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<DATE>2012-02-21</DATE>
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<NAME>Pip Willcox</NAME>
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<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>A Landskip: OR A BRIEF PROSPECTIVE OF <HI>ENGLISH</HI> EPISCOPACY, Drawn by three skilfull hands; in PARLIAMENT: <HI>Anno</HI> 1641.</P>
<Q><P>Say not then, What is the cau&s;e that the former dayes were better than the&s;e, for thou do&s;t not enquire wi&s;ely concerning this.</P>
<BIBL><HI>Eccle&s;. 7.10.</HI></BIBL></Q>
<Q><P>Do men gather grapes of thornes, or figgs of thi&s;tles?</P>
<BIBL><HI>Matth. 7.16.</HI></BIBL></Q>
<Q><P>Though thou &s;houlde&s;t bray a fool in a morter, among wheat, with a pe&s;tle, yet will not his fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e depart from him.</P>
<BIBL><HI>Proverbs 27.27.</HI></BIBL></Q>
<Q><P>Cur&s;ed be the Man before the Lord, that builds up the walls of this City <HI>Jericho.</HI></P>
<BIBL><HI>Jo&s;h. 26.6.</HI></BIBL></Q>
<Q><P>For if I build again the things that I have de&s;troyed, I make my &s;elf a Tran&s;gre&s;&s;or.</P>
<BIBL><HI>Galat. 2.18.</HI></BIBL></Q>
<P>Printed in the Year MDCLX.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD><HI>To the</HI> Ingenuous, <HI>and</HI> Judicious READER.</HEAD>
<P><HI>_THou</HI> ha&s;t here put into thy hands <HI>three SPEECHES.</HI> The <HI>Fir&s;t</HI> beares in its from the Name of the <HI>Learned</HI> and <HI>Renowned Authour</HI> The Lord <HI>Vi&s;count FAULKELAND,</HI> who&s;e Name is annexed, becau&s;e, <HI>Fir&s;t</HI> he was known to be a Friend to <HI>Epi&s;copacy,</HI> and &s;o this verie <HI>Speech</HI> &s;hewes him, and therefore His Te&s;timonie is the more Authentick: <HI>Secondly,</HI> Becau&s;e he is now dead, and &s;o out of the reach of Envie and Revenge. But the Names of the other <HI>two Gentlemen</HI> are concealed, becau&s;e they are yet living.</P>
<P><HI>Two Things</HI> have moved the publi&s;hing of <HI>the&s;e</HI> at this time: <HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> It
<PB REF="3">is &s;uppo&s;ed there are many Hundred <HI>Per&s;ons</HI> of con&s;iderable <HI>quality</HI> in the <HI>Nation,</HI> either now entering, or already entered upon the <HI>Stage</HI> for Action, who were either unborn, or at lea&s;t very young, when the <HI>Epi&s;copal</HI> Controver&s;ie was agitated among us, who are di&s;plea&s;ed with what the <HI>PARLIAMENT</HI> and <HI>Nation</HI> did against <HI>EPISCOPACY,</HI> becau&s;e they onelie knew what they did, but not why, and who are <HI>favourers</HI> of <HI>Bi&s;hops</HI> and that <HI>party,</HI> as knowing onelie how much they &s;uffered, not how much they had offended. For their &s;akes therefore <HI>the&s;e things</HI> are publi&s;hed at this time: And <HI>Secondly,</HI> For the &s;akes even of the <HI>BISHOPS</HI> them&s;elves, that they may be put in remembrance of the Rocks upon which formerlie they have da&s;hed, and may carefullie avoid them, least a wor&s;e thing happen to them.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="speech">
<PB N="1" REF="3">
<HEAD>A SPEECH made to the <HI>Hou&s;e of Commons,</HI> concerning <HI>Epi&s;copacy</HI> An. D. 1641.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">By the Lord Vi&s;count <HI>FA&V;LKELAND; who was known to be no</HI> Presbyterian.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Master SPEAKER,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_HE is a great Stranger in <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> who knowes not, that this Kingdome hath long laboured under many and great Oppre&s;&s;ions, both in Religion and Liberty; and his acquaintance here is not great, or his ingenuity le&s;&s;e, who doth not both know and acknowledge, that a great, if not a principal cau&s;e of both the&s;e hath been &s;ome Bi&s;hops, and their Adherents.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Speaker,</HI> A little &s;earch will &s;erve to find them to have been the de&s;truction of Unity, under pretence of Uniformity; to have brought in Super&s;tition, and &s;candal, under the Titles of Reverence, and Decency; to have defiled our Church, by adorning our Churches; to have &s;lackned the &s;trictne&s;&s;e of that Union which was formerly between us, and tho&s;e of our Religion beyond the Sea: An Action as unpolitick, as ungodly.</P>
<P><HI>Master Speaker,</HI> We &s;hall finde them to have Tith'd Mint and Annice, and have left undone the weightier works of the Law; to have been le&s;&s;e eager upon tho&s;e who damn our Church, than upon tho&s;e, who upon weak con&s;cience, and perhaps as weak rea&s;ons (the di&s;like of &s;ome commanded Garment, or &s;ome uncommanded po&s;ture) only ab&s;tained from it. Nay, it hath been more dangerous for men to go to &s;ome neighbours Pari&s;h, when they had no Sermon in their own, than to be ob&s;tinate and perpetual Recu&s;ants; while Ma&s;&s;es have been &s;aid in &s;ecurity, a Conventicle hath been a crime; and which is yet more, the conforming to Ceremonies hath been more exacted than the conforming to Chri&s;tianity; and while&s;t men for Scruples have been undone, for attempts upon <HI>Sodomie</HI> they have only been admoni&s;hed.</P>
<P><HI>Ma&s;ter Speaker,</HI> We &s;hall finde them to have been like the Hen in <HI>Ae&s;op,</HI> which laying every day an egge upon &s;uch a proportion of barly, her Mi&s;tre&s;&s;e increa&s;ing her proportion in hope &s;he would encrea&s;e her eggs, &s;he grew &s;o fat upon that addition, that &s;he never laid more: So though at fir&s;t their Preaching were the occa&s;ion of their preferment, they after made their Preferment the occa&s;ion of their not preaching.</P>
<PB N="2" REF="4">
<P><HI>Ma&s;ter Speaker,</HI> We &s;hall finde them to have re&s;embled another Fable, The Dog in the manger; to have neither preached them&s;elves, nor imploy tho&s;e that &s;hould, nor &s;uffer'd tho&s;e that would: To have brought in Catechi&s;ing only to thru&s;t out Preaching; cried down Lectures by the Name of Factions, either becau&s;e their indu&s;try in that duty appeared a Reproof to their neglect of it (not unlike to that we read of him who, in <HI>Nero</HI>'s time, and <HI>Tacitus</HI> his Story, was accu&s;ed, becau&s;e by his vertue he did appear <HI>Exprobare vitia Principis</HI>) or with intention to have brought in darkne&s;&s;e, that they might the ea&s;ier &s;ow their tares, while it was night, and by that introduction of ignorance, introduce the better that Religion, which accounts it the Mother of Devotion.</P>
<P><HI>Master Speaker,</HI> In this they have abu&s;ed his Maje&s;ty as well as his people; for when he had with great wi&s;dome (&s;ince u&s;ually the children of darkne&s;&s;e are wi&s;er in their Generation than the children of light; I may gue&s;&s;e, not without &s;ome eye upon the mo&s;t politick action of the mo&s;t politick Church) &s;ilenced on both parts tho&s;e Opinions which have often tormented the Church, and have, and will alway trouble the Schooles, they made u&s;e of this Declaration to ty up one &s;ide, and let the other loo&s;e; whereas they ought either in di&s;cretion to have been equally re&s;trained, or in ju&s;tice to have been equally tollerated. And it is ob&s;ervable, that that party to which they gave this Licen&s;e, was that, who&s;e Doctrine, though it were not contrary to Law, was contrary to Cu&s;tome, and for a long while in this Kingdome was no oftener preached than recanted.</P>
<P>The truth is, <HI>Ma&s;ter Speaker,</HI> That as &s;ome ill Mini&s;ters in our State fir&s;t took away our mony from us, and after endeavoured to make our mony not worth the taking, by turning it into bra&s;&s;e by a kinde of <HI>Antiphilo&s;ophers &s;tone:</HI> So the&s;e men u&s;ed us in the point of Preaching, fir&s;t depre&s;&s;ing it to their power, and next labouring to make it &s;uch, as the harm had not been much, if it had been depre&s;&s;ed; the mo&s;t frequent Subjects even in the mo&s;t facred Auditories, being the <HI>Jus divinum</HI> of Bi&s;hops and Tithes, the &s;acredne&s;&s;e of the Clergy, the Sacriledge of Impropriations, the demoli&s;hing of Puritani&s;me and Propriety, the building of the prerogative at <HI>Pauis,</HI> the introduction of &s;uch Doctrines, as admitting them true, the truth would not recompen&s;e the &s;candal, or of &s;uch as were &s;o farr fal&s;e, that as Sir <HI>Thomas Moore</HI> &s;ayes of the Ca&s;ui&s;ts, Their bu&s;ine&s;&s;e was, not to keep men from &s;inning, but to enform them, <HI>Quam prop&egrave; ad peccatum &s;ine peccato liceat accedere;</HI> &s;o it &s;eemed their work was to try how much of a Papi&s;t might be brought in without Popery, and to de&s;troy as much as they could of the Go&s;pel, without bringing them&s;elves into danger of being de&s;troi'd by Law.</P>
