine, at the time of his presenta- tion, acquainted his patron and ordinary, that he could not with quietness of conscience use some rites, ceremonies, and orders, appointed in the service-book ; who promised, that if he would take the charge of the said cure, he should not be urged to the pre- cise observation of them ; upon which condition he accepted the charge, and was admitted and regularly inducted*. Mr. Paget was a lame man, but, in the opinion of Mr. Strype, a learned, peaceable, and quiet divine, who had complied with the customs and devotion of the church, and was indefatigable in his work, travelling up and down the neighbouring country, to preach the plain principles * Life of Aylmer, p. 2G9. t MS. p. 582. THK PURITANS. 289 of religion ; but Mr. Farmer, curate of IJarnstaple, envyini)- his popularity, eouiplained of liiii) to the high cominissiou, — because he did not mention in his ])raycrs the queen's supremacy over both estates: — because he had said that the sacraments were but dumb elements, and did not avail without the word preached : — because he had preached that Christ did not descend into hell both body and soul; — that the pope might set up the feast of jubilee, as well as the feasts of Easter and Pentecost ; — that holy days and fasting days were but the traditions of men, which we were not obliged to follow; — that he disallowed the use of organs in divine service: — that he called ministers that do not preach, dumb dogs ; and those that have two benefices knaves ; — that he preached that the late queen Mary was a detestable woman and a wicked Jezebel. But when Mr. Paget appeared before the commissioners, January 11th, 1584, he was only articled according to the com- nion form for not observing the Book of Common Prayer, and the rites and ceremonies of the church. To which he made the following answer : " I do acknowledge, that by the statute of the 1st of Eliz. I am bound to use the said Common Pi-ayer-book in such a manner and form as is prescribed, or else to abide such pains as by law are imposed upon me. " I have not refused to use the said common prayer, or to minister the sacraments in such order as the book appoints, though I have not used all the rites, ceremonies, and orders, set forth in the said book : 1. Partly because to my knowledge there is no common prayer-book in the church. 2. Because 1 am informed that you before whom 1 stand, and mine ordinary, and the most part of the other bishops and uiinisters, do use greater liberty in omitting and altering the said rites, ceremonies, and orders. 3. And espe- cially for that I am not fully resolved in conscience, 1 may use divers of them. 4. Because when I took the charge of that church I was promised by my ordinary, that I should not be uiged to such ceremonies; which I am informed he might do by law. " In these things which 1 have omitted I have done nothing obstinately ; neither have I used any other rite, ceremony, order, form, or manner of administration of the sacraments, or op«n prayers, than is mentioned in the said book ; although there be some things which 1 doubt whether I may use or practise. "Wherefore I humbly pray, that I may have the liberty allowed by the said book, to have in some convenient time a favourable conference either with mine ordinary, or with some other by you to be assigned ; which I seek not for any desire I have to keep the said living, but only for the better resolution and satisfaction of my own conscience, as God knoweth. Subscribed thus— by me " Lame Eusebius Paget, minister." This answer not proving satisfactory, he was immediately sus- pended ; and venturing to preach after his suspension, was dc- i)rived ; the }niiKij)al causes of his dej)rivation were these two: vol, 1. I 290 HISTORY OF 1. Omission of part of the public prayers, the cross in baptism, and the surplice. 2. Irregularities incurred by dealing in the ministry after suspension. But in the opinion of the civilians neither of these things could warrant the proceedings of the court*, 1. Because Mr. Paget had not time, nor a conference, as he craved, and as the statute in dovibtful matters warranteth. 2. Because he had not three several admonitions, nor so much as one, to do that in time, which the law requires. If this had been done, and upon such respite and admo- nition he had not conformed, then the law would have deemed him a recusant, but not otherwise. 3. If this course had been taken, yet Mr. Paget's omissions had so many favourable circum- stances (as the parish's not having provided a book, and his ordi- nary's promising not to urge him with the precise observance of all the ceremonies), that it was hardly consistent with the prudent consideration and charity of a judge to deprive him at once. As to his irregularity, by exercising the ministry after suspen- sion, the suspension was thought to be void, because it was founded upon a method not within the cognizance of those who gave sen- tence ; for the ground was, refusing to subscribe to articles ten- dered by the ecclesiastical commissioners, who had no warrant to offer any such articles at all ; for their authority reaches no farther than to reform and correct facts done contrary to certain statutes expressed in their commission, and contrary to other ecclesiastical laws; and there was never yet any clause in their commission to offer subscription to articles of their own devising. But suppose the suspension was good, the irregularity was taken away by the queen's pardon long before his deprivation. Besides, Mr. Paget did not exercise his ministry after suspension, till he had obtained from the archbishop of Canterbury a release from that suspension, which if it was not sufficient, it was apprehended by him to be so, the archbishop being chief in the commission ; and all the canonists allow, that simplicity, and ignorant mistaking of things, being- void of wilful contempt, is a lawful excuse to discharge irregularity. But the commissioners avowed their own act, and the patron dis- posed of the living to another. Mr. Paget having a numerous family set up a little school, but the arms of the commissioners reached him there ; for being re- quired to take out a licence, they tendered him the articles to subscribe, which he refusing, they shut up his school and sent him a begging. Let us hear his own relation of his case in a letter that he sent to that great sea-officer sir John Hawkins, who had a high esteem for this good man. " I was never present at any sepa- rate assembly from the church (says he), but abhorred them. I always resorted to my parish-church, and was present at service and preaching; and received the sacrament according to the book. I thought it my duty not to forsake a church because of some *MS. p. 572. TUli I'UKITANS. 21)1 bit'niislics in it ; but while I have endeavoured to live in peace? others liave prepared tlieniselves for war. I am turned out of my living by commandment. 1 afterward preached without living oi- a penny stipend ; and when I was forbid, I ceased. I then taught a few children, to get a little bread for myself and mine to eat; some disliked this, and wished me to forbear, which I have done, and am now to . ,S48, the archbishop's publishing articles without the great seal as illegal, because ■73 C3 a • « oJ '^ i:^' tij to 60 o s 'O r2 '^ 'E 'C "Sis 1^ ■73 c3 cS ci •a '^ 1 s t-i -< « ffl w o •— O ii ci. ci d. fq m CP fQ ^ ,a s f^ -- 0 1* .2"Q c -S = ^ _o .2 '5 S •-Kg 00 o ;-i , -r O o 3 ^ ^ 1^0 a (» c4 0 0 _ 0 ffi ,5 a _> s l^ll' 0 -■ . oi 4^ '^ . (= "=" a = « M C-' 1 ^^ 5 S^ "" D .2 ^ -C 0 0 U- >■ ci V 2 ' u a S Oi Ji I^S t- (N --H ^ ■^ 2 C^ ^. J CJ S 0 gl ^c eo 0 OD CO Cl 1^ C-) "^ -* a. -^ 0 ti 'Z^ s.taqo'BOjj •s3uiAI[ JO O 'O CO o 'a- CO CC CO .— . CO r-l 4-> rt O.S J -B ^ 2 c ~ 5i S J 1* r* <5 1— ] 5J c c 1= c a 12;^ jjaiiouajj ■sSutAif JO saqQinqQ o «: »o O — ' 'I" »o C5 ;m ic O O t^ o CO 02 . ii52. — Ed, THE PUKITAXS. o27 and damnable doctrines." The author tlien addresses himself to the clergy who had subscribed, and who were for pressing sub- scription upon others, in such punning language as diis, "right puissant and terrible priests, my clergy masters of the confocation or conspiration house, whether ^fickers [vicars], paltripolitmis, or others of the holy league of subscription. Right poisoned, per- secuting, and terrible priests ; my horned masters, your govern- ment is antichristian, your cause is desperate, your grounds are ridiculous — Martin understands all your knavery ; you are intoler- able withstanders of reformation, enemies of the gospel, and most covetous, wretched, and Popish priests," &c.* There are a great many sad truths in the book, but delivered in rude and unbecoming language, and with a bitter angry spirit. The titles of the rest were : " Theses Martinianae ; i. e. certain demonstrative conclusions set down and collected by Martin Mar-Prelate the Great, serving as a manifest and sufficient confutation of all that ever the college of eater-caps, with their whole band of clergy-priests, have or can bring for the defence of their ambitious and antichristian prelacy. Published by Martin junior, 1589, in octavo, and dedicated to John Kankerbury" |^i. e. Canterbury]. The author of this tells the bishops, that he would plant young Martins in every diocess and parish, who should watch the behaviour of the clergy, that when any thing was done amiss it might be made public. " Protestation of Martin Mar-Prelate; wherein, notwithstanding the surprising of the ])rinter, he maketh it known to the world, that he feareth neither proud priest, antichristian pope, tyrannous prelate, nor godless eater-cap, &c. Printed 1589." Octavo. " His appellation to the high court of parliament from the bad and injurious dealing of the archbishop of Canterbury, and other his colleagues of the high-commission, &c.f Printed 1589." Octavo. " Dialogue, wherein is plainly laid open the tyrannical dealings of the lords-bishops against God's children. Printed loSO.'"" Quarto. " A treatise, wherein is manifestly proved, that reformation, and those that sincerely favour the same, are unjustly charged to be enemies to her majesty and the state. Printed 1590." Quarto. " Ha' ye any work for the Cooper ?" This was written against Dr. Thomas Cooper, bishop of Winchester ; and is said to be printed in Europe, not far from some of the bouncing priests, 1590. " Epitome of the first book of Dr. John Bridges against the Puritans ;"' with this""expression in the title-page, " Oh ! read over Dr. John Bridges, for it is a worthy work. Printed over-sea in Europe, within two furlongs of a bouncing priest, at the cost and charges of jMartin Mar-Prelate, gent, in quarto." " The cobler's book,*";}: which denies the church of England to • Life of Wliitgift, p. 2!»0. f Ath. Oxod. vol. 1. i>. 2:>'J. : Life of Whitgift, p. 2W. S28 Hi STORY OF be a true church, and charges her with maintaining idolatry under the name of decency, in the habits, fonts, baptism by women, gang-days, saints' eves, bishoping of children, organs, wafer- cakes, &c. " Ha' ye any more work for the Cooper ?" * In printing of which the press was discovered and seized, with several pamphlets unfinished ; as, Episto [Episco] Mastix, Paradoxes, Dialogues, Miscellanea, Varias Lectiones, Martin's Dream, The Lives and Doings of English Popes, Itinerarium or Visitations, Lambethisms. The two last of these were imperfect ; but to complete the Itinerarium, the author threatens to survey all the clergy of Eng- land, and note their intolerable pranks: and for his Lambethisms he would have a Martin at Lambeth. Other books were published of the same nature; as, "A demonstration of discipline,"" "The counter-poison," &c. The writers on the church-side came not behind their adver- saries in buffoonery and ridicule, as appears by ihe following pamphlets printed at this time. " Pappe with an hatchet, alias, A fig for my godson : or Crack me this nut, that is, a sound box of the ear for the ideot Martin to hold his peace. Written by one that dares call a dog a dog. Imprinted by John Anoke, and are to be sold at the sign of the Crab-Tree Cudgel, in Thwack-Coat-Lane."-|- " Pasquil's apology. In the first part whereof he renders a reason of his long silence, and gallops the field with the treatise of reformation. Printed where I was, and where I shall be ready, by the help of God and my muse, to send you a May-game of Martinisni. Anno 1593," Quarto. " An almond for a parrot : or, An alms for Martin Mar- Pre- late, &c. By Cuthbert Curry-Knave." Quarto. " The return of the renowned Cavaliero Pasquil to England, and his meeting with Marforius at London, upon the Royal Ex- change, London, 1589, against Martin and Martinism." " A counter-cuft' given to Martin junior, by the Pasquil of England, Cavaliero. 1589."" Octavo. It is sad when a controversy about serious matters runs these dregs: ridicule and personal reflection may expose an adversary and make him ashamed, but will never convince or reconcile; it carries with it a contempt which sticks in the heart and is hardly ever to be removed, nor do I remember any cause that has been served by such methods. Dr. Bridges answered Martin in a lu- dicrous style; but Cooper bishop of Winchester did more service by his grave and sober reply, with the assistance of the archbishop of Canterbury, who, being miserably aspersed, furnished the bishop with replies to the particular charges brought against him. The book is entitled, " An advertisement to the people of England ;" wherein the slanders of Martin Mar-Prelate the libeller are dis- * Life of Whitgift, p. 288. t Ath. Oxon. 6, 280. Tiir; ruRiTAXs. . 325) tinctly answered. But after all, it was impossible for the bishops to wipe off from themselves the charge of persecution and viola- tion of the laws. To put a stop to these pamphlets the queen sent a letter to the archbishop, conmianding him to make diligent inquiry after the printing press, and issued out her royal proclamation, dated Fe- bruary 18th, 1589, " for the bringing in all seditious and schis- niatical books, whether printed or written, to the ordinary, or to one of the privy council, as tending to bring in a monstrous and dangerous innovation of all manner of ecclesiastical government now in use, and with a rash and malicious purpose to dissolve the state of the prelacy, being one of the three ancient estates of this realm under her highness, whereof her majesty mindeth to have a reverend regard ; she therefore prohibits any of her subjects from keeping any books in their custody against the order of the church, or the rites and ceremonies of it, her majesty being minded to have the laws severely executed against the authors and abettors of them, as soon as they shall be apprehended*." As soon as the printing press was discovered, his grace wrote to the treasurer to prosecute the persons with whom it was found ; but, like an able politician, wishes it might be done by the lords of the coimcil, rather than by the ecclesiastical commissioners, because they had already suffered for supporting the government, wliich was wounded through their sidesf . Accordingly sir Richard Knightly, sir Wigston, who had entertained the press, toge- ther with the printer and Humphrey Newman the disperser, were deeply fined in the star-chamber ; and others were put to death ;[. The archbishop being now in his visitation had framed twenty- two articles of inquiry', upon which the churchwardens of every parish were to be examined uyjon oath. By these articles they were to swear, that their minister was exactly conformable to the orders of the church, or else to impeach him ; and to declare far- ther, whether they knew of any of their neighbours or fellow- parishioners, that were " common swearers, drunkards, usurers, witches, conjurers, heretics ; any man that had two wives; or woman that had two husbands ; whether they knew any that went to conventicles or meetings for saying prayers in private houses; any that were of age, and did not receive the sacrament at church three times a year§ : " with others, calculated to dissolve * Life of Whitgift, in Rec. b. 3. no. 41. f Ibid, p. 314. Fuller, b. 9. p. 194, I Fuller adds, archbishop Whitgift improved his interest with the queen, till, though she was at first angry with his solicitations, they were delivered out of pri- son and eased of their fines. Bishop Maddox censures Mr. Neal for passing this over in silence : but he himself omits the construction put on this, ajiparently, kind conduct of the prelate; "which, while some highly commended, so others (says Fuller) imputed it to the declining of envy, gaining of applause and remorse of con- science for over-rigorous proceedings ; it being no charity to cure the wound he had caused, and solicit the remitting those fines which he had procured to be imposed." — Our author proceeds; "Thus impossible is it to please froward spirits, and tu make thcui like the best deed, who dislike the doer." — Ed. § Life of Whitgift, p. 309. 311. 330 HISTORY OK all friendship in country-towns, and seta whole diocess in aflame. When sir Francis Knollys had read the articles, he sent them to the treasurer, calHng them by their proper name, " articles of inquisition, highly prejudicial to the royal prerogative ;" but there was no stopping his grace's career *. Among the divines that suffered death t for the libels above mentioned, were the reverend Mr. Udal, whose case being pecu- liarly hard, I shall give the reader an abstract of it. He had been minister of Kingston-upon-Thames ; where, having been silenced by the official Dr. Hone, he lay by for half a year, having no farther prospect of usefulness in the church. At length the people of Newcastle-upon-Tyne wanting a minister, prevailed with the earl of Huntingdon to send him to them ; when he had been there about a year he was sent for up to London by the lord Hunsdon and the lord-chamberlain, in the name of the whole privy council: Mr. Udal set out December 29th, 1589, and on the 13th of January, 1590, appeared at lord Cobham's house before the commissioners, lord Cobham, lord Buckhurst, lord-chief-justice Anderson, Dr. John Young bishop of Roches- ter, Mr. Fortescue, Mr. Egerton the queen's solicitor. Dr. Aubrey, and Dr. Lewin. The bishop began the examination in this manner : — Bishop. Have you the allowance of the bishop of the diocess to preach at Newcastle? — Udal. There was nei- ther bishop of the diocess, nor archbishop of York at that time. — Fortescue. By what law then did you preach at Newcastle, being silenced at Kingston ? — Udal. I know no law against it, seeing I was silenced only by the official, whose authority reaches not beyond his archdeaconry. — L. C. J. Anderson. You are called to answer concerning certain books, thought to be of your writing. — Udal. If it be any of Martin's books, 1 have disowned them a year and a half ago at Lambeth. — L. C. J. Anderson. Who was the author of the Demonstration, or the Dialogue ? — Udal. I shall not answer. — Anderson. Why will you clear your- self of Martin, and not of these ? — Udal. Because I would not be thought to handle the cause of discipline as Martin did ; but I think otherwise of the other books, and care not though they should be fathered upon me; I think the author did well, and therefore would not discover him if 1 knew him ; but would hinder it all I could. — L. C. J. Anderson. Why dare you not confess if you be the author ? — Udal. I have said I liked of the books, and the matter handled in them ; but whether I made them or no * Pierce's Vindic. p. 129. t Bishop Warburton is very severe in his censure of Mr. Neal for using this language; " which (he says), in common English, means, dying by the hand of the executioner ; " whereas Mr. Udal died in prison. But, when he died quite heart-broken with sorrow and grief through imprisonment and the severe treatment he met with on account of the libels, his death was as much the consequence of the prosecution commenced against him, as if it had been inflicted by the execu- tioner. At most there was only an inaccuracy in the expression, which it was very unworthy the bishop to censure as " unworthy a candid historian, or an honest man." — Ed. TIIK PJIRITANS. 381 I will not answer, for by the law I am not obliged to it. — Ander- son. That is true, if it concerned the loss of your life [and yet the judorcs tried and condemned him for his life.] — Tidal. I pray your lordship, does not the law say, No man shall be put to answer without presentment before justices on matters of record, or by due proofs and writ original, &c. (A. 42 Edw. III. cap. 3.) — Anderson. That is law if it be not repealed. — Bishop of Rochester. Pray let me ask you a question concerning your book. — But Udal was upon his guard, and said, It is not yet proved to be mine. — Mr. Solicitor. I am sorry, Mr. Udal, you will not answer nor take an oath, which by law you ought to do ; but he did not say by what law. — Udal. Sir, if I have a liberty by law, there is no reason why I should not challenge it ; shew me by what law I am obliged to accuse myself. — Dr. Lewin. You have taken the oath heretofore, why should you not take it now ? — Udal. I then voluntarily confessed certain things con- cerning- my preaching of the points of discipline, which could never have been proved ; and when my friends laboured to have me restored to my ministry, the archbishop answered, there was sufficient matter against me by my own confession why 1 should not be restored ; whereupon I covenanted with my own heart never to be my own accuser again. At length the bishop told him his sentence for that time was to be sent to the Gate-house; take it in his own words. "I was carried to the Gate-house by a messenger, who delivered me with a warrant to be kept close prisoner, and not to be suffered to have pen, ink, or paper, or any body to speak with me. Thus I remained half a year, in all which time my wife could not get leave to come to me, saving only that in the hearing of the keeper she might speak to me, and I to her, of such things as she should think meet.— All which time my chamber-fellows were semi- nary priests, traitors, and professed Papists. At the end of the half year I was removed to the White Lion in Southwark, and so carried to the assizes at Croydon." On the 23rd of July Mr. TJdal was brought to Croydon with fetters on his legs, and indicted upon the statute 23 Eliz. cap. 2, before baron Clarke, and Mr. sergeant Puckering, for writing a wicked, scandalous, and seditious libel, called, " A demon- stration of discipline," dedicated to the supposed governors of the church of England*, in which is this passage; " Who can with- out blushing deny you [the bishops] to be the cause of all ungod- liness.^ forasmuch as your government gives liberty for a man to be any thing but a sound Christian ; it is more free in these days to be a Papist or a wicked man, than what we should be ; I could live twenty years as such in England, and it may be in a bishop's house, and not be molested : so true is it, that you care for nothing but the maintenance of your dignities, be it to the damnation of your souls, and infinite millions more." These arc the words of ♦-Life of Whitgift, p. ol.{. 332 HISTORY OF the indictment. To which Mr. Udal pleaded Not guilty, and put himself upon the trial of his country. In opening the cause, Mr. Daulton the queen's counsel made a long invective against the new discipline, which he affirmed was not to be found in the word of God. To whom Udal replied, This being a controversy among learned divines, he thought Mr. Daulton might have sus- pended his judgment, since he had formerly shewed some liking to the cause. Upon which the judge said, Sirrah ! sirrah ! answer to the matter. Mr. Daulton, go on to the proof of the points in the indictment, which were these three : 1. That Udal was the author of the book. 2. That he had a malicious intent in making it. 3. That the matters in the indictment were felony by the statute 23 Eliz. cap. 2. The first point was to prove Udal to be the author of the book ; and here it is observable, that the witnesses were not brought into court, but only their examinations, which the registrar swore to. And, first, Stephen Chatfield's articles were produced, which contained a report of certain papers he had seen in Udal's study. Upon seeing them, he asked, whose writings they were. Udal answered, A friend's. Chatfield then desired him to rid his hands of them, for he doubted they concerned the state. He added, that Udal told him another time, that if they put him to silence, he would give the bishops such a blow as they had never had. Chat- field was called to witness these things, but appeared not. Daul- ton said he went out of the way on purpose. The judge said, Mr. Udal, you are glad of that. Mr. Udal answered, My lord, I wish heartily he were here ; for as I am sure he could never say any thing against me to prove this point ; so I am able to prove it to be true, that he is very sorry that he ever made any complaint against me, confessing he did it in anger when Martin came first out, and by their suggestions, whom he had proved since to be very bad men. Mr. Udal added, that the book was published before this conversation with Chatfield. The examination of Nicholas Tomkins before the commissioners was next produced. This Tomkins was now beyond sea, but the paper said, that Udal had told him he was the author. But Tomkins himself sent word, that he would not for a lOOOZ. affirm any more, than that he had heard Udal say, that he would not doubt but set his name to the book if he had indifferent judges. And when Udal offered to produce his witnesses, the judge said, that because the witnesses were against the queen's majesty they could not be heard. The confession of Henry Shai'p of Northampton was then read, who upon oath before the lord-chancellor had declared, that he heard Mr. Penry say, that Mr. Udal was the author of the Demonstration. This was the whole evidence of the fact upon which he was convicted, not a single living witness being produced in court ; so that the prisoner had no opportunity to ask any questions, or THK PlIUITAKS. 333 ixfiite the evidence. And what methods were used to extort these confessions may easily be imagined from the confessors Hying their country, and then testifying their sorrow for what thev iiad said. To prove the sedition, and bring it within the statute, the coun- sel insisted upon his threatening the bishops, who being the queen's officers, it was construed a threatening of the queen her- self. The prisoner desired liberty to explain the passage, and his counsel insisted, that an offence against the bishops was not sedi- tion against the queen ; but the judge gave it for law, that " they who spake against the queen's government in causes ecclesiastical, or her laws, proceedings, and ecclesiastical officers, defamed the queen herself." Upon this the jury were directed to find him guilty of the fact, and the judges took upon them the point of law and condemned him as a felon. Mr. Fuller confesses*, that the proof against him was not pregnant, for it was generally believed he wrote not the book, but only the preface. They might as well have condemned him without the form of a trial, for the statute was undoubtedly strained beyond the intent of it, to reach his life. lie behaved modestly and discreetly at the bar; and having said as much for himself as must have satisfied any equitable persons, he submitted to the judgment of the court. Mr. Udal was convicted in the summer assizes 1590, but did not receive sentence till the Lent assizes, in the meantime he was offered his pardon, if he would sign the following submission : — f " I, John Udal, have been heretofore, by due course of law, convicted of felony, for penning or setting fortb a certain book, called, ' The demonstration of discipline,' wherein false, slander- ous, and seditious matters are contained against ber majesty's prerogative royal, her crown and dignity, and against the laws and government ecclesiastical and temporal by law established under her highness, and tending to the erecting a new form of government, contrary to her said laws ; all which points I do now perceive, by the grace of God, to be very dangerous to the jieace of this realm and church, seditious in the commonwealth, and in- finitely offensive to the queen'^s most excellent majesty ; so as thereby I, now seeing the grievousness of my offence, do most humbly on my knees, before, and in this presence, submit myself to the mercy of her highness, being most sorry that I have so deeply and worthily iiicurred her majesty's indignation against me : promising, if it shall please God to move her royal heart to have compassion on me a most sorrowful convicted person, that I will for ever hereafter forsake all such undutiful and dangerous courses, and demean myself dutifully and peaceably ; for I do acknowledge her laws to be both lawful and godly, and to be obeyed by every subject. February 1590 — 1.'' No arguments or threatenings of the judges could prevail with ♦ I?, it. p. 22;?. t Strjpe's Aim. vol. ult. y. 2(;. 334 HISTORY OK Udalto sign this submission ; but the day before sentence was to be passed, he offered the following, drawn up by himself: — *' Concerning the book whereof I was by due course of law convicted, by referring myself to the trial of the law, and for that by the verdict of twelve men, I am found to be the author of it, for which cause an humble submission is worthily required and offered of me : although I cannot disavow the cause and substance of the doctrine debated in it, which 1 must needs acknowledge to be holy, and (so far as I conceive it) agreeable to the word of God ; yet I confess, the manner of writing it is such in some part as may worthily be blamed, and might provoke her majesty's just indignation therein. Whereof the trial of the law imputing to me all such defaults as are in that book, and laying the punish- ment of the same in the most grievous manner upon me ; as my most humble suit to her most excellent majesty is, that her mercy and gracious pardon may free me from the guilt and offence which the said trial of the law hath cast upon me, and farther of her great clemency, to restore me to the comfort of my life and liberty, so do I promise, in all humble submission to God and her majesty, to carry myself in the whole course of my life, in such humble and dutiful obedience, as shall befit a minister of the gos- pel and dutiful subject, fervently and continually praying for a good preservation of her highness's precious life, and happy government, to the honour of God, and comfort of her loyal and dutiful subjects. February 19, 1590—1." Mr. Udal had often, and with great earnestness, petitioned his judges for their mediation with the queen : in his letter of No- vember 11th, he says, " I pray you call to mind my tedious state of imprisonment, whereby myself, my wife, and children, are re- duced to beggary ; pray call to mind by what course this misery is brought upon me, and if you find by due consideration, that I am worthy to receive the punishment from the sentence of upright justice, I pray you to hasten the execution of the same, for it were better for me to die t'lan to live in this case ; but if it appear to your consciences (as I hope it will) that no malice against her majesty can possibly be in me, then do I humbly and heartily desire you to be a means that I may be released ; then I shall not only forget that hard opinion conceived of your courses against me, but pray heartily to God to bury the same, with the rest of your sins, in the grave of his Son Jesus Christ." Mr. Udal wrote again, November 18 and 25, in most humble and dutiful language ; but the court would do nothing till he had signed their submission. At the close of the Lent assizes, being called to the bar with the rest of the felons, and asked what he had to say, why judg- ment should not be given against him according to the verdict, iie gave in a paper consisting of nine reasons ; of which these are the principal : 1. •' Ikciuisc the jury were directed only to find the fact, \vl,e- THE PITRITAXS. 060 ther I was author of the book ; and were expressly freed by your lordship from inquiring into the intent, without which there is no felony. 2." The jury were not left to their own consciences, but were wrought upon partly by promises, assuring them it should be no farther danger to me, but tend to my good ; and partly by fear, as appears, in that it has been a grief to some of them ever since. '3. " The statute in the true meaning of it, is thought not to reach my case, there being notiiing in the book spoken of her majesty ""s person but in duty and honour ; I beseech you therefore to consider, whether the drawing of it from her royal person to the bishops, as being part of her body politic, be not a violent de- praving and wresting of the statute. 4. " But if the statute be taken as it is urged, the felony must consist in the malicious intent ; wherein I appeal first to God, and then to all men who have known the course of my life, and to your lordships' own consciences, whether you can find me guilty of any act in all my life that savoured of any malice or malicious intent against her majesty ; of which, if your consciences must clear me before God, 1 hope you will not proceed to judgment. 5. " By the laws of God, and I trust also by the laws of the land, the witnesses ought to be produced face to face against me ; but I have none such, nor any other things, but papers and reports of depositions taken by ecclesiastical commissioners and others. This kind of evidence is not allowed in case of lands, and there- fore much less ought it to be allowed in case of life. 6. " None of the depositions prove me directly to be the author of the book in question ; and the author of the chief testimony is so grieved, that he is ashamed to come where he is known. 7. " Supposing me to be the author of the book, let it be con- sidered that the said book for substance contains nothing but what is taught and believed by the best reformed churches in Europe, so that in condemning me you condemn all such nations and churches as hold the same doctrine. If the punishment be for the manner of writing, this may be thought by some worthy of an ad- monition, or fine, or some short imprisonment* ; but death for an error of such a kind, as terms and words not altogether dutiful of certain bishops, cannot but be extreme cruelty, against one that has endeavoured to shew himself a dutiful subject, and faithful minister of the gospel. " If all this prevail not, yet ray Redeemer liveth, to whom I commend myself, and say as sometime Jeremiah said in a case not much unlike, ' Behold, I am in your hands to do with me whatso- ever seemeth good unto you ; but know you this, that if you put me to death you shall bring innocent blood upon your own heads, and upon the land.' As the blood of Abel, so the blood of Udal, will cry to God with a loud voice, and the righteous Judge of the land will require it at the hands of all that shall be guiltv of it." * Stiype's Ann. vol. l. p. 2H. 836 HISTORY OF But nothing would avail, unless he would sign the submission the court had drawn up for him ; which his conscience not suffer- ing him to do, sentence of death was passed upon him February 20th, and execution openly awarded ; but next morning the judges, by direction from court, gave private orders to respite it till her majesty "'s pleasure was farther known. The dean of St. Paul's and Dr Andrews were sent to persuade him to sign the submission ; which he peremptorily refused. But because the queen had been misinformed of his belief, he sent her majesty a short confession of his faith in these words : " I believe, and have often preached, that the church of England is a part of the true visible church, the word and sacra- ments being truly dispensed ; for which reason I have communi- cated with it several years at Kingston, and a year at Newcastle- on-Tyne ; .ind do still desire to be a preacher in the same church ; therefore I utterly renounce the schism and separation of the Brownists : — I do allow the articles of religion as far as they contain the doctrine of faith and sacraments according to law : — I believe the queen's majesty hath, and ought to have, supreme authority over all persons, in all causes ecclesiastical and civil. — And if the prince commands any thing contrary to the word of God, it is not lawful for subjects to rebel or resist, but with pa- tience and humility to bear the punishment laid upon them : — I believe the church rightly reformed ought to be governed ecclesi- astically by ministers, assisted by elders, as in the foreign reformed churches: — I believe the censures of the church ought merely to concern the soul, and may not impeach any subject, much less any prince, in liberty of body, goods, dominion, or any earthly privilege ; nor do 1 believe that a Christian prince ought other- wise to be subject to church-censures, than our gracious queen professes herself to be to the preaching of the word and the admi- nistration of the sacraments*." With this declaration of his faith he sent an humble request, that if her majesty would not graciously be pleased to pardon him, she would change his sentence into banishment, that the land might not be charged with his blood-|-. King James of Scotland wrote to the queen, requesting most earnestly, that, for the sake of his intercession, Udal might be relieved of his present strait, promising to do the like for her majesty in any matter she should recommend to him. The Turkey merchants also offered to send him as chaplain to one of their factories abroad, if he might have his life and liberty; which Udal consented to, as appears by his letter to the lord-treasurer, in which he says, " Lamentable is my case, having been three years in durance, which makes me humbly desire your lordship's favour, that I may be released from my imprisonment, the Turkey merchants having my consent to go into Syria or Guinea, there to remain two years with their factors ., * Life of Wliifgift, p. ■^76. f Fuller, b. 9. p. 20A. THF. fURlTANS. o6i if my liberty may be obtained." The writer of archbishop Wiiitf^ift's Hfe says the archbishop yielded to this petition ; that the lord-keeper promised to further it; and that the earl of Essex had a diaft of a pardon ready prepared, with this condition annexed, that he should never return without the queen's licence ; but her majesty never signed it, and the Turkey ships gointr away without him, poor unhappy Udal died a few months after in the JNIarshalsea prison, quite heartbroken with sorrow and grief, about the end of the year 1592. Mr. Fuller * says, he was a learned man, and of a blameless life, powerful in prayer, and no less profitable than painful in preaching. He was decently interred in the church-yard of St. George, Southwark, not far from the grave of bishop Bonner, being honoured with the attend- ance of great numbers of the London ministers, who visited liim in prison, and now wept over the remains of a man, who, after a long and severe trial of his faith and patience, died for the tes- timony of a good conscience, and stands upon record as a monu- ment of the oppression and cruelty of the government under which he suffered. Though the moderate Puritans publicly disowned the libels above mentioned, and condemned the spirit with which they were written, they were nevertheless brought into trouble for theic associations. Among others, the reverend Mr. Cartwright, the father of the Puritans, and master of the new hospital at War- wick, was suspended by his diocesan, and summoned before the high commissioners, who committed him to the Fleet with his brethren, Mr. Egerton, Fen, Wright, Farmer, Lord, Snape, King, Rushbrooke, Wiggins, Littleton, Field, Royde, Payne, Proudlove, and Jewel. At their first appearance the commis- sioners asked them, where they held their associations or assem- blies, and how often ? who were present, and what matters were treated of? who corrected or set forth the book of Discipline, and who had subscribed or submitted to it ? whether in a Christian monarchy the king is supreme governor of the church ? or, whe- ther he is under the government of pastors, doctors, and such- like.'' whether it be lawful for a sovereign pi'ince to ordain cere- monies, and make orders for the church ? whether the ecclesias- tical government established in England be lawful, and allowed by the word of God ? whether the sacraments ministered accord- ing to the Rook of Conmion Prayer, are godly and rightly ministered ? &c. Mr. Cartwright's answer to these interrogatories was said by the civilians to be sufficient ; upon which they exhibited thirty- one articles against him September 1, 1590, and required him to answer them upon oath f. The first twenty-four articles charge him with renouncing his episcopal orders, by being reordained teyond sea, with interrupt- * Fuller, b. 9. p. 222. t Life of Wliitgift, p. :i73. VOL I. Z 338 HISTOHY OF ino- tlie peace, and breakiiio- tlie orders, of the church since he came home ; and with knowing the autliors or printers of Martin Mar-Prelate. Art. 25. Charges him with penning, or procuring to be penned, the book of Discipline; and with recommending the practice of it. Art. 26. Charges him with being present at sundry pretended synods, classes or conferences of ministers in divers counries. Art. 27. That at such synods they subscribed the book of Discipline, and promised to govern themselves by it as far as they could. Art. 28. Charges him with setting up particular conferences in several shires, which were to receive the determinations of the general assembly, and put them in practice. Art. 29, 30, and 31. Mention some rules and orders of their synods ; as, that the members should bring testimonials from their several classes ; that they should subscribe the book of Dis- cipline ; that no books should be printed but by consent ; that they should be subject to the censures of the brethren both for doctrine and life ; and that if any should be sent abroad upon public service at the meeting of parliament, their charges should be borne, &c. Mr. Cartwright offered to clear himself of some of these articles upon oath, and to give his reasons for not answering the rest, but if this would not satisfy, he was determined to submit to the punishment the commissioners should award * [which was impri- sonment in the Fleet] ; praying the lord-treasurer to make some provision for the poor people of Warwick who had no minister. The rest of Cartwright's brethren refusing the oath for the same reasons, viz. becavise they would not accuse themselves, nor bring their friends into trouble, were committed to divers prisons. But the archbishop, by advice of the treasurer, was not present at the commitment of his old adversary. On the 13th of May 1591, they were brought before the star- chamber -j-, which was a court made up of certain noblemen, bishops, judges, and counsellors, of the queen's nomination, to the number of twenty or thirty, with her majesty at their head, who is the sole judge when present, the other members being only to give their opinion to their sovereign by way of advice, which he [or she] disallows at their pleasure ; but in the absence of the sovereign the determination is by a majority, the lord-chancellor or keeper having a casting vote. The detei-minations of this court, says Mr. Rushworth, were not by the verdict of a jury, nor according to any statute-law of the land, but according to the king's [or queen's] royal will and pleasure, and yet they were made as binding to the subject as an act of pavliament. In the reign of king Henry VII. the practice of that court was thought to intrench upon the common law, though it seldom did any * Life ofWhitgift, p. .338. f I'''"!' P- -'^l- THE PURITANS. 339 business; but in the latter end of this, and during the two next reigns, the court sat constantly, and was so unmerciful in its cen- sures and punishments, that the whole nation cried aloud against it as a mark of the vilest slavery. Lord Clarendon says *, " There were very few persons of quality in those times that had not suffered, or been perplexed, by the weight and fear of its censure and judgments ; for having extended their jurisdiction from riots, perjuries, and the most notorious misdemeanors, to an asserting of all proclamations, and orders of state, to the vindi- cating illegal commissioners and grants of monopolies, no man could hope to be any longer free from the inquisition of that court, than he resolved to submit to those and the like extraordinary courses." When Mr. Cartwright and his brethren appeared before the court, Mr. Attorney-general inveighed bitterly against them for refusing the oath, and when Mr. Fuller, counsel for the prisoners, stood up to answer, he was commanded silence, and told, that far less crimes than theirs had been punished with the galleys or perpetual banishment, which latter he thought proper for them, ]jrovided it was in some remote place from whence they might not return f. From the star-chamber they were remitted back to the high-commission, where Bancroft had a long argument with Cartwright about the oath; from thence they Avere returned again to the star-chamber, and a bill was exhibited against them with twenty articles + ; in answer to which they maintain, that their associations were very useful, and not forbidden by any law of the realm ; that they exercised no jurisdiction, nor moved any sedition, nor transacted any affairs in them, but with a due regard to their duty to their prince, and to the peace of the church ; that they had agreed upon some regulations to render their ministry more edifying, but all was voluntary, and in breach of no law ; and as for the oath, they refused it, not in contempt of the court, but as contrary to the laws of God and nature. But this answer not being satisfactory, they were remanded to prison, where they continued two years without any further pro- cess, or being admitted to bail ; in the meantime king James of Scotland interceded for them, in a letter to the queen, dated June 12, 1591, in which he requests her majesty to shew favour to Mr. Cartwright and his brethren, because of their great learn- ing and faithful travels in the gospel §. Cartwright himself ]K'titioned for his liberty ||, as being afflicted with excessive pains of the gout and sciatica, which were much increased by lying in a cold prison; he wrote a most humble and pious letter to the lady Kussel, and another to the lord-treasurer, beseeching them to procure his enlargement with the queen, though it were upon bond, expressing a very great concern that her majesty should be so highly offended with him, since he had printed no books for • Hist. Gr. Kebellion, vol. 1. 8vo. p. ()8, &c. f Life of W'hitgift, ]>. .itiO. : Ibid b. 4.;..c. 4. 5 Life of Avliiu-r, p. .Vll. || Fuller, b. 0. i>. liOJ. Z U. 340 HISTORY OK thirteen years past, that ctmkl give tlie least uneasiness ; since lie liad declared his dislike of Martin Mar-Prelate ; and that he never had a finger in any of the books under the name, nor in any other satirical pamphlets ; and further, that in the course of his ministry for five years past at Warwick he had avoided all controversy. Dr. Goad, Dr. Whitaker, and two others of the university, wrote an excellent letter * to the treasurer in favour of the prisoners, beseeching his lordship that they might not be moi'e hardly dealt with than Papists; but this not prevailing, after six months they petitioned the lords of the council [De- cember 4, 1591] to be enlarged upon bail, and wrote to the treasurer to second it, assuring his lordship of their loyalty to the queen, and peaceable behaviour in the church. " We doubt not (say they) but your lordship is sensible, that a year's imprison- ment and more which we have suffered, must strike deeper into our healths, considering our education, than a number of years to men of a different occupation. Your lordship knows that many Papists who deny the queen's supremacy have been en- larged, whereas we have all sworn to it ; and if the government lequire, are ready to take the oath again." This was signed by Tho. Cahtwright, Edward Lord, Hump. Fex, Edmund Snape, Andrew King, Wm. Proudlove, Dan. Wright, Melancthon Jewel. John Payne, They also applied to the archbishop, who refused to consent to their enlargement, unless they would under their hands declare the church of England to be a true church, and the whole order of public prayers, &c. consonant to the word of God, and renounce for the future all their assemblies, classes, and synods ; which they declined. These applications proving ineffectual, they re- solved at last to address the queen herself, for which purpose they drew up a declaration, containing a full answer to the several charges brought against them f. It was not till some time after this that Mr. Cartwright was released |, upon promise of his quiet and peaceable behaviour, and restored to his hospital in Warwick, where he continued without further disturbance the rest of his days ; but many of his brethren continued under suspension while their families were starving, as the reverend Mr. Fenner of Cranbrook suspended seven years, Mr. Leverwood of INIanchelsea seven years, Mr. Percival Wyburne of Rochester five years, Mr. Rockeray pre- bendary of Rochester four years, Mr. Barber of Bow-church, 1/ondon, two vears six months, Mr. Field of Aldermary, London, * Life of Whitgift, p. 370. f See the Appendix, No. 5. + It should be observed here, that Mr. Cartwright was indebted for his liberty to the services of archbishop Whitgift, [who jhad been his old acquaintance at Trinity-college, and had a respect for his abilities, and it was also said, " feared the success in so tough a conflict." Fuller's Church History, b. 9. p. 204. THE I'UUITANS. 341 Mr. Smith K'ctiirer of St. Clenunit's, wliose printed sermons were a family book all over England for many years * ; Mr. Travers of the "Temple, Mr. Colset of Easton-on-the-IIill, Mr. Settle of Buxstead, Suffolk, Mr. Gellibrand, Dyke, Flemming, Mr. Kendal, Mr. Huhbock of Oxford, with many others whose names are before me. Mr. Hubbock was an excellent divine, and was called before the commission for saying, that a great nobleman (meaning the archbishop) had kneeled down to her majesty for staying and hindering her intent to reform religion. But his grace not being willing to insist upon this, commanded him to subscribe, and in case of refusal to enter into bonds not to preach any more, nor to come within ten miles of Oxford ; which Mr. Hubbock declined, saying, " he had rather go to prison than consent to be silent from preaching, unless he was convinced that he had taught false doctrine, or committed any fault wortliy of bonds-f-." fSir Francis Knollys and the treasurer interceded for him, but to no purpose; upon which Sir Francis wrote back to the treasurer in these words: " You know how greatly, yea, and tyrannously, the archbishop hath urged subscription to his own articles without law— and that he has claimed in the right of all the bishops a superiority over the inferior clergy from God"'s own ordinance, in prejudice to her majesty's supreme government, though at present he says he does not claim it, therefore in my opinion he ought openly to retract it." These high proceedings of the commissioners brought their powers under examination : most were of opinion that they exceeded the law, but some thought the very court itself was illegal, imagining the queen could not delegate her supremacy to others. Mr. Cawdery, late minister of Luffingliam in Suffolk, had been suspended by the bishop of London for refusing the oath ex officio; but not acquiescing in his lordship's sentence, the bishop summoned him before the high commissioners, who deprived him for nonconformity and lack of learning, and gave away his living to another, though Mr. Cawdery was one of the most learned clergymen and best preachers in the country, and offered to give proof of his learning before his judges. When this would not be accepted, he pleaded with tears his wife and eight poor children that had no maintenance; but the hearts of the commissioners not being mollified, Mr. Cawdery was advised to appeal to the court of Exchequer, and proceed against tlie chaplain that had possession of his living ; on this occasion the jurisdiction of the court was argued before all the judges in Hilary term, 1591 J. Dr. Aubrey the civilian confessed, that their proceedings were not warrantable by the letter of the sta- tute 1st Eliz. but were built upon the old canon law still in force; though it has been shown that their proceeding by way of inqui- sition was warrantctl by no law at all ; but the judges conHrnud • MS. p. 584. t Life of Whitgift, p. M I, M'L I Heyl. Hist- Picsb. p. .ilS, 342 HISTORY OF the proceedings of the court, and left Mr. Cawdery with hfs large family to starve as a layman. The suit cost Mr. Cawdery ''s friends a round sum of money, besides two-and-twenty journeys which he made to London. But it was a brave stand for the rights of the subject, and staggered the archbishop so much, that he declined the business of the commission afterward, and sent most of his prisoners to the star-chamber. While these causes were depending, sundry books were written for and against the oath ex officio ; among others Mr. Morrice, attorney of the court of wards, and member of parliament, pub- lished a learned treatise, to prove that no prelates, or ecclesiasti- cal judges, have authority to compel any subject of the land to an oath, except in causes testamentary or matrimonial ; and he gives these reasons for it, Because it is against the woi'd of God : — It was never allowed by any general council for a thousand years after Christ: — It was forbidden by the Pagan emperors against the Christians: — It is against the pope's decretals, except in cases of heresy, and where there is danger to the accuser, and not otherwise : — It is against the laws of the realm ; — and. Because it is against the queen's prerogative *. Morrice's book was answered by Dr. Cosins a civilian, in his " Apology for the eccle- siastical proceedings ; " to which Morrice had prepared a reply, but the archbishop hearing of it, sent for him, and forbade the publication. The attorney complained of this usage to the trea- surer in these words ; " Cosins may write at his pleasure of ecclesiastical courts without check or controlment, though never so erroneously; but I, poor m.an, such is my ill-hap, may not main- tain the right cause of justice without some blot or blemish." — But this was his grace's shortest way of ending controversies. Though Mr. Cartwright and his brethren above mentioned had the resolution to lie in jail for two years, rather than take the oath ex officio, others out of weakness, or some other princi- ple, yielded to it, and discovered their classes, with the names of those that were present at them ■\ : among these were Mr. Stone, rector of Warkton in Northamptonshire; Mr. Henry Alvey, fellow of St. John's, Cambridge; Mr. Thomas Edmunds, Mr. William Perkins, Mr. Littleton, Johnson, Barber, Cleaveley, and Nutter. These divines confessed upon examination, that they had several meetings with their brethren in London, at the houses of Mr. Travers, Egerton, Gardner, and Barber ; that there had been assemblies of ministers in Cambridge, Northamp- tonshire, and Warwickshire : that at these meetings there were usually between twelve and twenty ministers present ; that they had a moderator ; that they began and ended with prayer ; and that their usual debates were, how far they might comply with the establishment rather than forego their ministry ; here they revised their book of Discipline, and consulted of peaceable me- * Life of WliKsiift.p. ;U0. f Ibid. ji. 371, THE ruRiTANS. 343 thods in subordination to the laws for promoting a reformation in the church, and how far they might exercise their own platform in the meantime : but the worst part of their confession was their discovering the names of the brethren that were present, which brought them into trouble. The reasons they gave for taking the oath were, Because it was administered by a lawful magis- trate:— Because the magistrate had a right to search out the truth in matters relating to the public safety: — Because it was impossible to keep things any longer secret, many letters of the brethren having been intercepted : — Because there was nothing criminal in their assemblies, and the magistrate might suspect worse things of them than were true ; and though their confessions might bring some into trouble, they might deliver others who were suspected. How far these reasons will justify the confessors, I leave with the reader ; but it is certain they purchased their own liberties at the expense of their brethren's ; for they had the favour to be dismissed, and lived without disturbance after- ward. To render the Puritans odious to the public, all enthusiasts ^ without distinction were ranked among them ; even Racket and his two prophets, Arthington and Coppinger *. Racket was a blasphemous, ignorant wretch, who could not so much as read ; he pretended to be King Jesus, and to set up his empire in the room of the queen's, who, he said, was no longer to be queen of England. Re defaced her majesty's arms, and stabbed her picture through with his dagger, in the house where he lodged. Being apprehended and put upon the rack, he confessed every thing they would have him, and upon his trial pleaded Guilty, declaring he was moved thereunto by the Spirit ; he was hanged July 18, and died raving like a madman. Coppinger starved himself in prison, but Arthington lived to recover his senses, and was pardoned. Dr. Nichols says, that by the solicitation of these men the Puritans stirred up the people to rebellion, their design being communicated to Cartwright, Egerton, and Wig- gington-f-; whereas there was not a single Puritan concerned with them. Fuller J the historian speaks candidly of the mat- ter ; " This business of Racket (says he) happened unseasonably for the Presbyterians ; true it is, they as cordially detested his blasphemies as any of the episcopal party ; and such of them as loved Racket the Nonconformist, abhorred Racket the heretic, after he had mounted to so high a pitch of impiety." Rowever, ]\Ir. Cartwright wrote an apology for himself and his brethren against the aspersions of Dr. Sutcliff, in which he declares, he had never seen Racket nor Arthington, nor ever had any conference with them by letter or message. Rad there been any ground for this vile charge, we should no doubt have found it among their articles of impeachment. ^ Stiype's Ann. vol. uU. p. 71. t Pierce's Vinlic. p. 140. I 13. !/. p. 2(J0" 344 HISTOPtV OF At the opening of the new })ai]iament, February 19, the (|iiefn signified her pleasure to the house, that they might redress such popular grievances as were complained of in their several counties, but should leave all matters of state to herself and the council ; and all matters relating to the church, to herself and the bishops. What an insignificant thing is a representative body of the nation, that must not meddle with matters of church or state! But her majesty was resolved to let them see she would be obeyed, for when Mr. Went worth and Bromley moved the house to address the queen to name her successor, she sent for them, together with ^Ir. Welsh and Stevens, and committed them to prison, where Wentworth remained many years *. When it was moved in the house to address the queen for the release of their members, it was answered by those privy counsellors that were of the house, " that her majesty had committed them for causes best known to herself; that the house must not call the queen to account for what she did of her royal authority ; that the causes of their restraint might be high and dangerous ; that her majesty did not like such questions, nor did it become the house to deal in such matters." After this it was a bold adventure of Mr. Attorney Mor- rice-j-, and for which he paid very dear, to move the house, to inquire into the proceedings of the bishops in their spirit- ual courts |, and how far they could justify their inquisition, their subscriptions, their binding the queen's subjects to their good behaviour contrary to the laws of God and of the realm ; their compelling men to take oaths to accuse themselves; and upon their refusal, to degrade, deprive, and imprison them at pleasure, and not to release them till they had complied. At the same time he offered two bills to the house ; one against the oath ex officio, and the other against their illegal impri- sonments ; which last he prayed might be read presently. Sir Francis KnoUys seconded the attorney, and said, " that in his opinion these abuses ought to be reformed ; and that if the prelates had acted against law, they were in a premunire §. He added, that after the reformation of king Henry VIII. no bishop practised superiority over his brethren ; that in king Edward VI.*'s time a statute was made, that bishops should keep their courts in the king's name ; and that though this statute was repealed by queen Mary, and not since revived, yet it was doubtful what authority bishops had to keep courts in their own name, because it was manifestly against the prerogative that any subject should hold a court, without express warrant from the crown. If it was Baid, they kept their courts by prescription, or by the statute • Heyl. Hist. Presb. p. 319. t This step of Mr. Attorney Morrice is described in more proper and happy language by Dr. Warner : who calls it " a noble attempt in favour of religious liberty." — Ed. : J.,ife of Whitgift, p. 386, 387. § Ibid, y. 388. 11 IK I'UUITANS. 34.5 ol' king Henry \'III. which gives bishops the same rule under the king as they had under the pope, he answered, that there was a clause in the act which restrains them from offending against the king's prerogative, and the laws and customs of the realm ; and according to the laws and customs of the realm, no subject can hold a court but by special warrant from the crown."" Mr. Beal spoke upon the same side, and added, "that the bishops had incurred a premunire, because the statute of 13 Eliz. recjuires subscription to articles of faith only ; that this limitation was made by the lords after the bill had passed the commons; and that no councils nor canons gave authority to the bishops to frame articles, and require subscription at their pleasure." For which speech the queen forbade him the court, and commanded him to absent himself from parliament. These debates awakened the civilians in the house, and parti- cularly Mr. Daulton, who opposed the reading of the bill, because the queen had often forbid them to meddle with the reformation of the church ; which Sir Robert Cecil, one of her majesty's se- cretaries, confirmed. As soon as the queen was acquainted with the proceedings of the house she sent for the speaker Coke*, and commanded him to tell the house, " that it was wholly in her power to call, to tleter- mine, to assent or dissent, to any thing done in parliament ; that the calling of „ this was only, that such as neglected the service of the church might be compelled to it with some sharp laws ; and that the safety of her majesty's person and the realm might be j)rovided for ; that it was not meant that they should meddle with mattt-rs of state or causes ecclesiastical ; that she wondered they should attempt a thing so contrary to her commandment ; that she was highly offended at it ; and that it was her royal pleasure, that no bill, touching any matters of state and causes ecclesiasti- cal, should there be exhibitedf . At the same time Mr. Attorney IVIorrice was seized on in the house by a serjeant at arms, dis- charged from his office in the court of the duchy of Lancaster, disabled from any practice in his profession as a barrister at law, and kept for some years prisoner in Tutbury-castle. If there had been a just spirit of English liberty in the house of commons, they would not have submitted so tamely to the insults of an arbitrary court, which arrested their members for liberty of speech, and committed them to prison ; which forbade their redressing the grievances of church or state, and sent for their bills out of the house and cancelled them. These were such acts of sovereign power as none of her majesty's predecessors had dared to assume, and which cost one of her successors his crown and life. • Heyl. Hist. Presb. p. 320. t This, says Dr. Warner, " was the message of a queen to the house of commons, whose reign affords sucli subjects of jiaiiegyric to those wlio woukl be thouylit patriots, and patrons of liberty, in the present age." Ecclesia?tical History, vol. ■i. p. 4(J4. — Ed. 346 HISTORY OF But this parliament, instead of asserting their own and the peo- ple''s liberties, stands upon record for one of the severest acts of oppression and cruelty that ever was passed by the representatives of a Protestant nation, and a free people, disentitled, "An act for the punishment of persons obstinately refusing to come to church, and persuading others to impugn the queen's authority in ecclesiastical causes." It is therein enacted, " that if any per- son above the age of sixteen shall obstinately refuse to repair to some church, chapel, or usual place of common prayer, to hear divine service, for the space of one month, without lawful cause ; or shall at any time, forty days after the end of this session, by printing, writing, or express words, go about to persuade any of her majesty's subjects to deny, withstand, or impugn, her majes- ty's power or authority in causes ecclesiastical : or shall dissuade them from coming to church, to hear divine service, or receive the communion according as the law directs ; or shall be present at any unlawful assembly, conventicle, or meeting, under colour or pretence of any exercise of religion ; that every person so offending, and lawfully convicted, shall be committed to prison without bail, till they shall conform and yield themselves to come to church, and make the following declaration of their conformity : " I A. B. do humbly confess and acknowledge, that I have grievously offended God, in contemning her majesty ''s godly and lawful government and authority, by absenting myself from church, and from hearing divine service, contrary to the godly laws and statutes of the realm, and in frequenting disorderly and unlawful conventicles, under pretence and colour of exercise of religion ; and I am heartily sorry for the same, and do acknow- ledge and testify in my conscience, that no other person has or ought to have any power or authority over her majesty. And I do promise and protest, without any dissimulation, or colour of dispensation, that from henceforth I will obey her majesty's statutes and laws in repairing to church and hearing divine ser- vice ; and to my utmost endeavour will maintain and defend the same." " But in case the offenders against this statute, being lawfully convicted, shall not submit and sign the declaration within three months, then they shall abjure the realm and go into perpetual banishment.* And if they do not depart within the time limited by the quarter-sessions, or justices of peace ; or if they return at any time afterward without the queen's licence, they shall suflTer death without benefit of clergy." So that, as the lord-chancellor King observed at the trial of Dr. Sacheverel, the case of the Non- conformists by this act was worse than that of felons at common law, for these were allowed the benefit of clergy, but the others * It is remarkable, that there is a proviso in this statute, that no Popish recusant shall be compelled or bound to abjure by virtue of this act. — Such was her majes- ty's tenderness for the Papists, while she was crushing Protestant dissenters. Neal's Review Ed. Till.: I'UiMTANS. 347 were not.— This statute was levelled against the laity as well as the clergy ; and the severe execution of it with'that of the 23rd of Eiiz. in this and the followinn; reigns * brought infinite mischiefs upon the kingdom ; many families being forced into banishment ; some put to death, as in cases of treason ; and others as the autliors of seditious pamphlets.f The moderate Puritans made a shift to evade the force of this law, by coming to church when common prayer was almost over, and by receiving the sacrament in some churches where it was administered with some latitude ; but the weight of it fell upon the separatists, who renounced all communion with the church in the word and sacraments as well as in the common prayer and ce- remonies; these were called Brownists or Barrowists, from one Barrow a gentleman of the Temple, who was now at their head. We have given an account of their distinguishing principles in the year 1580, since which time their numbers were prodigiously increased, though the bishops pursued them, and shut them up in prison without bail, or troubling themselves to bring them to a trial. Sir Walter Raleigh declared in the parliament-house, that they were not less than twenty thousand, divided into several con- gregations in Norfolk, in Essex, and in the parts about London : there were several considerable men now at their head, as the reverend Mr. Smith, INIr. Jacob, the learned Mr. Ainsworth, the rabl)i of his age, and others. The congregation about London, being pretty numerous, form- ed themselves into a church, Mr, Francis Johnson being chosen pastor by the suffrage of the brotherhood, Mr. Greenhood doctor [or teacher], Mr. Bowman and Lee deacons, Mr. Studley and Kinaston elders, all in one day, at the house of Mr. Fox in Nicholas-lane in the year 1592 1, seven persons were baptized at ■ the same time without godfathers or godmothers, Mr. Johnson only washing their ftices with water, and pronouncing the form, I baptize thee in the name, &c. The Lord's supper was also administered in this manner; five white loaves being set upon the table, the pastor blessed them by prayer, after which, having * " Tliese laws are still put in execution ; and about three years ago in Corn- wall, a poor fellow, a dissenter, was libelled in the spiritual court for not attending divine worship at his parish-churcli on Sunday. He had not taken the oaths re- quired by the toleration-act ; but it being a sufficient defence to take them at any time during the prosecution, he applied to the ma£;istrates of the county at their (iir.irlcr-sessions, who illegally refused to administer them : the consequence w'as, tluit he was excommunicated. — Upon a representation of the committee in London for taking care of the civil concerns of the dissenters, the chairman of the sessions acknowledged the error of the justices, and the man took the oaths at the ensuing sessions, but it was then too late." High Church Politics, p. tJy — Ed. f Dr. Warner remarks on this statute, " that tlms in some measure were renewed the days of Henry VIII. ; when it was a crime against the state to depart ever so little from the religion of the sovereign ; but in some part of this act, she exceeded lier father's tyranny. For absolute as he was, he contented himself with punishing such as opposcil the established religion by some overt act. But by this new statute, the subjects were obliged to make an open profession by a constant at- tendance on [hv established service.'' Ecdes. History, vol. 2. ji. Hi"). — Ei). * Strype's Annals, vol. l. p. 174. 348 HISTORY OF broken the bread, he delivered it to some, and the deacons to the rest, some standing and others sitting about the table, using the words of the apostle, 1 Cor. xi. 24. "Take, eat, this is the body of the Lord Jesus, which was broken for you : this do in remem- brance of him." In like manner he gave the cup, using the like words of the apostle, " This cup is the New Testament in his blood ; this do ye, as oft as. ye drink it, in remembrance of him." In the close they sung a hymn, and made a collection for the poor. When any person came first into the church, he made this protestation or promise, that " he would walk with them so long as they did walk in the way of the Lord, and as far as might be warranted by the word of God." The congregation being obliged to meet in different places to conceal themselves from the bishop's officers, was at length disco- vered on a Lord's day at Islington, in the very same place where the Protestant congregation met in queen Mary''s reign ; about fifty-six were taken prisoners, and sent two by two to the jails about London, where several of their friends had been confined for a considerable time. At their examination they confessed, that for some years they had met in the fields in the summer-time at five o'clock in the morning of the Lord's day, and in the winter at private houses* ; that they continued all day in prayer and expounding the Scrip- tures ; that they dined together, and after dinner made a collec- tion for their diet, and sent the remainder of the money to their brethren in prison ; that they did not use the Lord's prayer, ap- prehending it not to be intended by our blessed Saviour to be used as a form after the sending down of the Spirit at Pentecost. Their adversaries charged them with several extravagances about baptism, marriage, lay-preaching, &c. from which they vindicated themselves in a very solid and judicious reply, showing how far they disowned, and with what limitations they acknowledged, the ^^chargef. But the bishops observing no measures with this people, they ventured to lay their case before the lords of the council in an humble petition^. But the privy council dropped the petition, * Strype's Ann. vol. 3. p. .579. f MS. p. 850. t In this petition they say, that " upon a careful examination of the Holy Scrip- tures, we find the English hierarchy to be dissonant from Christ's institution, and to be derived from antichrist, being the same tlie pope left in this land, to which we dare not subject ourselves. We farther find, that God has commanded all that believe the gospel to walk in that holy faith and order which he has appointed in his church ; wherefore in the reverend fear of his name we have joined our- selves together, and subjected our souls and bodies to those laws and ordinances ; and have chosen to ourselves such a ministry of pastor, teacher, elders, and deacons, as Christ has given to his church on earth to the worlds end, hoping for the pro- mised assistance of his grace in our attendance upon him ; notwithstanding any prohibition of men, or what by men can be done unto us We are ready to prove our church-order to be warranted by the word of God, allowable by her majesty's laws, and no ways prejudicial to her sovereign power ; and to disprove the public hierarchy, worship, and government, by such evidence of Scripture, as our adversaries shall not be able to withstand ; protesting, if we fail herein, not IIIK J'LtlHTANS. 349 being afraid to move in mi affair that lay more immediately before the high commission. Mr. Smith, one of their ministers, after he had been in prison twelve months, was called before the commissioners, and being asked whether he would go to church, answered, that he should dissemble and play the hypocrite if he should do it to avoid trou- ble, for he thought it utterly unlawful ; to which one of the com- missioners answered, " Come to church and obey the queen's laws, and be a dissembler, be a hypocrite, or a devil, if thou only willingly to sustain such deserved punishment as shall be inflicted upon us, but to become conformable for the future ; if we overthrow not our adversaries, we will not say if our adversaries overcome us. " But the prelates of this land have for a long time dealt most injuriously, unlawfully, and outrageously, with us, by the great power and high authority they have gotten in their hands, and usurped above all the public courts, judges, laws, and charters, of this land, persecuting, imprisoning and detaining, at their jdeasure our poor bodies, without any trial, release, or bail ; and hitherto without any cause either for error or crime directly objected. -Some of us they have kept in close prison four or live years with miserable usage, as Henry Burrowe and John Greenwood now in the Fleet ; others they have cast into Newgate, and laden with as many irons as they could bear ; others into dangerous and loathsome jails, among the most facinorous and vile persons, where it is lamentable to relate how many of these innocents have perished within these five years : aged widows, aged mtn, and young maidens, &c. where, so many as the infection hath spared, lie in woeful distress, like to follow their fellows, if speedy redress be not had; others of us have been grievously beaten with cudgels in Bridewell ; and cast into a place called Little Ease, for refusing to come to their chapel-service ; in which prison several have ended their lives ; but upon none of our companions thus committed by them, and dying in their prison, is any search or inquest suffered to pass, as by law in like case is provided. " Their manner of pursuing and apprehending us is with no less violence and outrage ; their pursuivants, with their assistants, break into our houses at all times of the night, where they break open, ransack, and rifle, at their pleasure, under pre- tence of searching for seditious unlawful books. The husbands in the dead of the night they have plucked out of their beds from their wives, and haled them to prison. Some time since their pursuivants, late in the night entered in the queen's name, into an honest citizen's house upon Ludgate-hill, where, after they had at their jileasure searched and ransacked all places, chests, &c. of the house, they appre- hended two of our ministers, Mr. Francis Johnson and John Greenwood, without any warrant at all, both whom, between one and two of the clock after midnight, they with bills and staves led to the counter of Wood-street, taking assurance of Mr. Boys, the master of the house, to be prisoner in his house till next day ; at which time the archbishop, with certain doctors his associates, committed them to close prison, two to the Clink, and the third to the Fleet, where they now remain in distress. Since this they have cast into prison Thomas Settle, Daniel Studley, and Nicholas Lane, taken upon a Lord's day in our assembly, and shut them up in the Gate-house ; others of our friends they are in continual pursuit of; so that there is no safety for them in any one place. " We therefore hiunbly i)ray, in the name of God, and our sovereign the queen, that we may have the benefit of the laws, and of the public charter of the land, namely, that we may be received to bail till we be by order of law convicted of some crime deserving bonds. We jilight unto your honours our faith unto God, and our allegiance to her majesty, that we will not commit any thing unworthy the gospel of Christ, or to tlie disturbance of the common peace and good order of the land, and that we will be forthcoming at such reasonable warning as your lordships shall command. Oh ! let us not perish before trial and judgment, esjiecially imploring and crying out to you for the same. However, we here take tlie Lord of heaven and earth, and liis angels, together with your own consciences, and all jiersons in all ages, to whom this our sujiplication may come, to witness that we have lure tridy advertised your honours of our case and usage, and have in all humility offered our cause to Christian trial." 