<P><HI>Master Speaker,</HI> To go yet further, &s;ome of them have &s;o indu&s;triou&s;ly laboured to deduce them&s;elves from <HI>Rome,</HI> that they have given great &s;u&s;picion, that in gratitude they de&s;ire to return thither, or at lea&s;t to meet it half way; &s;ome have evidently labour'd to bring in an <HI>Engli&s;h,</HI> though not a <HI>Roman Popery.</HI> I mean not only the out&s;ide and dre&s;&s;e of it, but equally ab&s;olute, a blinde dependance of the people upon the Clergie, and of the Clergie upon them&s;elves, and have oppo&s;ed the Papacy beyond the Sea, that they might &s;ettle one beyond the water. Nay common fame is more than ordinarily fal&s;e, if none of them have found a way to reconcile the Opinions of <HI>Rome,</HI> to the preferments of <HI>England;</HI> be &s;o ab&s;olutely, directly, and cordially Papi&s;t, that it is all that fifteen hundred pounds a year can do to keep them from confe&s;&s;ing it.</P>
<PB N="3" REF="4">
<P><HI>Ma&s;ter Speaker,</HI> I come now to &s;peak of our Liberties, and con&s;idering the great intere&s;t the&s;e men have had in our common Ma&s;ter, and con&s;idering how great a good to us they might have made that intere&s;t in him, if they would have u&s;ed it to have informed him of our general &s;ufferings; and con&s;idering how little of their freedome of Speech at <HI>Whitchall,</HI> might have &s;aved us a great deal of the u&s;e we have now of it in the Parliament Hou&s;e, their not doing this alone were occa&s;ion enough for us to accu&s;e them, as the betrayers, though not as the de&s;troyers of our Rights and Liberties. Though I confe&s;&s;e, if they had been only &s;ilent in this particular, I had been &s;ilent too: But alas, they who&s;e Ance&s;tors in the darke&s;t times excommunicated the breakers of <HI>Magna Charta;</HI> did now by them&s;elves and their Adherents both write, preach, plot, and act again&s;t it, by encouraging Doctor <HI>Beale,</HI> by preferring Doctor <HI>Mannering,</HI> appearing forward for Monopolies, and &s;hip mony: and if any were &s;low and backward to comply, bla&s;ting both them and their preferment, with utmo&s;t expre&s;&s;ion of their hatred, the title of Puritans.</P>
<P><HI>Ma&s;ter Speaker,</HI> We &s;hall finde &s;ome of them to have laboured to exclude both all per&s;ons, and all cau&s;es of the Clergy from the ordinary juri&s;diction of the temporal Magi&s;trate, and by hindting Prohibitions (fir&s;t by apparant power again&s;t the Judges, and after by &s;ecret Agreements with them) to have taken away the only legal bound to their arbitrary power, and made as it were a conque&s;t upon the common Law of the Land, which is our common Inheritance, and after made u&s;e of that power to turn their brethren out of their Freeholds, for not doing that which no Law of man required of them to do, and which (in their opinions) the Law of God required of them not to do. We &s;hall finde them in general to have encouraged all the Clergy to Suits and to have brought all &s;uits to the Councel-table; that having all power in Eccle&s;ia&s;tical matters, they laboured for equal power in temporal, and to di&s;po&s;e as well of every Office as of every Benefice, and lo&s;t the Clergie much Revenue and much reverence, (whereof the la&s;t is never given when it is &s;o asked) by encouraging them indi&s;creetly to exact more of both than was due; &s;o that indeed the gain of their greatne&s;&s;e extended but to few of that Order, though the envy extended upon all.</P>
<P>We &s;hall finde of them to have both kindled and blown the common fire of both Nations, to have both &s;ent and maintained that Book, of which the Author no doubt hath long &s;ince wi&s;h'd with <HI>Nero U<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">iaam ne&s;c&s;&s;im<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">lueras,</HI> and of which more than one Kingdome hath cau&s;e to wi&s;h, that when he writ that, he had rather burn'd a Library, though of the value of <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">tol<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">mu</HI>'s. We &s;hall finde them to have been the fir&s;t and principal cau&s;e of hear<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">ach, I will not &s;ay of, but &s;ince the pacification at <HI>Barwick.</HI> We &s;hall &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="2 letters">le them to have been the almo&s;t &s;ole abettors of my Lord of <HI>Sfrafford,</HI> while&s;t h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> was practi&s;ing upon another Kingdome, that manner of Government which he intended to &s;ettle in this, where he committed &s;o many, &s;o mighty, and &s;o manife&s;t <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="8 letters">ies, and Oppre&s;&s;ions, as the like have not been committed by any Governour in any Government &s;ince <HI>Verres</HI> left <HI>Sicily.</HI> And after they had called him over from being Deputie of <HI>Ireland</HI> to be in a manner Deputie or <HI>England,</HI> (all things here being govern'd by a <HI>Junctillo,</HI> and that <HI>Junctillo</HI> govern'd by him) to have a&s;&s;i&s;ted him in the giving of &s;uch Councels, and the per&s;uing of &s;uch cour&s;es, as it is a hard and mea&s;uring ca&s;t, whether they were more unwi&s;e, more unju&s;t or
<PB N="4" REF="5">more unfortunate; and which had infallibly been our de&s;truction, if by the Grace of God their &s;hare had not been as &s;mall in the &s;ubtilty of Serpents, as in the innocency of doves.</P>
<P><HI>Ma&s;ter Speaker,</HI> I have repre&s;ented no &s;mall quantity, and no mean degee of guilt, and truly I believe, that we &s;hall make no little Complement to tho&s;e, and no little apology for tho&s;e to whom this charge belongs, if we &s;hall lay the faults of the men upon the Order of the Bi&s;hops, upon the <HI>Epi&s;copacy.</HI> I wi&s;h we may di&s;tingui&s;h between tho&s;e, who have been carryed away with the &s;tream, and tho&s;e who have been the &s;tream that carry'd them; between tho&s;e, who&s;e proper and natural motion was toward our ruine and de&s;truction, and tho&s;e who have been hurl'd about to it contrary to their natural motion by the force and &s;winge of &s;uperior <HI>orbs;</HI> and as I wi&s;h, we may di&s;tingui&s;h between the more and le&s;s guilty; &s;o I yet more wi&s;h, we may di&s;tingui&s;h between the guilty and the innocent.</P>
<P><HI>Ma&s;ter Speaker,</HI> I doubt, if we con&s;ider, that if not the fir&s;t Planters, yet the fir&s;t Spreaders of Chri&s;tianity, and the fir&s;t and chief Defenders of Chri&s;tianity again&s;t Here&s;ies within, and Pagani&s;me without, both with their Ink, and with their blood; and the main conducers to the re&s;urrection of Chri&s;tianity, (at lea&s;t) here in the Reformation (and we owe the light of the Go&s;pel we now enjoy to the fire they then endur'd for it) were all Bi&s;hops: and that even now in the greate&s;t perfection of that Order, there are yet &s;ome who have conduc'd in nothing to our late innovations, but in their &s;ilence; &s;ome who in an unexpected and mighty place and power have expre&s;&s;ed an equal moderation and humility, being neither ambitious before, nor proud after, either of the Cro&s;iers &s;taffe, or white &s;taffe: &s;ome who have been learn'd oppo&s;ers of <HI>Popery,</HI> and zealous oppo&s;ers of <HI>Arminiani&s;m,</HI> between whom and their inferiour Clergy, in frequency of Preaching, hath been no di&s;tinction, who&s;e lives are untouched, not only by guilt, but by malice; &s;carce to be equall'd by tho&s;e of any condition, or to be excell'd by tho&s;e in any Calendar. I doubt not I &s;ay, but if we con&s;ider this, this con&s;ideration will bring forth this Conclu&s;ion, That Bi&s;hops may be good men, and let us give but good men good Rules, we &s;hall have both good Governours, and good times.</P>