350 HISTORY OF wilt*." Upon his refusal he was remanded to the Clink, and his brethren to the Fleet, where by order of Mr. Justice Young, one of the commissioners, they were shut up in close rooms, not being allowed the liberty of the prison ; here they died like rot- ten sheep, some of the disease of the prison, some for want, and others of infectious distempers. " These bloody men [die ecclesi- astical commissioners] (says Mr. Barrowe) in his supplication, will allow us neither meat, drink, fire, lodging, nor suffer any whose hearts the Lord would stir up for our relief, to have an access to us, by which means seventeen or eighteen have perished in the noisome jails within these six years-|-; some of us had not one penny about us when we were sent to prison, nor any thing to procure a maintenance for ourselves and families but our handy labour and trades, by which means not only we ourselves, but our families and children, are undone and starved. Their unbridled slander ; their lawless privy searches ; their vio- lent breaking open houses ; their taking away whatever they think meet ; and their barbarous usage of women, children, &c., we are forced to omit lest we be tedious. That which we crave for us all, is the liberty to die openly, or live openly in the land of our nativity ; if we deserve death let us not be closely murdered, yea, starved to death with hunger and cold, and stifled in loath- some dungeons." — Among those who perished in prison was one Mr. Roger Rippon, who dying in Newgate, his fellow-prisoners put this inscription upon his coffin : " This is the corpse of Roger Rippon, a servant of Christ, and her majesty's faithful subject ; who is the last of sixteen or seven- teen which that great enemy of God, the archbishop of {Canter- bury, with his high commissioners, have murdered in Newgate, within these five years, manifestly for the testimony of Jesus Christ ; his soul is now with the Lord, and his blood cried for speedy vengeance against that great enemy of the saints, and against Mr. Richard Young [a justice of peace in London], who in this and many the like points hath abused his power for the upholding of the Romish antichrist, prelacy, and priesthood. He died A.D. 1592+." Many copies of this inscription were dispersed among friends, for which some were apprehended and confined. The privy council taking no notice of the above mentioned supplications, the prisoners in the several jails about London, joined in the petition § given below, to the lord-treasurer Bur- leigh, to which they subscribed their names. * Strype's Ann. vol. ult. p. J 34. f Ibid. vol. ult. p. 133. : Ibid vol. ult. p. 91. § The humble petition of many poor Christians, imprisoned by the bishops in sundry prisons in and about London, to the lord-treasurer. " We humbly beseech your honour, either to grant us a speedy trial together, or some free Christian conference, or else in the meanwhile, that we may be bailed according to law ; or else put into Bridewell, or some other convenient place THK PURITANS, 3ol Among the names subscribed to this petition is Mr. Henry Bar- rowe, an ingenious and learned man, but of too warm a spirit, as appears by his book, entitled, " A brief discovery of false cliurches," printed lo90, and reprinted 1707. This gentleman having been several years in prison, sent another supplication to the attorney-general and privy council for a conference with the bishops, or that their ministers might be conferred with in their hearing, without taunts or railings, for searching out the truth in love, " If it be objected [says Barrowe] that none of our side are worthy to be thus disputed w'ith, we think we should prove the contrary, for there are three or four of them in the city of London ; and more elsewhere, who have been zealous preachers in the parish-assemblies, and are not ignorant of the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew tongues, nor otherwise unlearned and generally con- fessed to be of honest conversation. If this motion takes effect, the controversy will soon end with most of us, for by this means we poor wretches shall perceive, whether as simple souls we are lead aside, or whetlier, as the dear children of God, we are first trusted with the view of, and standing up for, the cause of holiness where we may be together for our mutual help and comfort ; or if your honour will not yourself alone grant this our request, that then it may please you to be a mean for our speedy relief, unto the rest of her majesty's most honourable privy council. *' The Almighty God, that hath preserved your lordship unto these honourable years in so high service to our sovereign prince, and to the unspeakable com- fort of this whole land, give your honourable heart so tender compassion and careful consideration in equity, of the poor afflicted servants of Christ, and that (before the Lord plead against this land for Abel's innocent blood that is shed in the several prisons) your honour may open your mouth for the dumb in the cause of the children of [devoted to] destruction [thatj, you may open your mouth and judge righteously, and judge the cause of the afflicted ; as the people of Israel when they went to war first made peace with God, and removed all occasion whereby his wrath might be incensed, lest he should fight against them in battle. For if this suppression of the truth, and oppression of Christ in his members, contrary to all law and justice, be without restraint prosecuted by the enemy in the land ; then not only the persecuted shall daily cry from under the altar for redress, but God's wrath be so kindled for the shedding the innocent blood of men, even the blood of his own servants (of whom he has said, " Touch not mine anointed,'') that if Noah Daniel, and Job, should pray for this people, yet should they not deliver them. " Pleaseth it then your lordship to understand, that we her majesty's loyal, duti- ful, and true-hearted subjects, to the number of threescore persons and upwards, have, contrary to all law and equity, been imprisoned, separated from our trades, wives, children, and families ; yea, shut up close ))risoners from all comfort, many of us the space of two years and a half, upon the bishop's sole commandment, in great penury and noisomeness of the prisons ; many ending their lives, never called to trial ; some haled forth to the sessions ; some cast in irons and dungeons ; some in hunger and famine ; all of us debarred from any lawful audience before our honourable governors and magistrates, and from all benefit and help of the laws ; daily defamed and falsely accused by published pamphlets, by private suggestions, open preaching, slanders, and accusations of heresy, sedition, schism, and what not. And above all, which most utterly toucheth our salvation, they keep us from all spiritual comfort and edifying by doctrine, prayer, or mutual conference, &c. " And seeing for our conscience only we are deprived of all comfort, we most humbly beseech your good lordship, that some more mitigate and peaceable course might be taken therein, that some free and Christian conference publicly or jui- vately before your honour, or before whom it would please you, where our adver- saries may not be our judges [might be had] ; that our ease, with the reason and proof 152 HISTORY OF nnd righteousness. But let us not perisli secretly in prison, or openly by execution, for want of that help that lies in your power to afford ; when we protest in the sight of God, we do not separate from the establishment out of pride or obstinacy, but from the constraints of conscience." But all these petitions were rejected by the bishops and privy council for the following reasons, if they deserve that name ; " Because a disputation had been denied to Papists : To call the ministry of the church of England into question, is to call all other churches into question, against whom their exceptions extend*; The church of England has submitted to disputation three times in king Edward's, queen Mary's, and queen Elizabeth's time : These men's errors have been condemned by the writings of learned men : It is not reasonable that a religion established by on both sides, might be recorded by indifferent notaries and faithful witnesses : and if any thing be found in ns wortliy of death or bonds, let us be made an exam- ple to all posterity; if not, we entreat for some compassion to be shewn in equity according to law for our relief ; [and] that in the meantime we may be bailed to do her majesty service, walk in oiir callings, to provide things needful for ourselves, our poor wives, disconsolate children, and families, lying upon us, or else that we might be prisoners together in Bridewell, or any other convenient place at your honour's appointment, where we might provide such relief by our diligence and labours as might preserve life, to the comfort both of our souls and bodies." Signed by your supplicants in the following prisons : In the Gate-house. John Gaulter, John Nicolas, John Barnes, John Crawford, Thomas Conadyne, Thomas Reeve, William Dodshowe, Father Debnam, Edmund Thompson, Thomas Freeman. In the Fleet. Henry Barrowe, John Greenwood, Daniel Studley, Robert Badkyne, Walter Lane. In Newgate. William Dejitford, Widow Borrough, Roger Waterer. In Bridewell. William Broomal, James Forrester, Antony Claxton, Nicholas Lee, John Francis, William Forrester, John Clarke, John Fisher, Jolin Bucer, Roger Rippon, Robert Andrews, Richard Skarlet, Luke Hayes, Richard Maltusse, Richard Umberfield, William Fowler, William Burt, William Hutton. In the Clink. George Collier, John Sparrow, Edmund Nicholson, Christopher Browne, Thomas Mitchel, Andrew Smith, William Blackborrow. Thomas Lemare, Christopher Raper, Quintin Smith. In the AVhite-Lion. Thomas Legat, Edmund Marsh, Antony Johnes, Cook, Auger, Wood-street Compter. George Snells, Christopher Bowman, Robert Jackson. Rowlet Skipwith, Strype's Annals, vol. ult. p. 1/2. Poultry Compter. George Kingston, Thomas Eyneworth, Richard Hayward, John Lancaster. In all fifty-nine. Prisoners deceased : — Out of the Poultry Compter. John Chandler. Out of Wood-street Compter. George Dinghtie. Out of the Clink. Henry Thompson, Jerome Studley. Out of Newgate. Richard Jackson, Widow Mainard, Widow Row, Nicholas Crane, Thomas Stephens. Out of Bridewell. John Pardy. In all ten. Till! lURlTAXS. 853 piirliaincnt sIiuuKl he examined by an inferior authority : It is not reasonahle to cendenuj tliose foreign churches that have acknowledged oius for a true church : Tiieir principal errors liave been confuted by St, Austin. This will strengthen the hands of the Papists: It has been the manner of heretics to require disputa- tions with clamour and importunity : The cause has been already decided by written books which they may consult : They will not stand to the judgment of tlie civil n)agistrate : If the church should satisfy every sect that riseth, there would be no end of ilisputa.ions.'' Thus these })i()us and conscientious persons, after a long and illegal imprisonment, were abandoned to the severity of an un.igiiteous law ; some of tiiem being publicly executed as fehnis, and others proscribed and sent into banishment. Among the former were, Mr. Barrowe, gent, of Gray's Inn, Mr. Greenwood and Penry, ministers; the two first had been in prison some years, and several times before the commissioners ; their examinations, written by themselves, are now before me. Bar- rowe was aj)prehended at the Clink-prison in Southwark, where he went to visit his brother Greenwood ; he was carried imme- diately to Lambeth, where the archbishop would have examined him upon the oath ex officio, but lie refused to take it, or to swear at all upon the Bible ; but, says he by God's grace I will answer nothing but the truth. So the archbishop took a paper of inter- rogatories into his hand, and asked him, 1. "" ^Vhether the LonPs prayer might be used in the church r"' He answered, that in iiis opinion it was rather a summary than a form, and not finding it Used by the apostles, he thought it should not be constantly used by us. "2. Whether forms of prayer may be used in the church? He answered, that none such ought to be imposed. 3. Whether the conmion j)rayer be idolatrous or superstitious.'' He answered that in his opinion it was so. 4. AVhether the sacraments of the church are true sacraments and seals of the favour of God .'' lie answered, he thought as they were publicly administered they were not. 5. Whether the laws of the church are good .-^ He answered, that many of them were unlawful and antichristian. 6. Whether the church of England is a true church "i! He answered, that as it was now formed it was not ; yet there are many excellent good Christians of it. 7. \\ helher the queen be supreme governor of the church, and may make laws for it ? He answered, that the queen was supreme governor of the church, but might not make laws otiier than CJhrist had left in his word. 8. Whether a private ])erson may reform if the prince neglects it ? He answered, th.it no ])rivate persons might reform tlie state, but they are to ai)slain from any unlawful thing connnanded by tlie j)riiice. 9. \Vhether every particular church ought to have a presbytery ? He answered in the alHrmaLive. After this ex- an)ination he was remanded to a close prison, and denied a copy cf his answers, though he earnestly desired it. His next examination was before the archbishop, the lord- voi,. 1. 2 a 354 HISTOllV OF chancellor, lord-treasurer, lord Buckhurst, and the bishop of Lon- don, at Whitehall, where he found twelve of his brethren in the same circumstances with himself, but was not admitted to sjDeak to them. Being called into another room, and kneeling down at the end of the table, the lord-treasurer spoke to him thus. — Treas. Why are yon in prison? — Barrowe. Upon the statute against recusants. — Treasurer. Why will you not go to church? — Bar- rowe. Because I think the church of England as established by law not a church of Christ, nor their manner of worship lawful. — After a long debate on this head the treasurer said, You com- plain of injustice, where have you wrong? — Barrowe. In being kept in prison without due trial ; and in the misery we suffer by a close imprisonment contrary to law. — The archbishop said, he had matter to call him before him for a heretic. — Barrowe replied, That you shall never do ; I may err, but heretic by the grace of God I will never be. — It being observed that he did not pay such reverence to the archbishop and bishop of London as to the tem- poral lords, the chancellor asked him, if he did not know those two men, pointing to the bishops. To which he answered, that he had cause to know them, but did not own them for lord bishops. — Being then asked by what name he would call the aichbishop ; he replied, that he was a monster, a persecutor, a compound of he knew not what, neither ecclesiastical nor civil, like the second beast spoken of in the Revelations : upon which the archbishop rose out of his place, and with a severe countenance said, My lords, will you suffer him ? — So he was plucked off his knees, and carried away. Mr. Greenwood the minister was examined after the same man- ner before the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops of London and Winchester, the lords-chief-justices, the lord-chief-baron, and the master of the rolls: he had interrogatories put to him as Barrowe had, but refused to swear, and made much the same answer with the other. At length on March 21, 1592, they, together with Saxio Bellot, gent. Daniel Studley, girdler, and Kobert Bowlle, fishmonger, were indicted at the sessions-house in the Old Bailey, upon the statute of 23 Eliz. for writing and pub- lishing sundry seditious books and pamphlets, tending to the slander of the queen and government ; when they had only writ- ten against the church ; but this was the archbishop's artful con- trivance, to throw off the odium of their death from himself to the civil magistrate; for, as the reverend and learned Mr. Hugh Broughton observes, " though Mr. Barrowe and Greenwood were condemned for disturbance of the state ; yet this would have been pardoned, and their lives spared, if they would have promised to come to church*." Upon their trial they behaved with constancy and resolution, shewing no token of recognition, says the attorney, nor prayer for mercy : they protested their inviolable loyalty to * BrougUton's Works, p. 7'M. TUli PURITANS. S55 tlie (jueeii, and ohedioiice to her government ; that they nevei' wrote, nor so much as intended any thing, against her highness, but only against the bishops and the lilerarchy of the church ; which was apparent enough. However, the jury brought them all in guilty*. Bellot desired a conference, and with tears con- fessing his sorrow for what he had done, was pardoned. Bowlle and Studlev being looked upon only as accessories, though they continued firm, declaring their unshaken loyalty to the queen, and refusing to ask for mercy, were reprieved and sent back to prison ; but Barrovve and Greenwood were to be made examples. Sentence of death being passed upon them March 23, sundry di- vines were appointed to persuade them to recant ; who not suc- ceeding, they were brought in a cart to Tyburn on the last of March, and exposed under the gallows for some time to the peo- ple, to see if the terrors of death would affright them ; but remaining constant, they were brought back to Newgate, and on the 6th of April, 1593, carried a second time to Tyburn and exe- cuted. At the place of execution they gave such testimonies of their unfeigned piety towards God, and loyalty to the queen, pray- ing so earnestly for her long and prosperous reign, that when Dr. Reynolds, who attended them, report >_d their behaviour to her Hjajesty, she repented that she had yielded to their death. They had been in close prison ever since the year 1590, exposed to all the severities of cold, hunger, and nakedness, which Mr. Barrowe re})resented in a supplication to the queen, already men- tioned, concluding with an earnest desire of deliverance from the present miseries, though it were by death ; but the archbishop intercepted the paper, and endeavoured to prevent the knowledge of their condition from coming to the queen's ear : upon this Mr. Barrowe exposed his grace's behaviour towards miserable men, in a letter to one Mr. Fisher, wherein he charges him "with abusing the tjueen's clemency by false informations and suggestions; and with artful disingenuity, in connnitting so many innocent men to Bridewell, the Compter, Newgate, the White Lion, and the Fleet, and then posting them to the civil magistrate to take off' the cla- mour of the people from himself. He says, that he had destined himself and his brother Greenwood to death, and others to be kept in close prison ; their poor wives and children to be cast out of the city, and their goods to be confiscated. Is not this a Christian bishop.? (says he.) Are these the virtues of him who takes upon him the care and government of all the churches of the land, to tear and devour Gods poor sheep, and to rend off' the flesh and break their bones, and chop them in ])ieces as flesh to the caul- dron-f*? Will he thus instruct and convince gainsayers ? Surely he will persuade but few that fear God, to his religion, by his dealing and evil. Does he consult his own credit, or the honour of his prince, by this tyrannous havoc .'' For our parts, our lives Ileyl. Hist. Presb. p. .{2.!. t Life of Whitgift, p. 41G. 2 A 2 356 HISTORY OF are not dear to us, so that we may finish our testimony witli Joy : we are always ready, through God''s grace^ to be offered up upon the testimony of the faith that we have made." Thus fell these two unhappy gentlemen a sacrifice to the resent- ments of an angry prelate. About six weeks after this, the reverend Mr. John Penry or Ap-Henry, a Welsh divine, was executed for the same crime, in a cruel and inhuman manner. He was a pious and learned man, well disposed to religion, says Mr. Strype, but mistaken in his principles, and hot in his temper ; a zealous platformer, and a de- clared enemy of the archbishop. He was born in the county of Brecknock, and educated first at Cambridge, and afterward in St. Alban's hall, Oxford, where he became M. A. 1586, and entered into holy orders, being well acquainted with arts and languages. He preached in both universities with aj^plause, and afterward travelling into Wales, was the first, as he said, that preached the gospel publicly to the Welsh, and sowed the good seed among his countrymen. In the year 1518, he published a "View of such public wants and disorders as are in her majesty's country of Wales, with an humble petition to the high court of parliament for their redress :" wherein is shewed not only the necessity of reforming the state of religion among that ])eop]e, but also the only way in regard of substance to bring that reformation to pass. He also published " An exhortation to the governors and people of her majesty's country of W^ales, to labour earnestly to have the preaching of the gospel planted among them." Printed 1588. When Martin Mar-Prelate and the other satirical pamphlets against the bishops were published, a special warrant was issued from the privy council 1590, under several of their hands, whereof tlie archbishop's was one, to seize and apprehend Mr. Penry, as an enemy of the state : and that all the queen's good subjects should take him so to be. To avoid being taken he retired into Scotland, where he continued till the year 1598. Here he made many observations of things relating to religion, for his own pri- vate use ; and at length prepared the heads of a petition,* or an * The heads of the petition, taken upon him, were as follow : " The last days of your reign are turned rather against Jesus Christ aud his gospel, than to the main- tenance of the same. " I have great cause and complaint, madam ; nay, the Lord and his church have cause to complain of your government, because we your subjects, this day, are not permitted to serve our God under your government according to his word, but are sold to be bondslaves, not only to our affections, to do what we will, so that we keep ourselves within the compass of established civil laws, but also to be servants to the man of sin [the pope] and his ordinances. " It is not the force that we seem to fear that will come upon us (for the Lord may destroy both you for denying, and us for slack seeking, of his will) by stran- gers : I come unto you with it : if you will hear it, our cause may be eased ; if not, that posterity may know that you have been dealt with, and that this age may know that there is ilo expectation [hope] to be looked for at your hands. "Among the rest of the jirinces under the gospel, that have been drawn to oppose it, you must think yourself to be one ; for until you see this, madam, you see not yourself, and Ihey are but sycophants and flatterers whoever tell you other- TIIK PURITANS. 357 acUli-oss to the (luocii, to sliew lier majesty the true state of religion, and how ignorant she was of many abuses in the clmrch of Eng- land, especially in the management of ecclesiastical matters; and likewise to intercede for so much favour, that he might, by her authority, have liberty to go into Wales, his native country, to preach the gospel*. With this petition he came from Scotland, wise : your standing is and has been by the gospel. It is little beholden to you for any thing that appears. The practice of your government shews, that if you could have ruled without the gospel, it would have been doubtful whether the gospel sliould be established or not ; for now that you are established in your throne by the gospel, you suffer it to reach no farther than the end of your sceptre limiteth unto it. , a ■ y_ " If we had had queen Mary's days, I think that we sliould have had as flourish- ing a church this day as ever any ; for it is well known that there was then in Lon- don, under the burden, and elsewhere in exile, more flourishing churches than any now tolerated by your authority. " Now whereas we should have your help both to join ourselves with the true church, and reject the false, and all the ordinances thereof; we are in your king- dom permitted to do nothing, but accounted seditious if we affirm either the one or the other of the former points ; and therefore, madam, you are not so much an adversary to us poor men, as unto Christ Jesus and the wealth of his kingdom. " If we cannot have your favour, but by omitting our duty to God, we are unwor- thy of it, and by God's grace we mean not to purchase it so dear. " But, madam, thus much we must needs say, that in all likelihood, if the days of your sister queen Mary, and her persecution, had continued unto this day, that the church of God in England had been far more flourishing than at this day it is ; for then, madam, the church of God within this land, and elsewhere, being stran- gers, enjoyed the ordinances of God's holy word, as far as then they saw. " But since your majesty came unto your crown, we have had whole Christ Jesus, God and man ; but we must serve him only in heart. " And if those days had continued to this time, and those lights risen therein, which by the mercy of God have since shined in England, it is not to be doubted but the church of England, even in England, had far surpassed all the reformed churches in the world. " Then, madam, any of our brethren durst not have been seen within the tents of antichrist ; now they are ready to defend them to be the Lord's, and that he has no other tabernacle upon earth but them. Our brethren then durst not temporize in the cause of God, because the Lord himself ruled in his church, by his own laws, in a good measure : but now, behold ! they may do what they will, for any sword that the church has to draw against them, if they contain themselves within your laws. " This peace, under these conditions, we cannot enjoy ; and therefore, for any- thing I can see, queen Mary's days will be set up again, or we must needs tem- porize. The whole truth we must not speak ; the whole truth we must not profess. Your state must have a stroke above the truth of God. " Now, madam, your majesty may consider what good the church of God hath taken at your hands, even outward peace with the absence of Jesus Christ in his ordinance ; otherwise as great troubles are likely to come as ever were in the days of your sister. " As for the council and clergy, if we bring any such suit unto them, we have no other answer but that which Pharaoh gives to the Lord's messengers, touching the state of the church under his government. " For when any are called for this cause before your council, or the judges of the land, they must take this for granted, once for all, that the uprightness of their cause will profit them nothing, if the law of the land be against them ; for your council aftd judges have so well profited in religion, that they will not stick to say, that they come not to consult whether the matter be with or against the word or not, but their purpose is to take the penalty of the transgressions against your laws. "If your council were wise, they would not kindle your wrath against us; but, madam if you give ear to their word.f, no marvail though you have not better counsellors." * Life of Whitgift, p. -lOil. 3oS HISTORY OF resolving to finish and deliver it with his own hand, as he should find opportunity : but upon his arrival he was seized with his papers in Stepney parish, by the information of the vicar, in the month of May, and arraigned, condemned, and executed, hastily, the very same month. It appears by this petition, as well as by his letter sent to the congregation of Separatists in London, that Mr. Penry was a Brownist. His book of observations was also seized, out of which were drawn articles of accusation ag-ainst him. He was indicted upon the statute of the 23d of Eliz. chap. 2. for seditious words and rumours uttered against the queen's most excellent majesty, tending to the stirring up of rebellion among her subjects ; and was convicted of felony. May 21, in the KingVbench, before the lord-chief-justice Popham. He received sentence of death May 25, and was executed on the 29th of the same month. It was designed to indict him for the books published in his name ; but b^ the advice of counsel, Mr. Penry drew up a paper, entitled, " Mr. Penry's declaration. May 16, 1593, that he is not in danger of the law for the books published in his name.'"" Here he ob- serves, that the statute was not intended against such as wrote only against the hierarchy of the church ; for then it must con- demn most of the most learned Protestants both at home and abroad ; but relates to such as defame her majesty's royal person ; whereas he had always written most dutifully of her person and government, having never encouraged sedition or insurrection against her majesty, but the contrary ; nor had he ever been at any assembly or conventicle, where any, under or above the num- ber of twelve, were assembled with force of arms, or otherwise, to alter any thing established by law : nor was it his opinion that private persons should of their own authority, attempt any such thing ; for he had always written and spoken to the contrary. But however, if all this had been true, he ought to have been accused within one month of the crime, upon the oath of two witnesses, and have been indicted Avithin one year ; otherwise the statute itself clears him in express words. The court apprehending this declaration might occasion an argument at law, set aside his printed books, and convicted him upon the petition and private observations above mentioned, which was still harder, as he represented it himself in the following letter to the lord-treasurer, with a protestation enclosed, immediately after his condemnation. — " Vouchsafe, I beseech your lordship (right honourable), to read the enclosed writing. My days, I see, are drawing to an end, and I thank God an undeserved end, except the Lord stir up your honour to acquaint her majesty with my guiltless state. " The cause is most lamentable, that the private observations of any student being in a foreign land, and wishing well to his * Life of Wliitgift, j.. 412. THE PUIUTANS. 359 prince and country, should brinj^ his life with blood to a violent end ; especially seeing they are most private and so imperfect, as they have no coherence at all in them, and in most place carry no true English — " Though my innocence may stand me in no stead before an earthly tribunal, yet I know that I shall have the reward thereof before the judgment- seat of the great King; and the merciful Lord, who relieves the widow and fatherless, will reward my deso- late orphans and friendless widow that I leave behind me, and even hear their cry, for he is merciful. " Being like to trouble your lordship with no more letters, I do with tliankfulness acknowledge your honour's favour in receiv- ing the writings I have presumed to send to you from time to time ; and in this my last, I protest I have written nothing but the truth from time to time. " Thus preparing myself, not so much for an unjust verdict, and an undeserved doom in this life, as imto that blessed crown of glory, which of the great mercy of my God is ready for me in heaven, I humbly betake your lordship unto the hands of the just Lord. May 22, 1593. Your lordship's most humble in the Lord, " Johx Penry." In the protestation enclosed in this letter he declared, that he wrote his observations in Scotland ; that they were the sum of certain objections made by people in those parts against her majesty and her government, which he intended to examine, but had not so much as looked into them for fourteen or fifteen months past ; that even in these writings so imperfect, unfinished, and enclosed within his private study, he had shewn his dutiful- ness to the queen, nor had he ever a secret wandering thought of the least disloyalty to her majesty : " I thank the Lord (says he) I remember not, that that day has passed over my head, since under her government I came to the knowledge of the truth, wherein I have not connnended her estate unto God. Well, I may be indicted and condemned, and end my days as a felon or I traitor against my natural sovereign, but heaven and earth shall not be able to convict me thereof. Whensoever an end of my days comes (as I look not to live this week to an end) I shall die queen Elizabeth's most faithful subject, even in the consciences of mine enemies, if they will be beholders thereof*. *' I never took myself for a rebuker, much less for a reformer of states and kingdoms ; far was that from me ; yet in the dis- charge of my conscience all the world must bear with me, if I prefer my testimony to the truth of Jesus Christ before the favour oi any creature. An enemy to good order and policy either in this church or commonwealth was I never. I never did any thing in this cause, (Lord ! thou art witness,) for contention, * Life of Whitgift, in Rec. p. ITfi. 360 HISTORY OF vain-glory, or to draw disciples after me. — Great things in this life I never sought for ; sufficiency I have had with great out- ward trouble; but most content 1 was with my lot; and content I am and shall be with my untimely death, though I leave behind me a friendless widow and four infants, the eldest of which is not above four years old. I do from my heart forgive all that seek my life; and if my death can procure any quietness to the churcli of God or the state, I shall rejoice. May my prince have many such subjects, but may none of them meet with such a reward ! my earnest request is, that her majesty may be acquainted with these things before my death, or at least after my departure. " Subscribed with the heart and hand that never devised or wrote any thing to the discredit or defamation of my sovereign queen Elizabeth : I take it on my death, as I hope to have a life after this, by me, " John Pekiiy." It was never known before this time, that a minister and a scholar was condemned to death for private papers found in his study ; nor do I remember more than once since that time, in whose case it was given for law, that scriheTe est fujere^ that to write has been construed an overt act ; but Penry must die right' or wrong ; the archbishop was the first man who signed the war- rant for his execution, and after him Puckering and Popham. The warrant was sent immediately to the sheriff, who the very same day erected a gallows at St. Thomas Waterings ; and while the prisoner was at dinner sent his officers to bid him make ready, for he must die that afternoon; accordingly he was carried in a cart to the place of execution ; when he came thither the sherift' woilld not suffer him to speak to the people, nor make any pro- fession of his faith towards God, or his loyalty to the queen, but ordered him to be turned off in a hurry about five of the clock in the evening. May 29, 1593, in the thirtv-fourth year of his age. The court being struck with this behaviour of the Brownists, began to be ashamed of hanging men for sedition against the state, who died with such strong professions of loyalty to the queen and government, and therefore could suffer only for the cause of religion. This raised an odium against the bishops and the high commissioners, who, all men knew, were at the bottom of these proceedings. It is said the queen herself was displeased with them when she heard of the devotion and loyalty of the sufferers. It was therefore resolved to proceed for the future on the late statute of the 31st Eliz. to retain the queen's subjects in their obedience ; and instead of putting the Brownists to death, to send them into banishment. Upon this statute, Mr. Johnston, pastor of the Brownist church, was convicted, and all the jails were cleared for the present ; though the commissioners took care within the compass of another year to fill them again. The Papists were distressed by this statute, and that of 23d Eliz. as much as the Brownists, though they met with nuich more TllK I'URITA^K. 861 favour from tlie ecclesiastical courts; the queen eitluT lovc^d or feared them, and would often say, she would never ransack their consciences if they would be quiet ; but they were always libelling her majesty, and in continual plots against her government. While the queen of Scots was alive, they supported her preten- sions to the crown, and after her death they maintained in print the title of the Infanta of Spain : they were concerned with the Spaniards in the invasion of I088, which obliged the queen to confine some of their chiefs in Wisbeach-castle, and other places of safety, but she was tender of their lives. In the first eleven years of her reign, not one Roman Catholic was prosecuted capi- tally for religion ; in the next ten years, when the pope had excommunicated the queen and the whole kingdom, and there had been dangerous rebellions in the north, there were only twelve })riests executed, and most of them for matters against the state. In the ten following years, when swarms of priests and Jesuits came over from foreign seminaries, to invite the Catholics to join with the Spaniards, the laws were girt closer upon them, fifty priests being executed, and fifty-five banished ; but as soon as the danger was over, the laws were relaxed, and by reason of the ignorance and laziness of the beneficed clergy, the missionaries gained over such numbers of proselytes in the latter end of this reign, as endangered the whole government and reformation in the beginning of the next. The last and finishing hand was put to the Presbyterian disci- pline in Scotland this year [1554]. That kingdom had been governed by different factions during the minority of king James, which prevented a full settlement of religion. The general assembly in the year 1566 had approved of the Geneva disci- pline ; but the parliament did not confirm the votes of the assem- bly, nor formally deprive the bishops of their power, though all church-affairs from that time were managed by presbyteries and genera] assemblies. In the year 1574, they voted the bishops to be only pastors of one parish; and to shew their power, they deposed the bishop of Dunkeld, and delated the bishop of Glas- gow. In the year 1577, they ordained that all bishops be called by their own names ; and the next year voted the very name of a bishop a grievance. In the year 1580, the general assemblv with one voice declared diocesan episcopacy to be unscriptural and unlawful. The same year king James with his family, and the whole nation, subscribed a confession of faith, with a solemn league and covenant annexed, obliging themselves to maintain and defend the Protestant doctrine and the Presbyterian government. After this, in the year 1584, the bishops were restored by parlia- ment to some parts of their ancient dignity*; and it was made treason for any man to procure the innovation or diminution of the power and authority of any of the three estates ; but when • Heyl. Hist. IVcsl). p. 231. 362 HISTORY OF this act was proclaimed, the ministers protested against it, as not having been agreed to by the kirk. In the year 1587, things took another turn, and his majesty being at the full age of twenty-one, consented to an act to take away bishops' lands and annex them to the crown. In the year 1593, it was ordained by the general assembly, that all that bore office in the kirk, or should hereafter do so, should subscribe to the book of Discipline. In the year 1592, all acts of parliament whatsoever, made by the king's high- ness or any of his predecessors, in favour of Popery or episcopacy, were annulled ; and in particular, the act of May 22, 1584, " for granting commissions to bishops, or other ecclesiastical judges, to receive presentations to benefices, and give collation thereupon ;" and it Avas ordained, that for the future " all presentations to benefices shall be directed to the particular presbyteries, with full power to give collation thereupon ; and to order all matters and causes ecclesiastical within their bovmds, according to the disci- pline of the kirk *. " Farther, the act ratifies and confirms all former acts of parlia- ment in favour of kirk-discipline, and declares, that it shall be lawful for the kirk and ministers to hold general assemblies once a year, or oftener if necessity require, the king's commissioner being present if his majesty pleases. It ratifies and approves of provincial and synodal assemblies twice a year within every pro- vince ; and of presbyteries and particular sessions appointed by the kirk, with the whole discipline and jurisdiction of the same. Provincial assemblies have power to redress all things omitted or done amiss in the particular assemblies, to depose the office-bearer of the province, and generally they have the power of the particu- lar elderships whereof they are collected. " The power of presbyteries is declared to consist in keeping the kirks within their bounds in good order ; to inquire after and endeavour to reform vicious persons. It belongs to the elderships to see that the word of God be duly preached, and the sacraments rightly administered, and discipline entertained ; they are to cause the ordinances made by the provincial, national, and general assemblies, to be put in execution ; to make or abolish constitu- tions which concern decent order in their kirks, provided they alter no rules made by the superior assemblies ; and communicate their constitutions to the provincial assembly ; they have power to excoinmunicate the obstinate after due process. Concerning particular kirks, if they are lawfully ruled by sufficient ministers and session, they have power and jurisdiction in their own congre- gation in matters ecclesiastical." This act, for the greater solemnity, was confirmed again in the year 1593, and again this present year 1594, so that from this time, to the year 1612, presbytery was xmdovibtedly the legal * Heyl. Hist. Presb. p. 294. THE PUniTAXS. 368 establishment of the kirk of Seotland, as it had been in fact ever since the Reformation. To return to Enoland. Several champions appeared about this time for the cause of episcopacy, as, Dr. IJilson, IJancroft, Bridges, Cosins, Soam, and Dr. Adrian Sararia, a Spaniard, but beneficed in the churck of England : this last was answered by Rcza ; Bridges was answered by Fenner, Cosins by Morrice, and Bilson by Bradshaw, though the press was shut against the Puritans. But the most celebrated performance, and of greatest note, was Mr. Hooker's Ecclesiastical PoHty, in eight books ; the four first of which were published this year ; the fifth in the year lo97, and the three last not till many years after his death, for which reason some have suspected them to be interpolated, though they were deposited in the hands of archbishop Abbot, from whose copy they were printed, about the beginning of the civil wars*. This is esteemed the most learned defence of the church of England, wherein all that would be acquainted with its constitution, says a learned prelate, may see upon what foundation it is built. Mr. Hooker begun his work while master of the Temple, but meeting with some trouble, and many interruptions in that place, the archbishop, at his request, removed him to Boscum in the diocess of Salisbury, and gave hiin a minor prebend in that church ; here he finished his four first books; from thence he was removed to the parsonage of Bishopsborn in Kent, about three miles from Canterbury, where he finished his work and his life in the year 1660, and in the forty-seventh year of his age. The chief principles upon which this learned author proceeds, are, " That though the Holy Scriptures are a perfect standard of doctrine, they are not a rule of discipline or government : nor is the practice of the apostles an invariable rule or law to the church in succeeding ages, because they acted according to the circum- stances of the church in its infant and persecuted state: neither are the Scriptures a rule of human actions, so far as that whatso- ever we do in matters of religion without their express direction or warrant is sin, but many things are left indifferent : the church is a society like others, invested with powers to make what laws she apprehends reasonable, decent, or necessary, for her well-being and government, provided they do not interfere with, or contradict the laws and commandments of, Holy Scripture : where the Scrip- ture is silent, human authority may interpose; we must then have recourse to the reason of things and the rights of society : it follows from hence, that the church is at liberty to appoint cere- monies, and establish order within the limits above mentioned ; and her authority ought to determine what is fit and convenient : all who are born within the confines of an established church, and are baptized into it, are bound to submit to its ecclesiastical laws; * Life of Whitgift, p. 421. 364 HISTORY OF they may not disgrace, revile, or reject, them at pleasure: the chiu'ch is their mother, and has more than a maternal power over them : the positive laws of the church not being of a moral nature, are mutable, and may be changed or reversed by the same powers that made them ; but while they are in force they are to be sub- mitted to, under such penalties as the church in her wisdom shall direct," The fourth and fifth propositions are the main pillars of Mr. Hooker's fabric, and the foundation of all human establishments, viz. " that the church, like other societies, is invested with power to make laws for its well-being ; and that where the Scripture is silent, human authority may interpose." All men allow, that human societies may form themselves after any model, and make what laws they please for their well-being ; and that the Christian church has some things in common with all societies as such, as the appointing time and place, and the order of public worship, &c. but it must be remembered, that the Christian church is not a mere voluntary society, but a community formed and constituted by Christ the sole king and lawgiver of it, who has made sufficient provision for its well-being to the end of the world. It does not appear in the New Testament, that the church is empowered to mend or alter the constitution of Christ, by creating new officers, or making new laws, though the Christian world has ventured upon it. Christ gave his church, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, for the perfecting the saints, and edifying his body; but the successors of the apostles in the government of the church, apprehending these not sufficient, have added patriarchs, cardinals, deans, archdeacons, canons, and other officials. The church is represented in Scripture as a spiritual body ; her ordinances, pri- vileges, and censures, being purely such ; but later ages have wrought the civil powers into her constitution, and kept men within her pale, by all the terrors of this world, as, fines, impri- sonments, banishments, fire, and sword. It is the peculiar excel- lence of the gospel -worship to be plain and simple, free from the yoke of Jewish ceremonies; but the antichristian powers, thinking this a defect, have loaded it with numberless ceremonies of their own invention ; and though there are laws in Scripture sufficient for the direction of the church, as constituted by Christ and his apostles, they have thought fit to add so many volumes of ecclesi- astical laws, canons, and injunctions, as have confounded, if not subverted, the laws of Christ. Whereas if men considered the church as a spiritual body, con- stituted by Christ its sole lawgiver for spiritual purposes, they would then see that it had no concern with their civil rights, pro- perties, and estates, nor any power to force men to be of its com- munion, by the pains and penalties of this world. The laws' of the New Testament would appear sufficient for the well-being of such a society ; and in cases where there arc no particular rules or in- junctions, that it is the will of Christ and his apostles, there should THE PUKITAKS. SG5 be liberty and mutual forbearance ; there would then be no oc- casion for Christian courts, as tliey are called, nor for the inter- position of human authority, any farther than to keep the peace. Upon the whole, as far as any cliurch is jroverned by the laws and precepts of the New Testament, so far is it a Church of Christ ; but when it sets up its own by-laws as terms of communion, or works the policy of the civil magistrate into its constitution, it is so far a creature of the state. Mr. Hooker's two last propositions are inconsistent with the first principles of the Reformation, viz. that all that are born within the confines of an established church, and are ba])tized into it, are bound to submit to its ecclesiastical laws under such penalties as the church in her wisdom shall direct. Must I then be of the religion of the country where I am born ? that is, at Rome a Papist, in Saxony a Lutheran, in Scotland a Presbyteiian, and in England a diocesan prelatist ; and this under such penalties as the churcli in her wisdom shall think fit? Must I believe as the church believes, and submit to her laws right or wrong ? Have I no right, as a man and a Christian, to judge and act for myself, as long as 1 continue a loyal and faithful subject to my prince? Surely reli- gious principles and church-communion should be the eflfect of examination and a deliberate choice, or they lose their name, and degenerate into hypocrisy or atheism. From general principles Mr. Hooker proceeds to vindicate the particular rites and ceremonies of the church, and to clear them from the exceptions of the Puritans ; which may easily be done when he has proved, that the church has a discretionary power to appoint what ceremonies and establish what order she thinks fit ; he may then vindicate not only the ceremonies of the church of England, but all those of Rome, for no doubt that church alleges all their ceremonies conducive to her well-being, and not incon- sistent with the laws of Christ*. This year died Dr. John Aylmer, bishop of London, whose character has been sufficiently drawn in this history ; he was born in Norfolk, educated in Cambridge, and in queen INIary's reign an exile for religion ; he was such a little man, that Fuller f says, when the searchers were clearing the ship in which he made his escape, the merchant put him into a great wine-butt that had " To Mr. Neal's remarks on the principles of the Ecclesiastical Polity, it may- be added, that how just and conclusive soever those principles are in themselves, they do not, they cannot apply, to the vindication of our religious establishment, till it be proved that its ceremonies and laws were tixed by the church. In what- ever sense the word church is used ; this is not the fact. Whether you understand by it, " a congregation of faithful men," or "all ecclesiastical persons,'' or "an order of men who are set apart by Christianity, and dedicated to this very purpose of public instruction," — in neither sense were the forms and opinions of our esta- blished religion settled by the church. They originated with royal pleasure : they have chanfjed as the will of our ]>rinces hath changed ; they have been settled by acts of parliaments, formed illegally, corrupted by pensions, and overawed by j)rero- gative, and they constitute part of the statute law of the land. See my Letters to t!.e Rtv. Dr. Sturges, 1782, p. 16—28. -En. f Fuller's Worthies, b. 2. p. 548. 366 HISTORY OF a partition in tlie middle, so that Mr. Aylmer sat enclosed in the hinder part, while the searchers drank of the wine which they saw drawn out of the head on the other part ; he was of an active, busy spirit, quick in his language, and, after his advancement, of a stout and imperious behaviour : in his younger days he was inclined to Puritanism, but when he was made a bishop he became a resolute champion of the hierarchy, and a bitter persecutor of his former friends. In his latter days he was very covetous, and a little too lax in his morals : he usually played at bowls on Sundays in the afternoons ; and used such language at his game, as justly ex- posed his character to reproach ; but with all these blemishes, the writer of his life, Mr. Strype, will have him a learned, pious, and humble bishop. He died at Fulham, June 3, 1594, in the seventy- fourth year of his age*. Aylmer was succeeded by Dr. Fletcher bishop of Worcester, who in his primary visitation gave out twenty-seven articles of« inquiry to the churchwardens concerning their preachers ; as, whe- ther they prayed for the queen as supreme head over all persons and causes within her dominions, ecclesiastical and temporal ? — whether they were learned — or frequented conventicles— or taught innovations — or commended the new discipline — or spoke in de- rogation of any part of the common prayer — or did not administer the sacrament in their own persons at certain times of the year ? &c. By these, and such-like inquiries, the prisons, which had been lately cleared, were filled again ; for by an account sent to the queen from the ecclesiastical commissioners towards the close of this year, it appears that in the Marshalsea, Newgate, the Gate- house, Bridewell, the Fleet, the compters, the White-lion, and the King's-bench, there were eighty-nine prisoners for religion ; some of them were Popish recusants, and the rest Protestant Noncon- formists ; of whom twenty-four had been committed by the ecclesi- astical commission, and the rest by the council and the bishops' courts. But his lordship's proceedings were quickly interrupted, by his falling under her majesty's displeasure a few months after his translation, for marrying a second wife, which the queen looked upon as indecent in an elderly clergyman ; for this she banished him the court, and commanded the archbishop to suspend him * This prelate had been preceptor to lady Jaue Grey. During his residence in Switzerland, he assisted John Fox, iu translating his Martyrology into Latin. It was usual with him, when he observed his audience to be inattentive, to take a Hebrew Bible out of his pocket and read them a few verses, and then resume his discourse. It is related, as an instance of his courage, that he had a tooth drawn to encourage the queen to submit to the like operation. But it is more to the honour of his judgment and patriotism, that notwithstanding his rigour and cruelty in ecclesiastical matters, he had and avowed just sentiments concerning the consti- tution of the English government, and the power of parliaments : of whom he said, that "if they used their privileges the king can do nothing without them : if he do, it is his fault in usurping it, and their folly in permitting it. Wherefore, in my judg- ment, those that in king Henry's days would not grant him that proclamation should have the force of a statute, were good fathers of the country, and worthy of com- mendation iu defending their liberty.'' Strype as quoted in British Biogr. vol. 3. p. 240, 241, and Granger's Biogr. History, vol. 1. p. 208, 209. THE PUUITANS. 367 from his bishoprick ; but after six months, lier majesty bein HISToltV (U- But btill the ecclesiastical courts were an insufferable griev- ance: the oppressions which peojile underwent from the bottom- less deep of the canon law, put them upon removing their causes into Westminster-hall, by getting prohibitions to stay proceedings in the bishops' courts, or in the high-commission. This awakened the archbishop, who, in order to support the civilians, drew up certain queries to be considered by the lords and judges of the land touching prohibitions ; of which this was the principal, " that seeing ecclesiastical authority is as truly vested in the crown as temporal, whether the queen'*s temporal authority should any more restrain her ecclesiastical, than her ecclesiastical should her temporal ? And seeing so many and so great personages with s(mie others, are trusted to do her majesty service in her eccle- siastical commission, whether it be convenient, that an offender, ready to be censured, should obtain, and publicly throw into court, a prohibition, to the delay of justice, and to the disgrace and disparagement of those who serve freely, without all fee therein." The archbishop caused a list to be made of divers cases, wherein the Christian court, as he called it, had been in- terrupted by the temporal jurisdiction ; and of many causes that had been taken out of the hands of the bishops' courts, the high- commission, and the court of delegates; the former authorized by immediate commission from the queen, and the latter by a special commission upon an appeal to her court of chancery*. But notwithstanding all these efforts of Whitgift and his suc- cessor Bancroft, the number of prohibitions increased every year; the nobility, gentry, and judges, being too wise to subject their estates and liberties to a number of artful civilians, versed in a codex or body of laws, of most uncertain authority, and strangers to the common and statute law. without the check of a prohibition ; when it was notorious, that the canon law had been always since the Reformation controlled by the laws and sta- tutes of the realm. Thus the civilians sunk in their business under the two next archbishops, till Laud governed the church, who terrifying the judges from granting prohibitions, the spi- ritual courts, star-chamber, council-table, and high-commissi- oners, rode triumphant, fining, imprisoning, and banishing, men at their pleasure, till they became as terrible as the Spanish In- quisition, and brought upon the nation all the confusions and desolations of a civil war. From this time to the queen's death, there was a kind of cessa- tion of arms between the church and Puritans ; the combatants were out of breath, or willing to wait for better times. Some apprehended that the Puritans were vanquished, and their numbers lessened by the severe execution of the penal laws; whereas it will appear, by a survey in the beginning of the next reign, that the nonconforming clergy were about fifteen hundred. But the * Life of Whitgift, p. 537. Tin-: FUKiTANs. 877 true reason was this, the queen was advanced in years, and could not live long in a course of nature, and the next heir to the crown being a Presbyterian, the bishops were cautious of acting against a party for whom his majesty had declared, not knowing what revenge he might take, when he was fixed on the throne ; and the Puritans were quiet, in hopes of great matters to be done for them upon the expected change. Notwithstanding all former repulses from court, the queen's last parliament, which sat in the year IfiOl, renewed their attacks upon the ecclesiastical courts; a bill being brought in to examine into bishops' leases, and to disable them from taking fines ; another against pluralities and nonresidents ; and another against com- missaries and archdeacons' courts. Multitudes of complaints came to the house against the proceedings of the ordinaries ex mero officio, without due presentments preceding, and against the fre- quent keeping their courts, so that the churchwardens were some- times cited to two or three spiritual courts at once*; complaint was made of their ciiarging the country with quarterly bills ; of the great number of apparitors, and petty summoners, who seized upon people for trifling offences; of the admission of curates by officials and commissaries, without the bishop's knowledge, and without testimonials of their conversation ; of scandalous commu- tations of penance, and divers abuses of the like kind ; but the queen would not suffer the house to debate them, referring them to the archbishop, who wrote to his brethren the bishops, to endeavour as much as possible to reform the above-mentioned grievances, which, says he-f-, have produced multitudes of com- plaints in parliament; and had they not been prevented by great circumspection, and promise of careful reformation, there might perhaps have ensued the taking away of the whole, or most of those courts. " So prudently diligent was the archbishop (says Mr. Strype) to keep up the jurisdiction of the bishops' courts, and the wealthy estate of the clergy by preserving nonresidences to them." There was another bill brought into the house, to punish volun- tary absence from church ; the forfeiture was to be twelvepence each Sunday, to be levied by distress, by a warrant from a justice of peace ; but the bill was opposed, because there was a severe law already against recusants, of 20/. per month ; and because, if this bill should pass, a justice of peace's house would, like a quarter- sessions, be crowded with a multitude of informers : it was like- wise against Magna Charta, which entitles every man to be tried by his peers, whereas by this act, two witnesses before a justice of peace were sufficient ^. The bill however was engrossed, and being- put to the question, the noes carried it by a single voice ; upon which the yeas said the speaker was with them, which made the number even. The (picstion was then put whether the speaker had a voice, which being carried in the negative, the bill miscarried. * Life of Whitgift, p. 546, 547. t Life of Whitgift, p. 547, 549. X C'ollyer's Eccl. Hist. |>. fI67. 378 HISTORY OF The convocation did nothing but give the queen four subsidies to be collected in four years, and receive an exhortation from the archbishop to observe the canons passed in the last convocation. They met October the 18th, and were dissolved with the parlia- ment December the 19th following. This year [1602] died the reverend and learned Mr. Wm. Perkins, born at Marston in Warwickshire in the first year of queen Elizabeth, and educated in Christ's college, Cambridge, of which he was fellow : he was one of the most famous practical Avriters and preachers of his age ; and being a strict Calvinist, he published several treatises in favour of those doctrines, which involved him in a controversy with Arminius, then professor of diyinity at Leyden, that continued to his death. He was a Puritan Nonconformist, and a favourer of the discipline, for which he was once or twice brought before the high-commission ; but his peace- able behaviour, and great fame in the learned world, procured him a dispensation from the persecutions of his brethren, Mr. Perkins was a little man, and wrote with his left hand, being lame of his right. Plis works, which were printed in three volumes folio, shew him to have been a most pious, holy, and industrious divine, considering he lived only forty-four years*. To sum up the state of religion throughout this long reign. It is evident that the parliament, the people, and great numbers of the inferior clergy, were for carrying the Reformation farther than the present establishment. The first bishops came into it with this view ; they declared against the Popish habits and cere- monies, and promised to use all their interest with the queen for their removal ; but how soon they forgot themselves, when they were warm in their chairs, the foregoing history has discoveredf. Most of the first reformers were of Erastian principles, looking upon the chui-ch as a mere creature of the state : they gave up every thing to the crown, and yielded to the supreme magistrate the absolute direction of the consciences, or at least of the reli- gious profession, of all his subjects. They acknowledged only two orders of divine institution, viz. bishops or priests, and deacons. They admitted the ordinations of foreign churches by mere pres- byters, till towards the middle of this reign, when their validity began to be disputed and denied. Whitgift was the first who defended the hierarchy, from the practice of the third, fourth, and fifth centuries, when the Roman empire became Christian ; but Bancroft divided off the bishops from the priesthood, and advanced them into a superior order by divine right, with the * Many of his works were translated into Dutch, Spanish, French, and Italian, and are still in estimation in Germany. Mr. Orton, who by his mother's side descended in a direct line from Mr. Perkins's elder brother, speaks of him as an excellent writer, clear and judicious ; and recommends his works to all ministers, especially young ones, as affording large materials for composition. Orton's Letters to a Young Clergyman, p. ;W, 40. — Ed. f Bishop Warburton informs us, from Selden de Synedriis, that Erastus's famous book De Excommunicatione was purchased by Whitgift of Erastus's widow in Ger- many, and put by him to the press in London, under fictitious names of the place and piiiiter, vSupplcmtntal A'olume to "Warburton's Works, p. 47,'H. — Ed. THE PUKI'l'ANS. 379 sole power of ordination, and the keys of discipline ; so that from his time there were reckoned three orders of clerfjy in the English hierarchy, viz. bishops, priests, and deacons. Thus the church advanced in her clanns, and removed by degrees to a greater distance from the foreign Protestants. The controversy with the Puritans had only a small beginning, viz. the imposing of the Popish habits and a few indifferent cere- monies ; but it opened by degrees into a reformation of discipline, which all confessed was wanting ; and at last the doctrinal articles were debated. The queen and the later bishops would not part with a pin out of the hierarchy, nor leave a latitude in the most trifling ceremonies, but insisted upon an exact uniformity both in doctrine and ceremonies, that all might unite in the public standard. The Puritans, in their writings and conferences, attempted to shew the defects of the establishment from Scripture, and from the earliest ages of the church ; and what they suffered for it has been in part related, the suspensions and deprivations of this lono- reiffn amountinon to several thousands ; but when it appeared that nothing would be abated, and that penal laws were multiplied and rigorously executed, they endeavoured to erect a sort of voluntary discipline within the church, for the ease and satisfaction of their own consciences, being unwilling to sepa- rate; till at length the violence of persecution drove some of them into the extremes of Brownism, which divided the Puritans, and gave rise to a new controversy, concerning the necessity of a sepa- ration from the established church, of which we shall hear more hereafter ; but under all their hardships their loyalty to the queen •was untainted, and their behaviour peaceable; they addressed tlie queen and parliament and bishops for relief, at sundry times; and remonstrated against the arbitrai'y proceedings of the spiritual court, making use of no other weapons but prayers and tears, attended with Scripture and argument. The chief principles of the Puritans have been already related : they were no enemies to the name or function of a bishop, provided he was no more than Trpoea-rcor, or a stated president of the college of presbyters in his diocess, and managed the affairs of it witii their concurrence and assistance. They did not object against prescribed forms of prayer, provided a latitude was indulged the minister to alter or vary some expressions; and to make use of a prayer of his own conception before and after sermon : nor had ihey an aversion to any decent and distinct habits for the clergy that were not derived from Popery. But upon the whole they were the most resolute Protestants in the nation, zealous Calvinists, warm and affectionate preachers, and determined enemies to Popery, and to every thing that had a tendency towards it. It is not pretended, that the Puritans were without their failings; no, they were men of like passions and infirmities with their adver- saries; and while they endeavoured to avoid one extreme, they might fall into another; their zeal for their platform of dibcij)line 380 mSTOKY OF would, I fear, have betrayed them into the imposition of it upon others, if it had been established by law. Their notions of the civil and religious rights of mankind were narrow and confused, and derived too much from the theocracy of the Jews, which was now at an end. Tiieir behaviour was severe and rigid, far removed fron) the fashionable freedoms and vices of the age : and possibly they might be too censorious, in not making those distinctions between youth and age, grandeur and mere decency, as the nature and circumstances of things would admit ; but with all their fanlts, they were the most pious and devout people in the land ; men of prayer, both in secret and public, as well as in their families ; their manner of devotion was fervent and solemn, depending on the assistance of the divine Spirit, not only to teach them how to pray, but what to pray for as they ought. They had a profound reverence for the holy name of God, and were great enemies not only to profane swearing, but to "foolish talking and jesting, which are not convenient;" they were strict observers of the Christian sabbath or Lord's day, spending the whole of it in acts of public and private devotion and charity. It was the distin- guishing mark of a Puritan in these times, to see him going to church twice a day with his Bible under his arm : and while others were at plays and interludes, at revels, or walking in the fields, or at the diversions of bowling, fencing, &c. on the evening of the sabbath, these with their families were employed in reading the Scriptures, singing psalms, catechising their children, repeating sermons, and prayer : nor was this only the work of the Lord's day, but they had their hours of family devotion on the week-days, esteeming it their dut}'^ to take care of the souls as well as the bodies of their servants. They were circumspect as to all the excesses of eating, drinking, apparel, and lawful diversions, being frugal in housekeeping, industrious in their particular callings, honest and exact in their dealings, and solicitous to give to every one his own. These were the people who were branded with the name of Precisians, Puritans, Schismatics, enemies to God and their country, and throughout the course of this reign underwent cruel mockings, bonds, and imprisonment. Sir Francis Walsingham has given a summary account of the queen"'s policy towards them, in a letter to Monsieur Cretoy, which I shall transcribe in his own words*. "^ 1 find (says sir Francis) that the queen"'s proceedings, both against Papists and Puritans, are grounded upon these two principlesf : * Mr. Neal, in his Review, observes, that sir Francis wrote this letter as secretary of state and as the queen's servant, endeavouring to vindicate her behaviour towards Nonconformists to a foreign court ; he must be allowed therefore to put the most favourable construction on his royal mistress's conduct, and acquit her in the best manner he is able. It also deserves to be remarked, that sir Francis, dying April 1590, did )iot see the severities of the last thirteen years of queen Elizabeth's reign, which were by much the sharpest and most cruel. Neal's Review, 4to edition, p. 875.— Ed. . t Burnet's Hist. Rcf. vol. 3. p. 419. THE PURITAN'S. 881 " The one, that consciences are not to bo forced but to be won, and reduced by force of truth, with the aid of time and use of all good means of instruction and persuasion. " The other, that causes of conscience, when they exceed their bounds, and grow to be matter of faction, lose their nature : and that sovereign princes ought distinctly to punish their practices and contempt, though coloured with the pretence of conscience and religion. " According to these principles her majesty behaved towards the Papists with great mildness, not liking to make a window into their hearts, except the abundance of them ovei flowed into overt acts of disobedience, in impugning her supremacy. When the pope excommunicated her, she only defended herself against his bulls; but when she was threatened with an invasion, and the Papists were altered from being Papists in conscience to being Papists in faction, she was then obliged to provide severer laws for the security of her people. " For the other party which have been offensive to the state, though in another degree, and which call themselves reformers, and we commonly call Puritans, this hath been by the proceeding towards them : a great while, when they inveighed against such abuses in the church, as pluralities, nonresidents, and the like, their zeal was not condemned, only their violence was sometimes censured. When they refused the use of some ceremonies and rites as superstitious, ti.ey were tolerated with much connivance and gentleness; yea, when they called in (juestion the superiority of bishops, and pretended to a democracy in the church, their pro- positions were considered, and by contrary writings debated and discussed; yet all this while it was perceived that tlieir course was dangerous and very popular; as because Papistry was odious, therefore it was ever in their mouths, that they sought to purge the church from the relics of Papistry, a thing acceptable to the people, who love ever to run from one extreme to another. " Because multitudes of rogues and poverty was an eyesore, and a dislike to every man, therefore they put into people's heads, that if discipline were planted, there would be no vagabonds, no beggars, a thing very plausible ; and in like manner they promised the people many of the impossible wonders of their discipline ; be- sides, they opened to the people a way to government by their consistories and presbyteries, a thing though in consequence no less prejudicial to the liberties of private men than to the sove- reignty of princes, yet in first shew very popular; nevertheless this, except it were in some few that entered into extreme contempt, was borne with, because they pretended in dutiful manner to make propositions, and to leave it to the providence of God and the authority of the magistrate. " But now of late years, when there issued from them [some], that affirmed the consent of the magistrate was not to be attended ; when under ])reten(e of a confe.