<P><HI>Ma&s;ter Speaker.</HI> I am content to take away all tho&s;e things from them, which to any con&s;iderable degree of probability may again beget the like mi&s;chiefs, if they be not taken away. If their temporal Titles, power and employment appear likely to di&s;tract them from the care of, or make them look down with contempt upon their Spiritual duty, and that the two great di&s;tance between them, and tho&s;e they govern will hinder the free and fit recour&s;e of their Inferiours to them; and occa&s;ion in&s;olence from them to their inferiours. Let that be con&s;idered and cared for, I am &s;ure neither their Lor&s;hips, their judging of Tithes, Wills, and Marriages, no, nor their voices in Parliaments are <HI>Jure divino;</HI> and I am as &s;ure, that the&s;e Titles, and this power, are not nece&s;&s;ary to their Authority, as appears by the little they have had with us by them, and the much that others have had without them.</P>
<P>If their revenue &s;hall appear likely to produce the &s;ame effects (for it hath been anciently ob&s;erved, that <HI>(Religio peperit divitias, &amp; Filia devoravit matrem;)</HI> Let &s;o much of that, as was in all probability, intended for an attendant upon their temporal Dignities, wait upon them out of the doores. Let us only take care to leave them &s;uch proportions, as may &s;erve in &s;ome good degree to the dignity of Learning, and the encouragement of Students; and let us not invert
<PB N="5" REF="5">that of <HI>Jeroboam,</HI> and as he made the meane&s;t of the people Prie&s;ts, make the highe&s;t of the Prie&s;ts, the meane&s;t of the people.</P>
<P>If it be feared, that they will again employ &s;ome of our Lawes, with a &s;everity beyond the intention of tho&s;e Lawes, again&s;t &s;ome of their weaker Brethren; that we may be &s;ure to take away that power, let us take away tho&s;e Lawes, and let no Ceremonies which any number counts unlawful, and no man counts nece&s;&s;ary (again&s;t the Rules of <HI>Policy,</HI> and S. <HI>Paul</HI>) be impo&s;ed upon them. Let us con&s;ider that part of the Rule they have hitherto gone by, that is, &s;uch Canons of their own making as are not confirm'd by Parliament, have been, or no doubt &s;hortly will be by Parliament taken away, that the other part of the Rule (&s;uch Canons as were here received before the Reformation, and not contrary to any Law) is too doubtfull to be a fit Rule, exacting an exact knowledg of the Canon Law, of the Common Law, of the Statute Law knowledges, which tho&s;e who are thus to govern have not, and it is &s;carce fit they &s;hould have. Since therefore we are to make new Rules, and &s;hall no doubt make tho&s;e new Rules &s;trict Rules; and be infallibly certain of a triennial Parliament, to &s;ee tho&s;e Rules ob&s;erv'd as &s;trictly as they are made, and to encrea&s;e or change them upon all occa&s;ions, we &s;hall have no rea&s;on to fear any innovation from their tyranny, or to doubt any defect in the di&s;charge of their duty. I am confident, they will not dare either ordain, &s;u&s;pend, &s;ilence, excommunicate, or deprive, otherwi&s;e than we would have them. And if this be believed, I am as confident, we &s;hall not think it fit to aboli&s;h upon a few dayes debate, an Order, which hath la&s;ted (as appears by Story) in mo&s;t Churches the&s;e Sixteen hundred years, and in all from Chri&s;t to <HI>Calvin</HI> or in an in&s;tant change the whole face of the Church, like the &s;cene of a Maske.</P>
<P><HI>Master Speaker,</HI> I do not believe them to be <HI>Jure Divino,</HI> nay I believe them not to be <HI>Jure divino;</HI> but neither do I believe them to be <HI>Injuria humana.</HI> I neither con&s;ider them as nece&s;&s;ary, nor as unlawfull, but as convenient or inconvenient. But &s;ince all great Mutations in Government are dangerous, (even where what is introduc'd by that Mutation is &s;uch as would have been very profitable upon a primary foundation) and &s;ince the greate&s;t danger of Mutations is, that all the dangers and inconveniences they may being, are not to be fore&s;een, and &s;ince no wi&s;e man will undergo great danger, but for great nece&s;&s;ity; my Opinion is, That we &s;hould not root up this Ancient tree, as dead as it appears, till we have tryed, whether by this or the like lopping of the branches, the &s;ap which was unable to feed the whole, may not &s;erve to make what is le&s;t both grow and flouri&s;h. And certainly, if we may at once take away both the inconveniences of Bi&s;hops, and the inconvenience of no Bi&s;hops, that is of an almo&s;t univer&s;al Mutation; this cour&s;e can only be oppo&s;ed by tho&s;e, who love Mutation for mutations &s;ake.</P>
<P><HI>Ma&s;ter Speaker,</HI> To be &s;hort (as I have rea&s;on to be, after having been &s;o long,) this Tryal may be &s;uddenly made, let us commit as much of the Mini&s;ters Remon&s;trance, as we have read, that tho&s;e Heads both of Abu&s;es and Grievances which are there fully collected, may be mar&s;hal'd and ordered for our debate; If upon that Debate it &s;hall appear, that tho&s;e may be taken away, and yet the Order &s;tand; we &s;hall not need to commit the <HI>London</HI> Petition at all, for the cau&s;e of it will be ended: if it &s;hall appear, that the abolition of one cannot be, but by the de&s;truction of the other, then let us not commit the <HI>Lond.</HI> Pet. but grant it.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="speech">
<PB N="6" REF="6">
<HEAD><HI>A</HI> SPEECH <HI>made in the</HI> HOUSE of COMMONS; <HI>Anno</HI> 1641.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Mr. <HI>Speaker,</HI></SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_NOw that we are about to brand the&s;e Canons in re&s;pect of the matter contained in them, it is the proper time to open the foulne&s;&s;e thereof: and though much of this hath been anticipated in the general Debate, yet if any thing hath been omitted, or if any thing may be farther cleared in that kinde, it is for the Service of the Hou&s;e that it &s;hould now be done.</P>
<P>Sir, I conceive the&s;e Canons do contain &s;undry matters, which are not only contrary to the Lawes of this Land, but al&s;o de&s;tructive of the very principal and fundamental Lawes of this <HI>Kingdome.</HI> I &s;hall begin with the fir&s;t Canon, wherein the framers of the&s;e Canons have a&s;&s;umed unto them&s;elves a Parlamentary power, and that too in a very high Degree, for they have taken upon them to define what is the Power of the King, what the Liberty of the Subjects, and what propriety he hath in his goods. If this be not proper to a Parliament, I know not what is: Nay it is the highe&s;t matter that can fall under the con&s;ideration of a Parliament, and &s;uch a point as wherein they would have walked with more tenderne&s;&s;e and circum&s;piction, than the&s;e bold Divines have done. And &s;urely, as this was an act of &s;uch Pre&s;umption as no Age can parrallel, &s;o it is of &s;uch dangerous con&s;equence as nothing can be more. For they do not only take upon them to determine matters of this nature, but al&s;o under great Penalties forbid all Par&s;ons, Vicars, Curates, Readers in Divinity, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> to &s;peak any other wayes of them than as they had defined; by which means having &s;ei&s;ed upon all the Conduits, whereby knowledg is conveyed unto the people, how ea&s;ie would it be for them in time to undermine the Kings Prerogative, and to &s;uppre&s;&s;e the Subjects Liberty, or both.</P>
<P>And now (Sir) I be&s;eech you to con&s;ider how they have'd &s;ined this high and great point: They have dealt with us in matter of Divinity, as the Judges had done before in matter of Law: They fir&s;t took upon them to determine a matter that belonged not to their Judicature, but only to the Parliament, and after by their judgment they overthrew our propriety; and ju&s;t &s;o have the&s;e Divines dealt with us, they tell us, That Kings are an Ordinance of God, of <HI>Divine Right,</HI> and founded in the Prime Lawes of nature, from whence it will follow, that all other Formes of Government, as <HI>Ari&s;tocra&s;ies</HI> and <HI>Democraties,</HI> are wicked Formes of Government contrary to the Ordinance of God, and the Prime Lawes of Nature, which is &s;uch new Divinity as I never read in any Book, but in this new Book of Canons.</P>