-sion to avoid slander and iniputa- 382 HISTOUY OF tions, they combined themselves by classes and subscriptions ; when they descended into that vile and base means of defacing of the church by ridiculous pasquiis: when they began to make many subjects in doubt to take oaths, which is one of the funda- mental parts of justice in this land, and in all places; when they beoan both to vaunt of their strength and number of their partisans, and followers, and to use comminations, that their cause would prevail through uproar and violence, then it appeared to be no more zeal, no more conscience, but mere faction and division ; and therefore, though the state were compelled to hold somewhat a harder hand to restrain them than before, yet was it with as great moderation as the peace of the state or church could permit. Thus her majesty has always observed the two rules before men- tioned, in dealing tenderly with consciences, and yet in discovering faction from conscience, and softness from singularity." The false colourings of this letter are easily discerned ; it admits that the consciences of men ought not to be forced but when they grow into faction ; that is, to an inconsistency with the peace and safety of the civil government ; and was there any thing like this in the petitions, addresses, and submissive behaviour of the Puritans ? but they did not attend the consent of the magistrate. Let the reader judge by the foregoing history, whether they did not attend and apply for it several years ; and if, after all, the consent of the magistrate must be waited for, before we follow the dictates of our consciences, it is easy to see there would have been no reformation in the Protestant world. But the queen's worst maxim was, that while she pretended not to force the consciences of her subjects, she obliged them under the severest penalties to come to church, and make an outward profession of that way of worship which they inwardly disallowed. This was to establish hypocrisy by a law, and to force men to deal falsely with God and their own consciences, in matters of the most solemn importance. ^ Practical religion was during all this reign at a very low ebb ; tlie greatest part of the clergy being barely capable of reading prayers and a homily. In the remoter countries and villages, the people were either Papists, or no better than heathens. " If any amono- the clergy or laity were remarkably pious, strict observers of the sabbath, and declared enemies of profaneness and Popery (says Mr. Osburn), they were either real Puritans, or branded with that invidious name; and great numbers of the inferior clergy and people in cities and corporations, were of this number;"" the conforming clergy lost ground ; and the order of bishops, by spending their zeal more about the external forms of worship, than in painful preaching and encouraging practical religion, grew into contempt ;- Popery gained ground in the countiy, by the diligence of the missionaries, and the ignorance and laziness of the established clergy ; whilst Puritanism prevailed in cities and corporations : so that, as archbishop Parker observed, the queen was the only friend of the church ; and supported it by a vigorous THE PURITANS, 383 execution of the penal laws, and by resolving to admit of no motion for reformation, but what sliould arise from herself. Thus things continued to the queen's death : her majesty was grown old and infirm, and under a visible decay of natural spirits, some say for the loss of the earl of Essex, whom she had lately beheaded; but otliers, fi-om a just indignation to see herself neg- lected by those who were too ready to worship the rising sun. This threw her into a melancholy state, attended with a drowsiness" and heaviness in all her limbs; which was followed with a loss of appetite, and all the marks of an approaching dissolution : upon this she retired to Richmond ; and having caused her inauguration ring, which was grown into the flesh, and become painful, to be filed off, she languished till the 24th of March, and then died in the seventieth year of her age, and forty-fifth of her reign. Queen Elizabeth was a great and successful princess at home, and the support of the Protestant interest abroad, while it was in its infancy ; for without her assistance, neither the Hugonots in France nor the Dutch reformers could have stood their ground : she assisted the Protestants of Scotland against their Popish queen, and the princes of Germany against the Emperor; whilst at the same time she demanded an absolute submission from her own subjects ; and would not tolerate that religion at home, which she countenanced and supported abroad. As to her own religion, she affected a middle way between Popery and Puntanism, though her majesty was more inclined to the former ; disliking the secu- lar pretensions of the court of Rome over foreign states, though she was in love with the pomp and splendour of their worship : on the other hand, she ap])roved of the doctrines of the foreign reformed churches, but thought they had stripped religion too much of its ornaments, and made it look with an unfriendly aspect upon the sovereign power of princes. She understood not the rights of conscience in matters of religion ; and is therefore justly chargeable with persecuting principles. More sanguinary laws were made in her reign, than in any of her predecessors' : her hands were stained with the blood of Papists and Puritans ; the former were executed for denying her supremacy, and the latter for sedition or nonconformity. Her greatest admirers blame her for plundering the church of its revenues, and for keeping several sees vacant many years together for the sake of their profits ; as the bishopricks of Ely, Oxford, and others ; which last was without a bishop for twenty-two years. The cjueen was devout at prayers, yet seldom or never heai-d sermons except in Lent ; and would often say, that two or three preachers in a county were sufficient. She had high notions of the sovereign authority of princes, and of her own absolute supremacy in church-affairs: and being of opi- nion that methods of severity were lawful to bring her subjects to an outward uniformity, she countenanced all the engines of per- secution, such as spiritual courts, high-commission, and star- chamber, and stretcheii her prerogative to support them beyond 384 HISTORY OF the laws, and against the sense of the nation*. However, not- withstanding all these blemishes, queen Elizabeth stands upon record as a wise and politic princess, for delivering the kingdom from the difficulties in which it was involved at her accession ; for preserving the Protestant Reformation against the potent attempts of the pope, the emperor, and the king of Spain abroad, and the queen of Scots and her Popish subjects at home ; and for advanc- ing the renown of the F!nglish nation beyond any of her prede- cessors. Her majesty held the balance of power in Ein-ope, and was in high esteem with all foreign princes, the greatest part of her reign ; and though her Protestant subjects were divided about church-affairs, they all discovered a high veneration for her royal person and government ; on which accounts she was the glory of the age in which she lived, and will be the admiration of postrrity. Considering the complexion of that series of events, through M'hich Mr. NeaPs history conducts the reader, he must be allowed to have drawn the character of queen Elizabeth with great fairness and candour. A later ecclesiastical historian, a learned writer of our establishment, has described the leading features of her reign and principles in stronger and bolder terms of reprobation. With Mr. Neal, he has allowed to her the merit of " bring a wise and politic princess, for delivering the kingdom from the difficulties in which it was involved at her accession, for preserving the Protestant reformation against the potent enemies which attempted to destroy it, and for advancing the renown of the English nation beyond any of her predece-^sors : "" yet he taxes her with many flagrant instances of weakness and misrule ; in which her ministers had no share, and which they had neither power nor interest enough to prevent. Having enumerated these, to them he observes must be added *' the severity with which she treated her Protestant subjects by her high-commission court, against law, against liberty, and against the rights of human nature. If these are not (sa3's he) flagrant instances of weakness and misrule to which her ministers never encouraged, but ofttimes dissuaded her as far as they durst and. which were not owing to sudden starts of passion, but to her own tyrannical di'^position, then all arbitrary power may be defended as just and lawful. The passion of Elizabeth was to preserve her crown and prerogative : and every measure which she herself directed, or approved when projected by her ministers, was sub- servient to these two purposes." To this account " we are to place all the measures, which she directed and she alone, against the disturbers of the uniformity which was established. To her alone it was owing at first and not to her bishops, that no concession or indulgence was granted to tender consciences. She understood her prerogative, which was as dear to her as her crown and life: but she understood nothing of the rights of conscience in matters of religion ; and like the absurd king her father, she would have * Fuller's Worthies, b. 2. p. 313. THE PURITAXS. 38o no opinion in rclij^ion, acknowlod^oil at least, but her own. She restored the Kefornuition, it is true, and I believe, restored it upon principle : she was, likewise, at the head of the Protestant religion abroad, in assisting those who professed it in France, and the Netherlands, as well as Scotland, and it was her interest to do so; but where her interest called upon her to neglect the re- formed religion, she did it without scruple. She differed from lier sister in this, that she would not part with her supremacy upon any terms : and, as she had much greater abilities for govern- ing, so she applied herself more to promote the strength and glory ofher dominion, than Mary did: but she had as much of the bigot and tyrant in her as her sister, though the object of that bigotry was ])rerogative and not religion.""* If facts have any meaning and force, those which we have now reviewed abundantly confirm this representation of the spirit and principles of queen Elizabeth. Yet a celebrated modern vvriterf has resolved her conduct to her Puritan subjects into " her good taste, which gave her a sense of order and decorum, and her sound judgment, which taught her to abhor innovations." \Vhat ! Can the severest acts of oppression and cruelty, can a series of arbitrary and unfeeling outrages committed against the property, lives, and rights of men, take shelter under the sanction of good taste and a sound judgment ? " Nature and religion reclaim.'" "If (says an accurate and judicious writer) it be once laid down as a maxim, that a sound judgment will teach a monarch to abhor innovations, and if his power be but little subject to control, one does not know to what lengths it might proceed, so as to be exerted not only in matters of church- government ; but likewise, perhaps, against those who would introduce 'enlarged' or rather libertine 'senti- ments' about religion. Such persons., I doubt, would soon give up the wisdom and equity of this maxim concerning innovations, if they were in danger of having the concluding section of the 3oth of Elizabeth, cap. 1. put in execution against them:t^." Another writer has thrown the blame of the separation from the church of England, and of the evils of which it was productive, on the Puritans. "It was more owing to the weakness and want of judgment in the Puritans, who could think such things were sinful about which the Scriptures were wholly silent, and who desired a great majority to give way to the humour of a few, than to the superstition and want of temper in the queen and the archbishop, who could press such indifferent rites with that severity, before the minds of men had time to be reconciled to them §.''' " To this representation it may be replied. Was it any thing unreasonable that the few should desire the majority not to oppress and bind their consciences in matters about which, it was allowed, the Scrip- * Warner's Ecclesiastical History of England, vol. 2. p. 474, 475, f Mr. Hume, X Letters on Mr. Hume's History of Great Britain, printed at Edinburgh, 1756 page 22(j. § Warner's Ecclesiastical History, vol. 2. p. 431. vol.. I. C C 386 HISTORY OF tures were silent, and of course where Christ had left them free '^ Or could it be deemed weakness and want of judgment, that they requested only to be permitted to stand fast in this liberty ? Need a Protestant divine be reminded, that to add to the religion of Christ is sinful : and to enforce these additions, and bv severe penalties, is to exercise a forbidden jurisdiction in his church ? Can it be deemed weakness and want of judgment to see this criminality, and to resist this yoke ? But if to scruple the use of the habits indicated weakness and want of judgment, yet a con- scientious adherence to the dictates of their own minds, the integrity which would not allow them to adopt habits or cere- monies, that they thought or suspected to be sinful, should not be reproached, but applauded. An apostle would on such an occa- sion have said, that "Whatever is not of faith is sin ;" and " Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth." Why should the rejection, or even a hesitation about the use of habits, which had no divine authority, but a Popish original, and by the mystical signification affixed to them led to superstition, be resolved into weakness and want of judgment ? It argued rather a true discernment, a just estimate of things, and a comprehensive view of the tendency and progress of superstition, when once admitted. The weakness, I should conceive, lay on the other side, where these things were held in such high account, and deemed of such essential importance, as to be the ground of the severest laws to enforce the use of them. The cruelty of the imposition aside, the very imposition itself was folly. For a mighty prince, a convoca- tion of tlie clergy, a bench of bishops, and the legislature of the nation, to give all their attention to support the reputation of the wearing of a hood and a surplice ; to employ all the earnestness of their minds, the weight of their character, and the dignity of their rank, about such little things, this is a ridiculous transaction ; it betrays the thoughts and passions of a child. But when to this impotence of judgment oppression and tyranny are added, our indignation is raised ! It is an argument of the rationality and good sense of the general principles, by which the Puritans professed to be governed, that " these very principles (as a late writer observes) were the same which rightly influenced the conduct of the reformers in other instances; for example, in their removing the altars out of the churches and setting up tables in the place of them.* Namely, that the retaining altars wovdd serve only to nourish in the people''s minds the superstitious opinion of a propitiatory mass, and would administer an occasion of offence and division. '"" A like argument in relation to the ancient habits was argued by bishop Hooper, so early as the year 1550 :f and it was thought of weight in 1562 by one half of the house of convocation.^ * See our author, p. 54, 55, of this volume. f See the same, p. 150. X Letters on Mr. Hume's History, p. 212, 213. THE PURITANS. 387 The conduct of the Puritans, it appears from lience, was wisely adapted to tlie times in which they lived: in which the habits had a tendency and influence ihat rendered the contest about them far from beino- such a frivolous affair, as many are now disposed to consider it. For tlien a mystical signification was affixed to them by the church of liome : and there was a prevailing notion of their necessity and efficacy in the administration of the clergy. It is also evident, that they gave the queen and her courtiers a handle to establish and exercise a despotic power : they were the instru- ments by which the court of high-commission endeavoured to rivet on the people the chains of tyranny. The opposition of the Puri- tans, therefore, may be vindicated on the largest principles. It was a bold and vigorous stand against arbitrary power, which justly calls for resistance in its first outset and its most trivial demands, if men would not give it room to place its foot and erect its banner. It is a pertinent and very sensible remark of a great author, "that our ancestors, the old Puritans, had the same merit in opposing the imposition of the surplice, that Hampden had in opposing the levying of ship-money. In neither case was the thing itself objected to, so much as the authority that enjoined it, and the danger of the precedent. And it appears to us, that the man, who is as tenacious of his religious as he is of his civil liberty, will oppose them both with equal firmness*." The reign of queen Elizabeth affords many instances of the connexion between civil and religious liberty : and furnishes striking documents of her disposition and endeavours to violate both. In this view the behaviour of the Puritans was eventually attended with the most important effects. — Mr. Hume, who treats their principles as frivolous and their conduct as ridiculous, has bestowed on them, at the same time, the highest eulogium his pen could well dictate. " So absolute (says he) was the authority of the crown, that the precious spark of liberty had been kindled, and was ])reserved, by the Puritans alone; and it was to this sect that the English owe the whole freedom of their constitution f." While it is not asserted, that all the Puritans acted upon such enlarged views of things; while it is granted, that the " notions' of numbers, probably of the majority, of them concerning " the civil and religious rights of mankind, were dark and confused ;" yet it should be allowed that some of tliem, for instance Fox the martyrologist, acted upon liberal principles : and all of them felt the oppression of the day, so as, by their own experience of its iniquity and evils, to be instigated to oppose them ; though they iWd not apply the principles, which were thus generated in the mind, to their full extent. The charge brought against the Puritans, for satirical pamphlets, libels, and abusive language, was in some instances well founded . * Dr. Priestley's View of the Priiirijiles and Conduct of the Protestant Dissenters, page fifi. t Hume's History of Engbnd, vol. .'). p. 189. 8vo. ed. 176.i. 2 C'J 388 HISTORY OF But it by no means, justly, lay against the whole party. "The moderate Puritans publicly disowned the libels for which they were accused, yet they were brought before the star-chamber. The determinations of this court were not according to any statute law of the land, but according to the queen's will and pleasure : yet they were as binding upon the subject as an act of parliament, which the whole nation exclaimed against, as a mark of the vilest slavery *." Such oppression, such violent outrages against the security, the conscience, and the lives of men, were sufficient to irritate their minds, and to provoke them to reviling and abusive language. Much allowance should be made for men, who were galled and inflamed by severe sufferings. But, independently of this considera- tion, we should judge of the strain and spirit of their writings, not bv the more polite manners and liberal spirit of the present age, but by the times in which they lived ; when, on all subjects, a coarse and rough and even abusive style was common from authors of learning and rank. Bishop Aylmer, in a sermon at court, speaking of the fair sex said, " Women are of two sorts, some of them are wiser, better learned, discreeter, and niorecon^ stant, than a number of men ; but another and a worse sort of them, and the most part, are fond, foolish, wanton flibbergibs, tattlers, triflers, wavering, witless, without counsel, feeble, careless, rash, proud, dainty, nice, talebearers, eavesdroppers, rumour-raisers, evil-tongued, worse-minded, and in every wise doltified with the dregs of the devil's dunghillf." If a bishop, when preaching before the queen, could clothe his sentiment in such words, on a subject where this age would study peculiar politeness of style ; can we wonder that reviling language should proceed, in the warmth of controversy, from those who were suffering under the rod of oppression ? The other side, who had not the same provocations, did not come behind the most abusive of the Puritan writers, in this kind of oratory. In a tract, ascribed to archbishop Parker, the Non- conformists are described and condemned, as " schismatics, bellie- gods, deceivers, flatterers, fools, such as have been unlearnedlie brought up in profane occupations ; puffed up in arrogancie of themselves, chargeable to vanities of assertions : of whom it is feared that they make posthaste to be Anabaptists and libertines, gone out from us, but belike never of us ; differing not much from Donatists, shrinking and refusing ministers of London ; disturbers ; factious, wilful entanglers, and encumberers of the consciences of their herers, girdirs, nippers, scoffers, biters, snappers at superiors, having the spirit of irony, like to Audiani, smelling of Donatistrie, or of Papistrie, Rogatianes, Circumcellians, and Pelagians ;]:." * Warner's Ecclesiastical History, vol. 2. p. 463. t British Biography, vol. 3. p. 239. + Pierce's Vindication of the Dissenters, p. 62. THli I'UUITANS. 389 PART II.— CHAPTER I. IPTIOM THE DEMISE OF QUEEN ELIZABETH TO THE DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP BANCROFT. The royal house of the Stuarts has not been more calamitous to the English church and nation, in the male descendants, than successful and glorious in the female. The four kings of this line, while in power, were declared enemies of our civil constitu- tion ; they governed without law, levied taxes by the prerogative, and endeavoured to put an end to the very being of parliaments. With regard to religion ; the two first were neither sound Protes- tants nor good Catholics, but were for reconciling the two reli- gions, and meeting the Papists half way ; but the two last went over entirely to the church of Rome, and died professedly in her communion. The female branches of this family being married among foreign Protestants, were of a different stamp, being more inclined to Puritanism than Popery; one of them [Mary, eldest daughter of king Charles I.] was mother of the great king Wil- liam III. the glorious deliverer of these kingdoms from Popery and slavery ; and another [Elizabeth daughter of king James I.] was grandmother of his late majesty king George I. in Avhom the Protestant succession took place, and whose numerous descendants in the person and offspring of his present majesty, are the defence and glory of the whole Protestant interest in Europe. King James was thirty-six years of age when he came to the Eno-lish throne, having reigned in Scotland from his infancy. In the year 1589, he married the princess Anne, sister to the king of Denmark, by whom he had three children living at this time, Henry prince of Wales, who died before he was nineteen years of age [1612], Elizabeth married to the elector palatine 1613; and Charles, who succeeded his father in his kingdoms. His majesty's behaviour in Scotland raised the expectations and hopes of all parties; the Puritans relied upon his majesty's education; upon his subscribing the solemn league and covenant ; and upon various solemn repeated declarations, in particular one made in the gene- ral assembly at Edinburgh 1590; when standing with his bonnet off, and his hands lifted up to heaven, " he praised God that he was born in the time of the light of the gospel, and in such a place, as to be king of such a church, the sincerest [purest] kirk in the world. The church of Geneva (says he) keep Pasche and Yule [Easter and Christmas], what have they for them ? They have no institution. As for our neighbour kirk of England, their service is an evil-said mass in English ; they want nothing of the mass but the liftings. I charge you, my good ministers, doctors, elders, noMcs, gentlemen, and barons, to stand to your purity, 390 HISTORY OF and to exhort the people to do the same ; and I, forsooth, as long as 1 brook my life, shall maintain the same*." In his speech to the parliament 1598, he tells them, " that he minded not to bring in Papistical or Anglicane bishops t." Nay, upon his leaving Scotland, to take possession of the crown of England, he gave public thanks to God in the kirk of Edinburgh, " that he had left both kirk and kingdom in that state which he intended not to alter any ways, his subjects living in peace j." But all this was kingcraft, or else his majesty changed his principles with the climate. The Scots ministers did not approach him with the distant submission and reverence of tb.e English bishops, and therefore within nine months after he ascended the throne of England, he renounced presbytery, and established it for a maxim. No bishop, no king. So soon did this pious monarch renounce his principles (if he had any) and break through the most solemn vows and obligations ! When the long parliament addressed king Charles I. to set up presbytery in the room of episcopacy, his majesty objected his coronation oath, in which he had sworn to maintain the clergy in their rights and privileges ; but king James had no such scruples of conscience ; for without so much as ask- ing the consent of parliament, general assembly, or people, he entered upon the most effectual measures to subvert the kirk- discipline which he had sworn to maintain with hands lifted up to heaven, at his coronation, and had afterward solemnly sub- scribed with his queen and family, in the years 1581 and 1590§. The Papists put the king in remembrance, that he was born of Roman-Catholic parents, and had been baptized according to the rites and ceremonies of the church of Rome ; that his mother, of whom he usually spoke with reverence, was a martyr for that church; and that he himself, upon sundry occasions, had ex- pressed no dislike to her doctrines, though he disallowed of the • Calderwood's Hist, of the Church of Scotland, p. 256. f Ibid. p. 418. James, when settled on the English throne, talked a different language. Dr. Grey quotes different passages to this purport, with a view to invali- date Mr. Neal's authority. The fact is not, that Calderwood falsified, and Mr. Neal through prejudice adopted, his representations, but that James was a dissem- bler ; and, when he wrote what Dr. Grey produces from his works, had thrown oft' the mask he wore in Scotland. See Harris's Life of James I. p. 25-29 Ed. X Ibid. p. 47.3. § Bishop Warburton censures Mr. Neal for not giving, here, the provocation which the king had received from — what he styles " the villanous and tyrannical usage of the kirk of Scotland to him." On this censure it may be observed, that had Mr. Neal gone into the detail of the treatment the king had met with from the Scots clergy, besides the long digression into which it would have led him, it would not have eventually saved the reputation of the king. For Mr. Neal must have i-elated the causes of that behaviour. It arose from their jealousy, and their fears of his disposition to crush them and their religion ; founded on facts delivered to them by the English ministry, and from his favouring and employing known Papists. The violation of his solemn reiterated declarations, when he became king of Eng- land, shewed how just were those suspicions : and proved him to have been a dis- sembler. To these remarks it may be added, what provocation constrained him to give the public thanks and promise, with wliich he left Scotland. See Dr. Harris's Life of James I. p. 25—31, and Burnet's History of his Own Times, vol. 1. p. 5. Edinburgh edition in 12mo Ed. THE PURITANS. 391 usui*pations of the court of Rome over foreign princes ; that he had called the church of Rome his mother-church ; and therefore they presumed to welcome his majesty into England with a peti- tion lor an open toleration *. But the bishops of the church of England made the earliest application for his majesty ""s protection and favour. As soon as the queen was dead, archbishop Whitgift sent Dr. Nevil, dean of Canterbury, express into Scotland, in the name of all the bishops and clergy of England, to give his majesty assurance of their unfeigned duty and loyalty ; to know what commands he had for them with respect to the ecclesiastical courts, and to recommend the church of England to his countenance and favour f. The king replied, that he would uphold the government of the church as the queen left it ; which comforted the timorous archbishop, who had sometimes spoke with great uneasiness of the Scotch 7nist. U])on his majesty''s arrival all parties addressed him, and among others the Dutch and French chuwhes, and the English Puritans ; to the former his majesty gave this answer, " I need not use many words to declare my good-will to you, who have taken sanctuary here for the sake of religion ; I am sensible you have enriched this kingdom with several arts and manufactures ; and I swear to you, that if any one shall give you disturbance in your churches, upon your application to me, I will revenge your cause ; and though you are none of my proper subjects, I will maintain and cherish you as much as any prince in the world."" But the latter, whatever they had reason to expect, met with very different usage. Notwithstanding all the precautions that were taken to secure the elections of members for the next parliament, the archbishop wished he might not live to see it, for fear of some alteration in the church ; for the Puritans were preparing petitions, and print- ing pamphlets in their own vindication, though by the archbishop's vigilance, says Mr. Strype:|:, not a petition or a pamphlet escaped without a speedy and effectual answer. While the king was in his progress to London [April, 1603] the Puritans presented their millenary petition, so called, because it was said to be subscribed by a thousand hands, though there were not more than eight hundred out of twenty-five counties§. It is entitled, " The humble petition of the ministers of the church of England, desiring reformation of certain ceremonies and abuses of the church." The preamble sets forth, "that neither as factious * That the expectations of the Papists were not disappointed, though Dr. Grey controverts Mr. Neal's representation, there is ample proof given by Dr. Harris in his Life of James I. p. 211(. 22(j. " It is certain (says Dr. Warner) that he had on several occasions given great room to suspect, that he was far from being an enemy to the Roman Catholics. Amidst all their hopes (he adds), each side had their fears : whilst James himself had, properly speaking, no other religion, than what flowed from a principle which he called kingcraft." Warner's Ecclesiastical His- tory, vol. 2. p. l/fi, 477. — Ed. t Life of Whitgift, p. 559. I Strypc's Ann. vol. ult. p. 187. § Clark's Life of Hildcrsham, p. IKi, annexed to the General Martyrology. 392 HISTORY OF men affecting a popular parity in the church, nor as schismatics aiming at the dissolution of the state ecclesiastical, but as the faith- ful ministers of Christ, and loyal subjects to his majesty, they humbly desired the redress of some abuses. And though divers of them had formerly subscribed to the service-book, some upon protestation, some upon an exposition given, and some with con- dition ; yet now they, to the number of more than a thousand ministers, groaned under the burden of human rites and ceremo- nies, and with one consent threw themselves down at his royal feet for relief in the following particulars : 1. In the church-service. " That the cross in baptism, the interrogatories to infants, baptism by women, and confirmation, may be taken away ; that the cap and surplice may not be urged ; that examination may go before the communion ; that the ring in marriage may be dispensed with ; that the service may be abridged; church-songs and music moderated to better edification ; that the Lord's day may not be profaned, nor the observation of other holidays strictly enjoined ; that ministers may not be charged to teach their people to bow at the name of Jesus : and that none but canonical Scriptures be read in the church."" 2. Concerning ministers. " That none may be admitted but able men ; that they be obliged to preach on the Lord's day : that such as are not capable of preaching may be removed or obliged to maintain prcacliers ; that nonresidency be not permitted ; that king Edward's statute for the lawfulness of the marriage of the clergy be revived ; and that ministers be not obliged to subscribe but according to law to the articles of religion, and the king's supremacy only." 3. For church-livings. " That bishops leave their commendams ; that impropriations annexed to bishopricks and colleges be given to preaching incumbents only ; and that lay-impropriations be charged with a sixth or seventh part for the maintenance of a preacher." 4. For church-discipline. "That excommunication and cen- sures be not in the name of lay-chancellors, 5cc. ; that men be not excommunicated for twelvepenny matters, nor without consent of their pastors ; that registrars' places, and others having jurisdic- tion, do not put them out to farm ; that sundry Popish canons be revised ; that the length of suits in ecclesiastical courts may be restrained ; that the oath ex officio be more sparingly used ; and licences for marriages without banns be more sparingly granted. " These things (say they) we are able to shew not to be agreea- ble to the word of God, if it shall please your majesty to hear us, or by writing to be informed, or by conference among the learned to be resolved."" The king met with sundry other petitions of the like nature, from most of the counties he passed through ; but the heads of the two universities having taken offence at the millenary petition, for demising away the impropriations annexed to bishopricks and THE ruuiTANs. 393 colleges, which, says Fuller, would cut off more than the nipples of the breasts of both universities in point of maintenance*, ex- pressed their resentment different ways : those of Cambridge passed a grace, June 9th, 1603, " that whosoever in the university should openly oppose by word or writing, or any other way, the doctrine or discipline of the church of England established by law, or any part thereof, should be suspended ipso facto from any degree already taken, and be disabled from taking any degree for the future." About the same time the university of Oxford published an answer to the ministers' petition, entitled, " An answer of the vice-chan- cellor, doctors, proctors, and other heads of houses in the uni- versity of Oxford, to the petition of the ministers of the church of England, desiring reformation ; dedicated to the king, with a pre- face to the archbishop, the chancellors of both universities, and the two secretaries of state-f*. The answer shews the high spirit of the university ; it reproaches the ministers in very severe lan- guage for subscribing and then complaining; it reflects upon them as factious men, for affecting a parity in the church, and then falls severely on the Scots reformation, which his majesty had so publicly commended before he left that kingdom. It throws an odium upon the petitioners, as being for a limited monarchy, and for subjecting the titles of kings to the approbation of the people. It then goes on to vindicate all the grievances complained of, and concludes with beseeching his majesty not to suffer the peace of the state to be disturbed, by allowing these men to disturb its polity. "Look upon the reformed churches abroad (say they), wheresoever the desire of the petitioners takes place, how ill it suits with the state of monarchy ; does it become the supereminent authority and regal person of a king, to subject his sovereign power to the overswaying and all-commanding power of a pres- bytery ; that his meek and humble clergy should have power to bind their king in chains, and their prince in links of iron ? that is, to censure him, and, if they see cause, to proceed against him as a tyrant. That the supreme magistrate should only be a maintainer of their proceedings, but not a commander in them ; these are but petty abridgments of the prerogative royal, while the king submits his sceptre to the sceptre of Christ, and licks the dust of the church's feet. They then commend the present church-government as the great support of the crown, and calculated to promote unlimited subjection, and aver, " that there are at this day more learned men in this land, in this one kingdom, than are to be found among all the ministers of religion in France, Flanders, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Geneva, Scotland, or (to speak in a word) all Europe besides:|:." Such a vain-glorious piece of self-applause is hardly to be met with. They nuist have a mean opinion of the king's actpiaintance with the learned world, to use him in this manner, at a time, when though there were some very considerable divines * Fuller's Church History, b. 10. p. 2.H. f Lifr of Whitgift, p. 5(.7. X Strype's Annals, vol. 4. p. ]'.)?. 394 HISTORY OF among ourselves, there were as many learned men in the foreign universities, as had been known since the Reformation ; witness the Bezas, Scaligers, Casaubons, &c. whose works have transmit- ted their great names down to posterity. And that the divines of Cambridge might not come behind their brethren of Oxford, the heads of that university wrote a letter of thanks to the Oxonians, for their answer to the petition, in which " they applaud and commend their weighty arguments, and threaten to battle the Puritans with numbers; forTfSaul has his thousands (sa}' they), David has his ten thousands. They acquaint them with their decree of June 9, and bid the poor pitiful Puritans [homunciones miserrimi'\ answer their almost a thousand books in defence of the hierarchy, before they pretend to dispute before so learned and wise a king *." A mean and pitiful triumph over honest and virtuous men, who aimed at nothing more than to bring the discipline of the church a little nearer the standard of Scripture ! But that his majesty might part with his old friends with some decency, and seem to answer the request of the petitioners, he agreed to have a conference with the two parties at Hampton- courtf, for which purpose he published a proclamation from Wil- ton, October 24th, 1603, touching a meeting for the hearing and for the determining things pretended to be amiss in the church. In which he declares, "• that he was already persuaded, that the constitution of the church of England was agreeable to God's word, and near to the condition of the primitive church ; yet because he had received information, that some things in it were scandalous, and gave offence, lie had appointed a meeting to be had before himself and council, of divers bishops and other learned men, at which consultation he hoped to be better informed of the state of the church, and whether there were any such enormities in it ; in the mean time he commanded all his subjects not to publish any thing against the state ecclesiastical, or to gather subsci'iptions, or make supplications, being resolved to make it appear by their chastisement, how far such a manner of proceeding was displeasing to him, for he was determined to preserve the ecclesiastical state in such form as he found it established by the law, only to reform such abuses as he should find apparently proved ;]:." The archbishop and his brethren had been indefatigable in pos- sessing the king with the excellency of the English hierarchy, as coming near the practice of the primitive church, and best suited to a monarchical government ; they represented the Puritans as turbulent and factious, inconsiderable in number, and aiming at confusion both in church and state; and yet, after all, the old archbishop was doubtful of the event ; for in one of his letters to * Dr. Warner, with reason and judgment, supposes that what determined James more than any thing else, to appoint the Hampton-court conference, of which he would be the moderator, was, that he might give his new subjects a taste of his talents for disputation of which he was extremely fond and conceited. Eccles. Hist, vol. 1. p. i;8.— Ed. t Life uf Whitgift, b. 1. c. 31. p- 568. X Ibid. p. 570. THE PURITANS. 395 Cecil, afterward earl of Shrewsbury, he writes, " Though our humorous and contentious brethren have made many petitions and niotions correspondent to their natures, yet to my comfort tlicy have not much prevailed. Your lordship, I am sure, does ima- gine, that I have not all this while been idle, nor greatly quiet in mind ; for who can promise himself rest among so many vipers *?"" The place of conference was the drawing-room, within the privy chamber at Hampton-court ; the disputants on both sides were nominated by the king. For the church there were nine bishops, and about as many dignitaries, viz. Dr. Whitgift archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Bancroft bishop of London, Dr. Mathew bishop of Durham, Bilson bishop of Winchester, Babington bishop of Worcester, lludd bishop of St. David's, Watson bishop of Chi- chester, Robinson bishop of Carlisle, and Dove bishop of Peter- borough . — Dr. Andrews dean of the chapel, Overal dean of St. rauFs, Barlow dean of Chester, Bridges dean of Salisbury, Field dean of Gloucester, and King archdeacon of Nottingham ; besides the deans of Worcester and Windsor. For the Puritans were only four ministers, Dr. John Ray- nolds. Dr. Thomas Sparks, professors of divinity in Oxford, Mr. Chaddcrton, and Mr. Knewstubs, of Cambridge. The divines of the church appeared in the habits of their respective distinc- tions ; but those for the Puritans in fur gowns, like the Turkey merchants, or the professors in foreign universities. When the king conferred with the bishops he behaved with softness, and a great regard to their character ; but Avhen the Puritan ministers stood before him, instead of being moderator, he took upon him the place of respondent, and bore them down with his majestic frowns and threatenings, in the midst of a numerous crowd of courtiers, all the lords of the privy council being present ; while the bishops stood by, and were little more than spectators of the triumph. The account of this conference was published at large only by Dr. Barlow, who, being a party, says Fullerf, set a sharp edge on his own, and a blunt one on his adversaries'' weapons. Dr. Sparks and Kaynolds complained, that they were wronged by that relation | ; and Dr. Jackson declared, that Barlow himself repented, upon his death-bed, of the injury he had done the Puritan ministers in his relation of the Hampton-court confer- ence §. Mr. Strype has lately published a letter of the bishop of Durham to Hutton archbishop of York, which agrees pretty • Life of Whitgift, Append, b. 4. no. 43. f Church Hist. b. 10. p. 21. : Pierce, p. 1.53, 154. § "The Puritans (Dr. Harris observes) needed not to have complained so much as they have done of Barlow. If he has not represented their arguments in as just a liglit, nor related what was done by the ministers as advantageously, as truth required, he has abundantly made it up to them by shewing, that the bishops, their adversaries, were gross flatterers, and had no regard to their sacred cha- racters ; and that their mortal foe James had but a low understanding, and was undeserving of the rank he assumed in the republic of learning. This he has done effectually, and therefore, whatever was his intention, the Puritans should have 396 HISTORY OF much with Barlow* ; but Mr. Patrick Galloway, a Scotsman, has set things in a different light ; from all these, and from the kino-'s own letter to Mr. Blake a Scotsman, we must form the best judgment of it that we can. The conference continued three days, viz. January 14th, 16th, and 18th; the first was with the bishops and deans alone, January 14th, the Puritan ministers not being present; when the king made a speech in commendation of the hierarchy of the church of England, and congratulated himself that " he was now come into the promised land ; that he sat among grave and reverend men, and was not a king, as formerly, without state ; nor in a place where beardless boys would brave him to his face. He assured them, he had not called this assembly for any inno- vation, for he acknowledged the government ecclesiastical, as now it is, to have been approved by manifold blessings from God liimself; but because he had received some complaints of dis- orders, he was willing to remove them if scandalous, and to take notice of them if but trifling ; that the reason of his consult- ing them by themselves, was to receive satisfaction from them, (1.) About some things in the Common Prayer-book ; (2.) Con- cerning excommunication in the ecclesiastical coui'ts ; (3.) About 'providing some well-qualified ministers for Ireland ; that if any thing should be found meet to be redressed, it might be done without their being confronted by their opponents f ." In the Common Prayer-book his majesty had some scruples about the confirmation of children, as if it imported a confirm- ation of baptism. But the archbishop on his knees replied, that the church did not hold baptism imperfect without confirmation. Bancroft said it was of apostolical institution, Heb. iv. 2, where it is called " the doctrine of the laying on of hands." But to satisfy the king, it was agreed that the words excmiination of children should be added to confirmation. His majesty excepted to the absolution of the church, as too nearly resembling the pope's pardon. But the archbishop is said to clear it up to the king's satisfaction ; only to the rubric of the general absolution these words were to be added for explanation's sake, remission of sins. He further objected to private baptism, and baptism by wo- men. It had been customary till this time for bishops to license midwives to their oflSce, and to aUow their right to baptize in cases of necessity, under the following oath : " I Eleanor , admitted to the ofiice and occupation of a midwife, will faithfully and diligently exercise the said office, according to such cunning and knowledge as God has given me, and that I will be ready to help and aid as well poor as rich applauded his performance, and appealed to it for proof of the insufficiency of him, who set himself up as a decider of their controversies." Harris's Life of James I. p. 87. — Ed. * Life of Whitgift, Append, b. 4. no. 45. f Fuller, b. 10. p. 8. THE PURITANS. 397 women, being in labour and travail with child, and will always be ready to execute my said office. Also, I will not permit or suffer, that any woman, being in labour or travail, shall name any other to be the father of the child, than only he who is the right and true father thereof; and that I will not suffer any other body's child, to be set, brought, or laid, before any woman delivered of child, in the place of her natural child, so far forth as I can know or understand. Also, I will not use any kind of sorcery or incantation in the time of travail of any woman ; and I will not destroy the child born of any woman, nor cut nor pull off' the head thereof, or otherwise dismember or hurt the same, or suffer it to be so hurt, &c. Also, that in the ministration of the sacrament of baptism, in the time of necessity, I will use the accustomed words of the same sacrament; that is to say, these words following, or to the like effect, ' I christen thee in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ; ' and none other profane words. And that in baptizing any infant born, and pouring water on the head of the said infant, I will use pure and clean water, and not any rose or damask water, or water made of any confection or mixture. And that I will certify the curate of the parish-church of every such baptizing*." Notwithstanding this oath, Whitgift assured the king, that baptism by women and lay-persons was not allowed by the church. Others said it was a reasonable practice, the minister not being of the essence of the sacrament. But the king not being satisfied, it was referred to consideration, wl)ether the word curate, or lawful minister, n)ight not be inserted into the rubric for private baptism. Concerning excommunication for lesser crimes in ecclesiastical courts, it was agreed, that the name should be changed, but the same censure retained, or an equivalent thereunto appointed. These were all the alterations that Averc agreed upon between the king and bishops in the first day's conference. INIr. Patrick Galloway, who was present at the conference, gives this account of it to the presbytery of Edinburgh, "that on January 12 the king connnanded the bishops, as they would answer it to God in conscience, and to himself upon their obe- dience, to advise among themselves, of the corruptions of the church in doctrine, ceremonies, and discipline ; who after con- sultation reported, that all was well ; but when his majesty with great fervency brought instances to the contrary, the bishops on their knees craved with great earnestness, that nothing might be altered, lest l*o|)i.>h recusants, punished by penal statutes for disobedience, and the Puritans ]nmished by deprivation from their callings and livings, for nonconformity, should sav, they had just cause to insult upon them, as men who had travailed to bind them to that which by their own moutlis now was confessed to be erroncousf.'" Mr. IStrype calls this an aspersion ; but I • Strype's Annals, vol. 1. p. W.\7 . f Calderwood's Hist. Ch. of Scotland, p. 474. 398 HISTORY OF am apt to think liim mistaken, because Mr. Galloway adds these words, " When sundry persons gave out copies of these actions, I myself took occasion, as I was an ear and eye witness, to set them down, and presented them to his majesty, who with liisown hand mended some things, and eked others that I had omitted." It is very certain, that bishop Barlow has cut off and concealed all the speeches that his majesty made against the corruptions of the church, and the practices of the prelates, for five hours to- gether, according to the testimony of Dr. Andrews dean of the chapel, who said, that his majesty did that day wonderfully play the Puritan. The second day's conference was on Monday, January 16tli, when the four ministers were called in, with Mr. Galloway mi- nister of Perth in Scotland, on the one part, and two bishops and six or eight deans on the other, the rest being secluded. The king being seated in his chair, with his nobles and privy coun- sellors around him, let them know, he was now ready to hear their objections against the establishment. Whereupon Dr. llaynolds, in the name of his brethren, humbly requested: 1. That the doctrine of the church might be preserved pure, according to God''s word. 2. That good pastors might be planted in all churches, to preach the same. 3. That the Book of Common Prayer might be fitted to more increase of piety. 4. That church-government might be sincerely ministered according to God''s word. 1. With regard to the doctrine of the church, he requested, that to those words in the sixteenth article, " We may depart from grace,""" may be added, neither totally nor Jinalhj^ to make them consistent with the doctrine of predestination in the sevenleenth article ; and that (if his majesty pleased) the nine articles of Lam- beth might be inserted. — That in the twenty-third article these words, " in the congregation," might be omitted, as implying a liberty for men to preach out of the congregation without a lawful call. — That in the twenty-fifth article the ground for confirmation might be examined ; one passage confessing it to be a depraved imitation of the apostles, and another grounding it on their example ; besides, that it was too much work for a bishop Here Bancroft, no longer able to contain himself, falling upon his knees, begged the king with great earnestness to stop the doctor"'s mouth, according to an ancient canon, that schismatics are not to be heard against their bishops. It is not reasonable, says he, that men who have subscribed to these articles, should be allowed to plead against their own act, contrary to the statute 1st Eliz. The king, perceiving the bishop in a heat, said, My lord, you ought not to interrupt the doctor, but either let him proceed, or answer what lie has objected, "Upon which he replied, " that as to Dr. Raynokls^'s first objection, the doctrine of predestination TIIK PURITANS. 391> Mas a dej^perate doctrine; and had made many people libertines, who were apt to say, ' If I shall be s;ivcd, I shall be saved i' he there- fore desired it niigiit be left at large. I'liat his second objection was trifling, because, by the practice of the church, none but licensed ministers might preach or administer the sacrament. And as to the doctor's third objection he said, that the bishops had their chaplains and curates to examine such as were to be con- firmed ; and that in ancient time, none confirmed but bishops." To which llaynolds replied in the words of St. Jerome, "that it was rather a compliment to the order, than from any reason or necessity of the thing." And whereas the bishop had called him a schismatic, he desired his niajest}', that that imputation might not lie upon him ; which occasioned a great deal of mirth and raillery between the king and his nobles, about the unha])py I^uritans. In conclusion the king said, he was against increasing the number of articles, or stuffing them with theological niceties ; because, were they never so explicit, tliere will be no preventing contrary opinions. As to confirmation, he thought it not decent to refer the solemnity to a parish-priest ; and closed his remarks with this maxim, No bishop, no king. After a long interruption the doctor went on, and desired a new catechism, to which the king consented, provided there mioht be no curious questions in it, and that our agreement with the Roman ('athohcs in som.e points might not be esteemed heterodoxy. He farther desired a new translation of the Bible, to which his majesty agreed, provided it were without marginal notes, saying, that of all the translations, the Geneva was the worst, because of the marginal notes, which allowed disobedience to icings. The doctor complained of the printing and dispersing Popish pamplets, which reflecting on Bancroft's character, the king said, " What was done of this kind was by warrant from the court, to nourish the schism between the seculars and Jesuits, which was of great service. Doctor, you are a better collegeman than statesman." To which Itaynolds replied, that he did not intend such books as were printed in England, but such as were imported from beyond sea ; and this several of the privy council owned to be a grievance. The doctor having prayed that some effectual remedy might be provided against the profanation of the Lord's day, declared he had no more to add on the first head. 2. With regard to preaching, the doctor complained of plura- lities in the church ; and prayed, that all parishes might be fur- nished with preaching ministers. Upon which Bancroft fell upon his knees, and petitioned his majesty, that all parishes might have a praying ministry ; for preaching is grown so much in fashion, says he, that the service of the church is neglected. Besides, pul- pit harangues are very dangerous ; he therefore humbly moved that the number of homilies might be inci'eased, and that the clergy might be obliged to read them instead of sermons, in win'ch many vented their spleen against their superiors. The king 400 HISTURV OF asked the plaintiffs their opinion of the bishop's motion; who replied, that a preaching minister was certainly best and most useful, though they allowed, where preaching could not be had, godly prayers, homilies, and exhortations, might do much good. The lord-chancellor [Egerton] said, there were more livings that wanted learned men, than learned men living; let all therefore have single coats before others have doublets. Upon which Ban- croft replied merrily. But a doublet is good in cold weather. The king put an end to the debate, by saying, he would consult the bishops upon this head. 3. But the doctor's chief objections were to the service-book and church-government. Here he complained of the late sub- scriptions, by which many were deprived of their ministry, who were willing to subscribe to the doctrinal articles of the church, to the king's supremacy, and to the statutes of the realm. He excepted to the reading the Apocrypha; to the interrogatories in baptism, and to the sign of the cross ; to the surplice, and other superstitious habits; to the ring in marriage; to the churching of women by the name of purification. He urged, that most of these things were relics of Popery ; that they had been abused to idolatry, and therefore ought, like the brazen serpent, to be abolished. Mr. Knewstubs said, these rites and ceremonies were at best but indifferent, and therefore doubted, whether the power of the church could bind the conscience without impeaching Christian liberty. Here his majesty interrupted them, and said, that he appre- hended the surplice to be a very comely garment ; that the cross was as old as Constantine, and must we charge him with Popery ? besides, it was no more a significant sign than imposition of hands, which the petitioners allowed in ordination ; and as for their other exceptions, they were capable of being understood in a sober sense ; *'but as to the power of the church in things indifferent (says his majesty), I will not argue that point with you, but answer as kings in jiarliament, Le Hoy savisera. This is like Mr. John Black, a beardless boy, who told me the last conference in Scotland, that he would hold conformity with me in doctrine, but that every man as to ceremonies was to be left to his own liberty, but I will have none of that ; I will have one doctrine, one disci- pline, one religion in substance and ceremony : never speak more to that point, how far you are bound to obey." 4. Dr. Raynolds was going on to complain of excommunication by lay- chancellors ; but the king having said that he should con- sult the bishops on that head, the doctor desired that the clergy might have assemblies once in three w eeks ; that in rural dean- eries they might have the liberty of prophcsyings, as in archbishop Grindal's time ; that those cases which could not be resolved there, might be referred to the archdeacon's visitation, and from thence to the diocesan synod, where the bishop with his presby- ters should determine such points as were too difficult for the other THi: PURITANS. 401 meetings, — Here the king broke out into a flame, and instead of hearing the doctor's reasons, or commanding his bishops to answer tiieni, tohl the ministers, that he found they were aiming at a Scots ])resbYterv, " which (says he) agrees with monarchy as well as God and the devil ; then Jack and Tom, Will and Dick, sliall meet, and at their pleasure censure both me and my council. Therefore, pray stay one seven years before you demand that of me, and if then you find me pursy and fat, and my windpipe stuffed, I will perliaps hearken to you ; for let that governmenl be up, and I am sure I shall be kept in breath ; but till you find I grow lazy, pray let that alone. I remember how they used the poor lady my mcnhcr in Scotland, and me in my minority." Then turning to the bishops, he put his hand to his hat and said, " My Icrrds, I may thank you that these Puritans plead for my supremacy, for if once you are out and they in place, I know what would become of my supremacy, for, No bishop, no king. Well, doctor, have you any thing else to offer?" Dr. Raynolds, " No more, if it please your majesty." Then rising from his chair, the king said, " If this be all your party have to say, I will make them confoi'm, or I will hurry them out of this land, or else worse ;" and he was as good as his word. ^ Thus ended the second day's conference, after four hours' dis- course, with a perfect triumph on the side of the church ; the Puritan ministers were insulted, ridiculed, and laughed to scorn, without either wit or good manners. One of the council said, he now saw that a Puritan was a Protestant frighted out of his wits. Another, that the ministers looked more like Turks than Christians, as appeared by their habits. Sir Edward Peyton confessed, that Dr. Raynolds and his brethren had not freedom of speech ; but finding it to no purpose to reply, they held their peace. On the other hand, the bishops and courtiers flattered the king's wisdom and learning beyond measure, calling him the Solomon of the age. Bancroft fell upon his knees, and said, " I protest my heart melteth for joy, that Almighty God, of his singular mercy, has given us such a king, as since Christ's time has not been." Chancellor Egerton said, " he had never seen the king and priest so fully united in one person*." His majesty was no less satisfied with his own conduct ; for in his letter to Mr. Blake a Scotsman, he told him, that he had soundly |)eppered off the Puritans, that they had fled before him, and that their petitions had turned him more earnestly against them. " It were no reason (says his majesty) tiiat those who refuse the airy sign of the cross after baptism, should liave their purses stuffed with any more solid and substantial crosses. They fled me so from argument to argument, without ever answering me directly {jit est coram 7noj-is)^ that I was forced to tell them, that if any of them, when boys, had disputed thus in * A modern prelate has said, " Sancho Pancha never made a better speech, nor more to the purpose, during his government." Bishop Warburton's notes on Neal. _Ed. VOL. I. D D 402 HISTORY OF the colleo-e, the moderator would have fetched them up, and applied the rod to their buttocks 1 have a book of theirs that may con- vert infidels, but shall never convert me, except by turning me more earnestly against them." This was the language of the Solomon of the age. I leave the reader to judge, how much superior this wise monarch was in the knowledge of antiquity, or the art of syllogism, to Dr. Raynolds, who was the oracle of his time for acquaintance with ecclesiastical history, councils, and fathers, and had lived in a college all his days. The third day'^s conference was on Wednesday Jan. 18th, when the bishops and deans were first called into the privy chamber with the civilians, to satisfy the king about the high commission and the oath ex officio, which they might easily do as being princi- pal branches of his prerogative. When the king said he approved of the wisdom of the law in making the oath ex officio, the old archbishop was so transported, as to cry out, " Undoubtedly your majesty speaks by the special assistance of God's spirit." A com- mittee of bishops and privy-counsellors was then appointed to consider of lessening the charges in the high-commission, and for planting schools, and proper ministers in the kingdom of Ireland, and on the borders of England and Scotland. After which Dr, Raynolds and his brethren were called in, not to dispute, but only to hear the few alterations or explanations in the Common Prayer- book already mentioned; which not answering their expectations, Mr. Chaddei'ton fell on his knees, and humbly prayed, that the surplice and cross might not be urged on some godly ministers in Lancashire ; and Mr. Knewstubs desired the same favour for some Suffolk ministers; which the bishops were going to oppose, but the king replied with a stern countenance, '' We have taken pains here to conclude in a resolution for uniformity, and you will undo all by preferring the credit of a few private men to the peace of the church ; this is the Scots way, but I will have none of this arguing, therefore let them conform, and that quickly too, or they shall hear of it ; the bishops will give them some time, but if they are of an obstinate and turbulent spirit, I will have them enforced Xto conformity*." Thus ended this mock conference, for it deserves no better name, all things being previously concluded between the king and the bishops, before the Puritans were brought upon the stage, to * " In this manner ended this conference; which (observes Dr. Warner) con- vinced the Puritans they were mistaken in depending on the king's protection ; which convinced the king that they were not to be won by a few insignificant concessions ; and which, if it did not convince the privy council and the bishops that they had got a Solomon for their king, yet they spoke of him as though it did." Eccles Hist. vol. 3. p. 482. " This conference (says another writer) was but a blind to introduce episcopacy in Scotland ; all the Scotch noblemen then at court being designed to be present, and others, both noblemen and ministers, being called up from Scotland by the king's letter to assist at it." Dr. Welwood, as quoted by Crosby. Hist, of Engl. Baptists, vol. i. p. 85. — Ed. THE PURITANS. 403 be niacleasj)ectacletotlKir enemies, and borne clown, not witli calm reason and argument, but with the royal authority, I approve or I dissent; the king making himself both judge and party*. No wonder, therefore, if Dr. llaynolds fell' below himself, and lost some part of his esteem with the Puritans, being overawed by the place and company, and the arbitrary dictates of his sovereign opponent. The Puritans refused to be concluded by this confer- ence, for the following reasons, because, 1. " The ministers appointed to speak for them were not of their nomination or choosing, nor of one judgment in the points of controversy ; for being desired by their brethren to argue against the corruptions of the church as simply evil, they replied, they were not so persuaded. Being farther desired to acquaint the king, that some of their brethren thought them sinful, they refused that also. Lastly, being desired to give their reasons in writing, why they thought the ceremonies only indifferent ; or to answer the reasons they had to offer to prove them sinful, they Avould do neither one nor other. 2. " Because the points in controversy were not thoroughly debated, but nakedly propounded, and some not at all touched. Neither w as there any one argument to the purpose pursued and followed. 3. " Because the prelates took the liberty of interrupting at their pleasure those of the other side, insomuch that they were checked for it by the king himself." They objected also to the account of the conference by Dean Barlow^, as ])ublished without the knowledge, advice, or consent, of the other side, and therefore deserving no credit; they said that Dr. Moreton had called some part of it in question, and rectified some speeches fathered on the king; besides, that the prelates only were present at the first day's conference, when the principal mat- ters were determined. *' Therefore the Puritan ministers offer (if his majesty will give them leave) in one week''s space to deliver his majesty in writing, a full answer to any argument or assertion propounded in that con- ference by any prelate; and in the meantime they do aver them to be most vain and frivolous." If the bishops had been men of moderation, or if the king had discovered ai\y part of that wisdom he was flattered with , all parties might have been made easy at this time ; for the bishops, in such a crisis, would have complied with any thing his majesty * The conclusion of his address to the Puritan ministers, at this conference, as it was a curious specimen of the king's logic, so it was a proof of the insolent and tyrannical spirit with which he aimed to bear down all opposition.' " If (said he) this be all your party hath to say, I will make them conform themselves, or else I will harrie them out of the land, or else do worse, only hang them, that's all.'' It is very evident, from this, that he trusted more, as it has been observed by a modern writer, to the power of hanging than of convincing his adversaries. Secret History of the Court and Reign of Charles II. vol. i. Introduction, p. 23, the note. — Ed. D U 2 404 HISTORY OF had insisted on ; but the king''s cowardice, his love of flattery, his high and arbitrai-y principles, and his mortal hatred of the Puri- tans, lost one of the fairest opportunities, that have ever offered, to heal the divisions of the church. On the 5th of March the king published a proclamation, in which he says, " that though the doctrine and discipline of the established church were unexceptionable, and agreeable to primi- tive antiquity, nevertheless he had given way to a conference, to hear the exceptions of the Nonconformists, which he had found very slender ; but that some few explanations of passages had been yielded to for their satisfaction ; therefore he now requires and enjoins all his subjects to conform to it, as the only public form established in this realm ; and admonishes them not to expect any farther alterations, for that his resolutions were absolutely settled." The Common Prayer-Book was accordingly printed with the amendments, and the proclamation prefixed. It was a high strain of the prerogative, to alter a form of wor- ship established by law, merely by a royal proclamation, without consent of parliament or convocation ; for by the same power that his majesty altered one article in the liturgy, he might set aside the whole, every sentence being equally established by act of par- liament ; but this wise monarch made no scruple of dispensing with the laws. However, the force of all proclamations determin- ing with the king's life, and there being no subsequent act of par- liament to establish these amendments, it was urged very justly in the next reign, that this was not the liturgy of the church of England established by law, and consequently not binding upon the clergy. A fortnight before this conference was held, the learned and reverend Mr. Thomas Cartwright, one of the chief of the Pu- ritans, and a great sufferer for nonconformity, died. He was born in Hertfordshire, 1535, and entered into St. John''s college, Cam- bridge, 1550, whei'e he became a hard student, never sleeping above five hours in a night. During the reign of queen Mary he left the university, and became a lawyer's clerk ; but upon the accession of queen Elizabeth he resumed his theological studies, and was chosen fellow of Trinity-college in the year 1563. The year following he bore a part in the philosophy att before the queen. In the year 1567, he commenced bachelor of divinity, and three years after was chosen lady Margaret's professor. He was so popular a preacher, that when his turn came at St Mary's, the sexton was obliged to take down the windows. But Mr. Cartwright venturing in some of his lectures to shew the defects of the discipline of the church, as it then stood, he was questioned for it before the vice-chancellor, denied his doctor's degree, and expelled the university, as has been related. He then travelled to Geneva, and afterward became preacher to the English mer- chants at Antwerp. King James invited him to be professor in his university of St. Andrew's, which he declined. After his THE PURITANS. 405 return from Antwerp he was often in trouble by suspensions, deprivations, and long imprisonment ; at length the great earl of Leicester, who knew his worth, made him governor of his hos- pital in Warwick, where he ended his days, December 27, 1603. He was certainly one of the most learned and acute disputants of his age, but very ill used by the governing clergy. He wrote several books, besides his controversy with archbishop Whitgift, as, his Latin conmient on Ecclesiastes, dedicated to king James, in which he thankfully acknowledges his being appointed pro- fessor to a Scots university : his celebrated confutation of the Rhemist translation of the New Testament, to which work he was solicited not only by sir Francis Walsingham, but by letter vmder the hands of the principal divines of Cambridge, as, Roger Goad, Wm. Whitaker, Thomas Crooke, John Ireton, Wm. Fulke, John Field, Nicholas Crane, Gibs Seinthe, Rich. Gar- e same time Mr. Egerton, Fleetwood, Wotton, Clark, and other Puritan divines, presented a petition for reforma- tion of the Book of Common-prayer ; but instead of receiving it, they admonished them and their adherents to be obedient and conform, before Midsummer-day, or else they should undergo the censures of the church. In the meantime the canons were revising. May 23, there was a debate in the upper house upon the cross in baptism, when Bancroft and some others spoke vehemently for it; but Dr. Rudd, bishop of St. David's, stood up, and made the following speech for charity and moderation : — " For my part, I acknowledge the antiquity of the use of the We are told, in particular, that Cecil assured James, on his coming to the crown, "that he should find his English subjects like asses, on whom he might lay any burden, and should need neither bit nor bridle but their asses' ears." "His reign, however, aftbrds sufficient proof (observes a late writer) that the king him- self was the only ass, and that the English lions were not to be intimidated by his siUy braying." Secret History of the Court and Reign of Charles II. vol. 1. Introduction, p. 30, note. — Ed. I- Hcylin's Hist. Presb. p. :',7a. I Strype's Annals, vol, 1. p. 3'J6. rnE PURITANS. 409 cross, as mentioned in Tertullian, and after him in St. Cyprian, St, Chrysostom, Austin, and others. I also confess the original of the ceremony to have sprung by occasion of the Pagans, who reproached the ancient Christians for believing in Christ cru- cified ; and that in I'opery it has been superstitiously abused ; and I affirm, that it is in the church of England now admitted and entertained by us, and restored to its ancient integrity, all superstition abandoned. *' Likewise I wish, that if the king's highness shall persist in imposing it, all would submit to it (as we do) rather than forego the ministry in that behalf. But I greatly fear, by the report which I hear, that very many learned jireachers, whose consciences are not in our custody, nor to be disposed of at our devotion, will not easily be drawn thereunto; of which number, if any shall come in my walk, I desire to be furnished beforehand, by those that be present, with sufficient reasons to satisfy them (if it be possible) concerning some points which have been now delivered. First, " Whereas sundry passages of Scripture have been alleged for the cross ; as, ' God forbid that I should rejoice save in the cross of Christ;' and divers others of the like sense; if any of the adverse opinion fall into my company, and say, that these scriptures are figurative, implying the death and passion of our Saviour Christ ; and that to draw an argument from them to justify the sign of the cross in the forehead, is an insuf- ficient kind of reasoning, and a fallacy ; what answer shall I make unto them ? Secondly, " Whereas I have observed upon present relation, that the impugners of this ceremony were heard at large in the conference at Hampton-court, and having objected the example of Hezekiah, who broke in jiieces the brazen serpent, after it had been abused to idolatry, and therefore the sign of the cross (which was not brought into the church by God's express command, as the brazen serpent was, but was from the beginning a mere invention of men) ought now to be taken away by reason of the superstitious abuse which is sustained in Popery; they received answer, That king Hezekiah might have preserved it, abandoning the abuse of it, if it had pleased him, and consequently it is in the king's majesty's power to abolish this ceremony, having been abused, or to retain it in manner aforesaid. Hereunto I say, that 1 was one of the conference, yet I was not at that part of the conference, where those that stood for reformation had access to the king's majesty's presence, and liberty to speak for themselves; for that I, and some other of my brethren the bishops, were secluded from that day's assembly ; but I suppose it to be true, as it has formerly been reported, and I for my own particular admit the consecjuence put down above. Now, because I wish all others abroad as well satisfied herein as ourselves that be here present, if aiiy of the contrary opinion shall come to me, and say, that the aforesaid answer docs not satisfy them, because they 410 HISTORY OF think there is as great reason now to move them to become petitioners to his majesty for abolishing the cross in baptism, as there was to move the godly zealous in Hezekiah's time to be petitioners for defacing the brazen serpent, because the church- going Papists now among us do superstitiously abuse the one, as the Israelites did the other ; what sound answer shall I make to them for their better satisfaction ? Thirdly, " Whereas it has been this day alleged, that it is con- venient and necessary to preserve the memory of the cross of Christ by this means; if haply any of the odier side shall come to me, and say, that the memory of the cross of Christ might be sufficiently and more safely preserved by preaching the doctrine of the gospel, the sum whereof is ' Christ crucified ; ' which was so lively preached to the Galatians, as if his bodily image had been crucified among them ; and yet we know not of any material or signal cross that was in use in the church at that time; I desire to know what satisfaction or answer must be given to them ? " Moreover, I protest, that all my speeches now are uttered by way of proposition, not by way of opposition, and that they all tend to work pacification in the church ; for I put great difference between what is lawful and what is expedient, and between them that are schismatical, and them that are scrupulous only upon some ceremonies, being otherwise learned, studious, grave, and honest men. " Concerning these last, I suppose, if upon the urging them to absolute subscription, they should be stiff, and choose rather to forego their livings, and the exercise of their ministry, though I do not justify their doings herein, yet surely their service will be missed at such a time, as need shall require us and them to give the right hand of fellowship one to another, and to go arm in arin against the common adversary. " Likewise consider who must be the executioners of their deprivation ; even we ourselves the bishops, against whom there will be a great clamour of them and their dependants, and many others who are well affected towards them, Avhereby our persons will be in hazard to be brought into extreme dislike or hatred. " Also remember, that when the Benjamites were all destroyed, saving six hundred, and the men of Israel sware in their fury that none of them would give his daughter to the Benjamites to wife, though they suffered for their just deserts, yet their brethren afterward lamented, and said. There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day ; and they used all their wits, to the uttermost of their policy, to restore that tribe again. " In like sort, if these our brethren aforesaid shall be deprived of their places for the matter premised, I think we should find cause to bend our wits to the utmost extent of our skill, to pro- vide some cure of souls for them, that they may exercise their talents. THE PURITANS. 411 " Fui-lherniorc, if these men, being clivers hundreds, should forsake their charges, who, I pray you, should succeed them ? Verily, I know not where to find so many able preachers in this realm un])rovided for; but suppose there were, yet they might more conveniently be settled in the scats of unpreaching ministers. But if they are put in the places of these men that are dispossessed, thereupon it will follow, 1. That the number of preaching minis- ters will not be multiplied. '2. The church cannot be so well finnished on a sudden ; for though the new supply may be of learned men from the universities, yet will they not be such ready preachers for a time, nor so experienced in pastoral government, nor so well acquainted with the manners of the people, nor so discreet in their carriage, as those who have already spent many years in their ministerial charge. " Besides, forasmuch as in the time of the late archbishop of Canterbury these things were not so extremely urged, but that many learned preachers enjoyed their liberty conditionally, that they did not by word or deed openly distm-b the state established, I would know a reason why they should now be so generally and exceeding straitly called upon, especially since there is a greater increase of Papists lately than heretofore. " To conclude, I wish, that if by petition to the king's majesty there cannot be obtained a quite remove of the premises, nor yet a toleration for them that are of more staid and temperate car- riage, yet at least there might be procured a mitigation of the penalty *." The bishops of London, Winchester, Ely, and Lincoln, answered the bishop of St. David's; but when his lordship would have replied, he was forbid by the president, and submitted ; affirming, that as nothing was more dear to him than the peace of the church, he was determined to use the best means he could to draw others to unity and conformity with himself, and the rest of his reverend brethren. And thus the debate ended. The book of Canons found an easy passage through both houses of convocation, and was afterward ratified by the king's letters patent under his great seal ; but not being confirmed by act of parliament, it has several times been adjudged in the courts of Westminster-hall, that they bind only the clergy, the laity not being represented in convocation. The book contains one hun- dred and forty-one articles, collected out of the injunctions, and other episcopal and synodical acts of the reigns of king Edward VL and (jueen Elizabeth, and are the same that are now in force. By these we discern the spirit of the church at this time, and how freely she dispensed her anathemas against those who attempted a * Dr. Grey also gives this speech of bishop Rudd, at length, inserting in brackets some words and clauses both from Mr. Pierce and Mr. Thomas Baker's MSS. omitted by Mr. Ncal, in order to convict himself of inaccuracy : but from the nature of them it should seem, that these omissions proceeded not from negligence, but design, as not essential to bishop Iludd's argument. — Ed. 412 HISTORY or farther reformation. The canons that relate to the Puritans de- serve a particular mention, because (however illegally) they suffered severely under them. '' Canon 3. says, that whosoever shall affirm, that the church of England by law established is not a true and apostolical church, let him be excommunicated ipfto facto, and not restored bvit only by the archbishop, after his repentance and public revocation of his wicked error, " Canon 4. Whosoever shall affirm the form of God's worship in the church of England established by law, and contained in the Book of Common Prayer, and administration of sacraments, is a corrupt, superstitious, and unlawful worship, or contains any thing repugnant to Scripture, let him be excommunicated ipso facto, and not restored, &c. "Canon 5. Whosoever shall affirm, that any of the thirty-nine articles of the church, agreed upon in the year 1562, for avoiding diversity of opinions, and for establishing consent touching true religion, are in any part superstitious or erroneous, or such as he may not with a good conscience subscribe to, let him be excom- municated ipso facto, and not restored, &c. " Canon 6. Whosoever shall affirm, that the rites and ceremo- nies of the church of England by law established, are wicked, antichristian, superstitious, or such as, being commanded by law- ful authority, good men may not with a good conscience approve, use, or, as occasion requires, subscribe, let him be excommunicated ipso facto, and not restored, &c. " Canon 7. Whosoever shall affirm, the government of the church of England, by archbishops, bishops, deans, and archdea- cons, and the rest that bear office in the same, is antichristian, or repugnant to the word of God, let him be excommunicated ijjso facto, and not restored, &c. " Canon 8. Whosoever shall affirm, that the form and manner of making and consecrating bishops, priests, or deacons, contains any thing repugnant to the word of God ; or that persons so made and consecrated are not lawfully made, or need any other calling or ordination to their divine offices, let him be excommuni- cated ipso facto, and not restored, &c. " Canon 9. Whosoever shall separate from the communion of the church of England, as it is approved by the apostles' rules, and combine together in a new brotherhood, accounting those who conform to the doctrines, rites, and ceremonies of the church, un- meet for their communion, let them be excommunicated ipso facto, and not restored, &c. " Canon 10. Whosoever shall affirm that such ministers as refuse to subscribe to the form and number of God''s worship in the church of England, and their adherents, may truly take to themselves the name of another church not established by law, and shall publish, that their pretended church has groaned under the burden of certain grievances, imposed on them by the church THF, PURITANS. 413 of England, let iheni be excommunicated ipso fdcfo, and not restored, &c. "Canon 11. Whosoever shall affirm, that there are within this realm, other meetings, assemblies, or congregations, of the king's born subjects, than such as are established by law, which may rightly challenge to themselves the name of true and lawful churches, let him be excommunicated zjoso facto, and not re- stored, &c. " Canon 12. Whosoever shall affirm that it is lawful for any sort of ministers or lay-persons to make rules, orders, and consti- tutions, in causes ecclesiastical, without the king's authority, and shall submit to be ruled and governed by them, let him be excom- municated 'ipso facto, and not restored, &c. " Canon 98. We decree and appoint, that after any judge ecclesiastical hath proceeded judicially against obstinate and fac- tious persons, for not observing the rites and ceremonies of the church, or for contempt of public prayer, no judge ad qnem shall admit or allow of an appeal, unless he having first seen the origi- nal appeal, the party appellant do first personally promise and vow, that he will faithfully keep and observe all the rites and ceremonies of the church of England, as also the prescript form of common prayer ; and do likewise subscribe the three articles for- merly by us specified and declared." They who are acquainted with the terrible consequences of an excommunication in the spiritual courts, must be sensible of the new hardships put upon the Puritans by these canons : suspen- sions and deprivations from their livings, were not now thought sufficient punishments for the sin of nonconformity ; but the Puritans, both clergy and laity, must be turned out of the con- gregation of the faithful ; they must be rendered incapable of suing for their lawful debts ; they must be imprisoned for life by process out of the civil courts, or until they make satisfaction to the church ; and when they die, they n)ust be denied Christian burial ; and, so far as lies in the power of the court, be excluded the kingdom of heaven. O uncharitableness ! Papists excommu- nicate Protestants, because, by renouncing the Catholic faith, they apprehended them guilty of heresy ; but for Protestants of the same faith to excommunicate their fellow-Christians and subjects, and deprive them of their liberties, properties, and estates, for a few ceremonies, or because they have not the same veneration for the ecclesiastical constitution with themselves, is hardly to be paralleled. To take notice of a few more of the canons: canon 14 forbids the minister to add to, or leave out, any part of the prayers. Canon 18 enjoins bowing at the name of Jesus. Canons 17, 24, 25, 58, 74, enjoin the wearing the habits in colleges, cathedrals, &c. as copes, surplices, hoods. Canon 27 forbids giving the sacrament to schismatics, or to any but such as kneel, and allow of the rites, ceremonies, and orders, of the chuich. Canon 28 414 HISTORY OF says, that none shall be admitted to the sacrament but in tlieir own parish. Canon 29, That no parent shall be urged to be present, nor be admitted to answer as a godfather for his own child in baptism. Canon 30 declares the sign of the cross to be no part of the substance of the sacrament of baptism, but that the ordinance is perfect without it. Canon 33 prohibits ordination without a presentation, and says, that if any bishop ordain without a title, he shall maintain the person till he be provided with a living. Canons 36 and 37 say, that no person shall be ordained, or suffered to preach, or catechise in any place as a lectvu'er, or otherwise, unless he first subscribe the three articles following ; 1. That the king's majesty is the supreme head and governor of this realm, as well in all spiritual and ecclesiastical, as temporal causes. 2. That the Book of Common Prayer, &c. contains nothing contrary to the word of God, and that he will use it and none other. 3. That he alloweth the thirty-nine articles of 1562, to be all and every one of them agreeable to the word of God. I'o these he shall subscribe in the following form of words : I, N. N. do willingly, and ex a7iimo, subscribe to these three articles above mentioned, and to all things that are contained in them. Canon 38 says, that if any minister, after subscription, shall disuse the ceremonies, he shall be suspended ; then after a month be excommunicated, and after another month be deposed from his ministry. Canon 55 contains the form of bidding prayer before sermon ; " ye shall pray for Christ's holy catholic church," &c. the original of which I have accounted for. Canon 82 appoints, " that convenient and decent tables shall be provided in all churches for the celebration of the holy communion, and the same tables shall be covered in times of divine service with a carpet of silk, or other convenient stuff; and with a fair linen cloth at the time of the administration, as becometh that table, and so stand, saving when the said holy communion is to be administered ; at which time the same shall be placed in so good sort within the church or chancel, as thereby the minister may be more conveniently heard of the communicants in his prayer and administration ; and the communicants also more conveniently, and in more numbers, may communicate with the said minister ; and a convenient seat shall be made for the minister to read service in." The other canons relate to the particular duties of ministers, lecturers, churchwardens, parish-clerks; to the jurisdiction and business of ecclesiastical courts, with their proper officers, as judges ecclesiastical, surrogates, proctors, registrars, apparitors, &c. The book concludes with denouncing the sentence of excommunication, 1. Against such as shall affirm, that this synod thus assembled, is not the true church of England by representation. 2. Against such as shall affirm, that persons not particularly assembled in this synod, either clergy or laity, are not subject to the decrees thereof, as not havinsr o-iven their voices to them. 3. Against THE PURITAXS. 415 such as shall afllnn, this sacred synod was a company of such persons as did conspire against godly and religious professors of the gospel, and therefore that they and their proceedings ought to be despised and contemned, though ratified and confirmed by the royal supremacy and authority. The king, in his ratification of these canons, commands them to be diligently observed and executed ; and for the better observa- tion of the same, that every parish-minister shall read them over once every year in his church, on a Sunday or holiday, before divine service ; and all archbishops, bishops, and others, having ecclesiastical jurisdiction, are commanded to see all and every the same put in execution, and not spare to execute the penalties in them severally mentioned on those that wilfully break or neglect them. I shall leave the reader to make his own comment on the proceedings of this synod, only observing, that when they had finished their decrees, they were prorogued to Jannary, 1605 — 6, when, Dr. Overal being prolocutor, they gave the king four subsi- dies, but did no more church-business till the time of their disso- lution, in the year 1610. Dr. Bancroft bishop of London, being translated to the see of Canterbui-y ^December 1604], was succeeded by Vaughan bishop of Chester, a corpulent man, and of little activity ; upon his advancement the Dutch and French ministers within his diocess presented him with an address for his protection and fiivour, wherein they set forth, " that their churches were granted them by charter from pious king Edward VI, in the year 1550 ; and that, though they were again dispersed by the Marian persecution, they were restored to their churches and privileges by queen Elizabeth, in the year 1558, from which time they have been in the uninterrupted possession of them. It appears from our records (say they) how kind and friendly the pious Grindal was to us; and what pains the prudent bishop Sandys took in composing our differences. We promise ourselves the like favour from your lordship, &c. — for whom we shall always pray, &c. — * " Monsieur de la Fontaine delivered the address, with a short Latin speech, to whom the bishop replied, " I thank you, most dear brethren, for your kind address ; I am sensible of the merits of John Alasco, Utenhovius, and Edmund Gi'indal bishop of London f; superin- tendants of your churches; and of the rest of my predecessors in this bishoprick, who had reason to take your churches, which are of the same faith with our own, under their patronage, which I also am ready to do. I have known your churches twenty-five years to have been beneficial to the kingdom, and serviceable to the church of England, in which the devil, the author of discord, has kindled the fire of dissension, into which I pray you not to pour " Address of the French and Dutch churches to the bishop of London, Strype's Annals, vol. 4. p. '.V.iO. f Utenhovius and Edmund Grindal, as Dr. Grey observes, are not mentioned in the bishop's answer, though they are in Fontaine's speech. — Ed. 416 HISTORY' OF oil, but to endeavour by your counsels and prayers, to extin- guish *." Thus the foreign churches enjoyed full peace, while liis majesty's own subjects, of the same faith and discipline with them, were harassed out of the kingdom. Bancroft was a divine of a rough temper, a perfect creature of the prerogative, and a declared enemy of the religious and civil liberties of his country. He vvas for advancing the prerogative above law, and for enlarging the jurisdiction of the spiritual courts, by advising his majesty to take from the courts of Westminster- hall, to himself, the whole right of granting prohibitions ; for this purpose he framed twenty-five grievances of the clergy, which he called articuU cleri, and presented them to the king for his appro- bation; but the judges having declared them to be contrary to law, they were set aside. His grace revived the persecution of the Puritans, by enforcing the strict observance of all the festivals of the church ; reviving the use of copes, surplices, caps, hoods, &c. according to the first service-book of king Edward ; obliging the clergy to subscribe over again to the three articles of Whitgift, which by the late canon [No. 36.] they were to declare they did willingly, and from the heart. By these methods of severity above three hundred Puritan ministers t were silenced or deprived ; some of whom were excommunicated and cast into prison, others were forced to leave their native country and livelihood, and go into banishment, to pre- serve their consciences. I say, says Mr. Collyer, to preserve their consciences, for it is a hard thing to bring every body's under- standing to the common standard, and to make all honest men of the same mind:[:. To countenance and support the archbishop''s proceedings, the king summoned the twelve judges into the star-chamber, and demanded their judgments upon three questions ; there were pre- sent the bishops of Canterbury and London, and about twelve lords of the privy council. The lord-chancellor opened the assembly with a sharp speech against the Puritans, as disturbers of the peace, declaring, that the king intended to suppress them, by having the laws put in execution § ; and then demanded, in his majesty's name, the opinion of the judges in three things : Q. 1. "Whether the deprivation of Puritan ministers by the hio-h commissioners, for refusing; to conform to the ceremonies appointed by the last canons, was lawful ? * Strype's Annals, vol. 5. p. 395. t This account is controverted by Dr. Grey, on the authority of Heylin's Aer. Rediviv. p. 376 ; who says " that by the rolls brought in by bishop Bancroft before his death it appears, that there had been but forty-five deprived on all occasions ; which, in a realm containing nine thousand parishes, could be no great matter. But it was, that by the punishment of some of the principals, he struck such a general terror into all the rest, that inconformity grew out of fashion in less time than could be easily imagined." — Ed. I Eccles. Hist. p. fi87. § Crook's reports, Mich, term, 2 Jac. jjart 2, p. 37, parag. 13. THE PURITANS. 417 The judges rojilieil, "that they had conferred thereof before, and held it to be lawful, because "the king had the supreme eccle- siastical power, which he has delegated to the commissioners, whereby they have the power of deprivation, by the canon law of the realm, and the statute 1st Eliz. which appoints commissioners to be made by the queen, but does not confer any new power, but explain and declare the ancient power ; and therefore they held it clear, that the king without parliament might make orders and constitutions for the government of the clergy, and might deprive them if they obeyed not ; and so the commissioners might deprive them ; but that the commissioners could not make any new consti- tutions, without the king. And the divulging such ordinances by proclamation is a most gracious admonition. And forasmuch as they [the Puritans] have refused to obey, they are lawfully deprived by the commissioners ex officio, without libel, et ore tenus convocati. Q. 2. " Whether a prohibition be grantable against the com- missioners upon the statute of 2 Henry V. if they do not dehver the copy of the libel to the party?" The judges replied, "that that statute was intended where the ecclesiastical judge proceeds ex officio, et ore teniis." Q. 3. " Whether it be an offence punishable, and what punish- ment they deserved, who framed petitions, and collected a multi- tude of hands thereto, to prefer to the king in a public cause, as the Puritans had done, with an intimation to the king, that if he denied their suit many thousands of his subjects would be discon- tented ?" The judges replied, " that it was an offence finable at discretion, and very near to treason and felony in the punishment, for it tended to the raising sedition, rebellion, and discontent among the people." To which unaccountable resolution all the lords agreed. By these determinations the whole body of the clergy are excluded the benefit of the common and statute law ; for the king without parliament may make what constitutions he pleases : his majesty's high commissioners may proceed upon these constitutions ex officio ; and the subject may not open his complaints to the king, or petition for relief, without being finable at pleasure, and coming within danger of treason or felony *. Before the breaking up of the assembly, some of the lords de- clared, that the Puritans had raised a false rumour of the king, as intending to grant a toleration to Papists; which offence the judges conceived to be heinously finable by the rules of common law, either in the King's-bench, or by the king in council ; or now, since the statute of 3 Henry VH. in the star-chamber. And the lords severally declared, that the king was discontented with the said false rumour, and had made but the day before a * " This (as Dr. Warner well observes) was making the king adsolute in aU ecclesiastical affairs, without any limitation or redress : aid it was intended probably as a step to make him so in the state."' — Ed. VOL. I. E E 418 HISTORY' OF protestation to them, that he never intended it, and that he would spend the last drop of blood in his body before he would do it ; and prayed, that before any of his issue should maintain any other religion than what he truly possessed and maintained, God would take them out of the world. The reader will remember this solemn protestation hereafter. After these determinations the archbishop resumed fresh courage, and pursued the Puritans without the least compassion, A more grievous persecution of the orthodox faith, says my author, is not to be met with in any prince's reign. Dr. John Burgess, rector of Sutton-Colefield, in one of his letters to king James, says, the number of Nonconformists in the counties he mentions, were six or seven hundred, agreeable to the address of the Lincolnshire ministers, hei'eafter mentioned *. The whole clergy of London being summoned to Lambeth, in order to subscribe over again, many absconded, and such numbers refused, that the church was in danger of being disfurnished, which awakened the court, who had been told that the Noncon- formists were an inconsiderable body of men. Upon this surprising- appearance the bishops were obliged to relax the rigour of the canons for awhile; and to accept of a promise from some, to use the cross and surplice ; from others to use the surplice only; and from others a verbal promise that they might be used, not obliging themselves to the use of them at all; the design of which was to serve the church by them at present, till the uni- versities could supply them with new men ; for they had a strict eye upon those seminaries of learning, and would admit no young scholar into orders without an absolute and full subscription to all the articles and canons. Bancroft, in a letter to his brethren the bishops, dated De- cember 18, 1604, gives the following directions: " As to such ministers as are not already placed in the church, the thirty-sixth and thirty-seventh canons are to be observed ; and none are to be admitted to execute any ecclesiastical function without subscrip- tion. Such as are already placed in the church are of two sorts : 1. Some promise conformity, but are unwilling to subscribe again. Of these, forasmuch as the near affinity between conformity and subscription gives apparent hopes, that being men of sincerity, * The number of nonsubscribers in Oxfordshire were 9 Dorsetshire 17 Nottinghamshire 20 Norfolk 28 Buckinghamshire 33 Leicestershire 57 Bedfordshire 16 Derbyshire 20 Kent 23 Sussex 47 Lincolnshire 33 Cheshire 12 Devon and Cornwall 51 Somersetshire 17 Suffolk 71 Lancashire 21 Staffordshire 14 London 30 Hertfordshire 17 Warwickshire 44 Surrey 21 Northamptonshire 57 Wiltshire 31 Essex 57 In the twenty-four counties above mentioned .... 746 From whence it is reasonable to conclude, that in the fifty-two counties of England and Wales there were more than double the number. THE PURITANS. 419 they will in a short time frcinie tliemselves to a more constant course, and subscribe to tliat again, which by their practice they testify not to be repugnant to the word of God ; your lordship may (an act remaining upon record of such their offer and pro- mise) respite their subscription for some short time. 2. Others in their obstinacy will yield neither to subscription, nor promise of conformity; these are either stipendiary curates, or stipendiary lecturers, or men beneficed ; the two first are to be silenced, and the third deprived." He adds, " that the king's proclamation of July 16, 1604, admonishes them to conform to the church, and obey the same, or else to dispose of themselves and their families some other way, as being men unfit, for their obstinacy and con- tempt, to occupy such places; and besides, they are within the compass of several laws." The Puritans who separated from the church, or inclined that way, were treated with yet greater rigour. Mr. Maunsel, ministerof Yarmouth, and Mr. Lad, a merchant of that town, were imprisoned by the high-commission, for a supposed conventicle, because that on the Lord's day, after sermon, they joined with Mr. Jackler, their late minister, in repeating the heads of the sermon preached on that day in the church. Mr. Lad was obliged to answer upon oath certain articles, without being able to obtain a sight of them beforehand ; and after he had answered before the chancellor, was cited up to Lambeth to answer them again before the high commissioners upon a new oalh, which he refusing, without a sight of his former answer, was thrown into prison, where he con- tinued a long time, without being admitted to bail. Mr. Maunsel the minister was charged farther, with signing a complaint to the lower house of parliament, and for refusing the oath ex officio; for which he also was shut up in prison without bail. At length being brought to tlie bar upon a writ of habeas coi-pus, and having prevailed with Nic. Fuller, esq. a bencher of Gray''s Inn, and a learned man in his profession, to be their counsel ; he moved, that the prisoners might be discharged, because the high com- missioners were not empowered by law to imprison, or to admi- nister the oath ex officio, or to fine any of his majesty's subjects. This was reckoned an unpardonable crime, and, instead of serving his clients, brought the indignation of the commissioners upon himself. Bancroft told the king, that he was the champion of the Nonconformists, and ought therefore to be made an example, to terrify others from appearing for them; accordingly he was shut up in close prison, from whence neither the intercession of his friends, nor his own humble petitions could obtain his release to the day of his death *. This high abuse of church-power obliged many learned minis- ters and their followers to leave the kingdom, and retire to Amsterdam, Rotterdam, the Hague, Leyden, Utrecht, and other * Pierce's Vindication, p. 174. E E 2 420 , HISTORY OF places of the Low Countries, where Enghsh churches were erected after the presbyterian model, and maintained by the States according to treaty with queen Elizabeth, as the French and Dutch churches were in Eno^land. Besides, the Enghsh beinc^ yet in possession of the cautionary towns, many went over as chaplains to regiments, which together with the merchants tiiat resided in the trading cities, made a considerable body. The reverend and learned Dr. William Ames, one of the most acute controversial writers of his age, settled with the English church at the Hague; the learned Mr. Robert Parker, a Wiltshire divine, and author of the Ecclesiastical Policy, being disturbed by the high-commission, retired to Amsterdam, and afterward became chaplain to the English regiment at Doesburgh, where he died. The learned Mr. Forbes, a Scots divine, settled with the English church at Kotterdam ; as Mr. Pots, Mr. Paget, and others, did at Amsterdam and other places. But the greatest number of those who left their native country for religion were Brownists*, or rigid Separatists, of whom Mr. Johnson, Ainsworth, Smith, and Robinson, were the leaders. Mr. Johnson erected a church at Amsterdam, after the model of the Brownists, having the learned Mr. Ainsworth for doctor or teacher. These two published to the world a confession of faith of the people called Brownists, in the year 1602, not much dif- ferent in doctrine from " The harmony of confessions f but being men of warm spirits, they fell to pieces about points of disci- pline -}-; Johnson excommunicated his own father and brother for • These conscientious exiles, driven from their own country by persecution, in- stead of meeting with a hospitable reception or even a quiet refuge in Holland, were there " loaded with reproaches, despised and afflicted by all, and almost con- sumed with deep poverty." The learned Ainsworth, we are told, lived upon nine- pence a week and some boiled roots, and was reduced to the necessity of hiring himself as a porter to a bookseller, who first of all discovered his skill in the Hebrew language, and made it known to his countrymen. The Dutch themselves, just emerged from civil and religious oppression, looked with a jealous eye on these suffering refugees. And though the civil power, commonly in every state more friendly than the ecclesiastic to toleration, does not appear to have oppressed them, the clergy would not afford them an opportunity to refute the unfavourable reports generally circulated against them, on the authority of letters from England ; nor receive their confession of faith ; nor give them an audience on some points, on which they desired to lay their sentiments before them. But with a man at their Jiead, of no less eminence than James Arminius, judged that they ought to petition the magistrate for leave to hold their assemblies for the worship of God, and in- formed against them in such a way as might have rendered them the objects of sus- picion. " They seemed evidently (it has been remarked) to have considered them in the same light, in which serious and conscientious dissenters from the religious profession of the majority will ever be viewed, as a set of discontented, factious, and conceited men, with whom it would be safest for them to have no connexion." Ainsworth's two treatises on The Communion of Saints, and An Arrow against Idolatry, printed at Edinburgh, 1789, pref. p. 15 — 17 Ed. f A late writer, who appears to have accurately investigated the history of the Brownists, represents Mr. Neal as incorrect in his account of the debates which ■arose amongst them. The principal leaders of this party were the two brothers Francis and George Johnson, Mr. Ainsworth, and Mr. John Smith, who had been a clero;yman in England. Three principal subjects of controversy occasioned dis- tentions in the Brownist churches. The first ground of dissension was the mar- THE PURITANS. 421 triHing matters, after having rejected the mediation of the pres- bytery of Amsterdam. This divided the congregation, insomuch that Mr. Ainsworth and half the congregation excommunicated Johnson, who after some time returned the same comphment to Ainsworth. At length the contest grew so hot, that Amsterdam could not hold them ; Johnson and his followers removed to Emb- den, where soon after dying, his congregation dissolved. Nor did Mr. Ainsworth and his followers live long in peace, upon which he left them and retired to Ireland, where he continued some time ; but when the spirits of his people were quieted he returned to Amsterdam, and continued with them to the day of his death. This Mr. Ainsworth was author of an excellent ■little treatise, entitled, " An arrow against idolatry," and of a most learned commentary on the five books of Moses, by which he appears to have been a great master of the Oriental languages and of Jewish antiquities. His death was sudden, and not with- out suspicion of violence ; for it is reported, that having found a diamond of very great value in the streets of Amsterdam, he advertised it in print, and when the owner, who was a Jew, came to demand it, he offered him any acknowledgment he would desire; but Ainsworth, though poor, would accept of nothing but a conference with some of his rabbies upon the prophecies of the Old Testament relating to the Messias, which the other pro- mised ; but not having interest enough to obtain it, and Ains- worth being resolute, it is thought he was poisoned *. His con- liage of Francis Johnson with a widow of a taste for living and dress ; particularly unsuitable to times of persecution ; his father and his brother opposed this con- nexion. This occasioned such a difference, that the latter proceeded from admoni- tions and reproofs, to bitter revilings and reproaches ; and Francis Johnson, his colleague Ainsworth, and the church, at length, passed a sentence of excommuni- -catioB against the father and brother. Mr. Neal, it seems, confounds this unhappy controversy with another that succeeded to it, but distinct from it, between Francis Johnson and Ainsworth. It turned upon a question of discipline. The former placing the government of the church in the eldership alone, the latter in the church, of which the eiders are a part. This dispute was carried to an unchristian height, but, according to Mr. John Cotton of New England, who was the contempo- rary of Johnson and Ainsworth, and had lived amidst the partisans of each side, they did not, as Mr. Neal represents the matter, mutually excommunicate each other ; but Ainswortli and his company withdrew and worshipped by themselves after Johnson and those with him had denied the communion. In the interim of these debates, a schism had taken place in the church, headed by Mr. John Smith, who advanced and maintained opinions similar to those afterward espoused by Arminius; and besides his sentiments concerning baptism, to which Mr. Neal refers in the next paragraph, several singiilar opinions were ascrilied to him : as, that no trans- lation of the Bible could be properly the word of God, but the original only was so : that singing set words or verses to God was without any proper authority : that flight in time of persecution was unlawful : that the new creature needed not the support of Scriptures and ordinances, but is above them : that perfection is attainable in this life, &c. There arose against him a whole host of oj>ponents ; Johnson, Robinson, Clifton, Ainsworth, and Jessop. His character as well as his sentiments were attacked witli a virulence of spirit and an abusive language, that discredit the charges and expose the spirit of the writers. See some account of Mr. Ainsworth, prefixed to a new edition of his two treatises, p. 27 — 42 ; and Crosby's History of English Baptists, vol. 1. p. 3. &c. and p. 265, &c. — Ed. * Others say, that he obtained this conference, and so confounded the Jews that from pique and malice they in this manner put an end to his life. He died in 422 HISTORY OF gregation remained without a pastor for some years after his death, and. then chose Mr. Canne, author of the marginal references to the Bible, and sundry other treatises. Mr. Smith was a learned man, and of good abilities, but of an unsettled head, as appears by the preface to one of his books, in which he desires that his last writings may always be taken for his present judgment. He was for refining upon the Brownists' scheme, and at last declared for the principles of the Baptists ; upon this he left Amsterdam, and settled with his disciples at Ley ; where, being at a loss for a proper administrator of the ordinance of baptism, he plunged himself, and then performed the ceremony upon others, which gained him the name of a Se-Bap~ tist*. He afterwards embraced the tenets of Arminius, and pub- lished certain conclusions upon those points in the year 1611, which Mr. Robinson answered ; but Smith died soon after, and his congregation dissolved. Mr. John Robinson was a Norfolk divine, beneficed about Yar- mouth, where being often molested by the bisi)op's officers, and his friends almost ruined in the ecclesiastical courts, he removed to Leyden, and erected a congregation upon the model of the Brown- istsf . He set out upon the most rigid principles, but by con- versing with Dr. Ames, and other learned men, he became more moderate ; and though he always maintained the lawfulness and necessity of separating from those reformed churches among which he lived, yet he did not deny them to be true churches, and admit- ted their members to occasional communion, allowing his own to join with the Dutch churches in prayer and hearing the word, but not in the sacraments and discipline, which gained him the cha- 1622 or 1623, leaving an exemplary character for humility, sobriety, discretion, and unblamable virtue. See an account prefixed to his two treatises, p. 60, 62.— Ed. * This is said on the authority of his opponents only, who, from the acrimony with which they wrote against him, it may be reasonably concluded, might be ready to take n]) a report against him upon slender evidence. His defences of himself and his opinions have not been, for many years, to be met with : but the large quotations from them in the writings of his opponents afforded not the least intimation, either in the way of concession or justification, of his having done such a thing; the contrary may be rather concluded from them. The first ground of his separation from the established church was a dislike of its ceremonies and prescribed forms of prayer ; he afterward doubted concerning the validity of bap- tism administered in a national church ; this paved the way for his rejecting the baptism of infants altogether, and adopting immersion as the true and only mean- ing of the word baptism. His judgment on doctrinal points underwent similar changes. Hence Mr. Neal has called him a man " of an unsettled head." This language seems to insinuate a reflection on Mr. Smith : whereas it is an honour to any man ; it shews candour, ingenuousness, an openness to conviction, and sincerity, for one to change his sentiment on farther inquiry, and to avow it. A lover of truth, especially who has imbibed in early life the principles of the corrupt estab- lishments of Christianity, will continually find it his duty to recede from his first sentiments. Bishop Tillotson justly commended his friend Dr. Whichcot ; be- cause, while it is customary with learned men at a certain age to make their under- standings, the doctor was so wise as to be willing to learn to the last ; i. e, he was of an unsettled head. Crosby's History of the English Baptists, vol, 1. p. 65, &c. Account of Mr. Ainsworth prefixed to his two treatises, p. 41. — Ed f Boyle's Dissuasive, p. 177. THE PUlllTANS. 423 racter of a semi- separatist ; his words are these * ; " We profess, before God and men, that we agree so entirely with the reformed Dutch churches in matters of religion, that we are willing to sub- scribe to all and every one of their articles, as they are set down in ' The harmony of confessions/ — We acknowledge these reformed churches for true and genuine : we hold communion with them as far as we can ; those among us that understand the Dutch lan- guage frequent their sermons; and we administer the Lord's supper to such of their members as are known to us, and desire it occasionally." This Mr. Robinson was the father of the Inde- pendents. Mr. Henry Jacob was born in Kent, and educated in St. Mary hall, where he took the degrees in arts, entered into holy orders, and became precentor of Christ-church college, and afterward beneficed in his own country at Cheritonf. He was a person thoroughly versed in theological authors, but withal a most zea- lous Puritan. He wrote two treatises against Fr. Johnson the Brownist, in defence of the church of England's being a true church, printed at Middleburgh, 1599, and afterward published " Reasons taken out of God's word, and the best human testimo- nies, proving a necessity of reforming our churches of England, 8cc. 1604J." But going to I^eyden, and conversing with Mr. Robinson, he embraced his sentiments of discipline and govern- ment, and transplanted it into England in the year 1616, as will be seen in its proper place. This difference among the Puritans engaged them in a warm controversy among themselves, about the lawfulness and necessity of separating from the church of England, while the conforming clergy stood by as spectators of the combat. Most of the Puri- tans were for keeping within the pale of the church, apprehending it to be a true church in its doctrines and sacraments, though de- fective in discipline, and corrupt in ceremonies ; but being a true church they thought it not lawful to separate, though they could hardly continue in it with a good conscience. They submitted to suspensions and deprivations; and when they were driven out of one diocess, took sanctuary in another, being afraid of incurring the guilt of schism by forming themselves into separate com- munions. Whereas the Brownists maintained, that the church of England, in its present constitution, was no true church of Christ, but a limb of antichrist, or at best a mere creature of the state ; that their ministers were not rightly called and ordained, nor the * " Profitemur coram Deo et hominibus adeo nobis convenire cum ecclesiis refor- matis Belgicis in re religionis ut omnibus et singulis earundem ecclesiarum fidei articulis, prouthabentur in HarmoniaConfessionum Fidei, parati sumus subscribere. — Ecclesias reformatas pro veris et genuinis habemus, cum iisdem in sacris Dei communionem profitemur, et quantum in nobis est, colimus. Conciones publicas ab illarum pastoribus habitas, ex nostris qui norunt linguam Belgicam frequentant : sacram coenam earum membris, si qua forte nostris coetibus intersint nobis cognita, participianius." t Life of Whitgift, p. 5GH. * Ath. Ox. vol. 1. p. 394. 424 MI STORY or sacraments duly administered ; or, supposing it to be a true church, yet as it was owned by their adversaries [the conforming Puritans] to be a very corrupt one, it must be as lawful to separate from it, as for the church of England to separate from Rome. The conforming Puritans evaded this consequence, by denying the church of Home to be a true church ; nay, they affirmed it to be the very antichrist ; but the argument remained in full force against the bishops, and that part of the clergy who acknowledged the church of Rome to be a true church. It is certainly as lawful to separate from the corruptions of one church as of another ; and it is necessary to do so, when those cor- ruptions are imposed as terms of communion. Let us hear arch- bishop Laud, in his conference with the Jesuit Fisher. " Ano- ther church (says his grace) may separate from Rome, if Rome will separate from Christ ; and so far as it separates from him, and the faith, so far may another church separate from it. I grant the church of Rome to be a true church in essence, though corrupt in manners and doctrine. And' corruption of manners, attended with errors in the doctrines of faith, is a just cause for one par- ticular church to separate from another." His grace then adds, Avith regard to the church of Rome ; " The cause of the separation is 3'Ours, for you thrust us from you, because we called for truth and redress of abuses; for a schism must needs be theirs whose the cause of it is ; the woe runs full out of the mouth of Christ, even against him that gives the offence, not against him that takes it. It was ill done of those, whoever they were, who first made the separation [from Rome] ; I mean not actual but casaul, for, as I said before, the schism is theirs whose the cause of it is ; and he makes the separation who gives the first just cause of it, not he that makes an actual separation upon a just cause preceding." Let the reader carefully consider these concessions, and then judge how far they will justify the separation of the Brownists, or the Protestant Nonconformists at this day. This year [1605] was famous for the discovery of the gun- powder plot, which was a contrivance of the Papists to blow up the king and the whole royal family, with the chief of the Pro- testant nobility and gentry, November 5th, the first day of their assembling in parliament. For this purpose a cellar was hired under the house of lords, and stored with thirty-six barrels of gunpowder, covered over with coals and faggots ; but the plot was discovered the night before, by means of a letter sent to Lord Monteagle, advising; him to absent himself from the house, because they were to receive a terrible blow, and not to know who hurt them. Monteagle carrying the letter to court, the king ordered the apartments about the parliament house to be searched ; the powder was found under the house of lords, and Guy Faux with a dark lantern in the cellar, waiting to set fire to the train when the king should come to the house the next morning. Faux being apprehended confessed the plot, and impeached several of his ac- T4IE PURITANS. 425 complices, eight of whom were tried and executed, and among them Garnet, provincial of the English Jesuits, whom the pope afterward canonized. The discovery of this murderous conspiracy was ascribed to the royal penetration* ; but Mr. Osborne"!- and others, with great probability say, that the first notice of it came from Henry IV. king of France, who heard of it from the Jesuits ; and, that the letter to Monteagle was an artifice of Cecil's, who was acquainted beforehand with the pi'oceedings of the conspirators, and suff'ered them to go to their full length. Even Heylin says, that the king and his council mined with them, and undermined them, and by so doing blew up their whole invention:|:. But it is agreed on all iiands, that if the plot had taken place it was to have been fathered upon the Puritans ; and, as if the king was in the secret, his majesty in his speech to the parliament, November 9th, takes particular care to bring them into reproach ; for after having cleared the Roman-Catholic religion from encouraging such murderous prac- tices, he adds, the cruelty of the Puritans was worthy of fire, that would not allow salvation to any Papists. So that if these un- happy people had been blown up, his majesty thinks they would have had their deserts. Strange ! that a Puritan should be so much worse than a Papist, or deserve to be burnt for uncharitable- ness, when his majesty knew, that the Papists were so much more criminal in this respect than they, not only denying salvation to the Puritans, but to all who ai'e without the pale of their own church. But what was all this to the plot? except it was to turn off the indignation of the people from the Papists whom the king both feared and loved, to the Puritans, who in a course of forty years' sufferings had never moved the least sedition against the state, but who would not be the advocates or dupes of an un- bounded prerogative ! The discovery of this plot occasioned the drawing up the oath of allegiance, or of submission and obedience to the king as a temporal sovereign independent of any other power upon earth ; which quickly passed both houses, and was appointed to be taken by all the king's subjects; this oath is distinct from the oath of supremacy, which obliges the subject to acknowledge his majesty to be supreme head of the church as well as the state, and might therefore be taken by all such Roman Catholics as did not believe the pope had power to depose kings, and give away their dominions. Accordingly Blackwell their superior, and most of the English Catholics, submitted to the oath, though the pope absolutely for- bade them on pain of damnation ; which occasioned a new debate, concerning the extent of the pope's power in temporals, between the learned of both religions. Cardinal Bellarmine, under the feigned name of Tortus, wrote against the oath, which gave occa- sion to king James's Apology to all Christian princes ; wherein, * Kapin, vol. 2. p. 171. t Osborne, p. 448. J History of Presbytery, p. .578. 426 HISTORY OF after clearing himself from the charge of persecuting the Papists, he reproaches his holiness with ingratitude, considering the free liberty of religion that he had granted the Papists, the honours he had conferred on them, the free access they had to his person at all times; the general jail delivery of all Jesuits and Papists con- vict, and the strict orders he had given his judges not to put the laws in execution against them for the future*. All which was true, while the unhappy Puritans were imprisoned and fined, or forced into banishment. The parliament, on occasion of this plot appointed an annual thanksgiving on the 5th of November, and passed another law, obliging all persons to come to church under the penalty of twelvepence every Sunday they were absent, unless they gave such reasons as should be satisfactory to a justice of peace. This, like a two-edged sword, cut down all separatists, whether Protestants or Papists. To return to the Puritans ; the more moderate of whom, being willing to steer a middle course, between a total separation and absolute conformity, were attacked by some of the bishops with this argument : " All those who wilfully refuse to obey the king in all things indiiferent, and to conform themselves to the orders of the church authorized by him, not contrary to the word of God, are schisma- tics, enemies to the king's supremacy, and the state, and not to be tolerated in church or commonwealth. " But you do so " Therefore you are not to be tolerated in church or common- wealth." The Puritans denied the charge, and returned this argument upon their accusers : " All those who freely and willingly perform to the king £tnd state all obedience, not only in things necessary, but indifferent, commanded by law, and that have been always ready to^^nform themselves to every order of the church authorized by him, not contrary to the word of God, are free from all schism, friends to the king's supremacy, and to the state, and unworthy in this man- ner to be molested in church or commonwealth. " But there are none of us that are deprived or suspended from our ministry, but have been ever ready to do all this; therefore we are free from schism, friends to the king's supremacy, and most unworthy of such molestation as we sustain."' This being the point of difference, the Puritans offered a public disputation upon the lawfulness of imposing ceremonies in general ; and in particular upon the surplice, the cross in baptism, and kneeling at the communion ; but were refused. Upon which the Lincolnshire ministers drew up an apology for those ministers who are troubled for refusing of subscription and conformity, and presented it to the king, December 1, 1604, the abridgment of * King James's Apol. p. 253. THE PURITAKS. 427 which is now before inc, and begins with a declaration of their readiness to subscribe the first of the three articles required by the thirty-sixth canon, concerning the king's supremacy ; but to the other two, say they, we cannot subscribe, because we are persuaded, that both the Book of Common Prayer, and the other book [of articles] to be subscribed by this canon (which yet, in some respects, we reverently esteem) contain in them sundry things which are not agreeable, but contrary to, the word of God. Tliev object to the Book of Common Prayer in general, That it appoints that order for I'eading the Holy Scriptures, which in many respects is contrary to the word of God. As, 1 . " The greatest part of the canonical Scripture is left out in the public reading ; whereas ' all Scripture is given by inspiration, and is profitable,' &:c. and sundry chapters that are, in their opi- nion, more edifying than some others that are read, are omitted — . 2. " It does too much honour to the Apocryphal writings, com- manding many of them to be read for first lessons, and under the name of Holy Scripture, and in as great a proportion ; for of the canonical chapters of the Old Testament (being in all seven hun- dred and seventy-nine) are read only five hundred and ninety-two, and of the Apocryphal books (being one hundred and seventy- two chapters) are read one hundred and four. This they appre- hend to be contrary to the word of God, forasmuch as the Apocry- phal books contain sundry and manifest errors, divers of which are here produced. 3. 4, 5, 6, 7. " The Book of Common Prayer appoints such a translation of the Holy Scriptures to be read in the churches as in some places is absurd, and in others takes from, perverts, ob- scures, and falsifies, the word of God ; examples of which are produced, with the authorities of the most considerable reformers." Their next general objection against subscribing the Book of Common Prayer is, because it enjoins the use of such ceremonies as they apprehend contrary to the word of God. To make good this assertion they say *, " It is contrary to the word of God to use (much more to command the use of) such ceremonies in the worship of God, as man hath devised, if they be notoriously known to be abused to idolatry and superstition by the Papists, and are of no necessary use in the church. Here they cite such passages of Scripture as command the Jews to abolish all instruments of idolatry ; and even to cast away such things as had a good original, when once they are known to have been abused to idolatry ; as, images, groves, and the brazen ser- pent: 2 Kings xviii. 11. They produce farther the testimonies of sundry fathers, as, Eusebius, St. Austin, &c. and of the most considerable moderns, as, Calvin, Bucer, Musculus, Peter Martyr, Beza, Zanchy ; bishop Jewel, Pilkington, Bilson ; Dr. Hum- phrys, Fulk, Andrews, Sutcliffe, and others, against conformity with idolaters." ,* Abridgment, p. 17. 428 HISTORY OF With regard to the three ceremonies in question, they allege, they have all been abused by the Papists to superstition and idolatry. 1. " The surplice * has been thus abused, for 'tis one of those vestments without which nothing can be consecrated ; all priests that are present at mass must wear it, and therefore the use of it in the church has been condemned, not only by foreign divines, but by bishop Hooper, Farrar, Jewel, Pilkington, Rogers, and others among ourselves.*" 2. " The cross has been also abused to superstition and idola- try, to drive away devils, to expel diseases, to break the force of witchcraft, &c. It is one of the images to which the Papists give religious adoration. The water in baptism has no spiritual virtue in it without the cross, nor is any one rightly baptized (according to the Papists) without it." 3. " Kneeling at the sacrament has been no less abused ; it arose from the notion of the transubstantiation of the elements, and is still used by the Papists in the worship of their breaden God ; who admit they should be guilty of idolatry in kneeling before the elements, if they did not believe them to be the real body and blood of Christ. This ceremony was not introduced into the church till antichrist was at his full height ; and there is no action in the whole service that looks so much like idolatry as this." Their second argument-f* for the unlawfulness of the ceremonies, is taken from their mystical signification, which gives them the nature of a sacrament. Now, no sacrament ought to be of man's devising ; the ceremonies therefore, being affirmed in the Book of Common Prayer to be significant, are unlawful. Their third argument;}: is taken from the unlawfulness of impos- ing them as parts of God's worship, which they prove from hence, " That God is the only appointer of his own worship, and con- demns all human inventions, so far forth as they are made parts of it. Now all the ceremonies in question are thus imposed ; for divine service is supposed not to be rightly performed without the surplice, nor baptism rightly administered without the cross, nor the Lord's supper but to such as kneel ; and therefore they are unlawful." Their fourth is taken from hence. That no rites or ecclesiastical orders should be ordained or used, but such as are needful and profitable, and for edification ; and especially, that none should be ordained or used that cause offence, and hinder edification |j, (Rom. xiv. 21. 1 Cor. x. 23. 32.) '* Now the ceremonies in ques- tion are neither needful nor profitable, nor do they tend to edifi- cation ; but, on the contrary, have given great offence, as appears from hence, that very many of the learned and best experienced ministers in the land have chosen rather to sufl'er any trouble than yield to the use of them ; and we doubt not to affirm, that the greatest number of resident, able, and godly ministers in the land * Abridgment, p. 28. f Ibid. p. 31. * Ibid. p. 37. || Ibid. p. 45. THE PURITANS. 429 at this day, do in their consciences dislike them, and judge them needless and unfit ; as appears by the list of nonsubscribers already mentioned [p. 44], besides many more, who, though unwilling in some other res})C(t to join in the petition, did profess their hearty desire to have them removed *. And if the rest of the shires be esteemed according to this proportion, it will easily appear, that the greatest number of the resident, preaching, and fruitful ministers of the land do dislike them. This may yet farther appear, by their seldom using them for many years past, and their great unwillingness to yield to the use of them now. If they thought them needful or profitable, why do they neglect them in their public ministry, being commanded by lawful authority ? Besides, those very bishops that have been most hot in urging the ceremonies, have declared, that the church might well be without them, and have wished them taken away ; as, archbishop Whit- gift, in his defence of the answer to Cartwright's Admonition, p. 259 ; Dr. Chadderton, bishop of Lincoln, in his speech before all the ministers, convened before him at Huntingdon, November 30th, 1604, and others in ecclesiastical dignities have spoken vehemently against them, as things that do not edify, nor have any tendency to promote decency or order. " With regard to the surplice, they produce the testimonies of the learned Bucer, Peter Martyr, Beza, Cranmer, Ridley, Hooper, and others, for the inexpediency of it, even though they submitted to wear it. Bucer says, he could be content to suffer some grievous loss or pain in his body, upon condition the surplice might be abolished. " The like authorities are brought against the cross, and against kneeling at the communion, the former being a mere invention of man, neither taught by Christ nor his apostles, and the latter being apparently difierent from the first institution, they receiving it in a table-posture ; and it is gross hypocrisy (say they) for us to pretend more holiness, reverence, and devotion, in receiving the sacrament, than the apostles, who received it from the imme- diate hand and person of Christ himself. They (to be sure) had the corporal presence of Christ, and yet did not kneel ; why then should it be enjoined in the church, when the corporal presence of Christ is withdrawn ? This has been thought an argument of great force by our chief divines, as, Calvin, Bulhnger, Beza, Chemnitius, bishop Pilkington, Willet, and others, who declare strongly for the posture of sitting, or at most standing, at the communion. " Besides, kneeling at the sacrament is of very late antiquity, and was not introduced into the church till antichrist was in his full height ; the primitive Christians (according to Tertullian) thought it unlawful to kneel at prayer on the Lord's day ; and the first council of Nice, Ann. Dom. 327, made a solemn decree, * Abridgment, p. 52. 430 HISTORY OF that none might pray kneeling, but only standing, on tlu^ Lord's day, because on that day is celebrated the joyful remembrance of our Lord's resurrection. To kneel is a gesture of sorrow and humiliation ; whereas he that prays standing shews himself thank- ful for the obtaining some mercy or favour. So that either the primitive church used a gesture of greater reverence and humility at the sacrament, which is a feast, and a joyful remembrance of the death of Christ, than they did at prayer, or else they received it in another posture. Besides, it is said *, that the ancient councils commanded, that ' no man should kneel down at the communion, fearing it should be an occasion of idolatry.' Mr. Fox-f-, speaking of the usage of the primitive church, says, they had the communion not at an altar, but at a plain table of boards, when the whole congregation together did communicate, with reverence and thanksgiving ; not lifting over the priest's head, nor worshipping, nor kneeling, nor knocking their breasts, but either sitting at supper, or standing after supper. Eusebius^, speaking of a man that had been admitted to the communion, says, he stood at the table, and put forth his hand to i*eceive the holy food. And bishop Jewel says, that in St. Basil's days [ann. 380] the communion-table was of boards, and so placed, that men might stand round it, and that every man was bound by an apos- tolical tradition to stand upright at the communion. " Besides, the gesture of kneeling is contrary to the very nature of the Lord's supper, which is ordained to be a banquet and sign of that sweet familiarity that is between the faithful and him, and of that spiritual nourishment we are to receive by feeding on his body and blood by faith ; and in what nation is it thought decent to kneel at banquets ? Where do men eat and drink upon their knees ? Farther, the disposition of mind at the Lord's table is not so much humility, as assurance of faith, and cheerful thank- fulness for the benefits of Christ's death. For these reasons, and because kneeling at the sacrament had an idolatrous original, and has a tendency to lead men into that sin, they think it unlawful, and to be laid aside." The Abridgment concludes with a short table of sundry other exceptions against the three books whereunto they are required to subscribe, which they purpose to justify and confirm in the same manner as they have done in respect of those contained in this book ; a summary whereof we shall meet with hereafter. The Abridgment was answered by bishop Moreton and Dr. Burges, who, after having suffered himself to be deprived for nonconformity, June 19, 1604, was persuaded by king James to conform, and write in defence of his present conduct against his former arguments. Bishop Moreton endeavours to defend the innocency of the three ceremonies from Scripture, antiquity, the testimony of Protestant divines, and the practice of the Noncon- * Abridgment, p. 59. f Acts and Moji. p. 19. + Hist. Eccl. lib. 7. cap. 8. THK PTTRITANS. 431 forniists tlienisclves in otluT cases, and has said as much ns can be said in favour of thcni ; though it is hard to defend the impos- ing them upon those who esteem them unlawful, or who appix'hend things indiflerent ought to be left in the state that Christ left them. Dr. Downham, Sparkes, Covel, Hutton, Rogers, and Ball, wrote for the ceremonies ; and were answered by Mr. Brad- shaw, INIr. Paul Baynes, Dr. Ames, and others. From the arguments of these divines it appears, that the Puri- tans were removing to a greater distance from the church ; for whereas, says Dr. Burges, Mr. Cartwright and his brethren wrote sharply against the ceremonies as inconvenient, now they are opposed as absolutely unlawful, neither to be imposed nor used. The cruel severities of Bancroft and the high commission- ers were the occasion of this ; for being pushed upon one of these extremes, either to a constant and full conformity, or to lay down their ministry in the church, many of them, at one of their confer- ences, came to this conclusion, that if they could not enjoy their livin44. VOL. I. (■ O 450 HISTORY OF to the see of Canterbury ; how he behaved in that high station has been sufficiently related. This prelate left behind him no extraordinary character for piety, learning, hospitality, or any other episcopal quality. He was of a rough, inflexible temper, yet a tool of the prerogative, and an enemy to the laws and con- stitution of his country. Some have represented him as inclined to Popery, because he maintained several secular priests in his own house; but this was done, say his advocates, to keep u]) the controversy between them and the Jesuits. Lord Clarendon says*, "that he understood the churcli excellently well, that he had almost rescued it out of the hands of the Calvinian party, and very much subdued the unruly spirit of the Nonconformists ; and that he countenanced men of learning." His lordship might have added, that he was covetous f, passionate, ill-natured, and a cruel persecutor of good men : that he laid aside the hospitality becoming a bishop, and lived without state or equipage, which gave occasion to the following satire upon his death, which hap- pened November 2, 1610, aged sixty-six. Here lies his grace in cold clay clad. Who died for want of what he had. CHAPTER II. FROM THE DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP BANCROFT TO THE DEATH OF KING JAMES I. Bancroft was succeeded by Dr. George Abbot, bishop of London, a divine of a quite different spirit from his predecessor. A sound Protestant, a thorough Calvinist, an avowed enemy to Popery, and even suspected of Puritanism, because he relaxed the penal laws, whereby he unravelled all that his predecessor had been doing for many years ; " who, if he had lived a litde longer (says lord Clarendon j), would have subdued the unruly spirit of the Nonconformists, and extinguished that fire in England whicli had been kindled at Geneva; but Abbot (says his lordship) con- sidered the Christian religion no otherwise than as it abliorred and reviled Popery, and valued those men most who did that most furiously. He inquired but little after the strict observation • Vol. 1. p. 88. ed. 1707. f Fuller, and after him Dr. Grey and Dr. Warner, vindicate the character of archbishop Bancroft from the charges of cruelty and covetousness ; " which, when they are examined into (says Dr. Warner), appear not to deserve those opprobrious names in the strictest acceptation." On the other hand, the author of the Confes- sional calls him, the fiery Bancroft ; and Dr. Warner sums up his account of him in a manner not very honourable to his name. " In short (says he) there have been archbishops who have been much worse than Bancroft, who by their good humour and generosity have been more esteemed when living, and more lamented at their death." Eccles. Hist. vol. 2. p. 497. — Ed. + Book 1. p. 88. THF, PUlllTANS. 4ol of the discipline of the church, or conformity to the articles or canons established, and did not think so ill of the [Presbyterian] discipline as he ought to have done ; but if men prudently forboi-e a public reviling- at the hierarchy and ecclesiastical government, they were secure from any incjuisition from him, and were equally preferred. His house was a sanctuary to the most eminent of the factious party, and he licensed their pernicious writings." This is the heavy charge brought by the noble historian against one of the most religious and venerable prelates of his age, and a steady friend of the constitution in church and state. If Abbot's mode- rate measures had been constantly pursued, the liberties of Eng- land had been secured, Popery discountenanced, and the church prevented from running into those excesses, which first proved its reproach and afterward its ruin. The translation of the Bible now in use, was finished this year [1611]; it was undertaken at the request of the Puritan divines in the Hampton-court conference; and being the last, it may not be unacceptable to set before the reader in one view, the various translations of the Bible into the English language. The New Testament was first translated by Dr. WickhflPe out of the Vulgar Latin, about the year 1380, and is entitled, " The New Testament, with the lessons taken out of the old law, i-ead in churches according to the use of Sarum." The next translation was by William Tyndal, printed at Ant- werp 1526, in octavo, without a name, and without either calendar, references in the margin, or table at the end ; it was corrected by the author, and printed in the years lo34 and 1536, having passed through five editions in Holland. In the meantime Tyndal was translating several books of the Old Testament, as the Pentateuch, and the book of Jonah, printed 1531 ; the books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, the four books of Kings, the two books of Chronicles, and Nehemiah. About the same time George Joy, some time fellow of Peter-college, Cam- bridge, translated the Psalter, the prophecy of Jeremiah, and the song of Moses, and printed them beyond sea. In the year 1535, the whole Bible was printed the first time in folio, adorned with wooden cuts, and Scripture references ; it was done by several hands, and dedicated to king Henry VIII. by Miles C'overdalc. In the last page it is said to be printed in the year of our Lord 1535, and iinished the fourth day of Oc- tober. This Bible was reprinted in quarto 1550, and again with a new title 1553. Two years after the Bible was reprinted in English, with this title, " The Holy Byble, which is all the Holy Scripture, in which are contayned the Okie and Newe Testament, truclye and purelye translated into English by [a fictitious name] Thomas Matthew, 1537." It has a calencfar with an almanac ; and an exhortation to the study of the Scripture, signed J. R. John Rogers ; a table of contents and marriages ; marginal notes, a G G 2 452 HISTORY OF prologue; and in the Apocalypse some wooden cuts. At the beo-inning of the prophets are printed on the top of the page R.^G. Richard Grafton, and at the bottom E. W.Edward Whit- church, who were the printers. This translation, to the end of the book of Chronicles, and the book of Jonah, with all the New Testament, was Tyndal's ; the rest was Miles Coverdale's and John Rogers's. In the year 1539 the above-mentioned translation, having been revised and corrected by archbishop Cranmer, was reprinted by Grafton and Whitchurch, " cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum." It has this title, " The Bible in Englyshe, that is to say, the content of the Holy Scriptures, both of the Olde and Newe Testament, truely translated after the veritie of the Hebrue and Greke texts, by the diligent study of divers excellent learned men, expert in the foresayde tongues." In this edition Tyndal's prologue and marginal notes are omitted. It was reprinted the following year in a large folio, proper for churches, begun at Paris, and finished at London. In the year 1541 it was printed again by Grafton, with a preface by Cranmer, having been revised by Tonstal and Heath, bishops of Durham and Rochester. But after this time the Popish party prevailing at court, there were no more editions of the Bible in this reign. Soon after king Edward's accession [1548 — 9], the Bible of 1541 had been reprinted, with Cranmer's prologue; and the liturgy of the church of England, being first composed and esta- blished, the translation of the Psalter, commonly called the old translation, in vise at this day, was taken from this edition. Next year, Coverdale's Testament of 1535 was reprinted, with Erasmus's paraphrase ; but there was no new translation. In the reign of queen Mary [1555], the exiles at Geneva undertook a new translation, commonly called the Geneva Bible ; the names of the translators were Coverdale, Goodman, Gilby, Whittingham, Sampson, Cole, Knox, Bodleigh, and Pullain, who pubhshed the New Testament first in small twelves, 1557, by Conrad Badius. This is the first that was printed with numerical verses. The whole Bible was published afterward with marginal notes, 1559, dedicated to queen Elizabeth. The trans- lators say, " they had been employed in this work night and day with fear and trembling — and they protest from their consciences, that, in every point and word, they had faithfully rendered the text to the best of their knowledge." But the marginal notes havmg given oftence, it was not suffered to be published in Eng- land * till the death of archbishop Parker, when it was printed [1576] by Chistopher Barker, in quarto, " cum privilegio," and * Here Mr. Neal, as Dr. Grey observes, appears to be mistaken ; as Lewis says, " that tbe Geneva Bible was printed at London, in folio and quarto, in 1572." Lewis's History of the Translations of the Bible, in 8vo. p. 264, second edition, 1739 Ed. THE PURITANS. 453 met with such acceptance, that it passed through twenty or thirty editions in this reign. Crannier's edition of the Bible had been reprinted in the years 1 j()2 and I0G6, for the use of the churches. But complaint being made of the incorrectness of it, archbishop Parker projected a new translation, and assigned the several books of the Old and New Testament to about fourteen dignitaries of the church, most of whom being bishops, it was from them called the Bishops' Bible, and was printed in an elegant and pompous folio, in the year 1568, with maps and cuts. In the year 1572, it was re- printed with some alterations and additions, and several times afterward without any amendments. In the year 1582, the Roman Catholic exiles translated the New Testament for the use of their people, and published it in quarto, with this title, " The New Testament of Jesus Christ, translated faithfully into English out of the authentic Latin, according to the best corrected copies of the same, diligently conferred with the Greek and other editions in divers languages; with arguments of books and chapters, annotations, and other necessary helps for the better understanding of the text, and especially for the discovery of the corruptions of divers late trans- lations, and for clearing the controversies in religion of these days. In the English college of Rheims. Printed by John Fogny.'"' The Old Testament of this translation was first published at Doway in two quarto volumes, the first in the year 1609, the other 1610, by Lawrence Kellam, at the sign of the Holy Lamb, A\ith a preface and tables; the authors are said to be cardinal Allen, some time principal of St. Mary-hall, Oxford; Richard Bristow, fellow of Exeter-college; and Gregory Martyn, of St. John's college. The annotations were made by Thomas Worth- ington, B. A. of Oxford ; all of them exiles for their religion, and settled in Popish seminaries beyond sea. The mistakes of tiiis translation, and the false glosses put upon the text, were exposed by the learned Dr. Fulke and IMr. Cartwright. At the request of the Puritans in the Hampton-court con- ference, king James appointed a new translation to be executed by the most learned men of both universities, under the follow- ing regulations, (1.) That they keep as close as possible to the Bishops' Bible. (2.) That the names of the holy writers be retained according to vulgar use. (Jj.) That the old ecclesiastical words be kept, as ckurch not to be translated com/refjation, &c. (4.) That wiien a word has divers significations, that be kept which has been most commonly used by the fathers*. (5.) That the division of chapters be not altered -f. (6.) No marginal notes * Dr. Grey states more fully and accurately these rules from Lewis and Fuller, " used by the most eminent fathers, being agreeable to the propriety of the place and the analogie of faith." — Ed. t " The division of the chapters to be altered either not at all, or as little as may be, if necessity so require." Lewis, p. M7. Fuller's Church Hist. b. 10, p. 46. Ed. 454 HISTORY OF but for tliG explication of a Hebrew or Greek word. (7.) Mar- ginal references may be set down. The other regulations relate to the translators comparing notes, and agreeing among them- selves ; they were to consult the modern translations of the French, Dutch, German*, &c. but to vary as little as possible from the Bishops'" Bible. The king's commission bears date 1604, but the work was not begun till 1606, and finished 1611. Fifty-four of the chief divines of both universities were originally nominated ; some of whom dying soon after, the work was undertaken by forty-seven, who were divided into six companies ; the first translated from Genesis to the First Book of Chronicles ; the second to the pro- phecy of Isaiah ; the third translated the four greater prophets, with the Lamentations and twelve smaller prophets ; the fourth had the Apocrypha; the fifth had the four gospels, the Acts, and the Revelations ; and the sixth the canonical epistles. The whole being finished and revised by learned men from both uni- versities, the publishing it was committed to the care of bishop Bilson and Dr. Miles Smith, which last wrote the preface that is now prefixed. It was printed in the year 1611, with a dedica- tion to king James, and is the same that is still read in all the churches. Upon the death of Arminius, the curators of the university of Leyden chose Conradus Vorstius his successor. This divine had published a very exceptionable treatise-|- concerning the nature and properties of God, in which he maintained that God had a body ; and denied his proper immensity and omniscience, as they are commonly understood. He maintained the Divine Being to be limited and restrained, and ascribed quantity and magnitude to him. The clergy of Amsterdam remonstrated to the States against his settlement at Leyden, the country being already too much divided about the Arminian tenets. To strengthen their l^ands, they applied to the English ambassador to represent the case to king James ; and prevailed with the curators to defer his induction into the professorship till his ma- jesty had read over his book J; which having done, he declared Vorstius to be an arch heretic, a pest, a monster of blasphemies ; and to shew his detestation of his book, ordered it to be burnt publicly in St. Paul's churchyard, and at both universities ; in * The translations pointed out by name, as Dr. Grey remarks, were those of Tyndal, Matthew, Coverdale, \Aniitchurch, and Geneva. — Ed. -f- It may be wished that Mr. Neal had rather said " a treatise against which great exceptions were taken." His mode of expression intimates that those exceptions were justly grounded ; this Vorstius himself denied, and solemnly declared his be- lief of the immensity and omniscience of the Divine Being, and ascribed the impu- tations cast on him to wresting his words to a meaning contrary to the scope and the connexion of the discourse. His abilities, learning, and virtues, were highly esteemed by those who differed from him. Prsestantium ac Eruditorum Virorum Epistolse. Amsterdam IGfiO; p. ,"5.50, &.c. and p. 385; and the Abridgment of Brandt's History, vol. 2. p. "27, 728.- Ed. 1 Brandt's History, vol. 2 p. 97; or the Abridgment, vol. I. p. .318. Tin; PURITANS. 