<PB N="7" REF="6">
<P>Mr. <HI>Speaker,</HI> We all know, That Kings, and States, and Judges, and all Magi&s;trates are the Ordinances of God, but (Sir) give me leave to &s;ay, they were the Ordinances of men before they were the Ordinances of God. I know I am upon a great and high point, but I &s;peak by as great and as high a warrant, if Saint <HI>Peters</HI> chair cannot erre (as Saint <HI>Peters</HI> Epi&s;tles cannot) thus he teacheth us, <HI>Submit your &s;elves to every Ordinance of man for the Lords &s;ake, whether it be to the King as &s;upream, or to the Governour, at to him that is &s;ent by him,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>(Sir) It is worthy noting, that they are Ordinances of men, but that they are to be &s;ubmitted unto for the Lords &s;ake; and truely their Power is as ju&s;t, and their Subjects allegiance as due unto them, though we &s;uppo&s;e them to be fir&s;t ordinances of men, and then ednfirmed and e&s;tablined by God. Ordinance, as if we &s;uppo&s;e them to be immediate Ordinances of God, and &s;o received by men. But there was &s;omewhat in it, that the&s;e <HI>Divines</HI> aimed at, I &s;uppo&s;e it was this, If Kings were of <HI>Divine Right,</HI> as the Office of a Pa&s;tour in the Church, or founded in the prime Lawes of Nature, as the power of a Father in a Family; then it would certainly follow, that they &s;hould receive the fa&s;hion and manner of their Government only from the Pre&s;cript of Gods Word, or of the Lawes of Nature; and con&s;equently, if there be no Text neither of the <HI>Old</HI> nor <HI>New Te&s;tament,</HI> nor yet any Law of Nature, that Kings may not make Lawes without <HI>Parliaments,</HI> they may make Lawes without <HI>Parliaments;</HI> and if neither in the <HI>Scripture</HI> nor in the Law of Nature, Kings be forbidden to lay Taxes or any kinde of Impo&s;itions upon their people without con&s;ent in <HI>Parliament,</HI> they may do it out of Parliament: and that this was their meaning, they expre&s;&s;e it after in plain termes, for they &s;ay, That Sub&s;idies and Taxes, and all manner of aides are (due unto Kings by the Law of God, and of Nature. (Sir) if they be due by the Law of God and of nature, they are due, though there be no Act of <HI>Parliament</HI> for them, nay (Sir) if they be due by &s;uch a right, a hundred Acts of Parliament cannot take them away, or make them undue. And (Sir) that they meant it of Sub&s;idies and Aids taken, without con&s;ent in <HI>Parliament,</HI> is clearly that addition that they &s;ubjoyn unto it, that this doth not take away from the Subject the propriety he hath in his goods, for had they &s;poken of Sub&s;idies and Aids given by con&s;ent in <HI>Parliament,</HI> this would have been a very ridiculous addition; for, Who ever made any que&s;tion, whether the giving Sub&s;idies in <HI>Parliament</HI> did take away from the Subject the Propriety he hath in his Goods, whenas it doth evidently imply, they have a propriety in their goods? for they could not give, unle&s;&s;e they had &s;omething to give: But becau&s;e that was alleadged as a chief Rea&s;on again&s;t &s;hip-money, and other &s;uch illegal Payments levied upon the people, without their con&s;ent in <HI>Parliament,</HI> that it did deprive them <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">f their right of propriety which they have in their goods; The&s;e <HI>Divines</HI> would &s;eem to make &s;ome An&s;wer thereunto, but in truth their An&s;wer is nothing el&s;e but the bare a&s;&s;ertion of a Contradiction, and it is an ea&s;ie thing to &s;ay a contradiction, but impo&s;&s;ible to reconcile it; for certainly if it be a true Rule (as it is mo&s;t tru<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">) <HI>Quo meum e&s;t, &s;ine con&s;en&s;u meo non pote&s;t &s;ieri alienum;</HI> To take my goods without my con&s;ent mu&s;t needs de&s;troy my propriety. Another thing in this fir&s;t Canon, wherein they have a&s;&s;umed unto them&s;elves a <HI>Parliamentary</HI> Power, is in that they take upon them to define what is Trea&s;on, be&s;ide what is determined in the Statute of Trea&s;ons They &s;ay, To &s;et up any coactive Independent Power
<PB N="8" REF="7">is trea&s;onable both again&s;t God and the King, The Que&s;tion is not whether it be true they &s;ay or no, but whether they have power to &s;ay what is trea&s;on, and what not? But now (Sir) that I am upon this point, I would gladly know what kind of power that is, which is exerci&s;ed by Archbi&s;hops, Bi&s;hops, Deans, Archdeacons, &amp;c. Coactive certainly it is, all the Kingdome feels the la&s;h thereof, and it mu&s;t needs be Independent, if it be <HI>jure Divino,</HI> as they hold it, for they do not mean by an Independent power, &s;uch a power as doth not depend on God. Be&s;ides, if their Power be dependant, of whom is it dependent? not of the King, for the Law acknowledgeth no way whereby Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Juri&s;diction can be derived from his Maje&s;ty, but by his Commi&s;&s;ion under the great Seal, which, as I am informed they have not: I &s;peak not of the High Commi&s;&s;ion, but of that Juri&s;diction which they exerci&s;e in their <HI>Archiepi&s;copal, Epi&s;copal, Archidiaconal Courts,</HI> &amp;c and therefore, if their own Sentence be ju&s;t, we know what they are, and what they have pronounced again&s;t them&s;elves. But (Sir) it were worth knowing what they aimed at in that Independent coactive Power, which they terme Popular. I will not take upon me to unfold their meaning; but we know Doct. <HI>Beal</HI> had a hand in making of the&s;e Canons, and if we apply his <HI>Paraphra&s;e</HI> to the Text, it may give us &s;ome clearne&s;&s;e. I remember among&s;t other Notes of his this was one, &s;hat we did acknowledg the Kings Supremacy, but would joyn unto him an A&s;&s;i&s;tant, (viz.) the People, meaning this Hou&s;e, which being the Repre&s;entative body of the COMMONS of <HI>England,</HI> and claiming, as it is &s;o, a &s;hare in the Legi&s;lative Power, Doctor <HI>Beal</HI> calleth this, a joyning of an A&s;&s;i&s;tant to the King, in whom &s;olely he placeth the Power of making Lawes, and that it is but of grace, that he a&s;&s;umeth either the Lords, or Commons for the making of Lawes with him. Now (Sir) The Legi&s;lative power is the greate&s;t Power, and therefore coactive; and it is the Highe&s;t power, and therefore Independent; and if every E&s;tate for the Proportion it hath therein, &s;hould not have &s;uch a power, it &s;hould not have it of right, as founded in the fabrick and frame of the policy and Government, but of Grace, or by Commi&s;&s;ion, as Doctor <HI>Beal</HI> affirmeth. I have done with the fir&s;t Canon, only I &s;hall add this, That con&s;idering the Principles and Po&s;itions that are laid down therein, and comparing them with a clau&s;e toward the end of the Canon, that in no ca&s;e imaginable it is lawfull for Subjects to defend them&s;elves, we may judge how farre forth the&s;e Canons were to prepare mens mindes for the force that was to follow after; if the Accu&s;ation again&s;t my Lord of <HI>Strafford</HI> be laid aright. For the matter it &s;elf, I hope there will never be any need to di&s;pute that Que&s;tion, and I do believe they had as little need to have publi&s;hed that po&s;ition, had it not been upon de&s;igne. As for the &s;econd Canon, therein al&s;o they have a&s;&s;umed to them&s;elves a Parliamentary power, in taking upon them to appoint Holydaies, whereas the Statute &s;aith in expre&s;&s;e words, That &s;uch daies &s;hall be only kept as Holidayes, as are named in the Statute, and no other; and therefore, though the thing may be <HI>bonum,</HI> yet it was not done <HI>ben&egrave;,</HI> becau&s;e not ordained by Parliament, notwith&s;tanding what hath been alledged to the contrary: It &s;eemeth to me to be the appointing of an Holiday, to &s;et a time apart for Divine Service, and to force men under penalties to leave their labours, and bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, and to be pre&s;ent at it. And of the &s;ame nature is that other clau&s;e, in the &s;ame Canon, wherein they take upon them without <HI>Parliament,</HI> to lay a charge upon the People, enjoyning two Books at lea&s;t for that day, to be bought