455 the conclusion of his letter to the States on this occasion he says, " As God has honoured us with tlic title of defender of thefaitli, so (if you incline to retain Vorstius any lonf^er) we shall be obliged not only to separate and cut ourselves off from such false and heretical churches, but likewise to call upon all the rest of the reformed cliurches to enter upon the same common consulta- tion, how we may best extinguish and send back, to hell these cursed [Arminian] heresies that have newly broken forth ? And as for ourselves, we shall be necessitated to forbid all the youth of our subjects to frequent a university that is so infected as that of Leyden *." His majesty also sent over sundry other memo- rials, in which he styles Vorstius a wicked atheist : Arminius an enemy to God. And Bertius having written that the saints might fall from grace, he said the author was worthy of the fire. At length [1612] the king published his royal declaration, in several languagesf , containing an account of all that he had done in the affair of Vorstius, with his reasons ; which were, his zeal for the glory of God, his love for his friends and allies [the States], and fear of the same contagion in his own kingdom ; but their high mightinesses did not like the king of England's inter- meddling so far in their affairs. However, Vorstius was dis- missed to Gouda, where he lived privately till the synod of Dort, when he was banished the Seven Provinces ; he then retired to Tonninghen, in the dukedom of Holstein, where he died a pro- fessed Socinian, September 19, 162!^j. His majesty had a farther opportunity of discovering his zeal against heresy this year, upon two of his own subjects. One was Bartholomew Legate, an Arian § : he was a comely person, of a black complexion, and about forty years of age, of a fluent tongue, excellently well versed in the Scriptures, and of an un- blamable conversation. King .Tames himself, and some of his bishops, in vain conferred with him, in hope of convincing him of his errors. Having lain a considerable time in Newgate, he was at length convened before bishop King in his consistory at St. * " Nothing (it is well observed by Gerard Brandt) can be less edifying, than to see a Protestant prince, who, not contented to persecute the heterodox in his own kingdom, eJhorts the potentates of the same religion to imitate his conduct." Brandt Abridged, vol. 1. p. ;il9.— Ed. f It was printed in French, Latin, Dutch, and English ; on which Dr. Harris well remarks, that "consequently his monstrous zeal, his uprincely revilings, and his weak and pitiful reasonings, were known throughout Europe.'' Yet it was not held in any high reputation ; for Mr. Norton, wlio had the i)rinting of it in Latin, swore "he would not print it, unless he might have money to print it." Harris's Life of James 1. p. 120. t His sickness was a short one ; but long enough to afford him an opportunity to teach his physician and other friends, how a Christian ought to die. He was wholly intent upon prayer, and scarcely repeated any thing but passages out of the Scriptures. At his request. Acts ii. and 1 Cor. xv. as mentioning the resurrection, were read to him : and this doctrine was much tiie subject of his last discourses. He expired, recommending his soul to God and Jesus Christ his Saviour. And it is said, that the piety, holiness, faith, and resignation, which he shewed, and the fervency of his prayers, cannot be well expressed. Brandt Abridged, vol. 2. p. 722, 72."^ Ed. § Fuller, b. 10. p. 63. 456 IIISTOI'.Y OK Paul's, who, with some other divines and lawyers there assembled, declared him a contumacious and obdurate heretic, and certified the same into chancery by a significavit, delivering him over to the secular power; whereupon the king signed a writ* de here- tico comhurendo to the sheriiFs of London, who brought him to Smithfield, March 18, and in the midst of a vast concourse of people burnt him to death. A pardon was offered him at the stake if he would recant, but he refused it. Next month Edward Wightman, of Burton-upon-Trent, was convicted of heresy by Dr. Neile, bishop of Coventry and Litch- field, and was burnt at Litchfield, April llthf. He wos charged in the warrant with the heresies of Arius, Cerinthus, Manichaeus, and the Anabaptists t- — There was another condemned to the fire for the same heresies ; but the constancy of the above-men- tioned sufferers moving pity in the spectators, it was thought better to suffer him to linger out a miserable life in Newgate, than \ to awaken too far the compassions of the people. * The reader will perhaps be curious to see the form of the king's writ for burning Legate ; the latter part of which is as follows : "Whereas the holy mother-church hath not farther to do and to prosecute on this part ; the same reverend father hath left the aforesaid Bartholomew Legate, as a blasphemous heretic, to our secular jiower, to be punished with condign punish- ment, as by the letters patent of the same reverend father in Christ, the bishop of London, in this behalf above made, hath been certified to us in our chancery. We, therefore, as a zealot of justice, and a defender of the catholic faith, and willing to maintain and defend the holy church, and the rights and liberties of the same, and the catholic faith : and such heresies and errors every where what in us lieth, to root out and extirpate, and to punish with condign punishment, such heretics so convicted, and deeming that such a heretic, in form aforesaid convicted and con- demned according to the laws and customs of this our kingdom of England in this part accustomed, ought to be burned with fire ; we do command you that the said Bartholomew Legate, being in your custody, you do commit publicly to the fire, before the people, in a public and open place in M^est Smithfield, for the cause aforesaid ; and that you cause the said Bartholomew Legate to be really burned in the same fire, in detestation of the said crime, for the manifest example of other Christians, lest they slide into the same fault ; and this that in nowise you omit, under the peril that shpll follow thereon. Witness," &c. A Narration of the Burning of Bartholomew Legate, &c. in Truth brought to Light, 1692, as quoted by Mr. Lindsey in his C!onversations on Christian Idolatry, p. 119, 120. — Ed. t Fuller, b. 10. p. ()4. •-^ :J: Some of the opinions imputed to Wightman savoured of vanity and supersti- tion, or rather enthusiasm ; such as, his being the prophet foretold Dent, xviii. and Jjy Isaiah ; the Elijah to come, of whom Malachi speaks. " But (as Mr. Lindsey justly remarks) we may well hesitate here, whether such were the man's real senti- ments, or only those which his adversaries would fix upon him." These proceed- ings shew, as Brandt observes, it was high time to repeal the act de heretico com- burcndo. The sentiments of Limborch on them deserve to be mentioned here. " These things (says he in a letter to Mr. Locke) are a scandal to the Reforma- tion. A court of inquisition into men's faith, is alike contrary to Christian cha- rity, whether it be erected on the banks of the Tiber, or the lake of Geneva, or by the side of the river Thames : for it is the same iniquitous cruelty, though exer- cised in another place, and on different subjects." A fine observation of Brandt on this occasion shall close this note. " It is a very glorious thing for the United Provinces (says he), that the blood of no heretic has been shed in that country ever since the Reformation ; which ought to be ascribed to the moderation and great knowledge of the states-general, and the states of each of those provinces." Brandt Abridged, vol. 1. p. 319. Lindsey's Historical View o^ Unitarian Doc- \ trine, &c. p. 294 — Ed. THE PURITANS. 4.57 Nothino- was niinded at court but luxury and diversions. The affairs of the churcli were left to the bishops, and tlie affairs of state to subordinate magistrates, or the chief ministers, while the kino- himself sunk into a most indolent and voluptuous Hfe, suf- fering himself to be governed by a favt)urite, in the choice of whom he had no regard to virtue or merit, but to youth, beauty, grace- fulness of person, and fine clothes, &c. This exposed him to the contempt of foreign powers, who from this time paid him very little regard. At the same time he was lavish and profuse in his expenses and grants to his hungry courtiers, whereby he exhausted his exchecpier, and was obHgcd to have recourse to arbitrary and illegal methods of raising money by the prerogative. By these means he lost the hearts of his people, which all his kingcraft could never recover, and laid the foundation of those calamities, that in the next reign threw church and state into such convul- sions, as threatened their final ruin. But while the king and his ministers were wounding the Pro- testant religion and the liberties of England, it pleased Almighty God to lay the foundation of their recovery by the marriage of the king's daughter Elizabeth to Frederick V. elector palatine of the Rhine, from whom the present royal family is descended. The match was promoted by archbishop Abbot, and universally ap- proved by all the Puritans in England, as the grand security of the Protestant succession in case of failure of heirs from the king's son, ]Mr. Echard says, they foretold, by a distant foresight, the succession of this family to the crown ; and it must be owned, that they were always the delight of the Puritans, who prayed heartily for them, and upon all occasions exerted themselves for the support of the family in their lowest circumstances. The solemnity of these nuptials was retarded some months, by the untimely death of Henry prince of Wales, the kings eldest son, who died November 6, 1612, and was buried the 7th of De- cember following, being eighteen years and eight months old. Some have suspected that the king his father caused him to be poisoned, though there is no sufficient proof of it ;* the body * These suspicions arose from tlie popular odium the king had incurred, from the behaviour of the court at the time the prince lay dead, and from the disappoint- ment which the great expectations of the people from this prince suffered. There were insinuations to this efYect from resjiectable persons : and colonel Titus assured bishop Burnet, that he had heard king Charles 1. declare, that the prince liis brother was poisoned bj' means of viscount Rochester. This evidence amounted to a kind of proof, yet, as to these suggestions were opposed the opinions of the physicians, and the appearances of the body when it was opened, and the presumptive evi- dence did not come home to the king, it is to be wished that Mr. Neal had used more guarded language : for the words, " no certain proof," seem to imply, that there was probable jiroof of it. Bishop Warburton is therefore very angry, and says it " is abominable :" it is indeed a heavy charge to impute to a parent, his being accessory to the poisoning of a son. See Dr. Birch's Life of Henry Prince of AVales, p. 404 40y. Dr. Grey, as well as the bishop, also censures our author, and refers to main authorities to disprove, as he calls them, " Mr. Neal's unfair insinuatiofts." These insinuations did not originate, it should be observed, with Mr. Neal, but were sancti. 28,'?. THE PtlRITANS. 491) commissaries over the whole kingdom to superintend the proceed- ings of tlie bishops' courts in their several chocesses, which of themselves made sufficient havoc among the Puritans, and were under a general odium for the severe exercise of their power: but if die bishop or his officers were negligent in their citations, or shewed any degree of favour to the Puritan ministers, notice was immediately sent to Lambeth, and the accused persons were cited before the high-commission, to their utter ruin. They also detained men in prison many months, without bringing them to a trial, or so much as acquainting them with the cause of their com- mitment. Sir Edward Deering says, that "their proceedings were in some sense worse than the Romish inquisition, because they do not punish men of their own religion established by law ; but with us (says he) how many scores of poor distressed minis- ters, within a i'ew years, have been suspended, degraded, and excommunicated, though not guilty of a breach of any established law !" All which was so much the worse, because they knew that the court had no jurisdiction of fining at all ; for the house of com- mons, in the third and seventh of king James I. resolved that the court of high commission's fining and imprisoning men for eccle- siastical offences, was an intolerable grievance, oppression, and vexation, not warranted by the statute 1 Eliz. chap. 1. And sir Edward Coke, with the rest of the judges, at a conference with the prelates, in the presence of king James, gave it as their unani- mous opinion, that the high-commission could fine in no case, and imprison only in cases of heresy and incontinence of a minister, and that only after conviction, but not by way of process before it, so tliat the jurisdiction of the court to fine was not only questionable, but null and void. Notwithstanding which, they hunted after their prey with full cry, " and brought in the greatest and most splendid transgressors ; persons of honour and great quality (says the noble historian) were every day cited into the high-commission, upon the fame of their incontinency, or scandal of life, and very heavy fines were levied upon them, and applied to the repairing of St. Paul's cathedral." Upon the accession of king Charles to the throne, the duke of Buckingham threw oft' the mask, and shook hands with his old friend Dr. Preston, whom he never loved any farther than as a tool to promote his interest among the people. Laud was his con- fessor and privy-counsellor for the church, whose first care was to have none but Arminian and anti-Puritanical chaplains about the king : for this purpose, he drew up a small treatise and put it into the duke's hand, proving the Arminian doctrines to be orthodox ; and shewing, in ten particulars, that the anti- Arminian tenets were no better than Doctrinal Puritanism. Agreeably to the scheme, he presented the duke [April 9] with a list of divines for his ma- jesty's chaplains, distinguishing their characters by the two capital letters O. for Orthodox [that is, Arminian], and P. for Puritans [that is, Calvinists]. At the same time he received orders to con- KK 2 500 HISTOIIY OF suit bishop Andrews how to manage, with respect to the five diW tinguishing points of Calvinism, in the ensuing convocation ; but the wise bishop advised his brother by all means to be quiet, and keep the controversy out of the house : " for (says he) the truth in this point is not so generally entertained among the clergy ; nor is archbishop Abbot, nor many of the prelates, so inclinable to it, as to venture the deciding it in convocation." It was therefore wisely dropped, the majority of the lower house being zealous Calvinists ; and forty-five of them (according to Dr. Leo, who was one of the number) had made a covenant among themselves to oppose every thing that tended towards Pelagianism, or semi-Pelagianism : but the controversy was warmly debated without doors, till the king put a stop to it by his royal declaration. Popery advanced hand in hand with Arminianism, and began the disputes between the king and his first parliament, which met June 16, 1625. His majesty, towards the close of his speech, having asked their assistance for the recovery of the Palatinate, assured them that, though he had been suspected as to his religion, he would let the world see, that none should be more desirous to maintain the religion he professed than himself. The houses thanked the king for his most gracious speech ; but before they entered upon other business, joined in a petition against Popish recusants, which his majesty promised to examine, and give a satis- factory answer to the particulars. The petition sets forth the causes of the increase of Popery, with the remedies : the causes are, The want of the due execution of the laws against them. The interposing of foreign powers by their ambassadors and agents in their favour. The great concourse of Papists to the city, and their frequent conferences and conventicles there. Their open resort to the chapels of foreign ambassadors. The education of their children in foreign seminaries. The want of sufficient instruction in the Protestant religion in several places of the country. The licentious printing of Popish books. The employ- ment of men ill-affected to the Protestant religion in places of government*. They therefore pray that the youth of the kingdom may be carefully educated under Protestant schoolmasters ; which his majesty, in his answer to their petition, promised : That the ancient discipline of the universities may be restored ; which his majesty approved: That the preaching of the word of God may be enlarged; and that to this purpose the bishops be advised to make use of the labours of such able ministers as have been formerly silenced, ad- vising and beseeching them to behave themselves peaceably ; and that pluralities, nonresidences, and commendams, may be moderated. Answer, "This his majesty approved, so far as the ministers would conform to church government. But he apprehends that * Rushworth, p. 183—186. lllE l>URJtANS. oOl pluralities, &c. are now so moderated, that there is no room for complaint ; and recommends it to the parliament to take care that every parish allow a competent maintenance for an able minister." That provision might be made against transporting children to Popish seminaries, and for recaUing those that were there. Answ. "To this his majesty agreed." That no Popish recusant be admitted to come to court, but upon special occasion, according to statute 3 Jac. Answ. "This also his majesty promised." That the laws against Papists be put in execution, and that a day be fixed for the departure of all Jesuits and semi- nary-priests out of the kingdom, and that no natural-born subject, nor strange bishops, nor any other by authority from the see of Rome, confer any ecclesiastical orders, or exercise any ecclesiasti- cal function, upon your majesty's subjects. Answ. "It shall be so published by proclamation." That your majesty's learned council may have orders to consider of all former grants of recusant lands, that such may be avoided as are avoidable by law. Answ. "It shall be done according as is desired." That your majesty give order to your judges and all officers of justice, to see the laws against Popish recusants duly executed. Answ. " His majesty leaves the laws to their course."" That your majesty will remove from places of authority and government all Popish recusants. Answ. *' His majesty will give order accordingly." That order be taken for disarming all Popish recusants convict according to law, and that Popish recusants be commanded to retire to their houses, and be confined within five miles of home. Answ. " The laws shall be put in execution." That none of your majesty ""s natural-born subjects go to hear mass at the houses or chapels of foreign ambassadors. Answ. " The king will give order accordingly." That the statute of 1 Eliz. for the payment of twelvepence every Sunday by such as absent from divine service in the church without a lawful excuse, be put in execution. Answ. " The king promises the pe- nalties shall not be dispensed with." That your majesty M'ill ex- tend your princely care to Ireland, that the like courses may be taken there for establishing the true religion. Answ. " His majesty will do all that a religious king can do in that affair*." It is surprising that the king should make these promises to his parliament within six months after he had signed his marriage- articles, in which he liad engaged to set all Roman Catholics at liberty, and to suffer no search or molestation of them for their religion, and had in consequence of it pardoned twenty Romish priests, and (in imitation of his royal father) given orders to his lord-keeper to direct the judges and justices of peace all over England, " to forbear all manner of proceedings against his Roman-Catholic subjects, by information, indictment or otherwise; it being his royal pleasure that there should be a cessation of all * Rii^hworth, p. 17:5. 502 HISTORY OF and singula!" pains and penalties vvhereunto they were liable by any laws, statutes, or ordinances, of this realm*." But, as a judicious writer observesf, it seems to have been a maxim in this and the last reign, that no faith is to be kept with parliaments. The Pa- pists were apprized of the reasons of state that obliged the king to comply outwardly with what he did not really intend; and there- fore, though his majesty directed a letter to his archbishop [December 15, 1625], to proceed against Popish recusants, and a proclamation was published to recall the English youths from Popish seminaries, little regard was paid to them. The king himself released eleven Romish priests out of prison, by special warrant the next day ; the titular bishop of Chalcedon by letters dated June 1, 1625, appointed a Popish vicar-general and arch- deacons all over England:};, whose names were published in the year 1643 §. And when the next parliament petitioned for the removal of Papists from offices of trust, it appeared, by a list annexed to their petition, that there were no less than fifty nine of the nobility and gentry of that religion then in the commission ||. But the king not only connived at the Roman Catholics at home, but unhappily contributed to the ruin of the Protestant re- ligion abroad. Cardinal Richlieu having formed a design to ex- tirpate the Hugonots of France, by securing all their places of strength, laid siege to Rochelle, a seaport town with a good harbour, and a number of ships sufficient for its defence. Richlieu, taking advantage of the king's late match with France, sent to borrow seven or eight ships, to be employed as the king of France should direct, who appointed them to block up the har- bour of Rochelle ; bvit when the honest sailors were told where they were going, they declared they wovdd rather be thrown over- * The remark of Dr. Warner here is too pertinent and forcible, especially con- sidering from -whose pen it comes, to be omitted. " These gracious answers of his majesty (says he) to the several articles of the petition presented to him by both houses of parliament, wanted nothing but the performance of the promises which he made, to gain him the love of all his Protestant subjects. But if we may judge by the continual complaints of the parliament throughout this reign, about these very points on which the king had given this satisfaction, we shall find reason to think, that his promises were observed no better than James his father observed his." Warner's Eccles. Hist. vol. 2. p. 513. — Ed. f Rapin. X Fuller tells us, that this titular bishop of Chalcedon, whose name was Smith, appeared in his pontificabilus in Lancashire, with his mitre and crozier. This was an evident proof, that the Catholics presumed on the indulgence and connivance, if not the protection, of the court. To shew which, the fact is brought forward by Mr. Neal ; whose candour in this matter Dr. Grey impeaches, because he does not inform his reader, that the king issued a proclamation for apprehending this Romish agent. But it seems to have escaped Dr. Grey's attention, that a procla- mation not issued till the 11th of December, 1628, and not then, till drawn from him by a petition of both houses against recusants, can have little weight against the imputation on the king, which this fact is alleged to support. Rushworth's Collections, vol. 1. p. 511 Ed. $ Rushworth, p. 158, 159, and Fuller's Church Hist. b. 11. p. 132, 133. II See Rushworth's Collection, vol. 1. p. 393, &c. The names of some of these persons perhaps were returned only on the ground of suspicion ; because their wives and children were of the Romish communion, or did not come to church. " Mr. Neal," therefore, according to Dr. Grey, " mistook Rushworth."— Ed. rilK I'UUITAKS. 503 board, or hanged upon the top of the masts, than fight against their Protestant brethren. Notwithstanding admiral Pennington and the French officers used all their rhetoric to persuade them, they remained inflexible. The admiral therefore acquainted the king, who sent him a warrant to the following effect: " That he shouki consign his own sliip immediately into the hands of the French admiral, with all her equipage, artillery, 8cc. and require the other seven to put themselves, into the service of our dear brother the French king; and in case of backwardness or refusal, we command you to use all forcible means, even to their sinking." In pursuance of this warrant, the ships were delivered into the hands of the French, but all the English sailors and officers deserted except two. The French having got the ships and artillery quickly manned them with sailors of their own religion, and joining the rest of the French fleet, they blocked up the harbour, destroyed the little fleet of the Rochellers, and cut off their communication by sea with their Protestant friends, by which means they were reduced to all the hardships of a most dreadful famine ; and after a long blockade both by sea and land, were forced to surrender the chief bulwark of the Protestant interest in France, into the hands of the Papists. To return to the parliament. It has been remembered, that ]Mr. Richard Montague, a clergyman, and one of the king's chaplains, published a book in the year 1623, entitled, " A new gag for an old goose,"" in answer to a Popish book, entitled, " A gag for the new gospel*." The book containing sundry proposi- tions tending to the public disturbance, was complained of in the house of commons, who, after having examined the author at their bar, referred him to the archbishop of Canterbury, who dismissed liim with an express prohibition to write no more about such matters. But Montague, being encouraged from court, went on and published " An appeal to Csesar," designing it for king James ; but he being dead before it was ready, it was dedicated to king Charles, and recommended at first by several court-bishops, who upon better consideration artfully withdrew their names from before it ; and left Dr. Francis White to appear by himself, as he complained publicly. The appeal was calculated to promote Arminianism, to attempt a reconciliation with Rome, and to advance the king''s prerogative above law. The house appointed a committee to examine into its errors ; after which they voted it to be contrary to the articles of the church of England, and bound the author in a recognizance of 2,000/. for his appearance. Bishop Laud, apprehending this to be an invasion of the pre- rogative, and a dangerous precedent, joined with two other bishops in a letter to the duke of Buckingham, to engage his majesty to take the cause into his own hands: the letter sayst, " that the church of England when it was reformed would not be too busy " Rushworth, vol. 1. p. 177. t Cabala, p. 105 ; Rushworth. vol. 1. p. 180, Ictl : or, 110,111, of the edit, in IfiM. 504 HISTORY OF with school-points of divinity ; now the points for which Mf. Montague is brought into trouble, are of this kind ; some are the resolved doctrines of the church of England, which he is bound to maintain ; and others are fit only for schools, wherein men may abound in their own sense. To make men subscribe school-opi- nions is hard, and was one great fault of the council of Trent. Besides, disputes about doctrines in religion ought to be deter- mined in a national synod or convocation, with the king's licence, and not in parliament; if we submit to any other judge, we shall depart from the ordinance of Christ, we shall derogate from the honour of the late king, who saw and approved of all the opinions in that book ; as well as from his present majesty's royal prero- gative, who has power and right to take this matter under his own care, and refer it in a right course to church-consideration. Some of the opinions which are opposite to Mr. Montague's will prove fatal to the government, if publicly taught and maintained : when they had been concluded upon at Lambeth, queen Elizabeth caused them to be suppressed, and so they continued, till of late some of them received countenance from the synod of Dort ; a synod, whose conclusions have no authority in this country, and it is to be hoped never will." Signed, Jo. Roffensis, Jo. Oxon, and Gulielmus Menevensis, August 2, 1625. This letter had its effect, and procured Montague his quietus at present. The king declared he would bring the cause before the council, it being a branch of his supremacy to determine matters of religion. He expressed his displeasure against the commons, for caUing his chaplain to their bar, and for alarming the nation with the danger of Popery. But these affairs, with the king's assisting at the siege of Rochelle, made such a noise at Oxford ; where the parliament was reassembled because of the plague at London, that the king was obliged to dissolve them [August 12], before they had granted the supplies necessary for carrying on the war. Nor did his majesty pass any act relating to religion, except one, which was soon after suspended by his royal declaration ; it was to prevent unlawful pastimes on the Lord's day. The pre- amble sets forth, that the holy keeping of the Lord"'s day is a prin- cipal part of the true service of God — " Therefore it is enacted that there shall be no assemblies of people out of their own parishes, for any sports or pastimes whatsoever; nor any bear- baiting, bull-baiting, interludes, common plays, or any other unlawful exercises or pastimes, within their own parishes, on for- feiture of three shillings and sixpence for every such offence to the poor." However, this law was never put in execution. Men were reproached and censured for too strict an observation of the Lord's day, but none that I have met with for the profanation of it. His majesty having dismissed his parliament before they had given him the necessary supplies for the war with Spain, resolved to try his credit in borrowing money, by way of loan, of such per- sons as were best able to lend ; for this purpose gentlemen were THE I'trRlTANS. 505 taxed at a certain sum, and had promissory letters under the privy seal to be repayed in eiglitccn months *. With this money the king fitted out a fleet against Spain, which, after it had waited about two months for the Plate fleet, returned without doing any action worth remembrance. The ceremony of the king's coronation, which was not performed till the beginning of February, was another expense which his majesty thought fit to provide for by issuing out a proclamation, that all such as had 40Z. a year or more, and were not yet knights, should come and receive the order of knighthood, or compound for itf. This was a new grievance loudly complained of in the following parliaments. The coronation was performed by arch- bishop Abbot, assisted by bishop Laud as dean of Westminster |, who besides the old regalia which were in his custody, that is, the crown, the sceptre, the spurs, &c. of king Edward the Confessor, brought forth an old crucifix, and placed it upon the altar. As soon as the archbishop had put the crown upon the king"'s head, and performed the other usual ceremonies §, his majesty being seated on the throne, ready to receive the homage of the lords, bishop Laud came up to him, and read the following extraordi- nary passage, which is not to be found in former coronations. " Stand, and hold fast from henceforth the place to which you have been heir by the succession of your forefathers, being now delivered to you by the authority of Almighty God, and by the hands of us, and all the bishops and servants of God. And as you see the clergy to come nearer to the altar than others, so remember, that in all places convenient you give them greater honour, that the Mediator of God and man may establish you in the kingly throne, to be a mediator between the clergy and the laity, and that you may reign for ever with Jesus Christ, the King of kings, and Lord of lords ||." This and sundry other alterations were objected to the archbishop at his trial, which we shall mention hereafter. The king's treasury being exhausted, and the war continuing with Spain, his majesty was obliged to call a new parliament ; but to avoid the choice of such members, as had exclaimed against the duke of Buckingham, and insisted upon redress of grievances, the court pricked them down for sheriffs, which disqualified them from being rechosen members of parliament ; of this number were, sir Edward Coke, sir Robert Philips, and sir Thomas Wentworth, afterward lord Strafford. The houses met February • Rushworth, vol. 1. p. 196, 197. f Rapin, vol. 2. p. 235, 236, folio ed. X Dr. Grey properly corrects Mr. Neal here : Laud officiated in the place of the dean of Westminster, the bishop of Lincoln, with whom the king was so displeased, that he would not permit him to perform any part of the coronation-service. Fuller's Church Hist. b. 10. p. 121.— Ed. § The ceremonial of the coronation is given at length by Fuller, b. 11. p. 121, &c. — Ed. II " The manuscript coronation-book, whicli the king held in his hand, and which is still in being (says Dr. Grey), proves that the words were not spoken by Laud, but by the archbishop." — Ed. oOo HISTORY OF 6, 1626, and fell immediately upon grievances. A committee for religion was appointed, of which Mr. Pym was chairman, who examined Mr. Montague's writings, viz. his "Gag," his "Appeal," and his treatise of the " Invocation of the saints;" out of which they collected several opinions contrary to the book of homilies and the thirty-nine articles, which they reported to the house ; as, 1. " That he maintained the church of Rome is, and ever was, a true church, contrary to the sixteenth homily of the church of England. 2. " That the said church had ever remained firm upon the same foundation of sacraments and doctrine instituted by God. 3. " That speaking of the doctrines of faith, hope, and charity, he affirmed that none of these are controverted between the Papists and Protestants ; but that the controverted points are of a lesser and inferior nature, of which a man may be ignorant without any danger of his soul. 4. " That he maintained the use of images, for instruction of the ignorant, and exciting devotion. 5. " That in his treatise of the " Invocation of saints," he affirmed that some saints have a peculiar patronage, custody, pro- tection, and power (as angels have), over certain persons and countries. 6. " T'hat in his " Appeal " he maintained that men justified may fall away from grace, and may recover again, but not certainly nor necessarily. 7. " That the said R. Montague has endeavoured to raise fac- tions among the king's subjects, by casting the odious and scanda- lous name of Puritans upon those who conform to the doctrine and ceremonies of the church. That he scoffed at preaching, at lectures, and all shows of religion ; and, that the design of his book was apparently to reconcile the church of England with the see of Rome*." In what manner the commons designed to prosecute this im- peachment is uncertain, for Montague was not brought to his defence, the king having intimated again to the house, that their proceeding against him without his leave, was displeasing to him ; that as to their holding him to bail, he thought his servants might have the same protection as an ordinary burgess, and therefore he would take the cause into his own hands ; and soon after dissolved the parHament-|-. Though the Arminian controversy was thus wrested out of the • Rushworth, vol. 1. p. 213—215. t Dr. Grey adds here, " yet the king thought fit to call his book in." The doctor says this on the authority of Rushworth ; whose farther account of the pro- ceeding sliould be laid before the reader. " Ere this proclamation was published, (says he), tlie books were for the most part "vented and out of danger of seizure, and the suppressing of all writing and preaching in answer thereunto was (it seems by some) the thing mainly intended ; for the several answers were all suppressed, and divers of the printers questioned by the high-commission." Rushworth, vcl. 2. p. 647.— Ed. THE I'U III TANS. OOT Iiands of ilie parliament, it was warmly debated witliout doors ; Montague was attacked in print by Dr. Carleton, bishop of Chi- chester; Dr. SiitdifFe, dean of Exeter; Dr. Featly, Dr. Goad, Mr. Ward, Burton, Yates, Wotton, Prynne, and Fran. Rouse, esq. &c. Conferences were appointed to debate the point, of tlie possibility of the elects' falling from grace*. One was at York- house, February 11, 1625 — 6, before the duke of Buckingham, carl of Warwick, and other lords ; Dr. Buckeridge, bishop of Rochester, and Dr. White dean of Carlisle, being on one side; and Dr. Moreton bishop of Coventry, and Dr. Preston, on the other. The success of the dispute is variously related ; but the earl of Pembroke said, that none' ^vent from thence Arminians, save those who came thither with the same opinions. Soon after, February 17, there was a second conference in the same place. Dr. White and Mr. Montague on one side, and Dr. Moreton and Preston on the other -f- ; Dr. Preston carried it clear at first, by dividing his adversaries, who quickly perceiving their error, united their forces, says my author, in a joint opposition to him ; but upon the whole, these conferences served rather to increase the differences than abate them. The king therefore issued out a proclamation, containing very express commands, not to preach or dispute upon the controverted points of Arminianism. It was dated January 24, 1626, and sets forth, "that the king will admit of no innovation in the doctrine, discipline, or government, of the church, and therefore charges all his subjects, and especially the clergy, not to publish, or maintain in preaching or writing, any new inventions or opinions, contrary to the said doctrine and discipline established by law, assuring them that his majesty will proceed against all offenders against this order, with all that severity their contempt shall deserve, that by the exemplary punishment of a few, others may be warned against falling under the just indignation of their sovereign]:." One would have thought this proclamation to be in favour of Calvinism, but the execution of it being in the hands of Laud, and the bishops of his party, the edge was turned against the Puritans, and it became, says Rushworth §, the stopping of their mouths, and gave an uncontrolled liberty to the tongues and pens of the Arminian party. Others were of opinion that Laud and Neile procured this injunction, in order to have an opportunity to oppress the Calvinists who should venture to break it, while the disobedience of the contrary party should be winked at. The Puritans thought they might still write in defence of the thirty- nine articles ; but the press being in the hands of their adversaries, some of their books were suppressed, some were castrated, and others that got abroad were called in ||, and the authors and pub- * Prynne's Cant. Doom. p. 158, 159 ; Fuller, b. 9. p. 124. t Fuller, b. 11. p. 125. ♦ Rushworth, vol. 1. p. 416. Bib. Regia. § Rushworth, p. 417. Rapiu, vol. 2. p, 258, folio ed. II Pryuue, p. 158, 159. 508 HISTORY OF lishers questioned in the star-chamber and high-commission, for engaging in a controversy prohibited by the government. By these methods effectual care was taken, that the Puritan and Calvinian writers should do their adversaries no harm ; bishop Laud, with two or three of his chaplains, undertaking to judge of truth and error, civility and good manners, for all the wise and great men of the nation, in doing of which they were so shamefully partial, that learning and industry were discouraged, men of gravity and great experience not being able to persuade them- selves to submit their labours to be mangled and torn in pieces by a few younger divines, who were both judges and parties in the affair. At length the booksellers being almost ruined, preferred a petition to the next parliament * [1628] complaining, that the writings of their best authors were stifled in the press, while the books of their adversaries [Papists and Arminians] were|published and spread over the whole kingdom. Thus Cheney's " CoUec- tiones theologicas," an Arminian and Popish performance, was licensed, when the learned Dr. Twisse's answer to Arminius, though written in Latin, was stopped in the press -f*. Mr. Monta- gue's book, entitled, " God's love to mankind," was licensed and published, when Dr. Twisse's reply to the same book was sup- pressed. Many affidavits of this kind were made against Laud at his trial, by the most famous Calvinistical writers, as will be seen hereafter. The case was just the same with regard to books against Popery ; the queen and the Roman Catholics must not be insulted, and therefore all offensive passages, such as calhng the pope antichrist, the church of Rome no true church, and every thing tending to expose images in churches, crucifixes, penance, auricular confession, and Popish absolution, must be expunged. Sir Edward Deering compares the licensers of the press to the managers of the index expurgatorius among the Papists, " who clip the tongues of such witnesses whose evidences they do not like ; in like manner (says he) our licensers suppress the truth, while Popish pamphlets fly abroad cum privilegio ; nay, they are so bold as to deface the most learned labours of our ancient and best divines. But herein the Roman index is better than ours, that they approve of their own established doctrines ; but our innova- tors alter our settled doctrines, and superinduce points repugnant and contrary. This I do affirm, and can take upon myself to prove." Terrible were the triumphs of arbitrary power over the liberty and property of the subject, in the intervals between this and the succeeding parliament ; gentlemen of birth and character, who refused to lend what money the council was pleased to assess them, were taken out of their houses and imprisoned at a great distance from their habitations;]: ; among these were, sir Thomas Wentworth, sir Waker Earle, sir John Strangeways, sir Thomas Grantham, • Rushworth, vol, 1. p. (,iSl . \ Prynne, p. 166, 167, &c. : Rushworth, vol. 1. p, 426. 432, 435. 495. THE PURITANS. 509 sir Harbottle Grimstone, John Hampden, esq. and others ; some were confined in the Fleet, the Marshalsea, the Gate-house, and other prisons about London, as, sir John Elliot, Mr. Seldcn, &c. Upon the whole, there were imprisoned by order of council, nineteen knights, thirteen esquires, and four gentlemen, in the county jails ; three knights, one esquire, and four wealthy citizens, in the Fleet, besides great nun)bers in other places. Those of the lower sort who refused to lend were pressed for the army, or liad soldiers quartered on them, who by their insolent behaviour disturbed the peace of families, and committed frequent felonies, burglaries, rapines, murders, and other barbarous cruelties, inso- much that the highways were dangerous to travel, and the markets unfrequented. The king would have borrowed 100,000/. of the city of London, but they excused themselves. However his majesty got a round sum of money from the Papists, by issuing a commission to the archbishop of York, to compound with them for all their forfeitures that had been due for recusancy, since the tenth of king James L or that should be due hereafter. By this fatal policy (says the noble historian) men well-affected to the hierarchy, though enemies to arbitrary power, were obliged to side with the Puritans to save the nation, and enable them to oppose the designs of the court. To convince the people that it was their duty to submit to the loan, the clergy were employed to preach up the doctrines of passive obedience and nonresistance, and to prove that the absolute submission of subjects to the royal will and pleasure, was the doctrine of Holy Scripture * ; among those was Dr. Sibthorp, a man of mean parts, but of sordid ambition, who in his sermon at the Lent assizes at Northampton, from Romans xiii. 7, told the people, " that if princes commanded any thing which subjects might not perform, because it is against the laws of God or of nature, or impossible, yet subjects are bound to undergo the punishment, without resisting, or railing, or reviling ; and so to yield a passive obedience where they cannot yield an active one." Dr. Manwaring went farther in two sermons preached before the king at Oatlands, and published under the title of " Religion and allegiance.'' He says, " the king is not bound to observe the laws of the realm, concerning the subjects' rights and liberties, but that his royal will and pleasure, in imposing taxes without consent of parliament, doth oblige the subject's conscience on pain of dam- nation ; and that those who refuse obedience, transgress the laws of God, insult the king's supreme authority, and are guilty of impiety, disloyalty, and rebellion. That the authority of both houses of parliament is not necessary for the raising aids and sub- sidies, as not suitable to the exigencies of the state." These were the doctrines of the court; " which (says the noble historian) were very unfit for the place, and very scandalous for the persons, who * Rushworth, p. 426. 440. 510 HISTORV OF presumed often to determine things out of the verge of their own profession, and in ordine ad sjnrituaUa, gave unto Caesar that Avhich did not belong to him."" Sibthorp dedicated his sermon to the king, and carried it to archbishop Abbot to be licensed, which the honest old prelate refused, for which he was suspended from all archiepiscopal functions, and ordered to retire to Canterbury or Ford, a moorish unhealthy place, five miles beyond Canterbury. The sermon was then carried to the bishop of London, who licensed and recom- mended it as a sermon learnedly and discreetly preached, agreeable to the ancient doctrine of tiie primitive church, both for faith and good manners, and to the established doctrine of the church of England. Archbishop Abbot had been out of favour for some time, because he would not give up the laws and liberties of his country, nor treat the great duke of Buckingham with that servile submis- sion that he expected*. Heylin says, the king was displeased with him for being too favourable to the Puritans, and too remiss in his government ; and that for this reason he seized his jurisdic- tion, and put it into hands more disposed to act with severity. Fuller says-f-, that a commission was granted to five bishops, whereof Laud was one, to suspend him for casual homicide that he had conmiitted seven years before, and of which he had been cleared by commissioners a|:)pointed to examine into the fact in the reign of king James ; besides, his grace had a royal dispensation to shelter him from the canons, and had ever since exercised his jurisdiction without interruption, even to the consecrating of Laud himself to a bishoprick. But the commission mentions no cause of his suspension, and only takes notice, that the archbishop cannot at present, in his own person, attend the services which are otherwise proper for his cognizance and jurisdiction. But why could he not attend them ? Because his majesty had commanded him to retire, for refusing to license Sibthorp's sermon. The blame of this severity fell upon Laud, as if, not having patience to wait for the reverend old prelate's death, he was desirous to step into the archiepiscopal chair while he was alive; for no sooner was Abbot suspended, than his jurisdiction was put into the hands of five bishops by commission, of whom Laud was the chief. There was another prelate that gave the court some uneasiness, viz. Dr. Williams bishop of Lincoln, late lord-keeper of the great seal, who being in disgrace retired to his diocess, and became very popular among his clergy:};. He declared against the loan, and fell in with the Puritans and country party, insomuch that sir John Lamb and Dr. Sibthorp informed the council, that they were grieved to see the bishop of Lincoln give place to uncon- formable ministers, when he turned his back upon those who were * Rushwoith, vol. 1. p. 61. 435. CoUyer, p. 742. t Church History, b. 11. p. 127, : Rushworth, vol. 1. p. 424, 425.. Tllli: PURITANS. all conformable ; tliat tlie Puritans ruled all with him ; and that divers of them in Leicestershire being convened before the com- missaries, his lordship would not admit proceedings to be had against them. That they [the commissaries for the high-commis- sion] had informed the bisliop, then at Bugden, of several of the factious Puritans in his diocess who would not come up to the table to receive the communion kneeling ; of their keeping un- lawful fasts and meetings ; that one fast held from eight in the morning till nine at night ; and that collections for money were made Avithout authority, upon pretence for the Palatinate ; that therefore they had desired leave from the bishop to proceed against them ex officio ; but the bishop replied, that he would not meddle against the Puritans, that for his part he expected not another bishoprick ; they might complain of them if they would to the council-table, for he was under a cloud already. He had the duke of Buckingham for his enemy, and therefore would not draw the Puritans upon him, for he was sure they would carry all things at last. Besides, he said, the king, in the first year of his reign, had given answer to a petition of the lower house at Oxford in favour of the Puritans. It appeared by the information of others, that Lamb and Sibthorp pressed the bishop again to proceed against the Puritans in Leicestershire ; that the bishop then asked them, what sort of people they were, and of what condition ? To which sir John Lamb replied, in the presence of Dr. Sibthorp, "that they seemed to the world to be such as would not swear, whore, nor be drunk, but yet they would lie, cozen, and deceive; that they would fre- quently hear two sermons a-day, and repeat the same again too, and afterward pray, and that sometimes they would fast all day- long." Then the bishop asked whether the places where those Puritans were, did lend money freely upon the collection for the loan. To which sir John Lamb and Dr. Sibthorp replied that they did. Then said the bishop. No man of discretion can say, that that place is a place of Puritans : for my part (said the bishop) I am not satisfied to give way to proceedings against them : at which Sibthorp was much discontented, and said he was troubled to see that the church was no better regarded. This infor- mation being transmitted to the council, was sealed up for the pre- sent, but was afterward, with some other matters, produced against his lordship in the star-chamber, as will be seen hereafter. Though the king was at war with Spain, and with the house of Austria, and (if I may be allowed to say it) with his own subjects ; though he had no money in his exchequer, and was at the greatest loss how to raise any ; yet he suffered himself to be prevailed with to enter into a new war with France, under the colour of main- taining the Protestant religion in that country, without so much as thinking of ways and means to support it. But when one con- siders the character of this king and his ministry, it is hard to believe that this could be the real motive of the war : for his 512 HISTORY OP majesty and the whole court had a mortal aversion to the Frencli Hugonots*. Buckingham had no religion at all; Weston and Conway were Catholics ; Laud and Neiie thought there was no salvation for Protestants out of the church of England ; how then can it be supposed that they should make war in defence of a religion for which they had the utmost contempt ? Lord Clarendon says, the war was owing to Buckingham''s disappoint- ment in his amours at the French court -f- ; but it is more likely he advised it to keep up the misunderstandings between the king and his parliaments, by continuing the necessity of raising money by extraordinary methods, upon which his credit and reputation depended. War being declared, the queen''s domestics were sent home, and a fleet was fitted out, whicli made a fruitless descent upon the isle of Rhee, under the conduct of the duke of Bucking- ham, with the loss of five thousand men. This raised a world of complaints and murmurs against the duke, and obliged the weak and unhappy king to try the experiment of another parliament, which was appointed to meet March 17, 1627 — 8. As soon as this resolution was taken in council, orders were dispatched to all parts of the kingdom, to release the gentlemen imprisoned for the loan, to the number of seventy-eight, most of whom were chosen members for the ensuing parliament. In the meantime, his majesty went on with raising money by excise; and instead of palliating and softening the vnistakes of his government, put on an air of high sovereignty, and told his parliament, that if they did not provide for the necessities of the state, he should use those other means that God had put into his hands, to save that which the follies of other men would hazard. *' Take not this (says his majesty) as a threatening, for I scorn to threaten my inferiors^, but as an admonition from him, who by nature and duty has most care for your preservation and prosperity §." But the parliament not being awed by this language, began with grievances ; and though they voted five subsidies, they refused to carry the bill through the house, till they had obtained the royal assent to their petition of right, which asserted, among others, the following claims contained in magna charta : 1. That no freeman shall be detained in prison by the king and privy council, without the cause of commitment be expressed, for which by law he ought to be detained. 2. That a habeas corjjus. ought not to be denied, where the law allows it. * Rapin, vol. 2. p. 260, folio ed. t Ibid. vol. 1. p. 38, 39. X " Any but equals." Rushworth. Dr. Grey, who gives this correction, quotes other passages from the king's speech with a view to soften Mr. Neal's representa- tion of it ; but with little propriety; for though he expresses "a hope of being laid under such obligations as would tie him by way of thankfulness to meet them often," the whole wears the same air of sovereignty as the passage above. It is more in the tone of an angry monarch to his offending subjects, than of a consti- tutional king of England to his parliament. — Ed. § Rushworth, vol. 1. p. 480. THE I'URTTANS. 513 3. That no tax, loan, or benevolence, shall be imposed without act of parliament. 4. That no man shall be forejudged of life or limb, or be exiled or destroyed, but by the judgment of his peers, according to the laws of the land, or by act of parliament. The king gave the royal assent to this bill in the most ample manner, which I mention, that the reader may remember what regard his majesty paid to it in the twelve succeeding years of his reign. In the meantime, the house of lords went upon Manwaring's sermons already mentioned, and passed the following sentence upon the author ; " that he be imprisoned during pleasure, and be fined one thousand pounds ; that he make his submission at the bar of the house, and be suspended from his ministry for three years ; that he be disabled for ever from preaching at court, be incapable of any ecclesiastical or secular preferment, and that his sermons be burnt in London, and both universities*."" Pur- suant to this sentence, Manwaring appeared upon his knees at the bar of the house, June 23 [1628], and made ample acknowledg- ment and submission, craving pardon of God, the king, the par- liament, and the whole commonwealth, in words drawn up by a committee: but the houses were no sooner risen, than his fine was remitted, and himself preferred first to the living of Stam- ford-Rivers, w^ith a dispensation to hold St. Giles's in the fields, then to the deanery of Worcester, and after some time to the bishoprick of St. David's. Within a month after this [August 22], Montague was promoted to the bishoprick of Chichester, while he lay under the censure of parliament. At his consecration at Bow-church, Mr. Jones, a stationer of London, stood up, and excepted against his qualifica- tion for a bishoprick, because the parliament had voted him inca- pable of any preferment in the chui'ch ; but his exceptions were overruled, not being delivered in by a proctor ; though Jones averred that he could not prevail with any one to appear for him, though he offered them their fees: so the consecration proceeded. Sibthorp, the other incendiary, was made prebendary of Peter- borough, and rector of Burton-Latimer in Wiltshire ; though the Oxford historianf confesseth he had nothing to recommend him but forwardness and servile flattery. While the money-bill was going through the house of lords, the commons were busy in drawing up a remonstrance of the grievances of the nation, with a petition for redress : but as soon as the king had obtained his money, he came to the liouse June 26, and prorogued the parliament, first to the 20th of October, and then to the 26th of January. The commons being disappointed of presenting their remonstrance, dispersed it through the nation ; but the king called it in, and after some time " Rushworth, vol. ]. p. fiOl. 612, 613, f Ath?nee Oxon. vol. 1. p. 180. VOL. I. L T. 5l4 HISTORY or published an answer drawn up by bishop Laud, as was proved against him at his trial. The remonstrance was dated June 11, and besides the civil grievances of billeting soldiers, &c. complains with regard to religion. 1. Of the great increase of Popery, by the laws not being put in execution : by conferring honours and places of command upon Papists ; by issuing out commissions to compound for their recu- sancy, and by permitting mass to be said openly at Denmark-house and other places. The answer denies any noted increase of Popery, or that there is any cause to fear it. As for compositions, they are for the increase of his majesty's profit, and for returning that into his purse, which the connivance of inferior officers might perhaps divert another way. 2. The remonstrance complains of the discountenancing ortho- dox and painful ministers, though conformable and peaceable in their behaviour, insomuch that they are hardly permitted to lectui'e where there is no constant preaching. — That their books are pi'ohibited, when those of their adversaries are licensed and published. — -That the bishops Neile and Laud are justly suspected of Arminiansm and Popish errors ; and that this being the way to church-preferment, many scholars bend the course of their studies to maintain them. The answer denies the distressing or discountenancing good preachers, if they be, as they are called, good ; but affirms, that it was necessary to prohibit their books, because some whom the remonstrance calls oj'thodox, had assumed an insufferable licence in printing. — That great wrong was done to the two eminent pre- lates mentioned, without any proof: for should they or any others attempt innovation of religion, says his majesty, we should quickly take order with them, without staying for the remonstrance ; and as for church-preferments, we will always bestow them as the reward of merit ; but as the preferments are ours, we will be judge, and not be taught by a remonstrance. 3. The remonstrance complains of the growth of Arminianism, as a cunning way to bring in Popery. The answer says, this is a great wrong to ourself and govern- ment ; for our people must not be taught by a parliamentary remonstrance, or any other way, that we are so ignorant of truth, or so careless of the profession of it, that any opinion or faction should thrust itself so fast into our dominions without our know- ledge. This is a mere dream, and would make our loyal people believe we are asleep. But the following letter, written at this time by a Jesuit in England, to the rector of the college at Brussels, sufficiently sup- ports the parliament's charge, and shews how Arminianism and Popery, which have no natural connexion, came to be united at this time against the Protestant religion, and the liberties of England. THE PURITANS. 515 " Let not the damp of astonishment seize upon your ardent and zealous soul (says the Jesuit), in apprehending the unexpected calling of a parliament ; we [the Papists] have not opposed, but nuher furthered it. — " You must know the council is engaged to assist the king by way of prerogative, in case the parliament fail. You shall see this parliament will resemble the pelican, which takes pleasure to dig out with her beak her own bowels. " The elections have been in such confusion of apparent faction, as that which we were wont to procure with much art and industry, when the Spanish match was in treaty. — " We have now many strings to our bow, and have strongly fortified our faction, and have added two bulwarks more ; for when king James lived, he was very violent against Arminianism, and interrupted our strong designs in Holland. " Now we have planted that sovereign drug Arminianism, which we hope will purge the Protestants from their heresy, and it flourishes and bears fruit in due season. " The materials that build up our bulwark, are the projectors and beggars of all ranks and qualities; however, both these factions co-operate to destroy the parliament, and to introduce a new species and form of government, which is oligarchy. " These serve as mediums and instruments to our end, which is the universal Catholic monarchy ; our foundation must be mutation, and mutation will cause a relaxation. — " We proceed now by counsel and mature deliberation, how and when to work upon the duke's [Buckingham''s] jealousy and revenge; and in this we give the honour to those that merit it, which are the church Catholics. " There is another matter of consequence which we must take much into our consideration and tender care, which is, to stave off Puritans, that they hang not in the duke's ears : they are impudent subtile people, and it is to be feared lest they should negociate a reconciliation between the duke and the parliament at Oxford and AVestminster ; but now we assure ourselves, that we have so handled the matter, that both the duke and parliament are irre- concilable. " For the better prevention of the Puritans, the Arminians have already locked lap the duke's cars, and we have those of our own religion that stand continually at the duke's chamber, to see who goes in and out. We cannot be too circumspect and careful in this regard. I cannot choose but laugh to see how some of our own coat have accoutred themselves ; and it is admirable how in speech and gesture they act the Puritans. The Cambridge scholars, to their woful experience shall see, we can act the Puritans a little better than they have done the Jesuits. They have abused our sacred patron in jest, but we will make them smart for it in earnest. " But to return to the main fabric, our foundation is Armini- anism ; the Arminians and projectors affect mutation ; this we L L 2 516 HISTORY OP second and enforce by probable arguments. We shew liow the king may free himself of his ward, and raise a vast revenue with- out being beholden to his subjects, which is by way of excise. Then our church Catholics shew the means how to settle the exciscy which must be by a mercenary army ^f foreigners and Germans ; their horse will eat up the country where they come, though they be well paid, much more if they be not paid. The army is to consist of twenty thousand foot, and two thousand horse ; so that if tlie country rise upon settling the excise, as probably they will, the army will conquer them, and pay themselves out of the con- fiscation. Our design is to work the Protestants as well as the Catholics to welcome in a conqueror. We hope to dissolve trade, to hinder the building of shipping, and to take away the mer- chant-ships, that they may not easily light upon the West-India fleet," &c. It appears from this letter, that Puritanism was the only bul- wark of the constitution, and of the Protestant religion, against the inroads of Popery and arbitrary power*. 4. To go on with the parliament's remonstrance, which com- plains farther of the miserable condition of Ireland, where the Popish religion is openly professed, and their ecclesiastical dis- cipline avowed, monasteries, nunneries, and other religious houses re-edified, and filled with men and women of several orders, even in the city of Dublin itself. The answer says, that the Protestant religion is not in a worse condition than queen Elizabeth left it ; and adds, that it is a dis- paragement to the king's government to report the building of religious houses in Dublin, and other places, when the king him- self had no account of it. * Here Dr. Grey asks, " Whence does this appear ? not from those words in the same letter, which shew that the Puritans were the tools which the Jesuits designed to make use of, in order to subvert the constitution in the church and state ?" The reply to the doctor is, that the truth of Mr. Neal's remark appears from those paragraphs of the letter, in which are expressed strong apprehensions, that impedi- ments and obstructions to the views and schemes it unfolds, would arise from the Puritans. Nay, the justness of the remark appears from the words which Dr. Grey produces as refuting it. For, if the Jesuits acted the Puritan, could it be with a sincere desire to advance the influence of the Puritans, and promote their wishes ? could it be with any other design than to turn against them the confidence into which by this means they insinuated themselves, and to undermine the reformation by increasing divisions and fomenting prejudices against it ? of this the collection of papers, called " Foxes and firebrands," furnishes evident proofs. Of this two curious letters given by Dr. Grey from the MSS. of sir Robert Cotton, furnish con- vincing proofs. Yet the doctor again asks, " Can Mr. Neal, after all, be so weak, as to imagine that the Jesuits would have put on the Puritan guise, in order to have ruined the constitution, had the Puritans been the only bulwark of the constitu- tion .' " Weak as it might be in Mr. Neal to imagine it, it is a fact ; that they did assume the character of the Puritans in order to carry those purposes, to which the Puritans were inimical. Dr. Grey, probably, would not have thought this so weak a policy, as he represents it, had he recollected what is said of the false teachers in the primitive church ; who " transformed themselves into the apostles of Christ." Had he recollected, that it is said of Satan, that " he transformed himself into an angel of light ;" and this to overturn those interests of truth and virtue, of which the former knew that the latter were the bulwark.— Ed. THE PURITANS. 517 But it seems the parliament knew more of the aflfairs of Ireland than bishop Laud ; the agents for that kingdom had represented the Protestant religion in great danger, by the suspending all pro- ceedings against the Papists ever since the king came to the crown ; by this means thev were become so bold, that when lord Falkland summoned their chiefs to meet at Dublin, 1626, in order to a ge- neral contribution for defence of the kingdom against a foreign invasion, they declared roundly, that they would contribute no- thing without a toleration, and liberty to build religious houses; upon ^\■hich the assembly was dismissed. This awakened the Protestant bishops, who met together, and signed the following protestation, November 26, 1626. " The religion of Papists is superstitious and idolatrous, and their church anti-apostolical ; to give them therefore a toleration is a grievous sin, because it makes ourselves accessory to all the abominations of Popery*, and to the perdition of those souls that perish thereby ; and because granting a toleration in respect of any money to be given, or contribution to be made by them, is to set religion to sale, and with it the souls that Christ has redeemed with his blood; we therefore beseech the God of truth, to make those who are in authority, zealous for God's glory, and resolute against all Popery, superstition, and idolatry." Signed by arch- bishop Usher, and eleven of his brethren. But notwithstanding this protestation, the Papists gained their point, and in the fourth year of the king's reign had a toleration granted them, in consideration of the sum of 120,000/. to be paid in three yearsf. With regard to the building religious houses, it is wonderful that neither the king nor his prime minister should know any thing of it, when the lord-deputy Falkland had this very summer issued out a proclamation with this preamble : " Forasmuch as we cannot but take notice, that the late intermission of the legal proceedings against Popish pretended or titular archbishops, bishops, abbots, deans, vicars-general, and others of that sort, that derive their authority and orders from Rome, hath bred such an extraordinary insolence and presumption in them, as that they have dared of late, not only to assemble themselves in public places, but also have erected houses and buildings, called public oratories, colleges, * " From 60 silly a sophism, so gravely delivered, I conclude (says bishop War- burton) Usher was not that great man he has been represented." — Ed. t It is to be regretted that Mr. Neal did not refer to his authority for this asser- tion. Dr. Grey quotes against it Collyer, vol. 2. p. 739 ; who says, that the pro- testation of the bishops " prevailed with the government to waive the thoughts of a toleration, and pitch upon some other expedients. " The doctor might have added from Fuller, that the motion was crushed l)y the bishops, and chiefly by bishop Downham's sermon in Dublin, on Luke i. 47. Church History, b. 11. p. 128. Though we cannot ascertain the authority on which Mr. Neal speaks, the reader will observe, that he is not contradicted by Collyer and Fuller ; for they speak of the immediate effect of the opposition of the bisliops to the toleration of the Irish Catholics, and he writes of a measure adopted in repugnance to it, two years after- ward.— Ed. ,518 HISTORY OF mass-houses, and convents of friars, monks, and nuns, in the eye and open view of the state and elsewhere, and do frequently exercise jurisdiction against his majesty''s subjects, by authority derived from Rome, and by colour of teaching schools in their pretended monasteries, to train up youth in their superstitious religion, contrary to the laws and ecclesiastical government of this kingdom : we therefore will and require them to foi-bear to exercise their jurisdiction within this kingdom, and to relinquish and break up their convents and religious houses, Sic." Could such a proclamation be printed and dispersed over the kingdom of Ireland, without being known to the English court ? But farther, to shew that bishop Laud himself was not long- ignorant of the dangerous increase of Popery in Ireland, the bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh, Dr. Bedell, sent him the follow- ing account soon afterward ; it was dated April 1, 1630. " The Popish clergy are more numerous than those of the church of England; they have their officials and vicars-general for ecclesi- astical jui*isdiction, and are so hardy as to excommunicate those who appear at the courts of the Protestant bishops. Almost every parish has a priest of the Romish communion ; masses are sometimes said in churches, and excepting a few British planters, not amounting to the tenth part of the people, the rest are all declared recusants. In each diocess there are about seven or eight of the reformed clergy well qualified, but these not under- standing the language of the natives cannot perform divine service, nor converse with their parishioners to advantage, and consequently are in no capacity to put a stop to superstition*." * " Here (says Dr. Grey) we have a long train of mistakes." There are, it is true, several. Dr. Bedell is called Dr. Beadle, and bishop elect of Kilmore, whereas he had the contiguous sees of Kilmore and .\rdagh, and was the actual bishop of both, when this letter was written, April, 1, 1630, having been consecrated 13th September 1629. These mistakes are imputed to Mr. Neal : but Dr. Grey should have possessed the candour to have informed his readers, that they belong to Mr. CoUyer, from whom the whole paragraph is taken. This he could not but have observed, for he immediately refers himself to Collyer, to blame Mr. Neal for not mentioning a remark of that author, viz. that bishop Bedell's account related to his own two diocesses only. This the reader would of course understand to be the case, and even with this limitation, it is a proof of the increase of Popery in Ire- land, though it should not be presumed to be a specimen of the state of things in other diocesses. The bishop's letter was written, as we have said, in April 1030, and Mr. Neal introduces it as sent about that time of which he was writing, i. e. about June 1628. This is charged against him as an anachronism, but it is a small mistake, and even a blunder. But in a matter of this nature, where the existing state of things must have been the result of causes that had been some time operat- ing, and shews a settled complexion of men and manners, it may admit a question, whether the space of a year and nine months can be deemed an anachronism. The bishop's account certainly indicates what had been the growing state of things for many months. Mr. Neal, by quoting Collyer in the above paragraph, has missed the most strik- ing clause in bishop Bedell's letter. He concludes by saying, " His majesty is now with the greatest part of this country, as to their hearts and consciences, king, but at the pope's discretion." Though it is not to the design of these notes, the editor is tempted here to give a trait in the character of this prelate's lady ; who, it is said, " was singular in many excellent qualities, particularly in a very extraordi- nary reverence she paid to her husband." Bishop Burnet's Life of Bedell, p. 47. 230._Ed. THE PUUITANS. ,519 Let the reader now judge, whether the answer to the remon- strance be not very evasive. Could this great statesman be igno- rant of so many notorious facts ? was the growth of Arminianism and arbitrary power, a dream ? was any wrong done to himself, or his brother of Winchester, by saying they countenanced these principles ? was not the increase of Popery both in England and Ireland notorious, by suspending the penal laws, ever since the king came to the crown, and granting the Papists a toleration for a sum of money ? where then was the policy of lulling the nation asleep, while the enemy were increasing their numbers, and whet- ting their swords for a general massacre of the Protestants, which they accomplished in Ireland about twelve years afterward ? The bishop observes in his diary, that this parliament laboured his ruin, because they charged him with unsoundness of opinion ; but his lordship had such an influence over the king as rendered all their attempts fruitless ; for the see of London becoming va- cant this summer, Laud was translated to it July 15*; and the duke of Buckingham being stabbed at Portsmouth by Felton, August 23, following, this ambitious prelate became prime minis- ter in all affairs both of church and state. One of the bishop's first enterprises, after his translation to London, was to stifle the predestinarian controversy, for which pur- pose he procured the thirty-nine articles to be reprinted, with the following declaration at the head of themf . By the King. " Being b}' God's ordinance, and our just title, defender of the faith, &c. within these dominions, we hold it agreeable to our kingly office, for the preservation of unity and peace, not to suffer any unnecessary disputations which may nourish faction in the church or commonwealth : we, therefore, with the advice of our bishops, declare, that the articles of the church of England which the clergy generally have subscribed, do contain the true doctrine of the church of England, agreeable to God's word, which we do therefore ratify and confirm, requiring all our loving subjects to continue in the uniform profession thereof, and prohibiting the least difference from the said articles. — We take comfort in this, that all clergymen within our realm have always most willingly subscribed the articles, wliich is an argument that they all agree, in the true usual literal meaning of them ; and that in those curious points, in which the present differences lie, men of all sorts take the articles to be for them, which is an argument again, that none of them intend any desertion of the articles established : wherefore we will, that all curious search into these things be laid aside, and these disputes be shut up in God's promises, as they be * Bib. Reg. sect. 3. No. 4 ; or Heylia's Life of Laud, p. 188. + Mr. Neal does not give the declaration at full length, but has omitted some clauses and even two paragraphs ; but in my opiniou, without affecting the sense and tenor of it ; though Dr. Grey says, '' he has by this altered and curtailed the sense of it, and then charged it with blunders, which are of his own making." — Ed. O20 HISTORY OF generally set forth to us in Holy Scriptures, and the general mean- ing of the articles according to them ; and that no man hereafter preach or print to draw the article aside any way, but shall sub- mit to it, in the plain and full manner thereof, and shall not put his own sense or comment to the meaning of the article, but shall take it in the literal and gi'ammatical sense : that if any public reader in the universities, or any other person, shall affix any new sense to any article, or shall publicly read, or hold disputation on either side ; or if any divine in the universities shall preach or print any thing either way, they shall be liable to censure in the ecclesiastical commission, and we will see there shall be due exe- cution upon them*." Surely there never was such a confused unintelligible declaration printed before ; but the Calvinist divines understood the king's intention, and complained in a petition of " the restraints they were laid under by his majesty's forbidding them to preach the saving doctrines of God's free grace in election and predestination to eternal life, according to the seventeenth article of the church. That this had brought them under a very imcomfortable dilemma, either of falling under the divine displeasure, if they did not exe- cute their commission, in declaring the whole counsel of God, or of being censured for opposition to his majesty's authority, in case they preached the received doctrines of the church, and attacked the Pelagian and Arminian heresies boldly published from the pidpit and the press, though censured by king James as arrogant and atheistical ; and those who avow them to be agreeable to the church of England are called gross liars. Therefore, they humbly entreat, that his majesty would be pleased to take the foremen- tioned evils and grievances into his princely consideration, and, as a wise physician, apply such speedy remedies as may both cure the present distemper, and preserve the church and state from those plagues with which their neighbours had not been a little distressed." But this address was stopped in its progress, and never reached the king's ears. In pursuance of his majesty's declaration, all books relating to the Arminian controversy were called in by proclamation and sup- pressed, and among others Montague's and Manwaring's, which was only a feint to cover a more deadly blow to be reached at the Puritans ; for at the same time Montague and Manwaring received the royal pardon, and were preferred to some of the best livings in the kingdom (as has been observed), while the answer * This declaration, Dr. Harris observes, has been produced and canvassed in the famous Bangorian and Trinitarian controversies, which engaged the attention of the public for a great number of years. Life of Charles I. p. 183—190, Dr. Black- burne has at large discussed the validity of it, and is disposed to consider James I. as the first publisher of it. He shews that it has been corrupted by the insertion of the word now ; as, "we will not endure any varying, or departing, in the least degree, from the doctrine and discipline of the church of England now established ;" a language, he justly observes, inconsistent with the principles of our present con- stitution. Confessional, p. 131—143. 