<PB N="9" REF="7">at the charge of the Pari&s;h, for by the &s;ame right, that they may lay a penny on the Pari&s;h without <HI>Parliament,</HI> they may lay a pound, or any greater Summe.</P>
<P>As to the Third Canon, I &s;hall pa&s;&s;e it over, only the Ob&s;ervation that my neighbour of the long Robe made upon it, &s;eems unto me &s;o good, as that it is worth the repeating, That whereas in the Canon again&s;t Sectaries, there is an e&s;pecial <HI>Provi&s;o,</HI> that it &s;hall not derogate from any Statute, or Law made again&s;t them, (as if their Canons had any power to di&s;anull an Act of <HI>Parliament,</HI>) There is no &s;uch <HI>Provi&s;o</HI> in this Canon again&s;t Papi&s;ts, from whence it may be probably conjectured, that they might have drawn &s;ome colour of exemption, from the penal Lawes e&s;tabli&s;hed again&s;t them from this Canon, becau&s;e it might &s;eem hard that they &s;hould be doubly puni&s;hed for the &s;ame thing, as we know in the point of ab&s;ence from the Church; the Law provideth, that if any man be fir&s;t puni&s;hed by the Ordinary, he &s;hall not be puni&s;hed again by the Ju&s;tices.</P>
<P>For the Fourth Canon again&s;t <HI>Sociniani&s;me,</HI> therein al&s;o the&s;e Canon makers have a&s;&s;umed to them&s;elves, a Parliamentary power, in determining an Here&s;ie not determined by Law, which is expre&s;ly re&s;erved to the determination of a <HI>Parliament.</HI> It is true, they &s;ay it is a complication of many here&s;ies condemned in the four fir&s;t Councels, but they do not &s;ay what tho&s;e Here&s;ies are, and it is not po&s;&s;ible that <HI>Sociniani&s;me</HI> &s;hould be formally condemned in tho&s;e Councells, for it is &s;prung up but of late, therefore they have taken upon them to determine and damn a Here&s;ie, and that &s;o generally, as that it may be of very dangerous con&s;equence, for condemning <HI>Sociniani&s;me</HI> for an <HI>Here&s;ie,</HI> and not declaring what is <HI>Sociniani&s;me,</HI> it is left in their bre&s;ts whom they will judge, and call a <HI>Socinian.</HI> I would not have any thing that I have &s;aid to be interpreted, as if I had &s;poken it in favour of <HI>Sociniani&s;me,</HI> which (if it be &s;uch as I apprehend it to be) is indeed a mo&s;t vile and damnable <HI>Here&s;ie,</HI> and therefore the framers of the&s;e Canons are the more to blame in the next Canon again&s;t Sectaries, wherein, be&s;ides that in the preamble thereof, they lay it down for a certain ground, which the Holy Synod knew full well, that other Sects (which they extend not only to <HI>Browni&s;ts</HI> and <HI>Separatists,</HI> but al&s;o to all per&s;ons that for the &s;pace of a moneth do ab&s;ent them&s;elves, without a rea&s;onable cau&s;e, from their own Pari&s;h Churches,) do equally endeavour the &s;ubver&s;ion of the Di&s;cipline, and Doctrine of the Church of <HI>England</HI> with the Papi&s;ts, although the wor&s;t of them do not bear any proportion in that re&s;pect to the Papi&s;ts; I &s;ay, be&s;ides that they make them equall in crime, and puni&s;hment, to the Papi&s;ts, notwith&s;tanding the great di&s;proportion of their Tenents, there is another pa&s;&s;age in this Canon relative, to that again&s;t <HI>Sociniani&s;me,</HI> which I &s;hall e&s;pecially offer to your con&s;ideration, and that is this, If a Gentleman coming from beyond Seas &s;hould happen to bring over with him a Book, contrary to the Di&s;cipline of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> or &s;hould give &s;uch a Book to his friend, nay, if a man &s;hall but abett, or maintain an Opinion contrary thereunto, though it were but in <HI>Parliament,</HI> if he thought it fit to be altered, by this Canon he is excommunicate, <HI>ip&s;o facto,</HI> and lyeth under the &s;ame con&s;ideration, and is lyable to the &s;ame puni&s;hment; as if he had maintained an Opinion again&s;t the Deity of CHRIST, and of the Holy Gho&s;t, and of our Ju&s;tification by the &s;atisfaction of Chri&s;t.</P>
<PB N="10" REF="8">
<P>(Sir) If in the&s;e things that are in their own nature indifferent, if in things di&s;putable, it &s;hall be as heynous to abett or maintain an Opinion, as in the mo&s;t horrible and mon&s;trous Here&s;ies that can be imagined, What Liberty is left to us as Chri&s;tians? What Liberty is left to us as men?</P>
<P>I proceed to the Sixt Canon, wherein the&s;e Canoni&s;ts have a&s;&s;umed to them&s;elves a <HI>Parliamentary</HI> Power, and that in a very high Degree, in that they have tak<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">n upon them to impo&s;e new Oaths upon the Kings Subjects. (Sir) under favour of what hath been alledged to the contrary, To impo&s;e an Oath, if it be not an higher power then to make a Law, it is a power of making a Law of a mo&s;t high nature, and of higher and farther con&s;equence than any other Law, and I &s;hould much rather chu&s;e that the Convocation &s;hould have a power to make Lawes, to binde my per&s;on, and my E&s;tate, than that they &s;hould have a power to make Oaths to binde my con&s;cience: A Law bindes me no longer than till another Law be made to alter it, but my Oath bindes me as long as I live. Again, A Law bindes me either to <HI>obedience,</HI> or to undergo the penalty inflicted by the Law, but my Oath bindes me ab&s;olutely to <HI>obedience.</HI> And La&s;tly, A Law bindes me no longer than I am in the Land, or at the farthe&s;t, no longer than I am a member of the State, wherein, and whereby the Law is made, but my Oath once being taken doth binde me in all places, and in all conditions, &s;o long as I live. Thus much I though good to &s;peak concerning the power of impo&s;ing new Oathes: as to the matter of this new Oath, it is wholly illegall. It is again&s;t the Law of this Land, it is again&s;t the Law and Light of Nature, it is again&s;t the Law of GOD, it is again&s;t the Lawes of this KINGDOME; and that, no ob&s;cure Lawes, nor concerning any mean or petty matters. It is again&s;t the Law of the Kings Supremacy, in that it maketh <HI>Arch-Bi&s;hops, Bi&s;hops, Deans, Arch-Deacons,</HI> &amp;c. to be <HI>jure Divino,</HI> whereas the Law of this Land hath annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm, not only all <HI>Eccle&s;iastical</HI> Juri&s;diction, but al&s;o all <HI>Superiority,</HI> over the <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;tical</HI> STATE, and it is to be derived from him by Commi&s;&s;ion under the Great Seal, and con&s;equently it is <HI>Jure humane.</HI> Again, it is again&s;t the Oath of <HI>Supremacy,</HI> e&s;tabli&s;hed by Law point-blanck, for therein I am &s;worn, not only to con&s;ent unto, but al&s;o to a&s;&s;i&s;t, and to the uttermo&s;t of my power, to defend all Juri&s;dictions, <HI>Preheminences,</HI> &amp;c. annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm, of which this is one (and that which immediately precedeth this Oath in the Statute, and whereunto it doth e&s;pecially relate) that his Maje&s;ty may exerci&s;e any <HI>Juri&s;diction,</HI> or <HI>Eccle&s;iasticall Government</HI> by his <HI>Commi&s;&s;ion</HI> under the <HI>Great Seal,</HI> directed to &s;uch per&s;ons as he &s;hall think meet; &s;o that, if he &s;hall think other Per&s;ons meet, than <HI>Arch-Bi&s;hops, Bi&s;hops,</HI> &amp;c. I am &s;worn in the Oath of <HI>Supremacy,</HI> not only to a&s;&s;ent thereunto, but to a&s;&s;i&s;t, and to the utrermo&s;t of my power defend &s;uch an appointment of his Maje&s;ty, and in this new Oath I &s;hall &s;wear never to con&s;ent unto &s;uch an alteration. In the like manner it is again&s;t the Law, and Light of Nature, that a man &s;hould &s;wear to an&s;wer, <HI>(&amp;c.)</HI> to he knowes not what. It is again&s;t the Law and Light of Nature, that a man &s;hould &s;wear never to con&s;ent, to alter a thing, that in its own nature is alterable, and may prove inconvenient, and fit to be altered. La&s;tly, It is again&s;t the Law of God: for whereas there are Three Rules pre&s;cribed to him that will &s;wear aright, that he <HI>&s;wear in Judgement, in Truth, and Righteou&s;ne&s;s:</HI> He that &s;hall take this new Oath, mu&s;t needs