3d edit Ed, THE PURITANS. 521 to their books, by Dr. Featly, Dr. Goad, Mr. Burton, Ward, Yates, and Rouse, were not only su|)pressed, but the publishers questioned in the star chamber. The king put on the same thin disguise with regard to Papists; a proclamation was issued out against priests and Jesuits, and particularly against the bishop of Chalcedon ; orders were also sent to the lord-mayor of London, to make search after them, and commit them to prison, but at the same time his majesty appointed commissioners to compound with them for their recusancy ; so that instead of being suppressed, they became a branch of the revenue and sir Richard Weston, a notorious Papist, was created earl of Portland, and made lord high-treasurer of England, AVhen the parliament met accoi'ding to prorogation, January 20, they began again with grievances of religion ; Oliver Crom- well, esq. being of the committee, reported to the house the coun- tenance that was given by Dr. Neile bishop of Winchester, to divines who preached Arminian and Popish doctrine; he men- tioned the favours that had been bestowed upon Montague and Manwaring, who had been censured the last sessions of parlia- ment ; and added, " If this be the way to church-preferment, what may we expect ?" Upon debating the king's late declara- tion, the house voted, " that the main end of that declaration was to suppress the Puritan party, and to give liberty to the con- trary side." Several warm and angry speeches were likewise made against the new ceremonies that began now to be introduced into the church, as images of saints and angels, crucifixes, altars, lighted candles, &c. Mr. Rouse stood up and said," — I desire it maybe consi- dered, what new paintings have been laid upon the old face of the whore of Babylon, to make her shew more lovely. I desire it may be considered, how the see of Rome doth eat into our reli- gion, and fret into the very banks and walls of it, the laws and statutes of this realm. I desire we may consider the increase of Arminiauism, an error that makes the grace of God lackey after the will of man. — I desire we may look into the belly and bowels of this Trojan horse, to see if there be not men in it ready to open the gates to Romish tyranny, for an Arminian is the spawn of a Papist, and if the warmth of favour come upon him, you shall see him turn into one of those frogs that rose out of the bottom- less pit ; these men having kindled a fire in our neighbour-coun- try, are now endeavouring to set this kingdom in aflame*.'"' Mr. Pym said, " that by the articles set forth 1562, by the catechism set forth in king Edward VI. 's days, by the writings of Martin Buccr and Peter Martyr; by the constant professions sealed with the blood of many martyrs, as Cranmer, Ridley, and others ; by the thirty-six articles of queen Elizabeth, and by the articles agreed upon at Lambeth as the doctrine of the church of England, which king James sent to Dort, and to Ireland, it ap- • Rushworth, p. 657—668. 522 HISTOllY OF pears evidently what is tlie established rehgion of the realm. Let us therefore shew wherein these late opinions differ from those truths; and what men have been since preferred who have pro- fessed the contrary heresies, ; what pardons they have had for false doctrine ; what prohibiting of books and writings against their doctrine, and permitting of such^books as have been for them. Let us inquire after the abettors, and after the pardons granted to them that preacii the contrary truth before his majesty. It belongs to parliaments to establish true religion, and to punish false. We must know what parliaments have done formerly in religion. Our parliaments have confirmed general councils. In the time of king Henry VIII. the earl of Essex was condemned [by parliament] for countenancing books of heresy. The convo- cation is but a provincial synod of Canterbury, and cannot bind the whole kingdom. As for York it is distant, and cannot bind us or the laws ; and as for the high commission, it is derived from parliament *."" Sir John Eliot said, " If there be any difference in opi- nion concerning the interpretation of the thirty-nine articles, it is said, the bishops and clergy in convocation have power to dispute it, and to order which way they please. A slight thing, that the power of religion should be left to these men ! I honour their pro- fession ; there are among our bishops such as are fit to be made examples for all ages, who shine in virtue, and are firm for reli- gion ; but the contrary faction I like not. I remember a charac- ter I have seen in a diary of king Edward VI. where he says of the bishops, that * some for age, some for ignorance, some for luxury, and some for Popery, were unfit for discipline and govern- ment."' We see there are some among our bishops that are not orthodox, nor sound in religion as they should be, witness the two bishops complained of the last meeting of this parliament ; should we be in their power, I fear our religion would be overthrown. Some of these are masters of ceremonies, and labour to introduce new ceremonies into the church. Let us go to the ground of our religion, and lay down a rule on which all others may rest, and then inquire after offenders t." Mr. secretary Cook said, " that the fathers of the church were asleep ; but, a little to awaken their zeal, it is fit (says he) that the\' take notice of that hierarchy that is already established, in competition with their lordships, for they [the Papists] have a bishop consecrated by the pope ; this bishop has his subaltern officers of all kinds, as vicars-general, archdeacons, rural deans, apparitors, &c. neither are these nominal or titular officers only, but they all execute their jurisdictions, and make their ordinary visitations throughout the kingdom, keep courts, and determine ecclesiastical causes ; and, which is an argument of more con- sequence, they keep ordinary intelligence by their agents in Rome, and hold correspondence with the nuncios and cardinals both at * Rushworth, vol. 1. p. 651). f Ibid. vol. 1. p. 660, 661. THK PURITANS. 528 Brussels and France. Neither are the seculars alone grown to this height, but the regulars are more active and dangerous. Even at this time they intend to hold a concurrent assembly with this parliament. — " After some other speeches of this kind, the house of conuiions entered into the following vow. " We, the commons, in parliament assembled, do claim, protest, and avow for truth, the sense of the articles of religion which were established by parliament in the thirteenth year of our late queen Elizabeth, Avhich by the public act of the church of Eng- land, and by the general and current exposition of the writers of our church, have been delivered unto us. And we reject the sense of the Jesuits and Arminians, and all others that differ from us *." Bishop Laud, in his answer to this protestation, has several remarks. " Is there by this act (says his lordship) any interpre- tation of the articles or not .'' If none, to what end is the act ? If a sense or interpretation be declared, what authority have laymen to make it ? for interpretation of an article belongs to them only that have power to make it." To which it might be answered, that the commons made no new interpretation of the articles, but avowed for truth the current sense of expositors before that time, in opposition to the modern interpretation of Jesuits and Arminians. But what authority have laymen to make it? Answer. The same that they had in the 13th of Elizabeth to establish them, as the doctrine of the church of England ; unless we will say with Mr. Collyer, that neither the sense of the articles, nor the articles themselves, were established in that parliament or in any other-f-. If so, they are no part of the legal constitution, and men may subscribe the words without putting any sense upon them at all : an admirable way to prevent diversity of opinions in matters of faith ! But his lordship adds, "that it is against the king's declaration, which says, we must take the general meaning of them, and not draw them aside any way, but take them in the literal and grammatical sense;):." Has the king then a power, without convocation or parliament, to interpret and determine the sense of the articles for the whole body of the clergy ? By the general meaning of the articles, the declaration seems to understand no one determined sense at all. Strange ! that so learned and wise a body of clergy and laity, in convocation and parliament, should establish a number of articles with this title, " for the avoiding of diversity of opinions, and for the establishing of consent touching true religion," without any one determined sense ! The bishop goes on, and excepts against • " This protestation (Dr. Blackbuiiie remarks) is equivalent at least to any other resolution of the house. It is found amongst the most authentic records of parliament. And whatever force or operation it had the moment it was published, the same it has to this hour ; being never revoked or repealed in any succeeding par- liament, nor <-ontaining any one particular, whicii is not in perfect agreement with every part of our present constitution, civil and religious.' Confessional, p. 142. t Eccles. Hist. p. 7i7. t Prynne Cant. Doom. p. 161. 524 HISTORY OF the current sense of expositors, " because they may, and perhaps do, go against the Hteral sense." Will his lordship then abide by the literal and grammatical sense ! No, but " if an article bear more senses than one, a man may choose what sense his judgment directs him to, provided it be a sense, according to the analogy of faith, till the church determine a [particular] sense; but it is the wisdom of the church to require consent to articles in general as much as may be, and not require assent to particulars,'' His lordship had better have spoken out, and said, that it would be the wisdom of the church to require no subscriptions at all. To what straits are men driven to comply with the laws, when their sentiments differ from the literal and grammatical sense of the articles of the church ! Mr. Colly er says, they have no esta- blished sense ; king Charles, in his declaration, that they are to be understood in ageneral sense, butnot to be drawn aside to a particu- lar determined sense ; bishop Laud thinks, that if the words will bear more senses than one, a man may choose what sense his judg- ment directs him to, provided it be a sense, according to the ana- logy of faith, and all this for avoiding diversity of opinions ! But I am afraid this reasoning is too wonderful for the reader. While the parliament were expressing their zeal against Arminianism and Popery, a new controversy arose, which provoked his majesty to dissolve them, and to resolve to govern without parliaments for the future; for though the king had so lately signed the petition of right in full parliament, he went on with levying money by his royal prerogative. A bill was depending in the house to grant his majesty the duties of tonnage and poundage; but before it was passed, the custom-house-officers seized the goods of three eminent merchants, viz. Mr. Rolls, Mr. Chambers, and Mr. Vassal, for nonpayment. Mr. Chambers was fined 2,000/. besides the loss of his goods, and suffered six years imprisonment : Mr. Rolls's warehouses were locked up, and himself taken out of the house of commons and imprisoned. This occasioned some warm speeches against the custom-house- officers and farmers of the revenues ; but the king took all the blame on himself, and sent the house word, that what the officers had done, was by his special direction and command, and that it was not so much their act as his own. This was a new way of covering the unwarrantable proceedings of corrupt ministers, and was said to be the advice of the bishops Laud and Neile; a contrivance that laid the foundation of his majesty ""s ruin. It is a maxim in law, that the king can do no wrong, and that all maleadministrations are chargeable upon his ministers ; yet now, in order to screen his servants, his majesty will make himself answerable for their conduct. So that if the parliament will defend their rights and properties, they must charge the king personally, who in his own opinion was above law, and accountable for his actions to none but God. It was moved in the house, that notwithstanding the king's answer, the officers of THE PURITANS. .'52J the customs should be proceeded against, by separating their interests from the king's; but when the speaker, sir John Finch, was desired to put the question, he refused, saying, the king had commanded the contrary*. Upon which the house immediately adjourned to January 2J, and were then adjourned by the king's order to March 2, when meeting again, and requiring the speaker to put the former question, he again refused, and said he had the king's order to adjourn them to March 16, but they detained him in the chair, not without some tumult and confusion, till they made the following protestation : — 1. " Whosoever shall, by favour or countenance, seem to extend or introduce Popery or Arminianism, shall be reputed a capital enemy of the kingdom. 2. " Whosoever shall advise the levying the subsidies of tonnage and poundage, not being granted by parliament, shall be reputed a capital enemy. 3. " If any merchant shall voluntarily pay those duties, he shall be reputed a betrayer of the liberties of England, and an enemy of the same*)-." The next day warrants were directetl to Denzil Hollis, sir John Eliot, William Coriton, Benjamin Valentine, John Selden, Esqrs. and four more of the principal members of the house, to appear before the council on the morrow : four of them appeared accordingly, viz. Mr. Hollis, Eliot, Coriton, and Valentine ; who refusing to answer out of parliament for what was said in the house, were committed close prisoners to the Tower. The studies of the rest were ordered to be sealed up, and a proclamation issued for apprehending them; though the parliament not being dissolved, they were actually members of the house. On the 10th of March, the king came to the house of lords, and without sending for the commons, or passing one single act, dissolved the parliament, with a very angry speech against the leading members of the lower house, whom he called vipers, that cast a mist of undutiful- Tiess over most of their eyes: "and as those vipers (says his majesty) must look for their reward of punishment ; so you, my lords, must justly expect from me that favour that a good king oweth to his loving and faithful nobility J." The undutifulness of the commons was only their keeping the speaker in the chair, after he had signified that the king had adjourned them, which his majesty had no power of doing, and no king before king James I. pretended to adjourn parliaments, and when he claimed that power, it was complained of as a breach of privilege. It is one thing to prorogue or dissolve a parliament, and another to adjourn it, the latter being the act of the house itself, and the consequence of vesting such a power in the crown might be very fatal ; for if the king may adjourn the house in the midst of their debates, or forbid the speaker to put a question * Whitelocke's Memorial, p. 12. Rushworth, vol. 1. p. 669. t Rushwortb, vol. 1. p. 670. + Rushworth, vol. 1. 672. ;j2G history of when required, it is easy to foresee the whole business of parliament must be under his direction*. The members above mentioned were sentenced to be imprisoned during the king's pleasure; and were accordingly kept under close confinement many years, where Sir John Eliot died a martyr to the liberties of his country -f-. Mr. HoUis was fined a thousand marks. Sir John Eliot 2,000/. V'alentine 5001. and Long two thousand marks. Great were the murmurings of the people upon this occasion ; libels were dispersed against the prime minister Laud ; one of which says, "Laud, look to thyself, be assured thy Hfe is sought. As thou art the fountain of wickedness, repent of thy monstrous sins before thou be taken out of this world ; and assure thyself, neither God nor the world can endure such a vile counsellor or whisperer to live:|:." But to justify these proceedings to the world, his majesty published " a declaration of the causes of dissolving the last parliament." The declaration vindicates the king's taking the duties of ton- nage and poundage, from the examples of some of his predecessors, and as agreeable to his kingly honour. It justifies the silencing the predestinarian controversy, and lays the blame of not executing the laws against Papists, upon subordinate officers and ministers in the country : " We profess (says his majesty) that as it is our duty, so it shall be our care, to command and direct well ; but it is the part of others to perform the ministerial office ; and when we have done our office, we shall account ourself, and all charita- ble men will account us, innocent, both to God and n)en ; and those that are negligent, we will esteem culpable, both to God and us." The declaration concludes widi a profession that " the king will maintain the true religion of the church of England, without conniving at Popery or schism : that he will maintain the rights and liberties of his subjects, provided they do not misuse their liberty, by turning it to licentiousness, wantonly and frowardly resisting our lawful and necessary authority ; for we do expect our subjects should yield as much submission to our royal prerogative, and as ready obedience to our authority and commandments, as has been performed to the greatest of our predecessors. We will not have our ministers terrified by harsh proceedings against them ; for as we expect our ministers should obey us, they shall assure tiiemselves we will protect them§.'"' * Rapin, vol. 2. p. 279, folio edit. -f- " An affecting porti'ait of this gentleman is now in the possession of lord Eliot. He is drawn pale, languishing, and emaciated : — but disdaining to make the abject submission required of him by the tyrant, he expired under the excessive rigours of his confinement, leaving the portrait as a legacy and memento to his pos- terity, and to mankind ; who, in the contemplation of such enormities, have reason to rejoice ' When vengeance in the lucid air Lifts her red arm expos'd and bai'e.' " Belsham's Memoirs of the House of Brunswick Lunenburgh, vol. 1. p. ISf), note, —Ed. :|: Rushworth, vol. ]. p. 672. § Rushworth, vol. 2. Appen. p. .S — 10. THE PUniTANS. 0^7 This declaration not quieting the people, was followed by a pro- clamation, which put an end to all prospects of recovering the constitution for the future. The proclamation declares his ma- jesty's royal pleasure, " that spreaders of false reports shall be severely punished ; that such as cheerfully go on with their trades, shall have all good encouragement : that he will not overcharge his subjects with any new burdens, but will satisfy himself with the duties received by his royal father, which he neither can nor will dispense with. And whereas, for several ill ends, the calling of another parliament is divulged, his majesty declares, that the late abuse having for the present driven his majesty unwillingly out of that course, he shall account it presumption for any to prescribe any time to his majesty for parliaments, the calling, continuing, and dissolving, of which, is always in the king's own power*." — Here was an end of the old English constitution, for twelve years. England was now an absolute monarchy : the king's proclamations and orders of council were the laws of the land ; the ministers of state sported themselves in the most wanton acts of power ; and the religion, laws, and liberties, of this country lay prostrate and overwhelmed by an inundation of Popery and oppression. This year died the reverend Dr. John Preston, descended of the family of the Prestons in Lancashire. He was born at Hey- ford in Northamptonshire, in the parish of Bugbx'ook, 1587, and was admitted of King's college, Cambridge, 1604, from whence he was afterward removed to Queen's college, and admitted fellow in the year 1609f. He was an ambitious and aspiring youth, till liaving received some religious impressions from Mr. Cotton, in a sermon preached by him at St. Mary's church, he became re- markably serious, and bent all his studies to the service of Christ in the ministry. When the king came to Cambridge, Mr. Pres-^ ton was appointed to dispute before him : the question was. Whe- ther brutes had reason, or could make syllogisms ? Mr. Preston maintained the affirmative ; and instanced in a hound, who coming to a place where three ways meet, smells one way and the other ; but not finding the scent runs down the third with full cry, con- cluding that the hare not being gone either of the two first ways, must necessarily be gone the third. The argument had a won- derful effect on the audience, and would have opened a door for Mr. Preston's preferment, had not his inclinations to Puritanism been a bar in the way. He therefore resolved upon an academical life, and took upon him the care of ])upils, for which he was qua- lified beyond most in the university^ Many gentlemen's sons were committed to his care, who trained them up in the sentiments of the first reformers ; for he affected the very style and language of Calvin. When it came to his turn to be catechist, he went through a whole body of divinity with such general acceptance, that the » Ruahwoith, vol. 2. p. 3. t Clarke's Life of Dr. Preston; anaexed to his General Martyrology, p. /•'i. 528 HISTORY OF outward chapel was usually crowded with strangers before the fellows came in, which created him envy. Complaint was made to the vice-chancellor of this unusual way of catechising, and that it was not safe to suffer Dr. Preston to be thus adored, unless they had a mind to set up Puritanism, and pulldown the hierarchy; it was therefore agreed in the convocation-house, that no stranger, neither townsman nor scholar, should upon any pretence come to those lectures, which were only designed for the members of the colleg'e. There was little preaching in the university at this time, except at St. Mary's, the lectures at Trinity and St. Andrew's being pro- hibited ; Mr. Preston therefore, at the request of the townsmen and scholars of other colleges attempted to set up an evening ser- mon at St. Botolph's belonging to Queen's college ; but when Dr. Newcomb, commissary to the bishop of Ely, heard of it, he came to the church and forbade it, commanding that evening prayers only should be read ; there was a vast crowd, and earnest entreaty that Mr. Preston might preach; at least for that time, but the commissary was inexorable, and to prevent farther importunities, went home with his family : after he was gone, Mr. Preston was prevailed with to preach ; and because much time had been spent in debates, they adventured for once to omit the service, that the scholars might be present at their college-prayers. Next day the commissary went to Newmarket, and complained both to the bishop and king; he represented the danger of the hierarchy, and the progress of nonconformity among the scholars, and assured them that Mr. Preston was in such high esteem, that he would carry all before him if he was not thoroughly dealt with. Being called before his superiors, he gave a plain narrative of the fact ; and added, that he had no design to affront the bishop or his commis- sary. The bishop said, the king was informed that he was an enemy to forms of prayer, which Mr. Preston denying, he was ordered to declare his judgment upon that head, in a sermon at St. Botolph's church, and so was dismissed. Some time after, king James being at Newmarket, Mr. Preston was appointed to preach before him, which he performed with great applause, having a fluent speech, a commanding voice, and a strong memory, to deliver what he had prepared without the assistance of notes. The king spoke familiarly to him ; and though his majesty expressed a dislike to some of his Puritan notions, he commended his opposing the Arminians. And the duke of Buck- ingham not knowing what friends he might want among the popu- lace, persuaded the king to admit him one of the prince's chaplains in ordinary, and to wait two months in the year, which he did. Soon after this he was chosen preacher of Lincoln's inn, and upon the resignation of Dr. Chadderton, master of Emanuel-college, in the year 1622, at which time he took his degree of doctor of di- vinity. The doctor was a fine gentleman, a complete courtier, and in high esteem with the duke of Buckingham, who thought TTIK PU HI TANS. 529 by liis means to ingratiate himself with the Puritans*, whose power ■was growing very formidable in parliament. The duke offered him the bishoprick of Gloucester, but the doctor refused, and chose rather the lectureship of Trinity-church, which he kept till his death. By his interest in the duke and the prince, he did considerable service for many silenced ministei-s ; he was in waiting when king James died, and came up with the young king and duke in a close coach to London. But some time after the duke having changed measures, and finding that he could neither gain over the Puritans to his arbitrary designs, nor separate the doctor from their interests, he resolved to shake hands with his chaplain. The doctor foreseeing the storm, was content to retire quietly to his college, where it is apprehended he would have felt some farther effects of the duke's displeasure, if God in his providence had not cut him out work of a different nature, which engaged all his thoughts to the time of his death. Dr. Preston lived a single life, being never married ; nor had he any cure of souls. He had a strong constitution, which he wore out in his study and in the pulpit. His distemper was a consumption in the lungs, for which, by the advice of physicians, he changed the air several times; but the failure of his appetite, with other symptoms of a general decay, prevailed with him at length to leave off all medicine, and resign himself to the will of God. And being desirous of dying in his native country, and among his old friends, he retired into Northamptonshire, where he departed this life in a most pious and devout manner, in the forty-first year of his age ; and was buried in Fawsley-church, old Mr. Dod, minister of the place, preaching his funeral-sermon to a numerous auditory, July 20, 1628, Mr. Fullerf says, "He was an excellent preacher, a subtle disputant, a great politician ; so that his foes must coufess, that (if not having too little of the dove) he had enough of the serpent. Some will not stick to say, he had parts sufficient to manage the broad-seal, which was offered him, but the conditions did not please. He might have been the duke's right hand, but his grace finding that he could not bring him nor his party off to his side, he would use him no longer ;" which shews him to be an honest man. His practical works and sermons were printed by his own order after his decease. CHAPTER IV. FROM THE DISSOLUTION OF THE THIRD PARLIAMENT OF KING CHARLES I. TO THE DE.VTH OF ARCHBISHOP ABBOT. The ancient and legal government of England, by king, lords, and commons, being now suspended by the royal will and plea- sure, his majesty resolved to supply the necessities of the state, * " But Preston, who was as great a politician as the Duke Csays Mr. Granger), was not to be overreached." — Ed. f Book 11. p, l.'il. VOL. I. M M 530 HISTORY OF by such other methods as his council should advise, who gave a loose to their actions, being no longer afraid of a parliamentary- inquiry, and above the reach of ordinaiy justice. Instead of the authority of king and parliament, all public affairs were directed by proclamations of the king and council, which had the force of so many laws, and were bound upon the subject under the severest penalties. They levied the duties of tonnage and poundage, and laid what other imposts they thought proper upon merchandise, which they let out to farm to private persons ; the number of monopolies was incredible ; there was no branch of the subject's property that the ministry could dispose of, but was bought and sold. They raised above 1,000,000/. a year by taxes on soap, salt, candles, wine, cards, pins, leather, coals, &c. even to the scile gathering of rags. Grants were given out for weighing hay and straw within three miles of London ; for guaging red-herring- barrels, and butter-casks ; for marking iron, and sealing lace* ; with a great many others ; which being purchased of the crown, must be paid for by the subject. His majesty claimed a right in cases of necessity (of which necessity himself was the sole judge) to raise money by ship-writs, or royal mandates, directed to the sheriffs of the several counties, to levy on the subject the several sums of money therein demanded, for the maintenance and sup- port of the royal navy. The like was demanded for the royal army, by the name of coat and conduct money, when they were to march ; and when they were in quarters, the men were billeted upon private houses. Many were put to death by martial law, who ought to have been tried by the laws of the land ; and others by the same martial law were exempted from the punishment which by law they deserved. Large sums of money were raised by commissions under the great seal, to compound for depopula- tions, for nuisances in building between high and low water mark, for pi'etended encroachments on the forests, &c. beside the exorbi- tant fines of the star-chamber and high-commission court ; and the extraordinary projects of loans, benevolences, and free gifts. Such was the calamity of the times, that no man could call any thing his own longer than the king pleased ; or might speak or write against these proceedings, without the utmost hazard of his liberty and estate. The church was governed by the like arbitrary and illegal methods ; Dr. Laud, bishop of London, being prime minister, pursued his wild scheme of uniting the two churches of England and Romef, without the least regard to the rights of conscience, * Stevens's Historical Account of all Taxes, p. 183, 184. 2d edit. f Dr. Grey is much displeased with Mr. Neal for this repi'esentation of Laud's views ; but without bringing any direct evidence to refute it, he appeals to the an- swer of Fisher, and the testimonies of sir Edward Deering and Limborch, to shew, that the archbishop was not a Papist. This may be admitted, and the proofs of it are also adduced by Dr. Harris [Life of Charles L p. 207], yet it will not be so easy to acquit Laud of a partiality for the church, though not the court, of Rome, according to the distinction May makes in his " Parliamentary History." It will TIIK PUIUTANS. 0^1 or the laws of the htud, and very seldom to the canons of the church, bearing down all who opposed him with unrelenting severity and rigour. To make way for this union, the churches were not only to be repaired, but ornamented with pictures, paintings, images, altar-pieces, &c. the forms of public worship were to be decorated with a number of pompous rites and ceremo- nies, in imitation of the church of Rome : and the Puritans, who were the professed enemies of every thing that looked like Popery, were to be suppressed or driven out of the land. To accomplish the latter, his lordship presented the king with certain considera- tions for settling the chui'ch, which were soon after published, with some little variation, under the title of " Instructions to the two archbishops, concerning certain orders to be observed, and put in execution by the several bishops." Here his majesty commands them to see, that his declaration for silencing the predestinarian controversy be strictly observed ; and that special care be taken of the lectures and afternoon ser- mons, in their several diocesses, concerning which he is pleased to give the following instructions*. 1. '* That in all parishes the afternoon sermons be turned into catechising by question and answer, where there is not some great cause to break this ancient and profitable order. 2. " That every lecturer read divine service before lectures in surplice and hood. 3. " That where there are lectures in market-towns, they be read by grave and orthodox divines ; and that they preach in gowns, and not in cloaks, as too many do use. 4. " That no lecturer be admitted, that is not ready and willing to take upon him a living with cure of souls. 5. "That the bishops take order, that the sermons of the lec- turers be observed. 6. " That none under noblemen, and men qualified by law, keep a private chaplain. 7. " That care be taken, that the prayers and catechisings be frequented, as well as sermons.'" Of all which his majesty requires an account once a year. By virtue of these instructions, the bishop of London summoned before him all ministers and lectui'ers in and about the city, and in a solemn speech insisted on their obedience. He also sent let- not be so easy to clear him of the charge of symbolising vrith the church of Rome in its two leading features, superstition and intolerance. Under his primacy the church of England, it is plain, assumed a very Popish appearance. " Not only the pomps of ceremonies were daily increased, and innovations of great scandal brought into the church ; but, in point of doctrine, many fair approaches made towards Rome. Even Hcylin says, the doctrines are altered in many things ; as, for example, the pope not antichrist, pictures, free-will, &c. ; the thirty-nine arti- cles seeming patient, if not ambitious also, of some Catholic sense." May's Parliamentary History, p. 22, 2'.i; and Heylin's Life of Laud, p. 2')2. — Ed. * A liberal mind will reprobate these instructions, as evading argument, prevent- ing discussion and inquiry, breathing the spirit of intolerance and persecution, and indicating timidity. — Ed. .M M 2 532 HISTORY OF ters to his archdeacons, requiring them to send him lists of the several lecturers within their archdeaconries, as well in places exempt as not exempt, with the places where they preached, and their quality or degree; as also the names of such gentlemen, who being not qualified, kept chaplains in their own houses. His lordship required them farther, to leave a copy of the king's instructions concerning lecturers with the parson of every parish, and to see that they were duly observed. These lecturers were chiefly Puritans, who not being satisfied with a full conformity, so as to take upon them a cure of souls, only preached in the afternoons, being chosen and maintained by the people. They were strict Calvinists, warm and affectionate preachers, and distinguished themselves by a religious observance of the Lord's day, by a bold opposition to Popery and the new ceremonies, and by an uncommon severity of life. Their manner of preaching gave the bishop a distaste to sermons, who was already of opinion that they did more harm than good, insomuch that on a fast-day for the plague then in London, prayers were ordered to be read in all churches, but not a sermon to be preached, lest the people should wander from their own parishes. The lecturers had very popular talents, and drew great numbers of people after them. Bishop Laud would often say, " they were the most dangerous enemies of the state, because by their prayers and sermons they awakened the people's disaffection, and therefore must be suppressed." Good old archbishop Abbot was of another spirit, but the reins were taken out of his hands. He had a good opinion of the lecturers, as men who had the Protestant religion at heart, and would fortify their hearers against the return of Popery*. When Mr. Palmer, lecturer of St. Alphage in Canterbury, was com- manded to desist from preaching by the archdeacon, because he drew great numbers of factious people after him, and did not wear the surplice, the archbishop authorized him to continue : the like he did by Mr. Udnay of Ashford, for which he was com- plained of, as not enforcing the king's instructions, whereby the commissioners, as they say, were made a scorn to the factious, and the archdeacon's jurisdiction inhibited. But in the diocess of London bishop Laud proceeded with the utmost severity. Many lecturers were put down, and such as preached against Arminian- ism or the new ceremonies, were suspended and silenced ; among whom were, the reverend Mr. John Rogers of Dedham, Mr. Daniel Rogers of Wethersfield, Mr. Hooker of Chelmsford, Mr. White of Knightsbridge, Mr, Archer, Mr. William Martin, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Jones, Mr. Dod, Mr. Hildersham, Mr. Ward, Mr. Saunders, Mr. James Gardiner, Mr. Foxley, and many others. The reverend Mr. Bernard, lecturer of St. Sepulchre's, London, having used this expression in his prayer before sermon, " Lord * Prynne's Introd. p. 94. 361. 373. THE PURITANS. ' 533 open the eyes of the queen's majesty, that she may see Jesus Christ, whom she has pierced with her infidchty, superstition, and idolatry*,"^ was summoned hefore the high-commission Janu- ary 28, and upon his humble submission was dismissed; but some time after, in his sermon at St. Mary's in Cambridge, speaking offensive words against Arminianism and the new ceremonies, bishop Laud sent for a copy of his sermon, and having cited him before the high-commission, required him to make an open recan- tation of what he had said, which his conscience not suffering him to do, he was suspended from his ministry, excommunicated, fined 1,000/. condemned in costs of suit, and conunitted to New- prison, where he lay several months, being cruelly used, and almost starved for want of necessaries, of which he complained to the bishop in sundry letters, but could get no relief unless he would recant. Mr. Bernard offered to confess his sorrow and penitence for any oversights, or unbecoming expressions in his sermons, which would not be accepted ; so that in conclusion he was utterly ruined. ]\Ir, Charles Chauncey, minister of Ware, having said in a sermon, "that the preaching of the gospel would be suppressed, and that there was much Atheism, Popery, Arminianism, and heresy, crept into the church," was questioned for it in the high-commis- sion, and not dismissed till he had made an open recantation, which we shall meet with hereafter. Mr. Peter Smart, one of the prebendaries of Durham and minister of that city, was imprisoned by the high-commission of York this summer, for a sermon preached from these words, " I hate all those that love superstitious vanities, but thy law do I love ;" in which he took occasion to speak against images and pictures, and the late pompous innovations. He was confined four months before the commissioners exhibited any articles against him, and five more before any proctor was allowed him. From York he was carried up to Lambeth, and from thence back again to York, and at length was deprived of his prebend, degraded, excommunicated, fined 500/. and committed close prisoner, where he continued eleven years, till he was set at liberty by the long parliament in 1640. He was a person of a grave and reverend aspecff-, but died soon after his release : the severity of a long imprisonment having contributed to the impairing his con- stitution+. * Rushworth, vol. 2. p. 32. 140. Prynne, p. 365. 367. t Fuller's Church History, b. 2. p. 173. I " Here the historian (remarks bishop Warburton) was much at a loss for his confessor's good qualities, while he is forced to take up with his grave and reverend aspect. " It might have screened this passage from his lordship's sneer and sarcasm, that these are the words of Fuller, whose history furnished the whole paragraph, and whose description of Mr. Smart goes into no other particulars. His lordship cer- tainly did not wish Mr. Neal to have drawn a character from his own invention ; not to urge that the countenance is theinde.x of the mind. It appears, as Dr. Grey observes, that the proceedings agains-t Smart commenced in the high-commission court in Durham. See Wood's Athen?e O.Ton. vol. 2, p. 11. The doctor, and 334 HISTORY oif The king's instructions and the violent measures of the prime minister, brought a great deal of business into the spiritual courts; one or other of the Puritan ministers was every week suspended or deprived, and their families driven to distress ; nor was there any prospect of relief, the clouds gathering every day thicker over their heads, and threatening a violent storm. This put them upon projecting a farther settlement in New England, where they might be delivered from the hands of their oppressors, and enjoy the free liberty of their consciences ; which gave birth to a second grand colony in North America, commonly known by the name of the Massachu sets-bay. Several persons of quality and sub- stance about the city of London engaging in the design, obtained a charter dated March 4, 1628 — 9, wherein the gentlemen and merchants therein named, and all who should thereafter join them, were constituted a body corporate and politic, by the name of the governor and company of the Massachusets-bay in New England. They were empowered to elect their own governor, deputy- governor, and magistrates, and to make such laws as they should think fit for the good of the plantation, not repugnant to the laws of England. Free liberty of conscience was likewise granted to all who should settle in those parts, to worship God in their own way*. The new planters being all Puritans, made their applica- tion to the reverend Mr. Higginson, a silenced minister in Leices- tershire, and to Mr. Skelton, another silenced minister of Lincoln- shire, to be their chaplains, desiring them to engage as many of their friends as were willing to embark with them. The little fleet that went upon this expedition, consisted of six sail of transports, from four to twenty guns, with about three hundred and fifty pas- sengers, men, women, and children. They carried with them one hundred and fifteen head of cattle, as horses, mares, cows, &c. forty-one goats, six pieces of cannon for a fort, with muskets, pikes, drums, colours, and a large quantity of ammunition and provision. The fleet sailed May 11, 1629, and arrived the 24th of June following, at a place called by the natives, Neumkeak but by the new planters Salem, which in the Hebrew language signifies peace. Nelson in his Collections, vol. 1. p. 51 8, 519, produce some paragx'aphs from Smart's sermon to shew the strain and spirit of it. There was printed a virulent tract at Durham, 1736, entitled, " An illustration of Mr. Neal's History of the Puritans, in the article of Peter Smart, A. M." It is a detail of the proceedings against Smart, and of subsequent proceedings in parliament against Dr. Cosins upon the complaint of Smart ; whom the author aims to represent in a very unfavourable point of view ; but without necessity, as the very persecution of him shews, that he must have been very offensive to those who were admirers of the superstitions and ceremonies against which he inveighed. He was afterward not only set at liberty, but by the order of the lords, in 1642, was restored to his prebend in Durham, and was pre- sented to the vicarage of Aycliff in the same diocess. Nelson's Collections, vol. 2. p. 406. The Puritans, by whom he was esteemed a protomartyr, it is said, raised 400/. a year for him by a subscription. Granger's History of England vol. 2. p. 177.— Ed. * This is a mistake : the charter did not once mention liberty of conscience or toleration. See Gordon's History of the American War, vol. I. p. 19. — Ed. THE PUKITAXS. 535 Religion being the chief motive of their retreating into hese parts, that was settled in the first place. August the 6th being appointed for the solemnity of forming themselves into a religious society, the day was spent in fasting and prayer ; and thirty per- sons who desired to beof the communion, severally in the presence of the whole congregation, declared their consent to a confession of faith which Mr. Higginson had drawn up, and signed the following covenant with their hands. " We covenant with our I^ord, and one another. We bind ourselves, in the presence of God, to walk together in all his ways, according as he is pleased to reveal himself to us in his blessed word of truth, and do profess to walk as follows, through the power and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ*. " We avouch the Lord to be our God, and ourselves to be his people, in the truth and simplicity of our spirits. " We give ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to the word of his grace, for the teaching, ruling, and sanctifying us, in matters of worship and conversation, resolving to reject all canons and constitutions of men in worship. " We promise to walk with our brethren with all watchfulness and tenderness, avoiding jealousies, suspicions, backbitings, cen- surings, provokings, secret risings of spirit against them ; but in all offences to follow the rule of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to bear and forbear, give and forgive, as he hath taught us. " In public or private we will willingly do nothing to the offence of the church, but will be willing to take advice for ourselves and ours, as occasion shall be pi'esented. " We will not in the congregation be forward, either to shew our own gifts and parts in speaking, or scrupling, or in discovering the weaknesses or failings of our brethren ; but attend an ordinary call thereunto, knowing how much the Lord may be dishonoured, and his gospel, and the profession of it, slighted by our distempers, and weaknesses in public. " We bind ourselves to study the advancement of the gospel in all truth and peace, both in regard of those that are within or without, no way slighting our sister-churches, but using their counsel as need shall be ; not laying a stumbling block before any, no, not the Indians, whose good we desire to promote, and so to converse as we may avoid the very appearance of evil. " We do hereby promise to carry ourselves in all lawful obe- dience to those that are over us in church or commonwealth, knowing how well-pleasing it will be to the Lord, that they should have encouragement in their places by our not grieving their spirits by our irregularities. " We resolve to approve ourselves to the Lord in our particular callings, shunning idleness, as the bane of any state; nor will we deal hardly or oppressingly with any, wherein we are the Lord's stewards. " Neal's History of New England, p. 12fi. 536 HISTORY OF " Promising also, to the best of our ability, to teach our children and servants the knowledge of God, and of his will, that they may serve him also. And all this not by any strength of our own, but by the Lord Jesus Christ, whose blood we desire may sprinkle this our covenant made in his name," After this they chose Mr. Skelton their pastor, Mr. Higginson their teacher, and Mr. Houghton their ruling elder, who were separated to their several offices by the imposition of the hands of some of the brethren appointed by the church to that service*. The first winter proved a fatal one to the infant colony, carrying off above one hundred of their company, and among the rest Mr. Houghton their elder, and Mr. Higginson their teacher, the latter of whom not being capable of undergoing the fatigues of a new settlement, fell into a hectic, and died in the fortyrthird year of his age. Mr. Higginson had been educated in Emanuel-college, Cambridge, proceeding M. A.., being afterward parson of one of the five churches in Leicester, where he continued for some years, till he was deprived for nonconformity ; but such were his talents for the pulpit, that after his suspension, the town obtained liberty from bishop Williams to choose him for their lecturer, and main- tained him by their voluntary contributions, till Laud being at the head of the church-affairs, he was articled against in the high- commission, and expected every hour a sentence of perpetual imprisonment; this induced him to accept of an invitation to remove to New England, which cost him his life. Mr. Skelton, tlie other minister, was a Lincolnshire divine, who being silenced for nonconformity, accepted of a like invitation, and died of the hardships of the country, August 2, 1634. From this small beginning is the Massachuset province grown to the figure it now makes in the American world. Next summer the governor went over with a fresh recruit of two hundred ministers, gentlemen, and others, who were forced out of their native country by the heat of the Laudean persecu- tion. Upon embarkation they they ..left behind them a paper, which was soon after published, entitled, " The humble request of his majesty's loyal subjects, the governor and company lately gone for New England, to the rest of their brethren in and of the church of England, for the obtaining of their prayers, and removal of suspicions and misconstructions of their intentions." Wherein they entreat the reverend fathers and brethren of the church of England, to recommend them to the mercies of God in their constant prayers, as a new church now springing out of their bowels : " for you are not ignorant (say they) that the Spirit of God stirred up the apostle Paul to make a continual mention of the church of Philippi, which was a colony from Rome. Let the same Spirit, we beseech you, put you in mind, that are the Lord's remembrancers, to pray for us without ceasing ; and what goodness you shall extend to us, in this or any other Christian kindness, * Mather's Hist. New Englaml, h. 3. p. 71. 76. TIlK I'URITANS. 537 we, your brethren in Christ, shall labour to repay in what duty we are or shall be able to perform ; promising, so far as God shall enable us, to give him no rest on your behalf, wishing our heads and hearts may be fountains of tears for your everlasting welfare, when we shall be in our poor cottages in the wilderness, over- shadowed with the spirit of supplication, through the manifold necessities and tribulations which may not altogether unexpectedly, nor, we hope, unprofitably befal us." When it appeared that the planters could subsist in their new settlement, great numbers of their friends with their families flocked after them every summer. In the succeeding twelve years of archbishop Laud's administration, there went over about four thousand planters*, who laid the foundation of several little towns and villages up and down the country, carrying over with them, in materials, money, and cattle, &c. not less than to the value of 192,000/. besides the merchandise intended for traffic with the Indians. Upon the whole, it has been computed, that the four settlements of JNew England, viz. Plymouth, the Massachusets- bay, Connecticut, and Newhaven, all which were accomplished before the beginning of the civil wars, drained England of four or five hundred thousand pounds in money (a very great sum in those days), and if the persecution of the Puritans had continued twelve years longer, it is thought that a fourth part of the riches of the kingdom would have passed out of it through this channel. The chief leaders of the people into these parts were the Puritan ministers, who being hunted from one diocess to another, at last chose this wilderness for their retreat, which has proved (through the overruling providence of God) a great accession to the strength and commerce of these kingdoms. I have before me a list of seventy-seven divines, who became pastors of sundry little churches and congregations in that country before the year 1640, all of whom were in orders in the church of England. The reader will meet with an account of some of them in the course of this history ; and I must say, though they were not all of the first rank for deep and extensive learning, yet they had a better share of it than most of the neighbouring clergy ; and, which is of more conse- quence, they were men of strict sobriety and virtue ; plain, serious, affectionate preachers, exactly conformable in sentiment to the doctrinal articles of the church of England, and took a great deal of pains to promote Christian knowledge, and a reformation of manners in their several parishes. To return to England. Though IVIr. Davenant, the learned ])ishop of Salisbury, had declared for the doctrine of universal redemption at the synod of Dort, he was this year brought into trouble for touching upon the point of predestinationf, in his Lent sermon before the king, on Romans vi. 23, " The gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." This was construed as a contempt of the king's injunctions, for which his • Mather's Hist. N. E. b. 1. p. 1/". 23. f Fuller, b. 11. p. l.iP. 538 HISTORY OF lordship was two days after summoned before the privy council, where he presented himself upon his knees, and so had continued, for any favour he received from any of his own function then present ; but the temporal lords bade him rise and stand to his defence. The accusation was managed by Dr. Harsnet, arch- bishop of York; Laud walking by all the while in silence, without speaking a word. Harsnet put him in mind of his obligations to king James; of the piety of his present majesty's instructions; and then aggravated his contempt of them with great vehemence and acrimony. Bishop Davenant replied with mildness, that he was sorry that an established doctrine of the church should be so distasted ; that he had preached nothing but what was expressly contained in the seventeenth article, and was ready to justify the truth of it. It was replied, that the doctrine was not gainsaid, but the king had commanded these questions should not be de- bated, and therefore his majesty took it more offensively that any should do it in his own hearing. The bishop replied, that he never understood that his majesty had forbidden the handling any doctrine comprised in the articles of the church, but only the raising new questions, or putting a new sense upon them, which he never should do; that in the king's declaration all the thirty- nine articles are confirmed, among which the seventeenth of pre- destination is one ; that all ministers are obliged to subscribe to the truth of this article, and to continue in the true profession of that as well as the rest ; the bishop desired it might be shown wherein he had transgressed his majesty's commands, when he had kept himself within the bounds of the article, and had moved no new or curious questions. To which it was replied, that it was the king's pleasure, that for the peace of the church these high questions might be forborne. The bishop then said, he was sorry he understood not his majesty's intention, and that for the time to come he would conform to his commands*. Upon this he was dismissed without farther trouble, and was after some time ad- mitted to kiss the king's hand, who did not fail to remind him that the doctrine of predestination was too big for the people's understanding, and therefore he was resolved not to give leave for discussing that controversy in the pulpit. Hereupon the bishop retired, and was never afterward in favour at court. Soon after Mr. Madye, lecturer of Christ-church, London, was cited before the high -com mission, and [March 10, 1630] was, by act of court, prohibited to preach any more within the diocess of London, because he had disobeyed the king's declaration, by preaching on predestination. Dr. Cornelius Burges, Mr. White, the famous Dr. Prideaux, Mr. Hobbes of Trinity-college, and Mr. Cook of Brazen-nose, with others, suffered on the same account. But Dr. Alexander Leighton, a Scots divine, and father of the worthy and celebrated prelate of that name, so highly commended * Prynne, p. 173. 876. TUK I'UKITANS. 539 by bishop Burnet in the " History of his Life and Times," met with severe usage in the star-chamber, for venturing to write against the hierarchy of the church*. This divine had published, during the last session of parliament, an " Appeal to the Parlia- ment ; or, Zion's Flea against Prelacyf," wherein he speaks not only with freedom, but with very great rudeness and indecency against bishops ; calling them " men of blood,"" and sayinp;, " that we do not read of a greater persecution and higher indignities done towards God's people in any nation tiian in this, since the death of qvieen Elizabeth." He calls the prelacy of the church " antichristian." He declaims vehemently against the canons and ceremonies; and adds, that " the church has her laws from the Scripture, and that no king may make laws for the house of God." He styles the queen a daughter of Heth, and concludes with say- ing, what a pity it is that so ingenious and tractable a king should be so monstrously abused by the bishops, to the undoing of himself and his subjects. Now though the warmth of these expressions can no ways be justified, yet let the reader consider whether they bear any proportion to the sentence of the court. The cause was tried June 4, 1630. The defendant, in his answer, owned the Avriting of the book, denying any ill intention ; his design being- only to lay these things before the next parliament for their con- sideration. Nevertheless, the court adjudged vmanimously, that for this offence " the doctor should be committed to the prison of the Fleet for life, and pay a fine of 10,000/.; that the high-com- mission should degrade him from his ministry ; and that then he should be brought to the pillory at Westminster, while the court was sitting, and be whipped ; after whipping, be set upon the pillory a convenient time, and have one of his ears cut off, one side of his nose slit, and be branded in the face with a double S. S. for a sower of sedition : that then he should be carried back to prison, * Rushworth, vol. 1. p. 55 — 57. + Dr. Harris, wlio had read by far the greatest part of this piece, says, that " it was written with spirit, and more sense and learning than the writers of that stamp usually shewed in their productions ;" and adds, " I cannot for my life see any thing in it deserving so heavy a censure." Life of Charles I. p. 225. His calling the queen " a daughter of Heth," as Mr. Pierce observes, meant no more than that she was a Papist. Bishop Tillotson afterward used a not much better expression con- cerning foreign Popislx princes, without giving any umbrage, in styling them " the people of these abominations.'' Such language had much countenance from the taste and spirit of the age. Whitelocke, as well as Heylin, represents Dr. Leighton as charged with exciting the parliament to kill all the bishops, and smite them under the fifth rib ; and other writers have repeated the accusation : a circumstance not noticed by Mr. Neal. It appears to be ungrounded, for Mr. Pierce could not find it in the books, but only a call on the parliament utterly to root out the hierar- chy. Isor did it form any one of the articles of information against Dr. Leighton in the star-chamber, Pierce's Vindication, p. 177 ; and Rushworth, vol. 1. p. 55. It greatly aggravated the injustice and cruelty of the sentence passed on him ; that his book was printed for the use of the parliament only, and not in England, but in Holland. The heads were previously sanctioned by the approbation of five hundred persons under tlieir hands, whereof some were members of parliament. And when the parliament was dissolved he returned, without bringing any copies of it into the land, but made it his special care to suppress them. A letter from General Ludlow to Dr. Hollingworth, printed at Amsterdam, lt>y2, p. 23. — Ed. 540 HISTORY OF and after a few days be pilloried a second time in Cheapside, and be there likewise whipped, and have the other side of his nose slit, and his other ear cut off, and then be shut up in close prison for the remainder of his life." Bishop Laud pulled off his cap while this merciless sentence was pronouncing, and gave God thanks for it ! Between passing the sentence and execution, the doctor made his escape from prison, but was retaken in Bedfordshire, and brought back to the Fleet. On Friday, November 6, part of the sentence was executed upon him, says bishop Laud in his diary, after this manner : " He was severely whipped before he was put in the pillory. 2. Being set in the pillory, he had one of his ears cut off'. 3. One side of his nose slit. 4. Branded on the cheek with a red-hot iron with the letters S. S. On that day sevennight, his sores upon his back, ear, nose, and face, being not yet cured, he was whipped again at the pillory in Cheapside, and had the remainder of his sentence executed upon him, by cutting off the other ear, slitting the other side of his nose, and branding the other cheek*." He was then carried back to prison, where he continued in close confinement for ten years, till he was released by the long parliament-|-. The doctor was between forty and fifty years of age, of a low stature, a fair complexion, and well known for his learning and other abilities: but his long and close con- finement had so impaired his health, that when he was released he could hardly walk, see, or hear. The sufferings of this learned man moved the people's compassion ; and, I believe, the records of the inquisition can hardly furnish an example of equal severity. To make the distance between the church and the Puritans yet wider, and the terms of conformity more difficult, bishop Laud introduced sundry pompous innovations in imitation of Popery, that had no foundation in the laws of the realm, or the canons of the church. These were enforced both upon clergy and laity, with all the terrors of the high commission, to the ruin of many families, and the raising very great disturbances in all parts of the kingdom. St. Katherine Creed church in the city of London, having been lately repaired, was suspended from all divine service till it was again consecrated ; the formality of which being very extraordi- nary, may give us an idea of the superstition of this prelate. On Sunday, January 16, 1630, bishop Laud came thither about nine in the morning, attended with several of the high commission, and some civilians^. At his approach to the west door of the church, which was shut and guarded by halberdiers, some who were appointed for that purpose, cried with a loud voice, " Open, open, ye everlasting doors, that the King of glory may come in;" and presently the doors being opened, the bishop with some doctors and principal men entered. As soon as they were come within the place, his * Rushworth's Collections, vol. 1. p. 57, 58.* t Pierce, p. 179—181. + Rushworth, vol. 1. p. 77. THK PURITANS. 541 lordship fell down upon his knees, and with eyes lifted up, and his arms spread abroad, said, " This y)lacc is holy ; the ground is holy : in tlie name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I pro- nounce it holy." Then walking up the middle aisle towards the chancel, he took up some of the dust, and threw it into the air several times. When he approached near the rail of the com- munion-table, he bowed towards it five or six times, and return- ing, went round the church with his attendants in procession, saying first the hundredth, and then the nineteenth psalm, as pre- scribed by the Roman pontificale. He then read several collects, in one of which he prays God to accept of that beautiful building, and concludes thus: "We consecrate this church, and separate it unto thee as holy ground, not to he profaned any more to com- mon use." In another he prays, " that all that should hereafter be buried within the circuit of this holy and sacred place, may rest in their sepulchres in peace, till Christ's coming to judgment, and may then rise to eternal life and happiness*." After this, the bishop, sitting under a cloth of state in the aisle of the chancel, near the communion table, took a written book in his hand, and Eronounced curses upon those who should thereafter profane that oly place by musters of soldiers, or keeping profane law-courts, or carrying burdens through it, and at the end of every curse he bowed to the east, and said, " Let all the people say. Amen."" When the curses were ended, which were about twenty, he pro- nounced a like number of blessings upon all who had any hand in framing and building of that sacred and beautiful edifice, and on those who had given or should hereafter give, any chalices, plate, ornaments, or other utensils ; and at the end of every blessing he bowed to the east, and said, " Let all the people say. Amen." After this followed the sermon, and then the sacrament, which the bishop consecrated, and administered after the follow- inff manner : — As he approached the altar, he made five or six low bow s, and coming up to the side of it, where the bread and wine were covered, he bowed seven times ; then, after reading many prayers, he came near the bread, and gently lifting up the corner of the napkin, beheld it, and immediately letting fall the napkin, retreated hastily a step or two, and made three low obeisances. His lordship then advanced, and having uncovered the bi-ead bowed three times as before ; then laid his hand on the cup, which was full of wine, with a cover upon it, which having let go, he stepped back, and bowed three times towards it ; then came near again, and lifting up the cover of the cuy), looked into it, and seeing the wine, he let fall the cover again, retired back, and bowed as before : after which the elements were consecrated, and the bishop, having first recieved, gave it to some principal men in their surplices, iioods, and tippets; towards the conclusion, many prayers being said, the solemnity of the consecration ended. * Prynne's Complete History, p. 114. 542 HISTORY OF He consecrated St. Giles''s church in the same manner, which had been repaired, and part of it new built in his predecessor's (bishop Mountain) time *. Divine service had been performed, and the sacrament administered in it for three or four years since that time without exception : but as soon as Laud was advanced to the bishoprick of London, he interdicted the church, and pro- hibited divine service therein, till it should be reconsecrated, which is more than even the canon law requires. Sundry other chapels and churches, which had been built long since, were, by the bishop''s direction, likewise shut up till they were consecrated in this manner; as Immanuel-chapel in Cambridge, built 1584, Sidney-college chapel, built 1596, and several others. This method of consecrating churches was new to the people of England, and in the opinion of the first reformers superstitious and absurd ; for though it is reasonable there should be public buildings reserved and set apart for public worship, and that at the first opening of them, prayers should be offered for a divine blessing on the ordinances of Christ, that may at any time be administered in them ; yet have we not the least ground to believe that bishops, or any other dignitaries of the church, can, by their declaration or forms of prayer, hallow the building, or make the ground holy, or introduce a divine presence or glory into the place, as was in the temple of old : where is their commission ? or what example have we of this kind in the New Testament ? The synagogues of the Jews were not consecrated in this manner ; nor was the temple of Solomon consecrated by a priest, but by a king. Our Saviour tells his disciples, " that wheresoever two or three of them should be gathered together in his name, he would be in the midst of them ;" and the woman of Samaria, " that the hour was coming, when neither at that mountain, nor at Jerusalem, they should worship the Father.""* Besides, the changes made by time and various accidents in towns and cities, render it impossible to prevent the alienation or profanation of holy ground ; for to look no farther than the city of London, would it not be very hard if all the curses that bishop Laud pronounced in Creed-church, should rest upon those who live in houses built by act of parlia- ment, in places where there were consecrated churches or church- yards before the fire of London? Archbishop Parker, therefore, in his " Antiquitates Ecclesiae Britan." p. 85, 86, condemns this practice as superstitious; nor was there any form for it in the public offices of the church. But this being objected to archbishop Laud at his trial, as an evidence of his inclinations to Popery ; we shall there see his grace's defence, with the learned reply of the house of commons, concerning the antiquity of consecrating churches. A proclamation had been published last year, " commanding the archbishops and bishops to take special care that the parish- churches in their several diocesses, being places consecrated to the * Prynne Cant. Doom. p. 117. THE PURITANS. 543 worship of God, be kept in decent repair, and to make use of the power of the ecclesiastical court to oblige the parishioners to this part of their duty*." The judges were also required not to interrupt this good work, by too easily granting prohibitions from the spiritual courts. It seems, sundry churches since the refor- mation were fallen to decay ; and some that had been defaced by the pulling down of images, and other Popish relics, had not been decently repaired, the expense being too heavy for the poorer country parishes ; it was therefore thought necessary to oblige them to their duty ; and under colour of this proclamation, Laud introduced many of the trappings and decorations of Popery, and punished those ministers in the high commission court, that ventured to write or preach against them. His lordship began with his own cathedral of St. Paul's, for repairing and beautifying of which a subscription and contribu- tion were appointed over the whole kingdom. Several houses and shops adjoining to the cathedral were, by injunction of council, ordered to be pulled down, and the owners to accept of a reason- able satisfaction : but if they would not comply, the sheriff of London was required to see them demolished. The church of St. Gregory was pulled down, and the inhabitants assigned to Christ-church, where they were to assemble for the future. The bishop's heart was in this work, and to support the expense, he gave way to many oppressions and unjustifiable methods of raising money, by compositions with recusants, commutations of penance exorbitant fines in the star-chamber and high-commission, inso- much that it became a proverb, that St. PauFs was repaired with the sins of the people. Before the year 1640, above 113,000/. was expended thereon, with which the body of the church was fi- nished, and the steeple scaffolded. There was also a stately portico built at the west end, supported with pillars of the Corinthian order, and embellished with the statues of king James and king Charles ; but the rebuilding the spire and the inside de- corations miscarried by the breaking out of the civil war-f*. AVhat these decorations and ornaments of paintings, carvings, altars, crucifixes, candlesticks, images, vestments, &c. would have been, can only be guessed by the fashion of the times, and by the scheme that was now formed to recover and repair the broken relics of superstition and idolatry which the Reformation liad left, or to set up others in imitation of them ; for though the reforma- tion of queen Elizabeth had destroyed a great many monuments of this kind ; yet some were left entire, and others very little defaced l- In the cathedral of Canterbury over the door of the choir, remained thirteen images, or statues of stone ; twelve of them representing the twelve apostles, and the thirteenth in the middle of them our Saviour Christ. Over these were twelve other images of Popish saints. In the several windows of the cathedral * Rushworth, vol. 1. p. '.IH. t Collyer's Eccles. Hist. p. 7.51. : Pari. Chron. p. 101. 544 HISTORY OF were painted, the picture of St. Austin the monk, the first bishop of that see, and seven large pictures of the Virgin Mary, with an- gels lifting her up to heaven, with this inscription, "Gaude Maria, sponsa Dei." Under the Virgin Mary's feet, were, the sun, moon, and stars, and in the bottom of the window this inscription, " In laudem & honorem beatissimse Virginis." Besides these, were many pictures of God the Father, and of the Holy Ghost, and of our Saviour lying in a manger, and a large image of Thomas Becket, and others ; all which were taken away by the long parliament. In the Cathedral of Durham, there was an altar of marble stone set upon columns decorated with cherubim, pictures, and images, which cost above 2,000Z. There were three statues of stone in the church ; one standing in the midst, representing Christ with a golden beard, a blue cap, and sun-rays upon his head, as the record of parliament says ; though Dr. Cosins, in his vindication, says it was mistaken for the top of bishop Hatfield's tomb. There was also an image of God the Father, and many other carved images, pictures, &c. which the present dignitaries of the cathedral held in profound admiration ; and to keep up the pomp, they bought copes of mass priests, with crucifixes and images of the Trinity embroidered upon them. They had consecrated knives to cut the sacramental bread, and great num- bers of lighted candles upon the altars on Sundays and saints' days. On Candlemas-day there were no less than two hundred, whereof sixty were upon and about the altar ; all which were reckoned among the beauties of the sanctuary. " But these fop- peries (says bishop Kennet) did not perhaps gain over one Papist, but lost both the king and bishops the hearts and affections of the Protestant part of the nation, and were, (as his lordship observes) contrary to queen Elizabeth's injunctions, 1559, which appoint, that all candlesticks, trentals, rolls of wax, pictures, paintings, &c. be removed out of churches*.*" However, bishop Laud was mightily enamoured with them, and as soon as he was translated to Lambeth, repaired the paintings in the windows of that chapel ; in one pane of which had been the picture of Christ crucified, with a skull and dead men's bones un- der it ; a basket full of tools and nails, with the high-priest and his officers on horseback and the two thieves on foot. In the next were the two thieves on crosses ; — Abraham offering up his son Isaac, and the brazen serpent on a pole. — In other panes were the pictures of Christ rising out of the grave, and ascending up into heaven, with his disciples kneeling about him. — The descent of the Holy Ghost on the apostles in the shape of cloven tongues. — God, giving the law upon mount Sinai ; — his coming down from heaven at the prayer of Elisha ; — Christ and his twelve apostles sitting in judgment on the world. — In other parts of the church were painted, the Virgin Mary, with the babe Christ sucking at * Cant. Doom. p. 59—61. THE PURITANS. 