<PB N="11" REF="8">break all the&s;e three Rules. He cannot &s;wear in judgment, becau&s;e this Oath is &s;o full of ambiguities, that he cannot tell what he &s;wears unto; not to &s;peak of the unextricable ambiguity of the <HI>&amp;c.</HI> there is &s;carce one word that is not ambiguous in the principal part of the Oath; as fir&s;t, what is meant by the Church of <HI>England?</HI> whether all the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> in <HI>England,</HI> or whether the <HI>Clergy</HI> only, or only the <HI>Arch-Bi&s;hops, Bi&s;hops, Deans?</HI> &amp;c. or whether the Convocation? or what? In like manner it is as doubtfull what is meant by the Di&s;cipline, and what by the Doctrine of the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>England;</HI> for what &s;ome call Super&s;titious Innovations, if others affirm to be con&s;onance to the Primitive, and that the pure&s;t Reformation in the time of <HI>Edward</HI> the 6. and in the beginning of the Reign of Queen <HI>Elizabeth;</HI> and &s;o for the Doctrine of the Church of England, if all the Po&s;itions that of later years have been challenged by &s;ome of our Divines to be <HI>Arminian</HI> and <HI>Popi&s;h,</HI> and contrary to the Articles of our Religion, and which on the other &s;ide have been a&s;&s;erted and maintained as con&s;onant to the Doctrine of our Church, and the Articles of Religion were gathered together, they might make a pretty Volumne; nay, <HI>Sancta Clara</HI> will maintain it in de&s;pire of the <HI>Puritans,</HI> That the Doctrine of the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>Rome,</HI> is the Doctrine of the Church of <HI>England.</HI> Truly it were very fit that we knew, what were the <HI>Doctrine</HI> and <HI>Di&s;cipline</HI> of the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>England,</HI> before we &s;wear to it; and then (Sir) give me leave to &s;ay, that I &s;hould be very loath to &s;wear to the <HI>Di&s;cipline,</HI> or to the <HI>Doctrine</HI> and Tenents of the pure&s;t Church in the World, as they are collected by them, farther than they agree with the Holy <HI>Scriptures.</HI> La&s;tly, It is as doubtfull what is meant by the <HI>Doctrine</HI> and <HI>Di&s;cipline</HI> e&s;tabli&s;hed, and what by altering and con&s;enting to alter, whether that is accom|pted or e&s;tabli&s;hed, which is e&s;tabli&s;hed by Act of <HI>Parliament,</HI> or whether that al&s;o that is e&s;tabli&s;hed, by <HI>Canons,</HI> Injunctions, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> and whether it &s;hall not extend to that which is publi&s;hed by our <HI>Divines,</HI> with the allowance of Authority: and &s;o for con&s;enting to alter, whether it be only meant that a man &s;hall not be active in altering, or whether it extend to any con&s;ent, and &s;o that a man &s;hall not &s;ubmit to it, nor accept of it, being altered by the State. More ambiguities might be &s;hewen, but the&s;e are enough to make it clear, that he that &s;hall take this Oath cannot &s;wear in judgment. Nor can he &s;wear in truth, for it is full of untruths. It is not true that <HI>Di&s;cipline</HI> is nece&s;&s;ary to Salvation It is not true, that <HI>Arch-Bi&s;hops, Bi&s;hops, Deans, Arch-Deacons,</HI> &amp;c. are <HI>Jure Divino,</HI> as they mu&s;t needs be, if the Law-makers ought of right to e&s;tabli&s;h them, as they are e&s;tabli&s;hed, for the Law-makers are not bound as of right, to frame their Lawes to any other than the Lawes of God alone. Now, whether <HI>Bi&s;hops</HI> be <HI>Jure Divino,</HI> we know it is a Di&s;pute among&s;t the <HI>Papi&s;ts,</HI> and never did any Prote&s;tant hold it till of late years, but that <HI>Arch-bi&s;hops, Deans, Arch-Deacons,</HI> &amp;c. &s;hould be <HI>Jure Divino,</HI> I do not know, that ever any Chri&s;tian held it before, and yet he that taketh this Oath mu&s;t &s;wear it. La&s;tly, As he that taketh this Oath cannot &s;wear in judgment nor in truth, &s;o neither can he &s;wear in <HI>righteou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> for it is full of <HI>unrighteou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> being indeed, as hath been well opened, a Covenant in effect again&s;t the King and Kingdome; for if the whole STATE &s;hould finde it nece&s;&s;ary, to alter the Government by <HI>Arch-Bi&s;hops, Bi&s;hops,</HI> &amp;c. a great part of the Kingdome, e&s;pecially of the <HI>Gentry,</HI> (for not onely the <HI>Clergy,</HI> but all that take degrees in the <HI>Univer&s;ities,</HI> are bound to take it) will be preingaged not to con&s;ent to it, or admit of it. Again, it is a great wrong
<PB N="12" REF="9">to tho&s;e that &s;hall be <HI>Parliament</HI> men, that their freedome &s;hall be taken away, being bound up by an Oath, not to con&s;ent to the altering of a thing, which it may be fit and proper for a <HI>Parliament</HI> to alter. And &s;uppo&s;e that for the pre&s;ent it be no hinderance to the &s;ervice of God, nor yet burden&s;ome to the King, and Kingdome, yet if it &s;hould prove &s;o hereafter, for a man to be bound by an Oath never to con&s;ent to alter it, may be a great wrong to God in his &s;ervice, and to the King and Kingdome in their peace and well-fare, and therefore this Oath cannot be taken in <HI>righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e.</HI> For the other Oath, <HI>de parendo juri Eccle&s;iae, &amp; &s;tando mandatis Eccle&s;iae,</HI> though it make le&s;&s;e noi&s;e than the other, yet is it not of le&s;te dangerous con&s;equence. If I remember well the Story, this was the Oath that the <HI>Pope</HI> made King <HI>John</HI> to take, and when he had &s;worn <HI>&s;tare mandatis Eccle&s;iae,</HI> the Pope commanded him to re&s;igne his Kingdome to him; and truly, be he Gentleman or Nobleman, or whatever el&s;e, when he hath once put his neck into this noo&s;e, his Gho&s;tly Fathers may drag him whither they will, for they have the quantity and the quality of the penance in their own bre&s;ts, and if they &s;hall enjoyn him to give any Sum towards the building of a Church, or the adorning of a <HI>Choppel,</HI> he mu&s;t pay it, or if they &s;hould enjoyn him any &s;ervile or ba&s;e Action (as there are not wanting Examples of that kinde, in the time of <HI>Popery</HI>) they are &s;worn <HI>&s;tare mandatis Eccle&s;iae,</HI> and &s;o cannot recede, but mu&s;t performe it: Nay, I dare not warrant any man from the rods of <HI>Henry</HI> the &s;econd, or of <HI>Raymond</HI> of <HI>Tholouze;</HI> what hath been done may be done, I am fure the power is the &s;ame. And that other Oath al&s;o (though more u&s;ual in practice, and more confirmed by the&s;e new <HI>Canons</HI>) which is admini&s;tred to <HI>Church-Wardens,</HI> would be looked into. For it is hardly po&s;&s;ible for them that take it not to be for&s;worn, being they &s;ware to &s;o many particulars, that they cannot mind and to &s;ome that they cannot under&s;tand; as, how many <HI>Church-Wardens</HI> are there in <HI>England,</HI> that under&s;tand what <HI>Sociniani&s;me</HI> is, in ca&s;e they be &s;worn, to pre&s;ent the Offenders again&s;t that <HI>Canon,</HI> which concerns that matter.</P>
<P>I &s;hall only add a word or two concerning two <HI>Canons</HI> more, which &s;eem to be <HI>Canons</HI> of Reformation:</P>
<P>The Fir&s;t is, concerning Excommunication, to be pronounced only by a <HI>Divine,</HI> wherein it is alledged for the Framers of the&s;e <HI>Canons,</HI> that if they have not more Law on their &s;ides, yet they may &s;eem to have more rea&s;on. For my part, as in all other things, I think they have &s;o mended the matter, that they have made it farr wor&s;e; for before that which was found fault with was this, That a Lay man did that which the grave <HI>Divine</HI> &s;hould have done, and now the grave <HI>Divine</HI> mu&s;t do whatever the Lay man would have done, for the <HI>cogno&s;cence</HI> of the Cau&s;e, and the power of Judicature is wholly in the Lay man, only the grave <HI>Divine</HI> is to be his &s;ervant, to execute his Sentences, and hath &s;uch a kinde of managing the &s;piritual &s;word, allowed only unto him, as the <HI>Papi&s;ts</HI> in &s;ome ca&s;es were wont to afford unto the Civil Magi&s;trate, in re&s;pect of the temporal &s;word; for, as if the Civil &s;word by an implicite <HI>faith</HI> had been pinned to the Lawn &s;leevs, they condemned men of <HI>Here&s;ie,</HI> and then delivered them over to the Secular Power; but what to do? not to have any <HI>cogni&s;ance</HI> of the cau&s;e, nor to exerci&s;e any power of judicature but only to be their Executioners, and to burn the <HI>Heretick</HI> whom they had condemned, and &s;o they judged men excommunicate, and then the Civil Power was to &s;end out Writts, <HI>de excommunicato capiendo,</HI> again&s;t them: But one &s;aid well, that the &s;word,
<PB N="13" REF="9">without <HI>Cogni&s;ance</HI> of the cau&s;e, and judgment, was like <HI>Polyphemus</HI> without his eye, it became violence and fury, but being accompanied with the eye of judgment, it is equity and ju&s;tice: and &s;urely where the Spiritual or Civil Governour is called upon to &s;trike, he mu&s;t be allowed to &s;ee and judg whom, and wherefore he &s;trikes, otherwi&s;e he will be able to give but an ill accompt to God, of the managing of the &s;word, wherewith he is in&s;tructed.</P>
<P>The other <HI>Canon</HI> is the La&s;t <HI>Canon,</HI> again&s;t Vexatious Citations, wherein they &s;eem to have &s;ome &s;ence of the great grievance that poor people lye under, by occa&s;ion of Vexatious Citations, and Mole&s;tations in <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Courts,</HI> and I verily believe that there is not a greater Oppre&s;&s;ion in the whole Kingdome upon the poorer &s;ort of people, than that which proceedeth out of the&s;e <HI>Courts.</HI> But now (Sir) Let us &s;ee what provi&s;ion they have made again&s;t it by this <HI>Canon.</HI> They &s;ay, becau&s;e great grievances may fall upon people by citations upon pretence only, of the breach of that law without any pre&s;entment, or any other ju&s;t ground, that no citations grounded onely as afore&s;aid &s;hall i&s;&s;ue out, except it be under the hand and Seal of the <HI>Chancellour, Commi&s;&s;ary, Arch-Deacon,</HI> or other competent Judg, &s;o that, (if there be any &s;ence in the&s;e words) though there be no Pre&s;entment at all, nor any other ju&s;t ground, yet a citation may i&s;&s;ue out, &s;o it be under the hand and Seal of the <HI>Chancellour, Commi&s;&s;ary,</HI> or other competent Judg, and the party &s;hall not be di&s;charged without paying his Fees, nor have any relief by this <HI>Canon.</HI> But &s;uppo&s;e the Citation be not under the hand and Seal of any Competent Judge, and that there was neither Pre&s;entment nor any ju&s;t grounds for it, &s;hall he then be di&s;mi&s;&s;ed without paying any Fees? no, unle&s;s fir&s;t contrary to the Law of Nature, there being no Pre&s;entment nor ju&s;t ground of Accu&s;ation again&s;t him, he &s;hall by his Oath purge him&s;elf of pretended breaches of Law, and then too he &s;hall only have the Fees of the Court remitted, but &s;hall have no &s;atisfaction for his trouble&s;ome and chargeable journey, and for the lo&s;&s;e of his time, and being drawn away from his Affairs. Nay lea&s;t they &s;hould &s;eem to have been too liberal of their favour, they add a <HI>Provi&s;o</HI> in the clo&s;e of the <HI>Canon,</HI> that this grace of theirs &s;hall not extend to any grievous crime, as <HI>Schi&s;me, incontinency,</HI> misbehaviour in the Church, or ob&s;tinate Inconformity. And what do they call misbehaviour in the Church? It a man do not kneel at the Confe&s;&s;ion, or have his hat on when the Le&s;&s;ons are reading. In like manner what do they call ob&s;tinate inconformity? If a man will not think what they would have him think, If a man will not &s;ay what they would have him &s;ay, if a man will not &s;wear what they would have him &s;wear, if a man will not read what they would have him read, if a man will not preach what they would have him preach, if a man will not pray what they would have him pray: In &s;hort, if a man will not do whatever they would have him do, then he is an inconformi&s;t, and after that they have duely admoni&s;hed him, <HI>prim&ograve;, &s;ecund&ograve; terti&ograve;,</HI> all in one breath, then he is contumacious, then he is an ob&s;tinate Inconformi&s;t.</P>
<P>Now (Sir) my humble Motion is, that in con&s;ideration of all the Premi&s;es, and what be&s;ides hath been well laid open by others; we &s;hould proceed to damn the&s;e <HI>Canons,</HI> not only as contrary to the Lawes of the <HI>Land,</HI> but al&s;o as containing &s;undry matters, de&s;tructive of the right of <HI>Parliaments,</HI> and of the fundamentall and other principal Lawes of this <HI>Kiagdome,</HI> and otherwi&s;e of very dangerous con&s;equence.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="speech">
<PB N="14" REF="10">
<HEAD>A SPEECH in the Hou&s;e of Commons, at a Committee for the Bill again&s;t <HI>Epi&s;copal-Government,</HI> M^r <HI>Hide</HI> &s;itting in the Chair. <HI>June</HI> 11, 1641.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Mr. <HI>Hide,</HI></SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_THE debate we are now upon is, whether the Government by Arch|bi&s;hops, Bi&s;hops, Chancellors, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> &s;hould be taken away out of the Church and Kingdom of <HI>England:</HI> for the right &s;tating where|of, we mu&s;t remember the Vote which pa&s;t ye&s;terday, not only by this Committee, but the Hou&s;e, which was to this effect: That this Government hath been &s;ound by long experience, to be a great impedi|ment to the perfect Reformation and growth of Religion, and very prejudicial to the civil State.</P>
<P>So that then the Que&s;tion will lie thus before us, Whether a Government, which long experience hath &s;et &s;o ill a Character upon, importing danger, not only to our Religion, but the civil State, &s;hould be any longer continued a|mong&s;t us, or be utterly aboli&s;hed? For my own part, I am of the opinion of tho&s;e, who conceive that the &s;trength of rea&s;on already &s;et down, in the Preamble to this Bill, by ye&s;terdaies Vote, is a nece&s;&s;ary deci&s;ion of this Que&s;tion: For one of the main ends for which Church-government is &s;et up, is to advance and further the perfect reformation and growth of Religion; which we have alrea|dy voted, this Government doth contradict; &s;o that it is de&s;tructive to the ve|ry end for which it &s;hould be, and is mo&s;t nece&s;&s;ary and de&s;irable? in which re&s;pect certainly we have cau&s;e enough to lay it a&s;ide, not only as u&s;ele&s;s, in that it attains not its end, but as dangerous, in that it de&s;troys and contradicts it.</P>
<P>In the &s;econd place, we have voted it prejudicial to the civil State, as having &s;o powerful and ill an influence upon our Laws, the Prerogative of the King, and Liberties of the Subject, that it is like a &s;preading lepro&s;ie, which leaves nothing untainted and uninfected which it comes near.</P>
<P>May we not therefore well &s;ay of this Government, as our Saviour in the fifth of <HI>Matthew</HI> &s;peaks of &s;alt (give me leave upon this occa&s;ion to make u&s;e of Scri|pture, as well as others have done in this debate) where it is &s;aid that &s;alt is good; <HI>but if the &s;alt hath lo&s;t its &s;avour, wherewith will you &s;ea&s;on it? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be ca&s;t out, and troden under foot of men:</HI> &s;o Church-government, in the general, is good, and that which is nece&s;&s;ary, and which we all de&s;ire; but when any particular form of it hath once lo&s;t its &s;avour, by being de&s;tructive to its own ends, for which it is &s;et up (as by our Vote al|ready pa&s;ted we &s;ay this hath) then furely, Sir, we have no more to do but to ca&s;t it out, and endeavour, the be&s;t we can, to provide our &s;elves a better.</P>
<P>But to this it hath been &s;aid, that the Government now in que&s;tion, may be &s;o amended and reformed, that it needs not be quite pulled down or aboli&s;hed; becau&s;e it is conceived, it hath no original &s;in or evil in it: or if it have, it is &s;aid, regeneration will take that away.</P>
<P>Unto which I an&s;wer, I do con&s;ent that we &s;hould do with this Government as we are done by in regeneration, in which all old things are to pa&s;s away, and all things are to become new, and this we mu&s;t do, if we de&s;ire a per|&s;ect reformation, and growth of our Religion, or good to our civil &s;tate. For the whole Fabrick of this building is &s;o rotten and corrupt, from the very foun|dation of it to the top, that if we pull it not down now, it will fall about the cars of all tho&s;e that endeavour it, within a very few years.</P>