545 lier breast ; — The wise men from the east coming to adore liim; — The history of the Annunciation, with the picture of the Virgin INIary, and of the Holy Giiost overshadowing her, together with the birth of Christ. All which having; been defaced at the Reformation, were now restored, according to the Roman missal, and beautified at the archbishop's cost. The like reparations of })aintings, pictures, and crucifixes, were made in the king's chapel at Whitehall, AVestminster-abbey, and both the universities, as was objected to the archbishop at his trial, where the reader will meet witli his grace\s defence of their lawfulness and antiquity. The Puritans apprehended these decorations of churches tended to image-worship, and were directly contrary to the homily of the peril of idolatry ; their ministers therefore preached and wrote against them, and in some places removed them ; for which they were severely handled in the high-commission. Bishop Laud had been chosen chancellor of Oxford last year (April 12th, 1630), where the Puritans soon gave him some disturbance. Mv. Hill of Hart-hall, Mr. Ford of Magdalen-hall, Mr. Giles Thorne of Baliol-coUege, and Mr, Giles Hodges of Exeter-college, were charged with preaching against Arminian- ism and the new ceremonies in their sermons at St. Mary's. Hill made a public recantation, and was quickly released ; but the very texts of the others, says Mr. Fuller*, gave offence: one preached on Numbers xiv. 4, " Let us make us a captain, and let us return into Egypt:" and another on 1 Kings xiii. 2, "And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar,'"' &c. These divines being convened before the vice- chancellor Dr. Smith, as offenders against the king's instructions, appealed from the vice-chancellor to the proctors, who received their appeal. Upon this the chancellor complained to the king, and procured the cause to be heard before his majesty at Woodstock, August 23, when the following sentence was passed upon them : "that Mr. Ford, Thome, and Hodges, be expelled the university ; that both the proctors be deprived of their places for accepting the appeal ; and that Dr. Prideaux rector of Exeter college, and Dr. Wilkinson principal of Magdalen hall, receive a sharp admonition for their misbehaviour in this businessf." Mr. Thorne and Hodges, after a year's deprivation, desiring to be restored, preached a recantation sermon, and read a written submission in the convocation-house on their bended knees, before the doctors and regents t ; but Mr. Ford, making no address to be restored, returned to his friends in Devonshire ; and being like to be chosen lecturer or vicar of Plymouth, the inhabitants were required not to choose him, upon pain of his majesty's high displeasure ; and in case he was chosen, the bishop of Exeter was commanded not to admit him. Mr. Crowder, vicar of Veil near Nonsuch, was about this time • Church Hist. b. 11. p. 141. t Rushworth, vol. 1. part 2. p. 110, X Prynne, Cant. Doom. p. \7rt. VOL. I. N N 546 in STORY OF committed close prisoner to Newgate for sixteen weeks, and then deprived by the high-commission, without any articles exhibited against him, or any proof of a crime. It was pretended that matters against him were so foul, that they were not fit to be read in court; but then they ought to have been certified to him, that he might have had an opportunity to disprove or confess them, which could not be obtained. Mr. Crowder was a pious man, and preached twice a day, which was an unpardonable crime so near the court. Sundry eminent divines removed to New England this year ; and among others the famous Dr. Elliot, the apostle of the Indians, who, not being allowed to teach school in his native country, retired to America, and spent a long and useful life in converting the natives, and with indefatigable pains translated the Bible into the Indian language. Two very considerable Puritan divines were also removed into the other world by death, viz. Mr. Arthur Hildersham, born at Stechworth, Cambridgeshire, October 6th, 1563, and educated in Christ's-college, Cambridge, of an ancient and honourable family ; his mother Anne Poole being niece to the cardinal of that name. His father educated him in the Popish religion ; and because he would not go to Rome at fourteen or fifteen years of age, disin- herited him : but the Earl of Huntingdon, his near kinsman, provided for him, sending him to Cambridge, where he proceeded M. A. and entered into holy orders. In the year 1587, he was placed by his honourable kinsman above mentioned, at Ashby-de- la-Zouch in Leicestershire, and inducted into that living soon after*. But here he was silenced for nonconformity, as in the year 1590, in the year 1605, and again in the year 1611, under which last suspension he continued many years. In the year 1613 he was enjoined by the high-commission not to preach, or exercise any part of the ministerial function, till he should be restored. In the year 1615, he was committed to the Fleet by the high-commission, for i-efusing the oath e.r officio, where he continued three months, and was then released upon bond. In November 1616, the high-commission proceeded against him, and pronounced him refractory and disobedient to the orders, rites and ceremonies, of the church ; and because he refused to conform, declared him a schismatic, fined him 2,000Z. excommuni- cated him and ordered him to be attached and committed to pri- son that he might be degraded of his ministry : but Mr. Hilder- sham wisely absconded, and kept out of the way. In the year 1625, he was restored to his living ; but when Laud had the ascendant, he was silenced again for not reading divine service in the surplice and hood, and was not restored till a few months before his death. Though he was a Nonconformist in principle, as appears by his last will and testament, yet he was a person of great temper and * Clarke's Life of Hildersham, annexed to his General Martyrology, p. 114. THE i'UUITANS. 547 moderation* : lie loved and respected all good men, and opposed the separation of the Brownists, and the semi-separation of Mr. Jacob, ilis lectures on the fifty first psalm, and his other printed works, as well as the encomiums of Dr. Willet and Dr. Preston, shew him to have been a most excellent divine : what a pity was it that his usefulness in the church should be so long interrupted ! He died March 4, 1631, in the sixty ninth year of his age, having been minister of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, as the times would suffer him, above forty three years. Mr. Robert Bolton, was born at Blackburn in Lancashire, 1572, educated first in Lincoln-college, and afterward in Brazen- nose-college, Oxford, of which he was fellow. Here he became famous for his lectures in moral and natural philosophy, being an excellent Grecian f, and well versed in school divinity, while he continued a profane wicked man. During his residence at college, he contracted an acquaintance with one Andcrton a Popish priest, who, taking advantage of his mean circumstances, would have per- suaded him to reconcile himself to the church of Rome, and go over to one of the English seminaries in Flanders. Mr. Bolton accepted the motion, and appointed a place of meeting to conclude the affair : but Anderton disappointing him, he returned to the college, and fell under strong convictions for his former mis- spent life; so that he could neither eat nor sleep, or enjoy any peace of mind, for several months ; till at length, by prayer and humiliation, he received comfort. Upon this, he resolved to enter upon the ministry, in the thirty fifth year of his age. About two years after he was presented to the living of Broughton in Northamptonshire, where he continued till his death. He was a most awakening and authoritative preacher, having the most strong masculine and oratorical style of any of the age in which he lived. He preached twice every Lord's day, besides catechising. Upon every holy day, and every Friday, before the sacrament, he expounded a chapter : his constant course was to pray six times a day, twice in secret, twice with his family, and twice with his wife, besides many days of private humiliation that he observed for the Protestant churches in Germany. He was of comely grave presence, which commanded respect in all companies; zealous in the cause of religion, and yet so prudent as to escape being called in question all the time he lived in Northamptonshire. At length he was seized with a tertian ague, which after fifteen weeks, put a pe- riod to his valuable and useful life, December 17, 1631, in the six- tieth year of his age. He made a most devout and exemplary end, praying heartily for all his friends that came to see him ; bidding them make sure of heaven, and bear in mind what he had formerly •" He dissented not from the church in any article of faith, but only about wear- ing the surplice, baptizing with the cross, and kneeling at the sacrament." Granger's History of England, vol. 1. p. 371. 8vo — Ed. f The Greek language was so familiar to him, that he could speak it with almost as much facility as his mother-tongue. — Ed. N N 2 548 HISTORY OF told them in his ministry, protesting that what he had preached to them for twenty years, was the truth of God, as he should answer it at the tribunal of Christ. He then retired within himself, and said, Hold out faith and patience, your work will speedily be at an end. The Oxford historian* calls him a most religious and learned Puritan, a painful and constant preacher, a person of great zeal towards God, charitable and bountiful: but above all, an excellent casuist for afflicted consciences : his eloquent and excellent writings will recommend his memory to the latest posterity f. V About the year 1627, there was a scheme formed by several gentlemen and ministers to promote preaching in the country, by setting up lecturers in the several market towns of England ; and to defray the expense a sum of money was raised by voluntary contribution, for the purchasing such impropriations as were in the hands of the laity, the profits of which were to be parcelled out into salaries of 40 or 50/. per annum for the subsistence of their lecturers ; the money was deposited in the hands of the fol- lowing ministers and gentlemen, in trust for the abovesaid pur- poses, under the name and character of feoffees, viz. Dr. William Gouge, Dr. Sibbs, Dr. Offspring, and Mr. Davenport, of the clergy ; Ralph Eyre and Simon IBrown, esqrs. of Lincoln's inn, and C. Sherman, of Gray''s inn, and John White, of the Middle- Temple, esqrs. lawyers ; Mr. John Gearing, Mr. Richard Davis, Mr. G. Harwood, and Mr. Francis Bridges, citizens of London. There were at this time three thousand eight hundred and forty- five parish-churches appropriated to cathedrals, or to colleges, or impropriated as lay fees to private persons, having formerly be- longed to abbeys. The gentlemen above mentioned dealt only in the latter, and had already bought in thirteen impropriations, which cost between 5 and 6,000Z. Most people thought this a very laudable design, and wished the feoffees good success ; but bishop Laud looked on them with an evil eye, and represented them to the king as in a conspiracy against the church, because, instead of restoring the impropriations they purchased to the seve- ral livings, they kept them in their own hands for the encourage- ment of factious and seditious lecturers, who were to depend upon their patrons, as being liable to be turned out if they neglected their duty|. He added farther, that the feoffees preferred chiefly Nonconformist ministers, and placed them in the most popular market-towns, where they did a great deal of mischief to the liierarchy. For these reasons an information was brought * Athente Oxon, vol. 1. p. 479 ; see also Fuller's Abel Redivivus, p. 586. ■\- When he lay at the point of death, one of his friends, taking him by the hand, asked him if he was rot in great pain : " Truly (said he) the greatest pain I feel is your cold hand ;" and presently expired. His book " On Happiness" was the most celebrated of his works, and has gone through many editions. Granger's History of England, vol. 1. p. 365. 8vo. ; and Fuller's Abel Redivivus, p. 591 Ed. X Fuller's Church History, b. 11. p. 136. Appeal, p. 13. Prynne, p. 379. 385. Rushworth, vol. 1. part 2. p. 150. THli PURITANS. 549 against them in the exchequer by Mr. attorney -general Noy, as an illicit society, formed into a body corporate, without a grant from the king, for the purchasing rectories, tithes, prebendaries, &c. which were registered in a book, and the profits not employed according to law. The defendants appeared, and in their answer declared, that tliey apprehended impropriations in the hands of laymen, and not employed for the maintenance of preachers, were a damage to the church ; that the purchasing of them for the purposes of religion was a pious work, and not contrary to law, it being notorious, that impropriations are frequently bought and sold by private persons; that the donors of this money gave it for this and sucli other good uses as the defendants should think meet, and not for the endowment of perpetual vicars ; that they had not converted any of the money to their own use, nor erected themselves into a body corporate ; and that to their knowledge they had never presented any to a church, or place in their disposal, who was not conformable to the doctrine and discipline of the church of England, and approved of by the ordinary of the place. But notwithstanding all they could say, the court was of opinion, that their proceedings were contrary to law, and decreed that their feoffment should be cancelled ; that the impropriations they had purchased should be confiscated to the king, and the feoffees themselves fined in the star-chamber ; however, the prosecution was dropped as too invidious, it appear- ing in court by the receipts and disbursements, that the feoffees were out of pocket already above 1000/. Tlie odium of this pro secution fell upon Laud, whose chancellor told him upon this occasion, that he was miserably censured by the Separatists ; upon which he made this reflection in his diary, " Pray God give me patience, and forgive them.'" But his lordship had very little patience with those who op- posed his proceedings. We have seen his zeal for pictures and paintings in churches, which some of the Puritans venturing to censure in their sermons and writings, were exposed to the sever- est punishments : among these was the reverend Mr. John Hay- den of Devonshire, who being forced to abscond, was apprehended in the diocess of Norwich by bishop Harsnet, who, after he had taken from him his horse and money, and all his papers, caused him to be shut up in close prison for thirteen weeks* ; after which, when the justices would have admitted him to bail at the quarter- sessions, his lordship sent him up to the high-commission, who deprived him of his ministry and orders, and set a fine upon him for j)rcaching against decorations and images in churches. In the year 1634, Mr. Hayden venturing to preach occasionally, without being restored, was apprehended again and sent to the Gatehouse by archbishop Laud, and from thence to Bridewell, * Usurpation of Prelates, p. Kil, 162. 550 HISTORY OF where he was whipped and kept to hard labour; here he was con- fined in a cold dark dungeon during a whole winter, being chained to a post in the middle of the room, Avith irons on his hands and feet, having no other food but bread and water, and a pad of straw to lie on . Before his release, he was obliged to take an oath, and give bond, that he would preach no more, but depart the kingdom in a month, and not return. Bishop Harsnet did not live to see the exe- cution of this part of the sentence*, though for his zeal against the Puritans he was promoted to the archbishoprick of York, and made a privy-councillor. Some time before his decease he not only persecuted the Nonconformists, but complained of the conformable Puritans, as he called them, because they complied out of policy and not in judgment. How hard is the case, when men shall be punished for not conforming, and be complained of if they conform ! Queen Elizabeth used to say, she would never trouble herself about the consciences of her subjects, if they did but outwardly comply with the laws : whereas this prelate would ransack the very heart. ''" Henry Sherfield, esq. a bencher of Lincoln's inn, and recorder of the city of Sarum, was tried in the star-chamber, May 20, 1632f, for taking down some painted glass out of one of the win- dows of St. Edmund's Church in Salisbury, in which wefe seven pictures of God the Father in form of a little old man in a blue and red coat, with a pouch by his side : one represents him creating the sun and moon with a pair of compasses, others as working on the business of the six days' creation, and at last he sits in an elbow-chair at rest|. Many simple people, at their going in and out of church, did reverence to this window (as they say), because the Lord their God was there. This gave such offence to the recorder, who was also a justice of peace, that he moved the parish at a vestry for leave to take it down, and set up a new win- dow of white glass in the place, which was accordingly granted, six justices of the peace being present. Some time after Mr. Sherfield broke with his staff' the pictures of God the Father, in order to new glaze the window ; an account of which being trans- mitted to London, an information was exhibited against him in the star-chamber, February 8, 1632 — 3. The information sets forth, " that being evil affected to the discipline of the church, he, with certain confederates, without consent of the bishops, had de- faced and pulled dow^n a fair and costly window in the church, containing the history of the creation, which had stood there some hundi'ed years, and was a great ornament to it; which profane act might give encouragement to other schismatical persons to \ commit the like outrages." Mr. Sherfield in his defence says, that the church of St. Ed- mund's was a lay fee, and exempted from the jurisdiction of the bishop of the diocess ; and the defendant, with the rest of the parishioners, had lawful power to take down the glass ; and that * Fuller's Church History, b. 11. p. 144. t Rushworth, part. 2. vol 1. p. 1.53 — 156. J. Prynne's Cant. Doom. p. 102. THE PURITANS. 5,51 it was agreed by a vestry that the glass should be changed, and the window made new ; and that accordingly he took down a quarry or two in a quiet and peaceable manner ; but he avers, that the true history of the creation was not contained in that window, but a false and impious one : God the Father was painted like an old man with a blue coat, and a pair of compasses, to signify his com- passing the heavens and earth. In the fourth day's work there were fowls of the air flying up from God their maker, which should have been the fifth day. In the fifth day's work a naked man is lying upon the earth asleep, with so much of a naked woman as from the knees upward growing out of his side, which should have been the sixth day ; so that the history is false. Farther, this defendant holds it to be impious, to make an image or picture of God the Father, which he undertakes to prove from Scripture, from canons and councils, from the inandates and decrees of sundry emperors, from the opinions of ancient doctors of the church, and of our most judicious divines since the Refor- mation. He adds, that his belief is agreeable to the doctrine of the church of England, and to the homilies, which say, that pictures of God are monuments of superstition, and ought to be destroyed ; and to queen ElizabetlVs injunctions, which command, that all pictures and monuments of idolatry should be removed out of churches, that no memory of them might remain in walls, glass- windows, or elsewhere : Avhich injunction is confirmed by the canons of the 13ih of Elizabeth. Mr. Sherfield concludes his defence with denying, that he was disaffected to the discipline of the church of England, or had encouraged any to oppose the government of it under the reverend bishops. Though it is hard to make a tolerable reply to this defence, yet bishop Laud stood up and spake in excuse of the painter, saying, God the Father was called in Scripture the Ancient of Days ; adding, however, that for his own part, he did not so well approve of pictures of things invisible ; but be the paintings better or worse, he insisted strongly, that Mr. Sherfield had taken them down in contempt of the episcopal authority, for which he moved, that he might be fined 1,000/. and removed from his recordership of the city of Sarum ; that he be committed close prisoner to the Fleet till he pay his fine, and then be bound to his good behaviour. To all which the court agreed, except to the fine, which was mitigated to .500/. The reverend Mr. John Workman, lecturer of St. Stephen's church, Gloucester, in one of his sermons, asserted, that pictures or images w-ere no ornaments to churches; that it was unlawful to set up images of Christ or saints in our houses, because it tended to idolatry, according to the homily*. For this he was suspended by the high-commission, excommunicated, and obliged to an open recantation in the court at Lambeth, in the cathedral of Gloucester, • PryniiP, p. 107. 109. 552 HISTOKY OF and in the church of St. Michael's ; he was also condemned in costs of suit and imprisoned. Mr. Workman was a man of great piety, wisdom, and moderation, and had served the church of St. Ste- phen''s fifteen years; in consideration whereof, and of his numerous family, the city of Gloucester had given him an annuity of 20Z. per annum, under their common seal, a little before his troubles; but for this act of charity, the mayor, town-clerk, and several of the aldermen, were cited before the high-commission, and put to 100/. charges, and the annuity was cancelled. After this Mr. Workman set up a little school, of which archbishop Laud being informed, inhibited him, as he would answer the contrary at his peril. He then fell upon the practice of physic, which the arch- bishop likewise absolutely forbid ; so that, being deprived of all methods of subsistence, he fell into a melancholy disorder and died. Our bishop was no less watchful over the press than the pulpit, commanduig his chaplains to expunge out of all books that came to be licensed, such passages as disallowed of paintings, carvings, drawings, gildings ; erecting, bowing, or praying before images and pictures ; as appeared by the evidence of Dr. Featly and others at his trial. This great prelate would have stretched out his arm not only against the Puritans in England, but even to reach the factories beyond sea, had it been in his power. The English church at Hamburgh managed their affairs according to the Geneva disci- pline, by elders and deacons. In Holland they conformed to the discipline of the States, and met them in their synods and assem- blies, with the consent of king James, and of his present majesty, till secretary Widebank, at the instance of this prelate, offered some proposals to the privy-council for their better regulation* : the proposals consisted of ten articles: " 1. That all chaplains of English regiments in the Low Countries shall be exactly conforma- ble to the church of England. 2. That the merchants residing there shall admit of no minister to preach among them, but one qualified as before. 3. That if any one after his settlement among them prove a Nonconformist, he shall be discharged in three months. 4. That the Scots factories shall be obliged to the same conformity. 5. That no minister abroad shall speak, preach, or print, any thing to the disadvantage of the English discipline and ceremonies. 6. That no Conformist minister shall substitute a Nonconformist to preach for him in the factories. 7. That the king's agents shall see the service of the church of England exactly performed in the factories. — The last articles forbid the English ministers in Holland to hold any classical assemblies, and especially not to ordain ministers, because by so doing they would maintain a standing nursery for Nonconformity and schism." These pro- posals were dispatched to the factories, and the bishop wrote in » Collyer's Eccles. Hist. p. 752, 753. Prynne's Cant. Doom. p. 389. THE PURITANS. 006 particular to Delft, that it was his majesty's express command, that their ministers should conform themselves in all things to the doctrine and discipline of the church of England, and to all the orders prescribed in the canons, rubrick, and liturgy ; and that the names of such as were refractory should be sent over to him. But it was not possible to succeed in the attempt, because most of the English congregations, being supported by the States, must by so doing have run the hazard of losing their maintenance, and of being dissolved, as was represented to the king by a petition in the name of all the English ministers in the Low Countries. However, though the bishop could not accomplish his designs abroad, we shall find him hereafter retaliating his disappointment upon the French and Dutch churches at home. His lordship met with better success in Scotland for the present, as being part of his majesty's own dominions. He had possessed the king with vast notions of glory in bringing the kirk of Scot- land to an exact conformity with England ; a work which his father had attempted, but left imperfect. The king readily fell in with the bishop's motion, and determined to run all hazards for accomplishing this important design, having no less veneration for the ceremonies of the church of England than the bishop him- self. There had been bishops in Scotland for some years, but they had little more than the name, being subject to an assembly that was purely presbyterian. To advance their jurisdiction, the king had already renewed the high-commission, and abolished all general assemblies of the kirk, not one having been held in his reign ; yet still, says the noble historian*, there was no form of religion, no liturgy, nor the least appearance of any beauty of holiness. To redress these grievances, as well as to shew the Scots nation the pomp and grandeur of the English hierarchy, his ma- jesty resolves upon a progress into his native country to be crowned, and accordingly set out from London, May 13, attended by seve- i"al noblemen and persons of quality ; and among others by bishop Laud. June 18 [1633,] his majesty was crowned at Edinburgh, the ceremony being managed by the direction of his favourite bishop, who thrust away the bishop of Glasgow from his place, because he appeared without the coat of his order, which being an embroidered one, he scrupled to wear, being a moderate churchman*. On the 20th of June the parliament met, and voted the king a large sum of money. After which his majesty proposed to them two acts relating to religion ; one was concerning his royal prero- gative, and the apparel of kirkmen ; the other, a bill for the rati- fication of former acts touching religion. It being the custom in Scotland for king, lords, and commons, to sit in one house, when the question was put for the first bill, his majesty took a paper out of his pocket, and said, " Gentlemen, I have all your names here, and I will know who will do me service, and who will not, this " Clarendon, vol. 1. p. 81. t Rushwoitli, part 2. vol. 1. p. 182. 554 ' HISTORY OF day."" Nevertheless it was carried in the negative ; thirteen lords, and the majority of the commons, voting against it. The lords said, they agreed to the act so far as related to his majesty's pre- rogative, but dissented from that part of it which referred to the apparel of kirkmen, fearing that under that cover the surplice might be introduced. But his majesty said, he would have no distinction, and commanded them to say yes, or no, to the whole bill. The king marked every man's vote, and upon casting them up the clerk declared it was carried in the affirmative : which some of the members denying, his majesty said, the clerk's declaration must stand, unless any would go to the bar and accuse him of fal- sifying the record of parliament, at the peril of his life *. This manner of treating the whole representative body of the nation, disgusted all ranks and orders of his subjects. A writing was immediately dispersed abroad, setting forth how grievous it was for a king to overawe and threaten his parliament in that man- ner ; and that the same was a breach of privilege ; that parlia- ments were a mere pageantry, if the clerk might declare the votes as he pleased, and no scrutiny be allowed. Lord Balmerino, in whose custody this libel was found, was condemned to lose his head for it, but was afterward pardoned. After eight days the parliament was dissolved, but the king would not look upon the dissenting lords, or admit them to kiss his hand. The act concerning the apparel of ministers, says, that "Whereas it was agreed in the parliament of 1606, that what order soever his majesty's father, of blessed memory, should pre- scribe for the apparel of kirkmen, and send in writ to his clerk of register, should be a sufficient warrant for inserting the same in the books of parliament, to have the strength of any act thereof; the present parliament agrees, that the same power shall remain with our sovereign lord that now is, and his successors." The bill touching religion ratifies and approves all acts and statutes made before, about the liberty and freedom of the true kirk of God, and the religion at present professed within this kingdom, and ordains the same to stand in full force as if they were particu- larly mentioned. The king left his native country July 16, having lost a great deal of ground in the affections of his people -f-, by the contempt * Rush worth, p. 183. t Dr. Grey confronts Mr. Neal here with a passage from lord Clarendon to shew that his account of the king's reception in Scotland differs widely from this of our author. " The great civility of that people (says his lordship) being so notorious and universal, that they would not appear unconformable to his majesty's wish in any particular." But this quotation has little or no force against Mr. Neal, who is not representing the reception the king met with, but the impressions left on the minds of the people by the time of his departure. The king's entry and coronation, bishop Burnet says, was managed with such magnificence, that all was entertain- ment and show: yet, he adds, " that the king left Scotland much discontented." The proceeding on the bill concerning the royal prerogative, &c. shew, that every proposal from the court was not pleasing. Whitelocke (Memoirs, p. 18) tells us, that though the king Avas, crowned with all show of affection and duty, and gratified TllJb; PUUITANS. 555 he poured upon the Scots clei'ujy, and his high behaviour in favour of the Enghsh ceremonies. His majesty was attended throughout his whole progress by Laud bishop of London, which service his lordship was not obliged to, and no doubt would have been excused from, if the design of introducing the English liturgy into Scot- land had not been in view*. He preached before the king in the royal chapel at Edinburgh, which scarce any Englishman had ever done before, and insisted principally upon the benefit of the ceremonies of the churcii, which he himself observed to the height. It went against him to own the Scots presbyters for ministers of Christ ; taking all occasions to affront their character, which created a high disgust in that nation, and laid the foundation of those resentments that they expressed against him under his suf- ferings. When the king left Scotland, he erected a new bishoprick at Edinburgh ; and about two months after. Laud, being then newly advanced to the province of Canterbury, framed articles for the reformation of his majesty's royal chapel in that city, which were sent into Scotland under his majesty's own hand, with a declara- tion, that they were intended as a pattern for all cathedrals, chapels, and parish-churches, in that kingdom f. The articles appoint, " that prayers be read twice a day in the choir, according to the English liturgy, till some course be taken to make one that may fit the custom and constitution of that church. That all that receive the sacrament in the chapel do it kneeling. That the dean of the chapel always come to church in his whites, and preach in them. That the copes which are consecrated to our use be carefully kept, and used at the celebration of the sacrament ; and that all his majesty's officers and ministers of state be obliged, at least once a year, to receive the sacrament at the royal chapel, kneeling, for an example to the rest of the people." Thus were the liberties of the kirk of Scotland invaded by an English bishop, under the wing of the supremacy, without consent of parliament or general assembly. The Scots ministers in their pulpits preached against the English hierarchy, and warned the people against sur- rendering up the liberties of their kirk into the hands of a neigh- bouring nation, that was undermining their discipline; so that when the new liturgy came to be introduced about four years after, all the people as one man rose up against it. The king was no sooner returned from Scotland than Dr. many with new lionours ; yet, before he left Scotland, some began to murmur and afterward to mutiny ; and he was in some danger passing over Dumfrith. And such in particular was the effect of the prosecution of lord Balmerino on the public mind, that the ruin of the king's affairs in Scotland was in a great measure owing to it. Dr. Grey refers to the preambles to some acts passed in the Scotch parlia- ment, as proving the high degree of esteem the king was then in amongst them ; as if an argument were to be drawn from formularies drawn up according to the routine of the occasion, and composed, probably, by a court lawyer : as if such formularies were proof against matter of fact. Burnet's History of his Own Times, vol. 1. p. 24 — U. 12nio.— Ed. * Clarendon, vol. 1. p. 81, 8'2. t Rushworth, part 2. vol. 2. p. 205, 206. 556 HISTORY OF Abbot archbishop of Canterbury died. He was born at Guilford in Surrey 1562, and educated in Baliol-coUege, Oxford, where he was a celebrated preacher. In the year 1597, he proceeded doc- tor in divinity, and was elected master of University-college : two years after he was made dean of Winchester, and was one of those divines appointed by king James to translate the New Testament into English. In the year 1609, he was consecrated bishop of Litchfield and Coventry, from thence he was translated to Lon- don, and upon the death of archbishop Bancroft, to Canterbury, April 9, 1611, having never been rector, vicar, or incumbent, in any parish-church in England. Lord Clarendon* has lessened the character of this excellent prelate, contrary to almost all other historians, by saying that " he was a man of very morose inanners, and of a very sour aspect, which in that time was called gravity ; that he neither understood nor regarded the constitution of the church ; that he knew very little of ancient divinity, but adhered stiffly to the doctrine of Calvin, and did not think so ill of his discipline as he ought to have done ; but if men prudently forbore a public reviling and railing at the hierarchy, let their private practice be as it would, he would give them no disturbance ; that his house was a sanctuary to disaffected persons, and that he licensed their writings, by which means his successor [Laud] had a very difficult task to reduce things to order." The Oxford his- torianf , who was no friend to our archbishop's principles, confesses that he was a pious grave person, exemplary in his life and con- versation, a plausible preacher, and that the many things he has written shew him to be a man of parts, learning, and vigilance ; an able statesman, and of unwearied study, though overwhelmed with business. Fuller^ says, he was an excellent preacher, and that his severity towards the clergy was only to prevent their being punished by lay judges, to their greater shame. Mr. Coke and Dr. Wei wood § add, that he was a prelate of primitive sanctity, who followed the true interests of his country, and of the reformed churches at home and abroad ; that he was a divine of good learning, great hospitality, and wonderful moderation, shewing upon all occasions an unwillingness to stretch the king's preroga- tive or the act of uniformity, beyond what was consistent with law, or necessary for the peace of the church ; this brought him into all his troubles, and has provoked the writers for the prero- gative, to leave a blot upon his memory, which on this account will be reverenced by all true lovers of the Protestant religion, and the liberties of their country ; and if the court had followed his wise and prudent counsels, the mischiefs that befel the crown and church some years after his death, would have been prevented. We have mentioned his casual homicide in the year 1621, which occasioned his keeping an annual fast as long as he lived, and maintaining the widow. Notwithstanding this misfortune, if he * Clarendon, vol. 1. p. 88, 89. f Athense Oxon. vol. 1. p. 499. + Church Uistoiy, b. 11. p. 123. § Welwood's Memoirs, p. 36. edit. 1718. THE PUniTANS. 557 would have betrayed the Protestant religion, and been the dupe of the prerooative, he might have continued in high favour with his prince ; but for his steady opposition to the arbitrary measures of IJuckingham and Laud, and for not licensing Sibthorp's sermon, he was suspended from his archie])iscopal jurisdiction, [1628*], whereupon he retired to Croydon, having no more interest at court, or influence in the government of the church : here he died in his archicpiscopal palace, August 4, 1633, aged seventy-one, and was buried in Trinity-church in Guilford, the place of his nativity, where he had erected and endowed an hospital for men and women. There is a fine monument over his grave, with his effigies in full proportion, supported by six pillars of the Doric order of black marble, standing on six pedestals of piled books, with a large inscription thereon to his memory f. CHAPTER V. FROM THE DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP ABBOT TO THE BEGINNING OF THE COMMOTIONS IN SCOTLAND, IN THE YEAR 1637. Du. Laud was now at the pinnacle of preferment, being trans- lated to the see of Canterbury two days after archbishop Abbot's death. His grace was likewise chancellor of the universities of Oxford and Dublin, privy-councillor for England and Scotland, first commissioner of the exchequer, and one of the committee for trade, and for the king's revenues : he was also offered a cardinal's cap [August 17], which he declined, as he says, because there * Rushworth, vol. 1. p. 435. f In addition to our author's character of archbishop Abbot, it may be observed that Dr. Warner has entered largely into the description of it, " not only (he says) in conformity to the rule he prescribed to himself in his work, but (he adds) to rescue the memory of this prelate from the injury done to it by Lord Clarendon, with so notorious a partiality as does no honour to his history." The doctor sums up his view of archbishop Abbot's character, by saying, " that he was a man of good parts and learning as a divine ; that he was a prelate of a very pious csem- plary conversation ; and an archbishop who understood the constitution of his country in church and state, to which he steadfastly adhered, without any regard to the favour or the frowns of princes.* The learned translator of Mosheim also censures lord Clarendon's account of this eminent prelate as most unjust and par- tial: and in a long note, ably and judiciously appreciates the archbishop's merit- and excellence. It was, he shews, by the zeal and dexterity of Abbot, that things were put into such a situation in Scotland as afterward produced the entire esta- blishment of the episcopal order in that nation. It was by the mild and prudent counsels of Abbot, when he was chaplain to the lord-high-treasurer Dunbar, that there was passed a famous act of the general assembly of Scotland, which gave the king the authority of calling all general assemblies, and investing the bishops, or their deputies, with various powers of interference and influence over the Scotch ministers. These facts confute the charge of his disregarding the constitution of the church. It deserves to be mentioned, that this prelate had a considerable hand in the translation of the New Testament now in use. Mosheim's Pkclesiastical History, vol. 4. p. 513, and note (f.) 1768. Warner's Eccles. History, vol. 2. p. 522—524. Granger's Biogr. History of England, vol. 1. p. 341. 8vo.— Ed. 558 HISTORY OF was something dwelt within him which would not suffer it, till Rome was otherwise than it was. We are now to see how he moved in this higii sphere. Lord Clarendon admits, " that the archbishop had all his life eminently opposed Calvin''s doctrine, for which reason he Avas called a Papist; and it may be (says his lordship) the Puritans found the more severe and rigorous usage for propagating the calumny. He also intended, that the disci- pline of the church should be felt as well as spoken of." The truth of this observation has appeared in part already, and will receive stronger evidence from the seven ensuing years of his government. The archbishop's antipathy to Calvinism, and zeal for the external beauty of the church, carried him to some very impru- dent and unjustifiable extremes : for if the Puritans were too strict in keeping holy the sabbath, his grace was too lax in his indul- gence, by encouraging revels, may-games, and sports, on that sacred day. Complaint having been made to the lord-chief-justice Richard- son, and baron Denham, in their western circuit, of great inconve- niences arising from revels, church-ales, and clerk-ales, on the Lord's day, the two judges made an order at the assizes for sup- pressing them, and appointed the clerk to leave copies of the order with every parish-minister, who was to give a note under his hand, to publish it in his church yearly, the first Sunday in February, and the two Sundays before Easter*. Upon the re- turn of the circuit the judges required an account of the execu- tion of their order, and punished some persons for the breach of it; whereupon the archbishop complained to the king of their invading the episcopal jurisdiction, and prevailed with his majesty to summon them before the council. When they appeared, Richardson pleaded that the order was made at the request of the justices of the peace, and with the unanimous consent of the whole bench, and justified it from the following pi-ecedents: September 10, Eliz. 38th, the justices assembled at Bridgewater ordered, that no church-ale, clerk-ale, or bid-ale, be suffered; signed by Popham, lord-chief-justice, and ten others. The same order was repeated 1599, and 41st of Eliz. and again at Exeter, 1615, and 13th of Jac. and even in the present king's reign, 1627, with an order for the minister of every parish-church to publish it yearly. But notwithstanding all the chief justice could allege, he received a sharp reprimand, and a peremptory injunction to revoke his order at the next assizes ; which he did in such a manner as lost him his credit at court for the future ; for he then declared to the justices, " that he thought he had done God, the king, and his country, good service, by that good order that he and his brother Denham had made, for suppressing unruly wakes and revels, but that it had been misreported to his majesty, who had expressly * Prynne's Cant. Doom. p. 153. THE PUUITAXS. .559 charged liini to reverse it ; accordingly (says he) I do, as much as in me lies, reverse it, declaring the same to be null and void, and that all persons may use their recreations at such meetings as be- fore." This reprimand and injunction almost broke the judge's heart, for when he came out of tiie council-chamber he told the earl of Dorset with tears in his eyes, that he had been miserably shaken by the archbishop, and was like to be choked with his lawn-sleeves. Laud having thus humbled the judge, and recovered his epis- copal authority from neglect, took the affair into his own hand, and wrote to the bishop of Bath and Wells October 4 [1663] for fuller information. In his letter he takes notice that there had been of late some noise in Somersetshire about the wakes ; that the judges had prohibited them under pretence of some disorders, by which argument, says he, any thing that is abused may be quite taken away; but that his majesty was displeased with Richardson*'s behaviour at the two last assizes, and especially the last; being of opinion, that the feasts ought to be kept for the recreation of the people, of which he would not have them de- barred under any frivolous pretences, to the gratifying of the humourists, who were very numerous in those parts, and united in crying down the feasts ; his grace therefore requires the bishop to give him a speedy account how these feasts had been ordered. Pierce bishop of Bath and Wells, in answer to this letter, acquaints the archbishop, " that the late suppression of the revels w^as very unacceptable, and that the restitution of them would be very grateful to the gentry, clergy, and common people * ; for proof of which he had procured the hands of seventy-two of his clergy, in whose parishes these feasts are kept ; and he believes that if he had sent for a hundred more he should have had the same answer from them all ; but these seventy-two (says his lord- ship) are like the seventy-two interpreters that agreed so soon in the translation of the Old Testament in the Greek." He then proceeds to explain the nature of these feasts : " There are (says he) in Somersetshire, not only feasts of dedication [or revel-days], but also church-ales, clerk-ales, and bid-ales." " The feasts of Dedication are in memory of the dedication of the several churches; those churches dedicated to the holy Tri- nity have their feasts on Trinity-Sunday ; and so all the feasts are kept upon the Sunday before or after the saint's day to whom tlie churches are dedicated, because the people have not leisure to observe them on the week-days ; this (says his lordship) is accept- able to the people, who otherwise go into tippling-houses, or else to conventicles. " Church-ales are, when the people go from afternoon prayers on Sunday to their lawful sports and pastimes in the churchyard, or in the neighbourhood, in some public-house, where they drink * Cant. Doom. p. 142. 560 HISTORY OF and make merry. By the benevolence of the people at these pas- times, many poor parishes have cast their bells, and beautified their churches, and raised stocks for the poor ; and there had not been observed so much disorder at them as is commonly at fairs or markets. '^ Clerk-ales [or lesser church-ales] are so called, because they were for the better maintenance of the parish-clerk ; and there is great reason for them (says his lordship), for in poor country parishes, where the wages of the clerk are but small, the people, thinking it unfit that the clerk should duly attend at church and gain by his office, send him in provision, and then come on Sun- days and feast with him, by which means he sells more ale, and tastes more of the liberality of the people, than their quarterly payment would amount to in many years ; and since these have been put down, many ministers have complained to me (says his lordship) that they are afraid they shall have no parish-clerks. " A bid-ale is, when a poor man, decayed in his substance, is set up again by the liberal benevolence and contribution of his friends at a Sunday's feast.*" The people were fond of these recreations, and the bishop recom- mends them, as bringing the people more willingly to church ; as tending to civilize them, and to compose differences among them; and as serving to increase love and unity, forasmuch as they were in the nature of feasts of charity, the richer sort keeping in a man- ner open house; for which and some other reasons his lordship thinks them fit to be retained. But the justices of peace were of another mind, and signed an humble petition to the king, in which they declare that these revels had not only introduced a great profanation of the Lord's day, but riotous tippling, contempt of authority, quarrels, mur- ders, &c. and were very prejudicial to the peace, plenty, and good government of the country, and therefore they pray that they be suppressed. Here we observe the laity petitioning for the reli- gious observation of the Lord's day, and the bishop with his y^^ clergy pleading for the profanation of it. To encourage these disorderly assemblies more effectually, arch- bishop Laud put the king upon republishing his father's decla- ration of the year 1618, concerning lawful sports to be used on Sundays after divine service ; which was done accordingly, Octo- ber 18, with this remarkable addition. After a recital of the words of king James's declaration, his majesty adds, " Out of a like pious care for the service of God, and for suppressing of those humours that oppose truth, and for the ease, comfort, and recreation of his majesty's well-deserving people, he doth ratify his blessed father's declaration, the rather, because of late in some counties of the kingdom his majesty finds, that, under pretence of taking away an abuse, there hath been a general forbidding, not only of ordinary meetings, but of the feasts of the dedication of churches, commonly called wakes ; it is therefore his will and THK PURITANS. oGl pleasure, tliat these feasts with otliers shall be observed, aiul that all neighbourhood and freedom with manlike and lawful exercises be used ; and the justices of the peace are commanded not to molest any in their recreations, having first done their duty to God, and continued in obedience to his majesty ""s laws." And he does farther will, " that publication of this his command be made by order from the bishops, through all the parish-churches of their several diocesses respectively." This declaration revived the controversy of the morality of the sabbath, which had slept for many years ; Mr. Theophilus Brad- bourne, a Suffolk minister, had published, in the year 1628, " A defence of the most ancient and sacred ordinance of God, the sabbath-day," and dedicated it to the king. But Mr. Fuller * observes, " that the poor man fell into the ambush of the high- commission, whose well-tempered severity so prevailed with him, that he became a convert, and confoi'med quietly to the church of England." Francis White, bishop of Ely, was commanded by the king to confute Bradbourne ; and after him appeared Dr. Pocklington, with his " Sunday no sabbath ; " and after him Heylin the archbishop's chaplain, and others. These divines, instead of softening some rigours in Bradbourne's Sabbatarian strictness, ran into the contrary extreme, denying all manner of divine right or moral obligation to the observance of the whole or any part of the Lord's day, making it depend entirely upon eccle- siastical authority, and to oblige no further than to the few hours of public service : and that in the intervals, not only walking (which the Sabbatarians admitted) but mixed dancing, masks, interludes, revels, &.c. were lawful and expedient. Instead of convincing the sober part of the nation, it struck them with a kind of horror, to see themselves invited, by the authority of the king and church, to that which looked so like a contradiction to the command of God. It was certainly out of character for bishops and clergymen, who should be the supports of religion, to draw men off from exercises of devotion in their families and closets, by enticing them to public recreations. People are forward enough of themselves to indulge these liber- ties, and need a check rather than a spur ; but the wisdom of these times was different. The court had their balls, masquerades, and plays, on the Sunday evenings, while the youth of the coun- try were at their morrice-dances, may-games, church and clerk ales, and all such kinds of revellingf . The revival of this declaration was charged upon archbishop Laud at his trial, but his grace would not admit the charge, though he confessed his judgment was in favour of it. It was to be published in all parish clmrches, either by the minister or any other person, at the discretion of the bishop, and therefore the putting this hardship on the clergy was their act and deed ; but • Book 11. p.l44. t Dr. Warner adopts these remarks. — Ed. VOL. I. O O 562 HISTORY OF Laud knew it would distress the Puritans, and purge the church of a set of men, for whom he had a perfect aversion. The reason given for obhging them to this service was, because the two judges had enjoined the ministers to read their order against revels in the churches ; and therefore it was proper to have it reversed by the same persons and in the same place*. The severe pressing this declaration made sad havoc among the Puritans for seven years. Many poor clergymen strained their consciences in submission to their superiors. Some after pub- lishing it, immediately read the fourth commandment to the people, "-Remember the sabbath-day to keep it holy;" adding, "This is the law of God; the other the injunction of man." Some put it upon their curates, whilst great numbers refused to comply upon any terms whatsoever. Fuller-f- says, " that the archbishop's moderation in his own diocess was remarkable, silen- cing but three, in whom also was a concurrence of other noncon- formities ; but that his adversaries imputed it not to his charity but policy, fox-like, preying farthest from his own den, and insti- gating other bishops to do more than he would appear in himself." Sir Nath. Brent, his grace's vicar-general, attested upon oath at the archbishop''s trial, that he gave him a special charge to convene all ministers before him who would not read the book of sports on the Lord's day, and to suspend them for it ; and that he gave particular order to suspend the three following Kentish ministers by name, viz. Mr. Player, Mr. Hieron, and Mr. Culmer;}:. Whereupon he did, against his judgment, suspend them all ab officio et heneficio, though the king's declaration, as has been ob- served, does not oblige the minister to read it, nor authorize the bishops to inflict any punishment on the refusers. When the suspended ministers repaired to Lambeth, and petitioned to be restored, the archbishop told them, if they did not know how to obey, he did not know how to grant their petition. So their sus- pension continued till the beginning of the commotions in Scotland, to the ruin of their poor families; Mr. Culmer having a wife and seven children to provide for§. Several clergymen of other diocesses were also silenced, and de- prived on the same account ; as, Mr. Thomas Wilson of Otham, who being sent for to Lambeth, and asked whether he had read • Fuller's Church History, b. 11. p. 148. t Ibid. X Prynne's Cant. Doom. p. 149. § Dr. Grey introduces here a long quotation from Anthony Wood, and refers to a bad character of Mr. Culmer drawn by Mr. Lewis in Dr. Calamy's continuation of ejected ministers, to shew what small reason Mr. Neal had to defend him. It should seem, from those authorities, that he was a man of a warm and violent tem- per, and some heavy charges are brought against him. But not to say that preju- dice appears to have drawn his picture, admitting the truth of every thing alleged against him, it is irrelevant to the vindication of archbishop Laud, whose severity against Mr. Culmer had not for its object his general deportment, or any immora- lity, but his not reading the book of sports ; i. e. a royal invitation to men to give themselves up to dissipating, riotous, and intemperate diversions on a day sacred to sobriety. See on Mr. Culmer's character, Palmer's Nonconformist's Memorial, vol. 2. p. 77.— Ed. ■ THK PURITANS. 503 the hook of sports in his church, answered JNo; whereupon the arclibishop rephed immediately, " I suspend you for ever from your office and benefice till you read it;" and so he continued four years, being cited into the high-commission, and articled against for the same crime. Mr. Wrath and Mr. Erbery were brought up from Wales, Mr. William Jones from Gloucestershire, with divers others, and censured by the high-commission (of which the archbishop was chief) for not reading the declaration, and not bowing his body at the blessed name of Jesus, &c*. To these may be added, Mr. Whitfield of Ociy 8vo.— Ed. t Bib. Keg. §. 13. no. 13. + Church Hist. b. 11. p. 149. 574 HISTORY OF family of a private gentleman, but the bishop's officers following him thither, he travelled into Yorkshire, where Neile archbishop of that province commanded him to subscribe or depart the country; upon this he went to Hedon in Northumberland, where his labours were prospered to the conversion of some souls; but the bishop of Durham, by the direction of archbishop Laud, forbade his preaching in any part of his diocess, which obliged liim to take shipping at Yarmouth for New England ; where he continued pastor of the church at Cambridge till his death, which happened August 25, 1649, in the forty-fourth year of his age*. He was a hard student, an exemplary Christian, and an eminent practical writer, as appears by his Sincere Convert, and other practical works that go under his name. The reverend Mr. John Norton went over in the same ship with Mr. Sheppardf, being driven out of Hertfordshire by the severity of the times. He settled at Ipswich in New England, and was afterward removed to Boston, where he died in the year 1665. Mr. Fuller says, he was a divine of no less learning than modesty, as appears sufficiently by his numerous writings. His grace of Canterbury, having made some powerful effiarts to bring the churches of Scotland and Ireland to a uniformity with England, resolved in his metropolitical visitation this summer, to reduce the Dutch and French churches (which were ten in number, having between five and six thousand communicants) to the same conformity ; for this purpose he tendered them these three articles of inquiry. 1. " Whether do you use the Dutch or French liturgy ? 2. " Of how many descents are you since you came into Eng- land ? 3. " Do such as are born here in England conform to the English ceremonies V The ministers and elders demurred upon these questions, and insisted upon their charter of privileges granted by king Edward VI. and confirmed no less than five times in the reign of king James, and twice by king Charles himself, by virtue of which they had been exempt from all archiepiscopal and episcopal juris- diction till this time : yet Laud, without any regard to their charter, sent them the two following injunctions by his vicar- general. 1. " That all that were born in England of the Dutch and Walloon congregations, should repair to their parish-churches. 2. " That those who were not natives, but came from abroad, while they remained strangers, might use their own discipline as formerly." In this emergency the Dutch and Walloon churches petitioned for a toleration, and shewed the inconveniences that would arise from the archbishop's injunctions; as, that if all their children * Mather's Hist. New England, b. 3, p. 86, &c. f I^. p. 34. THE PURITANS. .>7o born in England were taken from their communion, their churches must break up and return home; for as they came into England for the liberty of their consciences, they would not continue here after it was taken from them*. They desired therefore it might be considered what damages would arise to the kingdom by driving away the foreigners with their manufactures, and discourag- ing others from settling in their room. The mayor and corpora- tion of Canterbury assured his grace, that above twelve hundred of their poor were maintained by the foreigners, and others inter- ceded with the king in their favour ; but his majesty answered, " We must believe our archbishop of Canterbury," who used their deputies very roughly, calling them a nest of schismatics, and telling them it were better to have no foreign churches, than to indulge their nonconformity. In conclusion he assured them, by a letter dated August 19, 1635, that his majesty was resolved his injunctions should be observed, viz. That all their children of the second descent born in England, should resort to their parish- churches f, " and (says his grace) I do expect all obedience and conformity from you, and if you refuse, I shall proceed against the natives according to the laws and canons ecclesiastical."" Accordingly some of their churches were interdicted, others shut up, and the assemblies dissolved ; their ministers being suspended, many of their people left the kingdom, especially in the diocess of Norwich, where bishop Wren drove away three thousand manu- facturers in wool, cloth, &c. some of whom employed a hundred poor people at work ; to the unspeakable damage of the kingdom. As a farther mark of disregard to the foreign Protestants, the king's ambassador in France was forbidden to frequent their reli- gious assemblies. " It had been customary (says liord Clarendon) for the ambassadors employed in any parts where the reformed religion was exercised, to frequent their churches, and to hold cor- respondence with the most powerful persons of that religion, particularly the English ambassadors at Paris constantly fre- quented the church at Charenton ; but the contrary to this was now practised, and some advertisements, if not instructions, given to the ambassador, to forbear any commerce with the men of that religion. Lord Scudamore, who was the last ambassador before the beginning of the long parliament, instead of going to Charen- ton, furnished his chapel after the new fashion, with candles upon the altar, &c. and took care to publish, upon all occasions, tjiat the church of England looked not on the Hugonots as a part of their communion ; which was likewise industriously discoursed at home. This made a great many foreign Protestants leave the kingdom, and transport themselves into foreign parts."" The church of • It is said that Richelieu made the following speech on this exacted conformity : " If a king of England, who is a Protestant, will not permit two disciplines in his kingdom, why should a king of France, who is a Papist, admit two religions ?" Mrs. Macaulay's History of England, vol. 2. p. 145. note 8vo. — Ed. t" Rushworth, vol 2. part 2. p. 273. o7() HISTORY OF England by this means lost the esteem of the reformed churches abroad, who could hardly pity her, when a few years after she sunk down into the deepest distress. To give another instance of the archbishop's disaffection to the foreign Protestants, the queen of Bohemia, the king's sister, solici- ted the king, in the most pressing manner, to admit of a public collection over England for the poor persecuted ministers of the Palatinate, who were banished their country for their religion. Accordingly the king granted them a brief to go through the king- dom ; but when it was brought to the archbishop lie excepted aoainst the follovving: clause* : " Whose cases are the more to be deplored, because this extremity has fallen upon them for their sin- cerity and constancy in the true religion, which we together with them professed, and which we are all bound in conscience to main- tain to the utmost of our powers. Whereas these religious and godly persons, being involved among others their countrymen, might have enjoyed their estates and fortunes, if with other back- sliders in die times of trial they would have submitted themselves to the antichristian yoke, and have renounced or dissembled the profession of their religion." His grace had two exceptions to this passage : 1. The religion of the Palatine churches is affirmed to be the same with ours, which he denied, because they were Cal- vinists, and because their ministers had not episcopal ordination. 2. He objected to the church of Rome's being called an antichris- tian yoke, because it would then follow, that she was in no capacity to convey sacerdotal power in ordinations, and consequently the benefit of the priesthood, and the force of holy ministrations, would be lost in the English church, forasmuch as she has no orders but what she derives from the church of Rome. Laud having acquainted the king with his exceptions, they were ex- punged in another draught. But the collection not succeeding in this way, Dr. Sibbes, Gouge, and other divines of the Puritan party, signed a private recommendatory letter, desiring their friends to enlarge their charity, as to men of the same faith and profession with themselves, and promising to see to the right distiibution of the money; but as soon as Laud heard of it, he cited the divines before the high commission, and put a stop to the collection. This year [1634] put an end to the life of the reverend Mr. Hugh Clarke, born at Burton-upon-Trent 1563, and educated partly at Cambridge and partly at Oxford. He was first minister of OundJe in Northamptonshire, and then of Woolston in Warwickshire, from whence he was suspended, and afterwards excommunicated, for expounding upon the catechism. At length he was indicted for high treason, because he had prayed, " that God would forgive the queen [Elizabeth] her sins-j-," but was ac- * Cyp. Ang. CoUyer, vol. 2. p. 764, 765. f Here bishop Warburton censures Mr.Neal as guilty of " an unfair representa- tion." His lordship adds, " that they were the sins of persecuting the holy disci- THE niRlTANS. «> ' < quitted, lie was an awakenino- preacher, of a warm spirit, and a robust constitution, whicii lie wore out with preaching twice every Lord's day, and frequently on the week-days. His ministry met with great success even to his death, which happened, Movember 6, 1684, in the seventy second year of his age*. About the same time died the reverend and pious Mr. John Carter, a man that feared God from his youth, and was always employed in acts of devotion and charity. He was born in Kent loo4, and educated in Clare hall, Cambridge. He was first min- ister of Bramford in Suffolk for thirty-four years, and then rector of Bedstead in the same county ; and though often in trouble for his nonconformity, he made a shift, by the assistance of friends, to maintain his liberty without any sinful compliance. He was mighty in prayer, frequent and fervent in preaching, and a resolute champion against Popery, Arminianism, and the new ceremonies. He lived to a good old age, and died suddenly, as he was lying down to sleep, in the eightieth year of his age, greatly lamented by all who had a taste for practical religion and undissembled pietyf-. His funeral sermon was preached before a vast concourse of people, from these words, " My father, my father, the chariots of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!" Conformity to the new ceremonies and the king's injunctions was now pressed with the utmost rigour. The reverend Mr. Crook of Brazen-nose college, and Mr. Ilobbes of Trinity college, Oxford, were enjoined a public recantation for reflecting upon the Arminians. ]Mr Samuel AVard, of Ipswich, having preached against the book of sports, and bowing at the name of Jesus, added, that the church of England was ready to ring changes in relig-ion ; and that the gospel stood a tiptoe, ready to be gone to America | ; for which he was suspended, and enjoined a public recantation. Another underwent the same censure, for saying, it was suspicious that the night was approaching, because the shadows were so much longer than the body, and ceremonies more enforced than the power of godliness. The reverend Mr. Chauncey, late minister of Ware, but now of Marston-Lawrence, in the diocess of Peterborough, was im- prisoned, condemned in costs of suit, and obliged to read the pline which he prayed for the remission of; and that, reflecting on her administration was the thinp; which gave offence." The bishop is certainly right in this construc- tion of Mr. Clarke's prayer ; hut there is no occasion, methinks, for the charge he brings against Mr. Neal, who does not refer the expression, or insinuate that it was to he referred, to the ptrsjnal vices of the queen ; but rather the contrary ; for he speaks of it as the ground on which Mr. Clarke was indicted for high treason. lie might well suppose, that his reader would understand the language as pointing to the oppressions of her government, and the severities which the Puritans suftered under it. This would have been perfectly clear, had Mr. Neal added from his author, that this prayer, though in modest expressions, was offered up, when the persecution of the Nonconformists was becoming hot. — Ed. * Clarke's Lives annexed to his General Martyrology, p. 127. t XJt supra, p. l;{2. t Rushworth, vol. 2. part 2. p. 28.'>. Prynne, p. 285. VOL. I. P P 578 TIISTOIiY OF following recantation, for opposing the railing in the conimunfon- table : " Whereas I, Charles Chauncey, clerk, late vicar of Ware, stand convicted for opposing the setting up a rail round the communion- table, and for saying it was an innovation, a snare to men's con- sciences, a breach of the second commandment, an addition to God's worship, and that which drove me from the place, I do now, before this honourable court, acknowledge my great offence, and pi'otest I am ready to declare upon oath, that 1 am now persuaded in my conscience, that kneeling at the communion is a lawful and commendable gesture; that the rail is a decent and convenient ornament, and that I was much to blame for opposing it ; and do promise from henceforth, never by word or deed to oppose that, or any other laudable rites and ceremonies used in the church of England*." After this he was judicially admonished and discharged ; but the recantation went so much against his conscience, that he could enjoy no peace till he had quitted the church of England, and retired to New England, where he made an open acknowledgment of his sin. The churchwardens of Beckington in Somersetshire were ex- communicated by the bishop of Bath and Wells, for refusing to remove the communion-table from the middle of the chancel to the east end, and not pulling down the seats to make room for it. They produced a certificate, that their communion-table had stood time out of mind in the midst of the chancel ; that the ground on which it was placed was raised a foot, and enclosed with a decent wainscot border, and that none went within it but the minister, and such as he required. This not availing, they appealed to the arches, and at last to the king ; but their appeal was rejected. After they had remained excommunicated for a year, they were cast into the common jail, where they continued till the year 1637, and were then obliged to do public penance in the parish-church of Beckington, and two others, the shame of which broke their hearts; one of them declaring upon his death-bed soon after, that the pe- nance and submission, so much against his conscience, had sunk his spirits, and was one principal cause of his death-|-. In the archbishop's metropolitical visitation this summer, Mr, Lee, one of the prebendaries of Litchfield, was suspended, for churching refractory women in private, for being averse to the good orders of the church, and for ordering the bellman to give notice in open market of a sermon^. Mr. Randal, of Tuddington near Hampton-court, Middlesex, was suspended for preaching a sermon above an hour long on Sunday in the afternoon, though it was a farewell sermon to the exercise of catechising. His grace's account of his province this year gives a further relation of the * Prynne, p. 95. 97. 100. Rushworth, vol. 2. part 2. p. 301. 316. t Rushworth, vol. 2. part 2. p. 300. J Prynne, p. 381. TFIK PURITANS. 579 sufferings of the Puntnns' : lie aequaints Iiis majesty, tliat the Frencli and Duteh churches had not as yet thoroughly complied with his injunctions. — That in the diocess of London, Dr. Hough- ton rector of Aldermanbury, Mr. Simpson curate and lecturer of St. Margaret Fish-street, Mr. John Goodwin vicar of Coleman- street, and Mr. Viner of St. Lawrence Old-Jewry, had been con- vened for breach of canons, and had submitted ; to whom his grace might have added, Dr. Sibbes, Dr. Taylor, Dr. Gouge, Mr. White of Dorsetshire, and about twenty more; some of whom fled into Holland, and others retired into New England. The l)ishop of Bath and Wells certified, that he had not one single lectme in any corporation-town, and that all afternoon sermons were turned into catechisings in all parishes. — In the diocess of Norwich were many Puritans, but that Mr. Ward of Yarmouth was in the high-commission. From the diocess of Llandaff, Mr. Wroth and Mr. Erbury, two noted schismatics, were brought before th.e high commission. — And that in the diocess of Glou- cester, were several popular and factious ministers. It must be confessed, that the zeal of the Puritans was not always well regulated; nor were their ministers so much on their guard in the pulpit or conversation as they ought, considering the number of informers that entered all their churches, that insi- nuated themselves into all jiublic conversation, and, like so many locusts, covered the land. These were so numerous and corrupt, that the king was obliged to bring them under certain regula- tions ; for no man was safe in public company, nor even in con- versing with his friends and neighbours. Many broke up house- keeping, that they might breathe in a freer air; which the council being informed of, a proclamation was published [July 21, 1635], forbidding all persons, except soldiers, mariners, merchants, and their factors, to depart the kingdom without his majesty's licence. But notwithstanding this ])rohibition, numbers went to New England this summer ; and among others the reverend Mr. Peter IJulkley, irD., and fellow of St. John's college, Cambridge. He was son of Dr. Edward Bulkley, of Bedfordshire, and succeeded him at Woodhill, or Odel, in that county. Here he continued above twenty years, the bishop of Lincoln conniving at his non- conformity : but when Dr. Laud was at the helm of the church, and the bishop of Lincoln in disgrace, Bulkley was silenced by the vicar-general sir Nathaniel Brent ; upon which he sold a very plentiful estate, and transported himself and his effects to New England, where he died in the year 1658 — 9, and the seventy- seventh of his age. He was a thundering preachci", and a judi- cious divine, as appears by his treatise " Of the covenant," which passed through several editions, and was one of the h'rst books published in that country-f-. Mr. Richard Mather, educated in Brazen-nose-college, Oxon, Collyer's Eccles. Hist. vol. 2. p. "(iii. f Rapin, vol. 2. p. ;i!M, folio edit. PI' 2 580 HISTORY OF and minister of Toxteth near Liverpool for about fifteen years, a diligent and successful preacher, was suspended for nonconformity in the year 1633, but by the intercession of friends, after six months he was restored. Next summer the archbishop of York sending his visitors into Lancashire, this good man was again sus- pended by Dr. Cosins, upon an information that he had not worn the surplice for fifteen years. After this, no intercession could obtain the liberty of his ministry ; upon which he took shipping at Bristol, and arrived at Boston in New England, August 17, 1635. He settled at Dorchester, and continued with his people, a plain and profitable preacher to the year 1669, when he died. This was the grandfather of the famous Dr. Cotton Mather. In Scotland the fire was kindling apace, which in three 3'ears' time set both kingdoms in a flanle. The restoring episcopacy by the violent methods already mentioned, did not sit easy upon the people; the new Scots bishops were of bishop Laud's principles; they spoke very favourably of Popery in their sermons, and cast some invidious reflections on the reformers : they declared openly for the doctrines of Arminius ; for sports on the sabbath ; and for the liturgy of the English church ; which was imagined to be little better than the mass*. This lost them their esteem with the people, who had been trained up in the doctrines and discipline of Calvin, and in the strict observation of the Lord's day. But the king, to support them, cherished them with expressions of the greatest respect and confidence ; he made eleven of them privy- counsellors; the archbishop of St. Andrews was lord-chancellor, and the bishop of Ross was in nomination to be lord-high-trea- surer; divers of them were of the exchequer, and had engrossed the best secular preferments, which made them the envy of the nobility and gentry of that nation. The bishops were so sensible of this, that they advised the king not to trust the intended alte- rations in religion to parliaments or general assemblies, but to in- troduce them by his regal authority. When the king was last in Scotland, it was taken notice of as a great blemish in the kirk, that it had no liturgy or book of canons. To supply this defect the king gave orders to the new bishops, to prepare draughts of both, and remit them to London, to be re- vised by the bishops Laud, Juxon, and Wren. The book of canons being first finished, was presented to the king, and by him delivered to Laud and Juxon to examine, alter, and reform, at pleasure, and to bring it as near as possible to a conformity with the English canons. The bishops having executed their com- mission, and prepared it for press, the king confirmed it under the great seal by letters patent, dated at Greenwich, May 23, 1635. The instrument sets forth, " that his majesty, by his royal and supreme authority in causes ecclesiastical, ratifies and confirms the said canons, orders, and constitutions, and all and every thing in * Burnet's Memoirs of D. Hamilton, p. 29, .'50. THE IMIRITANS. 581 them contained, and strictly commands all archbishops, bishops, and others exercising ecclesiastical jurisdiction, to see them punc- tually observed." To o-ive the reader a specimen of these canons, which were sub- versive of the whole Scots constitution both in kirk and state: 1. " The first canon excommunicates all tliose who affirm the power and prerogative of the king not to be equal with the Jewish kings, that is, absolute and unlimited. 2. " The second excommunicates those who shall affirm, the worship contained in the Book of Common Prayer, [which was not yet published], or the government of the kirk, by archbishops, bishops, &c. to be corrupt, superstitious, or unlawful. 3. " The third restrains ordinations to the quatuor tempora ; that is, the first weeks of March, June, September, and De- cember. 5. " The fifth obliges all presbyters to read, or cause to be read, divine service, according to the form of the Book of the Scottish Common Prayer, and to conform to all the offices, parts, and rubrics, of it [though not yet published]. The book decrees further, " that no assembly of the clergy shall be called but by the king. " That none shall receive the sacrament but upon their knees. *' That every ecclesiastical person, dying without children, shall give part of his estate to the church. " That the clergy shall have no private meetings for expound- ing Scripture. " That no clergyman shall conceive prayer, but pray only by the printed form, to be prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer. " That no man shall teach school without a licence from the bishop ; nor any censures of the church be pronounced, but by the approbation of the bishop. " That no presbyter shall reveal any thing in confession, ex- cept his own life should by the concealment be forfeited." After sundry other canons of this nature, as appointing fonts for baptism, church-ornaments, communion-tables, or altars, &c. the book decrees, that no person shall be admitted to holy orders, or to preach or administer the sacraments, without first subscribing the forementioned canons. This book was no sooner published, than the Scots presbyters declared j^eremptorily against it* ; their objections were of two sorts ; they disliked the matter of the canons, as inconsistent with their kirk government, and severer in some particulars than those of the church of England : they protested also against the manner of imposing them, without consent of parliament or general as- sembly. It was thought intolerable vassalage, by a people who had asserted the independent power of the church, to convene assemblies of the clergy, and who had maintained that their de- • CoUyer's Ecclcs. Hist. p. 764. 582 HISTORV Olj crees were landing, without the confirmation of the crown ; to have the king and a few foreign bishops dictate canons to them, without so much as asking their advice and consent. Such a liigh display of the supremacy could not fail of being highly resented by a church, that had never yielded it to the king in the latitude in which it had been claimed and exercised in England. Besides, it was very preposterous to publish the book of canons before the book of common prayer, and to require submission and subscrip- tion to things that had no existence ; for who could foretel what might be inserted in the common prayer-book ? or what kind of service might be imposed upon the kirk ? This looked too much like pinning the faith of a whole nation on the lawn-sleeves. To return to England : Towards the end of this year it pleased God to remove out of this world the reverend Dr. Richard Sibbes, one of the most celebrated preachers of his time. He was born at Sudbury 1579, and educated in St. John's college, Cambridge, where he went through all the degrees. Having entered into the ministry, he was first chosen lecturer of Trinity-church in Cam- bridge, where his ministry was very successful to the conversion and reformation of his hearers. About the year 1618, he was appointed preacher to the honourable society of Gray''s inn, Lon- don, in which station he became so famous, that besides the lawyers of the house, many of the nobility and gentry frequented his sermons. In the year 1625, he was chosen master of Katherine- hall, in the university of Cambridge, the government of which he made a shift to continue to his death, though he was turned out of his fellowship and lecture in the university for nonconformity, and often cited before the high commission. He was a divine of good learning, thoroughly acquainted with the Scriptures, a burn- ing and shining light, and of a most humble and charitable dispo- sition ; but all these talents could not screen him from the fury of the times. His works* discover him to have been of a heavenly evangelical spirit, the comforts of which he enjoyed at his death, which happened the latter end of this summer, in the fifty-ninth year of his agef . To aggrandize the church yet farther, the archbishop resolved to bring part of the business of Westminster-hall into the ecclesi- astical courts. The civilians had boldly and unwarrantably opposed and protested against prohibitions, and other proceedings at law, in restraint of their spiritual courts, and had procured some privi- leges and orders from the king in favour of the ecclesiastical courts, which had greatly offended the gentlemen of the law. But the archbishop now went a step farther, and prevailed with the king to direct that half the masters in chancery should always be civil * Of these the most noted was his Bruised Reed ; to which, Mr. Baxter tells us, he in a great measure owed his conversion. This circumstance alone, observes Mr. Granger, would have rendered his name memorable. History of England, vol. 2. p. 176. 8vo — Ed. t Clarke's Lives, annexed (o his General Martyrology, p. 143. THK PUUITANS. -583 lawyers; and to declare that no others, of what condition soever, sihould serve iiini as masters of request : these were more akin to the church than the common lawyers; their places being in the bishop's disposal, (as chancellors, commissaries, &c.) and therefore it was supposed their persons would be so too ; but this was false policy, says the noble historian*, because it disgusted a whole learned profession, who were more capable of disserving the church in their estates, inheritances, and stewardships, than the church could hurt them in their practice. Besides, it was wrong in itself, for I have never ycts[)oken with one clergyman, says his lordship, who hath had experience of both litigations, that has not ingenu- ously confessed, that he had rather, in respect of his trouble, charge, and satisfaction to his understanding, have three suits depending in Westminster-hall, than one in the arches, or any ecclesiastical court. As a farther step towards the sovereign power of the church, his grace ])revailed with the king to allow the bishops to hold their ecclesiastical courts in their own names, and by their own seals, without the king's letters patent under the great seal ; the judges having given it as their opinion, that a patent under the great seal was not necessary for examinations, suspensions, and other church- censures. This was undoubtedly contrary to law, for by the sta- tute 1 Edw. VI. cap. 2, it is declared, " that all ecclesiasticcil juris- diction is immediately from the crown ; and that all persons exercis- ing such jurisdiction shall have in theirsealtheking's arms, and shall use no other sealof jurisdiction on pain of imprisonmentf ." This statute being repealed 1 Maria^, cap. 2, was again revived by 1 Jac. cap. 2o, as has been observed;|:. Hereupon, in the parlia- ments of the 3rd and 7th of king James I. the bishops were pro- ceeded against, and two of them in a manner attainted in a premunire by the house of commons, for making citations and pi'ocesses in their own names, and using their own seals, contrary to this statute, and to the common law, and in derogation of the pre- rogative. So that by this concession, the king dispensed with the laws, and yielded away the ancient and undoubted right of his crown ; and the bisho]:)S were brought under a premunire, for exercising spiritual jurisdiction without any special commission, patent, or grant, from, by, or imder, his majesty : whereas all juris- diction of this kind ought to have been exercised in the king's name, and by virtue of his authority only, signified by letters patent under his majesty's seal. The archbishop was no less intent upon enlarging his own juris- diction, claiming a right to visit the two universities jure metropo- litico, which being referred to the king and council, his majesty was pleased to give judgment against himself. As chancellor of Oxford his grace caused a new body of statutes to be drawn up for that university, with a preface, in which are some severe reflec- * Clarendon, vol. 2. p. :W5, .'jOC. f Rusliworth, vol. 2. part 2. p. 450. X Usurpation oi' Prelates, p. '.12. 115. 584 IIISTOKY OF tions on good king Edward and his government ; it says, that the discipline of tlie university was discomposed, and troubled by that king's injunctions, and the flattering novelty of the age. It then commends the reign of his sister the bloody queen Mary, and says, that the disci])line of the church revived and flourished again in her days, under cardinal Pool, when by the much-desired felicity of those times an inbred candour supplied the defect of statutes*. Was this spoken like a Protestant prelate, whose predecessors in the sees of London and Canterbury were burnt at Oxford by queen Mary, in a most barbarous manner ? Or rather like one, who was aiming at the return of those happy times .^ The last and most extravagant stretch of episcopal power that I shall mention, was the bishops framing new articles of visitation in their own names, without the king-s seal and authority ; and administering on oath of inquiry to the churchwardens concerning themf. This was an outrage upon the laws, contrary to the act of submission, 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 25, and even to the twelfth canon of 1603, which says, " that whosoever shall affirm it lawful, for any sort of ministers, or lay-persons, to assemble together, and make rules, orders, and constitutions, in causes ecclesiastical, with- out the king's authority, and shall submit themselves to be ruled and governed by them, let him be excom.municated :" whicit includes the framers of the orders, as well as those who act under them. The administering an oath to churchwardens, without a royal commission, had no foundation in law ; for by the common law, no ecclesiastical judge can administer an oath (except in cases of matrimony and testaments) without letters patent, or a special commission under the great seal. It was also declared contrary to the laws and statutes of the land, by sir Edward Coke and the rest of the judges, 3 James, in the case of Mr. Wharton, who, being churchwarden of Blackfriars, London, was excommunicated and imprisoned on a cajjias excommunicatum, for refusing to take an oath, to present upon visitation-articles ; but bringing his habeas corpus, he was discharged by the whole court, both from his im- prisonment and excommunication, for this reason, because the oath and articles were against the laws and statutes of this realm, and so might and ought to be refused. Upon the whole, the making the mitre thus independent of the crown, and not subject to a pro- hibition from the courts of Westminster-hall, was setting up im- j^erium in impcrio, and going a great way toward re-establishing one of the heaviest grievances of the Papacy; but the bishops pre- * An answer to Mr. Neal, it is urged by Dr. Grey, may be supplied from Frankland's Annals of King Charles I. according to whom what is applied above to queen Mary's time only, relates to all former times, as well as hers, during which the uncertainty of the statutes lasted and put the university to an inconvenience ; and who asserts, that the preface, mentioned by Mr. Neal, was written by Dr. Peter Turner, of Merton-college, a doctor of civil law. The reader, however, will probably apprehend, that it expressed the sentiments of archbishop Laud, and was virtually his. — Ed. t Usurpation of Prelates, ]>. 229. 210. TIIK PURITANS. 585 Slimed upon llie felicity of the titncs, and tlie indulgence of the crown, which at another time might have involved them in a ])renuuiire. The articles of visitation differed in the several diocesses ; the churchwardens' oath was generally the same, viz. "You shall swear, that you, and every of you, shall duly consider and diligently inquire of all and every of these articles given you in charge ; and that all affection, favour, hope of reward and gain, or fear of displeasure, or malice set aside, you shall present all and every such person that now is, or of late was, within your ])arish, or hath committed any offence, or made any default mentioned in any of these articles, or which are vehemently suspected, or defamed of any such offence or default, wherein you shall deal uprightly and fully, neither presenting nor daring to present any contrary to truth, having in this action God before your eyes, with an earnest zeal to maintain truth, and to suppress vice. So help you God, and the holy contents of this book." By virtue of this oath, some out of conscience thought them- selves obliged to present their ministers, their neighbours, and their near relations, not for immorality or neglect of the worship of God, but for omitting some superstitious injunctions. Others acted from revenge, having an opportunity put into their hands to ruin their conscientious neighbours. Many churchwardens refused to take the oath, and were imprisoned, and forced to do penance. But to prevent this for the future, it was declared, " that if any man affirmed, it was not lawful to take the oath of a churchwarden; or that it was not lawfully administered ; or that the oath did not bind ; or that the churchwardens need not inquire ; or after inquiry need not answer, or might leave out part of their answers* ;" such persons should be presented and punished. Several of the bishops published their primary articles of visi- tation about this time ; as, the archbishop of York, the bishops of Winchester, and Bath and Wells ; but the most remarkable and curious were Dr. Wren"'s bishop of Norwich, entitled, " Articles to be inquired of within the diocess of Norwich, in the first visita- tion of Matthew lord bishop of Norwichf .■" The book contains one hundred and thirty-nine articles, in which are eight hundred and ninety-seven questions, some very insignificant, others highly superstitious, and several impossible to be answered. To give the reader a specimen of them : Have you the book of consti- tutions or canons ecclesiastical, and a parchment register book, book of connnon ])raver, and a book of homilies? — Is your com- munion-table so placed within the chancel as the canon directs? — Doth your minister read the canons once every year ? — Doth he pray for the king with his whole title ? — Doth he pray for the archbishops and bishops? — Doth he observe all the orders, rites, and ceremonies, prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer, and * Visit. Art. chap. (i. §. !». t llushwoith, vol. 2. part 2. p. 18fi, 187. Prynne, \\ 374. Rapin, vol 2. p. 28!), 2'JO, folio ciUt. 586 HISTOUY OF administering the sacrament ? — Dotli he receive the sacrament kneeling himself", and administer to none but such as kneel? — ■ Doth he admit to the sacrament any notorious offenders or schis- matics?— Do the strangers of other parishes come often, or fre- quently, to your church ? — Doth your minister baptize with the sign of the cross ? — Is your minister licensed, and by whom ? — Doth he wear the surplice while he is reading prayers and admi- nistering the sacrament ? — Doth he catechise and instruct the youth in the ten commandments ? — Doth he solemnize marriage without the banns? — Doth he in Rogation-days use the perambu- lation round the parish? — Doth he every six months denounce in the parish [or publicly declare the names of] all such as persevere in the sentence of excommunication, not seeking to be absolved ? — Doth he admit any excommunicate persons into the church with- out a certificate of absolution ? — Is your minister a favourer of recusants ? — Is he noted to be an incontinent person ; a frequenter of taverns, alehouses ; a common gamester, or a player at dice ? — Hath your minister read the book of sports in his church or chapel ? — Doth he read the second service at the conmiunion-table ? — Doth he use conceived prayers before or after sermon ? — With regard to churchyards, are they consecrated ? — Are the graves dug- east and west, and the bodies buried with their heads to the west ? — Do your parishioners, at going in and out of the church, do reverence towards the chancel? — Do they kneel at confession, stand up at the creed, and bow at the glorious name of Jesus * ? &c. with divers articles of the like nature -j*. The weight of these inquiries fell chiefly upon the Puritans, for within the compass of two years and four months, no less than fifty able and pious ministers were suspended, silenced, and other- wise censured, to the ruin of their poor families, for not obeying one or other of these articles ; among whom were, the reverend Mr. John Allen, Mr. John Ward, Mr. William Powel, Mr. John Carter, Mr. Ashe, Mr. Wm, Bridges, Mr. Jeremiah Burroughs, Mr. Greenhill, Mr. Edmund Calamy, Mr. Hudson, Peck, Ray- mond, Green, Mott, Kent, Allen, Scott, Beard, Moth, Manning, Warren, Kirrington, and others, in the diocess of Norwich. In other diocesses were, Mr. Jonathan Burre, Mr. William Leigh, Mr. Matthew Brownrigge, Mr. G. Huntley, Vicars, Proud, Workman, Crowder, Snelling, &c. some of whom spent their days in silence ; others departed their country into parts beyond sea ; and none were released without a promise to conform to the bishops' injunctions cditis et cdendis, i. e. already published, or hereafter to be published. * Cant. Doom. p. 96. t One article, which Mr. Neal has omitted, required, " that the churchwardens in every parish of his diocess shoukl inquire, whether any persons presumed to talk of religion at their tables and in their families ? " Not to say the gross ignorance which this restraint would cause, it shewed the extreme of jealousy and intolerance ; was subversive of the influence and endearments of domestic life, and converted each private house into a court of inquisKion. Pillars of Priestcraft and Ortho- doxy shaken, 1768. vol. :'.. p. \W7, ;;0y.— En. Till': PURITANS. 587 Bishop Montaoiie, \vlu) hiiccecdocl Wren in the diocess of Nor- wich IG'^S, imitated his sutvessor in his visitation-articles ; it beino- now fashionable for every new bishop to frame separate articles of in(|uirv', for the visitation of his own diocess. Montague pointed his incpiirics against the Puritan lecturers, of which he observes three sorts *. 1. "Such as were superinducted into another man's cure; con- cerning which he enjoins his visitors to inquire, Whether the lec- turer''s sermons in the afternoons are popular or catechistical ? Whether he be admitted with consent of the incumbent and bishop ? \\'hether he read prayers in his surplice and hood ? Of what length his sermons are, and upon what subject ? Whether he bids prayer, according to the fifty-fifth canon. 2. " The second sort of lecturers are those of combination, when the neighbouring ministers agreed to preach by turns at an adjoining market-town on market-days; inquire who the com- biners are, and whether they conform as above ? 3. A third sort are running lecturers, when neighbouring- Christians agree upon such a day to meet at a certain church in some country town or village, and after sermon and dinner to meet at the house of one of their disciples to repeat, censure, and explain the sermon ; then to discourse of some points proposed at a fore- going meeting by the moderator of the assembly, derogatory to the doctrine or discipline of the church ; and in conclusion to appoint another ])lacc for their next meeting. If you have any such lec- turers, present them. Dr. Pierse, bishop of Bath and Wells, suppressed all lecturei's in market-towns, and elsewhere throughout his diocess, alleging, tiiat he saw no such need of preaching now, as was in the apostles' days. He suspended Mr. Dcvcnish, minister of Bridgewater, for preaching a lecture in his own church on a market-day, which had continued ever since the days of queen Elizabeth ; and afterward, when he absolved him upon his promise to preach it no more, he said to him, " Go thy way, sin no more, lest a worse thing befal theef." His lordship ])ut down all afternoon sermons on Lord''s days ; and suspended Mr. Cornish for preaching a funeral sermon in the evening. And whereas some ministers used to explain the cjuestions and answers in the catechism, and make a short prayer before and after, the bishop reproved them sharply for it, saying, that was as bad as preaching, and charged them to ask no ques- tions, nor receive any answers but such as were in the Book of Common Prayer: and for not complying with this injunction, Mr, liarret, rector of Berwick, and some others, were enjoined public ])enance. The bishop of Peterborough, and all the new bisho])s, went in the same track ; and some of them upon this sad principle, That afternoon sermons on Sundays were an impedi- ment to the revels in the evening. "* Piynne, p. '^76. t Ibid, p. 377. 588 HISTORY OF The cluirch was now in the height of its triumphs, and grasped not only at all spiritual jurisdiction, but at the capital preferments of state. This year Dr. Juxon, bishop of London, was declared lord -high-treasurer of England, which is the first office of profit and power in the kingdom, and has precedence next to the arch- bishop. Juxon's name had hardly been known at court above two years * ; till then he was no more than a private chaplain to the king, and head of a poor college at Oxford. Besides, no churchman had held this post since the darkest times of Popery, in the reign of king Henry VII., but Laud valued himself upon this nomination ; " Now [says he in his diary] if the church will not hold up themselves, under God, I can do no more j-." When the staff of treasurer was put into the hands of Juxon, lord Cla- rendon observes, " that the nobility were inflamed, and began to look upon the church as a gulf ready to swallow all the great offices of state, tliere being other churchmen in view who were ambitious enough to expect the rest. The inferior clergy took advantage of this situation of their affairs, and did not live towards their neighbours of quality, or patrons, with that civility and good manners as they used to do, which disposed others to withdraw their countenance and good neighbourhood from them, especially after they were put into the commissions of peace in most counties of England." One of the members of the house of commons said, "that the clergy were so exalted, that a gentleman might not come near the tail of their mules; and that one of them had declared openly, that he hoped to see the day, when a clergyman should be as good a man as any upstart Jack gentleman in the kingdom." It is certain, the favourable aspect of the court had very much exalted their behaviour, and their new notions had made them conceive themselves an order of men above the rank * Dr. Juxon, having been elected to the see of Hereford, before he was conse- crated, was translated on the 19th of September 1633, to that of London. His first preferment was, in 1627, to the deanery of Worcester : but his constant connexion with the court was not formed till the 10th of July 1632, when he was, at the suit of archbishop Laud, sworn clerk of his majesty's closet, two years and eight months before he was declared lord-high-treasurer. So that Mr. Neal's expression, that his name had hardly been known at court above two years, at which Dr. Grey carps, does not greatly deviate from the exact fact. The doctor quotes also many testi- monies to the amiable temper and virtues of bishop Juxon. But though they justly reflect honour on his memory, the personal virtues of the bishop did not render the investing a clergyman with the high office to which he was exalted, a measure more politic in itself, or less obnoxious to the people. And the shorter was the time, during which he had been known at court, the fewer opportunities he had enjoyed to display his virtues, and the more probable it was that he owed his dignity, not to the excellence of his own character, but to the influence and views of Laud. This circumstance, together with the vast power connected with the office, and the exaltation supposed to be thus given to the clerical order, created jealousy and gave offence. In this light Mr. Neal places the matter, without impeaching the merit of bishop Juxon. — Ed. f Bishop Warburton's remarks here deserve attention : " Had he been content (says his lordship) to do nothing, the church had stood. Suppose him to have been an honest man and sincere, which I think must be granted, it would follow that he knew nothing of the constitution either of civil or religious society ; and was as poor a churchman as he was a politician." — Ed. THE I'UUITAXS. 589 of the laity, forasniuch as they liad the keys of the kingdom of heaven at tlieir oiidle, and upon their priestly character depended the efficacy of all gospel institutions. This made some of them remarkably neoligent of their cures up and down the country ; others lost the little learning they had acquired at the university, and many became very scandalous in their lives; though lord Clarendon* says, that there was not one churchman in any degree of favour or acceptance [at court] of a scandalous insufficiency in learning, or of a more scandalous condition of life ; but on the contrar}', most of them of confessed eminent parts in knowledge, and of virtuous and unblemished lives. Great numbers of the most useful and laborious preachers in all parts of the country were buried in silence, and forced to abscond from the fury of the high-commission ; among whom were, the famous Mr. John Dod, Mr. Whatley, Dr. Harris, Mr. Capel, and Mr. John Rogers of Dedliam, one of the most awakening ])reach- ers of his age, of whom bishop Brownrigge used to say, " that he did more good with his wild notes, than we [the bishops] with our set music." Yet his great usefulness could not screen him from those suspensions and deprivations which were the portion of the Puritans in these times. His resolutions about subscribing I will relate in his own words : " If I come into trouble for noncon- formity, I resolve, by God's assistance, to come away with a clear conscience ; for though the liberty of my ministry be dear to me, I dare not buy it at such a rate. I am troubled at my former subscription, but I saw men of good gifts, and of good hearts (as I thought), go before me ; and I could not prove that there was any thing contrary to the word of God, though I dis^liked the ceremonies, and knew them to be unprofitable burdens to the church of God ; but if I am urged again I will never yield ; it was my weakness before, as I now conceive, which I beseech God to pardon. — Written in the year IGST." But after this the good man was overtaken again, and yielded, which almost broke his heart ; he adds, " — For this I smarted, 1631. If 1 had read over this [my former resolution] it may be I had not done what I did." How severe are such trials to a poor man with a numerous family of children ! And how sore the distresses of a wounded conscience ! Others continued to leave their country, according to our blessed Saviour's advice, IMatt. x. 23, " When they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another." Among these were Mr. Na- thaniel Rogers, son of j\Ii'. John Rogers of Dedham, educated in Emanuel-college, Cambridge, and settled at Assington in Suffiilk, where he continued five years ; but seeing the storm that had driven his neighbours from their anchor, and being fearful of his own steadfastness in the hour of temptation, he resigned his living into the hands of his patron, and forsaking the neighbourhood of his father, and all prospects of worldly .advantage, cast himself • Vol. 1. p. n. O90 Jli STORY OF and his youiig family upon tlie providence of God, and embarked for New England, wiiere he arrived about the middle of November 1636, and settled with Mr. Norton, at Ipsvv'ich, with whom he continued to his death, which happened in the year 1655. About the same time went over Mr. Lambert Wliiteing, M. A., a Lincohishire divine, who continued at Shirbeck near Boston unmolested, till bishop Williams's disgrace, after which he was silenced by the spiritual courts, and forced into New England, where he arrived with his family this summer, and continued a useful preacher to a little flock at Lynn till the year 1079, when he died in the eighty-third year of his age. The star-chamber and high -commission exceeded all tlic bounds not only of law and equity, but even of humanity itself*. We l.ave related the sufferings of Mr. Piynne, Burton, and Bastwick, in the year 1633. These gentlemen, being shut up in prison, were supposed to employ their time in writing against the bishops and their spiritual courts ; Bastwick was charged with a book published 1636, entitled, "Apologeticus ad pr^esules Anglicanos;" and with a pam]ihlet called " The new litany :"" the others, with two anonymous books, one entitled, "A divine tragedy, containing a catalogue of God's judgments against sabbath-breakers;" the other, " News from Ipswich;" which last was a satire upon the severe proceedings of Dr. Wren bishop of that diocess. For these they were cited a second time into the star-chanibcr, by vir- tue of an information laid against them by the attorney-general, for writing and publishing seditious, schismatical, and libellous books against the hierarchy of the church, and to the scandal of the government. When the defendants had prepared their an- swers, they could not get counsel to sign them ; upon which they petitioned the court to receive them from themselves, which would not be admitted ; however, Prynne and Bastwick, having no other remedy, left their answers at the office, signed with their own hands, but were nevertheless proceeded against pro confesso. Bur- ton prevailed with Mr. Holt, a bencher of Gray's inn, to sign his answer; but the court ordered the two chief justices to expunge what they thought unfit to be brought into court, and they struck out the whole answer, except six lines at the beginning, and tliree or four at the end ; and because Mr. Burton would not acknow- ledge it thus purged, he was also taken jno confesso. In Bastwick's answer the prelates are called "invaders of the king's prerogative, contemners and despisers of the Holy Scrip- tures, advancers of Popery, superstition, idolatry, and profane- ness ; they are charged with oppressing the king's loyal subjects, and with great cruelty, tyranny, and injustice." Mr. Prynne's answer reflected upon the hierarchy, though in more moderate and cautious terms. All the defendants offered to maintain their several answers at the peril of their lives ; but the court finding Rushworth, vol. 2. part 2. p. 380, &c. Tin: iMiurrANS. 591 tlieni not filed upon record, would not receive them. The prisoners at the bar cried aloud for justice, and that their answers might be read ; but it was peremptorily denied, and the following sentence passed upon tliem ; that " Mr. Burton be deprived of his living, and degraded from his ministr^^, as Prynne and Bastwick had been from tijeir professions of law and physic ; that each of them be fined 5,000/. ; that they stand in the pillory at West- minster, and have their ears cut off; and because Mr. Prynne had already lost his ears by sentence of the court 1633, it was ordered that the remainder of his stumps should be cut off, and that he should be stigmatized on both cheeks with the letters S. L., and then all three were to suffer perpetual imprisonment in the re- motest prisons of the kingdom."" This sentence was executed upon them June 30, 1G37, the hangman rather sawing the remain- der of Prynne's ears than cutting them off; after which they were sent under a strong guard, one to the castle of Launceston in Cornwall, another to the castle of Lancaster, and a third to Carnarvon-castle in Wales* ; but these prisons not being thought distant enough, they were afterward removed to the islands of Scilly, Guernsey, and Jersey, where they were kept without the use of pen, ink, or paper, or the access of friends, till they were released by the long parliament. At passing this sentence archbishop Laud made a laboured speech, to clear himself from the charge of innovations, with which the Puritans loaded him. He begins with retortinir the crime upon the Puritans, who were for setting aside the order of bishops, whereas in all ages since the apostles' time the church had been governed by bishops, whose calling and order, in his grace's opinion, was by divine right, the office of lay -elders having never been heard of before Calvin. He then vindicates the par- ticular innovations complained of; as, 1. Bowing towards the altar, or at coming into the church. This he says was the practice in Jewish times ; Psal. xcv. 6, " O come let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our maker ;" and yet the government is so moderate, that no man is forced to it, but only religiously called upon. " For my own part (says his grace) I shall always think myself bound to worship with my body as well as soul, in what consecrated place soever I come to pray. You, my honoured lords of the garter, do reverence towards the altar, as the greatest })lace of God's residence upon earth ; greater than the pulpit, for there is only the word of God, but upon the altar is his body ; and a greater reverence is due to the body than to " The archbishop's revenge, not glutted by the severe sentence obtained against Mr. Prynne, pursued those who, at Chester and other places, as he was carrying to prison, shewed hin» civilities. For, though his Iceepers were not forbidden to let any visit him, some were fined 500/., some .'iOO/., and others 2^iQl. Rushworth Abridged, vol. 2. p. 2S*.'), &c. as quoted in the Pillars of Priestcraft and Orthodoxy, vol. '.i. p. 272. And the servant of Mr. Prynne was proceeded against in the high- commission, and sent from prison to prison, only for refusing to accuse his master. Id. p. 273. Neither fidelity nor humanity had merit with this prelate Ed. 592 HISTORY OF tlie word of the Lord ; and this is no innovation, for you are bound to it ])y your order, which is no new thing."" His grace proceeds to consider the alterations in the collects and pi'avers, which he says the arclibishops and bishops, to whom the ordering of the fast-book was committed, had power under the king to make, provided nothing was inserted contrary to the doctrine or discipline of the church of England ; he then justifies the several amendments, and concludes most of his articles with shewing that there is no connexion between the charge and the popular clamour raised against him, of an intent to bring in Popery. But the several innovations here mentioned being ob- jected to the archbishop at his trial, we shall defer our remarks to that place. His grace concludes with a protestation, that he had no design to alter the religion established by law ; but that his care to reduce the church to order, to uphold the external decency of it, and to settle it to the rules of the first reformation, had brought upon him and liis brethren, all that malicious storm that had loured so black over their heads. He then thanks the court for their just and honourable censure of these men, and for ''their defence of the church ; but because the business had some reference to himself, he forbears to censure them, leaving them to God's mercy and the king's justice. Notwithstanding this plausible speech, which the king ordered to be printed, the barbarous sentence passed upon these gentlemen moved the compassion of the whole nation. The three learned faculties of law, physic, and divinity, took it to heart, as thinking tiieir educations and professions might have secured them from such infamous punishment*, proper enough for the poorest and most mechanic malefactors, who could make no other satisfaction to the public for their offences ; but very improper for persons of education, degrees, or quality. Nay, the report of this censure, and the smart execution of it, flew into Scotland, and the discourse was there, that they mvist also expect a star-chamber to strengthen the hands of their bishops, as well as a high-commission : " No doubt (says archbishop Laud) but there is a concurrence between them and the Puritan party in England, to destroy me in the king's opinion-f-." Cruel as this sentence was. Dr. Williams, bishop of Lincoln, and the reverend Mr. Osbaldeston, chief master of Westminster- school, met with no less hardship;]:. The bishop had been I^aud's very good friend, in persuading king James to advance him to a bishoprick ; but upon the accession of king Charles he tiu'ned upon his benefactor, and got him removed from all his prefer- ments at court ; upon which bishop Williams retired to his diocess§, and spent his time in reading and the good government * Clarendon, vol. 1. p. 94. t Rushworth, p. 385. + Ibid. vol. 2. part 2. p. 81. § The remarks of bishop Warburton on the proceedings against Dr. Williams, THE nilUTAXS. 593 of liis dioci'ss; hero he l)ec;inie jxipular, entertaining the clergj at his table, and diseoursing- freely about affairs of chureh and state*. lie spoke with some smartness against the new ceremonies; and said once in conversation, " that the Puritans were the king's best sub- jects, and he was sure would carry all at last ; and that the king had told hinijthathewould treat thePuritans more mildly forthe future." Laud, being informed of this expression, caused an information to be lodged against him in the star-chamber, for revealing the king's secrets ; but the charge not being well supported, a new bill was exhibited against him, for tampering with the king's witnesses ; and though there was very little ground for the charge, his lord- ship was suspended in the high-commission-court from all his offices and benefices ; he was fined lOjOOO/. to the king ; 1,000Z. to Sir John Mounson, and to be imprisoned in the Tower during the king''s pleasure. The bishop was accordingly sent from the bar to the Tower-f- ; all his rich goods and chattels, to an immense value, were plundered and sold to pay the fine; his library seized, and all his papers and letters examined. Among his papers were found two or three letters written to him by Mr. Osbaldeston about five years before, in which were some dark and obscure expressions, which the jealous archbishop interpreted against him- self and the lord -treasurer Weston. Upon the foot of these letters a new bill was exhibited against the bishop for divulging scandalous libels against the king's privy-councillors. His lord- ship replied, that he did not remember his having received the letters, and was sure he had never divulged them, because they were still among his private papers ; but notwithstanding all he could say, he was condemned in a fine of 8,000/. ; 5,000/. to the king, and 8,000/. to the archbishop ; for the nonpayment of which he was kept close prisoner in the Tower till the meeting of the long parliament. The reverend Mr. Osbaldeston was charged with plotting with the bishop of Lincoln to divulge false news, and to breed a differ- ence between the lord-treasurer Weston and the archbishop of are just, though severe, and by their impartiality and spirit, do honour to his lord- ship. " This prosecution (says he) must needs give every one a bad idea of Laud's heart and temper. You might resolve his high acts of power in the state, into reverence and gratitude to his master; his tyranny in tlie church, to his zeal for and love of what he called religion ; but the outrageous prosecution of these two men can be resolved into nothing but envy and revenge : and actions like these they were which occasioned all that l)itter, but indeed just, exclamation against the bishops in the speeches of lord Falkland and lord Digby." — Ed. * Rushworth, p. 417. f Here he was kept in close imprisonment about four years. During his con- finement, in order to deprive him of his bishoprick, he was examined upon a book of articles of twenty four sheets. Amongst which were such frivolous charges as tliese : viz. that he had called a book, entitled " A coal from the altar," a. ])ainphlet : that he had said, that all flesh in England had corru])ted their ways ; that he had wickedly jested on St. Martin's hood. What must be thought of the temper of those who could think of depriving a bishop of his see on such grounds? The bishop was, however, so wary in his answers, that they could take no advantage against him. Fuller's Church Hist. b. 11. ]). 1.')/. — Ed. VOL. 1. a Q 594 HISTOUY OF Canterbury, as long ago as the year 1634*. The information was grounded upon the two letters already mentioned, in which he reports a misunderstanding between the great leviathan and the little urchin. And though the counsel for the defendant ab- solutely denied any reference to the archbishop, and named the persons meant in the letter, yet "the court fined him 5,000Z. to the king, and 5,000Z. to the archbishop ; to be deprived of all his spiritual dignities and promotions, to be imprisoned during the king's pleasure, and to stand in the pillory in the dean's yard be- fore his own school, and have his ears nailed to it." Mr. Osbal- deston being among the crowd in the court when this sentence was pronounced, immediately went home to his study at West- minster-school, and having burnt some papers,, absconded, leaving a note upon his desk with these words, "If the archbishop inquire after me, tell him I am gone beyond Canterbury." The mes- sengers were soon at his house, and finding this note, sent imme- diately to the seaports to apprehend him ; but he lay hid in a pri- vate house in Drury-lane till the search was over, and then con- cealed himself till the meeting of the long parliament ; however, all his goods and chattels were seized and confiscated. This Mr. Osbaldeston was M.A. of Christ-church college, Oxford, and pre- bendary of Westminster ; he was an admirable master, and had eighty doctors in the two universities that had been his scholars, before the year 1640 -f"; he was afterward restored by the long parliament, but when he apprehended they went beyond the bounds of their duty and allegiance, lie laid down his school and favoured the royal cause. Mr. Lilburne, afterward a colonel in the army, for refusing to take an oath to answer all interrogatories concerning his importing and publishing seditious libels, was fined 5001 and to be whipped through the streets from the Fleet to the pillory befoi'e Westmin- ster-hall gate, April 8, 1638. While he was in the pillory he uttered many bold and passionate speeches against the tyranny of the bishops ; whereupon the court of star-chamber, then sitting, ordered him to be gagged, which was done accordingly ; and that, when he was carried back to prison, he should be laid alone with irons on his hands and legs in the wards of the Fleet, where the basest of the prisoners used to be put, and that no person should be admitted to see him. Here he continued in a most forlorn and miserable condition till the meeting of the long parliament. In the midst of all these dangers the Puritan clergy spoke freely against their oppressors]:. Dr. Cornelius Burges, in a Latin ser- mon before the clergy of London, preached against the severities of the bishops, and refusing to give his diocesan a copy of his ser- mon, was put into the high-commission. Mr. Wharton of Essex preached with the same freedom at Chelmsford, for which, it is said, he made his submission. Several pamphlets were dispersed * Rushworth, vol. 2. part 2. p. 803—817. + Athenaj Oxon, vol. 1. p. 83:5. I Wood's Athense 0.\oii. vol. 2. p. 235. Tilt: PL'UITANS. 595 against tlie procoetHiigs of the ccclesiasticiil courts, which the bishop of London declared he had reason to beheve were written or countenanced by the clergy of his own diocess. Many private gentlemen in Suffolk maintained lecturers at their own expense, without consulting the bishop, who complained that they were factious, and did not govern themselves according to the canons; but says his lordship [VVren], "What shall I do with such scholars, some in orders and others not, which gentlemen of figure entci'- tain in their houses under pretence of teaching their children ? and witli those beneficed divines who take shelter in the houses of the rich laitv, and do not live vipon their cures *?" Here was tlie Puritans"" last retreat; those who were not willing to go abroad found entertainment in gentlemen's families, and from thence annoyed the enemy with their pamphlets. Even the popu- lace, who were not capable of writing, expressed their resentments against the archbishop by dispersing libels about the town, in which they threatened his destruction. His grace has entered some of them iji his diary. " "NV^ednesday, August 23. My lord-mayor sent me a libel found by the watch at the south-gate of St. PauTs, that the devil had left that house to me. "Aug. 25. Another libel was brought me by an officer of the high-commission, fastened to the north-gate of St. Paul's, that the government of the church of England is a candle in a snulF, going out in a stench. " The same nioht the lord-mayor sent me another libel, hanged upon the standard in Cheapside, which was my speech in the star-chamber set in the pillory. " A few days aftei", another short libel was sent me in verse." Yet none of these things abated his zeal, or relaxed his rigour against those who censured his arbitrary proceedings. It was impossible to debate things fairly in public, because the press was absolutely at his grace's disposal, according to a new decree of the star-chamber made this summer, which ordains, that " no book be printed unless it be first licensed with all its titles, epistles, and ])refaces, by the archbishop, or bishop of Lon- don for the time being, or by their appointment ; and within the limits of the university, by the chancellor or vice-chancellor, on pain of the printer's being disabled from his profession for the future, and to suffer such other punishment as the high-commis- sion shall think fit. That before any books imported from abroad be sold, a catalogue of them shall be deliveixd to the archbishop, or bishop of London, to be perused by themselves, or their chap- lains. And if there be any schismatical or offensive books, they shall be delivered up to the bishop, or to the high-commission, that the offenders may be i)unished. it was farther ordained, that no person shall print beyond sea any English book or books, whereof Rushworlh, p. ifu . O O '2 596 HISTORY OF the greatest part is English, whether formerly printed or not ; nor shall any book be reprinted, though formerly licensed, without a new licence. And finally, if any person that is not an allowed printer, shall set up a printing-press, he shall be set in the pillory, and be whipped through the streets of London." These terrible proceedings, instead of serving the interests of the church or state, awakened the resentments of all ranks and professions of men, against those in power : the laity were as uneasy as the clergy, many of whom sold their effects, and removed with their families and trades into Holland or New England. This alarmed the king and council, who issued out a proclamation, April 30th, 1637, to the following purpose* : " ■ The king being informed, that great numbers of his subjects were yearly transported into New England with their families and whole estates, that they might be out of the reach of eccle- siastical authority ; his majesty therefore commands, that his officers of the several ports should suffer none to pass without licence from the commissioners of the plantations, and a testimonial from their minister of their conformity to the orders and discipline of the church." And to bar the ministers, the following order of council was published ; " Whereas it is observed, that such ministers who are not con- formable to the discipline and ceremonies of the church, do fre- quently transport themselves to the plantations, where they take liberty to nourish their factious and schismatical humours, to the hinderance of the good conformity and unity of the church ; we therefore expressly command you, in his majesty's name, to suffer no clergyman to transport himself without a testimonial from the archbishop of Canterbury and bishop of London f ." This was a degree of severity hardly to be paralleled in the Christian world. When the edict of Nantz was revoked the French king allowed his Protestant subjects a convenient time to dispose of their effects, and depart the kingdom ; but our Pro- testant archbishop will neither let the Puritans live peaceably at home, nor take sanctuary in foreign countries; a conduct hardly consistent with the laws of humanity, much less with the character of a Christian bishop ; but while his grace was running things to these extremities, the people (as has been observed) took a general disgust, and almost all England became Puritan. The bishops and courtiers being not insensible of the number and weight of their enemies among the more resolved Protestants, determined to balance their power by joining the Papists; for which purpose the differences between the two churches were said to be trifling, and the peculiar doctrines of Popery printed and preached up, as proper to be received by the church of England. Bishop Montague, speaking of the points of faith and morality, affirmed, that none of these are controverted between us, but that * Rushworth, vol. 2. part 2. p. 409. t Ibid. p. 410. THE ^UHITANS. 597 " the points in dispute were of a lesser nature, of which a man niifrht be ionorant without any danfjer of salvation*." Francis- •■.^. 11*1111 cus de Clara, an eminent Franciscan friar, published a book, wherein he endeavoured to accommodate the articles of the church of England to the sense of the church of Rome, so that both parties might subscribe them. The book was dedicated to the king, and the friar admitted to an acquaintance with the arch- bishop-j-. Great stress was laid upon the uninterrupted succession of the episcopal character through the church of Rome; for "miserable were we (says Dr. Pocklington) if he that now sits archbishop of Canterbury could not derive his succession from St. Austin, St. Austin from St. Gregory, and St. Gregory from St, Peter." Dr. Heylin, in his moderate answer to Mr. Burton, has these words ; " That my lord of Canterbury that now is, is lineally descended from St. Peter in a most fair and constant tenor of succession, you shall easily find if you consult the learned labours of Mason ' De Ministerio Anglicano.''" Bishop Montague published a treatise, "Of the Invocation of Saints," in which he says, that " departed saints have not only a memory, but a more peculiar charge of their friends ; and that some saints have a peculiar patronage, custody, protection, and power, as angels have also, over certain persons and countries by special deputation ; and that it is not impiety so to believe;}:." Dr. Cosins says, in one of his sermons, that " when our reformers took away the mass, they marred all religion ; but that the mass was not taken away inasmuch as the real presence of Christ remained still, otherwise it were not a reformed, but a deformed religion.'" And in order to persuade a Papist to come to church, he told him, that the body of Christ was substantially and really in the sacra- nient§. This divine printed a collection of private devotions, in imitati(Mi of the Roman Horary. The frontispiece had three capital letters, J. H. S., upon these there was a cross encircled with the sun, supported by two angels, with two devout women praying towards it. The book contains the Apostles' creed, the Lord's prayer divided into seven petitions, the precepts of charity, the seven sacraments, the three theological virtues, the eight beatitudes, the seven deadly sins ; with forms of prayer for the first, third, * Rushwortb, part 1. p. 214. f Grey quotes a passage from the trial of Laud, by which it appears that he denied having given any encouragement to the publication of this book, and had absolutely jirohibited its being printed in England ; that Clara was never with him till the book was ready for tlie press, nor afterward above twice or thrice at most, when he made great friends to obtain the archbisliop's sanction to his printing another book, to prove that bishops are by divine right ; and his request was again refused. For the archbishop replied, " that he did not like the way which the church of Rome went in the case of episcopacy ; would never consent to the jirint- ing of any such book here from the pen of a Romanist, and that the bishops of England were able to defend their own cause, without calling in the aid of the church of Rome, and would in due time." — Ed. : Rushwortb, vol. 1. p. 214. § CoUyer's Eccles. Hist. p. 742. 598 HISTORY OF • sixth, and ninth hours, and for the vespers and compline, formerly called the canonical hovn-s ; then followed the litany, with prayers for the sacrament, in time of sickness, and at the approach of death. This book was licensed by the bishop of London, and publicly sold when the books of the most resolved Protestants were suppressed. Mr. Adams, in a sermon at St. Mary^s in Cambridge, asserted the expedience of auricular confession, saying, it was as necessary to salvation as meat is to the body*. Others preached up the doctrine of penance, and of authoritative priestly absolution from sin. Some maintained the proper merit of good works, in opposi- tion to the received doctrine of justification by faith alone. Others, that in the sacrament of the Lord's supper there was a full and proper sacrifice for sin. Some declared for images, cruci- fixes, and pictures in churches, for purgatory, and for preserving, reverencing, and even praying to, the relics of saints. The author of the English Pope, printed 1643, says, that Sparrow paved the way for auricular confession, Watts for penance, Heylin for altar worship, Montague for saint worship, and Laud for the mass. It was a very just observation of a Venetian gentleman in his travels to England about this time-f-, " that the universities, bishops, and divines, of England, daily embraced Catholic doctrines, though they professed them not with open mouth : they held that the church of Rome was a true church ; that the pope was superior to all bishops ; that to him it pertained to call general councils ; that it was lawful to pray for souls departed ; and that altars ought to be erected in all churches ; in sum, they believed all that was taught by the church of Rome, but not by the court of Rome."" Remarkable are the words of Heylin to the same purpose:}: : " The greatest part of the controversy between us and the church of Rome (says he), not being in fundamentals, or in any essential points of the Christian religion, I cannot other- wise look upon it but as a most Christian and pious work, to endeavour an agreement in the superstructure; as to the lawfulness of it, I could never see any reason produced against it: against the impossibility of it, ithasbeen objected, that the church of Rome will yield nothing; if therefore there be an agreement, it must not be their meeting us, but our going to them ; but that all in the church of Rome are not so stiff', appears from the testimony of the archbishop of Spalato, who acknowledged that the articles of the church of England were not heretical, and by the treatise of Franciscus de Clara §. Now if, without prejudice to truth, the * Rushworth, p. 137. Prynne, p. 195, &c. t May's Hist, of Pari. p. 25, X Fuller's Appeal, part 3. p. 63. 65. § His real name was Christopher Davenport. He was the son of an alderman of Coventry, and with his brother John was sent to Merton-coUege in Oxford, in the year 1613. John became afterward a noted Puritan, and then an Independent. Christopher, by the invitation of some Romish priests living in or near Oxford, went to study at Doway in 161(;. He afterward spent some time in the university THK PURITANS. 599 loiitrovcrsies might be composed, it is most probable that other Protestant churches would have sued to be included in the peace; if not, the church of England will lose nothing by it, as being- hated by the Calvinists, and not loved by the Lutherans." This was the ridiculous court scheme which archbishop Laud used all his interest to accomplish ; and it is no impertinent story to our present purpose, because it is well attested, that a certain countess (whose husband's father the archbishop bad married, and thereby brought himself into trouble) having turned Papist, was asked by the archbishop the cause of her changing, to whom she replied, it was because she always hated to go in a, crowd. Being asked again the reason of that expression, she answered, that she perceived his grace and many others were making haste to Rome, and therefore to prevent going in a press she had gone before them*. It is certain the Papists were in high reputation at court; the king counted them his best subjects, and relaxed the penal laws, on pretence that hereby foreign Catholic princes might be induced to shew favour to their subjects of the reformed religion. Within the compass of four years, seventy-four letters of grace were signed by the king's own hand ; sixty-four priests were dismissed from the Gate-house, and twenty-nine by warrant from the secre- tary of state, at the instance of the queen, the queen mother, or some foreign ambassador. Protections were frequently granted, to put a stop to the proceedings of the courts of justice against them-f-. I have before me a list of Popish recusants, convicted in the twenty nine English counties of the southern division, from the first of king Charles to the sixteenth, which amounts to no less than eleven thousand nine hundred and seventy j: (as the account was brought into the long parliament by Mr. John Pulford, employed in their prosecution by the king himself), all of whomVere released and pardoned. And if their numbers were so great in the south, how must they abound in the northern and Welsh counties, where they are comjjuted three to one I Many of them were promoted to places of the highest honom- and trust; sir Richard Weston was lord-high-treasurer, sir Fran- cis Windebank secretary of state, lord Cottington was chancellor of the exchequer, and Mr. Porter of the bed chamber ; besides these, there were, lord Conway, sir Kenelm Digby, sir Toby of Salamanca, from whence he returned to Doway, and read first philosophy, and then divinity there. At length he became a missionary into England, and a chap- lain to queen Henrietta Maria, under the name of Franciscus a Sancta Clara. Amongst many learned works, of which he was the author, was " An Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles in the most favourable Sense." "But (says bishop War- burton) it pleased neither party." The Spanish inquisition put it into the Index Expurgatorius ; and it would liave been condemned at Rome, had uot the king and archbishop Laud jiressed Penzani, the pope's agent at London, to stop the jirose- cution. He died the Mst of May, KiSO. Warburton's supplemental volume, p. 483 ; and Wood's Athenae Oxon. vol. 2. p. 41.5, &c. — Ed. * Fuller's Appeal, p. (Jl. t Rushworth, vol. 2. part 2. p. 284. + Foxes and Firebrands, part 3. p. '.'). 600 HISTORV OF Mathews, Mr. Montague, jun., the duchess of Montague, the countess of Newport, and many others, all Papists, who were in high favour *, and had the king and queen's ear whensoever they pleased. The pope had a nuncio in England, and the queen an agent at Rome ; cardinal Barberini was made protector of the English nation, and a society was erected under the title of "The congregation for propagating the faith f." Richard Smith, titular bishop of Chalcedon, exercised episcopal jurisdiction over the English Catholics by commission from the pope ; he con- ferred orders, and appeared in Lancashire with his mitre and crosier:};; seignior Con or Cunaeus, the pope's legate gained over several of the gentry, and attempted the king himself by presents of little Popish toys and pictures, with which his majesty was v/onderfully delighted §. The Papists had a common purse ||, with which they purchased several monopolies, and bestowed the profits upon their best friends ; several of their mihtary men were put into commission, and great numbers were listed in his majesty ""s armies against the Scots ^. But let the reader form his judgment of the number and strength of the Roman Catholics from lord Clarendon **, who says, " The Papists had for many years enjoyed a great calm, being on the matter absolved from the severest parts of the law, and dispensed * Collyer's Eccles. Hist. vol. 2. p. 780. t Fuller's Church History, b. 11. p. 137. Prynne, p. 198. X Foxes aud Firebrands, part 3. p. 124. § Mr. Neal here goes beyond his author, who says, "which yet could prevail nothing with the king." But then he remarks in the margin, that it " was strange that the king did not send Cunceus packing, when he thus tempted and assaulted him." On the truth and force of this remark, it may be presumed, that Mr. Neal grounded his representation of the king's being delighted with the legate's presents. For instead of dismissing him, he often received him at Hampton-court, and soli- cited his services for the Palatinate ; which certainly indicated no displeasure at his gifts.- Ed. II Foxes and Firebrands, part 3. p. 134. ^1 Dr. Grey properly observes, that the place in Collyer to which Mr. Neal here refers, mentions not one syllable of this. The truth is, that Collyer is alleged only to prove the influence which the Papists had at court. I have, therefore, annexed the reference to a preceding sentence. The doctor adds, " nor do I believe, that he {i.e. Mr. Neal) can produce the least authority for his assertion, that great num- bers of Papists were listed in his majesty's armies against the Scots." It is to be wished, that Mr. Neal had referred here exactly to his authority. But to supply this omission, it may be observed, that the queen employed sir Kenelm Digby and Mr. Walter Montague to raise liberal contributions for the war from the Papists, whose clergy vied with the English on this occasion ; on this ground, some styled the forces raised, the Popish army. The circumstance renders it, to say the least, exceedingly probable that Papists were enlisted. It was afterward charged on the king, that he employed them in his armies ; the earl of Newcastle did not deny it ; and the parliament produced lists of Popish officers in the king's service, with their names, quality, and employs. It was also urged against the parliament, that there were great numbers of Papists, both commanders and others, in their army. Dr. Grey quotes Dugdale to prove this. Rapin observes on this charge, that not a single Catholic was named by those who brought the charge, nor were the muster- rolls, to which the appeal was made, ever published. Whitelocke's Memoirs, p. 31 . Mrs. Macauley's History, vol. 2. p. 270. 8vo. Rapin, vol. 2. p. 462. 4(j8. folio. An Essay towards a true Idea of the Character and Reign of Charles I. p. CD ; and Dugdale's Short View of the Troubles, &c. p. 105. 5(i4 Ed. ••■» Vol. 1. p. 118. THE PURITANS. 601 with for tlie oentlest. They were o-rown to be a part of the revenue, without any probable danger of being made a sacrifice to the law. They were looked upon as good subjects at court, and good neighbours in the country ; all the restraints and re- proaches of former times being forgotten : but they were not prudent managers of their prosperity, being elated with the con- nivance and protection they received ; and though I am ]iersuaded their numbers increased not, their pomp and boldness did to that degree, that, as if they affected to be thought dangerous to the state, they appeared more publicly, entertained and urged con- ferences more avowedly, than had before been known. They re- sorted at common hours to mass to Somerset-house, and returned thence in great multitudes with tlie same barefacedness as others come from the Savoy, or other neighbouring churches. They attempted, and sometimes gained, proselytes, of weak uninformetl ladies, with such circumstances as provoked the rage, and destroyed tlie charity, of great and powerful families, which longed for their suppression ; they grew not onh' secret contrivers, but public pro- fessed promoters of, and ministers in, the most odious and most grievous projects, as in that of soap, formed, framed, and executed, by almost a corporation of that religion, which under that licence and notion might be, and were suspected to be, qualified for other agitations. The priests and such as were in orders (orders that in themselves were pimishable with death) were departed from their former modesty and fear, and were as willing to be known as to be hearkened to; insomuch that a Jesuit at Paris, who was coming for England, had the boldness to visit the ambassador there, who knew him to be such, and offering him his service, acquainted him with his journey, as if there had been no laws there for his reception ; and for the most invidious protection and countenance of that whole party, a public agent from Rome (first Mr. Con a Scottish man, and after him the count of Rosetti an Italian) resided in London in great pomp, publicly visited tiic court, and was avowedly resorted to by the Catholics of all con- ditions, over whom he assumed a particular jurisdiction, and was caressed and presented magnificently by the ladies of honour who inclined to that profession. They had likewise, with more noise and vanity than prudence would have admitted, made public col- lections of money to a considerable sum, upon some recommenda- tions from the ([ueen, and to be by her majesty presented, as a free-will-offering from his Roman-Catholic subjects to the king, for the carrying on the war against the Scots ; which drew upon them the rage of that nation, with little devotion and reverence to the queen lierself, as if she desired to suppress tlie Protestant reli- gion in one kingdom as w ell as the other, by the arms of the Ro- man Catiiolics." From this account, compared with the foregoing relation, it is evident there never was a stronger combination in favour of Popery, nor was the Protestant religion at any time in a more 602 HISTORY OF dangerous crisis, being deserted by its pretended friends, while it was secretly undermining by its most powerful enemies. The case was the same with the civil liberties and properties of the people ; no man had any thing that he could call his own any longer than the king pleased ; for in the famous trial of Mr. Hampden of Buckinghamshire, in the case of ship-money, all the judges of England, except Crook and Hutton *, gave it for law, " that the king might levy taxes on the subject by writ under the great seal, without grant of parliament, in cases of necessity ; or when the kingdom was in danger ; of which danger and necessity his majesty was the sole and final judge; and that by law his majesty might compel the doing thereof in case of refusal or re- fractoriness." This determination was entered in all the courts of Westminster-hall ; and the judges were commanded to declare it in their circuits throughout the kingdom, to the end that no man might plead ignorance. " The damage and mischief can- not be expressed (says lord Clarendon -f) that the crown sus- tained by the deserved reproach and infamy that attended this behaviour of the judges, who out of their courtship submitted the grand questions of law to be measured by what they call the standard of general reason and necessity .'*' While these ex- traordinary niethods of raising money were built only upon the prerogative, people were more patient, hoping that some time or other the law would recover its power ; but when they were declared by all the judges to be the very law itself, and a rule for determining suits between the king and subject, they were struck with despair, and concluded very justly that magna charta and the old English constitution were at an end. Let the reader now recollect himself, and then judge of the candour of the noble historian, who, notwithstanding the cruel persecutions and oppressions already mentioned, celebrates the felicity of these times in the following words : " Now, after all this, 1 must be so just as to say, that from the dissolution of the parliament in the fourth year of the king, to the beginning of the long parliament, which was about twelve years, this kingdom and all his majesty's dominions enjoyed the greatest calm, and the fullest measure of felicity, that any people, in any age, for so long- time together, have been blessed with, to the wonder and envy of all other parts of Christendom : — the court was in great plenty, or rather excess and luxury, the country rich and full, enjoy- ing the pleasure of its own wealth ; the church flourished Avith learned and extraordinary men ; and the Protestant I'eligion was more advanced against the church of Rome, by the writings of archbishop Laud and Chillingworth, than it had been since the reformation. — Trade increased to that degree, that we were the exchange of Christendom ; foreign merchants looking upon no- thing so much their own as what they had laid up in the ware- * Rapin, vol. 2. p. 2'Jo, 29G. folio edit. t Vol. 1. p. 70. THE PURITANS. G03 liouscs of this kitif^doni. — The reputation of the greatness and power of the king with foreign princes was much more than any of liis ])rogenitors. And lastly, for a complement of all these blessings, they were enjoyed under the protection of a king of the most harmless disposition, the most exemplary piety, and the greatest sobriety, chastity, and mercy, that any prince had been endowed with, and who might have said that which Pericles was proud of upon his death-bed, concerning his citizens, 'that no Englishman had worn a mourning-gown through his occasion."' In a word, many wise men thought it a time wherein those two adjuncts, imperium and liljcrfas, were as well reconciled as pos- sible *;' Not a line of this panegyric will bear examination. When his lordship says, " that no people in any age had been blessed with so great a calm, and such a full measure of felicity for so long a time together [twelve years]," he seems to have undervalued the long and pacific reign of his majesty's royal father, king James, who was distinguished by the title of Blessed. But where v/as the liberty or safety of the subject, when magna charta and the petition of right, which the king had signed in full parliament, were swallowed up in the gulf of arbitrary power? and the sta- tute laws of the land were exchanged for a rule of government depending upon the sovereign w ill and pleasure of the crown ? If the court was in excess and luxury, it was with the plunder of the people, arising from loans, benevolences, ship-money, monopolies, and other illegal taxes on merchandise. The country was so far from growing rich and wealthy, that it was every year draining off its inhabitants and substance, as appears not only by the loss of the foreign manufacturers, but by his majesty's proclamations, forbidding any of his subjects to transport themselves and their effects to New England without his special licence. Was it pos- sible that trade could flourish, when almost every branch of it was engrossed, and sold by tiie crown for large sums of money, and when the ])roperty of the subject was so precarious, that the king- might call for it upon any occasion, and in case of refusal ruin the proprietor by exorbitant fines and imprisonment ? Did no Eng- lishman wear a mourning-gown in these times, when the Seldens, the Hollises, the Elliots, the Strouds, the Hobarts, the Valentines, the Coritons, and other patriots, were taken out of the parliament- house, and shut uj) Un' many years in close prisons, where some of them perished ? How many of the nobility and gentry were punished with exorbitant fines in the star-chamber ? how many hundred ministers and others were ruined in the high-connnission, or forced from their native country into banishment, contrary to law ? The jails in the several counties were never free from state or church prisoners during the past twelve years of his majesty's reign, and yet it seems no Englishman wore a mourning-gown * Lord C'laicndori b Rcprescnlation of the Times, vol. 1. p. 71. 7ft. 604 HISTORY OF through his occasion? Is it possible to beheve, that the repu- tation of the greatness and power of king Charles I. with foreign princes (however harmless, pious, sober, chaste, and merciful, he might be) was equal to that of queen Elizabeth or king Henry VIII. ? What service did he do by his arms or counsels for the Protestant religion, or for the liberties or tranquilHty of Europe ? When his majesty's affairs were in the greatest distress, what credit had he abroad ? or where Avas the foreign prince (except his own son-in-law) that would lend him either men or money ? If the Protestant religion was advanced in speculation by the writings of archbishop Laud and Chillingworth ; is it not suffi- ciently evident that the Roman Catholics were prodigiously in- creased in numbers, reputation, and influence ? Upon the whole, the people of England were so far from enjoying a full measure of felicity, that they groaned under a yoke of the heaviest oppres- sion, and were prepared to lay hold of any opportunity to assert their liberties ; so that to make his lordship's representation of the times consistent with truth, or with his own behaviour at the be- ginning of the long parliament, one is almost tempted to suspect it must have received some amendments or colourings from the hands of his editors. This was the state of affairs at the end of the pacific part of this reign, and forwards to the beginning of the long parliament. CHAPTER VI. FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE COMMOTIONS IN SCOTLAND, TO THE LONG PARLIAMENT IN THE YEAR 1640. We are now entering upon a scene of calamity which opened in the north, and in a few years, like a rising tempest, overspread both kingdoms, and involved them in all the miseries of a civil war. If archbishop Laud could have been content with being metropolitan of the church of England alone, he might have gone to his grave in peace ; but grasping at the jurisdiction of another church founded upon different principles, he pulled both down upon his head and was buried in the ruins. We have mentioned the preposterous publishing the Scots book of canons a year before their liturgy, which was not finished till the month of October 1636. His majesty's reasons for compihng it were, that " his royal father had intended it, and made a consi- derable progress in the work, in order to curb such of his subjects in Scotland as were inclined to Puritanism ; that his present ma- jesty resolved to pursue the same design, and therefore consented to the publication of this book, which was in substance the same with the Engli.sh liturgy, that tlie Roman party might not upbraid us with any material "ditferencci, and yet it was so far distinct, THE I'URITAXS. 605 that it mir^lit lie truly reputed a hook of" that churcirs composing, and estabhshed by his royal authority as lpensed with also, and that there be no prosecution thereof till the meeting of the convocation. " York, September 30, 1G40. li. Vane§." M'e have mentioned the secret correspondence between the English and Scots nobility to recover the liberties of both king- doms, which encouraged the Scots to march a second time to their border, where fhe king met them with his army commanded • Nalson's Collection, p. 496 41^8. t Book 11. p 171. ; Nalson, p. 497. § Ibid. p. .".00. 634 HISTORY OF by the earls of Northumberland and Strafford ; but it soon ap- peared that the English nobility were not for conquering the Scots ; nor had the Protestant soldiers any zeal in his majesty''s cause, so that after a small skirmish the Scots army passed the Tweed, August 21, and on the 30th took possession of the impor- tant town of Newcastle, the royal army retreating before them as far as York, and leaving them masters of the three northern counties of Northumberland, Cumberland, and Durham, where they sub- sisted their army, and raised what contributions they pleased. As soon as the Scots entered Newcastle, they sent an express to the lord-mayor and aldermen of London, to assure thein they would not interrupt the trade between that town and the city of London, but would cultivate all mannerof friendship and brotherly correspondence. They also sent messengers to the king, with an humble petition , that his majesty would please " to confirm their late acts of parliament, restore their ships and merchandise, recall his proclamation which styles them rebels, and call an English parliament to settle the peace between both kingdoms." This was followed by another signed by twelve peers with his majesty at York, and by a third from the city of London. The king, finding it impossible to carry on the war, appointed commissioners to treat with the Scots at Rippon, who agreed to a cessation of arms for two months, from the 26th of October, the Scots to have 850Z. a day for maintenance of their army ; and the treaty to be adjourned to London, where a free parliament was immediately to be convened. The calling an English parliament was the grand affair that had been concerted with the Scots before their coming into England ; and it was high time ; because to all appearance this was the last crisis for saving the constitution. If the Irish and English armies were raised to reduce Scotland, under the arbitrary power of the prerogative (as lord Clarendon confesses,) what could be expected, but that afterward they should niai'ch back into England, and establish the same despotic power hei'e, with a standing army, beyond all recovery ? Sad and melancholy was the condition of the prime-ministers, when they saw themselves reduced to the necessity of submitting their conduct to the examination of an English parliament, sup- ported by an army from Scotland, and the general discontents of the people ! Several of the courtiei-s began to shift for them- selves ; some withdrew from the storm, and others, having been concerned in various illegal projects, deserted their masters, and made their peace by discovering the king's counsels to the leading members of Parliament, which disabled the junto from making any considerable efforts for their safety. All men had a venera- tion for the person of the king, though his majesty had lost ground in their affections by his ill-usage of parliaments, and by taking the faults of his ministers upon himself. But the queen was in no manner of esteem with any who had the Protestant religion, and the liberties of their country, at heart, I'he bishops had THK PURITANS. 635 sunk their character by their behaviour iti the spiritual courts, so that they had nothing to expect but that their wings should be chpped. And the judges were despised and hated, for betraying the laws of their country and giving a sanction to the illegal pro- ceedings of the council and star-chamber. As his majesty had few friends of credit or interest amon. END or VOL. I. LONDON : BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. DATE DUE Ajm* ; ? "UvrT*9'*8 is <»»MHMiii'i II ilil ■tai^^ 1 «Mli.j^ mmm^ AK^.^a-a*^'^ »«»«-*•» JJ^it^ «**-'*«W..., 1 r0«^ -*r^ n 19 -:^3»* M. ^ 1 GAYLORD PRINTED IN U.S.A. ^^^w ^(P