<PB N="15" REF="10">
<P>The univer&s;al rottenne&s;s or corruption of this government, will mo&s;t evi|dently appear by a di&s;qui&s;ition into the&s;e en&s;uing particulars.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, Let us con&s;ider in what &s;oil this root grows: Is it not in the Popes Paradi&s;e? do not one and the &s;ame principles and grounds maintain the Papacy or univer&s;al Bi&s;hop, as do our Dioce&s;an or Metropolitan Bi&s;hops? All tho&s;e au|thorities which have been brought us out of the Fathers and antiquity, will they not as well, if not better &s;upport the Popedom, as the order of our Bi&s;hops? So like wi&s;e all the&s;e arguments for its agreeablene&s;s to Monarchy, and cure of Schi&s;m, do they not much more &s;trongly hold for the acknowledgment of the Pope, than for our Bi&s;hops? and yet have Monarchies been ever a whit the more ab&s;olute for the Popes univer&s;al Monarchy? or their Kingdoms le&s;&s;e &s;ubject to &s;chi&s;mes and &s;editions? what&s;oever other Kingdoms have been, I am &s;ure our Hi&s;tories can tell us, this Kingdom hath not: and therefore we have ca&s;t him off long &s;ince, as he is forteign, though we have not been without one in our own bowels. For the difference between a Metropolitan, or Dioce&s;an, or uni|ver&s;al Bi&s;hop, is not of kinds, but of degrees: and a Metropolitan or Dioce|&s;an Bi&s;hop is as ill able to perform the duty of a Pa&s;tor to his Dioce&s;s or Pro|vince, as the univer&s;al Bi&s;hop is able to do it to the whole world: for the one cannot do but by Deputies, and no more can the other; and therefore &s;ince we all confe&s;s the grounds upon which the Papacy &s;tands are rotten, how can we deny but the&s;e that maintain our Bi&s;hops are &s;o too, &s;ince they are one and the &s;ame.</P>
<P>In the &s;econd place, let us con&s;ider by what hand this root of Epi&s;copacy was planted, and how it came into the Church.</P>
<P>It is no difficult matter to find this out, for is not the very &s;pirit of this or|der, a &s;pirit of pride, exalting it &s;elf in the Temple of God, over all that is called God? Fir&s;t, exalting it &s;elf above its fellow-Presbyters, under the form of a Bi&s;hop; then over its fellow Bi&s;hops, under the title of Archbi&s;nops, and &s;o &s;till mounting over tho&s;e of its own profe&s;&s;ion, till it come to be Pope, and then it &s;ticks not to tread upon the necks of Princes, Kings and Emperors, and trample them under its feet. Al&s;o thus you may trace it from its fir&s;t ri&s;e, and di&s;cern by what &s;pirit this order came into the Church, and by what door, even by the back-door of pride and ambition, not by Chri&s;t Je&s;us. It is not a plant which Gods right hand hath planted, but is full of rottenne&s;s and corruption; that my&s;tery of iniquity which hath wrought thus long, and &s;o fit to be plucked up, and removed out of the way.</P>
<P>Thirdly, Let us con&s;ider the very nature and quality of this tree, or root in its &s;elf, whether it be good or corrupt in its own nature; we all know where it is &s;aid, <HI>A good tree cannot bring forth corrupt fruit, nor a corrupt tree good fruit: Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thi&s;tles?</HI> By its fruit therefore we &s;hall be &s;ure to know it; and according as the fruits of the Government have been among&s;t us, either in Church or Common wealth, &s;o let it &s;tand, or fall with us.</P>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>In the Church.</HEAD>
<P N="1">1. AS it &s;elf came in by the back door into the Church, and was brought in by the &s;pirit of Antichri&s;t, &s;o it &s;elf hath been the back-door and in-let of all &s;uper&s;tition and corruption into the wor&s;hip and doctrine of this Church, and the means of ha&s;tening us back again to Rome. For proof of this, I ap|peal to all our knowledges in late years pa&s;t, the memory whereof is &s;o fre&s;h, I need eater into no particulars.</P>
<PB N="16" REF="11">
<P>A &s;econd fruit of this Government in the Church, hath been the di&s;placing of the mo&s;t godly and Con&s;cientious Mini&s;ters; the vexing, puni&s;hing, and bani&s;hing out of the Kingdom, the mo&s;t religious of all &s;orts and conditions, that would not comply with their &s;uper&s;titious inventions and Ceremonies; in one word, the turning the edge and power of their Government again&s;t the ve|ry life and power of Godline&s;s; and the favour and protect on of it unto, all pro|phane, &s;candalous and &s;uper&s;titious per&s;ons that would uphold their party. Thou|&s;ands of examples might be given of this, if it were not mo&s;t notorious.</P>
<P>A third fruit hath been Schi&s;m and Fractions within our &s;elves, and alienati|on from all the reformed Churches abroad.</P>
<P>And la&s;tly, the prodigious mon&s;ter of the late Canons, whereby they had de|&s;igned the whole Nation to a perpetual &s;lavery and bond age to them&s;elves, and their &s;uper&s;titious Inventions. The&s;e are the fruits of the Government in the Church. Now let us con&s;ider the&s;e in the Civil State: As, 1. The countenau|cing all illegal Projects and proceedings, by teaching in their Pulpits the law|fulne&s;s of an arbitrary Power. 2. The overthrowing all proce&s;s at Common Law, that reflected never &s;o little upon their Courts. 3. The kindling a War between the&s;e two Nations, and blowing up the flame, as much as in them lay, by their Councels, Canons and Sub&s;idles they granted to that end. 4. The plots, practi&s;es and combinations during this Parliament, in all which they &s;eem to have been intere&s;ted more or le&s;s. Thus have they not contented them&s;elves with encroachments upon our &s;piritual priviledges, but have envied us our civil freedom, de&s;iring to make us grind in their mill, as the <HI>Phili&s;tims</HI> did <HI>Samp&s;on,</HI> and to put out both our eyes. O let us be avenged of the&s;e <HI>Philistims</HI> for our two eyes. If then the tree be to be known by its fruits, I hope you &s;ee by this time plainly the nature and quality of this tree.</P>
<P>In the la&s;t place, give me leave for a clo&s;e of all to pre&s;ent to your con&s;ide|ration the mi&s;chiefs, which the continuance of this Government doth threaten us with, if by the wi&s;dom of this Committee they be not prevented. 1. The dan|ger our Religion mu&s;t ever be in, &s;o long as it is in the hands of &s;uch Governors, as can &s;tand firmly in nothing more than its ruine; and who&s;e affinity with the Popi&s;h Hieratchy makes them more confident of the Papi&s;ts, than the Profe&s;&s;ors of the reformed Religion, for their &s;afety and &s;ub&s;i&s;tence. 2. The unhappy condition our civil State is in, whil&s;t the Bi&s;hops have vete in the Lords Hou&s;e, being there as &s;o many ob&s;tructions, in our body Politick, to all good and whol|&s;om Laws tending to &s;alvation. 3. The improbability of &s;etling any firm or du|rable peace, &s;o long as the cau&s;e of the war yet continues, and the bellowes that blow up this flame. 4. And that which I will a&s;&s;ure you goes neare&s;t my heart, is the check which we &s;eem to give to divine Providence, if we do not at this time pull down this Government. For hath not this Parl. been call'd, continued, pre&s;erved and &s;ecured by the immediate finger of God, as it were for this work? had we not el&s;e been &s;wallowed up in many inevitable dangers, by the practi&s;es and de&s;igns of the&s;e men and their party? hath not God left them to them&s;elves, as well in the&s;e things, as in the evil admini&s;tration of their Government, that he might lay them open unto us, and lead us as it were, by the hand, from the finding them to be the cau&s;es of our evil, to di&s;cern that their rooting up mu&s;t be our only cure? Let us not then halt any longer between two opinions, but with one heart and re&s;olution give glory to God, in complying with his providence, and with the good &s;afety and peace of this Church and State, which is by pa&s;&s;ing this Bill we are now upon.</P>
</DIV2>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
